The 49th Day-Hope and Readings for the New Year

"Everyone has their Vietnam. Everyone has their war. May we embark together on a pilgrimage of ending these wars and truly living peace."
-Claude Anshin Thomas, "At Hell's Gate"


gregg chadwick
the 49th day
38"x38" oil on linen 2004
collection of bill badalato

Listening to Bono and Pavarotti sing "Miss Sarajevo" as I stretch new canvases for the upcoming year. The fresh smell of new linen mixes in the room with the fragrance of a just pulled espresso. The light this morning is crisp and warm. My world seems to be at peace until a line from the song slips into my mind :"Is there a time for keeping your head down, for getting on with your day?" I can picture Sarajevo in black snow. One by one, men, women and children race across a broad street. I can hear the crack of a sniper's rifle in my mind...

That imagined gunshot haunts me. A taunting reply to my question "How does one paint peace?" I pick up Claude Anshin Thomas' new book from a stack on the studio floor - "At Hell's Gate: A Soldier's Journey From War to Peace." I flip through the pages looking for the passage on Bosnia and instead find what I really need: "To live in the present moment and find peace in our lives, we need to be mindful in all that we do, in every action that we take... We are easily distracted by our thoughts, images of the past and the future, our dreams, our hopes, our regrets."

Claude fought in Vietnam, his youth lost as a gunner in assault helicopters, piles of spent shells gathered at his feet and piles of lives lost in the jungle below. Claude is now a Zen monk, practicing pilgrimages of peace and non-violence to war scarred spots across the globe. His message is simple yet heroic.

Claude was embraced by the Vietnamese monk, Thich Nhat Hanh, during a meditation retreat for Vietnam veterans. It is my sincere hope for the years ahead that we will see American, Iraqi War, veterans embraced by Iraqi religious leaders in meditation retreats so the cycle of war ends for these new veterans as it has for Claude Anshin Thomas.

I wish you peace in the new year.

peace - an ongoing dialog

Kent Chadwick's poem "(Peace) 320˚ NW" is the first in a series of responses to my question, "How do you paint, write, sing peace?" Kent Chadwick is a Seattle based poet. His work is rich in language and moment. "(Peace) 320˚ NW" is from a new, ongoing series of poems modeled on the Japanese ukiyo-e artists Hokusai and Hiroshige's views of Mount Fuji. Mount Rainer is the touchstone in this series. Each poem contains a fleeting view of Rainier that acts as a silent witness to the life unveiling below.

I urge you to read the lengthy and important series of comments found below the intial post. Thank you for your thoughts and I encourage you to think seriously about this question. I welcome your responses. Feel free to e-mail images, poems, stories and links to your songs my way.

How do you paint peace?

 

Gregg Chadwick

Either/Or

36"x29" oil on linen 2004

Private Collection, San Francisco

I find I need to look deeply into this painting to provide an antidote to the images flooding my way as I walk down the avenue. rack after newsrack, each with a front page heralding destruction. Years ago I was in Perth, Australia reading an art review concerning an exhibition about peace. Most of the images in in the show were anti-war but few if any were really about the idea of peace. The title of the review was "how do you paint peace". I have been trying to do that ever since. I think this painting is close. I ask you: how would you paint peace? How would you create the idea of peace in your music? In your writing? In your life? Please send thoughts. ideas and images my way- greggchadwick@icloud.com I will post your dreams...