Baltimore Sonnets

A person with a determined heart frightens problems away. Lucky Numbers: 1, 3, 4, 15, 20, 30

A day at The National Folk Museum of Korea, Summer 2014 Understanding the mind of a culture requires traveling through its memories.  ~s. coley

Collectible, Rare, and Valuable Gyeongbokgung Palace, Seoul  This summer I visited Seoul, South Korea to do research and learn more about their long history of paper making. handmade paper,  Seoul, South Korea While there, I was invited to a tea ceremony at the Bongeunsa Temple near the bustling Coex Convention and Exhibition Center. You can see the skyscrapers just outside Bongeunsa Temple, Seoul I had already visited Haeinsa Temple and the all female Donghaksa Temple near Daejeon, but I never had time to stop and really meditate.  At Bongeunsa Temple, I received a private tea ceremony and tour. Tea Room, Bongeunsa Temple Calm and peaceful, the moment I stepped into the tea room, I felt my high blood pressure go down. All thoughts of the outside world were gone.  We spoke softly, listened carefully, and sipped tea. I discussed my art projects and prayers were said. It has taken me five months to finally process the exp...

We turn not older with years, but newer every day.  ~Emily Dickinson Lucky numbers: 1, 2, 23, 31, 54, 56

. . . a masterpiece? Is it the idea, the technique? Is it the material, the style? Is it the form? Is it the right balance . . . National Museum of Korea , Seoul, S. Korea - Summer 2014  . . . of color and rhythm? Is it soul? Conversations,  Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Winter 2015 Is it the passion that goes into the creation? Documenta 13 , Kassel, Germany Summer 2012 Is it still? . . .  makes the viewer feel? Is it the exhibition space? Is it the viewer? Anselm Kiefer, Wege der Weltweisheit: die Hermanns-Schlacht,  Städel Museum , Germany Is it a masterpiece if it stays in the closet, underneath the bed?  Or hangs in a gallery? Metropolitan Museum of Art,  NYC New Galleries for the Art of the Arab Lands, Turkey, Iran, Central Asia, and Later South Asia Will books, libraries, institutions, ancient cave walls reveal the secrets of what makes a masterpiece or must we find out on our own? Louvr...

Week #10, Class # 20 Fuzziness of Fear, linocut on journal page My journal entry reads, "There are several layers of fear. I didn't realize it until now. Just when I thought I was okay swimming in  9 feet of water, something triggered my fear. Weighing more than I could possibly carry, she suddenly leapt into my stomach, like unexpected bad news when you thought everything was fine.  The fuzziness of fear . . . " 

grandma used to say.  Growing up, I really didn't understand what she meant by this.  It was so complex back then.   etching, handmade paper, graphite, linocut, and thread by Suzanne Coley Another birthday, another year, and the meaning of this saying begins to make sense. Thoughts, those private moments in which we reflect, make sense of things, generate ideas, imagine how things should be, are important. Grandma's "think before you think," was her way of saying you have the power to control not only your behavior, but the thoughts that generate it.

Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be.  Be one. ~Marcus Aurelius

Inspired by the Greek tale of Orpheus and Eurydice,  Orphic Kisses  is an ongoing series that explores passion and love. Orphic Kiss I, the first image of the series based on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice Created with original linocuts, illustrations, collaged papers, graphite and acrylic. Through his mother Calliope, muse of epic poetry, Orpheus inherited the gift of music and verse. With his lyre, he could charm anyone and anything, even birds and the branches that they rested on -- everything. Orphic Kiss II inspired by the passion of Orpheus & Eurydice He fell in love with a beautiful nymph named Eurydice and they quickly married.  On the day of their wedding, it came to light that someone else was captivated by Eurydice's beauty. His name was Aristaeus, and he wanted her.  The chase was on. Detail of Orphic Kiss II (linocuts, acrylic, illustration) Eurydice ran away from Aristaeus, only to get bitten by a serpent and die. Nothing co...

The mind loves the unknown.  It loves images whose meaning is unknown, since the meaning of the mind itself is unknown.     ~ Rene Magritte (1898 - 1967)

Let us never negotiate out of fear.   But let us never fear to negotiate.     John F. Kennedy

A tree produces the same type of leaf year after year.  Yet, each year I see something new. Impressions. . . One-of-a-kind botanical print by Suzanne Coley

When I entered the  National Museum of African Art  to see the  Conversations  exhibition, the sunlit massive atrium promised a religious experience, cautioning me to pause. Photographs were not allowed so I pulled out my sketch book and began to observe and record.  Art by Buce Onobrakpeya, photographed with permission I was curious how the museum's artworks would "read" next to the artworks owned by Camille and Bill Cosby.  What type of experience would this be? Divided into six sections, approximately 100 carefully selected pieces of African artworks were exhibited with 62 pieces of African-American artworks owned by the Cosbys.   Plastograph by Bruce Onobrakpeya It was in the Power and Politics section that I came across some of the most provocative pieces in the show.  Psychologically probing, with historical & political undertones, they seemed to generate more questions than a glance could answer.  Or...