I love participating in this event. Every year it is so refreshing, full of beautiful energy and so much magick. Thank you to Megan Hewitt from the Wild Hymns, who facilitates this fantastic festival. Watch out for next years date!!
This past school year I was able to take my green club students on a day field trip to Dundee Creek, in Baltimore Maryland. We joined a very special class of three, and had a fantastic time learning in nature.
When we first arrived at Dundee Creek we were greeted by a few different bins that held different types of underwater life. A crab, three different size catfish, and other types of fish. Students were able to pet and hold the fish. We learned that catfish really like to be pet behind the jaws. When we were finished, the students released them back into the water.
Our next adventure was canoeing! We had such a great time on the water. The students learned how to work together to paddle, and direct the canoe. We saw two juvenile bald eagles, and a bunch of other birds. When we came back in from the water we used microscopes to look at the water and seaweed we collected.
After canoeing we used large nets at the boat dock, and were able to catch a few different kinds of fish, that the students held. They also released them back into the water.
This was one of the best field trips for students. They were engaged and learning all day. Being in nature truly inspires students in new ways.
Chelsea Parcels is the visionary behind the Kids Yoga Love Festival which takes place at Amethyst Retreat Center. The second annual festival was held in June.
This festival is a place for kids to come and explore the power of holistic being. Kids explore dance, reiki, art, meditation, singing, and yoga!
Rickie Freedman, who owns Reiki by Rickie, shared her book Reiki Kids, while doing an exercise for kids and adults that involves really observing energy and its flow. Rickie is great at describing reiki and how we all are connected through our energy.
Authors Emily Turin and Julie Niblett shared their books, Ahab the Hermit Crab and The Talking Stick.
Creative Balance Institute facilitated intention art stations. We created Prayer ties that were hung on trees on the property, kindness rocks, and intention cards.
This event is always a wonderful time for kids and adults. Teaching our children how to be open to receiving and to spend time listening to themselves. Finding their inner creator and light.
VR stands for Virtual Reality. If you follow me, you know that I was awarded Educator of The Year last year and received a $500 donation towards a project for my classroom.
We were able to purchase, and did receive two Oculus Quest 2 VR headsets before the end of last year! The students LOVED using them and we explored many ways to create art! Check out the video on my YouTube channel! Like and subscribe to stay up to date on the coolest things about Art and Life!
The Teaching Artist Institute (TAI) provides an opportunity for artist to learn techniques for social transformation through artistic expression.
Their goals are :
To train artist and artisans as educators of socially engaged art.
To establish and maintain a teaching artist collective.
To advocate cross cultural communication and mutual understanding thru art
To create a platform for teaching artist expression
Kim Poole is a Soul Fusion Performing Artist and Teaching Artist, as well as a Founding Fellow of the TAI. Kim and her team of Teaching Artists are developing ways to explore Art for Social Transformation. Kim is motivated to create art that celebrates culture, resilience and connection to one another.
TAI also offers tours. A unique artist-led traveling experience which allows for authentic exchanges with people of the world! They offer customized itineraries, knowledgeable artist guides, and flexible schedules.
They also offer a Studies & Cultural Exchange which is a program that focuses on curating authentic exchanges with communities for the world in order to study or contribute to the regions symbolic.
The goal of the experience is to ensure that participants receive a holistic introduction to the region by being fully immersed in intimate ways with local culture and people of different sectors and classes in the region.
August 28th, 2021 TAI will be leading a 2-day camping excursion of the Underground Railroad through Cambridge, MD. Check out this link for more info!
Underground Railroad Excursion offers an experiential learning opportunity in outdoors survival education, scouting, land navigation and mariner arts that brings African American history off the page and into a practical modern-day focus.
I was introduced to Kim through social media, we both worked on promoting an art conference, and only recently did we meet in person! We immediately hit it off, I knew we were going to do awesome things together! Kim is such an inspiration, has a wonderful heart, and purpose driven! On top of all that she is an amazing vocal artist! Check her out on Facebook and Instagram.
Kim also works with tribes to share their creations! I was so blessed to now own a Chungu drum! Check out the video I made of it!
We are all connected! When we allow ourselves to shine bright, we shine light on those around us <3
So I decided recently to record myself reading the Mishomis book, which is filled with Anishinabe teachings. This has been such a wonderful experience for me. Coming back to the chapters and reading them again has given me new insight. Every time I read it, I learn something new. I am excited to share our Ojibway teachings with you all, so that it might help all to see how connected we all are.
So far I am up to chapter 6, which is a fantastic chapter full of new insight, adventure and awareness. <3 Migwetch
Ever get to the point where you have so many projects going on at once that you feel like you can’t complete any of them. Its like a game of ping pong, bouncing from one thing to another.
I am feeling that way this past few months. Really since Aquarius season started (Aquarius rising here). So many ideas are coming to mind, so many projects that will enhance the other projects, so many things to share with others!
What I have been learning since moving into our home is that projects come in many shapes and sizes… and they just keep coming. Even if they aren’t from your own imagination. I can create new ideas for projects all day long, but the more I do that the more the universe presents me with other projects. Perhaps its to keep me grounded, (mostly air and water energy here.)
What I have found looking at all of the things I have going on, what things I would like to complete soon, and how these things relate… is that they all come back to one thing… my passion for sharing art, nature and spirituality.
Creating a nonprofit 501c3 for the arts and education of the whole human, with deep connection to self, nature and one another, is one of my ultimate and most driving passion.
Thinking of all of the things on my to-do list for this goal is where the projects start. Making a list of all of the things I need to do to get to that goal is usually where I start. Once I make that list, I begin the tasks.
I look at each task in terms of how quickly I could accomplish that specific task and begin accordingly. That’s usually why I have multiple things happening at one time!
