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Hello <<First Name>>,
I’m delighted to share this January 2016 edition of Arts Awareness E-Newsletter with you. I sincerely hope you find it helpful as you play an active role in all your creative efforts. Please feel free to share it with others who might be interested, and if you know someone who may want to receive this newsletter monthly, please let them know how to sign up through www.artsawareness.com.
Arts Illuminate the New Year
Happy New Year! Perhaps similar to your own experiences, I found myself at the end of 2015 reflecting on the past year and new year simultaneously. Instead of resolutions and lists of changes, I considered the potential of the creative process found in the arts. Everywhere I looked I was reminded by sounds and images that reinforced the intrinsic motivation that’s necessary to not just survive, but thrive. When you engage with the artistic process, you’re open to new experiences and knowledge. You use everything you know and can do to that point and put things together in new combinations. You solve problems you never solved before. You heal and reclaim your true self and celebrate new perspectives.
What art offers is space—a certain breathing room for the spirit.
~ John Updike
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Sharing the Space of Artistic Expression
In this newsletter, I’ll share some of my experiences and thoughts from this holiday season and their potential for imaginative possibility and self-discovery as we begin 2016. This time of year, while we face the reality of the past, we have an opportunity to decide how we want to create the future. I truly hope you find the space of imaginative possibility as you begin your year.
 New Year’s is often about finding your way in the world, an attempt to free yourself from limiting beliefs and behaviors. Aretha Franklin paid tribute to Carole King in December singing "A Natural Woman" at the Kennedy Center Honors ceremony. Carole King was one of the five honorees celebrated for their lifetime contributions to American culture. Aretha’s performance not only honored Carole King but clearly and convincingly communicated the value of freeing yourself to live “naturally,” uninhibited, without feeling constrained by any artificial standards imposed by society. While it is a song that communicates the peace that comes from a woman feeling comfortable with herself, the message is one that can inspire everyone to find the essence of their soul and enjoy life from that new perspective. The whole room stood up, mesmerized by the power of the message so powerfully expressed and embodied by Aretha Franklin.
Almost everyone is familiar with Adeles’ song "Hello". Whether it was planned as a New Year’s message or not, the extensive media promotion of this song was certainly appropriate for what we all tend to do at this time of year—a review of the past, breaking away from experiences to find and reconnect with ourselves, and the motivation to move forward in new ways. It’s a feeling that we all face year after year—moving through the strange and often imperfect process of growing older. While we don’t have the power to go back and change things year after year, we can certainly find the freedom that comes from deeper knowledge about who we are.
Ah, the magic of music, with it, all things are possible.
~ E.A. Bucchianeri, Brushstrokes of a Gadfly
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Seeing Thought
This time of year, we have an opportunity to view the work of artists of all kinds. Dancers delight us with the beauty of movement and the imaginative mind and spirit of a child's dreams in The Nutcracker. The Rose Parade theme, Find Your Adventure, was designed to inspire us to find beauty in the natural landscape that builds the backdrop of our lives. Every year at this time, sculptors, painters, and installation artists transform natural materials in our everyday environment and deepen our relationship to the beauty around us.
 Each year, the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona, lines the paths of the desert garden with thousands of luminarias for Las Noches de las Luminarias. The luminarias create a glow that lights the paths and brings out the natural shapes and beauty of the desert landscape.
This year, the Botanical Garden also features the exhibition of Bruce Munro and his unique interpretation of the Sonoran Desert. Bruce Munro: Sonoran Light at Desert Botanical Garden showcases eight large-scale, light-based installations using an inventive array of materials and hundreds of miles of glowing fiber optics located throughout the Garden.
The photos to the right are from an exhibit by glass artist Chihuly, which was part of the yearly Phoenix Desert Botanical Garden festival in 2013 and 2014.
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Anyone who says you can't see a thought simply doesn't know art.
~ Wynetka Ann Reynolds
The arts can help you flexibly and imaginatively approach problems. In the process, you can discover the inner passion to explore the questions around concerns and the motivation to become engaged in ways you never before imagined. Every person’s journey is unique. It’s up to each of us to find our way and unleash our true selves in ways that enrich our lives. Perhaps in the new year you will prove to be so much more capable than you know. Instead of resolutions and lists of changes, you can use this opportunity as an artist—discover your true self and celebrate new perspectives. Illuminate the new year with art.
We know what we are, but not what we may be.
~ William Shakespeare
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Contact Dr. Patricia Hoy for media appearances, to book her to speak at your event, or to engage her workshop or consulting services—
Guest Speaking: Corporate, Education, or Arts Events—that provides motivation for launching a project, keynote theme inspiration, or setting the foundation for a goal to be achieved.
Customized Consulting: In-Service Workshops; On-Site Training Institutes; Conference Sessions; Seminars; and Round Tables—all specially designed for Businesses, Companies, Educational Institutions, Organizations, or Arts Groups.
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About the Arts Awareness Newsletter:
This newsletter is meant to spark ideas and develop a deeper understanding of artistic processes and their use in leadership, everyday life, and work. Content, which comes from personal experiences and a variety of sources, is based on the Arts Awareness concepts developed by Patricia Hoy. Questions? Comments? Contact Patricia at patricia@artsawareness.com or 901-229-1955, N. 93rd Way, Scottsdale, AZ.
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