tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57234895628852666422024-03-05T16:07:31.352-08:00hannah klaus hunterhannah klaus hunter/musings on art and art therapy.Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09461148136578592965noreply@blogger.comBlogger101125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723489562885266642.post-17642608254792535802012-03-23T09:40:00.000-07:002012-03-23T09:40:13.400-07:00Six Degrees of Creativity 2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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In my daily life, I work hard to carve out studio time. I treasure
these precious hours of creativity that bring sanity and grace to my
hectic, scheduled life and I didn’t think there was room to add “one
more thing.”<br />
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However, when I was invited to teach a class for Six Degrees of Creativity 2, I was intrigued and tempted. <a href="http://www.arttherapyalliance.org/6DegreesOfCreativity.html">Six Degrees of Creativity 2</a> is an on-line art workshop and community, sponsored by the<a href="http://www.arttherapyalliance.org/"> Art Therapy Alliance </a>and
includes six different workshops. Each is offered by a different
instructor from the art therapy community and explores hands-on art
making concepts and techniques as means for social change and
transformation.<br />
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Although I thought long and hard before taking on that “one more
thing,” I knew that teaching one of the six classes could add a new
dimension to my studio time, especially since I could choose what I
wanted to teach. So, what did I want to learn more about? I invite you to visit my <a href="http://hannahklaushunterarts.com/blog/">new blog here</a> and find out!Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09461148136578592965noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723489562885266642.post-260534691839735702012-03-13T11:04:00.001-07:002012-03-13T11:04:49.878-07:00Cultivating Patience<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh27YBnvTDo1okgjv4OGrFTckHI20v4THCzWUQupNR3MSY85BRbu-mRrUG-6QDIG_W7IPz30iA4u9b1Jig-Rr9b4r87GVtzouFLW3jrIdfc9TnY9f8dB8QbiJt3O3bq4F1dOb8JaaspOPxk/s1600/cyclamen1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh27YBnvTDo1okgjv4OGrFTckHI20v4THCzWUQupNR3MSY85BRbu-mRrUG-6QDIG_W7IPz30iA4u9b1Jig-Rr9b4r87GVtzouFLW3jrIdfc9TnY9f8dB8QbiJt3O3bq4F1dOb8JaaspOPxk/s320/cyclamen1.JPG" width="226" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Cyclamen 3/10/12, ©2012, Hannah Hunter, 5" x 7," Watercolor</i></td></tr>
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I've been all aglow about <a href="http://hannahklaushunterarts.com/">my new website</a> and the ease of navigating within it from portfolio to blog and back again. It's rather like having a closet makeover (which I've never done!) so that everything is within immediate reach.<br />
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I invite you to hop over and see what I've been up to in the studio. It's March and as the first spring flowers have burst into bloom, I've been sitting patiently (most of the time!), pursuing their simplicity and beauty in the studio. To read more, click<a href="http://hannahklaushunterarts.com/blog/"> here.</a>Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09461148136578592965noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723489562885266642.post-83734758878402310692012-02-27T09:59:00.001-08:002012-02-27T11:50:27.066-08:00Whoops!Yesterday, I got a little caught up in getting ready for an exhibit I mounted today, a collection of works I call <i>Pieced Reflections</i>. After I got all the quilts trussed and panels safely cradled, I turned to my blog. In my fear and eagerness, I pushed the publish button while I was still editing.<br />
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This morning, on the road somewhere between Davis and Santa Cruz, I found out when my friend, Stacey, announced that she'd already received my latest post. "What?!!"<br />
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You guessed it; raw, unedited words. So if you ever wondered what a blog post looks like before it's done, you've seen one now. You'll find the edited version + image below.Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09461148136578592965noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723489562885266642.post-34284903631028391902012-02-25T17:45:00.000-08:002012-02-27T11:47:59.068-08:00Time for a New Direction<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmKcI6InHL8GN3K3IMuZCNo-KzeMcoTbPJFJ4SCVGyBYOWE2S_Iqt53pcrvo_mjLzzwTPa-NGvQ7EwsAqQrx9t8AX1aHDkDZ01phHEkSqwyVVr3kV0C06_4EHQuNjEC48E_2GXvMPnJFUm/s1600/flowergrid.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmKcI6InHL8GN3K3IMuZCNo-KzeMcoTbPJFJ4SCVGyBYOWE2S_Iqt53pcrvo_mjLzzwTPa-NGvQ7EwsAqQrx9t8AX1aHDkDZ01phHEkSqwyVVr3kV0C06_4EHQuNjEC48E_2GXvMPnJFUm/s320/flowergrid.jpg" width="231" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>Tulips, Alstromeria & Magnolias, ©2012, H. Hunter, 5" x 7 each, watercolor</i></span></td></tr>
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I'm redirecting my energies, my thoughts and finally, my blog.<br />
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As I've said, I wanted to consolidate my blog and my website. While I was thinking about this, the image of elementary school and impromptu jump rope games comes to mind. As the jump rope spun round and round, each girl would put her hands out, moving them in rhythm with the rope, waiting for that moment when it was just right to jump in.<br />
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I've been waiting for just that moment to change blog sites and it's arrived. My website+blog, <a href="http://hannahklaushunterarts.com/blog/"> http://hannahklaushunterarts.com/</a> is up and running. I've embarked on a new project; a year of watercolor. Each week I'll be posting fresh images and a few choice thoughts. (Like last week when I was trying to paint tulips and the darn things just blew open on me.)<br />
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Click <a href="http://hannahklaushunterarts.com/blog/">here</a> to join me.<br />
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<br />Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09461148136578592965noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723489562885266642.post-2640019682961492822012-02-05T16:42:00.000-08:002012-02-05T16:42:39.379-08:00Inscribing a circleI've been drawing circles since I was four, but my fascination with them as an art form dates back to to the 80's in front of an ashram in Oakland, CA, where, just outside the door, I saw a most astonishing drawing done in a rich array of vibrant colors all contained in a circle.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDoK6mcP9-kkJ3LVkUDe58ERfLrHRv9ckXQAAA2trtZXkyefZ9i-NP32HlMOfQ1BCR32HLyO5yIFoNuPkPkragVQ7IdxgCkhFOTp4YyXPLdgdFzeAY-ZYK6ZbDe2cl07D59EXlXwtJ8_Xr/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDoK6mcP9-kkJ3LVkUDe58ERfLrHRv9ckXQAAA2trtZXkyefZ9i-NP32HlMOfQ1BCR32HLyO5yIFoNuPkPkragVQ7IdxgCkhFOTp4YyXPLdgdFzeAY-ZYK6ZbDe2cl07D59EXlXwtJ8_Xr/s1600/images.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ritual rangoli done in powdered pigments</td></tr>
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These circles, called rangolis, were done for religious or healing ceremonies. As an artist, I ached to be able to do something like this and after some investigation, came upon the mandala (the Sanskrit word for circle), an art form with a long history across many cultures. Like the rangoli, it is art created created for ritual purposes in a circular form and these days, also employed in art therapy.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib1TpUTrxtl4sfvSBuNjTTFayA1qmmutUeSxppht_EuM9R6TugSs9xbztsKmYEKQl-YzvE2vGhrmxJ1QlUDXrzln_lk_qq_Z8pA3lE7ckTliTMJaNnAkGB1r5ViEUuXnP9DsX6Gxw4YJCv/s1600/DSCN1613.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib1TpUTrxtl4sfvSBuNjTTFayA1qmmutUeSxppht_EuM9R6TugSs9xbztsKmYEKQl-YzvE2vGhrmxJ1QlUDXrzln_lk_qq_Z8pA3lE7ckTliTMJaNnAkGB1r5ViEUuXnP9DsX6Gxw4YJCv/s320/DSCN1613.JPG" width="223" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">New Years Mandala, ©2008, Hannah Hunter, Collage</span></td></tr>
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So, while I've been painting, collaging, and inscribing these geometric discs for years, nothing could have prepared me for the excitement about the circle that recently burst upon the art scene in the form of <a href="http://www.gagosian.com/exhibitions/damien-hirst">Damian Hirst's</a> spots.<br />
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I started poking around and pretty soon I discovered that I could make a distinction between a circle and a spot. It's strictly my interpretation, but the way I see it is that the spot is just that: a rounded mark or splotch made by foreign matter. It seems to have arrived in a rather casual manner.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWAgk_j5x54N3ZTtM-aJAz5UhjrJjF4Kyv56GoYHjFqvR2-Hy6zYMkW6hzfbbP8tZb4tYZww4cpjR5jKGsKOljEVMZm064xPXE8sgI6hxz7Vd_meWn1R98AAd7e3dGtMVIWW4LmkPOMFnE/s1600/dot2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWAgk_j5x54N3ZTtM-aJAz5UhjrJjF4Kyv56GoYHjFqvR2-Hy6zYMkW6hzfbbP8tZb4tYZww4cpjR5jKGsKOljEVMZm064xPXE8sgI6hxz7Vd_meWn1R98AAd7e3dGtMVIWW4LmkPOMFnE/s320/dot2.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Spots tossed on a watercolor in the studio, photo by Amelia McSweeny</span></td></tr>
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The circle on the other hand is a closed line, something inscribed in which all the points on the line lie at the same distance from the center. It seems intentional, elegant, something that shows up in nature, but also something that 3 and 4-year olds begin drawing as they enter into the world of representation. The circle is one of the early building blocks.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRa_2hONpeN5qfSCgRYQWnt2klOkElSMz_6sSGYt1QyTeNuV9bkkW-LgK2iASnI6HZyL_PPIl57Ea0uwbgLO7hUd7-eM0yBBHtDs6gD9yz6U6d1C3x1Jj-Qi86DG6benVAufqLyQaA1o_F/s1600/DSCN0514.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRa_2hONpeN5qfSCgRYQWnt2klOkElSMz_6sSGYt1QyTeNuV9bkkW-LgK2iASnI6HZyL_PPIl57Ea0uwbgLO7hUd7-eM0yBBHtDs6gD9yz6U6d1C3x1Jj-Qi86DG6benVAufqLyQaA1o_F/s320/DSCN0514.JPG" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Rose Colored Egg, ©1998, Hannah Hunter, Colored pencil</span></td></tr>
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I looked up on my studio wall, where all three current pieces are iterations of the circle, so I tried to dig a bit deeper to see what was so fascinating-- and, what keeps me returning to them as a form decade after decade. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHVqb0gqpGhLHiYbrNTUWDHKW3I0aXdvcE66Q0m7iKk3s2dqc9GCboGk45gab0mJzRvQwVEUXH8TEKBmryoQHJ38lyqicVdNqMbhDkouoh7E-p4LylG_1QW-zeIrd9K7d1UtJbp0veLKrQ/s1600/ricebowl4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHVqb0gqpGhLHiYbrNTUWDHKW3I0aXdvcE66Q0m7iKk3s2dqc9GCboGk45gab0mJzRvQwVEUXH8TEKBmryoQHJ38lyqicVdNqMbhDkouoh7E-p4LylG_1QW-zeIrd9K7d1UtJbp0veLKrQ/s320/ricebowl4.JPG" width="319" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Rice Bowl, ©2012, Hannah Hunter, Collage</span></td></tr>
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I'm reminded of something that another blogger, <a href="http://www.gwynethsfullbrew.com/2012/01/spots-before-my-eyes-open-ended.html?showComment=1328233005264#c428217336874121853">Gwyneth Leech</a>, said in a recent post, "Spots Before My Eyes...:""...there is the infinite variety of things, <i>then</i> there is an infinite variation of one thing." A circle suggests eternity (think of a ring), something bigger than myself, time layered upon itself, the pleasure in creating a multitude of variations on a theme.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5_UZfieb8BDMcckvcoOXwjQ9cJil8t5v3ZoKw7mAzV0lcI8fGUGFBexHmnEsI3Y1YkY8VuX-HURzb2UnNn6hUeFj5LZs6KN20ndYJiYv2z5p6i0YW-5Z0zuN3xY7CDZIqvxv1LjDUlN9p/s1600/DSCN2436.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5_UZfieb8BDMcckvcoOXwjQ9cJil8t5v3ZoKw7mAzV0lcI8fGUGFBexHmnEsI3Y1YkY8VuX-HURzb2UnNn6hUeFj5LZs6KN20ndYJiYv2z5p6i0YW-5Z0zuN3xY7CDZIqvxv1LjDUlN9p/s320/DSCN2436.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Zodiac Season, ©2010, Hannah Hunter, Collage</span></td></tr>
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The idea that each circle can both be the same yet different; it's own infinite, elegant universe is powerful. A 3-year taps into these infinite possibilities without fear or the preconceived notions of adults. When I began this post I thought that I'd be arguing for the integrity of the circle, but now that I've experienced spots and dots á la Hirst (and, for a great post on spots, see <a href="http://joannemattera.blogspot.com/2012/01/connecting-dots.html"><span style="color: black;">Joanne Mattera's</span> "Connecting the Dots<span style="color: black;">)</span></a>, I'm looking to get rid of some of my trepidation and preconceived notions, and hopefully, adopt some of the spot philosophy too.<br />
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I know that many of you have had fun in the studio with circles, spots and dots--if you have any stories or images you'd like to share I'd love to hear from you.Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09461148136578592965noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723489562885266642.post-26898136883739997912012-01-27T09:44:00.000-08:002012-02-01T10:30:09.555-08:00Mindfulness at Play<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMHeWYnnWz3utNuCG5LUVTkxa7sVTVSNMEceX1SmU8MeMt6nxRL_VvYt5BEDH9nv9LQDSO6kJCZQHIVY7HJV4YKW5M7KtcOGfWQ0db0Yu3Phh-bzybc48_CWuY-qatzLGJRLNyFe_5svy3/s1600/vision1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="244px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMHeWYnnWz3utNuCG5LUVTkxa7sVTVSNMEceX1SmU8MeMt6nxRL_VvYt5BEDH9nv9LQDSO6kJCZQHIVY7HJV4YKW5M7KtcOGfWQ0db0Yu3Phh-bzybc48_CWuY-qatzLGJRLNyFe_5svy3/s320/vision1.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Imagining the Year,</i> © 2012, Hannah Hunter, Collage</td></tr>
