"Things hidden in my head"
Copyright 2013 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.
Friday, March 11, 2022
Thursday, March 10, 2022
GET TO KNOW: RON ISOM SR.
GET TO KNOW: RON ISOM SR.
The best teachers are the ones who never stop learning. That is artist Ron Isom’s mantra—to keep growing and developing in retirement—so he hasn’t slowed down a bit when it comes to drawing, painting and exhibiting his work. The former Belleville East High School art teacher, now a Webster Groves resident, uses everything from Sharpies to found objects to bring his ideas to life—and he still loves inspiring others by giving talks and illustrating books. His latest exhibit at Grafica Fine Arts is an expression of how the simplest materials can convey complex messages. “I’d say I’m an educator first and artist second,” says Isom, 78. “Other people like to retire with golf outings and travel; I’ve just never stopped making art.”
my background … I’ve always been interested in building things and figuring out how they work. My dad was an electrician and my grandfather worked on the railroad, so it’s natural that I enjoy manipulating materials. I earned a bachelor’s degree in art education and a master’s of science in art, and chaired the music, art and foreign language department at Belleville East for most of my 33-year career there.
my philosophy as a teacher … Research shows that reading, writing and arithmetic aren’t enough to make well-rounded people. They need to be involved in art, music and drama as well. Any Saturday afternoon painter can print business cards that say ‘artist,’ but becoming an art educator is a much more complex process. I always tried to teach my students to look at an object and see something totally different.
my philosophy as an artist … Art is about problem solving for me. When I find an object or a new material, I want to figure out how far I can push and manipulate it. It’s an ongoing challenge.
where i get my materials … I like to go to garage sales, auctions, thrift shops and junk stores. I don’t use the word ‘repurposed;’ that’s a little too artsy-craftsy for me! If I see a box of scrap leather or other interesting items for sale, I’ll pick them up. It’s kind of a lifestyle for me, always looking for odd materials. My classroom was always full of stuff like that. I love TV shows like American Pickers—the guys see old objects as opportunities, just like I do. I’m fascinated by what other people throw away. I pride myself on being able to go to a sale on the very last day and still find something I want.
how i use technology … Computers are very much a part of my process. That came about because school art departments in the ‘90s fell victim to cutbacks, and a lot of programs shut down. I rewrote our art program and called it ‘graphic design’ so it could get vocational funding, and I was able to buy computers with that money. It really saved the art department. Now, I often use an iPad and stylus, and I photograph and scan found objects and use the images to create artwork. I have programs that can digitally manipulate and print them, including one that can remember your keystrokes and make a video of how you created a piece.
my creative process … I often draw while I’m sitting and watching TV. I like the ambient noise, and I just sit there and keep going as long as I want. A lot of my work is expressing what I have heard and seen. I take images and symbols and mix them up, and they come out as a bunch of ideas in one piece.
Photo: Bill Barrett https://townandstyle.com/get-to-know-ron-isom-sr/
Wednesday, March 9, 2022
Clown World.
The current state of global society: women are men, men are women, the schools teach propaganda instead of classes, left is right and right is left so basically, the reverse-world in steroids. You can see this effect in any collectivist movement like Fat acceptance, these people literally tell people that morbid obesity is healthy for example.
Although there are the typical trolls that say that anything that isn´t right of Ronald Reagan is a leftist abnormal, this theory is becoming more and more true as the time passes, like, a big part of the youth believes that Communism is good and it will solve all of our problems and that dissolving the Police will end racism. If people don´t understand that they are being used as useful idiots for a leftist agenda by the big coorporations, civilization as we know it wil cease to exist.
"Things hidden in my head"
Copyright 2013 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.
The landscape is a powerful.
Landscape subject matter which can embody a wide spectrum of emotions, however it is also used a purely decorative genre where artists can display their skills. Landscape art can also be all about capturing a beautiful moment and documenting natural events that others may never get to see.
