Thoughts

Image of this past year’s work 18′ x 42″   
woven on 10 frame looms that was shipped out this week.

My great assistant, Eve, helping me pack it all up. Forever grateful.

Shlomo, of Artisan Shipping Co., is my trusted river guide.

Made from the discarded product from the
Corporation that commissioned this work. 
My consideration was based on my background in sustainability
and weaving recycled and discarded detritus
that is so prevalent in society today.  

AS THE RIVER FLOWS

The process of figuring out, requesting materials,
and then, prototyping pieces…
is always a challenge with weaving new materials.
I love the challenge. But get caught in little tributaries 
here and there and then have to figure out how to 
get back into the flexible flow of making it through weaving,
installing methods, crating/boxing and then, shipping.

Still moving down the River.

My mission when weaving detritus is to use the material
and make it look like anything other than what
the material being used was actually intended for. 
A challenge and a delight.  

AS THE RIVER FLOWS

The river is a metaphor we discuss regularly in teachings 
from the Vedic Worldview. 
We are looking for flexible flow in our day-to-day lives.
When that doesn’t happen, that means something is off.  
It could be a number of things and maybe simply one. 
We would describe that as hitting the side of the river when things
aren’t flowing. When we get stuck. Frustrated, stub our toe. 
Feeling uneasy. We need to pay attention to our feelings and course
correct, let go of overthinking.

That’s why sitting by the side of the river is so delightful.  
It moves in one direction and continues to move
til it reaches its destination. 
And we love watching that water stream past us with ease. Masterfully.

Next up will be hanging this art piece
and weaving it all together on site. 
A project in flow…  Making room for others to come.  

09.07.2025 Deck Talk available upon request info@fifthfloormeditation.com

Image: All images from Lisa Perry’s ONNA HOUSE
East Hampton Summer Exhibit 2025 called
My Life Has Been a Tapestry
1. Etching Archives in the foreground:
Entangled Mesh, 1980
Fabric Overlay, 1980
2. In the background from Torah Series :
Women Forgotten, 2021
3. Natural Studies, 2023 from an exhibit for Luum Textiles
Shown: Shadow Waves, Study in Whites and Blues,
Seeds we Sow, and Intertwined Landscape
4. Contrast, 2010 Drycleaning plastics, cardboard, wires, papers

WE COME SPINNING OUT OF NOTHINGNESS,
SCATTERING STARS LIKE DUST
Sufi poet Rumi 

This week’s venture was to see the stunning
Onna House in East Hampton,
and to witness Lisa Perry’s commitment to women textile artists.

She brought together twelve women artists using textile as
both the medium and message.
Very fortunate to have my work in this exhibition.
Positioned in this intimate architectural wonder.

Pondering Creativity and how it emerges from our physiology,
from the works in the past to looking at the future.
Deepak Chopra writes:
“After all, what could be more creative than
the act of manifesting the entire universe?
But the manifestation of the universe is nothing
other than the manifestation of thought from the level
of Being. Pure Being, thinking to itself.”

When creating, we manifest our vision out of the materials
we surround ourselves with.
Coming from that eternal silent state in ourselves emerges 
patterns, constructions, tapestries; stories upon stories 
compel more creation. 
“A flicker of thought in this state, a little disturbance, and out of it 
the whole universe manifests.” 
From Chopra book, Creating Affluence

The mechanics of creation. 

08.31.2025 Deck Talk available upon request info@fifthfloormeditation.com

Image: Anni Albers Weaving design 1927, reweaving: 1964
double weave, cotton, artificial silk from Bauhaus Archive, Berlin
Image: Photo of Anni Albers by Lucia Moholy 

”A DREAM YOU DREAM ALONE IS ONLY A DREAM.
A DREAM YOU DREAM TOGETHER 
IS REALITY. “
Yoko Ono

First time in Berlin, visiting friends. Went to the Jewish Museum.
There was a wonderful show entitled DEFIANCE:
Jewish Women and Design in the Modern Era

The exhibition pays tribute, for the first time,
to the work of 60 German-Jewish women
artists and designers who forged their own paths,
in a time marked by exclusion and upheaval. 
In 1933, the National Socialists systematically destroyed
the careers and lives of many.

