Happy Halloween w/Quantum Spiritual Practice

According to the author and researched scientific Quantum Mechanics whether if we are connecting to a single (Christianity, Jewish, Muslim, etc.) deity, or, multiple (Hindu, Pagan, Native American, etc.) deites we are connecting with "To psychically obtain information about a target or to psychically influence events, one has to have one's brain resonating with aspects of reality interconnecting the brain with the target. The more one's brain resonates with non-local aspects of reality connecting with a target, the more communication and direct influence one can have on it." In other words prayer and intention.

http://bit.ly/c7XZd5

Quantum Magick  by Larry Cornett

This article first appeared on Pagan BBSs in the late 1980s. Readers should note that there are many different ways of interpreting quantum theory and that most involve no mysticism whatever.

Reality As Described By Quantum Mechanics
In quantum mechanics, reality is described by waves defining the probabilities of different outcomes from the same interactions. These waves manifest as what we have been taught to call matter, energy, particles, and/or waves when observed.
These probability waves overlap and continue forever. The interactions between different entities constitute a single structure of linked wave patterns, so that the entire universe can be thought of as an unbroken whole. The waves form a matrix, with all parts of the system affecting all other parts. Non- local relationships exist between parts of the system that are distant from each other [1]. It is impossible to distinguish two particles of the same type in a region of space in which they may be found simultaneously [2]. Particles loose their individual identity in such regions. Thus, the physical universe is fundamentally unified.
The basic equation of non-relativistic quantum mechanics is Schrodinger's Wave Equation [2]:

2         2            
  i h (p)Q /(p)t  = - h /2m Delta Q + V(x,y,z) Q

satisfying the normalizing condition:

Integral      2     
  over all   |Q|  dx dy dx = 1
  space               

where:

h = 6.63E-34 joule sec / (2 pi)

      pi = 3.14...
 
V(x,y,z) = Potential energy, as a function of 
           coordinates x, y and z

       m = Mass

       t = Time
      
     (p) = Partial derivative of
                                           2  
       Q = Wave function of the particle, where Q dx dy dz is    
           the probability that the particle may be found in the 
           volume element dx dy dz at a particular time.  Values 
           of Q are components of the "state vector."

Values of Q are quantum mechanically defined states and constitute components of the "state vector." These quantum mechanically defined states define the probabilities of various results from quantum mechanically defined interactions [2]. In one orthodox interpretation of quantum mechanics, a system exists simultaneously in all quantum mechanically possible states until an observer (or apparatus outside the system) interacts to "collapse" the state vector" and obtain an observation.
Quantum mechanical systems can go from one configuration to another instantly, without passing through any states in between. Quantum mechanical movement is discontinuous, with all actions occurring in discrete amounts (quanta).
Schrodinger himself discovered one of quantum mechanics' more distinctive features: whenever two systems interact, the mathematical waves that represent the two systems do not separate but remain linked. The link does not drop off with distance and the link acts instantaneously at both locations, but the specificity of the link can be diluted through interactions with other objects [7].
What Underlies Quantum Mechanics?
There are lots of hypotheses on the nature of the underlying reality described statistically by quantum mechanics.

• Some scientists are content with the hypothesis that there is no more subtle structure than the probability waves described by quantum mechanics; and reality, at its most basic level, has a large amount of randomness whose limits are described by the quantum mechanical wave function, making the wave function itself the fundamental reality. This is called the probability doctrine. It asserts that such indetermination is a property inherent in nature and not merely a profession of our temporary ignorance, from which we expect to be relieved by a future better and more complete theory [2].
• Einstein speculated that there must be some underlying mechanism, some hidden variables, that uniquely determines the outcome of the interactions quantum theory can only statistically predict.
• J.S. Bell showed mathematically that, if such a mechanism exists, and the math of quantum mechanics is strictly correct, hidden variables must not have any functional dependence on the separation of events in space and time [3].
• According to David Bohm, from both a consideration of the meaning of the mathematical equations and from the results of experiments, particles can be understood as projections of a higher-dimensional reality. This reality can not be accounted for by any force of interaction between independent entities, but can be understood as a process of enfoldment in a higher dimensional space [1]. Information within the quantum wave determines the outcome of the quantum process. This information is potentially active everywhere but only actually active when and where it enters into the energy of an observed particle, implying that all particles have complex inner structures [10].
• Recently, superstring theory has been proposed, describing a ten dimensional webwork of space-time at an incredibly small scale (1E-33 cm) underlying the phenomenon described statistically by quantum mechanics, relatively, particle physics etc.

Some scientists consider speculation about the nature of the underlying reality to be irrelevant, since the predictions of quantum mechanical equations match the statistics of the results of experiments. To the best of my knowledge, experiments have not been performed that unambiguously distinguish between these alternative world-views. On the other hand, experiments have been proposed; and some work is underway to check some predictions of superstring theory. Eventually, from the results of experiments, some of these hypotheses may be screened out and others elevated to the level of scientific theory.
We are one and the same as the structures that underlie the matter and energy that we manifest as; and that structure is continuous, interconnected, and non local in nature. Whatever the underlying structure behind the interconnected wave pattern described by quantum mechanics (if any), we are that.
Quantum Mechanics And Consciousness
Getting back to established scientific theory, normal waking consciousness occurs when the nerve cell firing rate (synaptic switching rate) is high enough to spread out the waves associated with electrons to fill the gaps between nerve cells (synaptic clefts) with waves of probability of similar amplitude. This is described mathematically by the quantum mechanical mechanism of tunneling. These waves are interconnected throughout regions of the brain through resonances, resulting in a large, complex, unified, quantum mechanically defined resonance matrix filling a region in the brain. The waves are interconnected with each other and with information storage and sensory input mechanisms within these regions of the brain.
The nerve cell firing rate (v') at which this occurs has been modeled mathematically by Evan Harris Walker (at the U.S. Army Ballistics Center at Aberdeen Proving Ground) and corresponds to the threshold between waking and sleeping consciousness in people and animals. For normal waking consciousness to exist, the synapse transmission frequency for the brain (v') must satisfy the condition:

