Artwala Road

As I’m not going to be posting for a while I’d like to leave you with this video about consumption on our planet and how we might all contribute to making this a green planet again. The video is by Annie Leonard and she does an amazing job of explaining the straight-line model of consumption we have had for the last fifty or sixty years, a pattern that must now change if our children and children all over the world are to live on a non-toxic planet with the possibility of happiness. There is so much that each of us can do right now, as she explains. So, this is a happy video and gives us all a way to contribute to the planet and create a new earth. Thanks for watching!

The Story of Stuff

May 28th, 2008 | Category: Dear Reader | Comments (8)

My dear, beloved readers—When I started my wee blog two years ago I wanted to write about teaching my art class. I’d been an artist all my life but had never taught art before. I’d never made a living from anything but art and had explored it in many different ways and on different levels. I really didn’t know exactly what I was doing as a teacher but I knew I was not here to teach drawing ‘techniques.’ I don’t even know what they are. I believed and still believe that everyone has a creative core and that by going to that true creative place we liberate ourselves from all the things that hold us back from fully expressing who we are in this world—from expressing our laughter and wit, our insights, our compassion. And I believed that the humble art of drawing might yield far more than objects to hang on the wall.

Right from the start my wondrous students proved this and more. They did things that far exceeded their actual skill levels when given a set of parameters to explore. We worked together and gave ourselves room to do whatever it was we were going to do without judgment. We looked for the good in everything we did and found it. We also looked for just what it was we were doing and teased it out from a million possibilities and in the process came to know ourselves a little better, I think. Everyone’s skill levels increased rapidly because they weren’t splashing around in shallow waters but diving into the deep end and realizing that they could at least float if not swim a huge distance. But learning to swim is easy once you realize you can float.

It’s been so amazing for me to witness this and so affirming of what I think life is all about—becoming people of peace and joy. It’s been fun too and fun to me is a high art as is anything that creates good energy here on the planet. But class is out now for the summer and I’m going to take a break from blogging. There will be other things to write about, I’m sure, in time. Right now though there are many things that need doing—a writing project nearly done and another one in the works that involves art, a tiny garden that needs tending and which now includes pots of vegetables, and some greening of our old house. The latter involves starting a compost, installing a new side door to insulate better from the cold, even installing a stone panel in front of the living room window that will act as a passive solar heater when the sun pores in and the temperatures outside are frigid. There’s travel coming up too and visitors arriving from out of town.

So, for a while, I’ll be gone fishin.’ I’ll report in at the beginning of each month. Many things are changing and Artwala Road may or may not morph into something else, I’m not sure yet. I’m so grateful that you’ve shown up here and for your comments. They’ve been so interesting and fun. I love to hear from you so please email to stay in touch and wishing you all a happy, productive and relaxing summertime!

May 27th, 2008 | Category: Dear Reader | Comments (4)

The art class met for the last session on Saturday. We’ll break now until mid-September. There were only two students who were able to make it as it’s a holiday weekend here and the others had trips planned or other gatherings. For the first part of class we just sat around and chatted. We do this every week and it’s one of my favorite parts of class. We often chat about personal stuff which is cool because not everyone knows each other well but I think we all like to share a little of whatever is going on. This is a women’s class after all! So great that everyone feels free to be themselves. Anyway in art we’re trying to get to what’s important and interesting to us in terms of what we create.

When we did get to drawing we each did something totally different. We worked large again and, curiously, what had been so energizing the previous couple of weeks seemed a bit daunting, even draining, this time. None of us did stellar work. We weren’t that focused and I didn’t give direction. Often direction really does help but it was good to see just what we would do without it too. On person did a kind of narrative drawing that told the story in a visual way of things she was thinking about. Another felt that her first attempt at a piece simply didn’t work so she stopped and started on something else. My own piece was the beginning of an exploration I will likely continue but in its first expression was way too busy and muddy. I’ll do some new things next time and the director of the center has offered to give us a model which will be great to draw from too.

So—Saturday was just a low-key kind of day. Now we break for summer and, as luck would have it, summer arrived today, right on time! So beautiful to be outside in the warm sunshine today. I pootled around the North End, the Italian area of Boston, with my wonderful daughter and had a great lunch at a tiny little place on Hanover Street. So many visual treats, especially the new park that now stands where that ugly overpass used to be. And tomorrow I’ll get some more soil and plant the last of my tomatoes and a few beans in pots on the patio, maybe even have dinner outside. It’s time to chill a little here!

May 26th, 2008 | Category: Dear Reader | Comments (3)

On Saturday we once again drew on big paper taped to the wall.  We used photographs to spark ideas and, once again, everyone did work that was bold.  My own piece was not successful.  I mucked up a figure I was drawing by trying to ‘capture’ the actual features a little too closely.  What works better for me is to try to internalize the image and then just draw from my mind.  But the point is not to get a great finished piece but to explore—to just see where we are.  So it was good information.

But the others all did brilliant stuff and amazed themselves, I think.  Something about working big has liberated everyone from excessive care and fiddly obsessiveness, especially when we are working with time constraints.  This time we spent a couple of hours just drawing on our usual pads before attacking our larger piece so that left just an hour to spend on that.  There was no time to worry.  Besides we’d already immersed ourselves in the flow by loosening up on the smaller paper.  It’s always a question of getting out of the way of the mind and just relaxing into whatever is happening without judgment of the work or self.

One of our members said—”This is art yoga.”  It is!  We’re drawing but not forcing, not pushing beyond our limits.  We’re just going as close to our edge as possible, each week nudging ourselves just a little further.  We’re accepting ourselves just where we are.  It’s all perfect, all fine.  And we’re smiling.  Amazing things happen when we get out of our way.

Next Saturday is the last class then we break for the summer.  I hope the class will continue to work on their own until we meet again in September.  To me it’s not about producing art but actually practicing.  The practice is just as great as any object we make.  If we’re doing this in a yogic way we develop presence, being totally in the moment.  We develop non-judgment, total acceptance of what is— the messes we make and ourselves where we are.  And if we make messes we get to see where our edge is and  discern where we might go next time.  Plus, and I think this might be the best of all, we develop a little humor, which really is delight just being who and where we are.  All this from drawing!  These are pretty cool things to be able to take with you into whatever your world is.

I’ll report next week on the last class.  I’m in the final, final leg of my writing project which I hope to finish by mid-June.  Then it’s onto something new and I’ll report on that as the summer goes on.  Meanwhile the wee garden I envisioned is now being planted in pots.  With luck I’ll get the tomatoes in today then sit back and wait for the harvest!

May 22nd, 2008 | Category: Drawing Club | Comments (2)