Dear bloggers,

I was in Effingham, Illinois, recently.  On one of the afternoons during my visit I did a painting project with about 20 participants.  They were involved in a drug court participation program at the University of Illinois Extension Center.  This is a very exciting program that I had heard about and really thought that the people who were the innovators of it were breaking new ground.  The brochure for the program is entitled, “From Discovery to Recovery,” and I think that sums up very well the way this very specialized program helps the participants.

During the process, we each did a 1 foot by 1 foot panel where I made a few marks on the gesso’ed boards.  The judge actually participated, too, and made some marks on the board.  Then everybody started to paint their individual pieces.  After discussing a lot of things and asking people to interact with each other’s paintings, and after a lot of philosophical discussions about what we were doing and why, we then put them all together in one collage.  We each made a few lines, and they made perfect sense.  Everybody was thrilled with the results, and there was a lot of good conversation.

It was not only a feel-good thing but something that will last and be a reminder of our spirit of cooperation.  This was the first group to come through this process, and it was very meaningful to me to be asked to work with them.

Later on I met with a philanthropic education organization, about 80 people, and we explored the meaning of the Umbrella Project and my quest for peace, and how we can all get involved with it.  There was a small dinner-type event, and we had a lot of one-on-one discussions with the leaders of the community.

The next morning at 6:30 I met with the combined Rotary Club, and we had a great program.  I showed a videotape of our recent activities in the Napa Valley discussed how the Rotary can get involved with Peace programs in their community.  There was a question and answer period, and it was just a really good time to talk with the movers and shakers of the area about important things going on in the world.

Then, at 10am, I had a painting project in the public library.  It was for the benefit of students in the high schools of the Tri-State school district.  We painted a whole wall over the course of a 4-hour program.  This painting is going to last for as long as the building is standing.  To me, it’s the philosophy of the young mind:  what they’re thinking about and what they’re doing...  So with great ceremony and expression, we signed the wall.  For generations, people will see who did this and look back at 2008 and get some idea of how to interpret it.  We imagine, like everything else, it’s going to be interpreted many different ways.

We then went for a lunch with the administrators, and after that we went over to a public swimming pool with a huge reception desk that goes in a semi-circle.  Probably stands 4 and a half feet high.  They asked me what they should do with the desk, and I looked around for awhile and decided we should do The Wave.  I sketched the wave out on this rambling desk.  We did 5 different colors, and I put my quote in big letters on the front:  “The Wave accepts garbage, the wave accepts gold, the wave accepts all.”  So that was another great program.

Finally there was an artist reception at the hotel I was staying at.  The mayor came and gave me the key to the city, and there was a good turnout of the artist community.  A lot of the attendees are planning to come by bus to my studio in September.  All in all, at the end of the trip, I was beat, but so pleased with everything.  It was a wonderful experience. 

Matt