Lane von Herzen: The Winner of the Icon Prize

My Third Novel's Conclusion, My Heartbreak

My heart begins to break when I think about completing this particular book -- because this narrative has sustained me like no other story I've known. It's both more personal and more universal than my other works. But beyond memory and archetype, it's a cri-de-coeur about needing to become the person one is destined to be. And in the writing, I have met my own life's work, my own fated journey -- having the sense all the while that the pages are suffused with a resonance, an energy, an electrified field that defies explanation. Writers hope and pray to be overtaken by a work in this way -- to be conscripted into passionate service of a profound story. To experience it even once in a lifetime seems a great privilege. I still have several months before this novel is complete, and this constitutes my reprieve. Because I'm not ready for the beauty to end.

Saturday, July 2, 2011

The Winner of the Icon Prize

Miguel Martinez' painting, Mi Corazon, spoke to the judges compellingly. They returned to view this work again and again -- in a desire to fully appreciate this magical portrait of wisdom, serenity, hope undiminished. Surely Anna de la Senda would view the world through a gaze such as this. Bravissimo.

(Mr. Martinez is represented by the Michael McCormick Gallery in Taos.)