We can all access the external environment, which is one of the reasons why it is one of the most accessible and universal forms of art. Examples of landscape art can be found from Britain, to Paris to China and the fact that it is still exceptionally popular today; for both artists and viewers just shows that landscape as a subject matter will always be relevant.
"Things hidden in my head"
Copyright 2013 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.
Monday, March 7, 2022
Don't count your chickens.
 |
"People who count their chickens before they are hatched act very wisely because chickens run about so absurdly that it is impossible to count them accurately." - Oscar Wilde. |
Head with steel worm.
The (Gun) Worm that Turns
"Things hidden in my head"
Copyright 2013 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.
During one of my treks through Afghanistan, we lost our corkscrew.
Sunday, March 6, 2022
Organic patterns.
Organic patterns. 12 - 4" X4" Black canvas boards and Posca Pens.
"Things hidden in my head"
Copyright 2013 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.
Saturday, March 5, 2022
Random scribbling
Random scribbling is considered as art because its known as the first stage of life(early childhood) that involves the ability to use one’s hands and fingers with dexterity, this skill is vital to mastering hand-to-eye coordination mostly for children's those who are learning how to write. As this is being done by children’s it can be considered as the purest form of art done by purest heart with lots of ideas and creativity those are about to be expressed.
Random scribble. Ink drawing 2022 ©
"Things hidden in my head"
Copyright 2013 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.
Analyzing a profile
In artistic point of view, profile means the side view or something which can be observed partially or from a side. Profile need not give the full information of a person but helps in analysing a part of it.
Profile. Ink drawing 2021©
"Things hidden in my head"
Copyright 2013 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.
Bird, Hand, Spiral and Triangle
The hand is the most frequently symbolized part of the human body. It gives blessing, it is expressive. According to Aristotle, the hand is the "tool of tools." In general it is strength, power and protection. However, it can just as easily mean generosity, hospitality and stability; "lend a hand".
“The spiral is the rhythm of life. It characterizes the creative vital force of human and society, a symbol of unity of generations, spiritual and moral growth of man. It means the life order, the symbol of continuity, development, motion, and journey into the unknown.
The triangle of meaning is a model of communication that indicates the relationship among a thought, symbol, and referent, and highlights the indirect relationship between the symbol and the referent.
The meanings of birds and their symbolism varies greatly from representing immortality, departed souls, and spirit messengers to representing fertility, protection, and strength.
Communication. Ink drawing 2020 ©
Friday, March 4, 2022
This is a story that been developing for over eighty years. I have shared bits and pieces of my brothers story with many people over the years. It is both a heroic and a simple life story that illustrates a remarkable will to survive.
My brother was born in 1937. No much was said or discussed about his birth and I had to piece much of it together over many years. He was born premature and weigh around 3 lbs at birth. He was delivered by a mid-wife and my grandmother Isom at the family home in the small town of Coulterville, Illinois. My dad was not present and had little to add to the story of his birth. I did get a sense that their had been some sort of dispute before the birth. The story gets a bit murky here. I was told he was place on an oven door to keep him warm until the town doctor could see him. My grandmother tells of feeding him with an eye dropper and caring for him for several months before he was strong enough to sleep through the night. His prognosis was not good and they were just waiting for end. Remarkably, he survived and only his motor nerves were damaged and he exhibited a keen intelligence as a young boy. My grandmother told many stories of how smart he was.
