Thanks Crate and Barrel!

PINK! LIME! YELLOW! RED! I was drawn, like bee to pollen, not even aware I was moving in their direction until my eyeballs were filled with color. There were my sister and I in our school pictures. Her AUBURN hair poufed up on top of her head, wearing a TURQUOISE/LIME GREEN striped tank top. There I was, short hair, goofy smile, irregular teeth, wearing a HOT PINK/ORANGE striped tank top. I'm standing in my kitchen, TURQUOISE counters and high gloss white wallpaper with HUGE LIME GREEN and TURQUOISE poppies, their BLACK stems dancing on the walls. And a picture my brother made, his only piece of art, by melting and dripping TURQUOISE, LIME GREEN and BLACK crayons on a white canvas.

I realized I had been standing for a very long time staring, STARING, at hand towels. HOT PINK and ORANGE. LIME GREEN and TURQUOISE. I had gone to Crate and Barrel to find a specifically shaped iced tea glass as a prop and found myself back in Southfield, Michigan circa 1966 or 68.

And, right then, in the middle of crate and barrel, I really missed my mom. My sister and I got our love for color from her. I think, if she hadn't had kids to raise, a business to help run, she would have liked to have been an artist. She painted a little, a bullfighter on old barn wood. She could draw too. And she made silhouettes of us. She let me paint my bedroom BLUE, or was it blue from my brother? I know for sure she let me cut out big YELLOW daisies from wallpaper or contact paper, and glue them to the walls and up and over the ceiling.  Before that, when my sister and I shared a bedroom, we had RED shag carpeting. My grama lived with us, and she had PINK shag carpet. Our living room had GREEN Carpet.

This is a pastel I drew a Very long time ago... 1999. But, I see a thread that was clearly continuing. I had painted our bedroom PERSIMMON and put in PURPLE carpet. Thats a LIME GREEN polka dot chair I painted, and ORANGE silk for good measure. 

Here's a tiny section of my inspiration board, trying to motivate, prod, remember how to make Art again. One of these days I'm going to stop putting so much energy into "work" and get to Work.

Cool little Food Photo Project

OK, so this is a little different than my other posts. We recently went through nearly 10 years of shooting Plate Magazine, and picked out our favorite photos and recipes and made this snazzy little book. When you open the book, and click through the pages, the name of the recipe under each photo is a link to the plate magazine website where you will find the recipe. The first time it takes you to the website, you will have to register, but its super-fast and free, and then subsequently, each click will take you DIRECTLY to the recipe. Does it work? Do you like it? What do you think?

Chris%20Cassidy%20Photo%20-%20Plate%20Magazine

Full Body Art-Making

I was fortunate to spend a few hours, two days in a row, at the Art Institute of Chicago. The first day was a planned excursion with friends to view the John Marin Watercolor exhibit, a painter I had never heard of before. I was shocked that I hadn't known who he was, since he was a contemporary of Georgia L"Keefe and showed at Steiglitz's gallery, and is described as the most "celebrated American Artist" of his day.  He began with realism and exploded into expressionism. What a wonderful revelation! I was lucky enough to be able to go back the next day to spend more time.

Can't you feel the energy in his work, the vibrant energetic push and pull of brushstrokes, scratching the surface, dragging, scraping, drawing? This was full body art-making, not tidy, neat or tight. Even in his earlier etchings, which generally require some tightness in execution, his work is beautifully loose and free. He was conducting color, dancing or sculpting on that paper, using all means  necessary to put down on paper how he felt about what he saw. Watercolor is a tricky medium, very difficult to control. Marin was a well-trained artist, though he had not studied watercolor techniques. With no preconceived limitations, he was free to explore, and into another territory he went.

When I saw the painting above, it instantly reminded me of this photograph that Chris took of me many years ago. When I walked out of that show, I felt like dancing. Of course, anyone who knows me knows this isn't all THAT unusual. But, in an extraordinary way, the paintings put me INTO my body. 


Now, I wasn't actually going to start dancing in the middle of the Art Institute by myself, although I REALLY wanted to. At the exit / entrance of the show, there were such glorious peaceful standing buddhas. In front of them, I took their positions like a student would mimick a teacher. They embodied the solidity and grace of simply standing.  Mountain Pose in Yoga.

On either side of the staircase were seated figures, one bejeweled, glorious and tall, one leaning over. I danced these, too, in a quiet sort of way.  I began to live the art, to feel it enter my body, and as I continued through the museum, looking at areas I haven't gone into in years, I felt the thrill of discovery. Below are some of my favorite  "Don't fuck with me" sculptures.

From the moment we're born we try to decifer what each minute change in expression means. Most expressions are really a mixture of emotions. I fell in love with the faces on these sculptures.

