The color of the Blue Mosque

Photo by Scott Nichols

Inspired by the cobalt blue light of the Blue Mosque.

Birthday Hat

My beautiful sister, Deborah, modeling her birthday hat. People in my family get hats on their birthdays....I've been experimenting with different stitches and for this one I used a double crochet knot. I decided to use some buttons from a collection that my mom had sent me. Buttons seem to be a great accessory for hats. I might get in trouble for posting this picture...

Timing and the creative act

Several months ago I made a hat for Diane. Usually I am right on the mark, but that one just wasn't a good fit. We talked about me doing another at some other time. And then, last month we were traveling together, in a group, by bus, through Turkey. It was somewhere between Istanbul and Cappadocia that I made another hat. While I was crocheting, stitch by stitch, it occurred to me that this one "had her name on it". When I showed it to her, I asked, is this your hat? I realized that timing is a big part of the creative act-in art as well as life.

Diane is a children's author-illustrator, photographer and counselor based in Grand Junction, Colorado

www.dkhower.com

Aculand, the artist

Nancy Norman's Aculand, 3' x 4' painting graces the reception area of WCA - Cully's Clinic as well as the Community Acupuncture Network's Website.  And, here, she's sporting one of my hats. Please visit her website to see more of her work.
http://www.nancynorman.com/

Textile Inspirations

I didn't make this cap, but find it inspirational.
"Syrian Muslim prayer caps of crocheted silk, worked in a variety of geometric patterns, are famous all over the Near East. They are made as a domestic craft, and are sold by male pedlars in all of Syria's souks. Since crochet requires only yarn and a hook, which can be made of wood, metal, bone or plastic, it can be easily carried around and worked on at the maker's convenience."
Textiles of the Islamic World,  by -John Gillow

Buy a button & help WCA open a new clinic

I Love Lents Button - $15

In our efforts to be accesible to even more patients in their own neighborhoods all over Portland (eventually), we offer this great-lookin' button with the words, "I Love Lents" over the WCA logo.  The proceeds  go towards a $30,000 salary "cushion" while WCA's third clinic gets up and sprinting on it's own two feet.  "I Love Lents" is the web address of the massively dedicated neighborhood association for this little corner of outer SE Portland, and we'd love to provide its denizens with affordable access to acupuncture like they deserve!

Get yours today!

http://workingclassacupuncture.org/products/?id=116

Drawing it Down - Portland, Oregon

Drawing Series, Colored Pencil, 16"x7"

Drawing it Down 2: Making your Marks in Public is a community event designed to build bridges between artists and community. It's the brain child of Buff Medb Neretin who wants to foster arts awareness in education.  It was sponsored by Arts on the Peninsula & the St. John's Neighborhood Association.  

Art making is typically a solitary activity. However, working in a group setting is somehow more motivating.  The focused energy of others can act as muse.  I can also relate it to community acupuncture, of course, which draws upon the power of group energy.  It's all about the energy.

I think some of my drawings will eventually become sculptures.

Circle Community Acupuncture

One of the things that I love about community acupuncture (CA) is that we refer patients and their families to other CA practitioners across the country. And we know that they will receive consistent quality care.  David, sporting one of my hats for those cold San Francisco mornings is one of the acupunks at Circle Community Acupuncture.  Now is a great time to get some acupuncture!

September Back to School Special 

Classes are back in session... time for acupuncture. School is hard on everyone; students, teachers, and administrators.  Late night studying, early classes, studying, lesson planning, grading, paperwork, schedule juggling, erratic diet... all of this is very stressful and hard on your health.   

If you are a student, teacher or school administrator, Circle CA wants to give you a break.  For the entire month of September we will give you acupuncture treatments for only $10 all day Saturday and Sunday.  This offer is good every time students, teachers, and administrators receive treatments -- every weekend throughout the month.

To get your $10 acupuncture, schedule an appointment on-line or call the front desk (415) 864-1070.  Let us know that you are a student, teacher, or administrator and that you are taking advantage of the special.  It is available on Saturdays and Sundays for new and returning patients throughout the month of September.

Circle Community Acupuncture

1351 Harrison Street

San Francisco, CA 94103

(415) 864-1070

http://circleca.com/index.html

Caps for Sale

WCA-Hillsdale, A hat peddler, a vine, but no monkey business.

