Thinking tool: Gertrude Stein in Clay

This week I created a clay bust of Gertrude Stein as a collaborative project. I forgot how much I love ceramics, and how calming and meditative the process is. I love the feeling of sculpting and having the total control over the piece that clay offers. In relation to the text, it is like our hands are giving life to the clay, and the union between clay/ material and hands, like woman and man, or In-Vitro process and human give life. Also, the way I learned to approach clay modeling is to start with a ball, then from the ball create an egg. The egg is a starting point where anything can be created. If you want to create a woman, the egg is faced up, for a man, faced down because men are usually more top heavy. Animals and other things can be started from the side or any angle. This reminds me of the process of creation in biology.

Original Gertrude Stein bust.
Original Gertrude Stein bust.

While working on the project, I learned about Stein and her work, and got a taste of the passion that people have over her work. It was inspiring to hear how Kenna and Cameron felt about poetry, and the magic that words had on them.  Personally I have never been an avid reader or poet, and words never had such a strong presence in my life, but hearing their feelings spoken made my connection with text deeper.

Weekly Yoga Classes Are On!

Since the end of last quarter, I have been leading The Evergreen Yoga Service Collective in starting up as a club again and getting a weekly yoga schedule out. Last thursday we released our weekly schedule, and have five classes a week! I am so excited, and it took a lot of work and planning to get here. From meetings, contacting people, getting a new advisor, workshops, and more, I am really proud of the other coordinators and myself.

We are offering FREE yoga classes to STUDENTS and NON STUDENTS, and have a variety of classes from acro/ partner yoga, flow classes, advanced classes and a chakra workshop. We are now aiming to go to the Yoga Service Conference in New York this May, and host other workshops and collaborate with other clubs.

My passion is to share and practice yoga, and having this space to teach and learn from others, while increasing the accessibility for yoga in our community is so fulfilling, and is allowing me to learn quickly.

This week I also wrote a piece of my grant for the grant writing class, and found it an extremely repetitive and timely process, but very rewarding. I am learning how to write with rigid guidelines, and write very directly with as much information in a small amount of space as possible. I feel like its boosting my left brain thinking, which is difficult, but needed.

 

 

3D Printed Flowers to Avoid Extinction

 

 

Here is an article about a women who 3d printed flowers to “reveal what currently exists before its lost.”

“3D printing has provided me a new way of communicating about a pristine and special world to a busy culture that may be unable to explore such things in their everyday lives” (Darlene Farris-LaBar)

I found the article really beautiful and inspiring, and have been toying with the idea of 3d printing plants.

3d printed flowers close

 

“It is Farris-LaBar’s hope that her 3D printed flowers can act as “3D field guides”, showing off the flowers’ unique characteristics to onlookers, while also working as an educational tool to create awareness of the dangers that these species of plants are faced with.” (Darlene Farris-LaBar)

Here is a link to the article!

http://3dprint.com/14758/3d-printed-flowers/

Thinking Tool: Tea

“Here, it is not the sperm, but the egg and the woman’s body that run the show.” (Lykke, 88)

The switch between viewpoints that this chapter reveals is revolutionary. The idea that the woman’s body has the control and intelligence in the reproductive process makes way more sense, and should be heard. It amazes me how societies project their beliefs and notions into scientific research to this extreme, and how culture and science are so interconnected. Our understanding of the world seems to be so based in beliefs and cultural environments.Indian women collecting tea, google

When contemplating my thinking tool, I was inspired to reflect on the things that I surround myself with, especially when thinking. I realized that while studying or reading, or during class I am usually sipping on a delicious and calming cup of tea. The act of drinking tea helps me focus, helps me stay alert and calm, and helps me stay hydrated (as I sip and write). It is a great tool for thought, and I believe has aided people through history in thinking, writing and discussing.

The Yoga of Grant Writing

This past saturday was my second grant writing class, where we started learning how to write the first steps of a common grant: Into, Needs, Objective. While this may seem easy, I assure you it is an  extremely intense and strategic process, that requires a lot of time. The amount of research, the amount of guidelines, and amount of care and particulars with writing is great. I won’t go into details, but its no surprise why more people don’t even attempt to write grants, and why nonprofits often struggle to survive.