2/3
  v' must be greater than or equal to  N    /T

where:

  N =  The total number of synapses in the brain (in humans,
       about 5E11)

  T =  Synaptic transmission delay time (the time interval
       required for the propagation of the excitation energy
       from one synapse to another)

This theory ascribes consciousness to an association of the events occurring at any one synapse with events occurring at other synapses in the brain by means of a quantum mechanical propagation of information. The sense of individual identity is an aspect of the continuity of the wave matrix residing in the brain [4].
Quantum Mechanics And Psychokinesis
By merely observing a phenomenon (resonating ones brain with it) one can affect the outcome, since the physical mechanisms in your brain are part of the wave matrix described by quantum mechanics. The information handling rate in resonance determines the amount of effect, along with the elapsed time of resonance and the probability distribution of the phenomenon you are observing [5]. According to Evan Harris Walker, quantum mechanical state selection can be biased by an observer if [5]:
W te is greater than or equal to -Log P(Qo-Qi) Q 2
where:

P(Qo-Qi) = Probability that state Qi will occur by chance   
                alone

          W   = Information handling rate in process in brain
           Q    associated with state vector selection (bits/sec)
  
           te = Elapsed time

            Q = Overall state vector

           Qo = Initial physical state of system    

           Qi = State that manifests "paranormal" target event

The effect of consciousness is incredibly small on macroscopic systems; but it can be measurable when it occurs on quantum mechanically defined and divergent systems, where a slight change can amplify itself as it propagates through the system. The effect is about 1E-17 degrees on the angle of the bounce of cubes going down an inclined plane. Changes in the angle of bounce result in changes in displacement of the cubes that increase about 50% on every bounce, and the effect is measurable after many bounces [6]. The theory successfully and quantitatively modeled the differing amounts of displacement observed in experiments on cubes of different weights and weight distributions [5].
Walker also modeled information retrieval in "guess the card" experiments. Simple, classical, random chance would predict a smooth, binomial curve for the probabilities of getting the right answer versus the number of subjects making successful predictions at these probabilities. Walker's model predicts that the curve would have peaks at certain levels of probability of getting the right answer above those predicted by chance alone. Experimental data showed peaks at the locations modeled. However, more people were successful at the higher probability levels than Walker's model estimated. This is considered to be evidence of learning enhancement [5].
Scientific Theory
Mr. Walker's ideas and equations would only be hypotheses if it weren't for the fact that they have been tested experimentally and found to predict the results of experiments with reasonable accuracy [4,5]. The evidence meets the usual rules of proof for scientific theory, and this makes Walker's equations legitimate scientific theory.
The non-local underlying wave patterns beneath manifestations of matter and energy that we hold in common with our surroundings allow us to influence reality and to obtain information about it using the power of the mind. This underlying interconnecting pattern is the very stuff of consciousness and manifests, not only as matter & energy, but also as psychokinesis, precognition and other phenomenon that are only now beginning to be recognized and embraced by some theories of modern physics.
Implications Of Quantum Consciousness Theory
Deflections caused by consciousness are not caused by force or energy in the conventional sense; but by something more subtle, namely effects within the underlying wave structure out of which matter and energy are manifestations (collapse of the state vector) [5].
To psychically obtain information about a target or to psychically influence events, one has to have one's brain resonating with aspects of reality interconnecting the brain with the target. The more one's brain resonates with non-local aspects of reality connecting with a target, the more communication and direct influence one can have on it.
The more fundamentally diverse the potential outcomes of a process targeted are, the more effect one gets from resonating ones brain with it [5]. Also, the more small changes in the system tend to amplify as larger changes in the end result, the more effect one can get. This provides an explanation of why patterns exist within seemingly random events and why successful magic often results in a chain of synchronicities.
For a given subject (performing under optimum conditions and having no difficulty visualizing the nature of the experimental target nor psychological aversions to the target), the magnitudes of the results obtained in tasks to affect the readings on measuring devices (such as magnetometers, radiation detectors, Josephson effect devices, balances, etc.) can be related to one another by calculating the probability of the reading based on the standard physical principles of quantum mechanics [5].
The sporadic nature of psi phenomena can be explained as a matter of outside observers randomizing the process, causing dilution of will data channels and randomizing the results [5]. Thus, the need for secrecy in magical operations.
One can no longer maintain the division between the observer and observed or between consciousness and the physical world. Rather, both observer and observed, along with both consciousness and the material world, are merging and interpenetrating aspects of one whole indivisible reality [1].
Whatever the subtle level of reality underlying matter and energy, we are that (including our consciousness). If hidden variables exist, we are the hidden variables. It has been theorized that consciousness is an inseparable aspect of this underlying reality. When our awareness connects with the deepest layer of reality interconnecting everything, we may experience the level of consciousness beyond time and form reported by many mystics. It is this non local structure that we share with nature that makes it possible to "attune to nature," to psychically participate in nature, and to live in accordance with it.
What we are usually aware of (normal waking consciousness) is a relatively superficial movement in the order of things. Behind the things we are aware of in waking consciousness are a vast array of less strongly linked phenomena. This latter realm is commonly called the unconscious (and parts of it the subconscious). The unconscious is not very accurate, since it forms a kind of ground of consciousness [8]. Our awareness can link with this ground of consciousness to gain information and to influence events.
The Gods, Goddesses And Nature Spirits
At this point, I diverge from theory and describe some plausible hypotheses. Consciousness, at a fundamental level, is associated with the continuity of the underlying structures out of which matter and energy manifest. Everything shares this continuous structure; therefore everything has consciousness to some degree (though not necessarily normal waking consciousness).
Quoting from Evan Harris Walker (4): "Consciousness may exist without being associated with either a living system or a data processing system. Indeed, since everything that occurs is ultimately the result of one or more quantum mechanical events, the universe is 'inhabited' by an almost unlimited number of rather discrete, conscious, usually non-thinking entities that are responsible for the detailed working of the universe. These conscious entities determine (or exist concurrently with the determination) singly the outcome of each quantum mechanical event, while the Schrodinger equation (to the extent that it is accurate) describes the physical constraint placed on their freedom of action collectively."
In shamanic and in religious practice, one resonates with other intelligences to get their assistance, inviting them to join in the work at hand. These intelligences can be thought of as consciousness resonance matrices. Some may be localized, as we are (such as other biological intelligences, plant divas, power spot spirits, some deities, etc.); and some may be non localized (spirit animals in the other world, some deities, etc.).
The personalities of the Gods, Goddesses and spirits that many practitioners of religion relate to can also be thought of as consciousness resonance matrices. They can be very non-specific and disperse, or very specific (such as the Orishas and other deities that can manifest in full possession of those who invoke them).
Quantum Mechanics And Magical Ritual
Consider a typical structure of magical ritual and its quantum mechanical explanation:

• Purify one's mind and one's surroundings, freeing them of interfering resonances, quieting the static so that one can get a clear and strong resonance on the target desired.
• Achieve a non-localized state of consciousness, often by resonating ones mind with ones inner being, with the Earth, the sky, and ones surroundings.
• Meditate on the elements (Earth, Air, Fire, Water) representing non-local essences. This helps your mind to resonate powerfully non-locally.
• After reaching out with one's mind and connecting its resonance pattern intimately with the non-local web of wave patterns connecting everything, invoke deities whose natural function is related to the purpose of your ritual. If successful, this connects your mind to a powerful, established, non-localized, intelligent resonance matrix that (hopefully) joins in the magic.
• Focus on the target of the work, connecting with the target.
• While connected with the target, visualize the end result desired, thus creating a resonant template for the phenomenon one wants to achieve.
• Energize the resonance through dance, drumming, chants, pure channeling of will power, or other means.
• Release the energy into the target while strongly visualizing the target achieved (energizing the resonance in the target).
• Ground, removing ones mind from the direct, resonant link with the target, so that the patterns you have set in motion in the target can continue with minimum interference (to throw a ball, one has to let go).
• Thank and say goodbye to the intelligences one works with, thus disconnecting ones mind further from other resonance matrices.There are other forms of magic, and much more detail to the forms I described. There are also ethical considerations. This paper provides a description of some aspects of the integration of quantum mechanics with magickal thinking, but it does not cover everything.
  So What?
  To read about theories of magic is like reading about sports. You may pick up a few ideas; but to become proficient, you must participate and play the game. People have been teaching and performing magic for thousands of years, without the benefit of quantum theory. Many magicians have had to separate their scientific training from their magical practice. Now, magical theory has been merged with scientific theory, and more of the mind of those trained in science can resonate with magic. Also, critics of magic can be shown the scientific theory and data validating it, to show that there is more to magic than superstition.
  I have not seen any other quantitative scientific theories that explain the results of experiments on psychokinesis, extrasensory perception, and consciousness as accurately as Walker's theory, or that give as satisfying of an explanation of the synchronicities that I, as a worker of magic and a scientist, have observed from personal experience. This is not to say that these ideas represent ultimate truth, that alternative theories no not exist, or that flaws will not be found and that alternative theories will not replace them. I would welcome hearing from others who have additional information and insight into the applicability and limitations of the theories of modern Physics as applied to the occult.
  Multiple Universes?
  One interesting hypothesis is that of multiple universes. As I understand it, this hypothesis states that all of the alternative possibilities allowed by quantum mechanics actually occur, but in different universes. Magicians can interpret their magic as moving their awareness between these alternative universes. I have never seen the multiple universe theory set up mathematically in a way that would allow it to be quantitatively tested, using physical measurements (like was done with Mr. Walker's theory),
  It would be interesting to determine if and to what extent the multiple universe hypothesis can be integrated with Mr. Walker's theory. Consciousness, acting at a gross level, seems to be relativistic - something experienced by observers relative to their frames of reference. Consciousness, at its ultimate level, seems to be subtler than time and location.
  When two observers see the same thing, they both may have certain experiences in common, they both may affect the thing observed, and they may report some of the events the same and some differently. Experience may be categorized in a multiple universe mode and/or in a single universe mode. If would be interesting to know which mode is most useful for various purposes.
  It is obvious that some people have such a different personal perception of reality as to be seemingly out of touch with the world we experience around them. Their self-world image becomes more important than anything, and they adjust their memories and perceptions to meet whatever emotional needs they have at the time [9]. Delusions of personal reality and the high probability that such realities are real for the person experiencing that reality can result in interesting questions about what is real and what is unreal.
  Although the universe may be a seamless whole, most physicists describe it in two different modes, depending on whether things are being observed or not [7]:
  