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Have you ever felt the axis of your life shifting? Last year I was deeply focused on my artwork, with art therapy a bit out of focus.<br />
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As the year has turned, however, so has my attention. For many years, I relied on observations of my own children's developmental stages to help me understand the children with whom I worked.<br />
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Now, with my own children navigating the waters of young adulthood, I no longer have that framework to depend on. While the memories are there, I need to stay fresh in my art therapy practice.<br />
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With that in mind, I've been re-infusing my knowledge of art therapy and child development by lots of reading, particularly on the <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=87161">Art Therapy Alliance group threads on LinkedIn</a>.<br />
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I've been particularly intrigued by the development of Cathy Malchiodi's <a href="http://www.mynewsletterbuilder.com/email/newsletter/1411208877">"Trauma Informed Practices Institute."</a> In her recent newsletter, she lays out some of the core foundations for integrating mindfulness practice and positive psychology into art therapy. <br />
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<span style="color: #171a0e; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px;">"Making art can help us become mindful in the moment, just like when o</span><span style="color: #171a0e; font-size: 13px;">ne learns to be present in the moment through the practice of mindfulness meditation. In art therapy, we often speak of that moment in </span><span style="color: #171a0e; font-size: 13px;">art making when "flow" occurs-- an experience of losing oneself in the experience, but at the same time being present and engaged in the process. Being in the flow state can help you become more relaxed and begin to observe yourself in new ways. Art expression itself is a way of creating something new from what you already have, but may not have fully recognized within yourself."</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigvWWGHieZ9ZtZGUS7oNpwJ9MVyfJ7mS_Bl2Mb8Tj3WW3VZ1gh3XZMEO54e7w-6OThq_PvnxvP5k7MG9vJqhxmYoR2QNxjRQHOuaa3oW3987824IhyphenhyphenRiqw80VDaa1_BdbRTqZRN1ua-zh3/s1600/Hannah3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigvWWGHieZ9ZtZGUS7oNpwJ9MVyfJ7mS_Bl2Mb8Tj3WW3VZ1gh3XZMEO54e7w-6OThq_PvnxvP5k7MG9vJqhxmYoR2QNxjRQHOuaa3oW3987824IhyphenhyphenRiqw80VDaa1_BdbRTqZRN1ua-zh3/s400/Hannah3.JPG" width="260px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Absorption</i>, ©2009, Hannah Hunter, SoulCollage®</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #171a0e;"><span style="font-size: small;">Observing the children on the unit, I would say that the flow state has more and more been relegated to the world of Wii, Playstation 3 and Nintendo. While there is value in learning to control the actions of characters on screen, I have a personal bias. I think it is just as exciting and possibly more so to be able to affect actions with one's own hands in our three dimensional world.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #171a0e;"><span style="font-size: small;">In other words, how do we help children find their way into the flow state with art, music, dance and other forms of creative expression? That's the question I'll be asking of myself in the next few months as I craft art activities which stimulate that sense of flow. I'll also be looking forward to attending Cathy's class this March in San Francisco: <a href="http://www.mynewsletterbuilder.com/email/newsletter/1411208877">Enhancing Resilience Through Trauma Informed Practices: Positive Psychology and Mindfulness Based Art Approaches</a>. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #171a0e;"><span style="font-size: small;">For a treat, if you click <a href="http://www.npr.org/2012/01/20/145525002/be-here-now-meditation-for-the-body-and-brain">here</a>, you will find a podcast containing a wonderful talk with <a href="http://franticworld.com/blog/">Oxford psychologist, Mark Williams</a> and a short 3 minute mindfulness meditation that made my day.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #171a0e;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09461148136578592965noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723489562885266642.post-15963764484753711392012-01-16T18:18:00.000-08:002012-01-16T18:18:03.373-08:00New Website Crowning<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzic_yCl-FjIMHINEkveItF0p7Nv60-xc62ErhlbuZ_sF7J8vDuPD5cimH2i7pc3YO9EXXt1PtaNhCYzYMsWnTyU8JJEKVbxwVB7PwEwx-sWrK5i_k0tQ6aM9b970_WSkxsEYftkKgLN9A/s1600/IMG_1386.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzic_yCl-FjIMHINEkveItF0p7Nv60-xc62ErhlbuZ_sF7J8vDuPD5cimH2i7pc3YO9EXXt1PtaNhCYzYMsWnTyU8JJEKVbxwVB7PwEwx-sWrK5i_k0tQ6aM9b970_WSkxsEYftkKgLN9A/s400/IMG_1386.JPG" width="378" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Quintessence, ©2011, 30" x 30," on http://hannahklaushunterarts.com/</span></td></tr>
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As a parent who has recently experienced the empty nest, it's pretty darned exciting to have a project that I've been so involved with that it feels almost like my own child. Which, of course, means it's not without its joys or difficulties. The new child however, is a virtual one, my website.</div>
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<a href="http://hannahklaushunterarts.com/"><br /></a></div>
As I mentioned in my last post, it was my goal to create a website that I could manage on my own. To that end I took a class, worked with my friend Chris and finally in the beginning of the Jewish New Year, welcomed my site into the world.</div>
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While it was complete in many ways, I still wanted to load some pictures of my recent work, tidy up the blog and transfer my Blogger posts before I made it public.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK3as6atpRqr5UGHZgUhXW8qc3uzkR4m2TUkmYUtWfo-DucTnYfDRsJkqNceE45JgGOG1GhaxhfOAJo3Avb2UBqR-W-9S_t7JtyxVZPlCrg2OnBX_eGEpRz1VfTe-6FwIfnhFwBVeic_06/s1600/hkhweb1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK3as6atpRqr5UGHZgUhXW8qc3uzkR4m2TUkmYUtWfo-DucTnYfDRsJkqNceE45JgGOG1GhaxhfOAJo3Avb2UBqR-W-9S_t7JtyxVZPlCrg2OnBX_eGEpRz1VfTe-6FwIfnhFwBVeic_06/s320/hkhweb1.JPG" width="308" /></a></div>
As I've learned to work with the site myself--<a href="http://wordpress.com/">WordPress</a> book at hand and Google at my fingertips, I've begun to experience a pride similar to what I felt as a young mother.<br />
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As they did then, the first few snafus catch me by surprise--like getting caught without extra diapers or wipes in public; but with practice, I've learned how to problem solve. And, like reminding a small child over and over again to pick up their toys, I've tussled with the never-ending chore of cleaning up errant links, and misbehaving formatting.<br />
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As with children, there is no stasis, no resting point where the process is over. As I introduce my website, I see it as a work in progress, something that has come a long way, but will continue to develop and grow as I do.<br />
<a href="http://hannahklaushunterarts.com/"></a><br />
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Without further ado, let me introduce my website: <b> <span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://hannahklaushunterarts.com/">Hannah Klaus Hunter, Fine Artist,</a> </span><span style="font-size: small;">Textile and Paper Collage </span></b>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span><a href="http://hannahklaushunterarts.com/" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></a></span></div>
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I invite you to visit, to explore the different pages and I welcome your thoughts and observations. In a bit, I'll begin writing all my posts on the WordPress site, but I'm not quite there yet. More on that later.Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09461148136578592965noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723489562885266642.post-47521387226087262702012-01-08T13:54:00.000-08:002012-01-08T13:54:56.112-08:00Reality and Resolutions--#2012At this time of year, people talk a lot about resolutions, goals or
even words they want to live by. My question though is "How are you going
to do it?" Fortunately, you also hear about the scaffolding--the
underpinning of the resolutions. Scaffolding answers the question of how do you get from
point A to point B?<br />
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Last year I set
myself the goal of creating a new website. I've had two websites designed in
the past, and naively, I assumed that the work was in getting the site
up and running. It didn't occur to me to factor in the cost of keeping
the site up to date.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="271" src="http://www.thesecondstorystudio.com/images/TSSSHomeSplash.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" usemap="#Map" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Second Story Studio, my second site</td></tr>
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<map id="Map" name="Map"><area coords="494,509,545,538" href="http://www.thesecondstorystudio.com/home.html" shape="rect"></area>
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Some years older now and wiser, I
realized that I needed to create a site I could update myself. That
meant keeping it simple without the bells and whistles attached--the
really cool things that web designers come up with.
No funky fonts, dark backgrounds with white type--just the straight
stuff, in other words, "Gallery Minimal."<br />
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<img height="97" src="http://www.hkhunterart.com/hkhlogo.jpg" width="388" /></div>
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<td height="53" width="19%"><a href="http://www.hkhunterart.com/index.html"><img border="0" height="74" src="http://www.hkhunterart.com/homeicon.jpg" width="74" /></a></td>
<td height="53" width="21%"><a href="http://www.hkhunterart.com/portfolio.html"><img border="0" height="72" src="http://www.hkhunterart.com/currenticon.jpg" width="72" /></a></td>
<td height="53" width="21%"><a href="http://www.hkhunterart.com/myth.html"><img border="0" height="72" src="http://www.hkhunterart.com/mythicon.jpg" width="72" /></a></td>
<td height="53" width="19%"><a href="http://www.hkhunterart.com/bio.html"><img border="0" height="72" src="http://www.hkhunterart.com/bioicon.jpg" width="72" /></a></td>
<td height="53" width="20%"><a href="http://www.hkhunterart.com/contact.html"><img border="0" height="72" src="http://www.hkhunterart.com/contacticon.jpg" width="72" /></a></td>
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<td height="38" width="19%"><a href="http://www.hkhunterart.com/index.html"><img border="0" height="36" src="http://www.hkhunterart.com/home.jpg" width="74" /></a></td>
<td height="38" width="21%"><a href="http://www.hkhunterart.com/portfolio.html"><img border="0" height="36" src="http://www.hkhunterart.com/portfolio.jpg" width="72" /></a></td>
<td height="38" width="21%"><a href="http://www.hkhunterart.com/myth.html"><img border="0" height="36" src="http://www.hkhunterart.com/myth.jpg" width="72" /></a></td>
<td height="38" width="19%"><a href="http://www.hkhunterart.com/bio.html"><img border="0" height="36" src="http://www.hkhunterart.com/bio.jpg" width="72" /></a></td>
<td height="38" width="20%"><a href="http://www.hkhunterart.com/contact.html"><img border="0" height="36" src="http://www.hkhunterart.com/contact.jpg" width="72" /></a></td>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="245" src="http://www.hkhunterart.com/porttext.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="422" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My first site: hkhunterarts</td></tr>
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<br />
I decided to go with <a href="http://wordpress.com/">WordPress</a>, a
blog format that allows me to have multiple pages and, like this
Blogger site, make changes and updates to my heart's content.<br />
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I hired an artist friend <a href="http://christopherbeerfineart.wordpress.com/">Chris Beers</a> who does IT and design for our local gallery, the <a href="http://www.pencegallery.org/">Pence</a>,
and together we figured out a way to create a clean site where the
colors of my pieces sparkle. We even included two tutoring sessions so
that I could learn to do it myself.<br />
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So there I was with
my squeaky clean site and a host of new jpegs to load on. The only
thing is, that between the time when I learned the tools (before the
holidays,) and when I was ready to employ them (after the holidays ), I
simply forgot how.<br />
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I remembered my secret weapon--a book Chris had recommended: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Teach-Yourself-Visually-WordPress-Majure/dp/047057092X/ref=sr_1_1?"><i>Teach Yourself Visually: WordPress</i></a>.
I picked it up and decided to have a go at it. I dreaded the thought.
