Color (and challenging established theories of color-field), form, geometry, hard-edged line/design, optical illusion, and the balance and play of light and shadow are all equal and vital elements in and of my art. Areas of philosophical and thematic concerns in my work include: quantum physics, astronomy, the poetics of space, the collective consciousness, mysticism/spirituality, and, the recycling of ideas/myths/concepts.

I consider my work to be a form of prayer to the Great Substance of the All… As a multi-media visual artist and performer/poet, I am a story teller in the Realm of the Image. My work exists to take all willing viewers into their exact present moment of perfect observation . . . the moment when one observes his or her self through the eyes of the being into which they have evolved… your very own cathedral of sacred mountains… your hand-held mirror of immediate self-recognition.

Seen above (and front-page mastheads)—Art by Gerard Di Falco. Top/Front-Page Mastheads: "Sacred Place Under Orange Moon" Middle: "Prehistoric Horse from the Magic Caves of Cerebella" Bottom: "Angel In Paris"

Words above by Gerard Di Falco

…for all the cruelty and hardship of our world, we are not mere prisoners of fate. Our actions matter, and can bend history in the direction of justice.

The service and sacrifice of our men and women in uniform has promoted peace and prosperity from Germany to Korea, and enabled democracy to take hold in places like the Balkans. We have borne this burden not because we seek to impose our will. We have done so out of enlightened self-interest – because we seek a better future for our children and grandchildren, and we believe that their lives will be better if others' children and grandchildren can live in freedom and prosperity….

The belief that peace is desirable is rarely enough to achieve it. Peace requires responsibility. Peace entails sacrifice. peace is not merely the absence of visible conflict. Only a just peace based on the inherent rights and dignity of every individual can truly be lasting…

We make mistakes, and fall victim to the temptations of pride, and power, and sometimes evil. Even those of us with the best of intentions will at times fail to right the wrongs before us.

But we do not have to think that human nature is perfect for us to still believe that the human condition can be perfected. We do not have to live in an idealized world to still reach for those ideals that will make it a better place. The non-violence practiced by men like Gandhi and King may not have been practical or possible in every circumstance, but the love that they preached – their fundamental faith in human progress – that must always be the North Star that guides us on our journey…

Let us reach for the world that ought to be – that spark of the divine that still stirs within each of our souls...

Clear-eyed, we can understand that there will be war, and still strive for peace. We can do that – for that is the story of human progress; that's the hope of all the world; and at this moment of challenge, that must be our work here on Earth.

Seen above: "Portraits of Peace," a painting series by Mel Ahlborn On the front-page mastheads and above, from the top: “Bend History;” next: “My Name Is Peace;” next: “Silver Star – Sgt Monica Brown;” and finally, “Our Actions Matter.”

Words above are excerpted from “Nobel Lecture by Barack H. Obama,” Oslo, 10 December 2009

God speaks to each of us as he makes us,
then walks with us silently out of the night.

These are the words we dimly hear:

You, sent out beyond your recall,
go to the limits of your longing.
Embody me.

Flare up like a flame
and make big shadows I can move in.

Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.
Just keep going. No feeling is final.
Don't let yourself lose me.

Nearby is the country they call life.
You will know it by its seriousness.

Give me your hand.

Images above: by Claudia Smith. Top and front-page mastheads: "Genesis." Middle: "Celebration of Life." Bottom: "Peacemaker" (can also be seen in the current ECVA exhibition: "Justice & Peace").

Words above: "Go to the Limits of Your Longing" by Rainer Maria Rilke, in "Rilke's Book of Hours," translated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy, Riverhead Books, New York. (You can hear Joanna Macy read "Go to the Limits of Your Longing" HERE.)

Sometime in late spring
The pansies were discarded
Dumped in the common area
Behind the houses
Where the blackberries grow
And the morning glories dance
Twisting from cane to cane

There the essence of green life
Curls up like slow flame
Through the stems and leaves
Through the curling growing tips
And into the air

Throw me away
Cast me aside
Into the dung-heap of creation
Let the sun beat down
And the wild rains fall
Let me bloom

Images above by Kate Ransohoff Top (and on front-page mastheads): "Haves & Have Nots" (can also be seen in the current ECVA exhibition: "Justice & Peace") Middle and Bottom: Details from "Haves & Have Nots"

Words above by Ben Comings