Showing posts with label luke chadwick. Show all posts
Showing posts with label luke chadwick. Show all posts

Thursday, July 21, 2016

Cross Currents: Don't Forget the Water - Salish Sea

by Gregg Chadwick



Gregg Chadwick
Salish Sea
30"x24" oil on linen 2014 

Two years ago on a technicolor blue day, I stood on the deck of the Wenatchee ferry cutting through the choppy sea from Seattle to Bainbridge Island. The vessel was named for the Wenatchi people who originally lived in the shadow of the Columbia and Wenatchee Rivers in Eastern Washington State. We are riding on a ship of memory.



In the Yakama language, wenatchi means "river flowing from canyon." The Wenatchee River was home to a vibrant salmon run prior to the damming of the Columbia River which impeded the salmon's journey. Like the fish, the Wenatchi tribe was also blocked from its ancestral waterways as the US government rounded up the Native Americans in Washington State and collected them in reservations far from their native lands. 



I often think about the rivers, lakes, towns and cities we have named after the original Americans. The absence of most of their culture in our increasingly mini-malled landscape points to the brutal erasure of Indian tribes across the United States. The dominant culture in America seems to continually romanticize, while at the same time ostracizing, the rich history of Native Americans. The writer Sherman Alexie will have none of that, thank you. Alexie grew up on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Wellpinit, Washington before graduating from Washington State University. Alexie is a major player in contemporary writing. His well-received novels, Reservation Blues and Indian Killer helped pave the way for his foray into film with Smoke Signals and The Business of Fancydancing. Alexie writes with courage about his experiences as an Indian in a white culture. Alexie also writes, as Andrea Vogt in Washington State Magazine reported, with "brutal honesty-some might even say disdain-about ignorance, alcoholism, and other problems on the rez."  

The Business of Fancydancing leads Gene Tagaban (Aristotle Joseph), Michelle St. John (Agnes Roth), and Evan Adams (Seymour Polatkin), with writer/director Sherman Alexie.photo by Lance Muresan
Courtesy Washington State Magazine
For Alexie and other Native American activists ignoring the problems exacerbated by systemic racism in the US is out of the question. With that in mind, for over 20 years an annual inter-tribal Canoe Journey has been held on the Salish Sea. The Salish Sea is a 6,500 square mile ecosystem consisting of the Puget Sound Basin (US) and the Georgia Basin (Canada). 
Canoe Journey 2016, Paddle to Nisqually, continues the inter-tribal celebration and annual gathering of Northwest indigenous nations. The website for Paddle to Nisqually goes into great detail about the history and significance of the event:
"Canoe Journey gatherings are rich in meaning and cultural significance. Canoe families travel great distances as their ancestors did and participating in the journey requires physical and spiritual discipline. At each stop, canoe families follow certain protocols, they ask for permission to come ashore, often in their native languages. At night in longhouses there is gifting, honoring and the sharing of traditional prayers, drumming, songs and dances. Meals, including evening dinners of traditional foods, are provided by the host nations.
When Europeans began exploring the region, the tribes were used to meeting and welcoming strangers who arrived by boat. Sadly, the Europeans did not understand the hospitality culture of the coastal tribes as the tribes were displaced over the next two centuries. The canoe culture, as practiced by the Native American tribes of the Pacific Northwest, had all but disappeared until the Canoe Journey events began to grow in the 90’s. Techniques of canoe making and use had largely vanished and fewer and fewer tribal people knew how to pull a traditional canoe. Now...a new tradition is well into the making and a cultural resurgence is underway."
The Salish Sea is a 6,500 square mile ecosystem consisting of the Puget Sound Basin (US) and the Georgia Basin (Canada). 
The theme for this years Canoe Journey is "Don't Forget the Water" in honor of the Nisqually Tribe's Mountain story.  



