Mirror Neurons

Last December I wrote my intentions for 2015 while visiting NYC in a deep friend vortex. We sealed them up, I tucked them all somewhere they would be safe through a few moves and just last week was reminded to pull them out. I sent the others back to NYC for my friends and opened mine up to see what I had written....

2015 Intentions
Continue on this path I have started to walk: Managing my health by diet, movement, supplements and hope it keeps my pain at bay. Continuing to be self aware with drinking in moderation or not at all. Continue to make healthy responsible relationship choices and treat those around me with equal or more love than I receive or expect. Learn to let go. Establishing a vision of what home is/can be: House in the country 2-4 bedrooms, cozy, clean and functional for work and play. Continue self soothing habits like relaxing, reading and small projects. Also maintain established relationships (friends & work) while expanding on community. Settling into my new skin. Stay focused. Keep smiling. It’s all looking amazing!

Even without this short letter to remind myself things are going well I would feel like my life is right on track. See you later 2015, you represent the end of what was a really difficult period for me. As I move forward grounded within all the hard work I’ve done to get this far I still have no idea what’s in store. I don’t know what my professional life will look like by this time next year. And for the first time in a long while I'm not worried and just enjoying the moment.

Making the time and space to slow down and heal was vital. That paired with my new found ability to pace myself I’m way ready to pounce on this forward momentum. It’s time. I am entering a new era of my life and it’s looking mighty fine so far, and all from my tiny country house tucked back into a holler in Tennessee.

Photo: December back porch view from my house
  
Upcoming in 2016:

January: Residency, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, TN

May: Curator, CounterCraft: Voices of the Indie Craft Movement, Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton MA

July: Workshop leader, Craft Thinking: Ideas on Making, Materials, and Creative Process at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Deer Isle, ME

Mindful dedication

Hello Friends!

As some of you may already know in the past year I have experienced major shifts within my life. For a number of reasons I made the decision to move from my home of 13 years in Milwaukee to explore living in the South. Simultaneously I took some massive steps back from my work in order to focus on self-care, learning to understand and manage what had began to become shockingly debilitating chronic pain that was affecting my day to day life. Both of these events were incredibly emotional and eye-opening and I publicly talked about this with ease for the first time this past January. With sharing my vulnerability came an overwhelming out pour of support, understanding and kindness from friends, acquaintances and total strangers. This motivated me to stay focused and assured me I was on the right path. Thank you if you commented, sent a note or even just took a moment to send me a good thought - I FELT IT. 

With mindful dedication to slowing down and healing I have had massive breakthroughs and am successfully learning how to manage my pain. So far one of my biggest lessons has been learning how to take small steps that lead to larger goals. Holy crap it is so hard to break old work patterns! Within these new parameters I am relearning how to feel productive, creative and inspired. However difficult it has been, I'm happy to report the positive long term effects are obvious at this point.

With being able to feel a difference after taking so much “time off” I am super excited to be feeling inspired again. I had/have a lot of anxiety about "wasting time" and was worried about my lack of motivation. With relief I am starting to feel ready to focus on new projects, experiment with living rurally, get to work on my book project that’s been waiting patiently with long time collaborator Cris Siqueira and begin story-boarding a new experimental short narrative film I plan to direct. I also just returned from Detroit where I had some work in a fantastic group exhibit "Alchemy" curated by Monica Canilao at Inner State Gallery, up through the end of July.

Along with my ecstatic joy for feeling inspired again I am super excited to share my new website. This has been on my “to do” list for about 5 years, and I realized NOW IS THE TIME. I’m no web designer but feel real proud about seeing all my accomplishments in one space. It loosely catalogs the past 10 years of my work from films, photos to the long list of amazing shows I was able to curate in Milwaukee. If you have a moment please check it out, feedback is always appreciated.

I've used this blog as my hub since 2007 and plan to continue to make sporadic posts and keep it as an archive, as always I encourage you to follow me on instagram @faythelevine for real time updates. Otherwise stay in touch and if you happen to have a job that may be a good fit for this malleable artist, hit a lady up, I am in the market!

Warmly,

Faythe 

PHOTO: Planting echinacea on the new cancer moon in rural TN, July 2015