Posting

Hi Everyone!

I apologize for not writing a post in a long ass time! I have been cheating on Natures Awareness with my Thesis. I also started teaching and woah boy does that keep me busy! I have only ever officially taught first graders so going right to college students has surely kept me on my toes. It is great to be around students who are as excited about ceramics as I am. Makes me feel like I’m not the only nerd!

One thing I have been trying to do with my classes is to always give them an inspirational quote from a famous poet, life coach, activist, etc. With everything going on in the world, I feel it is important to support each other and let one another know that we can accomplish anything we are excited about and devoted too. Here is just a little teaser I have been thinking about.. I hope you enjoy it and it gets those wheels turning……

“Don’t accept something someone else tells you to be true. Research. Push Yourself. Don’t accept their truth as a Rule to follow. Push against it and you will find your own. And that will be the truth that no one else could find except you.” - Lyndsey

*Wander*

Mind Tricks

I am a hardcore believer in signs and that everything happens for a reason. Particularly with symbolism of animals. Now, I don’t mean I take every single animal I see throughout the day and think of the divine meaning it carries. It’s the animals that sort of demand your attention or instantly catch your eyes. I mean what are the chances of a person looking out their window at the exact time a bird lands on a branch for only a few seconds?

Lastnight, I was sitting out in my backyard, like I have many other countless nights. I find this to be a very important part of my research to try to be hyper-aware of my surroundings while outdoors. I sat down around 8 and waited for the darkness. By doing this practice, I find it really brings me back to center with nature. I think one of the most important things I have done since I have lived here is feed the birds. (Yes, my friends already call me Grandma so go right ahead.) When I first sat down, it was complete chaos. All I heard was noise coming from every direction. I couldn’t differentiate anything. I was frustrated because I was trying to relax and notice the fine details all the while having my ears torn apart with noise. However, as I sat, the sounds became clearer. I started to be able to recognize the differences between the wind, the birds, the squirrels, things swimming or falling into the pond or jumping out of it. It’s like my ears had adapted to that environment. I was able to differentiate the birds singing over top of my head and the birds way off in the distance in the left and right directions. Any noise I heard I could tell where it was coming from. There was a documentary I watched where a man said something along the lines of, the more you are outdoors…. the more you can hear. (I love movies, don’t judge me!) This night, that man was completely right. One of my bird feeders is about thirty feet away from my chair. When a cardinal would stop for a quick bite, I could hear his beak break open the shell of a sunflower seed to get to the prize. However, I would have never been able to hear that subtle of a noise when I first came outside. I loved it. It was the whole new experience for me. Some might say well isn’t that what hunting is? I guess at a certain level it is but when hunting, you try to block out all the other noises to here a creature walking. It is definitely not about enveloping yourself into the array of all the sounds that are happening simultaneously around you.

As I sat, I started thinking about wind and how it has many variations. The power of wind. When wind rustles through the trees to make the leaves sing, the wind is forcing the leaves to move. From the abundance of them, they brush against each other making that iconic sound. The more I listened the more I heard, when the array of birds would fly back and forth to the feeder, I started to notice another sound. The sound of their wings flapping. Now this sound is not generated by their wings actually making sounds. It is the action of their wings flapping at such a high speed that forces the air to make noise called wind. Wind is an invisible thing that can’t be physically seen. We only see the things the wind is acting upon that move. But we can feel and hear the wind. Don’t have birds? Try fully extending your arm and flapping. You cannot hear the wind but you can feel the wind you are creating on your arm. Now try using only half your arm. If you flap as fast as you can, you can hear the wind. Isn’t that insane? The same wind that can tear siding and roofs off of peoples houses, we can actual make a form of it ourselves. The same as birds.

It seemed like all at once as the darkness approached the birds slowly left me to sit alone. Then a whole other sound emerged. Frogs, yes frogs. I could tell which ones were close and which ones were far. If it was a young frog or an old frog (depending on the deepness of sound). However, the mind plays tricks. Did all of the birds actually go to their nests to settle in for the night? Or was it this new noise of frogs that made the birds fall into the background? Were the frogs reciting their songs all along and I just paid more attention to the birds? Or did I get sick of hearing the birds so I focuses on the frogs? I need to research what makes a frog sing because it is not every night. Sometimes it fills my bedroom, sometimes it is dead silent and I am not talking about different parts of the year. Just day to day. The thing that makes me question how and why I heard the things I did, came from an exercise in undergrad. I had a class called Artists in the Schools which was around twenty-five students and we were to sit quietly for five minutes with our eyes closed and listen. Then once the five minutes were up, we had to say what caught our attention the most. EVERYONE HAD A DIFFERENT ANSWER. And I thought some of my classmates were crazy because I was convinced I never heard the noises they did. (my own ignorance)

I am not real sure on how to end this one because it is just my observations from trying my best to be fully present in the moment. I guess it’s about how there are mysterious in our world that maybe we will never simply figure out. For example, I can never 100 percent have the answers to my questions, Did all of the birds actually go to their nests to settle in for the night? Or was it this new noise of frogs that made the birds fall into the background? Were the frogs reciting their songs all along and I just paid more attention to the birds? Or did I get sick of hearing the birds so I focuses on the frogs? Even if I would have had a friend sit with me, they would have hear different things, we would have focused on different sounds so they wouldn’t be able to definitely tell me the answers to the questions. And I think it would be pointless to try to repeat the scenario and have a friend come sit and me tell them all the things they have to listen for because then its staged along with every night being completely different than the rest. So in a way, I can never know those answers. Okay but lets switch to a different example dealing with the musician Brian Eno (big deal). This is just a story that was passed down to me about one of his performances so I believe it took place sometime in the 1970’s but don’t quote me on that. Oh, and its real! I am not making up a random thing right now but anyways, Brian Eno was a clever man. (Hey side note, he created Oblique Strategies that I talked about in a previous post!) For the start of his performance, he played the same note for TWENTY MINUTES. Naturally, this infuriated a lot of the attendees and a majority of the people went home but the people who did stay had a super special treat waiting for them. Eno changed up the tune at the very end and it was such a big deal that everyone who stayed LOVED the performance. So back to my point while talking about the musician, Was it actually some insane extravagant wild theatrical performance? Hell No. However, did Eno play some kind of mind trickery to drive everyone insane with the same note that sort of brainwashed them and then chemicals reacted with chemicals who reacted with more chemicals in their brains so them the slight change in tune caused peoples brains to explode with happiness and curiosity and wonderment? Hell Yes!

Perhaps we'll never know. Wander

Vegetables, Herbs, and Weeds Oh My !

