Quarantine Check In

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to send some love your way. Cheers to all you artists out there feeling all the things hard, and working through it. Whether you’re producing or not, you are certainly downloading. Have patience and take care of yourself.

We are all artists, creating our way out of the positions we don’t like, and into the ones we aspire to have. I just want to remind you how much power there is in that, and that, though treading new waters is difficult, it can be exciting to dream up your new world. Expect to have to change tools sometimes. The game of life is never over; it’s full of ups and downs, and though the balance seems out of whack right now, remember to keep your perspective in your favor. You are building this life from how you respond to what you have. You may not have control, but you are a creator. You can find, borrow, create a new tool. I know you can. Don’t let fear stop you from trying.

A good friend once told me,

“ Fear is like a back seat driver that’s a kid. Listen to what it has to say. But, don’t ever let it have the keys.”

I wanted to share some pictures of my pop up studios and altars I’ve been working out of since we’ve been in lock down. I was in the process of getting my mobile art cart on the road when the pandemic reached New Orleans, and my plans changed a lot. I can’t afford to live in the city for the near future, and my cart is on hold as well. I have worked for that moment for a long time, so it’s frustrating, but, I’m used to change. My inner voice just told me to create and the rest would come. Though it’s been hard, that’s what I do, and I’m happy for it. I’m proud of the little world I continue to build.

xo Kylie

Community Art Relief

Hello all!

In light of this pandemic, I am loving seeing the community stepping up and helping to provide these resources. I know too many that are experiencing a deficit in basic necessities. After much research, I have picked Solidarity for the Unhoused and Beloved Nola as the resources I will aid with a portion of all sales made through the next two months. Their information is below if you would like to find out more about the awesome projects to bring food, hygiene, clothing, and even healthcare to those forgotten and at risk. Though I have had to temporarily leave New Orleans, my heart is with my friends who were able to stay and do this work. We are all in this together.

This selection of prints are available in 11x14” for $40, and 60% of the proceeds from these prints and all other original art made during this time will be distributed to some amazing people who are assisting in relief efforts in New Orleans. Cheers to learning what we can do with what we have- A Community Art Relief Program!

If you know someone in need please DM or share this message with them so we can get this money to people quickly. Platforms like Venmo, Paypal, and Zelle allow for immediate transfers but we’ll figure it out either way.

We are here as creators serving a community, and a family; never forget! I love you!

#art #prints #paintings #communityartreleifprogram #CARP #community #relief #togetherness

https://www.gofundme.com/f/vwss5-united-for-familias-unidas?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=m_pd+share-sheet&fbclid=IwAR3XRo0YZJ_mMGESTI0PWaEJcpX5cLth2TsHG4eotnz1p3DF_q_j7y8iCLc

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-feed-new-orleans039-homeless?utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR23bMBjtLIwppDrS27xw7LHRTTbiuu-m94OsJeyc5cHavdS08-AbiQfFq4

http://belovednola.org/?fbclid=IwAR2YWYz-BYnXShj-5aaXV-xsQ1_5dEaDDiKK8TfXVVHFltVcDsiZ-GhObjY

The Strength of A Woman; How We Relate

Every photo tells a story; and this one caught me right in the feels. Check it out below!

In light of my freestyle session with Brandy Hirsch and Angel Vu I found myself able to recount some deep emotive responses to darkness, and share them with some local healers and artists and that was special; I found quickly that it was so relatable to the struggle of women to hold the emotional weight of the world on their shoulders in the darkness of little support.

I’ll share the pictures soon. But, for now, let me share the mood. We had all just been introduced, clothes were shed and I began a half a day long spirit portrait painting challenge with three models. The very artistic bywater home we were working in smelled like the herbed baked chicken thighs I had in the oven, and bone broth veggie soup that was simmering in the kitchen in the last room. And, I worked on one painting until I started to think of the other. Happily, soup in hand, they sat back or stood up, laughed, or tight cheeked every pose I directed, and the bonding began.

When painting Brandy I starting with a big black gaping hole in the center of her body, the center being her reproductive region. I dripped gold paint down her back, and down her legs, melting onto her toenails and wrapping around the soft pads of her toes. I airbrushed glow in the dark hot magenta tears on her face, and holes in her neck. Then the lights turned off, and Angel, the photographer, worked her magic- she shot her with a halfway visible smile, and darkness surrounding her. There it was, my story!