  
  • A classical, mechanistic mode for the definite attributes of observation, and
  • A statistical, mathematical, quantum mechanical mode for the wave patterns described by quantum mechanics.
  David Bohm has begun to develop new terminology that integrates both the process of observation and quantum theory [1].
  References
  
  
  1. Bohm, David. Wholeness and the Implicate Order, ARK Paperbacks, London, 1983.
  2. Merzbacher, Eugene. Quantum Mechanics, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York, 1967.
  3. Bell, J.S. "On the Problem of Hidden Variables in Quantum Mechanics, Review of Modern Physics 38, 447-452, 1966.
  4. Walker, Evan H. "The Nature of Consciousness," Mathematical Biosciences 7, 1970.
  5. Walker, Evan H. The Complete Quantum Mechanical Anthropologist. U.S. Army Ballistic Research Laboratories, Aberdeen Proving ground, Maryland, presented at the 73rd Annual American Anthropological Association Meeting, Mexico City, November 19-24, 1974.
  6. Walker, Evan H. and Nick Herbert. "Hidden Variables: Where Physics and the Paranormal Meet," Future Science, edited by John White and Stanley Krippner, Anchor books, Garden City, New York, 1977.
  7. Herbert, Nick. "Notes Toward A User's Guide to the Quantum Connection," Psychological Perspectives 38, Jung Institute of Los Angeles, Spring-Summer 1988.
  8. Bohm, David. "Consciousness and Self-Consciousness-A Working Paper," Psychological Perspectives 38, Jung Institute of Los Angeles, Spring-Summer 1988.
  9. Bohm, David. "Beyond Relativity and Quantum Mechanics," Psychological Perspectives 38, Jung Institute of Los Angeles, Spring-Summer 1988.
  10. Bohm, David and Peat, David. Science Order and Creativity, Bantam, 1987.

WebhGround 9 part 2

WebhGround 9 / Part 1

Tomorrow the Moon...

...enters Leo at 8:39 PM EST. Make it with a gregarious (no relation) weekend with proudful pride/clan. Smile, its' yours/ours.

Heard recently that the painter used a male model for this little study. Who da thunk such a thang?!

Mandelbrot Set double spiral

Atlas Shrugged I/We can't afford the luxury of that fantasy.

                                        
                                   Atlas Shrugged   I/We can't afford the luxury of that fantasy.    
                                   7 3/4" x 3 3/4" x 3"    
                                   Beeswax & natural pigment on found brick & mortar
                                   2010


This piece sat on my porch for a couple years as a washed up brick & mortar. Originally it spoke to me as a work of art by nature. Then I began to see images coming out of it. 3 Rising Orbs tickled my fancy for a few months. I brought it inside to my studio and had it on my table to listen more closely. Then I saw Atlas, shrugging, and saying to me we must be with Earth, Gaia. If not, well, we are a shrug away.
This comes comes along with a week of intense yoga shoulder asanas to work/play the shrug out of my shoulders!

just ordered this new book...

http://www.upress.umn.edu/Books/B/boetzkes_ethics.html The Ethics of Earth Art Amanda Boetzkes Table of Contents The ethics of earth art — different approaches to understanding ourselves in relation to the planet.

Analyzing the ethical stance of the earth art movement from the 1960s to the present

Since its inception in the 1960s, the earth art movement has sought to make visible the elusive presence of nature. Though most often associated with monumental land-based sculptures, earth art encompasses a wide range of media, from sculpture, body art performances, and installations to photographic interventions, public protest art, and community projects.

In The Ethics of Earth Art, Amanda Boetzkes analyzes the development of the earth art movement, arguing that such diverse artists as Robert Smithson, Ana Mendieta, James Turrell, Jackie Brookner, Olafur Eliasson, Basia Irland, and Ichi Ikeda are connected through their elucidation of the earth as a domain of ethical concern. Boetzkes contends that in basing their works’ relationship to the natural world on receptivity rather than representation, earth artists take an ethical stance that counters both the instrumental view that seeks to master nature and the Romantic view that posits a return to a mythical state of unencumbered continuity with nature. By incorporating receptive surfaces into their work—film footage of glaring sunlight, an aperture in a chamber that opens to the sky, or a porous armature on which vegetation grows—earth artists articulate the dilemma of representation that nature presents.

Revealing the fundamental difference between the human world and the earth, Boetzkes shows that earth art mediates the sensations of nature while allowing nature itself to remain irreducible to human signification.

Amanda Boetzkes is assistant professor of art and design at the University of Alberta. 

240 pages | 63 b&w photos | 2010

TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments

Introduction: At the Limit of Form

1. Contemporary Art and the Nature of Site

2. Spiral Jetty: Allegory and the Recovery of the Elemental

3. Ecotechnology and the Receptive Surface

4. The Body as Limit

Conclusion: Facing the Earth Ethically

Notes
Index

Book Review: Beyond Green:Toward a Sustainable Art

http://bit.ly/cMM9oa

Beyond Green: Toward a Sustainable Art

Author Spotlight: Stephanie Smith
Reviewed by: Paul Kay

Theme: Arts and Culture

Beyond Green: Toward a Sustainable Art
Curated by Stephanie Smith
Chicago and New York: Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago and Independent Curators International, 2005.