Me and instructions...hmmm...kind of like my ninth grade Algebra
course--never know where I'm going to end up...<br />
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Using an old study trick, I looked at my watch and decided to read for half an hour with studio time as a break. I <i>kvetched</i> inwardly. <i>Oi vey</i>,
the terms: <i>trackbacks</i> and <i>feedbacks</i> and <i>permalinks</i>! The funny thing
was, fifteen minutes later, I was swimming with the permalinks. I even
got into it so much, I brought it along to a doctor's appointment with
me.<br />
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So, I'm learning to load on the jpegs and pretty soon, I'll be able to launch my site...As <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Crystal">Billy Crystal </a>noted in <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0122933/"><i>Analyze This</i></a>, "It's a process."<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #333333;">Welcome to my <i>home away from home</i>: an online studio where you can see my artwork, </span><br /><span style="color: #333333;">find inspiration and read about my double life as an artist and art therapist.</span></span>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" class="size-full wp-image-23 aligncenter" height="285" src="http://hannahklaushunterarts.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/zodiacseasons.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="ZodiacSeasons" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The new kid on the block: hannahklaushunterarts.com</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="color: #333333;"> Copyright
2012, Hannah Klaus Hunter. All rights reserved. All artwork & material on this site is copyrighted by the artist.</span></span></div>
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</div>Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09461148136578592965noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723489562885266642.post-91322107248485190492011-12-28T15:30:00.000-08:002011-12-31T17:49:29.334-08:00'Tis the season to...?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSFgI3sY_vhuqsKThcgq5Vtf8aYc8SlTVkkyJFYyW7Crt-_OlxZuSr23fCgcEF9K3E7jglbSYCbcubHUjkkjW4q_yougRQ-48xbYJ9bO4P7jyN7Xu4GrQhPmeIQtrWNy0g4-wV3zyss8Au/s1600/snow1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSFgI3sY_vhuqsKThcgq5Vtf8aYc8SlTVkkyJFYyW7Crt-_OlxZuSr23fCgcEF9K3E7jglbSYCbcubHUjkkjW4q_yougRQ-48xbYJ9bO4P7jyN7Xu4GrQhPmeIQtrWNy0g4-wV3zyss8Au/s320/snow1.JPG" width="246px" /></a></div>
When this season rolls around, we know it's time to be busy--I'm reminded of my third grade grammar lesson in superlatives: busy, busier, busiest.<br />
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All this hustle and bustle comes at just the time when the light and temperature (in the Northern hemisphere) beckon us to to slow down, bundle up, and brew pots of tea and tureens of soup.<br />
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Each year I'm challenged to find a way to keep my balance-not to get so busy that I neglect the beauty in gorgeous orange globes of pomegranates, the migrating birds, and the friendly faces of my family. This year, I noticed that if I just did what was in front of me, I was OK.<br />
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Of course that had me doing everything at the last minute: buying Hanukkah candles the final day the synagogue gift shop was open, wrapping my families' gifts the day I gave them, and waiting until the holidays were over to begin my cards.<br />
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I love getting holiday cards--the sense of that person's warmth from across state, elsewhere in the country, around the world, never ceases to move me. They take time to think about me and my family, to sustain our connection in spite of the urge to let go, because in these days of e-mail, facebook etc., it's all too much.<br />
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So I argue with myself--do I make the cards this year? Do I use Shutterfly to get one of those composite photographic documents of my family life? (Hmmm...kids grown, still won't sit still.) I want to go be in the studio--so making the cards wins. I moan. Why can't I just keep it simple like most of the people I know who send cards? Then I realize that it's through their making that I feel connected. <br />
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After a while, a rhythm and logic develop and a flotilla of delicate rice paper snowflakes emerges; carefully glued on top of pieces of script. I love pulling random pages from old books, foraged from library sales (an act which distresses my husband), and discovering some synchronistic pattern like Charles Dicken's ode to his Christmas tree from a 1920's book on elocution.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL7wDmtKBOXN1MR9je1eaZsn601bNxEuEyPveXxJTucw-3WCAIvRc4upNpxsg5LIAIpd77jI210j3ofBqIdtngQMla-GXptGhbgZ9FszvWEX6ReblO_YTHEpiqLqRHRd4A1dC9ZxCdfCbO/s1600/snow2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="273px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL7wDmtKBOXN1MR9je1eaZsn601bNxEuEyPveXxJTucw-3WCAIvRc4upNpxsg5LIAIpd77jI210j3ofBqIdtngQMla-GXptGhbgZ9FszvWEX6ReblO_YTHEpiqLqRHRd4A1dC9ZxCdfCbO/s320/snow2.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Snowflake flotilla, </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">photo courtesy of Amelia McSweeny</span></td></tr>
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I discover that in cutting and unfolding, the shape of a Jewish star emerges in the center of the flake, surrounded by a circle of tiny people reaching out towards each other. <br />
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The star reminds me of my Jewish grandmother's Christmas cards. These were cards that she sent out in the twenties and thirties to her non-Jewish friends and although they were sent as part of an attempt to assimilate into mainstream culture, I like to see them as a bridge between cultures, a way of creating and maintaining a connection.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDpKYEmUdoq8fN-aELumj-vBPS9z9_l9zRCZmP-ph3dkM2AlvcS6dVgX2aIkK4L-P8NygMRgkShTdGOE3b8naheIR1Dwj_3Vg_AMv09VRXzmSDp9UEtKB0vP12h-gsuKyVIFqA-ZDa9e06/s1600/Carocard4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDpKYEmUdoq8fN-aELumj-vBPS9z9_l9zRCZmP-ph3dkM2AlvcS6dVgX2aIkK4L-P8NygMRgkShTdGOE3b8naheIR1Dwj_3Vg_AMv09VRXzmSDp9UEtKB0vP12h-gsuKyVIFqA-ZDa9e06/s320/Carocard4.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">My grandmother Caroline's Christmas card, circa 1925-1935</span></td></tr>
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All of which takes me back the beginning; maintaining connection--and what better way to do this than through art?Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09461148136578592965noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723489562885266642.post-60960084719172159822011-12-16T18:45:00.000-08:002011-12-19T09:50:03.138-08:00Clear Sight<div style="text-align: left;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bird of Paradise/Island studio</td></tr>
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I’ve been doing some thinking on my vacation; going away is often a way of coming closer to myself, of discovering what’s been stored up inside me for lo these many months. <br />
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Landing in Kauai, I assumed I would magically relax into a state of being where one activity flowed into another--not the hurried hula I find myself performing on most working days. <br />
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While there were indeed many delicious activities; ocean walks, tropical flowers and rainbows, I was surprised to meet up with some of my oldest and most familiar demons; the ones that incessantly wish to compare myself to others who seem to be more, do more, achieve more. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT69Ykk5h6Jd88MDOQJPk9SiKWclwRPyetQZXDtfimOTIMUy_3THe6c8xh0EUz0dqZ6bJ8TcE2L_srZVylKI-2_bkNx-wHmw2iWrWmdYyrZ_SopLhNOw6jrhhq62GphVOSqhupm8_GM1hF/s1600/showerleaves.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT69Ykk5h6Jd88MDOQJPk9SiKWclwRPyetQZXDtfimOTIMUy_3THe6c8xh0EUz0dqZ6bJ8TcE2L_srZVylKI-2_bkNx-wHmw2iWrWmdYyrZ_SopLhNOw6jrhhq62GphVOSqhupm8_GM1hF/s200/showerleaves.JPG" width="149" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Birds of Paradise in situ</td></tr>
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A hold-over from childhood, these thought pests seemed more intense than usual, even creeping into my dreams. My sister, who had joined us, noted that sometimes in Hawaii, it seems that one’s stored up issues just seep out like lava--a kind of “detoxifying” if you will. <br />
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While the gremlins nibbled and morning doves cooed, I tried to set up a studio practice--sparer than my normal routine, but something to do in order to counter my inner detractors. I decided to sit down for an hour a day with watercolors and just paint something. I picked the simplest forms I could find; lemons and limes picked from trees growing in the yard and tiny birds of paradise that grew by the outdoor shower. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj36XCfhC-XcCqwe6ZqAHBnLjAS1KcQXYAe9NIUiKXUC3MsWmyhT6RuwF3LisjhjnsGJ_dhsQoUs7795S2RWQjHjxcGwWyEQ2WMYxYBoydICiPK3Src16XRQZupJk2Zt5F_HZmBT_UB_WE_/s1600/IMG_1817+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj36XCfhC-XcCqwe6ZqAHBnLjAS1KcQXYAe9NIUiKXUC3MsWmyhT6RuwF3LisjhjnsGJ_dhsQoUs7795S2RWQjHjxcGwWyEQ2WMYxYBoydICiPK3Src16XRQZupJk2Zt5F_HZmBT_UB_WE_/s320/IMG_1817+2.JPG" width="229" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bird of Paradise</td></tr>
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As I painted, I observed my initial antipathy to mixing the color green. It brought up memories of phthalocyanine blue and viridian green oil paint in undergraduate school and my messy complicated affair with oils. I persevered and, finally, loosened my association of mixing colors which matched my mood and began instead to evoke a feeling of relationship with the fruits I studied.<br />
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What I also observed, as the days peeled off, was that after painting I experienced a feeling of clairvoyance--clairvoyance in the French sense of the word, which literally means: “clear sight.” The fabulous leaf and flower forms that surrounded me seemed heightened, standing out as if I were staring at an intricate Indian miniature. I experienced an intensity of seeing similar to the high that practitioners of yoga describe. I felt loose and clear headed. I breathed effortlessly.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLPq8DMi8N5Scl43_s4xe1BHcb4IJsK7LktmyDRJTV0PloI4srqw_EtUjbg6TaLZbpeJkMulsEgp6dzwJ_REtWhl5voO3_NHdmHTNDzneWQ2K2bAXFvGlLf9SlbYzDX4SJyVa267mFwND6/s1600/IMG_1814+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLPq8DMi8N5Scl43_s4xe1BHcb4IJsK7LktmyDRJTV0PloI4srqw_EtUjbg6TaLZbpeJkMulsEgp6dzwJ_REtWhl5voO3_NHdmHTNDzneWQ2K2bAXFvGlLf9SlbYzDX4SJyVa267mFwND6/s320/IMG_1814+2.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lemon Thoughts</td></tr>
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I’d like to claim, after this time away, that I’ve returned to normal life with no worries, sustained clear sight and a pack of good watercolors. But reality, like river water after a storm, is muddy. Spending time with transparent colors and resplendent foliage allowed me to see the landscape through the mist; there are always more layers--I understood again that we can never really remove ourselves from the complex relationships of people and situations, the endless rich entanglements of this world. However, like finding a blossom in the Hawaiian jungle, I can always locate something to focus on.Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09461148136578592965noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723489562885266642.post-53638137068811743952011-12-07T12:56:00.000-08:002011-12-08T07:45:20.980-08:00My 7 Links<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8HUEbFiiA1uQn5v3awamOAtewwJlPKg4zFiKI752mEuUI2nLZvMW-zT1Syhzu1ADf6LUDlbFByg3HoRyHoTgqN8FwrM6TshCMmUGOsxn-1uJHk4Uu3Ngj7a1YZvSh6RYsllAjYvxrD_PS/s1600/DSCN2438.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8HUEbFiiA1uQn5v3awamOAtewwJlPKg4zFiKI752mEuUI2nLZvMW-zT1Syhzu1ADf6LUDlbFByg3HoRyHoTgqN8FwrM6TshCMmUGOsxn-1uJHk4Uu3Ngj7a1YZvSh6RYsllAjYvxrD_PS/s320/DSCN2438.JPG" width="249" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Marriage Circa 2011, ©2011, H.Hunter, Collage: paper and acrylic paint</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>I recently accepted Donna Iona Drozda's invitation to participate in a project:<b><a href="http://www.tripbase.com/blog/my-7-links-the-rules/"> My 7 Links Project</a></b>. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: inherit;">For this project, each blogger chooses 7 different posts to fit seven unique categories and then invites <i>up to</i> 5 more bloggers to do the same, and so on, as a way of uniting "bloggers from all sectors in an endeavor to share lessons learned and...to... create a bank of long but not forgotten blog posts..." </span><br />
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A timely invitation and one that I thought about because it seemed to me a perfect chance to look over the year's post, to form in my mind a gestalt of what I'd written, a means of seeing the road I'd traveled and perhaps the road I might choose to take in the year ahead.<br />
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Like the doors on an advent calendar, I invite you to open up one or more of these links and see what you discover.<br />
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<i>Most helpful</i>: <b><a href="http://hannahklaushunter.blogspot.com/2011_02_01_archive.html">Young Adult Bereavement Art Group/Art Therapy in Action:</a></b> This post proved to be helpful in two ways; one for me, because the post reflects how much I learned about the grief process of young adults, but also because this information is useful to those people who wish to start an art therapy based bereavement support group in their own community.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwW9ALh1QLxI2JzEaOCvplKIIgX4Kf0WSRQp25rjfljugcI0TEKjRg30CrkR44S3Ha0dOAmMlCj-Ywl9NlUvQBjckrq-YLGM9MUUl-t_hFeaXbPhlkCt4caf58ZSQoHqmOlUxR-a3N1cfQ/s1600/For+H%2527s+Blog012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwW9ALh1QLxI2JzEaOCvplKIIgX4Kf0WSRQp25rjfljugcI0TEKjRg30CrkR44S3Ha0dOAmMlCj-Ywl9NlUvQBjckrq-YLGM9MUUl-t_hFeaXbPhlkCt4caf58ZSQoHqmOlUxR-a3N1cfQ/s200/For+H%2527s+Blog012.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>Where I Live</i>, ©2000, H. Hunter, 15" x 18", Acrylic &</span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Caran d'ache </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><i>Most popular</i>: <b><a href="http://hannahklaushunter.blogspot.com/2011/04/finding-sanctuary.html">Finding Sanctuary:</a></b> addresses our universal need to find a safe and sacred space. Nature + art = one of the most effective ways to find it.<br />
