The Big dream exhibit
ON VIEW FEBRUARY 13 - MARCH 31, 2021
Sangeeta Laura Biagi, Anne Bourne, Sadee Brathwaite, Marine Caille, Dorota Czerner, Sylvie Decaux, Gisela Gamper, Lara Giordano, Leslie Greene, Li Harris, Julie Hedrick, IONE, Duwenavue Sante’ Johnson, Lisa B Kelley, Shirley Parker-Benjamin, Amy Reed, JL, Suiren, Toni Thomas, Grace Villamil, Jacqueline Vogel, Julia White and Manuela Zervudachi
SANGEETA LAURA BIAGI
Tarot Major Arcana n. VIII "Strength" by Sangeeta Laura Biagi (pens, pencils, and oil pastels), 2020
Woman embraces Lion without fear. Fall in love with your highest potential. The black velvet gloves symbolize the delicacy, grace and carefulness needed to manage one’s erotic nature. Observe your animalistic drives with curiosity. Embrace yourself fully. Be spontaneous and courageous in the exploration of your desires.
Sangeeta Laura Biagi, Ph.D., is the founder of Soul Sound Academy, a center for the integrated study of Yoga, Astrology and Coaching. She was ordained a Minister of the Ministry of Maåt in 2004. A TEDx speaker, educator, and author, Sangeeta teaches contemplative practice for personal and social change.
ANNE BOURNE
Lac de Genève
video: CYGNE for Ione
The swan I met on Lac de Genève one year ago.
Returned. In lockdown given a key to the Island church,
I put a small recorder inside the piano.
In touch recalled Ravel.
A chance illumination of time, phrases of listening, the wave patterns took on a sonic resonance that I felt as the swan’s design.
Anne Bourne interdisciplinary artist and composer, improvises streams of sonics, image, field recording and words. Deeply influenced by experiences with Pauline Oliveros, Anne imparts her text scores in community, significantly in residence with IONE for MM_MMM, Geneva CH, 2020. A Dream Festival alumni and Chalmers Fellow, Anne listens on shorelines. annebournemusic.com/field
SADEE BRATHWAITE
You Have Arrived (Tattoos of Experience)
My paintings engage universal themes to tell personal and global stories. Differing realities, expressed through color, composition, and form, link the ancient and ancestral with the personal and individual, providing sudden realizations and messages of illumination. Each painting tells a unique tale, cultivating keen self-awareness by pulling from cultural experiences.
Sadee Brathwaite is an artist and advisor. She makes art about archetypes, symbols, ancient cosmologies, beliefs and myths. She utilizes universal themes to tell personal and global stories. As a Priestess of Maåt, Sadee advises people in life, in creativity and in spirituality to help them heal and grow.
MARINE CAILLÉ
Coeur-d'hildegarde, gouache and beeswax
I have been working on a project based on the idea of « contemporary relics ». My aim is to honor the woman’s heart and the lives of unknown and famous women, who were either visionaries or great precursors in their fields. The heart, as an organ, is always at the center of the composition and is revered as « a sacred heart ». The work I am presenting is an hommage to Hildegarde Von Bingen, Abbot, Composer Prophet and Healer of the XII e century.
I am an artist based in Paris.
I have collaborated in numerous exhibitions in France and Europe since 1995.
I then went on to work as muralist and interior designer.
I have also trained for many years as a healer in psycho-energetics and opened my practice 8 years
ago. I am a kinesiologist, a sound therapist and work with magnetism.
My main interest lies in vibratory medicine and intuitive therapies.
DOROTA CZERNER
Sunflowers
Sunflower seeds arrive from a Brazilian artist friend as the Rio National Museum burns down. Documented on handmade postcards with ‘seed poems’, thirteen images are returned with instructions: “consume in flames”. Though João refuses to destroy these memories of our collective collaboration with nature, the work acquires another meaning: resistance.
Dorota Czerner is a Polish born poet and author of live and recorded performances. In her practice Dorota engages in collaborations with artists working in different media, especially music and video as part of her ongoing investigations into words, tonality, and the interface between poetic image, mythology, and elemental meaning. Website
SYLVIE DECAUX
The Dream Pocket
In the 18th and 19th century, women’s dresses did not have pockets, so women made their own. The Salonistas were inspired by this, and started the Pocket project. This is part of it. It is a Dream Pocket, in that it is made in an old pillowcase belonging to my ancestral house. Countless people have dreamt on it. All the materials used, including the thread, predate 1910, and come from the ancestral home - belonging to generations of women. The photograph is that of some of my ancestors. The little girl bottom right is my grandmother. Inside the pocket, I am working on a text that will tell the story of the dream. I will also put gifts from fellow dreamers: a pocket painting from Leslie, two stones found in Crete wrapped in thread in honour of Adriane from Manuela, a mini astrological booklet from Lynn, a song from Betty, a doll from Erika.
