Paying Homage To The Oracle

Uncertain times. The news is discouraging. Leaders arm-wrestle over stimulus plans and nuclear arms. I listen to financial and political analysts; I overhear conversations. Just now, I am within earshot of a group of teenagers in intense discussion. The answer to all our economic woe is revealed. Of course! They know everything after all, but they have yet to live in their car, as does Henrietta Hughes, who, just yesterday, threw herself on the mercy of President Obama.

Indecision wracks us all, causing sleepless nights and distracted days. I am intrigued by the historical use of oracles to resolve dilemmas. What mechanism of mind or will allows one to believe in the certainty of this answer? Why does the tossing of a coin, lighting of a candle, or shuffling of the deck ease the burden of decision?

We have our present-day Oracles. I recall a radio interview with a Major Ed Dames, former CIA guru of “remote viewing” during the cold war with Russia in the 50’s. The interview was a couple of years ago, when the real estate market was cooling off a bit. “Total world economic collapse coupled with worldwide pandemic,” he prophesied. Stocks were soaring then; the Major was obviously eccentric, but I am now taking vitamins, just in case.

The painting entitled Oracle pays homage to the idea that focusing on something external can unlock an internal gate, where the roadmap to destiny lies hidden. Deep, absorbent blue and dazzling golden stars whirl us into a hypnotic space where the veil is lifted and the Oracle speaks. It is a quiet consultation, still a whisper at the moment. I will be sure to keep you posted on what I find out.

Melody Phaneuf is a Boston Artist, well known for her evocative still life and landscape paintings. She has exhibited at Galerie Herouet in Paris, The National Arts Club in New York City, and with Art du Monde, a traveling exposition in Japan. Her paintings are regularly displayed at The Guild of Boston Artists, 162 Newbury Street, Boston, MA.

Phaneuf is a member of the Fenway Studios Cooperative, a community of artists whose historic north light building was modeled on the 19th century Parisian Ateliers. Visits to her studio are welcomed.

Oracle, by Melody Phaneuf, Oil Painting, 24 x 32

Related Links~

• Oracles Throughout History
• In Search Of Delphi
• Entranced In Tibet

Obama~ A Vision For Art And Quality Of Life

Our new, sensible-thinking President, Barack Obama has created an economic stimulus plan, which seems to mystify Republicans. I was dismayed to watch the news, wherein not one, but two Republican Congressmen used as their example of “pork” the allotted budget to the National Endowment for The Arts. Described as “special interest” created by liberals, one congressman couldn’t see what it had to do with creating manufacturing jobs.

I want to provide the congressmen a glimpse of my experience, which will perhaps clarify one connection between the arts and manufacturing jobs. In an effort to share the experience of beauty, my company developed a line of reasonably priced fine art offerings for the home. One concept took the form of tumbled marble tile murals and coasters. It was the better part two years of search before we could find someone in the United States to produce these. The majority of specialty manufacturing for the home décor profession is done in China. Tragic. Imagine if we, with all the empty manufacturing plants and unemployed workers, set up shop to create beauty!

What I admire about President Obama is his sensitivity to the quality of life. He is vitalizing education, the arts, and attending to our infrastructure. He clearly knows what it takes for people to live with dignity and pride of a house in good order. I applaud President Obama’s choices. Living well is the root of prosperity; financial benefit is its by product.


Melody Phaneuf is a Boston Fine Artist, working at Fenway Studios. Phaneuf is acclaimed for her evocative still life and landscape paintings. Her paintings have exhibited at Galerie Herouet in Paris, The National Arts Club in New York City, and Art du Monde, a traveling exposition in Japan. Her work is regularly displayed at The Guild of Boston Artists, 162 Newbury Street, Boston, MA.

Melody The Artist Home, showcases the artist’s original paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and coasters, fine art prints and note cards. She believes that everyone deserves to live with beauty. Online ordering at MelodyTheArtist.com/shop

Featured Above~ Rhythms And Red, tumbled marble tile mural by Melody Phaneuf

Useful Links~

• National Endowment For The Arts~Statement on Stimulus
  
• House Passes Stimulus Plan Despite G.O.P. Opposition
• The Future of American Manufacturing

Fortune’s Wheel, In Memory of September 11

It is August of 1997 and I am returning from an exhibition of my paintings in Paris. It is the fulfillment of a dream and I am heady, making great plans the way one does when still young and unscathed. I couldn’t have painted this at that particular moment because I was brimming with joy.

I call it Fortune’s Wheel. It is about sudden and violent change, the kind of event where one is irrevocably transformed. It is a self-portrait in symbols; a cathartic detachment from what immediately becomes the past. The jester hangs upside down by one foot, echoing the Hanged man of the Tarot. Like breadcrumbs leading out of the woods, three cards, the Tower, Devil, and Three of Swords leave a trail of clues. An ominous black veil obscures the exhibition poster yoking the jester to the wheel where once fresh roses ascend. Flameless candle, well-worn and treasured map of France, postcard, and coins are strewn. The hourglass sand is running out, the duality of light bewilders, disorder rules.

Fast forward to 2001. It is a crisp and beautifully sunny morning in September, emblem of early autumn in New England. I am working with a handful of students studying anatomy, looking out the window, thinking we really should be out landscape painting. It is shortly before 9:00. The first plane is flying into the towers.

We are changed। We were still young and unscathed. We were heady, brimming with joy, and could not have imagined in advance of that particular moment, this altered world.

Fortune’s Wheel by Melody Phaneuf, 40 x 48 Oil Painting
http://melodytheartist.com