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<i>Didn't quite get the attention it deserved</i>: <b><a href="http://hannahklaushunter.blogspot.com/2011/05/turning.html">Timing is Everything:</a></b> There's a lot packed into this little post with M.S. Merwin's poem. Spring opens our eyes with its fleeting beauty and we're reminded, once again, of the transience and beauty of life.<br />
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<i>Most proud of</i>: <b><a href="http://hannahklaushunter.blogspot.com/2011/05/atx-101.html">Art Therapy 101:</a></b> No questions here. Art Therapy 101, about my daughter who was my first teacher in art therapy, wrote itself.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKFBJlxdAC4T2fS7Y4lQEsu2pgYwermX7ErVpzWVkHUpS6-mzf1081UZKj_m6nFNIZHGzb2hh8Cg6i5y3eisZ3D4LtTDVQQLYnx5QMVVRVjR_8AfWGbuDyjGMH5zAoueR7bB-NaBBbLBUy/s1600/IMG_1059.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKFBJlxdAC4T2fS7Y4lQEsu2pgYwermX7ErVpzWVkHUpS6-mzf1081UZKj_m6nFNIZHGzb2hh8Cg6i5y3eisZ3D4LtTDVQQLYnx5QMVVRVjR_8AfWGbuDyjGMH5zAoueR7bB-NaBBbLBUy/s200/IMG_1059.JPG" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Peonies at the Ogunquit Museum of American Art</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><i>Most beautiful</i>: <b><a href="http://hannahklaushunter.blogspot.com/2011_06_01_archive.html">Accidental Journey:</a></b> Places of the soul--all of us have them and I accidentally traveled back to mine in this trip to Maine. Here I share images and thoughts of this magical journey, especially one gorgeous blush colored peony.<br />
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<i>Surprising Success</i>: <b><a href="http://hannahklaushunter.blogspot.com/2011_07_01_archive.html">A Different Kind of Summer:</a></b> I had no idea when I wrote about spending the summer in the studio that it would elicit so many responses. At the hospital, when I'm asked what I did on the weekend, my answer is always the same: "I was in my studio." (And it's always a pleasure.)<br />
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Most controversial: <a href="http://hannahklaushunter.blogspot.com/2011/09/new-beginnings.html"><b>New Beginnings:</b> </a>The controversy here is subjective within the quilting world--I suddenly felt confronted by an entirely different way of seeing the quilting process, one I hadn't considered and which challenged me to re-examine my approach to the aesthestics of art quilts.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: inherit;">And now some nominations--4 blogs with entirely different focuses--something to satisfy different parts of my personality.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><b><a href="http://scattergoodfood.blogspot.com/">From the Scattergood Farm</a>:</b> written by two teachers at Scattergood Friends School (my daughter's high school alma mater) where students both study and work a living farm. In this new blog, they present some radical new ideas for school lunch. Check this out!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><b><a href="http://skartz.blogspot.com/2011/12/another-christmas-letter.html">Patricia Scarborough:</a></b> I love Patty's posts--witty and wry and half a continent away, I love to read her observations and see her plein air plainscapes. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><b><a href="http://dwellingherenow.blogspot.com/">Dwelling Here Now:</a></b> One of the first blogs I discovered, Anthony Lawlor takes a spiritual approach to architecture and the architecture of thought. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><b><a href="http://blueskydreaming-sc.blogspot.com/2011/12/altered-morning-departure.html">Blue Sky Dreaming:</a></b> Blue Sky's open minded approach to her subject matter and materials intrigues and inspires lots of us in the mixed media world.</span>Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09461148136578592965noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723489562885266642.post-77298430900999598722011-11-23T09:22:00.000-08:002011-11-23T09:22:08.474-08:00A Process of Trial and Multicolored Error<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGo9T72WxDbwkJddXTEpmBqOm9H5HGoqguLkIHZ-WvMGoIBwoB762zL7Bt8EWpCNgxr02sL6hyDbuIffTy98LMKSUy7mrekahnnPamREY9V-ZUxYCYHWLGyy3V2uEyjVzxCgNX-n-kPIfD/s1600/IMG_1352.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGo9T72WxDbwkJddXTEpmBqOm9H5HGoqguLkIHZ-WvMGoIBwoB762zL7Bt8EWpCNgxr02sL6hyDbuIffTy98LMKSUy7mrekahnnPamREY9V-ZUxYCYHWLGyy3V2uEyjVzxCgNX-n-kPIfD/s320/IMG_1352.JPG" width="276" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pomegranate: alizarine crimson/napthol red/burnt umber</td></tr>
</tbody></table>I arrived at my friend Stacey's last week with a lot of questions. I wanted to hear where she stood on the matter of <a href="http://www.handprint.com/HP/WCL/palette2.html">staining and non staining pigments</a>, her thoughts on <a href="http://painting.about.com/od/watercolourpainting/ss/watercolorpaper_5.htm">hot vs cold press paper</a> and if there was a better pigment or paper to use. <br />
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Stacey obligingly pulled out a reference book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Wilcox-Guide-Best-Watercolor-Paints/dp/0967962803"><i>The Wilcox Guide to the Best Watercolor Paints</i></a> by Michael Wilcox and showed it to me. On each page there was a precis of every shade of watercolor known to mankind. She offered to loan me the book but the sheer weight of the information was daunting.<br />
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When I pressed her for the essential facts on these issues, I could feel her resistance. She explained that rather than reading about pigments, she prefers to work with the colors herself, testing one, then another with a whole cadre of colors. She opened a black notebook to a two page spread with the most mouthwatering series of colors I've seen in a while.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR14FvEseUhC2xafVQrMXpSMPRhKsu_UunBK-2svTp4Qp1ZCqruKfYI6lbXNGPK5v-OAjqP_ThTkTC1ZAp1Odud7u2TFArxVA5Ej4f5FeZZ6rnIB7Z41ojxzh92F-0j08p4iULJpC9jn2V/s1600/IMG_1355.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR14FvEseUhC2xafVQrMXpSMPRhKsu_UunBK-2svTp4Qp1ZCqruKfYI6lbXNGPK5v-OAjqP_ThTkTC1ZAp1Odud7u2TFArxVA5Ej4f5FeZZ6rnIB7Z41ojxzh92F-0j08p4iULJpC9jn2V/s320/IMG_1355.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pomegranate: alizarine crimson/napthol red/burnt umber</td></tr>
</tbody></table>What was most interesting about the samples she had painted was that there was no uniformity. You could see crystallization in some of the colors and in others, like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viridian">viridian</a>, there were speckles of plum and rust. <a href="http://www.handprint.com/HP/WCL/wpaint.html">"So, is that sedimentary?"</a> I asked, pointing to the viridian wash. She told me that the paint water had remnants of many colors suspended in it--or, as she put it, "it's dirty water." <br />
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It was apparent to me that once again, I was facing the creative continuum of choice, trying to decide between two ways of approaching a painting or drawing. When I arrived that at her studio that morning, looking for answers, Stacey was telling me to experiment, to work by trial and error, always heading in the direction that that elicits energy and joy, rather than the road marked "I really should...."<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Simply put," she said, "avoid the 'shoulds'!!<br />
"If it seems like you have a choice and one way is going to bring joy, go that way."Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09461148136578592965noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723489562885266642.post-31989283350084066452011-11-14T17:59:00.000-08:002011-11-14T18:00:57.049-08:00Circles Within Circles<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK48E8PQPa53T3lYVYWYmsJb4XQvyPaOBOASB3HhTcGSkGPGj4-In5ZcCRjSNFuJ1g7jCB684t8m2fMnJxeiCnKw8nEYLvsKix38F7f22hco1pEFYrpk4gb_AsPQGez8HU9P8S8l9usd3u/s1600/multidots1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK48E8PQPa53T3lYVYWYmsJb4XQvyPaOBOASB3HhTcGSkGPGj4-In5ZcCRjSNFuJ1g7jCB684t8m2fMnJxeiCnKw8nEYLvsKix38F7f22hco1pEFYrpk4gb_AsPQGez8HU9P8S8l9usd3u/s320/multidots1.JPG" width="256px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Multicolored Circles, ©2011, H. Hunter</td></tr>
</tbody></table>When I last wrote about painting persimmons with <a href="http://www.staceyvetter.com/">Stacey Vetter</a>, a number of people asked me to keep them "posted." I had the best of intentions but my production took a sharp downturn high up in the hills of Carmel Valley.<br />
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While my son Ben played golf on the tiered greens of <a href="http://www.santaluciapreserve.com/">Saint Lucia Preserve</a>, I hid myself behind a Valley Oak and began to paint acorns and oak leaves. The sun was hot and rather than creating distinct layers, the walnut ink pooled on paper. After an hour, I had only a few clusters to show for my efforts. Discouraged, I decided to report my findings to Stacey the next week.<br />
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Stacey took a survey of my results and prescribed painting circles. "Circles??" I asked. Not one to stand on ceremony, she picked up her brush and began to demonstrate what she meant. As I watched her, I noticed that she handled the brush with a deftness born of deep practice. The brush seemed to swirl around with no hesitation.<br />
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I took up my brush, discovering that it intended design on its own--and performed the opposite of hers. Frustrated, I reminded myself of the revered book by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shunryu_Suzuki">Shunryu Suzuki</a>: "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Zen-Mind-Beginners-Informal-Meditation/dp/0834800799">Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind</a>." "It's O.K." I assured myself. I have to work against my own grain when I put myself in a place where I know very little and I need to have a high tolerance for mistakes. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNqU5Skv2DAddqVy4lERB_Fj8DlklbQPi5ErC3Y5KKrs8d_N2Z2309HJPyUZIpU8akbbpUNMikQuLhzFBoQp1kXfAnkcYy1SCSxfvM_AgkQlVupCcRaZxPlGjEg9FW0Jo8Sf_pWGgzpOa-/s1600/bananadots.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNqU5Skv2DAddqVy4lERB_Fj8DlklbQPi5ErC3Y5KKrs8d_N2Z2309HJPyUZIpU8akbbpUNMikQuLhzFBoQp1kXfAnkcYy1SCSxfvM_AgkQlVupCcRaZxPlGjEg9FW0Jo8Sf_pWGgzpOa-/s320/bananadots.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Banana Paper Dots, ©2011, H. Hunter</td></tr>
</tbody></table>I decided to persevere. As I did, I began to notice little things: how as I came around the bend of the curve and the brush seemed to be running out of ink, it would disperse just enough ink to easily close the circle. Slowly, as I repeated the circles, I began to feel the delight I experienced as a child on ice skates when I figured out how to spin. Soon I was spinning the ink. Circles and more circles. On hot press. On cold press. On rice paper. On banana paper. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9jfLfkY5qLYCda3Zo16aulr6KyROvK0OdLj1xp3vSzAZWhEHgBU3LPd2HntFQmpj75sr-LkZ4x22UCz33opO3itkpv21WVh_Aj7sW_QDbcl6ZKItKLkxs6aVZUPPayCnVRBZ9scYrgcgE/s1600/alizarindots1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9jfLfkY5qLYCda3Zo16aulr6KyROvK0OdLj1xp3vSzAZWhEHgBU3LPd2HntFQmpj75sr-LkZ4x22UCz33opO3itkpv21WVh_Aj7sW_QDbcl6ZKItKLkxs6aVZUPPayCnVRBZ9scYrgcgE/s320/alizarindots1.JPG" width="270" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Alizarine Crimson and Amethyst Genuine Drops, ©2011, H. Hunter</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>My next challenge was to create a shading in the circle. Stacey explained that I would need to paint a piece of the circle and then stop; making sure to leave an organic shape, quickly rinse my brush and then, with precisely the amount of water as I had just shed of pigment, finish off the circle. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">A few days later at a studio time with my friend Linda, a landscape water colorist, I decided to try my hand at it. She sat down to complete a gorgeous landscape of Lake Tahoe and I brought out my circles. She glanced over after a while and noted that how boring it must be. Her comment caught me by surprise. I had become completely involved in the act of touching paint to paper and watching it react.<br />
<br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; font-family: inherit;"><div style="text-align: right;"></div></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">In its own way, it was as fascinating as observing a patient in her hospital room. How did the first stroke lay down? (Is the patient alone in her room?) What kind of organic shape should I leave? (What kind of expression does the patient have? What is the tone of their speech?) Does the paint granulate as it begins to dry? Is it a staining or non staining pigment? (Does she want to cover the entire paper or work in just a tiny corner?)</div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Like the beginning of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Blake">William Blake</a>'s poem, "Auguries of Innocence," it seemed that I'd discovered "a world in a grain of sand." </div></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><i></i></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><i></i></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></i></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i> </i></span> </div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><i>To see a world in a grain of sand,</i></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><i>And a heaven in a wild flower,</i></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><i>Hold infinity in the palm of your hand</i></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><i>And eternity in an hour.</i></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><i><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXaTJzcnrSjpDoma54hXEZNym1jTtZ_q532mlDMN59rNx3zw9BDL71-BkNdh-dhYeulDt_4VhaImvU4IIPWv59zaSa-1DnnnOI0oN-ILCgTXEyqqHFOUVqoLe9soRU5Z2_f5Afd3G5bJwR/s1600/purpledots1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXaTJzcnrSjpDoma54hXEZNym1jTtZ_q532mlDMN59rNx3zw9BDL71-BkNdh-dhYeulDt_4VhaImvU4IIPWv59zaSa-1DnnnOI0oN-ILCgTXEyqqHFOUVqoLe9soRU5Z2_f5Afd3G5bJwR/s320/purpledots1.JPG" width="274" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Amethyst and Pthalo Blue Dots, ©2011, H. Hunter</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><i><br />
