Thursday, May 5, 2016

Perseverance...Flame Your Fire

Perseverance is what allows us to take our dreams from the realm of possibility to the realm of reality. In art as in life we will stumble, fall, encounter opposition, become disheartened, overwhelmed and lose all hope. Remember that it's ok, it's all part of the process. 

It is not our success or our failures that define us. It is the will to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and try, try again that will become our legacy.

We must celebrate our successes as well as our failures for they are just steps along the same path...the journey of self-discovery and an authentically lived life.



A special thank you to Kadante Ferrer of Hip Hop Martial Arts for letting me contribute to his upcoming Candle-Power video series through my photography and film.  Hip Hop Martial Arts or HHMA is an inspired movement of mind, body and spirit. You can read Kadante Ferrer and Hip Hop Martial Arts - Artist Highlight for more information about the creator and the HHMA movement - Path of the Urb Monk


"Illuminate" - Candlepower - Hip Hop Martial Arts®

You can also follow HHMA on 
 or @hiphopmartialarts on Instagram.

Thank you for visiting. May inspiration overflow throughout all of your creative processes.

Contact Info for In the Flow Studios Arts
Instagram: http://instagram.com/speakyourart or @SpeakYourArt 
"In the Flow Studios is a grassroots organization dedicated to empowering the arts, the artist and worthy causes."

Aurora's "Speak Your Art Blog Hub" combines posts from seven of her other blogs: In the Flow Studios ArtsIn the Flow Studios BodyI Love Shelter DogsMana KeepersPaaMano Eskrima & Performing ArtsSelf-Actualization thru Women's Empowerment and Speak Your Art Poetry. It brings her organizations together and offers her readers an easier way to follow new posts in one convenient location. 


POI

Saturday, April 9, 2016

Playing for Change Artist Highlight

2009 was the first time I saw the Playing For Change - Stand By Me video on youtube. I was moved to tears as the song progressed and took me from country to country. I saw, heard and felt the magic and connection happening from artist to artist to audience. I was inspired by their work and by the positivity and unity that shown through each artist. For a brief moment in time troubles and tribulations were suspended and hope rekindled for humankind. 

Playing For Change has grown over the past few years from a grassroots project to a global movement. They offer live concerts featuring many of their video musicians as well as sell merchandize and began the Playing For Change Foundation. They are truly living up to their mission statement of "Connecting the World Through Music". 

Joseph Campbell wrote, "There is no humanity in the state. What runs the world is economics and politics, and they have nothing to do with the spiritual life. So we are left with this void. It's the job of the artist to create these new myths. Myths come from the artist." Playing For Change embodies Joseph Campbell's quote by bring the world a new myth...peace and unity through music.

I hope you'll enjoy these video clips by Playing For Change as well as be inspired to share your unique artistic talents for the betterment of our world. It only takes one person to make a life changing difference in the life of another. Positivity and hope are contagious...let's go out and infect the world.


One of the most beautiful tributes I've ever seen to one of my all-time favorite artists...Robert Nesta Marley also known as...Bob Marley. Here artists from around the world unite in music and exude the message of this legendary song. One Love...One People...One Song 


One Love | Playing For Change | Song Around the World


Stand By Me | Playing For Change | Song Around the World



What We Do | Playing For Change Foundation Video


An introduction to the Playing For Change movement video


Playing for Change Foundation: CREATING POSITIVE CHANGE THROUGH MUSIC & ARTS EDUCATION. In response to the enthusiasm of those inspired by 'Songs Around the World' and the mission of the Playing For Change Foundation, PFC Day was created in 2011 to unite the global community through the power of music. Every September, musicians and music lovers all over the world come together to perform on stages and sidewalks, schools and cafes -- all with the goal of bringing creating positive social change and bringing music into the lives of young people. 