Oh do I have some good brain busters today! I recently returned from my trip up to my parents home. I was in serious need of a break from my old routines and needed to see my favorite people. It’s funny how much I miss the mountains. I never really gave it a thought when I moved to south east Georgia, but then being down here for six months or more at a time where EVERYTHING IS FLAT, I cannot even express how much I appreciate the beauty of mountains. On my drive up, I go through part of the smokey mountains and I always love how I feel so small like those mountains down give a damn that I am there. However, I am not going to be talking about mountains in this one. Instead, I am going to talk about how crazy wild and awesome my garden was when I returned.

Now I was not raised in a farming family so I am just “winging it” and learning as I go, which has been fun and infuriating all at the same time. When I returned, the first thing I did was go into my yard to check out all the plants, I couldn’t believe that my lettuce was FIVE FOOT TALL with the cutest little flowers on top ready to bloom. There were weeds everywhere in all of my garden boxes. (I cannot plant any food in the ground since Bryar is a boy and would love to cover it all with his urine.) Unfortunately, my zucchini and butternut squash had taken a hit and the leaves were wilting and starting to die. So I panicked a little and immediately started weeding and researching organic and all natural ways to get rid of bugs and fungus. This was all after an eight hour drive so I decided to take the rest of the night off and come back tomorrow ready to whip this garden back into shape.

When I came out early the next day I was on a mission. I felt like I started at 500 mph and was slowly taken down to 20 mph without any hesitation or reluctance. I was enjoying. Sometimes I talk to the plants, whistle, or hum. I think its deemed as an Old Wives Tale that plants like to be talked to. As I slowed down, I started to notice a pattern. The small weeds were growing in and around the established veggies and herbs. Not out in the open. Well now wouldn’t it be easier for them to grow in the bare dirt? Wouldn’t their seeds fall there more naturally? It was almost like the weeds were trying to camouflage themselves into the others so I wouldn’t notice them. But they weren’t competing. It wasn’t like the weeds were trying to choke the other out or vice versa. They were living and all of them looked healthy. Well this had my brain turning and I felt bad because if I wouldn’t be trying to grow food, I probably would have just left the weeds there because if my flower beds have a weed and it’s a pretty flower; it has earned its right and it stays. Who am I to even say what a flower is and what a weed is. If its pretty and harmless, it remains. Anyways, I started applying human principles to this scenario all thanks to Peter Wohlleben because we now know the environment is very similar to human life. Okay now I know I am ridiculous and over-think way to much but could have the weeds been trying to camouflage themselves as a defense mechanism to stay alive? Do they know they are weeds so they try to hide amongst established plants? I didn’t do any research about that yet, I don’t even know if someone in the world cares enough about weeds to figure that out but hopefully! I was also thinking since plants have defenses with warning each other about potential predators then wouldn’t an established plant be able to send some kind of signal or completely take away the weeds needs for survival? Or can the weeds completely disguise themselves to fall under the radar to the plant they are trying to hide with? “Things that make ya go hmmm.”

Another one of my observations was with plants that weren’t doing so good. The zucchini had some kind of problem and were all starting to wilt so not much mystery there, they just got sick. But my fascination came with the tomato plants. I had no idea that tomatoes are so picky! They need to have the right amount of vitamins in the soil to ensure they do not rot or get an array of other diseases. On certain stalks I could see that some leaves would turn brown and start to fall off but then the next set of leaves above or below the one that died would turn brown too only with a day or two delay. Okay now I know this just sounds like it has a disease and is dying how it should but just hold on and stay with me. But to my surprise, the stalk would recover from the loss of those two steams and look completely healthy. This wasn’t just one scenario, I saw it happen on a majority of my tomato plants. My thoughts: Does the plant see it is in trouble (like most do) and sends all its defenses to that area to protect the stalk? Does it take the vitamins from the closest neighbor on the main stalk and that is why another stem dies with it? Or does it say, “Oh crap I need to cut off that part because its sick” and that is why the two closest stems die together? Is it just because of the natural spread of disease my plants got lucky that only two steams died and the rest didn’t catch it? Is it because those stems didn’t successfully grow actual tomatoes so the stalk said, “You failed, byee!” Or is it because the stalk felt bad that only one was dying so he sent another stem to die alongside it for comfort?

OKAY I know the last one is a stretch into the abyss, just wanted to make sure you’re paying attention. You have to understand that I am the type of person that decorates my house for every season and if I see a cute lonely trinket sitting on the shelf that probably won’t be picked…it usually comes home with me. Not far off from the scenario with Percy the Puny Poinsettia. In the end, I am hoping to get my spark back for research and I can tell you all if everything I just said has some truth or if I am full of crap. I really enjoy going after ideas and scenarios that aren’t discussed, I like the unknown, the unseen, the things that sit behind the curtain that not a lot of people know about. They usually need to be talked about but in a space that people can truly sit and listen. I think that is why I tend to believe in myths because I want there to be things in this world we simply do not know about. I so desperately want there to still be “magic”. I think that is why I am pulled to nature so stronger because there is still something extraordinarily confidential yet familiar about being out in the woods. It just doesn’t seem to tell you what that is. Wander.

Creating Memories

Okay I am done with the gloom, despair and agony. On ward to happy fun things! I am not going to talk about any books or articles. Just life experiences today. I am that sick of reading, I believe my mind is on hiatus because two of my favorite things are being outside in the wilderness and traveling and I AM NOT SUPPOSED TO DO ANY. So I catch my mind wandering back through time. Recently, I have been reminiscing about Montana. Beautiful Montana. I swear if it wouldn’t be winter there for 8 months I would move like…tomorrow. Last summer I took a trip there with my mom and sister. After my gallivanting around two summers before, they wanted to see the sublime too!

The first part of the trip was just my Mom and I staying at Paws Up in a fancy tent along the Blackfoot river. (Rainbow rocks :D) The first night we slept there, I remember waking up at 6:30 am to rustling in our tent. Well then hell no I couldn’t fall back to sleep if I was about to be eaten by a big foot. Twisting and turning I looked over at Mom and loudly whispered, “Do you hear that?” and she said, “Yep, what is it?” so of course the smartest thing I thought of was sticking my head down to look if the creature was under the bed and examining the floor, all the while trying to make sure every other body part was under the covers BECAUSE IT WAS FREEZING. Nothing. I didn’t see anything but the sound made it seem like it was 80 pound beast about to do a flying leap on my face. “I don’t see anything!”. Then, we heard a “funny squeaking noise” (quote from Christmas Vacation) and we both looked back at each other with our eyes widened and she says, “I think its an Otter!” Well, I don’t know if it was absurdity of that or the deliriousness of waking up at the crack of fricken dawn but we broke out into loud whispers of laughter. All the while the creature is having a grand ole time running around inside and then running back outside . We finally go out of the tent to see what was happening and it was a black squirrel! (insert crying laughing face here) Mr. 80 pound otter was our friend for the rest of the time there.

