spring 2010 Newsletter volume twelve issue one “Only he who loves can sing” immense clarity. The ~ St. Augustine question I asked myself I have been thinking about thinking. was this; can one use the Though I value its importance I am wonder- symbols of landscape to ing if the attention we give it is in need of record our emotional and some balance. Two books – one old and one spiritual journey? Not new are the occasion for my taking up this simply the memory of topic once again. Though not much can be Places but the place (or said in the space available here perhaps a landscape) of Memory. few brief comments will generate some of Can the employment of your own reflection about this matter. color and objects, set in distinct arrangements Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview evoke a sense of wonder, and Cultural Formation by James K.A. Smith anticipation, longing? explores the question of human identity. Does a ray of light always He argues that how we answer the question represent hope or can concerning who we are has implications for it cast an uncertain dis- worship, education and spiritual formation. quieting doubt instead? It has been typical for members of western A majestic mountain a culture to see themselves first as “thinking distant future, or a dis- beings”. One immediately recalls Descartes’ solving dream? “I think therefore I am”, a short sentence that has carried a very pervasive influence. I further realized it is The legacy of this notion of humans as memory that threads our thinking beings suggests that ideas have experiences together, but primary importance. Others have contended memory is fragile and that we are oriented to the world as believ- influenced by time. It dis- appears altogether or re- ers where not just logic, but myth and story Sundial IV (Festina Lente) by Philip Mix play an important part in our self under- emerges in a reinvented standing. Smith appreciates these two op- Robert Henri, the inspirational artist and version. Throughout centuries these themes tions but finds them still incomplete. What teacher of the Arts Students League, New have been revisited through metaphors and is missing York, spoke to an experience which has archetypes. Mountain, watershed, cross- he suggests been part of my journey; “There seem to be roads, crux are all words or images to which is attention moments of revelation, moments when we metaphorical meanings may be attached. to “desire” as see in the transition of one part to another In his book Space, Time and the Beauty an essential the unification of the whole. We may call it that causes Havoc author Arthur I. Miller feature of the a passage into another dimension than our describes Cezanne’s importance as being human person. ordinary” (The Art Spirit, 1923) “his brave new manner of producing spatial In taking up this Since 2005 I have been exploring a theme. ambiguity, which he accomplished by theme it is but The theme began as the collage of places merging foreground and background in a a short step to remembered. Eventually it emerged as a way that fused planes and integrated objects understanding landscape of symbols, imagery for docu- and space”. The term “passage” in French humans as lovers. menting singular significant events. was coined to define this new direction in As Smith puts it Sometimes these events are sublime, even interpreting the visual. This was a great “To be human is strangely quiet. At other times they define leap but it was Picasso who freed it from its to love and it is what we love that defines radical transforming moments in our lives nineteenth century roots. As Miller further who we are.” (p.51) continued on page 4 wherein suddenly everything takes on an continued on page 4 2 Pinhole Houses Milton Acorn: Christian Poet of the People Taking a photograph with a pinhole cam- The Acorn picture I want to convey is of a left, right or centre. He was era is a spontaneous and serendipitous maverick and outsider, a man who speaks fond of George Grant and experience. The lack of viewfinder, the out at the wrong time, asks embarrassing C.S. Lewis, and Acorn’s crafty quality of a homemade camera and questions of human society, and will not be High Church Anglicanism the simplicity of the process all contrib- satisfied by evasions. ~ Al Purdy was at the core and centre ute to a sense of wonder at the resulting Milton Acorn (1923-1986) was, when alive, of his being. Acorn sought image. The hallmarks of a pinhole image one of the most controversial Canadian to live and write in such (a general fuzziness, infinite depth of poets, and since his death, there has been a way that his poetry field and often some crazy distortion) a growing interest in his life and poetic embodied and reflected can infuse the photo with an emotional vision. the voices and concerns content not easily achievable with other of those on the margins. methods. As old as photography itself, the Acorn won the People’s Poetry Award forty In short, his faith and pinhole process has a deep connection to years ago (1970) for his incisive and evoca- his sense of ecology, the history of art and yet its potential to tive missive, I’ve Tasted My Blood, and he justice and peace were integrated at a speak in a contemporary voice has been was awarded the Governor General’s Award demanding and profound level. made evident through the works of art- thirty-five years ago (1975) forThe Island Means Minago. Both books of poetry walk The fact that there is growing interest in ists like Bethany de Forest (pinhole.nl), Acorn yet once again means that three Eric Renner (pinholeresource.com) and the attentive reader into the white heat political vision of Acorn. books are in the womb on Acorn that should Dianne Bos (diannebos.com). be published in 2010-2011. These books will As a practicing photo-based artist, my goal The fact that Acorn is one of Canada’s fin- cover some of his finest poetry and critical is to join this luminous history by working est poets has meant that biographers have essays on his poetry, science fiction, plays contemporarily using pinhole cameras. been keen to track and trace his unusual life and prose. Acorn can be, for those that are For a number of years, I have explored and poetic journey. Out of This World: The interested in the artistic journey, a guide themes of language and metaphor in my Natural History of Milton Acorn (1996) and into the troubled waters of faith, poetry work, specifically attempting to broaden Milton Acorn: In Love and Anger (1999) tell and prophetic politics. There have been definitions and understandings. A series the tale well of Acorn’s hard and demanding few Christian poets in Canada of Acorn’s entitled “Divine Interventions” grew from journey, but both tomes fail to properly deal stature, and we still have much to learn a challenge to see the divine interactions with Acorn’s deeper Christian commitment. from this acorn turned oak. that occur all around us (even in particu- Acorn was both a political and prophetic By Ron Dart, author, poet and professor larly unremarkable settings) rather than poet, and, as such, he could not be fitted of Political Philosophy University of the where we generally seek them during into the partisan politics of the political Fraser Valley BC. miraculous events. My work as an artist emerges out of a belief system that ac- knowledges a holiness in all things and a desire to see it more clearly. Wenda Salomons is an Alberta-based professional visual artist working in photo-based media. She works primarily with pinhole cameras and produces small, black and white silver prints. She has lectured and led workshops on pinhole photography, as well as pursued the development of her own studio practice. Her prints are held in private and public collections across North America. You can contact her and view her work at wendasalomons.com. Spirit, 12" x 6", City II, from the Divine Houses 7, from the Divine Gelatin Silver Print, Intervention Series, Intervention Series, 6" x 6", 2009 12" x 6", Gelatin Silver Gelatin Silver Print, 2008 Print, 2007 www.imago-arts.on.ca 3 TranscendArts Photography As Theatre The arts are amongst the languages Instead of a thousand words, I take a photo- I felt in small way I should tell their story. that human beings have created graph. It tells a story by distilling an idea This was the reason for Revisionism. It in order to communicate their into one frozen moment in time. It is direct, is part of a series that will be called “The thoughts and feelings with one unchanging and undiluted. –ISM- Collection.” another. The better we grasp a Photographs capture the spontaneous – Originally Revisionism was conceived as language, the better we articulate life as it happens. But photographs can tell a single raw looking photograph to mimic and transmit our ideas. If we don't another story – a deliberate and compel- those from the 30’s. The first in what is understand the language that is ling idea. This is photography as theatre. now a series of three. The man holding the spoken, we’ll not understand what It leaves nothing to chance. It is deliberate erased portrait in the first picture is the son is being said. Montreal is a city and planned in every visual detail. It is the of Soviet dissidents.