A Fine line!

Title: A Fine line!

Medium: Acrylic paint, canvas, tempura paint, tortilla flour for texture, painted with casings from used shotgun shells and high caliber weaponry that were detritus from Artception series.  

Enriching music: I walk the line, Johnny Cash; Jump in the Line, Harry Belafonte

By Clara Guzman Herrera

Behind this piece: The undercoat of this painting was done with smooth acrylic, white. The original yellow line was also smooth yellow acrylic. It sat there for about three months. It didn't look right. I put it back on the easel one evening and just looked at it under light in the darkness of my backyard. I probably stared at it for an hour while listening to Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto #2. Then I decided it needed texture and growth. It just became after that: Tempura white came into play, but wasn't thick enough so I added tortilla flour. But just using a paint brush wasn't enough, so the entire whiteness of its texture was painted with the butt of a shotgun shell. The yellow line was painted with the butt of .38 rifle shell. Both of these casings were remnants of my oldest boy and my failed hunting adventures and successful art adventures in the Artception series.

I don't know what it means exactly - painting with used shells from guns and tortilla flour. But, if I had to self-analyze, I'd think it was a testament to my role as a parent, and woman: Taking on the masculine role of hunting and shooting guns with my son, as well as the feminine role, cooking in the kitchen making copious homemade tortillas for my children and their friends. It is the Yin and Yang of single parenting, y'all. 

If you've ever heard yin, yang, and y'all used in the same sentence, you just let me know! ~ Clara

 

 

Tanzania Sunflowers

 

Title: Tanzania Sunflowers

Photo by: Clara G. Herrera

Shooting Of Butterfly

 

 

Title: Shooting Of Butterfly, a concept of feminism and society

Medium: Acrylic, canvas, toy guns, plastic butterfly, glue

By: Clara G. Herrera

Enriching music: Perfect, Pink; Born This Way, Lady Gaga

Behind this piece: This turned out nothing like I thought it would. In the beginning, there was no butterfly, and the toy guns were to be ripped off after the paint dried to reveal their shadows in acrylic black and hot pink. The only concept that stayed were the pastel Easter colors of paint. Everything else is different than the vision I had created in my head. 

It just, became, down to the last detail. 

I left it to dry in my backyard, where I do most of my painting. The wind blew it off of the easel. The next morning it was flecked with dirt.

 Feminine, beautiful, dirty, all at the same time.

Funny how the mind works and how art happens.

In the end, it became this. It is my testament to the feminine spirit, represented by the butterfly, beautiful, flying freely, unable to be caught. The fake child-like guns are an overstatement of the bombardment women and girls face throughout a lifetime toward themselves and by society. Too much ammunition, big guns to shoot and try to kill or wound something so delicate.

 The toy guns form a cross of the female embodiment: Mind, Spirit, Body, Heart

We are always second guessing ourselves, us women, even as girls. The quest for perfection, and clearing the grime we imagine others see in ourselves, and what we see in us on the outside and inside never ends. It is an unachievable goal. Yet, we continue the quest.

Mind: Am I too stupid? Am I too smart? What if I say something stupid? What if I say something smart?

Spirit: Am I too joyful? Am I depressed? Am I me? Who am I? What do I believe? Why don't I believe in myself? What is wrong with me? What is right with me? 

Body: Am I the right shape? Do I need to lose weight? Should I buy a pushup bra? Does this make me look fat? Why did I eat that cake?

Heart: Do I love enough? Am I loved? Will someone love me? Why would they? What is love, really? Why don't I love myself?

This the end:

This is the middle: 

This is mid-middle:

This is the beginning:

Peligro So?

Title: Peligro So? 

Medium: canvas, acrylic paint, discarded plastic sign picked up from my kid's FFA function last Saturday 

By: Clara G. Herera

Behind this piece: OK, full disclosure, this piece is about women, empowerment, specifically women of color. If you've read my blog, then you know I pick up random things that might be made into art. I don't know why I do this. It just happens. Last week, my youngest son had a function at school. I found some tape that said, "Peligro". I stuck it in the pocket of my coat. I totally thought it said, "peligroso" which means dangerous in Spanish.
I thought, whatever, the art will come. It will find me.
Today it found me while I was waiting to get a haircut.
A man, about my same age, berated the young woman who took in haircut data because he had put his name on the list online prior to showing up. He had to wait and didn't like it.
She seemed rattled. She seemed the same age of my oldest daughter -20 - and nobody said anything.They just sat there.
I sat there. I thought.
When I got up for my haircut when my name was called, I went to him warmly smiling. "Hi sir, do you have kids?" Yes, he said smiling. "Do you have daughters?" I said smiling. Yes, he said, equally smiling, why are you asking this? Then I said, "Would it be OK if someone spoke to your daughters just like you spoke to that young woman?" It was not pretty after that.
This interlude inspired this painting. So many people hear/see stuff and just ignore it or never say anything except for in privacy.

I used to be one of those people for many years. I am no longer that person.

