Karen Renaudin: Walking In Love Artist

Karen Renaudin is a sparkly, bubbly personality. Her enthusiasm for the Walking In Love Installation began immediately when asked she me to tell her more. Karen said, "I could see what you were describing and the idea for a panel came right away." Most of the panels have been by fabric artists. Karen's panel is made of porcelain. It is a stunning piece and adds so much to Walking In Love.

Karen's says:

Many heart felt thanks to our loving leader and visionary Lisa for this beautiful and powerful expression of love and for inviting us all to share in this walk together.  Seeing each person’s vision for “Walking in Love” and hearing their personal journeys has been so endearing and enlightening.  We’ve been walking and sharing and experiencing the beauty that love brings into our lives and it has been a deeply moving and wonderful experience.  It’s a reminder that love lives in and around each of us, and we have a choice to consciously turn our attentions toward a more loving existence.  I hope this beautiful expression of love touches many hearts.

 

This project is extremely timely in my life, and has given me a great opportunity to express many recently stimulated feelings about our souls, and what I imagine a pure white soul life and love might look like.  Inspired by a desire to capture the beauty of love and our higher selves, I’ve used porcelain tiles and alpaca fiber to represent a lightness of being, graceful, moving, playful, giving, inviting, lyrical, a soul dancing in love.

Karen has moved from being one of the artists to contributing greatly to all of the behind the scenes aspects of organizing a show that moves as well as fundraising. Karen has a talent for thinking big and has taken the lead in approaching well known personalities asking for their support for the Walking In Love Installation. I am grateful she has given generous donation of time and talents to seeing this work grow and travel.

Walking In Love on Two Tracks

The Walking In Love Installation now has a Board of Directors. We are operating as a non profit under the wings of Leading From Within. The Board made an important decision on friday April 15th. We have been using Kickstarter and a budget that has left some who know me well gasping. Those lovely gasping people spoke up and the Board had a great conversation clarifying what this Installation is about.

Walking In Love Installation Mission Statement

The Walking In Love Installation Organization is dedicated to the collaborative creation and exhibition of art that introduces artists and the public to a creative and joyful process infused with love.

I would also add my own words to that good statement: the process is transformational in a very good way. 

We also spoke about the excellent opportunity to deliver this gorgeous show to Herdon, Virginia, outside Washington DC. The decision was made to see this show go there. A commitment.  And a very bare bones budget. The Kickstarter budget is our highest hope for a professional Museum Quality one of a kind traveling art installation. We still support this vision. Dream big. And start where you are at. We think we can deliver this show to Sacred Threads for just under $10,000. Still a goodly number. But pared to the bone. Thank you to those who are contributing already. You help make this real.

We are on our way there. Artists continue to tell me they are making a panel almost every day. If you are one of them please send me a sign up sheet! The excitement for this installation is still alive even though we had to take it down from the Highland Art Center. That was a sad day. The happy news is that the show will be given a test run in its first incarnation of the traveling version.

I am so very pleased to announce that this test run will happen in my incredibly wonderful, supportive, generous and loving adopted home town of Hyampom, California. May 21 and 22nd only.

A few weeks in advance of this at a date to be announced shortly we will have a local fundraising event with live music, a live auction of interesting creative items and Games. Petanque, Bacci ball, Croquet and perhaps some softball. Thank you to those who have already stepped up to help organize and publicize this event and those who have offered river trips and hand made textile art and to the musicians who will play. I am grateful for your enthusiastic generosity of skills, time, materials and love. We are happily open to any who wish to join us.

So we are running on two tracks now. The think globally and act locally are those two tracks. It feels great to know this wonder, The Walking In Love Installation, will be experienced by many more people. THANK YOU!

Why do we walk in love?

It is easy to lose sight of why any of us are involved in this Walking In Love Installation. The tremendous effort to create a structure of organization to assist a growing endeavor is completely different than creating white panels. It continues to amaze me that I can live in the middle of the wilderness, quite literally, and yet because of the internet the team is able to connect with Kickstarter and the 'world' and ask for help moving this Installation from the Wilderness to Washington DC. I want to see this installation near Washington DC for the very basic reason that walking in love at our capitol seems to be a good thing. Do you agree?

I love to create because it brings me good personally.  When I am working with the raw materials of a new panel I feel as if I am at the very center of who I am. The thrill of resting in ideas of love and watching a new creation arise is a dance unlike any other. While I am gaining skill creating something new in the ether world (a blogspot, a Kickstarter site), for me it is the time to create in the real world that is most meaningful. It is the growing connections with others creating that is astonishing.

I suspect, actually more than suspect, I know others feel this way too. I had a phone call from a dear friend wanting to talk about how she was creating her panel in white. When I first invited her to create a panel she was quite pleasant and supportive of this work but said she was too busy with other work to take time to make a panel. I accept this. Not everyone is called to make a panel. I also watched this same woman walk the spiral. If anyone felt the deepest meaning that this Walking In Love Installation offers it was this woman who shall remain nameless at the moment. Her genuine rapture, the tears, her gasps, the attention I saw her give to each panel top to bottom was the thanks I receive for following the vision in the first place. But when she came to me later and told me more detail of how profoundly she was moved in her heart once she entered the room housing the installation I understood that taking the internal feeling and making something tangible with it can create good in this world.