The reverse side of the pocket carries the professions in the textile industry held by women in Lille, in the north of France, in 1893 (the year my great grand mother got married) - taken from the register of marriages. Without them, this work would not have been possible. I pay tribute.
Sylvie Decaux is a teacher researcher, writer and activist living in Paris. She is an active member of several collectives: the Paris dreamers, the Salonistas, the 171/2 Minute Writers Group and the Transitioners. She loves collaborative work, her bicycle and her ancestors. She has published non fiction, notably in the Dark Mountain review and in Spell Breaking 2.
GISELA GAMPER
Gathering Dreams
Each point of light is a dream. My dreams are gifts from the unconscious to embrace. When I’m open and receptive to the messages and symbols presented by my dreams I’m rewarded with insights, guidance and wisdom that illuminate my soul’s journey.
Gisela Gamper has been photographing and exhibiting nationally and internationally since the 1970s. Gamper’s photographs are in numerous private collections and in the collection of the Albany Institute of History & Art, Albany, NY. Gamper lives and works in New York City and Vermont. For more information please visit giselagamper.com
LARA GIORDANO
Crucible
My work emerges from a process driven by my practice in Sacred Geometry, along with my interest in alchemy. I see these images as still moments that reveal a continuous, timeless, universal action that exposes archetypes and stimulates our imagination.
The use of embroidery keeps me connected, stitch by stitch to Women’s work, past and present. It slows me down and provides space for reflection.
Lara Giordano is an arts advocate, teacher, artist and community member. A retired Kingston High School teacher, she was instrumental in the design and implementation of arts driven interdisciplinary curriculum. Founder of the Dept. of Regional Art Workers (DRAW). She has served on the Board of Women’s Studio Workshop and currently serves on the City of Kingston Arts Commission.
LESLIE GREENE
Rapture in a ruffle, Acrylic and oil on canvas, 125 cm x 150 cm, 2020
Wonder and curiosity motivated me to become an artist. I could have been a scientist. I chose to be a painter because I love the way the act of drawing or painting activates the relationships between my sensations and the imagination, the vision and the body, the material and the depth of the mind. The studio is my space to dream and reflect, and it is also the place where I am totally physically engaged with my paintings, without any thought. An inner voice recently told me, "I don't know what I want to find but I have a feeling it finds me.
Leslie Greene is a Franco American artist living and working between Paris and her countryside atelier in Marsanne. Nourished by various spiritual practises and cultural activities she embodies with the physicality of her materials paintings, drawings, and collages her inner visions, sensations and life experience. An adventurer and curious by nature her explorations are without endings.
LI HARRIS
Still from "Please Have A Seat." a public art installation by Li Harris. Photo Courtesy of the artist.
Tarot Major Arcana n. VIII "Strength" by Sangeeta Laura Biagi (pens, pencils, and oil pastels), 2020
Woman embraces Lion without fear. Fall in love with your highest potential. The black velvet gloves symbolize the delicacy, grace and carefulness needed to manage one’s erotic nature. Observe your animalistic drives with curiosity. Embrace yourself fully. Be spontaneous and courageous in the exploration of your desires.
Sangeeta Laura Biagi, Ph.D., is the founder of Soul Sound Academy, a center for the integrated study of Yoga, Astrology and Coaching. She was ordained a Minister of the Ministry of Maåt in 2004. A TEDx speaker, educator, and author, Sangeeta teaches contemplative practice for personal and social change.
ANNE BOURNE
Lac de Genève
video: CYGNE for Ione
The swan I met on Lac de Genève one year ago.
Returned. In lockdown given a key to the Island church,
I put a small recorder inside the piano.
In touch recalled Ravel.
A chance illumination of time, phrases of listening, the wave patterns took on a sonic resonance that I felt as the swan’s design.
Anne Bourne interdisciplinary artist and composer, improvises streams of sonics, image, field recording and words. Deeply influenced by experiences with Pauline Oliveros, Anne imparts her text scores in community, significantly in residence with IONE for MM_MMM, Geneva CH, 2020. A Dream Festival alumni and Chalmers Fellow, Anne listens on shorelines. annebournemusic.com/field
SADEE BRATHWAITE
You Have Arrived (Tattoos of Experience)
My paintings engage universal themes to tell personal and global stories. Differing realities, expressed through color, composition, and form, link the ancient and ancestral with the personal and individual, providing sudden realizations and messages of illumination. Each painting tells a unique tale, cultivating keen self-awareness by pulling from cultural experiences.
Sadee Brathwaite is an artist and advisor. She makes art about archetypes, symbols, ancient cosmologies, beliefs and myths. She utilizes universal themes to tell personal and global stories. As a Priestess of Maåt, Sadee advises people in life, in creativity and in spirituality to help them heal and grow.
MARINE CAILLÉ
Coeur-d'hildegarde, gouache and beeswax
I have been working on a project based on the idea of « contemporary relics ». My aim is to honor the woman’s heart and the lives of unknown and famous women, who were either visionaries or great precursors in their fields. The heart, as an organ, is always at the center of the composition and is revered as « a sacred heart ». The work I am presenting is an hommage to Hildegarde Von Bingen, Abbot, Composer Prophet and Healer of the XII e century.