Eco- or earth-art of the last half of the the 20th century often involved massive alterations of the landscape; think of Smithson’s Spiral Jetty, De Maria’s Lightning Field, or Christo and Jeanne- Claude’s Running Fence or The Gates. In Beyond Green, artists who are now approaching mid-life prime explore the implications of sustainability in, and for, art. In addition to the 20-plus pieces described, the book itself and the museum spaces that house the exhibition represent a commitment to “greenness.”

The book, for example, notes its paper is certified by the Forestry Stewardship Council and its inks are soy-based. The entire package – the works, the displays, the book – thus represent the practices of recycling, collaboration and other principles of sustainability. They also demonstrate, in contrast to earlier eco-art, the links between social justice and the practice of sustainability.

The art displayed in Beyond Green is, by turns, practical or playful, metaphorical or critical. A number of works are obviously the creation of art for the sake of provoking an art-based dialogue about sustainability. Dan Peterman’s Excerpts from the Universal Lab travel pods, plexiglas spheres on wheels, contain all manner of cast-off laboratory paraphernalia. It is both amusing and embarrassing to recognize in computer punch cards and tape reels, electronic gear, even a Nikon camera body, the detritus of my own professional career.

Frances Whitehead’s Primary Plus is a collection of commercially available inflatable objects, such as booms used to contain oil spills, that will be returned to the suppliers upon completion of the exhibition. Allora and Calzadilla’s Under Discussion is a video record of the circumnavigation of a small island off Puerto Rico by a man steering an over-turned board-room table fitted with a small outboard engine. It represents the ongoing discussion about the decom- missioning of the island as a naval bombardment practice ground, with the local community often on the outside.

This exhibition also includes a number of (more or less) practical projects. Learning Group’s Collected Material Dwelling is a gazebo-like shelter made from corrugated cardboard, plastic bottles, fabric, rope and other materials, all of which are recycled. Kevin Kaempf utilizes small-business practices to create sustainable interventions for daily life under the People Powered logo. Loop: Multipurpose Coverall comprises cans of recycled paint and Soil Starter is an organza bag of compost. JAM creates stylish Noon Solar shoulder bags, whose solar panels can power small devices such as cell phones. Michael Rakowitz’s paraSITE shelters are uniquely designed for individual street-people. These tent-like lean-tos made of recycled plastic were set up next to buildings so they could capture waste heat.

What makes these works art? Their placement within the artificial confines of a museum imposes an immutability and inutility on them. As many of the pieces are meant to be dynamic or interactive with the world and people’s lives, this stasis leads us to question what they might be telling us about sustainability on the planet.

Two short, but informative essays preface the catalogue. Stephanie Smith and Victor Margolin place the exhibit in the context of explorations of “green” in early eco-art, as well as in other fields, such as design and architecture. Each exhibitor is then highlighted in six to ten pages of curatorial appreciation, mostly high quality photographs and descriptions of the work presented. These descriptions are often in the form of interviews that explore the motivation and intent of the creative process. The usual art detail for each piece, and short biographies of the artists, conclude the work.

Were I not an inveterate reader of the colophon page of books, I probably would have missed seeing the exhibit. On a recent flight to New York City, I read in this book just given to me by Alternatives to review, that the exhibit was on display. If you have the opportunity in 2007, look for it in Massachusetts, Ohio and Indiana; other venues may be added.

But even if you cannot, the book is a strong statement on its own. As art exhibition catalogues go, this one is thorough, readable and superbly reflective of the work. Beyond Green represents an imaginative and at times provocative consideration of the meaning of sustainability and its practice. I plan to reuse my copy for a very long time.

Paul Kay, chair of Environment and Resource Studies at University of Waterloo, enjoys teaching “Nature: Art, Myth, Folklore.”

WebhGround 9

WebhGround 9        16" x 24"       Beeswax & natural pigment on paper

The Hunter's Full Moon...

...is at 29˚ 33" Aries today, 10/22/10, at 7:38 PM. Has your hunting been productive over the last 28 days?

poetry

Today I spotted a male Loon in my back yard, the Atlantic Ocean. It left before I could grab my camera. In a flash. Reminding me to post this poem I wrote a few years ago before migrating south for the winter myself. Now here, I have the migrating Loon to let me know cooler weather is slowly/in a flash moving down the globe with each setting Sun. I will get time to photo the male Loon as he hunts/forages his winter diet and include more on these beautiful ancient creatures migrating story. It remembers us more. In the meantime...

flash, flash

troubles seem so far away,

lifetimes come streaming by.

this moment, recorded in nanoseconds,

in a sparkling flash, flash and back again.

the details of the flash are succinct, so real, and as if days, years, lifetimes,

of that moment

were a living part of its reality.

seldom do I remember such a fall,

the leaves are in full blossom,

a quiet buzz of colors exploding

out of the blue skies.

I crave.

In one sheet of hard, cold

wind and rain

lay the skeletal limbs of

maple, oak, beech, and

horse chestnut

on yellow violet skies.

In a week I’ll fly to the sky

with the geese for warmer grounds,

in a flash.

