Bill Hendricks (81/82) giving Richie a peck on the cheek…
Hi, I am sharing this article I wrote about the condition of our Minneapolis walkways. I hope this helps spark conversations that continue and lead to real solutions for this citywide problem.
https://www.startribune.com/municipal-sidewalk-shoveling-debate-mpls-accessibility/601548203
I am grateful that the Star Tribune published my commentary. As I grow older, this is becoming a greater concern. After 15 years in NYC, I am a walker. You see so much and learn a lot.
If you can’t access the article, you can find the text in my Google Docs: Winter Walkways — And Pedestrian’s Access.
This fall, on my walks, I’ve been amazed by the color — soaking it in, just appreciating the ability to gaze upon such beauty.
As beautiful as the colors of spring and summer are — spring with its bright yellow-greens and lupines in pinks and violets, and summer with its deeper greens and the bright yellows of marigolds or the reds of geraniums and pinks of coneflowers — not to mention the purples and blues of delphiniums — I love them too.
But autumn colors speak to me differently. There’s an excitement, a passion in them that touches my soul.
I often collect leaves and set them in my studio to inspire me — to try and equal the wonderful harmony of fall colors. This year, I decided to play as the Creator once did, and create an image — a playful collage of color, built from photographs taken along the way.
Bill Hendricks
Related: Minnesota DNR Fall Color Finder — a live map of color across the state and information about the 2025 season.
While refining the work, I recalled a lesson I often shared with my students: the 80/20 principle. You can always keep working and perfecting, but there’s a point where the essence is present — where the piece is alive and coherent. This artwork marks that balance: form and meaning are clear without endless revision.
transformation and renewal — how structure and energy evolve through process.
Art isn’t complete until it’s shared.
~ Seph Lawless
As some who follow ArtChangesLives(Dot)Com know, I retired almost three years ago. I knew I would begin building a body of work. So, I began drawing before retirement. At the Friends General Conference (FGC) workshop titled Photography as a Contemplative Practice, Peter West Nutting jumpstarted my process. That workshop was followed by a Zentangling Workshop with Sadelle Wiltshire the next summer at the FGC Gathering. Both workshops provided a sufficient role in giving direction to my work.
After retirement, besides exploring my artistic leadings, I supported my meeting, the Minneapolis Monthly Meeting and Northern Yearly Meeting (NYM) (Quakers), designing and producing the yearly meeting’s monthly e-news and a quarterly publication, NYM Journal, with two skilled editors Doug Kirk and Tom Darrow. The journal features poets, articles, and artwork produced and shared with members of the yearly meeting.
I am excited to share some of my work in the journal’s current issue. I hope you enjoy it; along the way, you might enjoy several articles and poems.