Dona Nobis Pacem
One of the North Country's great gems is Ottawa, Canada. Although I remember fondly many bits of the city, on this eve of Veterans' Day (US) and Remembrance Day (Canada), my mind returns to its incredible Canadian War Museum.
Of all the horrors there chronicled, one painting seared my mind:
A World War I - era column of soldiers parades tall and proud through a Canadian street, soon to embark for Europe; women and children wave and laugh.
One young woman breaks from the civilian crowd to give her soldier a kiss; his head turns to receive it. As bright sunlight gilds the contours of his face, it appears as an empty, grimacing skull.
The effect is subtle - at first glance, a viewer might not notice. But once noticed, it cannot be forgotten.
I regret that I do not remember the artist or the title of this work; I have not found it on the museums' website, either. Perhaps this piece was on loan from another museum.
(If any reader knows more about it, please post a comment!)
That was about 90 years ago. What of today?
Today, at this very moment, we have about 1800 members of the New York National Guard in Afghanistan. The New York Air Guard, The Army Reserve, the Marine Reserve, and the Navy Reserve have several hundred each currently deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq.
These are the "part time" soldiers, the "weekend warriors" - many from the North Country.
Add Fort Drum. This sprawling facility covers a huge swath of the North Country. Although most of the people living there do not originate from this area, they are our neighbors nonetheless.
The 10th Mountain Division headquarters there: about 10,000 soldiers - plus their families. It is the single most frequently deployed Division in the United States.
Remember Guernica? -Picasso's horrific commentary on the 1937 bombing of a Spanish town. Those images, too, burn in my mind.
Art remains one of the most powerful forms of communication. Images speak across cultures, above languages, beyond time.
We who value this power ought never to forget or underestimate its potential. It is incumbent upon us to harness that strength as we are able, and to deploy it well.
Labels: Canadian War Museum, Fort Drum, Guernica, Ottawa, Picasso
posted by Susan Olsen @ 7:04 PM
3 Comments
Susan Olsen grew up in Saranac Lake, and has watched with delight its transformation into a flourishing arts community. Her committment to the arts deepened while her husband was deployed to Iraq in 2003-2004, and she now owns and operates 
3 Comments:
From years ago... on the wrap-around porch of a Quebec farmhouse, in the light and air of a summer evening, I remember my grandfather playing a mouth harp- and then a fiddle- of the war tunes from World War 1. He was never abroad afterwards, but I've often remembered those tunes, played after a hard day of farming, with thick, arthritic fingers and laced-up black boots- that I was sprawled by. He told about the trains of young soldiers leaving from St. Jean- packed in the trains- leaning out to wave- and the bands playing "It's a Long Way to Tipperary". He only knew of two others on that train that made it back to Quebec. He talked of the departure, played the songs, and never mentioned the years in between. His picture, in uniform, stood on the piano in the parlor- the only picture of him on display.
I love your blog.
What a precious memory - thank you so much for sharing it! I cannot imagine what he must have experienced in those years between his departure for Europe and his return. I hope the music gave him solace, and I imagine that sharing it with you might have been a great joy to him.
I'm so glad you enjoy the blog.
Susan-Well said. We cherish and honor art, and we cherish and honor our fighting and fallen men and women-now, and also then-whenever "then" was.
L'ama
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