©Greg Patch 2005

SunRise

                 SunRise                                               ©Greg Patch 2010 

my interview on S.L.A.M. emag by Terrie Lloyd (pics & video included!)

Check out my video on You Tube!

http://bit.ly/9kQvkY or S.L.A.M. emag http://artslammagazine.com/        

                                         

S.L.A.M. F.A.D. #98 Greg Patch – Celebrating Kratophany

by Terri

posted in Everything Art, Fan Art, Featured Artist of the Day, HEALTH, Interviews, Magazine, Painting, Self-Publish, Uncategorized, Videos

Webh Ground 3 © Greg Patch

S.L.A.M.: Greg, your work upon first viewing seems influenced by Eastern Philosophy. And yet when the viewer spends time with a piece or pieces, there is a much deeper process at work here. Would you share with SLAM viewers a little bit about your influences, background?
Greg Patch: You’re right. My work is influenced by Eastern Philosophy. The deeper context is I was raised, educated and have always lived in the US. My first semester at art school was School of Visual Arts in NYC. I was painting large canvas of semi realistic paper bags and the old dial black telephones. It was a short semester. That was the late 60’s; happenings, dropping out and turning on was the path I followed for the next 6 mos. in an illegal living communal warehouse on Greenwich St. SoHo didn’t exist then. The WTC was just being built. The next chapter of my happening lasted 5 – 6 yrs traveling the US.  Working, as a result of Nixon’s first draft lottery, resisting the draft to become labeled as un-trainable by the U.S. Army, as a manager at an organic juicery/food center in Tucson, AZ, a cowboy in Steamboat Springs, CO, a house painter, warehouser, office clerk, janitor, and a fine woodworker, etc. I returned to art school in the mid 70’s in Utica, NY. That was the MWP School of Art. Its’ short lived experimental curriculum was based on the Chicago Bauhaus and the Black Mountain School of the 30’s and 40’s. I finished my BFA/Painting at SUNY/New Paltz in 1980. The most repeated criticism I received at New Paltz was I focused on too many styles and influences. For the faculty that was a negative, I didn’t see it that way. lol I had the good fortune to apprentice with corten steel sculptor Willard Boepple at the Utica Boat Works and Bob Schuler in High Falls, NY on his Tethys Project. A short enroll with grad school ended with “why spend money that I don’t have access to on an environment I don’t want to be in”. I’ve worked/studied Traditional Medical Herbalism, Humanistic Astrology and co-operative living for 30 years. I was gifted with two co-created daughters at home, grown women now, a 1 year old home birth grandson and a great friend that I helped her Mom raise from 13 years old.

Chakra 2 Rising Wave © Greg Patch

S.L.A.M.: In reading about your (multiple) Chakra series there is a focus on the space between the various Chakras themselves. A place where the energy merges, or exchanges in or as waves. There is a Chinese term and pictogram, “hsiang sheng.” It’s a term reflecting the relationship between yin and yang, the mutual arising or inseparability. (It should be stated with respect to the idea that these are principles and not necessarily men or women.) 
Relationship and resonance are two words that come to mind here. Not just our relationships with each other but within ourselves individually as well as upon the earth or within nature at large and individually. Is this something you would like your audience to take away from your work?
Greg Patch: Yes it is. Embarking, and along the way to that recognition to enjoy the color/form/line/texture/surface and the vibrations received by our senses. It’s the journey, not a destination necessarily. I see everything as interrelated and that interrelation is what feeds me in waves like breakfast, lunch and dinner being seen as the rhythm, or structure, with liveliness in between. If there is one message it is all messages. What is within is without/what is without is within, the microcosm is the macrocosm / the macrocosm is the microcosm, the infinite negative is the infinite positive / the infinite positive is the infinite negative, darkness is lightness / lightness is darkness. When I can accept these realizations a balance, calmness, or nurturing occurs for me. By caretaking the wholey vessel of self/earth/universe we caretake all that is. You are one. We are one. Us is them. They are us. It is Western. it is Eastern. It is one. It’s a celebration.

Breaking White Wave © Greg Patch

S.L.A.M.: You’ve stated that “there is a quantum moment within a process when these merged perspectives (principles?) bring forth the world in its totality.” But this isn’t merely about what we see, is it? It’s also about your individual process as well, is it not? One is prompted to ask, where does Greg go when he’s in process?
Infinity is a pattern in your work. Not necessarily the symbol, but as maybe a current or energy and even in how manifests in what seems to be every day sorts of events, like your sports/basketball drawings. Would you speak to us about this?
Greg Patch: When I’m thinking consciously it could be design dialogue, or, “orange/blue feels good”, “where is that going!” or, “what’s for lunch?” I enjoy allowing the unconscious, or the collective unconscious, or dynamic self, or being in the now or whatever to speak. Later I/viewer may note a bird, or an African woman running along a path, trees and mountains will become waves or letters/symbols may emerge. The meaning may be it’s an African woman running or is it a release of a cellular memory. Where did our cultural symbols come from, where are they going? We can pull a stone from a stream and the letters HU are in the stone. No one wrote or etched it. It’s there, formed when the stone was liquid. Some call it a synchronistic experience. I look at as being aware of what is a great truth in our universe. It occurs constantly. We as humans have borrowed and reflect our symbols from the nature we live in, stones, clouds, the patterns of a flower or the surface of the seas and oceans. They are from our ancient mythologies, our personal life memories, our DNA, the Earth’s memory. We are nature-nature is us-we are nature-…, spiraling and stringing along as one. Infinity is fascinating! Infinity exists in and beyond the micro and the macro, at the point where yin and yang merge. That is a huge play/workground! It was amazing for me when I real eyesed what the basketball drawings were showing me. Try to envision all of our activities from that perspective! Why and what patterns do birds make when they migrate. An amusing curiosity for me for the past several years is the word nomad. We tend to take things, nature, words and symbols for granted. Where do they come from, how did/do they derive, who are we, where are we/they going? For me the answer to the question “how many dimensions are there?” is “a one that includes all.”

