7/10/07 poem: I am a Wavebird

Artist/Teacher Institute
Playwrighting Workshop

Assignment II: After closing your eyes and scribbling for 7 seconds, circle an object in your scribble and write a script about it within a couple of minutes.



I AM a WAVEBIRD

I am a wavebird
Yes, that’s what I said thank you!
I am a bird that floats on the waves
…AND soars through the skies.
I have no limitations!
I am free and you cannot catch me.

Come from below, I’ll rise to the clouds.
Come from above, I can dive beneath the surface of the sea.
I repeat; YOU CANNOT CATCH ME! I AM FREE!

I bask in the sun.
I paddle with my partner for fun.
I don’t need a lighthouse.
I stay in the sunshine & let my own light shine.

THE END


Note: O.k. so I’ve written poetry in my past; never before tried to be a playwright – but I loved this activity & the resultant poem! :)

7/9/07 poem: Just What the Dr. Called For

Artist/Teacher Institute 7/9/07 Day 1
Playwrighting workshop: minor (followed major in oil painting & lunch)
1st assignment: Write about whatever you’re feeling.


Just What the Dr. Called For

Finally! I’m doing it --- again
sharing the essence of me that is
using my talents…again
having fun…again
living…again
its been a long time coming (I know )

Why have I put this off for so long?
as if turning from 15 to 41 wouldn’t happen so fast it makes my head spin.
did I forget how good it feels?
it’s like running barefoot through the sand on a bright sunny day.
its like floating in the Caribbean’s clear-yet-aqua-blue waters
…while its warmth embraces you
its like… its like…being free!!!

yesterday is long gone
tomorrow is not promised
today I’m a painter & writer -- again!

1st painting -- July 2007: The Deeper Blue Sea

This painting was made in about 5 hours during my 1st 2 days at aTi. The teacher told us not to do anything else with our 1st painting after the 1st 2 days, much to my dismay. It was based on 3 photos: the beach, the trees, and a rainbow-filled sky.

Everyone in the class was really experienced except 2 of the 15 or so of us. They were all quite impressed that I used more than 1 photo as my painting inspiration.

I've always loved rainbows and beautiful blue skies, most of which I've only seen in my hometown in North Carolina. My mother named our family home down there "Rainbow's End" when she retired and moved into it and I wrote a piece called "Rainbow's End & Lynn" after my sister Lynn went on to her next life. Most of this painting subject was selected in memory of her, the only person I know who loved the beach and water as much as I always have and who also gained a special love of the Caribbean Sea as I had.

A week after her cancer diagnosis, the doctor gave her 5 months to live. She told him she wasn't going that soon, she had too many things to do, and began making plans for all the great vacations she'd always wanted to take. Now the only thing good about a physician giving you a deadline for the rest of your life is one's ability to get an advance on much of their life insurance if s/he says your time is up within 1 year. She used hers to fulfill some of my mother's lifelong dreams for a remodeled house and the rest went towards these trips and enough to bury her and my father--who she was running to see and bring to doctor's appointments after his own cancer diagnosis-- 3 months before hers...

On the 1st trip, she treated her 2 best friends, favorite cousin, and I to Jamaica with her. I left at about 4 a.m. to meet them there & nevermind the fact that I was running so late I was already afraid of missing my plane (as usual during these last several years), I actually had to return home once arriving at the airport & realizing I'd forgotten my i.d.!!! Lynn called me en route in the speeding cab & sheer terror from hearing her mouth prevented me from answering the phone. After finally getting the nerve to ditch the very long ticket line & running to the booth only to be told I was too late, I began tearing up as I told them I just had to get on that plane b/c I was going to Jamaica!!! One of the reservationists finally told me I'd better run & run I did--all the way to the gates! I was so out of shape & breath I almost collapsed as I arrived at the plane only to hear the intercom saying "Last call for passenger DeAnna Whitley..." It took off the moment I sat down! (The silver lining was that one of her best friends & I got a $400 travel voucher for giving up our seats on the connecting flight and arriving in Jamaica just a few hrs. later than planned).