My sister met up with us halfway through the trip on our way up to Glacier National Park. Of course we had no idea that an hour away the road would turn to dirt and I would have to make a significant deduction to my speed; adding another 1/2 hour to get to our Off the Grid cabin. A few days prior to starting our trip, I called the cabin owner and he said that there was a Brown bear with cubs and 2 wolves a few weeks before. Well of course that was on my bucket list to see then! When we got to our cabin, it was very beautiful; perched on the mountain looking down to a bog where beavers were having a grand ole time. We stalked about the place checking out all his antiques and Native American decor… when there it was. I heard my sister say, “Ohhh come look at this!”…….A RED HOT CLAW TUB. Never in my wildest dreams did I think being in Glacier National Park, in the middle of pure wilderness (nowhere), where there is NO SERVICE. (You need to carry a satellite phone if you want to talk to anyone) did I imagine to see a red claw tub. We made it a point for the rest of our stay that every time we used it, we said, “Okay, going to wash in the sex tub!”

On our escapades through Montana, when people were friendly (which was always) we would ask what was one thing we needed to do while here. A majority of them said we needed to drive on Going to the Sun Road in Glacier. So the day we decided to do that, we stopped at a quaint general store . The place was hopping and they had everything from gear, to home baked goods, to groceries, to mugs (where I got my Huckleberry mug), t -shirts, all of it. Outside was a small fruit stand with the best cherry lemonades I have ever tasted in my life. I wanted to drive so my mom and sister could look at everything, but also because I get these spontaneous urges to pull over whenever I damn well please. To my surprise, not ONE of those friendly people said beware because this road has a several hundred feet sheer drop on one side and a several hundred feet mountain cliff on the other side. My sister kept saying, “I’d rather not die today thanks.” But the people that would drive this daily would come ripping around the bends and here I am (acting like a Grammy again) because some areas of the roads were too narrow for two cars to pass through simultaneously because a piece of cliff just decided to stick out in midair. When they called it Going to the Sun Road, I just thought it was a fun name, not because YOU LITERALLY DRIVE UP THE MOUNTAIN AND MEET THE SUN. I would do it all again. Around every bend there was a waterfall, or awesome cliff face with unique coloration, something that demanded attention.

I think everyone should be forced to have an experience in the pure wilderness. Something happens and it alters your mind to come back to what it truly important. Watching tv, playing video games, complaining about a coworker or your job just doesn’t seem to make sense when you are witnessing something truly remarkable. Your body remembers those experiences and thirsts for more. It creates stories you will remember for the rest of your life. Hell, I remember us singing to the top of our lungs, Free Falling by Tom Petty. Each of us snapping a picture pretending bison droppings were our own. Sitting at Bowman Lake and really trying to love our home baked goods and failing because the food was created with a lot of vitamins, filling and energy ingredients. Playing what quote is this movie from and having fellow hikers stare at us because we said something absurd. Experiences like those are the type I will crave for the rest of my life. Wander.

Here. Watch this.

*Unfortunately this video has been censored and removed from YouTube* Within the last week 5/16/20. Not because of false information but because they want us scared.

Here. Watch this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjjybyJ59Lw

*If posting this ruins my chances at becoming a successful artist, then so be it. My artwork is about promoting our health so I feel if I do not post this, then I should be known as the biggest fraud of them all. Wander. And Stay Safe.*

Nature, Humans, Same

Hi everyone! I hope you all are safe.

I apologize for not writing in sometime. I did not fall off the face of the earth, I promise. I have just been reading and thinking a lot. Oh, and painting, lots and lots of painting. I decided to paint my kitchen cabinets and IT TOOK SO MUCH LONGER THAN I THOUGHT. I have paint where one should never have paint. Okay anyways, as I sit here drinking coffee out of my Montana huckleberry mug and munching on my Perfect Bar (it tastes like delicious cookie dough but it’s so good for your body, try one!) I am reminded of the book I almost have finished called The Secret Wisdom of NATURE by Peter Wohlleben. This guy gets me every time with his depth of thinking and knowledge about nature. This book is about nature in general so he discusses animals, water, trees, ants…even down to the organisms that live deep down in the earths crust. I love his titles to each chapter too, the second chapter is Salmon in the Trees. However, I am not going to talk about that chapter; too bad you’ll have to buy the book and read it yourself! I do want to talk to about the first chapter though because it sets up the framework for the rest of the book. This is the first paragraph, “Wolves are a wonderful example of how complex connections in nature can be. Amazingly enough, these predators are able to reshape riverbanks and change the course of rivers.” Now when I read this I thought, Oh Jesus, he’s gone off the deep end, and then my mind spiraled back to me watching all sorts of documentaries about wolves (they are one of my favorite animals) and NEVER remembering wolves digging at rivers to change the course. You can laugh, I have brain farts all the time, it’s fine. MOVING ON, this chapter blew my mind by the end because no one has ever talked about nature in such immense detail in seventeen pages. To sum it up, it talks about wolves and how farmers destructively hunted them from 1926 until sometime in the 1930s when they were no more to be found in Yellowstone National Park. The problem that came from this was the overpopulation of Elk. They love saplings and saplings can thrive along riverbanks because of water being of strong supply. So all these lovely elk starting eating ALL of the saplings. Now the problem was that saplings are good for the river side because their roots help to hold the bank in place. Without plants holding the riverbank in place, mud slides and collapses can happen on a regular basis. Also, what else loves saplings? Beavers. These lovely creatures are not fast like elk so the elk would get to the saplings before the beavers could. Which resulted in the depletion of beavers. Now forests along with the riverbanks LOVE beavers because if they build a dam, it allows more water to get farther back into the woods to help replenish them. Now the elk herds were also being jerks to bears. Yes, BEARS! Bears love berries…what also loves berries? ELK. Due to the overpopulation of elk, bears were losing one of their main food sources, which made them extra hungry. So they started hunting elk calves, which are their babies and can be very easy targets. The problem with this is that the elk populations started getting older and older because a majority of the calves would become victims to bear. Now back to the wolves, the good thing about them is, they would rather prey on the older, weaker elk instead of the young, which kept the circle of life flowing as it should. Do you see that extreme and violent turn of events that happen just because of one animal leaving its ecosystem? It is insanely complicated! Holy crap!

