I still remember my first trip to the Cincinnati Art Museum.


It was eighth grade, and that incredible building in Eden Park gave me the sense I had been transported to Europe. 


To this day I go to the C.A.M. to edify my spirit. Sometimes I seek out a specific exhibit or event, but in many cases I go because I feel a pull to be there. When it's been too long, it's as if my body almost aches to be in that environment. 


I go through the galleries and make sure my favorite pieces are still where I left them. I visit them as though they were old friends with whom I need to reconnect.


I've been fortunate to visit museums around the world, and each is a treasure in its own right. But only the C.A.M. gives me the feeling that I have come home, to a place where I belong.


I am not an artist, per se. I can't draw or paint. But I feel art in my soul. For me, it manifests itself in singing, writing, cooking, maybe even in the way I arrange my house or in the jewelry I choose to wear. 


And now I have a new opportunity before me, a concrete way in which to make art part of my life. Having completed a month of Boardway Bound training through the Fine Arts Fund, I'll be submitting a profile and an application for local non-profit arts organizations to view. 


Where will I land? What is the right direction for me? Will any organization select me to join its board and help guide its future? Am I meant to be a board member or a volunteer? 


As with seemingly everything in my life right now, there are dozens of questions. 


The one thing I do know is I need art in my life. I have it inside me, and I need the ability -- the chance -- to show it and to share it.


I think that might be one gift God gave me, and I can only hope He will help me put it to productive use.

... are really, really lucky -- provided that the house is a giant conservatory filled with flowers, cacti, palm trees, butterflies and Dale Chihuly installations.


Today I visited Columbus to see the Chihuly pieces in action -- as all Chihuly works  essentially are -- and was blown away by the imagination, creativity, genius and just sheer joy the art represents.


Trying to describe the works or pick a favorite would be futile. When you spend several hours feeling your soul lifted up by the manifestation of inspiration, there is nothing to be gained by deciding one moment in the day was The Most Awesomest Moment Of All.


What is to be taken from such an experience is a larger point, bordering -- for me -- on the spiritual. It is a reminder that each of us is given something to express in a way that perhaps no one else yet has considered. It is the certainty that art is all around us. Sometimes it takes the form of a giant, squiggly, blown-glass heron; at other times, it's a butterfly landing on a jade plant noticed by only a few visionaries in a crowded room of eager photographers.

Whatever art speaks to you, may you find it daily. And may it lift you up and make you feel at peace, if only for a moment.