ann-marie stillion | creative content

Bad Wig and Ugly Tracksuit Walk - Happy New Year at Green Lake

2012-01-01T14:45:00.000-08:00

Photo by Ann-Marie Stillion, 2012 "Annual Bad Wig and Ugly Tracksuit Walk at Green Lake (left) Cory Gooch (right) Jana Rekosh"

For more photos from this deliciously fun day, follow me to flickr.

Just watched Portlandia for the first time last night. I would say Seattle can easily give Portland a run for it's money. Shout out to Marlow Harris and Jo David for keeping this new years event alive and well.

Have yourself a Merry little Christmas

2011-12-24T12:23:00.000-08:00

Photo by Ann-Marie Stillion, 2011 Fremont Arts Council Solstice celebration "Winter Feast 2011"

You don't have to be a sellout but you do have to learn a few things

2011-12-13T17:27:00.000-08:00

Screen grab from Chase Jarvis Live. (Left) Ramit Sethi author of "I Will Teach You to Be Rich" and (Right) Chase Jarvis, photographer

I was introduced to photographer Chase Jarvis more than 6 years ago. He came to an ASMP meeting in Seattle to talk about this new thing called blogging. The small crowd of local photographers listened politely as he talked about the value of sharing as a way of building your reputation and your business using this newfangled mode. Then, Jarvis was a building a reputation as a sports photographer. He had discovered the power of social media long before most knew what was to come. And he wanted us to learn what he had come to understand: the internet can produce amazing results and relationships.

Now he is in demand from numerous companies to endorse their products and his app The Best Camera Is The One That’s With You is an inspiration even if you don't have an Iphone and you can buy a book on the subject if you do. That Jarvis loves to teach is apparent in every aspect of his business. Awards. Projects galore and a fine balance of art and commerce. Hefty stuff.

An email to the photographic community yesterday peeked my interest. On his internet channel, Jarvis was talking to an up and coming financial whiz Ramit Sethi whose book "I Will Teach You to Be Rich" needs little explanation of intent. Jarvis said in the email: "Sethi has single-handedly given me better insight about the business side of art/photography than anyone else in my 15 year career." Strong talk. I wanted to hear some of what had helped propel the photographer to his global rock star status. We all know loads of talent who have never even imagined the reach that the photographer has come to represent.

You can watch the entire webcast with Sethi on Chase Jarvis Live, his internet channel in collaboration with Polaroid and B&H.

Take the time if you are a creative. I would be shocked if any artist couldn't pull something out of this talk that is useful to financial and career success.

As Chase says, "we are all guilty" at some time of falling into the starving artist mode. Maybe we are afraid of being accused of selling out, maybe we sell ourselves short. Maybe we don't take advantage of the most obvious tried and true methods to sell stuff. After all, we all sell stuff no matter how you slice it.

And hats off to Chase Jarvis for his continuing effort to inspire and motivate his fellow professionals. Cynically you might say he is just working the big room of the internet. But face to face with the man it is clear that he deeply wants everyone to discover for themselves at least some of the success he has experienced.

Photographer Jini Dellaccio

2011-12-03T19:12:00.000-08:00

Jini Dellacio (left) greets gallery visitor Samantha Bailey at the opening of Dellaccio's one woman exhibit on Nov. 10 at Photo Center NW in Seattle.

I attended the opening of Jini Dellaccio's one woman exhibit at Photo Center NW a few weeks ago. In her ninth decade and sitting upright in a comfortable walker, the photographer flourished in the sixties. She told me her favorite camera was the Hasselblad and favorite lens, the 200 mm. Dellaccio delighted in taking rockers of the day outside for shoots and her work includes many musicians of the day like Neil Young and The Who. Watching her greet and engage with each admirer was a true pleasure. Dellacio's collection of musician portraits hung at The Crocodile for the last few years and will travel again after this exhibit ends on Dec. 16. A limited edition monograph of her work “Rock & Roll” accompanies this exhibition and is available through the Photo Center.

Hair

2011-12-03T18:45:00.000-08:00

Last week I started exploring the small space of my studio for portrait shooting. The lovely Joni and her amazing head of explosive braids dropped by for a few hours of fun. I am pretty excited about the possibilities. Natural light with a simple hot light. Pretty cool.

Occupy Wall Street - the 99% must be heard

2011-11-17T14:27:00.000-08:00


From Westlake Park, Seattle Occupy Wall Street Protest, 2011. All rights reserved, Ann-Marie Stillion

It has been widely reported that Homeland Security has been coordinating the Occupy Wall Street crackdowns. Today I sent the following to President Obama.

Dear Mr. President,

I have been a strong supporter and writing this pains me. How could you allow the government to play a part and coordinate the police against Occupy protesters? Attacking media, hurting old people, destroying books. Really? The White House should be coordinating conversations not crackdowns. We are your people and using the police against us is wrong.

Please find a way to stop attacking the people who elected you.

Thank you.

Occupy Seattle 10.08.11

2011-10-09T18:20:00.000-07:00

If anyone at the Occupy Seattle event on Oct. 8, 2011 in Westlake Plaza knew what was going on, it was this little marcher. Headed up the street with hundreds of others of all ages and backgrounds, it's hard to imagine a sterner or more purposeful look on a child. I couldn't stop to talk as people flooded over the corner of Pike and 4th headed out for the beginning of the march. But when I looked at the shots later I wondered what this little girl would say now and in the future. I hope she sees this someday.

For more images of Occupy Seattle from that day take a look at this slideshow. The images render a difficult truth for some politicians and business groups alike: this group of people is purely grassroots, on a message of their own, as well as educated and smart enough to keep on bringing it. If you are in Seattle, stop by and lend a hand. You can get started at the Occupy Seattle website.

Hear Your People! Obama

2011-09-25T20:57:00.000-07:00

At the Obama fundraiser and protest today. More here

Fall afternoon at Green Lake

2011-09-11T18:01:00.000-07:00

Photo by Ann-Marie Stillion, 2007

Any afternoon, depending on the season the time may change, but any afternoon there is this timeless moment at the edge of Green Lake. Such a remarkable place.

Happy Fourth of July

2011-07-03T17:31:00.000-07:00

"Georgetown, Seattle, an artists' trailer park, 2011" by Ann-Marie Stillion.

Longshot 2011 - get going

2011-06-10T22:34:00.000-07:00

Lumber, a dog from West Seattle, makes a plea for donations. Visitors are encouraged to go to http://pcnw.org/l... and pledge - a few dollars. Lumber's friend, photographer Ann-Marie will be shooting on the Longshot. You can make a flat donation or pledge an amount for each hour she shoots. It's a 24-hour shoot, so who knows.

churn 2011

2011-05-15T14:09:00.000-07:00

"Subject two," by photographer Ann-Marie Stillion, 2010 from the ongoing project, churn, about American technology

For more about churn, visit my web site.

Push Pin Show at PCNW -- through April 17

2011-04-02T22:12:00.000-07:00


"On the beach - dog," digital archival print, 2009 by Ann-Marie Stillion

One of a series of three prints on exhibit.