Even though its challenging, I am learning how to think as a corporation or extremely wealthy individual, which is interesting. I have put my mind in their world and figured how they view the issues of charity and money. The amount of knowledge and 40 years experience that the teacher Don Chalmers has with nonprofits is incredible, and his personal experience is fueling my desire to learn. The amount of change that he has helped nonprofits accomplish is outstanding, and how he manages to bring millions of dollars back to the hands people impresses me. It astonishes me how there is billions of dollars sitting waiting to be given to grants.

Meanwhile, I started watching Yoga Unveiled, a three hour documentary on yoga from the roots to present day. I learned things that I never knew about yoga, and appreciate the clarity its brought me. One aspect I enjoyed in particular is that yoga is a lifestyle that is designed to return the human to its true, innermost nature, peaceful and happy; “heaven.”

The concept of connecting the Eastern and Western world was another theme in the documentary. It was stated that the East, particularly India, is the complete polarity to the West, particularly the USA. India culturally and historically being preoccupied with the spirit, and the USA being preoccupied with the material. Bringing these polarities together may be a key in evolving and transcending much of the negativity existing. I have toyed with this image for awhile now, and feel it could create a strong unity in the world.

Yarden’s Awesome ILC!

Type Individual Learning Contract
Title Plants, Spirituality, and Technology
Term Winter 2015
Credits 16
Related experience My experience for the “growing” aspect of this work has mainly come from my personal studies in plants, meditation, and yoga. I have grown my own veggies in backyards, and have been practicing yoga and meditation for about five years consistently, and have been teaching free yoga classes for two years. My experience with ornament has come from many visual and musical art classes, as I attended two different arts academies. I studied metalworking, woodworking, stone carving, painting, drawing, clay, and various textile works. I also played the piano and saxophone extensively.
Evergreen faculty I have worked with Arlen Speights

Sarah Williams
Student collaborators
Contract description Growing Ornaments and Making Plants is a contract designed to explore the connections of plants, consciousness of humans, ancient languages such as Sanskrit, and modern day art as an extension of the human mind. The student will learn about some ways to intuitively learn from plants, the history and usage of Sanskrit, and further their knowledge of yogic and meditation practices through attending classes and teaching. The end result will be a hybrid, artistic project containing aspects of new technology like 3d printing and old technologies, like growing a plant from a seed. I believe I will be growing a bean sprout while exploring the lotus flower in connection to the lotus yoga pose. The academic work will focus on the class required readings, plus The Secret Teachings of Plants; Buhner, The Metamorphosis of Plants, Goethe, The Grammar of the Lotus, Henry, and a book on sanskrit language.
Area of study Consciousness Studies
Sponsor support My faculty sponsor will meet with me throughout class times to discuss my project.

My faculty sponsor will suggest additional readings on the topic.

My faculty sponsor will read and respond to my work via email and/or paperwork
Evaluation of work
  • Narrative evaluation from sponsor
  • Narrative self-evaluation from student

Learning Objectives and Activities

Learning objective Activities What my sponsor will evaluate
To study plant life and connect the yogic practice through Sanskrit language to explore the internal and external metamorphosis of growth. Being a coordinator for The Evergreen Yoga Service Collective, I will increase my knowledge of yoga and meditation practices with the community and strengthen my own practice as a student and teacher. I will read books such as The Secret Teachings of Plants, Buhner, The Metamorphosis of Plants, Goethe, The Grammar of The Lotus,  Henry, class selected readings,and watch Yoga Unveiled to increase my knowledge on these subjects.

 
My material artistic projects along with the writing in which I will display an understanding of selected texts and/or videos.
To grow a plant from a seed, and 3D print its growth process. I will grow a plant from a seed and document its growth through 3d scanning the plant through its growth process. The seed represents the physical growth that we experience through time. My physical project as well as my writings pertaining to the subject.
To document my or an individual’s growth in a yogic practice through pictures of the same set of poses practiced nearly every day. Being a coordinator for The Evergreen Yoga Service Collective, I will increase my knowledge of yoga and meditation practices with the community and strengthen my own practice as a student and teacher.  I will attend weekly yoga classes mainly by Vivian at The Bandha Room yoga studio, and learn through the movie Yoga Unveiled. My physical project as well as a writings pertaining to the subject.
 To research people and learn from people who have studied and worked with related subjects I visited Joseph, an individual who has lived  off-grid and almost completely immersed in nature for several years and learned about his connection with plants and nature. I will practice with Vivian, a teacher who has been trained by the renowned bringer of Ashtanga Yoga, Patthabi Jois. I will continue research on other individuals and learn through the readings. My writings on the subject as well as physical projects.

