Temper Tantrums

We march!  We have sit-ins!  We boycott!  We speak out!  The first amendment gives us the right to speak our mind.  However, if we look at what’s currently going on in our culture, all of this is at the cost of personal safety.  People are threatening one another, walking into Subway Sandwich shops with guns strapped to their back.  We’ve lost the idea of sacrifice for the common good.

I was watching the news this morning and the meteorologist spoke about his father, a World War II veteran. He shared his father’s stories and the lessons he and the country learned during what we know now were horrific happenings.  He believes his father would be ashamed at the lack of sacrifice for the greater good.

 

It makes me wonder about can we get our feelings across without threats.  How would we create dialogue to resolve the common issues we all have, getting back to normal?  Is it possible to use creative means to release the energy so we’re not all ticking time bombs?

This brings me to the idea of the squeaky wheel gets the oil.  Have we become a culture whereby the only way to get anyone’s attention is to have temper tantrum?  We see it on all the news outlets, politicians (of both parties) crying foul. Businesses taking the law into their own hands violating local and state laws. We feel free to impose our, overwhelmingly white, male, wealthy point-of-view because it’s all about the money.

I’ve been following a lot of musicians who are writing songs as a means of uplifting the nation.  Songwriters/singers are recording music about the reality of our times as a means of letting others know they’re not alone.  Poets are writing about the state of the world.  As a collage/fiber artist my work has certainly included social justice narratives.  These are all ways for us to connect without going at each other’s throats as if we’re in the Hunger Games.

How do you think this will end?  What will you do differently, if anything, when life returns to “normal”?  Are you willing to sacrifice anything for the greater good?  Are there ways to express our frustration without a temper tantrum?  These are all questions we need to address or even if we can leave our houses, eat in restaurants, go to the gym, and attend concerts in stadiums, the rift is becoming so deep and wide, how will we heal?

For more artwork visit my Instagram page: @drfiber

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Growth…The New Frontier

I’ve been listening to a lot of podcasts over the past year.  My library is mostly comprised of podcasts related to art, art and business, and spirituality/meditation.  I find myself listening to particular categories of podcasts depending on my activities. I listen to spiritual/meditation podcasts when I’m creating my daily collage (see my Instagram page @drfiber).  I listen to business-oriented podcasts when I’m organizing my office, setting up meetings and virtual retreats, and I listen to art podcasts when I’m working on an artistic endeavor.

When I find a new podcast for my library, I go back to the very beginning of the podcast and listen to the work in order.  I do this for two reasons, earlier work may represent foundation principles and newer work may be more evolved thoughts.  The other reason is the more we do something we develop mastery.  Interviewers get better, the questions get better, the impact of the podcast becomes stronger.

For me, podcasts have allowed me to mature in how I run my business and upped my confidence level in the art I create.  I’m a mental health/health humanities practitioner.  I’m continually looking for new and inventive ways for health professional both practicing and students to stretch their wings.  It doesn’t matter what field you’re in, learning new coping skills, increasing your joie de vivre, aligning your values with your work is important for survival.

During these uncertain times, how will you creatively protect your physical, emotional, and spiritual wellness?  What do you want to say but you haven’t been able to thus far?  If you could create anything knowing no one would see it or hear it what would it look like, feel like, sound like, taste like?  We all have creativity residing in our bodies and minds so let’s use it to capture and expand our resilient nature.

Reboot, Renew, Revitalize

Have you noticed the growing number of entertainment reboots currently making it to the big and small screen?  If you listen to the radio, you’ve not doubt heard Weezer’s remake of Toto’s Africa.  Broadway is always reviving musicals and plays with new spins.  I figured I would join the crowd and I’ve just become the president of Front Range Contemporary Quilters (www.artquilters.org) for the second time.   I was president ten years ago, and now it’s time for a reboot.

What is it about a reboot, or in my case, a new term that’s so appealing?  First and foremost, I’m familiar with the job.  There is a minimal learning curve.  I know when the newsletter article is due.  I’m familiar with the recruitment practices for membership. I understand the selection process for speakers.  On the flip side, over the past ten years, the membership has changed.  The use of technology has skyrocketed.  I’ve gotten older.

I believe any organization, business, even our own lives need revitalization on a regular basis. Boredom is one of the key components to sadness, lowered productivity, and the numbing of our emotional lives. It dulls our creativity, and as artists, creativity is our lifeline.  I’m not suggesting throwing the baby out with the bath water.  What we know has been working we keep.  Those ideas, practices, and themes not bringing joy to your life gets sent to the trash, literally and figuratively.