Photo Center NW
Push Pin Show
900 12th Ave, Seattle, Washington 98122, (206) 720-7222

Earth Month 2011

2011-04-01T14:05:00.000-07:00

Ann-Marie Stillion, "Memory, 2011", mixed media on canvas, 10" x 8"

A month or so ago, Inez Grey at Habitude decided to hand out small canvasses to artists in the Seattle community.

The results will be displayed at the Ballard Art Walk on second saturday April 9. My piece, "Memory, 2011," is an encaustic treatment, photo based work on rice paper, with string and acrylic paint and gels. The art will be shared through a silent auction for Puget Sound Keeper Alliance.

HABITUDE NIGHT OUT
great cause, clean water
a benefit
Earth Day: April 22nd, 2011
7:00pm-9:00pm

Buy art + do good.

Ann-Marie

Visual abstraction

2011-02-26T18:27:00.000-08:00

Abstraction in visual art hovers somewhere in darkness these days. Often images are called abstraction when they are merely not well understood or don't seem to be a picture of something. I offer the idea of abstraction as being an image which brings the viewer to the same place as the artist. An abstract brings our busy minds to a pause and we breath in and out more slowly. --ams

New Work

2010-12-31T12:17:00.000-08:00

"Truth and Beauty Redux," mixed media on wood, 12'x24", 2010 by Ann-Marie Stillion

So long to 2010, no regrets. 2011 already looks better to me.

On to new adventures. Began combining photographs and painting in late summer. This rose above pulled me into the process. Others to come. Looks like encaustic but is acrylic based and less toxic.

A new photo group is born

2010-12-01T19:31:00.000-08:00

Inspired by photographer Lisa Ahlberg (above standing), c&b which translates as cameras and booze (we shoot first and end the day with your favorite drinks) held its inaugural shoot in Lisa's backyard studio. Inviting neighbors and friends and their dogs, the group traded off with Nikons and one Hasselblad shooter (Terry Novak, seen below). Everyone wanted to meet again in few weeks on Dec. 12. The group was created through class meetings at Photo Center Northwest. The next group shoot on the 12th will be in Georgetown (street shooting) or in the studio in Magnolia depending on the weather. At least one model has agreed to come at this writing. Contact lisaahlberg@mac.com if you would like further info. (photos by Ann-Marie Stillion)

With thanks for hollyhocks in fall

2010-11-22T12:04:00.000-08:00

For good friends and family,

the inspiration of art and music,

and the grace of God.

For the small moments and big.

For all that we are blessed with.

For challenges which keep us moving forward.

Rally to Restore Sanity--Seattle

2010-11-04T10:17:00.000-07:00

(Photo by Ann-Marie Stillion/arttrek.com, 10-30-10, "Laugh More")

I met up with excellent editor and beautiful friend Sherri Schultz at the Rally to Restore Sanity in Seattle. When we got to Westlake the plaza was filled (more than 6,000 by the rally organizers count) and the mood was high. We laughed while standing for sanity and articulate and thoughtful debate. When the rally broke up at noon as the rain poured down, the "protesters" scattered and one lone sign remained leaning against a retail shop, a lost balloon bobbed nearby. The sign called out "Laugh More" and the yellow balloon's message, "Enough," fell with a whisper to cold blue pavement.

Lots of other signs made me laugh that day like "Hitler is Hitler" but "Laugh More" pretty much sums it up.

Loving Mr. Picasso

2010-10-26T16:43:00.000-07:00

Visited the Picasso exhibit at SAM this weekend. I joined my friend's Don and Brenda Gray, up from Oregon.

I wasn't prepared to be struck so deeply by the power of his work. Never a fan or follower of the great Spaniard, I became one that day. I feel every artist must see this work, which is a collection of his own making. The quantity and collection stimulated dreams and new visions. Stumbling out the museum door at dusk I felt unwilling to look at anything for a time.

This exhibit is from the museum of his work in Paris. Above is a drawing from the room of sculpture. The day I visited a group of American girls were exploring the artist's work through drawing it. My drawing reflects one of those moments. The great monstrous women's heads were poised to devour us, at least so it seemed.

New Work @ Habitude in Ballard Extended

2010-10-22T13:11:00.000-07:00

This just in. The exhibit of my work at Habitude will remain in the upstairs space until mid-November and then move back to the main floor until Dec. 10.

Go see it!

Asian Guys' Hair

2010-10-09T17:11:00.000-07:00

From "Asian Guys' Hair" by photographer Ann-Marie Stillion -- a series of images shot in impromptu street studios in Seattle's Chinatown in 2006-07.

Hard to imagine a month has gone by since I posted here - whoops! Playing catch-up since hanging the show at Habitude. Have been working on building out my website with some of my earlier projects. Am trying for an overview rather than just being current. In the newest version of arttrek.com I including the series, "Asian Guys' Hair," and am thinking of going back to Chinatown for another day or two, setting up the street studio. Looking at these images today proved inspiring. If you are interested in being a subject, send an email.

New Work @ Habitude in Ballard

2010-08-17T14:54:00.000-07:00

You are invited to the artist reception for
ANN-MARIE STILLION "New Work"
on Saturday, Sept. 11, 2010 from 6-9 p.m.
at Habitude Salon and Spa and Gallery, 2801 NW Market Street, Seattle.
Call 206.782.2898 for more information or visit www.habitude.com.

The exhibit runs Sept. 11 - Nov. 1o, 2010

The reception is also part of the Ballard Art Walk which is
held second Saturdays throughout the year.

Join us!

To find out more about the artist Ann-Marie Stillion,

please visit www.arttrek.com or call 206-388-3363 --

currently booking portrait sessions,

accepting commissions and seeking representation.

Churn :: American tech workers, a photography project

2010-08-16T11:19:00.000-07:00

Visit the slideshow here
(Updated 8.16.10) Hiring workers while laying off others is defined as churn in the language of human resources. For tech workers, churn has long been a way of life, a undeniable fact of the global economy. For a few months now I have been photographing individual tech workers, learning their stories and documenting their too often silent journeys.

This photography project is meant to maintain the integrity of the broader tech worker story without compromising the individual job seeker: Each individual is photographed in a way to conceal rather than reveal identity. Anonymous text from photographic subjects will accompany the images.

Interested in participating as a photographic subject for Churn? Please contact me at annmarie@arttrek.com. At this time, the project is focused on the greater Seattle area.

If you or someone you know is laid off, or contracting with an uncertain future then consider participating as a potential photographic subject. If you are not in this geographic area but plan on traveling here and would like to be part of the project, please let me know. As support for the project becomes available, more subjects from other geographic locations will be included.

O beautiful for spacious skies ...

2010-07-19T17:29:00.001-07:00

P070410PS-0578
Originally uploaded by The White House

I spent my Fourth this year with Dad. We went to a fireworks show out in the desert in California with a country rock band starting the festivities. Lots of patriotism and nods to freedom. But as the crowds headed to the parking lot, the loudspeakers broadcast Ray Charles' America The Beautiful over our heads and I finally felt the true power of the evening.

Far away on another coast, our beautiful first couple was communing beneath the same colorful sky. I love this photo and the fine sensibility that Pete Souza brings to his photography.--ams

Shooting for a world record in Sammamish!

