| Pain is inevitable, Suffering is optional.
- Buddhist proverb
Pain is what the world inflicts upon us.
Suffering is our emotional reaction when
we fail to make the difficult conscious decision
to choose Joy.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
|
After our Gathering of Women Artists meeting last week, I have been inspired to think about what I can created that is large yet has small components. My friend and fellow artist HsinYi Huang is creating an installation with several hundred pod shapes that hang on the wall. With all the discussion with other fellow members, Nes, Katie, Renee and Alison, about "possibilities" for me and how to deal with my physical limitations of my wrist and mental limitations that I am imposing upon myself, I decided to move forward. Michael took me to Georgie's on Saturday where I bought 100 LB of clay, thanks in part to the generous gift certificate my beloved daughter Jenni gave me last year. I chose a very soft, non groggy clay that will be easy to handle. The Wonder White clay is so soft and supple, that I am forced to work small and slowly, since it takes time for the clay to firm up and hold it's shape. My thoughts, ironically yet totally uninfluenced by the upcoming Chair Affair, is multiples of very small chairs that will hang on the wall. I thought about what the image of the chair conjures up in my mind, and began to feel inspired.
Some of my thoughts:
The chair is a universal item that most people in the world have sat upon at some point in their lives. It is something that waits to be filled. It is empty and reminds us of someone's absence. We enjoy a wonderful dinner in restaurants, we wait in waiting rooms for help or anxiously waiting in a hospital praying for good news. We sit on it at happy occassions with our loved ones. We sit on chairs in jury duty, waiting rooms as our cars are worked on, waiting for doctor's appointments and waiting to pick up our prescriptions. We sit for hours at our desks or in our studios being productive or struggling to solve a problem. We wait at the airport happily awaiting a much anticipated visitor or tense about a delayed flight in bad weather. We sit for hours in school learning or daydreaming. We sun ourselves at the poolside and read books at the library.We laugh and cry at the movies............This is just the beginning of the interest I am having in the idea of chairs. I would like to have the goal, hand allowing, of creating a very small white chair a day, that will hang on the wall. Ideally 365 chairs but that remains to be seen. I will leave some chairs empty, while filling others with sometting that I have collected or will be collecting in the coming days that creates a narrative for me. I am very excited about the prospect of touching clay once again. I made my first chair yesterday. Did my wrist hurt, yes. Did my spirit come alive with the birth of a new creative venture, absolutely. The silky delicious clay on my fingertips, heavenly. Baby steps..........less can be more. Therein lies my challenge. Another opportunity to grow and learn.
| "Social Trash" News | |
| The Leave No Plastic Behind NATIONAL PLASTIC QUILT PROJECT travels! Although it's called a Quilt, it's part of many important efforts to awaken the masses about the messes surrounding plastic dependence! You may see the new additions online here. Thanks to artists Amy, Claudia, Clare, Clay, Kelly, Staj, Daniella, Heather, Holly, Bryce, Brie, Vicky, Taylor, Jo and Bridget for all 18 square feet of thought-provoking works of art! On the tour schedule so far is this year's Junk to Funk fashion show on November 14th, Century High School in Hillsboro during December and, in May, a likely trip to the snazzy Bay Area! If you have ideas for where the Quilt can go, please email cheryl@createplenty.org. |
This being human is a guest house Every morning a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor. Welcome and entertain them all! Even if they are a crowd of sorrows, who violently sweep your house empty of its furniture, still treat each guest honorably. He may be clearing you out for some new delight. The dark thought, the shame, the malice, meet them at the door laughing, and invite them in. Be grateful for whoever comes, because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.
When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left and I could say, "I used everything that you gave me."
- Erma Bombeck
"Do or do not, there is no try."
- Yoda (Star Wars)
butoh ~ improv ~ choreography ~ consciousness ~ form ~ dance
"Conscious Technique provides a fusion of organic movement and choreographed moments. Participants will hone in on the use of imagination to foster presence in their movement practice while sharpening performance skills. Each session is an exploration of the internal power potential we possess as mover and artists. Through sustained concentration we will engage our external surroundings while connecting it to our internal process and vice versa."I did not let the fear of the unknown stand in my way and I dared to dance outside my comfort zone. Still suffering with headaches I pushed through it. If I am in pain I can still do something that fills my soul. I tried to dance through the pain. I am so glad I did. I carried the intent and awareness of "inside body" "outside body" and "social or collective body" with me as I left the class. I am excited to see how this all plays out in my "real world life?" I look forward to the next three sessions.