And check out this guy, he's a real guy... a funeral portrait from 2nd century Egypt. It's not a generic "man," its a real actual portrait. Don't you feel him staring out through the centuries? And, this simple gorgeous sculpture, a marvel of elegance and understated perfection. And then, this absolutely amazing movement of "Gentle, come with me into the night." Wow.

The images below just blew me away. The black and ochre pieces are from about 300 BC and are so incredibly graceful and detailed, with gorgeous delicate lines. Those horses sure are running. Could those people standing between the columns BE any more relaxed and perfect? And, I'm pretty sure the woman on the left is holding a birthday cake! The blue stucco is from the 1st century, and is so decorative and elegant I can hardly stand it.

Just a few more pictures of things that I adored. The most amazing funky modern bright Orange Teakettle from ancient China and a Porcelain Monkey Band! Yes, a Monkey Band.

So, all this Art has me thinking about those cave paintings I talked about in my last blog.  Archeologists are always talking about Prehistoric Art having some Ritual or Spiritual reason for existing.  I'm not so sure. I think there have always been Artists among us. Some people just HAVE to hunt. Some are moved to dance, and some just have to draw. I think people have always made art simply to express themselves because it's enjoyable and because they could. From the time humans picked up a piece of flint or Charcoal, it is something that every culture has always done. Making art is what binds us all together as human. 

An Atom of Time

Walnuts, Chestnuts, Truffles, Goose, Foie Gras and Wine - the local foods of the Dordogne-Perigord. Though hiking 8-14 miles a day, staying in each village one night and moving on, this was clearly not a trip of privation.

Walking through the pastoral countryside it is easy to forget the history of the place. But unlike the natural rock overhangs used for millenia as shelter, the square windows cut into the rocks above the river were made not by nature, but by man seeking shelter from the man-made storm called War.

In Font de Gaume cave we saw amazingly gorgeous authentic 17,000 year old paintings of Mammoth and Bison. These animals were lively and 3-dimensional, with depth to their legs and perspective techniques not seen again until the Renaissance! The lines are smooth and gestural resulting from one perfect sweep of thought and image. They are clearly the work of brilliant and talented artists. People never lived in the caves, but rather outside of them, under rocky overhangs. The artists used a stone lamp with a hollowed out center, a vegetal wick and animal tallow for flickering light. They had to imagine their paintings, prepare their manganese and iron oxide outside the cave and hike, or in some cases crawl, into the caves to produce these works.

Ruffignac, another authentic cave, is known both for its paintings and for its finger engravings. This is a much larger cave than Font de Gaume. The horse is approximately life size and drawn on the ceiling. The brilliant and crazy thing about this is that the space it was created in was very shallow and the artist had to crawl in, lie on his or her back and draw without being able to see the entire animal at one time, and it is Still perfect! The area has since been excavated down so we are able to stand comfortably and view these gorgeous works.

Standing in Abri Pataud, a rock shelter in Les Eyzies, France, the chasm of history was crushed to an atom of time. People lived here 35,000 to 20,000 years ago. 35,000 years ago. Say it out loud and marvel!

So much more to tell about (and show pictures of), but that will have to wait for another time.

I will end this entry here: Returning home to Chicago, the woman exiting the plane in front of me wore a very chic full-length coat constructed of squared rabbit hides sewn together in a patchwork. In a moment I was transported back to Les Eyzies. There I saw sewing needles made of bone with the tiniest eye, capable of sewing the finest sinew and grass, binding hides punched with bone awls.I swear I saw a white light and heard a vast whooshing sound inside my head as time spun.

Go see This is it. Really.

Anyone who listened to Michael Jackson at some point (or at all points) in their life needs to go see "This is It." Seriously. It is an amazing and exhilarating look at creativity. I found myself smiling through much of it, waving my arms. People talking back to the screen. Though these are literally rehearsal tapes, once in a while Michael was in a zone singing or dancing and time sort of stands till. The principal dancers he chose grew up watching and learning his moves... one of them flew in from Australia when he heard about the audition. During "Beat It" my abs were literally twitching just watching them.... sounds weird, but it was almost like dancing it myself. Singers, awesome. Crazy great musicians including a 24 year old Australian woman who can shred a guitar with the best of them... she may BE the best of them. The glimpses of sets, costumes, special digital effects that would have been are spectacular. Michael was a showman - not just a dancer or singer, but a director, a visionary. I know, this sounds crazy, but go see the film. You'll see what I mean. And then, go home and dance. Or, better yet, call me and lets go OUT dancing.

So, it continues

Several more kids have been killed in Chicago since I wrote my first blog a week ago. OMG!

This is just a quick note to let people know that tomorrow (friday, Oct 30) there is a prayer vigil for those kids at 11 am at 6900 S. Ashland with CeaseFire and several community faith based leaders.

