A Man of Many Colors - meet Bill Thierfelder

Photo by CLIFF SATRIANO, "Photo Stories, New York"

This week I continue profiling artist friends with a man whose philosophy and approach to life I admire as a fine example of a Jack of All Trades/Renaissance Man. His passion for contributing to the social good while pursuing a wide spectrum of interests sets a wonderful example for others, so I’m pleased to introduce Bill Thierfelder of Long Island, New York. This week some of Bill’s artwork will be featured at The Gallery at 40 South in Patchogue, NY - opening this Saturday, April 16. 

Bill has a long list of credits, but when I first met him I knew him more as the Professor of English at Dowling College and as a friend of a friend of a friend! Since that time I’ve discovered his many talents and gathered a respect for his philosophy and approach towards life, which finds it equally important to enjoy his artistic pursuits while giving back to the well-being of the community. He does this while maintaining a zest and curiosity for life. Over the years I’ve enjoyed gazing upon his colorful artistic pursuits, read some of his clever science fiction novels, heard him give well-researched lectures on historical figures, and cheered him on as he’s raised money and awareness for local organizations. Bill has continued to utilize his experience in new ways and continually develop himself through time, a key element for all Renaissance Men to embrace.

"Opus 5B" by Bill Thierfelder - January 2011

I put forth a few questions for Bill to answer to give a greater glimpse into this knowledgeable and well-rounded man:

1. How do you describe yourself as an artist?
Eclectic. Art, writing, and motivational speaking form the core of who I am as an artist--with occasional forays into music composition. These are the ways I “speak” to the world around me. (I also listen that way, too. Exploring art, reading, attending lectures, and listening to music all fill up the spiritual well.)

2. What are the main genres you explore as a Jack of All Trades?
Writing, Drawing, and Motivational Speaking.

3. What is your favorite medium to work and why?
In my writing, I love to experiment with narrative possibilities and multiple perspectives--viewing the same set of characters or incidents from multiple angles. Why? Because I feel connected to the idea of perceiving things in multifaceted ways. All this rooted in my study of phenomenology and existentialism. In my art, I enjoy using some of the basic “childhood” tools--crayons, markers, ink pens, and colored pencils. Art was one of my first loves and I continue to use the media I used back then.

4.  How do you organize your time to complete work? Any trade secrets to successfully being a Jack of All Trades?
I work on something when it feels right. Sometimes that’s in the morning, but most times it’s afternoons or evenings. When I create, I need to step away frequently and do other things and then come back, so I might end up working on a lecture for a library, a piece of art, and a short story all on the same day, switching off from one to the other with other things in between. So I guess you could say that I work in “sound bites” of fifteen minutes up to an hour or so before I switch off to something else. Fortunately, I switch gears easily because even though I may stop working on a drawing to head off to work on a story, the piece of art is still percolating in my head. Maybe a good comparison or metaphor might be choral singing. The complete work is really made up of sopranos, altos, tenors, and basses working together to create harmony. So art might be the sopranos, writing the altos, lecturing the tenors, and my other creative “stuff” (like cooking and gardening) the basses. I am the “complete work.” When you ask who I am, I’m those four separate voices working together to make a whole.

"Beethoven Piano Concerto 5" by Bill Thierfelder 2008

5. What and who have been major influences and inspirations for your work?
 I love William Blake who meshed his writing and his art into a unified whole. One worked with the other. My list of favorite writers is endless, depending on the mood. Toni Morrison, Walt Whitman, the English Romantic poets, Emerson, Thoreau, existential writers, and all those grand Canadian ladies: Shields, Atwood, Munro. As for art, my “temple” is the Museum of Modern Art in New York. I can wander the galleries for hours, absorbing everything I see. The American Museum of Natural History and The Metropolitan Opera have also been and remain favorite, important “watering holes.”

