Yesterday We Ran Out of PAINTS

Mandala

Yesterday we had our last PAINTS session with grades 3-5. It was a bitter sweet day. I think we were all sad it was over. Hopefully we'll be able to have another go round in September.
What a great bunch of amazingly insightful, imaginative and creative kids they are.

It's hard to put into words the feeling I had after they'd all collaborated in a very special exhibit of their artwork created over the past eight weeks. I was so proud of them all and I could see the pride they had in themselves.

 All the other classes and teachers in our little rural school were invited in to see what they had done. The kids were paired off in groups at particular stationed areas of the room, where we had their art work displayed on tables. As the other classes entered the room the students would give a brief description of what the artwork was about in relation to the Circle of Courage.

It immediately became so obvious how important this overall conclusion to our PAINTS program was, and that this exhibition was such a vital part of the whole program. It made it real, gave it a depth of meaning to the effort the students had made and brought it all together.


First Workshop -  Belonging/Community/History - Sculpture/Hand building techniques with ceramic clay creating symbolic Animal Totems represented in the Circle of Courage.

Drawing, Painting and Collage using various mediums and techniques were all an important part of our creative process.

Second Workshop -  Independence/Connection between Self/Others/Environment awareness and social harmony - Mandalas

Third Workshop - Generousity/Developing Empathy - Earth Wall Tiles

Fourth Workshop - Mastery/Achieving Goals - Masks

The Circle of Courage project is based on the model of positive youth development founded on the universal principle that to be emotionally healthy all youth need a sense of belonging/attachment, mastery/achievement, independence/autonomy and generosity/altruism.

Each session explored the basic universal growth needs through art activities such as hand built sculpture using ceramic clay, applying techniques for hand built animals that represented and expressed the animal totems in the Circle of Courage.  These animals were the Bear, symbolizing Belonging, the Buffalo, symbolizing Mastery, the Eagle, symbolizing Independence and the Deer, symbolizing Generousity.

Our afternoons began and ended with engaging discussion about the topic and workshop. The students all enthusiastically created pictures using various drawing mediums and tempera painting on paper prior to creating each project.

 Discussions also took place regularly surrounding colour, the colour wheel, mixing and application of colour, techniques and introduction to learning about graphite drawing pencils.
We always had a time of reflection at the end each session for each student to express what was learned and then there was a brief introduction of what was going to happen in the coming week. This always proved to show how insightful these young budding artists were about creativity and their understanding, insight and connection with themselves, the world, and their environment. I was very much impressed!

I presented online examples and brought in my own artwork of paintings, sculpture, drawings of sacred geometry/mandalas, online resources of historical examples of masks and their uses in all cultures and I showed them a youtube video of Mummenschanz is a Swiss mask theater troupe who perform in a surreal mask and we discussed all of these in relation to art and the Circle of Courage.

We concluded PAINTS with an very enjoyable and wonderful exhibition in the school and we were all very proud and very happy!

Circle of Courage - Garbage Bags - Youth Care Workers - The World

"The Circle of Courage® is a model of positive youth development based on the universal principle that to be emotionally healthy all youth need a sense of belonging, mastery, independence and generosity."

I am sorry to be wrapping up the PAINTS ( Professional Artists in the Schools) program with the kids, grades 3 to 5, in our local school this coming week. I so wished it was continuing and in a perfect world, art would be offered to youth each and everyday in schools, as the educational foundation that enables youth to connect with themselves, others, with the environment and their world. The PAINTS program I offered was based on the First Nations Circle of Courage which reflects basic human needs and the values of Belonging, Independence, Mastery and Generousity/Empathy. These were expressed through the art work and creative imaginations of these insightful youth who have inspired and left me feeling hopeful.

In my other life and vocation as a Youth Care Worker for 20 plus years, I became acutely and personally aware through my work with youth and families within the system, of the crisis that exists with youth on both a national, and global scale.