The Nisqually Tribe finds hope in the annual canoe journey and its focus on community building:
"The Nisqually River Council’s Nisqually Watershed Stewardship Plan (NWSP) recognizes that community wellness is a key component of creating a sustainable watershed. We embrace the people who live in the Nisqually watershed, their sense of identity and responsibility that has existed for generations. Strong communities require, among other things, access to the arts and high community health indicators. Paddle to Nisqually represents a unique opportunity to highlight the many efforts the Nisqually Tribe makes to promote community wellness, including a culture free of drugs and alcohol, access to traditional and healthy foods, and close ties to Nisqually heritage."
Looking back now on that day on the ferry, I see things through the veil of my painting and the complicated history of the region. There is an accumulation of memories gathered in this Salish Sea as the Wenatchee ferry carries its passengers towards their destination. How many canoes over the centuries have traversed this same path?
In my painting Salish Sea, who is the rider on the bow of this ship of memory? 



Gregg Chadwick's Salish Sea is on exhibit at Saatchi Art through September 29, 2016 in the group exhibition Cross Currents. There will be an opening on Thursday, July 21, 2016 from 6-9pm. For more info and to RSVP please visit:  
http://www.eventbrite.com/e/cross-currents-new-works-by-la-artists-presented-by-saatchi-art-tickets-26159942091?aff=fb


CROSS CURRENTS
New Works by Los Angeles Artists 
Saatchi Art, the world's leading online gallery, presents new works in celebration of LA's first citywide Public Art Biennial, Current: LA.
July 21, 2016
6–7pm VIP Preview
7–9pm Public Reception
Featuring special musical guest
POWDERCOAT
1655 26th Street
Santa Monica, CA 90404
RSVP by July 20

CROSS CURRENTS is a new exhibition on view at Saatchi Art in Santa Monica. Curated by Katherine Henning, Associate Curator, and Jessica McQueen, Assistant Curator, the exhibition continues Saatchi Art's series of shows around the world.
The exhibition highlights the work of 14 emerging artists represented by Saatchi Art, the world’s leading online gallery: Gregg Chadwick, Fabio Coruzzi, Charlotte Evans, Art van Kraft, Chase Langford, Koen Lybaert, Lola Mitchell, Harry Moody, Relja Penezic, Kelly Puissegur, Stephen Rowe, Erin Tengquist, Dean West, and Naomi White.
The exhibition is on view from July 21 through September 29, 2016 at Saatchi Art, located at 1655 26th Street, Santa Monica, CA. Gallery hours: Monday through Friday 10am-5pm and Saturday by appointment. Please email to schedule a visit during gallery hours. Gallery contact:curator@saatchiart.com.
All works are on sale at the exhibition and online at Saatchi Art: saatchiart.com/show/cross-currents
#CrossCurrents






Sunday, August 22, 2010

For My Brother: Bruce Springsteen - Spirit in the Night - Live 1973 in Los Angeles





Sometimes music is the balm that soothes our pain. I am remembering my lost nephew Luke one year after his passing and sending musical empathy to my brother Kent Chadwick and his wife Cathy.
Peace

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Spreadsheets Can Save Him

Spreadsheets can save him
by Kent Chadwick

Where’s the pattern? What ratio will show
he’s getting better, that he’ll breathe again
on his own? The ventilator pushes
puffs of warm air through our son’s trachea
every time his brain asks for oxygen,
into his second set of lungs, damaged
too soon by pneumonia, scarred and stiffened.
The machine ka-shooshing eighteen or more
times a minute to make Luke breathe when he
needs, and it graphs his breath, reads his volumes,
scoring the resistance—centimeters
of water pressure—ready to alarm
and warn of dangers, displaying seven
variables in LED orange
with each breath, repeatedly—and I stare.
My hope has fallen to this new machine,
that maybe, maybe its gentler aid
can coax Luke’s lungs into recovery.

What numbers, what ratios show progress?,
something the doctors no longer expect.
Is it peak pressures to tidal volumes?
89 to 760
Or his diaphragm’s nerve activity
to the ventilator’s support level?
62, 70 to 1.5
What is significant? What is just noise?
So most every night at ten I write down
forty numbers, take them back to the room
where we are staying that evening—hotel’s
or friends’—enter them into tables, graph,
color, and label them to find something
that the intensive care doctors have missed
and I could show, “See this! He’s improving.”
Spreadsheets can save him.

