Posts filed under Art

Shrine Leaves His Mark on Ann Arbor

By Hilary Nichols

Most of us here in Ann Arbor did not have any idea what to expect when the tall, thin man placed his ladder up York’s blank brick wall on May 20th. The artist known as Shrine is a painter, muralist, and sculptor, creating outdoor art installations all over the world for the last few decades. Originally from Pasadena, California, Brent Allen Spears, aka Shrine, has been an artist his whole life. At his grandmothers’ tables he was praised for his talents while everything else in his young world wasn’t so pretty—so he identified as an artist from a very early age. His colorful style and steady hand grew over time from realism to his current style of modern folk art mastery. Now his exaggerated, colorful, overlapping geometric designs stretch ten stories up in New York and wrap countless corner tattoo parlors and salons in Portland, San Francisco, Austin, LA, and throughout the festival circuit worldwide. 

But what put him on the map as one of the truly great artists of our time is the more meaningful work that he has dedicated himself to lately. Beautiful offerings in conflict zones and refugee camps are the passion that has Shrine painting whole villages in Uganda, and a hospital in Tanzania, and a center for autistic adults in Kenya. He is ready and willing to collaborate with local artisans and everyday neighbors in areas that have no galleries. “Taking art somewhere that it has value, it is a different function. It is a personal preference, to choose to make art that will actually improve real lives.”

You can measure such actual impact by the number of people that gather at the Great Oven. While he was painting in Beirut, conflict broke out, leaving thousands in unstable conditions. Along with international chef James Gomez Thompson, Shrine painted and installed the initial Great Oven to fuel a common kitchen and the community that grew up around it. The ongoing Great Oven Project places communal ovens into refugee camps and conflict zones to provide sustainable food relief and creative community building with the great forces of food, music, and art. You can see Shrine’s cheerfully painted altar of an oven as it shines as a beacon of love on the Great Oven website.

These efforts not only add beauty where there is so much strife, but they leave this infectious discovery behind: that anyone and everyone can be an artist. “I just show people how I do it. It is simple, here are the tools and the time. Just getting that simple information out to everybody is the real gift in what I leave behind.”

In Tripoli, Lebanon, Shrine was invited to join courageous youth from two sides of a conflict as they finally abandoned hate and fear and picked up paint brushes, applying new hope and a pretty color palette to a set of stairs that divided them. «It is amazing what a common project can do.»

Shrine doesn’t take requests, and he doesn’t prepare beforehand. He arrives and surveys the scene to  engage the vision as it comes. I met Shrine in 2005 when he returned from crafting trash temples in Bali on our common friend’s film project. He has been a friend and favorite artist since, but I was surprised when he responded favorably to my Instagram query so quickly. He found the few days to squeeze in the YORK commission in an instant. Between designing a five-story tower for Google and an industrial sculpture in Mexico, before a month in Lebanon, he agreed to a week in Ann Arbor. That first day, travelling through town, Shrine noted how much blue we wave, so his eye went the opposite direction to pink. No sketches or templates because that would take all the fun out of it. Making the art is his whole driving force, and he reserves that drive to inspire his 6 a.m. arrivals and long hours on the ladder in the hot sun. Eight gallons of the best paint later, he stands back to ponder the yellow, orange, and pink triangled pattern that came to life at his hand, and quickly began to cut in the scalloped edges of white along the stripes. “Some soft rounds, an organic element is called for to add some more gentle shapes for the play of pathos in this piece,” Shrine assessed.

He won’t be done until he’s totally content. Even if that means he will be painting in the dark. Shrine does intend for us to feel these patterns and colors and to imbibe on the delicious color palette as we take in food and drink. And in much the same way, we will ingest the impact of this bright addition to our favorite courtyard and be moved. There is so much glowing warmth and open heart on this wall, we can taste it as we relish in the worldly addition to our town. More Shrine to come. Stay tuned.

See Shrine’s new art at York at 1928 Packard Street in Ann Arbor. Learn more about Shrine on his Instagram. 

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Posted on May 8, 2023 and filed under Art, community, Creativity, Local Businesses.

Angels on Her Mind

I was hesitant to share my latest painting as my ingrained skepticism rears its head whenever angels appear, making me feel childish that I paint them. I grew up in a household where rationality ruled; the fantastical was accepted as part of the arts, but not necessarily respected. The intelligence of people of faith was questioned in principle, and my innocent curiosity was frequently ridiculed. I think it is rather miraculous that my spiritual interests and seeker tendencies weren’t wiped out altogether. In some of us, the yearning for a relationship with the Divine is strong—no different than a love of the arts or a passion for music is in others—and therefore hard to extinguish.