I’ve spent the last year regrouping and revitalizing my educational goals and my art practices. I recently completed a graduate certificate program in Health Humanities and Ethics.  This program gave me the energy and impetus to get focused about the art I want to create.  I’ve been in health and healing for thirty years.  Now, with further study I’ve become entrenched, engaged, and energized by the possibilities of the stories I want to tell.  I’m more focused.  My art has a sharper narrative.  My studio time is about storytelling and spiritual practice.  The two combined allow me to serve my community by speaking my truth about the gaps I witness in the world.

My creativity is a way for me to stay connected to my heart and soul.  If I hadn’t delved deeper into my interests, my passion, my purpose, I wouldn’t have achieved this new direction in art.  I feel renewed, I feel revitalized, and I feel reinvigorated.  I believe you will too!  Give it a try and let me know if I can help.  Renewing your vows to yourself improves your creative process!

Not Everything is Black and White…Or is it?

When you hear a story do you jump to take sides?  What prompts you to make the decisions you do?  It’s interesting that this is what I’m choosing to write about today since I started a class in bioethics last night.  In our small groups, one of the things we discussed was having a framework, a common language enabling us to begin dialogues about important issues.  Having a framework for the decisions you make enhances your dedication to the process.  However, it can also lock out options, just look at the news outlets that stand on one side of the aisle or the other.  Do you do this with your creative work?  It’s interesting how our art can punctuate what’s going on around us!

On the creative front, it’s not uncommon for artists to think in extremes.  If you sent a manuscript to a publisher and was rejected, negative self-talk ensues.  When you’re a visual artist and you don’t get accepted to a show, your negative self-talk kicks in high gear.  Why do we believe that it’s all or nothing?

Black and white thinking can inhibit the creative process.  It prevents us from exploring what’s between the bookends of thought.  It keeps us stuck in the rut of doing the same thing over and over, even if it doesn’t move our creative process forward.  We find comfort in black and white thinking.  The illusion is that black and white thinking keeps us in a place of knowing, when in fact, it keeps us in a narrow tunnel with little or no options.

Leaving our black and white stronghold doesn’t mean you’re abandoning your creative voice, or the principles you live by.  It does mean that you open yourself to possibilities that will either move the needle or confirm your original thoughts.  If it strengthens your beliefs, then you’ll move forward with stronger conviction.

We live in a polarized world.  Why limit yourself creatively?

Is Not Succeeding the Same as Failing?

I recently organized by studio and believe it or not I threw away some pieces that I didn’t feel were worthy of salvaging.  These works were lackluster and weren’t worth the investment of time and effort to save.  As I watched them disappear into the bin I didn’t have any sense of loss or disenchantment because although these pieces weren’t masterpieces.  I learned something about myself and my creative voice by attempting them.

The piece I’m posting was my most recent attempt at creating small works for experimentation and education (education of my soul and artistic ability).  I had created some works in the past that were simply cut outs of fabric placed on a batting and a backing.  I followed the old recipe and as I began quilting the piece, but the components started to shift and fall off the quilt.  I became increasingly frustrated by this less than perfect creation, and finally decided to stop.

I took the piece out from under the needle and assessed the errors of my ways.  What I came to realize is that I needed to secure the small pieces of fabric down on the base so I would have a sturdy foundation when it what time to quilt.  I made a commitment to taking a little more time in the preparation so I would have success when I went to finish the art.

This small adjustment made a huge difference in my attitude toward making small works as well as the increased completion rate of the work.  I don’t feel that the piece was a failure.  I made some wrong decisions and what’s most important is I learned.  The learning process is what propels me forward in my creative endeavors.  It also gives me the motivation whenever I reach an impasse in life to see what I could do better next time the situation arises using this information.

I think this is especially important when discovering ways of easing our anxiety, lifting depression, or reducing physical pain.  If we only try one avenue of healing and it doesn’t work we think we’ve failed instead of it failing.  If we assess what didn’t work with this method, then we can look at the alternatives, make new selections, and discover better options that fit our life and our situation.

We’re resilient beings!  I hope you’ll look at what’s not working for you today and then ask yourself what else is available that will improve your quality of life!

I Zigged When I Should Have Zagged

I mentioned in my previous post that I spend a number of years traveling the country for work.  I drove to each location so I spent a lot of time on our nation’s highways and byways. I always wondered why is it that there’s so much space available in the air and yet the bugs and in my case a bird found my windshield.  I was driving home from Nashville when a partridge flew into my windshield while driving 70mph.  It shouldn’t be surprise that it shattered the windshield.

