Working to promote peace and wellness for our planet and people
by Jenn
Artists Exploring the Relationship between the Mind and Body
The Body Beloved The Body Betrayed explores how the mind impacts the body. Applicants will examine the tangible effects of emotion through literary and visual art. Audio recordings of sound/song/music, video recordings of dance/performance art, photography, paintings, essays, poems - all are welcome!
When the skin we’re in harbors and hides physical pain and emotional trauma
We all curate our lives on some level, deciding what to share, what to hide from view. This extends from what we choose to post on social media to saying that we’re “fine” when someone asks and we’re crumbling inside, to pulling our sleeves down to hide that we are bruised or that we cut. Consider the perceived boundary between physical and spiritual. Could these realties be more fluid than assumed?
THE BODY BETRAYED: How does the body illustrate/hide states of mind? How do we punish bodies, intentionally or unintentionally?
What hides inside? Does your body reveal it? Explicitly/implicitly? Being real with each other is how to truly be connected; and it’s the medicine that we need. Look beyond the curated life of social media and superficial interactions. Personal experiences are welcome.
THE BODY BELOVED: How do we celebrate sensations and exalt in bodies?
We are miraculous creatures. We are built for joy, pleasure and awe. Let us make art that reveals what we've forgotten to celebrate. Walt Whitman exalted in the body and existence in his seminal work, Leaves of Grass. Using the medium of visual and audio art, essay and poetry, let us share these truths with each other.
“I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.”
― Walt Whitman
It is time for a reckoning
We are living through a pandemic, an era of emotional extremes, dangerous climate conditions and deadly aggression. The time we pass through will leave its mark on us. Even if our compass is spinning, let us slow down and gather our bearings to find our true north. Let us walk side by side with trust, compassion and empathy. But first, let us unfist our fingers and open up our palms so that we can hold each others' hand.
I welcome you all to the virtual exhibition. My hope is that it will speak to you, open dialogue, shine a light onto painful secrets so they are not as painful, and honor this miracle of life we are all gifted.
That you are here—that life exists, and identity;
That the powerful play goes on, and you will contribute a verse.
― Walt Whitman
Further reading:
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van Der Kolk, MD
The Happiness Trap by Russ Harris
Mind Over Medicine by Lissa Rankin, MD
Blue Mind by Wallace J Nichols
Keep Moving: Notes on Loss, Creativity, and Change by Maggie Smith
Finding Your Way: A Guide to Building Hopes and Dreams by Justin Teerlinck
Welcome to THE BODY BELOVED THE BODY BETRAYED Art Exhibit
HASANI - SONG OF THE PHOENIX
ARTIST STATEMENT
Most women get new bodies at least three times in their lives: the “puberty” body, the “motherhood” body, and the post-menopausal “crone” body; an inevitable trajectory.
I was pleased when I was visited by the Puberty Fairy. I grumbled and adapted when it was time to wear the mommy body, but the Menopause Fairy is a trickster.
I was always small and strong. Not strong in the sense of dead-lifting weights, but endurance strength. Endurance has been the one constant through these changes.
My “Phoenix” dance is an abstract commentary on both my disappointment with this new body, and my fears regarding multiple orthopedic surgeries that were on the horizon, caused by both age and by decades of heavy lifting in the course of caring for a disabled child, who is now a disabled adult.
Creating the dance was emotional and cathartic. To be honest, it was more for me than for any audience. It was entertainment for them, but for me it signified the process of learning to make peace with what I now have. Learning to make peace required my life-long friend, endurance.
Think of metamorphosis in reverse. The aesthetically pleasing butterfly devolves into the lumbering caterpillar. The worth of the caterpillar is equal to that of the butterfly. Why is it so hard to accept the worth of this new body is equal to that of my former ones?
How wonderful it would have been if I could have stepped into each new body with excited anticipation and no regrets.
Nevertheless, even as a caterpillar, I remain small and strong.
ABOUT
Hasani has been involved in Middle Eastern Dance since the impressionable age of 13 when her six brothers teased her about going through an awkward stage. She was originally a musician who danced as a hobby, but she came to realize her body was the best instrument of all and that changed everything.
