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AHN NEWS: Fall 2009
This issue of AHN News is dedicated to GRATITUDE. Here at the Arts & Healing Network we have a lot to be grateful for. First of all a big thank you to everyone who filled out our online survey – your feedback was both thoughtful and immensely helpful. If you did not yet get a chance to fill out the survey it is still online – just click here.
Secondly we are incredibly grateful to all healing artists who are doing the transformational work the world needs at this time. In particular, we are so appreciative of the outstanding work being done by the artists who received the 2009 AHN Awards (learn more about them below).
In addition, we also have some new resources on GRATITUDE to share with you here including an audio program by Angeles Arrien, and a list of gratitude links. And we have two new podcasts with Julia Cameron and Alyson B. Stanfield.
In the spirit of generosity, we encourage you to think about the artists you admire and value and to send them a note of thanks, give them a call, create a handmade card, or make an homage art piece, etc. Let them know what their work means to you. The expression of gratitude, especially when it is unexpected, can ignite one’s creative fire and cause a fabulous ripple effect.
Wishing you a fall season full of thankfulness and grace,
-Mary Daniel Hobson, Director, Arts and Healing Network
2009 AHN AWARDS
Artists Healing the World’s Water
All of us at the Arts and Healing Network are thrilled to announce the 2009 recipients of the AHN Award. This year, instead of giving one award, we have given four awards of $2500 each to artists whose work is raising awareness about one of the most precious and threatened resources on our planet - WATER. This year’s recipients are Aviva Rahmani, Joan Carne & Louise Towell, Judith Selby Lang & Richard Lang, and Liza Behrendt.
2009 is the 12th year of the AHN Awards, which are offered as a surprise gift. There is no application. It is our way of saying a big THANK YOU to artists who are making a significant contribution to the field of art and healing. To learn more about the AHN Award and past recipients, please click here.
AVIVA RAHMANI
"Art has the capacity to ask questions, provoke the imagination and present new paradigms for thought and meaning. Have we ever faced a more urgent time to ask the right questions?" - Aviva Rahmani
For over forty years, Aviva Rahmani has been creating eco-art installations and remediation earthworks that have had concrete results, such as the restoration of a dump site to a flourishing wetland system and catalyzing a USDA expenditure of $500,000 to restore 26 acres of critical wetlands habitat. In her current project, Gulf to Gulf, Aviva is observing the impact of global warming on the Gulf of Maine and the Gulf of Mexico with a focus on New Orleans, and the end product will include several annual public performances.
The Arts and Healing Network admires the way Aviva weaves art and science together to inspire significant positive change. We also applaud her for being such a good, generous communicator by offering her podcast series on environmental art called Virtual Concerts. We look forward to her forthcoming publication, What the World Needs is a Good Housekeeper, a primer on creating site-specific environmental art.
To learn more about Aviva's work, please visit www.ghostnets.com.
CLICK HERE to read an interview with Aviva on artheals.org
JOAN CARNE & LOUISE TOWELL
”We have always believed that imagination would save the world. Art is imagination made tangible, and when artistic works are created through a process with intent to heal, magic happens." -Joan Carne & Louise Towell
Joan Carne & Louise Towell are the co-founders of Stream of Dreams - a nonprofit that educates communities about the life and function of their watersheds, rivers and streams, while dazzling them with the charm of community art. Stream of Dreams participants learn about their local eco-system and then create art about it - such as murals made by weaving handmade "Dreamfish" into chain link fences. They have done a wonderful job connecting with schools and young children. Founded in 2000, Stream of Dreams has educated and delighted thousands of people in communities throughout the lower mainland of British Columbia, Canada.
The Arts and Healing Network is deeply impressed by the way this project weaves together civic engagement and art making. Its origin story is a wonderful model of how two citizens took creative action to combat pollution that was killing local fish and damaging waterways. They have spread their message so effectively that this year Stream of Dreams plans to complete the 100,000th Dreamfish, representing 100,000 people who have learned about their connection to the rivers and oceans through making art.
Learn more about this project at www.streamodreams.org.
CLICK HERE to read an interview with Joan & Louise on artheals.org
JUDITH SELBY LANG & RICHARD LANG
"Sometimes beauty can be a call to action. Here the call to action is to follow some simple rules of planetary housekeeping, but in a larger sense, the call to action is to follow those strange voices of inspiration, of compulsion, for the real opposite of beauty is indifference.... Sometimes, it feels like the problems are just too big, insurmountable, but we each can begin right where we are with just one small stretch of beach, just one small place on this planet." -Judith Selby Lang and Richard Lang
For the past ten years, this husband and wife team have been collecting trash together on Kehoe Beach in Point Reyes National Seashore in Northern California and turning it into playful and powerful works of art that raise awareness about ocean pollution. They have created everything from sculptural wall art to digital prints, a wedding dress, jewelry, a mobile car sculpture and more.
