When things come into my sphere in threes (3x), I pay attention.

This week it’s Origami.  But this is paper-folding on a ho’ nutha level…

ONE

Leaving the MoMA I pass a vendor with a humble card table filled with complicated, folded newspaper dragons like nothing I’ve ever seen. Here she sits in the dark, in the cold, on the noisy street— this patient woman is folding exquisite paper toys. I’m kicking myself now. Why didn’t I buy one?

TWO

The next day, while waiting for a table at a busy restaurant in NYC, I start up a conversation with a guy at the bar. Turns out he is an insanely talented artist named Max Steiner. He starts pulling out his wares, having just come from his trunk show, and I’m surprised to see it all fits in his front pocket. Lo and behold, it’s micro-origami cast in sterling silver. This is mini-miniature jewelry with teeny tiny laser cut wooden holders from which to hang the little beauties.

The pattern engraved in the stand is the crease pattern for creating the origami shapes. Stunning, fascinating mandalas of repetition. He also shows me a couple of dollar bills that he has folded accordian-styley into the size of postage stamps. “Just don’t pull on it”  he cautions as he hands one over. They take him about two weeks to create.

THREE

Then last night I turn on the TV and catch the most interesting documentary: “Between the Folds” on Independent Lens. This film is a very well researched story about artists and scientists who are fascinated with the dynamics of paper. Many of them have given up lucrative jobs to follow lives of paper-folding. That’s called Following your Bliss, fo sho.

I was particularly taken with the FLOWER TOWERS and tesselations of Chris K. Palmer.  His work with geometric patterns references islamic tiling, and mandala-like shapes with 3-dimensional spinning movement.

Here is a clip of him folding a 12-fold Flower Tower. (Some background music would be nice, but then you would miss out on all that paper crinkling sound…)

Here is another clip from the show about a serious genius who gets to fold paper for MIT. “Between the Folds” is currently running on PBS, so hopefully you can find it in your area. Green Fuse Films has put together an excellent website with resources galore, origami websites and links to the artists.

In conclusion

If you’re looking for something to do while you’re hanging out for the holidays; FOLD SOME PAPER!

One of my favorite Circle Makers, Jim Denevan, has a circle drawing that can be seen from space.  He’s well known for his ethereal sand drawings on the wide open beaches of California, timed to be swept away at high tide.

This work, a sand drawing in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada is the world’s largest single artwork with a circumference of more than nine miles. He was working on in it May, but the story is getting picked up again, by the British press.

I had the pleasure to see some photos of this work, just after he came back from the Black Rock Desert, in June. Note the scale of the design: his bus looks like a tiny ant. The best way to view this work is on Jim’s website, go to the news section. He has some Google Map images that drive you around and give a sense for the vast territory and the precision of geometry he was able to maintain.  He used tractors, custom fit with grates to drag and mark the salt bed flats.

My friend Anna and I had the pleasure to attend one of Jim’s epic Outstanding in the Field Farm to Table dinners at a stunning sea cove on the coast near Santa Cruz last June. It was definitely a highlight of my 2009 adventures! Seems he does everything on a large scale and with abundant artistry, heart and soul.

I just returned from a New York pilgrimage to get an audience with the actual object: The Red Book of C.G. Jung. Every Wednesday, the Rubin Museum turns a page , so I got to see two actual spreads. Plates 104-105 and 106-107.  Stunning! The majority of the exhibition includes high-resolution facsimiles, pencil sketches, and a few other original paintings in the style of the Book’s plates.  I was quite taken with two small chalk pastel landscapes.  Jung was a very talented artist of high dexterity. He possessed an extraordinary ability to capture light.

It may take the rest of my life to get through the Red Book. Then, maybe, I will understand something of it, and therefore of myself. Jung’s ability to connect to and describe the inner workings of the soul are unparalleled. Reading his biography, Memories, Dreams, Reflections, I somehow felt less alone in the world by learning of his visions and how he used the mandala as a tool for decoding his inner experience.