2010-07-15T17:20:00.000-07:00

(Photo above by Anne Lindsay) On Saturday, July 17, 2010, the first annual "Largest gathering of people with natural red hair" will happen in Sammamish, Washington at the Skyline High School Stadium (1122 228th Avenue Southeast, Sammamish, Washington) - right across the street from Sammamish City Hall.

A fine artist, portrait photographer and chronicler of redheads, Anne Lindsay has decided to go for the title of largest gathering of redheads for the Guinness Book of World Records.

I am one of the lucky photographers to join her team for this event. And today Anne told me it's not too late to sign up and be in the shot if you're a natural redhead: just come early and get in line. Gates open at 2 p.m. and the record winning shot is scheduled for 3 p.m. Or if you're not a redhead and want to cheer on the wild ginger madness there is a $5 admission fee. Be there or be square.--ams

Homer Simpson at LONGSHOT, 2010

2010-06-16T18:17:00.000-07:00

The print above sold as part of LONGSHOT, a fundraiser for Photo Center Northwest this year. "Isolation Chamber" was a room set for a Popular Photography seminar at the Seattle Hilton. One of the instructors was using the image as a screen saver.

The silent cartoon character "listening" to his portable audio device and dancing to an empty room resonated with the invisible order that technology promises with (hardly) any prompting from human onlookers.

But if Tom Robbins is right and everything is truly alive, then Homer was happily dancing and the chairs were keenly attentive. I enjoyed making the image and the print. What has become an annual event was very successful this year and the exhibit of results from shooters around the world made for a wonderful exhibit of time and space.--ams

Happy Birthday Mr. Van Gogh

2010-03-30T13:15:00.000-07:00

The image above was taken of Vincent Van Gogh when he was 13. Today is his birthday and he was born in 1853. The image itself is from the wikimedia commons, it is in the public domain by U.S. copyright laws.

Below is a short story originally copyrighted, Ann-Marie Stillion, 2004 and later revised as late as 2010. It is a story of my personal relationship to Van Gogh. I often think of him and was reminded the year I wrote this that he foresaw his own celebrity in his writings, that he would be famous and successful long after his death. In 2004 there was a big exhibit of his work at the Seattle Art Museum and his images hung from light poles all over town. Of course, his work can be found throughout the world now. From notebooks to the face of credit cards.

Today, I went looking for an image of him and found this photograph on wikipedia. So much is visible in his young face and so much is different from his own, more mature paintings of himself.

Here is my story of the artist.

The man who wanted to be everywhere
--for Mr. Van Gogh

One day he was allowed outside the asylum. The long cool autumn afternoons in the olive groves added to his gathering madness. He watched intensely as the gray sand swirled into wild waves under his feet like a river escaping its bed. His thoughts began to appear as a vehicle of travel.

Horizons of gold kept him awake, even as the desire for sleep crushed every thought. What appeared erratic to the friends and the medical assistants sent to save him was the effect of the effort it took to align his imagination. He had decided to thrust himself into time.

He knew he must first witness the death of all his cellular life might offer. This almost kept him from his task.

The warmth of another’s touch and that of his own body sliced away for an eternity—this would go first he knew. He stood at the doorway of his dreams without entering and practiced silence.

Eternity had called to him since he first stared up into the alcove of the church in his childhood. Curves of light, glass, incense and the frozen tears of captive saints spoke to him alone he recalled thinking. He marveled at how color and prayer bound him to heaven with so little effort on his part.

His first steps had naturally been religious. But speaking over the heads of sinners deepened his sorrow until it bent in two completely perfect spheres of light. Then he began to paint.

Existing forever is what he meant to do from the first. He painted himself into time for no other reason than he wanted to see what tied each life to the earth. From that long distance it might make sense he told himself.

Now night throws itself over a dark street in Paris and the lovers will never kiss. Strangers glide the uneven cobblestone and never stumble, nor will they meet. The cobalt black cape of flickering starlight melts into the alchemy of fate and fortune. Someone is coming now and someone will soon leave.

by Ann-Marie Stillion, 5.31.04, revised 8.16.04, 1.26.10. All rights reserved.

For inquiries regarding republishing, please contact the writer annmarie@arttrek.com.

Beautiful Sue

2010-03-17T19:51:00.000-07:00

I met Sue Doupe over a year ago. Full of energy and a great photographer with an established photography business in family portraits and headshots for actors & business in Seattle, her beauty inspires great photography. Also a skilled actor who has taught and performed, her natural sense of drama comes out in front of the camera as well as behind it.

Of late, Sue and Lisa Ahlberg and I started getting go together for fun with our cameras for a few hours a week somewhere in the Seattle. Business, children and jobs mean we can not do it for long but actually good things don't have to last long to be meaningful.

I took this picture with the Mamiya 330s I got from another photographer, Neil Lukas. It feels both heavy and light, complex and simple. Somehow I am so comfortable and excited about it in ways that the digital doesn't always provide for me these days. There doesn't seem to be a way to easily use the flash for now so I am concentrating on natural light.

I am planning on using the medium format almost exclusively for an upcoming project, facelessness, which will talk about displaced American tech workers and their foreign counterparts caught up in the current global struggle for jobs. Not an easy subject but an important human one which impacts so many aspects of life now: can we live globally and locally? Can we leave these most personal decisions to the massive impersonal corporate decision makers who often choose profit over balanced living? Can the marketplace really work for individuals to help us mind the heart and soul we need to survive once the bills are paid?

Eva Washington: sweet are the uses of adversity, a video installation

2010-02-01T18:13:00.000-08:00

This just in from the pr office at King County's wonderful art institution, 4Culture. Pretty cool to have won a national competition supported by the National Endowment for the Arts. I just talked to Eva today and she will be there in person.

Everyone is invited to the opening reception this Thursday, Feb. 4 from 6-8 p.m. There's a lot going on at these receptions as several artists are being featured. The electronic gallery actually faces the street towards Prefontaine Place. I will be hanging out inside and out, weather pretty much being the determining factor.

Gallery4Culture at 101 Prefontaine Pl S, Seattle WA 98104 at the corner of Third and Prefontaine. IF you are driving, remember it is ART WALK too, so prepare to scout for parking. I would park down by the piers and walk up. Or get there early and eat, drink and be merry.

NEW ON E4C (4CULTURE’S ELECTRONIC STOREFRONT GALLERY)

David Kwan: SOLARIS (Quartet Version)

Ann-Marie Stillion: Eva Washington: sweet are the uses of adversity

(Seattle, WA) – Dynamic new media works by David Kwan and Ann-Marie Stillion will be added to e4c’s rotation this February:

David Kwan

Kwan has adapted his work SOLARIS, a series of sound-generated video projections for e4c. Kwan composes soundscapes from live radio transmissions, related to the electromagnetic waves that form the basis for the ordering of matter in space and that continue to permeate the environment. These soundscapes are fed through a customized video imaging system to reveal their inherent patterning.

