The Talents

by KatherineFelix on Sunday, October 24, 2010 at 10:00pm

I believe we all have
God given gifts
for me, it is writing, and painting
when I am able to lose myself
when “I am”
becomes one
with the great I AM

When there is no longer a distinction
between where my soul ends
and God’s Hand begins
a connectionis forged
and word or images flow
like water from the Source.

In these instants I am at peace
Happiness too small a word
A change in consciousness occurs
And I am what I was born....
To Be,
To Do,
To See,
To Share
It flows forth with ease….
all is right in my world.

What would the world be like,
If we all
had the ability
to live
By doing
what we love
What we were designed to do
Being in that zone
All the days of our lives?

In my childhood I was separated
as a child ripped from her mother’s breast
made to travel a “safe” and “normal” path
to ensure I would be able to “earn a living….”
and in earning this living I suffer
yearning always,
just to be me.

In the end I have learned
to encourage and support
the dreams of others
whenever I have the chance,
to counsel others to listen
to the voice inside
whispering The Way.

To steal God’s path from another
should be ranked among the most heinous sins
akin to murder…
murder of the soul
yet well meaning parents the world over
stifle the unique talents of their children
in an attempt to make them “fit in”.

Managers and people in positions of power
hold knowledge from others
in an attempt to secure their own positions
rather than enjoying the Gift
of setting people on their own course
allowing them to reach their true potential

Never realizing the real losers
are them selves,
as Karma is as real as gravity
and that what goes around comes around
and that the opposite is also true...
that in giving others possibilities
you open up more for yourself.

At the ripe old age of now,
I am finally beginning to see
That what I really want to do
Is to start to live my Dream
To fulfill the promise God had in me
With the gifts he bestowed on me

Maybe par tof those gifts
Is the ability to recognize in others
And encourage to grow
The spark put there by God
Fanning dead embers
Until they once again glow with potential.

Who I am....

by Katherine Felix on Thursday, July 29, 2010 at 4:27pm

The colour of my skin,
an accident of birth
a circumstance
over which I had
absolutely no control.


Yet I am often held to randsome
accountable for actions of others
with whom I only hold in common
the same pigmentation (or lack thereof)
a similar genetic makeup.

As if by this circumstantial
exterior presentation
which my genes, my ancestry
has locked me into
somehow describes Me.....

The woman, the soul,
the personality created by God
trapped within the shell
that the world sees
and uses to define me.

Periodically I examine
this body,
often surprised at how it keeps changing
so I eat right, excercise, lose weight
but this just affects the body.

The core inside
is still me
and the most important changes
are the ones that no one ever sees
the ones only I can feel.

The changes in my heart
each time it has been broken
The maturity that let me walk away
stop trying to fix
what was outside of myself.

The strength
that made me rise each day
when my last child was laid to rest
so that I would be there
for the other two.

The humility
that allowed me to ask for forgiveness
admit my past mistakes
and face the consequences
head on.

The acknowledgement
that I dont have all the answers
and often neither do my friends
but that I can submit to God
who does.

I have been molded
changed, guided....
forged like steel through fyah
made into the person
who you do not see.

When you look
at my skin colour,
greying hair,
amber eyes, size,
my.....whatever.

Whatever it is
that you see
when you look at me
unless you can get beyond the surface
delve deep and truly feel who I am.

Who I am
is not described
by a skin colour
the size or shape of my behind
my weight or even my career.

Who I am
is in my heart, my soul
my intentions and actions
not how i say it,
but what i mean.

What I give
the touch, the mark i leave
The hug, caress, the laughter
the smile, wink and shoulder to cry on
Loyal friend, mentor, mom.

So when you look at me
consider carefully what you really see
Who I really am,
or who you
expect me to be.

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Culture Shock

Art and culture…

Intellectually, emotionally, we realize

they have value

What would our

lives be like

Without music,

rhythm and lyrics

dance,

La Margarite’, Jounen Kwéyòl, 

Where is Ananse’ these days?

Land Ship, Tuk Bands…

Spoken Word, Calypso

Both social commentaries- mirrors using words.

Paintings, graphic arts,

Architecture,  design and crafts,

Jewelry, clothing…food

Pencil, pen, charcoal…

I could go on and on.

The medium and genre do not matter

They are expressions of our heritage,

The outward manifestations

of human souls

A one way communication

between the artist/performer/author

And their viewer, audience, customer.

Expression of the spirit

Which can carry a myriad of multiple meanings

Depending on the recipient’s soul and the time in which they reside.

It is metaphor.

It is passion.

It is love, loss, and society’s ills.

