Maranda Pleasant Art

ORIGIN just went national at Whole Foods

2011-12-22T23:38:00.002-06:00

What a year! The last post was announcing my new publication. This one is announcing that it's just gone national. Our fourth issue is now on stands across the national at Whole Foods. We'll be growing to other major national retailers next issue. what a glorious, bumpy, 20-hour days kinda ride. Thank you for your love and support these last 9 months.

Maranda

Join us this Sunday May 1st. My magazine's release Party.

2011-04-28T03:00:00.005-05:00

Oh where to begin? What a crazy amazing ride. I've just published a Split Cover 152-page Conscious, Arts+Culture magazine launching in 6 cities this week. It's 3am...so this will be a quicky. Come join us this Sunday on the rooftop of Whole Foods for our Austin release Party. 1000 of our closest friends, music, performers, artists, yoga studios and Organizations...dancing, celebrating, connecting 2-6pm. Whole Foods + 20 other awesome companies are sponsoring. Christina Sell will be leading the largest free yoga class Austins seen from 4-5pm.

Deepak Chopra, Daniel Pinchbeck, Seane Corne, DJ Spooky, Dead Prez + 25 other national columnists have joined us the origin family.

We are in 150+ locations in Austin. Houston. Dallas and now we are headed to LA, San Fran, and NY. Thanks for your love and support through this process of birth, loving and creating.

I'll be throwing book release parties for Ana Forrest and Christina Sell within the next 2 months and working with Ted.com to create Origin's own conference and video/interactive website and channel featuring innovators/speakers/leaders.

originmagazine.com
editor@originmagazine.com

love really does win.

Origin Magazine.

2011-02-17T11:47:00.006-06:00

We are a 90+page, full color publication, featuring Influential National+Local Contributors. We are focused on Art+Culture, Yoga, Film, Music, Technology, Eco/Sustainability, organic health and personal growth featuring articles you'll actually want to read. We hit stands April 15th in Austin.Houston.Dallas and San Fran and L.A April 30th. Check out our amazing list of contributors+world class photographers on our site.

What a year it has already been!

I'd love to hear from you with your ideas for topics. contributors. stories.

Maranda

originmagazine.com

New Commissioned Work. Austin City Lofts. W Hotel Residencies.

2011-01-23T05:56:00.011-06:00

(client photos).

New Commissioned Pieces. The Royalton. Houston.Texas

2011-01-23T05:45:00.006-06:00

2011-01-18T20:10:00.001-06:00

‎"the sober certainty of waking bliss"

Actualized Vision.

2011-01-08T12:29:00.012-06:00

What an amazing month.

I sold 8 major pieces in my newest signature collection last week and signed a commission for a medical building. I currently have 11 bids on 2 major hotel residencies.

As we clear out the dead weight in our lives, the things/people that hold us back from our expansiveness...we see big things begin to shift.

I'm getting clear about my vision personally and professionally. We are also few weeks away from launching a new downtown gallery space. One that is much larger (6000sq) and big enough to accommodate our notorious opening exhibitions.

Next week we are launching my New Commercial Art website along with taking over a Texas-based Magazine focusing on sustainability, eco-minded products and progressive learning with an emphasis on art, yoga, and organic families. I've got some national heavy hitters for social change on board, writing monthly columns.

This year I am focusing on Actualized Vision, strengthening my new found voice and altering+transforming old thought patterns into substantial beauty. I'll post the site here next week, along with updates.

Never Look Away.

2011-01-08T12:12:00.001-06:00

"To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all, to watch. To try and understand. To never look away."

2010-12-27T12:55:00.003-06:00

"Love with no object
conversation with no subject
seeing with no image

light on light,
pure possibility"

~~Rumi~~

2010-12-27T12:53:00.003-06:00

“Now I am sober and there's only the
hangover and the memory of love .”

--Rumi

2010-12-21T19:36:00.003-06:00

the gaping wound opened again and the cool rush of infinite space and meaninglessness rushed through me like a wind or a ghost train.
and i think, oh god, am i here again?
... is anything for certain in this world as the floor keeps dropping out beneath me to expose the fine network of stars and far off galaxies and groundlessness beneath my feet?

the clouds are letting go of the rain...

it is time for letting go

winter

pruning back to the bones

what is essential?

--edited from the barefoot yogi

the undoing...

2010-12-19T10:44:00.006-06:00

The doing is in the undoing....

Painting is a type of uncovering, unfolding, emerging discovery...

but as i look at the place where I pull from...

extract my creative power...

it is not undiluted. it is not without fear.

speaks its own language

2010-12-18T13:55:00.003-06:00

the images of the interior pushing into form; the paint speaks its own language.

i surrendered. releasing any attachments i may have harbored, i was willing to go to the extreme if called.

in that giving up of an agenda, the guidance came: fire around the belly! exploring the space, i was a steward for the vision.

--a.h+mp

old cycles. fresh faces. the speed of my willingness

2010-12-17T14:50:00.003-06:00

today was a day going backwards. this body is fresh but holds the past so closely, closer than what is happening now. i realize reality is nothing but a field of old cycles playing out in forms of fresh faces & places, but underneath is a current of familiar, a variation on a theme. the only way out is up.

the first in a series of clearing sessions on the warmest December day. an energetic bath penetrating all directions of time. allowing the impressions & energy to rise, pass. sometimes pain, sometimes tears, sometimes nothing. memories from other lives lifting into my awareness, shocking revelations & insight as to why things are as they be today.

after hours, i felt light, energized. spaces were opened, cleared. ran a bath of baking soda & sea salt. i fell asleep in the overwarm water, limbs folded & twisted womb style as the small candles flickered at the corners of the tub.i felt dizzy, dragged myself to the meditation room & fell asleep again surrounded by angels, plants, rocks. the sensation of cooking off old modes of unforgiveness & resentment, traumas & misperceptions. a tumultuous sleep living though the releases, grateful they are moving from their hiding places, evaporating at the speed of my willingness.