Artist Biography: Kwan is a media artist living and working in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has presented work nationally and internationally including Berkeley Art Museum, Pacific Film Archive, Kala Art Institute, Headlands Center for the Arts, Artist Television Access, The Lab, and Mission 17 in San Francisco; Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE); Jack Straw New Media Gallery in Seattle; Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart; and Baracke am Deustchen Theater in Berlin. He holds a BA in Art Practice from UC Berkeley and an MFA in Electronic Music from Mills College, where he also taught in art, music and intermedia. www.davidkwan.net

Ann-Marie Stillion

Ann-Marie Stillion will present Eva Washington: sweet are the uses of adversity, a project that combines photographs, film and audio to examine and share the story of Eva Washington, a 76-year-old woman who lives alone on the streets of Seattle. Each monitor of e4c will portray different visual aspects of Washington’s life. Stillion writes, “Eva’s personal story is the story of millions of people around the world who find themselves living without shelter.”

Artist Biography: Currently residing in Seattle, Stillion graduated with a BFA in comparative literature from Northern Arizona University and studied art at the Academy of Art College, California College of Arts and Crafts, Laney College and others. Her photographic and design work has been published in national magazines, books, websites and corporate publications. www.arttrek.com

New work by David Kwan and Ann-Marie Stillion join the ongoing rotation of work on e4c, currently featuring pieces by: Sabine Gruffat, Noah Klersfeld Laurel Beckman, Ann Oren, Tess Martin, Heather Dew Oaksen, Tina Aufiero, Stephen Hilyard, Perry Bard and Bennett Morris.

About e4c

E4c consists of four, large LCD monitors adjacent to Gallery4Culture at 101 Prefontaine Pl S, Seattle WA 98104 at the corner of Third and Prefontaine. e4c exhibits can be viewed from the street 6:00 am – 10:00 pm, daily. Eleven artists/artist teams were chosen for the inaugural year of e4c (2008/2009) from a competitive pool of applicants. Works will be added to the rotation throughout the year. Support is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Maybelle Barnett 1899-2009

2010-01-20T17:02:00.001-08:00

took the pictures above in 2004 when my Auntie Maybelle was 103. We had spent the day out shopping and going to lunch at her favorite diner. There was nothing about her that wasn't engaging and clear. She didn't really want her picture taken but I bugged her and I am glad now. She lived in her own house in Hawaii which she helped build in her eighties until she died this year shortly before her 109th birthday.

Smart and full of laughter, ready to fight to the last, auntie's long life was amazing and simple. The picture of the trees is of the small cemetery next door. She imagined that she and her fourth husband Archie might commune someday there once she had passed on. Below is a story taken from some of our talks together. All the facts are true but of course it is a story in the end.

(Update: one of my aunts noted that she thought that my dates are wrong in this story from my dear auntie. Well, all I can say is that Auntie Maybelle told me that she was born in 1899, which would make her almost 110, not 109 years old when she left us. I can only imagine how one's true age might get jumbled after so many years on earth.

8.10.10 Mystery solved. Today I found my aunt's birth certificate. She was born Oct. 22, 1900. I can only imagine that her soul connection must have been in the 19th century somehow. Her stories from relatives who experienced the civil war seemed like yesterday to her.)

Morning at 103 by Ann-Marie Stillion, 5.11.2004

Wherever she looks there is the past.

Thirty thousand nine hundred and ten mornings have come and gone. Four husbands. Dozens of cats. Thousands of birds. Only two dogs.

She says that she has only loved one person. She says it was because one person really loved her. It has been almost one hundred years since then.

Every Friday she walked to her Grandma Haynes’ house with her little dog. Two miles.

They walked straight through the quiet, dusty streets of New Haven and on to her grandmother’s grey clapboard farmhouse by the still yellow fields. Cora was that one person who really loved her, she says now. She could see her from the road. Her white dress glowed from the dark, shiny doorway. Holding a solitary rose in between two fingers, her grandmother waved her long arms and shouted.

No matter that 70,000 hours have passed since then. Now a very old woman, she traces her hand along an imaginary road on the kitchen table, millions of heartbeats later.

She has always been slender--shapely but slender. It was never apparent how much she loved sweets. And kisses. There had been thousands of kisses. No one counted those though. It isn’t right, she said.

During three centuries, she has opened and closed her pale blue eyes. Seven million fine blond strands have fallen. Millions and millions of soft champagne strands left in Phoenix and the Panama Canal and later Pearl Harbor. Hundreds of thousands of grey hairs have disappeared in the light, in the rug, in the desert, in the sand. And finally countless white curls.

What was left? One sister sculptured the leavings from her haircuts and twisted the strands into flowers and curls, which she kept in a glass box. Stiff red hair are all that remain of the mother, sister, daughter, wife. Another relative, she says, married only one man. He drank too much, beat his children. But that woman was sturdy and raised seven boys mostly alone.

She had walked into the twentieth century and on into the next without the ponies by the stream or the children tumbling in the dust. She was where she’d hoped she’d be and being there made her forget so that each morning she could remember that one person.

Merry Christmas from Seattle

2009-12-17T20:58:00.001-08:00

The carousel is a fixture in Westlake Plaza in downtown Seattle. Sweet memories of photographing children and families with Lisa Ahlberg, watching them rushing to get their photos completed at Nordstrom. Cold and crisp. Wishing everybody infinite peace and joy. Get ready to blast off in the new decade.--ams

Photographing People with Rosanne Olson

2009-11-19T17:02:00.000-08:00

(Photo above by Rosanne Olson, www.rosanneolson.com)

The gifted Seattle photographer, Rosanne Olson, who also occasionally shares her talent and knowledge with the community at Photo Center NW has offered to put together an impromptu workshop. Preceding the upcoming Holiday Portrait fundraiser on Dec. 11 & 12 at which pros and students will produce portraits for the guests to take home on a cd, the workshop will cover the all important details of working with portrait subjects:

"How do you work with people to get them to relax and arrive at the best possible portrait? It is an art that takes skill, confidence and experience. In this three-hour workshop, Rosanne Olson will share tips and demonstrate how to work with subjects, including couples, children and groups."

Scheduled the week before the Holiday Portrait fundraiser at Photo Center NW, volunteers and anyone looking for a quick look at shooting great portraits will have the chance to experience the insight of a truly great portrait photographer. Rosanne Olson's three hour workshop begins at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 5.

Call 206-720-7222 or visit www.pcnw.org to sign up for Photographing People with Rosanne.

Update: The cost of the workshop is $50. The center agreed to waive the cancellation fees for this workshop since volunteers for the Holiday Portrait Event may be attending.

Note: In case you are wondering, I am on the volunteer committee for the Holiday Fundraiser at Photo Center. So feel free to shoot me an email or post them here if you have questions and I will do my best to answer at annmarie@arttrek.com

Photo Center NW Holiday event

2009-11-19T15:54:00.000-08:00

Come and join us for the PCNW Holiday Portrait Shoot!
(photo left by Christopher Bachmann)

Sign up to get your portrait done and help the Photo Center raise money here

Sign up to volunteer here here

Everyone needs a great holiday photo and this year the Photo Center is the place to get them! We are hosting our first ever Holiday Portrait Shoot December 11-12, 2009 and need volunteers from our wonderful photo community to help make it happen.

The portrait event will coincide with a holiday celebration at the Photo Center featuring the PCNW Member's Juried Exhibition opening on Friday, December 11th and our annual affordable art print sale. It is bound to be an exciting weekend, so invite your family and friends to join the fun!

Teams of photographers and volunteers are assembling now!
Will you join us by being part of three teams of photographers and assistants who will design sets, gather props and take portraits?