But Luke gets annoyed
when he sees me staring at the machines.
He mouths, “Stop looking at those.” But he means
“Look at me.” He doesn’t hope in numbers.
And the truth’s blurted out, when Luke crashes,
by the respiratory therapist bagging
him, pumping up his oxygenation
with her hands, squeezing life into him for
another day, worried, focused on him,
forgetting I’m in the room, forgetting
all the euphemisms: “His lungs are bricks.”

Friday, September 25, 2009

Deo Gratias for Luke


Deo Gratias for Luke -
The composer Johannes Ockeghem's canon, Deo Gratias, is sung by nine choirs of four voices each. The formal structure of the work is intricate yet creates an incredibly haunting musical space.

Johannes Ockeghem was born in 1410 in Saint-Ghislain (now in Belgium) and died in Tours, France in 1497.

(Hat tip to Eamonn Fitzgerald)

Tuesday, September 08, 2009

A Photo Essay on "A Celebration of Luke Chadwick's Life: Lean On Me" at Rolling Bay Presbyterian Church, Bainbridge Island on September 6, 2009

Saffron Hugs at Luke Chadwick's Memorial
Saffron Hugs at Luke Chadwick's Memorial

Luke!
Luke!

Programs at Memorial Service
Programs at Memorial Service

General Chadwick USMC
General Chadwick USMC

Semper Fi
Semper Fi

Luke's Graduation Photo at Memorial Service
Luke's Graduation Photo at Memorial Service

Mom & Dad
Peg and Bob Chadwick

Ali Chadwick Plays for Her Brother
Ali Chadwick Plays for Her Brother

Honoring Luke
Honoring Luke

Post Service Hugs and Greetings for Cathy and Kent Chadwick
Post Service Hugs and Greetings for Cathy and Kent Chadwick

Thoughts of Luke Hover in the Chapel
Thoughts of Luke Hover in the Chapel

Cathy's Flowers and Dana's Badge
Cathy's Flowers and Dana's Badge

Cathy, Kent & Ali
Cathy, Kent and Ali at the Celebration for Luke


Bainbridge Fire and Rescue Workers Gather to Honor Luke at the Memorial Service

Gazing at the Bainbridge Sky After the Memorial Service
MarySue Gazing at the Bainbridge Sky After the Memorial Service

Cassiel , Grandma and Grandpa
Cassiel , Grandma and Grandpa

Flowers for Luke
Flowers for Luke

Evening Glow After the Memorial With Luke's Obama Sticker
Evening Glow After the Memorial With Luke's Obama Sticker

Cassiel
Cassiel With Dante

100 Years of Hallelujahs
100 Years of Hallelujahs

SunBreak for Luke
SunBreak for Luke

Saffron Hugs
A photo essay onA Celebration of Luke Chadwick's Life: Lean On Me at Rolling Bay Presbyterian Church, Bainbridge Island, Washington on September 6, 2009
Photos by Gregg Chadwick

Luke's Celebration ended with a recording of Frank Sinatra singing New York, New York



Luke, Buon Viaggio!

Thursday, August 27, 2009

A Poem for Luke Chadwick by Brian Bajari

Now breathe deeply - or perhaps it's better

to laugh loudly

and cheer clearly

beside still waters

to maybe skip easy on

those green pastures near

that big leafy tree dear

wide-wondered Luke,

the universe's courageous

high holy, love only

deep hugging, song-laughing

open-handed friend.

-Brian Bajari
(after reading Luke Yen-hui's obituary)

He's a beautiful man. I'm crying with you - even though I know he's "flying with the angels."

Thank you Luke for your world-embracing love. Your smile that captured hearts wherever you went.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Flying With the Angels: Luke Yen-hui Chadwick

Update: A Photo Essay on "A Celebration of Luke Chadwick's Life: Lean On Me" at Rolling Bay Presbyterian Church, Bainbridge Island on September 6, 2009


Luke at Disneyland with Cassiel Chadwick and Kent Chadwick
July 2007


Update: If you have pictures of Luke that you would like to post, I will upload them here on Speed of Life as a celebration of an amazing life. Please leave a comment below and send any photos to greggchadwick@earthlink.net.




