“You are in the right place.”

Jun 29

My first day home a solitary green heron came to visit. We got to watch his stillness and stealth for the longest time, while our fish stayed safe beneath the water lilies.

I have been in so many places the last six weeks, from the Alabama shore, to New Mexico, to Berlin, to Basel and a little village in France. My head is bursting with ideas. I won’t explain my dream (from the title) to you just now, but the woman who appeared in it assured me: you are in the right place. Wherever I am, when I remember this, along with bless everything that happens so more of the right thing will happen — the space opens and I have freedom of movement. Of course I only remember this when I have gotten stuck somewhere….

I want to show you work from a few of the students in Taos, New Mexico and at the Akademie der Kunst in Berlin:

*Mari Emily Bohley making a brush stroke in the “painting corner” of our classroom at Akademie der Künste overlooking the Brandenburg Gate in Pariser Platz, Berlin.*

*Book page | ink and watercolor |* ©Gertrud Ziegelmeir | Berlin, Germany

*Watercolor, gouache and ink |* ©Nancy Orr | Taos, New Mexico.

At the end of our class in Berlin, one of the students said it’s not the work that I did that matters most, it is what happened in the room. This means so much to me. If I were a musician, I would describe it like Debussy: Music is the space between the notes. It isn’t the notes that make a piece what it is, but the journey between them. Beauty requires emptiness to be seen or felt or even discovered. Creating a structure for contemplative emptiness is the most important thing I can put in the room. There is power in letting go of what we know, and experimenting — feeling for the sound of genuine, for what wants to come.

*Book case and book page |* ©Andreas Stoffels | Berlin

*White gouache and watercolor on black paper |* ©Jasna Wittman

*Book page | China marker and ink | ©*Denise Lach | Berlin

*Book covers | ink, china marker, acrylic, and watercolor on Arches Cover, cream.*
©Roz Barhaugh (left) and ©Katie Barnes (right) | Taos

*Book cover | graphite and white gouache on Arches Cover, black |* ©Antje Glashagen-Stuck | Berlin

*Color study |* ©Birgit Nass | (left) *Book case |* ©Ziad Sheno (right) | Berlin

My class was inspired by the work of Hans-Joachim Burgert, a sculptor, painter, poet, calligrapher and writer of music. I discovered him many years ago, like other things in my life, by “accident”. I didn’t know for the longest time whose calligraphy it was I was carrying in my pocket with such admiration. I also didn’t know that he wrote music. Here is the organ he played with its hand-painted panels:

*Hans-Joachim Burgert’s organ with his hand painted panels, in the studio of his son, Jonas Burgert*

Teaching at the Akademie was an honor which came from the grant I received from The Great Meadows Foundation last year to see their collection. Teaching there allowed students to see original work and handmade and printed books from Hans-Joachim Burgert and other artists and calligraphers.

*For years I carried around Hans-Joachim Burgert’s lettering as an example, not knowing who it belonged to or where it came from.* ©Hans-Joachim Burgert

My trip was full of surprises…one of the best ones was the invitation to meet Jonas Burgert in his studio. This is where I discovered the organ. He is the son of Hans-Joachim, and after many years of struggle as an artist, has been discovered. None of my photos of his studio, which is a large compound, convey the immensity, complexity and genuineness of his work.