SKETCHBOOK SNAPSHOTS

Because these wings are no longer wings to fly
but merely vans to beat the air
The air which is now thoroughly small and dry
smaller and dryer than the will

Teach us to care and not to care
Teach us to sit still. —T.S. Eliot

SKETCHBOOK SNAPSHOTS

QUIETNESS
Inside this new love, die.
Your way begins on the other side.
Become the sky.
Take an axe to the prison wall.
Escape.
Walk out like someone suddenly born into color.
Do it now.
You're covered with thick cloud.
Slide out the side. Die,
and be quiet. Quietness is the surest sign that you've died.
Your old life was a frantic running from silence.

The speachless full moon
comes out now. —Rumi

SKETCHBOOK SNAPSHOTS

"I love the dark hours of my being.
My mind deepens into them.
There I can find, as in old letters,
the days of my life, already lived,
and held like a legend, and understood.

The knowing comes: I can open
to another life that's wide and timeless.

So I am sometimes like a tree
rustling over a gravesite
and making real the dream
of the one its living roots
embrace:

a dream once lost
among sorrows and songs.

—Rilke's Book of Hours I,5

The Process of Didge Making

Go walking in the desert until you come across a strange looking stick growing out of a bushel of prickly, poky, pointy branches. This is an Agave Blossom. It's best when it has reached maturity and is drying out.

Next, you put on some gloves and start peeling away the prickles. The giant root lies at the base. With patience you will begin to see it emerge...

Say a little thank you to Mother Earth for allowing you to remove her stick.

Next, you split it in half and hollow it out with a chisel. Once it is nice and even you epoxy it back together and clamp it overnight. Coat the interior with resin as well. Next devote lots of time sanding the exterior. Paint a design and then give it many coats of lacquer. A beeswax mouthpiece makes it easier to play and softer on the lips.

Many More to Come! Please Check Back Soon

FROM MUD TO MUSIC

My Udu drum is made from clay...

I've been wanting to make an Udu drum for a long time and finally decided to carve out the time to do so. This drum is primarily thrown on the potter's wheel in two parts. After it was formed I covered it with several layers of 'terra sigillata' which is a highly refined liquid clay. The term 'terra sigillata' means 'sealed earth'. The piece was then burnished to a high polish with a river rock. After firing, I painted it with oxide stains and fired it again to cone 05. The drum has many different pitches and tones depending on where it is tapped.

"The word Udu means both vessel and peace in the Ibo language of Nigeria." Some believe the deep resonance of the drum is the “voice of the ancestors”. It is used throughout the world in spiritual ceremonies and rituals. It can also be heard in contemporary tribal/world music.

To hear what the Udu sounds like click here.

©M. Ogilvie, 2011

©M. Ogilvie, 2011

©M. Ogilvie, 2011

©M. Ogilvie, 2011

"INSPIRATION"— The Art of Breathing

by Michele Ogilvie, MFA CMT

EACH DAY we breathe about 20,000 times. Most of us take this action for granted; however, the quality of our breath is a very important component to our overall health and wellbeing.

The primary muscle responsible for moving breath is the diaphragm. The diaphragm is a domelike muscle that sits above the lungs. Although breathing is most often considered an involuntary action, this muscle and the power of our mind gives it the potential to function voluntarily. Through conscious breathing the diaphragm and lungs can grow strong and help support our path to healing.

Inhalation + Pause + Exhalation: In order to learn to work with the breath consciously and effectively it is important to see the breath as three parts: the inhalation (inspiration), the pause and the exhalation (expiration). A generous inhalation is supplying oxygen to our blood, providing energy to the brain, organs and muscles. Body cells not only need this for energy and growth, but also emotional and physical health. Without oxygen, the body's cells would die. The pause allows the oxygen to percolate and produce a sense of rhythm and calm. The exhalation releases carbon dioxide and toxic gases as waste. Practicing to make the duration of your inhales equal to your exhales (with a second or two pause in between) is a simple way to start becoming acquainted with voluntary breathing. Try counting it out until it begins to feel natural: Inhale: 1, 2, 3; pause: 1, 2; exhale: 1, 2, 3; repeat.

