Calling all Westside LA holistic entrepreneurs!  Get involved with the newly formed Westside Holistic Chamber of Commerce:

"We are organized for the benefit of
1) any and all business professionals who consider themselfves green, holistic or alternative, and
2) who wish to work profitably with customers, clients and vendors to transform the world.
Membership is not limited to holistic practitioners. Business people of all professions are encouraged to join."

-WHCC website 

Mentor Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker in conversation with her Protégé, Anani Dodji Sanouvi.
Brussels, Belgium, 2006

The Rolex Mentor and Protege Arts Initiative is one of the coolest projects I've seen in a long time.  Visit their website and be inspired!!

"The Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative is an international philanthropic programme devised by Rolex and run by a team at the company’s headquarters in Geneva. It seeks out highly talented young artists from around the world and brings them together with great masters, for a year of creative collaboration in a one-to-one mentoring relationship."  -RMPAI Website 

"This site is for artists, models and critics who propose creative, personal and original high quality work which is recognized and appreciated. It was designed to bring a personal vision of Art presentation over the Internet media. The idea was to propose something well designed, really fast and simple to display, with a lot of features to help artists to promote their work and share their passion and knowledge to other members. New technologies and amazing effects are interesting for games and shows, but a web gallery should help a work of art to be exhibited in the best possible way, and seen by as many people as possible. Many wonderful communities exists over the Internet and each one has its specificity, its public and fans. No one can pretend to be the best as human tastes are - still - personal. Our vision and concept is to bring a emotive dialog between creators and visitors, helping them within advanced features to meet each other." -Art Limited website

What can I say? This website is overwhelming, in the best way possible!

[Untitled :: Ivan Ivanovic-hagen]

No really, what is The Moth?

"The Moth, a not-for-profit storytelling organization, was founded in New York in 1997 by poet and novelist George Dawes Green, who wanted to recreate in New York the feeling of sultry summer evenings on his native St. Simon's Island, Georgia, where he and a small circle of friends would gather to spin spellbinding tales on his friend Wanda's porch. After moving to New York, George missed the sense of connection he had felt sharing stories with his friends back home, and he decided to invite a few friends over to his New York apartment to tell and hear stories. Thus the first "Moth" evening took place in his living room. Word of these captivating story nights quickly spread, and The Moth moved to bigger venues in New York. Today, The Moth conducts six ongoing programs and has brought more than 2,000 live stories to over 60,000 audience members."  -The Moth Website 

My friend Keri Smith is speaking at this year's ICON5 Illustration Conference in New York City July 2-5, 2008.  Visit the ICON5 website for information on the schedule, speakers and more.  Registration is now open!!

"ICON5 will be held in New York City at the historic Roosevelt Hotel in midtown Manhattan. This year's theme, The Big Picture, is more than a slogan, it is the perspective through which we see our future – a future of limitless possibilities for illustrators as thinkers, story tellers and providers of creative content. The conference promises to examine and discuss the current creative and economic forces that our industry faces today.

The ICON continues to gather the industry's best and brightest talent to present and talk about their work, their business, their lives, and their passion for illustration. Our conferences have also grown to include inspiring, informative and topical pre-conference tours and workshops. ICON5 is going a step further with ambitious attendance goals, increased global involvement and more pre-conference events to make the ICON5 experience a must-do for 2008."  -ICON5 website

My dear friend and creative soulmate Andrea Scher came down to LA for a visit recently along with Jen Gray and Denise Andrade to help Andrea put together a workshop she had been asked to teach this fall.  Our time together was blissful and I was looking forward to attending her workshop in September, even though all I knew about it was that it was in New Hampshire.  A couple of weeks later, I received an email from the lovely Elizabeth MacCrellish announcing her latest venture, with a link to the Squam Art Workshops site.  I immediately clicked on the link, saw Andrea's lovely face in her teacher roster and emailed Elizabeth back saying, "This is YOU?!" once again giving me that lovely isn't it a small world after all kind of warm feeling.  I seized the moment, asked her for an interview right away and here we are!

P.S.  Registration begins March 7, so mark your calendars! 

