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Saturday, May 29, 2010

Ocean Driftwood Wave is...


          Ocean Driftwood Wave
          Ocean driftwood, beeswax, pigment and Papel de Amate
          11" x 20" x 7"

Friday, May 28, 2010

Rudolf Steiner

http://www.kunstmuseum-wolfsburg.de/exhibition/113/Rudolf_Steiner_and_Contemporary_Art


Rudolf Steiner und die Kunst der Gegenwart
Red Figure, 2009Dance of Light, 2009Albero-Porta, 1993–1995Buchtipp, 2008/2009ohne Titel, 2009Imagined Monochrome, 2009-- When I am Pregnant, 1992
13.05.2010 - 03.10.2010Rudolf Steiner und die Kunst der GegenwartEine Ausstellung des Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg in Kooperation mit dem Kunstmuseum Stuttgart
Noch nie wurde der „Kosmos Steiner“ so umfangreich dargestellt wie durch die beiden Ausstellungen „Rudolf Steiner und die Kunst der Gegenwart“ und „Rudolf Steiner - Die Alchemie des Alltags“. Das zweiteilige Großprojekt greift ein Phänomen auf, das bisher noch wenig Beachtung fand, aber zu einem der spannendsten Kapitel der modernen Kunst und Geistesgeschichte gehört: Bedeutende Künstler, angefangen von Wassily Kandinsky über Piet Mondrian bis zu Joseph Beuys, haben sich immer wieder mit der universellen Ideenwelt von Rudolf Steiner beschäftigt und daraus wertvolle Impulse für ihre Arbeit bezogen. Mit Beginn des 21. Jahrhunderts erhält diese Verbindung durch das steigende Interesse von Gegenwartskünstlern an Steiner eine neue Brisanz. Gleichzeitig erlebt das ganzheitliche Weltbild wie das von Steiner vor dem Hintergrund lebhafter Debatten über ökologische Verantwortung, religiöse Sinnsuche und über ein aus den Fugen geratenes Wirtschaftssystem wieder stärkere Beachtung. 

In einem ersten Teil behandelt die vom Vitra Design Museum zusammengestellte Ausstellung „
Die Alchemie des Alltags“ das Wirken dieses bedeutenden Reformers im 20. Jahrhundert in Architektur, Design, Kunst und Gesellschaft. Sie ist die weltweit erste umfassende Retrospektive Steiners außerhalb eines anthroposophischen Kontextes. 

Die vom Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Kunstmuseum Stuttgart erarbeitete Schau „Rudolf Steiner und die Kunst der Gegenwart“ versucht, die universalistische Ideenwelt Steiners anhand der Werke von 15 Künstlern von heute aus neu aufzuschließen.

Dem Steiner-Archiv und der Kunstsammlung Goetheanum in Dornach danken wir für die Unterstützung bei der Recherche. Die Ausstellungen werden durch Volkswagen Financial Services AG und die Kulturstiftung des Bundes unterstützt.




Mit der Ausstellung "Rudolf Steiner und die Kunst der Gegenwart" werden das Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg und das Kunstmuseum Stuttgart die  Verbindungen und Resonanzen sichtbar machen, die im Werk zeitgenössischer Künstler zur  Gedankenwelt Rudolf Steiners bestehen. In ausgewählten Werkpräsentationen und eigens  konzipierten Installationen nähern sich Künstler wie Meris Angioletti, Joseph Beuys, Tony Cragg, Olafur Eliasson, Helmut Federle, Katharina Grosse, Anish Kapoor und Giuseppe Penone der ästhetischen und philosophischen Weltsicht Steiners an. Überraschende Verbindungen und unerwartete Perspektiven werden offengelegt, die die Ästhetik Steiners in einem neuen, aktuellen Licht erscheinen lassen. Dabei interessiert an Steiner nicht dessen Kunstlehre oder seine Position innerhalb der anthroposophischen Bewegung, sondern sein ganzheitliches, kreatives Denken, das der Realität des Geistes und der Präsenz des Unsichtbaren Form und Ausdruck gegeben hat.