--ankah

2010-12-17T13:52:00.004-06:00

There will come a time when you believe everything is finished.That will be the beginning.

Every artist knows that the masterpieces are usually a struggle. I can't tell you how many times I've walked away from a piece...feeling absolutely no hope for being able 'to save' a painting. No matter how much time I spend pushing through...it doesn't get better. When I was younger I never finished most of the pieces I started. When I started getting large commercial jobs, I no longer had the luxury of leaving half my inventory incomplete.

What I discovered is...
when you walk away and come back...
and keep working it until it works...

it turns out to be one of the most beautiful things...
something you know that you couldn't create alone
something you could not create if you hadn't had the love, determination and resolve
something that only passion and the simple belief that if you keep working...it will all come together.
...and in one moment...
a misplaced line.color.circle
makes it complete.

I have sat in my studio on the floor many times
weeping
at the beauty before me.
It's almost always when I give up and just let it paint itself that it unfolds in a beautiful way.

When I get my mind out of the way...
and clear myself
I feel channeled
the art comes through us as a vessel...

it wants to be created on this plane.
it simply wants to be created.

2010-12-17T13:23:00.005-06:00

As an artist I resonate with Malidoma's writing+beliefs. I will be heading out to California to drum, dance, connect with fire rituals, heal wounds (personal and family) and open the channels for creativity and possibility.

Nature is like a canvas, a painting of countless options and possibilities. It is the total of all the interwoven connections between these possibilities that makes up spirit. Or, you might say that spirit paints the canvas of nature. You don't really worship spirit, because you are also spirit, and spirits don't worship one another. What makes you different from spirit overall is that you are locked into temporality. You have a body, like a piece of cloth that is decayable. While you stay in it, it's hard for you to have the same abilities that spirit has without a body. It is also easy to make mistakes about what is real, and how to go about things effectively. For example, let's say that you want a particular job. In the West, you do the linear thing and apply to the person in charge. In Africa they say that if you want a job, go demand it, then let the job come and get you.

Malidoma Some...via John R. Founder of Nutiva

activating

2010-12-11T12:52:00.001-06:00

Integrating. Embodying. Activating. Awareness

chaos

2010-12-10T23:32:00.004-06:00

Beautiful things come...
from messes
and mistakes.

sleeping

2010-12-10T23:04:00.002-06:00

still running from yourself...
and all that you own
is packed in the hall to go...
--glen hansard

the path

2010-12-10T22:45:00.003-06:00

there is just a note that you've gone...

this deep sadness carves...rivers in the soul

2010-11-20T23:14:00.000-06:00

how the silence sits.

Fierce embrace

2010-10-24T21:39:00.002-05:00

It doesn't interest me if there is one God or many gods.
I want to know if you belong or feel abandoned.
If you know despair or can see it in others.
I want to know if you are prepared to live in the world with its harsh need to change you. If you can look back with firm eyes saying this is where I stand.
I want to know if you know how to melt into that fierce heat of living falling toward the center of your longing.
I want to know if you are willing to live, day by day, with the consequence of love and the bitter unwanted passion of sure defeat.
I have been told, in that fierce embrace, even the gods speak of God.
--Davis Whyte.Poet

Getting There

2010-10-15T00:47:00.003-05:00

it's not dark yet--

but it's gettin there.

--Bob Dylan

Recent Installation 2010

2010-09-30T16:11:00.000-05:00

2010-09-30T14:57:00.001-05:00

Energy

2010-09-25T13:41:00.000-05:00

Energy is the essence of life. Every day you decide how you're going to use it by knowing what you want and what it takes to reach that goal, and by maintaining focus.- Oprah Winfrey

2010-09-25T13:35:00.000-05:00

"The more you lose yourself in something bigger than yourself, the more energy you will have."

Norman Vincent Peale

"The higher your energy level, the more efficient your body. The more efficient your body, the better you feel and the more you will use your talent to produce outstanding results."
Anthony Robbins

The Energy of Yes- MP

Alive

2010-09-25T13:32:00.000-05:00

‎"To be awake is to be alive."
Henry David Thoreau

Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you."
Oprah Winfrey

Signature Piece for Art Bash Gala

2010-09-15T16:24:00.003-05:00

I am providing the signature piece for tomorrow's Gala befitting Austin State Hospital. I'd love to see you all there.

WHAT: 4^th Annual ASH BASH: Insights Art Show & Sale

WHEN: Thursday, September 16, 6-9 p.m.

WHERE: 816 Congress, 18^th floor (free parking available)

TIX: $20: Includes three free drink tickets and appetizers

Tickets are currently on sale at www.ashvolunteers.org.

Sponsorships opportunities from $250-$5,000

not a day too soon...

2010-09-14T22:10:00.005-05:00

been running all my life...

i will meet you.

i've been waiting all my life...
you're not a day too soon.

--Sia

Again I return.

2010-07-12T23:46:00.003-05:00

I don't love you as if you were the salt-rose, topaz
...or arrow of carnations that propagate fire:
I love you as certain dark things are loved,
secretly, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that doesn't bloom and carries
hidden within itself the light of those flowers,
and thanks to your love, darkly in my body
lives the dense fragrance that rises from the earth.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where,
I love you simply, without problems or pride:
I love you in this way because I don't know any other way of loving

but this, in which there is no I or you,
so intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand,
so intimate that when I fall asleep it is your eyes that close.

By Pablo Neruda: Sonnet XIX

2010-07-08T13:23:00.001-05:00

*You must travel it for yourself*

2010-07-02T11:34:00.001-05:00

2010-06-23T20:40:00.000-05:00

the way the Silence sits--MP

Newest Collection.Ocean Series.

2010-06-15T20:16:00.004-05:00

MP Spring Collection.

2010-05-18T21:00:00.003-05:00

Acrobatic Yoga+Partner Acrobatics/Balance Workshop.May 22nd.This Saturday 12-3pm.

