The Gathering of Women

Oh the gentle gathering of women spirits, the circle of love and harmony. As I prepare for the Women's Mountain Art Retreat I am lifted to a higher realm of love and excitement. 

This crazy, hectic ride we call life does not leave much time for circles to be formed. Brief gatherings at the water hole, in the backyard, or on the street sustain our spirits for a week, a couple of days or an hour. Human contact physically and verbally are craved for. Sharing our stories, listening with an open heart, and looking into each others spirits with compassion is needed. 

The first Women's Mountain Art Retreat provided this circle of love and hope. The retreat has continued to provide a complete circle for many of us (including me). 

The picture above was one of our last gatherings of love and creativity. Each retreat provides something instrumental for each participant. This year the retreat will be held at the Pineview Lodge in Hamilton Montana. The retreat will be October 9-12. I am able to provide a scholarship for a sister that is in need. I am collecting names and contact information from any and all for this lady. We will draw a name from these suggestions and she will be gifted a retreat from all of us. 

There will be a life coach, a yoga master and artists aboard for this retreat. 

As always there will be great food, wonderful drinks and a gift as you arrive (including the gift of spirit). 

Contact me at the following information whether you would like to jump aboard or whether you know of a young lady that could use a circle of love and creativity. The retreat will be $650 for four days and three nights. all supplies and food included. There will be more information by the first week of August. 

Annie Allen

406-431-9479 

sunnybunny60@gmail.com

Women Classes and Gatherings

 Birds, Feathers, Foliage… Women 

We will be using procion dyes, watercolor dyes, fibers, watercolor paper, and yupo paper (polypropylene). All supplies will be included. These two classes are about experimentation and discovery. My belief is that we all have a creative center which needs to be expressed.  

You will need to bring a poem, letter, or some written matter that reminds you of the important women in your life. Also try to bring some foliage from the summer, perhaps some feathers and ( if you would like ) some photos of your favorite birds. If you do not have these supplies no worries for I will have some to share.

  I will guide you through the magic of colors and mixing along with the interaction of colors on the different types of surface. There is alchemy involved and patience is needed. There will be times when the dyes dry slowly and you will have to wait for the next step, there will be times when the dye spills over into an area that you didn’t plan for (letting go of control can be good) , and there will be times when happy accidents occur and we will cheer you on!  

I will provide sheets of information about color mixing and suggestions about the fibers and papers with the class. 

 Terry Tempest Williams wrote “We can change, evolve, and transform our own conditioning…. Empty pages become possibilities.” 

Dates: July 9- cost $45 July 10- cost $45 (if both classes are taken cost is $80) All supplies included, snacks and refreshments provided. Time zone- 5-7:30 pm 

I will be sending out information for the 4th Annual Women's Art Retreat through my website, facebook, and blog. The retreat is a three day, two night event featuring several artists in different disciplines such as visual art, sculpture, body movement, etc. Please feel free to request to be on the mailing list for this event. We are considering late fall and possibly landing at either Sleeping Child Hot Springs or Boulder Hot Springs. 
Annie Allen
sunnybunny60@gmail.com
406-431-9479

The Sky Was (by e. e. Cummings)
the
    sky
           was
can    dy    lu
minous
            edible
spry
        pinks shy
lemons
greens    coo    1 choc
olate
s.

  un    der,
  a    lo
co
mo
      tive        s  pout
                               ing
                                     vi
                                     o
                                     lets

Cummings

wrote of a romantic earth, revealing colors and shapes that danced through the string of his words. Mystery was hidden in the formation. Emerging formations, that is what I love to create.

“To be nobody but 
yourself in a world 
which is doing its best day and night to make you like 
everybody else means to fight the hardest battle 
which any human being can fight and never stop fighting.” 
― E.E. Cummings

I leave you with my favorite quote from Cummings, I am thankful for all in my life....that would be all of you. I am thankful for this sweet earth. I am thankful for survivors. 

