Year's End Winter

Dear Friends, 

I write to you as we have been in the midst of a reverberating resonance generated by the Grand Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn; the winter Solstice in the northern hemisphere and summer Solstice in the southern hemisphere; and the cultural and religious celebrations around the globe—Yalda, the Daoist tradition of Yin-Yang balancing, Chanukah, Christmas, Kwanza, 2021 Asian/ European/ African New Year’s observances, and many more unnamed here. 

Here is link to one of the most beautiful essays by Elizabeth Diaz, produced by Gray Beltran, Clinton Cargill, and Heather Casey with accompanying videos and photographs from The New York Times. 

How We Survive Winter: The solstice arrives in the depths of the pandemic. But the season of darkness also offers ancient lessons of hope and renewal.

The wisdom of the indigenous within each soul on earth is awakened. We join with all humanity in the name of justice, truth, beauty, and peace as our presence invites and pulls the future towards us. 

I am grateful for the wisdom of the elders of Taos Pueblo whose words below teach me to actively care for the earth, my family and friends, together in service of the long living spirit. 

From the elders of Taos Pueblo in New Mexico:

Above all is the long living spirit
Which is the thread from generation to generation,
As long as the land we live on is everlasting,
And our children have a place to lie down. 

I am but a footprint on the earth,
A wing against the sky,
A shadow in the water,
A voice beneath the fire. 
I am one footprint going on. 

From front and page plates, Taos Pueblo, 1989, Nancy Wood. 

Please DONATE to The Taos Pueblo Foundation who provides care to those pueblo families in need of food, clothing, medical and mental health care. The Taos Pueblo Foundation will address the Taos Pueblo community needs by supporting programs and organizations to meet or to supplement funding in five focus areas: education, preservation, community wellness, environment, technology. Please use this link to the foundation to make your donation.

Wishing you a meaningful seasonal observance as those of us who are regionally close continue in our individual 'bubbles' and those far from each other geographically, prohibit an opportunity to gather. 

We hold each other in our hearts and are grateful,
~Willow

The Meaning and Value of Leisure

“On-line platform weary” is the way students, colleagues, and friends have been noting the increase in daily hours spent online, sometimes for as many as 8 hours a day, in telehealth consultations, seminars, and extended family zoom sessions. With the pandemic, and current psycho-emotional need, the stress is great, and taking a break seems out of the question. And yet, a break from intense work in favor of idleness, may just be what is asked for now.

Knowing how to take care of ourselves with adequate periods consciously reserved for deep renewal is an important professional skill. Annie Dillard’s riveting words, “how we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives,” challenge us to reflect on the structure of our days. Is it possible to schedule short breaks throughout the day when at work, on-line, and with one’s family? Can we allow ourselves to feel the enjoyment of idle breaks whether listening to the land, to the wind, or to sounds in the neighborhood? How far can we extend our listening, and our hearing? Can we simply sit and observe, our mind attentive or wandering, without a plan or agenda? 

I’m aware, too, of the practice of consciously cultivating spaciousness as we invite the unconscious objective psyche into our lives. What is it telling us? Can I listen with ease and an attitude of idle curiosity and leisure?

Take a breath and deepen into the moment. Invite your presence to meet the many moments of this challenging time.  

May the simplicity of the season bring rest and restoration. May leisure and easy deep breaths find you this holiday season!  

With warmth and gratitude,
~Willow

Remembering Masks in Motion

Over the weekend I attended the Ebell Club zoom screening of the short film by Judy Leventhal, a researcher/filmmaker who has put together a 3-minute video about Edith Wyle as part of an effort by an organization called “Look What She Did: Artists of Los Angeles.” The Ebell Club “honors women in the arts and other fields of accomplishment.”  

The film is a wonderful tribute to Edith Wyle, Founder and Director Emeritus of the Craft and Folk Art Museum (CAFAM.) For me the short film engendered memories of my work at the Museum (1977-1986) as volunteer and then Director of Special Programs and producer of the International Festival of Masks. The images from the Parade of Masks reminded me of its cultural and community importance. We were so lucky to have had the stalwart support of Ethel Tracy, an educator and community advocate in South Central LA, and Helen Young in the Chinese Community. Helen and Ethel taught us, Shan (Sharon Emanuelli, 1977-1978 Coordinator ) and me, directly instructing us on community feelings and cultural protocols of relationship. Their generous relationship with the Festival of Masks provided abundant support and made possible extensive community involvement. These relationships were reflective of Edith Wyle's deep respect for people of diverse backgrounds and knowledge, a respect that was reciprocated by the leaders of LA's many ethnic communities. Respect for diversity made the Festival of Masks a resounding success. 

In 1980, I curated an exhibition, Masks in Motion: Form and Function. Edith and I collaborated on the installation design; or, rather, she mentored me, sharing her installation expertise, especially as it related to wall color selection. She, in turn, had been mentored by her painting teacher, Rico LeBrun, and later by Bernard Kester, highly regarded in-house exhibition designer at LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art). Bernard Kester was a frequent visitor to CAFAM, during the exhibition planning process, contributing his aesthetic, curatorial, and educational philosophy. A vivid image comes to mind of Bernard and Edith during exhibition preparatory work, considering color swatches in dynamic debate.

I had come to know many LA collectors of fine masks during the years I served as Coordinator of the International Festival of Masks. It was from their collections that I selected the masks for the exhibition, many of which represented the multifarious cultural traditions of Los Angeles. The following poem served as my exhibition curatorial statement.

Masks in Motion

These masks
each a cosmos
each a seed
project their presence.
They breathe as mountains do;
are raw, untidy
and have their own order.

They, in tremulous patience,
wait to be born, again,
through the traverse of time
and density of memory.
In the ambient world
of ritual, ceremony, and belief
they reassemble the world—
with clarity, energy, and transparency.

They go before us,
speaking the substance of our lives
and guard us from behind
in a trembling and supple grace
as we pursue ourselves.

These masks,
live deeply with things
and launch us towards those
far from us
in culture, space, and time.

Each image resounds
engages
informs
infuses us with being.

Grouped together,
we see aspects
of a common concern,
resolved in different forms.

—Willow Young, 1980

To my work at the museum the WAC in 1982 I brought my education and training at UCLA where I was enrolled in the interdisciplinary program, Ethnic Arts (later renamed World Arts and Cultures (WAC). The program was founded by academic visionary Allegra Fuller Snyder, daughter of Buckminster Fuller, who conceived of the multidisciplinary program, which included courses in Anthropology, Art History, Dance, Ethnomusicology, Theater, Folklore and Mythology. The international student enrollment in the program was tended to by Judy Mitoma (Susilo), Judy Mitoma joined the Dance Department in 1978 and the WAC Program in 1982. She was Director of the UCLA Center for Intercultural Performance and Professor of Dance in the Department of World Arts & Cultures. As the founding chair of the Department of World Arts and Cultures, in 1995 she established the only arts department in the United States based on interdisciplinary, international and intercultural research with a performance agenda. I am grateful to Allegra for the education in the program and to Judy, who taught me the value of community trust, and introduced me to many artists who would come to participate in the International Festival of Masks, sharing their heritage of mask making, masked dances, music, theater, and mythology.