Ice & Pier Medium: Photograph his photo was taken one early morning on a “seriously” cold day. This was the kind of day you left the water running to avoid the risk of freezing pipes. When I found this scene, I went to work as quickly as I could before the early morning sun changed its position. I have a picture in my imagination of a story my father told me about his visit to a subterranean cavern. Although my travels never led me there, I think that I might have shared in something close to his personal moment of wonder on this bitterly cold morning next to the sea. It was early morning on a “seriously” cold day. This was the kind of day you left the water running to avoid the risk of freezing pipes. When I found this scene, I went to work as quickly as I could before the early morning sun changed its position. My tripod legs can be extended almost straight out to get very low to the ground, but that still left me with a camera perspective higher that I wanted. So I started digging a hole to lower the tripod’s center column a foot or so. Setting up a view camera in nature is always a race against time, usually it’s against the quickly changing light, but it could be the rising wind or lifting fog, but there is always a deadline to be met. My hands kept freezing in the cold. Between several trips to unfreeze my fingers under the car’s heater, I managed to bury the tripod enough to complete the photograph. Many exposures, twenty or so on one sheet of 4X5 film transformed the moving water and gave a layered look. Multiple exposures are always unpredictable. On this day the outcome was a welcome surprise. The effect helped shift the image in the direction of dream, a more fitting place for my response in that moment. A narrative threads runs through many of my photographs, repeating themes or stories from childhood that float up and out into the light. Perhaps they are reconnections to forgotten but significant moments in childhood. Separated by distance and time, they still exist, attached just as tightly to the wonder they inspired in me long ago. I still have a picture in my imagination from my father’s story of his visit to a subterranean cavern. Although my travels never led me there, I think that I might have shared in something close to his own moment of wonder on that bitterly cold morning next to the sea. Michael Zide It was sunrise in Southern California, January 11, 1949. Something drew me to the bedroom window. I looked out to the front yard and for miles beyond. The familiar scene of my childhood was gone. Our front lawn with its towering evergreen tree, the vacant lot down the hill and the boulevard leading to Griffith Part were luminous. My world, where the landscape had been a constant was trasformed -covered now in a pure white blanket of what appeared to my five year old eyes to be diamond dust. It was a scene beyond my comprehension and my response was visceral. That moment is as immediate to me now as it was decades ago. My wife summed up the journey that followed perfectly. “That first snowfall set in motion both the search for a view of equal enchantment, as well as a visual memory in search of meaning.” Establishing a point of view or personal vision is at the core of my work n landscape photography. Oscar Wilde said of another medium, “Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter.” Each walk on the beach or into the forest is an opportunity to get in touch with the landscape in front of the lens and the landscape within. For an image to speak clearly, the photographer must have something to say. Beyond that, there is always an element of change, being present at the right moment as the light reveals form that strokes a chord of recognition. From that point on, intuition and experience take over. Why black and white? Black and white photography lays open the bones of the image. It’s direct and to the point. Time and place are always present in the image. I photograph where I live because it’s what I know and it’s accessible. Everything changes with time, including the way I see. I revisit many locations over the seasons and over the years, hopeful that I can get out of my own way, and truly “listen with my eyes.” Visit Michael Zide's profile →
The Story By Libby Kirkpatrick The Story Medium: Music I was drawn to the great contrast of light and dark, of frozen and not frozen water. The photo reminded me that water can take on so many forms and yet still remain the same thing. The contrast became a metaphor for my earthly vs. myspiritual relationship with my husband. The first thing that came to me about the song was the chorus which is the sound of an exhale expressing my own exasperation. Libby Kirkpatrick Libby’s music is a divine confluence of intimate storytelling, haunting poetry, her astonishing vocal range, and skilled and polished musicianship. To experience Libby live is to connect with your own soaring, traveling, and expansive heart. Libby’s music is a divine confluence of intimate storytelling, haunting poetry, her astonishing vocal range, and skilled and polished musicianship. To experience Libby live is to connect with your own soaring, traveling, and expansive heart. Visit Libby Kirkpatrick's profile →