2010-05-18T20:44:00.004-05:00

This Saturday in Austin, Texas I'll be instructing an Acrobatic Yoga Workshop perfect for Couples. Parent/Teens.Athletes. Yogis.

No Experience is necessary. It's a blast. We'll laugh, find our edges and stretch beyond any self-defining limitations and old stories that we hold for ourselves...and move beyond. Growing, laughing, and amazing ourselves with our new skills.

We will fly, flip, spin and connect with ourselves and to each other.For all levels, ages, abilities, colors, doshas, zodiac signs, etc. It is a combination of partner yoga, circus acrobatics, massage and communication/connection chakra opening moves.

We'll jump right in. We'll build strength, balance, flexibility, communication and connection with our partners. This particular workshop will be wonderful for couples and athletes as well as yogis, dancers and Parents/teens. No partner is required. We'll start with the basics and work step by step building positions and inversions. We'll have a camera capturing our beautiful, "did I really do that" inversions and poses. Bring your fear and reservations and we'll show you possibility.

We are gearing up for another European Summer tour teaching and performing through France, Italy and Greece. We've taught for lululemon and at numerous workshops and festivals in Houston, Austin and through out the U.S. and well as Bangkok and Europe. It is $40 for 3 hours of instruction and new skill acquisition. :)
Pass this along to any friends who live in the area.

May 22nd. 12-3pm. $40
Galaxy Studios.1700 S. Lamar.
In the YogaYoga South Complex.
713.922.8584 with questions
Find us on Facebook: acrobatic yoga/circus yogis

All text is copyright Maranda Pleasant+Circus Yogis 2010

Arts Abroad Program for girls 10-17. Artsabroadprogram.com

2010-05-15T00:38:00.006-05:00

Our Paris Program offers a comprehensive and exciting cultural adventure for young women. We'll explore art galleries, tour the top Parisian cultural magazines, create art projects with one of the most prestigious modern art museums, visit with innovative photographers, filmmakers, painters and performers, shoot cutting-edge photography surrounded by historic architecture, see leading fashion houses and design schools, picnic along the Seine and under the Eiffel Tower and train with a professional cirque program....for starters. The girls will also have the chance to build their college resume and portfolio and nurture their personal projects and ideas during our 2-week stay. We help create independent and innovative thinkers. It's a rare opportunity to collaborate and connect with world-class writers, artists and innovators in Paris...and it's really fun!

This is a beautiful time of self discovery and great transition in the girls' lives. These young women are defining the quality of women they will be and they are choosing who they will become. We are here to nurture, enrich and push their edges, encouraging growth and empowerment. This is an essential time for cultivating inner strength and beauty that will present itself in their lifelong endeavors.

Program includes all meals, accommodation, transportation in Paris, airport transfers, museum tickets and passes, theater performance tickets, tuition to Circus/Aerial school, vintage design project, airport transfers, program fees (Personalized radio, magazine, photography,design and gallery tours.)
Total cost is $3000.

Artsabroadprogram.com

Acrobatic Yoga Workshops.

2010-05-15T00:29:00.003-05:00

I'll be teaching Acrobatic Yoga+Partner Acrobatics in Dallas today (May 15th). I'd love to see you.Acrobaticyoga.ORG and/or Partnerbalance.com.
I'll also be teaching in Austin May 22. Marfa May 24th.Taos 25th.

Creating my new Sculpture for ArtHouse Modern Art Museum. Austin.

2010-05-06T23:03:00.003-05:00

www.tribalmoonfire.com

2010-05-06T22:47:00.005-05:00

Our temporary website is up until our new one is released this summer. Check out our calendar. We'll be teaching and touring May-August. Austin.Dallas.Houston. Marfa.Taos.Red River, NM in May and June. Europe in July and Greece in August. We are now accepting bookings. www.tribalmoonfire.com

New Website for our Fire Troupe.

2010-05-06T22:37:00.005-05:00

www.tribalmoonfire.com

all images copyright Maranda Pleasant and Doug Davis images.

Within You

2010-03-23T09:17:00.002-05:00

Always keep a piece of fresh land within you at all times.--TZ

Expansion

2010-03-23T09:15:00.012-05:00

Space is about Spreading.
Opening.

Seamless Whole.

2010-03-23T09:08:00.004-05:00

Not the image, but the thing itself.
Join in a seamless Whole.
Transforming everything into a single "you" and a Larger "I".

The story you command you must possess in your veins.

Patterns. SXSW.Black Pig Liberation Front.

2010-03-23T09:02:00.005-05:00

Magick as a set of Patterns.

Collective experience of Self. SXSW. 2010.My Bands Performance.

2010-03-22T23:04:00.004-05:00

planes of transcendence.

Frequencies are the Fetish.

A collective experience of self.

No more boundaries.

Beautiful Spectacle.

2010-03-07T11:59:00.000-06:00

Unmanageable on so many levels....

center

2010-02-19T12:30:00.003-06:00

She burns at the center of her longing. She explores the brokeness, the vast emptiness and things that are hollow. She moves with color and dances with the unknown. She disintegrates with the collaboration and channeling of things that long to be spoken; things that call to be born on this plane. She burns in the fierce embrace.

My Band's Review. Wire Magazine.

