Openings Connecting: in the art spirit, for my friend.....this week

Saturday, July 9, 2011

in the art spirit, for my friend.....this week

find time for yourself

unfurl your wings

ring the bell

take a risk

write little messages to your heart

share

transform

11 comments:

ArtPropelledJuly 10, 2011 at 12:51 AM
Precious time .... doing the things you love, always transforms. I love the first photo, Neva.
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ooglebloopsJuly 10, 2011 at 5:22 AM
Great post - we should attempt to do at least one, if not more of these EACH day.......
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rivergardenstudioJuly 10, 2011 at 3:35 PM
Dear Neva, I love all of this. Especially to "write little messages to your heart." I will remember that. These words will be my first one... sending love and happiness to you. And moments of quiet by the water just for yourself. And time to ring the bell.
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layersJuly 10, 2011 at 10:15 PM
I love all your images and your words-- minimal and yet so meaningful.. transforming...
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Caterina GiglioJuly 11, 2011 at 7:17 AM
wonderful... just wonderful and uplifting... xo
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Blue Sky DreamingJuly 11, 2011 at 9:09 AM
Images and words speak of a wisdom that is transforming...you have laid out a simple and perfect road map! Summer...enjoy!
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Renee HowellJuly 11, 2011 at 7:47 PM
awwwww. thanks. yes, so many moments. take risks. learn. unlearn. relearn. learn. experiment ing. lots! They are turning off the lights - I'm going to have to go.... later!
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Shelley Whiting's artJuly 11, 2011 at 9:43 PM
I love your journal especially the "write little messages to your heart". It's very dreamlike and ethereal. A beautiful and enchanting work.
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UnknownJuly 15, 2011 at 10:15 PM
I love your list .... I will pick one and do it to the utmost :) .... The rest will have to wait until my days aren't so busy!!! (haha)
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Jill ZaheerJuly 19, 2011 at 11:12 PM
Just love the picture titled "share". Beautiful post with wonderful messages that we all should follow! Thanks for the renewed inspiration!
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SethAugust 3, 2011 at 8:05 PM
A special post. Your words and images blend so well and tell such an important story.
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FOUR DIRECTIONS/FOUR VISIONS: Two Graces: First showing for me, JUNE 3, 2011

With no directions home, I found Taos in the late 60s. It felt like home immediately. It still does. I know this sentiment is familiar to countless others.

The mountain stopped me in my tracks, and I stayed for several years. Since that time, I circle back annually.

To me, that circle is symbolic of this body of work at Two Graces. This is a time in my life when I've been fortunate enough to experiment with art making. Not surprisingly, I found myself drawn back to the images in the Ektachrome slides that I'd taken in the early 80s of Chaco Canyon, the San Francisco de Asis Church, dusty roads, and the ever changing skies of Northern New Mexico. The spirit of this adobed land lingers in my core and manifests itself within these works.

This past Michigan winter was spent creating enlarged negatives from my thirty year old slides, pulling part of my past into the present via today's tools of scanner and computer. Using traditional silver-gelatin darkroom processes, these resurrected and modified negatives acquired a new life. The majority of these prints are the result of this mediated reincarnation.

The smaller images took me into photographic processes from the mid-1800s. These handmade platinum/palladium prints are created coating vellum, for translucency, with these metal salts and exposing them to ultraviolet light. They are then bathed in the alchemy of the darkroom. The tonal qualities are unique in each print. Finally, 24k gold is layered to the backs of the prints, emanating the warmth, glow, and depth of these beloved places.