Over a year ago, I won a commission to do one of the key art pieces in the new City Hall. A few weeks ago we completed the install. My art piece is entitled Miracle Territory. I understand the gravity of this assignment as City Hall is the administrative hub of a city – the center ring around which all other entities revolve. The Huntsville City Hall has now extended beyond a symbol of governance and community pride but one of cultural relevance. My intent and purpose are to broaden that sense of community to even the most marginalized among us. Us, referring to that eccentric child who can’t seem to find a place for his ideas to land or that teen who dropped out of school and their today is overshadowed by yesterday’s clouds, the hardworking father who never went past the third grade, or the elder who thinks it’s too late to make good on that dream. I use the term us on purpose because to me there is no them. There’s only us, and the rest of us.
Art is a leveling ground, a proverbial foot of the cross. It doesn’t require a master’s degree, a certification a six-figure salary or even a strong knowledge of the craft to be appreciated. Ultimately, creativity is a communal act. This project called upon many hands, hearts, and heads beyond those of the artists. The entire effort was in itself a well orchestrated act of creative innovation. Art is a universal language. That language is soul speak. Soul speak goes to the bedrock of who we are as human beings, to that sacred connection we share as sentient beings on the planet. It’s a lifeblood bond. As writer Joyce Carol Oates says, “We are linked by blood and blood is memory without language.” It goes deeper than skin, class, creed, color, bank balance, or whether you’re for Auburn, Alabama, Democrat, Republican, crust or no crust.
In this painting, I set out to tell a story – a story of a journey of souls, with each one of those having their own life path. Paths connected through a backdrop of southern red clay on this bright spot on the map called Huntsville, Alabama. She pulls back the veil recounting the past to shore up the present for the future. This city we call the star of Alabama – A star in the north, Alabama, that can lead the rest of the state, the region, and maybe even the nation to a new level of freeness. We have that much potential. Let’s make that energy kinetic. This city went from red dust to star dust…from the mundane to the miraculous. That’s a divine activation of the deepest strands of human potential. This city, padded with red clay fortified with the blood of our ancestors, is truly miracle territory.
Notes of A Native Son 