Anyway, Lynn planned it so that we all arrived there on the exact date the doctor had "forecast" as her last. It was my 1st time seeing her since that July of 2005, a month and a half after her chemo treatments had begun and I wanted to cry at 1st glance when I saw how she had lost an even more tremendous amount of weight since July and the cancer was affecting her looks even more but that thought was quickly brushed aside once she saw me and flashed that big, bright, bubbly smile that she had and I saw the twinkle in her eyes from the sheer excitement of being there. I realized more than ever that we were there to celebrate her life and she wanted no signs of sadness. So instead, we all had a ball in Jamaica, the one foreign country she had ever visited and fallen in love with (This was her 4th and last trip there in a 2 year period)! You can see the fabulous time we had when clicking on the photos above to enlarge them.

I included 1 photo of Lynn & I in Ft. Lauderdale on a business trip through the only network marketing company I'd convinced her to join along with me. It was a total coincidence that we dressed alike on that day for the business conference! Later that night, we met another guest who had come to the hotel with friends on this yacht that was docked there and he invited us to join them on it for drinks and so we could share our business opportunity with them. I used to go to Battery Park City in NYC every summer after my sister Janet had introduced me to it--partially because of how much I enjoyed viewing the beautiful yachts docked there and dreaming about one day having my own through some business and financial planning...until the World Trade Center attacks. Needless to say, Lynn & I loved being on this yacht in Florida and we made a pledge to each other while on board that we would be there the next year on our own yacht through the building of our business together. That was in March 04'...

When this painting is done, it will be a collage of sorts, and a gift for all of us who went on this momentous vacation. I named it "The Deeper Blue Sea" because Lynn became hilariously obsessed with shark movies during her last few years (Jaws became her bedtime ritual movie--and she kept it on replay all night) and the last movie we watched completely together was "The Deep Blue Sea" before she passed on.

(By the way, had Lynn lived 1 more month, it would have been exactly one and a half years after her diagnosis. 20 more days and it would have been the one year anniversary of our trip to Jamaica. The morning before she died on Oct. 15th, she told our mother that if it weren't for the cancer, her last year would have been her best. She faced her death like the bravest hero in a lion's pit ever could and put her life in God's hands. If you'd like to know how, I'll be adding posts on that too for those of you who may want to pass on some of her moving philosophy to others in the same boat. Below is just a sample note found recently that she'd emailed us long with a great photo from our trip to Jamaice (that I've so far been unsucessful at copying and pasting or uploading here from shutterfly, the company she sent it through).




Pictures from Chante Whitley




It's amazing even though the doctors said I'd be gone by now...God
had/has other plans for me. Thank you all for all your prayers for I
truly believe that God has heard them and is working a wonderful
healing on me because of them!

So here I am in Jamaica celebrating life, with the four "baby-sitters"
who were determined that I was not going to travel anywhere without
them watching over me.

I love you all! God Bless You!
Love, Hugs & Kisses
Lynn "Chante"

3rd Painting July 2007: The Ties That Bind

This will be my best Mother's Day gift when completed. (My mother says I never could keep a secret). It is a painting of my mother, 2 sisters (Lynn & Janet), and I which was juxtaposed from 3 photos of us. One, was a special one of Janet; the 2nd, a photo of Lynn & I hugging in Jamaica; and the last was Lynn hugging my mother.

I chose this subject because we have no photos of all of us together except for a couple. (One was from Janet's wedding at the United Nations' Chapel, the same location as her funeral, because she wanted such momentous occasions located at the greatest symbol for world peace).

The 1st photo here shows the last photo taken with the closest female relatives I've ever had that were here in NJ at the time. My grandmother, mother, Lynn, Janet, Janet's daughter Amina (age 8 at the time), and I, all together for mother's day 1996, just a couple of months before Janet passed. Lynn tried to persuade me to come take professional photos with she & our mother for mother's day in 2005 but I was too busy with schoolwork & didn't feel I had enough money since I was already coming for Memorial Day & part of the summer, so we agreed that they would take more when I got there. Then, a week after she persuaded my mom to take some of the best photos they had ever taken anyway in the meantime, Lynn went and received her cancer diagnosis.

We never took the professional photos of the 3 of us and we also only have one unprofessional one of that sort. So Mommy, "this one's for you Babe." (My hands that are visible here have already been fixed and when it's finished, it'll "really" look like it's all of us--for real :) ) Like the others seen here, you can click on any part of the photos/painting to enlarge them.

My favorite photos of Lynn & Janet were used for their funeral programs shown here, including one of those taken that Mother's Day of Lynn.

