A space to discover what the Source Arts have to offer and teach. As a Source Artist I will post and explore the conceptual and development process of the Cultural Fusion art series and the socially purposeful art movement. My primary interest is in advancing art based research to illuminate new opportunities and valuable insights.
Today is a good day so I am not feeling like the woman in the picture above at the moment, but I have been there. Being a change agent is part choice and part obsession. The commitment has been a choice for me, but the drive to part of leading change has been a life long obsession - it is a core part of who I am. I honestly can't say I know how to be anything other than who/what I am and I wouldn't be happy being otherwise.
Now having said that, let me confess something to you - it can be exhausting, not just for me but for people around me. That's because I eat, sleep and breath Art Based research (Cultural Fusion Art as Philosophy) and Community Change Management. I talk about it, I read about it, I dream about it...
But life work balance is something we all have to pay attention to if we want to avoid burn out. Before I embraced this reality, I experienced burn out when I was working as a community development consultant. The main reason was that my obsession was tainted by persistent frustration. For me the solution was to break free of the community development box, although I am still very much concerned with community development I found that sphere as a sector to be very resistant to change because of its entanglement with politics.
Coming back to my first true love, art was healing for me. Developing Cultural Fusion as an A/r/tographic model for community change answered a call from my soul - it expresses my deepest calling to serve and create. It puts me pack in touch with the way of being that I find is most conducive to supporting those interested in and willing to change.
Re-Thinking the Way We Think About Social Impacts
People who know me are aware that I have been exploring linkages between CRM (customer relationship management) Strategy and CSR (corporate social responsibility) programs for a number of years. Mostly I have met with a good deal of frustration but I’ve come to far to give up now, so when I find enlightening or encouraging news it helps put the wind back in my sails. Lately my attention has been on programs to assist survivors of violence but I also remain engaged in crime prevention and reducing recidivism of ex-offenders.
Recently I was introduced to Social Impact Bonds and it is definitely an encouraging step in the right direction. The paper I am going to link you to shows how the model can be applied to reducing recidivism and government spending. What is inspiring here is the financial investment model – certainly helps address parts of the problem, risk management for socially motivated investments. What they’ve done right….There is no doubt that employment and community support are huge issues in reducing recidivism. In addition to the model discussed in that paper, there is also a need and space for broader understanding based on open research (such as Art Based research) and event sponsorship funding models are worth considering as a less restrictive alternative. Is there an opportunity here for new approaches that tackle multiple dimensions of the problem to be explored and developed? I find that what is missing is support of innovation whereby there is space for discovery and open participation of those impacted. Read the rest of this post here
Just as advertising in its modern incarnations have been summoned by the needs of business as usual...I wonder what remains to be discovered to serve the needs of newly defined contexts of social enterprise and the commons. I think the concept of interactive public art that can be accessed in private spaces a paradox worthy of some Attention.
Recently a friend of mine shared with me that he has found the love of his life using an online service. While we were hanging out one evening, observing the way text messaging technology has allowed them to nurture this emotional bond, I thought of all the ney-sayers of fifteen years ago who warned that email was destroying the human connection.
What many people failed to consider was the ways that we would be changed by this new technology. Technology is not a wall to be scaled it has been transformed into an enabler. One of my early Attention experiments was about using music to consciously share Attention...it raised more questions.
This had me thinking about the way perception of the computer voice has been humanized...for example, think of what that computer voice means when it is communicating with or for someone for whom that door would have previously been closed? The man who could not speak to those closest to him without the computer enabled voice that converts his text to speech. In that kind of context the computer voice takes on an unfamiliar intimacy.
For this video project (it may be the first of a series of them) are interested in exploring how to make sense of this paradox - how to make it practical while at the same time going into the artistic inquiry rabbit hole.
Obsessed With Being Practical
Interesting that I chose something like article marketing to play around with since it does related to the Cosmic Tree Memorial Art series and the memorial art planter business. After pondering some of the market research findings - namely the strong appeal of the memorial art concept for pets.
Using an article I done to increase traffic to http://memorial-planters.com/new to create the first audio track for the video "Not All Memorial Planters Are Created Equal". Next to interject supportive content for a contrasting experience I am adding an instrumental track for "My Heart Will Go On". I am definitely using some text from the article in the visuals with the memorial planter header as the static background...
It should be interesting...certainly it is an interesting experiment to think and work through.
If you are researching funeral services, funeral alternatives or custom cremation keepsakes, how happy you are with the result options will depend upon your reason for looking.
Customers, can I have your attention please?
Yes, I'm talking to you.
