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.

TREES—AXIS MUNDI

“WHEN WE ARE really awake to the life of our senses—when we are really watching with our animal eyes and listening with our animal ears—we discover that nothing in the world around us is directly experienced as a passive or inanimate object. Each thing, each entity meets our gaze with its own secrets and, if we lend it our attention, we are drawn into a dynamic interaction wherein we are taught and sometimes transformed by this other being.”
—David Abram, “Trust Your Senses”

Sometimes in the rush of our lives we forget to stop and take notice that every little thing (material or natural) pulses within a field of energy. This interconnected Source produces the essence that generates life. It also determines the unique qualities and characteristics of everything we touch plus everything that touches us. Throughout history this vital force has been referred to as subtle body, Zero Point Field, prana, qi (chi), primordial cosmic energy— Divine Intelligence. My tree series called Axis Mundi expresses and celebrates this inherent Intelligence as it moves through and around nature.

Axis Mundi means earth axis. It is a cross-cultural symbol that takes many forms, and appears in almost every region of the world. It symbolizes a bridge or connection between sky and earth or between the spiritual and the physical. The symbol is both feminine and masculine. It often takes the form of a natural object such as a mountain, or a tree. Human-made objects such as totems, towers, pillars and crosses are also often associated with Axis Mundi.

I recognize trees, as Axis Mundi. The trees I have chosen to paint are city trees. I pass by them every day. They are complex. They are grounded in the expression, anatomy and motion of ordinary people, dancers and yogis. Their roots are firmly planted, while their branches reach towards the ethereal sky. These trees are symbols that express the potential of our lives. They get tangled, bend, curve and sometimes even break; yet they are always resilient and continue to aspire towards their highest potential.

As we move towards the promise of a New Year, may the trees in and around your lives inspire a dialogue of hope, peace and transcendence. —Many Blessings, Michele

Within the tides of earth breathing—
blood-red river inhaling/exhaling...
ascending heart first wearing kaleidoscope eye caps—

My left pinkie toe pinched between narrow branches,
oh sometimes it can feel so cold-stone, silvery-blue.

"I will not fly away," I say it over and over again.
Grounded in choosing colors that remind me to believe
in soul secrets and trust. —mo


To view the complete Axis Mundi Tree Series please click here.

Click here to read an Article about Michele regarding this series

ZERO POINT FIELD

There are many of us who believe we are on the cusp of a revolutionary discovery. It is something that reveals the miraculous nature of life’s interconnected relationships; something that exceeds Einstein’s theory of revolution, and Newtonian law. This new way of thinking and being is laying to rest outdated ideologies of soulless separateness, paradigms that are connected to “the ruthless competitive edge” and Darwin’s “survival of the fittest.” In a nutshell this revolution finds that all living things are ‘energy’. This energy functions in a ‘field of energy’. Scientists call this Zero Point Field. (Lynne McTaggard, “The Field”)

The Zero Point Field is said to be “a repository of all fields and all ground energy states and all virtual particles. It is a field of fields.” The existence of the Zero Point Field is the contemporary explanation for many metaphysical notions such as extra sensory perception, chi, mind/body relationships, remote healings and miracles. In another time one simply might call this phenomenon—G O D. (…dare I say it!) Today we look to science to prove what ancient philosophers, oracles, shamans, and Eastern wisdom have known all along.

Most of us who take time to reflect on the progression of our lives will notice that for a large part—we are our thoughts. Our lives perform around our intentions—calculated or not. But dare we think that we are the sole proprietor of our outcomes, we must also notice that our world is not all about what we intend it to be. It is also about exchanges, transience, and the unpredictable nature of things. It is about our relationship to everything we think and feel, plus everything we touch. It is about a Zero Point Field of interconnection. It is foremost about the collective us.

My ZERO POINT FIELD series (click to see) celebrates this revolution and hopes to inspire a visual doorway into this realm of interconnected possibilities. Through the exchange of intention and surrender may we become enlightened to the potential of unity, community, purpose and the spiritual radiance in all things.

Many Blessings —michele

Introducing ‘BURST DESIGNS’ plus ‘BLUE MOON MUSING’ / ‘ZERO POINT FIELD’ it’s Companion BLOG

To everyone who has ever played with me in the field of mystical synchronicity—I am delighted to share my new work with you.

As many of you already know... StandingOnMarbles.com was launched about 14 years ago and showcases about 20 years of my work. Throughout the years this journey has taken on many manifestations. Consistent is that this work has always been concerned with the broad category of Existentialism. This, I've always stated simply as the study of being addressing humankind's search for meaning.

Today, my thoughts move away from the roller-coasters of Existential syntax, and arrive at sensations of transcendence, as learned and experienced in higher states of consciousness—through my on-going practice and study of yoga, meditation, healing arts, quantum physics, and extrasensory phenomena.

In celebration of this creative transition I am launching BURSTdesigns.com as well as this companion BLOG so that I can share some of my explorations, discoveries and valuable resources with you. BURSTDesigns is an online shop that offers museum quality, archival prints of my latest paintings and drawings. This BLOG is tied into the intellectual and creative aesthetics of BURSTS.

Right now it features two categories: BLUE MOON MUSINGS and ZERO POINT FIELD. BLUE MOON MUSINGS is dedicated to offering personal/collective expressive reflections that have inspired my work. ZERO POINT FIELD is an arena for discussing the creative interconnections between art, science, nature and healing. In the near future I also plan to offer a category on IGNITING CREATIVITY that will offer tips and tools on how to burst through your creative blocks and actually make some art.

Thank you for supporting this journey with your interest. I look forward to expanding these projects with the help of your valuable input and feedback.

Sending Big Love into our inspired Collective Unconscious, Michele