Last weekend, I hosted the Digital Sisterhood Month field trip to see artist Kesha Bruce’s “The Guardians” exhibition at Morton Fine Art in Washington, DC. Kesha’s work is rooted in her personal mythology. The paintings in “The Guardians” series evoke ancestral energy. They make me think of the many women and men who came before me. The people who sacrificed so that I would be able to enjoy my life. They remind me to show gratitude to my ancestors. They also inspire me to create some ancestral art work in 2014. So get ready for some surprises!
Kesha was recently named 2013 Digital Sister of the Year – Creativista. While I was at the exhibition, I reconnected with Adrienne Fikes, 2013 Digital Sister of the Year – Enchantista. We had a great time chatting about Kesha’s work. What a great day I had!
Have you attended any gallery shows or museum exhibitions this holiday season?
Have you gotten into the holiday spirit yet? What was the driving force? Was it a song, commercial, memory, office party, tree with decorations, or a Starbucks hot beverage?
My holiday spirit arrived while working as an artist-in-residence for Smith Center for Healing and the Arts and creating an interactive wall collage for staff at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Sunday afternoon (see photo above). As I cut out images from magazines and asked staff about their holiday season traditions, my heart opened up to the beauty of the season. The beauty for me is captured best in a six-word memoir: joyful gratitude for family and friends.
When I was a little girl growing up in Landover, Maryland in the 1970s, my mother, an early childhood undergraduate student at the University of Maryland, encouraged me and my brothers to express our creativity through the power of imagination. My oldest brother, Mike, was the leader of our pack. His courage to create things we could only dream about amazed me. He designed and showed us how to cut out guitars from cardboard boxes so that we could imitate the Jackson Five, our favorite musical group. He also designed the plans for a snow igloo and served as the chief architect and foreman during the building process. Mike Leeke
Photo Credit: Mike Leeke
Later, he developed his talents and studied to become a comic book graphic artist at the Philadelphia College of Art. Throughout his career, I have watched Mike tap into the wellspring of courage that lies within his heart to pursue his dreams. It has grounded him in times of transition and helped him expand his vision for his creative expression. He is my creativity courage hero who reminds me to embrace my own courage in my creative life.
How do you find courage to express your creativity?
Do you have any creativity courage heroes or sheroes?
Last week, I visited Spelman College Museum of Fine Art’s Posing Beauty in African American Culture exhibition. Posing Beauty features over 75 photographs that span 12 decades (1890 to the present). It is the first exhibition I have ever seen that explores and challenges widespread and historic notions of African American beauty in photography. Deborah Willis, Ph.D., served as the curator of Posing Beauty. Willis is one of my favorite authors and photographers. She is also one of leading historians of African American photography.
While exploring the exhibition, I discovered and fell in love with a selection of cabinet cards featuring Spelman College faculty, students, and alumnae. Cabinet cards are photographic portraits mounted on 4 1/4 by 6 1/2 inch cards that people traded with each other in the early 1870s. They reminded me of several cabinet cards I have of my great grandmother Eunice Ann Thomas Roberts.
Blogalicious Creative Coaching participant Cassandre and Ananda Leeke
Happy Creativity Thursday and Happy Halloween!
During the Blogalicious Weekend Conference that was held on October 3 through October 5 at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta, I had an opportunity to conduct creativity coaching sessions with a dynamic group of bloggers and social media influencers. It was my first time offering 15-minute sessions. During the sessions, I used a breathing exercise, six-word memoirs, key questions, and deep listening to support each person in identifying strategies they could begin using to focus on their creative dreams and projects. After the sessions, I realized how much I enjoyed working with the Blogalicious Weekend Conference community. That’s why I am offering community members a special discount package on my creativity coaching services that expires on December 31, 2013. See details below.
My Creativity Coaching Practice: Click here to read more about my approach and background as a creativity coach.
Discount Period: The creativity coaching packages must be purchased via PayPal by October 31 to December 31, 2013. They must be used by December 31, 2014.
Contact Information: If you are interested in one or more of the packages, please send me an email at kiamshaleeke@yahoo.com. I will send you a SurveyMonkey link with 10 easy questions that will help me determine how best I can support you.
Today’s blog celebrates the 10th year anniversary of of Art Every Day Month.
Photo Credit: Leah Piken Kolidas
AEDM is the brainchild of Leah Piken Kolidas, an artist who is one of my digital diva sheroes and a 2012 Digital Sister of the Year (Creativista). Leah launched AEDM in 2004 as a month-long challenge that happens every November to encourage creating in all forms. The rules are simple. You are free to make just one piece of art per week or just one for the whole month. Leah says, “The idea is to bring more creativity into your life, not to make you feel overwhelmed, pressured or guilt-stricken.”
Photo Credit: Leah Piken Kolidas
She is also the founder of Creative Every Day Challenge, a challenge that was launched in 2008 to encourage individuals to add more creativity to their daily lives. Click here to learn more about the challenge.
Photo Credit: Leah Piken Kolidas
I discovered AEDM in 2008 when I was in the midst of a serious writer’s block. Making art each day helped me recapture my joie de vivre! It also helped me surrender to the creative process of making art without any judgment. After a few weeks, I was able to return to my writing with more clarity and energy.
