Ducks and Order

It looks like I have all my ducks are in order, but something is missing. What is it?
I have sold my work,I have an artist statement, I have an MFA, I have large body of work,I have been in galleries, I started a gallery, I have curated exhibitions, I have been in the media, I am showing in a corporation and the very cool thing is I have an art rep now. Also, I am in a really productive art activist collaboration-Art is Moving. We have received grants, we have published a book, and we have developed a pretty successful BLOG Art is Moving. Also, over the past four years I developed an amazing healing and transformative art program for Severely Emotionally Disturbed children. I think I have made a positive difference and empowered many children through the revealation of their gift, which is ART. Here is an example of some of the projects and exhibitions that I have created for the children Art of Transformation
It looks like a lot on paper, but I still feel that something is missing. I hate to say it but it is monetary. I am sick of struggling and I want to make a living off being an artist. It seems things have not taken off as fast as I have wanted. How does one take the next step or how does one do it?

I feel I need more order and then it will all happen. I think it is time to make a list. I have a zillion journals with lists and more lists, I thought it might be more powerful to put into virtual reality and see what happens.
Intentions to track on Blog:
Maximize social media
Blog weekly on this Blog and Art is Moving
Facebook daily on this Blog and Art is Moving
Apply to shows
Get a grant
Sell Art
Create Eco Art as the weather is changing
Develop Kitty Bliss
Do some form of Art everyday
Get a new Art therapy Job
Develop marketing campaign for Eco Art, Kitty Bliss, Healing Art Studios, Sacred Sites Art Travel Biz
This list is just beginning, but I think the trick is consistency.

Photos are from The Devils Throat: Iguazu Falls, Argentina/Brazil
Talk about order in chaos!

My other half-what is she thinking?

I am in amazing collaboration called "Art is Moving" with artist Lauren Odell Usher. We began our collaboration in 2008 and have had some great success. Every time we meet we think of more exciting things to create.We had a project for a year were we opened, curated, and ran a gallery with others in Oakland, called the Red Door Gallery and Collective. In that experience with a large group of people we found out how collaboration can be really dysfunctional. We also manifested the ARTcart, a community art reach project and we have our Blog. We have many different and powerful projects going at once. We both are obsessed with Art and we share the same core philosophy on ART'S function, which is service and empowerment.



Collaboration can be really hard and we have found a balance to make it work. It really is easy and fun! And I feel we are making a difference in the world of Art. The interesting thing is our own art is so different. It seems we come at things from totally different directions and meet at the same point in the middle. Like, Lauren's latest project she has made a call out for pictures of peoples living rooms. I am participating in this project the pics here are two images of my living room. I have no idea were she is going with this and I look forward to see what transpires. "Click Here to check out Lauren's latest project. Participate if interested!

Collecting Random Interactions with the other Series

It is interesting one of my professors in graduate school advised me not to air my dirty laundry in the conceptual explanation of my art. She stated it gets to messy and many folks might think you are trying to sensationalize it. After much reflection I think it is time. This creative series is my first in terms of conceptual art and it might become messy or not.
Collecting Random Interactions with the other Series sourced from a couple things. The first being my desire to heal my severe social phobia. Most people have experienced some level of discomfort in social situations. It becomes a problem when the phobia makes you evade situations or experience panic attacks within these situations. At times it is a form of self imposed torture.
I have been seriously working on healing for the past five years and it is time to let this old and very powerful friend go.
The second as I flip the coin, social phobia is really a disconnect with people. Through this project I seek to connect with people and to acknowledge their brilliance. We will see how this goes. This is evolving and I am excited.


3/11/10
"Lovely day"....
walking to the rock. A car full of teens passed. The very cute one in front said "Lovely day" in a fake British accent as he tipped his hipster hat off to me with a smile in his eyes. aww.... put'n that one in my pocket for a rainy day.
Collecting Interactions, Indian Rock, Berkeley, CA

2/17/10
"The first step after lunch is always the hardest"
Guy getting out of truck with workman ear phones on. Berkeley, CA


1/7/10
"Hello Beautiful."
Hot young man playing basketball with out a shirt on.I became a twelve year old. Meekly saying hi back.
Berkeley, CA

Art is Magic

Ever since I was a child art has been been my magic. I quickly found through drawing that I could create parallel universes of extraordinary imagination. As I mature as an artist I still believe art is about magic. In my site specific installations and my painting I transverse into a voodoo priestess,a neolithic cave painter, or shamanika. This work I took after it was in my show Caol 'Ait (thin places). The show was well received as my audience perceptions were altered by a multi sensory experience. After being in show for a month, this piece was in my studio. One day as I entered my studio there was this amazing light that was streaming through the window, merging and dissolving into my mixed media lotus piece. Magic it is! Thats what art is the merging and the dissolving of the artist and their audience, through the vehicle of their pyschic and physical imprint called Art.
Luckily, i had my camera to witness it all. That ties into what i think photography is, it is the Witness that stands within the artist.

Response to Art is Magic!

I had to post this comment of Vikrams words, he posted this on my Blog on Saturday. His words are so poetic and ring of Rumi. The web of connection. When I read this I was inspired that I am on the right path. I am so happy to connect with a fellow mystic. Namaste

phoenix said...
Hello Lisa

if I can have your ...a few minutes
Not more than I felt shall I'll express
To express self to selves; I carry the only fear
Of failure, of conflict; Of the lack of divinity
In my eyes, in words; in my visible self

Holding on to 'mysticism', I landed on your land
To find the right themes burnt in bright games
Not surprised I am to find a wandering soul
Wrapped in blue, red,pink brushes; living in the green abode

Burning with a desire to wish you a hello
Believing in words to hear, some skins to tear
I beg you to share your light of a Being
Who seems to be on the path I tend to begin

Why I'll write to you,perhaps, is mysteriously unknown
Like when mirage turns for a thirsty to an ocean of love

Only if the social fabric and the unsure strings be broken or redefined, I'd be much more of myself.
I'm a 23 yr old bachelor graduated (engineering) from the premier institute of India. I'm earning now and I am thoughtful. I am a believer, a traveller who believes in a purposeful living. And thus, extraordinarily attracted, in a dress of desperation, to anything which seems to associate itself with Truth. Though the inner waves have not yet manifested to my exterior domain to the extent I would have liked, a certain chain of events are accelerating its burst.

Your blog (description, about me) had enough life to grant me the breath to explode myself here. Thank you :)


Not a way is what I see here
But the 'light of bright passion' painted in colours

Vikram
PS: Animism is a faith which yields a reason to live

Hands of Creation

I pioneered the Transformational Art Program at Lincoln Child Center in 2006. This project is called the Hands of Creation. In this project I am honoring the child's creative abilities. I can only take portraits of my students hands because for protection of the child's identity. The children call the art room-the calm room. It is really a magical place were amazing things transpire.

First Eco Art of 2010- Tennessee Valley Cove, Mill Valley, CA

Created my first "Tree Shrine" of 2010.We had a nice trek to Tennessee Valley Cove, which is so beautiful. The views are extraordinary. We could not get onto the beach because a river had made its way to the ocean, blocking any bridges out to the beach.


I created the shrine around a rock and drift wood. The tree that had been submerged into the sea transforms into something ethereal. I felt really mindful and connected to the universe while creating this Eco Art.I woke up the next feeling balanced. I like this feeling!