LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth |
Patterns of Love |
by Murray Archibald |
For many years, I've been fascinated by patterns. They show up in my paintings over and over again. For the last couple of years my shows have been about patternsand that pattern continues in my recent work. This year's show, which opens in July, is called transFORMations, and it's about the way the patterns, rhythms, and colors of our lives actually shape, create and change the world around us, whether we are aware of them or not.
Patterns are created on many different levelsphysical, emotional, spiritual. Patterns can be reality based or so esoteric and abstract we don't recognize them for what they are. Patterns can be found in the very breath we breathe, in our heartbeat, the way be get up in the morning and go to bed at night, the rise of the sun and the moon and the stars, the shape of sand dunes, the arrangement of our homes on a street, or the way we hang our clothes in a closet or position dishes on a shelf. Patterns develop in the way we think, our memories, our way of speaking, of writing, of being. Patterns are etched by time and the elements of nature. Patterns exist in our subconscious. Patterns can be powerful forces in our lives. Patterns can be a shaping, creative force in our lives. In my recent paintings, the patterns contained in the background have been transferred to the foreground objects. In effect those objects, while still recognizable as specific objects, are transformed by the pattern into something elseinto a part of the pattern around it. Stay with me please, there is "method in my madness," or perhaps I should say, a pattern to my madness. I'll try not to linger much longer in "art speak." The more aware I become of the patterns around us, the more I have come to believe that change results from changing the pattern, not the people, events, or activities that we sometimes believe need to be changed. For example, take the cause of gay and lesbian civil rightsno, for all civil rights. Patterns of injustice, segregation, hatred, bigotry and fear have long caused specific groups of people to be discriminated against for the color of their skin, or their faith, or their sexuality. Until the patterns of injustice, segregation, hatred, bigotry and fear that have been passed from generation to generation are changed, real change cannot take place in the world around us. To create real change it is necessary that we find those patterns and consciously shift them. In this case the patterns of injustice, segregation, hatred, bigotry and fear must be shifted to ones of fairness, unity, compassion, acceptance and love. The difference for me, in changing the pattern as opposed to changing the, for example, bigotry itself, is that as long as the pattern exists, there is a potential for slipping right back into the pattern and not even knowing it. If everyone around is bigoted against a certain group, then it becomes very hard to recognize bigotry for what it is. CAMP Rehoboth was created to be an organization that creates a more positive world. That means that from the beginning we have been working to change the patterns that make up the world around us. In my minds eye I see countless little minus signs being changed to plus signs. In a way it's a lot like the Human Genome Project that's been identifying the markers on human DNA. There is great hope in the medical and scientific communities that this research will make it possible to find the patterns of particular diseases and make the changes necessary to bring about their healing. In an odd kind of way that's what CAMP Rehoboth, and other organizations like it, have been trying to do all these years, to change the patterns of fear and mistrust against GLBT people, to bring about a collective human healing, to find ways of changing fear into love. Not long ago I was asked to speak at the Sunday morning worship services at Epworth United Methodist Church on Baltimore Avenue in Rehoboth. My words that morning focused on unity, and at the core of that message was a call to find ways of changing fear, in all its many forms, into love. Whether it's in the pulpit of a local church, in the work of CAMP Rehoboth, or in the paintings that come out of my studio, this seems to be one of the great themes of my life. I keep coming back to it time after time. If each of us examines our own lives, it's possible to recognize the patterns that come from fearanger, hatred, jealousy, greed, revenge, defensiveness, bitternessand if we can recognize them, then we have the power to change them into patterns of love though forgiveness, acceptance, compassion, kindness, laughter and joy. The power of change begins with each of us. The power to change dwells in our ability to read between the lines, to see and recognize the patterns that shape and create our lives and our world. The power of change comes from each of us as we come out of our closets, join hands, and create larger and larger patterns of hope and love, not just for ourselves but for everyone. Murray Archibald, an artist residing in Rehoboth Beach, is the co-founder and Board President of CAMP Rehoboth. |
LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth, Vol. 11, No. 6, June 1, 2001. |