However you want to help - we want you to be part of this fun collaborative photo shoot! You can contact me directly at annmarie@arttrek.com or visit the Photo Center NW web site at www.pcnw.org. Or use the handy sign-up forms above. Whether you want to volunteer or get a beautiful portrait see you there!

Eva's fashion statement

2009-10-10T18:10:00.000-07:00

This is Eva's Filipino outfit as she calls it. It was in the front window of the dress shop when she first saw it. I have given up trying to find her a home and must trust that she is fine where she is. Every solution or offering is met with some kind of resistance. Thirty years on the street have molded her to a fierce defiance of everyone, and I respect that. I am trying now to document all of her outfits. She complains a bit now but so far shows up in one of fifty she says she has.

Never lonesome or without a place to go she forces me to stop worrying over her welfare as I sense that is what she wants. She intends to outlive all of us. When she resists my latest idea of photographing her fashion statements, I push back. What is her real life after all? Picking up the out of date dim sum in Chinatown or conjuring up new ways to wear her hair. I say it is both.

The video I shot of her last spring is set to open at 4Culture in downtown Seattle in February. I am looking for a place to hang a selection of stills that I have of her now.

Ann-Marie Stillion: New Paintings & Photographs at Dandelion Botanicals

2009-09-07T17:29:00.000-07:00

Slideshow preview of exhibit here
Join us on Sept. 12, 6-9:30 p.m.
Opening reception for
"Ann-Marie Stillion: New paintings and photographs"
Exhibit runs through Oct. 7.

at Dandelion Botanicals, 5424 Ballard Avenue, Seattle, Washington

Part of the Ballard Art Walk

"The shapes and colors in my mind often speak to me as clearly as words. This collection of photography and painting is meant to celebrate what we can see and go deeper into the conversation between color and content."--ams

Reception for opening of the 4culture electronic gallery 09-10 season

2009-08-27T16:47:00.000-07:00

Above: frames from Ann-Marie Stillion's "Eva Washington: sweet are the uses of adversity", about the life and times of Eva Washington, a 77-year-old woman who has lived on the street for almost 30 years. The video will screen for a year in downtown Seattle at the 4Culture Gallery.

Update: You are invited to the reception for the opening of the 4culture electronic gallery 09-10 season at 101 Prefontaine Place South, Seattle. The reception is Thursday, Sept. 3 from 6-8 p.m., part of the First Thursday Art Walk in downtown Seattle. Thirteen artists, including myself, representing a range of video and animation have been selected to screen in their cool street gallery.

Many thanks to all the people who have helped get Eva's video off the ground including Ali Hobbs, Joe Shapiro, the folks at Northwest Film Forum, and the Mt. Baker Senior Center.

Throughout the year, the works will rotate, including one from my ongoing project on Eva Washington. "Eva Washington: sweet are the uses of adversity" is a five minute piece which visually explores her clothes, hands, face and a night bus shelter where she sometimes sleeps.

In the video, Eva tells some of her story and life. She was born in Seattle, raised in the Central District and now at 77 years old has lived on its streets for almost 30 years. Despite the enormous obstacles and challenges that she faces everyday, Ms. Washington's story is hardly a tale of woe. She combats her circumstances with style and a rich connection to culture and others.

You see and learn more about Eva and my journey with her over the last year here.

I have continued to explore solutions to finding her housing. As always, if anyone reading this post can lend a hand, please contact me at annmarie@arttrek.com. Eva lives on a small social security payment from her many years of office work; she has no interest in public housing and does not take any form of public assistance. She is a proud woman who would most likely be honored in some societies. In ours, sadly, she cannot find a home. Her dream is to go to Africa.

Angry faces of resistance

2009-08-12T23:23:00.001-07:00

I went along today with Dave Hirning, one of the local leaders of MoveOn.org. MoveOn was supporting the 34th district's town hall on health care. Several hundred people turned out in support of health care while only 4 showed up to oppose. Are we really going to bow down to what appears to be crazy people or hired actors when it comes to our future with health care? More photos here

Eva's still out there

2009-08-08T13:26:00.000-07:00

Living on the street more than 30 years now, Eva Washington hates the word homeless and I have learned to use her preferred word "casual" instead. She has also taught me not to ask her how she is, it is a meaningless greeting to her. It's summer now but I dread the coming of another fall and winter, for her. She claims that she can make it fine. But I still cannot believe that. The system has no place for her and she has no place for the system which has turned away from her most basic needs. Any decision which is not hers is greeted with fury and so I often remain silent these days.

I have decided to catalogue her dozens of outfits, maybe 50 plus in all which each include a unique hair treatment. The outfits are housed in a storage unit which costs her exactly half of her social security check. She did the right things in life and always earned her way until she began to age and inflation, the cost of living began to skew heavily against her. Eva cannot seem to grasp that her labor hasn't earned enough for her to live and rages against the "rent equation" as she calls it. She describes this outfit as "the zebra." We met at Seattle Center last night and this was photographed in the square above Fisher Pavilion.

If anyone reading this post has a meaningful idea to help this 77-year-old woman find a place to live, please don't hesitate to contact me. After photographing Eva for almost a year, I have to admit that I am beginning to despair. Every suggestion is met with resistance either by her or the social workers I have talked with. Somehow I hope to find an answer which I know must go beyond merely a financial solution. It is not only funding she needs but compassion and understanding. Last night she told me she is thinking about the possibility of adding to her income by modeling for local art schools. I know she would be great at it.

Long Shot at PCNW--an exhibit and update

2009-07-06T10:50:00.001-07:00

As I posted a few weeks ago, PCNW did a 24 hour shoot, inviting photographers to shoot Seattle beginning June 16. Night Flight, my photo above shot in White Center, will be part of the exhibit and fundraiser on July 16.

Help this great photo institution grow and thrive. Join us.

Long Shot at PCNW--a Seattle photographic event

2009-07-01T15:17:00.000-07:00

More images from my Long Shot here

On June 16, Photo Center Northwest invited the community of photographers in Seattle to go out and shoot for 24 hours. Part fundraiser and part photo challenge, the event brought all kinds of folks out beginning on Friday at 6 p.m. and continuing until the next day. The first evening I met up with Lisa Ahlberg and Seth Thompson. We ended up at a rail yard, shooting into the lights while huddled underneath an overpass to get out of the falling rain. My friend Kate Bordwell was in from Arizona and acted as our trusty assistant and lookout.

The next day I shot at the beloved Fremont Parade for a most of the day. The event will be celebrated on July 16.

Today in Iran

2009-06-17T11:27:00.000-07:00

There are so many great images coming from Iran. I tell everyone I meet not to miss this chance. Jump on Twitter and listen, learn.

No more evil empire baloney. Just search on #iranelection and start finding people to follow in Iran. This is for the whole world, not just the people inside their borders.

An infinite tiger--photo collage, photography and music

2009-06-03T18:38:00.000-07:00

Join us for a spectacular evening of art, music and great fun! The Press Gallery really knows how to do an art reception. The address is 406 Occidental Ave. South, Seattle. Call 206-382-7775 for info.