Mysterious Creative Powers— a small painting from the exhibition, in the style of the Red Book illuminations

The exhibition is quite small, but The Red Book is displayed center stage, behind bullet-proof glass. The lighting is low, glowing. It definitely has a talismanic quality. I just stood in front of it wondering what hubris it takes to commission a book like this in the first place?

“Yes, I’d like to order a really, really big, 500-page, 100% cotton paper, hand-bound, leather book. And while you’re at it, let’s make that RED leather. Oh, and can you embellish it with lots of gold foil stamping, and why not add a little rose border on the edges too. “

Now imagine— you have the giant leather tome with its gold embossing and thick vanilla pages— already a masterpiece— in front of you, and you have to start drawing and painting on the pristine pages. Page One— Deep breath. Begin…

What many people do not realize is that the book is carefully planned. It is not a “stream of consciousness” effort. The texts were written in several smaller Black Books, then transcribed, carefully edited, and finally, typed up with carbon copies over a period of many years.  Jung worked on the Red Book at night after his daily tasks and family responsibilities were complete.

A sketch of Jung's early mandala "Systema Munditotius" from Black Book 5

After years of  preparation and pencil sketches, the gouache and calligraphy pens were employed. It took him 16 years to complete the final illuminated manuscript. On the scale of the Book of Kells, Jung’s Red Book work is absolutely precise—an illuminated manuscript for the new millenium.  You can purchase a reproduction of the Red Book through Amazon and Barnes and Noble, but alas, it is temporarily out of stock.

Here is a Review from today’s New York Times, with some good images of the exhibition and examples from the Book.

Create your own perfect realm. It’s easy! No scary meditation required!

The Rubin Museum has created a really great interactive device that helps you envision your own two-dimensional mandalic universe.

Click. Print. Practice non-attachment. It’s the least you can do.

Click here to begin

Here’s a Perfect Realm I created:

I’m honored to announce that my geometric mosaic mandala titled  ”Diamond Heart” was selected for the exhibition Art of the Spirit, juried by architect, artist and author, Anthony Lawlor.

Mr. Lawlor has written two books on the home as havens of inspiration and renewal, and maintains an interesting blog exploring how imagination influences what we build in nature.

O’Hanlon Center for the Arts, a magical venue tucked into the redwood forest, hosts the annual show as a celebration of arts in the spiritual world, including spiritual politics, spiritual ecology, or spiritual expression. The idea of spirit can take many forms and Lawlor has selected a broad range of interpretations for the show, which includes around 50 pieces of art, curated from over 80 submissions.

THE DEETS:

exhibition image art by Dick O'Hanlon

Opening Reception Tuesday, Dec. 1, 6 – 8 PM

O’Hanlon Center for the Arts

616 Throckmorton Avenue

Mill Valley, CA 94941

Artists Roundtable Dialogue. Tuesday Dec. 1, 4 – 6 PM

Learn more about the works, exhibiting artists and Tony Lawlor will be present and the discussion is open to the public.

TIP: stop for a little snack after the opening at Small Shed Flatbread in Mill Valley:  Cozy and delicious!

Show runs Dec. 1 – 22, 2009

Gallery hours: Tue. – Sat., 10 am -  2 PM

more info 415-388-4331
megan@ohanloncenter.org
www.ohanloncenter.org

Posted in Exhibitions ]]> http://sfmosaic.wordpress.com/2009/11/26/art-of-the-spirit/feed/ 0 sfmosaic Diamond Heart ©Lillian Sizemore Art-of-Spirit.pc.12.09 http://sfmosaic.wordpress.com/2009/11/10/free-bird/ http://sfmosaic.wordpress.com/2009/11/10/free-bird/#comments Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:55:02 +0000 sfmosaic http://sfmosaic.wordpress.com/?p=1438 ]]>

Serendipity is defined as ‘a seeming gift for finding something good accidentally’. That’s how I found  Sarah Ann Greene.

I’m not surprised. Those of us on the mandalic path are bound to intersect like a good Vesica Piscis.  I was attending a yoga teacher training, and one of my fellow yoginis laid Sarah’s 2009 Calendar on me. Nice! Every month is a visual treat.