The AEDM community is nurturing and supportive. Through their daily posts on the AEDM blog and Flickr group, they taught me how to create art on the go and to leave the judgment behind. I was able to see the beauty and fun in making art just for the sake of making art. The community reminded me how essential art-making is to my spirit. That’s why I plan to join the AEDM challenge this November to celebrate its 10th anniversary. I hope you will join us too.
Photo Credit: Leah Piken Kolidas
For AEDM newbies, be sure to check out the AEDM Survival Guide for tips on how to thrive throughout this 30 day adventure in daily art-making.
Digital Sisterhood Book Graphic Design Process: This week, my amazing graphic designer, Dariela Cruz published a blog post about the work she did to make my book’s cover art come to life. Click here to read all about it.
Author Chat Video Series: On October 14, I hosted my first author chat for my Kickstarter donors. The chat was divided into two videos. See the links below. Let me know what you think about the videos in the comment section.
1) If you are in DC on October 19, please plan to attend my author talk and book reading from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery, 1632 U Street, NW (three blocks from the U Street/Cardozo Green Line Metro Station). Click here to register for the event. See you on October 19th!
2) October 23 @ 9-10:00pm EST – Author Twitter Chat – Follow @digitalsisterhd on Twitter. Use the hashtag #digitalsisterhood and Tweetgrid.com, Tweetchat.com, or Hootsuite to participate in the conversation.
4) November 9: I will give a talk on leadership styles that people can use to make a positive impact on the digital global community at the 2nd Annual Women Interactive Creative Technology Festival at Spelman College in Atlanta, GA.
Today’s blog post discusses my creative style as an author. Earlier this year, I started collecting pictures from fashion magazines that illustrated what I wanted to look like as an author during my fall and winter Digital Sisterhood book events. I fell in love with gold jewelry, knit dresses with lots of zippers, leather wedge boots, colorful trench coats, and purses with funky side stitching.
Thanks to my incredibly creative and fashion savvy niece, Jordan, I knew I could find my gold jewelry — a funky ring and bangles from Forever 21 during one of my Labor Day sale adventures.
The black knit dress with zippers was a hard one to find. I started looking at my usual spots — Ann Taylor Loft, Macy’s, Marshalls, and TJ Maxx, but had no luck. While I was walking home earlier this week, my inner fashion goddess who lives inside my head whispered, “Drop by Dress Barn to see about the black knit dress.” So I listened (my inner fashion goddess is never wrong!) and found a petite black knit dress with gold zippers for $42. Yes, I said $42!
My Tahari black leather wedge boots were easy to find. I just had to look in my closet and find my boot container with boots I purchased two and three years ago. I had the heels fixed during the summer.
Looking for a trench coat has been a two-year challenge. I finally found one that fit my author creative style requirements (colorful), body size, and budget from Marshalls on a Sunday morning after church. It was love at first sight. Thank goodness Jones New York makes cinnamon double-breasted petite trench coats that end up in Marshalls for $60!
My black leather purse with funky silver side stitching is an oldie but goodie purchase I made at Violet Boutique (one of my favorite places to shop in D.C. — especially for jewelry, purses, coats, and jackets) in 2011.
The piece de resistance of my author creative style is my red tiger glasses by Oliver Goldsmith (OG), a London-based family run business that is synonymous with fashion and style. OG has been in business for the past 80 years. Fashion designers Christian Dior, Givenchy, and Vidal Sassoon, and actors Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly, Peter Sellers, and Michael Caine embraced OG eyewear early in their careers.
Photo Credit: OliverGoldsmith.com
I discovered my red tiger glasses during one of my summer visits to Dupont Optical, the place that has helped me select signature eyewear for over 20 years. Dupont Optical owner and optician Ben Herman recommended my red tiger glasses and another very cool pair of casual glasses I can wear as sunshades.
What are you wearing this fall to express your creativity?
If you are in Washington, D.C. on October 19, please plan to attend my author talk and book reading from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery, 1632 U Street, NW (three blocks from the U Street/Cardozo Green Line Metro Station). Click here to register for the event. See you on October 19th!
Today’s blog celebrates the creativity of Shonda Rhimes’ Scandal featuring Kerry Washingon. Scandal is a political television drama that stars Washington’s character, Olivia Pope. It focuses on Pope’s crisis management firm, Pope & Associates, its staff, the President of the United States and the White House staff.
Photo Credit: BeBlogalicious.com
Tonight is the season three premiere. I’ll be watching it with my Blogalicious family. If you are headed to Blogalicious, I hope to see you at the Scandal party!
In the art world, Hashmi is known as Zarina. She is originally from India, one of my favorite places in the world. Her Paper Like Skin exhibition explores her artwork and career since 1961. It is an impressive collection of 60 works. My favorite piece is Shadow House. See photo below.
I am drawn to her work because of her minimalist style, feminist spirit, and the magical way she uses paper. As a printmaker and sculptor, she transforms paper pulp into abstract woodcuts, etchings, drawings, rubbings, and casts. Her work also tells stories of dispossession, exile, and making new homes in different places such as Thailand, Germany, France, and Japan before settling in the United States. When she moved to New York City in the 1970s, she became a prominent figure in feminist art circles.
Ananda Leeke 