Celebrate the life of John Sims

      These days I am celebrating the life -- and mourning the passage -- of mathy-artist-writer and fighter for human rights, John Sims, who died last month of a heart attack at the young age of 54.  Here are three of the many headlines (with links to articles) that celebrate his life and mourn his death.  (I encourage readers also to search online for "John Sims" to learn more about his many, many ventures and achievements.}

From the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, John Sims, Sarasota-based conceptual artist and former Ringling professor, dies at 54

From ArtReview, John Sims, artist who confronted American racism has died

From Sarasota Magazine, Remembering Sarasota Artist John Sims  . . . "Sims, who died earlier this week, spent decades producing provocative art that touched on racism, mathematics and much more . . ."

From WUSF Public Media, John Sims, prominent Sarasota artist and former Ringling instructor, dies at 54

I first met John Sims early in 2010 at the Bowery Poetry Club in New York City.  He was poet-in-residence there and had invited mathy poets and artists to participate in a Sims project called  "Rhythm of Structure."   A booklet featuring exhibit items -- with a varied selection of poetry and art, by Sims and others (including a poem by me) -- is available online here.  Here is the cover with images of visual poetry by Sims.    

Cover for Rhythm of Structure -- a John Sims Project

Sims' Rhythm of Structure booklet opens with one of his verbal poems.  Here (from page 10) is the opening stanza of  his poem, "The SquareRoots:  Rhythm of Structure":

     In the beginning there was the breath of Nature
     Creating a nixing of all things mixable
     Connecting all things possible that connects
     To the advent of cycles, patterns and organic geometries
     Whose role is to map the structure
     And console the lost soul of randomness
     And all of its entropic desire for chaos and diffusion . . . .   

For the rest of Sims poem go here, page 10.

THANK YOU, John Sims, for your beautiful, meaningful, productive life!

Here is a link to a previous posting about John Sims in this blog.