Shhh! I'm not supposed to bring a camera in and take pictures within the store. So they scolded. These displays are so lovely, I couldn't resist.
December 28, 2009
December 25, 2009
December Views: Merry Blessed Christmas To YOU
Japanese Maple in December. Copyright: Leisa A. Hammett
December 23, 2009
December Views: Grace & Angels
Although it is in my yet-to-be published momoir (inquiries welcome,) I've not written here about our Angels. Today is not the day, either, in which I will sum four decades of experience and most recently the last seven poignant years' interactions with both Grace and my angels. Soon. (Knowing that soon could also be a while.) But, here, I share an ink on silk piece (not for sale) that Grace insisted in swashing with silver acrylic. Her private art teacher had to contain herself from stopping Grace's very determined move to mix two media that rarely mix. But Grace...and our angels, had something else in mind. When the painting is rotated like the above, you see them. May your Angels (whether you choose to believe in them or simply just metaphorically speaking) let you know they are watching over you this holiday season and beyond.
We're working on updating GraceArt.
Meantime, on a WILD hair day, enhanced by backlighting, I hosted Autube. And, really, I'm not in pain:
December 21, 2009
December Views: The Stream of Life
Image & post copyrighted: Leisa A. Hammett
"Wait! Wait!" I told The Fiance as he verbally penned these words. "I must get this down for a blog post!" So, here it is, his words:
"I see all the people around me as leaves floating down a stream. All different colors and varieties and shapes...Bouncing into each other. Getting hung up on the rocks. And going through turbulent waters. Yet, in the end, they all just want to get down the stream. Some of them have effective strategies that succeed in moving them on down the sluice. And some have strategies that work for others, but that will never work for them. And a few have strategies that will work for no one."
December 18, 2009
Art & Soul Debuts Swarthout & Haile
There's a special little place tucked into the hip, urban environs of Nashville's 12th South district. For many, it's too well-kept of a secret. Yet, magic happens there. Art & Soul is not your typical art studio. Take a hint from the third word in the center's name. Art & Soul is more than how-to art making. It's about going beyond the visual and taking a deep dive within. Classes, mentoring programs and co-op membership include all art forms: poetry and other creative writing, authentic voice and movement and a plethora of visual art play. And the maven of Nashville spiritual art: Art & Soul owner/founder Arunima Orr.
And, lucky me, I am a graduate of the 2003-2004 Year-long Intensive. A superb investment as I left my marriage and entered the next phase of my Life's Journey. I entered dead-sure I would reconnect with my visual art. Instead I wrote a book. And not this one, but a yet-published autism momoir.
Early December, Art & Soul, ever expanding the boundaries of its unique vision, hosted it's first art show featuring just two of its students: Toni Swarthout and Pam (PJ) Haile. The two artists' work blended well and provided a lush visual backdrop to a warm, comfortable open, unpretentious energy not commonly found at art shows elsewhere. Here are some views from the evening:
Artist Toni Swarthout, above left, and artist PJ Haile, above right. Swarthout's paintings and Haile's sculpture with onlooker, below left. Haile's painting and sculpture, below right.
Warm heads, warm hearts, great art.
Deanie & Nima, left.
Merry Christmas, Art & Soul!
December 16, 2009
December Views: Grinning Grace
Grace grins silly at the annual Mayors Advisory Committee for People with Disabilities. Her, mixed media work, above her, was eventually purchased by Vanderbilt Kennedy Center and given to former NFL Miami Dolfin Hall of Famer, Dan Marino who founded the Marino Foundation. Photo: Vanderbilt Kennedy Center. Pictured here at about age 8.
Something different. That's right, Dear Readers. This month, it may not look too terribly different to you, but oh, it is to me. I try to post a week at a time, but the book complicated that and I found myself more than a couple of nights before a M-W-F post dog tired and at the keyboard when sleep long ago beckoned.
I got this idea from one of my favorite blogs, Chookooloonks, who got the idea at Hippy Urban Girl. HUG's author write that the month is supposed to be about slowing down and enjoying Life. (When we know that's seldom the case.) But a band a bloggers, nationwide, if not worldwide, are signing up to kinda sign off, at least a little, this month. More photos, less writing. And, as cool, Hippy Urban Girl explains, each blogger creates their own rules as to how often they post, (I'll continue three times a week within my core themes of "Autism, Art and All the Rest of Life,") and how much they choose write. (By the time I joined this third week of the month, I had at least two time-sensitive pre-posts that will have their usual word contribution.)
So, the above, is some GraceArt, on this Wednesday, when I typically cover Autism/DisAbility issues. We are working on our new site at the time of this writing. We're getting there....Enjoy.
And, listen or read here for a brief mother-son interview on Story Corps via NPR's Morning Edition about having a special needs sibling. Short. Grab-a-tissue-touching.
December 14, 2009
The Familial Sandwich
...A VERY Happy belated birthday to my oldest Sis--shown here with her new pup, Miss Mary. The original intent of this post was to give send her a cyber birthday shout out and to say how much I appreciate what she has done for our parents. Photo & post: copyright--Leisa A. Hammett
Sandwiched. Sandwiched we are. Sandwiched Baby Boomers who have children AND parents for which to care. Actually, of my two siblings, I am the only one who bore offspring. That leaves one sister in one Carolinian state and the oldest in the "Finer" Carolina. And, true to stereotype, is the first-born daughter who's taking care of our senior parents.
Thanksgiving I witnessed firsthand the emotional and physical stress of my elder sister, 10 years my senior. I saw the financial, marital and lifestyle toll. I knew all this from afar before then. And helpless I've often felt. Worried more for her than I was for my aging parents. Mother died last Christmastime. But Daddy remains.
