Art Matters

MEDIA ALERT: “This is a Sacred Place”: A Community Eco-Arts Project as part of the Arts Sonoma 09 Festival

2009-08-07T13:24:00.000-07:00

“This is a Sacred Place” (TIASP), is a community eco-arts arts project highlighting the links between art, place, community and the imperative for humanity to reclaim the earth as our sacred home.

EVERYONE IS WELCOME! The goal is for participants to photograph places that represent the beauty and sacredness of the natural environment along with the TIASP symbol (see below.) Places can be anywhere we see them: home, work, on vacation, at play…anywhere.
How: Everyone can identify their sacred place with a bio-degradable sticker and post their photographs of the sacred place on the TIASP Facebook page at http://www.tiasp.org/ . The resulting images will be available for all to enjoy. No address is needed, so the location of your sacred space can remain a secret.

What: An opportunity to honor the sacredness of the natural world. Photographs of Sacred Places will be displayed on the web and at the TIASP Headquarters during the Arts Sonoma 09 Festival, August 29-October 4, 2009.

When: Photographs can be posted on the web now through October 4, 2009. In addition, three events in Sonoma County will bring people together for an opening and closing hands-on ceremonies, and third event to bring together people to build labyrinths (creating a new sacred place!) in their community.

FREE EVENTS:

Opening Ceremony/Make a Stone Sculpture- Saturday August 29, 2009 5-8pm
A family-friendly event celebrating the start of “Sacred Place” by creating art with natural materials. Have your work photographed and included on the TIASP website. People of all ages are welcome and remember “everyone is an artist”. Hosted at The Painted Door Gallery, 421 2nd St. Petaluma, CA 94952.

Build a Labyrinth in Your Community - Sunday September 20, 2009
A location in Santa Rosa will be announced. For information about how to build a labyrinth in your community, contact us and check back at the website http://www.tiasp.org/ for more information.

Closing Ceremony/Community Picnic at Shollenberger Park, Petaluma Sunday October 4, 2009

www.saveshollenberger.com/
http://www.tiasp.org/
http://www.sonomaarts.com/artssonoma.html

July 10, 2009 Update

2009-07-10T15:55:00.000-07:00

Hi,

I've been lost in the world of gallery ownership and PhD studies since my last post.

I intend to post once a week from now until my dissertation research is completed.

Here's my plate. Somehow it all connects like a web. Life is Good!

This is a Sacred Place: An Eco-Art Project for the Global Community
Finally the TIASP project is getting underway....http://www.tiasp.org/
Down to Earth Women for a Sustainable Future: An Art Based Co-0perative Inquiry.
A PhD candidate at Cailifornia Institute of Integral Studies CIIS

The Topic The Approach The Method
The Painted Door - A Gallery of Contemporary Aboringinal Art and Othe Unique Visions
421 2nd St, Petaluma, CA 94952 707-762-3296 info@the-painted-door.com

Body/Mind Wisdom

2008-07-25T08:49:00.000-07:00

vmay 2005

" There is an unbroken continuum from the wisdom of the body to the wisdom of the mind, from the wisdom of the individual to the wisdom of the [universe]" Rene Jules Dubois

Connections to the Land Art of the Dreaming

2008-07-21T08:20:00.000-07:00

When speaking or painting a dreaming story the traditional owner refers to a living ontology that links pre-history and the distant future in the present. The artists perceive themselves to be inside their country and paint themselves as their country; the land features, the tracks between water holes, the mythic songlines of supernatural beings before time, and so on.

Neglected Places

2008-07-18T09:39:00.000-07:00

I want to pay attention to places that have been radically disturbed.
Riding up Wilson Hill on the way home from Point Reyes today I pulled off into the dusty place on the side of the road. The view of Petaluma from this overlook is spectacular. I look out over the brown hills spotted with dark oaks and scrub in the ravines, A hazy sky from the many wildfires burning in Northern California, and the busy web of roads and patchwork of buildings following the 101 freeway in the center of the small valley. I breathe in the expansive sight and the quite space around me before looking down at my feet. The grassy bank that leads down about four feet to the weathered barbed wire fence is littered with trash. I have thought to clean this place many times, but I would need gloves to protect me from broken glass and human waste. I know many people come here to enjoy this view. Why do they leave trash behind? I tie a small TIASP tag onto the fence with wire. I will return with gloves to clean up this sacred place.

