Monday, June 21, 2021

Creative Blocks and Selfie-Ish Portrait Series














'VOICES CARRY"
"Speaking up for myself will sometimes break my heart. But, I have to do it anyway."

~ A writing in progress patrons preview post now unlocked to the public.
Click HERE for the first draft of my this-is-sort-of-a-poem, "Voices Carry" and to find out more about how personal "vocal" blocks can impact the creative process.

This post also includes a link to unlock, "Creative Origins," in a bloggy post about the sacral chakra and candid photos from playing around with the Selfie-ish Portrait series idea in 2020.  


Image | "Throat Chakra"
meme version from my 2020 Selfie-ish portrait series.
(No affiliation to or appropriations of 1985's "Voices Carry" by 'Til Tuesday. ðŸ™‚ )

Monday, March 8, 2021

FOURTEEN Years; Coping Tools for Helpers and Survivors

 


So much gratitude for where I am now and the supportive people who have been here for this journey! 

Fourteen years ago today, with inadequate information about the risks involved; I consented to spinal anesthesia for a "routine" knee arthroscopy to repair a torn meniscus, a minor injury that occurred while playing basketball with my students. Spinal adhesive arachnoiditis was the eventual result.




In honor of the weight of all that I have learned & experienced and the New Paths I have discovered in the years since this preventable permanent injury; I am sharing this link to bits and pieces of my story that helped me define,  "How to Help an Arachnoiditis Survivor" (from a 2015 post at the Art For Arachnoiditis Project website I created for fellow survivors.)

...Some of these coping tools are likely useful for care providers and survivors of other injuries and chronic conditions, too. 

I hope these discoveries are helpful to others.

As always, please consult your trusted practitioner prior to making any changes to your treatment plan. 

Image Credit: The above digital collage is from the "Arachnoiditis In Real Life" digital photo series of survivors that was displayed in the first public exhibit of the Art For Arachnoiditis project to promote awareness and prevention. You can browse that collection here. 

Browse all four years of the project here.

Monday, February 15, 2021

Solitude Empowers; a Few Pandemic Revelations


The difference between solitude and isolation has been on my mind frequently since the pandemic alerts first began. In many ways, the 2007 injury and subsequent search for wellness forced me to face these distinctions long before the rest of the world was confronting them on such a grand scale. Oddly, shortly after I was medically able to "return to life IN the community"... the "community" was forced to go home. Again, I found myself surrounded by a great deal of space between myself and others.
Over time, I have gained an appreciation for the value of solitude. But, it wasn't until recently that I realized how empowering that appreciation can actually be.
Self-awareness helps us adjust and adapt to our surroundings. Being authentic often means making difficult choices about who, when, what, where, and how we spend our energy and time.
Instead of the conditioned impulse to stifle ourselves in order to "belong"... Knowing how our authentic actions impact others has the power to inform when we choose to act and how we prepare ourselves for the consequences of those actions.
Each of us is a work in progress.
We learn to assess who is "ready" and who is not.
We learn to accept that some may never be "ready"...
We choose if/when/how to share space with them.
The appreciation for the value of solitude (not to be confused with isolation), empowers us to make these difficult choices. We are able to independently pursue that which makes us authentically ourselves without the fear of "exclusion" or marginalization.
There is true liberty to be found in knowing that we are able to be "okay" regardless of the perceptions and opinions of others. This Knowing enables us to be more authentic in the nature in which we choose to show up in community and more selective about when and how we choose to do that.

 

Thursday, November 19, 2020

Keeping an Open Mind to Connect with Community

 











To stay connected with friends and family and support the Allegany Arts Association and the Belfast Organization For Artists while we safely social distance in the winter months ahead, I have decided to re-open my page.
After almost four weeks being fb-free, it was brought to my attention that if my goal is to provide equitable access to local creative things, I must meet our community where they are.
Many local creators have turned to this social media tool to stay connected to each other and share their work with the public during these strange times. As the risks of in-person social contact continue, it is my hope that we will use this tool to share and celebrate our creative resilience.
However, for the most timely response; it is still best to contact me at my studio. My most-current posts about local activities and my art can still be found here on my patreon.
Subscribing patrons unlock the most art but anyone can "follow" for free and find lots of existing content in my public activity feed.


Saturday, October 10, 2020

October 2020 SheilaLynnK Art Studio Updates

 As the safety of my patrons, visitors, and family are of utmost concern the studio is temporarily closed until further notice.

The most current studio updates can now be found on my patreon page. 

In need of something to inspire me to start drawing again, referencing the official #Inktober prompts, I am taking the leap into Inktober for the first time. 

Though I am not as consistent with the posts as I would like to be, my subscribing patrons are currently receiving extra rewards in the form of inky sketches based on the official daily prompts from the Inktober 2020 project. Unlock those here.


