Heart and Circulation

  Park Pop Up installation, 5 2 2014

Recent Earth Day documentaries on Pivot  (their April month of  specials, really deserves a mention) had me thinking again how our bodies are patterns of organic constructs found in other works of Nature, similar patterns throughout systems with change, adaptive qualities..this is rich.

I loved doing the water systems recycouture exhibit of 2012. This is where a woman  spoke to me of our being in co-evolution with plants, animals et al and how this coevolving sustained us. Plants use energy we cannot and as humans when we consume plants we are actually releasing the vital nutrients that were made available during the photosynthesizing process. How cool is this?

But in our anthropomorphic delusions, we altered systems to support our species. This is a huge Plus & Minus topic as we crashed around all ignorant and arrogant and yet managed to survive -so now we can observe what our ignorance and arrogance has created- the irony is sweet. The solutions are available, the beliefs correctable and the new stories are being written.

The satin heart construct with painting of wooded stream that meanders from an open horizon to let in the light, the energy of consciousness. The painting becomes 3 d as it escapes with a tulle river to become an expression of confluence, flow and bio mimicry.. a metaphor of how we connect to the whole of being, in multi mediums.

 I appreciate how beautifully our veins and arteries circulate blood and how this vital fluid transports nutrients through our bodies, much as rivers and streams have been transporting nutrients throughout our planet's ecosystems.  This creates the necessary regenerative flow that enhances life and supports evolution which supports our material beingness which enables consciousness..that is beyond amazing! For without consciousness what really "exists?"

This metaphor goes further as humans and other species store toxic wastes as well, often in fat.  New blood flow systems are generated to support these sites that contain the things bodies cannot flush or utilize.

Land fills, toxic waste and soil seepage ......environment out "there" and in "here."

Rivers transport goods and generate services created by humans and yet we block, control reroute them as we believe we need to do so in order to boost our energy; all the while depleting another kind of energy elsewhere.

The Mad Hatter Tea Party with delusions of the infinite table, where guests and hosts just moved down when a mess was made. I think Lewis Carrol was writing of more than than an event in a children's book. We as a species see the end of the table and we know not what to do except continue an ancient pattern that regenerates more problems. This is the mainstream level of flow and why the alternative paths are so very important, to stray is to solve that which cannot be solved with the thinking that created it (Einsteins best) .

So in this mess we are facing ...a simple oops and let us sincerely do better would help us all to heal. However most humans  are apparently transfixed by their own toxic brains, held in the black magic spells of that old story.

"One pill makes you larger and one pill makes you small and the pills your mother gives you..." (Jefferson Airplane) actually may show up as damage later! 

We are all here to participate in the now story. Every day we make choices that contribute to the Love or the Fear in that story.

Those willing to face the fear, see the shadow and the damage need to explore the new path, write the new stories. For if we do not face fear- we run or fight, both acts just get us ever deeper into the shadow.

New stories can turn the whole planet direction around.

Artists activate your tools and utilize them well, for it is in the creative mind that our resources can expand. (The Quantum Activist- A Goswami can further this concept, that book brought it home to me!)

Life and Money

illustration by John Tenniel from

Alice Through the Looking-Glass

Money and Life looks to be a great film, as is rounding up many of my economic relationship heroes.  I just realized that we rarely see the words relationship with money unless it's via the Law of Attraction - where the words abundance and prosperity still have many thinking in terms of wealth, which is then translated to money and material goods. I believe this blindspot has many issues and few people appear willing to "go there." This film should help reveal the path and make the going easier.

(Oops, i  leapt over the obvious, in $ and relationships- golddigger -a derogatory term (meme and a Refuzor song) that helped usurp the old norm of marrying for money and power. The archaic norms devoted to species propagation -aka my tribes bigger than yours- as a marker of power and wealth- came from a narrow physiological perspective. As we changed over time we (western focus) culturally adapted and put the emphasis on love.)

Energy and relationships are built into everything.  Exposing economics, by digging under all the graphs, charts  and justifications -we see the relationships. Humans in relationships with each other, with the myriad other life forms, with sum total resources, with planet systems, more and vice versa.

