This linocut of the Creator God breathing life and spirit into Adam is based off of an earlier drawing I made a number of years ago.
I’ve also printed a few colored versions from this block as well. All of these prints are available for sale in my store, baumwerkshop.com.
The Order of the Dung Beetle, 2022 linocut
The Order of the Dung Beetle Sticker
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my good friend Seth Wieck wrote this poem
For Jack
Gavel gather our Order of the Dung Beetle.
Convene the turd rollers who work the earth’s treadle.
Six-footed levers reciprocate their treasures—
outcast,fall off and waste—our disgust, their pleasures
in spheres composed of compost, rumen, and seed germ,
chewed straw rechewed and strewn clear of lofted tails.
Firmpellets on which they dance and feed their lowlyyoung.
Dung Beetle priests atone, make our shit holy.
Go On, Brother Lawrence is a small wood engraving, carved and printed by hand from a boxwood block. Brother Lawrence (born Nicolas Herman) was a 17th century Discalced (barefoot) Carmelite monk. I will fall short to try to describe him in a brief statement, rather, I encourage you to read the small collection of his letters and conversations, Practicing the Presence of God. He has been a significant influence in my faith and work since I first encountered him in art school, over two decades ago. Brother Lawrence sought out the presence of God at all times and in all things, notably, in his daily labor as a cook and dishwasher and later as a repairer of sandals- the subject of this print- and in so many ways he became the present Christ to very many who came into contact with him.
If you would like to purchase one of these prints they are available in my store, Baumwerkshop.
The Stone Hefter is a small (3″ x 5″) wood engraving that I first carved and printed in 2020. I think it must have struck a chord with people dealing with the weight of the pandemic and the resulting economic and cultural fallout. The first edition of 40 prints sold out rather quickly (for me) so I have printed a second edition on cream paper (the first was on white). It is available to purchase here.
The following is a sheet I typed up concerning the symbolism and some of the personal meaning of the piece.
This print of Mary Magdalene is based on and inspired by the fifteenth century master, Rogier van der Weyden’s painting of Mary Magdalene from the Braque triptych in the Louvre. The text around the print reads: May I be Your witness, God, and a record of Your goodness, mercy, and faithfulness. You can purchase a print in our store here.
Vox Universi (the sound of the Universe), is a little wood engraving carved from a block of Resingrave. It is a simple reflection on “non-profession music”, prayer, a celebration of the concertina, being slow, planting oak trees: things like that. If you want to buy one they are available here.
Go On, Shepherd is a new wood engraving available for sale in my online store Baumwerkshop. As a shepherd, often I find myself in this position, kneeling on the ground tending an animal. It is a humble position, yet, to be nearer to the earth by half or more is significant. Don’t forget that you are dust. Great comfort that is. When I learn of the soil I am learning about God, creator and king of the Universe. It is good to be humble, kneeling on His earth.
What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying? And if he should find it, assuredly, I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray. Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. Matthew 18:12-14 NKJV
“I am a steward because I am not here for very long”, I heard a farmer say once. The land remains and was here before. The sheep flocks – the good ones, are like an organism or a nation, and they persist, reflecting the decisions of the shepherds over them. My flock carries the intention of many shepherds before me and it will reflect mine after I am gone. The sheep too will remain. Any ownership I have is really only stewardship for One who is greater, and it is good to take care of life for Him and with Him. This too is comforting.
These are some of the thoughts I have, kneeling on the earth with lambs.
The question “does this matter” is part of the consistent and insistent background chatter every day of my life. The question never goes away and has a thread of doubt woven through it, but it is balanced with the choices that I’ve made as an individual, and also as part of a family and part of a community that says “yes, it does matter”. It is a faith wager to keep doing it every day. It is not unlike lifting this stone.
When I make art I am praying. I am listening and I am seeking. Please do not misunderstand, it is not a righteous act but a desperate one. When I labor to make a print like this I am asking – begging God that it will be a lever for His Kingdom and His goodness- that it might become part of His own expression. The images and the labor are connected to a mystery as a spiritual practice. Everything is more than it seems, in the same way that a single word in a poem can become a passageway into a new story or a different world that, as it turns out, is vitally interconnected to this one.
Then I have to navigate what to do with it once I’ve made it. The path (in spite of my countless attempts to take it other places) always leads to a wide river called “marketing”. I am on one bank and the rest of the world is on the other. I’m all but convinced that I will drown if I go in. It is a strange baptism.
This is my way of asking you to consider buying this print, if it speaks to you. If you think it matters. Here is the lifeline- sorry, I mean listing.
The Spiritual Mechanics of Labor and Rest is a relief print edition carved and printed by hand from a block of linoleum. It is available for pre-order in the Baumwerk Shop. It will be an edition of 100 prints. Numbers 1-75 will be black ink on white paper, while numbers 76-100 will be sepia ink on cream paper. There will be a separate listing for each color option. The black and white prints will be ready for shipping sooner on March 23rd, while the sepia and cream prints will be available a few weeks later.
The Spiritual Mechanics… began as a way of building a repository or archive for many of the symbols that help me to understand my place and function in the world and the Kingdom of Heaven. It is, after a fashion, an info-graphic which serves a developing theology around the ancient kinship of labor to worship.
At the heart is a worldview which sees an holistic unity between what is spiritual and what is natural. These are crude words and a crude image which is looking towards something that is deep and nuanced in its beauty and inherent goodness within the mind of God. My hope is that in here is an echo of God saying of the earth and creation, “It is good”. Also the echo of the Words of the Creator resident in every atom and particle. May it be an echo of John the Baptist saying “change your hearts and minds, because the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!” May it be an echo of Jesus saying “it is finished” on the cross. Heaven is coming to earth and our labor here is not in vain.
The Spiritual Mechanics of Labor and Rest is also a prayer and an offering. It is the noise my heart makes towards God, offering the smallest and most mundane moments of my days as He simultaneously offers them to me. It both seeks to say and asks if it’s really true that labor spent shoveling dirt in a garden , roofing a house, or cutting a stone before God can be as significant a spiritual lever as the most noble words of the priest in the cathedral, or the pastor behind a pulpit, or the hands of a healer in a tent.
I have more openly exposed my heart in this image than in my previous work, where it is shielded by narrative. In following posts I will seek to lay out the symbolism and stories behind the details depicted here, but it should be understood that I have sought to use images like these because for me the words are fundamentally insufficient to describe what it is that I see and seek.
I also hope that you will consider purchasing this print. Many of you know my ambivalence towards the marketing. However, I believe I am called to engage the “marketplace” with my work in a way that settles with my conscience and ethics. Here is a link to pre-order The Spiritual Mechanics of Labor and Rest.
The School of the Transfer of Energy 