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Art & Life

Hey gang! Just thought I'd let you know I have 2 articles appearing in the new issue of Teesha Moore's wonderful Art & Life zine. I wrote about my trip to Oaxaca last fall with Michael de Meng (see blog entry "Oaxaca") and I wrote a little musing on having a "studio" - and my journey to actually getting one. Or rather, claiming one.

If you are interested in my articles, or if you are looking for a really great art zine, (and I may be preaching to the choir), this is IT. Really. Teesha brings her optimistic, creative and colorful spirit to the pages. Not to mention her amazing talent. Published quarterly, this is a zine that you will wait for with eager anticipation, checking your mail box often hoping that this will be the day that a new issue arrives. In addition to raising 2 daughters and writing this amazing zine, this full-time artist also puts on two creative retreats, Artfest and Artfiberfest. For more inspiration and to subscribe to Art & Life, check out her website here.

Up next: My trip to San Francisco and the little travel journal I kept.

Memory Reloaded

For any of you that have been following Dawn Sokol's Art Journal Friday prompts you know we've been traveling back in time and remembering and journaling about our early years (see "Way Back" post). I've been thinking about memory lately (when I can remember) and when I came across last week's This American Life episode, called "Return to Childhood 2008", I thought I'd share it. You can find it here. It's about people who try to revisit their childhoods, what they find and what they don't find.

Give a listen and let me know what you think.

Hair of the Dog

My son woke up this morning with a raging case of bed head (the photo is post taming). When I insisted he apply the brush, which he passed over his head like a magic wand, he said, "Jeez mom, I don't see why people make such a big deal about hair. It's just stuff that grows on top of your head!" Sound of 10 year old stomping off.

Hmmmm. He's got a point. And to think there's a multi billion dollar hair care industry that has convinced us otherwise.

How's your head today?

And The Band Played On

I loved this movie because it was slow. Not slow as in, "dear god when is this going to be over," but slow as in a deep breath. It is very charming and the pacing allows you to enjoy the characters and have a sense of place. It's funny and poignant, without being obvious or overstated.

Just after college I shared a house with 2 Israeli brothers. Rami was an excellent vegetarian cook and Oded, while a chef by training, let Rami do all the cooking while he chased the girls. This movie reminded me a little of them. I loved the haunting music and the wonderful Egyptian songs the Band brought to life. If it comes to town, and you have a chance, grab a popcorn, take a deep breath and enjoy the sweet slow lane for a while.

Stand With Tibet - Support The Dalai Lama

"After decades of repression, Tibetans are crying out to the world for change. China's leaders are right now making a crucial choice between escalating brutality or dialogue that could determine the future of Tibet, and China."

"We can affect this historic choice -- China does care about its international reputation. But it will take an avalanche of global people power to get the government's attention. The Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, has called for restraint and dialogue: he needs the world's people to support him."

This is from the Avaaz.org organization who are asking people to sign a petition that states the following:

Petition to Chinese President Hu Jintao:

"As citizens around the world, we call on you to show restraint and respect for human rights in your response to the protests in Tibet, and to address the concerns of all Tibetans by opening meaningful dialogue with the Dalai Lama. Only dialogue and reform will bring lasting stability. China's brightest future, and its most positive relationship with the world, lies in harmonious development, dialogue and respect."

If you are interested in learning more about Avaaz.org and their petition for sanity, you can go their website and sign the petition here.

If you'd like more information on the situation in Tibet, I found an interesting article in the Washington Post, What They Are Really Fighting For In Tibet, which you can find here.

I will now get off my soap box and return to regular artful blogging.

Splendid Vernal Equinox

Bring on the little green shoots and warmer days!

Here is one of my favorite Mary Oliver poems, just for today, the first day of Spring.

messenger

my work is loving the world.
here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird-
equal seekers of sweetness.
here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums.
here the clam deep in the speckled sand.

are my boots old? Is my coat torn?
am I no longer young, and still not half-perfect? let me
keep my mind on what matters,
which is my work.

which is mostly standing still an learning to be
astonished.
the phoebe, the delphinium.
the sheep in the pasture, and the pasture.
which is mostly rejoicing, since all the ingredients are here,

which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart
and these body-clothes,
a mouth with which to give shouts of joy
to the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam,
telling them all over and over, how it is
that we live forever.

How To Live With Our Brains

Ok, I had a completely different post ready for today. But this TED video came across my path this morning, completely unexpectedly and it's so cool I just had to share it. If you don't know about TED check it out here. You could spend hours watching amazing people talk about what they do.

In a nutshell: "TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader. The annual conference now brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes)."

It's such an great idea and and I periodically run across videos from their conferences. I'll be adding it to my Bookmarks bar today, so I don't forget about it. Again. Jeez, light a candle for Our Lady of Pervasive Memory Loss.

So check out this brain researcher talk about her brain and her amazing journey. "This is a powerful story about how our brains define us and connect us to the world and to one another."