Beautiful women

2009-04-28T18:24:00.001-07:00

sheen is a group of women over 50 who are pursuing, on their own, dreams of modeling. Mostly they intend to help non-profits raise money or raise awareness that women of any age can be glamorous. I photographed them, joined by my friend Lisa Ahlberg who functioned as an assistant and art director that day. It struck me as I refined the images from the shoot at The Ruins and made final selections how easily we dismiss each other, how we stop looking and feeling at some point, about one another. sheen is fighting stereotypes and being beautiful all at once.

Here's to you sheen. I hope you go one being marvelous, for yourselves and the whole world.

Encounters, photographs by Lisa Ahlberg

2009-04-01T09:48:00.000-07:00

What we started last month, lives on. The Press and I are now jointly showing the work of other artists as well as my photographs. Our reception is always on the First Thursdays art walk in Pioneer Square in Seattle. Lisa Ahlberg's wonderful street studio series will grace their wall through May 1.

Stop by!

outside/in--a photography installation

2009-03-16T19:03:00.000-07:00

Click here for a slideshow of the installation from creation to exhibition

On March 5, with help of Valerie Thayer and the suggestion of Neil Lukas, I mounted a photography installation at The Press Gallery in Seattle's Pioneer Square district. The exhibit runs from March 5-31 and includes the wall mounted installation of two images (and two 16x20 digital archival prints for sale) which were photographed at Green Lake, a beautiful natural oasis surrounded by the urban world. In my neighborhood park, I have seen eagles hunting ducklings and every shape of humanity doing all kinds of things in my walks and photo expeditions. One of the images "Walking Green Lake" celebrates the main human activity and the other, "Duck Island" is of the mystical land mass in the center of lake. The island takes on different shapes and forms as you traverse the watery world. On this day, it spoke to me in mystic terms. (In the photo above is the Lockwood Jazz Trio seen from the street, peering into the gallery.) Thanks to everyone who made that night a blast. The music was amazing and the crowd a delight.

Keep showing up

2009-02-11T11:04:00.000-08:00

This is very moving. Hey everybody. And note to all my friends. Before we have another conversation, you must watch this video from a talk Elizabeth Gilbert did at TED. If you are struggling with the life of a creative maker, or even if you are not. Or would enjoy another way to look at what we have come to call genius or inspiration. Thanks Elizabeth.

Ta Da! My new stock site at Photoshelter

2009-02-05T10:56:00.000-08:00

My new stock site at Photoshelter is getting filled up with great new images from moi. Check it out and check back as it grows.

Obama Inauguration

2009-01-21T16:48:00.001-08:00

Our new president is all about the future. This little girl attended the broadcast of his inauguration at the Seattle Center celebration on Jan. 20.

Happy Birthday Martin

2009-01-20T06:08:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Seattle celebrated Martin Luther King Day. Afterwards, they went inside to warm up. Sitting with his grandfather, this little boy held his tiny handmade sign covered with images of Obama and shiny with tin foil.

SoCal

2008-12-20T08:46:00.001-08:00

Last summer

2008-12-08T14:25:00.000-08:00

At White Center at dusk.

Obama, Obama, Obama, Obama, OOOOO

2008-11-05T16:33:00.000-08:00

I can't stop crying, with joy. It's a new day.

Obama's brilliant mind and deep love is shining on every street in America.

Eva's story

2008-10-26T23:57:00.000-07:00

I met up with Eva last week again, this time at the food bank in Wallingford in Seattle. She spent the afternoon talking with Derry from one of the agencies in the area, telling her stories of living on the street most of the last 30 years. Here are some images from that day.

At Dick's on Broadway in Seattle

2008-10-19T21:20:00.000-07:00

Where are we in time? Actually is is 6:15 p.m. in October, 2008 but this image feels like 1950--Ann-Marie

Kenge Kenge: Obama For Change

2008-10-11T11:53:00.001-07:00

"American people, citizens of the world. Here are songs and memories from Africa, drumming support for Barack Obama."

Artist and musicians around the world calling for change, singing for Obama.

Beautiful.

Something's happening here

2008-10-04T19:55:00.001-07:00

Wading through the first real puddles of the season in downtown Seattle rush hour I found these girls who were only too happy to play in the viewfinder for awhile. Inspired by Neil Lukas at PCNW, I was delirious with pixels and light magic.

Presidential debates at the Meridian Market

2008-09-29T14:30:00.000-07:00

Lucky for me I live in the heaven of Seattle: Green Lake. Check out the slide show above from our celebration of democracy on 55th St.

Last week, some of my neighbors including the great photographer Roseanne Olson and one of the latest MacArthur fellows, David Montgomery gathered to listen and watch.

Wally Wright, one of the proprietors at the Meridian Market, offered his place for the community to gather for the first presidential debates, and took a few pictures for posterity.

I haven't heard yet but I imagine we will be back together for the vice-presidential "I can see Russia from my house" debates this Thursday, Oct. 2.

Update: Game on! Wally just replied that "we couldn't pass up one of the most anticipated comedy events of the year." He'll be serving lasagna, caesar salad and other appetizers for debate night Oct. 2 at the Meridian Market again. Don't be late!

Peace is the way

2008-09-24T11:12:00.001-07:00

My friend Kate in Arizona is part of a small Quaker community in Flagstaff. They asked me to design a new sign for their meeting house based on the words of the peace activist A.J. Muste.

Maria's kitchen

2008-09-22T20:21:00.000-07:00

My friend Maria wants to sell her beautiful house. In Madison Park, a cross between a park and monastery, the grounds outside the house are home to birds and squirrels. Inside it is serene. Whoever gets to live there is very lucky.

HOPE and NOPE

2008-09-14T21:32:00.000-07:00

Continuing the theme of the creativity streaming out from the Obama campaign, inspired by the man himself. I added news corpse widget in my side bar counting the days Palin is NOT talking to the press. Maybe she's just too busy in her private tanning booth in the governor's mansion. Or shooting wildlife from her private plane. Who knows?

Shepard Fairey's iconic portrait of Obama has inspired countless political portraits around the country. Now it has an evil opposite courtesy of Steve Sedam from Colorado. In the campaign office in Seattle, someone has redrawn the democratic candidate for governor ala Fairey. Fairey, a graphic artist, printmaker and street artist was proudly arrested in Denver for plastering his beautiful and provocative imagery on the walls of the mile high city. NOPE aka McCain is being pinned down daily by the media for his lies-- share NOPE's link from the bravenewpac on youtube. (Correction thanks to Don Gray )

Yes, we can.

Eva (with update)

2008-08-10T19:46:00.000-07:00

I have seen her for quite awhile on the #16 bus heading north on the evening commute. Always dressed in many colors and layers of cloth with a wild hairdo that morphed a little each time. One day we talked while waiting for the bus. I asked if I could photograph her. This week I had my camera.

Her full name is Eva Maria Cajetan Shirley Washington. We talked for couple of hours. She was on her way to the free classic movies at Seattle Center but first she had to go to her storage unit and get a chair she explained. She was born in Seattle on the south end in 1932, then known as Garlic Gulch for the Italians who lived there, now Rainier Beach. Soon she found herself living on her own. Not long after she learned how to live without a home.