</i></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">After I explained to Linda what I was seeing, she too got caught up and soon we were both exploring the depths of her vast collection of colors. They were seductive, those circles, and she couldn't resist trying her hand at a few.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>I'm not sure where these circles will lead and I'm sure a few of them will land in collage works. In the meantime, I'm taking time to relish the turn of the brush.Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09461148136578592965noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723489562885266642.post-8078168338306516852011-11-05T12:59:00.000-07:002011-11-13T14:29:12.358-08:00Sitting on My Hands<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc2bObeAitBQvEsmUAl6LqwckjEVTLvLNbNn3O1CCF7hTU_8b38u_GMon3VgHgqejr91v53K03whD35oFnR9CbZYWZS-1Ez0mGRCyXa7JpuRUHkfAs22kb9Yn42KJdxz8YiynYodIKONOs/s1600/catmask.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc2bObeAitBQvEsmUAl6LqwckjEVTLvLNbNn3O1CCF7hTU_8b38u_GMon3VgHgqejr91v53K03whD35oFnR9CbZYWZS-1Ez0mGRCyXa7JpuRUHkfAs22kb9Yn42KJdxz8YiynYodIKONOs/s400/catmask.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">©2011, Hannah Klaus Hunter, Ceramic Cat Grief Mask</td></tr>
</tbody></table>I like to imagine that there are as many ways to say good bye as stars in the sky. Like stars, each goodbye is unique, with its own distinct light. This was the last week in our bi-annual <a href="http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/welcome/features/2010-2011/03/20110309_grief_support.html">Young Adult Bereavement Art Group</a> that we affectionately call "YABAG." Perhaps its me, perhaps it's time passing, but it seems that each group gets better and better.<br />
<br />
In the first week we ask what brings each person to the group. One young woman's response, "Art, Bereavement, Support," formed the personality of our present group. That's what we did.<br />
<br />
Aside from piloting my way through my own childrens' teenage years, facilitating through the 8 weeks is one of the most difficult things I do, and, at the same time, the most subtle. The knowledge of when to speak and when to refrain from speaking, when to lean on someone just a bit so that they'll speak even without feeling pressured is as delicate a process as inserting an IV needle.<br />
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For 8 weeks these young adults came week after week to sit with us and wind their way through their dark tunnels of grief. Each week, after the evening was over, my co-facilitator and I told each other that we wanted to adopt each one of them. Certainly, I wanted to rescue them from their pain. And, since that wasn't possible, I spent a lot of time figuratively sitting on my hands.<br />
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During the last two weeks, group members paint clay masks that they've made several weeks earlier and construct a memory box containing images and symbols that speak to their memories of the person who died. Often these are not literal pictures of the person, but images they've found in magazines or pictures they've painted inside and outside of the box.<br />
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I think of this box as a tool kit. Alongside the memories residing invisibly inside the box, there is also the knowledge of the coping tools they've learned in the group; how to address the non-grievers, how to approach a holiday without feeling you're about to fall off a cliff and how there are others like you with whom you can travel. Going it alone becomes an option rather than a necessity.<br />
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As the group ended that night we sat quietly. My co-facilitator and I had said our goodbyes. Group members expressed their wishes that the sessions could continue longer ("I could paint for hours"), but I thought that as usual, they would take off quickly, disappearing into the darkness of night. But they sat. And sat. <br />
<br />
I'm one of those people who have to take it on faith that sometimes the most important thing I can do as a therapist is to listen and be present. An old mentor used to caution me over and over: "Don't rush the river." But I've always found so much comfort in <i>doing</i>. It makes <i>me</i> feel better. But as I pondered these young people the next morning, I realized why they continued to sit for so long. There was comfort in simply being together. No words, not even images were necessary. They and their memories could dwell comfortably in the half-light.Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09461148136578592965noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723489562885266642.post-54471442976275006692011-10-25T10:07:00.000-07:002011-10-25T10:07:04.890-07:00Persimmons on Parade<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrVmDj9oaj7CMLI4F1DLoKh5c6MTQtvwIyl24Y-ggx-MiUK1fbPWPFHnbBYLppCAQbJQMwKfYZg9bSGnnYpyg1NrpiqTCjFjY59SHT8qDkf2_74CCvMkcbm8vOgms4N7cBLuQlaOVKWf9r/s1600/persimmon3.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrVmDj9oaj7CMLI4F1DLoKh5c6MTQtvwIyl24Y-ggx-MiUK1fbPWPFHnbBYLppCAQbJQMwKfYZg9bSGnnYpyg1NrpiqTCjFjY59SHT8qDkf2_74CCvMkcbm8vOgms4N7cBLuQlaOVKWf9r/s320/persimmon3.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">©2011, H. Hunter, Persimmon study, walnut ink on paper</td></tr>
</tbody></table>I began a new chapter of my life last week. Like many people pursuing a career, it's necessary sometimes to take matters into my own hands and sharpen my saw. For a while now, I've wanted to focus my attention on drawing--to begin as it were, a drawing practice. I decided to talk to my friend <a href="http://www.staceyvetter.com/">Stacey Vetter</a>, botanical painter, illustrator and draftswoman extraordinaire. I'd taken a class with her a year ago through our local arts center and had loved it.<br />
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This time, I wanted to go a little further, so I asked her if she'd be open to a series of private lessons.<br />
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She asked what I'd like to focus on and I told her I wanted to reclaim my practice of journaling and use plants rather than words. And I wanted to turn the effort into a kind of meditation.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFUbU4MBbytMqUaD_kbAZWau-H5-MqtD7JIPTje8qTLFs6FNjL2-reCDEcEtPm2Fcui5K59GkUuTyWHnFGS6zavUv5zneXUCx61LUyuW4fZswjj2IO6-DZckv_gP5kNVAUZijF7jDsrRBq/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFUbU4MBbytMqUaD_kbAZWau-H5-MqtD7JIPTje8qTLFs6FNjL2-reCDEcEtPm2Fcui5K59GkUuTyWHnFGS6zavUv5zneXUCx61LUyuW4fZswjj2IO6-DZckv_gP5kNVAUZijF7jDsrRBq/s1600/images.jpg" /></a></div>Stacey turned out to be my go-to-gal. I arrived at her studio to find a simple wooden table covered with a linen print cloth. On top of the cloth were placed a clutch of green persimmons. (They'll ripen steadily until December, when they'll hang on the tree like tiny orange globes, dangling miniature pumpkins.) <br />
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Next to the persimmons sat a flask of walnut ink which, Stacey explained, was created by a man named <a href="http://www.wetpaintart.com/Product_Archive/Drawing_&_Writing/Inks/Tom-Norton-Design/ecomminktnd.asp">Tom Norton</a>, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He had formulated a lightfast ink resembling the ink of the old masters. At the time of Rembrandt, artists used real walnut ink which faded over time, becoming a lovely rich, dark umber that we see today. Now it's reinvented for all of us to use in perpetuity.<br />
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I discovered after just a short time, how similar the art of ink painting is to life. After explaining some possibilities, Stacey suggested that we start simply--and like any good builders, that we work on the foundation. (These were wise words, because already, as she spoke, I found myself lost in the crenellations of the persimmons' crown. )<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqGtoKhQVyyoYt3oJ16e2ZUeEVLggDjRUBRFUJAjzBSE_eIYrF6TZ16X8nQC2c203FP8uLgwAAJvBrMmu0KD2hvdm36p9YmSu6NY8toK2B2ZvRxoxs240nHNCs542zdJ5Xmtu-9hzO81Kd/s1600/Muqi-persimmons%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">l<img border="0" height="320px" ida="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqGtoKhQVyyoYt3oJ16e2ZUeEVLggDjRUBRFUJAjzBSE_eIYrF6TZ16X8nQC2c203FP8uLgwAAJvBrMmu0KD2hvdm36p9YmSu6NY8toK2B2ZvRxoxs240nHNCs542zdJ5Xmtu-9hzO81Kd/s320/Muqi-persimmons%255B1%255D.jpg" width="253px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mu Qi, 13th century Chinese painter</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
She gave me three instructions: Slow down and surrender, accept what the ink is going to do and keep it simple. I've been immersing myself in persimmons and pomegranates since then, fascinated by how difficult keeping it simple truly is.<br />
<br />
Several days after my first lesson, Stacey sent me a link to the picture above, a gorgeous study of persimmons by the 13th century Chinese master, MuQi. She also included this quote:<br />
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<div><i>"Since birth we get accustomed to seeing and thinking at the same time. But I think that if you can turn off the mind and look at things only with your eyes, ultimately everything becomes abstract." </i>Ellsworth Kelly from <i>Drawn from Nature</i></div><div><br />
</div>Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09461148136578592965noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723489562885266642.post-58652672513421572032011-10-14T18:00:00.000-07:002011-10-14T18:03:59.421-07:008 Women's Visions and 1 Woman's Details<div style="text-align: left;"></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1hYC8YSvozD3v1vP0jZRG1X8GAOMe4i73IoFwLv0oAg0Qbed8WD-3N3wta6mOKa1X75sHxV0PjLtZ-t8phxR4wZSk9qfSOPMlAKxEIzy3Ng78_LopJL0sPmnimrNHUG8_VZ5DzEYU7tNi/s1600/Dialoguew_Red.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1hYC8YSvozD3v1vP0jZRG1X8GAOMe4i73IoFwLv0oAg0Qbed8WD-3N3wta6mOKa1X75sHxV0PjLtZ-t8phxR4wZSk9qfSOPMlAKxEIzy3Ng78_LopJL0sPmnimrNHUG8_VZ5DzEYU7tNi/s320/Dialoguew_Red.JPG" width="312" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Dialogue with Red</i>, ©2011, H. Hunter, 29" x 29"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>As the Jewish New Year passed last week with all the speed of a French TGV train, I spent ellipses of that time "wondering" my way back over the year. And I do mean wondering.<br />
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This past year, my goal was to create work for an art quilt show I'd been invited to participate in. Never mind the fact that prior to this, I had done very little quilting, when I dive into something, I'm passionate about it. I try to inhale as much knowledge as I can, trusting that if I do, it will carry me to a place that I can equally trust.<br />
<br />
In the spirit of that quest, I gave myself the challenge of creating six 36" quilts in the space of six months. I liked the multiple of six and I thought that the time I'd allotted would be more than adequate. For traditional quilt patterns, this would be ample time, but because I was approaching quilting like collage, the time passed in the blink of an eye. <br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaEwV6kdJDFMVEzKu3WveJDVdjqwPxLLOo6zwKSbc9PtuRgI7oBjnPHb0GeGPtzW7P_ytsvTQbHniv09zn7XhPAhzCw7EVAgLadQ-mo5Uy5_exsrCvG9aeKjmJefgmDKWboY1v-owLayev/s1600/junebug3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaEwV6kdJDFMVEzKu3WveJDVdjqwPxLLOo6zwKSbc9PtuRgI7oBjnPHb0GeGPtzW7P_ytsvTQbHniv09zn7XhPAhzCw7EVAgLadQ-mo5Uy5_exsrCvG9aeKjmJefgmDKWboY1v-owLayev/s320/junebug3.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Junebug</i>, detail, ©2011, H. Hunter, 27" x 27"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>That's how the other week I came to find myself with six quilts, all needing to be bound and sleeves for hanging added as well. In some ways this might seem like the easy part of the process: choose a binding and off you go. But instead, using the collage process (cut out that piece, put it in, see if it fits, take it out, try another place, moving it until it fits and so on), it turns out that the binding is an integral part of the piece, and is much more than a quick intuitive decision. <br />
<br />
After cutting the first round of bindings, I began to attach them and found myself making faces. "Yuck! What's going on here?" I asked myself. As I unstitched bindings and studied the quilts, I discovered that actually, the binding seemed to serve the same function as the final strokes of a drawing. <br />
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<div style="text-align: right;"></div>I also understood that I was facing my one of my own oft repeated laws of art: whenever I begin a painting, a drawing, or a collage, the choices are limitless, or, limited only by my own personality and imagination. With each step, the choices narrow because of the actions already chosen. When I get down to these last strokes--the challenge is to be concise, to choose the exact combination of colors that will allow my format to sing like Isaac Stern playing a Bach partita. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6Hbdk7_w8c22RXiyK6Ooq7pXvZB9p3Lai5iJ96z5iwXuU975D-IZwVBJBgkR_8jZK4ZP1YgA04ymE2dwsCi1TCNW5P3sc2qhO9OCW6buaObua1XECIu9gNZsYwNwmk20-IZwtnXYnfZAr/s1600/detailQuintessence.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6Hbdk7_w8c22RXiyK6Ooq7pXvZB9p3Lai5iJ96z5iwXuU975D-IZwVBJBgkR_8jZK4ZP1YgA04ymE2dwsCi1TCNW5P3sc2qhO9OCW6buaObua1XECIu9gNZsYwNwmk20-IZwtnXYnfZAr/s320/detailQuintessence.JPG" width="226" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Quintessence, detail, ©2011</span> <span style="font-size: xx-small;">H. Hunter, 30" x 30"</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>At the same time, it's the place of greatest risk. If I make the wrong decision, I stand to lose everything.<br />
<br />
Early the next morning I grabbed my dilemma by its horns and headed up to the studio in my nightgown (that way, the quilt is taken by surprise, it's not sure whether you're serious or not...)<br />
<br />
