October Creations

Before this month of making and creating is over, I would like to take the opportunity to share some amazing creations made by the Living Chapters players. I have been lucky enough to be surrounded by incredibly talented and creative individuals my whole life. I am constantly inspired, motivated and supported by them. This post features work from the participants who have helped make Living Chapters what it is.

The featured drawing here is from chapter writer Amy Rothstein. For me this drawing embodies my own feelings about the act of making and creating. I feel it can be a vulnerable, scary, yet sometimes empowering experience. We give life to an idea, or seed – caring for it and seeing it through to its existence and then let it go. It is a process we all engage in, in some way. In this post I want to honor those around me who take on this challenge in their daily lives.

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Chapter 5 Wild Card: Doug Sadler

In addition to being a great writer and an award-winning film maker, this month’s Wild Card, Doug Sadler, is the creative director for The Pocket Media Group. PMG represents a uniquely flexible model for creative promotion through the development of original multi-media content. Take a peak here to see how PMG’s creative thinking can help promote and connect people to products and ideas.

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Chapter 4 Writer: Amy Rothstein

This October, Amy has been busy making new artistic works. Below are a few examples: Of her work she says “I make my art to make peace with what I cannot know or understand.”

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Chapter 4 Wild Cards: Agnes and Grace Lichtner

This October Agnes has been creating costumes and treats for the season. Check out her “Olive Oil” costume above and her creepy and gross party snacks of chocolate mice and turds! Her daughter Grace has been busy making new friends by making friendship bracelets.

Outside of Agnes’s festive and creepy creations, She has been developing EYE-C (Enhance Your Existence Center) A life nurturing network that offers information about educational and experiential opportunities for developing and enhancing your limitless potential for healthy living. If you are interested in learning about holistic and healing arts visit her emerging collaborative organization here.

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Chapter 3 Writer: Andy Cook

You may have learned a bit about Andy’s passions for environmental issues through the “Cap and Trade” challenges he posed in chapter 3 of Living Chapters this past summer. Please take a peak at his new web series “Greater Yield” to see how Andy is using his creative talents to educate and inform larger audiences about these issues.

Greater Yield is a web series for CoLab Radio aimed at exploring the myriad benefits of urban agriculture in cities throughout the U.S. Using video, photography, and writing, the series highlights urban agriculture projects that are tackling challenges as diverse as public education, neighborhood revitalization, green job growth, and public health. The series also includes perspectives from multiple experts in each subject, to give a holistic sense of how urban agriculture is changing life in our cities beyond simply how we eat.

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Living Chapters Project Manager: Moira Fratantuono

When Moira is not organizing or creating spaces for others to be creative and make connections, she is working on independent creative projects of her own. She recently started to work on a series of photos/essays that explores themes of identity for first and second-generation Americans.

The goals of her latest exploration “Dual Identities” are to move past sterilized political debates over immigration. The project focuses on the personal experiences of individuals whose citizenship redefines what it means to be “American”.

Moira is currently working on developing content for a blog that will feature a new story each week. She is now looking for participants to be interviewed as a part of this project. Are you someone who could represent the immigrant experience? If you would like to participate or know someone who would, please contact Moira through the Living Chapters Facebook page or Livingchapters@gmail.com!

You can view more of the here: Dual Identities.

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I thank all of the Living Chapters participants for sharing their works of creation this month. If you have any questions about any of these projects or want to get involved please do not hesitate to contact them through me here on the Living Chapters blog.

10/27/13

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make a donation

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In the beginning of the month, I made the confession that I was struggling with my storage space filled with the aftermath of 36 years of a creative existence. I have been digging through the piles of created objects and materials to create objects for the past 20 some days and finally feel as though I have made a dent in lightening my load.