2010-02-11T13:07:00.002-06:00

The Revolution Everyday Life

Taking their title from the Situationist text by Raoul Vaneigem, and marshaling the forces of alchemy, magic and the words of Giles Deleuze and William S. Burroughs, this large ensemble explodes in a mess of 'signifying' to match any evangelist, vowing to raise your consciousness to a higher plane.
Their chaotic music theatre noise, propelled by HipHop beats, is supplemented by NYC experimentalists from Sonic Youth, Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo, Mike Watt from the Minutemen and guests including DJ Low and Nels Cline. The recording is a multi-layered nightmare; a sense of paranoia prevails, and shock tactic samples disrupt the smooth flow; the notion of 'the city as a jungle' never felt more resonant. The BPLF collective enschews the cult of personality and star systems; a strategy embodied in their colorful alternative names (my personal favourite is Kosimar The Magneticist). However it seems Denis Mahoney alias Tariq Zayid is the main ideas guy. A prolific poet and writer(and man behind Ring Tariq press), he declaims his inventive poetry against the heavy beats. The Black Pig is a mythical figure of rebellion, borrowed from Celtic religion by WB Yeats, although Zayid claims to have found parallels to the image across Europe and the Middle East. BPLF wear their terrifying pig masks at their ecstatic, shamanistic performances to promulgate the image of destruction. Like the semi-obliterated texts on the cover, Zayid's meanings are obfuscated by layers of additional sound collage from the Torres brothers and treated distorted vocal noises and the ubiquitous TV samples which overload tracks with information.
Each recording is a soundtrack map, filled with foreign hieroglyphs; as with Burroughs, hidden meanings will leak out through the gaps in this contrived chaos.
 Ed Pinsent (Wire)

Performing at SXSW. Plutopia. 2010.

2010-02-11T12:54:00.002-06:00

The event underscores the integrated and interconnected nature of music and science, as they coalesce in aesthetics, plasticity and form. At the core is experientialism - the desire to explore, encode, compose, create, experiment, record, remix, perform, manifest, visualize, or simply enjoy.

2010-02-07T15:08:00.001-06:00

Buy the ticket, take the ride.

Over

2010-02-07T15:06:00.003-06:00

The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it
because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who
have gone over. --Hunter S. Thompson

2010-02-07T14:53:00.003-06:00

Fierce Embrace

2010-01-31T14:42:00.009-06:00

Self Portrait

It doesn't interest me if there is one God
Or many gods.
I want to know if you belong -- or feel abandoned;
If you know despair
Or can see it in others.
I want to know
If you are prepared to live in the world
With its harsh need to change you;
If you can look back with firm eyes
Saying "this is where I stand."
I want to know if you know how to melt
Into that fierce heat of living
Falling toward the center of your longing.
I want to know if you are willing
To live day by day
With the consequence of love
And the bitter unwanted passion
Of your sure defeat.
I have been told
In that fierce embrace
Even the gods
Speak of God.

~ David Whyte ~

(Fire in the Earth)

Performing at SXSW.March 15th with BPLF and a set w/DJ Spooky

2010-01-25T17:50:00.005-06:00

I am happy to announce that I'll be following DJ Spooky at SXSW March 15th at the MACC. DJ Spooky will join us for the close of our set. I'm the one in purple on the posters:). For more info: http://plutopia.org/headliners/

BLACK PIG LIBERATION FRONT

"Black Pig Liberation Front will present a ritualistic text/sound/body work conceived by Tariq Zayid and Maranda Pleasant called raga erotica, ripped from a longer work experimenting with frequencies and movements associated with shuddering erotic gestures called Orgasmic Oscillations. Our homage to the incomparable Donna Summer.

Utilizing frequencies as specific magical sound pulses to help induce the body in a fertility of text, the delirium of a dancer’s movement, the touch of the person next to you, sound vision flowing between contact. Drone pulse. Monkey Chant.

An attempt to achieve ‘sacred time’ - as Bataille would call the moment of annihilation, ultimate inner experience, metaphorical or actual exchange of fluid, compounds, electrical waves. The impossible — as knowing what is beyond the model-building activity and the model itself does not lie within the scope of representational thought.

It may be that every one of us is set upon the earth to find a new method of divination, a syntax of the heart to locate the center of ourselves in the structure of process. Across sexual platforms, cognitive science, gender, word, scent, movement, and sound to develop a theoretical and philosophical approach responsive to our changing understanding of our selves and our world.

Is it possible to craft a mode of philosophy, ethics, and interpretation that rejects the classic humanist divisions of self and other, mind and body, society and nature, human and animal, organic and technological? Can a new kind of humanities — a post-humanities — respond to the redefinition of humanity’s place in the world by both the technological and the biological or “green” continuum in which the “human” is but one life form among many?

Note: If text/sound/body project works as proposed in prepared setting, becomes ritualistic event. There is the possibility of confirmation. When performed live, microphones will be strategically placed for addition of real time guttural vocal expressions from the participants (there is no audience here, only a communal experience)."

See www.blackpigliberationfront.com for more information.

Houston Art Benefit. National Artists come together to raise funds for AIDS research.

2010-01-21T19:13:00.004-06:00

I along with 30+ other nationally recognized artists will be donating pieces for Art4Life in Houston, Texas January 30th. Deborah Colton, Alton LaDay, Carolyn Farb, Les Marks and other prestigious collectors and benefactors will be hosting the event.

A big Thanks to Neiman Marcus, Exxon and New World Museum.

Click invitation to enlarge.

2010-01-02T17:39:00.002-06:00

What the silence swallows....

Saying it...

2010-01-02T17:23:00.003-06:00

I am saying nothing and I am saying it....
---Nicolas de Oliveira

Creating Space

2010-01-02T17:15:00.004-06:00

She disintegrates...
and does not rise from the ashes...

that kind of heat...
shapes
forms
one...into something entirely new

Holding Space

2010-01-02T17:11:00.001-06:00

There is no container....

Empty

2010-01-02T16:39:00.003-06:00

Empty is the same as full...at a different stage

Last Pick Up Times Available

2010-01-01T22:51:00.001-06:00

The gallery will be open this weekend for final pick up and payments. Saturday 3-6pm and Sunday 2-5pm. Please have someone stop by if you can't make it.

Republique

2009-12-17T16:34:00.000-06:00

Everyone looked like winter.

How

2009-12-17T15:44:00.000-06:00

How we gonna save this...when there are stains on every wall

Hours. Info. Art Pick up and Payment.