[February 21, 2008]

Tell me how the idea for the Squam Art Workshops came to you.
It’s a funny thing.  All my life I wanted to have an arts/creativity center.  I know that it’s been at least twenty years that I’ve been talking about this because on one of our first dates, my husband asked me what I wanted to do (really, wanted to do—as at the time I was just making a living to pay the rent, party on the weekends, etc) and I told him my dream of building an arts center for kids.  Now, looking back I can see clearly that the motivation came from wanting to perpetuate something I had as a kid growing up that saved my life:  the Wallingford Arts Center in Wallingford, PA (www.communityartscenter.org...Oh, look-- guess they changed the name).  Pretty much every Saturday from the age of 8 –15 was spent there.  I have a bumper sticker on my car that I got in Port Townsend, WA.  It reads:  Art Saves Lives.  I truly believe this and want so much for people to have the place, space, support and guidance to tap into this power that can transform your life experience. 

But, life can take you on strange journeys (mine has certainly meandered through the tall weeds) and it wasn’t until I attended Artfest that it all clicked for me and I had the vision to host the same kind of event here on the East Coast for people who may not be able to travel across the country.

What was the image you envisioned when you decided to make this idea a reality.
A place where people sink into a long, sweet day with no distractions of groceries, or making dinner, or running laundry, etc—a place of physical beauty that both nurtures and inspires—a place where you feel you have found your tribe and it feels so. damn. good. 

If I had to sum it up?  A bit of Thoreau in the sense of a natural retreat, a bit of the MacDowell Colony in terms of all your meals are taken care of so that you can focus all of your attention on what you most want to do, with a dash of “The Big Chill” weekend flavor (um, minus the suicide, of course—I’m referring just to the feeling of hanging out with old friends).

Now that your website is up, the registration process is about to begin and the event is right around the corner, what is going through your mind?
Well, the website is still missing the message board and the blog which are HUGE components as that is where people can start connecting and communicating about this- so we are still in the ‘pedal to the medal’ mode to get it finished.  But I understand your question.  I guess, to quote my sister-in-law who is a psychologist and pretty savvy about managing emotions, expectations, etc—I’m trying to be ‘an empty vessel’ where I simply experience what is going on without generating fears or worries or, what have you. 

A couple of weeks ago I had this same conversation with the amazing (AMAZING!) Jen Gray.  I was saying either I could be panicked that no one would sign up, or I could be flattened if there is a deluge of registrations and she said, “everyone who is supposed to be there, will be there.” And ever since that conversation, I’ve simply given over to letting it takes its course.  I’m just the facilitator—this is, ultimately, a collaborative and it will create what it wants to create.  Not only do I have no power to control that—I wouldn’t want to.  I want to see the event develop into its own thing.

What has been the most challenging thing for you so far organizing this event?
Getting my husband to build the website without, you know, getting served with divorce papers.  In order for us to make our launch date of Tuesday the 19th, he worked 4 days straight, including 18 hours on Monday, which was his birthday and he didn’t get so much as a cupcake or a candle.  He’s a mensch, for sure.

What has been easy...maybe surprisingly so?
OMG.  The teachers!!  The TEACHERS!!  I asked if they’d be interested and they said yes!  I never expected that—not at all.  They have been so enthusiastic.  They have supported me and nurtured me and buoyed me—I just can’t even begin to tell you the respect and love and admiration I have for this group of teachers.  They are the best people.

On your website, you have a quote by Kafka that reads "Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old."  What does beauty mean to you, and what do you do to tap into it when you need come creative rejuvenation?
First, I need to mention that it was Noel Danforth, the woman who designed the website, who chose that quote and it was absolutely perfect, but that was her idea.

There’s a scene in the film American Beauty when the young videotaping dude says to Thora Birch something like, “there’s so much beauty in the world it just overwhelms me.”  That’s how it is for me.  I can’t take it all in and sometimes it can paralyze me, so I try to keep focused on very small, very, very, very small things—or it will tip me over.

With human beings, it all comes down to kindness.  When people are genuinely kind, it cuts me off at my knees.  Seriously.  And for me, human beauty is all about kindness.

With nature—well, holy hell—I’ll have to refer you back to what I wrote above—it is beyond my ken.  But, if there's one thing that feeds my soul above all else it is flowers.  Flowers are my drug—especially those in a wild, loose perennial garden.  That's my heaven on earth.