Being OK with Not Being OK – Medusa Redefined

Earlier I described a process whereby parts of us stay behind and argued that our psychological wellbeing requires all parts of the psyche to be anchored within the home-body. That was a call to reunite our many parts in service of living in the best and fullest way possible, which can only happen in the present. I want to repeat Rilke’s words that the point (of life) is to live everything, and build on this idea by inviting contemplation on how to navigate our negative emotions, which are the hardest to feel.

Shapeshifting

What resides in our unconscious is as much a part of who we are, and how we behave, as what makes up our consciousness. The language of the unconscious is imagery. The rules by which it functions are mythical. Science seems to lag behind the arts in its grasp of the paradoxes inherent to humanity. The psyche expresses itself through symbol and metaphor that can best be understood through stories, as stories allow for the unknown. Stories tolerate mystery.

Natural Dyes Tell The Story of Where you Live

"The story within any natural dye can take you to a place in time, a history lesson of warriors, of antiquity, or harken to your favorite local hiking trail.  The Crazy Wisdom journal story highlighting our organization, Color Wheel, ends on a note that makes for a great starting point for this blog:

Posted on November 22, 2019 and filed under Art, Creativity, Environment, Green Living, Nature.

Lilith

Usually, ideas from a book find their way into a blog about a painting with synchronicity rather then cognitive synthesis, in other words, more by happenstance as opposed to conscious deliberation. The above painting came about as a direct result of my reading Original Resistance, Reclaiming Lilith, even though as usual, I wasn’t going for it intentionally, but rather following the creative flow. I thought I was painting another Tree Spirit until the snake showed up letting me know this is Lilith herself, and I better get on with telling her story.

Posted on November 11, 2019 and filed under Art, Goddesses.

Visiting Da Vinci

Recently I had the privilege of revisiting Paris after 25 years since my study abroad in college. I had no concept of mindfulness back then and wasn’t nearly as contemplative. My memory space stored places and events that were meaningful to me regardless, allowing me to see how they differed from present experiences.

We got a special magical moment with my husband that did justice to the city’s reputation for romance. The first time we had the chance to stroll by the Seine on our own we stopped by a street musician. We decided to not rush by, but stop and give him our full attention while savoring the blessing of being in Paris together.

Posted on October 29, 2019 and filed under Art, mindfulness.

Only A Glimpse

I am a summer person living in Michigan, walking around half heartbroken, not being able to keep myself from anticipating what is to come, which is not-summer for another three seasons.  Since I know the value of mindful presence, I look for things that’ll help me stay in the present. Even though I am more of a mammal lover in general, at the moment the antidote to my mind’s tendency to hijack me to the future comes from the insect kingdom as they remind me to be in the present, to savor the magic of the moment, and to contemplate the mysteries. I had written a blog about fireflies before so will focus on the butterfly this time around.  

Posted on September 13, 2019 and filed under animals, Art, mindfulness, Nature, Wildlife.

MOTHER EARTH

While environmental scientists across the world were working hard to finalize the assessment of the 2019 UN Report on the State of the Environment, I was eagerly descending the steps to my basement art therapy office on Main Street, Ann Arbor so I could put the finishing touches on my latest painting. I’ve felt this space to be particularly compatible with psychological work that requires a quieting of the mind chatter in order to be able to access inner wisdom.

Posted on August 16, 2019 and filed under Art, Environment, Nature.

The Song of the Phoenix

I realized only later that I had great expectations around how wonderful it would all be in a way that wasn’t compatible with real life. I try to help my clients understand the many myths around mindfulness practices, especially the one that suggests that regular practice will lead to steady calm, happiness, or bliss. What mindfulness cultivates is an increased capacity to be present with all states of being rather then favoring the good over the bad and the ugly. One of the biggest takeaways of the retreat for me personally was that the same applies to retreats or vacations.

Posted on August 2, 2019 and filed under Art, Creativity, mindfulness.

A Snake Charmer Tree Spirit and the Honeysuckle

It is impossible not to grow in awareness and fondness of nature in general, and birds and plants specifically, while living in a town like Ann Arbor. I’ve been learning things organically, without a need to study deeply, or have a specific interest in plant life (which I admit I don’t). We lucked out with a house that has a huge backyard with many trees, a small pond that hosts a snapping turtle I’ve seen only once in the eight years that we’ve been here. Ignorance got me close enough to get this photo of her.