If you are like me and spend any time making or collecting created objects, you may understand the sense of sentimentality I hold in relation to these objects. The images, cards, sculptures, letters, and artworks hold not only memories but all the intentions that were born when the object was created. The object itself is merely just a reminder of the meaning it holds and I am slowly finding new ways of holding onto the memories while letting go of the objects themselves. Finding new homes for these things and good ways to part with them has been a helpful process. Emily’s suggestion of sending the objects I have been making each day off to those that have made an impact in my life has been a great practice in letting go in a way that feels good. While I am on a roll of letting things go – I decided to head back to the storage unit.

This weekend, I focused on letting go of the easy things – the non-personal objects, clothes household items, decorative things, books etc.

A friend of mine reminded me that The International Rescue Committee in Baltimore City is currently doing a winter clothes drive. They are also collecting household supplies for newly arriving refugees to use in their new homes. The thought of my stuff (that is now collecting dust in storage) being used in a new home was the perfect motivation to let go of an entire car load of things!

Then I moved on to the boxes of books – books even heavier than the boxes of rocks I had been carrying for years. Books, although beautiful objects that I adore and love to see lined up on bookshelves, are really made to be shared and passed on – The Book Thing in Baltimore was created just for that purpose alone. In the spirit of lightening the load and letting go, I donated 80% of my book collection to The Book Thing (in which many of them originally came from)

If you are like me and have unread books, unused goods, or clothes that you don’t wear in your basement – please consider letting them go. These things can have a second life, bring someone else joy and empty your storage unit that you may be paying rent on! All win-win scenarios. Visit both the IRC and the Baltimore Book thing with your donations or if you are not in Maryland or in the Baltimore area, find a local place that does great work in your community and make a donation.

My work is not over yet though – I am heading back to shed some more stuff this next weekend. I am still left with stacks of photographs and boxes of random artwork. Again, like clothes not being worn or books not being read. What is the purpose of an image if it’s wrapped up in paper and stored in a dark place. This past weekend I started the process of finding homes for my more than 60 framed photographs.

I am donating one series to the Reginald F. Lewis Museum and donating other individual pictures to friends who would like to have them on their walls.

I am currently searching for a non-profit organization to donate a few other series of photographs to. Below are some examples from the “Speaking of Silence” series, the “From Where we Are” series and the travel documentary Asia series.

Please help by making suggestions on where I may be able to a find new homes for these series of images.

10/21

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October Writer Response: Emily Wheat

October: Wild Card

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It’s a sunny October day in New York city – delightful, peaceful, remarkably warm … but Beth Barbush is in my brain! She’s filling the space with a swirl of ideas, an inspiring sense of possibility and idealism, frenetic, infectious creativity and a kooky sense of humor. But why is she in my head, what is her purpose, and by extension, what is mine? Man, October seemed so far away when I signed up for this!

Okay, purpose and meaning … big ideas, big questions … all Barbush. Seeking safety in words, I pull out the dictionary (an actual paper one):

Purpose –n.

1) an object to be attained; a thing intended

2) the intention to act

3) the reason for which something is done or made.

Ah, ‘the reason for which something is done or made’! I was struck by the elegance and simplicity of the chapter Emily Wheat wrote for Beth this month, including as it did contemplation (a walk in the woods), joy (treasure a day) and a core focus on creativity and giving (create something every day). But two weeks in, I think some deeper exploration of the ‘the reason for which something is done or made’ is in order. Not to justify or question the making or the giving, but to open a door to understanding the purpose behind making, giving and inspiring. And perhaps a touch of asking and receiving is in order too.

At the risk of annoying with a detour, let me share just a bit about what I’ve learned, first as an actor and later as a writer about the power that comes from distilling purpose to a sentence. (And yes, for those wishing I’d just get to the list of assignments already, this is one of them). In acting there is the objective (what I want now, moment to moment) and the super-objective (what I want in life / my purpose). In writing, these same ideas are applied to character creation and the purpose and meaning of the story as a whole, often as premise and theme. In story, the more active, idealistic and potentially unachievable the super-objective of a character, the more intensely the character will come alive and the more magnetic witnessing their seeking becomes – we love dreamers and strivers after all. And, Beth, since you are a dreamer and striver and have cast yourself – literally as The Protaganist – and ‘hired’ (well, you know) writers to write your life script, I want you to engage with the tools and techniques of character and drama to define your purpose. And I’m including an exercise to build asking and receiving to your repertoire in addition to giving. Without further adieu, here’s the wildcard:

1) Define your purpose (in the moment objective) in giving the gifts you make this month to the people you give them to. A sentence or better, a word or two. Include it with each gift. These can be fun, individual, whimsical.