Stepping back and reflecting on why something is the way it is, allows a person to see things with less emotional attachment.
When I was driving to work today I started thinking of all the things on my lists, and I started to feel overwhelmed. I started to FEEL like I wasn’t doing something right because I had so many open projects!
Now that I’ve taken time to write it out and reflect on the whole situation… I realize how beautiful it is to have so many open projects. How much life and energy there is flowing around me, that I can direct it as I will.
Reflection reminds me that there isn’t anything wrong… its simply a matter of seeing it differently and being open to new perspectives. That is why I love writing. One of my favorite exercises is to do stream of conscious writing, where I write whatever comes to mind for at least 3 whole pages. This has really helped me to be able to step back during the day to evaluate my thoughts and feelings and to realize everything is about learning and growing. To know this allows us to have compassion for ourselves and one another when things dont go as we expect them to.
Expectations are good in only that they help us to strive for our greatest desires. However things usually never turn out exactly how we expect them to, so if we hold on to these ideas… we usually are never satisfied.
You know you are on the right path, when your passions align with your everyday projects. You know you are doing what you love, when your everyday life is aligning with your passions.
<3 Keep shining, keep creating
This past weekend my children Element and Landyn participated in their first Brazilian Jujitsu tournament at Coppermine Sport center to raise money to Tap Cancer Out!
Element and Landyn have been training since February at Zero BJJ in York. The coaches and community at the gym is supportive and knowledgeable.
Landyn raised money which helps with cancer research, in honor of his grandmother Oates who is recovering from breast cancer.
Element placed 3rd in her division, and Landyn placed 2nd! They really enjoyed competing and are excited to attend more tournaments!
Thank you everyone who donated! Landyn raised $400.
Thank you SASTeam, the coaches at Zero BJJ, and Tap Cancer Out team!
Check out Element and Landyn’s videos of the tournament on their YouTube channels!
There is so much hype going on around the NFT art scene.
An artist that goes by BEEPLE sold one of his NFT art collections at Christies auction for $69 million, the first time ever a digital work of art was sold at Christies!
Kings of Leon released their newest album as an NFT with special perks, generating over 2 million in sales.
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes will sell NFTs of digital artwork. “The Museum of Mahomes,” will launch March 17 on the digital art market MakersPlace. Mahomes will donate part of the proceeds to his foundation called 15 and the Mahomies as well as the Boys & Girls Clubs in Missouri.
NFT stands for Non-Fungible Token… A unique digital file stored on a digital ledger called a blockchain. NFTs are not mutually interchangeable and thus are not fungible. An NFT is created by uploading a file, such as an artwork, to an NFT auction market.
Basically, it is a smart contract that is put together using bits of open source code, which anyone can find from platforms like GitHub, and used to secure that digital item. Then minted, or permanently published, into a token on a blockchain, like Ethereum.
Some sites you can use to mint an NFT are:
Any digital asset that the creator wants to make unique can become an NFT, like articles or event tickets.
Once the NFT is purchased, the owner has the digital rights to resell, distribute or license the digital asset as they please. The creator can program code for how it gets used, and write in any extra bonus’ for the purchaser. NFT creators also have the opportunity to earn royalties off of future reselling transactions.
So there are many uncharted territories when it comes to this digital crypto reality. There are many questions about the carbon foot print of minting an NFT, this is because cryptocurrencies and blockchain are run through an algorithm called Proof-of-Work (PoW). Things in the blockchain world are shifting and changing fast! Proof-of-Stake is happening soon.
Proof-of-Stake (PoS) concept states that a person can mine or validate block transactions according to how many coins he or she holds. This means that the more Bitcoin or altcoin owned by a miner, the more mining power he or she has.
This uses less energy, but it also allows those who hold THE MOST coins to have more power. This is less decentralized then PoW, however there are benefits that we must allow to out-weight the cons, because this is not going away. Blockchain technology is the new digital paradigm. Just like our current system was the new paradigm to the “founding fathers”.
So yeah NFT’s are like collecting digital baseball cards, and are selling for extremely high prices to people who have the crypto to buy them.
But artists can also use NFT’s to create rare one of a kind pieces for their patrons. For example, an image of an actual painting can be sold as an NFT, and with the token the purchaser receives the actual painting. Some artists are also adding bonus’ to the purchase, where you receive a video of the work being created! I really like how artists are adapting to this technology and making it work for them and their patrons!
March 13th marks one year since we stopped teaching from our classrooms, and stepped into the virtual world.
One year ago I was excited and eager to head to Minneapolis for the NAEA conference. My students were beginning some amazing personal projects in class. The green club had just been approved to go on a canoeing field trip. There were so many beautiful things about to take place!
On March 12th, I was preparing my students and myself for the unknown. The only advice I could give them was to take time to breathe and do things they love to keep them relaxed. To go with the flow. They had been prepared in other ways throughout the year, by teaching them to have a growth mindset.
A growth mindset is so vital during these times. Being able to experience challenges and perceived setbacks in a healthy way, learning and growing no matter what.
Nothing is to be feared, it is only to be understood.
Having awareness and understanding of self, through an open mindset, creates huge opportunities for growth.
2020 was a hear of growth and transformation. Allowing the things no longer serving our goals to be washed away, making room for a bright new dawn. A new era of living, experiencing, connecting, and sharing. A new era of finance and self sovereignty. Taking back our power to create a life we are worthy of living, to know our worth.
As I sit here, remembering how it used to be… I am filled with gratitude and excitement for this new year. I am excited to see my students in person starting next week. Excited to see their faces light up when they are able to create something they never thought possible. Looking forward to watching them problem solve and express themselves!
This new year has so much to offer. If we step into it with gratitude and love, all the riches that are divinely ours will come to us in perfect ways.
<3
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