Fast Food Meditation

I love Facebook! Please let me explain.

As someone who has practiced meditation for decades, I am constantly seeking new ways to improve the efficiency of my training. And thanks to Facebook I have discovered fast food meditation!

In this wonderful season of giving it would be an honor to share this technique with you.

Step 1: Log in to your Facebook. Most of you can skip this step because you are probably already logged on. I realize nobody logs out of Facebook but I have to add this step just in case.

Step 2: Go to your news feed. To eliminate any confusion, your news feed is also your home page. Because Facebook is home.

Step 3: Before reading the first post on your newsfeed, please close your eyes and think of something that makes you happy. Isn't it wonderful, this feeling inside.

Step 4: Open your eyes.

Step 5: Read the first post on your news feed. If you have read the first post and you are still happy, read the next post. Continue this process until your happiness fades. When you are no longer happy close your eyes again.

Step 6: Think of something that makes you happy.

There you have it. Fast food meditation. You can practice this technique whenever you like, wherever you like. It is always available.

Please join me next week when I discuss why 6 is an auspicious number.

Happy holidays!

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New Canvas

On September 21st the Bower Center for the Arts in Bedford, VA invited me to have a solo video exhibition in their Sara Braaten Gallery. The space was built in 1843 as the St. John's Episcopal Church. The ceilings are pressed tin and 16 feet high. The gallery is 1,400 sq ft and can accommodate 100 people. There are 6 antique pews in the balcony. Four days later I accepted the invitation.

My first interaction with the Bower was back in May. Two of my photos were chosen for their National Juried Art Exhibition. The photos were displayed in the Terrace Gallery which is located on the first floor just below the Sara Braaten. My second collaboration with the Bower was a video installation and it also displayed in the Terrace. Perpetual Tea, or, Preparing Our Minds for Anything was the first video art to be exhibited at the Bower and was awarded Best in Show.

It is fair to say the Bower Center has been very kind to me. My two experiences with the Bower have been life changing in regards to the evolution of my art. I am a visual artist without limits. This is how I feel. So what was I going to do with my new canvas and how could it be something I could really sink my teeth into? The show is not until August, 2019 but having spent decades working in the film industry I felt like I was already behind the 8-ball. Tick-tock, tick-tock. I needed to have a plan. This was going to take some time.

The first thing I decided was to turn my solo show into an invitational group show. Yes, I committed to this idea and started inviting local friends to join me. But I really needed a concept first. What was I inviting them to participate in? I came up with a title, The Home Within A House. I would build a house on the gallery floor and my video would play on a loop inside the shack. Ok fine, moving forward. But did I mention that the Bower Center rents the gallery to the Bedford Lutheran Church every Sunday? It's a fact. I met the Lutheran congregation a couple weeks ago. I took communion, I sang a half-dozen hymns, I cried a bit when they said a prayer for the dead and then I pitched them my idea while nibbling on banana bread and crudités. I invited them to join the show. They are interested. I told them the house would be permanent for one month. Can't move it. We have not sealed the deal yet. I'll take communion again on October 21st and I'll ask for their official blessing. Wish me luck.

I really like the idea of shooting more video. Perpetual Tea, or, Preparing Our Minds for Anything was 15 one-minute meditation videos. Each video was a static, single take. So obviously my next video needs to be different. It's going to be a documentary. It's settled. The subject will be my collaborators, fellow artists in their home talking to me about art and feelings. And their art will live with mine in the gallery. We'll be together.

Ok, so that's enough for now. I'll spend the rest of this week visualizing positive vibes with the Lutherans. I'll put some tape on the gallery floor to give them an idea where the house will be built. I will imagine shaking the hands of my new collaborators, comrades-in-arms, musicians, painters, interior designers, illustrators, photographers, sculptors & poets. And I will wonder if any of my friends are handy with a hammer and a 2x4.

We got to build this house.

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A Matter of Time

We move forward every day until we don't. I've spoken about my extensive work as a production accountant in Los Angeles and NYC. I'll eventually stop talking about those days and focus more on the now. When I moved to Lynchburg I didn't know what to call myself in regards to what I do. My business card in 2017 said, Michael Wiggins, compassionate. But, you know, that doesn't really work so well when you meet new people. Hi! I'm Michael Wiggins, I'm a compassionate. Crickets. But I never said, Hi! I'm Michael Wiggins, I'm a production accountant. Things change.

Today I was walking the aisles at Home Depot. I'm working on a new art installation, looking for some ideas. A kind gentleman asked if he could help me find anything. And this is what I said. Hi! I'm Michael Wiggins, I'm a working artist. Maybe I didn't say the Hi! thing, or the Michael Wiggins, but you know what I mean. I'm a working artist, that's what I said. It just came out of my mouth. I told him I was cruising the inventory looking for inspiration. His smile was genuine and wide, there was no confusion about what it means to be a working artist. He casually pointed to the forklift he was sitting on and said, this is art. We understood each other. He told me if I needed any help just let him know. Beep, beep, he rolled on.

Having photographs or an art installation exhibited in a gallery does not make me a working artist. Although I've been fortunate enough to sell a few photos, no one paid me to take a picture. And my video installation was also self-funded. Honestly, if it wasn't for my years working as a production accountant I would not have been able to move to Lynchburg and reinvent myself. Life is glorious this way. And now I'm a visual artist , but I ain't working. Until last week.

I get an email from Kim the executive director at Riverviews Artspace. I've known Kim nearly the whole time I've lived in Lynchburg. And Dee and I had the pleasure of being one of her guinea pig vendors at the first Riverviews Makers Market. Kim gave our company, Koh-Dee, a chance to sell our wares publicly. That's just Kim, incredibly supportive. Hi! I'm Kim Soerensen, I'm a compassionate. And I would say, yeah you is sis, yeah..you..is. Anyway. Kim's email said some glowing things about my work and basically she hired me to be the staff photographer for Riverviews. I mean ...

This was a good day. Kim immediately put me to work documenting a screening of Fritz Lang's, Metropolis. I did ok. And I was sincerely giddy for the opportunity. I told myself I would be better at the next gig if I schmoozed a bit more during the process. It's really important to let people know who you are and to make them feel comfortable. And two days after that Kim had me working a fancy-pants breakfast event. In attendance would be a senator, a mayor, women campaigning for Congress, founders of the organization, news media and a ton of good-hearted Lynchburg folks. I perfected my pitch. I took 440 photos. Hi! I'm Michael Wiggins.

I'm a compassionate, a dreamer, a working artist.

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