005 - Finding Focus in Making Art

Release Date: 07/13/2021

033 - Letting Go, Celebrating, and Moving On

Bowing To Elephants Podcast

Welcome to the final episode of the Bowing to Elephants Podcast. It is with bittersweet feelings that I announce I'm discontinuing the podcast, just for the time being. Life is calling me to address different creative work right now. I appreciate all of you who have steadfastly listened to the show. Here today to help me reflect on the last six months and discuss my next adventure is my friend and cohort, Ben Gioia. What You Hear/Learn/Discover [1:40] Mag explains why she started the podcast in the first place. [03:08] Mag talks about her successes and disappointments with...

032 - Cultural Lens Shapeshifter

Bowing To Elephants Podcast

Jill Mott is a “cultural lens shapeshifter,” photographer, and photojournalist who brings a unique, sparkling energy to everything she does. Armed with only her camera and imagination, she once traveled the world from England to Zimbabwe… with a stop in Italy for art school! Today, Jill teaches and shares her understanding of communication and storytelling — across a myriad of forms — particularly with the camera.

031 - A Gourmet Destination on the Northern California Coast

Bowing To Elephants Podcast

Andrew and Liya Truong are stunningly talented chefs. They own and run Terrapin Creek Cafe & Restaurant in the sleepy, small town of Bodega Bay, California. Their fantastic menu garnered them a Michelin Star in 2011. And they have the love and devotion of Bodega Bay citizens and all those traveling along the coast who happen to stop by for a bite.

030 - The Writer and Her Hammock

Bowing To Elephants Podcast

An author, a poet, and phenomenal woman, Bella Mahaya Carter is a writing teacher and coach who promotes self-awareness and mindfulness. Bella believes in the power of writing to heal and transform lives. She sees publishing one’s work as an opportunity to deepen self-awareness, nourish meaningful connections, and delight in peak experiences while being of service.

029 - Becoming a Scholar

Bowing To Elephants Podcast

A creative soul and lifelong scholar, Sands Hall is a blessing to everyone who meets her. She shares her brilliant spark in many ways: as a teacher, musician, actor, and writer. And today, she joins us to talk about her moving memoir, Reclaiming My Decade Lost in Scientology. In her memoir, Sands shares what first led her to Scientology, the darker undercurrents of Ron L. Hubbard’s leadership, and how she eventually disentangled herself from the Church.

028 - In The Shadow of Poets

Bowing To Elephants Podcast

Meet Author Gretchen Cherington, who, after many years of silence, chose to share her story of abuse. Sexually molested by her father, Richard Eberhardt, a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, Gretchen broke decades of silence to share what life with him was really like. Her memoir, Poetic License, is an authentic, brave piece of work.

027 - The Seasons of Life

Bowing To Elephants Podcast

Tania Casselle calls herself a book doctor, a spiritual follower, a therapist, and a teacher. This multi-talented woman emigrated from England to the United States, where she now lives in Taos, New Mexico. She’s received multiple awards for her writing.

026 - Burma & Bodhisattva Vows

Bowing To Elephants Podcast

To listen to Jack Kornfield is to be brought close to his heart and exquisite mind. Come hear him speak about his love for Burma. Listen to his thoughts on renunciation and the spiritual effects of the pandemic.

025 - The Art of Storytelling

Bowing To Elephants Podcast

Today, my honored guest is Michael Katz, a professional storyteller who performs and works with children in the Santa Barbara area and teaches mindfulness in elementary schools. Michael has worked as a storyteller since 1985 and was the host of a radio show dubbed The Katz Pajamas. He also performs at elementary schools, festivals, and illustrious events like the opening of the Disney Concert Hall.

024 - Feeding, Healing, & Loving The Soul

Bowing To Elephants Podcast

If anyone could light up a room or a person's heart, it’s Allison Post. An integrative health coach and somatic educator, Allison is a healer and a lover of all life. Over the last four decades, Allison taught courses in many massage modalities plus breath and bodywork.

More Episodes

My Guest, Sas Colby is a visual artist with over 5 decades of creating, exhibiting, and teaching experience. Sas has lived in Berkeley since 1975. Her artistic practice has included textile art, collage, photography, and artists books - with words interlaced throughout. A member of the Bay Area Women Artists Legacy Project, Colby attended Rhode Island School of Design. Sas has had her work included in the collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

What you will Hear/Learn

[0:55] - Guest introductions

[2.10] - Sas tells us of unique materials that people use to create art, her advice to her students on this, what is the strangest material she has ever used to create art.

[6.58] - How creating art through a symbolic rabbit helped Sas in a trying moment of her life.

[10.49] - Find out about a Line Drawing Exercise which is a form of meditation.

[15.04] - Sas and I share our thoughts on situations where artists are not willing to share the ideas/visions behind their work.

[24.49] - Sas' feelings about the relationship between making art and bringing about social change in the world. Sas also talks about her projects and projects by other artists that bring about social change.

[37.15] - Sas advice to students who are aspiring to make art.

[40.03] - Why Fear is about the future and not the present.

[43.23] - Sas's answer to the question: What do you want people to remember you for in terms of what you've made in your career?

[44.14] - We wrap it up by talking about my reason for starting this podcast, lessons drawn from the pandemic on human connection and communication.

Quote

You know more than you think you do.

It's like when you write if you have a prompt, if you're given a phrase, and you go from there, well, I guess I could say in this drawing practice, my prompt was the rabbit.

That is the biggest gift that we can give ourselves, being in the present and paying attention only to what's there.

The class would be finished with these drawings. And some people would be transcendent because the experience had brought them into this closeness to themselves in a way that other things hadn't. Again, they let everything go, they were there in the present.