convergence and skillful fear (or, how to find armadillo)

convergence

Understanding the difference between skillful vs unskillful fear is an important Buddhist concept. I’ve been thinking about this in very personal terms. When I did my convergence installation earlier this year, I had to face some fears. The piece is installed in the middle of the woods. To fully experience the piece, you must visit in the dark of night with no lights. That can be a somewhat scary thing, especially with the constant sounds of the forest and all the animals around you. But I pushed myself forward to do this with skillful fear. I remember sitting there under cover of darkness, the convergence orbs glowing nearby, hearing the snaps and cracks of animals and birds all around. I even heard the snorting of deer who dashed away as soon as they detected my presence. My heart raced at these encounters with skillful fear, helping me ultimately get more in touch with my love for these animals and nature at large.

I captured one of the encounters on video when I heard something moving towards me. It turned out to be an armadillo! I had never seen an armadillo in Georgia before. When I showed the footage to my parents, they were amazed as in their almost-70 years of living there, they also had never seen an armadillo. I guess it takes a New York artist working in the woods—and a bit of skillful fear—to bring them out!

No matter what your fears may be, I encourage you to practice skillful fear. Use your fear as a tool to uncover more productive feelings within—not as a weapon in defense.

 

New Zine: marie was an artist by luke kurtis

marie-snow-painting

My latest zine is marie was an artist. It’s a fully illustrated but handheld size zine featuring a single poem. The zine format is well suited to this type of intensely focused yet concise content. The idea behind this particular zine was to tell the story of my Aunt Marie, who died of cancer in 1987, through her own paintings.

Marie is a special figure in my life. Though she died before I was even ten years old, she somehow went on to influence me a great deal as I began to build my own creative path. She was the only member of my family that was an artist. Her paintings hung on the walls of my parents and other family members growing up. She watched over me in this way, making me keenly aware of how an artist’s presence radiates from her work and becomes part of something much larger. Looking at Marie’s paintings as a kid always made me wonder… could I be an artist one day?

Even now Marie still inspires me. With this zine I hope maybe I’ve inspired her—wherever she may be—a little bit too.

See the zine in the bd Library.

Just Panic… exhibition in NYC

luke kurtis in front of his work at the Just Panic... exhibition in NYC

I don’t know how I let this happen but somehow in the hustle and bustle of it all, I never even mentioned here that I had several works in Derek Nicoletto‘s show Just Panic And Get It Over With at 287 Spring gallery in NYC. It was a quick, one-weekend popup show from 12 July to 14 Mar. I was very happy to be part of this amazing group of artists. I showed six works from my muse series. No’s 7-12 marked the New York debut of this ongoing body of work.

One of the highlights of the opening was the chance to meet some of the members of the über-cool synth punk band ATTACK.WAV. Tree Wave wrote up a great piece on the show over at Plus Heart Star and used a few of my photos of the opening. Tree Wave called my work “rad” and “next-level pop-art-ish.” How cool is that?

Other artists in the show included Christopher Stout, Rob Ordonez, and Paul J. Toussaint. Be sure to check out their sites as they are doing very interesting work. But there was so much talent present. Take a peek at the Just Panic Facebook page to see all the artists and their work. Many of the works are still for sale. As Derek said… want to support the arts? Support an artist!

Thank you to all who came out. And, of course, thank you to Derek Nicoletto for making it all happen.

Field Notes: Landscape and Architecture exhibition in Portland, OR

Anderson's Cemetery, Subligna, Chattooga County, Georgia

Opening yesterday in Portland, Oregon, one of my photos is included in the new exhibition Field Notes: Landscape and Architecture at Black Box Gallery. The opening reception will be on Friday, 7 June 2013 and the show runs until 20 June. If you happen to be in the Portland area be sure to drop by. Otherwise, you can check it out online.

The photo on view in the Field Notes exhibition was taken in Subligna, Georgia. I took this photo last year while doing Jordan’s Journey research. That day I photographed and inventoried Anderson’s Cemetery (you can see that inventory and some of the photos at Find A Grave). This gives you an example of how genealogy and art have coalesced to form Jordan’s Journey‘s unique take on exploring the past.

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