If you've been meaning to Donate to CeaseFire.... do it now! The kids can't wait.

Next blog will be on a happier topic, I promise.

I am SO Lucky.

Sometimes I don’t realize it, but you know, I am so lucky. I can walk to the lake or the theater. We’re close to the studio, and our daughter goes to a great school. We have friends who enjoy all the fun and creativity life can offer: Fantastic Food, Music, Dance, Travel, Hiking, Baseball, Sailing. Fabulous! Even in this economy, I still think most of us are so lucky to do all we do, and live where we do.

But there’s another part of Chicago that’s not so wonderful. In some communities, they are not so lucky. There are neighborhoods where violence has become an epidemic and people stay locked up inside their homes out of fear. In some schools nearly every child knows someone who was shot or killed. Imagine that! Kids grow up with so much violence around them that it seems normal. You have to wonder, how can that EVER seem normal? But it does.

For YEARS now, every time I hear about a child being killed I think “Oh my God, not again.” My heart skips a beat, then races. I feel my jaw clench. I get pissed. I want to DO something about it! SOMETHING. But, honestly, I don’t REALLY want to do something about it, I mean, not personally. I’m not qualified, and I wouldn’t know WHAT to do about it. But, there are people who have a clear approach to stopping the violence and we can help them.

About 10 years I saw a sign that stopped my heart cold. It said, “STOP. KILLING. PEOPLE. CeaseFire.”

Another one showed a small child with the words “DON’T SHOOT. I want to grow up. CeaseFire.” At first I thought it was just a public service poster calling for a ceasefire. But its actually an amazing organization. CeaseFire approaches violence as a public health epidemic.

Over the years every time I would read another tragic story, I thought about CeaseFire, and thought I should get involved with them. But, I never did. Until now.

Their goal is to interrupt the cycle of violence and create more healthy norms of behavior. They do this with highly-trained youth-outreach and high-risk conflict mediators, and violence interrupters. YES, VIOLENCE INTERRUPTORS. These are streetwise people, many are former gang members who have spent time in prison, but are now “on this side of the line.” The violence interruptors are literally ON THE STREETS figuring out where violence may happen, and trying to stop it before it starts. They go directly into danger zones, talking to people and trying to get them to stop… to think about what they are doing, and the consequences and to stop the never-ending retaliations. They offer alternatives and education and job training and community building. And, it works.

Well, I still have that feeling that I want to do SOMETHING. So, I am inviting you to a fundraiser for CeaseFire. Instead of a live in-person event, I am emailing everyone I know and asking you all to email everyone you know to reach as many people as possible. I’d love to reach thousands.

My hope is that I can get 100 people to donate $100 to CeaseFire. Or 200 people to donate $50. 500 people to donate $25? 1000 people to donate $15? Donations don’t have to be big, there just have to be a lot of them.

So, PLEASE help me make this a reality. Join me in donating to this AMAZING group of people, who literally put their life on the line every day to make our city safer and more hopeful for EVERY child. We have been SO fortunate to enjoy our lives as we do. Let’s help other children have an opportunity to enjoy their lives without fear

If you are tired of reading about kids being killed, please be part of the solution by supporting people that make a difference.

Thanks for helping!

Nancy Cassidy

TO MAKE A DONATION CLICK THIS LINK :

http://www.ceasefirechicago.org/donate.shtml

(if you’d like to, on the donation page under Special Instructions you could tell them Nancy sent you)

CeaseFire, an initiative of the Chicago Project for Violence Prevention at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health, is a scientifically-proven, interdisciplinary strategy based on public health, behavior change and epidemic-control methods focused on reducing shootings and killings.” “The FBI has found this is a documented best practice for reducing shootings and killings,” says CeaseFire’s founder, Gary Slutkin. CeaseFire works with community, city, county, state and federal partners incorporating street-level outreach, public education, community mobilization, faith leader involvement and police participation.

The Obama Administration Recognizes Lessons Learned from CeaseFire-Chicago:

“Attorney General Eric Holder recognized CeaseFire-Chicago as an example of an innovative, evidence-based strategy for violence prevention in his opening remarks at the “White House Conference on Gang Violence Prevention and Crime Control.” Attorney General Holder emphasized that “a rational, data-driven, evidence-based smart approach to crime – the kind of approach that this administration is dedicated to pursuing and supporting – must be part of a partnership in public safety.”

TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT CEASEFIRE, CHECK OUT THESE LINKS:

http://www.ceasefirechicago.org/

New York Times article by Alex Kotlowitz: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/04/magazine/04health-t.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

Article in Philanthropy Magazine Fall 2009:

http://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/article.asp?article=1592&paper=1&cat=147

A Study published by the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University on the effeciveness of CeaseFire:

http://www.northwestern.edu/ipr/publications/ceasefire_papers/executivesummary.pdf