Why am I telling you about my windshield mishap?  I’m wonder about the choices we make on a daily basis.  When I was working on this piece of art, I reflected on all the times I went in one direction when my intuition told me I should go in another direction.  I’m beginning to focus on interpreting the ideas, thoughts, and feelings that rise during my meditation.

Creating work is a reflection of our stories.  It allows us to explore what’s important to us.  It gives us the opportunity to play with the creative expression of our emotions promoting self- expression and an outlet for negativity while celebrating what’s positive in our lives.

I’m currently enrolled in a graduate certificate program in Health Humanities and Bioethics.  I’ve been combining my mental health background, work in health and healing, and art to tell stories that reflect my personal experiences and as a means of social justice.

We all have something that gets our attention, makes us think, and hopefully gets us to act.  As creatives, we don’t have to march or picket.  We have the ability to create poems like those by Nikki Giovanni that get the attention of the nation.  We can create paintings like Keith Haring chronicling the AIDS crisis.  We can watch movies like Hairspray that shines a light on segregation in our country (something very relevant given the energy in the country).

It’s time that we pay attention to our own energy and follow its lead.  We all have those whispers giving us direction and when we don’t follow their lead we veer off in the wrong direction.  What would your creative life look like if you zagged when that’s the direction of your energy?  Don’t you think it would turn up the volume on your voice if you followed your creative intuition and energy?

Give it a try and let me know what shifts you’re making in your personal storytelling.  Don’t forget to zig when you zig and zag when you zag!

Crossing Paths

Things can change in a minute as life teaches us each and every day.  I took some fabric that I was going to use as a backing for a mini-quilt.  I proceeded to cut up scraps of fabric and when I put the quilt sandwich together, I flipped the fabric and what was the back became the front.  It’s this type of extemporaneous creating that adds to the creative experience.

The piece I created was originally titled vectors.  I like to name my pieces, but sometimes the work yells that it’s got the wrong name and I need to reconsider both the intention and design.  I went from calling the piece vectors to crossing paths.  The piece was a visual representation of what is coming up in my meditations.

 

We just finished a year and it’s usually a good time to reflect on what transpired in our lives.  I thought back to when I had traveled for work and was away from home four to six months at a time.  I lived in various parts of the country, urban and rural areas, highly affluent and socioeconomically challenged communities.  I learned something from each person I had the pleasure of meeting at these diverse locations.

What did I learn?  I learned that small town living is intimate while at the same time being a bit enmeshed.  I learned that economically challenged communities are always looking for new ways of reinvigorating their communities while trying to provide opportunities for those who live locally.  I learned that the foods in western Texas are very different from the foods in northwest Pennsylvania.  What I learned first and foremost is that people are people.  All we want is to be included, heard, and seen.

I wanted to show that we never know who will cross our paths and we definitely don’t know the impact they will have on our lives.  Who has crossed your path that had an impact on your life?  How are you expressing that creatively?  Perhaps you’re writing a story. Maybe you remember a song that played on the radio while you visited a particular location and every time you hear the song memories of that place rise to the surface.

Working in oncology services I met many people who commemorated their last chemo with a celebration, a work of art, and written words.  People and experiences will continually cross our path trying to get our attention and teach us something that will propel our lives forward.

What has crossed your path?  How did you mark that experience?

Capturing a Moment

I read a lot of medical journals and research statistics about what the world will be like, medically, in the coming years.  Lots of people I know are posting about the health and illness of family and friends and that gets me thinking about the future.  The statistics in the United States regarding dementia are staggering with no cure arriving in the immediate future.  I remember sitting in the movie theater watching Julianne Moore in Still Alice and astonished at the course of her illness.

There is a lot written about the impact the arts can have on those with memory deficiencies.  A song can trigger a memory.  When someone smells a scent from their childhood they reflect on those memories and stories giving their loved ones a glimpse of the individual’s world and allowing the family an opportunity to recapture a moment in time of their loved one.

I decided to follow my own advice and go to my studio to capture a moment.  One of my favorite experiences, in my life, was a trip to Japan back in 1990.  I spent ten days visiting Kyoto, Nara, and Mt. Koya.  It was a magical trip and drew me in deeper to my love of Asian culture.  It shouldn’t be a surprise given that information that I went to my studio and pulled out a drawer of fabric filled with Asian inspired fabric.