I began to cut and sew. After an hour had past, <i>I'd</i> past the test and made it through the rough spots.<br />
<br />
I'd taken a risk and allowed the work, not my head to tell me what kind of fabrics were needed. A revelation indeed because at the eleventh hour, I often want to depend on my head not my eyes or my heart.<br />
<br />
A week has passed since I wrote this. The new bindings are now sewn on, the show is up and I'm just about ready to head out the door to the opening. And like the bindings, I've learned that even though I may want to shortcut the evening (the biggest challenge of the whole process is showing up for the event) I'm thinking that by completing the circle and taking a risk, I just might learn something that will help the evening to sing.Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09461148136578592965noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723489562885266642.post-45055278178930033762011-09-09T11:20:00.000-07:002011-09-09T11:20:45.887-07:00New Beginnings<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggSeVp_B5kwW_NemQNKXveXf2Cko9siN0nZzJ7hC18T9xPsg9WeDdxj0DBlDhq4YL8-asu0hn9YpU-plsGkzQG7tIjZcgA-b7tZi1PG5iHsC_a2sSObdo7mqb6v6L-fsMAk4GzGkzU6-X4/s1600/summerpalimp.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggSeVp_B5kwW_NemQNKXveXf2Cko9siN0nZzJ7hC18T9xPsg9WeDdxj0DBlDhq4YL8-asu0hn9YpU-plsGkzQG7tIjZcgA-b7tZi1PG5iHsC_a2sSObdo7mqb6v6L-fsMAk4GzGkzU6-X4/s320/summerpalimp.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>Summer Palimpsest</i>, detail, ©2011, H.Hunter</span>,<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> 28" x 27"</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Every day, like most everyone, I find a flock of e-mails waiting in my in-box. Yesterday, one of them stood out, catching my notice, the words evoked a turning, an awareness that something new might be on the way.<br />
<br />
My friend Sara had written a description for a class she calls "Art Makers," a class for people who are curious about the process of being and becoming an artist. The class has been going on for a couple years now and each season, she changes the theme to correspond with her observations on the previous class.<br />
<br />
She noted that this fall class would focus on process, "--on taking apart our work and putting it back together, on looking and seeing with "art" awareness, on <i>re-affirming how we work best</i>."<br />
<br />
I'm taking those 5 little words "<i>re-affirming how we work best,</i>" to heart. <br />
<br />
All summer, I've climbed the stairs to my studio, a space where I cocoon myself and spin out my threads, watching them acrete until a small but perfect quilt emerges on the wall.<br />
<br />
I like to cut quirky rectangles which can be only be matched up with persistence. When I finish, the last thing I want to do is to quilt the layers together. I decided to take the pieces to a professional quilter whose work I admire. After they were quilted, I showed them to an artist friend. As I laid them out, she cleared her throat. "Hmm...I think I should just say that I really like to exercise total artistic control. " That small pebble of feedback caused a landslide of insight.<br />
<br />
Rather than seeing the quilting as a necessary step that needs to be added to properly finish the process (and God knows why I thought that since I'd already broken a slew of quilter's rules.)--I began to see the stitches on the top as a layer of drawing. That in fact there were four layers: the backing, the batting, the quilted pieces of fabric and the thread quilting on top. I saw it like an architect's model in which layers of drawings were placed on top of each other to convey the finished building. <br />
<br />
<i>Artmaking involves skills that can be learned. The conventional wisdom here is that while "craft" can be taught, "art" remains a magical gift bestowed only by the Gods. Not so. In large measure becoming an artist consists of learning to accept yourself, which makes your work personal, and in following your own voice, which makes your work distinctive. --Art and Fear</i><br />
<br />
While I can't say that I became a sudden convert to this notion of quilting as drawing (in fact I even took the last two quilts, Miss August and Miss September, right back to the pro), I've tucked the knowledge away for a time that doesn't have a limit on it, a time when I can ponder these layers and find a way to connect them in a way that leaves my own mark, one of acceptance.Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09461148136578592965noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723489562885266642.post-60738161082829215322011-08-15T20:40:00.000-07:002011-08-15T20:40:57.293-07:00Art: Worth An Ounce of Prevention<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9d3JDJNV0qCwbgAI4w_KSxTsP9m-JUDO7FtBwXeXx4tWiYrhaZ_BepIUrkButjZGMjXT-Z5I5dUYcJuyB09POP-1dPDXUYg6gYdzgkoi42XWYGVuDj7yRhEnymr5nfSW-qJW0wlMIRGmb/s1600/Quadrantstill.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9d3JDJNV0qCwbgAI4w_KSxTsP9m-JUDO7FtBwXeXx4tWiYrhaZ_BepIUrkButjZGMjXT-Z5I5dUYcJuyB09POP-1dPDXUYg6gYdzgkoi42XWYGVuDj7yRhEnymr5nfSW-qJW0wlMIRGmb/s320/Quadrantstill.jpg" width="318" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>Still Quadrant</i>, ©2011, H. Hunter, 18" x 18," Monoprint and Collage</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>I'm sitting at my desk at the Children's Hospital here in Sacramento. When I'm here, I'm firmly in my role as an art therapist, but every so often this role gets mixed up with my role as an artist.<br />
<br />
I often feel like I lead a kind of double life, shifting internally between the person who keeps a curious eye open to composition and the way colors play against one another, and the person whose job it is to keep watch with another; one whose life has been compromised by illness, accident or abuse. I offer them the time and space, safety and support so that they can use the art materials and allow whatever wants to emerge to appear. We welcome the result as just right, true to itself, perfect.<br />
<br />
Every so often, my roles get jumbled--like this week. I had been asked by our director of Patient Care Services to participate in an art benefit to help raise money for a local chapter of the <a href="http://www.thecapcenter.org/">Child Abuse Prevention Center</a>. She wanted to create an event filled with art and combined with California vintners, to help support this worthy cause. For anyone unfamiliar with the impact of this issue, the Center's site posts an astonishing list of statistics:<br />
<br />
<i>Every minute in America a child is reported abused or neglected...One in five is sexually abused. Half a million children are reported abused in California each year. Every day in California at least one child dies as a result of abuse or neglect.</i><br />
<br />
Each one is one too many.<br />
<br />
These are startling and disturbing statistics and what brings these numbers home to me is the entry of one of these small "ones" into our playroom, carried in the arms of a nurse. The care and treatment that these children receive is superb and beyond that, the love that surrounds them is priceless. So many arms are there to soothe, protect and hold them as their injuries heal and the natural resilience of each child takes hold once again. <br />
<br />
I didn't think twice before I said yes, because the request touched my heart. I knew that here was a way to give back.<br />
<br />
I'll be showing my artwork with a number of excellent artists: <a href="http://christopherbeerfineart.wordpress.com/http://christopherbeerfineart.wordpress.com/">Chris Beer</a>, <a href="http://markbowles.com/">Mark Bowles</a>, <a href="http://www.niftyartgirl.com/">Beth Rommel</a>, <a href="http://troutstreamdesigns.com/Index.htm">Andrew Maurer</a>, <a href="http://www.janeart.com/home.php">Jane Mikacich</a>, Wendy Nugent, <a href="http://www.dpoinski.com/">Diane Poinski</a>, and <a href="http://www.staceyvetter.com/">Stacey Vetter</a>. I hope you'll take a moment to reflect upon this issue and consider what you might do in your own area to help. If you're going to be around the Sacramento area, I warmly invite you to the Pour for Prevention event on Saturday, August 27th from 6-9 p.m. For more information and details, click <a href="http://www.thecapcenter.org/show_page.asp?page_id=78">here</a>.Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09461148136578592965noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723489562885266642.post-44912982417070396782011-07-19T21:20:00.000-07:002011-12-19T10:30:55.922-08:00A Different Kind of Summer <br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVLcl3sFH-_oYs40F_Btvp02XtqEYW4wCEloC_LNnOWj0VKrXCl27VKFqoqElqjqsfFuY6lBsvDtq-hR4xt6WWS-g1mQGwX9bGy8aJwaQVyqEDFpkU-YcCfTvYMUs8umMhvvd96Inp8SDL/s1600/H.Hunter1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVLcl3sFH-_oYs40F_Btvp02XtqEYW4wCEloC_LNnOWj0VKrXCl27VKFqoqElqjqsfFuY6lBsvDtq-hR4xt6WWS-g1mQGwX9bGy8aJwaQVyqEDFpkU-YcCfTvYMUs8umMhvvd96Inp8SDL/s400/H.Hunter1.jpg" width="303px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Still Life With Orange, 2011, H. Hunter, 28" x 32," quilted fabric</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It's been a different kind of summer so far. Though <br />
it's been many years since the summer was mine to fashion as I wish, the illusion that I can do so stays with me. <br />
<br />
Part of what makes this summer different was a decision I made to focus my energies on an art quilt show taking place in October at our <a href="http://www.davisartcenter.org/gallery.htm">local art center</a>. Accepting the invitation was big; prior to this, my forays into the quilting world have been few. I've taken <a href="http://www.quiltstudy.org/about_us/index.html">inspiration from quilt patterns</a>, but to put pins into cloth and stitch one piece of fabric to another--now that is another feat altogether. <br />
<br />
All of the normal fears and then some attended me (and <i>I </i>know that <i>you</i> know them well enough from your own work that I don't have to detail them here) but despite all of that, the process has been amazing. I made a goal of creating one quilted piece per month for six months. These are works in which I can exercise my love for detail <i>and</i> create small areas of fascination while working at a pace I can sustain with my art therapy practice.<br />
<br />
I'm aided by the sheer hypnotic flow of long weekend afternoons accompanied by the sound of the fan and audio books: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ape-House-Novel-Sara-Gruen/dp/0385523211"><i>Ape House</i></a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Coral-Thief-Novel-Rebecca-Stott/dp/0385531486/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1311134172&sr=1-1"><i>The Coral Thief</i></a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_31?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=the+girl+with+the+dragon+tattoo&sprefix=the+girl+with+the+dragon+tattoo"><i>The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo</i></a> to name a few. While my mind is captured by a good story line, my eye is free to wander and choose patterns that the more critical part of me would probably veto. My focus is also sharpened by my long time partner in art crime, <a href="http://niftyartgirl.blogspot.com/2011_06_01_archive.html">Beth Rommel</a>. We met over a year ago in <a href="http://artbizcoach.com/btss.html">Alyson Stanfield's Blog Triage</a> class and have become fast friends, going on take part in the <a href="http://www.artbizcoach.com/conspiracy/">Artist Conspiracy</a>. It surprises me that sharing a goal with someone over the phone (Beth lives in Georgia, I in CA) creates such a strong degree of accountability, but there it is and I'm delighted by it.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYD-u16DGirS3FWdeVjSsecKbDjUaAWBPMHBJZiltV2ZONd8aM4xw-sffol9SLRiLc-dSDwMFzhVLgcU-XyC7GVV5MmyfFroPu8zAolOM3Du0D0W5X_AXG1i8CZ4UsWnIahS-HGt0tldNv/s1600/Halliephoto.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYD-u16DGirS3FWdeVjSsecKbDjUaAWBPMHBJZiltV2ZONd8aM4xw-sffol9SLRiLc-dSDwMFzhVLgcU-XyC7GVV5MmyfFroPu8zAolOM3Du0D0W5X_AXG1i8CZ4UsWnIahS-HGt0tldNv/s320/Halliephoto.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hallie, lending gravitas to our home</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
In the same vein, earlier in the year, I made a goal of creating a new website; one that I could fashion and refashion according to my artwork at the time. Spurred on by an art and wine event in August, <a href="http://cakegrrlscakery.blogspot.com/2011/06/pour-for-prevention-is-august-27th.html">Pour for Prevention</a>, I decided to nudge my visual ducks in a row and explore <a href="http://wordpress.org/">WordPress</a>. Re-writing my artist's statement and bio was challenging (I mean how many ways can I say where I went to school? And, since my children are grown, is it too much to add cat to the description: "She lives and works in Davis, CA with her husband and ?...")<br />
<br />
So, as the current idiom goes, it's "good stuff," a rather rough way of saying that although this summer is different; no trips to the beach or lazy afternoons reading almost a whole book, it has been wonderful, and, and at this time of my life, a dream come true.Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09461148136578592965noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723489562885266642.post-16425696537884173002011-06-24T10:03:00.000-07:002011-06-24T10:03:14.260-07:00An Accidental Journey<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid6zLI8hnTHhrfXpPH5Hh040POzswM6dcn6LCGs2ymo_ViF1zbBGG8sRxJmEyD-RSGJBoTG-J7XNWqEh3_UbcW5XHcZzD2BWDzvpJOs-Di0F8ApF7CFLt60m34UeX8OB_HuJYQFns2GwlD/s1600/IMG_1060.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid6zLI8hnTHhrfXpPH5Hh040POzswM6dcn6LCGs2ymo_ViF1zbBGG8sRxJmEyD-RSGJBoTG-J7XNWqEh3_UbcW5XHcZzD2BWDzvpJOs-Di0F8ApF7CFLt60m34UeX8OB_HuJYQFns2GwlD/s320/IMG_1060.JPG" width="241" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Peonies at the <a href="http://www.ogunquitmuseum.org/index1.html">Ogunquit Museum of American Art</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>When I was a small child of five, my family moved to Maine. My dad was finishing his PhD and got his first teaching assignment at <a href="http://www.bowdoin.edu/">Bowdoin College</a>. I was just beginning kindergarten.<br />
<br />
Is it possible to fall in love at the age of five? Because if it is, I did. I loved so much about Maine, beginning at the edge of our backyard. Behind our brown plank house, in a yard with clumps of birch trees whose bark made perfect "paper," lay a bog. It was a magical place where I discovered peepers, tasted my first cranberries and stood peering into the depths of the murky pond. I marveled at the frogs' eggs gathered in gelatinous blobs, the beginnings of my education in biology and reproduction.<br />