If you are doing research as a customer you may be looking for:
Immediate help that you don't have to think too much about - a death care package
Service or product solution that meet your requirement for thoughtful traditional death care service according to what you and your guest expect
Personalization of the expected - including attention to budget management
Personalization that is ecological and open to fluid expression
Primarily budget conscious alternatives
Most of the options you will find are very conservative and formal. Certainly there is nothing wrong with that; it serves those who want it.
On the upside you will find the number of providers offering green services has increased substantially as ten years ago virtually nothing of the sort existed as a personalization option. Of course, this is still a vague term since what that means seems to vary from one context to another. The difference now is that you as a customer, are empowered to direct "green standards" through your spending choices and provider selection.
Now what if the service experience you want is what most people would consider a bit exotic or unusual?
When I was researching for my father's memorial service, I knew I needed an experience that felt authentic. That meant it needed to express the specificity of our father - daughter relationship. And this is how the funeral alternatives industry emerged. They provide a customized service, often at lower costs, that do not sneer at creative expression as part of the memorializing experience.
Our connections to deceased loved ones are unique, sometimes complicated and loving but always personally specific so ultimately that is what you are probably really looking to express through the service or custom cremation keepsake you select.
"For decades, the cremation rate in the United States was less than 4%... in 2000 nearly 25% of the deceased were cremated; and in 2006, the cremation rate was projected to be 33.53%. As a result, the market for traditional funerals with traditional caskets has actually declined and in 2007, CFSA estimates that about 1,729,500 of 2,380,926 deaths resulted in the use of a traditional casket." the Casket & Funeral Supply Association of America reports.
As cremation rates have seen increased - it was being driven by more subtle social shifts. One being more value being placed on creative attributes in funeral alternative services, cremation keepsake and cremation urn alternatives. Instead of "put your name here" personalization, new product trends emphasize a more authentic personalization product experience. As these type of customer need grow, simultaneously death care providers are struggling to figure out how to respond with less access to monetary capital and limited staff resources.
These products may not be as easy for a customer to find, but they are worth the effort of digging a few pages deeper in search results to discover. There are also tools like the funeral alternatives and crematory directory listings where you can find growing resources being developed to address these gaps in information connections. Unlike old gate-keeper models that control customer access to information, Look for resources developing free to access services such as validated listings where contact information has been verified and confirmed. When you have a unique concept for what you want, the way you want to remember your loved one - whether it was a family member, a pet, or a friend you have every right to find help getting what you want.
Yvette Dubel is an artist, researcher and community change management consultant. She specializes in innovation, art based solutions, social capital, social responsibility, meaningful marketing, customer retention program development and seeing the connections between the seemingly unconnected. Dubel the artist+ founding-partner in SoulFood Studio originator of the #1 Original Memorial Art Planter from the Cosmic Tree Memorial Art Series http://memorial-planters.com/new. The co-founder of Cultural Fusion Art as Philosophy Series & Research Project, and you can read her Community Change Management blog at http://webantiphon.com
The recent state supported season of commemorations for the American civil war have been unexpectedly soul stirring. It forces me to take notice of the uncomfortable space that Acceptance calls on one to occupy.
Artist: Yvette Dubel, 'Project:Forgive postcard3', paper collage and digital media. Photo: Y. Dubel.Courtesy: SoulFood Studio.Postcard 3 from Project:Forgive - a global call for attention to forgiveness as a path forward. Open invitation to the public to contribute and expand the project.
In response to an editorial piece by the director of the Fairfield County Museum, who has inspired other works in this series going back to "what is peace?" genesis of http://ProjectForgive.org , that was published on The State newspaper website - in reply, I posted the following comment:
Can we agree that a terrorist is a radical who employs terror as a political weapon; usually organizes with other terrorists in small cells? In the context of the civil war - that seems to fit the confederates.
The bottom line is that many are calling for us to celebrate Domestic Terrorism. Was Lincoln's response that different from Bush's response to contemporary terrorism? It seems that the national policy has been pretty consistent in dealing with that kind of activity, so I repeat the question being asked by many who have not posted here - "what is there to celebrate?" A terrorist is a terrorist. Whether born here or elsewhere, actions define a life and that is the legacy they leave for their descendants...as well as, in many cases, wealth built on the backs of slaves.
I also know Pelham and wonder how as a fellow student of history the obvious can be so grievously overlooked? But that also helps to explain a great deal about why things are as they are - and would ask you to consider the role of the history museum in being a place to continue dialogues about histories lessons versus enshrining the south's past with its corresponding prevalent mindsets. For example, The Oral History Project and similar exhibitions at the museum in Fairfield was an encouraging step in the right direction of increasing inclusion and the diversity of perspectives on history - very good for opening dialogues that could move the community forward. Instead, such projects have been shut down and gotten menial support at best - while fund-raising to preserve more destructive elements of our historical past have gotten full attention and considerably more funding support.
