Remember You Will Die

Did you forget?  Do not miss the The Rubin Museum of Art, tucked away in the heart of Chelsea in New York City.  It is a treasure of art, history and perspective as seen through the eyes of artists in the Himalayas.

Visitors may nervously react to the current exhibit: Remember That You Will Die:  Death Across Cultures with gruesome relics and paintings of death from both the Buddhist faith as well as the Christian faith.  The lovely Tibetan box painted in bright colors with flayed human skin overlapping the wood or the multitudes of skeletons painted on sacred thangkas.  Startling are the human bone beads delicately carved and strung into an intricate apron for a llama to wear on special occasions.  Yet, there is no relief, even the flute on exhibit is made from a human shinbone.  Escaping the brutal relics of death to the other side of the exhibit is pointless.  The Christian art is just as brutal with beautifully painted bodies draped in loving arms – dead.  Then there are the same skulls and skeletons engraved or sculpted just as horrific as the Tibetan Buddhist pieces.  Though absent are human bones of Christian origin – as they must be enshrined somewhere around the world in a glass case for pilgrims to be blessed by being in the presence of a saint’s relics.   Regardless the diversity of religious tradition or instruction, the message and purpose of such art is the same:  live every day to the fullest as though it was your last.

Contrasting death, the Tradition Transformed:  Tibetan Artists Repsond the first exhibit of contemporary Tibetan art in New York offers a little lightness of thought and visual beauty.  From the installation of the many traditional Buddha statues mounted on the wall yet this time as seen from the backside to the edgy contemporary photographer Losang Gyatso who plays with light and multiple layers of a bright colorful Tara image, each artist reveals the edge in contemporary Himalayan art.  These artists risk tradition, politics and understanding of their art.  The tension between tradition and being contemporary plays in each piece with a delightful offering of a new approach.  They have perfected the delicate dance and are a welcome addition on the global stage of contemporary artists.  Join the blog discussion at the Traditions Transformed.

The Rubin Museum of Art, 150  West 17th STreet, NYC is a respite from the expected and offers a glimpse of the wonders of the Himalayas.

By Keri Douglas, writer/photographer, Washington, D.C.

Inuit Artists Refreshing, Bold and Whimsical

Wisdom of the Elders, Kenojuak Ashevak, Stonecut and Stencil, 2009, © Dorset Fine Art

Arctic artists stop time at the Nipirasait:  Many Voices:  Inuit Prints from Cape Dorset exhibit at the Embassy of Canada in Washington, D.C.  In partnership with St. Lawrence University, a collection of prints from established and emerging artists are displayed to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of the Kinngait Studios of Cape Dorset, Nunavut.

Just over a thousand miles from the harsh waters of moving sea ice of the North Pole, the Nunavut artists reveal an inter-connectedness between nature, animals and humans with bold lines, colors and perspectives.  Rich stories come through each print – be it family, legacies or the strong bonds between man and nature.  The contemporary and traditional artists bring forth the mysterious Arctic.

Behind the veil of the harsh realities of nature there is beauty and warmth.  As Itee Pootoogook said of one artist, “His use of broad color fields beautifully captures the interplay between sea, ice and sky, in the still cold of an Arctic winter.”

As Ohotaq Mikkigak illustrates the interplay between animals, on print is of a polar bear who leans into the ice to press his nose against the nose of a grey seal.  Is it a moment of hunger or rather a moment of curiosity between animals?  Ningeokuluk Teevee captures the legacy of an older owl protecting the young owl within its own frame.  One could ask if is this overlay symbolizes the spirit owl guiding the younger one.

Survival is obvious theme in each print be it on ice or in the cold crushed ice water.  An Inuit mermaid fully dressed in a sealskin coat with a fish tail floats below the surface ice breathing in an air bubble surrounded by an octopus looking jelly fish.  Another print is of a bird delicately curved holding a fish in its beak as though it was holding the squirming fish with chopsticks.

Some artists push the edge of tradition and reach forward into a contemporary realm with bold, bright colors and shapes of the familiar. Kenojuak Askevak wrote, “I was thinking of the animals and beautiful flowers that covered our beautiful untouched land.”  His fish in the exhibit is brilliant, modern and defies the notion of sourcing.

Artists have the opportunity to create new landscapes of understanding.  As Mayoreak Ashoona is quoted, “I have tried to put down the onest truth about what it is like to live in the Artic. I have tried to teach about the land and the wather conditions and about what to do inside the house.  These are the things I do.”  The Inuit artists have perfected the lens into their multidimensional life in the Arctic.

The exhibit is on display at The Embassy of Canada in Washington, D.C. until December 30, 2010 at 501 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, free, open to the public, Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Betty Wells: Award Winning NBC News Artist – Eye Witness to History

Betty Wells has had a front row seat to American history for more than 30 years covering the Watergate scandal; high-profile trials of spies and terrorists; Senators and Members of Congress; Congressional hearing and debates featuring political leaders of the day; and even going undercover to create special investigative reports.  Of utmost historical importance, Betty Wells is the only artist to paint life behind the scenes at the U.S. Supreme Court.