Now when Dear Friend tells me how she feels creating a panel I can nod my head in understanding. It is one thing to walk the spiral. A very good thing from the reports I hear. It is yet another thing to make a panel. To allow oneself to live with the concept/feeling of love for a longer time. To work the white fabric and dwell in ideas so dear to us all has a particular way of working on us.

I work on the Walking In Love Installation not to make money, though money is important to help the Installation move on to Washington DC, but because in my deepest being I am moved to live more fully in love. Will you join the growing team in whatever way you wish? Thank you.

The Walking In Love Installation Team

When I said 'yes' to this idea at the beginning Neil and Angenett helped me see it would take more than myself to make the vision come to fulfillment. What I continue to be deeply grateful for and did not anticipate was how a magnificent TEAM would gather to make this dream come true. Talking about making the dream real started in the studio space I share with four others. Three of us gathered. We entered into the 'visioning state' trying to 'see' a completed art installation. Frannie and Angenett still hold the vision and have made panels and are still designing new panels. From that little meeting we went to see Yvonne at the Highland Art Center who 'saw' the exhibit as filling one room when I could only see a smaller version happen so rapidly. Immediately after leaving the Highland Art Center I went grocery shopping where I ran into Bridget. Her very unique and delightful curiosity about making a panel when she does not consider herself a quilter was encouragement to me. Bridget is a fine artist. That same night I went to a concert in Weaverville by the Community Band. I saw Corky there. Her eyes lit up when I described the all white panels and she decided it was what she needed to get herself back into quilting. Corky is a talented designer of one of a kind quilts. The encouragement of these people was enough to galvanize me into massive action.

I do lose the exact train of action after those initial meetings. My best memory: Quilters in Weaverville: the Mountain Village Quilters, made an angel panel. A birthday tea to celebrate Ruthie's 90th led to interest from artists in other mediums: Karen, Jean-Pierre and Christine, Susan. A meeting of the Log Cabin Quilter's Guild led Jo Ann and Faye making panels. Mary was board from the start. John joined as the metal sculptural artist from which all panels are hung. Blaine and Colleen lent their shop space to create the spirals shapes. Sydney and Rachel, first time quilters, made two stunning panels. Nick made four panels. I made panels and my family helped with some.

Yvonne made lovely art cards to send out announcing the fiber art show featuring our installation. Barbara wrote up a beautiful article for the Highland Art Center Newsletter. John and Evan put up the metal work with help from Liz and Bay. Susan, Angenett, Sydney, Karen and Jean-Pierre helped me label and hang the panels. Neil shot video footage opening night. Judy, Charlene, Mary and more made goodies to eat at the opening. Many Hyampomians (not sure wikipedia has this in the dictionary) came out to celebrate after a successful opening night.

When the opportunity to show our work to Sacred Threads came up two days after opening night a Hyampom Film Company suddenly materialized from out of the wilderness. With the footage Neil shot opening night and a few days later while Ruthie walked the spiral for the first time we decided to make a short video to showcase the work. Neil masterminded the sound engineering and voiceover work from Karen, Jean-Pierre, Neil and myself. Karen and I took this four minute piece and edited the video to fit to the sound. The result is what you see on this blog. Tony figured out how to upload this on to You Tube. The Sacred Threads committee gave an immediate YES. Jim drove me around Weaverville to get permission from those on the video (Sydney, Ruth, Cindy, Cindy, Ruth, Jan, Tony, Barbara, Karen, Christine, Jean-Pierre).

Uh-oh! Oh my! Now we have to figure out how to get this Installation across the country and make a room to show it inside. Oh, and raise the money to do this. Walking in Love Installation is growing up. Kim offered us an umbrella to be a non profit. A Board of Directors has been created, not surprisingly, out of the team of people who have so many talents in addition to their artistic ones. Financial Patrons and management, Publicity, Fundraising, Production are some of the now ongoing endeavors that have drawn talented help to see Walking in Love Installation go to Washington DC and beyond. When you see us on Kickstarter and see Lisa Brey & Walking In Love Team you know that everyone mentioned above (and probably more if my memory has little gaps and please correct me) is making this dream into a reality. How many of us are there now? I think I have lost count. But I hope everyone knows that this project would not be real without YOU. THANK YOU from the deepest part of my being! You are awesome.

Kickstarter Fundraising Drive is Launched!

The Walking In Love Installation has been launched on a wonderful site called Kickstarter . This site helps projects of all kinds raise money. The way Kickstarter works is FAST. They recommend that funding is asked for in a 30 day cycle. This means that by May 6 we will know whether or not our Walking In Love Installation will go to Washington DC.

Life is full of surprises. I woke to four inches of snow. White world outside. The magnificence of frosted evergreens never ceases to enthrall me. It reminds me to return to the actual making of panels before the day to day aspects of life take over. But I do complete day to day work. I opened up my e-mails to see what has come up between yesterday and today and found that the first donation to the Kickstarter site has been made. An extremely generous Patron has lent their very solid backing and belief in our work. Thank you so much for your vote of confidence in what we are creating. The project has become a very giant 'we' full of people who are wonderful. There are wonderful people in abundance.