Life is what we make it. Always has been, always will be.
- Grandma Moses
We survived The Big Easy! The trip to New Orleans was a blast!
There are truly no words to describe this first glimpse picture of Adam & Tiff at the wedding. This is what pure love looks like! I am filled with more joy than I could have ever imagined.
This morning I reflect on last night's reflective dance and the conversation that followed. The dance was a battle between my mind and my body. I tried to be in the mantra "This body, this moment, this space"..............difficult. The image of the autumn as the sky turns dark at this moment this morning this space............the wind blows the trees and the leaves let go.............they don't hesitate, they don't choose.............they let go because they have to, they have no choice. I do. I struggle. Oh to be like the autum leaves on the trees...............to be able just to let go. Let go in this body, in this moment and in this space.........
| A desire to kneel down sometimes pulses through my body, or rather it is as if my body has been meant and made for the act of kneeling. Sometimes, in moments of deep gratitude, kneeling down becomes an overwhelming urge, head deeply bowed, hands before my face. |
| Etty Hillesum
An Interrupted Life |
Well today I created my quilt square for the LNPB project using the plastic that I have saved over the past 2 months.I am entitling it Ingredients For Life? I ironed layer upon layer of plastic bags and straws to create a dense mess. There is nothing aesthetic about the piece. I thought it might be pleasing to look at once I began composing it like a mosaic, but after melting it all together, it was clear to me that there can be nothing aesthetic about plastic. It became a true reflection of the mess that plastic creates in our environment. There is no place for it in our lives! I regretfully had to recycle much more plastic that I collect during this time period, that would not even fit into the quilt. This said, I have significantly reduced my purchases of plastic packaged foods, yet still, there were those items I purchased that sadly offered me no choice in packaging. I am still going to strive to make even more changes in my purchasing habits, even if it means changing what items I buy, so that I may consume less plastic.
"Have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart. Try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books written in a foreign language. Do not now look for the answers. They cannot now be given to you because you could not live them. It is a question of experiencing everything. At present you need to live the question. Perhaps you will gradually, without even noticing it, find yourself experiencing the answer, some distant day. "
Rainer Maria Rilke~~Letters to a Young Poet
With Jenni and Nana there, it could not have been a more wonderful wedding celebration the welcome Tiff into our nest!
This Labor Day weekend was rainy and pretty miserable but Art In The Pearl went on despite the weather. Yesterday cleared up which brought lots of people gathering to see the wonderful annual art and craft exhibit. Once again I had a piece on exhibit and it was nice to have lots of people and energy coming through our booth. The piece that I showed was "Can The Child Inside Me Rise Above". Thanks to all for the wonderful feedback!
After reading about the Leave No Plastic Behind project through the Regional Arts & Culture Council website yesterday, my mind was immediately catapulted into thinking about the changes I have already made in my plastic usage habits, which have significantly changed in the past few years. It also challenged me to examine what changes I can still make. I feel great about the changes we have made, yet there is still so far to go. What I believe to be the biggest problem in our plastic driven society, is the so called chic boutique bottled water obsession, a ban we have implemented in our home long ago. We even make our own sparkling water. More importantly, when I began to think about what I can do to make even more changes I at first felt overwhelmed and then empowered. The things that have landed in my bag of items already purchased from merely one day into the project astounded me. I am already making changes in my head planning for my next shopping trip purchases as well as having my husband and partner in crime make changes as well. He will begin bringing a reusable cup to the coffee shop now to accompany his reusable lunch container that he has carried for the past year. I also just brought my own reusable container for deli meat at the market, and asked for the price label so I could put it on myself (an idea I got from [this] website, thank you very much!)
I have been a found object artist for a number of years and this opportunity is incredibly inspiring and invigorating. I hope this fever is contagious! I am so ready to be on board for the first time but not the last time in this LNPB quilt project. This is not just a one time novelty. It is the beginning of a continued life style change. I am faced with both welcome problem solving all the changes I can make but on the flip side, the frustration I feel watching others living in the disposable mindset environment around me. It leaves wondering if I have the power to make an impact of change and influence their habits as well. Our kids have left the nest, but I am trying to still influence their choices by the example I set. I believe it is still possible to reach them as well as other family members and friends. It’s a start! I am so psyched to be a part of this important movement!
