dime and honey

March 2, 2013

Beili Liu @ Texas State

Feeling a little tense?

Amass by Beili Liu at Texas State through March 8.

One Billion Rising!

One Billion Rising on the Texas State Capitol steps!

Two weeks ago, on Valentine's Day, I participated in the "biggest mass global action to end violence against women and girls in the history of humankind"! This dance revolution was brought to you, the world, by the inspired folks at V-Day, who are doing really important work. Let the healing begin!

February 7, 2013

Studio Visit!

It was such a pleasure talking with Andy Campbell, a writer, curator and lecturer, about my studio process, his writing projects and our teaching strategies. You can read the studio visit interview in today's Chronicle!

February 1, 2013

The Mystical Arts of Tibet

Texas State was the lucky host to the Tibetan monks from Drepung Loseling Monastery on their Mystical Arts of Tibet tour this week. I stopped by to see them working on the mandala sand painting yesterday afternoon as they were getting close to the end. They worked in silence, but for the hustle and bustle of the student center and the clanking of their tools. Amazing to watch such a fluid and intricate collaboration in action.

The ephemeral mandala was destroyed in a ceremony today, and followed by a procession to the San Marcos river for a blessing by the monks with sand from their week-long work.

The students had an opportunity to collaborate on their own sand painting at a table near the mandala.

Last night the monks performed Sacred Music Sacred Dance, a healing blessing for the environment and for us. It was beautiful. The costumes were spectacular. The movement of their bodies and deeply felt sounds of their chants and instruments (horns, cymbals, drums, bells) were full of vibrations of drama, humor, peace and loving kindness.

January 18, 2013

Mess

January 13, 2013

Memorials

"The material falls away in onrushing experience. It peels off like skin from a molting snake. Of course to forget the past is to lose the sense of loss that is also memory of an absent richness and a set of clues to navigate the present by; the art is not one of forgetting but letting go. And when everything else is gone, you can be rich in loss."

Rebecca Solnit from A Field Guide to Getting Lost

When Adrienne told me she was deconstructing fabric objects (a painting on canvas by a friend, her dad's Hawaiian shirt, a collection of sweaters) and rebuilding them into spherical sculptures, I offered up my wedding dress. I loved my wedding dress. It was shimmering mint green, subtle and elegant. And in the wake of the most transformative event of my life, the break up of my marriage, I couldn't think of a better way to honor the memories embedded in the loaded threads of my dress.

Adrienne wrote to me to share her photos of the works and she describes them as "quiet, humble, pretty memorials." I couldn't agree more.