Art-a-Whirl in NE Minneapolis this weekend

This weekend the 2008 Art-a-Whirl Northeast Minneapolis Art Crawl.  My studio is in the Casket Arts Building. The Casket Arts Building is on 17th and Jefferson in NE Minnneapolis. Come see the new work, get a great deal on some existing pieces and visit the many the artists studios that will be participating in the art crawl weekend. It’s beautiful weather.
NE Mineapolis ART-a- WHIRL 2008: May 16th -18th
Friday, May 16th - 5:00 to 10:00 p.m.
Saturday, May 17th - 12:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, May 18th - 12:00 to 5:00 p.m.

I took last night off and visited other venues all night. What a blast to see old friends, make new and  be inspired by so much amazing art. It was so hard to not buy buy buy (at least till I sell sell sell today). I feel so alive surrounded by art and te good art people of minneapolis.

Stop by my studio today and sit a spell with me. The weather’s be-u-ti-ful.

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casket arts building blog

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Green is the New Green: Please, read this

It seems that consumers are interested in understanding the impact of what they’re buying on the environment. And the corporations know it. Walmart is positioning themselves as “green”…car companies, manufacturers, builders….all jumping on the bandwagon. If I hear another (insert company name or product here) is the new green I’ll puke.

But it’s hard to know what is true or what makes sense, which leads to confusion and manipulation. If Walmart is claiming to sell organic food, I’m skeptical.

I don’t know the right answers. I don’t think any of us really do. At the end of the day I’m trying to buy less stuff. The greenest statement is to ignore the spins of the marketers and buy no products at all. Buy your food locally whenever possible. Shop garage sales, thrift stores and Craigs List. Look around you and see what you need…really need. Bus and bike…walk. Recycle and be ambassadors for the environment around you—don’t cut down trees in your yard simply because they block your view. Unplug your appliances when not using them (they are still drawing power as long as they are plugged in). Turn off lights when you leave the room and LEAVE YOUR OFFICE AT WORK. Turn off running water when you are brushing your teeth or preparing food. Water is precious and will one day be limited. Teach others—say something! Support resteraunts and businesses that are consciously shifting their footprint and altering their business and personal practices. We are the stewards. If not now, then when?

Check out this site for approved products and members directory:   The Biodegradable Products Institute

Back to Kevin Kling’s book “The Dog says How”

Being a visual type, I thought I’d take a pic of one of my favorite excerpts from Kevin Kling’s book “The Dog says How”, rather than retyping it. This story above is a fantastic story that points to what I’m always preachin’—We ARE the world we walk thru. We see and experience the world as ourselves. We see the world as we are not as it is.

Understanding the World

The Buddha said: “When a person has thoroughly understood the world, from top to bottom, when there is nothing in the world that agitates her anymore, then she has become somebody who is free from confusion and fears and tremblings and the longings of desire. She has gone beyond getting old and beyond birth and death.”

-Sutta Nipata

There are no accidents

If your living it (and if you are breathing, you are) this is why: to teach you that dreams come true; to reveal that you have the power to fix what’s broken and heal what hurts—if you weren’t equipped to handle it it wouldn’t be showing up in your life now.

What shows up in your life shows up to catapult you beyond seeing with just your physical senses; and to lift the veils that have kept you from seeing that you’re already the person you dreamed you’d become.

What Goes Around Comes Around

…and it’s ALOT more expensive when it comes around! Me with the Beatles lunchbox I had at 7 years old. I broke the thermos on my first day of first grade….as usual. The wool catholic school uniform I got as a hand me down from a neighbor across the street, Kathy McLaughlin, when she graduated from 8th grade. My mom kept letting out the waistband and hem as I grew through 8 years of catholic school. And OF COURSE I wore shorts under my skirt everyday. What solid catholic terror wouldn’t?

I hated those white crappy gym shoes. No support and a hard rubber button made it impossible to run or stop fast. I kept trying to wear them out and dirty them up by dragging my toes on the sidewalk and street while riding my bike, hoping my mom would simply throw them out. I thought she’d surely think they weren’t worth the money and stop buying them. No such luck. She promptly replaced them with another pair of the same crappy white sneakers. This went on till 6th grade when I started playing basketball and petitioned a real pair of gym shoes–sort of—Tom McCann shoes–a knock off of Converse canvas navy blue gym shoes. I swore I could run faster, jump higher and shoot better. My coach took me to get them and I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Turns out I didn’t.

Oh…just realized the knee bend is in all my old photos. My mom thought it was ladylike and glam to pose like that. I thought it looked stupid…and the barette. Couldn’t wait till 6th grade when I cut it all off and could run faster and jump higher.