It's only 18 minutes and I think you'll find it as enlightening as I did.

War Dreams

I know this isn’t the usual kind of art blog posting. But I am trying to keep it real and decided to share this journal page. I have war dreams. Not every night or even every other night. But I do have them. I am not a news junkie and don’t have the TV on very often, and not tuned to CNN. I’m not sure where these dreams come from. Except from where they come from. I had one particularly vivid dream 2 summers ago that has stuck with me. And last summer in a Laurie Doctor workshop I was able to express it in the form of a poem. This was a very powerful experience for me, and the group of artists that worked to create this collaborative poem. 3 of us worked in a group. We each wrote down a dream and then shared what we had written. From that sharing we took a line or two from each person’s dream and wrote a “poem”. This was ours:

I stand holding the owl to my breast
An Iraqi man talks to me of his great loss
I feel a deep sense of sadness and compassion

I say: if you know their song, you can find them
If they know their song, they can find their way home.

I was really surprised at the depth of emotion this sharing evoked in me. My part of the poem, and the essence of my dream, was of an Iraqi man sharing his losses with me. We cried in the dream and I cried in the workshop. I’m a private cryer, and this public over flow of emotion stunned me. But it all came spilling forth. We talked in the workshop about how art can be a place to put deep emotion. That by writing a poem or doing a journal page, we have created a container for it. In the end this was actually a very uplifting experience for me. It freed me somehow to make the dream more real and less a weight in my subconscious. I thought about this poem all summer and knew I wanted to do a journal page. Another container. There are many war images I could have used, but when I saw this one from Time Magazine (Pictures of The Year 2007 issue, photo credit is, Noor), I knew I had to use it. I had been to Oaxaca in early November and the presence of Our Lady of Soledad (see Oaxaca post), was still with me. This Iraqi woman in the foreground just seemed like a plaintive Soledad. So that’s what I made her. The divine feminine in the midst of the war and soldiers and kneeling Iraqi men. I added a Buddah and a dove and my poem. I wanted to add light and hope to this scene and to create a place for my poem. Now it has a place to rest. I can breath. And hope. And hold the light.

And speaking of hope. I have just discovered Phil Roy. I think he’s been around for a while. I can hear the eyes rolling in my much hipper friends heads, “old new’s Fran.” But he’s new to me and I am loving his song, “Hope in Hopeless World.” The song speaks to me and helps me hold the light on many days when the news just seems so hopeless. Here’s a great video of the song:

Keep the hope. Build a good container for all your dreams. Hold the light for the souls finding their way home.

Post Script

I'll be heading out to the City by the Bay soon and wondered if any of you out in blog land had any suggestions for me while I'm in San Francisco. You know, the cool, off the beaten path places that shouldn't be missed? Like the one's for my area that I've listed in my sidebar? Pass any suggestions along and I'll do my best to check them out.

I'm trying out a new travel journal format by taking the little Moleskine journal (above), and transforming it into my own personal travel journal. It's got maps and stickers and pockets and all things cool to play with. I'll post the results upon my return.

Cool New Store Alert

Common Threads - 2707 Spruce Street - Boulder, CO 80302

I love finding cool new stores in my area. Don't have to go to Portland, Seattle or New York. They can be hiding in plain sight, right in our own communities. I love supporting these shops as well. We need more creative, independent businesses forging the way of individuality - the perfect antidote to the strip mall. I found one such shop recently by accident, which is really a comment on how clueless I am, not on their advertising plan. Anyway, while looking for kayaking gear for my daughter (I know!), I came across this little gem.

Common Threads specializes is an interesting combination of recycled fashion (good stuff too), cottage industry products and half their store is what they call "Creative Lab", where you can take classes on embroidery, sewing, knitting, felting and they even have a T-shirt press and leather presses. Cool!

One such cottage industry that is represented is English Retreads.

Here's their story:

Shifting Gears

"Heather English got the idea for English Retreads when she was floating down Boulder Creek on, you guessed it, an inner tube. "€œI needed a new handbag but I was a hardcore vegetarian. I wanted something that was fashionable and invincible—but not made from leather," Heather explains. "I did'n€™t find what I was looking for, so I went to McGuckin's, [a favorite local hardware store] bought some tools and started my own personal sweatshop €”with me doing the sweating." After friends started asking for a bag just like hers, Heather knew she was on to something and English Retreads hit the road in 2001.

Truck stops in the Boulder area supply Heather with the used inner tubes each of which probably has more than 60,000 miles on it before it gets reinvented. "Just think of all the places these tubes have been," says Heather. "Now it's your turn to add to their miles and adventures."

I couldn't resist this cool purse (I am NOT modeling it). Just the right size and it's made from a recycled tire, right here in my community. I just had to share these two sweet little finds with you. And if you don't live here in the state Where The Columbines Grow, you can order their products here.

And BTW - hometown bragging rights here - English Retreads were chosen by the Sundance Channel to be included in the swag bag at the Sundance Film Festive. Tres Chic and very green!