What are you most looking forward to about the Squam Art Workshops?
Hmm, well this is tough as I’m not a linear person.  I don’t have favorites or “top ten” lists, or anything like that.  For me, things are circular and ephemeral.  As much as I hope SAW will be a fabulous event, I’m not thinking about living there right now.  In this moment, I am reveling in the energy and excitement and emails I am getting about the planning of it.

I sent a link to your site to my best friend telling her she should go, and her initial response was, "I think I'll be out of my league..."  What would you like to say to anyone who wants to attend your workshops but might be feeling intimidated?
This!  This is the most important question of all.  It really is.  I was that person.  I know that feeling.  I had this desire to create, but the ‘art world’ was some foreign place, some special place that someone like me could only observe from the outside. 

The whole purpose of Squam Art Workshops, its essential nature, is to provide a safe place to tap into your creativity.  Each of has our own spark.  If you set up 10 easels around a still life and 10 people came and drew that still life you would have 10 totally different drawings.  I’m not sure what happens to us as children that our belief in our perspective and creation is no good.  I’m not sure why people lose touch with the magic of their unique self.  I do know that once you get the creativity going it feeds your life—whether it is color, gardening, cooking, clothes, sewing, knitting, deeper empathy with others, greater interest in the natural world, more compassion for animals— creativity is the spring under it all and having more of it alive in your day is not about making “art”—it’s about being alive with passion and joy and pleasure.  Which, for me, is the greatest art of all—living well.

Please, PLEASE tell your friend to email me.  I could go on and on about this--- it’s the inner critic trying to deny us self-expression.  I will happily take on that critic and pound its face into the cement.  With great pleasure, I might add.

If money were no object and your safety were guaranteed, where in the world would you want to go?
Oh la la.  My dream is to live in Paris from October to December every year.  I’d also love to spend a month in New Mexico each year—those are core spirit places for me.  But if I’m doing that, I guess I’d take the whole October – May time frame and buzz about the world—visiting places that are warm and sunny as I am done with Winter.  Done. Winter 2008 has kicked my butt, but good. And then when I’d gotten my equilibrium back—Ireland, Scotland—those are places I have always wanted to visit.  And Portland, OR.  I would love to spend a couple three weeks in Portland, OR.

...I'd join The Rock Paper Scissors Collective!  From their website:

"The Rock Paper Scissors Collective is a volunteer-run organization that fosters creativity and collaboration in order to strengthen local communities and encourage sustainable practices and alternative models. We promote the sharing of ideas, skills, and resources through the celebration of art, craft, education, and performance."

Is anyone up there involved in this?  I would love to create something like this in Los Angeles...

I have a feeling this might be old news to many readers, but the Delight-Full Jen Gray sent me a link to this fun site and I couldn't wait to share it.  So much to explore! 

It's a book! It's a film! It's a blog! It's a global project six years in the making! I saw the documentary film about The 1000 Journals Project last month and it filled my head with all kinds of inspiring ideas. If you haven't already heard about this, be sure to take a peek.

I will be interviewing the divine Kristen Fischer soon for Sparkletopia, but in the meantime, take a peek at her book Creatively Self-Employed:  How Writers and Artists Deal with Career Ups and Downs. 

"Writing is solitary, obsessive, and prickly, and that makes literary friendships all the sweeter. Here is a new series that celebrates affection and loyalty between solitudes."

Garrison Keillor hosts this series of conversations between American writers whose work shapes their friendships and vice versa.  Get a glimpse of what happens when writers become friends by listening to Literary Friendships.

It can be difficult to stay close to our dearest friends when miles keep us physically distant, but there are a couple of lovely blogs between friends that remind me there are all kinds of fun ways to stay close.  Muse to Muse is a lovely exchange filled with fun links and creative musings.

3191:  A Year of Mornings was a project for 2007 between two friends who lived 3191 miles apart, and in 2008 they are going to be sharing A Year of Evenings starting January 15th.

I bought an issue of Craft: Transforming Traditional Crafts this past fall and fell in love with it.  This magazine is chock full of fun projects and articles, and their website, Craftzine.com, is also filled with creative, inspiring treats including project outlines, podcasts and online forums.

Have some fun with all those plastic bags that end up in your recycling bin with their Plastic Bag Crafts page:

Want to learn how to crochet this fabulous cuff?  Download the Craft Pattern Podcast by Alicia Kachmar:

 Visit their website, pick up their gorgeous magazine and get creating!!