6. Do you have a story you would like to share about the circumstances behind any particular work?
 I think all my work--the drawings and the stories--are very much informed by my day-to-day feelings and ideas. I really don’t write or draw anything “autobiographical” in the sense that I re-tell specific incidents. But I use my feelings and ideas as a launching point. A lot of my sense of isolation over the years (some of it self-imposed for self-protection) can be found in the kinds of characters and plot lines I create. My need to organize and synthesize (which is rooted in the emotionally unstable life I endured as a child) can be found in all my art. On the surface, it’s an abstract, seemingly spontaneous and colorful explosion of vivid colors. But if you look carefully, you’ll see that each drawing is really constructed from intricate layers of geometric shapes and or repeated, intricate design “bytes.”

7. What is next for you?
 My work as an artist is getting increasing recognition--I’ve been shown in Manhattan and at two different Long Island galleries in just the first four months of this year. I hope to see that trajectory bloom. I also continue to write stories and keep submitting them; someday “the break” will come. I don’t write for myself; I want to share with others and create a conversation. And I love my motivational work shops called MAKING WINGS: LIVING DELIBERATELY--what better thing to do than to help people see that they are treasure, that they can live meaning-filled lives, and that within them are all the tools they need for spiritual, emotional, and physical contentment.


You can discover more about Bill Thierfelder on his website: http://www.makingwings.net/

And for more of the  photographer Cliff Satriano's "Photo Stories NY": http://photostoriesny.com

"Final Exam: Question Three" by Bill Thierfelder 2009

"Final Exam: Answer Three" by Bill Thierfelder 2009

New York Seen Through My Eyes- Part 2.

The Statue of Liberty
                                    

The Statue of Liberty National Monument officially celebrated her 100th birthday on October 28, 1986. Standing at the entrance to New York harbor is 151 - foot statue of a woman holding a book and a torch on- high. 

It was a gift of friendship from the people of France to the United States to commemorate the 100th anniversary of American independence.

The Statue Of Liberty is one of the most universal symbols of political freedom and democracy. Its formal name is Liberty Enlightening the World. 

The start of our journey to the Statue Of Liberty: the ferry ride is great , we get to see the wonderful view of entire financial district's skyscrapers, we also get to see an all round view of the Statue Of Liberty, Brooklyn and the Brooklyn Bridge.

Pictures of some remarkable buildings before we start our Journey

 Approaching the famous Verrazano Narrow Bridge:  that is still the longest bridge in the United States.

When you  see the rising shape of the immense Verrazano 

shining in the late afternoon sun, know that you are

seeing a sight that defines New York City: big, impressive, and breaking 

the boundaries that separate people.

The bridge marks the gateway to New York Harbor; all cruise ships 

and most container ships 

arriving at the Port

of New York and New Jersey must pass

 underneath the bridge. Most ships, when built, must be built to

accommodate the clearance under the bridge.

The Liberty statue, made of copper sheets with an iron framework, depicts a woman escaping the chains of tyranny, which lie at her feet. Her right hand holds aloft a burning torch that represents liberty. Her left hand holds a tablet inscribed with the date "July 4, 1776" (in Roman numerals), the day the United States declared its independence from England. She is wearing flowing robes and the seven rays of her spiked crown symbolize the seven seas and continents.

From our boat we could see the famous beauty of the New York City Skyline

Manhattan Skyline shot from the ferry

Whitehall Street Staten Island Ferry Terminal in Manhattan

The Brooklyn Bridge ranks as one of the greatest engineering feats of the 19th century and remains one of New York's most popular and well known landmarks.

An elevated pedestrian path not only gives you the opportunity to cross the river without being bothered by the traffic that rushes past a level below, but it also offers a great view of the bridge's towers as well as downtown Manhattan's skyline. The views alone attract millions of visitors to this bridge each year.

        

Near the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor is Ellis Island. This island served as an immigrant station and a temporary shelter for people coming to the U.S. from other countries. Between 1892 and 1954, approximately 12 million people passed through Ellis Island seeking refuge, freedom and opportunity. The main building on Ellis Island is now a museum dedicated to the history of the Ellis Island Immigration Station.

Lady Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they arrived in the New World and continues to greet millions of tourists from around the world each year. 

Wall Street: this how it looks

The tour of NYC is not complete without a visit to the Wall Street. Being a Sunday, it was pretty empty. 