2nd Painting July 2007-Sunflower Sunset

This was my 2nd painting made July 07' in 2 or 3 days. It was copied from approximately 7 different photos put together.

I've always loved beautiful sunsets, butterflies, and flowers, but this one was more inspired by the love of 3 special women...

My grandmother told me she once had a field of sunflowers and I often wondered what that looked like until I found a calendar of sunflowers shortly after my sister Lynn passed. It included not only a field but many other beautiful shots of a wide variety of sunflowers. It was perfect timing because sunflowers were Lynn's favorite flowers and they also have reminded us of our sister Janet ever since she planted a huge one in front of her condo before her residence association made her take it down. At numerous special family events after Janet died 12 years ago, I'd give my mother/Lynn sunflowers to remind them that Janet was still with us in spirit.

One of the calendar photos had this beautiful shot of a butterfly on a sunflower so I had to use that one. Our cousin Judy said Lynn flew to her as a butterfly and stayed on her shoulder for a while before flying off shortly after she died. Then, our niece and sister-in-law told us that Lynn also flew to them as a butterfly which landed on Lynn's funeral program as they walked to her burial site following the funeral. Butterflies have reminded us of Lynn ever since.

I included a cardinal because it is not only one of the 1st of over 24 types of birds attracted to my yard when I began feeding them shortly after moving into my house, it's one of the most beautiful ones whose calls I instantly recognize.

The coreopsis flowers in the bottom of the photo I painted with the cardinal also took on a special meaning since I noticed on the 2nd day of painting that they were growing right outside of the aTi building and the art teacher told me they attracted butterflies. Of course I went and bought some to plant in my yard by the end of the program as a result. Don't ask me why they haven't been planted yet--along with more than half the other flowers, hedges, and trees I've bought since moving here 5 years ago.

aTi Summer Exhibit 8/9-18/08

I'm going to have 2 of my paintings made this summer displayed at the "Artist/Teacher Institute: Summer 2008 Exhibition" in NYC--and the photos will be added here afterwards!!! This will be the 2nd art gallery I'm a part of! The 1st one, seen here, was in Nov. at Columbia High School's art gallery in South Orange/Maplewood. I've also included the inspiration for my favorite painting made this summer, Sister Butterfly (although this photo does not do it justice). I'll be in another art exhibit in September & will let you all know the details ASAP.

August 9- August 18, 2008
Arts Horizons
LeRoy Neiman Art Center
2785 Frederick Douglas Blvd.
(near West 148th St.)
New York, NY 10039

Gallery hours are Mon.-Sat. 10-5
Reception: Sat. Aug. 9, 2008 12-2

contact: clayton@artshorizons.org
(917)817-2957



The following is my profile which will be featured beside my 2 paintings:


ABOUT the PAINTER

______ teaches history at ___ High—where she, her sisters, and mother once majored in art. After losing her father, last grandparent, and last sister to cancer in 06’, aTi became her art therapy. Her first time painting since age 15, she has since made 8 paintings, a dream on the back burner for 26 years.

Dee painted her sister Lynn with butterfly wings in Sister Butterfly because Lynn flew to 3 relatives as this beautiful insect. A cousin reported Lynn visiting her as a butterfly shortly after passing by staying on her shoulder a spell before flying off. Next, she stayed a while on her own funeral program as their niece and sister and law walked to her burial.

Meadow Medley, was made in three hours. A naturalist at heart, put Dee amongst trees and flowers, and watch her exhale. She hopes you will feel the peace that a meadow exudes yourself.

For further info. about this artist and her aTi experience, go to www.djwhitley.blogspot.com

aTi 7/7/08 creative movement workshop minor

This workshop was captivating from start to finish! The way the teacher, Candace K. taught, it was extremely unique & contrasted from any "dance' lessons I'd ever had. Instead of a top-down approach, it was very student-centered & I felt this every day. She added her own original touch to everything, giving us journals to write in; cameras for our growth process and pictures of wht "moved" us; having us create a wall mural acronym of our names, drawing a chalk picture to go with it, along with a collage of what "moved" us...Candace just did a phenomenol job of drawing the creativity out of all of us in her class, giving each of us equal attention in turn.

teacher's journal questions:
(Q):What is creative movement?
(my A): moving your body in any choreographed way to a silent or
audible beat which can also be used to tell a story

(Q): How do you feel while doing it?
(my A): When I move, I feel exhiliarated, free, & in control. I feel sexy, alive, & in
tune with my spirit.