While I have been reading this book, I have been thinking a lot about my art. When viewers ask why I choose nature as a gateway to get people living in their present by heavily texturizing surfaces and deliberately making handles and forms we are not used to seeing in a utilitarian world. I always say it is because nature is that one place, I have to steadily remain present. A person can’t be out in the middle of no mans land and be thinking about what they are gonna do about a problem at work. You must remain focused and navigate your way through. At the very least, every person needs to be aware of their surroundings to not get lost or be eaten. I grew up in a hunting family so I was taught tracking, how to be quiet, how to navigate, how to listen and know the difference between random sounds in the forest or foot steps of animals. It was great, and I loved it. However, I think my reason for picking nature as a prime subject in my work is shifting. The older reason will always be there because that is why is it important to me personally. But I think it is turning into realizing how much events that happen in the raw wild wilderness is so similar to human ecosystems. I get really frustrated when people blow my work off because it is just another artist working from nature when that is not what I am doing at all. I am investigating the processes, the ecosystems, why certain plants grow a certain way in a particular place and what causes it. What makes a biome different from one another and what stands out the most to me as a key factor into why a certain area looks or grows the way that it does. The fact that trees send messages to other trees when they are in danger or that mother trees send nutrients to their saplings if they are sick. The same thing happens to us. I remember my mom always taking care of me when I was home. When someone says hey I spilled something or there is a snake over there or watch your step. We are usually trying to protect each other, whether we realize it or not. My neighbor Steve, always tells me when he sees a water moccasin in his yard so I can look out for myself and my dogs. I love knowing that nature is alive and working on the same basis as humans do, most of us just don’t understand the language yet. So the next time someone asks why I am so interested in nature, I am going to say because do you realize just how alike we are? It should be taught that nature is our equal, and we are not superior.

That is why I wish humans would be more like trees sometimes in the sense that trees grow but never grow into each other. They respect the others space in terms of never penetrating its neighboring trees with their own growing limb. Take this epidemic we are going through. Some are advised to stay home, some are required to quarantine but I don’t understand why we must fight amongst ourselves as if we know what is best of each other circumstances. I value people who can think for themselves and come up with the their own opinion through their own research. So I completely respect both sides of the line. If someone chooses to stay home because they think that is best. Great. If you chose to stay home because you have small children or routinely go to their grandparents home and want to keep them save. Great. If you think you just need to do your civil duty and stay home. Great. If you want to keep exploring the world. Great. If you think washing your hands and staying apart is enough. Great. If you want to keep going to work. Great. The part that I loathe is when others call others stupid because of their decision. It should be the individuals decision, always. It should never just be because the government tells you whatever you need to do. Look through history. The government hasn’t always known what was best. Decide for yourself. If we continue to take what others opinions are as our own and keep doing whatever and however they say. Then soon, we may end up as those forests who are clear-cut just because someone else thinks that they know what is best.

p.s. It take me at least two hours to write these posts so no I am not a bum and only wake up at 11 a.m. to drink coffee. :P Stay safe and healthy my friends.

WANDER

Being

Forewarning: this post gets a little deep, gets a little personal so if you don’t like philosophical psychological discussions: you’ll just have to wait your turn until my next post!

I finally received Oblique Strategies which is a series of cards about worthwhile dilemmas created by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt. Some of them are quite funny, some are very self explanatory, while others really offer you a chance to really dive deep into your own psychic to figure out what it means. I’ve always seen myself as a person who feels a lot of emotions (although some might say I am a damn professional at hiding them), contemplates life, tries to figure out the secrets from the world. Ya know, crazy shit like that. Which can often be self- destructing because I am probably never going to find out the actual answers. But, if God ever gives me five minutes with the book of answers, I’ll let you know.

Anyways, the intro card to the deck says that whoever owns them can use them as a set of possibilities to keep stored in your mind or that you can pick out a single card if you are dealing with a dilemma in your life and try to apply it and see what happens. Now I am not going to get that personal because who wants to know that..absolutely no body, but I am going to pick out two random cards from the deck and explain what I think they might mean.

I am not even joking, out of over one hundred cards, the first one I pick out says, “Go outside. Shut the door” I KNOW UNIVERSE, I SHOULD BE A WILD BUSH WOMAN! As I have said before, I have never been anywhere that has felt like yes I need to live here, be here. EXCEPT when I am outside. When I say outside, I don’t mean walking down the street, I mean in a secluded part of the forest where a wild animal can most definitely scare the crap out of me. No sounds of cars, people, sirens, nothing. Now since this is part of my research for my artwork, I know a lot more than probably then just the average person knows about the health benefits of spending time in the forest because that is definitely not taught in a school environment. I think it means, I need to go outside! Yea wow, I know, but let me tell you why.

Did you ever hear of positive and negative ions? Well, negative ions are found mostly outside and are generated by being exposed to sunlight, the force of the water rushing down a waterfall, or after a thunderstorm. NEGATIVE IONS ARE REALLY GOOD FOR THE HUMAN BODY. They purify the air from pollen, mold, viruses, etc. They increase your mental clarity. They improve the function of the cilia in your respiratory tract that protects your lungs from inflammation. They decrease your blood pressure and relieve anxiety. They improve your ability to focus. They improve your energy levels. They improve your bodies ability to deal with stress. They offer better sleep. And the list goes on and on.

Do you want to guess what positive ions do to the body? YEP, THEY ARE BAD FOR YOUR BODY. Positive ions are released from electronics like a tv, cellphones (YES CELLPHONES), air conditioning and dryers so basically, our homes are breeding grounds. Has your body ever hurt from being inside with air conditioning all day? All your thanks can go to the positive ions. I always can’t stand going shopping during the summer time because the stores set their thermostat at like 50 degrees (okay probably not that low, but it sure feels like that!) Positive ions carry effects like causing depression. irritability and impairing your brain function. There was a study done in 1996 that proved positive ions raise the lactic acid in our body which hurts our healthy cells and causes many illnesses including cancer. YEP CANCER. In other words, we really need to put things in our homes that create negative ions. So go buy yourself a negative ion maker or a small tabletop water fountain. I will include the links to these websites, if you would like to know more information. This is why using natures processes is a vital part to my work because it helps you live in your present and increases your well-being.

FUN FACT: Positive ions and Negative ions stay in your body and can throw it off. So if you find you don’t feel yourself, try walking on the grass in your bare feet. The Earth is supposed to be a natural way to realign the ions in your body into the proper proportions. Cool right?

