BleuSkyDecember 8, 2016 at 9:26 PM

Artist's Statement - Paula LeBleu

Be Open to the Journey

A bowl, like a spoon and a heart, is a vessel that is filled, emptied, and refilled over and over again providing nourishment.

On December 20, 2013, a heart attack brought about the realization to me that I had been giving out of myself but not refilling. I felt like a dried out empty bowl on the verge of crumbling to dust.

The need to refill my inner bowl led me to Texas Tech to attain my Masters in Art Education. It is my desire to spend the rest of my life being true to myself and my passions for creating and teaching art.

Working with clay honors my artistic need to turn inward and work with my instinctive emotions to create. Producing the pieces in this show has been an exercise of caring for myself. They are visual representations that honor my experiences and decisions I have made on this journey of the refilling of my Self.

The Night of the Moon Gathering

On the night of the full moon eleven female artists gathered around a fire in the beautiful backyard of a fantastic friend who did not want us starting fires in the TTU greenhouse gardens. Before entering the back yard we each wrote on small pieces of paper something we were ready to let go of. We then took our messages, received a cleansing of sage as we walked out the back door, and took our places around the fire.
     We invented our own rituals for this particular moon gathering. Everything was geared toward continued success and creativity for us and all female artists everywhere. We reiterated the importance of taking some moments each full moon to send out positive vibes to each other and those we have yet to meet. Power to the Female Artist!

Moon Gathering

 Moon Gathering.  12/14/16

  I was inspired by Red Earth,  the environmental arts group that creates site specific

 installations & performances in response to the landscape (To Life, wk 7)
to create my own environmental art performance celebrating positive female strength. I feel most fulfilled when surrounded by other artists,- but when I am within a group of women artists it is as if I have entered a sacred space and I wanted to honor that. My idea was to gather all my female art buddies together in a fertile landscape setting  and lift each other up in positivity and support in our roles of successful female artists. The concept of meeting in a fertile, constantly renewable landscape we would be receiving renewed creativity from Mother Earth as well as remembering the importance of doing what we can to keep the Earth healthy.

          When I started sharing my thoughts with my female art buddies they were really excited!! They had input like crazy! "Let's do a cleansing! ", "We need a fire to gather around!", "Let's make crowns!" "We have to have a talking stick so everyone listens to the person holding the stick!", "Lets make things to share with each other to put on our crowns!" At one point I threw up my hands and exclaimed, "I've lost control of my project and I love it!"

          I wanted a moon gathering since women around the world have been gathering together under new moons and full moons for eons. For the importance of location it was decided **under the full moon** since we would all be going our separate ways soon and would likely never all be together under a full moon again. We could, however, be under the same moon no matter where we were.
         
             So it was decided that November 14th, a full moon, we would have our Moon Gathering.
               more info soon.....