When I asked Candace why the course was not just called "dance," she gave a great explanation. It was something to the effect of: the word dance has certain connotations & expectations; it's more rigid & less organic; scaring people off who didn't feel they could do it...

In hindsight, I must add to my 2nd answer above: I feel "JOYFUL" while expressing creative movement!

We did warm ups to very beautiful, soothing, and out of the box music as our teacher made statements of this sort: "Close your eyes & sway like the wind," "Reach up & grab the sun," "Bring your arms down & grab a part of the earth..." (She really touched the naturalist in me [a very big part of who I am]).

Then, on this 1st day, one after another, she had each of us, say "No" through movement. Each student's physical expression of that word became the next step in a wonderful impromptu dance routine that we were then creating. She added a step last and then had each of us add another step and so on to what could have gone on to Alvin Ailey if you ask me. She said we were all so good at it, we made her job very easy unlike many prior students. How cool is that?

Reflections: Dancing was once my life. I took dance lessons in ballet, jazz, & tap for 7 years during primary & secondary school and I was also in the dance ensemble at the latter. Until I graduated from college, throughout my life, I often danced around the house to R&B or club music on the radio or some tape (even while doing chores) & I constantly choreographed solo, duo, or group dances in my head to music I loved. I won 1st runner up for a choreographed dance at a talent contest in my 2nd high school (Science High) and the same at a dance contest in the Bahamas. This also brings to mind a poem I wrote during the 1st semester my freshman year of college when I was dancing at at least 1 party between Thursday & Saturday each week. It's called "Dancing Is Me" (& when I find it, I'll share it...)

During the summer before graduating college, I made the bulk of a business plan to start my own dance school but that dream was put on a back burner along with the rest of my talent-related dreams once my career began. Other than taking a few African dance lessons at a school during one year in my late 20s, this aTi minor is my 1st time actively practicing some semblence of formal creative movement since graduating high school.

We have performances & exhibits for friends, family, & special guests the entire last day at aTi. Not only did I receive great compliments on my choreographed dance each day once we started preparing for it, I was also told by various ones that I kept getting better each rehearsal. One of the aTi students from the drama workshop told me that the ending production put on by members of our workshop that summer was by far the best one he'd ever seen and he and a number of others raved about how good I was. On top of that, one of my creative movement classmates was so impressed with my final performance, she asked if I was trying to audition for Alvin Ailey!

Since I started taking my painting dream off the shelf in summer 07' & dusting it off thanks to aTi, who knows; maybe I'll start looking into my own dance school stuff again too at some point! One of the dance teachers at my school has her own, the French teacher has a beautiful, upscale restaurant, an art teacher owns his own horse training ranch, and a TV production teacher at my school has his own production company... Given the time, I will be doing something about my own entrepreneurial aspirations. So stay posted!

aTi 7/9/08 oil painting workshop major

I had already finished my 1st of 3 paintings made at aTi this summer when these journal notes began. As I said, unlike last summer at aTi which was my 1st time painting since I was a 15 year art major at a school of the arts where I now teach, I was not exuberant the whole time I painted this summer. Instead, I was much harder on myself, partially because the bar was raised.
(My attempts to save gas money by finding shorter routes for what began as a 50 minute commute were not as sucessful as hoped [until the day before the program ended of course--though I did get it down to 30 min]). As much as I still loved the program & was dying to do even better & more than last year, I painted the same amount and only loved the outcome with one of my paintings.

I would feed my growling stomach with those aTi breakfasts & my caffeine fix before feeding my soul. That would be before rushing in only to spend way too much time sorting through magazines and photos or otherwise trying to decide on my subject matter which I would have had ready had I not spent so much time at home trying to fulfill so many other priorities that I never find time to do during the school year... My nerves were in frays the whole time because I so desperately wanted to do a great job. I've heard of writer's block before but painter's block was a new one.

To make matters worse, our teacher, Kit, makes us spend a maximum of 2 days on the 1st painting which in reality amounted to about 3 hours in my case this time. I never fully understood the rationale for this 2-days-only-for-1st-painting-thing beyond motivating & impressing people with how much can be done in little time. However, that could be because I was having a senior moment while Kit was explaining it.

