What stands out from this one is "You have this one life...make yourself proud."

Poetic and Profound

I had mentioned my lesson plan surrounding the performances of Marina Abramovic and her performances with her lover of 12 years, Ulay. They had had such a tumultuous relationship while they performed together. Their relationship had to be built on trust and the power of what they wanted to accomplish together, what they wanted their performances to SAY to their audiences.

When they decided to part ways, they went the most extreme route they could possibly go and reached out to the Chinese government to request access to walking the Great Wall of China. After months of waiting from the Chinese government, they finally were allowed to begin their walk...one from each side...it took them both almost 3 months of walking through treacherous terrain only to meet in the middle and shake hands and part ways...never to speak or see each other again.

This was in 1988.

Very poetic, if you ask me.

Very over the top.

Very romantic even until the very end.

But also extremely sad. 

To never see each other again. Never to speak. Never to share art like they had shared again.

In 2010, Abramovic created an art installation at the MOMA in New York City called "The Artist is Present" where she sat across form her guests in silence and looked them directly in the eyes and shared deep moments of connection with each of them. Watch what happened when Ulay reappeared for her opening night...

Wasn't that amazingly beautiful?

Performance Art unit lesson plan...more than I thought...

So we come back from Christmas break and as teachers, you KNOW those kids are just not going to be ready to be back and get fully into the swing of things. I decided to create a tiny unit lesson on performance art to help them get back on track. I did not even imagine the capacity as to the depths they would go to experience this unit of study. It became very personal for a  lot of them and for that I am extremely grateful

I decided to share with them a few videos on the works of Marina Abramovic, the grandmother of performance art. For those of you who don't know what performance art is...it is a theatrical performance centered around a theme or a concept or an idea. Not always clear to the viewers, but powerful none the less. Viewers are more apt to leave a performance scratching their heads and wondering what the heck they had just seen and be thinking about it for weeks sometimes months to come.

Ms. Abramovic has done some very thought provoking, deeply spiritual, very human, very powerful installations of her art in her 40 years of performing, ranging from creating 12 years of artistic performances with her then lover Ulay, one was taking hold of a bow and arrow and leaning away from him, while the arrow aims right at her heart...

to sitting in front of a table filled with 76 items, that could be used to bring pleasure or to bring pain....ranging from a glass of water, a rose, a razor blade, a gun with one bullet in it. She speaks of this one in the interview above and it absolutely blew my kids' minds...the strong example of trust she had to exemplify during those six long hours...trusting that folks you did not even know would do the right thing...

One of her most recent exhibits at the MOMA in New York City was in 2010 where she sat at an empty table and an empty chair and guests were encouraged to sit across from her and she would look into their eyes and share a silent moment...it was called "The Artist is Present"

POWERFUL!

I set up a workshop just on this performance alone and asked the students to just sit across form each other in a double circle formation and look into the other's eyes for a longish period of time with music playing...don't speak...just take in what you see and experience...the amount of awkwardness and terrific depth they experienced was really a neat experience...

We then spent time creating art pieces that exemplified who we truly were...the art had to have 6 aspects to its conception...

#1: Your name, creatively displayed

#2: Your favorite type of art

#3: One word that described you

#4: One word that was your goal for 2016

#5: Your life's motto

#6 Something that you considered SACRED displayed on the art piece. Something you would be devastated to lose.

It is the last one that really gets the kids invested into the creation of the art piece and allows it to become extremely personal. We then have our circle time in class and everyone shares...mind you...these kids feel VERY comfortable with each other and know they can trust each other with their secrets...a great amount of time is spent in discussion about this and building trust throughout the year...

We then watched more Abramovic interviews and discuss what it means to trust someone or something so explicitly...her performance exemplify such a great amount of trust.

I then turned to the kids and said..."OK, we are now going to draw names. The name you draw is the art piece you will take home over the weekend and you will put your own spin on it and bring it back to share on Monday with the artist and the class. The artist has to TRUST that the other soul will not deface their prized possession."

I was not prepared for the amount of thoughtfulness, the tender tears, the sweet smiles and the wonderful outpouring of awesomeness that came back after the weekend...here were a few examples:

• One girl had mentioned her most prized possession was her first surf board, but she no longer owned it any more. So the new artist went home and created a new surf board out of plaster-of- paris and tore up the art work and glued it all to the new board...the girl LOVED IT.
• One student mentioned that her prized possession was her grandmother's book of "I Hope You Dance" she gave to her when she was little...the student took her art work and refolded it into the form of a flip top box and when you opened the top, out popped a ballerina...for you see if was created into one of those old music boxes...
• One student had mentioned that she was battling depression and sadness...the other student took her art and created a beautiful crown for her to wear, with all of the special elements coming out of the top of the crown and told her how powerful and beautiful she was.
• One student's art had lots of negative comments on it and the other artist crossed out the words and wrote "Beauty", "Special", "Perfect" over the negative connotations. She then highlighted the positive aspects with lots of color to make the positive aspects POP off the page.
• One student shared that she had had a locket with her father's ashes in it that was stolen from their house. She had drawn the locket on the art project. The other artist took her color and made the locket POP more off the page and wrote the words she thought her Daddy would be saying to her right now on the art piece..."I am so proud of you!" "I am so proud of the young woman you have become" Not a dry eye in the classroom...

SUCH A POWERFUL  DEEPLY MOVING EXPERIENCE!!!!

Here are photos of the student's art pieces!! I thought you would all enjoy!

Never give up...

I love this...

My ongoing resolution...
To love fully.
To love as deeply as I can.
To love everyone where they are at...

To continue to work on me...
To continue to look forward and love the avenue I am currently on...

To grow.
To breathe.
To love.
To bloom.
To keep journeying on...

Just gonna leave this here...

in your own Grace...

I love what this song says so much...

It is called "In Your Own Grace" by Carrie Manolakos.

The satisfaction of  knowing they are who they say they are...

Fragile are the people...afraid to break....

When I see you crying

I know how much there is at stake...

What are you afraid of?

Knowing what your made of...

Know that you are who you say you are...

Will you stand in your own grace?

Embrace your balance light...don't let it fade

Give up the constant fight of being anything less than great...

(YES)

Know that I am here...

I will be there for your biggest fears...

So much is in you...that needs to breathe

So much is in you...that you can't even see...

We cannot wait for you to stand in your own GRACE.

It just speaks to me SOOOOOOOO deeply....

There is so much in each of us...just waiting to come to light...

The strength each one of us has within us.

The grace we have yet to share...

Can you imagine what this world would be like if we all treated each other with the same grace we were granted. The world would be a kinder, gentler, place...not filled with hatred and of fear and of doubt...Grace would put the TRUMPS in their place and bring forth a sense of peace and not lock everyone out...

Are we willing to stand in our own light and to embrace what we each have inside of us? Shed the awkwardness and gawkiness and the separatist nature of our society and just spread those arms and just breathe in the beauty of this moment...this time...and allow yourself to feel who you are and be willing to be honest and share it with those around you....free from fear...free from restriction....and just stand in your own GRACE?

Can I get an Amen?

Move on through your day my friends...in grace...