Musings by Rondall Reynoso
We stayed at a beautiful resort in the suburbs of Yogyakarta called the Kalyana Resort. The resort is on the side of the volcanic Mt. Merapi. It is a truly stunning setting. Bob Evans, our facilitator, had told us when we were at Fuller that our accomodations would be simple and clean. He was correct but he left out elegant and beautiful. Read the rest of this entry »
The adventure began after a hectic time at work. Late in the semester Chris Kelly our ceramics professor and a good friend of mine accepted a position as the Art Department Chair at Piedmont College. It was nip and tuck getting our candidates to the College in time to interview before I left for Indonesia. We finally brought in two strong candidates on the Thursday and Friday before I left. I was scheduled to leave on that Sunday. Read the rest of this entry »
So, what was this seminar anyway? Why did I go to Indonesia? First let me provide you a link to the official seminar site.
Now, I will paraphrase. Basically, Nagel Institute (an institute of Calvin College), the CCCU (Council of Christian Colleges and Universities) and the ACAA (Asian Christian Artists Association) organized this trip which took eight professors from Christian colleges in the United States to Indonesia to interact with Christian Asian Artists. It was a rewarding and intense two weeks. We had a ton of activities which I will detail in further posts. Personally, I learned a ton.
Admittedly, I haven’t been the best at keeping up with my blog. I do really find it a challenge. However, I fully intended to update my blog while I was on a trip to Indonesia as part of a traveling seminar.
I went to update the blog while I was waiting at the airport in Hong Kong. That is the lesson I learned. Don’t try to update a blog while on a layover after a 14 hour flight! Read the rest of this entry »
For years I’ve been on this yahoo group called “Spiritualmind”. It is a loose group of creatives who are bound together by their interest in the Christian Faith and the Arts. At times in the past the group was very active. Today, it isn’t so much. But, I have met many great people through the group and had many stimulating conversations. One of the people I met on Spiritualmind is Bobbette Rose. We both have an interest in the interaction of art and culture and the relationship of artists and the church. One thing that has grown, at least in part, out of these conversations is Bobbette’s Groundings Project. Last year I became an advisor for the project and it has some very exciting posibilities. This summer is the On Earth event which will take place in the first week of June. I’ll be a speaker at the event as will people such as Steve Scott, Gaylen Stewart, Calvin Dewitt and Laurie Lang. On Earth will explore the relationship between Christianity, the Artist and the Environment. We also hope to have the Groundings Project partner in the future with Louisiana College to develop summer programing geared towards undergraduate and graduate students along with young professional artist. I’m sure I’ll post more on that in the future.
I’d never seen Frederic Church’s painting Icebergs before I went to Dallas but it, like Turner’s work, left a real impression.
In the past I’ve always preferred the work of Biernstadt to Church but this piece is stunning. I have to admit what really got me excited about it was an assignment which I was going to give my students when I got back to Louisiana College. The students were to draw (chalk pastel) a white sheet without using any pure white other than the paper itself. Read the rest of this entry »
One of the highlights in Dallas was the Turner exhibit. As much as I Iove art I don’t often 
have emotional experiences when I see it. This was different. The first thing that struck me was just how great of a painter he was. Some times when I see a block buster exhibition I’m disappointed but not here. He truly was as great as the art history books say. Of course, I knew this already. I’ve seen plenty of his work in person before, but never this volume.
Plus, there is something I have been thinking about in my own work which is tangentally related to his work. Read the rest of this entry »
I hadn’t been to a CAA conference since 2004 so it was nice to get back there. Even more it was nice to not be there as a Grad student looking for work. I was able to focus on the sessions that interested me. Also, I was able to touch base with quite a few people. I got together with Diana Gisolfi who was my Art History thesis advisor in Grad School. I briefly met up with Donnie Copeland from Ouachita Baptist University. I don’t know Donnie very well but I had met him when I visited Ouachita and he seems like a real nice guy. Read the rest of this entry »
One of the great assets we have here at Louisiana College is access to a gracious couple who are supporters of the arts. They happen to have a fine collection of art which we exhibited at the college gallery. The collectin is truly an idiosencratic and eclectic collection. The vast majority ofhte collection is made of work by Louisiana artists but they also have some work from Europe, Latin America and Africa. Read the rest of this entry »
I hate to say it but I stopped reading the Heaven book by Randy Alcorn. Part of me feels bad about stopping but it had just lost my interest. I get the point and every chapter seemed to not actually say that much. I have so many other things that I need to read that I couldn’t force myself to continue. Once I catch the blog up on my happenings over the last little bit I will get into writting about my next reading project.