The painting of a meadow that I unwittingly settled on for that one turned out "alright" but I still plan to do more to my "Meadow Medley"--along with all 7 other paintings I've made in the last year. I have yet to find a moment to paint outside of aTi despite buying all this equipment to do so but it's thanks only to aTi that I could accomplish that many.

The 2nd one this summer was my 1st attempt at abstract painting & because the only colors in it are some version of black, white, or some shade of grey, I've actually named it "Shades of Grey." It was created for my hairstylist who requested one for "the white room" in his new club after viewing the others I'd made. He even offered to let me give art shows there!!!

The last one, "Sister Butterfly," is the 2nd most special one of them all. I LOVE the 3 made last summer but it is really only this last of these 3 made 7/7-18/08 that I feel this way about. Yet ironically, the teacher & April Armstrong--1 of the other painters from both summers who I became good friends with & whose paintings I most admired when she was also there last summer-- said they saw a lot of growth in these 3 compared to the work I did back then! Go figure. You can see a not-so-good-photo of this 1st & last painting of the summer in my art exhibit entry.

7/6/08 Intro.- Living the Life at aTi (ArtistTeacher Institute) 2008

Well, here goes my 1st real attempt at blogging! I've been interested in learning how to create this type of website (an online journal/personal website/personal broadcast) since 1st reading about it many years ago. I took a computer workshop in Jan. which included blogging & setting up this account but then I was so busy with schoolwork and other priorities, I forgot I even started this. That is, until aTi (the Artist/Teacher Institute) gave a lunchtime seminar on it so that those of us winning Victoria scholarships (http://www.victoriafoundation.org/) would consider using the aTi blog for our required aTi journals. So, I'm starting by thanking aTi for making me do this journal thing that I've also longed to get back to doing since my teens anyway and I especially thank it for giving me this very easy means which is bringing me more into the Information Age as well.

I L-O-V-E aTi! I honestly believe it was the best decision of my life to become a part of it because I had 2 straight weeks of boundless joy, fun, creativity, and just plain glee! I just spent two weeks there for the 2nd summer in a row after initially fighting with myself over the need to save gas money and have more time to earn a 2nd income plus focus on school preparation during my vacation instead. In the end, I convinced myself to go with the argument that through aTi, the arts just might eventually become one of the multiple streams of income I need most and one of its main purposes is to provide teachers with ways to infuse the arts across the curriculum. If you're an artist (or would-be -one) and/or a school administrator or teacher "of any subject" looking for ways to include the arts in your lessons, or just "play" through the arts to replenish yourself, I can't encourage you enough to check out aTi and its main sponsors at http://www.artshorizons.org/ where you will discover more about this great opportunity and others.

What a fabulous & challenging 2 weeks it was! I again majored in oil painting (which followed the great breakfasts they provided) but this time, I minored in creative movement (following the good-but-not-great lunches).

I thought I'd died & went to heaven while painting same time last year there. Throughout elementary school, I recall drawing pictures & designs all around my class notes whenever I found the chance and I loved my art classes so much, my mother enrolled us in art classes at our local museum which my sister Lynn & I looked forward to walking to each weekend. Yet, other than 3 sketches drawn during my freshman year of college (which my cousin Gia still raves about [the one of her]), last summer's aTi experience was my 1st time being an active participant in visual art since age 15 while majoring in it at a high school of the arts. The amount of gratification I felt at aTi last summer left me wondering how I'd stayed away from painting (and creative writing) for so long. The only problem left then was how to get funding and find the time to apply it to the history classes I teach. However, though I still loved painting at aTi this summer, I actually felt tremendous anxiety during my oil painting major this go round. More about that later...

Last summer, I tried my hand at playwriting for the 1st time; another long time goal. It was my minor but though I really enjoyed it too, I not only found myself exhausted after lunch which made it hard to stay focused if I wasn't active, it was actually difficult to take my mind off of painting because I was so into it. By the 2nd week, I could not wait until the end of the day so I could get back to painting after hours and stayed there later and later each time with a couple of others from the class. I loved my products from the playwriting although the poet in me was more exposed than my playrighting self with at least a couple of exercises. I also had a hard time seeing how to apply this particular workshop to my own teaching given the time constraints. But, at least I got to try something else different yet fun!

My aTi minor this year was another rekindling of a long lost old flame; dance. But it was called "creative movement" and I soon found out this was appropiately so...This workshop was nothing short of enchanting!