WOMEN CELEBRATING ART: THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE WOMEN'S CAUCUS FOR THE ARTS

WHEN IT HAPPENS TO YOU. I made this image in response to Alice Teeter's poem, "When It Happens To You." Alice's poems have inspired many of my drawings. (Art by Hallelujah Truth, aka Ruth Schowalter)

HALLELUJAH for WOMEN! And many HALLELUJAHS for WOMEN MAKING ART! The national Women's Caucus for Art has been around now for 40 years creating a community for women through art, education, and social activism! To celebrate this 40th anniversary, a LITTLE RED JOURNAL is circulating among the state Women's Caucus for Art groups. In this glorious fall month of October 2012, the Georgia Women's Caucus for Art (WCAGA) has it in our possession!

Each state that has a Women's Caucus for Art group gets to contribute to this LITTLE RED JOURNAL! Each participating artist has the opportunity to make from 1-3 pieces of art 4 inches by 3 inches! As a relatively new member of WCAGA (been a member for one year now), I am delighted to be participating in this 40th anniversary of women building community by making art, sharing knowledge and speaking out for what they believe!

HOW LUCKY WE ARE TO HAVE A FORUM FOR SPEAKING OUT AS A COMMUNITY OF WOMEN SUPPORTING EACH OTHER IN THESE ENDEAVORS! HALLELUJAH!

Here in this blog entry for "Coffee with Hallelujah," I am posting the images I made as my entries for the LITTLE RED JOURNAL. I chose to re-enliven previous images I had made when I first read Alice Teeter's manuscript for her book of poetry, When It Happens To You. Below is the image I drew in response to the poem with the same title as the book, "When It Happens To You." I resized it using photoshop to fit the dimensions required for the LITTLE RED JOURNAL and then happily used watercolors and gouache paints to encompass the passion I have for the spirit of this poem!

"YOU WILL LIE WIDE AWAKE WITH A TREMOR RUNNING THROUGH YOU-..."(from the poem, "When It Happens To You.") I love how this image evolved once I started using color. Notice that the black and white pen drawing above is without the "tremor" on the woman's body that appears here with the heavy black line! The process of creating art continues to amaze and surprise me! (Art by Hallelujah Truth, aka Ruth Schowalter)

Here are some more lines from this poem I adore:

When it happens to you the stars will come down
flood down through the top of your head--
their light will fill you up completely.

WHEN YOU WERE BORN THE UNIVERSE BEGAN. This is a line from another of Alice Teeter's poems entitled "String Theory." Alice had this poem performed with music and dancers (go here to see the performance).(Art by Hallelujah Truth, aka Ruth Schowalter)

The second image I revisited from my imaginings of Alice's poems is in response to her poem, "String Theory." I fell in love with the way Alice simplified a complex physics theory. She made it human--and feminine. Thank you Alice!

Here are some lines from this mesmerizing poem that Alice breathed life into by creating a live performance engaging many dancers and a musician, as well as an audience!:

When you were born the universe began.
When you die time will end.
You are dancing too fast for me, too.
You reach beyond all that is
And I cannot know the all of you.

"YOU REACH BEYOND THE ALL THAT IS." I love the poem "String Theory," and this is another line from it.(Art by Hallelujah Truth, aka Ruth Schowalter)

How wonderful it was to see this image jump to life for the LITTLE RED JOURNAL as I worked on a small image in color. I am so very happy to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the national Women's Caucus for Art. I am thrilled to be getting to know artists in Georgia and the southeast who are a part of this local Women's Caucus for Art.

HAPPY FORTIETH BIRTHDAY WOMEN ARTISTS EVERYWHERE!

That's Coffee with Hallelujah! Soul Blog with Me and tell me what you are celebrating today in your creative life. Let me hear your views about community fostering art, education, and social activism!

I AM HOT MAGMA MAKING MANNA: AN ARTIST CONFERENCE NETWORK ASSISTED VISION

I AM HOT MAGMA! art by Hallelujah Truth

Hallelujah for the Artist Conference Network (ACN)—a coaching community for ARTISTS! Hallelujah for a shared language for going deeper into the CREATIVE PROCESS and a method to JOURNEY into BEING and ACTION based on NOTHING!

If it sounds like I’m talking in CODE, I am! You see FELLOW PILGRIMS, in my CREATIVE SOJOURN I have found a way of communicating with writers, singers, performers, musicians, and visual artists who have agreed to SPEAK about their work following generous yet prescribed ACN guidelines, a way that does not interfere with each INDIVIDUAL ART PILGRIM’S VISION.

