Banking on the Columbia

When we say that we’re banking on something or someone, we mean that we’re depending on them to come through for us, in a matter that is... more

by Steve Henderson

Original - Sold

Price

Not Specified

Dimensions

12.000 x 5.000 inches

Title

Banking on the Columbia

Artist

Steve Henderson

Medium

Painting - Oil On Panel

Description

When we say that we’re banking on something or someone, we mean that we’re depending on them to come through for us, in a matter that is important to us.

Perhaps this derives from our concept of financial institutions, which – in a corporate culture infused with the worship of money and making lots of it – are supposed to be dependable. We forget that, as ordinary people who do not control the finances of countries and nations, businesses and ordinary people, we have little say in the world of money.

But there’s another kind of banking – that of drawing our vessel up to shore and parking it there, secure that, if it is high enough above tide, and/or tied to something on the shore, it will not move, and it will be there when we need to push off from shore again, off onto our adventures.

Banking on the Columbia, the artwork, follows the spirit of this second interpretation. A lone canoe, having traveled the calm, still waters of the Columbia River in the Gorge between Washington and Oregon, in the United States, is pulled up onto shore, securely awaiting the return of its owner. Banking on the Columbia invites us, the viewer, to BE that owner – to be the person who paddled to the islet just a few short minutes before, and ensured that the canoe was brought sufficiently up onto land before disappearing into the foliage.

It is quiet here, and peaceful – there are no radios, no cell phones, no cars, no noise. Because it takes effort to get here – planning, and taking time, and physically wielding the oars – few people spill onto the shores, and indeed, at this time and place, we are alone.

We can bank on time to think, time to dream, time to wonder, time to be away from it all.

Featured in 37 Fine Art America groups.

Uploaded

October 3rd, 2018