Helen Frankenthaler’s “Spiritualist”
+ Lenny Kravitz and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young
I recently launched a new newsletter. It’s called “Creative for Health.” It’s intended to be a resource for those working at the intersection of arts and health and for everyone interested in exploring the benefits of creativity for health and wellbeing. I hope to offer support and a sense of community. Please feel welcome to check it out and to offer your thoughts and suggestions.
Helen Frankenthaler’s “Spiritualist”
Last month, in response to the Trump administration’s cuts to the NEA, the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation and the Andy Warhol Foundation provided $800,000 to support 80 arts programs across the United States. Much of the funds will shore up small and midsize cultural organizations in underserved communities. It’s inspiring to see Frankenthaler’s legacy continue in this way. Her work has had a huge impact on me emotionally. Take the painting “Spiritualist,” which suggests a close-up of an ethereal human form drifting through space. Several years before I ever saw a Frankenthaler painting up close, I was drawn to the way she clearly describes her painting process in the 1972 documentary film Painter’s Painting. In it, she offered me a guide to understanding her work and the work of other abstract artists. Her pieces have also supported the convergence of arts and health. In 1974 the North Central Bronx Hospital installed a ceramic tile wall for their main lobby that Frankenthaler made.
Lenny Kravitz’s “Let Love Rule”
In the late 1990s, I saw Lenny Kravitz play the H.O.R.D.E. Festival tour in Mountain View, California. I was obsessed with his music then. When he walked on stage in a gleaming sleeveless onesie, I immediately thought, “rockstar.” Not long ago, Kravitz broke the internet after a video of him working out in leather pants surfaced. Since then, I’ve liked much of what he’s released including the single, “Human” off his recent album, “Blue Electric Light.” In 2020, Kravitz released a memoir, “Let Love Rule.” To promote the book, which describes the start of the musician’s career, he sat for a variety of interviews. I especially like the one he did with Rick Rubin on the Broken Record podcast. It has the feel of a conversation between old friends. Kravitz shares a lot of interesting personal details from his life. They discuss music (of course) and how their friendship developed over the years. One of my favorite parts is when Kravitz talks about how, while living off-and-on in both Los Angeles and New York City as a young person, he experienced the birth of both Dog Town and Hip Hop.
Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young’s “Our House”
On a cold, gray winter day in Los Angeles, Graham Nash and Joni Mitchell stopped into an antique’s store. Mitchell bought a vase and the two drove back to Laurel Canyon where they lived. As they entered their home, Nash told Mitchell that he would build a fire and suggested that Mitchell collect flowers in the yard to put into her new vase. “Well,” Nash recently told Hrishikesh Hirway who interviewed him for his podcast, Song Exploder, “that was all I needed. While Joni was in the backyard trying to find some flowers that hadn’t died yet in winter, and I was at the piano, I got the first lines and wrote the song.” That song, “Our House” became a hit. It was included on Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s first album, “Déjà Vu,” which was released in 1970 and sold over 8 million copies. For me, the story behind “Our House” is an example of how our relationships with others can inspire beautifully affectionate art.
CREATIVE PROMPT: Write about a transition
Read the poem “Winter, Spring” by Jim Harrison. Write about the turning of one season into another. Use details and consider how the change of seasons impacts you or -- if you’re writing fiction -- your character. You may also use this prompt as inspiration to write about transitions more generally.