Luke Yen-hui Chadwick, died August 22, 2009 from acute respiratory failure after 3-months’ hospitalization at the University of Washington Medical Center. He was 22 years-old and a 2007 graduate of Bainbridge High School.

Luke was born Yu Yen-hui September 20, 1986 in Taipei, Taiwan. He came to Washington state to his adoptive parents, Cathy and Kent Chadwick, in 1988. By then he had already contracted the progressive lung disease secondary pulmonary hypertension.

Growing up, Luke focused on what he could do, as opposed to what he could not. He perfected the arts of friendship and of living for today. His greatest joy was to make someone smile, which he would effect with any means at hand. His spontaneity, courage, and unselfconsciousness inspired the whole town of Bainbridge Island, where he and his family have lived since 1996. While at Bainbridge High, Luke memorably served as the boy’s basketball team’s manager and unofficial mascot when the team went to the state championship. Graduating from BHS was one of Luke’s proudest moments.

In March 2008 Luke received the gift of a double-lung transplant and had 12 months of good health. He became an enthusiastic volunteer organizer for the local Barack Obama campaign. He even travelled independently in the spring of 2009. But a severe case of pneumonia irreversibly damaged his transplanted lungs and led to his final hospitalization in May.


Luke's 22nd Birthday
photo from Luke's dad - Kent Chadwick

Luke’s mom and dad, sister, Ali, grandparents, Bob and Peg, aunts, uncles, and cousins all rejoice for the time they had with their miracle Luke.

Luke told his friends on Facebook: “I try to stay upbeat and keep my head up but it is hard sometimes. I have God and he knows when I will be with him and flying with the angels. Love always.”



A celebration of Luke’s life will take place Sunday, September 6th at 3 p.m. at Rolling Bay Presbyterian Church, 11042 Sunrise Drive NE , Bainbridge Island, WA, with a reception to follow for all to tell Luke stories.

Donations in Luke’s name may be made to the Pulmonary Hypertension Association, which did so much for him as he fought his illness. The PHA is at 801 Roeder Road, Ste. 400, Silver Spring, MD 20910, or online at www.phassociation.org. To honor Luke’s year of transplanted strength, please consider registering as an organ donor.


Luke at Gregg and MarySue's wedding
7, 7, 2007


(If you have pictures of Luke that you would like to post, I will upload them here on Speed of Life as a celebration of an amazing life. Please leave a comment below. )

Sunday, May 24, 2009

For My Brother ~ Something In the Night


Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band
Something In the Night
May 23, 2009, 50 Rte 120
East Rutherford, NJ 07073

As a Jersey boy, when life gets rough I tend to "turn the radio way up loud, so I don't have to think." And I tend to turn to my (slightly) older brother for his wisdom and comfort. Now it's my turn to offer a strong back and a shoulder to lean on.

Life can seem cruel, unfair and oh so brief. I deeply understand the pathos when Bruce sings, "As soon as you got something, they send someone to try and take it away." Kent, maybe because he was born in Virginia, rather than in the state that became known as much for its factories and boarded up cities, would reject the cynicism in that line. Kent having learned much from our Marine Corps dad, instead, finds hope no matter what life throws his way and Kent knows how to soldier on.


Luke Chadwick Gestures Against the Fading Light

Kent's son Luke received a double lung transplant a year ago and has a had a remarkable 12 months. Luke's courage and sweet good humor has carried him on incredible adventures. But, Luke has hit a rough spot and is in the ICU at UW in Seattle. Luke and Kent and Kent's wife Cathy and their daughter Ali need all the love and support they can get at this time.


Not Quite the Jersey Shore
Cassiel Chadwick, Cathy Chadwick, Kent Chadwick and Luke Chadwick

Kent is a masterful poet and has introduced to me and my son, a world of words and images. My brother, I love you and am in awe of your courage and patience, and in your rough hour I give you the words of a Jersey street poet and a Welsh writer - Springsteen and Dylan Thomas.

DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT
by Dylan Thomas


Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.