Love’s Labor’s Lost, one of three plays performed as part of Shakespeare Santa Cruz 2010 ~ now in its 29th season ~ opened July 21 in the Festival Glen, a natural amphitheater in the redwoods of University of California, Santa Cruz.

Directed by Tony award-nominated Scott Wentworth,

Love’s Labor’s Lost is Shakespeare’s most profoundly Elizabethan comedy, replete with witty debates, dazzling wordplay, and strongly drawn comic characters.

The play is set in Navarre, a kingdom devoted to the quest for self-improvement through bookish study. The king’s youthfully naive self-imposed command not to allow the distraction of women into the court is all but shattered with the arrival of the Princess of France and her feminine entourage.

The men, who had vowed to avoid all women in favor of intellectual pursuits, immediately fall head over heels and begin finding ways to allow the power of love to take its natural prominence over learning and the affairs of state. But the realities of life finally intrude on the revelries.*

The relaxed atmosphere and park-like setting of this outside venue invite theatergoers to enter into another world for a few brief hours. Many families, enjoying this regional cultural treasure, bring a picnic lunch and recline on blankets on the forested slopes. Glen tickets are reasonably priced so more of the public is able to attend performances here and benefit from the offerings Art provides.

As the 2007 commencement address speaker at Stanford University, award-winning and internationally acclaimed poet Dana Gioia presented an impassioned argument for the value of the arts and arts education:

Art is an irreplaceable way of understanding and expressing the world—equal to but distinct from scientific and conceptual methods. Art addresses us in the fullness of our being—simultaneously speaking to our intellect, emotions, intuition, imagination, memory, and physical senses. There are some truths about life that can be expressed only as stories, or songs, or images.

Art delights, instructs, consoles. It educates our emotions. And it remembers.

Due to underfunding, Shakespeare Santa Cruz almost closed its doors last year. However, thanks to efforts of theater lovers and donors from far and near who recognize the value of Art (read Donor Notes), Shakespeare Santa Cruz survived and continues to inspire and educate young and old alike.

* Text from website of Shakespeare Santa Cruz.

Formerly Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, Dana Gioia currently directs the Harman-Eisner Program in the Arts at the Aspen Institute.

Near the Rodin Sculpture Garden on the Stanford Campus in Palo Alto, California, environmental artist Andy Goldsworthy and eight skilled dry-stone wallers from England and Scotland worked steadily for three weeks in 2001 to construct Stone River. For this sculpture, Goldsworthy and his team chose sandstone salvaged from university buildings destroyed in the 1906 and 1989 earthquakes – an original and creative way to reuse local materials.

The 420 foot-long sculpture emerges from within a gentle furrow and gives the feeling of having been excavated from the earth, where it will eventually return. Visitors can physically move along Stone River by following its flowing outline. With Stone River, Goldsworthy strives to make connections between what we call nature and what we call man-made. He beckons us to stop, to stop and see movement of time in the stone.

An abiding theme in Goldsworthy’s art is the natural ephemerality and transcience of life. He says of his photography:

Each work grows, stays, decays – integral parts of a cycle, which the photograph shows at its heights, marking the moment when the work is most alive. There is an intensity about a work at its peak that I hope is expressed in the image. Process and decay are implicit.

Indeed, his own works of art are remarkably vulnerable to weathering and change:

As is everything in the universe. As are we human beings. By accepting the inevitability of change, we gravitate to the part in ourselves that we intuit and know is constant and indestructible.

Nature, observes Goldsworthy, is in a state of change and that change is the key to understanding.

Weekly Image ~ above rt ~ Stone River, Andy Goldsworthy.

NOTE: If you’ve visited the Lake District in Great Britain, you might have seen similar dry-stone (without mortar) stonework, still standing after hundreds of years. “A great part of the Lake District…is in the public trust something like our national parks. This because of Beatrix Potter (1866-1943), the writer and illustrator of children’s books, who lived in the Lake District, purchased large tracks of land during her lifetime and left it to the Government with the stipulation that the land be protected and kept in its pristine state…The results of all this are that the Lake District is a beautiful place, undisturbed by development and little changed over the centuries.” Troutbeck, A Visit to the Ancestral Longmire Homes in England, Robert Allen Longmire, Quail Press, 1992, p.3.

Confer: Rivers and Tides, a documentary on the work of Andy Goldsworthy directed by Thomas Riedelsheimer.

It is from Japan’s Hakone National Park, situated southwest of Tokyo amid the volcanic mountains and verdant forests of Mt. Fuji’s Five Lakes region, that California’s Hakone Gardens takes its name. Overlooking the Valley of the Heart’s Delight (now known as Silicon Valley), Hakone offers not only a global heritage forum for art and culture, it provides each guest a healing sanctuary from the stress of modern life.

