photo by: Contributed

Bonnie Jean Feldkamp

On the Fourth of July, Trés Taylor woke with a heavy heart. Congress had just passed what President Donald Trump called “One Big Beautiful Bill,” but it felt pretty ugly considering it included $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid and food assistance programs that help our nation’s most vulnerable citizens.

On social media Trés said, “I think we need to all find our own fountain to nourish our broken hearts.” For Trés, that meant turning to art. “It is my fountain and fills my soul,” he wrote. Then he invited people to send him a self-addressed, stamped envelope so he could send them “a little token of joy.” He called it “a house blessing,” hoping that “maybe it will remind us that we are all neighbors.”

Trés had no way of knowing how many envelopes he would receive, but he got to work painting. Trés is a widely collected artist in Alabama who has painted everything from murals to tiny tar paper squares. He received hundreds of envelopes in response to his request, and they keep on coming in. In each one he placed two small 3-inch by 4-inch painted houses on tar paper along with two identical love letters.

“Let’s just try to build a community through art and kindness,” he said.

Art has been a spiritual journey for Trés . He began college with writing in mind, which took him to Japan to teach English after he graduated. While in Japan he became enamored with Eastern practices that included medicinal plants. This led him back to school and then to collecting plants in the Amazon as a biochemist. After his Amazon adventure, Trés landed in a science lab, which didn’t really suit him.

Then, on a stroll with a friend in Alabama, a chance meeting with local folk artists would change Trés’ trajectory. During his stroll he met R.A. Miller, the folk artist who was famously featured in R.E.M.’s video “Left of Reckoning.” Miller’s work spoke to Trés, “because his art was so childlike and so innocent,” he said, and he also found their conversation inspiring: “It was a baptism into something I didn’t realize was in my soul.” Trés soon learned that he was really a visual storyteller.

By coming to art via the sciences, Trés came without a formal understanding of the rules. “The lessons that I brought from science were learning how to just, like, experiment and not be afraid of that,” he said. That mindset has served him well.

Trés continues to experiment, and it’s all in the spirit of joy delivered by his beloved character William Guadalupe — the monk who is Trés ‘ alter ego which he calls the “Patron Saint of sunflowers, birdsong and the broken-hearted.” It is William Guadalupe who signs each love letter sent.

“If they take our joy,” Trés said, “we’ve lost.” Each one of the letters along with the painted houses on tar paper is a stone tossed to create a ripple. This is why each envelope gets two houses: one to keep and one to pass on. The idea is to encourage recipients to continue the ripple of joy and love. When you send the second one on, he hopes you add something of your own so the ripple continues.

What you include in the envelope to accompany the tar house is up to you. It could be a poem, a piece of art or simply a blessing. It’s a way to remind one another that no matter what, we are all neighbors on this earth. When I received my two tar paper houses, I decided to stay with the house theme. I kept one tar paper house for myself and sewed a mini quilted house to pay it forward with Trés’ second tar paper house. Then, I wrote a love letter of my own and mailed it all to a friend.

If you would like to be part of this ripple of joy and love, send your own self-addressed, stamped envelope (with 2-ounce postage) and a $25 donation (checks made to The Big World Community Garden) to William Guadalupe, P.O. Box #3 Mentone, AL 35984.

The Big World Community Garden is an initiative Trés is working on that was started by Pastor John Goings in Selma, Alabama. Trés is helping the pastor support 50 families by teaching them how to grow their own food. Learn more about Trés Taylor at www.trestaylor.com.

We all get to choose where we invest our time and energy. I hope you’ll join me in choosing to amplify love. “Stay strong,” Trés said. “We will get through this together.”

— Bonnie Jean Feldkamp is a syndicated columnist with Creators.