sometimes its just fun to play

I facilitated a nonprofit meeting where members wanted to get to know one another a bit more. I suggested we make a collage of whatever was on hand. So lots of magazines, glue, tape, music, and laughter later each person came up with a glimpse of who they are in relationship to the activist organization and with one another. Then we made some just for fun showing, "the other side of who we are" Several of us knew each other well so we had fun playing with one another. We "helped" each other by adding some words and images, and they had fun with mine. Magazine clippings all taped together since we ran out of glue. I love the surrender to the process with no sense or right or wrong, it just is ...dont forget to play!

Artists and Donations

I rarely donate work to organizations for auction or sale. I have to be able to get behind what the group is actually doing for the community. As a community activist I am well aware that there are many groups that need financial support. I donate time and artwork as I can but as an artist the requests can sometimes be overwhelming. It can sometimes feel like I am expected to be the fast food of artwork and a quick buck for a cause, I dont mind donating but every now and then I need a donation of my own. So I have become selective about who and how many works. No longer first come first serve and I am learning to say "no, not this time" instead of "no problem".

Then there are the groups that quietly need the support and dont ask. I happened to be in a meeting when someone mentioned the 15th Anniversary of the Arkansas Supportive Housing Network and their fundraiser party and silent auction. Now this is a group I can get behind. They have provided rental assistance and services to individuals and families who are homeless and/or disabled, for 15 years. I know a few people who are a part of the Homeless Coalition and they are working hard for real change and in a way that respects those involved.

So this artwork will be a donation for their silent auction. Frida was a powerful artist, activist and woman with a disability. I hope it brings in some dollars for a good group. For more information about the group check out www.ashn.org.

Storytelling through art

Cuentos de fantasmas literally means “ghost stories” in the Latino tradition, and also refers to a kind of Mexican American pulp fiction combining folktales, legend and popular culture. I share with you the cuentos as they were told to me of El Cucui (Bogeyman), El Diablo (devil), and La Lechusa, (owl woman).

In the Southwest El Cucui has been helping mothers keep children in bed and out of trouble for decades. A description is very hard to come by because he keeps to the darkness and the shadows and those who have encountered him cannot take a good look from under the covers.

At any rate he’s not a nice guy, unlike El Diablo. This smooth talking, papi chulo is always well dressed and can dance the night away with the single women who have chosen to go out alone against her families’ wishes. Once on the dance floor she takes a look at his fast moving feet and discovers that her partner has hooves. He vanishes without even asking for her number. She may faint or awaken in the morning with a scorched handprint on her shoulder, and certainly no call from him, all painful reminders to “keep single women home”.

At night in Texas, especially under a full moon, things start moving, and La Lechusa soars silently over the treetops looking for her prey. Sometimes she is half woman, half owl, other times she transforms into the owl at sunset. Some say she is the spirit of a woman betrayed, annoyed by a faithless husband or a widower who has remarried. Men who stay out late drinking may encounter her and those cheating may be visited. This creature of the night can only be called off if you know the remedy. Tie a rope with seven knots in it and say a prayer each time, if you make a mistake in the process, the result is anyone’s guess and listen for the scratching on rooftops.

I have been warned as most children of the Southwest have been so I added a little protection to this work, wax from prayer candles, safety pins keep things in, shredded areas where the spirits have surfaced have been stitched shut, and a carefully tied rope with seven knots holding seven prayers…just in case.

Sometimes art makes people uncomfortable

This year the Arkansas Arts Center will be celebrating the 50th year of the Annual Delta Exhibition. This is a regional juried exhibition of all media. The Art Center is organizing a show of as many of the pat 50 winners scheduled for Dec - Jan 2008. As a past winner I am excited to have an opportunity to share once again the story of the missing and murdered women and girls.

When I won this exhibit main stream media did not show pictures of the work as they have for other winners. There was no mention of my name, only the second and third winners with photos. I can only imagine what got in thier way... Was it the fact that it was fabric and not really art? Maybe it was fabric and thats supposed to be soft. One of the many reasons I use textiles is to take a soft approach to tough subjects, the bright colors and images draw in the viewer and then they get hit with the message.

Why was it that only the Latino newspapers covered the fact that a Latina won a juried regional art show?(they even used pictures) Was it because of the topic? Bringing attention to the fact that mostly poor Mexican women and girls have been murdered and missing for years and no one seems to care. Most of them were working in the U.S. owned maquiladoras, factories in poor border towns, when they were abducted.

Or was it the traditional images that my people use to honor and remember the dead that bothered them? Skeletons are symbols that the soul is eternal and the final death takes place when there is no one left to remember you.

What ever thier reason it will be back on exhibit. And for me with or without media coverage once again I will be honored to be able to show the work, stand beside it at the opening, and tell the stories.

Coalition Building

Intense week in DC attending the National Coalition Building Leadership Institute. Lots of work and good times lead to great inspiration! Already have some sketches and ideas floating in my head, can't wait to get back to the studio.

machine drawing

I dusted off the machine and worked on some drawing. I havent had much time for my art. Things are busy this time of year for me, doing lots of cross cultural workshops around the state and going to VA in a week. I just had to touch some fabric and play a bit. Mas later.

Messengers

I went outside just as I do every morning and for the second day in a row I was greeted by a hummingbird. The first day it hummed as it circled my head and looked me in the eye and then flew off.

Today it came up behind me making a high pitched chirpping sound as if to get my attention. Once I turned around I found that we were once again eye to eye. Then it moved to a nearby tree and landed. It sat for some time and at first I thought to run inside for my camera but I realized that this moment was for me to be still, to stop my humming around and get quiet. We sat looking at one another for some time before the beautiful green and red bird few away. I am always open to the messages and in the midst of my chaos lately I guess I needed a reminder to sit still, that the answers will come and its ok to just be quiet. Thank you sweet bird for the reminders of this and so much more.

There is a legend from Mexico about a Taroscan Indian woman who was taught how to weave beautiful baskets by a grateful hummingbird to whom she had given sugar water during a drought. These baskets are now used in Day of the Dead Festivals.

An Aztec myth tells of a valiant warrior named Huitzil, who led them to a new homeland, then helped them defend it. This famous hero's full name was Huitzilopochtli, which means "hummingbird from the left." The "left" is the deep south, the location of the spirit world. The woman who gave birth to Huitzil was Coatlicul. She conceived him from a ball of feathers that fell from the sky. Huitzil wore a helmet shaped like a giant hummingbird. It is believed that hummingbirds are the warrior angels who travel between worlds with messages for us.

If you have Hummingbird medicine, you adapt easily to whatever situation you may find yourself in, and make the most of your new circumstances. You don't waste time looking back and wishing for "what was" for you are concerned with making the most of "what is". You take great pleasure in spreading joy and love and beauty to all around you, and have the gift of taking that inner joy into new and different surroundings.