The rationale for what the confederates did - and those who think it is something worthy of celebration is every bit as logical as our modern day terrorist and their supporters.
I wonder if there will be a call for non-accusatory remembrances of September 11th in a couple hundred years? Will there be a call for the descents of those victims to be understanding of the rationalization for the terrorists crimes? How does that attack that lasted a single day compare with this one that lasted four years?
Perhaps a more constructive way of acknowledging this part of history would be to focus on Forgiveness - where to forgive is to give up hope of a better past. If anyone is interested in continuing THIS dialogue I invite you to contact me and join me in ProjectForgive.org I am in the process of developing art and events focused on bringing people together to explore the reality and context of Forgiveness - it is the healing salve we need to strengthen our communities and families. Perhaps this time of recognition for the civil war could be a chance to explore its legacy and maybe - just maybe we can increase the peace.
Someone else mentioned a candle light vigil, which is a good place to start because each person can remember who they choose and honor lives lost - I'd be up for that...
Today, as is every day really, an opportunity to appreciate life and to keep squabbles in perspective ( http://ProjectForgive.org ) .
As much as some things stir my interest in protest art, there is also the interest in its alternative. Artist4theHomeless.org started as a student blog and has grown into an inspiring vision for a non-profit community organization. It embodies the new community organization that has learned to use global reach (social media, information and communication technology) to empower knowledge sharing and social marketing (increase awareness of perspectives from the homeless community) using institutional styled models.
In contrast to the conceptual resistance is organic beauty - natural wonder...and the wonder that is creative inspiration.
Since I missed posting this on the Winter Solstice let's imagine this is posted simultaneously now and Dec. 21, 2010. This is actually the Holiday - Winter Solstice post since I feel a need to look for all that there is good to appreciate as part of a personal cycle.
In the Northern Hemisphere, the gloomy winter solstice has been responsible for many symbols, ancient myths and religious beliefs over millennia.
In ancient Rome, the winter solstice was celebrated at the feast of Saturnalia, while in pre-christian Britain, the end of December centered around the pagan Yule log in a fiery display to melt the heart of a cold and dreary winter.
Today, a similar response to winter doldrums is the celebration of Christmas by many cultures around the world complete with twinkling lights, holiday feasts & lively festivals.
This Christmas season has me wondering about the disconnect between expressed ideals and the created reality. Even as I observe this in myself I see how it frames the questions of interest...and the work it inspires in this series. [converging research interests - Cultural Fusion Art as Philosophy:evolution of oral traditions, art based research: cultural vocabulary, A/r/tographic community change research model, Prallaxic Praxis:Touchstones Learning, Public Art a Public Service in development of open source solutions]
Living History and Pubic Protest Art
My Aunt and Uncle were among those who showed up to protest the gala event attended by director to whom my questions about the Fairfield County Museum were addressed in my comment post at the end of this blog entry. Reports I heard said the protest attendance was a bit higher at around 250 no need to split hairs over that. Protesters using and gala attendees alike were using theatrical cultural references to demonstrate political revelation in public performance.
Picture below includes director of Fairfield County Museum mentioned in conclusion of this post.
"Inside the hall, 200-odd guests, all white and some in period costume, gathered on Tuesday to see a re-enactment of the signing of the secession document. When it was over, they instinctively joined the cast in singing the anthem of the South, Dixie, before dinner and dancing.
Outside, a racially mixed crowd of about 100 held electric candles aloft at dusk to begin a protest march through downtown Charleston, singing the songs of Selma and Montgomery, including We Shall Overcome. Each camp thus indulged in their forms of theatre before taking to their beds."
..."The South lost the war but they really won it, because they continue to say the war was not about slavery, which is not true of course," argued Blain Roberts, an assistant professor of history at California State University, who attended the Secession Gala to conduct research for a book. "They won the memory of the war, at least."
But the United States is only at the beginning of a four-year stretch of events to commemorate the Civil War, which will peak with the anniversary in November 2013 of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address."
Identifying sources in Cultural Vocabulary
Of the articles I found about the specific even that provide the emotional energy culmination for this post - It would be this one from a New Zealand news site that seems to best express the heart of the matter while conveying specifics of conflict and finally, why it is relevant today.
"I am a proud American and I wouldn't want our country to go through that again," Bill Norris, 60, a maker of banking machinery and gala guest, said. Yet, he wonders, what if the Confederacy had won?
