Dear All,
We are taking a new turn in our Treeleaf Art Circle, now an expanded 'Arts & Music (& Sports) Circle.' Thank you, as always, to our past guides and working artists, Richard Herman, Meitou and Anne Cooper. This time, we will be opening spaces for specific arts and callings ... music, opera, painting & drawing, fiction and prose, poetry, photography and more. As well, all athletes welcome, who play without goal and run with no place to go.
Each Arts & Music area will be under the guidance of one of our long time Treeleaf members with some experience in the field, and they will be in charge of keeping things stimulating and flowing. Here's a little about each of our guides and hosts, who we are calling our Treeleaf 'Artists in Residence' ...
Painting & Drawing - Nengei is a working artist painting with oil colors in the traditional styles developed since the European Renaissance. Previously, he has focused on art techniques in still life, and now is refining his skills to become a professional portrait painter and to make the transition to a full-time art career. Nengei trained for several years with Dan Petrov, a classically trained, Flemish-style artist known for his still life, landscapes, and portrait work. For the last year, Nengei has been training intensively with globally renowned portrait artist and illustrator Kevin Murphy. Some of Nengei's work is seen here: www.josephalexanderstudio.com
Contemporary Music - Bion has been in the music business as a producer, songwriter and sometimes even mixing engineer for 10 years. His catalogue includes a couple hundred songs, including some chart-toppers. He's had the privilege of working with artists big and small, spread across the globe from Russia to the US. Bion's particular strong point is songwriting, which he states that he is fascinated by and which is "probably my favorite way of telling stories, both from my own experience or other people´s."
Photography - Horin started with photography in 2013, but was always interested in the works of other people. He has been especially interested in black and white photography and portraits, and tries to carry a camera with him whenever it is possible, although there are also periods where he does not use it so much. He especially likes black and white pictures because they are great to capture moods. Also, he would like to try in the photography area to deal with the concepts of "yugen" and impermanence, as they are very powerful and open to many ideas.
- Prose Writing - Hensho is excited about a space to explore Zen and Buddhism in general through the arts. She received her doctorate in creative writing from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and has taught fiction and poetry writing, and all levels of college composition, as well as American literature.
- Poetry (& Haiku Club)- Seikan will be taking the helm of our poetry and haiku sections, now moved into our arts area, although Kokuu will remain always around too. Seikan considers himself to be a lifelong amateur poet of many styles (haiku, free verse, etc.). While he writes primarily for himself, he has recently had work published in Frogpond, the journal of the Haiku Society of America. In proper Zen fashion, he sees poetry as a wonderful and insightful way to use words to express that which is beyond words
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I hope that we will expand this 'Arts and Music Center' to include a variety of other arts and pursuits, such as sculpture, manga and animation, weaving and knitting, performance art, film making, opera singing ... you name it. As a matter of fact, if you consider yourself to have a particular talent or interest in some media, and would like to guide others who might be interested, please write me. Also, feel from to start new discussions on your favorite sports, adventuring and game in our 'Zen Sports' section.
We will respect "free expression" in our artistic undertakings, but hope to nurture Buddhism and Zen practice through these artistic endeavors. We will ask that extremely violent and overtly political subject matter be avoided, and thank you for respecting that.
So, if you feel drawn to the arts, please pick up your brush, camera, instrument or pen ... and jump on in!
Gassho, Jundo
STLah