Okay back to the Oblique strategies, the second card I pulled out is, “Define an area as ‘safe’ and use it as an anchor” I find this pretty funny because I would say being outside in the woods in my safe place. To me, being an anchor, is just somewhere you can feel relaxed, comfortable, like it’s your grounding base. No boat drops an anchor in dangerous fifty foot waves. I think this is a very important card for everyone in their life to consider. I feel, if a person doesn’t have a deemed “safe place” it can be hard to reconnect to yourself. If you are always in a particular environment and have to be a certain way or feel a certain way and you have no place to really dive into your values, wants, desires, emotions. It can be really easy to get lost. Another thing I also find really interesting about these cards is their relevance in today’s society. I remember when I was little, I would go to my Gram’s house while my mom was at work or running errands and I remember my Gram’s friends coming over for a cup of coffee and some type of delicious cookie. They would gossip yes, but I also remember them sharing their problems and actually getting from genuine feedback because they truly cared for each other. I feel experiences like this are far and few between today. I find it even hard to hold a conversation with someone without them looking at their phone and having to explain what I said all over again. It’s frustrating. People don’t really know each other anymore either. Sometimes I think, they don’t even care to know. Surface qualities seem to be enough to define a person today and I am just not an advocate for that. When I can tell someone is upset, I tend to ask what’s going on and the response is almost always, "I don’t know, just stressed” or, “I’m fine.” (I am the queen of the, “No, I’m good” because will the person really want to know the reason with the intention to listen?) I am not trying to bash society (maybe a little), I just think it is sad that it has taken such a dramatic turn and I am only 25! Society has taught people sharing real genuine emotions are bad. You’re supposed to be grammatically correct always, you’re supposed to be superficial, you’re supposed to apologize for something you said because it was taken the wrong way, you’re supposed to contain your silly quirks in fear that you won’t be taken seriously. If you aren’t people usually say this; how dare you be sincere, how dare you show ugly raw emotion, how dare you say what is really on your mind, How dare you. How dare you be yourself. We are all supposed to be accepting, yet we all are supposed to be the same. I think we need to, “Go outside. Shut the door.”

https://www.infinitypro.com/blogs/news/9246473-the-harmful-effects-of-positive-ions-on-the-body

https://negativeionizers.net/negative-ions-benefits/

Depth in a painting turned into Depth in the mind

I find myself having many thoughts about the current Artworld and what credentials a work of art must have to function in the Fine Art realm. I have also been considering the historical aspects and how it has evolved since Medieval art. I am currently in a Contemporary art class and a few weeks ago we read an article by Lucy Lippard and John Chandler that is called, the dematerialization of art. It explains how the Artworld has went from the importance of the object to the importance of the idea behind the object. This confirmed and allowed for things like the readymade, performance, even fairy dust in the corner to be considered Fine art.

I have heard many opinions on whether we are in a Post-postmodernist movement or a Post-post-postmodernist movement. I actually don’t really care much for the debate or which one it is, as long as we can come up with a better name than that! I can only hope that if I reach 80 years old and my grandchildren ask what art movement I was in, I do not have to say (in my grammy voice), “Well kids my art would have been in the Post-post-postmodernist art movement and now we are the Post-post-post-post-post-postmodernist movement.” Or I might as well just have a stroke right there. To avoid that from possibly happening, I am proposing a different title for our current or a few years in the future movement which should be called Self-Expressionism. To better understand why I am proposing this, here is a little context of art history.

The Renaissance was when artists like Michelangelo, perfected linear perspective. This basically means they mastered creating realistic depth in a painting by choosing a point on the horizon. My point is that this is the most depth on a 2D surface any artwork has ever gotten. The paintings were a “window to look through.” My next movement I want to discuss is Impressionism. The painter, Monet, is a good example for this. These artists needed to find a way to add more of an artistic uniqueness to their paintings because around this same time the camera was invented. Their solution was to start showing a more playful use of color and to show off their brushstrokes. This flattened the picture plane slightly because of the visible brushmarks. Now, lets fast forward a bit to Abstract expressionism with painters like Pollock. His drip paintings almost completely flattened the picture plane with the exception of the next artistic movement called Minimalism when a painting was just supposed to be only about the paint. It wasn’t supposed to do anything else or be anything else except paint. It was completely flat and nonrepresentational. During this time, certain artists like Morris took the space that was once in a painting and brought it out into our physical space. The art was no longer offered as something to look through (Michelangelo) or look at (Pollock); but became something for the viewers to physically move through (Morris). Okay, so lets reflect; as time moved art along, the depth that was once in a painting, had slowly come out into our physical space. This is the weird part though; you know that saying, “History repeats itself?” contemporary artwork has now went back inward but instead of the depth being seen in an artwork, it has become about the artists mind. Each individual artist typically represents their own likes, dislikes, inspirations, fears, lifestyles, and life experiences. All along past artists were being influenced by inventions, revolutions, war, other art, being inspired by new art movements and wanting their art to fit into that category too. Basically everything that was around them was informing their work. An example is how Piet Mondrian made paintings that were about restoring order after World War II.

The turning point was when the first MFA degree was offered in 1940. That is where the idea behind the artworks started to become more important. These artists were opened up to a new range of possibilities since they could deem anything as art. This gave them the opportunity to create something completely new and fresh. Unfortunately for me and the future generations of artists, our jobs have become more difficult because nothing is “new” anymore. We study art history to the ends of the earth to gain inspirations from the past to influence our present work. The only “new” we can come with is what each individual artist is passionate about. The title I think that should replace Post-post-postmodernism is Self-expressionism because each artist must focus on what they are passionate about, what strikes them as important, what life experiences have they had and what do they want to say or what do they think needs to be said. That is why I believe there are no more “isms” in art because no two people can have the exact same life, to talk about the exact same thing, in the exact same way. I want to make it clear that I am not bashing any art history in anyway because every one of them has brought us to here and we still are influenced by them all even if we don’t realize it. To me, I have find it very fascinating that the idea of depth is found in each art movement, it just depends on how the artists of that time chose to display it.

I believe I am finished, one because my brain in fried and I really hope you guys can understand my ramblings and two because it is Bryar’s birthday and I must get the dog treats ready. Cheers!

The Forest Does Speak

As I have said before, I have always been drawn to the outdoors. Whether it’s sitting on a beach chair basking in the sun or an all-day hike, this girl is ready. Thankfully, since I am living in Georgia right now I have a lot more time outside. I have a good head-start on prepping my garden and working on some landscaping and it brings up some facts I have learned in a book called, “The Hidden Life of Trees” by Peter Wohlleben. My favorite book ever. As I go around inspecting my flower beds, I am reminded of how everything in nature communicates with eachother.