This is where creativity, community and hope begins. What was once a wall plagued with graffiti, ended with a beautiful mural that portrayed the positive images of change for the health of the members of the community and the building that houses a healing life line for those in need of dialysis. I am honored to have had the privilege of being one of the over 100 people who touched the wall with their hope and creative energy. Our t
hanks to Robin Corbo for making this a reality.
The MIKE Program, founded in the name of the late Dr. Mike Hartnett, helped craft a message about healthy kidneys for the subject of a mural on an oft-tagged wall of a Northeast Portland dialysis clinic. You're probably sick of mural stories. After all, there are a million murals in our painted city, with plenty of new ones on the way now that Portland leaders have seen the cultural light and loosened restrictions on what business owners can paint on their property.
More is better, as this tale illustrates.
At Dr. Michael Hartnett's funeral nine years ago, friends and former colleagues approached his wife to ask an important, if untimely, question: How are we going to honor Mike's memory?
Hartnett was a nephrologist at Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital & Medical Center and the Northwest Renal Clinic. He died of lymphoma at 58 after spending his career working to promote healthy lifestyles in the Pacific Northwest.
After some time grieving, his wife, Dr. Cheryl Neal, planned to create a "living memorial" to her husband: a nonprofit that would work to guard against chronic kidney disease, particularly in African American and Latino children from poor and broken homes.
Volunteers for the MIKE Program -- named after Hartnett but also short for Multicultural Integrated Kidney Education Program -- talk to school health classes about nutrition and exercise, take students on field trips to hospitals and dialysis clinics, and provide mentors and career guidance.
"You ask kids what their biggest health need is, and it's relationships," Neal said. "They don't have good health role models."
The DSI NE Portland Dialysis Clinic, at Northeast Seventh Avenue and Hancock Street, works with MIKE. Last year, clinic administrators approached the nonprofit with their own problem: Graffiti artists were repeatedly taking advantage of the clinic's big western wall, an expanse of white that was a magnet for gang-related tagging.
The Regional Arts and Culture Council, a nonprofit that shepherds public investment in the arts, hooked MIKE up with Robin Corbo, a muralist whose work includes the painting outside the Community Cycling Center on Alberta Street and one honoring women on Interstate Avenue.
She met with students at the Portland Occupational Industrialization Center, an alternative high school in North Portland, to brainstorm. Worksystems Inc. helped recruit interns and paid them minimum-wage salaries to do the painting alongside Corbo and volunteers.
The total cost: about $20,000 in public and private grants. The finished product: a 2,000-square-foot sunrise-to-sunset tour of all the ways young people can help protect their kidneys.
The characters bike, walk, sing, dance, snowboard on Mount Hood, practice karate and enjoy a picnic of healthy food. There's definite attitude: The sun, for example, sports sunglasses, a handlebar mustache, a goatee and the look of a guy in on the joke. The artists modeled many of the faces after students in the MIKE Program.
Everyone involved gets something: For the student interns, summer jobs and real-world experience. For the clinic and neighborhood, a splash of color and graffiti deterrent. For Neal, a memorial to her husband. For the rest of us, the mural, which will be dedicated at 4 p.m. Sunday, is a rainbow-hued reminder to take better care of our bodies.
"Mike would have loved it," Neal said.
-- Anna Griffin; annagriffin@news.oregonian.com
"For the time being the highest peak, for the time being the deepest ocean; for the time being a crazy mind, for the time being a Buddha body; for the time being a Zen Master, for the time being an ordinary person; for the time being earth and sky... Since there is nothing but this moment, 'for the time being' is all the time there is." -- Zen Master Dogen
The MIKE mural is nearing completion and is looking so amazing. Please check it out and don't forget to come to the dedication ceremony Sunday at 4 pm at:
DSI NE Portland Dialysis Clinic
703 NE Hancock
Portland, OR 97212Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.