I am a Sacred Place

2008-07-16T21:24:00.000-07:00

My body gives and nurtures life
I live in a
sacred place
The land where my house sits
The road my car travels on
This town was built on the Marshlands
of the Petaluma River – The sacred home
of millions of critters and
humans
past and present.
The sun shines on me everyday
The rain and
wind and soil
The food I eat
The birds and moles
Fox and deer.
The rocks and trees
The weeds in my garden
We are sacred

All
of us

Trees

2008-07-15T07:35:00.000-07:00

"For seven days and seven nights [the buddha] sat in meditation supported by the tree. During the seventh night he was tormented by every possible distraction of the mind. Mara, the voice of delusion challenged him ferociously, asking what right he had to sit by the fig tree seeking truth. To counter the force of ignornace, he touched his right hand to the earth. Whith theearth and tree as witness, the powerful realization of interdependence was revealed." (in Terrapsychology by Craig Chalquist)

“Sometimes a tree can tell you more than can be read in a book.” (C G Jung)

This is a Sacred Place

2008-07-12T09:17:00.000-07:00

People are telling me stories about their sacred places! I am trying to record them – the discourse, I feel, is important. What is sacred? Why? Why not? What does it mean to you? How do you recognize a sacred place? Is it just a matter of attitude? These are some of the questions that I and others are asking themselves.
What do you think?

www.tiasp.org

Sludge

2007-05-21T08:38:00.000-07:00

Sludge is the residual semi-solid material left from industrial, water treatment, or wastewater treatment processes.

It's easy to get depressed about the state of the world.

http://www.bestlifeonline.com/cms/publish/travel-leisure/Our_oceans_are_turning_into_plastic_are_we.shtml

I'm making a crochet piece that symbolizes the vomiting up of the sludge burried at the core of self/earth (like lava). Long strings of black organic lumpy shapes with broken pieces of plastic twined into it. Also I am making small bags of compost (a handful each) from recycled plastic bags. Tied with red thread and adorned with glass beads they symbolize the cosmic womb. Each will have a small (tag) that says "this is a sacred place". I envision them hanging from the ceiling (hundreds, thousands of them. No shortage of plastic bags!! I feel so strongly that the trash that we dump into the earth is like the trash my father (the patriarchy) has dumped into me (women). The disregard, the abuse, the usury; It's all too much for me to deal with right now. It’s hard to be so sensitive to the insanity of the world we live in!! If it immobilizes me then what good am I? As long as I can keep working on this "sacred place" project:

I think I'll be alright.

Eco-Art

2007-05-19T12:22:00.000-07:00

Eco-Art

The term can be used generally to refer to art dealing with ecological issues
and/or the natural environment:

by raising awareness of the fragility of nature
investigating natural phenomena
using natural materials gathered outdoors
not contributing to environmental degradation

Still working twards defining my dissertation topic and have surrenderd to the the creative process at work. This process is both personal and environmental. The two are intertwined.

I am sometimes so overwhelmed by the disasters and traumas I see around me that I am brought to my knees in prayer and humility. After jumping in over my head with plans for this large collaborative project I realized that I’m still, at heart, a solitary artist. Collaborative public works are dramatic ways to engage with the Spirit of Community but not the only way. There are many artists and social activists who work quietly behind the scenes making small contributions where they can. I am reminded of Dominique Mazeaud's "Great Cleansing of the Rio Grande" http://www.earthheartist.com/ and the possibility that my art practice can through individual compassionate actions.

Community

2006-11-15T09:59:00.000-08:00

(ecology) a group of interdependent organisms inhabiting the same region and interacting with each other wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

The Art Room and Artists in Community are two ideas that have grown out of my dissertation proposal for a PhD in Transformative Learning and Change at California Institute of Integral Studies. I am just now sketching out this idea which I hope will evolve into a unique opportunity for our community to develop and share artistic vision. It is important to me that this vision is based in the practice of making art not in the idea of making art. In addition this vision is cooperative and communal in spirit.

The Art Room will be the center for a co-operative artist/research project which will have several outcomes. One is a dissertation due to be completed June 2009. The dissertation will include results from the research study both written and visual with the intention of contributing to the growing knowledge of Art Practice as Research and Transformative Learning Theories. The other is the development of a community art resource that can in part fill the need for access to creative space.