By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Wall Street was “the place” to be if you were a large financial institution or other big business. So many buildings sprung up on this tip of Manhattan that the Wall Street district began to boast its own distinct skyline, separate from the buildings in Midtown.
People like J.P Morgan built headquarters like the one at 23 Wall Street, which was – for decades – the most important financial institution in the country.
(One can still see the pockmarks on the building, left there from an unsolved bombing that occurred in 1920.)

Federal Hall

Other notable buildings include the columned Federal Hall,  originally built to house City Hall and its offices. Major U.S. stock and other exchanges remain headquartered on Wall Street and in the Financial District, including the NYSE, NASDAQ,AMEX ,NYMEX,NYBOT.

Trinity Church is located at the intersection of Wall Street and Broadway in downtown Manhattan. The  current Trinity Church was consecrated on May 21, 1846. A Gothic Revival structure designed by Richard Upjohn, its 280-foot spire was the highest in the city until the advent of the skyscraper.

The historic Episcopal church stood strong while office towers crumbled around it on September 11, 2001. However, the historic pipe organ was severely damaged by dust and debris and had to be replaced.

Staring at you from across the street is Trinity Church. This is the oldest church site in New York, though not the original building. 

The Trinity Church. This church simply looks gorgeous!

 

(Some more pictures of NYC) Rockefeller Promenade
It is very beautiful, one can spend hours looking at all plants and the cool fountains

Another View of the NYC from the Rockefeller Building: the Green Patch that you see is the Central Park

" When the weather turns warm, Rockefeller Center sends the Zamboni ice machine home and opens up its outdoor, below-ground-level rink as a restaurant and bar. Colorful umbrellas set a festive tone for the place, which, in addition to tourists, attracts a large after-work crowd. The menu offers burgers, salads and pastas, as well as a cocktail list that includes specialty margaritas and frozen drinks". as quoted by a travel review contributer: Karen Hudes.

Prometheus at Rockefeller Center 
Prometheus is said to be the best-known sculpture in Rockefeller Center and the most photographed monumental sculpture in all of NYC. Created by famed American sculptor Paul Manship, who held a great fascination for mythological subjects and events, it has become the main attraction of the Lower Plaza. 

Thank you for being with me on this short trip of NYC. More to come in the next blog.

Did you enjoy this trip?

Let me know.

Gift Sharing

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, BlessedSolstice, and all the many other splendid salutations out there! I thought itwould be nice to share a seasonal gift with you: a bevy of beautiful images ofthe holiday window displays in NYC:

Such intricate works are rarely seen except at the poshstores like these in NYC along 5^th, Park and Madison Ave, where allmanner of designers and artists are hired to elevate their window images (andgive reason for the extravagant expense of items inside). Displays like thesepropel window dressing to a high form of installation art, obviously takingmonths to plan and prepare their execution. Seeing them takes me back to mychildhood and happy memories.

My family loved to visit “The House on the Rock”, a touristattraction in Wisconsin. In addition to the original house designed by FrankLloyd Wright, are warehouses full of wonders, including a large assortment ofantique mechanical jewelry store displays. We would spend hours pushing thebuttons to activate and admire the little animated displays.

Taking photographs of my travels to share with family andfriends also reminds me of cherished childhood times. I was definitelyinfluenced by my mother, an avid documenter of family gatherings on her Super 8motion camera. I loved watching the captured images flicker on the dining roomwall to the hum of the projector’s motor and our laughter. I also lookedforward to the slideshow presentations of exotic scuba diving vacations allover the world from my mother’s first cousin Russell. He’d set up a bigprojection screen at my grandparents’ farm. They were not events to be missedand I soaked up both the photos and his stories of those foreign worlds withwonder. I thank my mother and Russell for sharing their gifts and inspiring mealong my path.

Joseph Campbell, the renowned mythologist and author,outlined the importance of sharing gifts as a common thread in all cultures anda key part of the Hero’s Journey. We all have personal Hero’s Journey’s toundergo, and as we move through life and overcome our various challenges, thereare lessons learned and gifts received. Whether we choose to keep thosetreasures private or share it with others is up to us. We must weigh the priceof sharing gifts; sometimes the gift or lesson isn’t well received by societyor comes at great sacrifice. We can only discover by offering up the treasure,and seeing what happens next.