Today I created my piece for the 50/50 exhibit at 100th Monkey Studio! I am very pleased with the result. I was inspired to create a book that will hang on the wall for the exhibit out of my 8" x 8" panel of wood. It is filled with images I photographed, essays I wrote, quotes from wonderful sources that I have collected and other mixed media. The piece is entitled "Connection". It will be at the exhibit/sale to benefit the scholarship fund at 100th Monkey Studios. I hope you can come to the exhibit and own a piece of original art for merely $50 and benefit the scholarship fund as well! These pieces will be sold directly off the wall, on a first come first serve basis.
What better way to engage in the remarkable story that the studio was named for and become part of the change. Please join me and the other Portland area artists
The opening reception on First Friday September 4th
100th Monkey is located at 110 SE 16th Ave and Ankeny.
This will also mark the third anniversary of the studio that was created by two determined young women who wanted to create a difference through creating a place for creating art. The name The 100th Monkey Studio was adopted because the founders, Beth Ann Short and Joy Leising saw the opportunity for humankind to have the same sort of “phenomenon” in relation to using art as a means of self-care as well as self-expression. It is our goal that art making in a community setting become infectious, bringing art into people’s everyday life. In this creative community space any one is welcome to come and learn from each other, while supporting and embracing each other's differences. I hope to become a volunteer at the 100th Monkey this coming fall.
The name of the studio was inspired by a story one of the partners read. It is a story that some believe to be fiction, but the message is one of positive social change.
The Japanese monkey, Macaca Fuscata, had been observed in the wild for a period of over 30 years. It was documented that in 1952, on the island of Koshima, scientists had been leaving the monkeys sweet potatoes in the sand in exchange for a look into their social culture.
In 1958, one female was documented as washing the sweet potatoes in a nearby stream to rid it of the dirt and sand. She was documented as teaching the habit to her mother and her playmates. The new trait spread throughout the island. Suddenly not just on this island, but on surrounding islands and onto the mainland monkeys were washing their food.
The number 100 is merely a symbol, but in the story it was used to recognize when the trait forever changed the species. This magical occurrence was named the 100th Monkey Phenomenon.
The 100th Monkey Studio is a strong supporter of community. When able, the studio partners with non-profits for monthly shows to give the non- profits a platform to educate the community about what they do.
Past partners have included but are not limited to:
* My Story Workshops
* Dove Lewis
* Children's Relief Nursery
* Quest Center
* SMYRC
* Green Empowerment
* Zimbabwe Artist Project
* Africa AIDS Response
THE 2009 CHAIR AFFAIR RAISED $90,000 FOR THE COMMUNITY WAREHOUSE.
THE EVENT SOLD OUT!
THANKS TO OUR GENEROUS SPONSORS, TICKET PURCHASERS, BIDDERS. COMMITTEE MEMBERS, AND DONORS.
THE FUNDS RAISED THROUGH THIS EVENT WILL ALLOW US TO PROVIDE DONATED ITEMS TO OVER 700 LOCAL FAMILIES IN NEED DURING THE COMING MONTHS.
THE 2009 CHAIR AFFAIR SOLD OUT! Thank you to all those who purchased tickets and chairs!
I don't have a final count on how much money was raised this year at the Chair Affair but will keep you updated when I know. Despite difficult economic times, I was elated to see all the Portlanders that come out to support the Community Warehouse.
I am already planning my chairs for next year in my head! It was a great event to lend my "hand" and I do mean "one" hand to! Overall I think my chairs helped to raise close to $700. In addition, I of course supported The Community Warehouse and Portland's economy by bidding and winning a fabulous hand crafted silver chair pin created by Gayla Faustman-Buyukas
2009 Event
A Fun-Filled Benefit for the Community Warehouse
When: Thursday April 23, 2009 - 6:00-8:30 pm Where: Staver Locomotive - 2537 NW 29th, Portland, Oregon
The Chair Affair has expanded to over 80 local artists featuring chair-related art that includes jewelry, paintings, pottery, fabric, and of course, dozens of fabulous chairs!
NEW FOR 2009: "Take a Seat" auction items: Blazer tickets, dinner & theatre seats, a weekend at the beach, and MORE!
Have a seat & enjoy dessert during the live auction!
Tickets $50 each or, buy a dessert table for eight for the price of six tickets!
| Buy your 2009 Chair Affair tickets now! | |
| Buy a Dessert Table for Eight-for the price of six tickets! |
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