Sunday, January 2, 2011

what's to be cultivated in 2011?




   HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!
hello there... 1st post for the new year and I'm offering something I recently found and had saved... I liked this thought found through the artist's website.




If you put a seed in the ground, the seed doesn't stop growing. You put it in the soil, and that bulb grows every second that it's attached to the earth. That's why I think that every minute we're attached to the earth, we should be doing something."
-Ruth Asawa

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This stunning work is by artist Ruth Asawa - reads more here at Community of Creatives - San Fransisco Visual Creative community 1945 to 1970. Ive found seed pods that resemble this form quite closely and have loved drawing them.... so this is such a treat discover. More Seed -related discoveries can be found on this post here.

































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Ruth Asawa in her home with sculptures, 1954



1954 Crotcheted iron wire (24" diameter)



Ruth holding a paper fold in which she has already painted a pattern, circa 1975.


visit these 2 sites to see more: 


 ruth agawa
                                               
 community of creatives 



The website contains many links to her extraordinarily interesting story and involvements.



This lead me to recall the extraordinary work of late Australian artist  - Bronwyn Oliver.
Sakura, 2006 copper 48 x 48 x 20cm
Flare
Flare, 1997 - copper 50 x 50 x 14cm



World her oyster...Bronwyn Oliver in her studio.
World her oyster...Bronwyn Oliver in her studio.
Photo: Danielle Smith
Represented by Gallery: Roslyn Oxley


well.... my blogosphere friends ... may 2011 see you planting seeds to have them thrive and grow into all that you might hope for ... wishing you well with cultivating... and an abundant harvest!!!
S x


22 comments:

LAC EMP 2020 said...

Amen to all your sentiments Sophie. Happy New Year. I hope 2011 is a great festival of creativity for us all! Lesley

LAC EMP 2020 said...

Amen to all your sentiments Sophie. Happy New Year. I hope 2011 is a great festival of creativity for us all! Lesley

Marie-Es said...

Happy new year Sophie ! Ton blog est un petit plaisir pour moi ! Amitiés Marie-Es

Anonymous said...

Simply fantastic Sophie, thanks for sharing and Happy New Year. xox Corrine

Mlle Paradis said...

happy new year's sophie. you know i think you are a star! can't wait to see what you do with 2011! i hope it is VERY VERY good to you! cheers and kisses!

long p.s.: off to play tennis! oooh feeling terrible about all your neighbors and the flooding. the u.s. papers only JUST started reporting it yesterday. thinking good thoughts and glad to hear you are back to your painting!

india flint said...

i found Ruth's work at the de Young Museum in San Francisco - where it's perfectly placed to cast amazing shadows
as well as be gazed at in wonderment for what it is

happy new year and may all go well with your endeavours

Ro Bruhn said...

What amazing work, their talents manipulating wire are to be admired. I work with wire in my jewellery and know how difficult it can be to handle.
Have a wonderful productive 2011 Sophie, may all your seeds blossom and grow into works of art.

roz said...

love this work sophie ..thank you

HNY to you .... we in qld are certainly having the rain , anything could grow abundantly at the moment !

Sharmon Davidson said...

You've shared such amazing work here! Good luck with your seeds, too, Sophie, and have a happy new year!

Sophie Munns said...

SUNDAY MORNING JANUARY 2ND....

The sun is peeping through rain clouds and I stayed in bed QUITE unusually LATE reading the most wonderful book 'Home" by Marilyn Robinson - (know you love her MP!) and so Im going to make pancakes and coffee for breakfast just like central character Glory does in the book ... but first ... a little visit to the blogosphere and what do I find?

...all your wonderful new years wishes! So ...your all welcome to join me for pancakes.... I've got enough coffee to go round too!


Lesley ... I think creativity only becomes more important in this complex world... may it be a bright year for you... have loved your visits... thank you!


Marie_Es ... Merci beaucoup ... my knowledge of french....but I can tell you have sent me a lovely message...always so much delight when I visit your blog.... a wonderful 2011 to you!


Corrine ... you are sweet.... hope you are keeping yourself warm over there and have wonderful plans for 2011... than you ...shall look forward to seeing what 2011 brings you!


M Paradis ... Im staring out at the tennis courts and its empty even though the sun is shining! People here have become so accustomed to rain they have forgotten to think about playing and grab the moment whist its there! Those poor people ....the floods have extended to land "bigger than the size of France and Germany" they keep reporting! And in some parts they've never had such deep flooding ...that would be cause for alarm!
Thanks for the darling message... you've been a great champion through flagging spirit and energy...always appreciated my friend across the ocean!!!


India ... how wonderful to have seen this work... placed as it is.... with all those shadows and seeing through the forms. The photos even manage to capture a little of that!
Thank you for your good wishes most appreciated!


