Today is Day 14. We are rolling right along on this journey. I am honored and over-joyed that you are along for this ride. And if you missed a previous invitation to subscribe to all posts in this series, You are cordially invited to subscribe. And follow along on twitter and on facebook if you’d like.
To read Days 1 through 13, click here to catch up and see a listing of all the offerings in this 31 day writing challenging.(I am joining the nester at the nester dot com.)
Once upon a college tour a day or two ago, I was help hostage by art.
Well, loosely speaking. My rather large group of perspective students and parents went on a tour of a college which is right up there at the top of her list. Let’s just say, this place is saturated in history, fantastic architecture and an overall cool vibe.
So as my guide, slash our guide, lead us through the library, of which they are extremely proud, why was I the only one who slammed on the breaks for art. I know of their pride of place because she described in great detail the size, comparable to three football fields, and you people the place is beautiful. Really. But they left me in the dust, the whole group including the tour guide. I was the only one that stopped and took a picture.
Ya’ll I savored this amazing display made from books and shredded paper. Alone. Admittedly, I wanted to appreciate the art with another soul. To discuss what we were ingesting. What was being said, communicated, displayed for us in the center of this grand space.
I live in a wee little shrimping village so you may think I don’t get out much. And hey, that explains her being left behind. But I have lived in New York and Paris. And I do live right down the road from Charleston, with all its art, museums and history. So I have seen a little more than shrimp boats in my short, well not that short, life. But I slammed on the breaks for this beauty.
My practical side knows that if we had stopped we would have made undesirable library noices with our oooh’s and aaah’s. But we were on the first level and we had already been told that the third level was the “you can hear a pin drop” level. So that leads me to believe that these other people on the tour must see really cool sculpture made from books and shredded paper every day.
Either that or we, as a people, are not easily amused. Or we don’t care about art made from books and shredded paper. Or we are in a hurry or we have become jaded.
People, stop and savor the art. Some talented artisan crafted something valuable here in a sea of shredded trees.
In the noticing is discovery, in the discovery is amazement, in the amazement is gratitude and in the gratitude is a sense of joy and wonder.
I can only think about all the art I have missed along my hurried way. I was a willing victim in this hostage taking, in the library, one recent day on a college tour.
I would like to hear what she is saying. I want to hear what everyone is saying. What about you?
Ready, set, go notice.
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I am joining Laura at Laura Boggess dot com for her Playdates at The Wellspring. One of the joys of my Mondays. Join me there?
elizabeth w. marshall 
It looks like a big piece also. I stopped and looked at the picture before I started to read. It is an incredible piece. I also know that people who see it every day most likely do not stop each visit. We lived in Downeast Maine for three years. Our home (navy housing) was a 1/4 mile from one of the most beautiful parks in the area (much prettier than Bar Harbor, in my opinion) and it got to the point that I would drive those roads without noticing the absolute beauty in front of me, I became used to it. May be what has happened with the tour guide. That, or she is a math major and just doesn’t get it… DAF
Taking time to really notice…that’s something I need to be reminded of all the time because I can whiz on by with hardly a glance.
I was invited into a home in El Salvador a summer ago and was intently noticing how this friend had decorated her home. I was particularly entranced by a vase she had made with pages from a magazine. After I commented on it, she then gave it to me to take home! I was so honored (but also felt bad because I know it took HOURS for her to make). But now it’s one of the most valuable pieces of artwork I have in my home. All because I noticed…
Thanks for sharing this story. I hope it will help me slow down today!
Hi Elizabeth
Beautiful art, or art in whatever form for that matter, has always been a source of great joy to my heart! I can spend hours in an art gallery and just love trying to find the story behind whatever art is displayed. But there is one master piece of art that we will never be able to fathom except when we look at is through the eyes of love; the world our Pappa God has created for the sustenance of those He loves!
Lovely! I’m glad you stopped, and I’m glad you shared this beautiful art with us.