Finally…after so much snow and cold…a true sign of SPRING!!!
Daniel Pink Speaking
March 28, 2008 at 3:16 pm (aesthetics, creativity, dreams, education)
Tags: A Whole New Mind, Daniel Pink, Holland Area Arts Council, West Ottawa Public Schools
http://www.danpink.com/wnm.html
I had the wonderful opportunity to be on a committee to bring Daniel Pink to our area. This fabulous committee was through the Holland Area Arts Council, http://hollandarts.org/daniel_pink.php
The evening presentation was wonderful and the auditorium was packed with a variety of members from our community: artists, educators, business owners, parents….!
There was a reception afterwards and many local business owners and artists were able to connect with Mr. Pink for a relaxed evening of conversation.
Check Daniel Pink out on YouTube:
Have you read his book A Whole New Mind? I would love to read your comments:)
Aesthetics…questioning
March 26, 2008 at 2:43 pm (creativity)
Tags: aesthetics, Martin Hill, Project MUSE, Project Zero, sustainable art
Martin Hill, http://martin-hill.com/gallery450/gallery27.html
I have been working on a project at my work-place. The researchers of Project MUSE http://www.pz.harvard.edu/Research/MUSE.htm have developed the QUEST program (Questions for Understanding, Exploring, Seeing and Thinking). I am hoping to take a small group of educators out to one of our local museums to try out this program.
I thought I would pose one of the questions from the QUEST booklets. So…take a look at the artwork above. Here we go:
Look at the colors in this work of art, which one did you see first? Was color the first thing that you noticed? What else caught your eye?
Images…shapes
March 20, 2008 at 2:17 pm (aesthetics, creativity, doodling, drawing, imagination, meditation, observation, visual arts)
Tags: biology, eyes, geometry, protozoa, veins
So…getting back to my blog…after days of a serious virus that has run through everyone here in our family! We try to be as healthy as possible…but sometimes the resistance gets low and we get attacked! Yikes!
Anyway…created the above image after meditating last week. I think, what I saw, was the sunlight coming through my eyelids and highlighting all of the veins in my eyelid…or eyes…beautiful designs! You know..when you go to see the opthomologist and they shine that incredibily bright light…and you see the back of your eye reflected out into your vision?
The patterns were many criss-crossing shapes. I am going to work more with this image, because I like the geometric shapes it creates. These shapes have always been of great interest to me. And the star pattern…very symbolic to me. I have a necklace that I wore the next day (after creating this image) and my son pointed to my necklace when I came to the breakfast table and say “Mom, that is the same design as the picture you just made.” Cool…
I also think I will look back at my interest in biology…many fascinating shapes in nature. I have a friend (who frequently comments on this blog:) who has mentioned protozoa in the past. I have found some images on-line of protozoa that would be wonderful to recreate in pastel or water color…FUN!
Louvre…taking a virtual look
March 17, 2008 at 10:49 pm (aesthetics, drawing, journey, museum, observation, sculpture)
Tags: Egypt, Louvre, scribe, virtal museum
Le “scribe accroupi”
4e ou 5e dynastie, 2600 – 2350 avant J.-C.
I took a look around the Louvre today. Found this section on “taking a closer look”. The description of the “Seated Scribe” is fascinating!
Take a look yourself! What else drew you to “take another look”?
Maple Sugar-ing!
March 16, 2008 at 1:43 pm (creativity, history, nature, observation, organics)
Tags: early spring, maple sugar, maple trees, ojibwe sugar bush
Maple sugaring! We learned all about the process…from the hot rocks in the sap- to the more modern methods. What a great day!
We ended up going to VanRaalte Farms: http://www.cityofholland.com/Brix?pageID=573 the program was run by DeGraff Nature Center: http://www.cityofholland.com/Brix?pageID=59
And we purchases our own spile so that we can try tapping the huge maple in our front yard! More on that to come… Here is a site I found on “how to” http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/Buds_and_Bark/tapping_sugar_maple_index.html
And a bit of history on the Ojibwe Sugar Bush: http://www.nativetech.org/sugar/sugarbush.html
What do you love about nature in the early spring?
Images in my mind
March 14, 2008 at 11:16 pm (aesthetics, color, creativity, drawing, feelings, imagination)
Tags: drawing thoughts, ego, image, mind's eye
I have been reading a lot…and thinking…then meditating and working towards awakening and a clear mind with the thinking being allowed to be noticed and moved on…well, you get the point.
In attempting to get a grasp on my “ego” I saw the image above in my…mind’s eye(?), well, where ever it came from, it was noted. I tried to explain the image/feeling to my husband…then, I took a moment to get the image down on paper.
With all of the statements of “I” above, I guess I am fairly well entrenched in the “ego”. Work in progress…noticing the ego, noticing the changes in “breaking the heavy shell” and moving into the brightness.
What images come into your mind? How do you share those images with others? Or do you?
Fish Dream…again…
March 13, 2008 at 3:19 pm (creativity, dreams, fish, wisdom)
Tags: dream interpretation, dreams, fish, pastels, wisdom
So…the fish dream came back. A bit of a different form this time. The fish was very colorful…iridescent. Pinks, blues, greens…like those asian fighter fish.
This fish was ancient. He had been in the tank I was peering into for hundreds of years. He had the ability to attach his upper fin to the craggy overhang and rest. He had a message and kept looking me in the eye….but I could not hear him.
In a previous post, I received this comment from Dream Therapy Now http://www.dreamtherapynow.com . I was asked to do the following:
Ask yourself these “6 Magic Questions”:
I am a guppy/goldfish, my purpose is to______________
My goal as a guppy/goldfish is to_____________
As a guppy/goldfish, I love ______________
I hate ________________
I fear ________________
I desire_______________
I am going to try that now with this dream….changing the guppy/goldfish to asian fighter fish….hmmm…gets me wondering already.
What do you dream?
On-line Interactive Play
March 12, 2008 at 4:02 pm (aesthetics, creativity, education)
Tags: calder, education, national gallery
Alexander Calder, Vertical Constellation with Bomb, 1943
Having some fun on-line at the National Gallery! Take a look… http://www.nga.gov/education/classroom/
Maple Sugar Time!
March 11, 2008 at 10:39 pm (aesthetics, creativity, education, journey, nature, observation)
Tags: blanford nature center, maple surgar, march, spring
Blanford Nature Center http://www.dnr.state.mi.us/publications/pdfs/wildlife/viewingguide/slp/82Blandford/index.htm#directions
Thanks to a reminder in the comments of a recent post on this blog (Swimmer, under Woods Walk, Wondering) I was reminded of a weekend adventure we will be taking!
This weekend, I will take the family to Blanford Nature Center for the Sugarbush 2008….Maple Sugar time!
Here is a quote from Blanford:
“The sugarbush runs for the entire month of March, with festival activities concentrated on the weekends of March 8th and March 15th. Tour the trails of tapped trees, watch the sugarhouse operators in action, and experience all of the wonders of this local specialty.”
Looking forward!