Song of the Phoenix
Hasani
Video of choreographed dance
LYRICS - The Phoenix by Moe Abbott
Rip me limb from limb
Let all the pain seep in
Tear the skin from my bones
But leave me whole
Remove both my eyes
And what I knew of the earth and skies
And my ears, oh my ears
Leave them deaf
This hair can surely go
After all, it is just so-so
And this tongue, oh this tongue
To lay to rest
For only after everything is gone away
Can I rebuild this frame
Of the Phoenix
Of the Phoenix
Listen to more of Moe's music:
https://soundcloud.com/moe_abbott
Purchase Moe's music:
ALLEN BRADEN - SWEETHEARTS
One Friday late at night they grope their way
through the pale statuary and fallen leaves
for a hollow to lie in where they fit perfectly
the way their perfect bodies fit one another.
It seems quite natural that he is the star
this season and she the head cheerleader.
Once or twice she recalls something else
unforgettable she wants to say but does not.
They touch as if to say, Don’t ever forget this,
are young enough to wring love from elegy
with the vertigo of their longing, the rush
of uncovering and pushing flesh against flesh.
One tiny act is all it takes to bury themselves
in some small excuse for somewhere else,
anywhere but right here where his ambitions
will be planed down on the graveyard shift
and hers will be spent waiting on tables
with trays of coffee, hot cakes and syrup.
Previously published in Elegy in the Passive Voice.
ABOUT
Allen Braden is the author of A Wreath of Down and Drops of Blood and Elegy in the Passive Voice. He has received fellowships from the NEA and Artist Trust. Braden is chair of humanities at Tacoma Community College and serves as assistant poetry editor of Terrain.org.
TROY KEHM-GOINS - THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY
Through a Glass, Darkly (after Jasper Johns)
Troy Kehm-Goins
Montana BLACK spray paint, Sharpie marker, and metallic silver paint marker on 6” x 6” wood panel. Baked polymer clay, each approximately 1.25” x 1.75”
Not For Sale
ARTIST STATEMENT
What happens when 20/20 vision is clouded? When a year (2020) is filled with stresses that test both the mind and the body? What does one remember of a piece of art meant to inspire one’s own work (Jasper Johns, Target with Four Faces, 1955) without a physical reference or reproduction?
Using 1 Corinthians 13:32 as a departure point, “Through a Glass, Darkly” explores the ambiguous space/spectrum that exists between mind/body, trigger/target, surveillance/witness—all the while remaining grounded in a context of global pandemic, racial injustice, police brutality, protests and counter-protests, and political and social unrest.
The three (right) eyes echo the suggested eye of the target, as well as represent the primary colors that are also the three interior circles of the target.
ABOUT
Troy Kehm-Goins is a poet and artist residing in Puyallup, Washington. In his work, he seeks to discover the holy within the everyday and ordinary.
Troy's Work Table http://troysworktable.blogspot.com
Troy's Work Table Publishing http://troysworktable.wordpress.com
Troy's Work Table Publishing online store http://squareup.com/market/troysworktablepublishing
BRENDA CUMMINGS- OLD JALOPY
ARTIST STATEMENT
In my art, whether it’s music, words or pictures, I encourage laughter, wonder and fun.
ABOUT
Brenda Cummings’ background is in New York theater. She began her professional career in the early 80s as a collaborating member of New York’s premiere children’s theatre company, ‘The Paper Bag Players’. Brenda contributed to the downtown NY performance scene, writing and performing original songs and monologues, and working extensively with Jeff Weiss, Nicky Paraiso, Mark Bennett, Meredith Monk. Brenda acted professionally in regional theaters, including Yale Repertory Theater, The Goodspeed Opera House, Denver Center Theatre Company, and Papermill Playhouse. She has been presenting her original environmental education program, "Granny Green's Green Machine" since 2009. Brenda now lives in Tacoma, WA.
https://www.grannygreensgreenmachine.com
https://www.amazon.com/Dance-Seahorses-Brenda-Cummings-ebook/dp/B00NX3R0KE
http://rosedogbookstore.com/i-am-the-hugger/
https://www.amazon.com/Green-Machine-Granny-Greens/dp/B002WP1GJA
LYRICS - Old Jalopy by Brenda Cummings
I’m getting to the end of the road.
