James Victore

James Victore Live at AIGA SF from Hillman Curtis on Vimeo.

Hello all you fellow graphic designers and artists. This video woke me way up!

Dream Yoga

25 years of our life is spent in sleep. The Tibetan culture views our dream life with equal importance as it does our waking life. Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche has written a lovely and accessible book on how we can learn how spend that time in active and deep meditation.

http://www.amazon.com/Tibetan-Yogas-Dream-Sleep/dp/1559391014/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1306340677&sr=1-2

Juan Ramon Jimenez

I AM NOT I

by Juan Ramon Jimenez
(1881 – 1958)

English translation by
Robert Bly

Original language
Spanish

I am not I.
I am this one
walking beside me whom I do not see,
whom at times I manage to visit,
and whom at other times I forget;
the one who remains silent while I talk,
the one who forgives, sweet, when I hate,
the one who takes a walk when I am indoors,
the one who will remain standing when I die.

Angeles Arrien: Archetypal Forms and Forces (excerpt)

I highly recommend Angeles Arrien's recording GATHERING MEDICINE available from Sounds True on both CD and digital download.

http://www.soundstrue.com/shop/Gathering-Medicine/369.productdetails

Elizabeth Gilbert on nurturing creativity | Video on TED.com

Elizabeth Gilbert on nurturing creativity | Video on TED.com

An amazing talk by the author of Eat, Pray, Love

Dreams by Akira Kurosawa

This is the final, glorious image from "Sunshine through the Rain" the first chapter of Kurosawa's film Dreams. A young boy is trying to get home.

In this story the boy is warned by his mother not to go into the woods during a sun shower, as that is when the foxes hold their weddings and they do not allow humans to witness the ritual.

The boy goes into the woods anyway and stumbles upon a wedding procession.

He hides behind a large tree but the foxes spot him as he runs away.

He returns home to find his mother waiting for him.

"You went and saw... something you shouldn't have. An angry fox came looking for you. He left this." She hands him a sword. "You are supposed to kill yourself. Go quickly and ask their forgiveness. Give the sword back and tell them how sorry you are. They usually don't forgive. You must be ready to die."

She tells him that she cannot allow him to enter their home until he receives the fox's forgiveness. "But I don't know where they live." says the boy, panicked. "You'll find out. On days like this there are always rainbows. Foxes live under rainbows."

And so begins the boy's journey to find his way home.

An Evening with Ray Bradbury 2001

"Do what you love and love what you do."

A conversation with Ray Bradbury about life, love, writing and the creation of Farenheit 451.

Loren Eiseley, Anthropologist

"While wandering a deserted beach at dawn, stagnant in my work, I saw a man in the distance bending and throwing as he walked the endless stretch toward me. As he came near, I could see that he was throwing starfish, abandoned on the sand by the tide, back into the sea. When he was close enough I asked him why he was working so hard at this strange task. He said that the sun would dry the starfish and they would die. I said to him that I thought he was foolish. there were thousands of starfish on miles and miles of beach. One man alone could never make a difference. He smiled as he picked up the next starfish. Hurling it far into the sea he said, "It makes a difference for this one." I abandoned my writing and spent the morning throwing starfish."
— Loren Eiseley

From Good Reads.com

Loren Corey Eiseley (September 3, 1907 – July 9, 1977) was a highly respected anthropologist, science writer, ecologist, and poet. He published books of essays, biography, and general science in the 1950s through the 1970s.

Eiseley is best known for the poetic essay style, called the "concealed essay". He used this to explain complex scientific ideas, such as human evolution, to the general public. He is also known for his writings about humanity's relationship with the natural world; these writings helped inspire the modern environmental movement.

Jason deCaires Taylor

Underwater Sculpture by Jason deCaires Taylor

My friend Lisa sent me this image. I went to the artist's website. Seeing his work in person requires the viewer go underwater. Here is a description of his work that I pulled from the site. There are more amazing pictures on his website that you can see by clicking on the link.

Jason de Caires Taylor’s underwater sculptures create a unique, absorbing and expansive visual seascape. Highlighting natural ecological processes Taylor’s interventions explore the intricate relationships that exist between art and environment. His works become artificial reefs, attracting marine life, while offering the viewer privileged temporal encounters, as the shifting sand of the ocean floor, and the works change from moment to moment. Jason de Caires Taylor’s underwater sculptures create a unique, absorbing and expansive visual seascape. Highlighting natural ecological processes Taylor’s interventions explore the intricate relationships that exist between art and environment. His works become artificial reefs, attracting marine life, while offering the viewer privileged temporal encounters, as the shifting sand of the ocean floor, and the works change from moment to moment.