When I was growing up, I remember watching certain areas of the forests in Pennsylvania being clear-cut or selective-cut. For those of you who may not be familiar with the two terms, clear-cut is when someone picks some acres and says, “Okay, destroy it all!” and selective-cut is when someone picks some acres and says, “Take the biggest, strongest, nicest trees you can find and leave all the scaps!” For decades upon decades Foresters (people who are supposed to know whats best for the environment) have said these types of things are good because they allow for new growth and blah blah blah. However, in the book I mentioned previously, Wohlleben talks about how mostly everything in the forest is connected and communicates in some sort of a way. One of my favorite examples he gives is when he describes how the Acacia trees in Africa do the nature speak. When a tower of giraffes (yes a group of giraffes in called a tower, GO LOOK IT UP) go to eat their favorite meal, which are acacia leaves, the first few trees go into defense mode and start pumping toxic substances through their leaves and they become bitter so the giraffes move on. Now these trees aren’t greedy jerks and say fend for yourself fellow trees, no, they are nice neighbors; so while they are pumping the toxins to their leaves they also release a pheromone into the air that can be carried seventy yards downwind to other acacia trees so they can start pumping the toxins too. IS THIS NOT INSANE? If this was the kind of stuff I would have been taught in science class, I swear I would have studied my ass off!

Another more relatable scenario since I realize probably no one reading this is enjoying an African safari at the moment; would be the connection between a mature tree and its saplings. (I am unsure if the type Walleben discusses is an oak or beech tree, it might be both but I will go back through and reread and let you know the definite answer on my next post.) He states that certain types of mother trees have a connection to their young. That once a seed gets established and becomes a sapling the mother tree will send nutrients to the younger tree to support its growth. If one becomes ill, she will send extra nutrients to help the young sapling try to survive. Another point to make about this is, the smaller trees aren’t actually being choked out by the taller older trees. Now yes I realize invasive species, I know but that’s not what I am talking about right now. Back to the point, the smaller trees are in a stage called the “waiting mode.” This means that they are in a state waiting for the mature tree to become too old or to break during high winds or a storm. If this happens, all the young trees rise to the occasion to fill the spot where their mother used to be because they have been saving and storing up nutrients to do so. A majority of Foresters think that it is better to space trees far apart to allow more sunlight and ensure the trees to do have to “fight” to stay alive. While this does have some sort of merit, it reduces the trees life by an exponential amount. Some types only reach reproduction age after four or five decades and if they die before then well there goes the diversity of that particular lines of trees in the forest which brings up another problem. A willow tree refuses to inbreed. It realizes if it only has brothers and sisters around it and it will refuse to bloom until a viable suitor bestows pollen to them. This produces healthier stronger offspring.

The final topic I think is just awesome in this book is how Wahlleben discusses the sounds in the woods. Have you ever heard a creak sound from a tree while wandering through the woods? If you have, then you might have heard another form of how trees communicates with one another. Trees respond to sound waves made by other trees. Unfortunately, it has not been researched enough in depth yet so that is all I can say right now. However, next time you’re in a secluded part of a forest and you happen to heard a crack or creak sound, the tree may be speaking to you. Not really, but it’s still cool! Okay, I feel my topic is coming to a close as I hope your minds are exploding with excitement to take a walk through the woods and witness a way of life that is so similar to our own but one very few people know. This is why I make my work to represent different types of ecologies. I want people to enjoy being outdoors and reap its health benefits by just being encased with mother nature. With all my hope going to making them see that we need to care for it, protect it, and stop mistreating it. Nature is indeed alive! Wander.

Shape of Time Thoughts

For the New Year, I have decided to commit myself to posting a weekly blog about my influences, crazy thoughts, life experiences, and general awesomeness I have found while researching. I am usually a morning writer, however cliche, me sipping on some coffee, watching the wildlife scurry about in my yard, rereading my first two sentences eighteen times before continuing but today was different, my urge to write came at night.

I have been reading The Shape of Time by George Kubler for what seems to be six months because I read ten pages and my mind gets thoroughly blown away so my brain needs a few weeks to recover each time. Seriously, go read it, it’s awesome. One of my favorite quotes in it is, “There is no problem where there is no awareness.” Such a simple sentence; yet it carries so much weight. I mean hello this is what I have been trying to get my work to do for how long now: which is to assist in helping you guys live in the present and be aware of what is in front of you, happening there and now and to not give a flying poo about what happened two weeks ago or something that is going to happen two hours from now (believe me I’m working on it too). I think this is why there are so many miscommunications in our world today because we just assume we know things even though we may have never researched them for ourselves. We tend to take what others tell us and then it somehow becomes our opinion and then people get defensive about something that might not have even been their own thought. It’s weird how people cannot just agree to disagree about something. Then if the opinion differs, somehow the tolerance or likeness to that person declines. Enough about that though, moving on.

At the bottom of that paragraph, there are two others that sparked my interest. “Yet every object attests to the existence of a requirement for which it is the solution,” “In the second place, are we going to consider all man-made objects or only a selection of them?” So, since every artwork at its most basic level is just an object and since I believe that man-made can mean both mentally created and physically created, doesn’t that mean that all artwork has a form of utilitarian? Again, at its most basic level the word ‘utilitarian’ is to describe when something is useful to someone. Well, I would say all artists make work out of a need to express themselves so that makes their art useful because they are using it to express their own thoughts, desires, theories, or stories. Their art gives them a solution. That concept can also refer to the viewer of an art piece because when I go to an exhibition, I go in with hopes to learn about the artist and what they are trying to communicate and why. So in a way, I am using the artwork to gain more knowledge. I want to leave with more knowledge then what I came into it with. I have also gone to shows and I am completely inspired and in awe at something and I may have no idea why it makes me feel a certain way or think a different way and I immediately get all these different ideas floating in my head, sort of like a nostalgic moment so there I am using the art again! Sadly, I have also been to exhibitions where I love the art and go back through to read the artist statement and then I hate it and leave.

My work operates on a continuous flow of spectrums. I never want to be just one thought or just one idea so I always try to find a balance between multiples of things. The scale tips to either side depending on what I am doing. So I think I can say that all artwork has always operated on a utilitarian spectrum. At its most basic, it can function as it for the artist or the viewer, maybe both and then art that has a quality of usefulness in terms of someone physically using it then just tips the scale more deliberately over to the utilitarian side. People throughout history have just chosen to ignore that fact, I guess. I think all I need to say now is that for all the artists that have a problem with utilitarian work being considered fine art, now need to go rethink about how to talk about their work possessing a utilitarian quality too. Your welcome!

Keep fighting the good fight!

Why do we try to put nature in a box? I haven't the slightest clue.

Last weekend I was in desperate need of a break from routine life. So I decided to drive to Hilton Head Beach. It was a me day so I decided to take a round about way to get there. To my surprise it lead me straight into Buffton SC. As I drove through, I couldn't help but admire the beauty. The live oaks encased the road giving me a break from the fierce sunlight. When I would look up I could see all the small moments of the trees from across the roads touching or almost touching the branches of the trees from the other side. There was a lively tension. They weren't fighting with one another, just living. Obviously no human had touched them in quite a long time. I loved that Bluffton was confident enough in the trees to not cut them back. Growing up in Pennsylvania, that was a HUGE no no for trees to do such a thing. After so many years a crew would come by and carelessly hack away at all the hopeful trees. It always looked like a murder scene to me. At first I thought okay power lines, I get it. But as the years past and I grew older, I realized they wouldn't just cut the branches hanging on the power lines. They would obliterate all the branches on that side of the tree as if a tree branch of such vengeful magnitude would grow back in a years time.