This is worth staying up late on a school night.

Peligroso

My JASONLearning scientific fellowship to Catalina Island

I was honored to be featured in the Dell blog regarding my scientific fellowship to Catalina Island. Dell (the 3rd largest PC vendor world-wide) is gracious enough to sponsor this for teachers and students in Austin ISD. I was graced to be selected as the sole teacher from my school district to attend this program and work along-side scientists to study the marine ecosystem.  It was an amazing adventure that I will share with students and teachers.

blog.dell.com/en-us/island-adventure-how-one-teacher-found-connection-with-planet-her-classroom/

Island Adventure: How One Teacher Found Connection With the Planet & Her Classroom

By Jessica Anderson

“We looked for harmful algal blooms – and we learned about how this is happening because of people and climate change. Fish eat these algae. Sea lions eat the fish. Scientists are seeing how harmful algae is affecting neurochemicals of the sea lions’ brains – and that was a memorable lesson for me,” says Clara Herrera, a fifth-grade teacher at Clayton Elementary School in Austin, Texas.
Herrera is excited and descriptive when she talks about her recent five-day research expedition as a JASON Learning Teacher Argonaut. Herrera was selected as an Argonaut and in September, she joined a group of students, educators and scientists from around the United States in a weeklong trip on Catalina Island – one of the eight Channel Islands off Southern California.
Since 1989, the JASON Argonaut program has provided hands-on, scientific field work to more than 1,000 students and educators worldwide, many of whom have gone on to pursue degrees and careers in science. Each year, JASON’s Argonaut program sends selected students and educators on one of several expedition opportunities to work directly with the world’s leading scientists and engineers. Past Argonauts have studied the rainforests in Peru, volcanoes in Hawaii, ecosystems in Florida, and much more.
Herrera and her students are now looking at water in a whole new way. They are studying it – and even recycling their unused, clean water after their science experiments into a homemade sifting bucket and pouring it into the earth to feed the Edwards Aquifer that surrounds their school.
Herrera’s students are true water conservationists – and Herrera is an impressive citizen scientist, equipped with real-world experience to teach her students these sustainability skills after her Argonaut experience.
Dell and JASON work together as part of Dell’s Youth Learning program. The partnership has provided free access to JASON’s STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) learning materials to students of the Greater Austin Area’s public schools – including digital labs, content and activities, to utilize in the classroom and on their own. Dell’s support also included the sponsorship of two Austin area Argonauts to enter this year’s Argonaut program.
Herrera was selected for one of these spots after submitting a personal essay, reference letters and a personal video profile as part of the application process. An enthusiasm for science is key in the selection process as well.
Herrera says she has always loved science. She credits her Argonaut experience for strengthening her appreciation for water.
“I was always conserving water, but I’ve come back from this trip in a whole new way,” she says. “My mind has been spinning on how important water is – globally and where we live. I’m talking to my students about what I’ve learned – like how ocean plant life produces more than half the world’s oxygen!”
The strong connection between people and the planet was a focus of Herrera’s Argonaut journey. This year’s Argonauts helped on a project named “Conserving Marine Life Along Catalina’s Coast,” in partnership with Earthwatch and hosted at the Wrigley Marine Science Center on Catalina Island.
Catalina Island features stunning coastal scenery and nine Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) – which function by setting boundaries that exclude extractive activities from occurring in special marine places, much like nature reserves on land. By doing so, they protect more than just one or two species, but all the important organisms and linkages within those ecosystems.
“We counted animal life and recorded our data into the online system. This was added to a global data bank and seeing that was remarkable,” Herrera says.

By documenting the daily activities and conditions of Catalina’s MPAs, Herrera and her fellow scientists helped gather critical information as part of a larger study on the influence of climate change on MPAs. The work by Herrera and her co-Argonauts will help scientists tell the story of the critical role that MPA’s play in coastal conservation and the health of our coasts amidst a changing planet. They hope their work will inspire policies to help safeguard our coastlines.
Back at home in Texas, water conservation is a hot topic for Herrera and her community as drought conditions worsen, and new water sources are scarce as the population grows.
Herrera believes hands-on learning prepares students for the real-world – and helps them understand the reality and urgency behind environmental challenges. She is grateful for how her three sons – ages 20, 17, and 14 – support her appetite for adventure and her passion for the environment.
“I’m trying to show my children and my students what you can achieve on your own,” she says.
Herrera recently completed a fellowship to study at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Coastal Systems Teacher Institute, and she climbed Mount Kilimanjaro after helping raise money and awareness for the need for clean water wells in Africa through the Austin-based charity Water to Thrive.
All Argonauts are encouraged to be peer role models for their students and teachers back home.
“There’s this pervasive belief that the only people allowed to ‘do science’ are the academic elite, and only after decades of study and degrees. Our Student and Teacher Argonauts show that everyone can contribute to the scientific process, and that it can be fun, engaging, and inspiring,” says Patrick Shea, executive vice president of JASON Learning.