“We do not believe in ourselves until someone reveals that deep inside us something is valuable, worth listening to, worthy of our trust, sacred to our touch. Once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight or any experience that reveals the human spirit.” 
― E.E. Cummings

Images by Annie Allen: Emerging Formations

Education and conversation

Education and art walk hand in hand. After teaching in the public education I was gently reminded that the Arts frequently have to prove up...showcase their abilities...speak dramatically in some make or manner. My voice is a soft one, not only literally, but objectively as well. I need time to roll ideas around, time to digest them intimately, and time to develop them in a conducive manner. How can I make a difference for the Arts, for others in the Arts and (along the way)for myself? This seems like a selfish statement but by helping one's self, resources are boosted and one is able to help others more substantially. So I educate myself, share thoughts that could possibly help others and share my sensitive tidbits through the blog... reminding myself that as artists we need one another, as humans we need one another. What other profession demands that you create a composition of shapes or figures, an arrangement of music or color, a written passage of heartfelt stirrings and then (yes...then) put it before the public to pick apart, dissect and deem perhaps worthy for the stage, for the gallery, for the publisher, and many other venues. It is a difficult passage and yet I know I would be totally lost if I could no longer create. There is an amazing blog "Brain Pickings" that left me with thoughts and ideas on great art (or what one might consider great art). This quote hit home, "Something is always born of excess. Great art was born of great terrors, great loneliness, great inhibitions, instabilities, and it always balances them."-Anais Nin 
 Always work with the gifts we were blessed with, everyday challenge one's self,  push in excess and discover what balance is needed to center your personal excess (if any). 
Bless the artists who live among us...

The brain pickings blog 

http://www.brainpickings.org

Augusta

Joyous smiles abounded leaping into my heart from this sleepy western town. Yes...I know that phrase is so overused. Let's see sleepy, perhaps dozy...western, perhaps oater...better yet horse opera! Then the word town, perhaps hamlet...yes I like that. Joyous smiles abounded, leaping into my heart, from this dozy horse opera hamlet. Family, fine food, a hub for fine art and conversation (Latigo & Lace), a western grocery store with all the necessities and of course many eating and drinking establishments! To top all of this off we were introduced to home grounds that my eyes had never seen. Rolling hills, craggy mountain tops, gullies littered with wildflowers, creek beds where birds flitted from one sunny moment to the next, ponds filled with ducks of many cultures living together in harmony, and of course the alien known as antelope. Having grown up in eastern Montana I am always quite joyful to see the sight of a baby antelope. Alas, they were too far for pictures but the vision remains on the big screen in my head. 

Central and eastern Montana display a haunting beauty for the eyes of the beholder. I am always, I repeat always, reminded of my ancestors. Tough scrabble land where tenuous humans place their feet and hearts...working souls from sun up to sun down... making a living, carving out a niche in the big sky country. 

Home Ground and home cooking walk hand in hand. I am never as happy as I am walking the land or soaking up great morsels of food when combined with loving company such as my son Jason and his lovely wife Kezia. 

Another great joy of mine is bullshitting, chewing the fat, picking brains, chit chatting, shooting the breeze about life. What better place to converse than Latigo & Lace, where art fills your senses, great coffee is in the air (Morning Light from Great Falls), and gifts from around the area are to be cherished. While running Roasted I was reminded of the intricate connection that exists between visitors, tourists, locals, small town lads and lasses. These local art shops, grocery stores (such as Allen's Manix Store) eateries and bars provide an area to relax and discuss the life we love here in the great Northwest. Kudos to those who keep it flourishing. I leave you with images of Augusta. Stop and visit, converse, chew the fat...hang out. You will be well served. 

Strands of connections

Strands, silvery strands of words and lasting images that lie buried... buried deep within us, within the earth, within the reservoir of our subconscious. People, books, movies, audio and visual stimulation laying down bedrock, sediment, fodder for future thoughts and discoveries. 

The power of illumination

from such occurrences provides the subject matter that spills forth. A powerful thing when one begins to fill a canvas with this sediment. 

The mere notion that there is no one like me. There is only one person with my DNA pattern, my history, my bedrock of artistic images... should thrill me with delight or leave me shaking in my boots. 

My childhood has been washing over me in waves these few weeks. I was rereading "Leaning into the Wind" (women write from the heart of the west) and conjuring up many images of farm life in Laredo. The quiet roll of the prairie as it rose up to meet the horizon line, the tenacious wind that howled without warning on certain days, the hot sun that wrapped it's warm embrace around my shoulders, and Big Sandy Creek that existed for us to explore. Out of the book fell black and whites of my mom and dad from long ago. 

I began to think of the movie "Captain Hook". As the small child looks deeply into Peter Pan's face (after he has failed miserably at being a child), "Peter Pan are you in there? Oh! There you are!"  Annie, are you in there? Oh! There you are! 

It's good to be back. 

Ladie

We come together with the intrinsic knowledge that we are all one. A patch of leaves shimmer, images appear...birds, human faces, evidence from long ago...What's yet to come? Above us, below us energy abounds...