The Bricks Of Love – a song

I haven’t written a story since last weekend. I’ve been very busy. I taught my first art class of the season on Thursday afternoon at the Montessori House of Children. I have nothing but extremely joyous memories from that afternoon. I am hoping to be able to share some of those photographs in the near future. The students were amazing and so darn smart – sometimes they would think that their silly answer would just receive giggles and laughs and they were all surprised when I would express how I thought that they were very smart to have thought of such a creative answer. Indeed, this is how I truly felt – I was impressed!

I’ll talk a bit more ‘bout that at a later entry. I’m very excited and want to get to the meat of this entry – like now!

I have been e-communicating with Jan from the London Music Club…
http://www.londonmusicclub.150m.com/
… for a week or so – discussing opportunities to hang my art works at the club. I had been in, once before, and it’s a really nice venue – very cozy and intimate – super chill and joyous!!! The walls are filled with – musically minded – art and I wanted to be a part of it. Jan was happy to offer me space to hang one painting and then I had a cool idea…

I have permission to display the artworks that are created in my classes – until April – and I thought that an ever-changing art hanging (changing the paintings every month) would be a good thing. Jan agreed – she loved the idea of highlighting a new set of art, created by the youth of the community, that recognized environmental concerns. We made plans to meet last evening and I was to bring in a painting. I took ‘Earth Angel’…

http://bitsandpeaces08.blogspot.com/2008/07/earth-angel.html

… and my guitar – it was open mic night!

Jan warned me that things might be running a little late because of the Barney Bentall concert. Cool!!! I took a dozen stik-ers to give to him for his guitar cases and a small print of my artwork – actually, this is my only print of an artwork that I did not paint – my students painted it. Barney held it up while Joanne took our picture. I think that he thought it was pretty cool for someone to give him a little present – for the one hour autograph session he had with everyone!

http://bitsandpeaces08.blogspot.com/2008/07/and-band-plays-on-newsarticle.html

We were allowed into the hall where he had performed – after the show. We couldn’t hear the show – we were in another space with other musicians so I can’t comment on that at all. I will comment on what I saw while I waited to meet him – he seems like a really nice guy – very open to all sorts of different people, friendly and patient – definitely relaxed.

As mentioned, while Barney’s concert was in progress, Jo’ and I were in a different area and there were a few people enjoying taking turns playing the guitar. I accepted each time it was offered – I played a couple of one and half minute long ditties. I was more interested in listening to their songs. Everyone that played was really, really amazing and it was a lot of fun to listen and participate – a little…

Later, it was time to start the open mic. I was third up. I had no fear cuz I knew that I was going to make a few mistakes, the previous players had made a few mistakes - I was in good company! No one seemed to care is you missed a word or slipped a chord – it made everything a bit more enjoyable – the performers gave a silly grin, the audience laughed and then on with the show. I really enjoyed myself.

Now – I’m not the greatest guitar player in the world…(silent pause)… and suddenly I had an even more difficult situation to deal with. I was playing someone else’s guitar. It was a bit uncomfortable around my shoulders – the strap that is, it felt different in my hands and holy man was it loud. I’m used to pounding on my guitar to make it loud and now I was constantly readjusting my self – once or twice, tho’, I hit that bass string pretty hard and it really let out a deep moan!

We all played three songs. I began with a 2 ½ minute instrumental entitled ‘World On A Chain’. I like to dream of one day making an album and this instrumental will be the first song on Side B and also the title of the album. The cover artwork it already sketched out… My second song was ‘The Bricks Of Love’ and I ended – with audience support – with a shortened version of ‘The Turtle Song’.

The Bricks Of Love

We’ll always reap the seeds we sow
When we’re layin’ down the bricks
Layin’ down the bricks
Our love will shine when it’s peace we grow
Yea! We’re layin’ down the bricks
Layin’ down the bricks

Hope is………
Mortar……….

The road we rode quickly turned asunder
And now we’re frightened
By the rain and by the thunder!

We’ll build a house for the world to share
When we’re layin’ down the bricks
Layin’ down the bricks
With no more crying or despair
Yea! We’re layin’ down the bricks
Layin’ down the bricks

Hope is………
Mortar……….

The road we rode cracked, split and fell away
And now we’re building
Towards a better way!

We’ll clean our windows so that we can see
All the love and joy that’s still to be
We’ll open all our doors and let the good spirits in
Then we’ll dance and sing – Yea! Rise above the din

Hope is………
Mortar……….

Layin’ down the bricks
Layin’ down the bricks
…fade

Jim Kogelheide
May 2008

So… I finished my set and sat back in the audience. Joanne told me that I sounded pretty good and that I was quite entertaining. I had a great time!

The next act was really serious about open mic night. They set up a drum kit, and a keyboard, with a third singer. They were quite entertaining as well.

