During this, our seventh year, festival organizers requestedtwomurals because they wanted to expand the mural painting event. I planned the larger mural for our usual location at 4th and Lincoln. (Although this venue really really for sure is going away soon!?)
The second mural venue is the east exterior wall of Burk’s Tavern, on the western-most block of downtown Loveland on 4th. It’s a smaller wall and has a fixed mural size. My plan for this space is to feature a pithy love quote along with a portrait of the person who said it. This year’s quote comes from pop culture. More on that in a minute.
If you’ve been following this succession of murals since we first started in 2017, then you know that each year I have selected a well-known, iconic fine art painting. The chosen painting then has the dubious honor of getting parodied with a Valentine’s Day theme. I will admit that I am beginning to run out of universally recognizable paintings to parody. I do have a couple more in the queue.
I am not going to do Washington Crossing the Delaware. So don’t suggest it.
We had great weather this year and a record turnout! This year’s fine art parody mural is based on Norwegian artist Edvard Munch’s painting, entitled, The Scream. Our Loveland version imagines the weird central character as being in love and holding a valentine. I’ve entitled our version, The Squeal.
THE SQUEAL – Painted by Local Residents with Thanks to Edvard Munch, 1873.
The second mural, on Burks’ Tavern wall, will presumably stay up all year. For this mural, I thought it fitting to borrow a quote from everybody’s favorite quotable cult classic – the swashbuckling love story adventure, The Princess Bride.
“Death Cannot Stop True Love. All it Can Do is Delay it for a While” – Westley
Combined, the two murals gave festival-goers a total of 524, nine inch square tiles, to paint over the two day, downtown festival.
This project was designed to bring something fun and free to Loveland’s Sweetheart Festival. Something creative and collaborative. Something that celebrates individuals in community. In a world where nasty forces seem to be working tirelessly to invent new ways to divide us, I think it is crucial that we continue to get to know our neighbors in person. Let’s build more bridges in 2023!
A special shout out to all the volunteers who helped me make this happen: Karen, Joel, Linda, the Mihalys, Cherie, and Mollie! Thanks to the Trail Life boys for demo-ing, and to the guys who volunteered to prep Burk’s Tavern wall to receive the new mural!
Some favorite tiles. Visit downtown Loveland and explore these murals!
The 2022 mural is based on Johannes Vermeer’s 1665 painting, “Girl with a Pearl Earring.”
On Valentine’s Day weekend in downtown Loveland, Colorado, some 300 local citizens helped create a new community mural. In what has become an annual tradition, each person painted a 9-inch square tile, (usually) following simple guidelines. Anyone able to hold a paintbrush was able to join in, regardless of age or artistic skill.
I have designed the mural-making process to be virtually foolproof. It’s better than paint-by-number because participants are able to creatively express themselves on their tiles. I love to see how people jump in – some restrained, some exuberant; some with a specific vision, some just playing with paint. This is now our sixth community-building-Sweetheart-Festival mural, and I love to see the hundreds of declarations of love that have gone up over the past few years.
This is my intention for this project: community building! I like to hope that in some small way this project is a counter force to the many polarizing forces in our world today.
I conceived the idea for these collaborative murals after the 2016 presidential election. It seemed to me at the time that our world had become dangerously polarized and tribal. At least in my small corner of the world I wanted to do something that would bring the hundreds of local Valentine festival-goers together for something free, fun, creative, and collaborative. As I’ve driven down 4th Street and seen smiling pedestrians enjoying the finished mural throughout each year, I feel that we’ve hit the bull’s-eye.
Some of my favorite individual tiles!…
Unfortunately, six years later, things do not seem much improved on the culture war front. Art can only take us so far. Politicians don’t bring us together. When a presidential administration is aligned with one side or the other it only heightens the division. This past year confirmed that big tech can’t be trusted to be the arbiter of the truth. Nor can any one news source. There is misinformation about misinformation. Fact checkers need to be fact checked.
Trust in institutions seems to be in short supply, and understandably so.
In a climate where people conflate opinion and fact, and where common ground is difficult to find, common ground can only be part of the solution. We may not be able to find much of that. We must re-learn to live together peacefully in respectful disagreement. In my opinion, that can only happen if we talk to each other; if we get to know each other with the aim of understanding one another.
If you’ve had enough of hysterical polarization, would like to become part of the solution, but aren’t sure where to begin, I have a friendly suggestion. Join this group: BraverAngels.org. Or at least check out one of their “Skills Trainings” e-courses. You can join BA for $1 dollar a month. I’ve been a member for well over a year now and hope to see it grow! You can also easily search out some past BA events on Youtube to get a feel for what a BA event looks like.
A view of Loveland’s annual Sweetheart Festival, taken from our tile-painting tent. This year the festival was held at “the Foundry,” Loveland’s newest downtown public plaza.
