Kean Drawing One Students

Looking carefully at Orbit

A detail of my drawing of my beloved grand-doggie, Orbit, that is a (long overdue) housewarming gift for my son Leo and daughter-in-law Kathryn Veuve who now live in Gorham Maine with Orbit and my grand-daughter Ellie. The over-all drawing is larger but my old (ancient) iPhone seemed to like taking this close-up. Ebony Pencil pn Paper 11" x 14" Bristol paper. (Orbit is a rescue dog from Puerto Rico).

Triada Samaras: Shifting as an Artist and Human Being (3)

 Hello everyone:

What is the impact of Mindfulness Meditation on an artist like me using an simple cell phone app like the one I am using daily with Sam Harris? Like  Zach Grossfeld wrote in 2019 on Medium, it is utterly transformative. I wrote in my last post that this app was a gift from my eldest son, Liam Veuve, who beseeched me to try it. I listened. 

To be honest the words: WAKE; AWAKE; AWAKENING; were spiraling through my dreams, daydreams, waking and lseeping thoughts so regularly in the fall of 2019, that when I saw the title of this particular app: "Waking Up" that Liam "handed" to me, I spent zero time arguing with him. Now I thank my son and Sam Harris.

From practing mindfulness meditiation 20 minutes every day, I then started to listen in (tune in) more over to everything:  my self, others around me, the sounds of the city, and to nature. As a city dweller for over 30 years (Brooklyn) I feel this latter point is important to say.

"Mindfulness is a quality of being — the experience of being open and aware in the present moment, without reflexive judgment, automatic criticism or mind wandering.  Mindfulness meditation is the practice of actually being present in the moment, which in turn trains us to become more mindful throughout the day, particularly during difficult situations.  As Ms. Brach puts it: “Mindfulness is your awareness of what’s going on in the present moment without any judgment. Meditation is the training of attention which cultivates that mindfulness.”

LINK

From my growing fascination with nature, made more obvious to me when the COVID 19 quarantine began in March 2020, I 'landed' on looking upwards towards the sky over Brooklyn.  I have a roof and in quarantine I began to use it regularly.  I looked upwards daily.

What was up there? What planets could I see?  What was out there? Turns out quite a lot, despite the light pollution. I found this Stellarium page and paid pennies for an app with the same name and have been hooked/enchanted ever since. 

Looking up over NYC was another sort of waking up for me. The planet Mars lighting up Gowanus was a whole new thrilling experience for me.

Again, EUREKA!

warmly Triada 

Triada Samaras: Shifting as an Artist and Human Being (2)

Hello everyone,

What does it mean to go on a journey? And what is that?

A Quest?  An Expedition?  A Safari? A consious decision? A dream one has in the middle of the night? A longing? An unconscious decision? I have been on a very long journey my entire lifetime.

Above: A Selfie with my cellphone recently in Maine

(i-phone 6)

Yes on the 'outside', in the external world, I am surely an artist through and through: and artist, a painter, a poet, a photographer, and an art-activist, an art-educator,  an art writer, art mentor/supervisor, an art blogger, yes.  My external titles are many and and I have worked with literally thousands of students over my years. They and the external world know me as my various desciptors above.

But there is always more for me to explore, to find, to clarify for myself within myself. I am a 'wanderer' and a 'wonderer' for life, I have found and more recently accepted, and I will never find a single artwork or answer or location in time or space because that is not the point alas.

Above: Another 'Selfie' with my cellphone recently in Maine only aiming the lens 'outwards' this time

(i-phone 6)

This year, 2020, was a personal, Golden Opportunity for many reasons I will mention in future posts.  The events in the external world became so obviously chaotic and excrutiating to me that I also turned my gaze upwards to the sky and my life- long love of astrology/astronomy. 

I found Demetra George and Carol Ferris.(More in a future post). I found Mindfulness Meditation via a gift given to me from my eldest son, Liam Veuve, on my birthday during the lunar eclipse. The wass highly significant looking back.  But I was also paying attention this time.

I am finding my way back to now and the way to 'Triada Samaras' whoever she might be/becoming.

The events of 2020 and my paying close attention to them and to a few select and gifted people have altered my life immeasurably. Nature (galaxies) have filled in some much-needed information I was previously ignoring due to my predictable human nature. 

And now I am forever altered. I have shifted. 

And that is a good thing as far as I am concerned. EUREKA!

(And, you, too can do this but more on how in future posts).

warmly, Triada 

Triada Samaras: Shifting as an Artist and Human Being (1)

Hello everyone

I have been shifting enormously as an artist and as a human being since the COVID 19 pandemic began in March 2020. The planets and galaxies have told us to turn inward this year (more on this in another post) and I have listened.  