2) Define your life purpose (life goal / super-objective). Start with a paragraph, get it down to a sentence and ultimately to a few words that ring true … once you’ve arrived consider sharing it to reinforce it, give it power, perhaps as a signature on gifts you give this month, perhaps in other ways …

3) Ask and receive – It’s easy for artists and creatives to avoid asking for or receiving the help and support they need, whether financial or otherwise. So, as you focus your life purpose, understand that to live up to that possibility you need and deserve support and to get it you must ask for it. So, this month step out of your comfort zone and ask at least one person or entity for assistance / a gift to forward your purpose. It can be in any life direction – career, personal, whatever, but think big – this should not be small and it should be scary.

So, there you have it Beth. I think I’m within the bounds of wild card to include all this, but if not, well, call the referee, fire me, cancel my check etc. Oh and when you do #3, I will buy you a beer so you can tell me how and where you’re reaching out and up …

Doug

10/16

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make a difference

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So as stated in an earlier post, I grew up making things – projects for art class or gifts for my mom. I spent hours and hours sitting and concentrating, just me, my hands, and some tools and materials. I only sometimes found the end product to be what I had expected but that didn’t really concern me. I immensely enjoyed and thrived upon the act of making as if it were my own form of meditation. It was not until after my college years that I really started to pin-point how this drive and love for making things was going to direct or clarify my purpose in life. To this day these facts are still being revealed to me in new and surprising ways.

About a week ago I received an email from a woman who worked with me as a volunteer in a youth radio program I was running in Baltimore City. I had not heard from her since the program ended now almost 4 years ago. It was a short note just to thank me for the experience she had working with me and also to update me on what she was currently doing. She told me that time working with me was very helpful to her and that she is now teaching theater in non-profits and working toward becoming a youth advocate. WOW! All that time we spent together in the back room of the neighborhood church trying to keep the 9-12 yr olds from killing each other or burning the place down actually did some good (and still is?) Just that quick note from her really made my day. It was really fantastic to hear what she was doing now and that she was still interested in advocating for youth.

It’s not often that we hear or understand what our actions mean to others. I mean in this case, SHE was helping me, all I did was create a space and role for her to engage with the kids in the program. I didn’t know she would pull from the experience years later. Not only did her reaching out make my day, but it she got me thinking again. Why do I love the act of making so much and what is it that I have been making all these years?

After college I started moving away from making only objects and images, I realized that I enjoyed the space and time of sharing the process of making. Showing others how to make and creating spaces to encourage others to create, or share something. Some people may call this “teaching” or “community art” I like to call it spending quality time with people for creative purposes.

This simple email from my former volunteer reminded me that it has been a while since I spent time making with others and creating spaces for people to make. It reminded me that not only does this process bring me joy and energy but it can also make a difference in other people’s lives in ways I may not ever know. So in response to her email I decided to start the “Make a Difference Project” as a part of my October making month.

In the “Making a Difference Project”, I filled up a suitcase with a load of the craft supplies (that I pulled out of my never-ending collection in the storage unit) and went back to the streets of Annapolis to find people to make stuff with. I took my things to the busiest place I could find downtown and camped out. I asked people to “MAKE or TAKE” a free card. “Make a card or an object for someone you know that has made a difference in your life and send it to them!” was the directive (echoing Emily’s chapter requests). It was simple and it worked! Really nice people came over and sat down on the ground with me and made amazing things! One boy picked up 2 pencils and started knitting with embroidery thread, one guy painted a landscape for his friend, someone else made “interesting” name tags for her friends to wear, many cards were made and poems were written. For the first day of this – I think it went really well. AND I had a great time and made some new friends! SCORE my task of making something for today was completed.