Below I print verbatim our first president’s Thanksgiving Proclamation. It is worth reading in view of the challenges that our nation is currently facing. Since this is my blog, I have highlighted my favorite parts. Enjoy and give thanks!
By the President of the United States of America,
a Proclamation.
Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor–and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.”
Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be–That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks–for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation–for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his Providence which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war–for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed–for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted–for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.
And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions–to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually–to render our national government a blessing to allthe people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed–to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord–To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and us–and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.
Given under my hand at the City of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.
Go: Washington
July 2020 – Defaced statue of George Washington in New Orleans. “BLM” was sprayed across the statue’s base. – 4WWL-TV
George Washington and slavery It is common in today’s political climate to denigrate George Washington along with several other American founders because they were slaveholders. Some assert that the founding documents are fundamentally flawed because of this fact. They insist that phrases such as the above “blessing to all the people,” and Jefferson’s “all men are created equal,” were not intended to include women and people of color. While some criticisms of several important American founders are justified, it does not follow that the founding documents are therefore innately and irreparably racist and sexist. What these men wrote laid the groundwork for the eventual abolition of slavery and equal rights for women.
America did in fact fight a war to end slavery within one generation of its founding. The Civil War was fought on principle, at great cost to the nation. The abolitionist movement was almost entirely due to the religious fervor and moral stance of white Christians, along with some Black abolitionists who had escaped bondage. Meanwhile, white enlightenment secularists were missing in action, at best, regarding the issue of slavery.
If it seems duplicitous that some of the key American founders who laid the constitutional groundwork to abolish slavery and inequality continued to hold slaves, that’s because it was duplicitous. The world was coming to grips with the evils of slavery even as America was being born. After the American revolution, in 1777 Vermont became the first sovereign American state to abolish the slave trade. The transatlantic slave trade reached its peak in the 1780s. British abolitionist William Wilberforce was born in 1759.
There is much evidence that slavery gave rise to racism, (belief in the racial inferiority of blacks), and not the reverse. “New world” race relations in the early 1600s generally saw blacks and whites on equal footing. Unfortunately, over the next couple of centuries, bad science, bad theology, and bad public policy increasingly fostered a white supremacist subculture, eventually enshrining slavery as an institution and condoning black slaves as property. By the time America’s independence was won, opinion on slavery was divided and hotly debated.
The most prominent slaveholder founders – namely Washington, Jefferson, and Madison – all made anti-slavery statements even as they held slaves. Washington’s will stipulated that his slaves be freed upon his wife’s death, (which didn’t fully happen). Ben Franklin freed his few slaves and later became president of the Pennsylvanian Abolition Society. Some founders, such as America’s second president John Adams, and the first Supreme Court Chief Justice, John Jay, were anti-slavery from the start. There was never a universally pro-slavery America. America was not “built on slavery.”
Nonetheless, one may rightfully ask how such duplicity could exist in some freedom-minded founders when the full humanity of black individuals was so obvious. My answer is that all human beings are broken, and we are all prone to find ways to justify unjust, even violent, practices to preserve our own interests at the expense of others.
To take a modern example, we have known for over a couple of centuries that a new human life begins at conception. Modern biological science is clear and indisputable on this. Yet, here we are in the 21st century fighting a cold civil war over abortion on demand – a supposed right for “people with uteri.” We live and work, side by side, with people who disagree on this issue. We currently have elected lawmakers fighting to keep late term abortion legal, and others seeking to abolish it altogether. There are otherwise decent people on both sides of the issue.
Saying this in no way minimizes the evil of slavery or justifies the early American slaveholders. The comparison between legal abortion and slavery simply demonstrates how a practice that is seen as an obvious and non-negotiable personal right by one side can be seen as an obviously barbaric and reprehensible practice by the other, even in our “enlightened” era.
If you object to this comparison, and would like to make the case that comparing legal slavery to legal abortion is comparing apples to oranges, I would like to hear your argument in the comment section.
In closing, and in view of our fractured, divided, often hysterical and overly politicized cultural atmosphere, I leave you with one more quote. This one is also from our wise-but-imperfect first president, George Washington, from his farewell address. It is brilliant in its prophetic nature to us today:
“The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism….In governments purely elective, [a spirit of party is] not to be encouraged. From their natural tendency it is certain there will always be enough of that spirit for every salutary purpose; and there being constant danger of excess, the effort ought to be by force of public opinion to mitigate and assuage it. A fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest, instead of warming, it should consume.”
Amen to that, and a happy thanksgiving to you and your loved ones!
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Image adapted from Leon Bonnat’s “Christ Crucifixion, 1880.
The global COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the human family in strange ways. I believe it to be true that we all live for relationship and connection. Yet, ironically, in calling on our better natures to protect the vulnerable among us, for many the pandemic has resulted in us separating from those we love.
