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!

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.