I challenge you. Who means a lot in your life? Who has made a difference? What would happen if you told them? What would your positive reinforcement help them do? I dare you to do it and promise…. It will make a difference.

10/14

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making a pilgrimage

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I knew this experiment Living Chapters would ask me to look at and examine my stuff. Personally and internally… I just didn’t realize how literal the process would become.

In a recent spelunking adventure in the depths of my storage room of stuff, I came across a rather large box of rocks. Yep, I have been collecting rocks for more than 20 years now. Not only have I been collecting rocks but I have been moving them with me from home to home. For someone who moves as much as I do this is no small feat. These rocks mean a lot to me.

Upon inspection, I found much more than stones inside – There were small objects from each corner of the earth I have traveled to. Sticks from Scotland’s highlands, shells from South Australia, walnuts from Turkey and wild turkey feathers from the Eastern Shore of MD are just a few examples. Instead of buying souvenirs from my travels, I would just come home with a new handful of rocks. Plain objects to most but to me each piece is a memory holding specific stories and tracking explorations and adventures. I was never really good at keeping a proper journal but I was great at keeping my rocks.

I’ve looked at these rocks a million times and wondered if I could ever help them find a home. (Some may say I’ve been doing the same for myself) But since I am still moving along my path, I think now is the time to end their journey so I can continue on without the excess baggage to weigh me down. There’s nothing like a 25 lb box of rocks to make you realize that your stuff (sentimental or literal) is really starting to weigh you down! I can hold on to the memories but it’s time to release the rocks.

I know, I know, holding on to a box of rocks and adding to it each year is a ridiculously sentimental thing to do, but while I’m still in confession mode – I’ll admit, I’m a bit sentimental. I figure, the only way to phase these objects out of my life would have to be through a meaningful or sentimental process. I gained all of these objects through exploration why not release them through exploration. It was time to make a pilgrimage.

This weekend I decided to go to the place where I had my initial taste of exploration – my backyard stomping grounds in Dillsburg, PA. My older brother Jason and I use to go for long hikes in the state game lands near our home. We would lose ourselves for hours, wandering through corn fields, walking in the woods, catching insects, building forts and getting into trouble.

There was absolutely nothing out there but trees, corn, dirt and rocks. For us in that time growing up, that nothing, was everything we needed. Jason and I would make maps of the 3 lakes, the connected cornfields and the trails in the woods. And then we would create stories to go along with our visual pictures making our own “choose your own adventure” type books. In this place, we learned to take the simple elements of time and space and make them into a new reality. You kind of had to make things sentimental, dramatic or elaborate to create meaning when you were a kid alone in the stix of Pennsyltucky. It was necessary for survival.

I have been back to this place many times but just to drive through. It was time to return on foot. It seemed appropriate for this month’s challenge of making and creating to go back to the place where, essentially, I started to create. And it seemed to me a perfect resting place for my rocks.

Within a few short hours this past Sunday, these objects that have traveled so far, from the coast of Australia, the plains of Tanzania, and the hills of Kashmir have finally found their resting place in the cornfields, cemeteries and autumn leaf piles in Dillsburg, PA. They will live here at least until someone else comes along to collect them.

To see more photos of hikes and daily creations please visit the Living Chapters Facebook Page

10/9/13

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making confessions

the meaning is in the making

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I could not expect anything less from October’s chapter writer Emily Wheat (fondly known to many of her friends as Wheatie). Of course Wheatie would push me to create and make. She has been pushing me and inspiring me to do so since the day I met her. Why would she stop now? We met about 5 years ago in Remington, the neighborhood I lived in at the time. A small, vibrant and diverse community centrally located in Baltimore City. It was the last place that I put my roots down and called home, for any significant amount of time.

