Church of the Air – from Theresa Ann Aleshire Williams

[Thom Courcelle]

Another piece that arrived – first time receiving – from Theresa. 

I am full of admiration for new members like Theresa and like Nancy [Bell Scott]—two who immediately come to mind—who jump with both feet and are able to let loose with such artistic gusto.  It makes me giddily happy to see people like Theresa discover an added dimension to her eloquence through art.  Some might call our predilection and devotion to this particular website as an addiction.  But I prefer to believe that most all IUOMA members are drawn here because IUOMA is like a gravitational sun pulling beings of a higher caliber together.  I mean, really—people have to be pretty darn brilliant to come to the conclusion that art can save the world.  They have to be even smarter to have found the yellow brick road that has brought them to IUOMA.  If only the rest of the world realized what art could do—how compassionate is our communication when expressed by art.  How subtle and deep and broad our meaning when explicated by our colors.  This is a MOVEMENT, and it could change the world. 

 

If you weren’t aware of it previously, Theresa is a lover of the written word.  Lover.  Adorer.  Cult follower.  Supplicant.  Slave.  She really likes literature.  Really.  This limitless passion I exuberantly share with her—as do many folks here in the IUOMA universe.  (We are, as noted previously, an intelligent, well-read bunch.)  Leave it to Theresa to find a literary passage that somehow mirrors the kind of impassioned enthusiasm she has found in the mail art community… A passage by the late bohemian writer and New York Times Book Review editor, Anatole Broyard:

 

“I was once found listening to a radio program that, I believe, was called Negro Church of the Air.  It consisted of a spirited sermon and gospel singing.  During the sermon, there was a man other than the preacher who seconded his statements by crying out, after a particularly telling one, something like, “That’s right!” or, “I knew it’s the truth!”  I always wanted to be that other man.  Lest anybody misunderstand me and suppose that I was indulging a taste for the picturesque, I want to make it plain that I envied, and thrilled to, his conviction—his sense of having heard and grasped the truth.”

 

Broyard was supposedly a great writer of belles lettres, and in his reviews would reference and quote a litany of other historical writers.  Not having a mind for remembering quotations verbatim, this is something I can only aspire to.  But, I am much like Broyard in wanting to loose my spiritual reserve, and filled with the spirit, proclaim and shout when the righteousness of truth enters the house… or my mailbox.

 

Don’t be ashamed to stand and shout, Theresa.  “I knew it’s the truth!... Art saves!”  The mail piece I’m preparing for you had been already in the works when your beautiful piece arrived.  It’ll come soon, and I’m sure these will be the first of many exchanges of our own belles letters.

[Nancy Bell Scott]

Enlightening additions in your comment, Theresa, thank you.

[De Villo Sloan]

Thom, your commentary adds so much to Theresa's thoughtful work. I love "The Church of the Air" and all its associations.

[Paula Brown]

I love the way Thom articulates his heart...........IUOMA brings me such joy!  This truly is a group of generous, deep thinking people who are brave with their Art and I believe, willing to be the change that will make a change in our world!  Outstanding!   

P.S. Good job, Theresa!  Kudos to us all!

[Nancy Bell Scott]

art slaves! :-DDD

[1cgqtuoblpeqc]

ART SLAVES

[1cgqtuoblpeqc]

thom's blog posts are !!!!

[Nancy Bell Scott]

Really great post, Thom, thank you, and who wouldn't approve, with your calling everyone here brilliant. More than acceptable. I don't know how Theresa will feel about "cult follower" and "slave," but she'll have to be brave and accept that those names sometimes come with certain kinds of love.

ART SAVES is giving me ideas for more bumperstickers.

[1cgqtuoblpeqc]

i like to think of it as yet another social networking playspace.

 

people who simplify social networks as bad addictions are off base, IMHO;

the whole "group mind" thing fascinates me, how we don't really think by ourselves anymore -

as long as we are open with our ideas, and share them - they pass right through

the wires and get disbursed for anyone to pick up and play with;

in real time.