Offerings for Lunchtime Sanity & Equipping
Who says you can’t fit wellness & professional development into your day? Join us online for live, free meditations, stimulating artist interviews full of wisdom & strategies for work, and fun experiments in staying present and connected with others. The majority of these events are free or at pay-what-you-can rates. They’re also scheduled to fit during lunchtimes! We hope you’ll join us, because we believe that taking a moment for connection with ourselves, others, and art empowers us to show up at our professional best!
Middle Niger civilization, Seated Figure, 13th century, terracotta, 10 x 9 3/4 x 11 3/4 in., Metropolitan Museum of Art
Artful Meditation: Tension & Release
(4.16.21, Friday, 12-12.45 p Central)
Artful Meditations are back this month! Join us as we consider a 13th-century terracotta sculpture from the site Jenne-jeno, the oldest known city in sub-Saharan Africa. Our observations of this tightly curled figure’s compelling composition will frame our own practice, a muscle relaxation technique designed to release tension from the body.
Want to see Artful Meditations continue? Support this free service with a gift here!
Frederic Edwin Church, Schoodic Peninsula from Mount Desert at Sunrise, brush and oil on paperboard, 1850-55. Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum Collection.
Artful Meditation: New Horizons
(1.15.21, Friday, 12-12.45 p Central)
Contemplate future horizons with Frederic Edwin Church’s striking landscape Schoodic Peninsula from Mount Desert at Sunrise (1850-55). We’ll take a moment for mindful reflection as we consider the new year. This meditation incorporates relaxing breathing and visualization techniques while gently turning participants toward what’s ahead.
Appreciating our monthly Artful Meditations? Support this free service with a gift here!
Daguerreotype of Emily Dickinson, c. 1848. From the Todd-Bingham Picture Collection and Family Papers, Yale University Manuscripts & Archives, Yale University Manuscripts / Wikimedia.
Artful (Poetry) Meditation
(12.4.20, Friday, 12-12.45 p Central)
Close out the year with us as we mindfully read, listen to, and then reflect on Emily Dickinson’s poem It Sifts from Leaden Sieves. The work is one of our favorites and feels very apropos to this time of year! Vox Omnibus facilitator Jennifer Pappenhagen leads us with her doctoral-level study of literature and her 20 years of teaching experience. There’s no registration required this time around, and the recording will be for our internal use only.
Appreciating our monthly Artful Meditations? Support this free service with an end-of-the-year gift here!
Portrait of Ringgold drawn from the artist’s website (https://www.faithringgold.com/press-kit/)
Artful Meditation
(11.6.20, Friday, 12-12.45 p Central)
"It's very easy, anyone can fly. All you need is somewhere to go that you can't get to any other way. The next thing you know, you're flying among the stars," says Cassie Louise Lightfoot, the protagonist featured in Faith Ringgold’s famous work Woman on a Bridge #1 of 5: Tar Beach (1988).
Join us this week as we explore Ringgold’s milestone work on fabric housed at the Guggenheim Museum. We’ll follow eight-year-old Cassie as she soars over her Harlem community, the George Washington Bridge that her father helped construct, and the world as she creates it. We’ll also listen to Cassie’s words as read by Ringgold in her children’s book Tar Beach, based on the artwork.
Please bring paper and a writing utensil as there will be time for individual and group reflection around hope and the communities that support us.
Artful Lunchtime Meditation
Rothko, Color & Emotions
(10.2.20, Friday @ 12-12.45 pm)
Finding it especially hard to identify how you’re feeling in today’s climate? Join us for a hands-on meditation when we’ll explore the relationship between color and emotion. We’ll begin by looking at a color-field painting by Mark Rothko housed at the Menil Collection (Houston, TX). Then, we’ll note what emotions arise for us in response to the artwork and our present moment through a special hands-on activity. Come for a time of beauty, self-care and community!
Required: colored pencils/markers/crayons and blank sheet of paper
Appreciate our monthly Artful Meditations? Support this free service here!
Dorothea Lange, Nipomo, Calif. Mar. 1936. Migrant agricultural worker's family. Seven hungry children. Mother aged 32..., film negative, 1936, Library of Congress.
Artful Lunchtime Meditation
Face to Face with Portraits
(9.4.20, Friday @ 12-12.45 pm)
Join us as we study a lesser-known portrait from photographer Dorothea Lange’s famous migrant worker series and bring mindful attention to the human face—ours and those portrayed in art—as a means for relaxation and connection with others. As usual, this meditation uniquely combines art with discoveries in brain science as well as proven methods for calming the nervous system. We can’t wait to see your face!
Charles Demuth, Green Pears, 1929, Watercolor over graphite, Yale University Art Gallery
Artful Lunchtime Meditation Still Life in Your Life!
(8.7.20, Friday @ 12-12.45 pm)
This Artful Meditation introduces a specific practice designed to redirect the brain’s frequent negativity bias. Informed by the neuroscience of positivity, this unique meditation combines art appreciation, mindfulness and creative activity into one lunchtime event. Participants are encouraged to bring a photographic device to this meditation.
Sponsored Artful Meditation
(7.21.20, Tuesday, 12-1 p Central)
What does a Charles Demuth still-life watercolor featuring green pears have to do with the neuroscience of positivity? Join us for this artful meditation to learn and practice how!