During these shifting times, I am uncertain what other changes will be taking place in the studio. For now, I am observing safety practices and doing the best I can to create while maintaining this "holding pattern" that keeps us wondering what will happen next. 

More thoughts about that can be found here: 
October 2020 SheilaLynnK Art Studio E-News

My website has become the web home for my portfolio and other PreCovid19 Projects

Though most purchasing options are currently unavailable,
Feel free to contact the studio to find out if there are any remaining options to purchase items shown on my website.

Watch Last Year's Welcome Video
Keeping Art Accessible to All Members of Our Rural Community
We believe Culture is a Human Right. #RightToBelong
Cultural Policy of Belonging

By visiting:
sheilalynnkart.com,
sheilalynnkart.blogspot.com,
and its project pages:
artforarachnoiditis.org
and belfastorganizationforartists.blogspot.com
you hereby accept the terms of and practices detailed in our
ONLINE PRIVACY POLICY.

If you would like to make a Tax-deductible contribution to support Charitable Art Projects at SheilaLynnK Art Studio you can find out more about that HERE.

By the end of the year I will be closing my facebook account. Get quarterly updates and studio news in your email when you Subscribe to the Studio Newsletter.

Wednesday, July 8, 2020

Intentionally American

"American Woman" ~sheilalynnkart.com

Living in the shadow of corruption which thrives on the general apathy of the people, active participation may be the most productive act of rebellion we will ever know.
To be a free citizen is a right which comes with great responsibility. Our nation is, and always has been, what we make it. Corruption will always take controlling action when the people do not stand in the way. Apathy and distraction fertilize the fields of corruption. America has not failed the people. Large portions of the American population got comfortable with the entitlements associated with being a “free” nation and, in our inactivity, we have failed the intent of her constitution.


In the midst of all of the accusations and epithets flying so loudly against “them” and “they” it is ever-so-easy to forget that “We, the people” has never meant, “They, the people.” The people of this nation must own the choices which brought us to this phase of national development. 

Understanding the part we have played empowers our inherent ability to create change. We are not victims of a failed intention but the owners of the opportunities which only responsibly active citizenship can provide. So many of our residents have failed to understand that the “They” we so often blame, is the same “They” that we allow to control the status quo.

It is easier to place blame and say, “What a lie!” than it is to take a hard look at the lack of responsible citizenship which allowed our nation to be lead by actions we can no longer tolerate. A constitution or declaration of independence only means as much as the paper and ink used to write it if the people do not read it, understand it, or actively ensure its successful implementation and equitable evolution. We cannot undo the past. There is no time like the present to get to know and understand the American Constitution and the power of the people which exists between its lines.

We, the people are required to choose leaders who believe and uphold those ideals providing them with the courage to act in service of our Constitution. We must select those who are unafraid to enforce its meaning, question its applications, and equitably interpret and implement its content to accommodate the growing diversity of our modern population. If those leaders do not yet exist, as free citizens who expect to benefit from leadership guided by the aims of such a document; it is our job to become them. Beyond that, we must be sure that we are creating them now. 






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To those who have said, "Americans all have the same opportunities. Everyone has obstacles. It is up to each one of us to step up and meet those obstacles in order to "succeed." Blame is irrelevant."
I write:
AMERICAN CHOICES~ IMPORTANT QUESTIONS (Aug. 20, 2017)

It is my sincere hope that one day a New American Spirit will be born who will have the option to ponder these choices based entirely upon personal preference without any need to consider privilege or prejudice.


And 

#Still Proud To Be An American (Nov. 13, 2016)

Wednesday, June 24, 2020

Resting Between The Hoops

"Resting Between the Hoops" 

As my lofty goals of creative enlightenment and service flutter around my head among the expectations (and politics) of a Health and Safety Re-opening plan and the general administrative and marketing duties of running a business, I am pushed to consider the inevitable cost of holding space for others.

If I "jump through the hoops" am I allowing myself to be manipulated by the system OR am I doing the work that must take place to provide the space for wellness? 
Though I have always been selective about which hoops to go through and which ones to go around, over the years, I have learned that those hoops are only obstacles when I allow my ego to define them. 

Recently asked, what is the cost of navigating those hoops, I paused. 
Somewhere around 0:Dark30 this morning I heard the question,
 "What is the cost if you don't?"
And...there it was. 
Being "of service" to anything has never been the easy path to choose. 
So, I will continue to rest between the hoops and do my best to leave my ego sitting in the red tape as I move forward. 
Perhaps, I will also evolve a little bit along the way. 
~Blessings! 
["Hoops" 48" x 60" acrylic on stretched canvas 2001) ]