Articles
The Art of Having No Ideas
By Laurence Shorter
The only way I’ve found that works consistently to generate an idea is to have no idea. This is harder than it sounds because we are so used to having a picture of what we are doing. In any given situation, […]
Dreams and Art
by Ramon Kubicek. Dreams occasionally visit us to leave behind their lovely or frightening traces, so it is not surprising that dreams can make their way into the work of artists. The subconscious after all is a weird improviser […]
Advice to a Young Man
By Hugo Pim. I think there’s a bit of a collective delusion that’s been going on since happiness became some kind of weird entitlement that people […]
Anonymous Dreams 22
Illustrators around the world are protesting the war in Ukraine Their work speaks about the invasion as well as in photographs and reports […]
Can Anyone Be an Author?
By Sahlan Diver. The statement, “Anyone can be an author”, seems to me parallel to the statement, “Anyone can sing”. At college, a fellow student once said to me, “When you sing, it’s absolutely amazing […]
Zooming Out
By Laurence Shorter.
I don’t know if I am naturally suited to being self-employed. Structure does not come easily or naturally to me – as it does for some writers, consultants and artists. I often wonder if I was made to be idle […]
Swimming in Forever Chemicals
One of the scariest and worst health disasters affecting the world was brought to public light in 2011. So why isn’t there the international outcry as there is for mercury, radiation or plastics? This is much more pervasive! […]
Between Visible and Invisible
In one of his letters, the great Austrian poet Rilke writes, “…we are the bees of the invisible. We frantically plunder the visible of its honey, to accommodate […]
Fredrik Lloyd Bio
I started out writing letters home to friends and family whilst I was living with my parents in Latin America. It was a lonely year, I was a young teenager, thrown into an unknown environment in a […]
An Encounter With Death
I went to visit our doctor for a routine check-up. As he was passing his hands over my stomach he discovered a pulsating artery. He told me the walls were […]
The Antagonist
Like most people I have been swept up in the anxiety and disbelief surrounding the Ukraine situation. I never thought it would happen, and my brain is racing to recalibrate. How […]
The Wounded Artist
By Ramon Kubicek In Marrakesh, I once saw a dervish pass a long skewer through his cheek. He then stuck several needles into his palms. All the while, he wore a calm, if somewhat distracted expression … [more]
Ramon Kubicek
When I asked the Canadian artist Ramon Kubicek to which of his senses did he go to for inspiration, his reply was immediate and surprising to me. A lot of painters visualise or ‘feel’ but Ramon replied without … [more]
Nothing Ventured
something like a golden thread that connects all the experiences of our life, starting at our conception and up until our death and maybe even onward that reveals ourselves to ourselves and makes sense of our living here. This is just … [more]
Chief Dan George
In the course of my lifetime I have lived in two distinct cultures. I was born into a culture that lived in communal houses. My grandfather’s house was eighty feet long. It was called a smoke house … [more]
2001 and All That
Two Thousand and One and all that… My family got back together that summer of 2001. We were happily settling in at the house we had rented, having just sold our home. When I say ‘we’ I mean my husband, our two younger sons and myself. Our eldest son was not with us as he […]
The Road to Recovery
By Mashud Darlington Since my car crash at the end of November 2020 and my subsequent stay in hospital to recover from my injuries, I’ve been fortunate, as the road to recovery has given me a series of insights into my condition. A kind of unfolding inner journey that may be of interest to readers. […]
Rebuilding Wilczyska
by Halim Korzybski The Wilczyska (pronounced vielchiska) estate in Poland was founded in the 15th Century. It was destroyed and rebuilt several times by foreign invasions and after World War II, the government at the time nationalized the farmland and the forest. The Manor House was converted into a school which was relocated some years […]
My Life
My Life by Mira Nitza Waksman Mira Nitza Waksman I grew up with creative parents whose lives portrayed artistic sensibilities. Our home was my mother’s domain full of colour and life, the yard my father’s workshop. My work is deeply influenced by Uzbek Ikat Design of my parents’ native land, Uzbekistan. Being artists was a […]
A Time To Be
Rashad Carre Rashad Carre is a French artist who grew up in Jakarta, Indonesia. After studying Art and Design in the UK, he went on to produce drawings, paintings, sculptures, jewellery and furniture designs. He has recently published a book and has gone on to writing articles based on his philosophy of life and art […]
Lockdown
by Katharine O’Sullivan A week before the latest UK lockdown, I found myself leaving my apartment to travel out of London as it was becoming in my family’s view, a plagued city. There was the fear that if, and when, a second lockdown should be announced in the UK, I would be living alone, isolated […]
We Wake Up Screening
by Marius Grose The run into Christmas 2018 was particularly dark and dreary in Bristol, weather hanging heavier than a wet blanket on a washing line. I was feeling torpid and lacking a direction when I received a note. It was from my old friend and work colleague Steve. He had dropped me a line on […]
Dog Walks in the Time of Corona
By Lorna Dowson-Collins Millie and I were connected as if by a piece of elastic. If she hared off during our walks after some smell, I could continue in a meditative state knowing she would reappear. Her attuned senses revealed hidden life, the scent of a pheasant, and the movement of a deer or a […]
The Story of My Subud Life
By Rafe Nauen My girlfriend Riva Warren was 16 and too young to join Subud when her father, John Warren, asked to speak to me. John was a lovely man, and I even missed the chance of being alone in the house with Riva to follow him to talk to ‘the helpers’. Guildford was about […]