Basketball Double Helix 1 © Greg Patch

S.L.A.M.: There is a great word that you used on your blog, kratophany. It is the best word to describe your work and your words, your thoughts as reflected on the blog. You are perhaps a cartographer of kratophany, to wax a philosophical pun. Do you see us as a society that has lost the ability to recognize this kratophany in our world, our way of life? Are there any solutions to this state of being?
Greg Patch: Kratophany describes a sacred response to an occurrence, a place, or with self. A word describing the experience that is beyond words. The body/mind hums in response to the experience. For me everything that is can be a kratophany if we allow ourselves to be there. I’m not a religious person, per se, but attempt to accept and act on my being a sacred being. Even as my attempts sometimes prevent the experience. lol I try to be amused by the situation to ease my frustration with the human experience of it.
S.L.A.M.: There is an uncompromising value of yours when it comes to the products you use to generating your work. You use colorfast beeswax colors, Khadi paper, Lokta, and the like. Would you share with SLAM readers why this is important to the work, to you personally, and for other artists?
Greg Patch: I can’t speak for other artists, that’s their reality. I’m learning to be uncompromising within to assure I enjoy an aware quality in relationship with other. I was told, and heeded, in the early 80’s that my poor health condition was a result of the materials in my personal environment. Our environment is a mess whether we accept the idea of climate change or not. My early life was in a small college town in Maine. When I wasn’t in school or playing sports I was in the woods, in a lake, pond or stream, or sitting in a field eating wild strawberries. Water was clear without being treated to be and it was alive with whole nourishment. When we align to that process instead of making it happen then the process occurs and we find ourselves there. It is appearing as a species we have gone beyond our means environmentally, physically, economically, etc. We assumed the possibility our means would expand with our theories. We have bodies that don’t exist on theories of economics, religions, philosophies, etc. alone.
My latest works, the Webh/Ground series is my exploring the existence of a pattern and structure that we live within. Webh is the Proto Indo-European root word for web, weave and wave. We could call that structure what is that makes all things one. When that structure breaks destruction occurs. It doesn’t take a scientist to figure out our need to restructure. Physical, mental and spiritual infrastructures need to be mended as we realize our world as globally one. The medium I work is fragile. It challenges my and viewers concepts of permanence, value and loss. Realizing, accepting and acting upon that is essential to what I am portraying. The challenge for me/us is to reassure the fear held by self/others of that experience. That the we are the them, the they are the us can be a kratography we are experiencing. There’s an initial reaction to imbalance. It can be fear, freezing or retreating back to the old way, that on the way to the imbalance created the problem we face. That kind of reaction is atypically deadly. Healing imbalances show us stages of evolving toward balance/harmony. First comes recognizing and accepting, then understanding, then resolving. Brain scientists are publishing studies now that show lifestyle is an addictive behavior. We all have addictions. It’s sensible to me to imbibe in healing addictions. Its hard work and sometimes hopeless feeling. However, its apocalyptic and irresponsible to not prepare and support life for future generations. I’d like to practice at a brighter, more optimistic vision for them.

Infinity © Greg Patch

S.L.A.M.: You’ve stated on your blog that “we shouldn’t be… asking artists to make art about climate.” This is an interesting stance to take. Especially since many people are reacting about the environment in this exact manner– “There’s another disaster! Quick! React! Make a painting!” –rather than stepping back and looking deeper, maybe toward causation and participation in these exact things. Would you share with us your take on this?
Greg Patch: Lol, yeah, the old hot potato game combined with “should of”. That sounds to me like a treacherous slope downward, or sideways! I quoted that phrase because I feel that way. It doesn’t make sense to me to continue using the toxic materials that helped create the problem. We know that arsenic, lead, cadmium, chromium, preservatives, fungicides, PCBs, petroleum products, acrylics, plastics, etc. kill living organisms, like humans. Why perpetuate the problem by masking them with beautiful artwork in the name of environmental awareness?

Webh Celebration © Greg Patch

S.L.A.M.: What can SLAM readers look forward to from you?
Greg Patch: Look for the completed WebhGrund 9 on my blog later in the week.
Continue in my learning and sharing the art of visual arts and healing. Am in the process of purchasing non toxic dry pigments, local beeswax and exploring the multi-dimensional. And continue doing healing work in progress. It’ll be transitional, isn’t it always!, so I’ll leave you with no major predictions.
S.L.A.M.: Where can readers go to find out more about you and your work?

www.gregpatch.blogspot.com

www.greenartstudio.com

Crude Awakening, June 2010 - Jane Fulton Alt

Connect to Jane Fulton Alt's You Tube video "Crude Awakening"
on her web page http://bit.ly/aV7eTd

"Living on the shores of Lake Michigan, I am acutely aware of the disastrous toll the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has taken on all forms of life, especially as our beaches opened to the 2010 swimming season. This environmental, social and economic catastrophe highlights a much larger problem that has inflicted untold suffering as we exploit the earth’s resources worldwide. 