Playing For Change Day was originally established to coincide with the UN’s International Day of Peace, which takes place each year on September 21st (occurring on a Wednesday in 2016). Playing For Change Day is held on the nearest Saturday each year so that participants can devote more time on the weekend to putting on or attending stellar events. Along with thousands of other organizations worldwide, we are participating in the Culture of Peace Initiative, in cooperation with Pathways To Peace, to raise awareness of the International Day of Peace and the year-round effort to transform society from a culture of competition and violence to a culture of cooperation and peace. To this end, Playing For Change Day concerts will be held in hundreds of cities and towns across our planet to celebrate humanity's unity and also to raise funds for music education.

For more information about Playing For Change visit:
Website: https://playingforchange.com

Thank you for visiting. May inspiration overflow throughout all of your creative processes.

Contact Info for In the Flow Studios Arts
Instagram: http://instagram.com/speakyourart or @SpeakYourArt 
"In the Flow Studios is a grassroots organization dedicated to empowering the arts, the artist and worthy causes."


Aurora's "Speak Your Art Blog Hub" combines posts from seven of her other blogs: In the Flow Studios ArtsIn the Flow Studios BodyI Love Shelter DogsMana KeepersPaaMano Eskrima & Performing ArtsSelf-Actualization thru Women's Empowerment and Speak Your Art Poetry. It brings her organizations together and offers her readers an easier way to follow new posts in one convenient location. 


POI

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Joseph Campbell on the creative process

When we keep our minds and hearts open to the creative problem solving process, we open ourselves to the countless possibilities that would have otherwise eluded our intellectual conciseness. This is indicative of the artistic process. Pieces that are "over thought" are ridged while pieces that are allowed to evolve as inspired have an organic flow. Let your mind go and let your creativity flow!

"If you take life absolutely seriously, you must realize there’s the counter-play to it, that the world of law is simply an optional world. When you do something you create a pattern that excludes other possibilities, and there comes a time for opening up to all possibility and the creative act.

"Actually, everybody who has ever done creative work of any kind knows this moment. You make your plans in terms of what the mind can think of, and if you hold to those plans you’re going to have a dry, dead piece of work. What you have to do is open out underneath into chaos, and then a new thing comes, and if you bring your critical faculty down too early you’re going to kill it.

"There’s a beautiful letter that Schiller wrote to a young author who was having the trouble that’s known as writer’s block. This young writer had oh, so much to say, but he couldn’t write. This is a normal situation. Schiller said simply, 'Your problem is that you’re bringing the critical factor into play before you have let the lyric factor work.'

"Look what happens to us in our schools: we learn to criticize Milton and Shakespeare and Goethe and everybody else, and then the teacher says, 'Now do some creative work.' You sit down and this bit of spilth begins coming out and you think, Oh, my God! That’s nothing. Of course you can’t write like Shakespeare, but you can write like you, perhaps, if you let yourself go." By Joseph Campbell


Joseph Campbell, Goddeses: Mysteries of the Feminine Divine

“Writer’s block results from too much head. Cut off your head. Pegasus, poetry, was born of Medusa when her head was cut off. You have to be reckless when writing. Be as crazy as your conscience allows.”

― Joseph Campbell, A Joseph Campbell Companion: Reflections on the Art of Living
The quote Joseph Campbell is best known for is "Follow Your Bliss". Following your bliss is an essential element to the artistic process as well as the art of living. This is not to say that all art is or should be blissful. Following our bliss as artists guides the process of artistic inspiration and authenticity. Below is a clip about following your bliss from the incredible PBS interview Joseph Campbell did with Bill Moyers in "The Power of Myth". 


Thank you for visiting. May inspiration overflow throughout all of your creative processes.

Contact Info for In the Flow Studios Arts
Instagram: http://instagram.com/speakyourart or @SpeakYourArt 
"In the Flow Studios is a grassroots organization dedicated to empowering the arts, the artist and worthy causes."

Aurora's "Speak Your Art Blog Hub" combines posts from seven of her other blogs: In the Flow Studios Arts, In the Flow Studios Body, I Love Shelter Dogs, Mana Keepers, PaaMano Eskrima & Performing Arts, Self-Actualization thru Women's Empowerment and Speak Your Art Poetry. It brings her organizations together and offers her readers an easier way to follow new posts in one convenient location. 


POI