Image taken from the Stellarium today

I have been fully aware of all the daily political news and world events too.  I have not become an emotional hermit by any means.  However, with the quarantine and isolation,  I have had the opportunity to do BOTH/AND:  Pay attention to outer worldy events AND develop a whole new and intense focus on my inner worldly events.  Thus I have experienced a fundametal alteration of myself. This is becoming obvious to me in the way I operate as an artist as a human being in my world. BOTH/AND. I thank Sylvia High for introducing me to this idea some years back in NYC.

Here is an image (the top GIF) I embrace that deeply relates to my process:

http://gph.is/1gZuaR6 

But it does not "say" everything. 

In addition, there are many synonyms for the word "shift" of course:

• alter
• change
• deviate
• drift
• move
• relocate
• shuffle
• transfer
• turn
• vary
• veer
• dislocate
• displace
• disturb
• exchange
• rearrange
• replace
• reposition
• stir
• swerve
• tack
• transmogrify
• transpose
• change gears
• dial back
• do up
• move around
• move over
• recalibrate
• switch over
• turn around
• turn the corner
• turn the tables

I like some of these better than others.  

Finally here is a lovely text about shifting:

I found this text here.

Again it speaks to me but does not tell the whole story. I will ponder this word and its meaning to me again and again here in future posts.  

But back to my new goal and primary purpose for this blog now:

I begin from this day forward to shift the content of this blog. Now I will focus on my dynamic shifting inner process as an artist and human being even as I also feature outer art world items of significance and meaning to me. 

What is the reason for my decision you may ask?  Stay tuned....BOTH/AND. Thanks Sylvia. A EUREKA! moment for sure. LINK

To all of you reading here:  Thank you. Namaste. Stay Strong and Well in these challenging times.

Link for this Image

warmly, Triada 

Campaign Poster for 2020 Presidential Election 2020

I just created this poster today.

Please feel free to share if so inclined.

Let us all use our precious collective energy in the smartest and wisest way possible!

Together we are so much

stronger than we even dare ourselvess

to dream!

Let us not get get disheartened.

Let us dream POSITIVE and as one!

New Arts Integration Project with the Smithsonian Learning Lab

Our first official meeting for the Smithsonian Learning Lab project occurred today. I look forward to working on this project this coming year with my colleagues at William Paterson, in the Paterson Schools and at the Smithsonian Learning Lab!

LINK

NOW is the time for all good people to come to the aid of their country.

NOW is the time for all good people to act! NOW is the time for us to participate in democracy, speak, up, engage ourselves, VOTE! and so much more. As a collective. Please think of one small action (or several!) that you will take during this election count-down. How will YOU help America? We all need each other. We all rely upon on each other.

Biden/Harris 2020 and the new Alchemy!

Here are a few a cell phone photographs I took of my screen last night of a spectator proudly waving the American flag after the remarkable speech made by Joe Biden.

It was some speech! I hope you all will listen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZ3Ssxe8vsw

There were so many other powerful / moving speeches as well.

My photographs are an image of an image of an image of...

My innermost artistic desire is for them is to become the new normal:

an actual, physical, touchable, living, breathing thing. 

NOW. It is time for alchemy, people!

Last week I taught a homemade planetarium class for Paterson and other teachers. One of the simplest ways is here...(guess what I used) ...this gives a marvelous effect I must say. I have been obsessed with the sky these past months. Perseid meteor showers anyone?

https://www.space.com/32868-perseid-meteor-shower-guide.html

Arts Integration Workshop Presentations for William Paterson

This week I presented two online Arts Integration Workshops for William Paterson University under the Dodge Arts Integration Grant.
Please see the below links for the STEAMemPOWERment blog piece I recently wrote on these workshops.  

In addition, I am providing the WP Twitter and FB links here for the event.

https://twitter.com/WPCollegeOfEd

https://www.facebook.com/WPCollegeOfEd/

Stay safe everyone!

Triada

Luchita Hurtado

This is a remarkable work of art by a remarkable artist: Luchita Hurtado! She inspires me I must say. "“The Umbilical Cord of the Earth Is the Moon,” oil on canvas, 1977.Credit...Luchita Hurtado/Hauser & Wirth; photo by Jeff McLane." She passed recently https://tinyurl.com/y4nxz9l5

I took this cellphone photo a while back with this fantastic lamp I found, and the Fool Card (Number One in the Rider Waite Deck/I attach a description below). I also attach one of the pieces of music I use the most when I am needing to relax. In this time of enormous stress and change on so many levels, I use these tools to create a more balanced state so I can aim to function on a higher level as I go about my day. Feel free to try and/or share!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-EB7Ox3wg4
"The Fool stands on the precipice of a cliff, his head tilted to the sky and arms outstretched as if to embrace the dawn of his new existence. " 
https://teachmetarot.com/part-iii-major-arcana/lesson-1/the-fool-0-upright/