"A part of me does regret it didn't happen," he said. "I believe at some point in dividing the country. We would be better able to govern ourselves in smaller groups. Why should New Yorkers be able to influence government in South Carolina?"
Defining Multiple Contexts
While I do not argue the need for the American Civil War to be acknowledged as part of our national history, I do find some predominate interpretations to be problematic. I find it hard to ignore the obvious question when people want to celebrate the confederacy. What would it mean for the nation today IF the Federal government had not preserved the union? Is it possible to make it a side issue a core principle and reality being denied by the confederacy was the freedom of my ancestors - the right to belong to themselves. As a matter of function of the humanities to serve the public, the history museum as a resource for the commons, must be acknowledged as an institutional authority where programmatic successes are concerned.
Since a predominate intention of this work is to use these ideas and feelings to advance the art work as inquiry and discovery I continue to use this blog to talk to you about its progress.
The piece shown to the left is a mixed media painting "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree."
"The dancing was interrupted only once when a plastic oak tree draped with fake Spanish moss toppled over after being sideswiped by a damsel who had briefly forgotten how impractical those old-fashioned skirts were.
Givens found all the questions about slavery pesky. "We are not celebrating that and this is not malicious," he said. "It's about honouring our forefathers for their tenacity. It's about the bravery and courage of our ancestors.
"Can you not be selective about what you are nostalgic about?"
On hand to galvanise the protesters was a local clergyman, the Rev Nelson Rivers. "If Japanese Americans chose to celebrate Pearl Harbour this way it would be outrageous and would not be allowed to occur and that is what is happening here tonight," he said into a megaphone.
Tangee Rice, 57, an African American woman, drove 190km to the march and was wearing the same hat her grandfather had worn marching with Martin Luther King. "The Confederacy is not something to celebrate," she said. "It's just not right." About those re-enacting the start of the Civil War, she said: "They still haven't grown out of it, and it's really sad."
Understanding the contexts of questions and conclusions has pushed me to hold ProjectForgive.org in view. I want to side step the issue of blame without giving up the opportunity to present questions about how what is relates to what has been.
I was not happy when Webb Introduced Bill to Establish Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission but at the same time that I contemplate the political revelations, I ponder the apple as a persistent image with cultural significance. This piece marks precisely, an element in the cultural vocabulary that my work has been exploring with inclusion of feminist art inquiry.
Most who attended the recent ball as part of these "festivities" reenacting the state's secession ball in Charleston, S.C. are clearly marking a different set of touchstones in association with the Civil War and its southern legacy from those conjured by "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree".
Feminist art undertones
Issues of race and gender have commanded attention as part of articulating identity and deciphering national identity in a global tribe. Images that came to me when working on Surviving the South piece are reemerging in another work in process. I am preparing to cut or rip this one, still untitled, into pieces that will be applied to a found object with a sense of history - looking back, but redefined in this new context.
In response to an editorial piece by the director of the Fairfield County Museum, who has inspired other works in this series going back to "what is peace?" genesis of ProjecForgive.org , that was published in The State newspaper website I posted the following comment:
Can we agree that a terrorist is a radical who employs terror as a political weapon; usually organizes with other terrorists in small cells? In the context of the civil war - that seems to fit the confederates.
The bottom line is that many are calling for us to celebrate Domestic Terrorism. Was Lincoln's response that different from Bush's response to contemporary terrorism? It seems that the national policy has been pretty consistent in dealing with that kind of activity, so I repeat the question being asked by many who have not posted here - "what is there to celebrate?" A terrorist is a terrorist. Whether born here or elsewhere, actions define a life and that is the legacy they leave for their descendants...as well as, in many cases, wealth built on the backs of slaves.
I also know Pelham and wonder how as a fellow student of history the obvious can be so grievously overlooked? But that also helps to explain a great deal about why things are as they are - and would ask you to consider the role of the history museum in being a place to continue dialogues about histories lessons versus enshrining the south's past with its corresponding prevalent mindsets. For example, The Oral History Project and similar exhibitions at the museum in Fairfield was an encouraging step in the right direction of increasing inclusion and the diversity of perspectives on history - very good for opening dialogues that could move the community forward. Instead, such projects have been shut down and gotten menial support at best - while fund-raising to preserve more destructive elements of our historical past have gotten full attention and considerably more funding support.
The rationale for what the confederates did - and those who think it is something worthy of celebration is every bit as logical as our modern day terrorist and their supporters.
