Last Week's Gathering

In last week's Expressive Arts gathering we worked with collage. When we arrived there
were beautiful images spread out in a circle on the floor.
Jena opened by reading a beautiful poem.

Sometimes

Sometimes
if you move carefully
through the forest
breathing
like the ones
in the old stories
who could cross
a shimmering bed of dry leaves
without a sound,
you come to a place
whose only task
is to trouble you
with tiny
but frightening requests
conceived out of nowhere
but in this place
beginning to lead everywhere.
Requests to stop what
you are doing right now
and
to stop what you
are becoming
while you do it,
questions
that can make
or unmake
a life,
questions
that have patiently
waited for you,
questions
that have no right
to go away.

2003 by David Whyte

Jena asked us to look at the images and pick one. She then asked us to close our eyes and let an image pick us. The image that I was most drawn to is this painting by Marc Chagall. I am in love with the colors, the imagery, and the whimsy in his work. I want to live in one of his paintings....to fly....or float through the clouds. Although, I will say that the painting below may be a little more disturbing than the ones I am referring to.....I don't think this person is flying or floating....looks more like descending into a fiery pit.

Anyway....

Below is the image that chose me.....with my eyes closed....feeling all of the different papers in front of me this is what landed in my hand. My first thought was "yuck"....I don't like this image at all....it is not interesting....I never would have chosen it if my eyes had been open and so I was trying to understand why it had chosen me. So let me back up a little. At the beginning of our gathering we each take turns talking about what is happening in our lives.....what we are bringing to the studio.....I had mentioned that I was going to begin an online art class from a dear friend and much admired artist Misty Mawn. One of the women in my group helped me see why this image chose me. Many people from all over the world will sit down at their computers this Saturday and learn how to "paint layers" with Misty. Women (well maybe men too, Misty are there any men?) will come together to create...sharing Misty's love of art and teaching. I now love this image....the hearts beating on the computer monitors.....it reminds me of a line in a Sally Atkins' poem ! What the Artist Taught Me..."art is alive"!

I leave you this evening with two questions that Jena asked of us last week.
They seem like pretty simple questions. You must answer the question with a question.
A week later I am still thinking.....still trying to answer
...do I have too few questions? or too many?

"What is the most important question you are living?"

"What is the question that is patiently waiting for you?"

Sally Atkins will be in Charlottesville on Friday November 20.
She and her colleague Harold McKinney will be performing,
and our art will be on display at the Art Life Studio from 6:30-8pm! Come join us!

Winged Messenger Queen!

This is a thank you to an amazing woman who has inspired me to spread "winged messengers" of hope and goodness to dear friends and strangers. I first read about Susanna's messengers in an issue of Somerset Life. I was so inspired that I reached out to her and very timidly asked if I could have one of her messengers to photograph around Charlottesville, Virginia. I thought about what it would feel like to find one of her "winged messengers".....would it make me smile? would it be just what I needed to hear that day? would I dare take it? I was so pleasantly surprised when I received an immediate response from Susanna. She graciously agreed to send me some wings for Charlottesville. She even thanked me. You could tell that she was humbled by all of the souls....like me....who were so touched by her generosity...free art to find. She asked what message I would like. I chose the "you will be okay"....it seemed fitting considering the state of our economy and some of the personal issues going on in my own life. It is difficult to explain the feeling of joy when I received the envelope with a little drawing of a winged messenger in the corner. I felt like a little kid. Of course the wings were beautiful ...and there was a sweet hand-written note from Susanna. It took me about a month to finally take the wings on their journey around Charlottesville. My oldest son and I spent a morning together in Charlottesville's own "Secret Garden" and the Downtown Mall. The photographs turned out better than I ever hoped. I look at them now and they still make me smile....more I think because of the message of goodness and generosity that Susanna shared with me. "You will be okay" has become my mantra, my message to share. Most recently my Expressive Arts Therapy Group had a group art show. The theme for the show was "Messages from the Wild Soul" Adventures in Art and Life. We had an entire wall covered with our own "winged messengers" (we used butterfly wings).....quotes and messages that we wanted to share with the world. The question came up during one of our gatherings...."what is your message to the world?" One of my soul sisters from our group came up with the idea to have a winged mailbox full of messages. We unveiled this at our opening.....the invitation to our guests was to take a message.....and leave a message. To this day our winged mailbox sits in the Art Life Studio. You see Susanna......goodness is contagious.....just look at all the goodness you shared and the journey it is on. Jena Leake is our Expressive Arts Therapist. She is another talented and beautiful soul. She wrote a beautiful poem for us that she read at the opening of our show. I believe that Susanna is a "winged messenger". Thank you Susanna. "You are a work of art and......Messenger Queen for the day....thank you thank you thank you!

Winged Messengers
by Jena Leake

We are each winged messengers
Arriving for adventures on the earth
Where we make soul houses
to discover our own way of belonging to the world.

Sometimes, we are bursting open with all of life's potential
like the butterfly pushing out of the cocoon as she takes her first, breathtaking flight
towards her unknown future.

Other times, we float gently on an ocean of tears,
Yearning and turning as we face our own aloneness and fears.

Though we may be scarred,
We are sacred.

This being human is an art.
The paintbrush is a doorway to healing.
Let your art be your medicine and compass for living.

Let go and embrace the true power found in your still center,
That resting place deep within where images flower and
You see yourself, at last, an artist becoming your own messenger.