Slower & Simpler - Rubbish Sculptures

In pondering how material objects have taken over our lives, I discovered two very creative artists whose works uniquely express our materialism.

Artists Dario Tironi and Koji Yoshida found that objects and rubbish “occupied so much of man’s life that they have stolen his structure and assumed his likeness.”

Too often, material objects take over our lives…

And in the process, we discard old objects in favor of newer, fancier ones.

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1GO5xt/PTfaUzSa:d4f$.Z-Z/news.distractify.com/default-category/forget-fireflies-heres-how-to-capture-the-sun-in-a-bottle/

It is well worth the time to view the entire article and photos - it is thought provoking.

The Importance of Hobbies

While I was working in the corporate world, my hobby was fiber arts and basket weaving.  Now that I'm weaving "full time", my hobby is beading (and hopefully soon to be woodcarving).  It's what I do when I need time off from my work, even if my work is in itself creative.  It's my time-out, my play, and necessary for my sanity.  (And yes, it certainly doesn't hurt that my hobby actually became my work.)

Sadly, many people that I know don't have a hobby nor have they found a creative outlet.  I can only continue to encourage them to dabble, take a class, try new things, until something "grabs" them. Our health depends on it!

Research has shown that people who have hobbies are generally healthier, and have a lower risk of depression and dementia. 
 http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/career-coach-the-value-of-hobbies/2013/05/03/ffa53f2c-b294-11e2-bbf2-a6f9e9d79e19_story.html

Defining a hobby. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a hobby as a pursuit outside of one’s regular occupation, engaged in especially for relaxation. It’s not something you “have to do,” but rather something you “want to do”— because you love to do it.

Get interested in something. Shake yourself awake. Develop a hobby. Let the winds of enthusiasm sweep through you. Live today with gusto. --Dale Carnegie

The Power of Hobbies

--by Carolyn Gregoire, syndicated from huffingtonpost.com, Aug 19, 2014
http://www.dailygood.org/story/782/the-power-of-hobbies-carolyn-gregoire/

Children naturally love to play and explore and use their imaginations -- but as adults, we often get so sucked into work and the demands of daily life that hobbies and creative outlets completely fall by the wayside. When you ask the average working adult what their hobbies are, there's a good chance they'll say "none." But in forgoing hobbies and personal creative projects, we may be doing ourselves a major disservice.
"Finding time for ourselves is key to our own sanity," Joyce E. A. Russell writes in a "Career Coach" article in the Washington Post. "It can actually improve all the other aspects of our lives. Having a hobby may be even more important to people who lead very full and busy lives."
Creative hobbies or side projects -- whether it's gardening, journaling, taking up a new instrument, or experimenting with French cooking -- can help us to tap into a sense of play and boost our powers of creative thinking. And regardless of whether your day job is creatively fulfilling or not, a creative side hobby that's fun but challenging can be beneficial in a number of ways.
Having an outside-work hobby you enjoy (and that also challenges you and keeps you feeling engaged) can relieve stress and give you a new way of thinking -- and it's a good reminder that work isn't everything. Some of your best ideas for a new business plan may not come while you're sitting in front of the computer with the cursor blinking, but instead when you're in a completely different headspace while engaging in a fun creative activity.
A creative side project could one day even turn into your full-time job or a project that you share with others. Enterpreneur Gaurabh Mathure, an adjunct professor at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, turned a fun hobby into fulfilling work withthinksketch.com, a digital collection of his note-takings and journalings to share with others in creative industries.
"As we get sucked more and more into our day to day jobs and chores, it is highly important to find creative outlets that keep your creativity alive and kicking," Mathure wrote in a Medium blog post. Mathure has also said that his creative side project helped him to restore a sense of wonder to his day job.

Revisiting "Balance"

My chosen word for this year is "balance", and it's helpful to revisit it to see if my life and choices reflect that word....otherwise why pick a word at all??

¹bal·ance

 noun \ˈba-lən(t)s\   http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/balance

: the state of having your weight spread equally so that you do not fall

: the ability to move or to remain in a position without losing control or falling

: a state in which different things occur in equal or proper amounts or have an equal or proper amount of importance

Obviously I'm mostly thinking of the third definition, balancing the importance of the things in my life (in this case, one "thing" is my relationship with others).  On the occasions when I feel "uncentered" or out of balance,  I know that I've let some portion of my life get out of whack and unequal.  It's so much easier to say balance than to live it.