You might ask what I mean by VISION….You would have to belong to the Artist Conference Network (ACN), to truly understand the way I am using this term, but I will tell you joyfully and courageously that the VISION I arrived at from Atlanta’s ACN annual weekend that just took place April 16 to 17 in the club house of Pine Lake, Georgia, moves me forward into my ARTISTIC JOURNEY—I AM HOT MAGMA, MAKING MANNA.

Yes, I AM HOT MAGMA! The driving force that fuels my creative work is the “hot lava” inside me waiting to erupt and create new territories. This magnificent magma is molten and throbbing waiting to be formed, to be named, to be given voice, and to be heard.  I work as an ARTIST to translate this exciting source of vibrant life that is TRUTH, is HALLELUJAH, is RUTH TRUTH and all the incarnations I have ever been. First the MAGMA, then the visual images!

A quote of Martha Graham’s that we read frequently at ACN meetings reinforces the importance of SPEAKING in the unique voice that is ours alone:

There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique.

And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is; nor how valuable it is; nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open.

Yes there is that LIFE FORCE! Thank you Martha Graham! Yes! And the other part of my vision statement is—I MAKE MANNA! As an ARTIST, I CREATE food for my SOUL through the “process” of drawing and painting. Amazingly, I simultaneously feed other SOULS—because none of us, not one of us is ALONE! Friends, family members and SOUL BLOGGERS have let me know I have given them something through my LIFE as an ARTIST!  Thank you! And I know that the work of each and every PILGRIM impacts us ALL. My MANNA is your MANNA and vice-versa!

In addition to ART being SOUL FOOD nurturing our spirits, I believe ART is MEDICINE healing us at the most basic level of our BEING. What do you think FELLOW PILGRIMS? SOUL BLOG with Hallelujah and tell me what your VISION is. What drives your CREATIVE WORK?

The Atlanta Artist Conference Network with Jean Anderson (front left) April 17, 2011 (photo by Hallelujah Truth, aka Ruth Schowalter)

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: I wish to thank Beverly Cassell, Founder of the Artist Conference Network, who I met at my first ACN weekend in 2002. In recent years, I have appreciated the coaching leadership from three members of ACN’s current board of Directors: Jean Anderson, Lynne Prather, and Marianne Connor. In addition, I am so thankful my own local ACN leaders: Lesly Fredman, Donna Rutherford, and Alice Teeter. It is with pleasure at the beginning ACN goal setting year, that I join the leadership team here in Atlanta! I look forward to working with ALL our members. Hallelujah! I’ll be blogging about ACN in future entries at COFFEE WITH HALLELUJAH! SOUL BLOG back!

Work in progress, a future puppet for World Laughter Day, May 1, 2011 in downtown Decatur, Georgia, brought to us by Jean Woodall!

Arriving Sunday morning to show work 

Showing work and Getting Coached

Donna Rutherford emerged as a top secret character to introduce her upcoming book

Dana Kemp showing her most recent body of photographs

Engaged in Coaching

 Some Smiling members of the Atlanta Fabulous Artist Conference Network on day two of the Artist Conference Weekend, April 17, 2011

CREATIVITY EXERCISE at the GT LANGUAGE INSTITUTE: SCENES FROM A DAY

Hallelujah for CREATIVITY and the celebration of diversity! As one of the final blog entries in my creative writing class at the GT Language Institute for Spring Session One, my class chose eight topics for photos to be taken by everyone over the weekend. The goal was to loosely capture the same “Scenes from a Day” in their individual lives in order to tell a story about themselves. We hoped this project would help us glimpse how different and unique each one is—being that the 15 students hail from Saudi Arabia, Colombia, Korea, China, Libya, Taiwan, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Venezuela, and Spain.

We agreed to post our photos--one of the bedroom, a view from our window, shoes we wear every day, the fridge, an activity from the day, an object in the hand, our computer desktop, and writing or drawing on paper--on the same day at the same time in class, so that everyone would have the freedom to create independently. My desire was for my students to experience the quality of their own creative voices and imagery while at the same time collaborating with their classmates to make “one” class project—something like individual singers contributing to a chorus.

I asked them if they wanted me to participate and they said yes. Below are my photos and captions for “Scenes from a Day (February 26-28). First, however, I invite you to sample some of my students' imaginative responses: Blueberry Cellophane, Pitch Your Guts,  Butterflying to Infinity, The Footprint of Water, and Happy Stapler.

1. BEDROOM: COMPOSING AND REPOSING—WHEREVER!

Creativity dwells in my home, in my husband, and in my heart. We both write, make art, and teach. Our bedroom has two creativity stations. Here you witness my Chiboogamoo happily composing underneath a painting we brought back from the top end of Australia.

2. VIEW FROM YOUR WINDOW: UNHARNESSED IMAGINATION

SEES BEYOND BARRIERS

My imagination seeks companionship through my art and by SOUL BLOGGING. I greet ALL GUESTS—real and imagined—with “HELLO” and “GOOD.” In my physical world, my Chiboogamoo and I live in a condo in Decatur and can walk to the library and numerous pubs and shops in 10 to 15 minutes.

