Your Eyes Give Me Something to Dream is an ongoing series of multiples made out of recycled newspaper and words. The words are taken from tags I frequently use in the blog, art & life.  Everyone is invited to take pencils by making a small donation. The money collected is donated to an organization related to the environment and protection of trees.

Finding of the week:

“We always need to remember that behind almost every great moment in history, there are heroic people doing really boring and frustrating things for a prolonged period of time.”

From New York Times, My Favorite August by Gail Collins.

The taste of summer is…

fresh
I’ve been giving life to those whispery notes/sketches I often add to my Eco Ciak. I love that little recycled paper sketchbook. It’s always a fun process to go back to the notes/sketches and try to understand the where/what/how/why.

warm
To me there is nothing like a simple and open conversation about interests, ideas and life as artists. I had the opportunity to moderate the virtual panel Resource: Where Abstract Art is (From) with a great group of artists: Glen Cunningham, Mark Dagley, Laura Fayer, Molly Herman, Lori Kirkbride, Ben LaRocco and Rachael Wren. All artists were part of Source, an exhibition curated by Susan Ross and Melissa Staiger. Both, exhibition and virtual panel, were presented and sponsored by PowerHouse Projects. Source was on view at The Halls at Bowling Green from April 22nd through May 28th. Check out the virtual panel and take a look at their websites. It’s all good!

sweet
I finally signed up my family to a CSA. The fruit begins to arrive next week. I’m excited and so looking forward to it…

The upcoming weeks and months look exciting and enriching as well. This fall, I’ll be taking a course on advocacy for children at Citizens Committee for Children of New York. This is such a great organization and resource in the city.

More soon and I wish you all a great rest of the summer.

Swimming in the Caribbean. Surrounded by family and nature. I’m counting the days…

Where is yours?

Where is My Mind
By The Pixies

Oh
With your feet in the air and your head on the ground
Try this trick and spin it, yeah
Your head will collapse
But there’s nothing in it
And you’ll ask yourself

Where is my mind

Way out in the water
See it swimmin’

I was swimmin’ in the Caribbean
Animals were hiding behind the rocks
Except the little fish
But they told me, he swears
Tryin’ to talk to me, coy koi.

Where is my mind

Way out in the water
See it swimmin’ ?

With your feet in the air and your head on the ground
Try this trick and spin it, yeah
Your head will collapse
If there’s nothing in it
And you’ll ask yourself

Where is my mind

Oh
With your feet in the air and your head on the ground
Oh
Try this trick and spin it, yeah
Oh
Oh

“The critic has to educate the public; the artist has to educate the critic.”

-Oscar Wilde

“Yoga is about the union and integration of breath, movement and body, both on and off the mat. Our practice on the mat should hopefully guide us towards actions in the outside world: if we observe our actions on the mat, perhaps we can all try to apply them to the outside world, and together, in a united way, we can make a difference.”

Green Goa: Green Yoga, Karma Yoga and the Art of Transforming Practice to Life by Inna Costantini. UK Yoga Magazine, July 2010.

Happy summer!

Finding of the week:

“A arte é a minha forma de conhecimento do mundo”

“Art is my way of understanding the world”

-Lygia Pape

Image:

Lygia Pape
Magnetized Spaces, 1968-2002
Spaces of the city

We’ve been having glorious days filled with beautiful colors and sun. The weather always inspires me to choose what to experiment with in the kitchen. I have two new favorites: quinoa and kale. Cooking them is simple, their benefits are plenty and they taste great.

I was about to write about the benefits of kale when I found all I wanted to say (and more) in the great Brooklyn blog — Butter Beans Kitchen. This is a must read blog if you love real food. I agree with what they write about their blog:

“…If we want quality lives full of goodness, we have got to learn to make good choices about the food we plant and the food we eat. We have got to spend some more time in the kitchen and appreciating the food we have.

We have to teach our children, in a way that makes them want to celebrate. What could be more magical than the colors and tastes and sights that the Earth produces with sunshine, rain and a few pairs of dedicated hands…”

And here is the information about kale:

Kale — in April’s glow by Butter Beans Kitchen. They will add kale recipes this month.

