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SPARROW FLY MY HEART FREE Catherine L. Johnson 2010
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Every wo/man must decide whether s/he will walk
in the
light of creative altruism
or
in the
darkness of destructive selfishness.
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Martin Luther King, Jr.
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My art has served social justice issues and humanitarian
visions of hope for as long as I have been an artist.
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My interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary art is
a communication vehicle;
an oracle; a medium that can name the unnameable;
a channel that calls out the full spectrum of the deepest emotions
of the human experience
with dignity; grace; humility;
beauty and acceptance.
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SPARROW 2010
A COLLECTION OF ORIGINAL PAINTINGS
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NOTE:
the text below is revised from the original texts
from which the remarkable
rene marie + her band improvised from.X
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“The sparrow is a symbol of the beloved.”
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The returning sparrow is the herald of spring,
a symbol of the mother goddess, rebirth, and the Resurrection.
The sparrow denotes the gentle nature of an intellectual person.
To see a sparrow in one’s dream represents inner dignity.
Never underestimate the small
or
those who do not appear powerful.
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The SPARROW Collection came to life in 2010
in response to the fragility,
the sirens, the uncertainty and the cherished revelations of life:
the suddenness of choking despair in tragedy to the
suddenness of passion, joy and lull when simply hearing
the living voice of the beloved.
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The SPARROW Collection was dedicated to the people of Haiti.
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I cannot shield myself from life- its ashen despairs
nor its sweet lullabies, its hell nor its heavens for it is life.
Fear and/or the desire to love in all colors and sound.
I believe the odyssey is to be touched,
marked by listening to and continually moving
toward and within love-
wounds are healed by love’s energy,
truth and touch.
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Trust.
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Earthquakes that shattered Haiti and Japan to its core,
Hurricane Katrina that drowned and devoured the Gulf Coast
leaving deafening despair and betrayal in its wake,
the inhumane cruelty of Ebola that melts the insides
of the afflicted like a furiously burning inferno,
snuffing their life out
– all occurs in a sudden and protracted moment.
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During Ebola’s afflicted victim’s
most vulnerable beseeching time
-their death knell,
this psychopathic virus keeps the victim isolated
from the comforting touch
of those who cherish them.
People who love
YEARNS
to reach out
– as humanity is hard-wired to do,
to cradle their afflicted beloveds in their arms
as they suffer,
vomiting blood
– and, know they cannot.
Ebola’s virulent contagion
SPITS at humanity’s hard-wired empathy.
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Compassionate actions occurs in a sudden moment
in response to harrowing events
– calling out the angels in our nature.
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BLESSED are those who are called
and choose
to be
HURRICANE LAMPS
and
ACTIONS OF HOPE
in darkness
invoking God’s LIGHT and BLESSINGS
for ALL humanity.
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Compassion sang in as a song and an action.
The recognition of a deep soul connection occurs in a moment
– it is the epiphany of love in the morning star of light
and
the sight of the evening star within the darkest night.
I believe loving another is the vesper,
the revolutionary action of
turning hell to earth to heaven.
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Compassion and love are not words;
they are expressions of existence, action and occurrence.
It is all there waiting in anticipation to be opened, set free.
The heart is a muscle, a sweet land, a strange land of revelations.
Stepping up into the rhythm and cry of life is the dance, the hymn,
the weave, the blues, the laughter, the wail,
the morning, the night, the water and the music of the odyssey.
I believe the continuous gentle shower of compassion and tenderness,
listening with awe and kindness astounds fear so love can be released,
rise and breathe wide and deep.
Where there has been neglect and scars the heart has thorns,
WHISPER
a gentle garden.
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Love can be an implosion, an internal earthquake…
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Touch.
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I listen, listen, listen to the divine
within as its prayersound murmurs,
and then I dive into its pearl…
and, with a tender grasp
and
embrace, suddenly, the prayersound emerges
as singing its song as a drawing.
Then I research to explore the image as a tuning fork
and
attend to its resonance as a symbol, metaphor, etc.
Then I decide
to go
forward in the exploratory improvisation
or
extinguish the trajectory of the vision’s flame.
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A sparrow is and a moment can…
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Heal/thy FAITH
Heal/thy LOVE thee
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Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings,
and not one of them is forgotten by God?
Luke 12:6
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Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing?
And one shall not fall on the ground without your Father.
Matthew 10:29
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rené marie Sings the TRUTH
@ the Dakota Jazz Club
Pamela Espeland
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5 September 2010
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…The second song was an act of generosity and thanks.
Artist Catherine L. Johnson was in the house,
and she had brought marie a gift:
a print from her Sparrow series and a written description
of what the sparrow means to her.
(shown above)
marie sang the first verse to the gospel hymn
“His Eye Is on the Sparrow,”
then read Johnson’s words (which were lovely),
then paused, seemed to gather herself,
and
segued into Mentor Williams’ “Drift Away,”
a song that has been covered by everybody and his sister
(“Give me the beat, boys, and free my soul/
I wanna get lost in your rock and roll and drift away…”).
It was seamless and perfect,
and marie transformed a soft-rock chestnut into
a song of revelation and thanks.
This may have been the moment
we all knew we had stumbled
onto something remarkable,
one of those performances
that would stay with us
for a long time.
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His Eye Is On The Sparrow
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Our humanity is hard-wired in empathy,
and
empathetic action is humanity’s hope.
CALL and RESPONSE.
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Catherine L. Johnson
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Insha’Allah
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A brief summary of my art that was created as a responses/contributions:
https://catherineljohnson.wordpress.com/2012/11/24/the-city-of-scottsdale-selected-my-pine-tree-hope-2005-as-the-citys-2012-holiday-season-promotion-hurricane-katrina-an-international-display-of-humiliation-wherewhen-the-unconscious-fortress/
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https://catherineljohnson.wordpress.com/hall-of-lament-stand-your-ground-for-trayvon-martin-call-out-for-social-justice-moral-couragetruth-2012-st-paul-spring-art-crawl/
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https://catherineljohnson.wordpress.com/isaiah-and-first-light-night-multimedia-installation-catherine-l-johnson-dan-choma-spring-2013-st-paul-art-crawl/
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https://catherineljohnson.wordpress.com/2013/08/29/fifteen-paintings-28-august-2013-the-humanity-portfolio-28-august-2013-the-50th-anniversary-of-the-march-on-washington-for-freedom-jobs-rev-dr-martin-luther-kings-i-have-a-dream-s/
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https://catherineljohnson.wordpress.com/2011/06/27/31/
https://catherineljohnson.wordpress.com/2013/01/10/peace-on-earth-john-coltrane-live-in-japan-1966-2508-japan-meditatations-catherine-l-johnson-2011/
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CATHERINE L. JOHNSON 