Pesky Turkeys

My morning exercise today is apparently going to consist solely of shoo-ing the pesky wild turkeys off of the deck.  It's fine if they roam my yard and make a mess there.  But what is so attractive to them about my deck??  Their droppings are large and messy.  One would think that my repeated inhospitable arm waving and noises would deter them.

But then again, turkeys are not the smartest birds in the world....or am I misreading them and it's really courage?  I am so very, very thankful that Benjamin Franklin's choice of the turkey for our national bird was voted down in favor of the eagle!  The hen and poults are fun to watch, it's the older ones that irritate me so.

Useless turkey facts;  http://www.think-differently-about-sheep.com/Turkey_Facts.htm

	The Turkey is indigenous to the Americas.
	The Native American name for turkey is 'firkee', from this the turkey may have got his name. Some claim that Christopher Columbus named the turkey "tuka," the Tamil word for peacock. Here we have to remember that at the time Columbus thought he was in India and not in the New World, considering this, this definition seems more plausible. It has also been suggested that a physician who served under Columbus, Luis de Torres, named the bird "tukki," a Hebrew word for big bird.
	Benjamin Franklin called the Turkey "a bird of courage" he thought the turkey truly deserved to be the national symbol of America instead of the Bald Engle, whom he felt was "a coward".
	A baby Turkey is called a Poult, a fryer is the name given to a turkey under sixteen weeks of age,  while a turkey five to seven months old is called a young rooster and a turkey 15 months or older is termed mature.
	A group of Turkeys is called a rafter rather than a flock or a gobble as most people incorrectly refer to them.

 

	Did you know that a turkey has a wingspan of nearly six feet. In the open forests in which they live they are by far the largest bird.
	The usual lifespan of a turkey is 10 years.
	Turkeys have been around for almost 10 million years and diverged from pheasants
	Turkeys were domesticated by the Aztecs long before they were introduced into Europe by the Spaniards.

Not Giving Up (or Saved by the Studio Log)

As mentioned in previous blogs, my companion while working is my studio log.  This morning it is actually saving my sanity.  My most recent attempt at weaving one particular art piece has failed.  Again.  While I'm frustrated (to say the least - it is the fourth edition with approximately 75 hours in sum total), I do know what doesn't work, and by recording that into the studio log, in detail, I can release the frustration and plan what to change for the next go-round.

Oh no, I'm not giving up on it.  And I'm learning some new techniques along the way to correct the issues that arise.  All of my disappointment and irritation seem to dissipate when I record what went wrong and what to try differently the next time.  The sense of failure is softened, leaving room for growth and creative solutions.

Once I record all that needs to be noted, I will (with a sigh of relief) throw out the partial weaving that at the moment mocks me every time I walk by.  If I don't have to continually look at the errors, but rather have them recorded in the log with potential solutions, I will certainly feel better.  The simple act of writing it all down will provide a much needed respite.

But giving up is not an option.

  

Listening

Having been recently on the receiving end of not being heard or really listened to, I'm taking the opportunity to remind myself how important listening truly is.  I know first hand how it feels when someone doesn't make the effort to hear me.



There is a difference between listening and waiting for your turn to speak.

Simon Sinek

Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you'd have preferred to talk.

Doug Larson

40 Fruit on One Tree

So continuing the tree theme, this was such a fascinating story:



An artist's rendering of Sam Van Aken's 'Tree of 40 Fruit'
A Professor Created A Single Tree That Can Produce 40 Types Of Fruit

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/sam-van-aken-tree-of-40-fruit-2014-8#ixzz3AiPdS5os

Syracuse University professor Sam Van Aken spent nine years growing a single tree.

"The idea is that I could collapse a whole orchard and put it into one tree," he told Business Insider.

Each of the colors in the photo above represents a variety of flowering tree.  Collectively, as one plant, they produce 40 different edible stone fruits (ones with pits, like peaches and plums). The tree above is just an artist's rendering, but the trees do exist.

Courtesy of Sam Van Aken

Different fruit on a single branch

To create his unique tree, Van Aken, a sculptor at SU's College of Visual and Performing Arts, uses a process called "grafting," which is used frequently by orchards and gardeners.