<br />
We didn't live in Maine for long; just three years, but enough for the landscape of the place to imprint itself on my consciousness; stretches of land with rocky outcroppings, white steepled churches, docks and piers heaped with lobster pots and fishing nets, the smell of ocean and the clack of clamshells.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidXcq3Ck1mQlKbjEukBxXj_UmA75FIsByOsBpsj4DTcmytlj1lphB-pzVAMmBy8yhrZPiAX98s7dFFb2AX1yKiOvisJ2IjgHFmWxMwGGai2Yf75X7odsIWucis9pRKR1hH0LyLWj2cA83m/s1600/IMG_1005.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidXcq3Ck1mQlKbjEukBxXj_UmA75FIsByOsBpsj4DTcmytlj1lphB-pzVAMmBy8yhrZPiAX98s7dFFb2AX1yKiOvisJ2IjgHFmWxMwGGai2Yf75X7odsIWucis9pRKR1hH0LyLWj2cA83m/s320/IMG_1005.JPG" width="272" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rocky Coastal Beach, Hampton, N</td></tr>
</tbody></table>The car-sweep of these images wove itself into my consciousness, so that even now, fifty years later, I dream of traveling back to Maine. In my dreams, I swim up a river banded by ferns and rimmed with pine trees; there is the promise of blueberries hiding within the woods. The dream is so vivid that I believe I am there and awaken with the sensation of just having returned from this faraway place. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgV880-3Yxj7mgnfWrMk2Ee_CQKNjKAWpNf3ttHh_YaX8xilGqCfH7GstGQUJ2sXTpgr9fCRJMpRx9mAzWIXCLqBEIqqLhjciwX0cggWGsZzifuSjg_j_UPS3rf1PP_1nHX0F8eSkv0UA5/s1600/MEdogwood2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgV880-3Yxj7mgnfWrMk2Ee_CQKNjKAWpNf3ttHh_YaX8xilGqCfH7GstGQUJ2sXTpgr9fCRJMpRx9mAzWIXCLqBEIqqLhjciwX0cggWGsZzifuSjg_j_UPS3rf1PP_1nHX0F8eSkv0UA5/s320/MEdogwood2.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dogwood in the yard of a older home in Kittery, ME</td></tr>
</tbody></table>It didn't seem so strange then, when I accidentally ended up in Maine last week. My family and I flew out to a wedding in Vermont and, wishing to make a small vacation out of it, I suggested we stop off at the coast for a day; in New Hampshire to be exact. Arriving at dinner time, we set off in search of sustenance other than McDonald's. After getting turned around on a round about, we crossed a bridge and came upon what looked to be an excellent taqueria. A man whom I asked in the parking lot noted that it was the best Mexican food in Maine outside of Southern California. We were in Maine, not New Hampshire!<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxZjCV_mvUE1lJK590r2IrJvVewclcy4rG-2eYrjekfXchass5FIJiA4-aoQIODRMfDZM_lrixkNcaGxz08y45nWRT6bIXqByFUsO9nqX1T6m8HQlb1oUsg8ghgFneW1zcMrStkqx74SaV/s1600/IMG_1017.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxZjCV_mvUE1lJK590r2IrJvVewclcy4rG-2eYrjekfXchass5FIJiA4-aoQIODRMfDZM_lrixkNcaGxz08y45nWRT6bIXqByFUsO9nqX1T6m8HQlb1oUsg8ghgFneW1zcMrStkqx74SaV/s320/IMG_1017.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Boats like clamshells at Kittery Point, ME</td></tr>
</tbody></table>The feeling of delight that rose up in me was exquisite. We all looked at each other and began to laugh. Imagine that!! We had arrived in Maine by accident. What followed was a day and a half of intense exploration; of inhaling smells and remembering once familiar sights. I could tell you that we lingered at a dock, wandered through an art museum and mixed with the locals in a general store, but that wouldn't quite capture it. Throughout the hours we spent there, I felt that I had returned to something quite precious that I don't want to lose again.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqK-S6_r7mNR52XViWq_w683VTJWh_DJisLqs5nXo1Y30t5So55r3U3_HHzFlbXfo5stLrvVUT62b6oDHLG9UN3bS-vRDXacG8ZdbAhWXab4eDY4RRY6zkenJG_h150c2ilbQFofCPCbBh/s1600/91061_object_representations_media_1327_medium.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqK-S6_r7mNR52XViWq_w683VTJWh_DJisLqs5nXo1Y30t5So55r3U3_HHzFlbXfo5stLrvVUT62b6oDHLG9UN3bS-vRDXacG8ZdbAhWXab4eDY4RRY6zkenJG_h150c2ilbQFofCPCbBh/s320/91061_object_representations_media_1327_medium.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> <i>Weehawken Sequence</i>, John Marin, circa 1916, 10" x 12.5," oil on canvas <div class="detail-text"> <br />
</div></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Is there a place in your life that calls to your soul, appears in your dreams, a place to which you've made a secret promise to return?<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09461148136578592965noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723489562885266642.post-77571112090982310632011-05-28T10:44:00.000-07:002011-06-10T10:20:30.526-07:00Home: Our Foundation<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnnZ1f-EXfwS6JINIYhxq7NFdp3c7lbK2iMBLBoE7NGuzAYiPrGU1K8LQN9fdE_ZWXH7jjRq0-lUghIDDB5YMga1qUQjllowZeZZfPMd-eleztPFtYtkDFKlvLtlvOuPkfne-J57zFypKt/s1600/DSCN0537.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnnZ1f-EXfwS6JINIYhxq7NFdp3c7lbK2iMBLBoE7NGuzAYiPrGU1K8LQN9fdE_ZWXH7jjRq0-lUghIDDB5YMga1qUQjllowZeZZfPMd-eleztPFtYtkDFKlvLtlvOuPkfne-J57zFypKt/s400/DSCN0537.JPG" t8="true" width="277px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">"Tempting Fate," ©2004, H.K.Hunter, 3.5" x 5", Collage: acrylic and magazine images on paper, Collection of Diana Connolly</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Recently, I've pondered home as a symbol and a reality. In the wake of Japan's earthquake/tsunami and the rash of virulent tornadoes over middle America, the fact that one's hearth can be destroyed in seconds made me think about the various values held by the place where we reside.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE0fGYHRn4PpI8kUSBUdus5elKhvnSeHs3znr78oAaM-EKTv2RVCOZ8pWDHXKIkYIiXTI77lL3rb0qG-8Tcbp1ab7DR0zwgUdsfT3tFvlz-Ee7pcVrj2PVsGSM7BttlIo17d93n-FlsV8c/s1600/Many+Chambered+House.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE0fGYHRn4PpI8kUSBUdus5elKhvnSeHs3znr78oAaM-EKTv2RVCOZ8pWDHXKIkYIiXTI77lL3rb0qG-8Tcbp1ab7DR0zwgUdsfT3tFvlz-Ee7pcVrj2PVsGSM7BttlIo17d93n-FlsV8c/s400/Many+Chambered+House.jpg" t8="true" width="281px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">"Many Chambered House," ©2004, 3' x 5", Collage: acrylic, colored pencil, calendar imagery and ink on paper, Collection of Virginia Shubert</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Across our country, home prices have tumbled, particularly in areas deeply connected to me: California where I live, Florida where my son resides and Michigan, where half of my family originated. We've been lucky enough to maintain our home for many years but it has come home to me how quickly that privilege can be taken away. <br />
<br />
As children, we moved frequently from state to state, house to house, apartment to apartment. While many kids dream about what they want to be when they grow up, I fantasized about having a home of my own (think:<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Room_of_One%27s_Own">Virginia Woolf's A Room of her Own</a>.)<br />
<br />
Even as that vision took shape, my desire must have remained sublimated, because I also ended up making art about homes. Recently, I saw a message on my<a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1091597079"> </a><a href="http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=224908234185965&id=201260976550691#%21/pages/Hannah-Klaus-Hunter/201260976550691?sk=wall">facebook fanpage</a> from a collector, who bought one of my paintings nearly 20 years ago. The woman was kind enough to take a picture of the work and when I saw it, I recognized an early "home" piece.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdqzT7orJKl4p01LeUql2cvxAbJJQNy80NXN3a6nvb1r67aayHGaHVgPaOxsH7CVCfcvIFXXQuJo3Z4JXkS9tZWVe8zMMg-ylxg8IkUORnC3SGvqZ9PTcGXYFoSmKr00y0jq2_21TiDA4N/s1600/Slide005_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdqzT7orJKl4p01LeUql2cvxAbJJQNy80NXN3a6nvb1r67aayHGaHVgPaOxsH7CVCfcvIFXXQuJo3Z4JXkS9tZWVe8zMMg-ylxg8IkUORnC3SGvqZ9PTcGXYFoSmKr00y0jq2_21TiDA4N/s400/Slide005_1.jpg" width="325" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container"><tbody>
<tr></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">"Piecing the Night," ©1992, H.K. Hunter, 8.5" x 7", watercolor on paper, collection of Michelle Heinz</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
That made me curious. I pored over my i-photo files and pulled out the "homes" I'd made in recent years. I've selected a few to share with you here. <br />
<div style="border: medium none;"><br />
</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmJUHaH8S6Qk_wIBZED40YAF3sSptUDknXejbEEUgHJrY5zneFS4PZjiLldPDAyQxXU6lBueUPdxkcVIsAvrw3Txf5NsqF2RICMP5bzNT7D6-hoUFjmlBM89NRhT644bd7rxzvmGjdAjhu/s1600/DSCN0720_1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmJUHaH8S6Qk_wIBZED40YAF3sSptUDknXejbEEUgHJrY5zneFS4PZjiLldPDAyQxXU6lBueUPdxkcVIsAvrw3Txf5NsqF2RICMP5bzNT7D6-hoUFjmlBM89NRhT644bd7rxzvmGjdAjhu/s400/DSCN0720_1.JPG" t8="true" width="275px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">"Katrina," ©2005, 11" x15", Collage: acrylic, ink, calendar imagery on paper, Collection of the University of Iowa Hospitals</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>I'm curious to hear your thoughts on home as you've watched the images of devastation flash across your television screen or heard the news about another small town leveled. Has your art been affected by these current and timeless events? Are images of home on alert in your imagination? <br />
<div style="border: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="" style="border: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicYbdsfFKAIbA5QToapTM1jIYlmLJicf7a3TMNX05TohlGVzYGbCDL0NzAI8bZpIjlGmn0pKG8X27sjPNrZx8hEL1qq1LwCph4HMXKlBY4iYwy0qwUbHbv05_TW0jJ-B98L7kaZIywyvjw/s1600/Flood.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicYbdsfFKAIbA5QToapTM1jIYlmLJicf7a3TMNX05TohlGVzYGbCDL0NzAI8bZpIjlGmn0pKG8X27sjPNrZx8hEL1qq1LwCph4HMXKlBY4iYwy0qwUbHbv05_TW0jJ-B98L7kaZIywyvjw/s400/Flood.JPG" t8="true" width="290px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Flood, ©2009, H.K. Hunter, 11" x 17", Collage: acrylic, ink, caran d'ache, foil and calendar imagery on paper, Collection: Anonymous </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table></div><div class="separator" style="border: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">I'll be posting intermittently this summer; I want to take advantage of long days and cool evenings in the studio and finish working on a chapter for Cathy Malchiodi's upcoming book, "The Arts in Healthcare." </div><div class="separator" style="border: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">I look forward to keeping up with you on your blogs and wish you a reflective Memorial Day weekend; visited by memories of the ones that have gone before you.</div>Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09461148136578592965noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723489562885266642.post-74429314581938860222011-05-20T15:13:00.000-07:002011-12-05T20:02:07.056-08:00Timing is Everything<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8HUEbFiiA1uQn5v3awamOAtewwJlPKg4zFiKI752mEuUI2nLZvMW-zT1Syhzu1ADf6LUDlbFByg3HoRyHoTgqN8FwrM6TshCMmUGOsxn-1uJHk4Uu3Ngj7a1YZvSh6RYsllAjYvxrD_PS/s1600/DSCN2438.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8HUEbFiiA1uQn5v3awamOAtewwJlPKg4zFiKI752mEuUI2nLZvMW-zT1Syhzu1ADf6LUDlbFByg3HoRyHoTgqN8FwrM6TshCMmUGOsxn-1uJHk4Uu3Ngj7a1YZvSh6RYsllAjYvxrD_PS/s400/DSCN2438.JPG" width="311" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Marriage Circa 2011, ©2011, H.Hunter, Collage: paper and acrylic paint</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
This poem by <a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/w-s-merwin">W.S. Merwin</a> in a recent <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2010/07/the-magic-of-merwin.html">New Yorker</a> caught my eye, mind and heart. Perfect for spring, when newborn leaves emerge suddenly while you're inside, retrieving a paintbrush you forgot.<br />
<br />
<i>Turning</i><br />
<br />
<i>going too fast for myself I missed</i><br />
<i>more than I think I can remember</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
<i>almost everything it seems sometimes </i><br />
<i>and yet there are chances that come back</i><br />
<br />
<i>that I did not notice when they stood</i><br />
<i>where I could have reached out and touched them</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
<i>this morning the black shepherd dog</i><br />
<i>still young looking up and saying</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
<i>Are you ready this time</i><br />
<br />
Merwin ends the poem so abruptly--as if he's just turned his head to look down at his dog. Doesn't it often seem like this--that those chances to catch something very important pass by in the blink of an eye?Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09461148136578592965noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723489562885266642.post-80473107749524699992011-05-14T09:08:00.000-07:002011-05-25T06:42:54.844-07:00Art Therapy 101<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHXtj8bMoDlSly0At3XGvSJHmkIHjwzX0ExQvxNjbOXWYcoX5-ci5Bw0l0Zgkh9iqkQH6fGJQ75rzMLBTt6eVcCWgfFQVcZTdUshTpS3V0y-FMMWSmnUvCh6B4EhD2TTCQtCd16hyphenhyphenpX58c/s1600/Liz-VienneseWalts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHXtj8bMoDlSly0At3XGvSJHmkIHjwzX0ExQvxNjbOXWYcoX5-ci5Bw0l0Zgkh9iqkQH6fGJQ75rzMLBTt6eVcCWgfFQVcZTdUshTpS3V0y-FMMWSmnUvCh6B4EhD2TTCQtCd16hyphenhyphenpX58c/s400/Liz-VienneseWalts.jpg" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Liz & Partner: Viennese Waltz, Photo: Jen Gross</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Normally, I spend these posts focused on my explorations in art and art therapy. However, behind all of that lies the beauty and wonder of family. Family is my foundation.<br />
<br />
This year, in celebration of Mother's Day, I was invited by <a href="http://intner.net/blog/">Claudine Intner</a>, an artist, blogger and mom extraordinaire to join a Mother's Day blog hop. I accepted and chose May 14, my daughter's birthday, as my post date. I couldn't think of a better way of honoring Mother's Day than to write about being Liz's mom.<br />
<br />
One of the great delights of my life, Liz came into it twenty two years ago today. A young woman who has faced many challenges, she has overcome them one step at a time. <br />
<br />