The storage locker became a focus early on. She emphasizes that she has had homes and lots of jobs: Kelly girl, document worker at Boeing, dancer. She contracted tuberculosis in 1948 and remembers the World's Fair in 1962. She says Seattle, the world, was better back then. Last January, she landed back on the street. I asked where she goes at night. She just says "'out' after I get my night gear" and I take this to mean somewhere in park or nearby woods. I promise her that I will try and find out how to get her a place of her own. At 76, she needs a little help. She tells me often during our conversation that she would get far away from America if she could.

Update: I have talked with the two social service agencies since I first wrote this post. They are agencies which would be most likely to be of service to Eva. It turns out that Eva is well known to one, Solid Ground. She is known as a strong-willed, self determined woman and it is clear that she is respected. Not surprisingly, she doesn't easily take to rules and regulations and though she has many supporters refuses to utilize offers to find her a home. I will send her photo to one of these places where she gets her mail and seek to understand her story better. But it appears that Eva is doing fine, thank you very much.

Rob Haggart rocks

2008-07-12T10:46:00.000-07:00

For those not familiar with aphotoeditor.com, this might be a great place to start, especially regarding stock--It's a list of the stock agencies, sort of by "best" top to bottom from Rob's perspective.

Rob Haggart, the former Director of Photography for Men's Journal and Outside Magazine, is my "every day" visit at present. Lots of photo editors and photographers go there to chat as well.

Of course, the bottom line for Rob is this: the #1 place to find stock is photographer web sites.

Issac's poem

2008-07-04T09:51:00.001-07:00

My first conversation with Isaac: a poem

11 a.m. on May 4, 2006

He was leaning out his window.

I was standing in the yard.

The day was already warm, and we were playing peek-a-boo.

When he was one, the first word I heard him say was baba.

At three, he has begun to talk in earnest.

Today he said:

You come to my house?

And then continued, not waiting for my reply.

We drink tea. You read to me.

You have brown hair like me.

You are wearing yellow like me.

My yellow is brighter.

My eyes are darker.

You live below me.

You live alone.

You have friends.

You talk with your friends.

You eat with your friends.

You kiss your friends.

My backyard.

Tulips.

Sandbox.

Picnic table.

Sit there.

And, I did.

—Ann-Marie Stillion

Dylan, Obama and Drawing

2008-06-07T22:29:00.000-07:00

Colliding and making a new world before our eyes: music, politics and art. Pinch me. When I saw the post on the Daily Kos saying that Dylan had endorsed Obama in an interview for The Times Online, I couldn't stop smiling. His interview wasn't about his lastest music tour though, it was about Dylan's art exhibit, which opened this week.

The interview Dylan did with Alan Jackson explains how and what the musician draws and paints a little insight into why." It's relaxing." Dylan's line and color speaks with the same timeless sense of authority as his music--he's never out to prove anything, he is just going to say it. One of the exhibit images is posted here.

'The times they are a changin' ranks as one of the great political songs along with 'Masters of war' in our lives as citizens--wherever the boundary lies. Get involved if you can with the Obama campaign and don't forget to draw and make music along the way.

How great it is to be alive when the likes of Dylan and Obama collide--will we see them together at some point?--one can only speculate.

Yes, we can...the times they are a changin'.

Speaking of drawing

2008-05-24T16:23:00.000-07:00

An online drawing event is coming up, Drawing Day 08. Drawing is one of life's great pleasures and will definitely make you smarter, faster and wiser. Why? It brings your brain cells together silly. Right and left. Your brain slows down and you become focussed and alert. A place to practice throughout the day if you are stuck on a computer like me is Sketch Swap. It's a fun utility that allows you to draw and trade with someone instantly. You can draw with a mouse or get a cute little wacom tablet or one of these. I drew on one in the apple store a few weeks ago and it was an instant bond.

I drew the monk at the "moment of enlightment" a few years ago at the Seattle Asian Art Museum. It is a carved wooden statue and gives me shivers each time I pass by. What give you shivers? Draw it!

What We Can Draw From Obama

2008-05-13T07:03:00.001-07:00

This country deserves better. Yes, we can!

Campaigning for Obama

2008-05-12T23:39:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I joined the Neighborhood Challenge to help register voters. The organizers needed someone to photograph the process and I tagged along with three UW students on their first attempt to get out the vote. Tomorrow I will put up a few of the images. I blog in the Daily Kos community, and have followed all the twists and turns of the long election season. One of the Pentagram designers has talked about the senator and his approach to design.

Remembering Babette

2008-03-30T18:43:00.000-07:00

I must have seen it in Berkeley, 1986 or 1987 when it first came out. Probably alone in the afternoon, on a grey day off the main street. When asked my most treasured film experience, I would always say: Babette’s Feast. I recalled these twenty years only one line however: an artist is never poor. Babette utters this phrase in the last minutes of the film. I remembered the starchy, cold mood of the villagers. How they were startled into the recognition of good food and profound experience.

Thanks to netflix and a little spare time, I revisited this magical and amazing film. I kept it almost a month, a little uneasy to see it again. Would I find it lacking in some way?

It was better. Or rather, I was more open to its every measure, its precise sensuality. I had forgotten the glorious tender moments in making Babette’s dinner. On first viewing, I had not noticed the pact of the elders to ignore the food. What I had taken away twenty years ago had sustained me in some way: an artist is never poor. But this time I heard something else. I saw so much more. I understood so much more.

When the beautiful chef decides to stay with the old women, I felt my kinship renewed with this simple, but deeply moving film. "Throughout the world sounds one long cry from the heart of the artist: Give me the chance to do my very best."

I will have to find the short story by Isak Dinesen now.

For Strong Women

2008-03-16T09:33:00.000-07:00

Much has been happening in the world and life these days. I am on to a new job soon, as I have given my notice at the Northwest Asian Weekly. When I leave the dim sum soaked world of the Asian community in South Seattle, I will take with me the special gift of experiencing so much greatness in ordinary human beings: women and men who strive every day to reach for unseen stars in the darkened sky above, against the greatest odds.

This poem has been circling in my head for as a long as I can remember. I share it here in honor of all the folks I have met, written about, photographed and worked with over the past seven years.

For Strong Women by Marge Piercy

A strong woman is a woman who is straining
A strong woman is a woman standing
on tiptoe and lifting a barbell
while trying to sing "Boris Godunov."
A strong woman is a woman at work
cleaning out the cesspool of the ages,
and while she shovels, she talks about
how she doesn't mind crying, it opens
the ducts of the eyes, and throwing up
develops the stomach muscles, and
she goes on shoveling with tears in her nose.
A strong woman is a woman in whose head
a voice is repeating, I told you so,
ugly, bad girl, bitch, nag, shrill, witch,
ballbuster, nobody will ever love you back,
why aren't you feminine, why aren't
you soft, why aren't you quiet, why aren't you dead?
A strong woman is a woman determined
to do somehing others are determined
not be done. She is pushing up on the bottom
of a lead coffin lid. She is trying to raise
a manhole cover with her head, she is trying
to butt her way through a steel wall.
Her head hurts. People waiting for the hole
to be made say, hurry, you're so strong.
A strong woman is a woman bleeding
inside. A strong woman is a woman making
herself strong every morning while her teeth
loosen and her back throbs. Every baby,
a tooth, midwives used to say, and now
every battle a scar. A strong woman
is a mass of scar tissue that aches
when it rains and wounds that bleed
when you bump them and memories that get up
in the night and pace in boots to and fro.
A strong woman is a woman who craves love
like oxygen or she turns blue choking.
A strong woman is a woman who loves
strongly and weeps strongly and is strongly
terrified and has strong needs. A strong woman is strong
in words, in action, in connection, in feeling;
she is not strong as a stone but as a wolf
suckling her young. Strength is not in her, but she
enacts it as the wind fills a sail.
What comforts her is others loving
her equally for the strength and for the weakness
from which it issues, lightning from a cloud.
Lightning stuns. In rain, the clouds disperse.
Only water of connection remains,
flowing through us. Strong is what we make
each other. Until we are all strong together,
a strong woman is a woman strongly afraid.