This meditation is generously sponsored by the Bravo Counseling Center, PLLC and Sandra Bravo, who slated an Artful Meditation as a part of the Austin LGBT Chamber of Commerce’s The Art of Health and Wellness Three-Week Workshop series. This series is open to the public and will be hosted online by the Austin LGBT Chamber of Commerce in two modes: Dr. Hannah Wong will conduct this meditation on Zoom for up to 50 registrants; it will also be live-streamed on the Chamber’s Facebook page. (More info.)
Artful (Poetry) Meditation
(7.17.20, Friday, 12-12.45 p Central)
Back by popular demand! Join us as we mindfully read, listen to, and then reflect on William Carlos Williams’s poem Spring Storm. Vox Omnibus facilitator Jennifer Pappenhagen leads us with her doctoral-level study of literature and her 20 years of teaching experience.
Artful Meditation
(6.12.20, Friday, 12-12.45 p Central)
Join art historian Dr. Hannah Wong for a live & free online meditation on Kara Walker’s exquisite 2016 drawing Submission, created in response to our nation’s history of violence against African Americans. This won’t be a lecture, but rather, a time to collectively pay attention to what Walker offers in this rich work. Beginning with a deep breathing exercise, we’ll then use Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS), a museum education technique, to carefully observe the artwork. We’ll ask three questions central to VTS: What’s going on in this picture? What do you see that makes you say that? What more can we find?
Prior to registration, we invite you to learn more about and see Walker’s Submission (2016) to determine if this event is for you given the sensitive nature of this topic.
Online Lunchtime Workshop:
How Looking at Art Teaches You to Be A Better Communicator
(5.27.20, Wednesday, 12-1.30 pm Central)
Effective communication in the workplace (and elsewhere) is more important than ever. In just 1.5 hrs., this highly participatory, online workshop enables participants to immediately identify their individual communication styles and pinpoint particular areas for growth, all while having fun. Past attendees note that this workshop particularly enhanced their communication with supervisees and with external clients/publics.
This is part of a series of free courses sponsored by ACC's Center for Non-Profit Studies.
Michael Wolgemut, Dance of Death, woodcut image from leaf of The Nuremberg Chronicle, 1493. Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Lessons Learned From the Black Plague: A Medieval Historian’s Reflections
(5.15.20, Friday, 12-1 pm Central)
That’s right. We’re going there, because it’s so relevant. This week, a medieval historian shares how the Black Plague instructs her today amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Dr. Cheryl Kaufman is a lecturer in the Department of History at the University of Texas and currently teaches two courses: Medieval Material Culture and Western Civilization in Medieval Times. During this live interview, Dr. Kaufman connects the Black Plague with Covid-19 and discusses a few related art historical images from the period. A brief Q & A will follow. (Please note: given the subject matter, this event may not be for everyone.)
Carl Van Vechten, Portrait of Marianne Moore, photograph, 1948, Library of Congress.
Artful (Poetry) Meditation
(5.8.20, Friday, 12-12.45 pm)
This week, a specially-crafted meditation on a single, gorgeous poem! Join us as we mindfully read, listen to, and then reflect on a 20th-century work by Pulitzer-prize winning American poet Marianne Moore. Vox Omnibus facilitator Jennifer Pappenhagen leads us with her doctoral-level study of literature and her 20 years of teaching experience. This is a treat that you won’t want to miss!
Detail, Unidentified Artist, The Four Seasons, c. 15th C. (Ming dynasty), Ink and color on silk, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Artful Mediation
(5.1.20, Friday, 12-12.45 pm)
This week, we contemplate a Chinese landscape and enact the original method for viewing this type of painting. While “unrolling” this scroll from right to left, we’ll observe this work with quiet, mindful attention. Join us for some connection, visual beauty and intentional breathing!
Director/actor Dr. Lisa Neely and her company, 3rd Course: Theatre
Artists on Crisis Management & Resilience
Join us for live interviews with artists, who often have to perform in stressful and under-resourced environments. During these lunchtime interviews, we’ll ask writers, musicians, actors, and directors what unique perspective their art form and training give them in times of crisis. Plus, a Q & A period to follow.
4.15.20, Weds, 12-1 p
Director/Actor Dr. Lisa Neely
Re-performance of Marina Abramović's Point of Contact (1980)
Artful Lunchtime Meditation
(4.9.20, Thurs. @ 12-12.45 pm)
This week, we’ll consider Marina Abramović's 1980 performance piece, Point of Contact. First, we'll look at a photograph from the original performance, and then, the facilitator will (responsibly) recreate the performance with a partner for your observation and contemplation. All sharing will be optional with the exception of a “two-word check-in” at the beginning of the meditation. We can't stop thinking of Abramović's powerful performance works during this time of social distancing. But, please make sure that this meditation is for you by checking out the MoMA's brief description of the work beforehand.
Detail, Albert Bierstadt, Among the Sierra Nevada, California (1868), Smithsonian American Art Museum
Artful Lunchtime Meditation
(4.3.20, Friday @ 12-12.45 pm)
Take that lunch break, and join us for some visual beauty and connection! In this live, guided meditation, we’ll help you claim a moment of uplift and peace during the workday hours. This week, we’ll journey through Albert Bierstadt’s grand landscape Among the Sierra Nevada, California (1868).