It is the voice raised against an injustice

The appreciation for a glimpse of God’s work

It is movement and emotion and all those intangible things

Which make a society

Free.

To an artist, there are two roads

To allow these visions to take shape

Since what we see, hear, conceive of….

Perform

Will only be exactly this way, once.

Art is static and influenced by everything around us, within us

And the first and best road is to give our pieces birth….

To express them and create them,

To let them flow forth.

The other option

To ignore them, see them in our minds

yet let them die there

is often one of economic choice,

a sad reality

more akin to abortion than

any one else may understand

and in the Caribbean,

where there is so much talent –

not just sun and sand…

these economic hardships are too often

the message sent.

We have waited for recognition

Private sector or Government support

Without the will to fund it,

programmes have to cut short

Or the message is influenced

For a sponsor or a theme…

to please the pocket

Which has paid, instead of getting

The artists’ true intent.

So the arts are “supported”

Through annual showcases and awards,

But these don’t pay for our daily bread

so often we have “day jobs”

And when artists are supported to be creating,

they are somewhere working

Or too tired to do it today….

Art is not just one a year,

When it is festival time again

Culture doesn’t coincide

With the calendar my dears.

We need to pay our bills too,

every day, just like you.

Artists want to live

with the gifts that God has blessed them

The struggling artist is a myth

We are better when well paid. 

Aren’t you?

So, if artists cannot depend

On government subsidies…….

Grants are non-existent for us,

since we have no factories;

then I conceive of Creative Support

Generated

Perpetuated

And propagated

by the artists themselves.

In each of the islands the problem is the same…

The local population

Treats the artists there with shame

Whether through ignorance

Or the fact

That

familiarity breeds contempt

The local art and cultural forms

Are struggling at best

So let us come together

Regional integration in the arts

Reach out our hands to others

Send our artists to the other islands.

Why not use the internet

Collaborate on Skype

Develop a programme

where we all come together online

work together in each country

Exhibit, promote, perform

Together

Let the Bajans introduce the Trini’s work

The Jamaicans big up the Lucians….

Create a vibrant something new

Where all ah we can thrive

A regional development group

We can do it for ourselves

Work with tourism

Teach them too

people don’t come from foreign

to the Caribbean Isles

Because they want to hear

Country and Western

Played at their hotel on Friday nights

The want to experience our culture

And not just the wuk up kind

As long as we are professional

World Class being the key

(Nothing in our cultures

Should be about mediocrity).

All around the globe

Culture is recognized

As a building block

Of society

And a growing potential

For economic development.

Cultures are cherished

Protected and shared

People travel from all over

To partake of special fares

Instead of our looking to replicate

what we see and hear

being main stream importers

of another country’s

culture and values

Obsessions with the material,

And the chemically processed

Instead of being

Natural, like some of your’s hair….

We will be focused

On exporting our own

 bands, styles, wears….

Cultural innovators

Building on our own histories.

It’s time to change

Adopt a new paradigm

Close ranks

Support each other

Use the available technology,

Methods of success

For our own reward

Brainstorm, lift up

Transfer stories of what works

Sell shares

And Franchise it in each country.

Become evolutionary

Cultural practitioners and

train the youth from young

To appreciate

The region’s creations

See the value in each other’s cultures

And what to cherish in our own

Before the radios over whelm them

With the sounds from far afield.

Bridge the gaps

Left by politicians

Whose chief concerns

Are re-election.

CSME won’t happen for the arts

on the Government Hills

If we de people

Don’t have de will,

Don’t believe that

We as a region

Have enough talent to be a force….

To have a voice

and contribute to our GDP’s

earn that foreign exchange;

which is, at the end of the day,

How the sector’s value will be measured

When elected officials

Have their say

So in order to get a budget line

Let’s shake them up, wake dem up

And get them to notice

Starving artists we won’t be

And that doesn’t mean that we agree

To sell out

To the bright lights in the North

Cable TV and consumerism.

Let’s create our own programming

And export we own

Culture – Professionally.

If Fox News can play here,

Surely our Cable shows can be played there.

New paradigms are improvements

Quantum leaps from the old

It doesn’t require

Transforming into

What we are not

Just breaking

The existing mold.

KF

2011-06-18

Exibiting my paintings for the first time

For the first time, I have taken a chance, hung my paintings with those of other artists, and have them actually listed for sale.

I dont know, but they look pretty good to me next to the others in this exhibition....so perhaps I can make this work :)

What do you think?

Follow the link and take a look- there are some other really beautiful peices from artists here in Barbados in this exhibit, along with mine.

Enjoy!

KF