More and more life supporting/enhancing interactions are weighing in against the economic construct that was built on exchanges, which were made easier with money.

As the monetary systems grew, the more turf it claimed. To survive, the system became more abstract and "rational." Then it was rational to put money as object and subject. This swayed our thinking - the more real money appeared,  the more power we gave it. This is why banks had to gobble each other up and whyderivitives were born into "being."

I love that the trailer for Money and Life, brings up the fact that money is something humans made up. It became part of the cultural tale.  It was woven into the stories that are handed down via familty, community, formal education, marketers and in the memes that are passed around like mind plagues. This is part of our collective doing and now it's in an undoing process. 

This is a good thing. Seeing the error of one's ways  (even if that "one" is a system or cultural viewpoint) opens the path for great change.

We as a species are toppling from the old construct. Some are jumping, some feel their new wings and have started to fly, some are simply falling off as the supports give way.

All the while, others are hanging on for "dear life," they ignore the ruckus -looking the other way, they assure each other that they will survive this too, for are they not at the pinnacle of the construct, living as removed as possible from the dust and crumbs of the cultural demise?

For some reason, Humpty Dumpty comes to mind and just like in the nursery rhyme, "nothing will put HD back together again."

This is good, for once we finally realize that repair is not an answer, we can actually  move into the new stories. (Creative diversity will guide us as it has nature, health is in diversity)

The new stories will allow our potential to expand. We have done the pro-creation thing and it is so time for the co-creative partnering thing.

As we learn to embrace that which we once saw as chaos, when we appreciate the Earth and all life, learn to recognize the light in everything and learn to love without fear, we will heal and transform.  (part of the Mythic Deconstruction story, thnx David Felker (Kerf Gallery) for the discussion last night, we all need to address the crazy emo side of things. Madness by Muse brings it home fairly well.)

According to this film, we can be the designers of a world that is equitable, sustainable and beautiful. So why not go there?

I am.

WaterRIP, The Flow

 

WaterRIP studio shots

 I was thinking this morning,  how amazing it was to have 2 articles show up on 2 consecutive days that effortlessly tied the next Kerf International Gallery show together.

My work with WaterRIP started with fresh water issues and since our bodies are 50-70% water, depending on age and hydration levels, what messes with water, messes with us. I then started recognizing patterns of biology repeating in ecology which helped me understand how dis-ease enters sytems and imbalances provide it residence.
This is also how each chapter of fashionRIP influences the next. This is the organic process.

 WaterRIP is a story and a "painting" with fabric. I am culling from fashion, as image, as sensory appeal and the changes new contexts provide. All the while, i am playing with how myth orchestrates reality, as beliefs show up in systems.  Get it?

Yeah, my mind has a tendency to weave like crazy. I untangle old stories and rework the material until something fresh has a chance to emerge. I incorporate new materials as needed. This is true in my art work and in the behind the scenes research. My life becomes a catalyst for the work and the whole process is ever more a flow. Borders are illusions that no longer seem relevant. The new story is coming to life.

WaterRIP is chapter 2 of fashionRIP Project. The installation is a pause and a celebration. It is made all the better because joining me this time, is Beverly Naidus. She is a new friend, who is currently teaching at the University of Washington, Tacoma, where she has created and facilitates a unique interdisciplinary studio curriculum in art for social change and healing. Is this spot on or what?

Beverly's installation, And Now Behind Curtain #2, challenges us with questions about the trance created by the mainstream media and the perils and rewards of activism. This is an interactive piece, so bring friends or make some new ones while playing the game. The work debuted in a museum show in Germany and headlined a Northwest Ropom art space during last spring's Folklife.


" The experience of sharing this work was one of the most profound interactions I have ever had with an audience.  Visitors have asked me to produce the game board as a real game that can be bought and used at parties and at home.  They have also asked me to turn the stories into a published book.  There was such a hunger for discussing what was shared in this piece. "  Beverly Naidus

 

 photos of And Now...