Ro ... ah yes... the degree of difficulty adds a whole other reason to be admiring these works. My efforts with wire jewellery certainly did get to far... difficulty of manipulating the wire no doubt a factor!
And thank your for the sweet words and encouragement for the NY!
My best to you!


R ... Im thinking you have worked with wire and your love of 3D would connect you to this work!
Best of the new year greetings to you... a few times I felt sure the deluge would see our river break its banks too... it has certainly run a lot higher than normal!


Sharmon ... glad to read you found enjoyment in this work too! I really liked reading her story as well. Its been a delight to connect later in 2010... wishing you great things in 2011!


h n y all!
S xox

Lisa Rydin Erickson said...

What beautiful form. Thanks for the visual flying carpet ride. What a wonderful quote at the beginning.

Anonymous said...

I thought it was a great quote for the new year... hope 2011 brings great things to you in your part of the world Lisa!!
S

Priya Sebastian said...

Happy New Year Sophie! The links you've given here are really amazing. It's going to take me some days to get through all of them. I've started with Jeremy Miranda.
When I come across anything about seed pods, as always I think of you. Here is my latest find which I want to share with you:
http://carnetimages-8.tumblr.com/post/2539454246/for-ash-tree-seeds-by-kjoto

Anonymous said...

Hello Priya...
Im delighted you associate me with seeds and then send me these wonderful links!
HAPPY NEW YEAR! Lots of wonderful adventures for you in 2011!!!
glad there's links for you to follow up on... now I have some spare time its been fabulous to be discovering things!
Sophie
ps added this link to my new tumblr site!

Candice Herne said...

Your blog is always an inspirtion to come too. Wounderful post on Ruth. It makes me think that art is truely a way of living/a lifestyle. It is so ingrained in the everyday. Being an artist I often think every one thinks and acts as I/we do being an artist, it feels so comfortable and 'normal'I sense it as a nothing normality. Then I see a post such as Ruth's and it reminds me that being an artist is exciting because that is who I/we are. That is our normal/who we are. Just as a Doctor or lawyer I would imagine sit comfortably with their vocation. Am I rambling? Happy New Year!

Sophie Munns said...

H N Year Candice!
Thanks for your message... and I appreciate your musing here...!
At its best I do think it is a whole way of living and being .... that one becomes quite immersed in a 'hand-made' or original expression of daily life in some form.
But....I've also seen that that is not a given. For whatever reason ...there are those who fully inhabit their pull to a vocation / life / art or whatever else they choose and those who live far more conventionally, even on the surface of possibilities, and dip into their field without being fully immersed or really awakening to whats there for the taking.
I think one reason blogs are so magical, so revealing is that they allow us to see into the myraid worlds of those who cant but live in this truly authentic way....the ones who cannot move through life without being compelled to be true to their inner urgings to express a vision that eminates from within.
The tension of contemporary life as I see it for artists is that it's now become a much desired "lifestyle" and many, many more take it up in some manner, with some level of eagerness....but perhaps never fully encountering the deeper story of what the field/vocation is all about.
In the same way that people have become eager to move into the bohemian enclaves to live they soon gentrify the location and the creatives move on because there is not room for them and the prices go up. I see that a lot with the territory of the artist these days. Those who sometimes envy the artist and move in on that territory in a shallow attempt to emulate it- then use their considerable resources to live the lifestyle without ever really getting it. I've read quite fascinating commentary on this phenomenon.

The other side of this "everyone wants to be an artist" coin is that those who might never have felt they could make art discover they can and end up on a great journey and live fully into this life of creating and learning and responding etc. And you end up with a more creative society as a result of it!
Everyone is indeed creative and has that to discover. For me people like Ruth Asawa remind me that to live fully into the vocation of being an artist requires passion and diligence, curiosity and depth of application on all levels of being ...
I think there are many layers to being an artist, many ways to go about it, but it is something that seems to prosper when immersion and authenticity are at play...which gets back to what you are saying Candy...
when our doing feels so right for us that we cant imagine being somewhere other than this!
Lovely to have this to think about prompted by you....
Heres to a great 2011 Candy!
S

Sanne said...

Happy new year Sophie, i am looking forward to visit your blog in 2011! I wish you all the best!

Anonymous said...

Hi Sanne,
thanks for dropping in with your NY wishes... all the best to you too!
S

Grey Lemon said...

Beautiful shapes, impressive works!
Best Wishes for this New Year!!

Sophie Munns said...

Hello Grey Lemon,
Hope you have had a lovely festive season and wonderful things for you in 2011... Thanks for popping in,
Sophie

xxx said...

I thoroughly enjoy everything that you share x

Anonymous said...

Its lovely to have you around again after your break... you were missed,
S x