Joanne had to work this morning so we left soon after this performance. All in all a very productive and enjoyable day. Who says ‘You can’t mix business with pleasure’? I’m always grateful that my business is my true pleasure!

Jim

Rubber Trees

Last weekend, Joanne and I had a bit of a soggy camping experience at the Pinery Campgrounds. To keep the chill of the damp rain away we had ourselves a nice warm fire. It was my job to get all the wood ready and this was very difficult because I had forgotten to bring my axe. Joanne suggested that I simply knock the trees down using my thick head… so I tried.



I soon discovered that the trees of this region of Southern Ontario must be made of rubber!!!

Jim

My Home

I’ve been sharing many stories about my upcoming ‘Art For Earth’ workshops over the last while, but today I want to introduce yet another art workshop that I’ll be working on over the next three month with another London school.

Last spring, I was meeting with many school principals to promote my ‘Art For Earth’ workshops and those efforts led me to the Montessori School. Kristen (the vice-head of the school) told me that although my workshops had great value as a teaching tool, she wouldn’t be able to accommodate my program into their curriculum. However, she quickly continued, she wanted me to think about setting up a different art program that would fit into their curriculum. How could I say no!

I was very pleased with her enthusiasm and I thought that this outcome was even better than what I was hoping for. Now, instead of teaching at just three London schools, I’ll be teaching at four.

We began to talk about ideas for these art workshops.

I wanted to create a series of paintings that would teach the students the value of contributing their efforts to organizations in the community; organizations that help to create a positive community environment. Who should we choose to donate these paintings to: the London hospital, the local food bank, women’s abuse shelters…??? There are so many organizations that benefit our community in so many ways.

I decided to contact Habitat For Humanity.
http://habitat.london.on.ca/

Habitat For Humanity has just begun the construction of four new homes, here in London. They build these homes for people who have many challenges to face in their lives who are unable to afford the cost of buying a home (after this project is done I’m going to ask them to build a house for me!!! LOL!) By the time these four homes are finished, my students will have also completed four original canvases to be donated to these homes for the new owners.

Kristen and I and Julie (from HFH) are very pleased with this idea.

Because of the work the HFH does I thought that the focus for discussion during these classes and the theme for the paintings should be ‘My Home’.

During the first class we will be understanding the importance of ‘home’ in many different ways. First we’ll simply talk about the homes that we all live in: houses, apartments, condos, etc. Then we’ll talk about how our environment plays a crucial role in determining what kind of homes we build. We’ll talk about how the Inuit used to build their homes using tundra moss and whale bones. Then we’ll journey to the Amazon where people live in straw houses perched on poles.

The discussions will then navigate to realizing how fortunate we are, in London to have good quality housing, by comparing ourselves to others who are less fortunate: refugees without homes (struggling daily to find food and shelter as they flee war zones or environmental disasters) and people living in poverty with families of ten living in a one room box made of scrap metal, infested with fleas and rats.

These lessons will allow the students to realize how fortunate we all are and how it is our duty (and hopefully privilege) to strive towards making this world a better place for everyone. They will learn about positive action and expression. Their expression and thoughts will become the paintings and their action will be donating these works to our own community. With the support of the local media the students will learn that by sharing experiences with others, more people may become inspired to share similar thoughts leading to positive action.

All of this is just the introduction to the workshop. Now, we need to focus on what we will be creating…

I came up with an interesting idea. I’ve prepared two assignment work sheets with eight small boxes on them. The assignment is called ‘Where You Are’. I ask the students to answer this question and in the first box they are to draw a simple ‘thumbnail’ sketch to illustrate their answer. The answer is: I am in a classroom. In the second box I will ask them to draw a thumbnail sketch of where their classroom is: My classroom is in a school. And to continue… My school is in London, Ontario. London is in Southern Ontario. Southern Ontario is in Canada. Canada is a part of the Earth. The Earth is a planet in our solar system. Our solar system is surrounded by many other solar systems. Thousands of solar systems create the Milky Way Galaxy. The students will create eight different sketches to illustrate these points.

This exercise is designed to give the students a deeper understanding of what our home really is. They will appreciate that our home is not simply the dwelling we live in but the planet we live on and the universe that we exist in.

Now for the canvas…

Each of these workshops will have eight students participating. I had to come up with an idea that would allow eight students to paint on one canvas at the same time. This will be very challenging. I decided to divide the canvas into four equal sections and then divide the eight students into four groups of two with each group working on one area of the canvas. From the eight thumbnail sketches the students will choose their favourite four and these four images will then be painted on the canvas.


Wheeew!!! I’m a little exhausted after just describing the class.

