Laity Lodge

This July, Ned and I re-visited Laity Lodge, a little piece of Heaven in Texas, It was a holy time. I learned the word “endemic” when my friend Nancye (a Texan naturalist) took me on a walk by the river and the canyon wall. She pointed out and named for me many of the naive plants, flowers, birds, and trees. Learning about all that was endemic to the land made me think about what was endemic—native—to Laity Lodge. The open-hearts and goodwill of the people, sitting around tables while talking and eating delicious meals,, books in the Library, sitting in rocking chairs facing the river . . .the Spirit of God moving in and out and through everything. I really enjoyed two other endemic elements at Laity Lodge, both art. The first was three paintings by Bruce Herman hanging in the Cody Center (newly added to their permanent collection). They are part of a series called Glory in Ruins. Bruce’s work is golden and rich with colors. I could imagine moving into a dream rich with meaning. The second experience was re-visiting Threshold, a site-specific permeant installation created by Roger Feldman in 2013.. Threshold has both movement and stillness. I love seeing it during the day and walking in and through it, feeling the walls under my hands,, and seeing the blue sky in the open ceiling, and then walking to it in the dark at night, lying on a blanket, looking up at the stars. It is otherworldly.

Bruce Hermans says, “This painting is part of a larger series of works entitled Building in Ruins—created after my house and studio fire in the late 1990’s. Following our rebuilding in the early 2000’s, I made these paintings, attempting to get at the reality that our lives are fragile and yet shot through with the possibility of redemption and healing and release—we are “redeemed from fire by fire” as the poet said.”

Ned and I visited the Threshold Saturday night…