“Once, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in a gallery of paintings by Peter Paul Rubens, I was asked, ‘What is the most important thing in this room?’… writes artist Gabriel Mills.
“After a moment, I replied, ‘The air. After the air, then probably the walls.’
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Mills continues: “This led me to the more profound question of whether the glass is half full or half empty. The glass is entirely complete, holding both water and air… a beautiful illustration of the relationship between spirit and matter.”
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For more like this, check out the journal “Image: Art * Faith * Mystery.”
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Can you imagine what it might mean, to see the glass as complete? On the daily.
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This week I saw a bee dead asleep on a stalk of goldenrod – at least he looked that way to me – while a cherry tree nearby barely held on to a steep embankment. A chilly sea breeze ruffled the feathers of a gull on a rocky outcrop while we stared at each other. A mermaid briefly surfaced and splashed her black tail in the waves, then I realized she was a seal. Two small yellow butterflies and a reddish one flew against the wind, west, towards the setting sun. Not together, mind you. Alone, each of them, winging their way maybe home.
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About the journal Image (from its website):
Anchored by a quarterly arts journal, Image is a lively community that gathers readers, writers, artists and art-appreciators in person and online.
Mission: Image fosters contemporary art and writing that grapple with the mystery of being human by curating, cultivating, convening, and celebrating work that explores religious faith and spiritual questions.
Vision: Image is animated by our vision to be a vibrant thread in the fabric of culture, contributing to mainstream literary and artistic communities by demonstrating the vitality of contemporary art and literature invigorated by religious faith.