It pains me greatly when I hear the proverbial cheap lip service, and rhetoric of how youth are our greatest resource. This is not what is reflected in reality throughout the world, when you see the proven statistics accounting for child abuse, poverty, homelessness, or suicide among young people baring the burden of mental health and addiction issues.

Many troubled youth at risk who have spent years within foster care, group homes and custodial facilities, especially those who have been involved in the courts, are eventually more often than not preened for the adult correctional system especially if they don't get the help they need.

Once a youth has served their sentence in open or closed custody, they are basically on their own without enough to no support and return to dysfunctional homes, they choose to live on the street or couch surf, go missing or in the worse case scenario, are found dead.

With the influx of people moving to the urban and city areas these complex problems are compounded and
 intensified resulting in more serious issues.

There are many theories and reasons that have long been discussed in order to resolve this crisis among youth. But for me it has mostly been empty talk with no concrete resolutions particularly when politicians or government is involved and falls upon deaf ears. I don't put my faith in politics or government. However they still need to be lobbied and pressured to do the right thing for families and youth.

There are some folks who I believe are making a difference. The front line workers, those who genuinely care enough to advocate for kids and families, and the youth themselves, such as organizations like Hope Blooms.

 Violet-Rose Pharaoh who started the garbage bag challenge is raising awareness and funds to provide suitcases to kids in care. Time and time again I saw kids who were carrying around all of their belongings in garbage bags and this is what they left group homes with.
Violet spent much of her childhood and youth in care.

Another person, a Youth Care Worker who is making a difference through Twitter, is Mark Cherrington.
Dr. Bernie Krause is another individual who understands how humans need to be living harmoniously with connection to the environment instead of trying to conquer it.

There are no simple solutions to the crisis among youth and families. I do believe however that if values are imparted to children that fulfill their needs in order to give them a true sense of belonging, independence, mastery and generousity, these would in turn make a huge difference in the well being of our youth, our families and in our world.

My Cat-My Muse

Fluffo

Ever since I can remember I have always had cats, and have been enamored by them my whole life. I remember everyone of them, their names and personalities.

I know animals are very therapeutic, but I've never really read anything until today, about how cats in particular can be a creative stimulant and act as a creative muse. But this makes complete sense to me. On a physiological level they do lower blood pressure and have a calming and comforting affect on humans. In order to concentrate we all need to be relaxed and this in turn would definitely help to enable and foster creative musings.


Today after losing one of my sweet puss-cats suddenly to a unknown pre-existing heart condition, this sad day got me thinking about how much I loved my little Fluffo Flower cat. She was a little ball of fluff, with a very small physical build, but with huge gentle personality. She would often stick out her tongue at me reminding me not to take myself and life too seriously, and she was so good humoured, playful, full of affection, with such a loving personality.

Even being so sick, she hopped up in my lap to be close to me, before she was taken to the vet. I prayed for a miracle, but it wasn't meant to be. I cried and have been sad all day. I'll really miss my very special little Fluffo soul.

Fluffo made me think about how I wished people could be more like cats, loving unconditionally, with the ability to show us how to be playful, and to remind us to use our imaginations to define our world.

"If you want to concentrate deeply on some problem, and especially some piece of writing or paper-work, you should acquire a cat. Alone with the cat in the room where you work … the cat will invariably get up on your desk and settle placidly under the desk lamp. The light from a desk lamp … gives a cat great satisfaction. The cat will settle down and be serene, with a serenity that passes all understanding. And the tranquility of the cat will gradually come to affect you, sitting there at your desk, so that all the excitable qualities that impede your concentration compose themselves and give your mind back the self-command it has lost. You need not watch the cat all the time. Its presence alone is enough. The effect of a cat on your concentration is remarkable, very mysterious."