The Chookhouse Studio - Brisbane Australia

First we need a space for The Art Room. A dry warehouse space no smaller than 2000sq’ located in or near Petaluma would be rent free in exchange for improvements and a free space for community members both young and old to use for creative projects. I am personally committed to taking responsibility for facilitating the development of this art co-op. The intention is not to hold art classes but to provide a place where people can explore their creative process. I imagine a space that begins to collect materials, work tables, creative gatherings, and art objects. I imagine a place where we can inquire into the mysteries of both creative and community building processes.

Second we need a group of Artists in Community; others who would be interested in becoming co-facilitators and/or co-researchers. I imagine a core group of people who are committed to changing the perception of elitist art; to embody a concept of art as a way of knowing. As an artists/scholar I believe that by exploring and articulating an artistic way of knowing we may contribute to the transformation of our society; a transformation that will assist in creating a plausible, sane and, viable future.

Magic Wand

2006-09-12T08:27:00.000-07:00

Wand \Wand\, n. The wand of Hermes or caduceus, the magician's wand, the rods of Moses and Aaron, the scepter of kings which shows the force of temporal power, and the crosier of a bishop, are prototypes and antitypes of a universal principle -- the straight line, representing the masculine, active, positive power in nature. The magician may be said to possess a magic wand -- a name for the power he can wield -- and there may be various material copies of this, ranging from an actual magic wand supposedly prepared according to secret formulas, down to the humble stick or cudgel with which the ruffian enforces his will. The words rod and staff are often used figuratively as well as literally in the Bible. from theosociety.org
I am working on these wands – magic wands – made from natural materials and embellished with colored thread, beads and other things. At first I only thought of them as “the touch of… (crab, or rabbit, grass or stone – fill in the blank) and that they were about acknowledging the power of the non- human world. Then I realized they were much more.
I collect materials on my walks in various places. Materials come from Australia, California, Vermont and they all get mixed together. I take pleasure in the collecting and the putting together of sticks, stones, feathers, bones, seeds, color, and ornamentation.

Wand #2 - The Touch of Crab

I recognize the need for integrating the places where I dwell. The wands are hybrids like myself.They do not draw their source from one place. They are post colonial wands. In addition the materials and construction have complex symbolic relationships to each other. For example, it seems important the base of the wands has some sort of rock to ground the energy and the tips have lighter materials connecting with flight or life.

The magic begins in the gathering but can not fully come into the world until the wands are activated. I will devise a fire ritual to bring the power of magic alive. I believe that in this ritual I (we) enact and embody the mythical domain.

And, although I am accustomed to creating fire rituals for myself I wonder if it isn’t time for me to share this powerful art making activity with other and that a fire ritual with my community would bring the energy into the community in a positive and transformative way. It’s the making of the art that brings me new knowledge not the actual object.

Ritual

2006-09-01T14:07:00.000-07:00

Ritual \Rit"u*al\. A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value, which is prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. from wikipedia.org

From Eleanor Ruckman with my comments and hers

After we met and talked about the ritual, I participated in a number of different community rituals. The combination of experiences slowed me down some about planning my own - the central question being, when ritual by its nature is a repetitive shared cultural experience, how do you create an inclusive cross-cultural ritual when the community doesn't necessarily share tradition?E>

I think that the community needs to develop it's own rituals over time. Another related question is "what constitutes community?" V>

How to do this in a way that is not exploitative or derivative but genuinely soul-derived? So different, for instance, from Aboriginal culture where the roots may have been truncated but nonetheless are deep and wide. E>

Yes I agree that perhaps the indigenous people have a closer connection to collective wisdom but I have witnessed the tremendous effort at reclaiming their shared cultural experience. I think we all experience the universality of dislocation. This is a post colonial term that I think explains the longing for connection with land and shared ritual so many of us feel. V>

I think that collective planning is part of the answer to my questions, as well as to the question about what defines community - a community can define itself (that's not the only way of course). Deep questions, more thoughts than I can expand on at the moment. E>

Although I am at the start of developing my topic, I do hope to egage a community of artists in cooperative research. I intend to expand the weblog to other bloggers and hope it will be a useful tool in creating community. I invite your comments and questions. V>

Articulate

2006-09-01T13:19:00.000-07:00

(ar·tic·u·late) 1. divided into distinct, meaningful syllables or words. 2. endowed with the power of speech. 3. characterized by the use of clear, meaningful language.
from merckmedicus.com

My second year as PhD sudent at California Institute of Integral Studies begins with a focus on developing a dissertation topic; hopefully one that will make a significant contribution to the accademic world and more importantly to the flourishing of social and ecological world systems.