Week 2: Off-Grid Living

I was invited by a friend this week to visit her friend who lives off-grid in Chehalis, WA.  I was fortunate to spend the whole day with him on his land and hear his life story and the ways he is able to live minimally with almost zero waste, and almost zero dollars. He was born in Ghana and when was young migrated to Washington. He spent years living an average american life and working for various companies such as Apple, and one day, with intense frustration at modern society decided to by some land with all the money he had, and to live off-grid, by himself, with little to no communication for almost two years. Over time he slowly and surely built himself a cabin out of completely re-purposed wood and found objects on the land.

The high tech technology living here was solar panels for the cabin, his personal ipad, and cameras part of a security system, mainly to be alerted of hunters overstepping their boundaries. He was immensely inspiring, and was a living example of hope that we as humans are more then able to re-connect and live in harmony with the earth. He is a master of intuitively communicating with nature, and I learned so much about permaculture, botany, and basic living in the bush skills in just a day visit.

Our heavy dependence on technology is an  illusion created my consumerist and capitalist culture, and to see someone who has re-connected with intelligence of life and nature boosted my understanding of my project. I am considering visiting him again soon and incorporating his work with mine.

I have continued reading The Secret Teachings of Plants, and will am excited to add The Metamorphosis of Plants, Goethe, and The Grammar of the Lotus, Henry.

I have started writing my idea for a grant, and establishing The Evergreen Yoga Service Collective.

 

Week 1: Life

This week I immersed myself in The Secret Teaching of Plants, Buhner, and was blown away by his critique on scientists and their studies of life and nature. He argues that the traditional approach scientists use to study life is by dissecting and deconstructing nature, and while this can be a useful and practical study, it completely ignores a major aspect of nature that may help to understand many of the mysteries of nature; life. Living organisms are able to function based on the communication between cells, organs, and specie to specie. When we look at dead objects, we are missing the whole communicative aspect, which is where I think the high intelligence of nature occurs. This seems to relate to the class readings, especially Palassmaa’s inquiry on the communication between brain and hand. He believes that life is nature, and this leads me to believe that the ultimate high tech is the force of life itself.

 

This week lead to me to realize my first iteration of my project. I want to grow a plant from a seed, (say a bean), and 3D print the process of its growth. I want to make the growth of nature tangible and visible, and freeze these moments in time. At the same time I think it would be interesting to photograph myself or a friend doing a yoga pose every day to see the internal growth that happens within the body and mind when doing a spiritual practice. I think the distinction between growing and making, and the balance of the two are interesting subjects and worth speculation.

Yarden’s Thinking Tool 1

 

 

 

“The emphasis on life marks a shift away from the deconstruction of layers of textuality, and toward an understanding of the inextricable entanglement of material, bicultural, and symbolic forces in the making and unmaking of the subject.” (Smelik, Lykke, xii-xiv)

During this weeks reading I felt my mind as amagnifying glass, zooming in on details of life that were previously washed over. In The Secret Teachings of Plants, Stephen Harrod Buhner talks about dendritic patterns in nature, and this image of the repetitious, branching and growing patterns became a thinking tool. This pattern shows how growth in life is non-linear, but fractal, bended, curved and non-mechanical. In the quote above from Bits of Life, she seems to agree with this way of thinking as not just a linear process, but a process that combines many forces as an“entanglement.”I find this way of thinking much freer and relevant to life, rather then the concrete mechanical way we have been taught to think in our culture.

When I brainstorm “thinking tools” I cannot help but mention meditation as the ultimate and ancient thinking technology. Studies have proved that meditation increases grey matter in the brain over time, and increases thought flow. It is fascinating to me how a process of stopping the internal dialogue, will over time optimize the internal dialogue. It seems as though in our culture we leave little time for rest, and are in a constant business. This increases material productivity, but we lose the conscious awareness behind our productions. New ideas and perceptions of the world opened in front of me, especially with the dendritic diagram in mind, as if peering through the same world through magnifying glass.

One article on meditation increasing grey matter density:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3004979/?

_escaped_fragment_=po=1.72414

Dendritic Diagram: River Drainage pattern

 dendritic pattern: river drain pattern