Zur Ausstellung erscheint ein Katalog mit Aufsätzen namhafter Autoren in einer deutschen und einer englischen Ausgabe.
Tags: James Turrell, The Wolfsburg Project, Bridget's Bardo, Ganzfeld Piece, Roden Crater

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Turmeric

http://www.dharmaayurveda.com/article/2304.html?a
Turmeric - secret ayurvedic recipes

Gelbwurz oder TURMERIC oder Curcuma Longa    [Sanskrit - Haridra]

Turmeric is truly one of the marvellous medicinal spices in the world. 
Its been extensively used since centuries, as an ingredient in cooking.   Its popularly believed that turmeric was used in cooking for its detox properties to neutralise any toxins if present in the food preparation.

Benefits

Potent antioxidant. The antioxidant activity of turmeric is mainly associated with its phenolic fraction, curcuminoids, which act as free radical scavengers as well as inhibitors of leukotrienes and prostaglandin synthesis. 
Powerful antiinflammatory agent. The antiinflammatory activity has been claimed to be comparable to NSAID's such as indomethacin, producing significant improvement in clinical trials involving individuals with rheumatoid arthritis. 
Lowers Total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol while increasing HDL cholesterol. 
Reduces blood sugar level in diabetics 
An anticoagulant that inhibits platelet aggregation 
Liver protective and tonic 
Boosts stomach defences against acid 
Known to have varied anticancer activity. A powerful antagonist of numerous cancer causing agents.

Turmeric is being used in Ayurveda since centuries as an internal medicine for a variety of conditions ranging from allergy to diabetes, and as an external application for beauty as well as in skin disorders and arthritis.

A few simple turmeric remedies

Allergies      Ground Turmeric and Ground Curry leaves one heaped teaspoon each to be taken together early morning in empty stomach for 3 to 6 weeks. Proven very effective in chronic allergic rhinitis.

Bronchitis    Half a teaspoon of turmeric powder in half a glass of warm milk taken two or three times daily is an effective home remedy. Acts best when taken in empty stomach.

Throat irritation    Take a pinch of turmeric with little salt at bed time. Dont swallow, leave it in the tongue and let it slowly work its way down.

Diarrhoea     Take one spoon of turmeric juice with equal amount of honey. Or boil half glass water with one tsp turmeric powder and mix with one tsp honey.

Ring worm    Apply juice of raw turmeric on the affected part few times daily.

Sinusitis     Dip a dry rhizome of turmeric in coconut or neem oil and burn. Put off the flame and inhale the smoke through each nostril three times. Repeat for 3 to 7 days. Very effective remedy even in severe sinusitis. [You can use a small sheet of paper to make a funnel and keep small end in one nostril to inhale the smoke with the other nostril closed.]

Diabetes    Half glass of indian gooseberry juice with one spoon of turmeric is very beneficial in diabetes. 

Leucoderma     Turmeric mixed with mustard oil is a popular folk remedy for leucoderma. About 500gm of turmeric should be pounded and soaked in 8 litres of water overnight. It should be boiled in the morning till only one litre of water is left, and then be strained and mixed with 500ml mustard oil. This mixture should be heated till only the oil is left. It should then be strained and preserved in a bottle. This mixture should be applied on the white patches every morning and evening for a few months 

Source: Dr..Jayaprakash

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

bees decline


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science_and_environment/10159361.stm