Been driving with a heavy load.
I've been driving way too long, and nobody wants to hear my song.
I’m getting to the end of the road.
I’ve been drivin’ this old jalopy too long.
Been drivin’ this old jalopy too long.
I've been racin’ in fifth gear and it’s startin’ to tire my rear.
I guess I’ve been driving this old jalopy too long.
Sister, my tank is getting low
How low? Well that we’ll never know
My tank is gettin’ low,
and my motor’s runnin’ awful slow.
Sister, my tank is getting low.
I been driving miles and miles
Without re-setting my dials-
Hard to look in the rearview mirror sometimes
All my fluids leak, and my rusty old hinges creak
My spark plugs stopped their sparkling in my prime
My bumper’s getting loose
My engine needs a boost
The structure of my manifold is unknown.
My airbags don’t deploy
And I’m not tryin’ to be coy
My carbon footprint only seems to grow.
I’m getting to the end of the road
Been driving with a heavy load
I've been driving way too long,
And nobody wants to hear my song.
I’m getting to the end of the road.
SHARON STYER- THE WEIGHT OF THE PAST IS AN UNTOLD STORY
The Weight of the Past is an Untold Story
Sharon Styer
Hand Colored Collage, 9" x 10"
Available. Contact artist for details.
ARTIST STATEMENT
I often don't know where a collage will take me. I began this collage with the glorious black and white image of a woman leaning over her bathroom sink. The faces in the window and the mirror arrived next. They symbolized the silent mirror conversations we have in the privacy of our bathrooms. Their faces though felt invasive to me much like our sense of losing our privacy, of the surveillance that has crept into our lives. On reflection, I felt there was a more personal story happening. Perhaps something shameful.A weight of something bearing down on this woman. Like a memory from the past, whether conscious or not. Something that she has not talked about with anyone. And it weighs on her in private moments.
ABOUT
As a lifelong photographer, I have taken thousands of images. The act of cutting apart my photographs to create collages was a natural progression. As I continued making collages, my source materials expanded from art and photography books, to early and mid-century magazines, to fashion magazines. I continue learning and trying new techniques: weaving, photo transfers, and embroidery. I enjoy finding titles for my collages. I read quite a bit and have saved favorite lines from books and articles. These favorite lines used as titles add another layer to my collages.
SAM VAUGHAN - OUTER MIND
Outer Mind
Sam Vaughan
Digital Illustration
Prints available. Contact the artist for details.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Looking within, through the oasis of isolation, the imagination flourishes.
ABOUT
I love the surreal. I enjoy creating juxtaposed elements in my art. I like the balance of nature and cities. The flowing and curving movement of plants against the sharp and precise lines of architecture. I’ve played with soft water colors as the background to fine tipped ink drawings filled with tiny details.
When I create art with a specific final product in mind, like this submission, I use Procreate to make it digitally, but when I’m creating art for the sheer joy of the process I tend to use ink or pencil.
Feel free to contact me on Instagram @drawnbyvaughan.
LANI LISA LAWRENCE - WOMB
Womb
Lani Lisa Lawrence
Photography
ARTIST STATEMENT
A woman’s womb is the most sacred part of the human body. It brings life into this world.
But it is not without pain, pain in menstruation, pain in childbirth, and far too often, the pain of tumors, endometriosis, or cancer.
Menopause brings blessed relief.
Until it doesn’t.
One day, after three years of blessed menopause, the cramps and backache hit, and the woman, being historically strong and stoic as all women are wont to do, ignores it. Then the emotional distress comes, and she blames it on stress, again, pushing on and putting other needs and responsibilities before herself.
When the furious bleeding comes, the flow transforms from bright red to nearly black, containing giant clots that look like pieces of human liver.