- Muriel Spark, A Far Cry From Kensington

Fluffo Flower

Lessons Learned - Now I Have a Choice

Ann Rea - Artists Who Thrive

After many years with all my art education, I was forever attempting to navigate my way through the art world, figuring out what I could and couldn't accept. I found relatively few answers to my questions, in spite of how much formal art education I got. If I didn't want to pursue an art career, I didn't think I had any other choice or option. But I know now, I do have a choice!


 Sadly Universities provide next to no information for artists to survive within the art establishment, and I believe more importantly, how to thrive or support themselves through there art work. It was my opinion you might survive if you were a man, or if you were willing to do a lot of ass kissing. Neither was an option I wanted.

Ann Rea has been the one person I found affirmed my way of thinking, and provided practical suggestions to apply to making and selling art. I can not say enough about her, and the work she does to re-educate artists who simply want to support themselves creating art work that they love to make and that has value  over and above the art they make. Finding this out was a confirming enlightening moment for me as an artist.

This recent video she posted on her site, Artists Who Thrive, about Canadian artist Linzy Arnott, I couldn't find a more compelling reason to opt out of the 'art establishment' and become a fully immersed in the the 'new creative class' that Ann Rea advocates.

Spider Woman - Louise Bourgeois

Maman - Louise Bourgeois

 Louise Bourgeois born in 1911, was ahead of her time.
Although she never referred to herself as a feminist until later in her life, as she was born before this term was coined. She was a remarkable woman and artist, living well into her nineties, who thrived creatively I think, because she was willingly open about her life and the painful experiences she endured, growing up in a traumatic household with an abusive father, and no doubt an unhappily married mother, whom she loved very much, considered her to be her best friend, and who always encouraged her daughter creatively.

I am certain she spent much of her time feeling alone and isolated with her thoughts, which translated into her work as a prolific artist who understood the importance of solitude,which was transformed into deeply influential creative work. 



" Solitude, a rest from responsibilities, and peace of mind, will do you more good than the atmosphere of the studio and the conversations which, generally speaking, are a waste of time. "

" You are born alone. You die alone. The value of the space in between is trust and love. That is why geometrically speaking the circle is a one. Everything comes to you from the other. You have to be able to reach the other. If not you are alone…" Louise Bourgeois

Kamal Al-Solaylee

Author Kamal Al-Solaylee says brown people around the world share identity as source of cheap labour. (Gary Gould)

Author Kamal Al-Solaylee gave the best interview I've ever heard regarding discrimination and the profiling that exists in the West, surrounding brown racial identity. Particularly in light of the whole political atmosphere in the U.S. with Donald Trump being the presumed Republican incumbent for coming presidential election.

The clarifying points he makes are incisive, and insightful. I listened to this interview twice. The second time was better than the first as I listened even more intently. If you get a chance, I would recommend that you listen to it twice.

Sagging Panty Hose and Graduation Day

 

As a creative kid with an over active imagination, I was pretty typical as a young student in public school. I was bored, had little to no interest in the main stream lined education being offered, and was generally a 'bad' student. I could hardly wait to get out of there, and that's just what I did. Never did I ever imagine myself then, what I would be doing in the far away future, as an adult, but I did want to go to University, but never excelled academically.

Four years ago, I was sweating in a graduation gown, walking across the Mount Allison University Convocation Hall stage, with badly sagging panty hose. It was Graduation Day. It is hard to believe it was that many years ago, and I'll never wear panty hose again!.

 As a mature student it was pretty surreal. I felt like I'd really finally arrived as a mature adult, and was more than ready to gratefully be among the Fine Art Graduates at Mount Allison University. I truly was the best day of my life.

I found this link on line about education and the statement was made that all education is self-education. It is also life long learning. You can have degrees up the ying-yang but still not have a thirst for learning. You can go through the motions of obtaining that piece of paper, but if you don't have that innate desire and passion for learning, it's really a waste of your time, energy and money.

The internet offers immediate access to endless free open source education from Universities world wide and provides a really exciting opportunity for any one to learn in the comfort of you own home or space, and you'll never have to worry about walking across a stage with sagging pantyhose.