Infections link to bees decline

Page last updated at 20:27 GMT, Tuesday, 25 May 2010 21:27 UK

Bees A combination of fungi and viruses could be reponsible
US researchers claim to have identified a new potential cause for Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) in honeybees.
The disease is responsible for wiping out many beekeepers' entire colonies over the past few years.
Scientists from the US Department of Agriculture say the pathogens to blame are a fungus and a family of viruses.
The results of the study will be presented today at the 110th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology in San Diego, California.
Jay Evans of the USDA Agricultural Research Service, a researcher on the study, says that when these two very different pathogens show up together, "there is a significant correlation with colony decline".
Daniel Weaver, a commercial beekeeper from Texas and head of the BeeWeaver Apiaries Inc, remembers the shock he experienced when he opened his hives in the early spring of 2007 - only to find them empty.
"There was only a queen and ten or twelve bees left in a hive, clustered in one corner. There were broods, but very few of adult bees.
"And there were no signs of poisoning or any other signs of acute mortality - there were no dead bees on the bottom of the hive or outside the hive," said Weaver.
Other US beekeepers, many of whom have been in the business for a long time and have always had normal, healthy bee colonies, started noticing a similar problem at about the same time.
Some had lost up to 90% of their bee populations, and every year since 2006 many have been reporting average losses of 30-35% of hives.
Fungi and viruses
When beekeepers sounded the alarm in 2007, scientists started looking for a cause of the mysterious disease.
They began to collect samples, primarily looking at sick bees from California and Florida, where most of the commercial pollination takes place in the US, and checking them visually for any signs of a problem.
"The most puzzling thing was that the bees [we collected] didn't show any of the pathologies or signs of disease - they looked perfectly healthy," said Evans to the BBC.
After having screened the samples, the researchers found that there was a higher presence of a fungus Nosema cerenae in infected colonies.
But it was only recently that they were able to determine that it's when bees are infected both with Nosema and with a group of RNA viruses that it is likely to lead to a collapse of a colony, said Evans.
To prove their theory about a certain synergy between the two pathogens, Evans and his colleagues tried to trigger the decline of a honeybee colony artificially.
"We've known for some time that the viruses are not good for the bees' health, that they cause some visible symptoms like paralysis of the bees, shivering or inability to fly," explained Evans.
But getting the entire colony sick was tricky, he said.
"You have to infect bees with a sort of natural level compared to what's going on in the field and then more or less wait around to see how that translates into a colony effect like a colony collapse or decline," said the researcher.
Sources of infection
So how do bees get CCD? Dr Evans believes the infection is spread primarily through pollen on flowers.
Commercial beekeepers in the US tend to move their bees around the country in lorries, renting them to farmers to pollinate almonds in California, oranges in Florida and blueberries in Maine. They then bring them home - often in some other part of the US.
When a sick bee leaves a virus on a plant, it is very likely that all other buzzing visitors will get infected - and bring the disease to their hive, elsewhere in the country.
"Once the viruses become prevalent in a colony, they spread quite rapidly both by contact among the bees and often by a parasitic [Varroa] mite that lives on them.
"We've been able to see the viruses move within that mite and actually be transmitted from bee to bee by the mite," said Evans.
As for the fungus, they are transferred by the insects' excretions, he said.
"Nosema ceranae will germinate in the stomach of the bees, work its way into the rest of the body and exit when it's excreted. So when the sick bees defecate in the colony or near a colony, other bees accidentally pick up the spores of the fungus and ingest them - and that restarts the cycle," explained the scientist.
But some believe the fungus and viruses are not the primary causes of CCD.
David Mendes, the president of the American Beekeeping Federation, says that biological pathogens are certainly involved - but that there might be something that affects the bees' immune system in the first place that then allows these pathogens to infect them more easily.
"It's a bit of a chicken-and-egg question: are the fungi and viruses a problem or are they a symptom? Do they come in only when the health of the bees is in some jeopardy? I think the bees get sick because of a combination of factors," said Mendes.
He believes that it's all about nutrition - in particular, the bees' inability to process certain foods.
And the pesticides are to blame for that, he says.
A bleak future?
"The whole approach to controlling pests with pesticides has really shifted [in the past few years] - for instance, now corn seeds, before they are planted, are dipped in pesticides," said Mendes.
"There's research that says that it's not supposed to affect the pollen and the fruit - well, we've done some analysis with our citrus trees and we have found levels of the poison in the pollen that the bees are feeding to their young."
Whatever the cause of CCD, Evans believes the cure isn't in sight just yet.
The main thing, he says, is for beekeepers to really focus on the nutrition of their colony in the autumn.
"Nosema fungi respond well to improved nutrition, so supplementing the bees' diet with pollen and nectar resources in the fall will allow them to maintain more nectar as they go into the winter," he said.
Some beekeepers also feed their bees more protein. Others use a chemical treatment for the fungi, but scientists warn it's only a short-term solution.
As for the viruses - there are beekeepers like Daniel Weaver, who only use the bee queens from his own colony, selecting them for genetic resistance to Varroa mites and RNA viruses.
Until the cure is found, it's not just the beekeepers who are suffering - agricultural companies and of course consumers who buy their products have been affected as well.
Weaver says he just hopes the buzzing honey workers will continue to fight CCD - because without them, the world just wouldn't be the same.
"Without bees, our world would be a very dreary place to live. So many delicious fruits wouldn't be available and so many wonderful plants wouldn't be able to propagate and reproduce," he said.
"A very dull and dreary place indeed."

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Cat Wave



                  
                                                                                                         © Greg Patch

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Amongst the stones a flower grows...