To read more, go to

Betty Wells Award Winning NBC Artist

A limited number of rare art pieces from Betty Wells’ private collection are available for purchase.  For more information, please contact Keri Douglas, Nine Muses International, keridouglas@mac.com.

Betty Wells sits down with Kiki Ryan of Politico.  Read Kiki Ryan’s story on the front page of Politico.

Kris Kitto of The Hill talks with Betty Wells about Art on Deadline.

What Are Canadians Reading?

Reading, a deeply personal moment of reflection, exposure and curiosity that may last a few minutes or a lifetime.  What books rest on the shelf as prized treasures?

Yann Martel, the Canadian author of Life of Pi and now a new book Beatrice and Virgil, is sharing a book every two weeks with Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada.  From the obvious to the obscure, Martel sends a book with a letter of explanation.  Book Number 73 is Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, which shares the Nigerian perspective to the white missionaries arriving in the 1930s to the reader.  In the course of introducing this book, Martel explains that he is at a book talk at the Mendel Art Gallery in Saskatoon and the audience also has favorite books to recommend to Prime Minister Harper.  A few of the books the audicence offers include:

A Woman in Berlin, anonymous

Foxfire by Joyce Carol Oates (Martel comments “The book I re-read when I want to remember why I write.”)

The Art of Japanse Bondage by Midori

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon

Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie

L’Avalee des avales by Rejean Ducharme

Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes by Mern Fox

The Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence

Stella, Queen of the Snow by Marie-Louise Guay (Martel again comments that the recommendation came with “It will answer many of life’s pressing questions, and bring a smile to your face.”

Martel is refreshing in his approach in book recommendations to Prime Minister Harper as they are fresh, unique and unscripted.

By Keri Douglas, writer/photographer, Washington, D.C.

Art of Gaman: Truth and Beauty at Renwick Gallery, Washington, DC

Chiura Obata, Finding New Dwellings, Tanforan - Photo by Karin Nelson

Art releases the soul. Whether free or imprisoned, the soul needs to express, release and share its truth.  Across the street from the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., the Renwick Gallery of American Art presents The Art of Gaman:  Arts and Crafts from the Japanese American Internment Camps from 1942 to 1946.   The show is introduced with the following passage on the wall, “Everything was lost except the courage to create.”

Gaman in Japanese refers to the notion of endurance and patience with grace.  A few months after the attack of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, then President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered all Japanese-American interred in camps, many horse racetracks and remote desert areas inhospitable to humans.  More than 110,000 people were given short notice that they would lose their business, their home, the opportunity for an education and ultimately every freedom they knew up to the very day they were imprisoned.  Fear and racism prevailed.  Thousands were removed entirely from civil society.  Yet, art endured to tell the story of who survived and how beauty shined despite the dismal conditions.

The Art of Gaman exhibits treasures lost in attics, passed down through generations or quietly shared among friends.  Art and crafts in all forms are included from furniture, boxes, silk embroidered pictures, paintings, jewelry and Buddhist shrines.  On one exhibit wall describes the “rule” as said by Lawson Fusao Inada for the prisoners, “Only what we could carry was the rule, so we carried Strength, Dignity and Soul.”  Small shells found in the desert earth create delicate colorful flower brooches for weddings and even funerals.  Scrap wood became Buddhist shrines for hope and spiritual respite for many.  Illustrators capture moments of horror that otherwise would have been lost in memories yet now endure to tell a story of complicit conduct of so many.

One artist in particular illustrates the contribution and value of art to record history and news of the day – Chiura Obata, an art professor at the University of California Berkeley.  He was relocated to the Tanforan Assembly Center (Tanforan racetrack and stables) in Topaz, Utah.  The exhibit includes several of Obata’s pen and black ink illustrations.  One is of the first ‘evacuation’ point at the First Congregation Church in Berkley, California.  Did no one go to church that day? In another, Obata paints the story of the deaf old man who is trying to capture a stray dog.  The old man is shot and killed by a guard who decides this old man is a threat as he strayed too close to the fence.  Or, another illustrates a family walking into their new ‘home’ … a horse stable at the racetrack (see included picture Finding New Dwellings).  Obata preserves history in its grace and horror to ensure a lesson is learned.

A visitor to the exhibit from Tacoma Park, Maryland writes in the guest book, “It is an important reminder of what shameful things we can do to other Americans in the name of ‘national security’.  May we not repeat this – ever.”

Quietly, slowly we learn that leadership and community reactions with racism, acting on fears, prejudices and removing peoples’ liberties is pointless and inhumane.  This little known tragic chapter in American history is revealed and recognized for its senseless fear tactics and prejudices in leadership.  It wasn’t until forty years later in 1988 that President Ronald Reagan authorized $1.6 billion for reparations and an official apology to all of the families.

The courage to express truth and reveal truth is true leadership.  While at the same time, in Asian cultures the lotus flower is admired for its beauty that rises from mud.  In this Asian American spirit, The Art of Gaman is a testament to the courage of artists to express beauty in life at all times even during those times of great despair.