Posted on June 21, 2019 and filed under Art, Nature, Spirituality.

Why I make art that is political… even though that is not always my initial intention.

I make work that is political because I cannot help it. I tend to make work that reflects my life experience, and, as the saying goes, the personal is political. This phrase, which was popularized during the feminist movement of the 1960’s and 1970’s, means that there are connections between my own personal experience and the larger social and political structures which tend to dominate, exploit, and oppress minorities in our politics, society, and culture.

Posted on May 17, 2019 and filed under Art, Issue 72.

Mother Nature

I have been paying close attention to our backyard for many years now, and know which tree will be the first to turn green (the little willow by the pond), which wildflowers will bloom first, how much progress the moss has made in its fight for territory over the grass. Because I am unable to convince others let alone my husband that our attachment to lawns is not the best idea, we have plenty of it in our backyard, but due to our lack of chemical warfare against Mama Nature’s preferences, moss and some clover types are beginning to make their claim

Posted on May 10, 2019 and filed under Art, Green Living, Nature, Psychology.

Arts Integration, More Than Just a Pretty Space

My journey with Waldorf education began 14 years ago, when my oldest was starting kindergarten. One of the first things that attracted me to Rudolf Steiner School was the opportunity for my children to have balance in their school day. A variety of artistic activities are interwoven with rigorous academic endeavors to achieve this harmony. Bursting with joy and vitality, my children would not sit all day getting filled with information, staring at worksheets, textbooks, and various screens. There would always be a thoughtful rhythm to their day. From early childhood through high school, Waldorf students experience many kinds of fine and practical arts: drawing, painting, sculpting, singing, folk dancing, handwork, woodwork (you should see the container of hand-carved wooden spoons in my kitchen!), instrumental music, and the list goes on…

Posted on March 1, 2019 and filed under Art, Children, Education, Waldorf.

Thinking Outside the Box

I was pretty convinced that my wild woman would be of the earth, probably covered with some dirt, have long un-styled hair, and maybe, bit of a crazed gaze that warned the beholder that she is not to be messed with. That she is to be feared even. Western society has burned even the tamest of wild women (wise women and healers) for centuries to make sure there is no question that our psyches equate wild with dangerous. In fact I am bewildered more than anything that this archetype has survived and is coming through in our imagery at all given how long and hard mankind worked to eradicate it.

Posted on January 8, 2019 and filed under Art, Creativity, Goddesses, Intuition, Nature, Spirituality.

In the Heart of a Dragon

 

This is the third time a dragon has showed up in one of my paintings and it continues to make me uncomfortable. The best way I can explain the discomfort is that the value of rational, scientific thinking as the only valid type of information gathering was such a central part of my upbringing that the consideration of the mythic is often accompanied by shame.

Posted on November 9, 2018 and filed under Art, Creativity, Therapy.

Black Music Matters...Jazz and It's Impact On Society

I always get a kick out of seeing how startled individuals outside of music studies are when they learn that the vast majority of music majors in America graduate with little, or more often, no skills in the primary creative processes of improvisation and composition, nor in the African American musical heritage that is arguably America’s primary cultural contribution to the world.

Posted on October 11, 2018 and filed under Art, Creativity, Guest Blogger, Music, Education.

Setting Stories in Motion (and Movies to See!)

With the kind of work I do through my creative company — 7 Cylinders Studio — I get to interact with an ever-evolving cross section of our community.

I want to highlight a handful of those criss-crossing clients to survey our local landscape through the lens of video and provide some of the more compelling projects I’ve been fortunate to produce these past few years.

The Zen of Ballet

I am encouraged and inspired by the number of adults enrolling in ballet who have never studied before, or may have only had a year or two of lessons. A common thread among these different personalities seems to be a “beginner mind set”, an openness to trying something new, willingness to persist as difficulties arise and the sense of satisfaction that comes from finally getting it. 

Posted on September 27, 2018 and filed under Art, Creativity, Health and Wellness, Excercise.

Persephone’s Daughter

As is often the case, when I first finished this painting, I had little knowledge of the insights it held in store for me. The first revelation came when my husband commented that the fish to the left was not in a natural position, that it wasn’t moving. Often the very section of a painting that doesn’t make sense holds great jewels to unearth about what lies in the deeper layers of the psyche.

Posted on August 18, 2018 and filed under Art, Goddesses, Psychology.