janet st. john

Sheri Hoeger. Building Their Lives. From A Touch of Hands series. “16 x 20”. Oil. 2016. Sheri Hoeger Fine Art: https://www.facebook.com/SheriHoegerArt/ What does it take to build a life? She clutches tight to M. Their union, some bond. Dependence. Codependence. Love. Trust. He offers A. Absence, adultery, abandonment? Any of the above? His hands are open because he doesn’t worry. He’s a white man in a white world, or at least a white-dominated country. Plus, he has a letter u

Wearing Blanket. 1860–70. Navajo. Wool. H. 69 x W. 48 x D. 69 in. (175.3 x 121.9 x 175.3 cm). The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Bequest of Nelson A. Rockefeller. Courtesy The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Open Access. Tight Weave Hills at my back; dome sky; sun rays through slits of mouth-shut fingers, hand raised to shade eyes. I live here, in this alive place. This place lives in me. I wear it like my tunic or cloak, pull it closed around me. It is life, what I

Francesco Paolo. Italian, 1851 – 1929. A Hillside Path with Blooming Cherry Trees under an Overcast Sky. 1905. Pastel, charcoal, and stumping with touches of gouache on blue paper laid down on card sheet: 30.1 × 44.5 cm (11 7/8 × 17 1/2 in.) Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington Pink popcorn blossoms Punctuating beige-grey day Strip of light beyond If the image or words inspire you to write or create something, please share writing or jpeg in th

Henry Peach Robinson. British, 1830 – 1901. She Never Told her Love 1857. Albumen print from a wet collodion negative. Photograph. 17.8 x 21.8 cm (7 x 8 9/16 in.) Paul Mellon Fund. Open Access. Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington She Never Told Her Love She held it inside like the pit of some fruit, no chance to ripen. At a lunch party, Helen met Miranda. While they spoke of the fine day, the hostess’s lovely home, Helen sensed disinterest in the delicate woman, tire

Irises. Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853 - 1890). Saint-Rémy, France. 1889. Oil on canvas. 74.3 × 94.3 cm (29 1/4 × 37 1/8 in.) Courtesy J. Paul Getty Museum Open Content Program Memory Is Organic Early warmth urged green-fingered hands up from soil. Iris bulbs driven by need to resurrect, unbury what had been blacked out beneath the surface until strong sun penetrated, woke them. When the irises flower this March, I will resist mind-seeing my friend and mentor again, one year s

In an era when the arts and arts education are in jeopardy, it feels like a small act of resistance not only to support the arts with dollars, attendance, teaching, and respect of artists’ rights, but also to keep making art and instigating conversations about the arts in the public sphere. To me, using our imaginations, minds, hearts, souls to create and manifest ideas in whatever artistic form of expression deeply reveals us and our times matters, a lot. Especially now, I w