But when I read about her PROCESS, things got even more interesting.

The drawings and paintings are all done completely free hand, using no compass, rulers, or aids of any kind. There is no plan regarding shape, symmetry or color.  They all start with a dot on the center of a blank page and a creative impulse. She may work anywhere from 3 days to 5 months on a mandala. She explains:

” I don’t have visions beforehand, they simply spill from my pencil tip.  As they come forth, each layer has a deeper meditative effect on me. I spend most of my time not actually drawing, but learning what each layer has to teach me until it is time to move on to the next one.”

I find this small but incredibly important detail one that is often disregarded in the Creative Process.

The WAITING, the LISTENING, the WATCHING.

Often, art is valued as a commodity. Judged with linear thoughts such as “How long did it take her to do that?” or “My kid could do that.”  Certainly in Sarah’s case, one can easily witness the intricate work and understand how it could take  months to complete a drawing. But the point is that the creative process, no matter what the medium, will require this meditative frame of mind of the artist. This critical aspect of the creative flow is quite difficult to quantify or measure. In yogic terms, this SPACIOUS GAZE is known as Drishti (pronounced: drish-ty). This is a point from where your concentration is directed inward.

Sarah Greene had a deep connection with mandalas when they spontaneously started to emerge as freehand drawings during a difficult and confusing time as a teenager. Without knowing how to draw them, she put the pen to the paper and invited them. They showed her an order and intelligence that lived inside of her that she hadn’t been aware of, and of inner capacities and beauty she hadn’t known. They also helped still the noise in her mind.

Sarah’s experience is a Divine Intervention with Art – Mandalas as Medicine. I truly believe working with the circular form can heal us in so many ways. And even if we are feeling great, they will just make us feel greater!

Everyone can benefit from stilling the mind, playing with color and envisioning their own inner beauty in sync with life’s resonant geometry.

“My hope is that the mandalas bring you some of the joy and benefit they have brought me: knowing that there is a center of stillness inside no matter what is occurring in life, knowing that when you get a big enough perspective there is an intricate order governing even the most seemingly chaotic situations, and realizing that we all have great beauty and untapped capacities dwelling within us waiting to be expressed when we begin to trust our own feelings and creative impulse.”

So, Serendipity brought mandalas to Sarah, and her to me, and now, dear reader, perhaps something is clicking for you?

Art Saves Lives. I’m just sayin’…

Visit Sarah’s Website and Store: 2010 calendars now available.

www.ordered-chaos.com

ordered-chaos.ourinternet.us/store/

My friend Gregangelo is a real whirling dervish.

A whirling dervish is a mystical dancer who stands between the material and cosmic worlds. His dance is part of a sacred ceremony in which the dervish rotates in a precise rhythm representing the earth revolving on its axis while orbiting the sun.

Gregangelo ran away and not only joined the circus but started one. He is artistic director of the fabulously colorful and diverse Velocity Circus. One of his life long influences is Egyptology, and he has created his home as a living museum in the style of an elaborate Egyptian temple. I featured The Gregangelo Museum in my Guide to Mosaic Sites, because it is encrusted in mystical mosaics, by the equally fabu, Laurel True. It is open to tour by appointment.

For the month of November, Gregangelo will be Artist in Residence at the de Young museum in San Francisco with fellow artist, Jim Berenholtz, in conjunction with the KING TUTANKHAMUN exhibition.

Greg and Jim will be on site Wednesday–Sunday, 1:00–5:00 p.m. (until 8:45 p.m. on Fridays).

RA-Balisk, The Temple of the New Sun

Artists in Residence Jim Berenholtz (Hu Ra Designs) and Gregangelo (Velocity Circus) create a multi-media theatrical adventure through a solar temple. Explore the mysterious inner sanctum of the temple with archetypal wall paintings, three-dimensional altars, and dazzling special effects integrated into the interactive installations.

