In 1968, The Beatles went to Rishikesh to study with Mahrishi Mahesh Yogi and the trip got widespread media attention and influenced Western attitudes about Indian spirituality and music; I went there 40 years later and couldn't wait to get out of town!
In India monkeys run around the backyard, jumping in trees, like squirrels do in New England. Anjula told me a story about when a pack of monkeys broke into their family house in Dehradun. The family dropped everything, scrambled together... Continue Reading →
Travelers to India may be tempted to step into the Ganges but simply standing on the shore to watch the pleasure and joy of others is very satisfying experience.
Dehradun is known as the love city,the jewel of the Himalayas, gateway to holy cities, education capital of India; for me Dehradun was the first Indian city I got to know. It is about 6 hours north of Delhi.
Fairy, a Hindu family maid, wears a borrowed pink scarf and solemn expression to pose for her first picture in front of a blooming rose bush.
On July 4, Anjula and I flew to Delhi together. At the airport a man picked up her suitcase by mistake and Anjula had to take a 5 hour bus ride west to retrieve it. This was my first expose to the man/woman imbalance in India. The man would have never gone out of his way to return the suitcase. It was the woman's duty to shoulder the burden of inconvenience.
In India I had seen every possible variation of being human and of humanity--good and bad--and it was unrelenting and afterwards, It became important to look inside myself and others and recognize the Divine.
Take a look inside and see the pure gold wall paintings in World Peace Stupa in Dehradun, India, that illustrate the life of Lord Buddha; it took 50 artists three years to do the painting.
by CHRISTINE PALAMIDESSI (from Stone's Throw Magazine) A white Range Rover with a thick bull bar headed straight at us. Rageev pushed the heel of his hand hard into the horn, uncurling his finger tips as if they were tender tea... Continue Reading →
In 230 AD Christian mysticism allowed women to choose celibacy and therefore free themselves from the evil, excessive, falling-apart-chaotic era of The Roman Empire; life became an either-or choice.
In 250AD the Emperor Decius decided starvation, lack of public morality, and war was not causing problems in Rome, rather the problems had arisen because the gods had abandoned Rome. Therefore, citizens needed to demonstrate their piety by sacrificing and animal.
While tracking down the thread of S. Vittoria, a Late Antiquity Roman saint, it helps to look at the historical and psychological aspects of the Vestal Virgins.
Time and Space disappear when following the trail of Late Antiquity woman, S. Vittoria.
Boston Conceptual artist Walter Kopec showcases political work at Atlantic Works Gallery.
In- process, the artist discovers images and meaning that are not the original intent.
The Pandora Light is fashioned from sidewalk print of the Harvard Science Center.; the outside walls are painted with sea creatures, the perceived underworld; the inside is painted with images of germs, the unseen underworld.
The Prometheus Lights are made from sidewalk prints of the sidewalks around the Harvard University Science Center at the foot of Oxford and Kirkland Streets in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Prometheus stole a gleaming ember from a sacred hearth on OYLMPUS and carried it down to earth so that humans could have fire, giving them not only warmth and safety but also the gift of science, because now they could dream and imagine.
Wondering what goes on behind the artwork in The Prometheus Lights--carpentry, elecricity-- that holds it on the walls and lights up like the fire within us all?
After making plaster casts of the sidewalks with fascinating patterns; sidewalks where Nobel Prize winning scientists as well as science students marched and pondered, I let the plaster dry in the summer sun. Plaster cures as it dries and becomes stronger,... Continue Reading →
Cambridge artist noticed the patterns in sidewalk near Harvard University Science Center and set out to make street art from them.
Wall sculpture pineapple is Sacred artistic container for the Divine, a firm-fleshed juicy Brazilian fruit, and an avatar to keep away demons.
The artist's 'how-to' for making an Aphrodite sculpture by joining two torso's, male and female, using arte povera technique of cartapesta and plaster.
Series of summer watercolors done in-and-around Rome, Italy.