I am an artist based in Paris.
I have collaborated in numerous exhibitions in France and Europe since 1995.
I then went on to work as muralist and interior designer.
I have also trained for many years as a healer in psycho-energetics and opened my practice 8 years
ago. I am a kinesiologist, a sound therapist and work with magnetism.
My main interest lies in vibratory medicine and intuitive therapies.
DOROTA CZERNER
Sunflowers
Sunflower seeds arrive from a Brazilian artist friend as the Rio National Museum burns down. Documented on handmade postcards with ‘seed poems’, thirteen images are returned with instructions: “consume in flames”. Though João refuses to destroy these memories of our collective collaboration with nature, the work acquires another meaning: resistance.
Dorota Czerner is a Polish born poet and author of live and recorded performances. In her practice Dorota engages in collaborations with artists working in different media, especially music and video as part of her ongoing investigations into words, tonality, and the interface between poetic image, mythology, and elemental meaning. Website
SYLVIE DECAUX
The Dream Pocket
In the 18th and 19th century, women’s dresses did not have pockets, so women made their own. The Salonistas were inspired by this, and started the Pocket project. This is part of it. It is a Dream Pocket, in that it is made in an old pillowcase belonging to my ancestral house. Countless people have dreamt on it. All the materials used, including the thread, predate 1910, and come from the ancestral home - belonging to generations of women. The photograph is that of some of my ancestors. The little girl bottom right is my grandmother. Inside the pocket, I am working on a text that will tell the story of the dream. I will also put gifts from fellow dreamers: a pocket painting from Leslie, two stones found in Crete wrapped in thread in honour of Adriane from Manuela, a mini astrological booklet from Lynn, a song from Betty, a doll from Erika.
The reverse side of the pocket carries the professions in the textile industry held by women in Lille, in the north of France, in 1893 (the year my great grand mother got married) - taken from the register of marriages. Without them, this work would not have been possible. I pay tribute.
Sylvie Decaux is a teacher researcher, writer and activist living in Paris. She is an active member of several collectives: the Paris dreamers, the Salonistas, the 171/2 Minute Writers Group and the Transitioners. She loves collaborative work, her bicycle and her ancestors. She has published non fiction, notably in the Dark Mountain review and in Spell Breaking 2.
GISELA GAMPER
Gathering Dreams
Each point of light is a dream. My dreams are gifts from the unconscious to embrace. When I’m open and receptive to the messages and symbols presented by my dreams I’m rewarded with insights, guidance and wisdom that illuminate my soul’s journey.
Gisela Gamper has been photographing and exhibiting nationally and internationally since the 1970s. Gamper’s photographs are in numerous private collections and in the collection of the Albany Institute of History & Art, Albany, NY. Gamper lives and works in New York City and Vermont. For more information please visit giselagamper.com
LARA GIORDANO
Crucible
My work emerges from a process driven by my practice in Sacred Geometry, along with my interest in alchemy. I see these images as still moments that reveal a continuous, timeless, universal action that exposes archetypes and stimulates our imagination.
The use of embroidery keeps me connected, stitch by stitch to Women’s work, past and present. It slows me down and provides space for reflection.
Lara Giordano is an arts advocate, teacher, artist and community member. A retired Kingston High School teacher, she was instrumental in the design and implementation of arts driven interdisciplinary curriculum. Founder of the Dept. of Regional Art Workers (DRAW). She has served on the Board of Women’s Studio Workshop and currently serves on the City of Kingston Arts Commission.
LESLIE GREENE
Rapture in a ruffle, Acrylic and oil on canvas, 125 cm x 150 cm, 2020
Wonder and curiosity motivated me to become an artist. I could have been a scientist. I chose to be a painter because I love the way the act of drawing or painting activates the relationships between my sensations and the imagination, the vision and the body, the material and the depth of the mind. The studio is my space to dream and reflect, and it is also the place where I am totally physically engaged with my paintings, without any thought. An inner voice recently told me, "I don't know what I want to find but I have a feeling it finds me.
Leslie Greene is a Franco American artist living and working between Paris and her countryside atelier in Marsanne. Nourished by various spiritual practises and cultural activities she embodies with the physicality of her materials paintings, drawings, and collages her inner visions, sensations and life experience. An adventurer and curious by nature her explorations are without endings.
LI HARRIS
Still from "Please Have A Seat." a public art installation by Li Harris. Photo Courtesy of the artist.
Li Harris is an interdisciplinary artist, performer, composer, cultural producer and educator from Houston, Texas. Her work often incorporates electronic and acoustic musical instruments, aspects of theatre and a variety of new media tools to explore the energetic relationships between spirit, place, body, space and land.