If there is one thing I despise it is how humans try to keep nature in a box. For example, in a highway meridian we have large machines that come by to trim the grass. Ah, what? What does that matter? There are clearly signs posted everywhere to please keep off the meridian but yet we need it to be trimmed and orderly? If someone were to wreck, wouldn't the over-sized tall grass benefit the people to help slow them down so they would not cross over to the opposite side of the highway? I would think so. That is one reason why I love to drive through Virginia on interstate 81 because the meridians have trees and flowers and grass and I have yet to drive through and it be orderly and boring. Along with wanting to keep nature in a box why do we literally want them to look like green squares and rectangles on the outside of our houses? I have lived in three houses in my life so far and I loved that my mother never did that. I took by example and the two other places I have lived I had them removed and in their place I planted flowers and bushes that could be as wild and free as they wished. I guess I am drawn to this idea because we already have so many geometric things imposed on our lives. Buildings, cars, fences, roads, sidewalks, tables, chairs, beds cabinets, tvs, appliances, floorings, bricks, phones, computers, even our bathtubs and showers are squared or rectangular ! All designed to be organized, what you see is what you get. While nature is the complete opposite of that, at its core it is still made up of organized cells but on the outside (what we see) doesn't always make sense, its not designed to be easy for us, its unruly, wild, mysterious, lovely, dangerous all of which might frighten us. I know I have been scared many times out in the forest because things don't always make sense and I really have to think and tune in. I suppose that is why we try to keep it in a box so we no longer have to be afraid of it because it is under our control. However, nature doesn't try to be anything else; it is beautiful for itself. So let it be itself. The same way we want humans to be themselves.

Okay I am going to stop because I could probably write another 1,000 words on this topic. I hope I did not offend anyone with this post. If you happen to love the look of polished trees, trimmed meridians, and square bushes, that's fine, no judging here, I just happen to despise it with all my soul. But its only my crazy opinion! Keep pushing my friends! Wander.

Instinction vs. Intuition

Okay so I've been thinking a lot about what I am really trying to say with my work. I keep circling around the ideas of survival and all the basic needs a human must have in order to live a happy life. In my most recent version of my artist statement, ( I'll copy it below in case anyone has interest to read it) I've been combining certain terms that deal with our different levels of consciousness in hopes to in some way combine them seamlessly to avoid confusion in what I want the take away from my art to be.

"Wandering in the forest forces us to become aware of our surroundings in order to survive, similarly to how holding something with unexpected textures also compels us to live in the present. My art is expressed through sculptural utilitarian ceramics. The goal of my work is to inspire the viewer to live in the present moment and to spark a love for nature to heighten our personal wellbeing. I love being out in nature, it brings out my intuitive feelings of something being familiar yet unreachable along with instilling fearlessness like I am able to conquer my nightmares.
The surface designs are made to combine natural textures and the migration of birds. Animal migrations, including us, move from place to place to survive by understanding an instinct. Instincts are realized when you are aware of your surroundings and of yourself. Traveling through the natural environment forces our human intuition and instincts to resurface making us happier and healthier and all the confidence to realize that we are enough."

I have been researching human instincts and their intuition. Instincts are hardwired into our bodies as it is our response to certain stimuli and is a natural way of acting or thinking because we have done it our whole lives. It also deals with our unconscious mind. It taps into our mind processes that we are often unaware of; like repressed feelings or thoughts we hide away. It's almost like we do not have control over them as they are something that is not in our present moment so we might not understand them but they are instilled within us regardless. An example would be if someone is attacking us emotionally or physically because we will always fight back in order to survive. Now intuition is the ability to understand something immediately without the need for contemplation. We have learned it throughout our life experiences. It can either be from our preconscious or subconscious. Preconscious is information that we possess but we are not using at a particular time. They are the files waiting to be pulled out of the drawer. Subconscious mind is a little bit more complicated, these hide typically below the surface of our conscious present selves. It influences our behaviors and we may not even notice. Often they refer to the feelings and thoughts that swirl in our mind constantly and since they are so present all the time we might not even realize they are there influencing our body language or the way we discuss topics with others. Here are two examples, the first would be the uneasy feeling a person might get walking down a dark alley and they end up turning around because they sense the feeling of a potential threat. A person must react quickly in that situation to realize if there is an actual fear or if it is the minds fear. When I say minds fear I mean a fear that we impose on ourselves because when we are being forced outside of our comfort zone. The second example would be two people in a relationship and one of them is constantly belittling the other and when confronted that person might say they have no idea what the other is talking about. This could be the result of the abusers feeling of insecurity in their subconscious that it ends up effects their present situations.

I really do not have a conclusion for this one. I just find it interesting that some of these facts have to deal with us holding onto things in our lives that have left a mark no matter whether it was positive or negative. What we do as individuals all comes down to our survival mode which is made up of both instinctual and intuitive behaviors. Its intriguing to think about how nature can influence us in positive ways but we must open ourselves to it in order to be healed by it. In my attempt to dissect my artist statement and I found this whole other level of psychology that I did not know had anything to do with my artwork. It ends up that society's problem of being stuck in our heads unable to enjoy the present has a much more deeply routed problem that deals with our life experiences. It will take a lot more that just one walk in the woods but a whole life of wandering in the forest to conquer the monsters that hide within us. Let's do it, I'm ready! Now to the creating board to start realizing how I can put all of this into my work. Keep pushing my friends! Wander.

Negative vs. Positive

Why are humans always more intrigued with news that has a negative connotation rather than a positive one? A few weeks ago, my friend visited me in a frenzy about how awful her day was and how it started with her Starbucks coffee not being made to her standards. This was at the end of the day so the fury for her improper coffee still remained in her thoughts. Now I know anyone who enjoys a certain type of coffee is less than pleased when they pay 3 to 7 dollars just for it to not to meet their expectations but are we becoming accustomed to not being grateful for positive moments in our lives? Think about that, I can assume most people enjoy Starbucks from time and time so how many times has your coffee, frappuccino, cappuccino, americano, espresso, mocha, or latte been made to your expectations? I mean it was delicious, the exact scrumptious taste you were craving but you didn't think to yourself, "Damn, that man/woman knew what they were doing because this is glorious!" We just briskly walk out and continue with our day without even a thought about it. It met all the requirements for a positive start to our day but we hardly even noticed like our minds automatically say, "Duhh, that's how it's supposed to be made." Now I am not talking about this to make anyone feel bad, because I know I have done this as well. I am just bringing it to light for us to be more aware of ourselves and of others. Maybe next time you get your Starbucks you'll tip or give a big THANK YOU to the person who made your drink spectacular for your day to start off on the right foot.

