ARTIST INTERVIEW: JAMIE MCHUGH (or finding my path)

I just came back from my interview with Jamie and am still touched deeply by synchronicity, or my inner instinct which chose him. Before I continue, this is his website:
www.somaticexpression.com

I don't even quite remember why I picked him. I'd come across his name several times: he teaches at the Tamalpa Institute, is a fine art photographer, and he even sometimes teaches at JFK.

He combines pretty much everything I am interested in. This is a very big statement, but I mean it. He does combine:
meditation/mindfulness practice
performance
somatics
healing trauma
visual arts
buddhist principles, such as detachment
being present in the moment
sensuality/eroticism as a way of being present and in dialogue with the world
being present in nature

Do I need to say more?

I will, but right now it is late and I will go to sleep...

Artist Date #2: STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN

My second artist date was going to the Oakland Art Murmur last night with Kenna. I hadn't really connected with the artist community outside of JFKU for a while and I felt that would really nurture my sweet little artist self. It sort of did. One thing it did for me was make me happy to be at JFKU: the art I saw was mainly edgy and most of it really didn't touch me on a deeper level (some did though). What happened to beauty and soul and heart??? Most people I saw were the sort of in-crowd, stylish, edgy people, whose looks scream at you: I am different! I am an artist! I am intense! But their art just didn't do it for me. I WANT to be touched by the art I see, I want it to inspire my soul, break my heart, help me reconnect with my spirit, remind me of my deepest desires and why I came here in the first place.

I want art to be a stairway to heaven! Nothing less will do.

Interestingly enough, at JFKU I sometimes get tired of everybody's art being deep and meaningful. Here I appreciate edgy art, because it stands out in a refreshing way. But I had forgotten that that sort of thing is sort of the standard out there (in the rest of the East Bay at least).

So the result of all that is that I am working towards putting my own work into a gallery. To bring more heart and soul into this spiritual wasteland (c:

REFRESH

Our healing arts event went wonderfully well. For me it was really not so much about the money at that point but more about trying myself out and giving to other people. It was beautiful and fun to inspire others and nurture them on so many levels, starting from making our house beautiful, to offering healthy food and inspiring workshops. I really enjoyed offering the movement workshop, mainly because we forget most of the time that movement can be nurturing and that our bodies are our best friends, not enemies who we have to try to keep in shape, stop from being tired and so on. The messages our bodies give us are valuable and slowing down the nervous system so we can actually receive those messages can be very healing. Often the only pleasure we are used to deriving from our bodies is through food and sex, but there is so much more...
Anyway, I love inspiring people to reconnect with themselves in a gentle way and the best thing is: I get to do it too at the same time.
I think the plan from here out is to use the event structure we have created to make more and bigger events happen and I am looking forward to that. But first I need some rest, I am all evented out... (c;

IMPROV ART

I have been studying Improvisation with G.Hofman Soto since 2005 (with some breaks). He is actually the teacher who inspired me to become an improvisation artist. I remember doing a solo improvisation and him coaching me to go so personal and deep, it was like a therapy session, yet it touched and inspired everybody who watched me - afterwards I thought: this is what I was born to do. On this day in 2005 I decided to become a performance artist.
Now I have been in his class for over two years and we just had our first paid performance. I actually was able to work through a major text block that I had had for about two months - meaning I was holding myself back and wasn't able to just allow what was inside me to come out. Improvisation has so much to do with being transparent and in full contact with oneself. Whatever is in the subconscious will come out when one truly improvises and that is what makes it interesting, but if there is suppression of subconscious stuff, nothing can come out. That's basically the place I was in. It was a bit frustrating, but coming back into my flow was all the more beautiful.
In the performance I did a beautiful piece on loving a big man and losing him to a big woman, because I was too small boned and skinny - an interesting reversal of the beauty standard. The other piece I did was a collaborative story with 3 other people about a very invasive mother, which was hilarious and got many laughs.
Improvising together as a group is quite complex: there has to be huge trust that the others will support what I bring up and everybody has to listen to everybody else with all their faculties. Sometimes I am in front with the whole group behind me and turning around to look is simply not an option. So I have to somehow sense what they are doing and fit in, as much as they have to support me, since they know I cannot see them.
Improvisation is a beautiful craft that hones so many skills and the feeling of being totally in the moment, expressing my truth, while other people are doing the same and it all blends together into a beautiful, inspiring piece - all this together is indescribable.