Caps for Sale: A Tale of a Peddler, Some Monkeys and Their Monkey Business is a 1938 classic children's book by Esphyr Slobodkina.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INptSCKqdfg

Wedding Vase Gift

 

 

   Ceramic, 10"x7"x3", Inspired by the cottonwood trees along the 

    Bosque in New Mexico this lidded vessel is a wedding gift. 

Congratulations to Lynn and Lon

     Santa Fe, New Mexico

      Saturday September 10, 2011

  Going To The Chapel Of Love- The Dixie Cups

       http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMfrLFirGWc

Charcoal and Clay

Charcoal on Paper, 1990, 22"x 41"

Looking at past work and current work & thinking about ideas for future work. 
"Time present and time past Are both perhaps present in time future And time future contained in time past. If all time is eternally present All time is unredeemable.  What might have been is an abstraction Remaining a perpetual possibility Only in a world of speculation. What might have been and what has been Point to one end, which is always present." 
-T.S. Eliot, Ceramic, July 2011, 12"x11"x 6" 

The Hat Party

 

 Kiki and Sara

 Kiki and Cathy

Iron Man

Ceramic, 12" x 9" x 6"

Bag-o-hats

John

Susan

Yuka

Yuka asked me to bring some of my hats to the studio. And I did. Several people got one!  I love how Yuka's new hat mirrors her sculpture.

http://www.multnomahartscenter.org/

A Soul Friend

Ceramic, 12" x 9" x 6", This guy makes me happy.

Telemere

Ceramic, 13" x 9" x 4"

Get that warm and fuzzy feeling...

I've been treating this patient's heel pain aggressively this past week, which in western medicine is called plantar fasciitis.  It's a very painful inflammatory condition that makes walking difficult. (Although reported to feel like walking on needles we don't encourage trying that.) Like many conditions, it has a western medical name, but an acupuncturist will diagnose it in terms of Oriental Medicine and/or Meridian System pathology.  No matter what, the important thing is to make the pain go away. This past week my patient reported 4 hours pain free. If you or you know someone who has this condition, please refer them to a community acupuncturist for treatment.  It most likely will require multiple treatments, but getting to that zero point is worth the effort.  And enjoy a nap in the process. (Really)

http://www.communityacupuncturenetwork.org/clinics

I will also typically needle the opposite side where there is pain or the mirror image area (of hands and feet) for the most effective treatment. Here I am treating the hand for the feet.

Ganesh - Remover of all obstacles

He just emerged from the clay.....Widely worshiped from the Hindu Pantheon and easily recognized by his elephant head. Ganesh(a) is widely revered as the Remover of Obstacles^[10] and more generally as Lord of Beginnings and Lord of Obstacles (Vighnesha (Sanskrit: विघ्नेश; IAST: Vighneśa), Vighneshvara (Sanskrit: विघ्नेश्वर; IAST: Vighneśvara),^[11] patron of arts and sciences, and the deva of intellect and wisdom.^[12]
Ceramic, 18" x 9" x 3"

Chrysalis

Fired Ceramic, 14" x 9" x 5"

Heart Maker

Fired Ceramic, 10" x 8" x 4", I used a recognizable shape as a framework to draw lines of energy, aka,"Qi".  I've made charcoal drawings on paper at least 10 years ago which have manifested in this sculpture.

Double Header or As Above, So Below

Double Mask, Fired ceramic, 21" x 9" x 5"

The Kiln gods have spoken

Untitled clay mask, 10" x 6.5" x 5"
I am pleased with how this one turned out.  This one reminds me of something I've seen in Mexico. 

Untitled clay mask, 12" x 8" x 6" Initially I wasn't too excited about the shininess of this one, but it's growing on me.

Here are the masks with the glazes before the final high firing.

Prayer (to the kiln gods)

I painted a slip (a suspension of clay and pigment) on these new masks before I bisqued fired them...like an under-painting. Today I painted a combination of an ultra flat blue green matt glaze with a blue shiny glaze. Not sure how it will turn out, but that's part of the excitement. I'll have to wait a couple of days to find out.  Now it's all up to the kiln gods...

End of a series - fired relief sculptures

These are the last of a series flat reliefs that I am going to make-unless someone is interested in a portraiture. I used a matt blue-green stain for the final firing. A couple of the flat pieces cracked in the kiln. You never know how it will turn out until it turns out.

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The sculptures have evolved into more three dimentional and expressionistic masks. The immedicay of drawing in clay is very exciting to me; "Qi", energy flows very quickly with clay.  It's like working with paint. It's equally as fragile....until it comes out of the kiln.