more art is more love

Archive for June 24th, 2009|Daily archive page

featured artist: edith graciela sanabria

In Uncategorized on June 24, 2009 at 10:26 pm

Edith Graciela Sanabria is a multi-talented artist: a painter, jewelry designer, writer of poetry and photographer.  She is a native of Bolivia and is an inspiring poet. Grace Press published her first book of poetry, “Latin American Soul”.  In 1997, Her poems were translated and published in Brazil, Europe and India.  Edith is currently working on a joint project marrying her works to those of her mother’s in a dual-language art and poetry book.

She is a proud member of many art organizations and poetry groups in the Washington, DC Metropolitan Area. She has a high degree of interest in women’s issues, women’s adaptation to life events (death, birth, marriage, divorce) and she is actively looking for collaborations and partnerships.  Edith has exhibited her paintings at the following organizations:  

The Art Club of Washington 

The Martin Luther King Library

The Pan-American Health Organization

The InterAmerican Development Bank

The Organization of American States

The Lutheran Church of Washington, DC

The Art league of Alexandria, Virginia located in the Torpedo Factory

Empowered Women International

The Lee Arts Center in Arlington, Virginia

Border Books in Pentagon City, Virginia.

Her art was featured in the Washington Post, Alexandria Gazette, El Tiempo Latino, El Pregonero, and the Washington Hispanic Newspaper.  She also recorded videos with Channel 5 and Comcast.


malia: you don't NEED a beauty basket

In Uncategorized on June 24, 2009 at 10:11 pm

As further evidence of some of the antics retailers are entertaining to attract younger audiences, read this disturbing article about a recent gift basket sent to Malia Obama for her upcoming July 4th birthday.  Malia, listen to us, child.  You’re beautiful where it counts and where it doesn’t.  We take issue with this author’s assertion that Malia would “enjoy” such a gift.  We think she has more than enough to manage without the added cultural beauty pressure.  My Lord, Take a Whiff deodorant and No Scary Hairy?  What messages do these products SEND to a very young woman?

Malia Obama working a patterned cardi just like mom. Photo: Saul Loeb, AFP / Getty Images

Online retailer Best in Beauty (which specializes in non-toxic and hypoallergenic products) sent a highly publicized gift basket to Malia Obama for her upcoming birthday (which falls on Independence Day — how patriotic!). 

The teen’s gift included products from a variety of Best in Beauty retailers: 

  • Pristine Beauty™ Vanity Tray – Includes Hooray for Brallywood Butta®, Take A Whiff!® deodorant and No Scary Hairy™ $85.00
  • Occomeia Organic Foaming Cleanser $25.00
  • Solay Wellness’ Persian Rock Salt Lamp $65.00
  • Purifying Lavender Body Bar Soap from Solay Wellness $6.95
  • Dropwise Essentials’ Luscious Lime and Orange Dream Organic Aromatherapy Lip Balm $6.50 each ($13.00) Dropwise Essentials’ Refresh and Inspiration Gentle Cleansing Body Wash $9.50 each ($19.00)
  • Dropwise Essentials’ Nourishing Hand & Body Lotion $12.50 each ($25.00)
  • Dropwise Aromatic Mister Room & Body Spray $12.50 each ($25.00)
  • Ecco Bella Good For You Gloss (Color: Peace) $15.95

For $354.20, the website will ship all of the products and more to you direct from each retailer–basket not included. Though the White House frowns upon companies using the first family’s name to get press, I happen to think Malia might enjoy a basket full of beauty goodies. 

Now, whether the Secret Service will let an unsolicited package anywhere near the first daughter is another question.

and then there's male beauty "standards"

In Uncategorized on June 24, 2009 at 10:00 pm

The New York Observer gave equal weight to the male side of the house in it’s article about The New Male Beauty.  Not only is there a discussion about how male beauty standards have changed in Hollywood, but there’s also an assertion that women are now attracted to men with wider-set eyes which triggers a nuturing response because of the similarity to babies.  There’s a softer reference to androgyny and how we’re all walking around a little “confused” these days.  

 

Study of a Male Profile credit http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/ALIPOD/PDP-S-000007-303A.jpg

Study of a Male Profile credit http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/ALIPOD/PDP-S-000007-303A.jpg

the price of beauty in reality tv

In Uncategorized on June 24, 2009 at 9:49 pm

The New York Daily News reports Jessica Simpson‘s documentary series on beauty has found a home.

“The Price of Beauty,” which will follow Jessica around the world as she investigates what different cultures find beautiful and why, will air on VH1 beginning sometime next year.

“I have always believed that beauty comes from within and confidence will always make a woman beautiful, but I know how much pressure some women put on themselves to look perfect,” she said in a statement Monday as quoted on USWeekly.com.

“I am really looking forward to discovering how beauty is perceived in different cultures and participating in some of the crazy things people do to feel beautiful,” she continued.

Just how far will Simpson go as she explores some of the unusual things different cultures find attractive?

Will we see her getting scars cut into her stomach, as women do to attract men in southern Ethiopia? Getting her lips or chin tattooed, a beauty ritual among women of Polynesian descent?

And forget the high-waisted jeans. Simpson would have to put on a lot more weight than that to pass for a catch in Mauritania, where roundness is the height of desirability.

We’re guessing Simpson won’t do anything that causes her to permanently stray from her current standard of beauty – the Texas one.

Simpson had one previous brush with reality TV, on MTV‘s “Newlyweds,” with her now ex-husband Nick Lachey.

Filming on the new show is set to begin mid-July.

women's body image & self-esteem program set for june 2010

In Uncategorized on June 24, 2009 at 4:15 pm

Virginia celebrates Minds Wide Open Women in the Arts in 2010.  Arts programs with a theme of Women in the Arts will be presented between March and June 2010.  Shauna Lee Lange Arts Advisory will join in the celebration by reaching out to artists and organizations to help make MINDS WIDE OPEN a recurring celebration of the arts across Virginia for many years to come.

Lange’s organization will present a program on Women’s Body Image & Self-Esteem through art journaling & visual diaries.  Art journals and visual diaries are excellent pathways to explore women’s issues of body image & self-esteem.  The program will seek to further understand and explore media concepts of women’s appearance through writing and artwork in one’s own visual and language voice of choice.

Details will be forthcoming.  E-mail registration to shaunaleelange@gmail.com from those in the metropolitan DC area (the event will be held in metro-accessible Alexandria, Virginia) is required as space is limited.  Participants should plan to bring their own journaling supplies as well as magazines clips and photos that speak to the issues of body image and self-esteem in the media.  More on this effort as the project approaches. 

MINDS WIDE OPEN is sponsored by many fine corporate entities to include:  Altria; Dominion; Norfolk Southern; and the Virginia Commission for the Arts.

mwoButton

no more nedas: code pink women for peace

In Uncategorized on June 24, 2009 at 2:36 pm

Today’s featured women’s organization is Code Pink Women for Peace.  Code Pink is a women-initiated grassroots peace and social justice movement working to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, stop new wars, and redirect resources to healthcare, education, green jobs, and other life-affirming activities. 

The group calls on policies based on diplomacy, compassion, and a commitment to international law.  With an emphasis on joy and humor, CODEPINK men and women seek to activate, amplify and inspire a community of peacemakers through creative campaigns and a commitment to non-violence.

CODEPINK’s latest press release calls for an end to violence against Iranian protestors.  Our Iranian sisters should know they are not alone. 

neda