After a tumultuous week at the day job, I’m on break for a few days. If you’ve been reading Splendor for any length of time at all, you know that I’m a big proponent of the necessity of breaks. I think Americans would greatly benefit from flipping the order of “work/life balance” to put the important word first. And I know that there is no gold star at the end of our time here on this planet, so you might as well enjoy the ride and make the effort to improve the state of the world into which you’re born.
All that to say that I expect to slothily recharge over the next week or so – I’ve got good books to read, good movies on my list, recipes to try, a puzzle edged out, and several watercolor projects to bring into being. If the weather holds, there may be a good hike or bike ride. And I’m using a Christmas gift from my Beloved to have quite a treat day partway through the week. It’s not quite the “Golden Ticket” break from last year (that truly was an adventure – click here to read a bit about that!), but I expect that it’s going to be lovely.
Things kicked off last night with my Beloved and I taking a short drive up to the Hickory Museum of Art to attend the opening of two incredible exhibits of Native American works. The first, “I Am – Indigenous Ancestral Memory” by Virgil Ortiz, is a new chapter in Ortiz’s ongoing saga reimaging the 1680 Pueblo Revolt (an event that was never covered in my history classes) through a wildly creative fusion of traditional pottery techniques in large-scale pieces, melded with immersive film and sound.
The Ortiz exhibit takes up two floors of the museum, while the third floor exhibit is devoted to the pottery works of the Catawba Nation. The Catawba are a small tribe – they were very nearly wiped out in the 19th century and their story of how they regained federal recognition as a people is a tale filled with adventure, daring, and subversion. They are a matrilineal people and the lineage of master potters only rarely included men in the history of the Nation. (But when the Nation was in danger of extinction – well, needs must and men are among master potters of the Nation today.) The exhibit is beautifully designed to emphasize the Catawba as “People of the River” and blends photography, storytelling, and pottery.
The reception was joyful, the work is thought-provoking, and I need to return (the exhibit runs through August) to take it all in at my own pace. And it’s free!
I encourage you to include museums in your regular self-care routines. Picasso once said that “art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life” and oh, how true it is! (Yes, in his personal life, Picasso was a terror. The statement is still true.) Seek out your local museum, whether it’s devoted to local artists, local history, or some weird quirk your town is known for. (The internet can be a wonderful place for this sort of thing. Just in NC, I can find all SORTS of things!) Go. Wander. Ask yourself what you think of what you’re seeing – and really think about the answers.
Expand your mind, Divas, and watch yourself bloom!
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