When our paths crossed, Emily was in graduate school at the Maryland Institute College of Art she was working on her Masters degree in Community Art and was placed in Remington to work with middle school age youth. She hung out in the community center for the summer months, taught photography, art skills and made dioramas out of shoe boxes and plasticine clay. Meanwhile, a few blocks down the street, I was hanging out with kids on my porch teaching kids photography, art skills and how to make tambourines out of paper plates and dried beans. Needless to say, we became fast friends. We both liked hanging out with kids and we both were oddly addicted to making stuff.

Making things or creating has been a constant in my life. Ever since I could remember I have found myself collecting small objects, craft materials, both natural and man-made treasures, – maybe a rock or a plastic bottle cap? Always thinking, “Someday I will make something with this”. And often, I would live up to this promise. For a long time I had a hard time buying gifts for people – I always wanted to make something. People were either totally thrilled when they got my odd gifts or completely confused and sometimes offended.

The recipients of my gifts may have said,

“Gee I never had a ‘make your own sock puppet’ kit before?”

or “Are these pot holders or wall hangings? maybe both?”

The things I made did not always make sense but they have always had an honest intention behind them and sometimes a practical use. I just loved making stuff; it was just somehow satisfying. I have never been able to explain why, I’ve just always felt this need, urge or call to create. I guess when I started college, I began to call the stuff I made “art” but I have never really been comfortable calling it that. The things I make are just creations – objects and ideas that came out of a desire to make.

This love of making most likely came from my mother who actually opened up a craft shop to the public in the basement of our home when I was growing up. She sold hand-made toys, blankets, and dried flower arrangements. Little did I know that my future would lead to a similar scenario.

25 years after my mom’s shop closed, I met Emily, when my own collecting/making addiction was in full force. I had turned my basement in Remington into a community storage space for donated arts and craft materials. It was a challenge to keep up with all the incoming donations. I was trying to do this by making stuff with the random materials on Tuesday afternoon Porch Art sessions with the kids in my neighborhood. I fully admit that Porch Art was created to feed my own addiction. I was getting my fix every week not only planning a new idea but also getting to make it happen with a group of people who would show up on my porch weekly!

Porch Art started off slowly in the spring and would pick up speed in the summer, then would crescendo in October with fall frenzied energy and the anticipation of Hauntingdon (our community’s volunteer run Halloween festival). All the kids in the neighborhood (and many adults too) would gather each week to make creepy décor for the block party including plastic bowl eyeballs, cardboard cut out zombies, mummy masks etc. You name it we made it. There is nothing that could describe this process better than the song “Making Christmas” from Tim Burton’s Nightmare before Christmas. Instead of Christmas of course, we in Remington, were making Halloween.

There was something contagious in the collective making that led up to Halloween. One year we had more than 100 community members engaged, creating and donating to the cause. In the afternoon my porch was full of kids cutting out paper ghosts in the evening my living room was full of adults drawing disembowed bodies on shower curtains – It was a crazy creative time. Everyone played a part in the process and it paid off in the end all event. Hauntingdon!

Emily played a huge role in both Porch Art and Hauntingdon. She may be the one person that I know who loves skulls and Halloween more than I do. We bonded over our love of zombie movies, ghouls, and the darkness as well as our shared addiction to making odd objects.

These are a few Emily Wheat creations that come with me everywhere (the ghost has been in my car for about 4 years now and the skulls have been hung up in 5 different houses and now 3 boats!) Besides being crafty though – Emily is also the one who created the beautiful photographs of books featured on this website here

What I love about Wheatie is that she has an open sense of wonder, one that a child might have yet combined with old soul wisdom that an elder might hold. It’s quite a balance! I’m not sure how she attained this rare combination, but it may come from her constant search for meaning and purpose while also being able to let things happen as they do. Emily always has mirrored back to me my belief that the act of making in itself is always somehow more important than whatever object comes out of the creative process. She reminds me that things end up just the way they do – and we should try be ok with that.

In her chapter this month, Emily emphasizes the importance balance. How can we allow our work to influence us but not direct us solely in our search for meaning and fulfillment? And how can we not forget to listen to ourselves while learning from and being inspired by others.