JULIE HEDRICK
Painting- 30’ x 30’ fresco on wooden panel, acrylic paint, 2020
Chair - Street chair, gessoed, painted in acrylic paint for sitting in while listening to the Blue Poem from the colour poem collection, 2020
JULIE HEDRICK
Painting- 30’ x 30’ fresco on wooden panel, acrylic paint, 2020
Chair - Street chair, gessoed, painted in acrylic paint for sitting in while listening to the Blue Poem from the colour poem collection, 2020
My works are contemplative and formal. I use color as a portal. My work is an exploration into the nuances of color and infer color identity, mythologies and the symbolisms of color. These abstractions are akin to color landscapes and have differing qualities and intensities of light. The color glows from within, the surfaces emit space and energy and are meant to invite the viewer in. My paintings move from the serenely soft and dreamy to the dark and infinite. Some are blackened and edged with gold, some flushed with breaths of color, white on white or pink and pale hues, while others deepen into rich ochre, primordial reds , brilliant blues or verdant greens with patches of bright white light emanating from their complex surfaces. My work is varying in scale from the monolithic to the miniature. The formation of many of my paintings are arranged into diptychs and triptychs and quadriptychs suggesting the passage of time like watching clouds drift.
Julie Hedrick has been a maker and actively creating for the past 40 years exhibiting extensively throughout the United States, Canada, Colombia, and Europe. Born in 1958 in Toronto, Canada. Her father, the acclaimed Canadian artist Robert Hedrick, moved the family to Ibiza Spain to work and paint for a year in the early 1960’s. After a rather nomadic youth Hedrick studied Painting at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax NS. At 24, Hedrick met the American musician and composer Peter Wetzler and after a whirlwind seven days agreed to marry upon which she moved to the East Village in NY. Hedrick and Wetzler have collaborated extensively on sound poetry and sound installations producing Depth Perception, The Color Poems, the Black & White installations and the Blue Poem Chair installation. In 1985 upon returning from an exhibition of Hedrick’s paintings in Toronto they discovered Kingston NY. It changed the course of their lives. During their brief visit to Kingston they discovered an abandoned church for sale. Hedrick and Wetzler have lived and worked in their converted church on and off ever since. Julie has participated in readings, performances, set designs, discussion panels and curatorial projects. Hedrick was awarded the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant in 2012 and was recently honored with the Kingston Distinguished Artist Award alongside Peter Wetzler. Hedrick has been represented by Nohra Haime Gallery in New York since 1998. In 2017 Julie became an American citizen.
IONE
"Jo -On her way" Isle de Bréhat, France, 2014
Our beautiful Jo walks out of the picture frame- while the circle of women gathers beneath timeless stone. Yet, she is with us still…..
IONE is an author/playwright/director and visual artist residing in Kingston, NY. A graduate of Music and Art High School in Manhattan and a student of Paul Feeley at Bennington College, Ione has exhibited her drawings and paintings and digital prints at numerous galleries in New York City, Cadaqués, Spain and Paris, France. For 15 years she served as Artistic Director of Deep Listening Space in Kingston, where she curated hundreds of exhibitions for local and international artists, including what would become 26 years of Dream Festival Arts curation. In addition to writing and directing four large music-theater works, including Njinga the Queen King; a BAM Next Wave Festival production initially developed in Kingston, she has directed two experimental films; Dreams of the Jungfrau shot high in the Swiss Alps, with music by Pauline Oliveros and From Venice to Egypt- a visual poem tracing an ancient route. Her opera, The Nubian Word for Flowers- Pocket Edition was presented on February 22, 2020 at Lincoln Center's Astor Gallery-New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. IONE'S photographs have been published in international revues and exhibited recently in the Hudson Valley; notably at Dutchess County Community College, Mildred T. Washington Gallery, Deep Listening Space @ The Shirt Factory, The Gallery at City Hall, Kingston, NY, and the idea garden, Kingston, NY. She is the recipient of Midtown Arts Individual Artist's Award, 2019 and is currently a member of the Kingston Arts Commission. ionedreams.us
JL
“dreamer’s tefillah shel rosh” 2021.
hand dyed wool, embroidery thread, found minerals and sacred items
Julie Hedrick has been a maker and actively creating for the past 40 years exhibiting extensively throughout the United States, Canada, Colombia, and Europe. Born in 1958 in Toronto, Canada. Her father, the acclaimed Canadian artist Robert Hedrick, moved the family to Ibiza Spain to work and paint for a year in the early 1960’s. After a rather nomadic youth Hedrick studied Painting at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax NS. At 24, Hedrick met the American musician and composer Peter Wetzler and after a whirlwind seven days agreed to marry upon which she moved to the East Village in NY. Hedrick and Wetzler have collaborated extensively on sound poetry and sound installations producing Depth Perception, The Color Poems, the Black & White installations and the Blue Poem Chair installation. In 1985 upon returning from an exhibition of Hedrick’s paintings in Toronto they discovered Kingston NY. It changed the course of their lives. During their brief visit to Kingston they discovered an abandoned church for sale. Hedrick and Wetzler have lived and worked in their converted church on and off ever since. Julie has participated in readings, performances, set designs, discussion panels and curatorial projects. Hedrick was awarded the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant in 2012 and was recently honored with the Kingston Distinguished Artist Award alongside Peter Wetzler. Hedrick has been represented by Nohra Haime Gallery in New York since 1998. In 2017 Julie became an American citizen.