        Stone Flower                                                                         ©Greg Patch

Monday, May 17, 2010

Pressure grows on the Tate to ditch BP by 2012


Many artists are displaying their work in support for Art Not Oil on their website; http://www.artnotoil.uk

http://www.artnotoil.org.uk//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=69&Itemid=2

Pressure grows on the Tate to ditch BP by 2012

Written by Administrator   
Sunday, 07 March 2010


That above is a brand new image by Raithy, placed here partly as a response to the terrible loss 
of human life and animal life in the Gulf of Mexico at the moment.
---------------------
Here's a groundbreaking question to Nicholas Serota slotted amongst the art theory, taken from The Observer's piece headed 'Artists, critics and readers on 10 years of Tate Modern':
Glen Tarman Charity manager, Wapping, London: 'In a time of climate change, will you stop sponsorship by oil companies so we can visit Tate and enjoy great art without being complicit in climate chaos?'

Serota: 'The first thing to say is we have support from BP, which as a company is looking at renewable energy as well as using up fossil fuels and using oil. We have long had support from them and are not intending to abandon it. But we are committed to addressing issues posed by climate change. Tate has made some big strides in terms of carbon reduction and bringing that to the attention of other people in the world.'
Taken from:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/apr/25/serota-tate-modern-tenth-birthday?showallcomments=true#comment-51


Picture shows 'Disobedience Makes History' workshop participants using the windows of
Tate Modern to make their feelings known, 30.1.10
Pressure is growing on the Tate to ditch BP as sponsor, preferably in time for the opening of its new extension in 2012.



This is from Art Monthly's March editorial, reporting on a recent workshop titled 'Disobedience Makes History', held there by artist/activist John Jordan with 30 participants, many of whom are now committed to seeing Tate live up to its sustainability rhetoric and go BP-free:IN ADVANCE OF A BROKEN ARM
The insistence that public art institutions bring in funding from the private sector is looking less clever now.
Post crash, sponsorship has evaporated, threatening the survival of those, like the Institute of Contemporary
Arts, that came to rely on it. Even the most powerful institutions, such as Tate Modern,
are now so timid when it comes to their sponsors that it affects their programming.
What, then, might another model of funding look like?
The pity of it is that the UK's flagship museum of modern and contemporary art should feel so exposed and vulnerable to the vagaries of sponsors that it engages in this form of self-censorship - in advance of a broken arm, so to speak.'
Here's a snippet from his piece in the magazine:
ON REFUSING TO PRETEND TO DO POLITICS IN A MUSEUM
John Jordan on what happened when Tate programmed a workshop on disobedience 'What is it about the word "disobedience" that the institutional art world doesn't understand? Last autumn the Nikolaj Contemporary Art Centre in Copenhagen dropped the Laboratory of Insurrectionary Imagination's Bike Bloc project when it realised that the "tools of civil disobedience" that we were going to build were not gestures but actual tools and tactics for the protest actions around the UN's COP15 Climate Change Conference. The curator told us that she feared that the museum's funders, the City of Copenhagen, would not support any "illegal" activity. It seemed that she had assumed we would pretend to do politics.'
http://www.artmonthly.co.uk/current.htm
This letter was sent by a participant in the 'Disobedience' workshop concerning Tate's March 19th symposium
'Rising to the climate challenge: artists and scientists imagine tomorrow's world'.