It’s a challenge not to follow any one prescribed career or life path. Emily has supported me and guided me on this task since I’ve known her. She continuously confirms my belief that purpose is not found in one place but on the path itself, it’s in the intentions and in the making and creating. We just need to continue on with the making to continue finding meaning.

10/3/13

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chapter five

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Purpose and Meaning

I am constantly driven to find meaning and purpose in each step I take on this path called life. Many of the choices I have made revolve around the work that I do and building a career. I have recently followed a new life path, one influenced by work, but driven by the desire to live a deeply fulfilling, well-rounded life. I have finally allowed my need to live a more balanced life outweigh my desire to continue on a certain career path.

Beth, you too spend a great deal of time contemplating your choices and the way they direct your life’s path, always letting your intuition be your guide. I always know that when I call you to discuss a change that I need to make you will be encouraging, no matter how strange and scary it might seem. I can hear you now, “Wheatie, trust yourself. You already know what the right decision is.” Your path has also been somewhat directed by the work that you do. I am interested to see how this year of letting other people direct your life will impact the way that you make decisions in your future.

When considering my own purpose I find that much of my life is centered around my interactions with other people. As a teacher I am constantly fueled by what I learn from the students I work with as well as challenging them to think and create in new ways. I also choose to surround myself with a community of people that challenge me and help me grow. I think that our initial bond was created through our similar desire to learn from the people around us. Interacting with people on such a deep level pushes us to grow but can also hinder us if not balanced with time alone to reflect on knowledge gained.

The challenges I purpose for this month are about finding balance.

Part 1: A Walk in the Woods

I want you to start off this month by going on a hike. It can be as long as you desire but you must be alone and in the woods. The combination of the physical act of moving, spending time alone and being surrounded by the beauty of nature always helps me clear my head and focus my energy.

Let your brain clear out any issues that might be blocking your ability to bask in the experiences and interactions that have come out of the past couple months and consider what you have learned/what you have been reminded of while participating in the challenges of the Living Chapters. How has this knowledge impacted your sense or purpose and meaning?

Part 2: A Treasure a Day

The second part of my challenge for you this month, BB, is to create! I want you to spend this month using your creative energies to make something new every day. I also want you to share those creations with the people in your life that have impacted your sense purpose.

Here are the guidelines:

1. Make something every day.

This something can be as large or as small as you desire. I know that you may or may not have all the usual items that would be at your disposal in other living situations aka your basement in Remington, so I am sending you a package of goods that might help you through this challenge. Also, remember to use your master skills in the art of collecting to find items that may help your creative process.

2. Send or deliver the creations that you have made to people who have or continue to make an impact on your life.

You do not have to send/deliver an item every day and you may send/deliver more than one item to the same person if you choose, but you must be intentional in your decisions during this part of the process. Let your intention be fueled by your intuition, letting yourself naturally come to conclusions about who must receive which items and when.

I loved your quote from last month’s chapter… “Instead of figuring out a direct plan for my future, what I want to do is hone the skills that will help me arrive at it organically.” Use this practice in following your intuition through the creative process to fuel your ability to listen to your intuition in the next phases of your life.

3. Have fun!

Let this challenge be joyous and not tedious. If you aren’t feeling the project you are working on one day ditch it and start a new one. It will be more enjoyable if you are listening to yourself, especially if you are feeling that it is time for a break or to switch directions.

Note: This challenge does not include October 31^st. That day is reserved for tricks and treats.

10/1/2013

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Living Chapters

What would happen if you invited 12 of your most trusted friends to write the next 12 months of your life?

October Creations

Chapter 5 Wild Card: Doug Sadler

Chapter 4 Writer: Amy Rothstein

Chapter 4 Wild Cards: Agnes and Grace Lichtner

Chapter 3 Writer: Andy Cook

Living Chapters Project Manager: Moira Fratantuono

make a donation

October Writer Response: Emily Wheat

October: Wild Card

make a difference

making a pilgrimage

making confessions

the meaning is in the making

chapter five

Purpose and Meaning

protagonist parting words