Lately I’ve been focusing on making my life a work of art, which is obviously a big concept to wrap one’s mind and life around. But I like a good challenge. Then serendipitously, I found this quote from Virginia Woolf’s unfinished memoir ‘A Sketch of the Past’, begun in 1939.

Perhaps this is the strongest pleasure known to me. It is the rapture I get when in writing I seem to be discovering what belongs to what; making a scene come right; making a character come together. From this I reach what I might call a philosophy; at any rate it is a constant idea of mine; that behind the cotton wool [of daily life] is hidden a pattern; that we–I mean all human beings–are connected with this; that the whole world is a work of art; that we are parts of the work of art. Hamlet or a Beethoven quartet is the truth about this vast mess that we call the world. But there is no Shakespeare, there is no Beethoven . . .  we are the words; we are the music; we are the thing itself.

Virginia Woolf's memoir

Does any of it resonate with you? Do you think that it’s possible that we could all be parts of a work of art? I’d love to hear from you.

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The 31st annual Kennedy Center Honors were held recently, hosted by Caroline Kennedy.

The 2008 Honors recipients–actor Morgan Freeman; singer George Jones; director, singer, actress, composer and producer Barbra Streisand; choreographer Twyla Tharp; and musicians Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey of The Who–were recognized for their lifetime contributions to American culture through the performing arts.

During the opening, Caroline Kennedy read a quote of her father’s about artists:

“I see little of more importance to the future of our country than full recognition of the place of the artist. If art is to nourish our culture, society must set the artist free to follow [her] vision wherever it takes [her].”

–John F. Kennedy

May we all be set free to follow our visions!

Happy New Year!