3. SHOES YOU ALWAYS WEAR: DEPENDABLE WORTHY STEEDS

I am a PILGRIM. I am on a SPIRITUAL ART JOURNEY. I depend on my sturdy shoes to take me to places of DISCOVERY away from the sole preoccupation of self to the UNIVERSALITY we all share!

4. FRIDGE: SAY YES

I say YES to nurturing the BODY and the SOUL! YES! Feed me lovingly one and all. I believe in the joy of mutuality and reciprocity. I believe in a steady diet of YESes and CREATIVITY.

5. AN ACTIVITYFROM YOUR DAY: CONNECTING WITH THE WORLD

At moments, TIME stops. Suns set. We breathe our individual happy breaths, but then we are compelled to connect with OTHERS…and the WORLD. The New York Times serves me indigestible facts--citizens are being killed in Libya by their own government. (See my blog entry about interaction with Libyan students.) It is warm for February. The early evening air whispers softly of approaching spring.

6. AN OBJECT IN YOUR HAND: THE WORLD

I’ve got the whole world in my hands! I feel so fortunate to commune with the people of the world here at the Language Institute at Georgia Tech! You broaden my experience of the self; you deepen me. You make me a better person, artist, and teacher. (Listen to Veronica Frosgren sing the song, “I’ve Got the Whole World in My Hands” in Dublin.)

7. YOUR DESKTOP COMPUTER SCREEN: CELEBRATION OF COLOR

Green excites and ignites me. My green “Celebration of Summer” mermaid greets me every day on my “virtual” desktop.  I absolutely adore COLOR. As an artist, my “real” desktop is an explosive song of COLOR and IMAGE. I am a primitive sophisticate!

8. WRITE OR DRAW SOMETHING ON A WHITE SHEET OF PAPER: YES

YES! YES, I say to myself. Not good. Not bad. Just is. Say YES! Lean into YES and see where it takes you! Say YES! (To see more on this topic of YES, check out Alice Teeter’s poem with the same name in a past blog entry of mine.)

Hallelujah for the JOURNEY! That concludes COFFEE WITH HALLELUJAH for today. SOUL BLOG with me and tell me about your JOURNEY today! 

2011: SAY YES

Hallelujah for NEW BEGINNINGS. I welcome the START of 2011 with open arms and CURIOSITY. What is possible in the next 12 months? What discoveries will I make on my ARTFUL and SOULFUL PILGRIMAGE? What PILGRIM will I meet who will make that significant difference in my JOURNEY? In what NEW ways will I contribute to the LOVING SOULS in my life?

A FELLOW SOJOURNER and POET, Alice Teeter speaks to me through the poetry in her book, “When it happens to you…”. Today, one particular poem, “Say Yes,” is speaking to me. The first three lines of the poem suggest:

Say Yes

Step off into this unknown

Into this marvelous and terrible Yes

Oh PILGRIM! We know part of the JOY of the GREAT MYSTERY is that it is simultaneously “marvelous” and “terrible”—beckoning and pushing us away at the same time. It takes SOULFUL COURAGE to step into YES!

Alice Teeter creates multiple ways for us to say YES. We can “float,” “carry,” “blow,” and “scatter” YES. We can even “lean” into YES, watching it like a maple seed spiraling down in front of us!

Saying YES is like creating a “seed” that we can plant along our JOURNEY. By saying YES, we send a positive message out into the universe surrounding us.

And just think—it is possible that other PILGRIMS might hear our saying YES. Alice Teeter’s poem concludes:

You are standing on the sweet spot of the stage

Your voice will carry for eons and leagues

In your softest song say Yes to me

I hear you from this thousand miles away

Hallelujah for saying YES! And for being HEARD! I am BEGINNING my 2011 saying YES joyfully to both the marvelous and terrible! And you PILGRIM, what will you say YES to this year? SOUL BLOG with me at Coffee with Hallelujah, so I can HEAR YOU!

For your delight, below is Alice Teeter’s poem, “Say Yes,” in its entirety.