2009-12-16T03:47:00.004-06:00

Our hours this week for pick up and payment:

Wednesday 16th: 12-3pm

Friday 18th: 12-3pm

Saturday 19th: 11-2pm

Monday 21st: 12-4pm

Tuesday 22nd: 12-2pm

Please swing by or have someone pick up your check/piece during these times.
Please email/ring me with any questions. Maranda 713.922.8584

More More More

2009-12-10T13:18:00.005-06:00

Another Huge thanks to the 240 Artists providing more than 700 pieces of art for the largest attended show in Austin. More than 800 peeps packed the gallery for 6+ hours Saturday night. The show runs until Dec.20th. There are 550+ 12x12s still for sale. The perfect Holiday gift :)!
A huge heartfelt thanks to Austin's World of Rentals, Platinum Vodka (a huge hit) and Sweetish Hill Bakery on 6th...and the dynamic Duo pulling it all together: Rockstar event Planner and all-together badass Mariska Nicholson and Caroline Keys, art assistant extraordinaire.

"Such a fierce diversity of styles and colors and permutations for a simple square to accommodate! One show and a helluva party."

--Austin Chronicle Dec.4th 2009

Artistic Logistics

2009-12-07T08:59:00.003-06:00

We would like the show to run until December 20th.
Artists may pick up their art at anytime though.

Payment may be picked up anytime after Decemeber 12th.
Artists will need to sign out that payment has been received.
No checks will be mailed.

Please check our website and this blog for detailed times and instructions.

Gallery Times this week:
1-3pm M-F
Wednesday 11-3.15pm
Saturday 12-3
Sunday 2-5pm

We will add more times tomorrow.

You are invited to Become a Fan of Maranda Pleasant Gallery on Facebook and upload any/all photos taken at the show...including your artwork. Please post your name and medium with the photo. My vision is to build a tighter community where we can share, witness, collaborate and connect with other artists mixing all mediums.

Thank you for attending. We had more than 800+ in attendance. Also, Please feel free to post any comments on our gallery's page. What an amazing night. Thank You all. Maranda

Notes to 12x12 Artists

2009-11-29T19:09:00.004-06:00

A few quick things for the artists involved:

Please email me if you have not, so I can email you the invite to forward.

Please read all the instructions and website thoroughly before calling or emailing. We are so knee deep in art love prep right now...and with 225 artists now participating...our response time might be slow.

We need 5 people to volunteer the night of show to assist buyers or serve wine (how fun!)

We also need a few photogs to volunteer the night of the show. Video would be great as well!

On Saturday...the night of the show...from 4-6pm will be reserved exclusively for interested buyers and collectors. Artists are encouraged to arrive at 6pm. The show from 6pm-10.30pm...but buyers may purchase and take the art beginning at 6.10pm. So get here early if you want to see/photograph your piece.

How it works: Buyers take the piece off the wall, pay at check out and then have the option to place it back on the wall with a red dot until they are ready to leave. It is a really kinetic active show and it's always a blast.

Drop off is this week 12-3pm and 6-8 pm every day until Thursday at 8pm.

We have 700 peeps RSVP'd and have many sponsors. Thanks for being a part of my community and collective creativity. Welcome to the largest attended art show in Austin all year...come prepared to dance, drink and discuss your work.

In Gratitude, Maranda

A Big Thank You to the Austin Chronicle!!!

2009-11-16T08:24:00.002-06:00

Thank you to the Austin Chronicle for the concise, awesome calendar write up these past few weeks under Creative Opportunities...

MARANDA PLEASANT GALLERY: 12X12 HOLIDAY ART BOX SHOW Pick up your 12x12x2 panel to create your contribution to this posh and popular show, which features more than 450 pieces of original artwork for $100 each. See website for details. Deadline: Dec. 3. Exhibition: Sat., Dec. 5, 6-10pm. 2235 E. Sixth, 713/922-8584.bigmodernart.com

Modern Luxery Houston.

2009-11-12T20:26:00.006-06:00

Thank You to Modern Luxury Houston Magazine for showcasing my Show at Laura U Gallery.
Click on image to enlarge.

A Big Thanks to our newest SPONSORS. Sweet Leaf Tea + Tribeza Magazine

2009-11-12T14:16:00.009-06:00

A big Thank you to our two newest Sponsors:

Tribeza Magazine and our favorite media Maverick, Karen Landa.

Click on the article above to enlarge.

Sweet Leaf Tea...thank you Danny for your generosity! 17 Cases!

A Few of our Featured Austinites Transforming Lives and Communities.12x12 Show

2009-11-12T10:33:00.009-06:00

Rebecca Powers of Impact Austin

Susan G. Komen Foundation

Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Central Texas

Ann Webb of AW Skin Care

Rochelle Rae of Rae Cosmetics

Cindi Rose of Rose Ribbon Foundation

Whitney Casey-ex.CNN anchor, national television host and Author

GirlStart

Kitty Murray of Foodies

Lisa Beneford- Lisa's Hope Chest

Sanieh Yoga

Gioconda Yoga

Lynda Coleman-Austin parks and Recreation and 'Teens Totally Cool,totally art Program".

...and a few of our wonderful local business donating to the event: Luna Bars, Central Market, Whole Foods, Platinum Spirits, Texas French bread Bakery, Sweetish Hill Bakery...the list is growing. If you would like to donate food or beverages :713.922.8584 Maranda

200 Artists. Instructions.

2009-11-12T10:13:00.003-06:00

To the amazing 200 artists: painters, photographers, Figurative peeps, mosaic, glass, metal, mixed media, graphic designers, mixed media gurus, conceptual word yogis participating...

Please email me: maranda@bigmodernart.com

I can email you all the swank email invite you can forward to friends, family and collectors.
In that email, if possible...include your medium and the approximate number of pieces you plan on having in the show.

This year we have around 155+ Austinites...30+ from Houston, several from Paris (yay for Anthony, Florent and Philippe)...and amazing photogs from D.C.,Dallas, and New York. Artists from Mexico, Italy, Canada are also posting their pieces in.

I feel really grateful to be surrounded by so much talent, creativity and mindful collaboration. Please read the instructions for artists on our web page before dropping off.

Your Questions about the 12x12 show.

2009-11-09T11:05:00.004-06:00

To address a few questions:

*yes of course it's free to attend!

