When asked, “What kind of flower are you?” because I have whimsical friends and coworkers who insisted on so-called “icebreaker” questions, I used to give the same answer: a single red rose - clean, pristine, rich in color, associated with romance and carefully cultivated perfection. And while I am still fond of a red rose, lately I have been returning to the wild places within myself, the ones that grew before all of life’s well-intentioned but not always wise gardeners came

Michelangelo’s Pieta. Bernini’s St. Theresa in Ecstasy. The colonnade of St. Peter’s Square. These are a few of the most iconic examples of the Catholic Church’s rich history of patronage of the arts in service of the divine. Seen as not only beneficial but necessary for worship, artwork continues to be a cornerstone of Catholic ritual. It is the ultimate expression of the idea that to create as humans is to co-create with God in an echo of His mighty works which brought our

Reclaiming Nativeness in the Realm of Nerd-dom Read Part I here. To see illustrations of the works discussed below, visit Kristina Maldonado Bad Hand's portfolio here. Kristina Maldonado Bad Hand. Image courtesy of RedLine Contemporary Art Center in Denver, CO where she is a current Artist in Residence. In her still-in-progress series appropriately titled Indigenous Fairy Tales, Indigenous artist Kristina Maldonado Bad Hand “matches up” various European fairy tales with their

Reclaiming Nativeness in the Realm of Nerd-dom Kristina Maldonado Bad Hand. Image courtesy of RedLine Contemporary Art Center in Denver, CO where she is a current Artist in Residence. If asked that age-old question, “what is art?” many would conjure up images of gilt-framed oil paintings or white marble sculptures. Those inclined towards the contemporary might picture more unconventional installations, like a dead shark floating in formaldehyde. But few would think of the glo

"Tuba City Spaceport," Ryan Singer, 2011. Acrylic on canvas, 30" x 40". Image courtesy of CBC Radio. An adobe building stands out in the middle of the landscape with a sign proclaiming it to be the Tuba City Trading Post in Arizona. People bring their wagons with goods to trade or buy and tie their animals up outside the store. Light, fluffy clouds sweep across the bright blue sky as the sun beats down upon the red clay earth of the American Southwest. But this is not the lan

In Revolt 1680/2180: Runners + Gliders, Virgil Ortiz continues telling his stunning, multi-year futurist narrative that builds on Native American history, time travel, and the power of resilience. Not many students learn about the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 in their grade school classes but in Ortiz’s words, it’s the first American Revolution. The Spanish began to colonize Mexico in the 1500s and steadily made their way up to present-day Southwest America. In 1680, led by powerful