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War as Love:
How the Mystic's Quest has been Co-opted to Sell War
Peace and Justice Studies Association Conference,
Elizabethtown University, Elizabethtown, PA,
September 29, 2007
"....Perhaps it should come as no surprise that war and the mystic's quest are conflated in popular culture, the media and politicians' hushed and earnest tones. After all, if you are asking young men (and more recently, woman) to sacrifice themselves to safeguard the status quo, a pretty powerful sales job is called for. And what greater inducement can there be for an action than the love of god, and perhaps even a promise of eternal life?...."
Machiavellian Resistance
Rethinking Resistance 2007 Conference,
Emory University, Atlanta, GA, March 31, 2007
"Perhaps the greatest single roadblock between resistance activists
and more successful interventions are our own misguided "good" intentions.
These stop those working for the common good from using methods perfected
by those in power to disseminate their ideas, fearing that by doing so, they
will be "copping out," or using immoral practices...."
Painting as Prayer: Artistic Process as Mystical Exploration
"Robert & Elizabeth Johnson Professorship in Leadership "lecture
series
Franklin College, Franklin, IN, March 15, 2007
"The great contemporary British painter Frank Auerbach said: "Real
artistic style is not donning a mantle or having a program; it’s how
one behaves in a crisis." A truly personal artistic vision cannot grow
out of a search among the known and easy to understand symbols awash in the
general culture; it is into the crisis that an artist must plunge to achieve
visionary worth...."
The Artist as Shaman in an Age of Uncertainty
Southeast College Art Conference,
Nashville, TN, October 26, 2006
"...We live in a time of desperate uncertainty and
unbounded possibility. The religious structures that have provided vessels
for our spirituality, as well as structures of explicit existential meaning
for the members of each religious tribe, have been slowly crumbling for more
than three centuries. The resulting insecurity has often left us — humanity
— feeling alone, adrift and afraid, or scurrying unthinkingly towards the
apparent safety of traditional and even fundamentalist religious institutions..."
Art Activism Beyond Oppositionality — Prophetic Activist
Art:
International Peace Research Association biennial
conference,
Calgary, Canada, July 2, 2006
"A new activist art must grow out of ideas of the 60s - but not the
1960s, the 1260s. It was during this time period, sunk now in the dim past
of human history, that developed a profound new conception of prophecy that
is far more
relevant to contemporary activist artists than the 'shock' ideas of the
1960s. Certainly,
all activist artists view themselves as prophets, but the conception of
prophecy itself must be understood in the medieval sense: it is in these
prophetic models
that contemporary activist artists will find their inspiration...."
Speech at Model UN in conjunction
with the UNESCO Center
for Peace:
Hood College, Frederick, MD, March 11, 2006:
"...My Human Rights Painting Project, in conjunction with Amnesty International,
uses a series of portraits that I have painted of human rights figures
from around the world to raise issues of human rights, spread the word about
the
good work
of Amnesty International and show how human rights concerns plague all
of us. None of us is immune from the need to safeguard human rights for all
in our
country - and
each of us has a responsibility to ensure that all people's rights are
respected all of the time...."
Speech in conjunction with the UNESCO Center
for Peace on United
Nations Day
Hood College, Frederick, MD, October 24, 2005
"...It was Zeno, the 3rd century B.C. Greek philosopher, who gave form
to the vision of a world which should be a single global community of humankind,
'in which all humans should be members one of another, citizens of one state
without
distinction of race or institutions.' It would take more than 2000 years
for this vision to be imagined as a legal entity, with the creation of the
League
of Nations after World War I. Today's
United Nations, the heritor of this impetus, is the largest and most powerful
international body in the history of humankind that has grown out of Zeno's
vision of a single global community...."
Speech at the Phillips Museum
Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, PA, September 22, 2005
"It is an honor to be showing my work in conjunction with the Eyes Wide
Open exhibit, sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee, opening
tomorrow.
In culture where "Radical Peace Group" is a pejorative term; where showingthe
true cost of war in the mainstream media is considered 'unpatriotic,' the Eyes
Wide Open exhibit, which brings true cost of war to the general public, is
absolutely incontrovertible...."
Speech at the Symposium with Drs. Saperstein and Nasr
George Washington University, Washington D.C., November 11, 2004
"...In a general sense, this next couple of hours represents one of
my highest aspirations as an artist: that my visual work will spur the coming
together
of scholars, students and others to see relationship between Muslims and
Jews in a fresh and more positive light. This is my goal, to move the ideas
of peace
and understanding that underpin my artwork outside of the narrow confines
of the art world, and to a more general audience...."
Speech at opening of Shalom/Salaam: The Untold Story of a Mystical
Entanglement
George Washington University, Washington D.C., September 9, 2004
"...I have no doubt that the answer to the conundrum that is the current
Middle East situation does not lie in this room, as represented by my art
show.
Art can be a gentle lover, but it is no miracle worker .However, there are
definite
things that an art project such as this can offer by way of an impetus
for peace, and by providing a fresh manner in which to
view the relations between Muslims and Jews, Israelis and Palestinians.
And it is my hope that by adding this voice to the cacophony surrounding
the situation
in the Middle East, I can help move the conversation towards the positive - and
away from the energy that drives the current war...."
Speech at inaugural exhibit of the Human Rights Painting Project
AFL-CIO Headquarters, Washington D.C., April 9, 2002
"...As I've painted these figures over the past few years, living with
some of the individuals for months, I have at times been overwhelmed by sadness - distressed
at our ability to mistreat persons due to their principles. But even more
than this sorrow, I have grown increasingly impressed not only by these people's
fortitude, but also by their importance - for all of us...."
Speech to the Overseas Chinese Democracy Coalition's 4th Annual
Conference
Washington D.C., January 26, 2002
"...It is not an exaggeration to say that at times I have felt physically
ill when I read the stories of 12 year-old boys being beaten or of beautiful
young
women having their lives stripped from them for no greater offense than desiring
to learn to read and write. I have tried to channel these intense feelings
into the paintings themselves, making them testaments to the memories of these
unknown heroes...."
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