I am interested in how the practice of making art develops capacities for articulating community wisdom. I would like to explore this within the context of an “arts community” nested in the larger communities of Petaluma, Northern California and the Planet Earth. I believe that the meaning of art lays in its relation to human activity and therefore my research must be grounded in my art practice.

Local community knowledge, of ecosystems, sustainable technologies, multicultural communications, capacities for resilience, etc. must be developed so that our descendents will be able to survive the future. Much of what we need to know can not be made available through existing scientific paradigms and therefore I suggest that an inquiry focused on art practices as embodied articulation of “other ways of knowing” will be a significant contribution to the problem of “The Future” and that it must have an application in supporting the flourishing of individuals and their communities. A few years ago I realized that I did not want to die without having made a significant contribution as an artist. I can now see my way a bit more clearly.

"The Fool"
from The Voyager Tarot

Action

2006-08-20T08:01:00.000-07:00

My action is my possession.
My action is my inheritance.
My action is the womb which bears me.
My action is my refuge

Old Buddhist Saying

Listen

2006-08-17T11:34:00.000-07:00

Listen \Lis"ten\, v. To give close attention with the purpose of hearing; to give ear; to hearken; to attend.

In the margin of David Abram's Spell of the Sensuous (1996), I have written "I wonder what would happen if I stopped reading?" Or writing? Abram argues that the written word dislocates us from directly experiencing the natural world. Literate cultures, as opposed to oral cultures, experience a separation between humans and the rest of the universe, between mind and body and between space and time.

We are,he says, through the written word, able to reflexively abstract our existence which then enables us to discount and perpetrate against any other existence, including other humans. We have become a narcissistic and solipsistic species, tolerating only ourselves, our needs, and our creations. And at the same time we long for the "Promised Land"; a utopian return to wholeness and connection with our true selves.

Like a River 2006

Perhaps my desire to spend time in the deserts of the world come from a need to silence the cacophony of modern civilization in order that I might rediscover and be nourished by the voices of the natural world. But then I question this desire to go somewhere else; Central Australia or Death Valley.

Is it possible to rediscover the sacred wisdom of the land through participatory listening coupled with ritual response to a Place; a non literary dialogic practice that relocates the Self in proper relationship to a particular place?

Should I not listen to and find this place, here, where I live?

Vin

The Quilts of Gee's Bend

2006-08-16T09:16:00.000-07:00

The Quilts of Gee's Bend at the de Young Museum in San Francisco
15 July 2006 —31 December 2006

The exhibition of quilts from this forgotten community with roots that reach deeply into American slavery evoke a rich interplay of emotions; unexpected rhythms of delight, grief, curiosity, shock and warm comfort. Springing from the basic human need for warmth, these quilts speak loudly of strength of spirit and community in the face of poverty. To call this work art is both an understatement and a commentary on temporary art audiences.

Hailed by The New York Times as "some of the most miraculous works of modern art America has produced," the nationally acclaimed Gee’s Bend Quilt exhibition honors the aesthetics of women’s traditional craft. Indeed the work is visually stunning and is a creative departure from both traditional and most contemporary quilting aesthetics. On the other hand it is impossible to separate aesthetics from context. By bringing this work into the halls of High Culture are we not glorifying the poverty and oppression of African American Communities? Somehow, the dirt and stains of slavery become art when exhibited in the galleries of the stunning new de Young Museum.

The historical context is provided to viewers through photographs depicting the hard life of sharecroppers of the 1930’s, and audio and video recordings of the women singing spirituals as they quilt together. The stories of hardship survived through strength of spirit are directly evidenced in the worn ragged quilts. I could weep with compassion for a lifestyle so distant from my own experience of privilege and relative ease.

As an artist I’m inspired by the direct indication of women’s hands. These quilts do not aim for perfection. The ragged patching, bunched up seams, and irregular shapes exude a kind of homey comfort that only human touch can offer. I can imagine these quilts piled on tip of an old bed, heavy with the warmth and love of a God prayed through a woman’s hands as stitched.