Way back before iPads, etc, just the thought of a journalist, or a writer, taking the seat next to you on a flight cross-country was more than pesky...now inside a sculpture, the type bar fan of the same typewriter illustrates an internal dialogue about journalism and the internet.
Painter Gus Moran talks about art at his exhibit in Otranto Italy. ( 2015)
I read a lot. Here are reviews of fiction, non-fiction and collections. Many are reviews of translations of books written in Italian. New reviews posted every month.
Meret Oppenheim is supposed to have described her famous Objet (Le Déjeuner en Fourrure-1936 ), the fur-covered cup, saucer and spoon, as “the image of femininity imprinted in the minds of men and projected on to women.” Samantha Marder’s BENT ... Continue Reading →
A coming-of-age novel about two nineteen-year-old women who set out across the country in the summer of 1972, searching for answers about siblings they have lost, love and friendship.Their initial goal is soon overshadowed by the trip itself. Reminiscent of Thelma and Louise.
A thrilling novel about art theft and recovery, but ultimately, a story about many things: sibiling loyalty, passion, nurturing, devotion. Of separation, grief, abandonment and berievement. Of discovery, rediscovery and explorations Of relationships and generations caring for each other
To date I have cast over 50 yogi teacher torsos. My intention is to capture inner energy, breath and the atman of the teacher. It is an ongoing project. This atman, (inner body /inner self) imprints the plaster of the mother... Continue Reading →
Time Breath and Evidence is a multi-sensory sculptural installation that gives expression to the inescapable adventure of human mutuality. It begins as frontal torso casts of twelve American yogi. The plaster casts are gently highlighted with ritual colors from India, then... Continue Reading →
ONE DAY I SAW THIS MAN IN OTRANTO. A WONDERFUL GREY CAT SAT ON HIS LAP. I ASKED IF I COULD TAKE A PICTURE. HE TOSSED THE CAT OFF HIS LAP.
Romero Britto is a Brazilian Neo-pop artist, painter, serigrapher, and sculptor. He combines elements of cubism, pop art and graffiti painting in his work. I was happy to find this on line and filled with camaraderie for fellow artist who... Continue Reading →
I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way — things I had no words for. ~Georgia O’Keeffe (” Pleasure Principle” pictured, Christine Palamidessi) Since I have been active in both the... Continue Reading →
An artist never really finishes his work; he merely abandons it. ~Paul Valéry (French French poet, writer, philosopher. 1871-1945 ) In my gut I know when a sculpture is “done” and know that doing one more thing to it will either take... Continue Reading →
Marjorie Kaye’s sculptures reach out and in and up and beyond. The transcendent stacks of energy are constructed from pieces of plywood, which are cut into shapes with a jig saw, smoothed and then tinted with bold gouache color–or house... Continue Reading →
What artist would turn down a second mind, a pair of extra hands, or a person who could stand by their side realizing and making manifest what they themselves were thinking? The Safarani sisters, identical twins Farzaneh and Bahareh, have... Continue Reading →
I am an artist and yoga teacher. My yoga practice keeps my interior world polished, so, as the Upanishads say, as to be ready for lightening when it strikes. Yoga came to me to support the artist. The artist in me existed long before the yogini.
Rachel Shatil grew up on a kibbutz in Israel. Both of her parents were holocaust survivors. “Life lessons were all about staying alive–not about ambition, career, art, finding love,” she said. “Love was careful, very guarded, because anyone you loved... Continue Reading →
Chaturanga Dandasana is challenging. Many yoga students just collapse, or immediately drop to their knees when faced with this “hovering stick pose.” These 5 steps help build strength and coordination.
Loved this book and you will too, especially if you have a connection to or friends & family who lived in The Bronx. It is a delightful collection of memories from the northernmost borough of New York City: the Bronx,... Continue Reading →
Preview of Christine Palamidessi's cannonball pastels on painted pages of La Gazetta and La Repubblica.
When Gaia separated from Uranus, the conditions of the world as we know it came into being. Otranto Castle installation portrays this moment.
Visually visit Christine Palamidessi's ongoing cannonball installation at Castle of Otranto.
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