Several informed conversations, and shoots later I am influenced to share this and my take away from it. I am inspired to advise those of you who are having issues getting past a hump in your lives with a few conclusions. Just because you have taken a lifetime to build your character you don’t have to deny yourself the gift of change. Just because you've done something for a long time doesn’t make it your best option. Even though, darkness surrounds you in that unknown it doesn’t mean that you can't work with what you have, learn, and then bring new light to your life. Sometimes the loss of that dimming light is a gift. The inevitable gift of change is an opportunity! It gives us a chance to re-imagine, redefine, grow, and accomplish greater feats! So use those tears, and fill those holes with love, desire, and wander!

These women have experienced things that have caused them to question everything, just like me. And, I speak for us all when I say, we employ you to embrace those times. I am so thankful to have gotten to share with them, to laugh in the face of darkness, and to celebrate each other for it! To smile in the darkness is a great feat to anyone. To gain and share your emotional clarity in darkness, to be vulnerable in the absence of community support is to be a woman. And, that fact is unfortunate. Many refer to that accomplishment lightly, but I believe we need to look at this with more awe. After all, would we not find it magical to see a plant prospering in the darkness with no surrounding plants, no birds whistling, no nutrients? Because that's how it feels when you are left invalidated and hushed.

We are living in a time where women are still fighting for fair wages, fair abuse trials, reproductive health autonomy. How we deal with our cycles, births, and feeding our children is still being controlled. All in all, our voices have been silenced, and made a mockery of, yet we still attempt to truck on, raise our children, speak gently to our partners, and lift each other up. And, where does this courage come from? I think it comes from communion. I feel that our periods have allowed us a preview into the organized chaos of life; our ability to give birth has shown us the power of life; our hormones activate powerful chemical reactions that show us just how related everything is. And, we talk about it! We share!

And this is where my work comes from. Having a background in journalism I understand the importance of documentation, and that it should include a concept derived from many points of view. It reflects our culture, and what we want to be known for, whether we pay attention to it or not. We find our truth in each other's stories. It is the great collaboration, and we are all a part of it. So when I work with people I find it to be important to be in the present, to honor their story as a conduit to a larger concept. I believe our individual stories are important and will lead us to Universal truths, as this one did for me.

Ya’ll are the bomb. Thanks for reading!

Love ya’ll

KP

By the powers vested in me

Here it goes, then! Shall we? Today I am starting the Manifesting Chapter of my Blog, if blog have chapters…

And, this is how it's going to go: I've been seeing a lot of patterns lately, some that elate me, and some that aggravate me. But, I have found a power in both, and I want to share how that's been working out for me, and a few other ladies making changes in their lives.

There are many that people that implicate social, economic, and political teachings as having great effect on the lives we will lead; some go as far as to say they determine our future completely. A better point of view is that how you were raised, and have been raising yourself, will ultimately have an effect on the way you see and live your life. As it is, your eye can only see what your mind understands. But, the concept of manifestation implies that you can see whatever you want to see, and attract whatever you want to have. And, that's a great notion! I'm offering that if you don't like what you're seeing, that you do have the option to shed some of the teachings that have been clogging space in your active mind; you might see something new, maybe exciting.

So, how does this shift from frustration to power occur? Well, in my experience, when I release my ego, my ties to a frustration, I have been able to see things more clearly, and how I might be able to effect those things in a more loving way becomes available. It's a tool that I have used in relationships, friendships, business, and even my worldview. I am a human, and my first reaction- maybe the one that was brewed from my parents' relationship, or my ancestors fates'- is not the one that I want shaping my next action. The women in my family did not come from a place of power, but I aim to see things differently. I aim to effect things differently, and as a result live my life from a place of power. So, searching the ethos for how I want to see them is an art, my friends, an art we should all aspire to learn.

Today's chapter is about women. Women's Rights have been in the shitter, finding light in a sewer, for all too long. And, here I sit, at the end of 2018, hoping that, not only I'll be able to find decent gynecological care for myself as an American freelance artist with uterine fibroids, but that American children do not have to miss days of education because of their lack of access to such "luxuries", as our tax laws state, as sanitary napkins. I'd like to see all children with access to education, while on their cycles. But, I'm only warming up. We know the problems, and I'm not here to rant! So, what are we manifesting ladies?!

I know I want to see more anonymity in the physical appearances, and dreams of little girls and boys. I want to see them running around in whatever they want, dreaming about whatever it is they want to do. I want them to feel powerful, whether they want to be a firefighter or an artist. I want to see them embracing their bodies, instead of hiding them in fear and shame. I want to see them using their voices to stand up to boys whose parents didn’t teach them to respect women, and I want to see the faculty behind them when they do it. I think basic principles of respect should be preached in the places we spend most time as Americans, so I want to see more jobs and schools enforcing practices promoting these things.