While the capitalistic machinery and businesses across theworld need us to fuel the economy by shopping and spending, I hope that we allfind time to share some more personal gifts with each other too – gifts thatdon’t come with a price tag or end up filling the trash cans with waste after theflurry of unwrapping is over, but gifts from our own personal journeys – thatjust may inspire others in ways we can never really know.

Blissings and love to all!

Jason

Walk: Make Art Whatever the Weather & Artist Profile: Yozmit

Here's a photo to emphasize that taking art walks is a necessity no matter how cold it is outside!

When it comes to inspiring urban environments to walk among, New York City ranks high and mighty. It's a city of numerous stimulating sights and sounds. It can be flourishing and pulsating, gritty and intense, vibrant and exhilarating, and at times overwhelming! This past week I was happy to trade in the t-shirts of Los Angeles for the bundled up layers of the Big Apple. I love the ease of moving around a city built for pedestrians, and even though my cheeks got rosy and my fingers numb at times, I was thrilled to be exercising my feet, and in the process my brain (see last week's post about the neurological benefits of regular walks).

Even though I saw shows (a few Broadway, an edgy alternative dance and an intimate cabaret) and art exhibitions, nothing quite thrills me like taking long walks in the NYC streets. And after feasting upon images of all sorts for several days, I ended my trip by meeting up with some fellow artist friends for a couple of photo shoots. This week, I focus my attention on Yozmit Mukta Avalokita, a very multi-talented gender-transcendent artist, fashion designer, performer, musician, and spiritualist.

Yo and I met several years ago in Rachel Rosenthal workshops. We've performed and collaborated in several pieces together. When I first moved to MacArthur Park in Los Angeles, Yo was my neighbor and welcomed me to the 'hood by taking me on my first walk through the park (which I have subsequently documented diligently during many a dog walk) and to lunch at Mama's Hot Tamales (a fixture of the community). His home for the past several years is NYC. I visited her in spring while she was involved in the performance recreations of Marina Abramovic's "The Artist is Present" exhibition at MOMA and it was great to visit once more this month.

I wanted to mark the occasion by taking photos of Yo for part of a new series I'm working on pairing up artist friends with digitally manipulated flowers that expresses part of their artistic personality (you'll see examples in time - these pictured here are pre-process). When Yo choose the lotus blossom, I thought shooting Yo underwater would be great. In asking Yo if he knew of anywhere we could do that, he declared Central Park. I was thinking a tub or an indoor pool. Somehow the freezing temperatures didn't seem to phase her, but I didn't want to risk her catching pneumonia.

She assured me that meeting up in the park and seeing what happened was the best way to go. I liked and trusted her approach. It didn't take long for us to find the perfect spot - a section of a pond near the southeast corner was covered with a thin layer of ice. So Yo stripped above the chest and laid out partially on the ice.

Because the process of making art is a very spiritual one for Yo, he mentioned that after the initial shock of cold, it didn't seem to bother him very much - it was a matter of mental discipline to ignore it.  A little crowd gathered around us, shocked that someone would brave the elements like she was.

After the shoot we continued our reunion by strolling around the park and talking about the importance of walking in the artistic process. We discussed spontaneity and being open to the surprises of nature - how surrendering our minds allows for an experience of transcendence. At times we took notice of the placement of leaves on the ground or little birds foraging for food. At one point Yo was elated to come upon an arrangement of tree branches that reminded her of the exact image she had in a dream the night before and showed me her sketch of it in her journal.

During our time together I definitely got the sense that Yozmit's spiritual and artistic growth is combining in beautiful ways. I got to hear an early track of upcoming music that combines pop/dance sensibility with spirituality. The lotus blossom's roots in the murky depths and beautiful flowering bloom above the water is the perfect representation for her.

"Walking is something very ordinary, but something very special, like the present moment...life."

- Yozmit

Yozmit is currently doing a series of "walks" - part performance, part meditative art pieces in which she dresses up in her self-designed and made costume/fashions and moves through various locations. To see more of Yozmit's art, ranging from the shocking to the spiritual - go to: http://yozmit.com/

Yozmit in full regalia during one of her performance/meditative walks in Bedstuy, Brooklyn recently.
Photo by Jonathan Balthaser