For practical purposes some of the most meaningful social gatherings of our lives are essentially, for now, illegal. Weddings, funerals, travel, and all of the other things we do in community – in schools and restaurants and arenas – are, for now, considered to be dangerous.
For those of us who follow Jesus, we are approaching what is ordinarily our most important communal celebration of the year – the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus. I don’t think I’m the only one who has been wrestling with how to observe the holiday this year. But I can’t arcelebrate the resurrection of Jesus!
For the past 10 years during the Holy Week season I’ve put on an event called the Journey of Worshipat my church. It was designed to be a self-guided, interactive, contemplative event. As such, I thought my little church would be able to offer this event to the community this year and still remain compliant with the current social distancing restrictions. But when the stay-at-home-order came out, we didn’t see a way to put on the event while remaining in compliance.
So instead, we have decided to create a video version.
It’s not the same as being there, but if you are looking for a way to deepen your connection with God this year, and to observe the Easter/Passover season, I hope you will set aside some time, put the video on full screen, pull out your Bible, and prayerfully still your heart in the presence of God.
Though full of art and music, this is not an entertainment video. Rather, it’s a study and a call to worship. It’s nearly 30 minutes long and is truly intended to be a journey of reflection. The video version takes you through seven narrated stations with ample scriptural references for those who may want to hit pause, read, and reflect.
The Journey of Worship will take you through the climactic events in the life of Jesus, and briefly explore how the Torah of Moses foreshadowed each profound act. Because gentile Christianity has historically cut itself off from its Jewish roots, it is perhaps not widely known that each salvific act of Jesus occurred on a different Jewish feast. Among the many things this signifies is that our Creator has been purposefully carrying out a plan that spans thousands of years.
It is a good and loving plan, and He intends to bring it to completion!
It would be presumptuous to believe that God has welcomed us into loving relationship with Himself had He not told us so. It would be arrogant to say that we can now understand mysteries that were hidden from those who lived under the Mosaic covenant. It would be presumptuous to think that we get to experience a spiritual birth and life and access to God that the ancients could only dream about. But since Jesus has told us these things are true, it would be faithlessnotto believe them.
During this strange year that is so full of disappointment and even sadness for so many, I hope you will find hope in connection with the Author of Life this season and throughout the rest of the year.
This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. — Jesus
Here is the link to the Journey of Worship video version:
(If the link does not work, type in the Youtube search bar: holy week journey of worship)
2020 is our fourth year to create a giant community art piece in downtown Loveland, Colorado. For the design each year I’ve spoofed a famous fine art painting, giving each one a Valentine’s Day twist and a nod to Loveland.
This year I chose Austrian painter, Gustav Klimt, and his iconic 1908 painting, The Kiss.
If you look closely you can see Dan Cupid aiming his arrow at the couple. Dan Cupid is the character who shows up in the special postmark each year for Loveland’s famous valentine re-mailing program. He’s kind of a Loveland mascot, at least around Valentine’s Day, so he made his way into the design this year.
Detail showing Dan Cupid
Painting of the mural takes place during Loveland’s annual Valentine’s Day Street festival. This year there were 400 tiles, each painted by festival-goers; young and old, skilled and unskilled, first-timers and returnees. I received many enthusiastic comments from folks who are thankful for this community project, letting me know that people value the experience. That’s worth a lot to me!
Four years ago, my motive for creating the mural event sprung from a perceived need and a desire to build community. After the 2016 election, so much of the country seemed so divided and angry, even in my hometown of Loveland.
Today, four years later, the climate doesn’t seem much better to me, except that I now hear more voices calling for listening to, and understanding, one another in respectful dialogue. (Click here to see a favorite example of mine). I believe those voices are correct. The unhealthy alternative of perpetual division is too disheartening to live with. I’m sure that we can leave something better than that to our children; at least as far as it depends on us.
I don’t see much hope that presidents and elected politicians are capable of bringing healing to our divided nation. It’s up to us to do that at a grass roots level. It’s up to us to restore the vanishing art of respectful disagreement. Let us have the courage to connect with our neighbors and get to know them, especially those who may see things differently than we do.
Even though a community mural is not going to transform the social climate, I think it’s one small step in the right direction. Combined with many other small steps, perhaps we can eventually find that we have arrived at a more caring and unified place as a society.
Big thanks again to all of my amazing volunteers at Beggars’ Gate Church! Thanks also to Loveland Downtown Partnership and the Loveland Chamber of Commerce for their support!
My valentine to my wife. (I’m too skinny to get a real tattoo).
Book News: I believe I will finally have the bandwidth this year to complete my next storybook, The Friendly City, (that’s been mostly sitting for a couple of years). I’ll keep you posted, and I look forward to starting to bring some other fun book ideas to life!