IONE
"Jo -On her way" Isle de Bréhat, France, 2014
Our beautiful Jo walks out of the picture frame- while the circle of women gathers beneath timeless stone. Yet, she is with us still…..
IONE is an author/playwright/director and visual artist residing in Kingston, NY. A graduate of Music and Art High School in Manhattan and a student of Paul Feeley at Bennington College, Ione has exhibited her drawings and paintings and digital prints at numerous galleries in New York City, Cadaqués, Spain and Paris, France. For 15 years she served as Artistic Director of Deep Listening Space in Kingston, where she curated hundreds of exhibitions for local and international artists, including what would become 26 years of Dream Festival Arts curation. In addition to writing and directing four large music-theater works, including Njinga the Queen King; a BAM Next Wave Festival production initially developed in Kingston, she has directed two experimental films; Dreams of the Jungfrau shot high in the Swiss Alps, with music by Pauline Oliveros and From Venice to Egypt- a visual poem tracing an ancient route. Her opera, The Nubian Word for Flowers- Pocket Edition was presented on February 22, 2020 at Lincoln Center's Astor Gallery-New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. IONE'S photographs have been published in international revues and exhibited recently in the Hudson Valley; notably at Dutchess County Community College, Mildred T. Washington Gallery, Deep Listening Space @ The Shirt Factory, The Gallery at City Hall, Kingston, NY, and the idea garden, Kingston, NY. She is the recipient of Midtown Arts Individual Artist's Award, 2019 and is currently a member of the Kingston Arts Commission. ionedreams.us
JL
“dreamer’s tefillah shel rosh” 2021.
hand dyed wool, embroidery thread, found minerals and sacred items
I offer this tefillah shel rosh for the dream community to use as a binding force to their intentions while dreaming. Thread colors, objects, and the object itself have been shared with me through a radiant series of sequential dream hikes up a snow-topped mountain with ancestors. Echoing centuries of wrapping prayer tefillin, I weave and wrap a dreamer’s tefillah shel rosh to reimagine the connection to the collective heart's prayer.
JL is an interdisciplinary transmedia artist, universal community member, and eternal student. They weave waves to create multimedia pieces exploring transgressive temporalities, the sonic strength of jewish diaspora, and interoceptive listening.
DUWENAVUE SANTE’ JOHNSON
“Summer- Spring reflection” 2019/2020.
(14in.x12in cotton thread on counted linen canvas)
This work is cotton upcycled thread on cotton canvas.There is no direction, meditation and reflection space. Created over a nine month window of precious self-time of inward learning. It is a map of my soul and self, a window of time.
There is no pretending in my life of what could be but, only an every day creative practice that I adhere to. Spending time in my life traveling and taking in stories and gradually sharing them within the communities and societies I find myself in. There are no limits when you stay true to
yourself and take on life with an open heart while following your intuition. Most of my time is spent focusing on folkcraft languages. I am proficient in Needle arts (Hand Embroidery) and focus my energy with studying textiles and painting. My personal goal is to follow the cycle of
nature by creating strong, resilient, truthful and empowering art. When working with others my goal is to hold creative space for others while being student and teacher. Sharing is a powerful gift of being, I am grateful to be. I reside in Philadelphia, PA and San Francisco, CA working professionally as a hand embroiderer and art teacher for the Oakland School District.
LISA B KELLEY
Mind folded and pressed. Excerpt from Agrigento, A Dream Evocation. 2020.
Part of my quarantinewhile was the production of my first art book, an offshoot of the performance art piece that I premiered in 2005. This dream evocation is inspired by the never-ending well of beauty and source material of my first sacred journey to Southern Italy and Sicily with IONE and Pauline in 2004 - this my first initiation, of many, into Womens’ Mysteries. These roots continue to produce and provide oxygen to my dream experiments with sound, imagery, poetry and spoken word. Mastering the knowing of the unknown by BE-ing.
Lisa Barnard Kelley is an improvising vocalist, writer and producer living in Kingston NY. She spent twelve years working closely with Pauline Oliveros and Ione as a staff member and artist of the Deep Listening Institute performing in numerous festivals and concerts and collaborating with fellow Deep Listening artists across the globe. Kelley continues to participate in annual Dream Festivals and is presently a board member of the Ministry of Maåt. She is a Deep Listening Certificate holder and a minister priestess. Kelley is a committed arts advocate in Kingston offering her services via her business Perla Productions. lisabarnardkelley.com
SHIRLEY PARKER-BENJAMIN
I Never Dream in Color
The mixed media work is entitled, I Never Dream in Color. The work is comprised of a sculptural image and a poem written as a background. The work is inspired by a dream I had some years ago.