The Arts and Healing Network applauds their long-term commitment to the practice of collecting trash and turning it into treasure. We also admire their creative spirit and variety of visual work they have generated from discarded beach plastic. Their work combines fun with a thoughtful message about ocean pollution, recycling and creative re-use. We look forward to their forthcoming book, Shore Stories: Two People, One Beach, Ten Years, which will be published this fall.
To learn more about their work, visit www.beachplastic.com.
CLICK HERE to read an interview with Judith and Richard on artheals.org.
LIZA BEHRENDT
"Water reminds us that there is no separation between our selves and our environment. It does this in practical ways, and symbolically: it flows, it is clear, it takes the shape of its containers yet it pushes beyond, it is soft yet strong " -Liza Behrendt
Liza Behrendt is the founder of Beauty of Water - a multi-year project dedicated to expanding the human appreciation for water through artistic collaborations. Initiated in 2006, this nonprofit has created many community-based art experiences, exhibitions, and workshops around the world with an emphasis on preserving and honoring the beautiful resource of water.
The Arts & Healing Network applauds Liza for being a big thinker - her vision is large, collaborative, and international. She has created a wonderful chronicle of her journey founding Beauty of Water on her blog at lizabehrendt.blogspot.com - sharing the ups and downs and inspirations and insights of generating this incredible project.
Learn more about Beauty of Water at www.beautyofwater.org.
CLICK HERE to read an interview with Liza on artheals.org.
FEATURED AUDIO PROGRAM:
Gratitude: The Essential Practice for Happiness and Fulfillment
By Angeles Arrien
“For most of us, gratitude comes easy when things are going well. But putting it into practice when life throws you a curve ball is another story. On Gratitude: The Essential Practice for Happiness and Fulfillment, cultural anthropologist and educator Angeles Arrien shows you how to cultivate the power of deep appreciation so that it becomes a way of life—simply and naturally. Integrating the newest social science research with stories, prayers, insights, and practices from cultures and traditions spanning the world, Arrien gives you the time-tested wisdom to help you master the art of giving thanks, every day.
Gratitude invites you to explore:
- How to overcome habitual tendencies toward envy, comparison, and narcissism
- The top 10 practices for remaining grateful, including keeping a gratitude journal, “remembering the bad to appreciate the good,” and regularly writing notes and letters of thanks
- Naikan—the Japanese Buddhist practice of intensely meditating on your interconnections to develop a steady flow of gratitude in relationships
- Indigenous teachings about using daydreams and wishes to create a spirit of healing and blessing
Recent studies have shown that a daily gratitude practice can significantly change your life, improving sleep, overall energy, and emotional well-being. With Gratitude, Angeles Arrien offers you an inspiring call to open your heart and experience the profound gifts that come when we fully embrace gratitude.”
Produced by Sounds True in March 2009, this three-CD set can be ordered on the Sounds True web site.
for $13.10.
GRATITUDE LINKS
This short list of links is offered to inspire you. If you know of any other good links about art and gratitude, please send them to me at marydaniel@artheals.org. Thank you!
Attitude of Gratitude
An example of one artist’s use of a blog as a gratitude journal
The Gratitude Art Project
Two artist-sisters are doing a participatory art project on gratitude
Gratitude iPhone App
An application that lets you keep a gratitude journal on your iPhone
Make a Gratitude Adjustment
An article on the benefits of gratitude
ARTS & HEALING PODCAST
Two New Episodes: Interviews with Julia Cameron and Alyson Stanfield
Click here to listen to the podcasts on your computer.
Click here to listen to the podcasts via iTunes
Julia Cameron: The Artist’s Way Everyday
Julia Cameron has been an active artist for more than thirty years. She is the author of 32 books, fiction and nonfiction, including her bestselling works on the creative process: The Artist's Way, Walking in This World, Finding Water, and The Writing Diet. A novelist, playwright, songwriter, and poet, she has multiple credits in theater, film, and television. Her newest book is The Artist's Way Every: A Year of Creative Living. You can find out more about Julia's work, book, and upcoming workshops at www.theartistsway.com
Alyson Stanfield: Tips for Sharing Your Art With the World
At the Arts & Healing Network we get many queries about how to make ends meet as an artist. And so we have turned to art business expert, Alyson Stanfield, to answer that question. As the founder of ArtbizCoach.com, Alyson B. Stanfield helps teach thousands of artists around the world how to promote their art more effectively and make a better living. She is the author of I'd Rather Be in the Studio! The Artist"s No-Excuse Guide to Self-Promotion and the popular Art Biz Blog.
READERS RESPOND
We would love to hear from you! Please send us your thoughts and feedback about this issue of AHN News. Please click here to send your comments, ideas, and feedback.
Thank you.
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