I am inspired to allow my hand to show in my work; to allow the loose ends and rough edges to remain. But if I disjoin my aesthetics form my life my work is not art will remain superficial and lack depth of meaning. I fear seeing this testimony to human flourishing turned into a style or a fad designed for commercial profit. As contemporary artists allow the Quilts of Gee’s Bend to inform and influence their work I would advocate the deliberate action of prayer also be worked into our pieces and squares. Perhaps through our work we can acknowledge the frailty of our lives and the precariousness of human survival.

For us, on the outside, it is easy to focus on the aesthetic qualities of worn recycled fabrics and naïve technique so that we don’t have to think about the cause of poverty or feel the pain of racism that is at the core of this work. The Quilts of Gee’s Bend are the highest of art in that they combine the exquisite and authentic sense of design with the power and meaning of utilitarian craft, politics and spirituality.
Vin

Influence

2006-08-14T11:30:00.000-07:00

Influence \In"flu*ence\, n. A flowing in or upon; influx. (dictionary.net)

“What and who has influenced your art?” “Well” I said, “I don’t look much at art. I draw from inner sources and create from a naïve perspective.” But this is a lie. I began to visit museums as a child growing up in Boston. I’ve lived a cultured life with the privilege of participating in art classes all the way through – eventually getting a Masters in Visual Art in 2005 at the age of 50.

I think this denial of influence comes from my personal need to rediscover my core, my origins and my connection to a “sensuous reality” (1996, Abram) , as opposed to a purely “man-made” reality. This quest has brought me to my internalized indigenous roots. This “original self”, although buried in my American cultural inheritance is accessible through the language of art. If I am lucky, a pre-literate expression sometimes emerges from the creative process. I deliberately work towards this state of being hoping that the traces of connection can be transmitted to others.
Becoming culturally naked. Vin

"Fertile Shield" 1994

Responsibility

2006-08-13T10:57:00.000-07:00

Responsibility \Re*spon`si*bil"i*ty\ n.The state of being responsible, accountable, or answerable, as for a trust, debt, or obligation. (dictionary.net)

Nyunymanu:
Dingo dreaming place
Paddy Anatari’s country.

Old man squints between wrinkles
drawn into a smile in the broad red land.
Played as a child; walked every foot in its sand.

“You see that rock over there?”

(The top had been rubbed smooth and
flat soft, as if it were cut by a diamond, but
Its been done by another rock
cupped in hundreds of hands:
Increase site for birth of dingo pup)
And
Paddy Anatari strokes the rock again,

And again. He says.
“You see this rock?

This rock is me!”

(from Billy Marshal-Stoneking, (1990) “Paddy: A Poem for Land Rights,” in Singing the Snake: Poems from the Western Desert.)

I so acutely feel the loss of connection between me and my place. So much severing of time and ancestors has set met loose like a soap bubble rising on the thin air of my own breath.
I am a woman of the west;

Dissociated
Lost
Without a voice.

Vin

NOTE:
In the Aboriginal culture each individual has responsibility to a particular place and its associated being, stories, meanings, rituals and so on. This responsibility to the wisdom of that place is expressed through art, song, dance and story. It is an oral tradition. We are accountable to the sacredness of place. It is a responsibility to keep the world alive. We are inseparable from our place.

"Like a Rock"
Collage 2005

Sanity in the Mid East

2006-08-12T11:49:00.000-07:00

Sanity \San"i*ty\, n. [L. sanitas, from sanus sound, healthy. (dictionary.net)

I weep when I listen to the news. The destruction in the Mid East horrific. As an artist what action can I take? A counter-action to the raveges of war. How can I make a difference? What matters? Where are we going? I can't imagine what it must be like to live in a war zone for generations. The psychological damage caused by prolonged truama has long lasting effects. The Trauma of war can not be erased by a cease fire or finacial aid, or by summits by the super powers.
What is the social responsibility of artists?
How can I stay sane in this insane world?
Vin

Intention

2006-08-11T16:14:00.000-07:00

\In*ten"tion\, n.
A stretching or bending of the mind toward of the mind toward an object; closeness of application; fixedness of attention; earnestness. (dictionary.net)

I’d like to expand on the idea of an Artist Statement.
Actually I have lots of statements.
They change all the time.
And what good is a statement if its just a proclamation?
I think that Art and our feelings and thoughts about it are best explored in a conversation between the artist, the art and the viewer.
So that’s my intention here; to get a dialog going about art and it’s position and ability to spark connections between people.
Not just “oh I like that!” or “I don’t” but what does it mean?
What does it matter?

Vin