Jack Balas, 2019; THE CONTAINER SHIP (#1838); watercolor and ink on paper, 2 panels, 30" x 45" overall.

TEXT:
I stand in the rain on a hillside above Prince Rupert, B.C., looking down at the shipping container port, and fascinated how these monster ships find their way from the ocean, through the islands and fjords to these equally monster cranes to offload containers from all over the world and onto railroad flatcars that will then make their way further all over North America, taking boxes and boxes of everything everywhere and from everywhere to here and on to the world back again. And I realize looking down that all the art I have ever done would not fill a single container. I leave chastened, but challenged by the words on one of the drawings here: "Every morning we face the blank page. It's up to us."