sea dog theater | The Direction of Intention

The Composition of a Life [David’s blog on Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on July 1, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

I cut the post I wrote for today. The image of this Dianthus flower is too beautiful for the thoughts I paired with it. The color of this flower kills me. The composition of this photograph would make Georgia O’Keeffe smile.

I reminded myself to not miss the beauty-of-the-moment in the middle of the national horror story we currently experience.

Chris has been on a quest for 15 years to develop a play based on Viktor Frankel’s book, Man’s Search For Meaning. A few days ago he took another step forward. He’s knocking on the door of his dream. Viktor Frankel was a Holocaust survivor and the book is based on his experiences in the camp. He makes a distinction that is relevant for us today: we have the choice to either seek meaning from our experiences or to bring meaning to our experiences. Our chances of survival are better if we bring rather than seek meaning – especially in a time, like ours, when amorality and cruelty have the reins of power. It’s hard to find meaning in the wasteland.

It’s the reason I cut my post. I was seeking meaning from the rapid collapse of our democracy rather than bringing a greater meaning to this moment-in-time.

We put the air conditioner in the window because our old Dogga suffers in the heat. Last night he was laying in his now-usual-spot directly in front of the fan blowing cold air. I sat next to him and rubbed his ears. I cannot describe the enormity of what I felt in that moment. It was more necessary, more important than anything rolling across our screens.

As I write this a bird – a house finch – is scratching at the window just behind where I am sitting. It is literally six inches from my head. I can see into its eyes. And it is looking into mine.

The color of this Dianthus kills me.

I cannot stop the national slide into autocracy. I can control where I choose to place my focus and there’s so much around me that would be a shame to miss. It’s the composition of a life that would make Georgia O’Keeffe – and Viktor Frankel – nod with silent approval.

read Kerri’s blogpost about DIANTHUS

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Filed under: Awakening, Gratitude, Two Artists Tuesday | Tagged: appreciation, artistry, autocracy, composition, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, democracy, focus, Georgia O'Keeffe, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, meaning making, sea dog theater, studio melange, the melange, Viktor Frankl | 3 Comments »

Small Things [David’s blog on KS Friday]

Posted on May 9, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

We took a break and sat outside, soaking up the sun. Had we continued working we’d have missed the hummingbird, the first of the season. You’d have thought by our reaction to the hummingbird sighting that we just scored the winning goal in the World Cup finals. It’s what I love about how we are walking through the world. Small things are cause for big celebration.

We moved the bags of leaves to the curb for pick-up. The bags were sitting on the driveway beneath the bird feeder. After we removed the bags, Kerri spotted some wriggling worms. “It’s not a good thing to be a worm wriggling beneath a bird feeder,” she remarked, lifting them one-by-one and gently placing them in the grass away from the feeder. Small things. Big empathy.

It seems in a single day Breck’s many buds popped open as leaves. They are yet teeny-tiny but perfectly shaped aspen leaves, ready for quaking. They catch the evening light and literally glow. “You go, Breck!” we cheer our hardy aspen tree. For us, Breck is a symbol of perseverance. If at first you don’t succeed…Those new leaves are very small things but they invoke in us big, ancient hope.

We ask, “What we can possibly do in the face of the assault-from-within on our democracy?” Small things.

In the past two days I’ve seen pleas for support from several small arts organizations. The current administration has eliminated their grant money. Their survival is now tenuous at best. They are small things that could use our big support. “Theater, in particular, invites us to imagine another’s perspective, to reckon with injustice, and to practice compassion in real time. To defund it is to silence one of the sacred spaces where we learn to be human together.” ~ Chris Domig, Artistic Director, Sea Dog Theater.

Consider helping the many, many sacred art spaces in this country to survive – and perhaps thrive – in this time of silencing voices.* For them, our support is no small thing [My short list: Sea Dog Theater Company. Seven Devils New Play Foundary. Changing Faces Theater Company. Your local companies – museums, galleries, dance companies, writer’s retreats, symphonies…the storytellers, the tradition-keepers, the mirrors to power – all depend upon grants and donations. All are in danger of disappearing. Help them in any small way if you can].

We are very small things but no less capable than Breck, or the hummingbird, or the worms of inspiring hope, evoking empathy for otherness, of celebrating all that makes us human.

We are, by ourselves, small things but united we are capable of a big, loud, unified voice – we are capable to sending a potent message to those who fear and would silence the power of the arts, those who would shutter the spaces where we learn to be human together.

*non-profits, like your local food banks or social service organizations…are also under threat. Find them. Help them in any small way that you can.

Kerri’s albums are available on iTunes and streaming on Pandora

read Kerri’s blogpost about SMALL THINGS

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Filed under: Art, Creativity, KS Friday | Tagged: artistry, Arts, changing faces theater compnay, chris domig, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, donations, empathy, Grants, hope, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, NEA, perseverance, sea dog theater, Seven Devils New Play Foundary, small arts organizations, story, studio melange, Support the arts, the melange | 1 Comment »

Hope [on KS Friday]

Posted on April 3, 2020 by davidrobinsoncreative

hope (spring) copy

Chris wrote, “So this is what a pandemic feels like.” He is a brilliant actor, the artistic force behind Sea Dog Theater, living with his wife and two children in New York City. I was worried about him and his family. “Overall, we are okay and grateful. It’s scary. And when we aren’t thinking of just our family, we are trying to help artists who’ve lost everything; creative gigs and day job wise.” Artists generally live on a thinner margin than most people.

It is what I most love about the people who populate my world: they think of the needs of others. They seek meaningful ways to help, to support their community. It is, when all is reduced to the essence, what makes an artist an artist. It is what makes a human being a human being.

We were on the raft choosing the images and music for this week’s melange. Kerri asked, “What about HOPE?” I laughed at the double entendre. Yes. What is most needed in these times of pandemic?

Kerri’s HOPE – like the yearning it reflects – enters the world quietly. It is a sturdy force that warms the heart but does not call attention to itself. It will lift your eyes beyond the scary and refocus them on possibilities. Ways to help. Hope.

Chris added, “We are healthy and together, which is most important.”

From our seclusion, healthy and together, to yours, Kerri offers her HOPE.