inspired

The denouement to my Thanksgiving this year was a little dose of inspiration from young Joey Lawrence: at just eighteen his magnificent photos and heartwarming travels to Ethiopia where he befriends and photos the people of warring native tribes tore at my soul and generated sorrow-sweet saudade.  I remembered a younger version of myself who at one time just would "get up and do", was hell-bent and determined to combine art and anthropological [i.e. "people"] experience in sub-Saharan Africa, to make it a way of life:

constructing, mozambique 2006

blowing bubbles, mozambique 2006

dedication of houses, mozambique 2006

It's true that time has the ability  to fly by and before you know it, you realize you are somewhere else completely...for better or for worse.  I still can't help but wonder what happened to that woman?  When I see the ambition and creativity and spirit and soulfulness of individuals like Joey, still hell-bent on the going-out-and-doing I want to resurrect that criatura, that woman who is within me, and have her drive this vehicle again.  It is still in my essence to get out, get going and do something big.  For a moment I remembered this.

See the trailer below for a glimpse into sweet young Joey L's return journey to visit the tribes a year later as seen through the film "Faces of a Vanishing World", my thanksgiving reminder.  It will reassure you that marvelous, simple spiritual good does exist in this world.

'Work' of Art III

'birds'

'Work' of Art II

Welcome the latest addition to my new favorite series of minis: 'Work' of Art, featuring miniature paintings born in the workplace....

"every day"

Movin' On Up

I am excited to announce my first "formal" show in the arty district of Portland...a quaint group show at Everett Station.

'The Screened Show', a group exhibition of printed works by Vanessa Calvert, Erinn Hatter, Jamey Herman, and Michael Rutledge at the Nisus Gallery in NW Portland, OR for the month of December.

 

For the event I dug out some hibernating prints that I've been meaning to play with, ruminate over, converse with and create a family of paintings from, for far too long...they got filed away and needed love, needed to be shared, seen. Thankfully an opportunity, a timely reminder, fell into my lap.  Getting these little guys ready for display, all primped and coiffed and ready for the party, has inspired me to ge my hands busy with carving, screening, dragging inks and rolling brayers!  Yes, procrastinating Erinn, its time to bring out the press and get busy...

study for aerial series I & II

  ...but first...The Opening Reception at Nisus is December 2nd (first Thursday) from 6-9 PM.  I invite you to come, chat, drink some wine and peruse the gallery circuit of Everett Station with me and celebrate the next step in the journey, won't you?

'Work' of Art I

Part of having a day job involves the struggle of finding balance between the monotony of punching the time card for two thirds of a week's waking hours with the fulfillment of practicing creativity.  I go through waves of learned helplessness where I am completely drained by this external obligation, leaving my spirit with no juice left to pick up the brush or pencil by the time 'work' is through.   There's no time or energy left to do the work of the creative life dream.

Unless or until (!) we have fiscal sponsors to save us from 'work' that is not the work we aspire to do or the work of creating, this tug-of-war will go on.  Right now I'm riding the wave of inspiration/creative motivation, however.  It's high tide.  I'm practicing creativity in my gnome-hole interior office...the first of a series of trading card sized 'minis'....'Work' of Art (I)

"blowout" from 'Work' of Art series

the power of dreams and the jar of gods

My mind has been working over-time lately.  I don't know if I can attribute it to life events, the waxing and waning of my creative flow, or simply the changing of the seasons.  Winter's onset always hits me hard.  I've learned the challenging shift from summer to fall, from lightness to dark with the added impending introduction of winter, and all the things that come with this shift, are aided by simple rituals.  Whenever I am feeling resistant, stuck, blocked or fearful about what my life is, what it is becoming, who is around me and how they are, and how I will integrate the whole of my "self" into society for the long haul, I consult a sacred vessel.  And I write down dreams.

the jar of gods

 The jar of gods retains my fears and overwhelms so I don't have to tote them around all day and night.  My dreams share insights, 'knowledge I know but I don't know I know' until I put down words on pages.  Words on pages help me process it all...to witness my growth and transformation when I am certain there is none.  Even better, the reward of these two practices is new room for inspiration, creative flow.  When I purge the obsessiveness, control and doubt, and recognize that changes are occurring I am able then to fill the creative well....stock the pond with living fish.  So, to honor these little winter tricks, I chose to render my sacred vessel with a series for my painting class....

triptych-left

triptych-center

triptych-right

...And it was bought by a classmate on the spot....what a testament to the power of dreams and the jar of gods!

South Paw, or, the Workings of the Universe (part 1)

There's that saying we've all heard from another in conversation about how, when something isn't going the way you expected or when you are faced with a struggle, it is best to remember the idea that 'the Universe presents you with exactly what you need'.
Even if it doesn't seem as so.
That's a hard pill for some to swallow, especially in moments where you want to yell "WTF?" (though it doesn't hurt to do that too...)
...like when you are hurling yourself in the direction of your creative life dream, grinning wide, coattails flying behind you in your creative dreamy arty breeze, and you receive some staggering unexpected and weight-y news that flips the whole scenario over like a sidewinder ripping through your living room, leaving chaos on the floor and a giant mess to sort through and reorder.  And just as you begin to identify "oh, this goes here, that was there" in the make-up of your entire creative and thriving self, you break your hand.

at least I achieved a sweet arty cast...

And at that moment you really begin to question what the Universe is going for here. Really?

But I'm learning it's all about faith. (Man, I never thought I'd be using that word!) A frame of mind.  A zen practice.  A connectivity to something greater. Cosmic.

It seems like all my work in trust and openness to the will of the Universe these days/weeks/months is not for nothing. There has been an internal shift that I cannot deny- like tectonic plates underneath our own feet.  Where once my avalanching snowball of negativity rolling down the hill would bury "trust" under the heavy pile of defeatedness, now I can step out of the way and trust that the Universe will intervene and that even if it doesn't seem like everything could possibly be alright, it will be.

Perhaps it took such a brute force and final straw that broke the camel's back (i.e. my hand...but it WAS the right and I'm a southpaw...) to recognize this legitimate growth, this shifting of plates within.  This is not to say that the road immediately ahead won't be bumpy and frustrating and at times heavy, hard.  But if I can trust the Universe, I can begin to trust myself...my worth.  And then later, others.

Stunning.