"Jackie swings Caroline in the shallows at Hyannis Port in 1959"
This photo just makes me feel good...I just sit and stare at it. I guess that is what good photography is meant to do. I don't know much about Jaqueline Kennedy, but I think she must have been a pretty good mom. This photo captures it all.
And it makes me think about this summer. I am actually really glad for all the time we have spent together this summer, my daughter and I. We didn't take any big family trips this year, for various reasons. So that meant she and I spent a great deal of the summer simply "hanging out" together. Doing whatever. I haven't been too concerned about doing or accomplishing anything specific...just taking it day by day.
There have been many days when we have stayed in, usuallyclose tothe fan(like today, it's just soooo hot!). And there have been days where we've out and about. We've enjoyed time together in my studio (she painted a couple big paintings on some scrap cardboard while I did major reorganization and cleaned!), and time visiting with friends at the pool, or staying up late and enjoying the cooler night air. Places with air-conditioning, like the library, restaurants for lunch, the occasional art gallery or shop (and I've noticed she now gives me fashion advice, telling me which clothes would look good on me or which to try on!) or even just sitting and watching her tv show with her on the sofa, talking about it...what she likes about it, etc. There's so many things there to share. And it all makes me realise how many opportunities there are for me to connect more with her (when I'm not busy doing all those other things around the house!)
I think the key part of it is that it's not about doing...it's about the being. That feeling of being connected. In Spanish they use the word complicidad which in this particular context--in a relationship with another person--would translate to affinity. Something I truly hope my daughter and I will always feel when we are together...
Just as Shaw was able to capture in that single instant in 1959. Mother and daughter. Affinity...to infinity. May it always be so. :)
Hey there! Wow, I can't believe we're almost at the end of August. I remember thinking that I couldn't believe it was July and now look, almost two months have flown by!
How's your summer been? We've had a really pleasant one...No ocean-crossing trips for us to Canada this year unfortunately, and it's been the regular muggy hot blazing-down-on-your-sweaty-forehead-all-day sunshine...but we've enjoyed our days together, trying to keep cool and trying not to have too much going on around home... But not to say I haven't been keeping myself busy, as there's been lots going on in terms of projects and workshops. (The easiest thing is to refer you back to my Spanish blog, where most of the photos are already posted). The end of June I helped organize the 4th "Byron Katie's The Work" workshops in Barcelona, with our wonderful Certified Facilitator, Brianda Domecq (who has recently started sharing her writing on her own blog, "Everything Begins at 60", a most enjoyable read!) and the workshop went very well...More are planned for 2011!
Then came July, which was busy with family projects, pool and beach time and all that sort of thing until the end of the month, when it came time for workshops in my studio with guest artist and Art Journalist extraordinaire, Dina Wakley. It was the third time I have had the honour (she's such a great person to work with, it's been a pleasure each time) of organizing workshops with her, here in my studio, and the participants thoroughly enjoyed themselves, experiementing with "Altered Portraits" and "Hardware Art Journaling". If you'd fancy seeing some photos, I'll link you over to my Spanish blog here, where I've posted photos from both days' workshops.
Then we had some family R&R time along with some friends, up in a more mountainous area of Girona, about 90min from where we live, where we set up camp for a few days. It was fantastic--flowers, bugs and butterflies galore, a river to hike down to and splash around in, lots of space for laying about on blankets, chatting, drawing and reading, and even a 1-night downpour just for some added excitement!
Oh, almost forgot--the end of July I participated in a 3-day "Cajón Workshop", where we made--from scratch--our own cajón (first 2 sessions) and then the last day, had a percussion class on a couple Flamenco rhythms with it (Tango Flamenco and Rumba). It was totally fun. Had never used a power sander before! ;) I've yet to stain it--picked up some nice blue wax-based stain at IKEA, and I'm thinking I might stencil something on it too. Anyways, the sound it gives is great! ..and makes me feel all the more proud that I made it myself!!
Ever since I saw these 3 talented women, "Pacific Curls", perform in my home-town in Saskatchewan last summer, I've wanted to get a cajón:
My next artistic play-date was with a fanTAStic stencil and street artist named Andrea Michaelsson, from Barcelona who goes by the name BTOY. She has had exhibitions in Los Angeles, London, Berlin, Brussels, Paris and Warsaw, as well as live shows and features in numerous publications in the genre. I love her work for numerous reasons--because she's a woman in a male-dominant genre, because her art style rocks, and because I think there is something unique about the images she chooses and the way she juxtaposes them, whether on canvas or in whatever street location she selects for them. And of course the whole thing of painting in the street, clandestinely, intrigues me. And makes me think about things like, who do the streets in fact belong to...? Is art only valued when it's on a gallery wall, in a "proper" location? Does street art not transform what is only a banal cement urbanlandia into the platform for something beautiful for all to see (not just those who visit art galleries)?
I was thrilled to have the opportunity for my baptism into full-blown stencil artmaking with BTOY, and I hope to continue to experiment with it, whether in small format, or perhaps even venture into something bigger, like a studio wall! ;) Check out this link for some step-by-step pics!
Here's what I produced after several hours of what I have dubbed "practising the zen of the exacto-knife" to create my finished piece:
So that's about the size of it, it's been hot and muggy summer, as is usual for around here, however it hasn't been wanton for creative stimulation, which I am very grateful for. The next couple weeks I'll be rolling into that "back to school" mode, getting new workshops and projects ready in the studio. Meanwhile, I'm going to keep mulling on what would be a worthy grosso modo stencil to create for the wall of my studio....! And of course, keep practising on my cajón! My goal is to sound a tiny bit closer to this cajón maestro, percussionist David Kuckhermann ;)) Holy timpani--check it out, it's like an entire drum kit in a box...Amazing!
Hope you had a wonderful summer (or winter, if you're Down Under!) and everything is groovy in your orbit! Keep walking with your own rhythm...whatever it may be! Cheers until next time!
I have been watching these videos (see below); they are from a documentary released in 2003, called "Children Full of Life" (original Japanese title, "Namida to warai no happî kurasu: 4 nen 1 kumi Inochi no jugyôon"), directed by Noboru Kaetsu, on the Japanese school teacher, Toshiro Kanamori.
He is an example of those individuals who are teachers by vocation (not because of their degree or job title); people who not only know how to facilitate and inspire learning in others, but in his case, inspiring children to live as a healthy people who know how to express their feelings in a healthy way ("emotional intelligence"), to stand up for what is important, for what they believe. To know their own truth, and to be heard, sharing it...in sum, to be happy and to live fully as human beings.
Mr. Kanamori is an inspiration not only to teachers, but more importantly, to those of us who are “teachers by default”--us parents, transformed into educators via the birth of our children.
As mothers and fathers, we are free to choose the legacy we will leave our children in what they learn from us, from our example. There’s a quote I heard somewhere that captures this: “I can be my parent’s daughter, or I can be my child’s mother”. The difference between the two is found in simply becoming conscious.
It's never to late to be the parent you truly want to be.