We are all responsible for leading lives that create demand for unsustainable energy.
We are also all responsible for the solution and we must work together to protect the balance of life." - Jane Fulton Alt

10 Great Ways to Market Art & Develop Your Brand

http://bit.ly/cVR0fL

10 Great Ways to Market Art & Develop Your Brand

OCTOBER 11, 2010 BY LORI MCNEE 

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Artists need to take charge of their art careers now more than ever. Nowadays, being a successful artist also includes being a savvy business person as well as a talented and creative producer of your craft. In this guest article, John R. Math shares this great list of ways that you can market art and develop your brand.  This list of suggestions is forever changing as technology and the public’s tastes shift. It is in no particular order of importance. I hope you find this useful! ~Lori

10 Great Ways to Market Your Art and Develop Your Brand:

1. Website/blog: This is now a major branding medium. In past years, a website was thought to be something that you did along with your advertising. It now is just as important and has become a major portal and link for the artist and the public. As the lines between TV and internet become blurred, websites will become an even more important part of an artist’s marketing and branding. wordpress.org www.godaddy.com www.webdogservices.com

2. Article marketing: This is a huge source of traffic for an artist’s website and if done consistently well over time will brand the artist as an expert in their field as someone who is reliable and trustworthy. There are at least 5 top article sites that provide expert information and source materials to the public. It is up to the artist to take advantage of article sites in order to promote their brand. These articles that are written can also be used in the artist’s website and blog. www.ezinearticles.com www.articlesbase.com www.selfgrowth.com

3. Slide registries: These registries offer artists with free databases to register and upload their art work. These sites also allow the artists to post their artist statement, resume, email address and a link to their website. An artist should get on as many registries as possible as it not only provides more exposure, but it creates more traffic to their website and creates back links to their website as well. The major search engines count back links as part of their page ranking process, which is another reason for an artist to get on a lot of registries. www.myartspace.com www.artistsregister.com www.bluecanvas.com

4. Online press releases: This offers an artist a way in which they can promote their events, openings and other promotions. Most press release websites include links back to the artist’s website, along with a biography section. They also offer guides on how to write and form a press release too. Search engines pick up these press releases very quickly and they become a major source of the artist’s brand. www.prlog.org www.pressreleasepoint.com www.dbusinessnews.com

5. Social networking: These sites have now been proven to be an effective means of promoting your brand, building contacts and announcing events. The better known websites are Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin. There are a hundred more and new ones being formed each day. Stick with the largest and the most popular social networking websites that contain your target niche market. For art and art related issues and themes, Facebook is right now the best for this endeavor. Most of what is being suggested in this article can be promoted on these sites too. www.linkedin.com www.twitter.com www.facebook.com

6. Email marketing: This is a growing medium that will become more and more important to the artist in promoting their brand. There are websites and programs available online for artist’s to have a third party administer their email campaigns. An artist should continually be soliciting for email addresses and making that a major part of their branding process. Artist events, openings and promotions can be a part of the email campaign. Emailing reprints of press releases is another way an artist can stay engaged with their customers. www.constantcontact.com www.verticalresponse.com www.icontact.com

7. Video Marketing: Video has become another medium for an artist to present their work and expertise on the internet. Think of it as a small ad, a visual article or promotional piece. The better and more professional the spot, the more it reinforces the artist’s brand. Again, they provide for a profile section and links back to the artist’s website and also will be picked up on the major search engines. www.youtube.com www.vimeo.com www.video.yahoo.com

8. Webinars: These are now a growing field that artists and other professionals can promote their brand and their expertise. It is much like YouTube but is an exclusive format and the artist’s followers are invited to attend this event. Many people charge for this too. I believe that it should be used as a promotional tool, as means to keep the target market informed and engaged with the artist. www.gotomeeting.com www.web-conferencing-zone.com www.web-conferencing-central.com

9. Forums: These discussions provide an artist with the opportunity to help their brand, while promoting their artwork and their website/blog.  Another form of social networking as the artist is coming in contact with similar people, with the same interests. The same common sense rules apply to the forums, as whatever a person writes in a forum will be online forever! www.linkism.com/artist_resources/art-forums www.big-boards.com/kw/art www.messages.yahoo.com/yahoo/Entertainment

10. Viral Magazines: This is a new way for artists to promote their artwork in a very upscale manner. There are several sites that now provide this low cost service. Since there is a cost to publishing an online magazine, the artist could pay for this as a promotional tool for their prospects and customers. www.issuu.com www.openzine.com www.magcloud.com

*****

John R. Math is the director and operator of the Light Space & Time – Online Art Gallery, Art Marketing Secrets Websites, and Art Marketing Strategies. John is also a successful art photographer.

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FILED UNDER: BUSINESS & MARKETING TIPS, GENERAL, GUEST ARTICLES, SOCIAL MEDIA & MARKETING TAGGED WITH: ART MARKETING TIPS FOR ARTISTS, BRANDING TIPS FOR ARTISTS, TOP WAYS TO MARKET YOUR ART, VIDEO ART MARKETING

About Lori McNee
Lori McNee is an internationally recognized professional artist who specializes in still life and landscape oil paintings. Lori shares valuable fine art tips, art business tips and social media advice on her blog. Currently, Lori ranks as one of the Top 100 Most Powerful Women on Twitter & was named a TwitterPowerhouse by The Huffington Post.