00: BEGINNINGS

The first post.  Perhaps of many, we shall see.  Better to find out later than to give it thought now.  And so it begins.

My name is Joshua Samuel Gevertz, by birth.  I have always called myself Josh.  You may as well, dearest reader.

This post is intended to be a self-introduction.  I often find these sorts of things very ponderous and excessively introspective, but perhaps that is just my nature.  As an artist, I suffered a protracted period devoid of much in the way of creative making while I was an undergraduate student of marine biology - my focus was on the development of my rational, scientific skills.  I have been an avid drawer and maker since I was a young child, and I have only recently come to apprehend how deep a chasm I had rendered in my spiritual well-being by cutting myself off from the therapy of drawing.  

Thankfully, this abstinence is no longer.  I have gone to great lengths to reacquaint myself with the pencil, and the process of pencil on paper.  I am perhaps less fearful now of the blank page  than I have ever been (and at times I have been irreparably afraid of its emptiness...) - and now, I cast my marks upon the page at will, with joy and steady satisfaction!  May the creative muses never abandon me so forcefully again, I hope.

I won't say much more here, but I would like to note that it is my intention for this semester of projects to be an exploration of the human relationship, and in particular my relationship, to trees.  To my mind, there is nothing more sacred in the physical world than a proud and majestic mature tree, branches reaching up for the sun and leaves ruffling on a gust of wind.  There is power in the kinship between man and tree, a power that is slipping from our grasp as many a tree and forest falls to the ceaseless onslaught of civilization.  Writ large, there has perhaps never been a more important time to rekindle the bond between man and tree, to return to our spiritual nest and protect the giants whose shade and shelter has safeguarded mankind for millennia.  For those that cannot speak themselves, yet stand forever by our side, I will draw.