Feliz dia de amor y amistad aka day of love and friendship

Feliz dia de Amor y Amistad! Happy day of love and friendship! Happy Valentine's Day!

I really enjoy playing in the snow and the corazon/heart shape is a long time favorite of mine. Here are a few I made playing in the snow. Take some time to look in the mirror and say I love you. You have to be able to love yourself just as you are before you can share the love with friends and family. 

Cultural Red Exhibit Santa Fe

Quest For Red © Sabrina Zarco

Cochineal dye was used by the Aztec and Maya peoples of Central and North America for everything from coloring clothing, healing ailments, and for personal adornment. The cochineal is found on the nopal or prickly pear cactus pads inside match head-sized white fuzz balls. By the 14th century, the Incas and Aztecs both had whole agricultural systems based on cochineal and apparently valued the dye as much as gold. The insects were harvested and traded. The insects were collected, dried and crushed releasing the intense red color dye.

This is one of three works of mine that have been accepted into the exhibit at the Santa fe Capitol Rotunda Gallery. The gallery opening for those in New Mexico or visiting will be on Friday, April 17, 2015 from 5-7pm. The exhibit will be up from April to August 2015.

I created a large Cochineal bug and added the white fuzz balls with paint and beads on the nopal pads. String needles on the pads hurt less when handling the work. As always it wouldn't be my work without buttons hand painted and lots of hand stitches. I will share the other two works and their stories later. 

Detail Quest For Red.

Self care and inspirational sacred spaces

Some days you just need to get away from it all and get centered. I have a spot in each state that I have lived in that brings me back to center. Now home is New Mexico and the place is el Santuario de Chimayo. For years I vacationed in New Mexico and always this place was on the list to visit. I am now so honored to live just a short drive from this sacred northern mountain sanctuary. 

There is a creek that guides you to the scared space making the sensory experience complete with the sound of water as it dances over the rocks. This place has grown over the years yet it still maintains a simple spiritual energy. For me its not about the type of religious space but more about a place of authentic spiritual centering filled with love and hope by most who visit.

The flowers were blooming this trip and provided a softness around the adobe buildings, stone sculptures and rock niches that adorn the grounds. 

The one time trailer makeshift kitchen has become a quaint building offering indoor and outdoor seating. The fresh mountain air mingles with the smell of tamales, green chile corn and other native New Mexico favorites. As we savored the historical recipes and nourished the body we reflected on the how this place does feed the soul and is good medicine in many ways.

There is a long history attached to this place and I can't tell you when I first became drawn to it. I just know I have left burdens, prayers, petitions, and given thanks on the grounds over the years. For me most of New Mexico holds a strong energy. A positive feast for the spirit. Its like a homecoming, a calling to be here. If you want to see more about Chimayo and the sacred space you can visit the website here http://www.elsantuariodechimayo.us

 Many visit from near and far to leave a prayer or petition for healing and light a candle. I left a request for healing and direction one year and it has been answered. I often bring or create a milagro of sorts to give thanks as many do each time I visit. 

The visual representation of commitment, thanks giving, requests for healing, and remembrance of those that have gone before us are evident in many ways on the grounds. These mementos adorn the trees, rocks, nichos, and fences on the land. They add to the positive energy and overwhelming feeling of love you experience in this space. 

A beautiful mosaic of St. Francis lover of animals and nature blesses my beloved Quincy. St. Francis and his poetry, love of nature, and how we are interconnected speaks strongly to my spirit. 

Over the years the rock structures seem to have organically grown from the ground. There are many spaces to honor loved ones and offer petitions and prayers along the land represented by many images and different languages.

We give and push each day to reach goals and some days end up feeling somewhat empty. Remember to recharge your spirit, breathe in and out, and stop to just listen and feel the energy around you. This beloved will fill you up mind, body, and soul so that you can get up and go again. Take a moment to be present if not every day then find a place and plan the visit to your soul often.  Self care is the most important care you can do.

Website, book cover, and a new community oh my!

Finally the website is live and I am adding new work often. Please take a minute to check it out and share with others. I also welcome any suggestions or ideas of what to add.
http://www.sabrinazarco.com

 It is beloved community that make things move forward. This adventure continues and I am honored by those who have crossed my path. I am happy to announce that my artwork on Bayard Rustin (pictured below) will be the cover of a new book by Dr. Nicole Hirschfelder in Germany. Published by Universitaetsverlad Winter Heidelberg and will be available in hardcover and ebook this winter. Thank you Nicole for selecting my work now in the collection of Mandy Carter. We look forward to seeing the publication soon.

I am also feeling thankful for finding the most amazing, eclectic, creative, intelligent, diverse, interesting, and fun women in New Mexico. I have been welcomed into their community and I am thankful to begin this new journey with all of you. I look forward to sharing and learning as we exchange experiences and creative energy. 

Having a community is so important, and one that accepts all of who you are is even more essential for the spirit. I spend a lot of time alone and in studio and I am thankful for that time.  However community feeds the spirit in ways nothing else can do. Seek out community that accepts and respects you, all of you. Its good medicine.

Monsoon Rains and Bee Rainboots

After experiencing thunder, lightening, cold breezes, and hail for an hour; we stepped out on the deck. The amazing smell of wet earth and ponderosa and piñon trees was intoxicating. Among the usual symphony of after rain sounds we could hear a familiar yet rarely heard sound. 

I quickly put on my favorite rain boots the "bee boots" to investigate. Off for an adventure in the mud we went.

The usually dry arroyo, creek bed, or seasonal creek as it is called was fiercely flowing giving off all those ions and awakening the senses. The beautiful red clay of the lower Rockies was creating my very own Willy Wonka chocolate river! (One of my fav movies)

It was exciting to see our usual paths for walks were well under water. There was evidence that there was a much higher flow earlier in the storm. Small trees, branches, and shrubs were over turned along with forest floor debris all making the journey through the once dry sandy rocky path. 

The precious gift of moving water and the ever present little girl that resides in me are a magical combination. I was flappy happy and giddy. Moving water is the only real medicine that can immediately release all of my anxiety and stress. For someone like me on the Autism spectrum my anxiety and stress are naturally high all the time. I am not able to quiet it. Meditation/prayers, the outdoors, making art, and select other things can calm it but nothing like moving water can cleanse me and set my spirit soaring. Immediately I am set free. 

Living on the mountain in a drought has been tough new experience. A dry well that I pray will be restored and water shortages in the state make for little to no time for me to get a water healing. So I couldn't help it. It was time to shed the bee boots and step in.

Mothering

Good energy, prayers, love and light to all those who mother and nurture. Beloveds we are a collage, a beautiful natural community of different ages, class, presentation, gender identification, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, and abilities. Each a unique and essential gift to the community. We may not be in the same space but we are united in our goal to give and receive love and nurturing necessary for self and other care.

Conscience of the Human Spirit: The Life of Nelson Mandela

Honored to share that my work is one of 34 from the US and 33 from South Africa selected to be a part of the exhibit, Conscience of the Human Spirit: The Life of Nelson Mandela. This two year traveling exhibit opens July 2014 in Johannesburg. It will travel the US and South Africa and is organized by Michigan State Art Museum

Solidarity is More Than Black and White © Sabrina Zarco 2014