Herrera learned about quadrants, and how to use this tool, from the scientists at the Wrigley Marine Science Center.

Herrera will share her Argonaut experience with her students and their parents by inviting them to hear more about her trip and by building their own quadrats for her classroom. These are made of PVC piping and used to study a specific area out in the field. Once placed on the school grounds, students can monitor the racks and study environmental changes over time.
“Teaching is hard work and it helps in the payoff when you can consider the joy of teaching. I encourage other teachers to try for these opportunities and get out and experience things to avoid the burnout,” she says. “It means a lot to feel that you can teach something because you actually experienced it. I can say to my students, When I was with scientists I saw this! That is exciting to kids. This experience has helped me to recharge.”
Explore more information on the JASON Learning Argonaut program. Learn more about Dell’s Youth Learning program at dell.com/youthlearning.

blog.dell.com/en-us/island-adventure-how-one-teacher-found-connection-with-planet-her-classroom/

Adventure Awaits!

Photo credit: Jay, my son

Title: A long day

Tonight sleep evades me. It is not insomnia but the excitement of adventure that keeps me awake. By tomorrow at this time, if Daedalus is with me, (before that whole Icarus fiasco) then I will land on time and in tact in Los Angeles. 

I'll be going on a scientific expedition for a week at Santa Catalina Island. I'll be with real scientists, about two dozen students, and teachers from across the nation, collecting data and doing what real scientifically-minded folks do. 


It is always amazing to me to be honored with such experiences as I continue to realize how life is such a great adventure, and a scientific experiment on ourselves, really. I imbibe every moment and continue to realize how incredibly lucky I am. 

A few months ago, I was selected by JASONLearning to represent my school district, Austin ISD, as the sole teacher to attend this fellowships as an Argonaut.

To be quite honest, I bawled like a baby when I got the call to attend. I wanted this opportunity so badly, I could taste it.  Here it was in true form and here it will be in true form. It is the amalgamation of learning, teaching, growth, scientific study, and social interaction. All are experiences I love.

In the past four months, I have climbed the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, eaten goat with Maasai tribes, and was dubbed an honorary member on my quest to help Water To Thrive bring clean water to Africa. I spent a week at the Monterey Bay Aquarium doing science teacher research and kayaking among otters, driven my truck to Kansas City to visit family and took my dog to Santa Fe and Colorado to do research for a book at the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum. 

I don't write this stuff to brag, though you make think thus. I share this because I have hope that folks realize the opportunities we have in life. Don't sell yourself short. Understand your true potential in whatever vocation, life, you are in. 

We all have the ability to be and do in small and big ways. These opportunities, this gusto, was not my life a short time ago. However, it is now.

Potential. 
We all have it. 
Do. 
Don't just say.
Be Kinetic.

Adventure awaits for all of us. You just have to seize it. 

Carpe Vitae!

(Enriching music: Good Morning, Max Frost) 



 

Kreepy Cittens: A synopsis of synapses

Kreepy Cittens, photo art by Clara G. Herrera

This word kept creeping in my head today: synapses. Repeatedly, it was there: synapses, synapses, synapses.

That happens to me sometimes. After decades of words invading my mind, I have just learned to accept it.  A dictionary defines synapses as "A junction between two nerve cells, consisting of a minute gap across which impulses pass by diffusion of a neurotransmitter."

Oh Lord, if you wonder what that is, finding out is like neuroscience because it is. It's to do with how the brain transfers information, I think. Since I ain't no brain studying-er I am incapable of fully defining its meaning  simply for you. 

Yet, that word remains in my head today, and it is important. My brain is thinking about the brain.

Synapses

As a kid, I'd sometimes latch onto a word without knowing its meaning. I'd be fast asleep at night. A word would invade my head that I didn't know and wake me. I couldn't sleep because of the incessant word plaguing my mind. I would throw off the covers, and even say out loud, "OK already!" There were many phrases that blanketed  that one word.  It was like a quilt surrounding that one word.  I'd plop down prose and poems on my dad's 1950s Smith-Corona typewriter, too tired to look up these new expressions.

When I was more awake, I'd use a dictionary to look them up. They almost always fit grammatically and in their definition. I didn't think anything of it. That is just how my brain worked and I had no comparison. I still don't. But, I know my life has never been without writing since the 2nd grade when I realized what true writing was.

 If you haven't figured it out already, I was that kid who read the encyclopedia for fun. Now, I'm the adult who goes down the rabbit hole of Wikipedia for amusement.

There was no art or mathematics then, just words, phrases, poems and silly stories of a youth who had no life experiences growing up in Tye, Texas.

Now there is art, writing, science, equations, and a synapses of brain connections that cull them all together with life experiences that can not be quelled.

 Synapses.

The brain is a pretty amazing place to be. It is a shock and awe akin to fireworks going off in our heads at all times.

Synapses, an interesting word. 

(Enriching music: Delilah, Queen; Mathematical Mind, Spoon)