This morning we picked up breakfast sandwiches and coffee and headed over to Savannah’s beautiful Bonaventure Cemetery for a forenoon (Isn’t that a cool word?) picnic.
Walking afterwards, we came across her …
“What’s going on here?” I quietly asked.
(I had to repeat my question several times before she answered me.)
I had to lean in to hear her.
“Angeling is hard work.”
I simply nodded and motioned for Robert to soundlessly move along.
Today Robert and I visited the Walter Museum of Art in Baltimore. Our favorite exhibit was one called “Saint Amelie.”
SAINT AMELIE
Kehinde Wiley (American, born 1977), 2014
Saint Amelie is one of a series of twelve freestanding stained glass panels by Kehinde Wiley that depict contemporary portraits of young Black residents of Brooklyn, New York. It mirrors the form, composition, figural pose, and framing of historic stained glass windows from the medieval and Renaissance periods, and specifically a window titled Saint Amelie by the French Neoclassical painter Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780-1867).
Wiley honors his subject, Kern Alexander, whom he used as a model in multiple works, by depicting him in a context traditionally reserved for Christian saints and religious contemplation.
Like much in Wiley’s work, Saint Amelie explores the invisibility of Black people within the traditional art historical canon.
Hand-painted stained glass, mounted on lightbox with aluminum frame.
A beautiful exhibit!
Marveling this morn, thinking back on the church Robert and I walked past on a walk near our Airbnb in the Riverside neighborhood of Jacksonville over the weekend.
It’s Romanesque and Byzantine architecture first caught our eyes. But then the large sign out front sparkled in joyfully inclusive welcome.
Look closer …
Thank you, Riverside. You are a Marvel.
I love this current liturgical season of Lent on the Christian calendar. For me, it’s a time to calm down, quiet down, and reflect before the exuberant excitement of Easter.
For the four Wednesdays before Palm Sunday, the church that Robert and I attend, Asbury Memorial here in Savannah, holds brief and beautifully simple Taize services.
“The Taizé prayer service is from an interfaith community founded in Taizé, France in 1940. A Taizé service provides a meditative style of song and prayer known for its simplicity and focus on Christ. Today the Taizé community comprises those of Catholic and Protestant backgrounds from regions around the globe. At a Taizé service we pray as we sing, as we reflect on the Scripture reading, as we sit in silence, and as we offer our prayers to Christ.” jaxcathedral.org
Whatever your belief, or lack of, may Peace be your Portion at this time of year.
Here is a neat article with more info about Taize, if you are in the slightest bit interested …
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/trevin-wax/a-look-at-the-taize-community/?amp
Yes!
Here’s the article …
https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/12/sport/taghi-askar-100-year-old-diver-spt-intl?cid=ios_app
So yesterday, Robert and I sashayed over to the Telfair Museums here in Historic District Savannah. (Yes, it’s plural—there are three separate buildings and locations.) One of the joys of living downtown is its walkability. (Is that a word, or did I just make it up?)
I wanted to see one of the newer and smaller exhibits at the Jepson Center.
I have always considered birds to be the personification of elegance and upper echelon beauty.
I was enthralled.
… from a January Savannah camellia and me.
NealEnJoy 