I see connections all over the place, they appear like holograms, so putting words to it  can be time cosuming and ..well it is an entirely other thing. These articles arrived like angels, gifts from the authors, Yes Magazine and the universe. The experiment continues as resources show up and help to smooth the path.

 Your Body is a Body of Water, by Jourdan Keith and Why Your Health is Bigger Than Your Body by Claudia Rowe,  really help explain the  December show at the Wallingford Center, Seattle in a most wonderful way.  Social justice, health, water, fair play, happiness and ecology are all on the same page. To experience the collusion please come by and see/ test for yourself.

And please let us know what you think, what you are seeking and why and how we can make 2013 the leap year of another kind. It takes a village, more, but so what?  We have all had challenges and we can rock when need be.  The time is now!

The Wicche Rising

photo for Wetland Wicche a character in WaterRIP installation

have to add the swamp but couldn't resist this earthy take of Lady of the Lake

Sandy recently submerged a large part of the East Coast. My thoughts and  healing energy go out to friends, everyone in chaos. To all you riders of the storm, please,  tell us your stories, eventually enough of us will hear and learn that we cannot continue this devastating course. Critical mass counts and sooner is way better than later.

So - how badass does nature have to act to get our attention?

Global warming accelerates storm activity. Monocrops breed disease. GMOs are bad for soils, rats and humans. Human activity, much of it aimed for profit over else, has created a madness we have accepted as "reality." But this superimposed manmade reality composed of extractive economics, protecting the wealth of the few while hurting the many maintaining an "us/them and it" way of thinking; that "reality" is the false real. We've been hoodwinked, bigtime!!

Bigger real- we are in a relationship with all other humans, with other species, with ecosystems and the biosphere. We are connected.

Our bodies have a cellular intimacy with natural, real, whole, unpoisoned food. We evolved together.  This plays a part in why some people are better able to digest certain foods better than others.

(Acid reflux, allergies, IBS and other digestive issues have a relationship to GMOs- just saying)

 Like hummingbirds and deep throated blossoms, groomer fish and sharks, we are in an co-creative relationship with the natural world, we evolved together.  Instead of fearing, attacking, attempting to control and dominate, it is time we figured out how to dance.

Nature isn't the enemy, it is the animated life force, the spark's manifestation. To have senses and feel love, to make time meaningful, to wonder and find the potential we were gifted at birth, this is organic wisdom. Life is a gift. The gift is packaged by nature, to be respected, enjoyed and cherished.

Namaste

Ocean Tribute

Dress patch for Ocean Queen Gown, Goddess of love taken from the Botticelli painting

which is so full of mythic story. One of the influencers that have perpetuated western cultural memes. 

(Wacom tablet, Corel Paint, Photoshop)

 

WaterRIP installation is going up in December at the Kerf Gallery along with other works by noted artists, Beverly Naidus and  Don Metke. There may be others, but this is the "for sure" line up.

So i posted the dress blanks earlier and then the story stalled as i waited for the information i needed to flesh it out.

 I work with a visual goal that is quite sketchy, sometimes the images remain ghost holders, some come to life in an unexplained way and some are designed and good to go.

I am now at a place where the installation is telling me what it needs. This is nice as takes the pressure off in one way but can also be irritating, as what i liked at one point now needs revising to suit the staging concept the piece now needs, or rather demands.

Yes art can get in your face.  

At this stage the process teeters on feasability issues.  As the story wants more, wants to be bolder than space, time and money allows at this juncture, i need to edit. That is another kind of art.

WaterRIP is at the stage where she is like a runaway horse, with the bit in her teeth, i hang on and know that soon i will regain some control, re-esestablish the trust and that we will ride in together, in time for the show.

I love this place in my work!

Strreet April 26

Volunteered at Artist Trust (envelope stuffing to raise funds to help artists)  and on the way met Annabel with gloves from Sweden and a sweet jacket in a splash page plaid. Pulling it together right!

Elvs was also a volunteer (musician ?) at the Trust that day. Below, she is wearing a great graphic patch jacket, love the look.

Seattle style breaking the bore of department store schmack makes for good days.

Patch workshop at the Kerf?