I first new something was wrong when I went off to Kindergarten. It seemed strange that my constant companion was not going with me to school. I vaguely that he could not walk and that he needed to be carried but it did no seem unusual until that day in September 1944 when I began school. I return home from school each day for well into my high school years and resume my duties as his companion until bedtime. When I complained about not being able to play with my friends. My dad would call me selfish and I should be happy and grateful that I was not “crippled” like my brother. Those were very hard years for our family. My dad had trouble keeping a job and my mother clean houses and worked as a waitress until I graduated from High School. When I left for college my dad finally was able to keep a job and my mother took care of my brother full time. She spent everyday with him until her death in 1994. My brother took my mothers death very hard. She was his constant caretaker. She did get a break for a few years. The local school district provided a tutor for three years and my brother got his eighth grade certificate. That is all the formal education he received until I resume taking care of him after my mother died. My mother help him learn to read and helped him with his speech. My mother and I were the only ones who could converse with him and he rarely spoke until I returned from college. His days were spent at first sitting in a child's metal walker and over the years my dad tried to find a way to help him walk. My parents tried many things but nothing seemed to help Little was know about how to help cerebral palsy victims to walk. Today, many victims are taught to walk and are able to lead productive lives. They took my brother to Shrines Hospital and he was fitted for braces. However they were very heavy and he did not have enough strength to stand. Over the years my parents gave up. His leg muscles atrophied and started to walk on his knees to get around when he was about eighteen. My children remember him walking on his knee and playing with him. He spent a lot of time with my family and I took him with me and my family on outings. When he became to heavy for my aging parents to care for him, I once again started to take care of him more and more until my mother passed away. If you want to get a sense of the problems he faced there is a wonderful movie “My left foot” starring Daniel Day Lewis. It is the story of Christy Brown, who was born with cerebral palsy. He learned to paint and write with his only controllable limb - his left foot.
After my mothers death, my dad tried to assume my mothers duties. He had never done much to help my mom and was bitter that his first born son was disabled. It his later years he did spend hours watching television with my brother and drinking. They did develop and awkward bond and my brother did model some of my dads behaviors because he was his only male influence after I left for college. At times, his behavior was troubling. He was demanding and developed a volatile temper like my dad. I tried to convince my dad that he needed more socializing and he need to develop an ability to relate to other care takers because he was getting old and soon he would be unable to care for him. I also had five children and a wife to take care of and I could not cater to his every wish. My dad was lost after my mothers death and he started to act very strange and his behavior became very erratic. On one of my visits about a month after my mothers death, he informed me he had met a women and was planning to get married. Apparently, he drove to some town in Missouri with my brother and her and got married.
I rescued my brother from my dad and was able to arrange placement in a Cerabral Palsey home. Fortunately my brother's behavior has has mellowed because for the lasts fifteen years he has had to function in group living situation. He still lives there today and as of this writing he is in good health.
Thursday, March 3, 2022
View from the Shrine.
You can see see the St. Louis Arch from the St. Francis entrance parking lot at Our Lady of the Snows Shrine in Belleville.
Wednesday, March 2, 2022
Sacred Geometry Shapes
Sacred Geometry is often referred to as the “architecture of the universe”, it is found throughout the natural world. It is all around us and is one of the very few subjects that satisfy both the left brain and right brain hemispheres simultaneously. It satisfies the left brains desire for logical, sequential and objective data. It also satisfies the right brains desire for random, intuitive and subjective data.
It is simply not possible to cover all aspects of sacred geometry, although I will try to include as much as possible in this article. People have spent entire lifetimes studying a single aspect of sacred geometry; such as a rabbi studying the kabbalistic tree of life. The following content provides an overview on all Sacred Geometry symbols. https://pardesco.com/blogs/news/sacred-geometry-art-symbols-meanings
Monday, February 28, 2022
Living in a simulation
Simulation chip. Digital image. Ronald Isom ©
BY NICK BOSTROM
VII. CONCLUSION
A technologically mature “posthuman” civilization would have enormous computing power. Based on this empirical fact, the simulation argument shows that at least one of the following propositions is true: (1) The fraction of human-level civilizations that reach a posthuman stage is very close to zero; (2) The fraction of posthuman civilizations that are interested in running ancestor-simulations is very close to zero; (3) The fraction of all people with our kind of experiences that are living in a simulation is very close to one.
If (1) is true, then we will almost certainly go extinct before reaching posthumanity. If (2) is true, then there must be a strong convergence among the courses of advanced civilizations so that virtually none contains any relatively wealthy individuals who desire to run ancestor-simulations and are free to do so. If (3) is true, then we almost certainly livein a simulation. In the dark forest of our current ignorance, it seems sensible to apportion one’s credence roughly evenly between (1), (2), and (3).