A tube must be inserted into the cervix and pieces of flesh ripped out of the uterus, not once, but four times because the doctor can’t get a sample that doesn’t contain too much blood to be useful because no surgery can be performed until cancer can be ruled out.
The woman worries for ten days but still pushes on while waiting for the results.
She continues to bleed out for nearly 40 days until she is so weak that she can barely walk across the room without getting dizzy, and she still pushes on while waiting for the surgery.
Finally, the day arrives, surgical instruments are inserted into her abdomen, and in a procedure taking four and a half hours, organs are manipulated, cut, and cauterized. Her womb, the giver of life and pain and giant fibroids are ground up and removed through her vagina along with her ovaries, tubes, and cervix.
And then she rests so that she can recover.
But not for long, because she must push on as all women do.
ABOUT
Lani Lisa Lawrence is a writer, photographer, visual, and performance artist. She draws her inspiration from nature and the human condition. She can be contacted through her website at www.wildcelticrose.net
SCOTT NELSON - WOUNDED HEART
Scott Nelson
Scott Nelson
Scott Nelson
Scott Nelson
Wounded Heart
Scott Nelson
Painted foam sculpture, found and repurposed embroidery thread, wood and hardware, 10’’ x 11’’
Available. Contact artist for details.
ARTIST STATEMENT
As an artist, I’m fascinated by time and humankind’s relative understanding of it. The accepted belief is that time is an endless one way stream, but my art allows me to escape those boundaries and to explore the relationships that we have with things that are considered permanent and other things that we consider temporary. My work is infused with emotion perhaps creating a shadow of a memory that the viewer didn’t actually experience. Time is funny that way.
Bound rigidly inside a frame, my artworks become captivating trophies of my forays into the world. Each image and object becomes part of an evolving language that I use to create visual poetry. And the innovative way I choose to display my work is integral to the finished piece. I’m currently printing my photographs exclusively on metal plate, and using found and repurposed objects to create assemblages often incorporating a variety of industrial springs. metal hardware, and other repurposed fasteners.
My artwork celebrates living, and seeks to mark a moment that I was alive, and discovered something or made something that was unexpectedly beautiful. I hope to communicate a profound truth with my work that is deeper than words would allow. If I can come close to realizing these hopes then I have done my job as a visual artist. www.jacksonscott.com
LILIA JACKSON - THE DICHOTOMY OF HUMAN IMPACT
Lilia Jackson
Lilia Jackson
Lilia Jackson
Lilia Jackson
The Dichotomy of Human Impact
Lilia Jackson
Spray paint and acrylic paint, 53" x 74"
Not for sale
ARTIST STATEMENT
This piece was created in an effort to examine that line we walk when thinking about our actions and sense of self in the world. This piece addresses the decisions we make as individuals and as a greater society. The body itself is on its knees in a place of vulnerability and centeredness. It has minimal definite sexual features, and the flowing hair alludes to an element of freedom. In my eyes, the bottom hands represent our intentions, the good-hearted, or the hurtful. The hands in the middle represent the things we offer to the world, peace, or disruption. Last but not least, the hands at the top are reaching for something greater, whatever that might look like for each of us. This body represents all of us and our impact on the world. Although it is easy to feel out of control, you have control over your body and what you choose to do with it, and that is beloved.
ABOUT
Lilia Jackson is a 19 year old woman from Portland, OR. She currently studies Business and Fine Art at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, WA. She has a creative background, including Waldorf education, and has been using art as an outlet from a very young age. Creativity runs in her family and she makes it a priority to surround herself with creatives. One day she hopes to work in Art Museums to help share the joy of art with others.
TINA LAUZON- I AM TINA: The Journey to Healing
I AM TINA: the journey to healing
Tina Lauzon
Sculpture, poetry
Not for sale
Commissions are welcome, please contact artist for details.
ARTIST STATEMENT
3D Sculpture Wall Hanging Bust size: Approximately 36” x 24”
The base of the bust is a shell made of plaster and mesh gauze. The bust is stabilized by 3x1 cross member wood elements to support the weight of materials on the bust.