Home being nearly a day's drive from here means just three times annually I'm home. Each time the picture changes--the Parkinson's--which we now realize was clamping down and slackening his facial muscles for decades and was part of his Restless Legs Syndrome and possibly part of his mental-emotional obstinacy. Each time I make the trek to see him and my sister, he's a bit more frail. His living quarters morphed once more. In one year, my sister moved my mother and father nearly a dozen times as they transitioned from home to hospital from room to room, for various complicated reasons, into and within assisted living. Mother died in the latter. But Daddy went on to "The Reminisce Unit" and now makes home in the skilled care unit.
My sister left her 30something-year career to take care of him and Mother. With the detachment afforded me by the car's backseat, I listened, on Thanksgiving night, as my elder sister drove my father to his living quarters. Patiently, in her gentle, yet firm school teacher's voice she answered each of his fretting questions, explaining lovingly as if to one of her middle school students, that he had enough money. That he was not a burden on us. Not to worry. I watched as she heaved his walker in and out of the trunk of her compact car. As she wheeled him in the chair awaiting at the care facility door, from there on to his newest room. As she helped him toilet, change into his pajamas. As she greeted each staffer in her classic endearingly sweet, genuine concern.
Sacrifice. Difficult sacrifice. Costly sacrifice.
I continue to ponder. To turn it o'er and o'er in my mind. About how Society has migrated from nuclear to far flung. How he and Mother cared for us. I question, isn't it natural to now care for them? The Fiance cares for his mother. She lives with him. Something many close to us do not understand. It is a privilege he says. But it takes a toll.
Funny, this state of being...sandwiched.
December 13, 2009
Book Signing II
Our second book signing for From Heartache to Hope was a success yesterday, Sat. December 12. A number of folks came out to Starbucks, Highway 100, in Bellevue, because of the Tennessean coverage. Several were grandparents of children locally or elsewhere who live with autism. Some were friends from other parts of town, some were friends from long ago--high school days in South Carolina. One beautiful young, single fresh-from-college graduate was the daughter of a friend from back when her mother and I were both young, single and fresh from our alma mater. Some were friends from Nashville Women Who Blog and others from a local social media site for which I am a moderator. Thank you to all who came out to support our project.
Rebekah's photos from our book will come down from Starbucks on Monday, Dec. 21. 2009. THANK YOU Starbucks, Highway 100, Bellevue! We had our signing there because the majority of our book meetings took place there. They were most gracious hosts.
Next, we'll be presenting at the Brentwood Photography Group, Tues., January 5. An honor that tickled me as much as our Nashville Scene review. The next week, Tues., January 12, we'll sign at Nashville's beloved Davis-Kidd Booksellers and then close the New Year's first month with a reception and signing at Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, Thurs., Jan. 28.
December 11, 2009
December (Art Friday) Views: Octogenarian Brother Mel Debuts Book @ Arts Company
Octogenarian, Nashville Arts Company staple and Marianist Monk Brother Mel, earlier this month, unveiled his coffee table book featuring decades of his prolific works of sculpture and painting. The tome is written and produced by Nashville Arts Matriarch, Anne Brown, owner, Fifth Avenue's The Arts Company.
Brother Mel with The Fiance, signing our copy. Photo: Leisa A. Hammett
Brother Mel flanked by his sculpture and hot-off-the press book and The Arts Company Gallery owner and Nashville Arts Matriarch Anne Brown. Photo: Leisa A. Hammett
The Arts Company gets my thumbs up for one of Nashville's best art galleries. Brown has a keen eye for exceptional talent, including an increasing number of photographers, both local and otherwise.
December 09, 2009
December Views: Cyber Holiday Card
This Season and Always, May You Experience Peace. Joy. Love. HOPE. And, All Life's Blessings. Photo: www.RebekahPope.com
"Cyber Holiday Card..." Geez. Somehow that sounds so...sterile. But, that's what this is. If you are on my personal email list, you should have received this by now (or shortly). And nowhere's to you, Dear Reader. Rebekah Pope, my
collaborator in our new book, From Heartache to Hope: Middle Tennessee
Families Living with Autism took this photograph during the memorial holiday weekend when Grace and the majority of our book's featured 18 families came to the studio space we used. The
purpose of our individual session was to capture a photograph for my
biographical blurb in the back pages and back cover of our book. We chose
another photograph than this one, but I’m sharing this favorite of ours because
I believe it communicates my holiday message, above, to you and to also give
you another “snapshot” of the quality of our now multi-media critically
acclaimed and reader well-received still hot-off-the press book, available
through our website, in addition to Nashville bookstores, at ASMT and Fields
Publishing. You can also stay posted on the book’s evolution at my blog, here, and more so at my forthcoming blog
dedicated to the book plus the book’s website. Also, we’ve added these
** events and opportunities to our book’s local tour:
Book Signing & Photography Exhibit Starbucks, Hwy 100 in Bellevue
Exhibit: December 8-20, 2009
Book Signing: Sat., Dec.12; 10am-12pm
**Presentation: From Start to Finish, How We Did Our Book, Brentwood Photography Group (Formerly Known as Brentwood Camera Club)
Tues., Jan. 6, 6:30 p.m.
**Book Signing & Mini-Exhibit, Davis-Kidd Booksellers
Tues., Jan. 12, 7 p.m.
Photography Exhibit & Reception Vanderbilt Kennedy Center
Exhibit: January 18 - March 29, 2010
Reception: Thurs., Jan. 28; 5-6:30pm
Also, we are in the process of booking a signing at Border's Cool Springs during April, national Autism Awareness Month. Stay tuned!
(And, yeah, I ran this photo here already.)
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