Four Goblets

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Oculus Cordis

Lately my participation in the eucharist is requiring more attention, more care. It's not like I'd been holding out; at least, I don't think so. But there is a distinct change in my private worship that I can measure, in intensity if not in inches. This happens to me every so often, and when it does I find that in order to embrace the prayers of the priest and the congregation, I need to stretch my imagination almost to breaking point. It's the ordinary and the extraordinary again that confound me; the seen and the unseen. I know both to be true, and even so every few months it seems that my mind gets caught in a loop of trying to use its cleverness to dissect the details. It's a fools game, I know. Only love is needed. Oculos cordis, Ambrose and other church fathers called it, eyes of the heart.

On View: Pouring Vessel with Goblets from Hjalmarson Pottery. Halldor and Gail Hjalmarson have maintained a pottery studio in the Roosevelt Historic District of central Phoenix since 1973 and produce a body of creative work which reflects the imagery and feeling of their Sonoran Desert.

Comments (3)

Do you have more info on the artist?

This is also true for me. Art has been the thing, the place, for me where it all works out. "Eyes of the heart" --without that I am blind.

Per Ann's comment about more information about the artist, their pottery studio is behind their home. Halldor has been making pottery for over 30 years and grew up in Phoenix. He and his wife are also Episcopalians. They are very active in the art community in Phoenix. A lot of the work is inspired by the local flora and fauna of the Sonora Desert.

And, they're my aunt and uncle so I'm a little biased.

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