sista beautiful

a gift piece for one of my beautiful sista...i promised her months ago i would paint something since she didnt have any decorations on the wall in her new spot. so i thought this would be nice especially since she is super involved in her sorority which im sure you can guess which one by the colors lol

The Saartjie Project Homecoming !!!!!

The Saartjie Project Presents...

HOMECOMING

5.2.09 Capitol Hill Arts Workshop545 7th Street, S.E. Washington DC (Eastern Market Metro)

In May 2002, Saartjie (Sara) Baartman's remains were flown back to her homeland, South Africa and laid to rest almost 200 years after she left for Europe in search of a life void of violence. Tragically from 1810 – 1815 Saartjie was paraded around Europe under the show name “Hottentot Venus”. Featured as an oddity and hypersexual African woman, she was adorned in feathers, beads and placed in a cage on display because of her large buttocks. When she died her body was dissected and her remains were on display in a museum in Paris until 1974.

HOMECOMING is a tradition adopted by The Saartjie Project to commemorate the 7th anniversary of Saartjie Baartman’s final return home and raises the question,

“What does it mean to commemorate this day?”

HOMECOMING will feature women and girls boldly using their original art to heal and change communities.

Original performances by:

Princess of Controversy (http://www.princessofcontroversy.net/)

Dee Stone (http://www.deestonemusic.com/)

LEA (http://www.thisislea.com/)

Chaquis Maliq (http://www.myspace.com/chaquis)

Mahoganee (http://www.divamilitia.com/)

Jade Foster (http://www.myspace.com/blackchurchmaraca)

Young Women’s Drumming Empowerment Project (http://www.youngwomendrum.org/)

Elen Awalom

members of The Saartjie Project ...and more!

Original Visual Art by:

Kameelah Rasheed (http://www.kameelahwrites.com/)

Amber Robles-Gordon (http://aroblesgordonart.blogspot.com/)

Nataki McNeal Bhatti (http://www.myspace.com/natakimcnealbhatti)

Jade Andwele (me!)

This is not a night to miss!

Purchase tix at http://www.thesaartjieproject.org/

Your donation helps support The Saartjie Project as we scale our production, community-based programs & sojourn to Minneapolis for the 2009 Pedagogy & Theatre of the Oppressed International Conference. We are a volunteer-run organization for the people sustained by the people.

Joyism May 1st!!!!!

My dear sista is having a wonderful show at the Capital Hill Arts Workshop on Friday May 1st BE THERE!!!!!!

www.osadance.blogspot.com

Ch. 2: Honoring your Inspirations

Im late. hehehe. been super busy. but going to get back at these blog posts

After reading this chapter I learned that I need to push myself more to create time for inspiration and to begin using creative rituals. More meditation. More time to just sit and let creativity come instead of just doing something because I feel like I have to do it.

One of the challenges in the chapter asked "what activates and drains our creativity"

My activators are: music (esp. sista badu!), magazines, concersations, dreams, creative energy and love from others, sunny days

drainers: rainy days, lazy days, low energy overall, feeling overwhelmed/anxious/depressed

In honoring my inspirations, I have to focus more on understand exactly who Jade is and build strategies to understand how my creativity works and how to allow it to work better. I constantly carry around a notebook or sketchbook and colored pencils to record whatever comes to mind whenever.

The chapter also discussed creating a creative sanctuary, which is my room overall lol I have beautiful colors of orange, purple, fuschia, different types of lighting, a large desk, areas to paint, green plants and colorful flowers (LIVE lol not fake), several bookshelves and creative cabinent. I will post pics of my room/creative sanctuary later.

how will you honor your creative inspirations?

at the nursing home

Last week I assisted an art therapy session at a nursing home in hampton. it was a rainy day and i didnt know what to expect. but i went. excited. open. soul feeling like the scent of the fresh rain.

i walked in the building and was led into the dining room area.
there were several 'seasoned' sistas and brothas in wheelchairs with nurses and volunteers helping them with their work. I was paired with an 80 year old brotha named Jesse.
Strong black brotha. He was focused on his work. He took an entire hour working on a bird he wanted to paint. I helped him with the watercolors. He laughed at me. I looked around at the others. Nurses were drawing the pictures and painting them for their patients, but me?

I let Jesse go on and do his thing.

What is creativity if I force myself on to someone else's process? Although some of the people were limited in their ability to draw and paint so what!!!! Let them have autonomy and the gift of doing whatever they want!!! From time to time Jesse asked me to move the paper around for him and clean his brushes. I was his assistant because he only had one arm.

When he finally finished his piece, he had the best out of everyone. It was an amazing watercolor on paper of a bird on a tree stump. He blended blues and greens, reds and browns to create something amazing. Everyone else made easter baskets lol

So when he finished I said, "you want to paint something for easter?"
he laughed, "I cant. I dont know what easter look like!"

He used the power of his own mind to paint and take time to create what he envisioned, not what someone else had. If i learned anything from this session, I know that as a therapist and creative encourager, I dont want to force. I want to beckon. I want to faciliate. Gently knead. Softly call for the creative energy that exists in every patient, client, sista, and brotha. And allow them to surface in their own time.

and this is a lesson for all parts of life...we should all ask ourselves, do we tend to force our ideas and our ways upon others? or create an environment where all can exist and grow?