Now the coffee example was just an introduction about what I really want to talk about. A few weeks ago, a fellow artist came by my studio to discuss where my work is progressing to and what ideas and research are informing my ceramics. I explained that my work is made to make a person live in the present moment by being caught up in feeling different textures on a vessel instead of being caught up by thoughts in their head. To show that nature also forces us to stay aware of ourselves so we know where we are going and what else is around us and how nature can improve our health the same way living in the present moment does. Well this person totally did not get it. She kept insinuating that I should pick a different idea or draw mountains on my pots rather than aerial views like I have been doing. My heart was bursting ready to explode out of my chest because of my frustrations. One of the main causes of depression and anxiety is from thinking of the past or dwelling over an experience or thinking about the future instead of living in the moment ! Research had been done in 2016 that found 16.2 million adults in the United States of America had suffered some form of depression within that year. But wait, my artwork does not matter because I am pushing for it to have positive connotation? I create my work in hopes that it will inspire someone to go outdoors and make a decision in their life where they say, "Hey I am not going to let my past or future experiences dictate how I feel about myself as a human being." THAT'S MY DREAM. If I am 87 one day and a person comes up to me and says that my work had a positive influence on their life, I may just have a heart attack right there.

I do understand that there has to be artwork out there that has negative connotations and I commend those who do so! Some examples are artists who focus on environmental issues, self-identity, or politics. All of those topics I feel are so important for today's society and during a majority of my research has shown that those types of artworks usually become famous because they have a powerful message that makes us realize negative impacts and how to change it. I am just saying that I have the right for my work to not be those things and it be okay. I do not care if it does not get attention because the work carries a positive message. It is important to me and it is my work that I am creating it so I shall do with it what I please. I believe our world needs more positivity! So many things happen throughout our days and our world that can make it quite easy to crawl up into a ball and wave the white flag but humans are not designed that way. The next time you get a coffee and its delicious give the person a big old thank you and smile and I'm sure it will make them feel good about themselves. People around you might see that and do it next time because positivity can work in the same exact way as negativity can. A person who had a crappy day can certainly make another person have a crappy day but so can a person who had a fun-filled day can also make another person have a fun-filled day! You get it? Keep pushing my friends, Thank you! Wander.

Our Society's Health in Connection with Nature

Growing up in Pennsylvania, I always had a desire to be in nature. I would make forts in the trees, play games about being a wilderness adventurer, and take my many animals for walks. I remember frequently going to this one spot where the tree line would open up to a large field, the breeze would flow across my face and I always felt like I would build a house right in the middle some day. My childhood has had a large impact on what my artwork is about. The natural environment has always made me feel at home, even if I was in a completely different state. It's odd I know. But, in order to really find out what kind of statement I want to make with my work, I have to truly let my "freak flag" fly high.

In my continued research, I stumbled upon a very fascinating article called "The Science Behind How Nature Affects Your Health" by Bill Frist who is a former U.S Senate Majority Leader, and chairman of the Executive Council of the health service at the firm Cressey & Company and is also a lung and heart transplant surgeon. Quite the credentials! He explains how nature affects us and how much healthier people could be if they just walked in the forest or even in a neighborhood park. In the break down of what affects our health, the healthcare system can provide only 10 % while our environmental situations account for 20 %, that's double the amount! The other 70% percent being divided up between genetics, and individual behaviors.

A study done by the 2006 American Scientist had shown that being in a stressful situation like a traffic-jammed street caused the brain to react by triggering the adrenal glands to release cortisol. This affects our learning capacity, memory, blood pressure, produces more anxiety and can increase our risk of heart disease and weight gain to name a few side affects. Nature is an effective solution to this problem as it affects our brains visual cortex by producing the mu (opioid) receptors causing us to have a pleasurable experience and make us calm. Frist also goes on to explain how children that grew up with a park in the surrounding area are more healthier and happier. Where you are located is not the only situation that causes these problems, it can also be your work place, and relationships.

Now I have personally known all these factors because of my experience with being in nature. I just never really researched if anyone else was interested in the affects nature can have on humans until about three years ago. It forces us to live in the present instead of dwelling about something that happened that day or a decision that you don't really want to make yet. Whenever I am having a mental breakdown, I know I just need some time to get into the forest and get out of my own head. As my time outdoors increases, I come to realize that what I was so worried about doesn't really matter! Like at all. Okay maybe a tiny bit but dwelling over it isn't going to make the outcome different, only make me even more concerned. So why I am letting this stressful situation consume my whole being? This is where I have really started to let it go and trust myself and God. When I was traveling around Montana by myself in a rented Kia Soul (like hey thanks rental company, I'm sure I wont get stuck in a muddy ditch somewhere) I just kept saying, "God won't take you anywhere where he can't protect you." Now I realize bad things happen every day every minute but I am still here and did not become lunch or dinner. That trip changed my life. All I did was drive, hike, and eat any food I could store in a cooler for a large amount of time. I was outside most of the day and only went inside when I was ready to pass out. I gained more confidence in my abilities, as well as me as a human, and my whole outlook on life, a lot of demons left me on that trip.

Another thing Frist talks about is a study conducted in 1984 of hospital patients and how green spaces can decrease the amount of time they spend in a hospital. According to one report by the Economics of Biophilia, if every room would have a large window that exhibited a natural landscape instead of a nice view of another building with other people laying in hospital beds, it would cut 8.5 % of patients time spent there in half which would save 93 millions dollars each year when applied to the average amount of days spent. Lets get on that America ! The sad thing is that only a few doctors actually recommend nature as a healing process. Nature releases endorphins into the body to make us happy, the same way a good hardy laugh does.

If anyone would like to know more, I would really recommend reading the article, it is a great one! One aspect I am incorporating into my ceramic work is how nature can affect our lives in a positive way. Not only does it release all those good things into our bodies but it makes us live in the moment instead of being caught up by things that are in the past. I replicate these feelings by being captivated by bold and uncommon textures not found on everyday items. As always, I am trying to push these ideas in new directions to inspired new ways of working and forms of movement for my pots. Keep pushing my friends! Don't allow things to be in your life that have no right to be there. Nature will be your first advocate for that; as I have tried it, lived it, and learned it and now I am trying to share my findings so that everyone can live a happier, and healthier life. Wander.

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