I’ve been obsessed with silence lately.

My parents tell a story of me at four years of age.  We were living as missionaries in India and taking a bus ride down the mountains.  Apparently, I spent the entirety of the ride down the mountain leaning over the back of the bus driver’s chair, singing and laughing and chatting in his ear.  He loved it, calling me ‘clever.’  Then, when I was in kindergarten, my nickname was ‘Tammy Talker.’  All through school, parent-teacher conferences would bring up a recurring theme: ‘Tammy does very well academically, but she sure does talk a lot.’

As I got older, that noise turned to music.  I sang constantly; my life was a musical.  I’d hum doing dishes, I’d sing in the shower (of course), I even pretended to be on the phone in the car so I could belt along with the radio.  When Dave and I were first married, I slept poorly for months until I got used to falling asleep without the radio on.

But, lately, I crave silence.  I crave stillness.  I crave peacefulness.

In 1952, American composer John Cage released 4’33”, a three-movement piece.  Cage’s composition is for any instrument; each movement is labeled as tacet.  That means silent.  There are no notes, no sounds to be made during the piece, which lasts four minutes and thirty-three seconds.  The audience sits in silence and listens to the space around them and the space within them.  The piece has been called everything from profound and moving to a joke.

In 2010, Marina Abramovic, a 63-year old Serbian artist, took part in a show at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.  Abramovic’s piece was titled “The Artist is Present” and featured Abramovic herself seated at a table in the atrium of the museum.  An empty chair was placed on the opposite side of the table, facing Abramovic.  Museum visitors were invited to sit in the chair for a short while, engaging in silent dialogue with Abramovic.  No words were exchanged and soon the visitor would rise and continue on their way.  Abramovic was surprised one night to look up and discover someone familiar sitting in the chair across from her; it was her old lover, someone she hadn’t seen in over 20 years.  The silent conversation they had was more meaningful than any inane empty small talk would have been.

I silence I seek is not for art, at least I don’t think it is.  I believe the silence I seek is a direct reaction to the busyness of life.  Who am I when I’m quiet?  Who am I when I’m not striving to be the funny one, the clever one?  Being silent allows me to breathe and clear my mind of this awesomely industrialized world we live in.

Now, I’m not saying I’m going to go all Henry David Thoreau on you…no matter how tempted I am.  I am, however, going to slow down.  To make less noise.  To turn off the radio and television.  To listen to the silence, perhaps even for as long as four minutes and thirty-three seconds.

Can you do it?
Tam

So…six years ago, I started this blog.  I believe I had one follower.  I wrote two stellar posts and then quit.  I’m not sure why I didn’t write more, but I assume life got in the way.  That’s what usually happens.

I’m starting this up again because I need a way to share some stuff with a wide group of people.  This year, 2017, my home state of Nebraska is celebrating its Sesquicentennial.  We are turning 150 years old.  And, boy, do us Nebraskans know how to party.  We are celebrating all year long.

A part of that is Nebraska By Heart.  Nebraska By Heart is a statewide public art project and I am blessed enough to be a part of it!  My submission of dancing sandhill cranes was accepted by the Nebraska By Heart committee and then sponsored by a group of Nebraska Citians.  Here’s a colored pencil sketch of the proposal:

The finished product will be painted (acrylic) on six-foot tall fiberglass heart.  The hope is that 93 of these beauties will be sponsored, one for each county in the state.  They will all be on display later this spring and summer in Lincoln and then auctioned off in the fall.

You can read more about the project by clicking on the Nebraska By Heart link above.

I am overwhelmed at the generosity of the fine people and organizations in Nebraska City who sponsored this project:  Tom Farrell and Miller and Farrell Realty/Miller Monroe Farrell, Doug Farrar and the Arbor Day Foundation, Dean & Keitha Thomson (my parents, who HAD to contribute), Nebraska City Rotary, Otoe County Visitors Committee, Stacie Higgins, Janet Palmtag, Bob Moser, Jeff Edwards, and Dave LeGrand.  Tom Farrell especially holds a place near to my heart for his work on organizing the sponsorship.

As the weeks go by, I’ll be updating this site with pictures and tales of my foray into public art.

Tam