The April 2020 Lee Wind Video Newsletter - Our World Is So Different Than Just a Month Ago, and So Is This Shout Out to The Power of Art

Hello, Community!

I hope you and yours are well and safe.

Here's this month's video newsletter -- I also hope it brings some light to you.



Watch by clicking above or using this link here: https://youtu.be/nq6ok3OVYf0

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Here's the transcript:

Hi Community, I'm Lee Wind. It's April 2020, and what a different world we're in than just a month ago. This has been a really dark and challenging time, and art – in the midst of that – I think can bring us a lot of light. And remind us of joy, and gratitude. I want to share with you a piece of art that's come into my life that's brought me a lot of joy, and I hope it brings some joy to you, too.

This is inspired by my novel, "Queer as a Five-Dollar Bill." My brother John is an artist, John Wind, and he created a limited edition work of art.

This is the base, it's a sculpture, it's a wooden bell jar base, and John took actual, two, five-dollar bills and cut them out. And this is a disco base on top of the other base for the sculpture to rest on. So we're going to build it like a cooking show, okay? So I'm going to set that right there.

And then here is the statue of Abraham Lincoln that John embellished with jewelry. He has a jewelry company and he then adds jewelry to make these amazing portraits of people, like Abraham Lincoln.

And it's embellished with all this really, really cool stuff. There's so much to explore, I'm just going to share some highlights...

There's the rainbow tie - a shout-out to the Gay community.

There's "L" for Lincoln.

There's George Washington.

There's a shout-out to Lincoln being a lawyer with the scales of justice.

He loved animals so there's an owl, a dog bone, there's a kitty cat playing with a ball.

There are the initials for Abraham and Joshua, "A" and "J".

The whole thing is signed, on the back of this, with their initials and a heart in-between it.

And then coolest, coolest, there's the number 16, because Lincoln was the 16th President. And a disco ball, oh, a good luck penny, because, Hey! It's good luck. Lincoln is good luck!

So the entire amazing sculpture goes on top of the disco ball. Things get jujed just a little bit to make sure that things aren't covered... The little Aquarius symbol, I know there's a rainbow heart and we want to make sure we see that, and then there's a ball jar. And John said to me, "Make sure you don't get fingerprints on the bell jar!" So, the bell jar goes over it, like so...

Ta-dah!

Art, inspired by another piece of art.

This is a happy moment. I'm so glad I got to share it with you.

Please, stay safe.

And if you're wanting to be inspired, go for some art.

Until next time,

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The light in me recognizes and acknowledges the light in you,
Lee

P.S. You can learn more about my brother John Wind's amazing art here: https://www.johnywind.com/, and his jewelry here: https://johnwind.com/