Comments on: On a magic carpet ride

By: Newly creative

Newly creative — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 17:05:44 +0000

[...] proper attempt at mixed-media collage. (A real physical one as opposed to the digital one I posted here.) I put it together to commemorate the anniversary of my mother’s death, 18 years ago [...]

By: Nativity | Anchors and Masts

Nativity | Anchors and Masts — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 19:04:18 +0000

[...] week I went on a magic carpet ride to take part in Christine’s Art for Advent [...]

By: Sunrise Sister

Sunrise Sister — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 04:52:23 +0000

There is a beautiful mosaic tile floor behind the altar in the Chapel on the grounds of The General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church, NYC, that portrays the pelican story/mother pecking breast/blood, etc.

When my husband began his Master of Divinity program there nearly 14 years ago, we lived in Manhattan for 3 years. I had never heard the pelican story either until touring the chapel in an orientation session.

Glad you found your feet on solid ground with the story by searching the web….we can think ourselves crazier than usual occasionally when we receive little or no backup from a given audience:)

Love the symbolic piece you put together with PhotoShop – impressive! SS

By: Tess

Tess — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 22:57:48 +0000

Thanks for your comment Suz, and welcome here.

By: Suz

Suz — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 20:32:35 +0000

Tess,
This is lovely and full of such wonderful symbolism. I was raised Episcopalian but all of my neighbors were RC and I loved the richness of their faith and wished I could be Catholic, too…and, at the very best, a nun!

We spent our childhood telling saint stories on their stoops. I did hear about Thomas Aquinas but did not know about the pelican as a symbol of Christ.

Thanks for the treats for mind, eyes and spirit, Tess. What talent!

By: Elaine

Elaine — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 18:49:31 +0000

Wonderful work, Tess. I enjoyed and was fascinated by your commentary and like Anne, Christine and heyJules, the pelican symbolism is new to me.

You didn’t comment on the background but I’m sure there is Advent symbolism there: searching the shadows for night visions (to borrow the title from Jan Richardson’s book). And of course there has to be the full moon that so many of us love.

So, so lovely, interesting, and meaningful.

By: Tess

Tess — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 17:04:38 +0000

Thank you Anne. And Christine, thank you for the link and the compliment.

I confess I was beginning to get a bit concerned about the pelican thing, wondered if I’d imagined it! So I did a bit of Googling, and there’s lots of stuff, among it:

Thomas Aquinas wrote, “Pelican of mercy, Jesu, Lord and God, cleanse me, wretched sinner, in thy precious Blood; Blood, whereof one drop for humankind outpoured, might from all transgression have the world restored.” During the Middle Ages, many artists placed a pelican with its nest on top of the cross.

By: kindness of strangers, embracing the unexpected | Abbey of the Arts

kindness of strangers, embracing the unexpected | Abbey of the Arts — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 16:55:43 +0000

[...] of my own art later. . . In the meantime go visit Tess at Anchors and Masts for her own wonderful and magical art for [...]

By: Anne

Anne — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 15:18:51 +0000

This is beautiful! I love it, very imaginative! I also have not heard the pelican story. I love animal imagery, because it enhances my perception when I’m outside in nature. It gives me a different appreciation.

By: Abbey of the Arts

Abbey of the Arts — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 15:31:13 +0000

I love this image Tess, such wonderful possibility here. I had not either heard the pelican story, very intriguing!