Enjoy!

-Swami Veda Bharati

While browsing the Food Issue of the latest Prattfolio, I read an interview with graphic designer Margaret Noon. Noon is the owner of a green event planning business called Sustenance. She is also the leader of Slow Food USA in northern New Jersey. She describes the reason she became a chef after a career in advertisement as:

“Creativity has many outlets… Sometimes you reach a point at which your passions change and it’s time to be inspired again…”

I totally agree! And to be inspired by the beautiful spring, nature and real food, herbs are in season. Here is a nice resource on how to plant a window box herb garden.

Enjoy!

We all know that during tough times there is always space for positive thinking and change. But watching or reading the news lately, makes it a challenge to remember. Change doesn’t have to be huge. We can start making tiny changes in our homes, studios and work. A good place to begin is in our minds.

Here are some of my recent positive findings and highlights:

Down with the Cube!

by Jerry Saltz

“…But what’s on view isn’t really the point. “From the Archives” suggests that a gallery can be a white box but needn’t feel like a mausoleum or act like a museum. Too much purity, architectural or esthetic, is bad for art right now; that art needs to feel more connected to the world. In this way the show is a moment to remember that a gallery is foremost a test site, not a store…”

The Boom Is Over. Long Live the Art!

By Holland Cotter

“…This has happened more than once in the recent past. Art has changed as a result. And in every case it has been artists who have reshaped the game.”

“…At the same time, if the example of past crises holds true, artists can also take over the factory, make the art industry their own. Collectively and individually they can customize the machinery, alter the modes of distribution, adjust the rate of production to allow for organic growth, for shifts in purpose and direction. They can daydream and concentrate. They can make nothing for a while, or make something and make it wrong, and fail in peace, and start again.”

“…Why not build into your graduate program a work-study semester that takes students out of the art world entirely and places them in hospitals, schools and prisons, sometimes in-extremis environments, i.e. real life?”

“…Such changes would require new ways of thinking and writing about art…”

Growing Awareness

Seven simple acts to help you cultivate a happier, healthier life.

By Charity Ferreira from Yoga Journal

1. Shift your perspective

2. Waste not

3. Restore health and happiness

4. Experience silence

5. Be a creator

6. Make an offering

7. Love your body

My favorite is number 6 — Make an offering. Ferreira writes: “…Commit to one selfless act each week…These moments are a chance to share someone else’s experience of the world and see the richness of your own existence.”

5 Ways to Be Mindful and Achieve Optimal Health

By Deborah Kotz

1. Consider what’s right with you

2. Love yourself unconditionally

3. Live in the present moment

4. When life gets tough, don’t take it personally

5. Put the “being” back in human

My favorite is number 5 — Kotz writes: “If you fill every moment with frenetic activity—work, text messaging, household chores, computer games—you never give yourself a chance to simply be. Too many of us are human stuff, the sum of our actions, instead of human beings, points out Kabat-Zinn. As corny as it sounds, just sitting for a moment to contemplate the clouds, the smell of freshly brewed coffee, the pattern of stalled cars winding around the freeway, is what separates us from the nut-gathering squirrels. And science shows it’s a great stress reliever, to boot.”

Milk

Written by Dustin Lance Black; Directed by Gus Van Sant

After the movie, I left the theater with an incredible feeling of inspiration and hope. Sean Penn is fantastic. Two things Harvey Milk (Penn) repeated during the movie have stayed with me.

“It’s not about personal gain, not about ego, not about power — it’s about giving people out there, hope. You gotta give them hope.”

“I know that you cannot live on hope alone, but without it, life is not worth living.”

Image:

Lygia Pape

O Ovo (The Egg), 1967

Performance

Image:

Reclining Hero Pose

From Yoga Anatomy by Leslie Kaminoff

It’s a beautiful day!

A day to give us the chance to create and live with a new perspective, to find fulfillment in the real and meaningful, and to always give our best…

Here are my highlights from Barack Obama’s inaugural address:

“We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted – for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things – some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom…

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world’s resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it”.