*Only 600+ peeps: 200 artists, 400 pieces, $100 each along with...designers, collectors and philanthropists all thrown together loving and buying art! The more the better. We'll have great food, wine and music (outside).

*Everyone receives a strip of dots when they enter. It is a fun, active highly kinetic show. Buyers take their piece off the wall to the checkout...then place it back with a red sold dot next to it. It gets active as people try to by their favorite pieces as quickly s possible.

*Buyers can take the piece when it is purchased...so artists* get there at 6pm if you want to make sure you see your piece before it sells.

*I highly recommend painting the sides of your piece. Put a little love and time into the quality of what you are presenting.

**Dark Brown is always what I recommend for the sides (if it works with your color scheme).
If you're doing a black/white...I recommend Dark Gray. I don't really recommend black sides, but if it works for your piece...great.

**If your panel needs a little something extra...try adding a gloss finish.

**If you have more than 3 pieces together, I cannot guarantee individual hanging situations. Call me if you're a special case :).

How

2009-11-08T20:54:00.002-06:00

How the Silence Sits

Real-ity

2009-11-08T09:47:00.006-06:00

I've lived my own fiction.

Shot at the Pompidou.Paris.2009. Collaborative Elle exhibit.

Panel pick up Hours

2009-11-06T18:58:00.006-06:00

**Please click on our flyer to enlarge**
A big Thanks to Luna Bars...our newest sponsor of this years show!

Panel Pick up Hours:

Saturday and Sunday November 7&8th

Please call first. We are installing, but around.

Monday 1-3.15pm and 4-6pm

Tuesday 12-3pm and 7.30pm-10.30pm (evening)

Wednesday 1-4.25pm

Thursday 12-3

Friday 12-3.25pm and 4.45-6pm (evening)

Please call if you need additional hours.

Not reasonable

2009-10-28T00:16:00.002-05:00

The heart has reasons that reason does not understand: Bosseul

watering down

2009-10-26T22:30:00.003-05:00

Let's not...
water ourselves down-
Make ourselves easy to swallow-
dampening our spirits-
dissolve

The Art Of Awareness

2009-10-15T12:42:00.003-05:00

This is one of the Most attended Art Shows In Texas.

Our annual 12x12 Holiday $100 Art Box Show Saturday December 5th.2009 merges our large Artistic community with philanthropic support and nurtures arts education and presentation.

More than 160 Local, National and International Established and Emerging Artists, Painters, Photographers, Designers, Graphic Artists, Ceramic/Glass/Metal artists and Students come together for One Show exhibiting more than 450 pieces of original art work (12x12) for $100 each.

Last year our walls were packed with designers, collectors, artists, and performing artists and well as musical performances outside. We will have events for the kids outside again this year to help integrate the presence of children in galleries. We believe the correlation of good experiences with art/exhibitions should begin at an early age.

Last year we had more than 500 people attend, making it one of the largest art attendances in Austin for the last 2 years.
The Theme this year is Transformation. Wine, food, and beverages will be served.

_______________________________________________________________

This year, Explore Austin, is our local children's charity. It combines the benefits of mentoring and outdoor experiences in a six-year program for 6th through 12th graders. Focusing on team building and leadership training, the program’s mission is to create opportunities for inner-city boys to develop the skills, tools, and habits they need in order to become effective leaders. It strives to increase self-confidence, build character, and develop a sense of responsibility for themselves and those around them. In addition to this year's 75 participants and 15 mentors, Explore Austin plans on adding growing to over 90 boys and 18 mentors, as well as beginning a girl's program in 2011.

Deeply Yours

2009-10-15T00:26:00.004-05:00

Sitting in the gallery tonight, collaborating with Parisian artist Philipp, he looked up and said...

" if one does not cultivate something that is really deeply theirs in life...what is the point. What separates them from the masses."

----leave it to the french.

Our Annual 12x12 Art Box Show. Call to Artists

2009-10-13T22:45:00.004-05:00

WHO: More than 150 Local, National and International Established and Emerging Artists, Painters, Photographers, Designers, Graphic Artists, Ceramic/Glass/Metal artists and Students come together for One Show. You are invited. This is our only open call show of the year. There is no age requirement. We also have 15+ International artists submitting this year.

Last year we had more than 500 people attend, making it one of the largest art attendances in Austin for the last 2 years.

WHAT: The Holiday 12x12 Art Box Show. 400+ pieces of art. The Theme this year is Transformation. Each Piece Sales for $100. The Artist receives $50 of each sale. Our children's charity, Explore Austin, receives 10% and the gallery receives 40%. Again we will provide wine, food, water, performing arts and musical entertainment. We are also highlighting 40+ "Influential Austinites" that are transformative in their community and highly successful in their fields.

HOW: Artists may purchase a 12x12x2 panel from our Gallery for $11 each or provide their own high quality 12x12 inch ready to hang structure/canvas/panel. You may submit as many as you wish. Panels are $10 each when purchasing 5 or more.

WHEN: Panels may be picked up at the Gallery between October 16th-November 29th. Please call us in advance before picking up your panels. We are out on frequent installs.

Logistics: Panels are due back by November 1st-Dec. 3rd. No Boxes will be accepted after Dec.2rd. Please call us if you have a special circumstance and cannot deliver until 12/4. ALL artists MUST PRINT their name and title of their piece in black ink/sharpie on the back of their pieces.

Official drop off times are:

Sunday November 29th 4-6pm

November 30th-December 3rd from 12-3pm and 6-8pm.

Please notify us if you need to make other arrangements. Please may Every effort to have someone drop off your art during these times if you cannot make it.

Artists may pick up any unsold boxes along with payments after December 15th. times will be posted.

Involving Local Businesses:

We are encouraging local businesses and companies to have employees participate, cohesively bringing them together through creativity. Last year we had computer companies, cafes, design firms, toy shops, grocery markets and tons of South Congress and Guadalupe businesses join the exhibition, as well as non profits.