I’d add—this picture was taken the 1st day of 1st grade. By the time I got home from school, the barette was lost, my hair was stingy and behind my ears (that’s what they’re for) my socks were dirty and slouchy, sweater was unbuttoned and my gym shoes were stepped on my all my frieends to try to get the bright white out.

Kevin Kling’s “The Dog Says How” and ebay EBAY!

I just finished reading Kevin Kling’s ‘The Dog Says How”. Especially delightful read for the midwesterners–particularly those Minnesotan kind. WAIT! I stand lurking on ebay, waiting for the pounce time on my Beatles lunchbox. Weighing the strategy of the other lurkers, having watched the only bid stand down for the last 2 hours. Now I’m nervous and second guessing my self-imposed ceiling. Justifying it against a new pair of shoes or a painting. 17 minutes 20 seconds. Do I inch up or stay with my lucky? Wait…now that I think oof it, it hasn’t worked in the lottery. I inch up. 15 minutes 28 seconds. Sorry Suzi Orman…this is pure emotion and nostalgia. 14 minutes 8 seconds. It could be a table or a credit card payment. Or some sorely needed tuckpointing on the chimney. 12 minutes 16 seconds. A little guilt. Then competitiveness. I’ve blown that much on much less before. Ah what another 20 bucks at this point. 10 minutes 23 seconds. What do I wait for….5 minutes? 3? What if I have connection issues? Butterflies….I inch up again. 8 minutes 45 seconds. I’ll wait till 5….yeah. 5. 7 minutes 51 seconds. Shit…I can’t make it to 5. Just hit the button and walk away. Go pee. 6 minutes 32 seconds. those stalkers are waiting too. I can feel it. 6 minutes even. What are the chances of that? 5 minutes 32 seconds. I’m waiting till 4…. 5 minutes 2 seconds. I’m dying. 4 43 I’m going….SEND….3 minutes 37 seconds I’m in the lead….can’t stand it……walk away. NO…walk away…HOW LONG IS A MINUTE…MY GOD! Crap….I Bid too soon…sweating and anxiety…..1 minute 48 seconds. 1 23……I’ve got to walk away. 51 seconds…..36…….17….1.

Ann Bancroft Foundation, Women and Girls

Last night I attended the Ann Bancroft Foundation’s annual gala in Minneapolis. Always inspiring, always confirming the work we are doing with young girls as leaders in our communities, who’s reach goes way beyond our borders. Also acknowledging how much work there is to do with supporting girls to grow up as confident, strong, independent leaders. Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, a past recepient, delivered an inspiring opening speech on the work being done in Washington with the 18 woman senators, both Republican and Democrat, uniting across the aisle to make change for women and womans issues. Seems a simple idea. Bring women out of poverty and educate them and you change the world. Teresa Heinz has been doing it with her work with women abroad. Educating ONE woman brings the entire tribe out of poverty.

So I ask you as Ann Bancroft has asked us…….Who are you bringing along with you?

We all have those people in our lives that have inspired us to strive (I had Chris Voelz as my high school coach), to raise the bar on our lives, challenge ourselves and those around us. Who are we bringing along with us? We are friends, teachers, coaches, mothers, daughters, sisters, professionals. We are the change we want to see in the world. Are we living it outloud? What woman and girl are we pulling up with us?

Ann Bancroft inspires me continually….her courage to explore of course, but also her commitment and dedication to bring it back to us.

Oh….and go ahead and send money to her non-profit….it provides scholarships for young girls to realize their dreams. Girls that are up to great things for the world they are creating. Girls that are our leaders of tomorrow…..today. Every dollar matters. Send even 5!

[photo: Nicole Netland from her iPhone! How cool is that! Geez, I've got to get an iPhone]

Oh mighty crisis

Did you ever notice how when you stop trying to make something work that hasn’t been working, new stuff appears and starts working? Have you ever been stuck beyond belief and when you let go new paths show up? Do you need a kick in the pants to get you moving? It may show up in the form of horribly intolerable work circumstances, sickness or health issues and injuries, relationship crisis, crashes or as simple as a speeding ticket. Use these wake-up calls to look at our lives–what we are avoiding, not seeing or payinng attention to, withholding, manipulating, denying.

The universe is always providing ways for us to pay attention in our lives. There are no mistakes. Listen, look and be willing to move yourself and allow yourself to be moved. It’s a practice. I could never have predicted my path–it’s been a series of stepping stones, not up, as our culture would dictate, but outward….like a wonderous undulating road unfolding before me. I’ve met the most amazing, inspiring people along the way, had the most profound experiences, and learned some tough lessons….with many miles to go. Look, listen, and let go.

If you wish to understand yourself

If you wish to understand yourself, you must succeed in doing so in the midst of all kinds of confusions and upsets. Don’t make the mistake of sitting dead in the cold ashes of a withered tree.

-Emyo
From “The Pocket Zen Reader,” edited by Thomas Cleary, 1999