On Summer Solstice, everyone in France is encouraged to play music in the streets, the Fête de la Musique. In the Philippines, people splash each other with water, a playful baptism of blessings. The First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Indigenous peoples of Canada celebrate their cultures.  In Croatia, villages compete to build the biggest bonfires for “Ivanjske krijesove” to honor the god of the Sun and Saint John the Baptist’s birth. Thousands celebrate summer’s grand opening at Stonehenge.

In Northern Ireland, Summer Solstice is a Day of Private Reflection, a path to healing. After a bitter war between Protestants and Catholics  from 1968 to 1998, people can move from recollections of anger, death and loss to thoughts of healing, peace and regeneration.

These reflections can also turn inward. As lifestyle writer Lauren Ash said, summer solstice’s brightness is a good time to acknowledge past mistakes while, “looking forward with compassion for ourselves.”

On June 20, 2024, at 4:50 pm Eastern Daylight Time, the sun reached its highest point in the Northern Hemisphere.  The celestial shift from spring blossoms to summer fruitfulness offers new beginnings and reminds to let the best shine brightest. To make the most of these special weeks,  Bustle, the on-line women’s magazine suggests,

• Celebrate the sun. See the star that warms Earth as, “an omnipotent symbol of ascension and the ultimate triumph of light over darkness.”
• Honor personal “cycles of growth and change.” Allow fresh starts.
• Go outside. Enjoy nature. Breathe fresh air. Watch sunrises and sunsets.

Wisdom of the Spirit adds,

• Embrace your inner radiance
• Glow
• Express gratitude for blessings

In this spirit, let me thank LaToya Ruby Frazier for championing my work and the Museum of Modern Art for presenting my creative life so magnificently.

And, keep Joseph Campbell’s words in mind,

Few remain who experienced an old-time steel mill’s awesome, harrowing and magical world. As a young mother, I worked at Jones and Laughlin Steel’s Pittsburgh Works during its heyday when over 10,000 people struggled and snoozed, played pranks and died in that fire and brimstone world. I saw the last steel poured inside those bleak walls. I watched those miles of cinder and char change as new life evolved from the mill’s ashes.

Steel Genesis presents images and experiences of making steel, the metal and human mettle.