Timeless

Well, it sure has been a while since I posted and I have no excuse except that as the saying goes, " life is for living". To my knowledge no one ever said, " life is for blogging", so there's my excuse. I been living! Art school at PNCA ( much drawing, some painting), jewelry design( yes I'm still at it so look for a post next week about my upcoming December shows) . Oh yes and parenting two teen boys. Whew! That's the real work and I love every minute of it ( on good days).... Please look at this incredible video my husband Mark Brody made for our 20th anniversary which we celebrated this August. My eldest son had a party for us. We were not invited. I digress. The pictures in "Timeless" are mostly mine. The editing genius and musical timing is all him.... I love you Mosaic Mark!  

Volunteer Today!

Children's Healing Art Project (CHAP) is a place where kids can be themselves no matter what situation they are facing in their lives. At CHAP everyone is facing a challenge such as a disability, cancer, or other terminal diseases and it's that special bond that brings the kids and their families together.

A year ago I was laid off from a job I had for six years, a job I created because I felt a need in the community. (You can read all about it in the Healing Arts section of my website.) It was sort of an accident that I ended up getting paid for work that felt so good to my core. The Healing and Empowerment Program at Quest Center for Integrative Health served many people but it also served a need in me, the need to express gratitude for having made it through cancer treatment and for getting a big reality check every day about how lucky I was /am to still be here, living my life. That's what volunteering can be like! Not only are you helping others, you are getting something out of the bargain! 

CHAP Volunteers! from Celine O'Malley on Vimeo.

  Recently I have been volunteering at Portland's Children's Healing Art Project, a very cool organization that brings the joy of art making to sick kids in area hospitals and their families who are needing support too. You might think that I am working directly with kids, stringing golden beads with them for the Million Bead Project or getting messy with paint and glue side by side with smiling kids hooked up to IV's. Nope! The way CHAP differentiates those people who just need some extra community service or school credits and those who are going to be able to make longer term connections with the kids is to have volunteers make a 6-12 month commitment to working on projects in the CHAP art-y offices, gathering up art supplies, splatter painting their signature envelopes for event invitations or, and this is the fun activity everybody loves, gluing sequins on the brightly kid-painted items to be auctioned off to further support CHAP's mission. My 16-year old son has started accompanying me to volunteer, needing to do some volunteer hours for his High School Honor Society Club. I am trying to model how it's not the glamourous work that really needs the getting done but the behind the scenes work that any service organization runs on. And it's fun!   SO.... here's my pitch: Want to feel good about a couple of spare hours during the week that you weren't using any way? Volunteer Today! Maybe at CHAP or maybe at some organization whose mission you can really get behind. It feels good and makes the world a better place.