Universities and Schools

We are also encouraging educational growth through active art involvement.

University of Texas

and St. Edward's University Fine Art Department will also be returning this year.

We are pleased to welcome accomplished students from:

The Girls School of Austin's Program for Fine Arts

Art Institute of Austin

Austin High Arts Program

McCallum Fine Arts Academy

St. Andrews Episcopal

St. Stephens

All students in Texas are allowed to submit, display, present and discuss their art pieces. This helps build their self confidence, college resume, and begins to actively integrate the youth into the arts. It is our wish to build a foundation of lifelong connection with galleries, art and presentation.

Dirty Fingernails

2009-10-06T23:11:00.003-05:00

For the past 4 months I have pondered, meditated on and questioned the balance of presentation and substance. Always creating, birthing, painting, shooting...I get lost in the process and routine things fall behind. I found myself comparing myself with lovely useless objects...until I received this facebook photo comment today. I made peace with those dirty fingernails.

"Maranda, what I really love is seeing you in all your fashion gear, model beauty, and your fingernails short with evidence of dirt or paint. You always have your hands into creating. not just standing around looking pretty, or even being wild as some think. You are constantly planting dynamic seeds."--Bonnie Lambourne. Art Teacher and Critic. Houston, Texas.

I found peace today.
Updates on the new book and art collection this week. Promise.
...and the Art Box show is Dec 5th at my Gallery. All are invited to participate.

It Creates itself.

2009-09-09T00:28:00.015-05:00

"Let's call it “pure painting” in so far as she is not limited by subject matter or any pre-conceived expectations for the outcome of the work—

just experimentation from the beginning to the end and a high level of creativity that includes making her own painting surfaces in them.

I can imagine that, in some cases, the paintings fail, as must be the case with this high risk way of working. I can also imagine that if she gives too much more, she will have nothing left. As she mentioned though, the personal rewards are high when the work does succeed.

That magical moment when the mess begins to come together, when those formerly dead colors start to ignite and the painting comes alive, is the most exciting moment for an artist. It is perhaps the very reason to be an artist. I presume that this is why she paints and, from what I can see, she paints a lot."

---New York Arts Magazine

The Term 'Pure Painting' best incapsulates my work and best describes it. I am grateful the NYAM has coined the term nicely.

Everyday was a Another World.

2009-08-28T22:39:00.005-05:00

Everyday In Paris was a new World. For 8 weeks this summer, I worked with some the best French and Italian Photographers, Writers and Performing Artists on my upcoming new book. Here are a few snapshots of our creative collaboration. © Anthony Maragou 2009. Paris

There is something to be said, that cannot be spoken.

2009-08-28T22:24:00.004-05:00

2009-07-02T08:06:00.004-05:00

I have photos...and stories...and lots of them.

but for now all I can give you is my French Cellphone number.

country code 33-6-32-72-97-81.

I have been writing and meditating beyond comfort.

I will share them soon along with great photos. Maranda

Recent and Upcoming Exhibitions at MP Gallery

2009-06-28T14:09:00.000-05:00

Love Big

2009-06-26T11:42:00.002-05:00

---May we be ever overwhelmed by how many people you love.

I am packing. Monday comes early.

The Cure is in The Pain--Rumi

2009-06-24T12:49:00.003-05:00

Pain can be the light....that illuminates the path

My Gallery featured in July Tribeza Austin Magazine.

2009-06-22T11:34:00.016-05:00

Tribeza Magazine's Gallery pick for July chronicles my next show...

inspired by my collaboration with a Parisian Artist and Beast Extraordinaire.

"Worlds between Words"

Packing for Paris. Performances+Teaching

2009-06-21T19:17:00.005-05:00

I'll be le.It has been a LONG 2 months full of growth, discovery, transitions and lots of reading (Rilke). I've explored the rivers of my heart...and observed the flow...internally and outwardly. I've also discovered edges, changed old patterns and made those difficult, beautiful choices...

I arrive on Paris on Monday.

I'll be performing, teaching and dancing...working on my book, planning my art exhibition in Paris and Southern Spain and picking countries to explore. Over the next 6-7 weeks I'll be traveling to Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Northern Africa...and Asia...with no real plans other than a few dates for shows/teaching. I'll be traveling alone for the most part. This will be my greatest adventure yet.

One of pure joy, happiness and wonder. You may reach me at maranda@bigmodernart.com this summer.My assistant is available for art purchases and inquiries.

Maranda

A New Form

2009-06-12T14:13:00.007-05:00

"Life is my Guru. My students are my Guru. My wife is my Guru. Happiness, joy, pain, hardship, death, sex, nature, music, and everything else that inspires me to feel… these things are my Guru. I am simply a sum of the ripples that I have created. The only Guru I refuse is that of fear. I refuse to be lessened by fear. I always have. I will face both joy and tragedy with the same open mind and learn to hold them both dear. Tragedy has the potential to allow us great leaps forward in our consciousness, however, fear can rob us of any of this invaluable information. "---Matt Borer. Yoga4liberation.com

I will spend today in the studio finishing up art for 2 projects before my travels. I'll probably still be crying as paint. It's interesting to see the energy in the art afterwards...like a secret shared when viewed in public...between me and my creation. The love and laborous process of birthing, creating...giving so much of oneself in the very present moment...that kind of truth between an "object" and artist...the exchange of honesty, energy, feeling...is what cannot truly be said, explained or understood my myself or those looking in.

All I have is an offering. I offer myself to this form, this shape, these colors...it creates itself as some unspoken language that begs to be heard...discovered. It wants to be here...to bring something intangible...but substantial...to this space..to this world. This is how I am creating...my creation shifts my own form...it creates me in mutual exchange...we shape each other.

A new Market

2009-06-11T01:41:00.002-05:00

I got the call this morning...

I'll be installing in my first national Gourmet Foods Market.

I am working on developing a series and installing in these stores across the country.