"I'd say that creativity is our life insurance. If you are creative you are never afraid because you can design your way out of any situation. Wars, violence, victimization all originate in anger. Fear produces anger. Creativity banishes fear and therefore takes away anger. All education, especially of small children must teach creativity above all else."

–Li Edelkoort

I found this quote by Li Edelkoort in a design annual a few years ago and have kept it with me ever since. It reflects my own experience growing up. The picture posted here is of my high school art teacher Alan Sponzilli. Alan and the other art teachers at Glen Rock High School, S. Vick Owens, Norma Klau, Julius Martin and Lois Anderson created an atmosphere where all students could grow and flourish artistically.

Today is the 30th Anniversary of John Lennon's passing. Listening to his music, I am reminded that aside from being one of the most influential artist/songwriters of our time, he was also one of our greatest dreamers.

#9 Dream

I recently learned the chorus of the song #9 Dream. "Ah! bowakawa pousse, pousse" is said to have come to John Lennon in a dream. According to May Pang who was with him when he wrote it, the phrase has no specific meaning. But in French, the word pousse can mean urged, pushed encouraged and grown.

Every escape route I chose to take had to do with creativity. I was lucky enough to recognize that the woods were one out of many open doors. Creativity was what gave me confidence. Glen Rock, New Jersey had one of the best school systems and I discovered my true power in the art and photography classes. That is what saved me. I was pushed and encouraged by my art teachers. They let us listen to music in the art rooms. The White Album was in heavy rotation as we painted murals on the walls. I eventually realized that John Lennon had more to offer me than my resemblance to him. His quick sense of humor, the funny faces he made and his righteous anger helped me identify and form a template of self-acceptance. Recalling the image of the Beatles having a pillow fight in their hotel room helped me to surrender my seriousness. Whenever I felt shy and fearful, the art rooms provided sanctuary. One day I discovered that people who didn't know me thought I was weird. I found this out by accident. My strangeness was the subject of a short exchange between two upperclassmen that took place as I was sitting in a stall in the double door girls room. They did not know I was there. When they were done talking, I flushed the toilet and exited the stall smiling, embarrassed to see them embarrassed by the things they had said about me.

The people who did know me were equally excited by the lessons in creativity, excelling in art, music and drama. Having located each other through common interests, we formed an art club. The musically inclined formed bands, practicing in family basements. Those with older brothers and sisters were lucky to have record albums passed down to them. Some of the most amazing music and art was emerging out of NYC. We caught it and immersed ourselves in it's beauty, long before it made it to the mainstream.

photograph ©Harry Benson

Dreaming John Lennon 1971 - 2010

Let us begin in the woods. My safety zone was a small stretch of land that had not yet been claimed by developers. An escape from the battlefield of my parents home front. Incoming! When voices were raised in anger, my internal warning system would blare. Bounding out the door, over the dead end side walk, moving towards a quieter location. The neighbors perceived all that lay beyond the cul-de-sac as nothing more than a scrappy, swampy waste land. They could not be bothered to explore it. I rarely invited company. The pack of children who lived on our street would never see or hear me cry. I did not want to be found and once I was deep in the forest my wish was to remain silent, to not startle the birds into flight.

One day after school, walking on the main trail, I heard branches crack. Looking up, I saw a girl accompanied by two boys on the path, coming my way. They were older and within seconds of them spotting me conspiratorial glances were exchanged. I anticipated a verbal hazing, but thought it best to stay on the path. Maybe a nod in passing would draw mercy. I was wrong. At the moment of intersection, the girl put her hands to her cheeks in mock-hysteria and screamed "it's John Lennon!" I was horrified. I did not nod, I did not look back. I just kept walking as they kept laughing.

John Lennon. Not what a 13 year old girl wants to hear. I could not bear to think that I looked like a man and a not so classically attractive one. It did not help that my hair had been cut short that summer after I got a mouthful of bubble gum stuck in it, or that I sported a pair of wire frame oval shaped glasses that topped a beak shaped nose. I later had my nose fixed at 18, egged on by the adults around me, who thought this particular alteration would increase my self confidence. It didn't, but that is another story.

photograph © Chirasak Tolertmongkol | Dreamstime.com

"Ah! b'wakawa pousse?, pousse?"

-John Lennon, #9 Dream

photograph © George Mayer | Dreamstime.com