I wonder if there will be a call for non-accusatory remembrances of September 11th in a couple hundred years? Will there be a call for the descents of those victims to be understanding of the rationalization for the terrorists crimes? How does that attack that lasted a single day compare with this one that lasted four years?
Perhaps a more constructive way of acknowledging this part of history would be to focus on Forgiveness - where to forgive is to give up hope of a better past. If anyone is interested in continuing THIS dialogue I invite you to contact me and join me in ProjectForgive.org I am in the process of developing art and events focused on bringing people together to explore the reality and context of Forgiveness - it is the healing salve we need to strengthen our communities and families. Perhaps this time of recognition for the civil war could be a chance to explore its legacy and maybe - just maybe we can increase the peace.
Someone else mentioned a candle light vigil, which is a good place to start because each person can remember who they choose and honor lives lost - I'd be up for that...
I was all excited about posting this update, but then I realized the flash drive with the photo I wanted use is MIA. OMG!!! I am just hoping and praying that one of the dogs doesn't find it before I do.
I didn't plan to turn this blog into my confession but....
While I am committed to advancing peace with my work, especially via Cultural Fusion, I see as part of that process that I have face my own contradictions. When my father died I was was charged with making the calls to his friends. One fellow, he said they were best friends - stands out in my memory because I had to bite my tongue. I still wonder exactly why he said what he said to me just before I ended the call.
"You know your Daddy and I agreed about a lot of things. One of them was that each race should stick to their own. Whites should marry whites and blacks marry blacks."
I didn't ask him why he was telling me this, but I wondered if my Dad had talked to him about me and my husband. Had my father told him how he felt about not being invited to our wedding?
Again I am reminded of how I was inspired to do the TimeLine...the seed of inspiration was found in my heart reaction to the fact that it took twenty-one years for our surviving parents to meet. And although this was not a matter of distance or anything that might make sense, within certain circles of the family, people like to pretend this means nothing and it just happened that way. Only when I started working on this piece did I finally get honest with myself about how I really felt about it all. At the end of the day I believe it is all connected and this will help me become a better person and a better artist.
Evolution in Feminist Art
Working on my feminist art essay over the weekend I realized why the TimeLine installation has struck deep resonating chord that harkens back to the start of Cultural Fusion. That is because it points again to the project and question "what is peace?" that officially got Cultural Fusion Art as Philosophy underway.
In working on the essay I was reminded of how the expected dialogue about the divides is like a dog chasing its tail. A great deal of energy is conserved for better use by realizing the source of the tail in motion which is being chased.
My friend and co-founder in Cultural Fusion reminded me of something quite significant about resistance. That resistance is the fuel for change. For example, by resisting the status quo of the day the Civil Rights Movement was able to encourage change within the system it was resisting.
I see the same issue arising in my contemplation about feminism and feminist art in contrast to black feminist and humanitarianism. While realizing that the feminist movements most noticeable contribution to the south has been legal and policy changes on domestic violence and violence against women, it was the civil rights, diversity and affirmative action policies that had/have the most significant impact on the lives of women of color.
I believe that is because of these underlying realities that resulted in most feminist art's failure to speak to audiences of marginalized people not systemically embraced by mainstream feminism. In addition, the dominate culture of the south has not been conducive to the messages espoused in the most accessible feminist art. One reason is that it contradicts many of the patriarchal assumptions that prevail in the bible-belt.
The breakthrough afforded by the TimeLine project has been that my understanding of proximity of ideas in a given space has taken on an unexpected depth. In this piece I am exploring, among other things, how I can personally co-exist with people I support and those I not only disagree with but actively resist.
While on my trip in S.C. a couple of weeks ago I was confronted again with exchanging pleasantries with people I know are active supporters of the old confederacy and carrying its legacy forward. To my mind these people are terrorists and terrorist supporters but that thinking does not help me in my mission of peace building.
With "what is peace?" I began defining the foundation of Cultural Fusion as an art series. Rather than labeling as right or wrong - through TimeLine I am endeavoring to engage increasing numbers of people in contributing to my understanding of the connection between personal and public history. It is my hope that the piece and the interactivity that takes shape will help more of us to understand how the personal creates the public and how the way one life is lived impacts others. History cast a shadow on the present and creates the foundation for the future. If we don't make sense of our history then we carry that confusion, anger, hatred, and denial into the future. Peace through Art is definitely a possibility for the individual but how do we expand that to include the world?
That is part of the history, the history of love, peace and progress - to be included in the TimeLine art piece....noting that it does not exist in isolation.
I will be inviting a few of my friends to join the TimeLine Group to begin contributing events in the next week or so, if you would like to be invited as well please let me know.