Shirley Parker-Benjamin is an artist working in mixed media sculpture, assemblage, installation, and as a Poet. Her work has been shown in group shows, regionally and internationally. She has conducted workshops as an Artist in Residence at museums and community arts programs. Shirley maintains a studio at Cunneen-Hackett Arts Center in the Mid-Hudson Region.
AMY REED
"Union" 22X30 HP 300LB 2021 Watercolor on Paper
We give thanks for this life; these remembered ways of being. We dream of peace and harmony visiting all beings. We remember who we are, and where we are going. Hotep.
Amy Melissa Reed is an Artist known for their work in music, painting, video, and community. They are co-founder of the small arts organization MA SERIES ARTS - supporting artists and their communities. Amy Melissa Reed is ordained Priestess/Minister of the Ministry of Maåt.
SUIREN
Breath of Life
“Breath of Life” is an improvisational painting which is created while listening and dreaming composer/improvisor, Stuart Dempster’s Underground Overlay from the Cistern Chapel. Being open in the moment, Renko composes and paints in real time. The breath, exhaling as we let go of impediments and inhaling as we receive abundance of regeneration, provides a space of healing. “Breath of Life” reflects the big breath we all share for renewal as ONE.
Suiren, a.k.a. Renko Ishida Dempster, visual artist creates improvisational paintings as she listens and interacts with sound/music, movement, and poetry. Working spontaneously and intuitively from the inside-out, she is free to play with elements which emerge and evolve. An inner truth ultimately reveals itself and may be interpreted by eyes of the beholder.
TONI THOMAS
Ecstasy of Maid Indigo
My work addresses issues that are important to me as a woman of color and a member of the human species. I paint representational images or symbolic, iconic ones that represent or speak directly to issues concerning women, beauty, survival, my family and cultural heritage, nature and the environment. They all play a role in the art that I produce.
I like to paint on surfaces that may include recycled materials, fabric, wood or mixed media. Sometimes I incorporate sewing or quilting in my work or make quilted borders for my paintings. As the art evolves so do I as a person and an artist. I view my work as a self-healing practice. I see each piece I create as a page in a visual diary in which I express deeply felt sentiments on personal, cultural, political and universal issues as I explore the range of my craft and the possibilities for the art that I can create.
Toni Thomas is a visual artist whose career spans over 30 years. She began her career as an abstract artist but transformed her work in the late 90’s to address her concerns over political and social issues related to women and the environment. Themes in her work reflect influences from her heritage, literature and nature. She incorporates the use of recycled materials, sewing and collage in her compositions. Originally from Detroit, Michigan, Ms. Thomas received her BFA degree from Wayne State University and MFA degree from Rutgers University in New Brunswick. Her work has been exhibited in local and international venues with exhibitions at Westbeth Gallery in New York and El Centro Provencial de Artes Plasticas in Cuba. Ms. Thomas resides in Newark, New Jersey.
GRACE VILLAMIL
Passage point
JL is an interdisciplinary transmedia artist, universal community member, and eternal student. They weave waves to create multimedia pieces exploring transgressive temporalities, the sonic strength of jewish diaspora, and interoceptive listening.
DUWENAVUE SANTE’ JOHNSON
“Summer- Spring reflection” 2019/2020.
(14in.x12in cotton thread on counted linen canvas)
This work is cotton upcycled thread on cotton canvas.There is no direction, meditation and reflection space. Created over a nine month window of precious self-time of inward learning. It is a map of my soul and self, a window of time.
There is no pretending in my life of what could be but, only an every day creative practice that I adhere to. Spending time in my life traveling and taking in stories and gradually sharing them within the communities and societies I find myself in. There are no limits when you stay true to
yourself and take on life with an open heart while following your intuition. Most of my time is spent focusing on folkcraft languages. I am proficient in Needle arts (Hand Embroidery) and focus my energy with studying textiles and painting. My personal goal is to follow the cycle of
nature by creating strong, resilient, truthful and empowering art. When working with others my goal is to hold creative space for others while being student and teacher. Sharing is a powerful gift of being, I am grateful to be. I reside in Philadelphia, PA and San Francisco, CA working professionally as a hand embroiderer and art teacher for the Oakland School District.
LISA B KELLEY
Mind folded and pressed. Excerpt from Agrigento, A Dream Evocation. 2020.
Part of my quarantinewhile was the production of my first art book, an offshoot of the performance art piece that I premiered in 2005. This dream evocation is inspired by the never-ending well of beauty and source material of my first sacred journey to Southern Italy and Sicily with IONE and Pauline in 2004 - this my first initiation, of many, into Womens’ Mysteries. These roots continue to produce and provide oxygen to my dream experiments with sound, imagery, poetry and spoken word. Mastering the knowing of the unknown by BE-ing.