Because this concept is to be repeated in each of the four classes that have been set up I needed to think of a way to make each canvas unique. I did not want to end up with four canvases that looked the same. I decided that I would also teach the students about the uses of colour focussing on the grey scale and monochromatic rendering. Simply, one of the canvases will be painted in many shades of blue while the others will be shades of green, orange and purple. Plus, each class may choose a different group of four images to paint, from the eight thumbnail sketches.

I’ll be teaching these classes every Thursday afternoon starting next week, until the middle of December. I just finished prepping the first canvas last night at around 3am.

I can’t wait!!!

Jim

Earthday 2006

Near the end of March 2006, I received a phone call from my friend Denise. Denise and I first met when I was planning my 2004-05 Art For Earth workshops. She works at a local Conservation Authority preparing outreach environmental programs for local elementary schools and she was delighted to be one of my guest speakers. It had been about six months since we had last spoken when my phone rang.

Denise wanted to know what my plans were for that year’s Earthday. She was surprised when I told her that this was the first Earthday in about seven years when I had made no plans. I was working full time and the remainder of my time was spent preparing for my upcoming trip to Rankin Inlet, Nunavut. She asked if I’d like to put together a one-day art class to be taught at the Lower Thames Conservation Authority. The LTCA had organized an Earthday event with many different activities and I would be one of these activities. Of course, I said yes!

Earthday arrived and so did I, with a blank canvas and a lot of paints and brushes. When people arrived at my event station I put them to work. We were creating a painting of the Earth, moon and sun using a pointillism technique.

At the end of the day the painting was completed. Now, I had a small problem… what was I going to do with this painting? I have a history of donating my artworks to community organizations and the next day I was talking with someone from the London Sick Children’s Hospital. Later that afternoon, I arrived to donate this painting to the hospital. It was agreed that this painting would be hung somewhere in the children’s ward to add a bit of bright colour for the children that were receiving medical treatment. I found out that a year later it was used in a fundraising event and that the money went towards some needed care equipment.


I shared this story with Denise and we were both very happy that our small effort was able to contribute towards a significant purpose.

+ + + +

When each person finished their turn at working on this painting I gave them some of my peace stik-ers and one on my art prints. On the back of the prints I tape photocopies of news articles talking about my adventures in art or a poem I have written.

About three weeks after this event I found a letter in my mailbox. It was from a mother who had brought her daughter to the painting session. This letter put a very big smile on my face.

The mother and daughter had come to the event to learn more about ways they could help protect our environment. They had a great time helping me with my painting. The mother thanked me for the gift of art that I had given to them. She told me that later that evening her daughter had noticed the poem on the back of the print. She shared with me that my poem had brought a tear to her eye. She told me that my poem had given her a deeper understanding of what it means to “be a part of this great mystery” and that her heart was newly awakened to realize that humans have a greater destiny than “slaving ourselves to the corporate giants that are destroying our world”.

This is the poem that was taped to the back of the art print that I had given her:

PEACE – FIRE
(Thoughts For The New Millennium)

This world has changed in so many ways
Restructuring continental shifts
Each movement can be measured in days
Rising mountains create musical rifts

The tides of time ebb and flow
Harmonizing universal rapture
Filling the spaces between the flowers that grow
If only my imagination could capture
The heartbeat
The pulse
The vibrations that liberate
Tearing body from mind from mesmerizing state
Then – maybe – I’d know that it is not yet too late
To build a guild
And have the whole world celebrate
A peace-fire

This world is changing
Though we’re feeling quite blasé
For history walks a slow line forward
Never forgetting a single grave
The old, the young
The guilty and the framed
The trees, the rivers and the poison
The fish, the bugs and those who don’t feel the need to explain
About our home
Our Earth
Being a garden mausoleum

Though cycles revolve and species evolve
And life is always as it would
Does this dissolve
Us from trying really hard
To create a peace-fire
Uniting all humanhood
With no more hatred, no more greed
Let’s share with each other and make amends
For when it is time to plant tomorrow’s love seed
We’ll need all to lend their helping hands.

Jim Kogelheide
1999

I use my artwork to share these similar thoughts with the world and it brings a tear to my eye when I realize that someone understands me.

Jim

Art For Earth – 2003

During the Autumn of 2003 Joanne and I were living in Nova Scotia so that I could continue working on my national art project entitled: Canada Glorious To Be.
http://www.bitsandpeaces.com/Canglointro01.htm

I had read in a local Wolfville newspaper that there was going to be an art auction fundraising event for the local theatre. I thought that it would be fun to get a few student artists together to create an artwork for this event. A nearby art studio helped me find these young artists and another friend helped out, as well. Her name is Mary and we worked together at a local nightclub. I was the bartender and sometimes DJ and Mary was the cook. On Sundays, Mary and I would sing a few songs together during our karaoke nights. Link to photo:
http://bitsandpeaces08.blogspot.com/2008/07/great-weekend.html

It was a great way to spend the day. We got together before noon and just five hours later our painting was finished.