Unless we are now living in a simulation, our descendants will almost certainly never run an ancestor-simulation. https://www.simulation-argument.com/simulation.html
Sunday, February 27, 2022
City of Jericho
The allusion to the walls of the city of Jericho which the Biblical figure of Joshua brought down when he “fit” the battle of Jericho is here a metaphor which symbolizes the walls obstructing economic empowerment and the exploitation of the capitalist system.
The origins of the multiplicity of languages.
The story of the Tower of Babel explains the origins of the multiplicity of languages. God was concerned that humans had blasphemed by building the tower to avoid a second flood so God brought into existence multiple languages. Thus, humans were divided into linguistic groups, unable to understand one another.
Tower of Babel. Digital painting I Pad pro and procreate app. ©
"Things hidden in my head"
Copyright 2013 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.
The Day of the Dead
What is the Meaning of The Day of the Dead?
The annual Mexican celebration, Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead), is a time when families gather to honor and remember deceased loved ones. It is believed that the souls of the dead return to visit the living families in homes, businesses and cemeteries. The Aztec honored their dead with fiestas and rituals during the harvest season. They viewed death as the beginning of the cycle of seasons and life.
Día de Muertos festivity takes place at the end of October and November 1st and 2nd each year in Mexico. This is a joyful festivity for families and the community. Music is played at home and at the cemeteries. October 28th is the day of the Accidentados, those souls that died in accidents. On October 31st we honor the souls of children, called los angelitos. On November 1st, we remember the spirits of adults. The spirits are believed to depart the following day, November 2nd. Entire Mexican families construct traditional ofrendas(altars, offerings) that reflect a mixture of Catholicism and ancient Mexican/Aztec cultural practices. The altars vary greatly, depending on village and regional traditions. In the homes, much effort goes into preparing traditional foods.
Anything can be placed on the altar for the visiting souls, including traditional food, fresh flowers, pan de muerto (or bread for the dead), candles, copal incense (aromatic tree resin), fruits, cloths, photographs, favorite drinks of the deceased, sugar folk toys, religious images and clothing. Decorations also include tombstones, skulls and skeletons made of clay and other materials, sugar skulls, and papel picado. Most importantly, a photograph of the departed soul is placed on the altar. Pan de muerto, bread for the dead, is sweet and baked in shapes of skulls and human figures. Traditional loaves are round with a central raised knob of dough, representing the skull, with crossed bone-shaped decorations radiating from the central knob. Día de Muertos also includes traditional dishes, such as chicken in red or black mole sprinkled with sesame seeds; tortillas, tamales made from ground corn; soft drinks or aguardiente (“white-lightning” liquor),tequila and always a glass of water. It is believed that the returning souls are thirsty after a long journey. Water is also believed to be a main support of life.
http://dayofthedeadnyc.org/meaning-of-the-day-of-the-dead/
"Things hidden in my head"
Copyright 2013 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.
Bee symbolism.
Bees are the connectors between the spiritual and material realms. ... The fertilization of flowers requires the work of pollinators, which is the role that many types of bees fill. Because of this, in many contexts, bees can spiritually represent fertility, birth, growth, new beginnings, and new life.
"Things hidden in my head"
Copyright 2013 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.
Saturday, February 26, 2022
The 1619 Project
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/1619-america-slavery.html
The 1619 Project
Flamingo represents
My Pink Angel's
Long reed leg's sun dance;
Lexotic pink angel's stance,
sweet pink flamingo.
Untapped psychic abilities.
Hallways often represent spiritual growth and learning. They can also mean the dreamer has untapped psychic abilities.
A dream of walking through a long hallway or corridor can also represents your frustration in trying to escape a repetitive situation.
Growth and Learning - The Benedictine. Digital photograph. I Phone.
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