One’s breath can become shallow for many reasons. Stress, emotional trauma, and illness are some of the biggest obstacles. Most of our lives are terribly fast paced and overflowing with responsibility. At times it feels as though we are carrying the weight of the world on our shoulders and thus our body’s recoil, our shoulders round forward and our lungs and diaphragm cave in. In this posture and circumstance it is very difficult to establish a healthy breath cycle.

Meditation, Yoga, Massage and Bodywork are excellent ways to help reestablish the breath. These practices offer space to slow down and actually listen to what’s going on in our complex body/minds. Taking time out in your busy day to experience first hand the healing potential of relaxing into a rhythmic breath cycle is one of the most basic, yet important tools to managing stress you can give yourself. Remember ‘Inhalation’ means ‘Inspiration’ —so take time out to breathe into the potential of your heART!—©Michele Ogilvie

I'm honored to be selected for BLUE PLANET EXHIBITION

BLUE PLANET is an art exhibition scheduled at SOMARTS, San Francisco, CA from June 18 to June 30, 2010. It is running concurrent with Elements: An Eco-Art Conference, a visual conversation with artists and other professionals concerned about local and global environmental issues affecting our planet. (Sponsored by the Pacific Region Women’s Caucus for Art)

This exhibition was juried by Kim Abeles— internationally acclaimed public artist known for her extensive work concerning environmental and social issues.

Artists Reception is on Saturday, June 26 from 5:00 to 7:00 pm at SOMArts Cultural Center, 934 Brannan Street, San Francisco, CA 94103. Catalogues will be available for purchase at the show.

Here is a little preview of my submissions.

Zero Point Field XI speaks to the micro and macro relationships of water in the human body and the earth. It is oil and encaustic on panel.Sacred Anatomy I is a rendering of the human torso in motion. It aims to express the fluidity and movement of water within the energy field of the human form. It is mixed media and ink.

Personal Statement: These two abstract renderings were inspired by the fact that the adult human body is between 55 and 60% water, (blood contains almost 70% water) while the surface of planet earth is covered by 70% ocean water. Many preindustrial cultures around the globe acknowledged the interconnected relationship between humankind and mother earth. Our similar water ratio offers an important consideration: that the condition and ultimate fate of the earth and all of humankind are one and the same.

There are many of us who believe we are on the cusp of a paradigm shift that advocates a return to holistic health and healing on a personal, communal and global scale. The micro/macro energetic similarities between human and global anatomy are all at once metaphorically poetic and scientific. While acknowledging Water as life sustaining Source—I offer these paintings as universal shamanic meditations towards health and healing.

To view more work from this series please visit: STANDINGONMARBLES

Participating Artists: Allison Adams, Carolyn Applegate, Salma Arastu, Mariana Barnes, Ulla Barr, Tessie Barrera-Scharaga, Rebecca Bauen, Helen L. Bellaver, Sukey Bryan, Mike Callaghan, Kimberley Campisano, Paola Coda, Joyce Cutler-Shaw, Lynn Dau, Mary Lou Dauray, Inouk Demers, Cynthia Eddings, Danielle Eubank, Trish Foschi, Sarah Beth Goncarova, Sevilla Granger, Rachel X. Hobreigh, Teresa Hsu, Ann Isolde, Uma Rani Iyli, Katherine Hisako Kodama, Audrey Kral, Linda Kunik, Mariette Leufkens, Nalyne Lunati, Leora Lutz, Meg Madison, Maggie Malloy, Laura D. McHugh, Jean B. Mills, Barbara Milman, Arlene Ferley Monzon, Leslie Morgan, Sandra Mueller, Brenda Oelbaum, Michele Ogilvie, Nora Raggio, Ally Richter, Anne W. Rosenfeld, Valerie Runningwolf, Elisa Salcedo, Pallavi Sharma, Diana B. Shore, Susan M. Sironi, Jennifer Kim Sohn, Virginia Stearns, Deborah Thomas, Leigh Toldi, Jillian Van Ness, Margi Weir, Sydney Zentall.