Susie Monday . El Cielo Studio

 

One of Sue Monk Kidd's short essays -- I assume written first for Guideposts -- has really stuck with me this week -- It's actually a story from another great spiritual storyteller, so now I'm making it third-hand here with some helpful links if you want more background. She quotes a story from a Rabbi (sorry, I can't find his name right now) who told about a dream that he had about standing in front of the Judgement Throne and, contrary to his fears of being asked why he had not lived as Moses or one of the Prophets, he was asked, "Why weren't you Rabbi ...?" And so, Kidd knows her question is that same one: "Why were you not Sue Monk Kidd?" not "Why weren't you Mother Teresa or Thomas Merton?" For those of us on the artist's path, the question for me is a parallel, "Why weren't you Susie McAtee Monday?" not "Why weren't you Pablo Picasso or Dale Chihuly or Jane Dunnewold or Gwen Hedley or Corita Kent or Rufino Tamayo or Joan Schulze, well, the hundreds of other artists whose work awes and inspired me. (and that's just the artists -- I've got an entire lexicon of writers, thinkers, activists, all -- I no doubt  imagine wrongly -- standing in line with their hands up: "You could be great if you were just like me!")

 

Finding our way to our true selves takes paying attention to our deepest longings. It means making choices about where we spend our time and energy and money and love. We owe it to our deepest selves to listen carefully to our guts, our impulses and our inner witness, the one who stands outside of the critic, the dictator, the people-pleaser, even the wild child who would like nothing more than to throw a temper tantrum and watch junk on TV all day, just to show you who's in charge.

The next El Cielo workshop on June 13,14,15  -- Creative Jumpstart -- is  planned to help me, as well as the other participants to walk further with this question of being true to one's self. The exercises will include "formal"  investigations-- ie, the natural sensory vocabulary that each person mixes and matches into a personal brew of style, genre, materials, methods and process. (This is the part of the weekend that will deal with one's own voice in line, shape, color, movement, sound, rhythm, space, texture, and light.) But we will also use journaling and reflective meditation to design strategies that get us into our work, building new habits of "being one's self," and in seeing and taking the next baby steps towards our creative dreams.

 

Fiber and mixed media artist Pat Schulz and educator/artist Julia Jarrell think and work during a previous El Cielo Workshop 

 

If you'd like to join the group, there's still room for one or two more. And of course, the retreat/workshop offers the beauty of the Hill Country and time to talk, laugh, share live's pleasures, swim and soak, sleep, take a hike -- even a Saturday night outing to Lake Medina for a picnic and kayaking, weather permitting. See the workshop page for details, price and time -- and send me a shout if you're interested.

 

Writer/editor and blogger Alyice Edrich occassionally interviews artists on her blog -- and today is my turn! Read the interview on her blog site, the Dabbling Mum.

 

The last three days we've spent several hours a day kayaking, walking, dipping into the surf. Relaxation for the mind, body and spirit. What's on the reading list:

Martha Beck's The Four Day Win, an interesting and convincing "anti-diet" book by a Harvard-trained life coach. I'm tryiug out the Four Day Win practise. More about this strategy for change later.

Sue Monk Kidd's First Light, a compilation of her early writing, mostly for Guideposts magazine. (on audio in the car)

 John Sandford's Invisible Prey, a mystery thriller by  this best-selling author  -- the first of his I've read, and so far, this one about two vicious murderers who are also art thieves, is a great beach read.

Keith A. Arnold and George Kennedy's Birds of Texas, a new field guide, since I can't manage to remember to bring any of the seven birding field guides I have at home (real truth: field guides of all stripes are among my favorite affordable luxuries)

 

I'm a dip in-and-out reader and like to have a several things in different genres going at once.I beg that you share your favorites as we've just canceled the TV satellite service. (DirecTV wanted to charge me  $100 to remount the dishes after we put gutters on the house. Why a company will give you free service for new accounts, even free service if you move to a new house and then want to charge for the same service to a longtime customer, I don't get. When I called back to cancel, they  did offer to move the dishes for free -- too bad, by then, we'd decided we don't watch enough TV and would rather have the $ for something else. I subscribed to Netflix and paid for an out-of-county library card -- there's a new branch on my usual path) and I guess I'll find someone to tape Top Chef and Project Runway or get them on tape!)

 

 

The second annual Texas Museum of Fiber Arts exhibit at the State Capitol was this past Memorial Day weekend. Here are a few pics from the Preview Party, a grand and fun cocktail event in the Lt. Gov's reception room. My FASA colleagues Rachel Ridder Edwards (above with her first prize "Ode to the Majestic"  jacket) and Laura Beehler (below with detail of one of her amazing art cloth pieces) were among the award winners. I didn't get back to see the entire exhibit but hear it was well received. I guess you'll figure out by the pictures I took that I often have trouble feeling at ease at cocktail parties, no matter how good the food! Lots of floor pictures in other words! But what struck me most in this lovely room was the textural riches, the real materials and the kind of Texas pioneer honesty that the room and space embodied. I love that it is well-tended and true to its history, not all gussied up with a 2008 sense of luxury and glamour.