The Most Astounding Fact

Subscribe to my YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/MaxSchlick?feature=mhee Astrophysicist Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson was asked in an interview with TIME magazine, "What is the most astounding fact you can share with us about the Universe?" This is his answer. Special thanks to: Reid Gower http://saganseries.com/ Michael Marantz http://vimeo.com/2822787 Carl Sagan http://www.hulu.com/cosmos Neil deGrasse Tyson http://www.facebook.com/neiltyson NASA http://www.nasa.gov/ ...for their inspiration. CREDITS Narration: TIME Magazine's "10 Questions for Neil Degrasse Tyson" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiOwqDmacJo Music: "To Build a Home" by the Cinematic Orchestra feat. Patrick Watson http://www.cinematicorchestra.com Video (in order of appearance): IMAX: Hubble 3D (Orion) http://www.imax.com/hubble/ Animal Planet: Safari http://movies.netflix.com/Movie/Animal_Planet_Safari_The_Last_Lion_of_Liuwa/70153174?trkid=438403 Yellowstone: Battle for Life (Waterfall) http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00jcdml Supernova to Crab Nebula http://www.spacetelescope.org/videos/heic0515a/ BBC: Wonders of the Solar System (formation of the solar system) http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00qyxfb Accretion and First Eukaryotes from the 2011 film "Tree of Life" directed by Terrence Malick http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accretion_(astrophysics) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_of_life http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_evolutionary_history_of_life http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/05/ribonucleotides/ http://www.twowaysthroughlife.com/ BBC: Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life http://www.wellcometreeoflife.org/ "Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia" by Ayrton Orio (Model: Xharon Kendelker) http://vimeo.com/9505354 BBC: Wonders of the Solar System (Brian Cox w/ telescope) "Afghanistan - touch down in flight" by Augustin Pictures http://vimeo.com/31426899 http://lukasugustin.de "mongolia!" by wiissa http://vimeo.com/27876709 http://wiissa.com Excerpt from "Outside In", Copyright Stephen van Vuuren/SV2 Studios http://www.outsideinthemovie.com IMAX: Hubble 3D (Inside Orion Nebula) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_Nebula Shuttle Launch from 1985 IMAX film "The Dream is Alive" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dream_Is_Alive "Earth -- Time Lapse View from Space, Fly Over -- NASA, ISS" by Michael Konig http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls9yJTphLxg http://koenigm.com Excerpt from "The Island" - La Palma Time Lapse Video by Christoph Malin http://vimeo.com/27539860 http://christophmalin.com Galaxy Map and Galaxy Formation by NCSA's Advanced Visualization Lab http://avl.ncsa.illinois.edu/ "Mars sunset" captured by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit (from BBC: Wonders of the Solar System) http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_347.html Edited by Max Schlickenmeyer Neil goes on to say "For me, that is the most profound revelation of 20th century astrophysics and I look forward to what the 21st century will bring us, given the frontiers that are now unfolding." Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. All copyrighted materials contained herein belong to their respective copyright holders, I do not claim ownership over any of these materials. I realize no profit, monetary or otherwise, from the exhibition of these videos.

  You know how sometimes the most random things can "come across your desk" and shift your perspective just a bit? I think if you watch this video it will help you understand that we are all here on the planet to connect and support those around us by virtue of the fact that we are all connected, literally, not just by the same DNA but more elementally. We are all connected by the same matter that makes up every living thing on the planet. This means that what we each say and do is not separate and different and therefore "other" but we each affect every one and everything else with what we do or say. Whoa!!! That is some serious sh*&%@!!! I have been feeling a little adrift lately, having suffered a car accident at the hands of a young guy who didn't stop long enough at a stop sign and look carefully. It could happen to any one of us and I truly forgive him. I am just trying to get myself better and slowly, surely, I am. I have felt, though, as a result of this big whack, that my life is out of sorts and that while "everyone" else has a plan and is on the right path, I am drifting. I couldn't be further from the truth, it turns out. Because I am connected to everyone and everything on the planet, my being here now in this way, doing what I do, is part of what holds the entire thing together. Without me, a little chunk of "it all" wouldn't be complete. Ponder on that for an afternoon. Who YOU are means so much to the whole thing.  

The Secret to Life

I was perusing the web and found a wonderful video expressing something I was needing to hear today. If you have the time, and I know you do, listen and watch and learn from an old pro how to enjoy life.......simplicity, work and enjoyment. I learned about this video from Jude Hill, a blogger and quilt maker who keeps a site called SpiritCloth . Jude's blog is all about slowing down and watching the creative process unfold one stitch at a time.    Jude is an incredible inspiration, an advocate of the slow, the careful, the handmade. Her fabric work is full of oceanic indigos and earthy browns, rusty oranges and verdant greens. She offers imagery that includes moons, spirals, checkerboards; repetitive patterns mixed with the sense of random-ness. Reading her blog feels like you are sitting in her kitchen paging through her journals and notebooks and leaning over her carefully constructed textiles. Jude teaches via online tutorials from her rural home on Long Island, NY. She is the epitome of someone using internet technology in an earth loving way while retaining freshness and relevance for the benefit of others.