Thousands of people visit these stores on a weekly basis. This is a wonderful way to bring original Art to public Spaces on a large scale. I'll keep you updated. Much Love, Maranda

San Antonio and Port O'Conner Buildings

2009-06-11T00:18:00.001-05:00

Recent photos of my Commercial Buildings/Accounts in Texas

2009-06-10T23:48:00.004-05:00

Last year I completed projects in 7 states, 3 countries with 16 buildings/lobbies/commercial spaces...including Hotels, Residential highrise lobbies, Hospitals and business centers. I have been traveling across the US this month photographing the last 9 buildings of 2008. I'll be traveling/teaching and performing overseas this summer...so I'll have to begin overwhelming you all know with the new images I've photographed.

Deep Water.Surface. Unreleased Heart

2009-06-09T13:45:00.006-05:00

Preview of the "Maranda Collection" at Marigold-Gateway to India, Sunday night 6/7. Handmade, fair trade, sheers+silks clothing...

The tops shown almost sold out Sunday. Marigolds has 10-12 remaining. A Big thank you to Lata, Wendy, Jane, Lizzie, Jodie and all the wonderful friends who joined us for food, drinks, fashion and art at the end of such an exhausting weekend.

If there is anything I have learned about men & women, it is that there is a deeper spirit of altruism than is ever evident. Just as the rivers we see are minor compared to the underground streams, so, too, the idealism that is visible is minor compared to what people carry in their hearts unreleased or scarcely released. (Hu)mankind is waiting and longing for those who can accomplish the task of untying what is knotted, and bringing these underground waters to the surface. - Albert Schweitzer

MP Gallery. Art Show/Benefitting Amala Foundation Scholarship Fund

2009-06-08T18:25:00.002-05:00

It was an evening full of Art, Circus Arts, Live Painting, Spin Art, Music, Visual Projection, Beauty and Laughter. More than 500 people joined us and more than 25 pieces of art were sold during the 6 hour event benefiting the Amala foundation Summer program for Refugee Children (amalafoundation.org). It took dozens of us to bring it all together, sleepless nights, 4 hammers, yerba mata, general exhaustion, maranda the delegator turned dictator, midnight meetings, amazing circus friends and Dj, visual artists...and tons of beautiful children.
It warmed my heart to see so many children at the gallery. So few of us had the opportunity to have exposure as children to galleries, museums and art houses. I love the integration of art into our everyday lives...eliminating the elitism and inaccessibility most experience entering adulthood.

MP Gallery. Art Show/Benefitting Amala Foundation Scholarship Fund

2009-06-08T18:18:00.001-05:00

Maranda Pleasant Art

ORIGIN just went national at Whole Foods

Join us this Sunday May 1st. My magazine's release Party.

Origin Magazine.

New Commissioned Work. Austin City Lofts. W Hotel Residencies.

New Commissioned Pieces. The Royalton. Houston.Texas

Actualized Vision.

Never Look Away.

the undoing...

speaks its own language

old cycles. fresh faces. the speed of my willingness

There will come a time when you believe everything is finished.That will be the beginning.

activating

chaos

sleeping

the path

Fierce embrace

Getting There

Recent Installation 2010

Energy

Energy is the essence of life. Every day you decide how you're going to use it by knowing what you want and what it takes to reach that goal, and by maintaining focus.- Oprah Winfrey

"The more you lose yourself in something bigger than yourself, the more energy you will have."

Norman Vincent Peale

"The higher your energy level, the more efficient your body. The more efficient your body, the better you feel and the more you will use your talent to produce outstanding results."Anthony Robbins

Alive

‎"To be awake is to be alive."Henry David Thoreau

Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you."Oprah Winfrey

Signature Piece for Art Bash Gala

not a day too soon...

Again I return.

By Pablo Neruda: Sonnet XIX

Newest Collection.Ocean Series.

MP Spring Collection.

Acrobatic Yoga+Partner Acrobatics/Balance Workshop.May 22nd.This Saturday 12-3pm.

Arts Abroad Program for girls 10-17. Artsabroadprogram.com

Acrobatic Yoga Workshops.

Creating my new Sculpture for ArtHouse Modern Art Museum. Austin.

www.tribalmoonfire.com

New Website for our Fire Troupe.

Within You

Expansion

Seamless Whole.

Patterns. SXSW.Black Pig Liberation Front.

Collective experience of Self. SXSW. 2010.My Bands Performance.

Beautiful Spectacle.

center

My Band's Review. Wire Magazine.

The Revolution Everyday Life

Performing at SXSW. Plutopia. 2010.

Buy the ticket, take the ride.

Over

The Edge... there is no honest way to explain itbecause the only people who really know where it is are the ones whohave gone over. --Hunter S. Thompson

Fierce Embrace

Performing at SXSW.March 15th with BPLF and a set w/DJ Spooky

I am happy to announce that I'll be following DJ Spooky at SXSW March 15th at the MACC. DJ Spooky will join us for the close of our set. I'm the one in purple on the posters:). For more info: http://plutopia.org/headliners/

Houston Art Benefit. National Artists come together to raise funds for AIDS research.

Saying it...

Creating Space

Holding Space

Empty

Last Pick Up Times Available

Republique

How

Hours. Info. Art Pick up and Payment.

More More More

Artistic Logistics

Notes to 12x12 Artists

A Big Thank You to the Austin Chronicle!!!

Modern Luxery Houston.

A Big Thanks to our newest SPONSORS. Sweet Leaf Tea + Tribeza Magazine

A Few of our Featured Austinites Transforming Lives and Communities.12x12 Show

200 Artists. Instructions.

Your Questions about the 12x12 show.

How

Real-ity

Panel pick up Hours

Not reasonable

The heart has reasons that reason does not understand: Bosseul

watering down

The Art Of Awareness

"The higher your energy level, the more efficient your body. The more efficient your body, the better you feel and the more you will use your talent to produce outstanding results."
Anthony Robbins

‎"To be awake is to be alive."
Henry David Thoreau

Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you."
Oprah Winfrey

The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it
because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who
have gone over. --Hunter S. Thompson