Walk through the impressive main gate onto the Moon Bridge to watch colorful koi swimming in the pond. Imagine the splendor of a full moon mirrored there when viewed from the terrace of the Moonviewing House. To the music of hillside waterfalls, wander through the bamboo, camellia flower, tea, and Zen gardens, taking a moment in the Tea Waiting Pavilion to observe the harmony of plants, lanterns, carved stones, and walkways that have been masterfully placed for their beneficial, restful effects.

To deeply appreciate Hakone ~ or your own garden refuge close to home ~ visit it in Spring and Summer, Fall and Winter to see the remarkable seasonal changes of nature and to reflect on the meaning of Zen Master Tenkei’s words:

See with your eyes, hear
with your ears.
Nothing is hidden.

Hakone Gardens in Saratoga, California, is one of twelve sites in the United States to receive the Save America’s Treasures Award, given by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Weekly Image ~ top rt ~ Kasuga Lantern

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. ~ Leonardo da Vinci

Images whose color and form change and refresh our state of being are images that renew.  They possess a magical, transformative power. Interior designers and artists have long recognized how profoundly color and form impact our psychological and physiological states.

By choosing images from Nature as the subject of my art, I hope to engage memories of early images from childhood. There is nothing to figure out. We immediately recognize what we see and respond spontaneously and openly because we have a primordial connection to Nature. We are renewed by the beauty of Nature throughout our lives.

IMAGES FOR RENEWAL is an expanding collection of photographic giclee prints on canvas, which now comprises over 150 images.  We introduce seven here.

Persimmon Glory.  This picture was taken on an afternoon in autumn when the light was clear and revealed detail. It contains both abstract and realistic components. The shades of blue and green in its background combined with the yellows and oranges in the foreground create a feeling of uplifting joy. The persimmon branch acts to ground the composition.

Splendor. This dahlia’s solar form evokes the power of giving, of shedding light. The macro lens allows us to see the exquisite beauty of the flower in a way our naked eye does not. It causes us to stop and look differently.  The tapered and layered arrangement of the petals brings interest to the image. The petals are the same yet different. Some are little more orange. Some have a stripe. Some more yellow. This image brings to any space warmth and a feeling of generosity.

Liquid Amberlight.  This image symbolizes change. Positive movement. This is reinforced by a blue sky and a glowing golden background. The colored leaves dance while trunks remain firm and enduring.  With the appropriate lighting, the image become almost three-dimensional and is equally lovely close up as it is at a distance. You will note that while symbolizing change, there is no emotional baggage in this image. No sentimental heaviness. Change is vibrant and fascinating. It is natural and graceful.

Fiesta. This image suggests a feast, a party, a time of gathering for shared celebrations. These flowers are bursting with energy and say, “Let’s have some fun!”  A young wife, newly married Alaska, purchased this for her kitchen, so no matter what time of year, she’d have a cheerful companion with her while she prepared meals.

Desire. This image is ideal for a bedroom. Soft, sensual, erotic, a coral rose speaks the language of romance. It communicates intimacy and dares to reveal what is hidden.  A rose is a rose is a rose. “There are many levels to relationships,” this rose is whispering. “Look deeper.”

Elysium. Elysium evokes a heavenly spectacle a place where a state of ideal or perfect happiness may be achieved. For all of you who have seen a Japanese maple in full autumn color, who have stood under its boughs, you know how transporting it can be. It is intensely beautiful and captivating without being overpowering. The reds and yellows of this image will enliven any interior space. There has been no artificial color editing on any of these prints.

Serenade.  Pink, purple, a ruffle of delicate roses, perfect for a woman’s study or work area.  These elegant flowers remind us to take pause to appreciate what sustains and nurtures us. To be grateful for life’s simple pleasures.

IMAGES FOR RENEWAL are timeless and won’t go out of style. They are versatile and adapt very well to many design styles.

Now a few details about the giclee itself:
•    Each print is numbered and signed by the artist
•    Each giclee is individually printed using pigment-based inks
•    Pigment-based inks are less susceptible to fading than dyes
•    Natural canvas is hand-stretched on a ½” finger-jointed pine frame, which is light but sturdy
•    Canvas stretch looks like a traditional painting (not a drum)
•    Image is hand-coated with a medium gloss giclee veneer, creating a water resistant surface
•    Veneer contains UV inhibitor
•    Image dimension is 22” x 28”
•    It’s easy to hang and very light
•    Giclees can be enhanced with a frame that harmonizes with the interior space or without a frame

Enjoy a slideshow of these photographic giclee prints on canvas.