Say Yes

Say Yes

Step off into this unknown

Into this marvelous and terrible Yes

Yes to unknowing, Yes

Fling your arms wide to Yes

Be light and say Yes

Say Yes softly in a whisper

Float on Yes

Carry Yes like a feather you find floating

That the wind will take away

Blow Yes like a dandelion seed

Scatter it to the winds

And me, I say Yes waiting for your Yes

Leaning in and watching for it floating down

A maple seed on the breeze spiraling

Wisps of white floating across my field of vision

My ears are listening for that whisper

You are standing on the sweet spot of the stage

Your voice will carry for eons and leagues

In your softest song say Yes to me

I hear you from this thousand miles away

From When it happens to you…, poems by Alice Teeter

REVERB10: CONTEMPLATING our EXUBERANT INFINITY--PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE

Hallelujah for the Winter Solstice! For full moon lunar eclipses signifying everything and nothing. On this darkest day of the year, we experience a “death” and prepare for a “re-birth.” CELEBRATIONS place us in TIME—HERE and NOW. In response to today’s REVERB10 Challenge, I briefly glimpse myself through INFINITY….

THE FUTURE: Five years from now I envision myself existing as an EXUBERANT GALAXY glittering giddily with gladness. All of my communities rotate with me, around me, or close by radiantly realizing their cherished ideals!

THE PRESENT: Glowing now, today, I joyously toast BEING and ACTION! I explode and collide with YOU in the ever-expanding universe of ME. WE are those binary stars rotating around one another. WE are constellations clustering with one another. WE are black holes swirling in our own GREAT MYSTERY!

THE PAST: Long ago in DEEP TIME, there was a singularity of BEING…all of me that mattered was condensed into ONE point.

oh.

Oh,

OH!

Here I am.

When I was born time began.

When I die the universe will end.

And I am dancing too fast to see

I stretch to the end of everything

You cannot see all of me.

Alice Teeter (extracted from “String Theory,” When It Happens to You)

Thank you REVERB10 for allowing me to reflect on who I am throughout TIME. I feel empowered when I use my imagination. This morning, I invited Alice Teeter’s poems to join me in my contemplation. I absolutely devoured her book of poems, When It Happens to You, when it came out in 2009. I have been absorbing her poem, “String Theory,” over the years (pre-publication) as she appeared around the Atlanta area reading and giving performances of this poem meditating on particle physics. Please watch this amazing video if you want to see how “String Theory” can be danced out.

Pilgrims, if you care to reflect on TIME for yourself, here is December 21^st’s REVERB10 PROMPT: FUTURE SELF. Imagine yourself five years from now. What advice would you give your current self for the year ahead? (Bonus: Write a note to yourself 10 years ago. What would you tell your younger self?) Prompt Writer Jenny Blake, author of “Life After College, The Complete Guide.”

I bid you Pilgrims farewell on this shortest day of the year with more of Alice Teeter’s “String Theory”:

oh oh oh and to be the one who can see it all.

How we connect.

The lightning strikes.

REVERB10: VANQUISHING the SHOULDS→LIVING BEING in ACTION

Hallelujah for BEING in ACTION! Condemnation to SHOULDS—an absence of ACTION, a stultification of BEING! Uttering SHOULDAs, COULDAs, and WOULDAs, makes my head droop, my shoulders hunch, and my SPIRIT wilt. How can we PILGRIMs CLAIM the PRESENT state of our SOULS—own the actions we have completed in 2010 and YOWL and HOWL to HOWL-LU-JAHs! O Frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!

Hallelujah is delightfully committed to writing every December day in response to the REVERB10 CHALLENGE. However, I must admit that today, December 20^th, I confronted the most difficult writing challenge so far. Take a look at today’s prompt but be forewarned, it will pop the balloons in your Christmas parade!:

December 20^th’s REVERB10 PROMPT (AVOIDANCE—What should you have done this year but didn’t because you were too scared, unsure, busy or otherwise deterred from doing? ((Bonus: Will you do it?)))

DO SHOULDs have a VALID PLACE in our LIVES? For Hallelujah, “should” is the equivalent of the beastly Jabberwock! It and its cousin’s, WOULDA and COULDA can be vanquished!

One, two! One, two! And through and through

The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!

He left it dead, and with its head

He went galumphing back.

Lewis Carroll (from Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, 1872)

In the place of these monsters (Shoulda, Woulda, and Coulda) that eat the SPIRIT alive, Hallelujah recommends dancing and singing. While you are moving and hearing your own voice, you will KNOW from a deep true place what ACTION to take RIGHT NOW.

For 2011, I encourage each PILGRIM to BE and DO what comes from your HEART! First, light candles and build an altar to yourself. Acknowledge the WONDERS of your 2010 ACTIONs. LOVE for ALL begins with LOVE of SELF and BEING in ACTION. Hallelujah!

I acknowledge Alice Teeter, poet and fellow member in the Artist Conference Network, who persistently reminded me of BEING in ACTION. Kisses Alice! Yes and my love to Lesly Fredman, creativity coach extraordinaire!

Soul Blog with me! Share the wonderful things you did in 2010. Please do not mention “SHOULDS”! That BEAST has been SLAIN! Inflate balloons from your SPIRIT and CELEBRATE! HOWL-A-LU-JAH!