Rewarding passions

2007-11-11T20:16:00.000-08:00

I have probably told Jimmy Mirikitani's story a hundred times since I had the chance to meet him through my job as a writer for the Northwest Asian Weekly in 2006. The film about his life was already beginning to win awards and touch people everywhere it was presented. Nothing could take away his passion for drawing, not wars or homelessness or loss of everything and everyone. This fall, when I won third place in Best Art Story for the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association competition with my story about him, the full circle of the modern day battle cry--follow your passion--spread over my thoughts. No one sent me to meet him. I had pushed to do the story, as I had with all the awards I have won in journalism--each one earned with the itchy edge of desire and curiosity that fuels my days.

Another award for that competition was for Best Page Design, the small, small thing I love doing. I recalled the picture on the page of spelling bee winner, Jason Pu. How beautiful and stunned he looked when he won the competition in Seattle. I had fallen in love with the moment I witnessed in the picture of him and his mother, and fussed with the edit of the picture--way too long. I reworked the type and bugged the editor for a better headline, called for more images. And won, for everyone, in the end.

So I go on digging and pushing and revealing these moments in our lives with words, pictures and those small, small things that grow big and flower in the sunlight of our hearts and minds. Thanks Jason and Jimmy. I am there with you.

Cotton Candy at the Fair

2007-09-19T21:15:00.000-07:00

Late in the summer, my photo buddy Lisa Ahlberg and I went to the Evergreen State Fair in Monroe, Washington. We arrived early. The rides were just warming up and the first fairgoers strolled through the gates. Our goal was to shoot images for a joint print project which focuses on the iconography of the fair. We fell in love with the thunderbolt, the ferris wheel, little duckies floating, a stuffed bear, and giant colorful sculptures of corn dogs, hamburgers and snow cones.

In the afternoon, we headed for the bunnies: hundreds of them in pink, with ears that wouldn't quit, in perfect black and white. Then we sat mesmerized by a goat competition and photographed beautiful girls with their pet goats running an obstacle course. Lisa took this picture of me in the kids' ride section -- the perfect sky above, a perfect day with the perfect pink sweet candy of summer.

A sister visits Blood Brothers

2007-07-26T21:06:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago, I returned to my old hometown in Flagstaff, Arizona. I wasn't born there. But my spirit comes alive in the high plateaus. It is a place where broad sky and earth meet in an enormous cosmic smile.

The little town which used to be the site of weekly street brawls and one bustling breakfast cafe back in the day, has grown. Whether you are looking for a martini bar or a burrito stand, dining options abound. Art was for city slickers and out-of-towners. Now Flagstaff has a monthly, well attended art walk in the downtown--something that was once foreign and even unwelcome when I lived there. The weekend after the Fourth of July my friends I went strolling in the summer heat. Streets which once held anxious shop owners sweeping empty sidewalks were alive and crowded. Everyone seemed to be celebrating art, or at least giving it a nod.

We crossed the railroad tracks late in the evening. I wanted to see David Gianfredi's exhibit, Blood Brothers, at the Beaver Street Gallery.

The day before I had noticed the artist installing the exhibit--setting up piles of toy soldiers and a video monitor in the center of the first exhibit space. The walls hung with icons we recognized as emblems of war. Actual symbols of the military were displayed casually with other invented symbols like the medal in the shape of the Texaco logo. Flags from recent wars held passages from the Bible written on the back. The juxtaposition called to question both religion and our citizenry.

The night of the art walk David had time to talk. He explained that anyone could download the green tinted videos from military.com. The exhibit itself had been developed as part of his MFA--the imagery richly digested as the artist himself had served.

Whether the exhibit is a celebration of military culture or an expose, Gianfredi leaves the viewer to decide. A cold sadness filled the room for me. The lack of rage against what so clearly is destroying so much, made one in our group uneasy. Another thought the statement against war was clear and profound.

I was glad to see that the gallery, the artist and my little dusty town were stepping up. Speaking up. Other parts of the exhibit were installed at the Northern Arizona University galleries--both exhibits have been reviewed since I visited by the local weekly where I once worked as art editor, Flagstaff Live. Gianfredi had created the work in Mitt Romney country at Brigham Young University. I guess the heartland of America is not asleep after all.

Si se puede

2007-06-25T20:03:00.001-07:00

Yes, we can!

The feeling of 25,000 chanting, waving people was amazing. The day before, the immigration rally was slated to gather only around 5,000. But, by the time it hit, something had changed.

I have learned to get up high to shoot crowds, otherwise you miss a lot. George, the office manager where I work, offered to park the delivery van instead of using the ladder I requested. I climbed on top and waited. The marchers came down 12th and turned onto King Street at the top of the hill. Because of my vantage point I could see the banners and people long before they reached me. There was an invisible energy coming from the crowd--the intensity of it was beautiful. I shot a lot that day laying flat as possible on the roof of the van and as close to the crowd as I could. Lots of people passed close to me and gave me a high five. The word was that people "came out of the shadows" that day, and you could feel that if you choose to. That day, I saw democracy as a living thing, not as an abstraction.

We used this picture because of the baby in the stroller and "dream act" for the front of the newspaper. That night when the rally was over and people were returning home, the sound of Norteno music was pulsing everywhere in the streets in Chinatown.

The picture won second place in the general news category in our division for 2007 at the Society of Professional Journalists.

This picture shows the biggest immigration rally in the Seattle to date--though later rallies tried-- they haven't reached the sheer numbers or enthusiasm that this one had on April 11, 2006.

The thrill of victory

2007-06-24T14:17:00.000-07:00

Fun for me is creating new things, solving problems well -- overcoming challenges with images, design, and even writing -- is my experience of fun.

At my job, I often do all these things at once.

The most fun you can have with your clothes on is creating something that satisfies your own aesthetic and ideas, that is new, that is "yours"and then discovering that others enjoy it as well. This happened this year for me when my illustration, "year of the dog" won first place at the regional Society of Professional Journalists annual awards ceremony.

My blue dog springs from my love of using certain computer tools to draw, studies and research of Chinese astrology images, and then many drawings honed to this spectacular little fellow.

When I submitted it to my colleagues, they just shrugged. Some thought it was nice, good enough to stick on the newspaper where I work but nothing special. Others criticized and laughed at me to the point of cruelty. Still, I loved it.

When they called my name at the awards dinner it was sweet revenge. Walking home that night I was singing to the stars, which seemed somehow to be shining brighter.