What is Transformative Art?

Transformative art is an individual or group expression of the body, mind, soul and spirit as they transition through life. Transformative art connects the creative doer with the inner and outer worlds of the self and the other. It is through this expression and creativity that conscious awareness is opened, leading to deeper wisdom, health and balance.

Welcome

Woohoo! Thanks, Elizabeth. Next stop, what IS transformative arts??? :-)

ancestors and spirit guides

this weekend was my third time around for attending and assisting with this class--the deepest of the deepening, transformational experiences offered by kaleo and elise ching. again, i am struck by the circle at the end--where everyone presenting, having been in the room all weekend, is all lined up--in clear communication with who they come from, who they've been, and with the power and wisdom that comes from having their spirit's guide clearly established and defined and in place inside themselves. the class is glued together with the wisdom inherent in the chi kung form shared through decades of work defining a form: tiger's breath, that the chings teach at the accupressure institute on shattuck on monday nights. images of past student work generated from the 20 or so years of teaching are posted on flickr.




this is transformative art.

blogging about blogs

i'm part of a collective blog--art is moving--and yesterday, in response to a post on gitmo and the peace billboards that are up in sf, i wrote this comment:

man--i don't know what to do about this. i hate that we've done it--and i feel a violation--i feel a crazed kind of anger and frustration--how can we be doing this? and to this child? i don't understand gitmo--and i don't know how it is happening--and i don't know what to do about it now that i know it is happening. and so i write letters to my congress people and ask that they do their thing to stop this f**king nonsense, archane, crazy torture shi*. i curse about it. i feel angry and enraged about it. i feel helpless and that makes me crazier and angrier. what does a responsible, thinking, feeling person do when one knows crazy, horrible things are going on in one's own world? i think about nazi germany...and watched on cable the other day the nuremburg trials? and i think about how we, as americans who know about gitmo and do nothing are, in fact, like germans who knew about the death camps and did nothing. i understand the doing nothing. and i hate it.

and so, what can be done about it?

1. make art about it
2. talk to the people in your own worlds about it
3. send letters to congress about it
4. hold a space of prayerful piece for the souls of the prisoners and those charged with imprisoning them
5. light a candle about it
6. send letters to amnesty international about it
7. write poetry about it
8. plant a tree about it
9. ask spirit to do something about it
10. elect someone who will shut it down.

and it seems strange to be here, blogging it again--spending time to talk about it more--but it's crazy to me that we're having some off shore torture facility propped p by a government that governs by the people and for the people. i am an american people--that does not want or believe in this kind of crap. and so i am blogging--in an effort to make myself heard--to speak out loud--to do SOMETHING.

Faces of Your Soul: Luminous Body

Faces of Your Soul: Luminous Body
Originally uploaded by Kaleo Ching

I've just had the most extraordinary experience assisting Kaleo with a maskmaking class this weekend. While this was not our soul group--meaning the group that assembled this weekend--it is an extraordinary example of what a soul group looks like at the end of a dna altering experience with Kaleo & Elise Ching. Flickr is the best place to be able to see the depth and breadth of the work Kaleo & Elise inspire. Their work--their artform--is teaching. The space they hold and create when they are working together is the single most healing environment, energy, attitude, outlook, possibility that i have ever experienced. Being in the space they hold--being held by that space--feeling the chi through the chi gung forms they've evolved that are integral to their teaching is quite literally life changing. Kaleo & Elise Ching represent the best teachers and transformative artists i have had the privilege to meet and work with. I highly recommend their books and classes.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kaleoching/

transformation arts find of the day

http://www.artsforhealth.org/

i'm initiating a new direction for this blog--i want to discover and assemble programs and individuals that are acting in a transformative arts capacity in the world.

today, when googling, i tripped into this team of folks bringing art to health centers in manchester. this is a model for what can be done in health care environments. this is a model for adding art to the mix of physical health centers and traditional medicine--and it makes a huge impact on healing.

it's interesting to think about what a visit to the art doctor--different from a visit to the art therapist--might make possible in the world of healing.

i love discovering that there are models for this new kind of integrative behavior inside health care settings. do visit their site and post your comments on what you think of them.

witness writing: a.i.r. vs. p.i.r.

a.i.r.
requires
artmaking.

p.i.r.
requires
poetry.

me: okay, what is art?

witness: a way of knowing
a spiritual practice
a way of seeing,
feeling,
sensing,
experiencing
made visible and shared.

me: is that it?

witness: isn't that what you're
finding? a way of
entering, giving
yourself permission
to enter artfully with
consciousness of artful
expression: artmaking,
poetry, written (literary)
reflection.

me: yes...and?

witness: and the experience,
when shared simply by
being visible, being an
artist in the act of
artmaking, a poet in
the act of crafting
poetry, a writer, with
a pen in her hand and
an open book, and
a visible concentration?
commitment to task?
this makes seeing the
act of artmaking
possible for both
YOURSELF and others.

me: yes.

witness: and it demonstrates
a possibility--
without need of
any kind of
promotional material
just the thing
itself--just the
act of being--
allows for others
to find, to encounter,
to allow the artist
in themselves a
little more room.

me: yes. seeing the possibility,
sensing the possibility,
allows for making room.

witness: yes and the "what can
i do" or "i can do
that" or "if she can
so it, i can do it"
impusle to rise up
in the witness/observer--and
they can create FOR THEM-
SELVES just what connects
for them.

me: yes.

witness: and the sense memory
of the observation of
art making, writing
done in public, a
human doing art
activities with accessible
materials gets
stored in the viewer
until such a time that
it can be activated.

me: YES-and what causes
that activation?

witness: that is an excellent
research question.

me: how can i determine that?

witness: ask.

me: ask who?

witness: ask all the artists
you know. ask
people--random
people who see you
making art. ask
in general terms on
craig's list. ask.

me: ask what?

witness: ask what activated
them as art maker.
ask what welled
up inside them so
big that action
was required. ask
what gave them
permission to finally make?
ask what deepend in them
in such a way that artmaking
became the only appropriate
response. ask.

me: okay.

witness: the rainbow has
arrived. eat it before
it melts.

you are already full--
you know.

this dessert is a completion
ritual you don't HAVE
to partake in.

me: i know. but i want to.
i'm following my pleasure.

witness: dive in w/discipline

me: yes.