The next time you are in Washington, D.C. take a few minutes to appreciate the art and the journey of interred Japanese Americans in The Art of Gaman exhibit.  Pause also to reflect on the location of the exhibit … across the street from the White House.  The Art of Gaman will be on exhibit at the Renwick Gallery until January 30, 2011.

By Keri Douglas, writer/photographer, Washington, D.C.

Trees – Extraordinary in the Blizzard 2010

Blizzard 2010 Snapshots

Indian Days – Evie Lovett

Traditions typically hidden from glare and intrusive eyes are revealed to photographer Evie Lovett and novelist Suzanne Kingsbury in the current Indian Days photography exhibit at the Vermont Center for Photography from February 5 to 28, 2010.

Both white; both aware of the generations of exploitations;  both aware of the stereotypes found in presenting the North American Indian community;  Evie and Suzanne traveled from Vermont to Browning, Montana for the North American Indian Days where families gather during this time to celebrate with long held traditions of drumming and dancing.

Capturing the beauty of the traditional and modern North American Indian family, Evie Lovette uses a 50 year old Rolleiflex and develops her own film.  The richness of Evie’s photographs is enchanting.

All photographs on exhibit are for sale and a portion of the proceeds will benefit the Piegan Institute, which preserves and teaches the Blackfeet language and culture.

The Vermont Center for Photography is located at 49 Flat Street, Brattleboro, VT 05301.

By Keri Douglas, writer/photographer, Washington, DC

Original Text Message – the Inukshuk and Inunnguaq

The Inukshuk symbol of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics is a brilliant reminder that human beings need information whether coded in symbols or in a universal language.  Could the original coded text message be a series of stacked rocks?  We (were here).  Fish (here).   Food (here).  For the Inuits in the Arctic, yes.

Stone giants, standing tall and imposing on the horizon are welcome signs for travelers braving the cold, snow and ice.  For Inukshuks and  Inunnguaqs are beacons sending messages that “You are on the right path. Someone has been here. You are not alone.”   A sense of survival and community is conveyed in this barren empty landscape with no one visibly ahead nor behind.  A solitary existence for any hunter yet one with guidance and comfort.

These structures are an ancient Inuit tradition of communicating the past, present and into the future.  Arms or no arms direct the message.  Arms indicate an immediate message of life for hunters – directions to other hunters or even food caches.  An Inunnguaq in the shape of a human form with legs and arms may point a rock ‘hand’ in the direction of the previous hunters.  With antlers replacing the ‘hands’, the sculpture may have a cache of food tucked high in between two rocks for the next group of hunters.

An Inukshuk with no human form will provide  news of dangerous crossings or falling rocks; be a marker for an area with plentiful hunting for seal, whale, walrus, fishing or caribou;  or be a navigational guide by pointing to the North Star.

Even how they are constructed – one rock balanced on another built by many.  Alone the rock means nothing.  Together the rocks share a purpose and importance.  Be it a memorial to a fallen hunter, a trail marker, or a cache of food, these Inukshuks or Inunnguaqs on the horizon are a comforting site.

The Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics introduce the Inukshuk as the national symbol of Canada.  Athletes and television viewers from around the world will join in the spirit of sportsmanship from February 12 to February 28, 2010.

Consider the message of the Inukshuk when viewing the Olympic games.  Even in the most barren of landscapes the human being needs news and information and each other.  Of course, sitting with one another and directly sharing news in every culture is most special.  However, with technology today we share bits of information through a multitude of sources – newspapers, magazines, radio, television, cable television, postcards, letters, books, a variety of phones (land line, cell, satellite), the internet, GPS, e-mai, web sites, blogs, tweets, Facebok and even text messages with bizarre short cuts in language to send coded messages.  The Inuit way was to build “road” signs through a recognized systematic structure of rocks to send a message to the next traveler … Help yourself to food and see you in the next village (that way).  The Inukshuk is a coded message comforting and connecting human beings.  Working together by sharing information is vital to our livelihoods and survival.

By Keri Douglas, writer/photographer, Washington, DC

Mafia – Saviano’s Authentic Grit in the NYT

“When I was a teenager here, kids used to shoot dogs in the head.”

Roberto Saviano, writes an opinion editorial in the New York Times of January 24, 2010 opening with power, grit and the reality of why African immigrants are rioting in Italy.  Contrary to public perception, the riots are against the mafia, who control the jobs, wages, housing and security. He writes, “The only ones who have courage to rebel against them (mafia) are the Africans.”  Understanding the nuances on the ground is essential.  Saviano says, “The Rosarno riots were not about attacking the law, but about gaining access to the law.”

Newspapers offer fewer and fewer op-eds because the majority of space is obligated to contract columnists, who opinions are known just by reading their name.  Saviano, author of “Gomorrah: A Personal Journey Into the Violent International Empire of Naples’ Organized Crime System”, on the other hand – is shocking, riveting, relevant.  His writing is blunt and true.  Op-ed pages would be revitalized with more authentic writings like Saviano.  A stark reality rarely exposed.

By Keri Douglas, writer/photographer, Washington, D.C.