Image:
Visual representation of the most used words in Obama’s inauguration speech from Wordle.net

I’m currently writing about how important it was for me to create and stick to a wellness plan. I must say, it was a challenge as an artist because we tend to think about our work more than our health. While doing a bit of research, I came across this article in the New York Times Fitness and Nutrition section: Learning How to Walk (Chewing Gum Not Included).

In yoga class, my instructor mentions body awareness very often especially when we are in Tree and Mountain pose. This sounded kind of silly when I began practicing. But now, after years of running and practicing yoga, I totally agree that being aware of our bodies can prevent us from having problems later. I think prevention is the best health plan we can have. Especially for those of us that spend most of our days in front of a computer or working at a studio table.

A wellness plan is a commitment. And as with any commitment, it’s a lot easier to get to where we want to be at our own pace rather than to rush and get burned out in a second.

“…Recessions are hard on people, but they are not hard on art. The forties, seventies, and the nineties, when money was scarce, were great periods, when the art world retracted but it was also reborn. New generations took the stage; new communities spawned energy; things opened up; deadwood washed away. With luck, New Museum curator Laura Hoptman’s wish will come true: “Art will flower and triumph not as a hobby, an investment, or a career, but as what it is and was—a life.”

To read the complete article, go to Frieze After the Freeze

At London’s big art fair, signs of financial trouble abound. But maybe that’s okay.

By Jerry Saltz

This weekend I had a chance to participate in the Making Art In The World panel during Pratt Institute’s Reignite weekend. It was great to be back at Pratt, but as it often happens with panels, we didn’t have enough time to discuss everything. I admit, I left Pratt with a lot on my mind and feeling that, unfortunately, the lack of time didn’t let us have a real dialogue.

So I decided to write about some of the points discussed during the panel with the hope that I would hear your comments and experiences as artists “making art in the world”.

One of the points discussed during the panel was the importance of the viewer. In my work, I want viewers to be active participants rather than inactive spectators. And I wonder if it’s even possible to say that we don’t take the viewer into consideration when we exhibit our work in a public space? Why bother taking the work outside of our studios if we don’t want people to see it or respond to it?

Professional development for artists was also briefly mentioned. When I graduated from Pratt, professional development wasn’t part of the curriculum. I always think I acquired my professional development through the process of learning how to balance a full-time job and creative time. I learned how to interact with people with different interests and backgrounds, stay abreast of technology, and consequently apply all of the above to the business of art. But as mentioned at the panel, I agree that the current situation for an MFA candidate or a recent graduate is very different. MFA candidates now have an overwhelming amount of information, but a lot of pressure as well.

As I mentioned on a previous post, I think the key is to understand that a creative career is a life commitment — a marathon not a sprint. Having a clear idea of our priorities (in both art & life) is a good way of staying grounded while feeling pressure at any stage of our careers. Here are some of mine, and I look forward to hearing about yours…

A healthy lifestyle and my family are definitely number one to me. Appreciate the opportunities and people around me — my community. Have a positive and realistic view of where I am and where I want to be next. Follow my own path and welcome change to my creative process. And to absolutely never lack ideas or the curiosity that keeps me going and active.

This morning, it was 70 degrees with a beautiful clear and blue sky. I ran towards DUMBO and decided to stop next to the Brooklyn Bridge to absorb it all — the sky, the water, birds, and the view of the Bridge and Lower Manhattan. I thought of the excitement that is about to begin, the 2008 Olympics.

I’m excited to see all the athletes, but I’m also excited about the new architecture especially the National Aquatics Center or “Water Cube”. It’s an amazing piece of public art and I can’t wait to see grand athletes performing in grand architecture.

The “Water Cube” is a collaboration between PTW, ARUP, and the China State Construction and Engineering Corporation (CSCEC). Inspired by soap bubbles, the architects designed a simple structure using a plastic transparent material called ETFE. The building works like a green house and the material allows more sunlight in than glass. The sunlight heats the pools and the interiors, making the building energy efficient. And that for me is the perfect match — a balance between creativity and sustainability.

For architecture and green lovers, there is more information about the building at the New York Times, Inhabitat and TreeHugger.

Enjoy the games!