Have you ever picked up a book and were somehow changed by the time you got to the end? I have. Here's one that was pivotal in opening my eyes to beauty...
Read moreOpening the Present of a Painting
When my daughter and nieces were small, my sister and I piled all of us in the car for an "arts adventure." I’d asked my friend, Beverly Key, a visual artist who does abstract landscapes, oil paintings, and collages, if we could come and watch her paint. She graciously agreed...
Read moreThe Sounds of Christmas
When I think about the beauty of Christmas, one of the first things that comes to mind is the music.
I still remember every word and note of the Christmas album my parents played every year once the tree was up and decorated. As an adult, I was thrilled to find an old recording of the album...
Read moreSinger, Songwriter, and Storyteller Kate Campbell
My husband “discovered” singer-songwriter Kate Campbell in 1997 after listening to a Southern Music CD included in Oxford American magazine. He bought her CD, Moonpie Dreams, and went to her concert two weeks later. He met her afterward, and that’s when he really became a life-long fan.
Through the years, he introduced her music to other friends and, when I came along, to me as well.
Read moreWhat a Story Called Silent Night Can Teach Us in the Election Aftermath
The story is what drew us.
The show, Silent Night, is based on the Christmas Truce, a series of spontaneous cease-fires along the Western front in World War I around Christmas 1914.
Read moreFour Reasons to Love Theater
My husband and I have both been drawn to theater for years. I took some theater history classes in college, and he performed in a handful of community productions. We met when a big group of friends went to a play and then dinner afterward. When we married two years later, we merged our lives, our households, and our season tickets to the theater.
Here are a few reasons why I love theater and you might too:
Read moreThe Girl in the Blue Hat Painting
On the wall across from my desk hangs a painting of a young woman with long red hair. She's wearing a blue hat with yellow-orange flowers lining the band. Her heart-shaped face has rosy cheeks and dark red lips forming a tiny smile. Her eyes are closed.
Where is she? What is she doing?
Read moreDecorative Only
The Arts Center a few miles from our house holds a pottery sale every year in the spring and fall. My husband and I go every fall, often with an eye toward Christmas shopping. Bowls and cups of every shape and size, created by instructors and students, are offered for sale at very reasonable prices.
They're almost too reasonable, because we always bring home a piece or two.
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