This piece of Anni Albers stood proud; from across the space, 
one knew it was hers. She was one that survived. 

What I found so profound was how many ceramists, writers, 
silversmiths, puppet makers, took their lives.
Before their lives were taken. 
Though ones’ lives are never really taken.  
Their essence remains, and we bring that to life in our memory 
and our thoughts, every time they enter our minds.
 
The 60 women represented paved the way for women designers to
overcome social obstacles and 
to fight for change and visibility today.

Last image: Yoko Ono’s piece entitled Mend Piece
at the Neue Nationalgalerie, 
from an exhibition entitled Dream Together,
a work from her groundbreaking artistic career,
all of which aim to bring about peace. 
Let’s BE the collective for Peace together at Group Meditation. 
And Every day.

08.24.2025 Deck Talk available upon request info@fifthfloormeditation.com

Images: Works by David Hockney entitled —
Berlin: A Souvenir, 1962 
Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures), Acrylic, 1972
Midsummer: East Yorkshire, Watercolors, 2004
Self Portrait, 10th December 2021, Use of iPad technology, 2021

Was thrilled to stop in Paris, en route to Berlin,
to see David Hockney 25, at the Fondation Louis Vuitton.

Born in 1937, he grew up in the North of England
in a working-class town of Bradford.  
He ventured to London and enrolled in the Royal College of Art
and was a leading figure in the Swinging Sixties…
He moved to Los Angeles, where he painted
the swimming pools. 
Moved back to Yorkshire, where he was born, and painted
these beautiful watercolors, likened to a show of Chinese
watercolors he had seen at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
The exhibition entitled Hand, Eye, Heart came
from this Chinese saying…
He states “the Chinese say you need three things to create
a painting: Hand, Eye and Heart. Two won’t do.”

At the end of the show were many portraits
and flower still-life paintings.
Here, his Self Portrait uses yet another technique, incorporating
still lifes and self portraits on the iPad.
Then copied and applied to Aluminum boards.
Forever trying new technologies. 
He has been relentless in his search for new progressive 
ways to share his work.  

Ever Evolving.

08.17.2025 info@fifthfloormeditation.com

Images: Detail of 1980 Etching entitled Entangled Mesh
Entangled Mesh 1980 from BFA Show at U of Iowa

When Individuality Gets in the Way

There are numerous advantages in experiencing
our absolute Being through our daily Vedic Meditation Practice.

It influences the life of the individual at all levels
to such a degree that the 
whole value of life is transformed
beyond the imagination of the human mind. 

How can ordinary human intelligence,
on the level of intellectual understanding, 
comprehend the greatness of cosmic intelligence to be found
in the field of our de-excited state of Being?
How can an individual, functioning within the limitations 
of his ordinary mental capacity, conceive of the enormous possibilities
from the creative energy of his full potential,
when he is in tune with the creative intelligence of absolute Being? 

It would be like looking at a detail of a piece of art,
feeling and sensing its part in the whole piece of art.
But not seeing or understanding the entire meaning of the piece of art. 

Many of us live our lives
not really understanding what our true meaning
and potential is for us to realize.

Without meditation and releasing stress sensations,
thoughts, feelings and pain, one cannot see 
the entire picture in which life unfolds each and every day
for us to be a part of. 

The mind, body and surroundings are the three main fields of life. 
Rejuvenation of body and mind are the special blessings
of the experience of Being we receive in our 
daily practice and its influence 
transforms health, education, and social behavior. 

It eliminates fear, tension and suffering,
on both the individual and social planes, bringing peace in life.

The material and spiritual values of life are brought into harmony:
Through the art of experiencing Being, 
it is possible to live life in freedom,
while accomplishing the maximum in the material field.
It is not difficult to live Being in all phases of life:
the body, mind, nervous system, speech, thought, breath, behavior
and surroundings.

Our state of Being is who we really are, in playing
a role in the uni verse.
Living in Unity with everything and everyone.

(excerpted and adapted from MMY’s
The Science of Being and Art of Living, 1963)

08.10.2025 Deck Talk available upon request info@fifthfloormeditation.com