PROJECT/

The question central to this project is counterintuitive, if not fraught. It’s like asking how to cull a love letter from rape’s archive, or how to find healing in an ethos where harm is perpetual. Improvised attempts can be answers themselves— in the way legacies are cumulative, but also present differently (for better or worse) in each iteration. As James Baldwin writes, “history is now.”

This isn’t a question that can be answered— & certainly not alone.

In months to come, I’ll orbit it in 5-8 large works on paper, rooted in global calligraphic sensibilities. These works will unfold within a series of community circles. Each circle, or grouping of circles, will vary— they’ll draw from free writing exercises, sound healing, experiences in nature, journeys in silence, & from the works of various Lovers— Ocean Vuong, Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, Gloria Anzaldúa, Claudia Rankin & others.

Love Letters in the context of this project refer to: Devotional elements of global calligraphic practices rooted in sacred traditions; North American literary works & poems (with particular attention to unrequited “love letters”, letters exiled, banned, or erased); efforts in rewriting the intangible “scripts” & legacies we inherit/pass on.

Ink, in this context, is akin to Toni Morrison’s rememory from her novel Beloved: A presence & legacy “as fresh & old as water,” evident in substances, soil, & in persons also— in dream, accumulated energy, repetition & deviation. 

There are no finish lines in love. 

Through the visual works & community circles, this projects seeks to deepen conversations not just around narrative modes, but the act of writing itself. It seeks to elevate the arts as ways of “thinking”—of listening & responding to the pressing questions of our time & each other—ways that are associative, generative—if not ceremonial—held by many hands & within multiple faculties of perception. This is maybe just another way to say “Revelation,” or “Covenant,” or “Communion”—where makings & processes nurture not only individual seeds, but collective soil, & where beauty isn’t separate from beautiful behavior.

If there’s a Love Letter in American Ink: It’s us—& it’s not just a text, but a way of writing/behaving that has to be renewed/remembered/remade each moment, in each iteration & in every interaction. It’s lives inside language that moves more like water or vibration than nation state; creating not just works & togetherness, but a wider sense of self altogether— invoking that arena where Love can disclose herself to Herself &, grace willing, remake us in Her image. 

Love letters have a way of transforming first the one who writes them

THE CIRCLES/

These are not therapeutic or critique workshops, but reflective aesthetic experiences. Refined responses of participants— visual & literary— will be woven alongside my large works in process as a way of refining the questions themselves— a kind of consecutive, interdisciplinary call & response. They will be shared on this blog where appropriate, & at the discretion of participants. Advance registration is required, as some circles are consecutive & our work together begins in the preparation.

The only verbal feedback offered in any of these circles is a mirroring of what lines/images resonate. 

If there’s critique to be had, it will come from the inside out—vibrational witness & subtle alignment. Noticing what ripples back & what doesn’t, noticing how one’s own voice lives in a confluence of other voices, or how it doesn’t & why—adjusting (as feels right), tuning in, leaning into reverberations & also into rub; noticing how one talks to oneself along the way, organically remaking responses by picking up on where there’s harmony, & where discord, & ways in which either, (often both) dwell inside the holy of holies of a single human heart. 

The Art of The Love Letter began as a signature, interdisciplinary self-development retreat offered through Brush & Reed Fine Art Calligraphy Studio. This current project widens that field, keeping within a framework that offers room for reflection & protection also around what can be difficult to share.

No experience required, just a commitment to chase courage & a love larger than oneself.