Subject: Tate Modern Symposium on 20 March: Oil-free Tate by 2012? Date: Fri, 05 Mar 2010 09:53:33 +0000
From: Barry Mason < barrymasonuk@googlemail.com>
To: Robert Bloomfield Agnes Denes Professor Brian Hoskins Luca Orta Professor Corinne le Quere Professor Steve Rayner Tomas Saraceno
Rising to the Climate Challenge: Oil free Tate by 2012?
I'm so looking forward to this. Thank you. The symposium includes the chance to formulate propositions for change, whilst imagining the social and psychological impacts of climate change. I've been a huge admirer of Tate even since I settled in London as a very young 18 year-old. I've grown up with the Tate as it's changed into a world leader, taste-changer and opinion former. The symposium on 20 March gives us all a unique and unmissable opportunity to do something very positive and very visible about climate change. It's time for positive action. Since...
*Tate's new Taking Tate Forward policy document says "our priorities to 2012 include wanting to be a leader in sustainability and setting a great example..."
*Tate has now appointed internal Green Champions to ensure recycling etc. in their offices etc
*progressive opinion-forming UK institutions need to start doing much more about climate change and energy use very soon
*increasing numbers of Tate Members, Tate staff and local Southwark people feel strongly about the point... ...it would seem essential and world-exemplary for us to help Tate wean itself off oil company sponsorship in time for the opening of the Tate Modern 2 in 2012 - and the hugely symbolic conversion of the three massive clover-leaf underground oil tanks into public art space. Art not oil.
So, a great, doable, effective, leadership action from this symposium would be to get all present to very publically agree to help Tate make that move to new areas of funding and away from fossil fuel money, in just the same way that museums and galleries dropped tobacco sponsorship 10 years ago. A big pointer to a better world. And I'll be saying all this at the symposium and asking the room to vote on that proposition. It would be wonderful if you, as a Panel member, could back this timely move too.
Very best wishes.
Barry Mason Tate Member 56256 Rotherhithe London SE16 7FJ 07905 889 005
And this letter was sent to many Tate employees in early March:
Dear Penelope Curtis,
It looks as if BP's involvement in oil tar sands is triggering a strong wave of civil society unrest. It seems positive change is afoot, and if the Tate was to jump in ahead of the game and refuse to take any more sponsorship from such sources, it would receive widespread acclaim. How about it? I would be very grateful if this issue could be discussed at the next meeting of Tate Trustees. Please let me know if and when this takes place.
Yours in hope,
Mark Brown from Art Not Oil
1.) Urgent action request: is your pension fuelling climate change?

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Iron Oxide Wave on Black Birch Tree




     Iron Oxide Wave on Black Birch Tree                                          2010

Drew/painted this wave with some Iron Oxide or Red Ochre earth that the Black Birch grew in in W. Asheville, NC this spring and photo'd it. The act of placing the earth and the color, line and form subtleties and simplicity creating the visuals of the drawing/painting upon the tree, along with using materials from within 10' of the mark is an art of immediacy, intimacy and intent within the environ content.

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Proper Artitude

http://www.arttripweb.com/guide2.html
My Third Eye Scratched
The famous art guide authored by Art Trip
Artitude
To become an advanced artist, you will eventually need to learn and maintain a proper “Artitude.” This will require great effort on your part, especially if you are extroverted and friendly. With practice and deep observation of your fellow artists, this should soon become second nature to you. You will then be able to utilize ‘tude’ in other important areas of your life such as office meetings, cocktail parties and other social settings.
So just what is “Artitude?” Well, it’s a look. A sort of far away, distant gaze that you adapt whenever you look at art. For instance. upon entering an art gallery, you must not smile. Always maintain a serious look on your face. You must not engage in polite conversation. You must be all art business. Simply head for the art as you quickly enter the gallery. If asked a question at this point from the gallarina, give a quick glance and a nod of your head.
As you walk in front of an artwork, do not acknowledge or say anything if anyone happens to be there. Additionally, don’t talk or look around. Stay focused on the art piece and keep a centered look as if you possess great art knowledge. With your “Artitude” and your top of the line art clothes from the GreatFamousArtist Clothing Store, you might even have some other artists and even art collectors fooled into thinking that you indeed, possess great art knowledge.
If you want to make your “Artitude” even more effective, get up close to the art work. Hold your hands in prayer position in front of your chest as if you are about to sanctify the work. Now close your eyes and start to murmur quietly in a whisper (do this with great solemnest for if you don’t there is always the danger that others around you will simply think that you are nuts). Feel free to murmur anything that comes to your mind, even something like, “I feel so lame, I feel so lame. I can’t believe Art Trip told me to do this. This is so lame”, just so long as it is low enough so the others can’t hear what you are saying.
Stare intensely ahead without moving except for an occasional nod of the head. Close your eyes every so often as if pondering a great transcendental art thought. You must be on your guard though, as the gallery owner may try to engage you at some point. They will be friendly, maybe even crack a joke. But be strong and don't smile. Have fun with this as you know the owner is simply vibing you. If you don’t break your Artitude, the dealer may nod their head realizing that you are either a great artist or perhaps even a collection of art and try to sell you a piece of art (see the section “Faking it as an art collector” if this happens).
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Friday, May 14, 2010

Wave Imprint





The power of the waves breaking on the shore and their imprint on the form of the land. The energy shift that leaves its' mark on both the sea and the land that we do not see.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Telephone Pole 2




     Telephone Pole 2                                                                        ©Greg Patch

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Taxi!



            Taxi!                                                                                     ©Greg Patch