Lisa Barnard Kelley is an improvising vocalist, writer and producer living in Kingston NY. She spent twelve years working closely with Pauline Oliveros and Ione as a staff member and artist of the Deep Listening Institute performing in numerous festivals and concerts and collaborating with fellow Deep Listening artists across the globe. Kelley continues to participate in annual Dream Festivals and is presently a board member of the Ministry of Maåt. She is a Deep Listening Certificate holder and a minister priestess. Kelley is a committed arts advocate in Kingston offering her services via her business Perla Productions. lisabarnardkelley.com
SHIRLEY PARKER-BENJAMIN
I Never Dream in Color
The mixed media work is entitled, I Never Dream in Color. The work is comprised of a sculptural image and a poem written as a background. The work is inspired by a dream I had some years ago.
Shirley Parker-Benjamin is an artist working in mixed media sculpture, assemblage, installation, and as a Poet. Her work has been shown in group shows, regionally and internationally. She has conducted workshops as an Artist in Residence at museums and community arts programs. Shirley maintains a studio at Cunneen-Hackett Arts Center in the Mid-Hudson Region.
AMY REED
"Union" 22X30 HP 300LB 2021 Watercolor on Paper
We give thanks for this life; these remembered ways of being. We dream of peace and harmony visiting all beings. We remember who we are, and where we are going. Hotep.
Amy Melissa Reed is an Artist known for their work in music, painting, video, and community. They are co-founder of the small arts organization MA SERIES ARTS - supporting artists and their communities. Amy Melissa Reed is ordained Priestess/Minister of the Ministry of Maåt.
SUIREN
Breath of Life
“Breath of Life” is an improvisational painting which is created while listening and dreaming composer/improvisor, Stuart Dempster’s Underground Overlay from the Cistern Chapel. Being open in the moment, Renko composes and paints in real time. The breath, exhaling as we let go of impediments and inhaling as we receive abundance of regeneration, provides a space of healing. “Breath of Life” reflects the big breath we all share for renewal as ONE.
Suiren, a.k.a. Renko Ishida Dempster, visual artist creates improvisational paintings as she listens and interacts with sound/music, movement, and poetry. Working spontaneously and intuitively from the inside-out, she is free to play with elements which emerge and evolve. An inner truth ultimately reveals itself and may be interpreted by eyes of the beholder.
TONI THOMAS
Ecstasy of Maid Indigo
My work addresses issues that are important to me as a woman of color and a member of the human species. I paint representational images or symbolic, iconic ones that represent or speak directly to issues concerning women, beauty, survival, my family and cultural heritage, nature and the environment. They all play a role in the art that I produce.
I like to paint on surfaces that may include recycled materials, fabric, wood or mixed media. Sometimes I incorporate sewing or quilting in my work or make quilted borders for my paintings. As the art evolves so do I as a person and an artist. I view my work as a self-healing practice. I see each piece I create as a page in a visual diary in which I express deeply felt sentiments on personal, cultural, political and universal issues as I explore the range of my craft and the possibilities for the art that I can create.
Toni Thomas is a visual artist whose career spans over 30 years. She began her career as an abstract artist but transformed her work in the late 90’s to address her concerns over political and social issues related to women and the environment. Themes in her work reflect influences from her heritage, literature and nature. She incorporates the use of recycled materials, sewing and collage in her compositions. Originally from Detroit, Michigan, Ms. Thomas received her BFA degree from Wayne State University and MFA degree from Rutgers University in New Brunswick. Her work has been exhibited in local and international venues with exhibitions at Westbeth Gallery in New York and El Centro Provencial de Artes Plasticas in Cuba. Ms. Thomas resides in Newark, New Jersey.
GRACE VILLAMIL
Passage point
Through the synthesis of sound, environment and material, I like to explore how we can better conceive the human element of uncertainty. My work, driven by my interest in perception and the embodied experience encourages the viewer to sense beyond their accustomed function and see beyond assumed limitations. Passage Point (5.12sec) is inspired by the Kalinga tribe of the Philippines and TAYO, the sculpture at Pauline Oliveros's Deep Listening Plaza. (TAYO stands in support of our immigrant community, especially the children and families who have been separated by ICE).
Grace Villamil is a multidisciplinary artist exploring the interconnectivity between humans and nature through video, sound and environment. She has performed live-video manipulations as accompaniment to electronic & live instruments in venues as Southbank London, Elbphilharmonie Kleiner Saal Hamburg, The Broad/Redcat Los Angeles, Issue Project Room NYC & in Boston w/ ACT, a MIT media lab. Her installation, Search for Function, was 1 of 4 new works commissioned by Black Mountain College Museum for their inaugural exhibit "Between Form and Content: Perspectives on Jacob Lawrence".
JACQUELINE VOGEL
The Golden Earring
A beaded tapestry that I did a while back. The pattern is by bead artist, margie deeb. It is beaded with 11-0 miyuki delica beads using the peyote stitch.
