"Success is blocked by concentrating on it and planning for it... Success is shy - it won't come out while you are watching." - Tennessee Williams
Love is on our minds lately, as a matter of fact, we've been steeped in it. It has surrounded us, enveloped us, and sheltered us. The more we appreciate love, the more it washes over us. Everywhere we look, there is love. The more we notice love, the more comes our way. So we're just going to sit back, relax and soak it up. xo - C & co.
"The task of setting free one's gifts was a recognized labor in the ancient world. The Romans called a person's tutelar spirit his genius. In Greece it was called a daemon. Ancient authors tell us that Socrates, for example, had a daemon who would speak up when he was about to do something that did no accord with his true nature. It was believed that each man had his idios daemon, his personal spirit which could be cultivated and developed. Apuleius, the Roman author of The Golden Ass, wrote a treastice on the daemon/genius, and one of the things he says is that in Rome it was the custom on one's birthday to offer a sacrifice to one's own genius. A man didn't just receive gifts on his birthday, he would also give something to his guiding spirit. Respected in this way the genius made one "genial" - sexually potent, artistically creative, and spiritually fertile...
...The genius or daemon comes to us at birth. It carries with it the fullness of our undeveloped powers. These it offers to us as we grow, and we choose whether or not to labor in its service."
- Lifted from the gifted Lewis Hyde, p. 67 of The Gift, Creativity and the Artist in the Modern World.
"Without change, something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken." - Frank Herbert
'“A picture is worth a thousand words” as the saying goes. However, they also say “The pen is mightier than the sword.”
Words are powerful; images are potent. Each is a form of communication that requires us to use our critical thinking abilities. Both forms of expression can manipulate the way we think and feel.
Combined images and words can change the meaning of one another--subtly or radically. In contemporary art practices, artists often deliberately create dissonance between words and images--fulfilling the artists’ role of shaking up expectations, creating a gap in the smooth transmission of conventional perceptions and ideology.
The Words and Images project was inspired by the often insipid inspirational posters that seem to be ubiquitous in contemporary schools and offices. The students enjoyed skewering the over serious and over sincere tone of these posters--kitsch text/image pieces in which the picture usually acts only as an obvious illustration of the pedantic concept being proffered.
This project is not about representing a pre-conceived idea of how things are or should be. The project begins with students taking photographs at home and around the school of things that appeal to them aesthetically. After reviewing standard inspirational messages and studying the art of artists who make use of words in their artwork, the students play with words and images, as they do so observing the way context changes and generates meaning.
What results occur when pairing a text with various images? Is the initial intent altered, substituted, or enhanced? Does the visual implication endure?
The final, often humorous, pieces make use of unexpected, unplanned juxtapositions that cause viewers to pause to consider their experiences and expectations in light of new, often quirky, concepts.'
- This project was developed under the direction of Dena Cavazos, art teacher, by students of Lincoln-way Central High School for the Contemporary Community Curriculum Initiative 2000. http://www.uic.edu/classes/ad/ad382/sites/Projects/P013/P013_first.html
"When you feel that you are a lonely, put-upon, isolated little stranger confronting all this, you are under the influence of an illusory feeling, because the truth is quite the reverse. You are the whole works, all that there is, and always was, and always has been, and always will be."
- Alan Watts via WhiskeyRiver: http://whiskeyriver.blogspot.com
"Some symbols for this time are eggs, rabbits and spring flowers. These symbols are all representative of fertility and new life. The idea that the Earth was hatched from an egg is widespread throughout the world. The Celts believed that the egg was from a snake, symbol of regeneration. Rabbits are a natural symbol of fertility due to their prolific reproduction and also show a deep connection with the Earth because of their underground burrows. Traditionally, rabbits are linked to the moon and therefore the goddess.
Rituals at Oestre center on a reaffirmation of life and a celebration of it's return to the face of the Earth. Because the gods are young and capricious, outdoor games such as the traditional Easter Egg Hunt are quite appropriate."
- by Yvonne Rathbone: http://home.earthlink.net/~yvonr/pagan/yearwheel/oestre.html
"In other words, coming across what Dr. Biederman calls new and richly interpretable information triggers a chemical reaction that makes us feel good, which in turn causes us to seek out even more of it. The reverse is true as well: We want to avoid not getting those hits because, for one, we are so averse to boredom.
It is something we seem hard-wired to do, says Dr. Biederman. When you find new information, you get an opioid hit, and we are junkies for those. You might call us 'infovores.' "
For most of human history, there was little chance of overdosing on information, because any one day in the Olduvai Gorge was a lot like any other. Today, though, we can find in the course of a few hours online more information than our ancient ancestors could in their whole lives.
Just like the laser and the cat, technology is playing a trick on us. We are programmed for scarcity and can't dial back when something is abundant...
...Watching a cat play with a laser, you realize the cat never learns there is no real "prey" there. You can show the cat the pointer, clicking it off and on, and it will remain transfixed."
- http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB120527756506928579-lMyQjAxMDI4MDE1NzIxNzc3Wj.html
Excerpted from the Los Angeles Times article this morning quoting Sebastian Horsley - British artist and author of Dandy in the Underworld.