In fact, Lizzie helped inspire me to become an art therapist. Being with my own daughter, I understood the need to have compassion, to help my child as she met the inevitable challenges of growing up. What an awakening; to discover that no one was going to be a better advocate for her than I. And, it was this same experience of advocacy which spurred me on later, to work with children, who might or might not need an advocate of their own.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3xlzd0AiI_LicclNNx6g31fChhkblgS6GRr2WZh3LYAMneQSTRngihWijzPwctRyn2scp-kb40ca-ygjyLDVIHf6jSoq82GRed0sepyObcF2tIjHLD4lZNx2D8UCr_4xDMF_8DczcWO59/s1600/IGB+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3xlzd0AiI_LicclNNx6g31fChhkblgS6GRr2WZh3LYAMneQSTRngihWijzPwctRyn2scp-kb40ca-ygjyLDVIHf6jSoq82GRed0sepyObcF2tIjHLD4lZNx2D8UCr_4xDMF_8DczcWO59/s400/IGB+2.jpg" width="265" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Liz & Partner: Nightclub Two Step, Photo: Jen Gross</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Years have passed since Liz's elementary school days, but at the time, I poured everything that I knew as an artist into my mothering. When school was frustrating, Liz hunkered down at a small table piled with markers and paper and pounded hard on sheet after sheet of paper, producing a series of pointillist mandalas. Later on studying art therapy, I learned the theoretical underpinnings of catharsis but at the time, Lizzie blazed her own art therapy trail.<br />
<br />
When she reached high school, and I learned about <a href="http://www.soulcollage.com/">SoulCollage<span style="font-family: 'tahoma','sans-serif'; font-size: 5pt; line-height: 115%;"><sup>®</sup></span></a>, it was Liz who took it to new heights, carrying stacks of 5" x 8" cards and magazines up to her room and emerging several hours later with a fan of cards to share with me. (Before long, she began to assist me during workshops, adding her gentle presence and expertise.)<br />
<br />
Together, her cards created the portrait of a passionate and deeply creative woman and I wondered what future form(s) this might take in the world. I didn't have long to wait. During her first year of college, Liz discovered ballroom dance. An incurable romantic, this art form fits her to a T. I've delighted in watching her emerge as a gorgeous woman, who continues to craft her life one step at a time. Today, on her birthday, she is performing with her dance team, "Spirit in Motion" and dancing a solo with her partner. I can't think of a more fitting way for her to enter her 22nd year: in motion. <br />
<br />
To see more blogs on the hop, click on any of the links below:<br />
<br />
5/1 - Claudine Intner <a href="http://www.intner.net/blog" target="_blank">http://www.intner.net/blog</a><br />
5/2 - Melissa Liban <a href="http://melissalibanillustrations.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://<wbr></wbr>melissalibanillustrations.<wbr></wbr>blogspot.com/</a><br />
5/3 - Lynn Krawczyk <a href="http://fibraartysta.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://fibraartysta.blogspot.<wbr></wbr>com/</a><br />
5/4 - Ishita Bandyo <a href="http://www.ishitabandyoarts.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://www.ishitabandyoarts.<wbr></wbr>blogspot.com/</a><br />
5/5 - Jeri Greenberg <a href="http://www.jerigreenbergart.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://www.Jerigreenbergart.<wbr></wbr>blogspot.com</a><br />
5/6 - Kathleen Mattox <a href="http://mixedmessagesbykathleenmattox.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://<wbr></wbr>mixedmessagesbykathleenmattox.<wbr></wbr>blogspot.com/</a><br />
5/8- Amanda Ruth <a href="http://bunnycarrots.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://bunnycarrots.blogspot.<wbr></wbr>com/</a><br />
5/9- Judi Hurwitt <a href="http://approachable-art.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://approachable-art.<wbr></wbr>blogspot.com/</a><br />
5/10 - Kathleen Murphy <a href="http://kathleenmurphydesigns.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://kathleenmurphydesigns.<wbr></wbr>blogspot.com/</a><br />
5/11 - Hannah Phelps <a href="http://hannahphelpsgallery.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://hannahphelpsgallery.<wbr></wbr>blogspot.com/</a><br />
5/12 - Helen Hiebert <a href="http://helenhiebertstudio.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://helenhiebertstudio.<wbr></wbr>blogspot.com/</a><br />
5/14 - Hannah Klaus Hunter <a href="http://hannahklaushunter.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://hannahklaushunter.<wbr></wbr>blogspot.com/</a><br />
5/15 - Claudine Intner <a href="http://www.intner.net/blog/" target="_blank">http://www.intner.net/blog/</a>Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09461148136578592965noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723489562885266642.post-9860056251266380962011-05-06T14:04:00.000-07:002011-05-06T14:04:28.195-07:00Prelude to Mother's Day<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOKjIZl68QTp-qKCo39Pscg073sMsDxlYDQFjs-_FtfEXT_WkO0f1Gpjmh2wzzkQQY_gvrP76xs9UOZUYS5dWcDqFn7tFz7P7u-i2ijbh-e83NQ7opsCf6q5gJMVajJ66jVAI-u0IfOCaB/s1600/Water+of+Life.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOKjIZl68QTp-qKCo39Pscg073sMsDxlYDQFjs-_FtfEXT_WkO0f1Gpjmh2wzzkQQY_gvrP76xs9UOZUYS5dWcDqFn7tFz7P7u-i2ijbh-e83NQ7opsCf6q5gJMVajJ66jVAI-u0IfOCaB/s400/Water+of+Life.jpg" width="288" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>Waters of Life</i>, ©2003, H.Hunter, 11" x 15," Collage</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>It was <a href="http://www.daughtersandsonstowork.org/wmspage.cfm?parm1=936"><i>Bring Your Child to Work Day</i></a> last week, a day parents working at <a href="http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/children/clinical_services/child_life_program/">our hospital</a> bring along their children, in order to explore careers in healthcare. We had speakers, tours and tables all set up to teach kids about a multitude of possible futures.<br />
<br />
My assignment was clear: meet the oncoming wave of children, 50 or so, with a quick description of what it means to be an art therapist. A Twitter dilemma if I ever saw one. (Describe what I do in 140 characters or less.) In addition, I offered them an art therapy activity.<br />
<br />
I wanted to engage the kids, find out what they might wish to do when they grew up, recognizing any answer is a work in progress.<br />
<br />
To that end, I had a collection of muslin dolls, ready to be drawn upon in whatever way a child's dream might dictate. Most of the children wanted to grab the doll and go (and what would you want with a naked baby doll, I ask you?) I politely let them know the talk was part of the bargain. No art, no doll.<br />
<br />
My invitation was often initially met with a blank stare, but when I motioned them over to join other kids at a table filled with fabric markers, more colored pens began to "tatoo" muslin skins, transforming the blank "canvas" of that doll into a future self. <br />
<br />
It was marvelous and all types of dolls emerged--nurses and doctor dolls of course, but also singers, computer geeks and pharmacists. I was so happy that the children felt that they were able to supplement the ample information that they'd heard with a chance to internalize their knowledge. Perhaps some expressed a dormant desire, a curious inclination just waiting for the opportunity to emerge.<br />
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<span style="color: #660066;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">It's taken a long time for me to lean into my future. As a child on the playground, I was often stumped when we talked about what we wanted to be when we grew up. The presumed careers for girls, teaching and nursing, did not feel right. But sitting behind the table last week, wearing a bright pink sweater and sparkly earrings, I felt I was embodying the self that had been waiting all those years ago, an artist, who uses art as medicine. </span></span></span>Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09461148136578592965noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723489562885266642.post-26671558830437589082011-04-27T07:29:00.000-07:002012-01-15T15:28:15.555-08:00Where Inspiration GrowsI was reading one of my favorite blogs by <a href="http://donnawatsonart.blogspot.com/">Donna Watson</a>, a post called <i>The Search For Meaning: Self Awareness</i>. The title alone called out to the mystic, the artist and the art therapist in me. As I read, I came to this question:<br />
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<i>I eventually realized that there is more to a work of art. I wanted to find meaning in my work... I started making lists as I went deeper and identified my likes, my interests, and my strengths...<span style="color: #000066;">Have you figured out your list? </span></i><br />
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<span style="color: black;">As I read and looked at her images, it struck me that images themselves are a form of sanctuary for many of us--not only the creating of images, but the consequent viewing of our own and those of other artists.</span></div>
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Donna's words spoke to me. I've made plenty of <i>To Do </i>lists, mapping out my day, but never an accounting of where I find visual meaning. I wanted my list to include things that have inspired me through the years, things that fuel my work and which, I've discovered, help form my own inner strengths.<br />
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To that end, <span style="color: black;">I'm making my list.</span><i style="color: blue;"> I invite you to make your own and share it with us.</i></div>
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1. Quilts:<br />
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<i>How I start to make a quilt, all I do is start sewing and it just comes to me. My daughter asked me the other day what I was making, and I said, "I don't know yet; I'm just sewing pieces together," and the quilt looked pretty good. No pattern. I usually don't use a pattern, only my mind. </i>Lorraine Pettway, quilter </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQGwIrslDrXjBR9o-1D9o4prTGQ0F4AqtZCslDypnwFWAF0sDcvUcS7aMHd0PE4ICTijc3HETwJy75pD4OLodX8F1XGT7P3j_yOrQDbAiEEuFzJlVdCaIFRyiziPoraNmBXA_IYb2bFW39/s1600/Dancing+Rings+Quilt.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQGwIrslDrXjBR9o-1D9o4prTGQ0F4AqtZCslDypnwFWAF0sDcvUcS7aMHd0PE4ICTijc3HETwJy75pD4OLodX8F1XGT7P3j_yOrQDbAiEEuFzJlVdCaIFRyiziPoraNmBXA_IYb2bFW39/s400/Dancing+Rings+Quilt.JPG" width="322px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dancing Rings, ©2007, Hannah Hunter, 48" x 60," Cloth</td></tr>
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2. Sheer, unbridaled color:<br />
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<i><span class="body">All colors are the friends of their neighbors and the lovers of their opposites.</span></i> Mark Chagall<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivzDhZGD5psobt_PGjEeRuDv-2kXcXsNEDLZHiDAzcpXev1fVLKcERz0hVWWmzYQFQIztp3UbbuVW1kFw3OzXZJSZelvoSHXz1AcbzmUfduLoED2Usn3EUNXw9-GXjkAoVAKlAYJuegjL_/s1600/IMG_0971.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivzDhZGD5psobt_PGjEeRuDv-2kXcXsNEDLZHiDAzcpXev1fVLKcERz0hVWWmzYQFQIztp3UbbuVW1kFw3OzXZJSZelvoSHXz1AcbzmUfduLoED2Usn3EUNXw9-GXjkAoVAKlAYJuegjL_/s320/IMG_0971.JPG" width="287px" /></a></div>
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3. Mandalas:<br />
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<i>When I began drawing the mandalas, however, I saw that everything, all the paths I had been following, all the steps I had taken, were leading back to a single point-namely, to the midpoint...It is the path to the center, to individuation. </i>C. G. Jung from <u>Memories</u>, <u>Dreams</u> <u>and Reflections</u></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiElB37jHerWkwAnVDZgdJi_4stZz13jxBsWS87Hx9ce19NMIzb6xtlhgKvdUK3PGq35MzwnEUq7JDAW7ozpn3PAQnPNFhqIviIxb0LnoUsUcSVwxVRz1hwpjk293Ut21cSeQCGntgayBmE/s1600/350px-Mandala_of_Vajradhatu.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiElB37jHerWkwAnVDZgdJi_4stZz13jxBsWS87Hx9ce19NMIzb6xtlhgKvdUK3PGq35MzwnEUq7JDAW7ozpn3PAQnPNFhqIviIxb0LnoUsUcSVwxVRz1hwpjk293Ut21cSeQCGntgayBmE/s320/350px-Mandala_of_Vajradhatu.JPG" width="258px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thangka painting of Vajradhatu Mandala</td></tr>
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4. Tree of Life:<br />
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<i>Oh, I who long to grow</i><br />
<i>I look outside myself, and the tree</i><br />
<i>inside me grows.</i> Ranier Marie Rilke<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAWqTXehRTVhb0VGa73B7YX4-w6eCgi4tEr8LIqZLRMfetj8J8Yf7NH2S98aLJU7HCprjHSqn4HUFIb2CQBpHyyLi47gny3vUo7XT6P2rYZp9XSnSqtBnwj8eOBn6Oxca4UAuvQils49Rp/s1600/images-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAWqTXehRTVhb0VGa73B7YX4-w6eCgi4tEr8LIqZLRMfetj8J8Yf7NH2S98aLJU7HCprjHSqn4HUFIb2CQBpHyyLi47gny3vUo7XT6P2rYZp9XSnSqtBnwj8eOBn6Oxca4UAuvQils49Rp/s1600/images-1.jpg" /></a></div>
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5. Indian gouache paintings:<br />
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<i>The Goddess Shakti taking the form of a triangle brings forth the three worlds.</i> Jnarnava, Chapter X <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSlHUM_8JQmFYQyVEvPySJr6mM8QZZ1QGF16U5cYgIJhED-VpQlxdLza1sQyHEme_HUs5F7BcnPCHhjQV3uukppdgHwFtQSzSQUlg90ne6tKRzxcM6Dep-8RKFmidgB7ivolxRU6kUG06f/s1600/IMG_0959.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSlHUM_8JQmFYQyVEvPySJr6mM8QZZ1QGF16U5cYgIJhED-VpQlxdLza1sQyHEme_HUs5F7BcnPCHhjQV3uukppdgHwFtQSzSQUlg90ne6tKRzxcM6Dep-8RKFmidgB7ivolxRU6kUG06f/s320/IMG_0959.JPG" width="286px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rajasthan, c. 17th century, Gouache on paper</td></tr>
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6. Ancient Manuscripts:<br />
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<i>Without traditional wisdom, the language would be but a skeleton without flesh, a body without a soul. </i>Zulu proverb from South Africa<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjny8DCAvE_WREQoPuMWtcWB7sIrK_9n7PBPHgVGDsfMtCuZt5BMdsWto93oZUowkFsoc7b2DnHwFsJhCGIZTcbLqvmkk3p3y4hyphenhyphen7cz5KVY7E_n3IU-Ho5oZmnS_sJmGPqLgiFLTjh_zTsb/s1600/image_cropped.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjny8DCAvE_WREQoPuMWtcWB7sIrK_9n7PBPHgVGDsfMtCuZt5BMdsWto93oZUowkFsoc7b2DnHwFsJhCGIZTcbLqvmkk3p3y4hyphenhyphen7cz5KVY7E_n3IU-Ho5oZmnS_sJmGPqLgiFLTjh_zTsb/s320/image_cropped.JPG" width="199px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hebrew manuscript from the Bodleian Library, Oxford University</td></tr>
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</div>Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09461148136578592965noreply@blogger.com8