Jacqueline Vogel is a retired registered nurse, now a "nana nanny" who is totally rad, per her five year old granddaughter. Lol She is an excellent vegan chef, loves gardening and music, and is well versed in all things that are knit, crocheted, quilted, or beaded. I can slip in a little needlepoint and cross stitch too.
JULIA WHITE
At the Edge of a Wood
Step outside of ordinary time and enter a liminal space, where the roots of memory and dreams are deeply intertwined. At the Edge of a Wood is an evolving installation that celebrates the wildness within our world and ourselves and offers fertile ground for the Big Dream that is Becoming.
Julia White creates dreamlike sculptural landscapes with her enigmatic abstract forms combining the raw beauty of nature with elements of architecture, light and sound. Originally from Toronto, she followed her roots to a round house in the country, where she now lives on land with a creek and forest of trees. www.juliawhite.ca
MANUELA ZERVUDACHI
Channeling the Thread
It is in a dream retreat in Brehat that I first heard Ariadne’s call. A powerful time of regaining integrity after a difficult separation.
Ever since Ariadne has consistently insisted on crossing my ‘labyrinthic’ path until I understood I must go to Crete, the land where my name originates from and where I had never laid foot to finally meet with her.
A true revelation to discover that Ariadne is the Minoan goddess of nature. Through her dance in the dark realms she forms the labyrinth and in its center becomes one with the force of life, the sacred Myrtle tree.
Embroidery is a new medium for me. A contemplative dream-like flow that directs me as I go just as Ariadne guided Theseus with her ball of string back out of the labyrinth.
I am now a member of Ariadne’s tribe, a following for those who feel connected to the myth of Ariadne. Now she is part of me and continues to help me in my becoming.
It is through the clay, the fusion of metals and the handling of liquid materials becoming solids like wax or plaster, that channeled I melt into the elements of earth and water, the origins out of which creation awakens and organic forms find root. Through this process of malaxing and modulating volumes into the world, the quest is to be caught and in tune with the movement and flow of life going through me. The outside is integrated, the inside is extracted, the two are assimilated, pulled together, unified and the sculptures are the membrane between the two.
Grace Villamil is a multidisciplinary artist exploring the interconnectivity between humans and nature through video, sound and environment. She has performed live-video manipulations as accompaniment to electronic & live instruments in venues as Southbank London, Elbphilharmonie Kleiner Saal Hamburg, The Broad/Redcat Los Angeles, Issue Project Room NYC & in Boston w/ ACT, a MIT media lab. Her installation, Search for Function, was 1 of 4 new works commissioned by Black Mountain College Museum for their inaugural exhibit "Between Form and Content: Perspectives on Jacob Lawrence".
JACQUELINE VOGEL
The Golden Earring
A beaded tapestry that I did a while back. The pattern is by bead artist, margie deeb. It is beaded with 11-0 miyuki delica beads using the peyote stitch.
Jacqueline Vogel is a retired registered nurse, now a "nana nanny" who is totally rad, per her five year old granddaughter. Lol She is an excellent vegan chef, loves gardening and music, and is well versed in all things that are knit, crocheted, quilted, or beaded. I can slip in a little needlepoint and cross stitch too.
JULIA WHITE
At the Edge of a Wood
Step outside of ordinary time and enter a liminal space, where the roots of memory and dreams are deeply intertwined. At the Edge of a Wood is an evolving installation that celebrates the wildness within our world and ourselves and offers fertile ground for the Big Dream that is Becoming.
Julia White creates dreamlike sculptural landscapes with her enigmatic abstract forms combining the raw beauty of nature with elements of architecture, light and sound. Originally from Toronto, she followed her roots to a round house in the country, where she now lives on land with a creek and forest of trees. www.juliawhite.ca
MANUELA ZERVUDACHI
Channeling the Thread
It is in a dream retreat in Brehat that I first heard Ariadne’s call. A powerful time of regaining integrity after a difficult separation.
Ever since Ariadne has consistently insisted on crossing my ‘labyrinthic’ path until I understood I must go to Crete, the land where my name originates from and where I had never laid foot to finally meet with her.
A true revelation to discover that Ariadne is the Minoan goddess of nature. Through her dance in the dark realms she forms the labyrinth and in its center becomes one with the force of life, the sacred Myrtle tree.
Embroidery is a new medium for me. A contemplative dream-like flow that directs me as I go just as Ariadne guided Theseus with her ball of string back out of the labyrinth.
I am now a member of Ariadne’s tribe, a following for those who feel connected to the myth of Ariadne. Now she is part of me and continues to help me in my becoming.
It is through the clay, the fusion of metals and the handling of liquid materials becoming solids like wax or plaster, that channeled I melt into the elements of earth and water, the origins out of which creation awakens and organic forms find root. Through this process of malaxing and modulating volumes into the world, the quest is to be caught and in tune with the movement and flow of life going through me. The outside is integrated, the inside is extracted, the two are assimilated, pulled together, unified and the sculptures are the membrane between the two.