Those things would make me happy. Now I just have to be able to imagine their stories playing out in a positive way. This art of manifestation calls for a visceral kind of imagination, one that feels like I am able to see the results, smell them, feel genuine joy as I do. And, the more specific I get, I can plan where I want to see these results manifest. For me, I imagine I can see them in short convos I'll get in on daytime walks, on the television, on Facebook, Instagram, in your replies! The more we have these conversations, the more we learn, the more we can act, the more we can manifest!

Here's our first inspiration! The Wander Women! They are a team of women from across the country teaming up for a great project about the lives of women, in general, around the globe.

Women were always the future. How we represent said future reflects a lot on the character of the creations to come. We need better representation for our girls hitting puberty! 

I think it’s time for something jussst like this. Simple. Feminine. Empowering. Transparent. Yesss, can’t wait to see what you create!

Check them out on their Instagram @wanderwomenshow or follow them on their Facebook Page, Wander Women. Their trailer for their travel series is listed in this post. Thanks for reading guys and gals. Let's keep each other accountable for the actions we can take. We can't always be "doing" something, but we can make sure to be present and hold space for the people that are!

Love ya'll,

KP

We are warriors: Introduction

So, I've been working on my manifesting powers these hot days in Nola, as the money shrinks back, the moon is bloody and new, and hurricane season is among us. Our woes down here in the dirty south come to an all time high during this season; people are just too damn hot and broke to think straight- at least that's how I see it.

The feral chickens on my street don't know what time it is; the guy that has the car jams is playing the Spanish News, loud, and the bus stop, slash my front door step, offers refuge for hot men that demand water with awful use of profanity- really it's just poor use of it (I'm all for profanity. Shit, it's hotter than hell out there!). But, it makes me miss the good ole seasons every year.

I remember the times the summer smelt like sunscreen, and I got to eat ham sammies, and play with friends. But, we ain't riding bikes these days (not for fun), I don't eat pork anymore, and I pay upwards of $35 for skincare so I don't get cancer or look like a piece of leather. So, I'm finding new ways to use my time inside. I hope I can relate to some folks out there and reflect some of these prisms that rise within me when I'm out rising above by the fear based sociopolitical state of living that exists right now.

I'm going to speak to you from my heart, and offer you some of the things that make me smile through out the day, the things that give me hope in trying times. The things that inspire me to create when I just want to cry, and pray. I'll start by telling you a little about myself. 

I'm a 26 year old artist that moved to New Orleans, LA in 2010. After my kicking and screaming bout in and out of 17 schools, I had finally made it to the cultural hub I so longed to sink my feet into, and to go to a highly ranked local University at that! I was hot shit, ready to fuck shit up. That lasted for 2 years, and life saw me in a different direction. Then, another. And, this particular direction is what onset years of painful creative awakenings. They were spiritual in context, but I later learned they were all so that I would find myself here as an artist, married to a life of painful, yet helpful, awakenings. "Art is [however] an act of faith, and we practice practicing it," Julia Cameron says. So, I find comfort in that I feel I might be doing the hard work of a modern day shaman, if you will- can't remember who led me to that thought.

So, you may get the impression that I am a believer, and you'd be wrong. I don't believe in spiritual magic, I am magic. And, I know that every one that has touched my life is too. There, however pleasant or unpleasant, mark has left an insufferable notch in my life that inspires me to create. Like little prisms, they've burned images, sounds, and smells into my memory that literally birth creation, and effectively move people to emote and reflect on new creations. I love it, and I think it's important to collaborate, share, and progress with these notions. 

To that degree, I'll be sharing some of the things that inspire me. I hope you'll join in and share some of your stories. I'm going to leave you with a little story told by Stan Walker. His very powerful video and words can be found in the link below.

"Anyone reading this. You are loved. You were fearfully & wonderfully made perfect with purpose. You are more than what you think you are. You are more than this season. You are more than your circumstances. You are more than pain, disappointment, rejection, fear, hate. You are more than this. If no one is telling you this, I'm telling you. Don't EVER give up, as hard as it maybe. Don't you EVER give up. If you haven't heard this yet or you just need to hear it now. You are loved. You are more. Hold on to hope always. Im praying the best days are ahead for you all. God bless you all ". -Stan Walker.

Love ya'll,

KP