The temple art is based primarily on ancient Egyptian icons, motifs, and symbols, and also incorporates influences from other solar-worshipping, pyramid-building civilizations, such as those of ancient Mexico and Central and South America. Traditional iconography is interpreted with a contemporary sensibility, making RA-Balisknot an ethnographic documentation of something that might have existed in the distant past, but rather a vibrant, living, sacred space that brings the ancient artistic spirit forward to the present and into the future…

The Deets:

1:00 PM – 5:00 PM, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday

November 4, 2009 – November 29, 2009

deYoung Museum in Golden Gate Park  - Kimball Education Gallery

Special Friday Nights open until 8:45 PM!

Seems like everyone I know is exclaiming about how quickly time is passing. Phrases like these are common place.

“I can’t believe it’s over already…”

“Where did the time go?”

“Time sure does fly!”

“Has it been a YEAR already?”

“Tempus Fugit”

It is not our imagination…

Recent observations of distant supernovae reveal that the expansion of the universe is not slowing, as previously thought, but is instead accelerating.

Something was overcoming the gravitational power of all of the matter in the universe. The acceleration has not been present from the Big Bang on. For billions of years the speed of expansion slowed. Then, about 5 billion years ago, acceleration began. Obviously energy–a lot of it— was required to explain these phenomena. This is “dark energy.” We cannot detect it and currently know almost nothing about it. Today scientists believe that 5% of the universe consists of “ordinary” [observable] matter, 23% of “dark” matter and 72% of “dark energy.”1

Is it any wonder the mysteries of life continue to fascinate us? So much force! Our material, tangible world is literally the TIP o’ the (melting) Iceberg.

http://www.ia.ucsb.edu/pa/display.aspx?pkey=1708

1-http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2009/10/einsteins-telescope-the-search-for-dark-matter-and-the-future-of-the-universe.html

http://imgsrc.hubblesite.org/hu/db/2005/32/images/a/formats/print.jpg

“As if you could kill time without injuring eternity.”

~Henry David Thoreau, “Economy,” Walden, 1854

Here’s a watercolor I made over the past 10 days while in a yoga teacher training. Every day after hours of energy work and yoga, I would work on it, so this one’s super charged. Soften your eyes, gaze, and  let it take you on your own journey.

I didn’t know much about the Wu Tang Clan, but when I saw rapper, the RZA (aka Robert Diggs, aka The Abbott) interviewed on  Colbert Report last night, I was blown away. The RZA’s ability to put philosophical ideas into understandable terms is a true gift.  He spoke of  m a t h e m a t i c s. The TAO means the Way, and he has explored the way through ancient Asian martial arts codes and various religious philosophies for many years. A globally successful artist, his new project, The Tao of Wu,  provides some creative fodder for seekers around the world.

In another interview with Gilbert Cruz of TIME he sets it down simply:

“Any way you can reach self-enlightenment or self-worth works. Many great men have left paths for us. In the end, we are all searching for the same thing. We’re just taking different routes to the same location.”

— the RZA

Starting next week, I will immerse myself into an intensive training program that explores a blend of Sacred Energy Arts. The program uses Chi Kung, Yoga, Pranayama, Tai Chi, sound healing, and anatomy as pillars of the sacred mind-body discipline.  I’m intensely curious to better understand my physical and energetic being.

We are witnessing an unprecedented merging of  Science, Spirituality, Art and Sustainability. So many people are feeling the call to take on deeper inquiry.  The RZA, who just turned 40, has followed his path from a housing project in New York through gang shootings, comics, chess, acting, rap music, film, and writing.

He frames his philosophy under seven “Pillars of Wisdom,” which represent seven “key turning points in his life” that he hopes to impart to his readers. The number 7 is symbolic in itself, representing consciousness in numerology, and considered a divine number in several faiths such as Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam.

His creative path may be different than mine or yours, but when we take it down to the basics, it is the beautiful multi-layered pattern of geometry, mathematics and numerology that can provide a window into our mysterious, wonderful world.

The boddhisattva comes in all forms.

(And he loves the Bee Gees.)

LISTEN: INTERVIEW with Kai Ryssdall on Martketplace