Since that inspirational trip, I’ve developed an ongoing love of the Japanese people, their food, and their culture.  One of the most memorable experiences I had was visiting the Zen rock gardens across the country.  I’ve created a body of work where I the quilting follows the Zen rock garden designs.  They are meditative pieces and I often use them in presentations because participants can do a finger meditation directly on the work.

I went to the studio today with the idea of capturing another memory that I can use as catalyst of the mental file folder I have of Japan.  Every time I look at this piece it will take me back to an earlier time.  It honors a culture that has taught me many valuable lessons.  The work was a meditative experience in and of itself, providing me with studio time to be reflective emotionally and spiritually.

What moments do you want to capture?  Is there a song, a poem, a photograph that sparks a memory?  How do you use your creative energy to share your life stories?  Remember, every creative venture leaves a legacy!

A Blank Canvas

A new year, a new you…of that’s what you desire.  The one thing I know about creativity is its incredible ability to transform our lives.  It allows us to tell our story creating the pieces to the human quilt.  Creative energy provides us with the momentum we need to create a life that evolves and can be crafted with deeper understanding and meaning.

I’ve been fortunate to enroll in a graduate certificate program in Health Humanities and Bioethics.  The class is a mix of health and allied health professionals all focused on one goal; how to incorporate the humanities in medicine.  I’ve been a huge proponent of art and medicine for years.  I’ve utilized my own artistic practices to reflect my own health challenges and the stories of those I’ve interviewed.

The professor for the class I just finished allowed us to do something creative for our final project.  I created four new art pieces and combined that with eight pieces in my personal collection and paired those twelve pieces with poetry reflecting the sentiments of the art.  I curated the show in a round room so classmates could stand in the center of the work and absorb the gravity of the subjects I tackled in the art.

The experience was overwhelming.  The work had an even greater impact than I expected.  As health professionals, each class member related stories from their own professional lives punctuating the exhibition.  If that weren’t enough, one of my classmates wrote a song for her final project.  The song debuted while everyone was standing in the middle of my art.  The synergy of our two projects was spectacular.

When we combine our creative energies, we can build upon each other’s stories.  The songwriter approached me after the presentation about doing a collaboration in the future.  The idea of combining visual art, poetry, and music speaks to the impact art can have in healthcare.

My hope this year is to take you on a journey giving you the opportunity to explore your creative side and meaning making.  Our creative storytelling can deepen our connection to one another easing tensions inter-personally and in society.  Let’s take this journey together and see how we can transform the world.

If Acceptance is Your Goal…It’s Time to Reevaluate

I’ve been hanging around artists for a long time.  I go to art galleries, museums, and artists’ studios.  I belong to an art guild, buy art magazines, and subscribe to a number of artist sites on social media.  I’m drawn in by the artist’s narrative.  I would love to spend time in art studios just observing the process.  I get to do that when I watch the series Art 21, but in person would be better.

Listening to artists who are caught up in notoriety leads many to make things that are “pretty”.  They are visually appealing and if that’s how you define success, then you’re successful.  The problem for many creative beings is that they became artists because there was a calling.  There was a moment in time when there was a knock on the door and they decided to answer.

I’m always intrigued by installation art because it’s a huge mystery to me.  It took me a long time to realize that installation artists depend on commissions to make a living.  Installation artists embody a quality that many other artists don’t experience, freedom!  There is a freedom to tell a story.  They aren’t concerned about whether or not the work will fit in someone’s dining room.  The Mattress Factory, an art museum in Pittsburgh is devoted to installation art.  They provide the artist with space to create, and a place to live while working on the installation.  They are given the freedom to create with a sense of purpose, honesty, and authenticity.

We live in a world full of judgments.  Feeling judged is a way of herding creative beings to a place of safety.  Some artists create in a place of safety because the world can be harsh and they haven’t developed a tough skin to brave what comes at them.  Acceptance is a tricky thing because it makes us prey to the valuation placed on us by others.  I understand that if someone is going to make a living creating art the work has to be marketable, but if it’s not about the artist’s truth is it worth the sacrifice?

Michelangelo, Crouching Boy

If freedom is the goal then the artist can create from the soul.  They can tell stories that need to be told.  As artists, we’re social commentators.  We have a platform the expose cultural inequities, historical mishaps, and question authority.  We can create work that challenges cultural norms and provides a haven for people to explore their inner worlds.

Striving for acceptance and sacrificing freedom eventually is a stifling force.  It will in time stifle creativity.  Open yourself up to freedom and see what rises to the surface.  I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.