The local paper heard about this effort and a small story appeared in the next week’s edition.

The night of the art auction finally arrived and the young artists were super happy about the whole thing. They had come with their parents to show off their work and we all enjoyed all the other art that was there to help a community organization. The parents had expressed the joy that this whole experience had brought to their children.

My favourite part of the whole night was the chocolate fountain. The event had been catered with lots of other yummy hors d’oeuvres, but you could not drag me away from the chocolate fountain. It was the first time that I had ever seen one so I made the most of it with: strawberries, bananas, specialty cookies and lots of other items that tasted great with warm melted chocolate dripped of them.

Oh my! My mouth is watering just thinking about it!

Jim

September Exhibition

This exhibition is hanging in the Masonville Library until the end of this month. All the art works have been created over the last thirteen years, including pen & ink drawings, paper collage works as well as canvas paintings.

Until next August, this collection will be travelling to different locations throughout London. What I’m excited about is showing some brand new paintings – each month – as this tour progresses. Now – I’m not going to be showing any of my new paintings, but the paintings that are to soon be created by the students that I will soon be teaching. Soon, there will be paintings of turtles, butterflies, trees and many other subjects. Have you noticed how I keep emphasizing the word ‘soon’ – my classes start in two weeks and I’m super anxious to start!

The arrangement that I have with the schools that I’ll be teaching at is quite simple: at the end of the school year the schools can either keep the paintings for permanent display at the school or they will be used at school fundraising events. After the spring of 2009 I may never see these paintings again… so it will be my great pleasure to share this art with Londoners during my tour!

Here is one of the paintings that you will find if you drop by the library this month.

SPIRIT NEVER DIES

During the winter of 2004, my wife and I were living in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. The coming summer was being prepared to celebrate the history of the first settlers of this province. “Acadie 300” was the name of the celebration to recognize the Acadians and their 300 year history. A neighbouring village was completing the construction of a brand new museum for this reason. They organized a National art contest to award the winner the opportunity to paint a large mural within the museum. When I heard about this event I became very excited and immediately I began to sketch ideas for my submission. Soon enough, I learned that I would not be a finalist in this competition. Months later, my wife and I were preparing to return home to London. After we were settled I had time to listen to the nagging that I heard in the back of my mind, telling me to bring my ideas for this celebration to life. This painting was created to honour the memory of the early settlers and the memory of our two and a half year stay in Nova Scotia.

In 1755 a war broke out on the seas and land of Nova Scotia. Both the British and French wanted this beautiful land of farmfields, forests and lakes for their own. Armies were sent throughout this land to gather all the Acadian settlers onto boats to be deported to the Americas. Families were torn apart and many people died of disease during the harsh winters. Many years later, some survivors returned only to find that their lives had been changed into stories in the history books. This painting tells their story.

A beautiful morning sunrise graces the Atlantic shoreline. Dark clouds of oppression are moving into this region to blot out the sun. In the foreground you will notice a pair of military boots that have been extremely exaggerated in size to symbolize the might of the armies. In the far distance a black ‘snake’ appears to slither throughout the landscape. As this black image reaches the foreground we realize that the ‘snake’ is a line of people as they are gathered and herded towards the shoreline. These are the Acadians. They are painted in black to symbolize oppression and darkness. You will also notice that the ‘snake’ is traced with orange and yellow flames. These flames represent the spirit of the Acadians. Throughout this war the Acadians were able to survive as best as they could because they never gave up hope for a better future as their spirit flames burned brightly. Although their lives were never able to return to what once was the spirit of these people has endured and inspired life for others throughout the new Nova Scotia and into the United States reaching as far as New Orleans.

By reading this story you have proved that with the telling of any great tale the “Spirit Never Dies”.

Jim

Old Dog – New Tricks

Joanne and I know how to have a great time without spending the lots of cash that we don’t have! Monday was such a beautiful day – and hot – so since it was a holiday weekend we decided to go to the beach. We packed a little cooler with fruits, crackers and cheese and made an afternoon of it.

In Southern Ontario, when someone says they are going ‘to the beach’ it could mean one of many. We have Lake Erie to our south, Lake Huron to our west and Georgian Bay to our north. Grand Bend is a very popular place but Jo’ and I have found a few smaller, lesser known beaches that are not swarming with people and condominiums.

The beach, to Koly, means just one thing – rocks! I’ve mentioned in previous blogs, about my dogs desire to clear all rocks out of any water and today was no different. Joanne and I have tried to stop him but it is no use…

After about half and hour, the beach was covered in many piles of rocks.


I challenged Koly and asked him if he could spell his name with the rocks from the lake… and he went straight to work.

Who says, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks”?

Jim