The Protector is made up of varying images of me throughout my life at differing stages of abuse. This bust was particularly hard to create. Each image can have many memories of abuse associated to it. I created this bust as a reminder of how careful the mind is. I wasn’t ready to remember my painful past until I was strong enough and in therapy. I wanted the sides to surround the bust with metal. I couldn’t use metal at the time, so I used a plastic flexible board to bring in the sides and painted it to look like metal. There is a metal mesh over the top and metal buttons to hold the images in place. The screws are for the effect of screwing things into me to hold me together. There is also metal across the bust in the middle to secure the metal mesh.
The Escape is made up of melted records of music I would listen to as a child to escape the daily abuse. The base is a black acrylic blend. The large headphones are real as well as the cording around the bust simulating every way music held me together.
The Unraveling has a complete base of mirror. Leather pieces engulf the bust to hold it together with a special emphasis of ripped leather straps falling from the neck.
Tsunami is completely created from clay. It is heavy in many ways. To create the waves I used layers of plastic to support the clay as it dried then formed pieces of clay to the bust. It is painted with acrylic and covered with a protective shine gloss to emphasize the look of water.
All The People is created with layers of plaster and mesh. The hands and wrists are hollow and black inside for obvious reasons. I placed mesh and plaster over my left hand and held it together until slightly dry the expanded the fingers and wrists to resemble a man’s hands and arms. It is painted with acrylic paint blends and highlighted with coal.
The Irrelevance is created from ash. Simply put, during an exceedingly difficult time in therapy, I gathered all of my abuser photographs, including my mom, and burned them to a crisp. Very therapeutic process for me. The bust is glue-encased with the ashes of those abusers. It is coated with a dull protective polyurethane.
The Gathering was created during a therapy process called “Lifespan Integration”. The process of this intense but needed therapy took 9-months. There are two large butterflies created from clay representing my first integration of two very young ego states. The smaller butterflies are a blend of plastic and wired to the bust for a more intense 3D effect for flying. They are painted with various blends of acrylic.
The Pack is another image of “Lifespan Integration” therapy. This is much deeper with many ego states represented. If I could have filled it with hundreds of images I would but alas, no space. The main wolf, in the center, is a mask I crafted to fit the bust and painted to blend in. The smaller wolves were created with the same mesh/plaster. They are delicate and each attached separately. I painted with acrylics and used some molding to blend.
Psalm 91 was created with wedding ribbon overlade and woven together. Metal screws are tied between each weave to highlight strength. It is painted with silver acrylic paint and glazed with polyurethane. The neck sign is a plastic chain with a lightweight Styrofoam sign engraved with Bible heading PS 91.
The Wailing Wall is just that. I created hand crafted red clay bricks for the busts. I textured and dried them for a historic and weathered/broken look. It is painted with acrylic and written with pencil and coal. It is sprayed with polyurethane for protection and overlayed with scrolls with the same “Help Me” message.
The Secret Garden is comprised of various fake foliage with secret messages of my learning inscribed on the leaves. There is a baby under the yellow flower representing growth. It is painted with acrylic paints.
The Reflection of Light is created from hundreds of crystals from Czech Republic. Each one placed strategically with tweezers. The crystals are a special cut as light hits them they release rainbows around the room.
ABOUT
Tina Journey is a former successful business executive having launched several businesses. She is a survivor of over forty years of abuse and is on a mission to share the message of healing. Her mantra is “Never give up, never”. She is an advocate for the end of human trafficking and the suffering from verbal, physical and sexual abuse. She supports the humane society and loves animals.
I am incredibly open to creating busts as commissioned art. The cost would be dependent upon the types of materials used. Themes are open to the client upon approval. I can do male and female wall hanging busts.