Heartsong Medium: Painting I listened and listened and felt strongly that I didn’t want to make a painting “of” the song, or illustrate its content, or visually narrate its story but rather, I wanted to listen and listen and make from the place I felt/heard/responded/understood. For me the song resounded of the strength and courage that comes from allowingoneself to be vulnerable and what a contrast that concept is. Not so much “raw” but rather “connected to the source”.Through drawing, sometimes with eyes opened sometimes with eyes closed, I made my way through to a place of clarity w/ my connection to what I was listening to and the painting burst forth like a YES. When the painting was ready it was ready all at once. After hours and weeks of gestation, it was ready to be born. Pasqualina Azzarello Pasqualina Azzarello employs the gesture and the act of its making as potential collaborators in a proactive public dialogue. Whether inside the studio, or in shared daily spaces, she explores the necessary disruption that occurs between the human mark and our changing urban landscape. Pasqualina believes that this creative disruption contains the capacity to spark a shift toward redefinition. Having worked on public projects, she’s interested in the meaning of human actions as it’s subject to the socio-cultural and psychological climate of an environment, and initiating dialogue about this dynamic. Visit Pasqualina Azzarello's profile →
Untitled Medium: Dance Dancer 1. The first image that came to me was of a small home, with a warm living room. Then suddenly I saw many people from all over the place and a big bird with big wings flying over everyone and seeing everything from afar. I felt that the song was about someone being bit by love and being completely controlled by it. She feels it is both beautiful and scary (contrast). I got the sense that the songwriter was on this control/no control rollercoaster and being unable to control in the end she decides to let go and to see what will happen. Dancer 2. What I felt from the song and what I tried to express in this dance was the desire to break free of daily constraints and the frustration I have within myself that this is so hard for me and it is frustrating that it is so difficult for me. The song to me was about having the strength to push through the toughness of life and search for the freedom and strength within myself to find my vulnerability and let that be shown. Samadhi Dance Company & Vraja Sundari Keilman Samadhi Dance Company is a fresh contemporary dance company based in Amsterdam and the Netherlands. The company is renowned for their collaborations with artists in other disciplines. Their productions fuse knowledge of the ancient Vedas with Western art and dance techniques. These include contemporary ballet, with strong influences of Bharata Natyam (traditional Indian dance), yoga, theater, jazz/urban and classical ballet to create a wider range of movements. The stunning production ‘Saranágati received the prestigious Dutch Dance Audience Award for best production and dance company of 2011. After eight successful productions the company’s fan base is spreading all over the world. Visit Samadhi Dance Company & Vraja Sundari Keilman's profile →
Pasqualina Tea Medium: Tea To me, this painting was a phoenix rising from the ashes. About The Tea: Phoenix rising from the ashes. The golden egg. Rebirth. Roasted dandelion root represents the Fire Element. Red streaks. Cinnamon represents the Earth Element. The container from which the phoenix rises. Ginger corresponds to the Metal Element. White background. Nettles for the Water Element. The dark green. Orange Peel for the Wood Element. Crack in the cosmic egg from which new beginnings arise. Brigitte Mars Brigitte Mars is an herbalist and nutritional consultant of Natural Health with over forty years of experience. She teaches Herbal Medicine at Naropa University, Bauman College of Holistic Nutrition, The School of Natural Medicine, Living Arts School, and Integrative Earth Medicine in Colorado. She has taught at Omega Institute, Esalen, Kripalu, and The Mayo Clinic, She blogs for the Huffington Post and Care2. She is a professional member of the American Herbalist Guild and known by many as an eternal flower child. Brigitte is the author of many books and DVDs, including The Country Almanac of Home Remedies, The Desktop Guide to Herbal Medicine, Beauty by Nature, Addiction Free Naturally, The Sexual Herbal, Healing Herbal Teas, Rawsome! and co-author of The HempNut Cookbook. DVDS include Sacred Psychoactives, Herbal Wizardry for Kids of all Ages, Natural Remedies for Childhood Ailments and Natural Remedies for Emotional Health. Her latest project is a phone app called IPlant. Brigitte and her daughter, Sunflower Sparkle Mars run Herb Camp for Kids in Boulder, Colorado. Brigitte’s other daughter is world famous activist/yogini-actress/ supermodel, Rainbeau Mars. Visit Brigitte Mars's profile →
Untitled Medium: Glass Sculptor The story I saw in the dance was the story of a couple (the two women). I felt like I was viewing a scene from nature. The man was acting like a bird. He was ruffling his feathers too get the attention of the blond woman. I saw in the dance, competition, jealousy and the breaking apart of relationships triangulated and I saw the struggle it is for couples to stay together. My main fascination was the great contrasts in the video, the movement and lack there of. I saw the stillness of the chair the ducts and then the bird like movements of the dancers. Nick Fuhr Visit Nick Fuhr's profile →
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