Thursday, April 26, 2007

Costa Rica: El Ministerio de Cultura





In San Jose, on a fellowship from the Rockefeller Flow Fund to curate an exhibition of children's art as part of the First Conference of Women for the Abolition Armies in Central America.

http://www.abolicion2020.org/programa.htm


4.26.07
you will never guess what happened to me today.

i was hanging work at the ministry of culture (artwork by young people from 7 countries) for the conference), a beautiful historic European beer distillary converted into galleries, the Museum of Contemporary Art, a dance institute and performing arts venue.

it was so funny. i would put things up, and then turn my back--and when i turned around everything was undone!

in the meantime, all these bodies were running around--preparing for an avante garde sound performance by an argentinian artist in the adjoining room.
finally, we realized they had double booked the spaces.

well, it all worked out. but guess who they booked almost the entire compound along with us?
FADAU-1er Festival Abierto de Danza & Arte Urbano.

http://www.madc.ac.cr/mambo452/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=246&Itemid=56

they invited me to participate in the international graffiti piece on sunday. needless to say, everything's coming together in the most incredible way.

Monday, April 16, 2007

Kaz painting with Susan's Hair



One of the few fun things we did at Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico--where I was assisting Kazuaki Tanahashi in a color calligraphy workshop.

Amongst the most unique of the large brushes we used was Susan's extremely long pony tail!

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

The Art of Awareness


Something to share ...

I had the opportunity recently to work with students at Oakland Tech High School in a program called the Art of Awareness. It was organized by Alta Bates Hospital to raise youth awareness of issues around breast cancer, and merged science lectures with art-making workshops.

Here are some pieces that came out of our first workshop -- created by two students and inspired by slides of healthy and malignant cells and the poetry of Audrey Lorde.

I am dedicating this work to my grandmother, Ruby Kelley Mangahas who passed away from breast cancer last year.