Tina “Journey” Lauzon
206-910-9107
Five journals I published during the time of creating the art series:
https://books.friesenpress.com/store/title/119734000012025255/Tina-Journey-I-AM-TINA
https://www.pinterest.com/journeyoftina/pins/
jill a frey - SACRIFICE, GASH and DAILY DEVOTIONS
Sacrifice
jill a frey
Original painting
Found Objects - Spoon, photo negative of female, vintage military ribbon pin, spatula,
pliers, hacksaw blade, square nails, steel #1, chain, wire
Sacrifice symbolizes servitude.
A dissolution of self in exchange for survival. When one’s environment requires a strict
diminishing of self, what comes next and most naturally is abstinence from food. A perfect
and most sophisticated singular solution to living in a minefield. One fades into oblivion, a
mere negative of their former self. Sacrifice and betrayal begin and end, and ultimately lose
all perspective. Safety but oh, what an expense.
SOLD
ARTIST STATEMENT
“It is art that makes life, makes interest, makes importance...and I know of no substitute whatever for the force and beauty of its process.” Henry James
Our lives are filled with an abundance of private, intense experiences where our selves are so quietly involved that we often forget how lasting the impact and supple the self. I am swayed by how art serves as a conduit for my experiences, and the import of art in my life. I learned this lesson at age four when i proclaimed to all who would listen that I am an artist.
I draw, paint, and create mixed media assemblages. My intricate assemblages incorporate found objects, physical evidence of people’s lives along with organic materials. My process is highly intuitive. I follow bread crumbs. It unfolds as a spontaneous joining of a series of objects that mirror the subconscious. Recasting worn parts into something reminiscent yet distinctly new and modern offers the opportunity for a different point of view. Through this union, multiple layers of meaning unfold to tell stories past and present.
Creating a deeply intimate portrait of place, time, and matter, my artwork reflects an evolving perception of memory, encounter, and resolution. Drawing from my influences of folklore, i create fairy tales. I see assemblages as an expression of reconciliation, where the unsettled fragments of experience are joined to fashion new art forms using spiritual, playful, and cultural references. The final assemblage serves as a whole while maintaining individual voices. The results are often provocative, pensive, and pleasing, conveying both private and universal emotions. My pieces are dependent upon the belief that in order to allow for invitation, “Come hither”, whimsy and delight are necessary. Making art, i seek to engage myself, others, and community in a visual narrative of discovery.
ABOUT
jill a frey is a Tacoma-based visual artist who turns to drawing, painting, and mixed media assemblages to feed her curiosity, create beauty, and explore personal and collective themes of identity, expression, everyday, and narrative. A residency with Mike Snow of Saussignac, France re-ignited her passion for painting in acrylics as well as a focus on healing intuitively through art. Found objects figure mightily in jill’s assemblages, offering ritual, commentary, and transformation. After a career in education, jill works at PCAF, Pierce County AIDS Foundation, where she curates the PCAF art gallery and strives to eliminate stigma and discrimination through art and community engagement. Personal growth and civic service by artistic means remain pivotal in her unfolding as an artist.
253-212-7991
GASH
jill a frey
Assemblage
Found Objects - Circular saw blade, embroidery floss, my great-grandmother Bertha’s
sewing scissors
Gash: Also slang for female genitalia, the word likens the vagina to the sight of a hatchet
wound.
Gash symbolizes cutting.
The generational wounding of the female body. Round and round, lessons are passed
down. In ritual and ritualistically. From rosebud birth to the rouge of youth, robust adult, and
elder reserve. We are cut and we cut ourselves. Our bodies. A bloody war.
SOLD
DAILY DEVOTIONS
With reverence,
i seek out the hollows of my body and
reach into spaces where flesh used to fill.
Taking inventory,
i size up my efforts and
find refuge in the wasting of my limbs.
In worship,
i seek out the prominence of bones.
Strong sharp angles where memory cannot live.
Their jutting protrusion measures worth
and serves as testimony to my ill will.
“Thin will win”
is my daily creed.
But i do not remember when this all became
a contest of wills.
Born out of a desperation to be safe,
the rules quickly fell into place.
In seeking thinness,
Thou shalt not eat.
Thou shalt not feel.
Thou shalt not want.
Thou shalt not need.
Thou shalt not be.
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