The Past and the Future

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IMG_4117I began playing with vines, leaves, and the figure resting within in a new relief. In the process I remembered this old sketch. I didn’t date it but I believe it is about 12-15 years old. It seems like that image was in my subconscious waiting the right time to reveal itself.

IMG_3861The new collection is building on those elements. This new piece not yet casted or named is among the first pieces to integrate the elements of the sketch. The past and the future come together. It is interesting to see how it develops. It is my hope to have a new white marble collection ready for show in the fall of 2015.

Meanwhile as I work on new pieces it is always fun and refreshing to look back at those old sketchbooks. They are a treasure chest of ideas in expectation. Even those doodles we often think are useless could become a piece of art someday. No idea is lost. We just have to look at the past with new eyes and focus on the future.

Empowering Others

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lcom-logoI was recently providing a training for ESL tutors for the Literacy Center of Milford, CT. The mission of the Literacy Center of Milford is to provide services at no cost to any individual who wishes to learn the English language or enhance their reading, writing, speaking and math skills necessary to lead productive lives in our community. I’ve been also teaching basic computer skills at the center. The experiences are great and I get to meet a lot of beautiful people with amazing stories.

During our ESL tutor training I focused on the fact that teaching English as a second language is to turn someone bilingual. Being bilingual is an excellent job qualification in cosmopolitan areas. It is also a great tool in many other ways. Consider the fact that many tutors are not bilingual but by offering their time, efforts, and services they are helping someone to become bilingual. That is only the beginning. A person who learns English as a second language can get a GED, a driver’s license, a job, and the opportunity to help their people.

e0a70f72bdae9885bfc32d7cd19a26a1_XLWhen we help others and provide for them tools and resources they didn’t have before we are empowering others. It is that simple. Think of knowledge as power. Providing knowledge is providing power. Had you consider giving back to your community? Believe me, it is one of the most rewarding experiences you would ever have.

 

Art, Photography, and Poetry

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Come close your eyes and dream

Be blown into my arms

I’ll carry you to a new place

Where the music plays a new song

Where reality is gone

All is one and we are each in motion

One with another

Here night is day and day is night

In this place of Reverie

Bradly Williams, author of Love Redefined and Charity, made my sculptures speak, along with the beautiful photography of Judie Shephard in the book The Art of Ivan Tirado. This poem takes us into a journey. It makes us stop from the busyness of everyday life to feel the wind and fly to freedom.

This collaboration is an example of how art, in its multiple forms, speaks to people. I am very passionate with my art. I enjoy getting lost in the creation process. It is no different for my friend Bradly an his writing. His new book “CHARITY, What’s in a name?” is a suspense filled story of a man and the unexpected introduction of a young girl into his life. His previous book “Love Redefined” challenges current social views of love to transform our relationships.

Nevertheless, Judie shows the same passion in her photography. You can enjoy those beautiful pictures in this website because Judie’s vision. Each angle is poetry. She makes my work look really good, and don’t get me started on the portraits. She also takes care of most of the technical aspects of the website and she is available to take care of your website too.

Whatever the art form, whenever you are confronted with it, let art speak. You won’t regret it.

Finding Meaning in Our Work

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“Are you having fun?” I ask this question almost everywhere I go to people who is working. Most of the time people just laugh and respond with sarcasm.

We work a lot. Sometimes too much. It seems like our agendas are based on work and fitting other activities where there is no work. That is not a bad thing. I find it an issue when work becomes more important than people around you. I also find working a lot an issue if we don’t enjoy our work or the fruit of our labor.

What does it mean to enjoy our labor? It could mean different things for each on of us. Certainly, that’s the point: finding meaning in our work. Finding meaning in what we do, and purpose to all the effort we put on everyday for so many hours makes a difference in our attitudes and aptitudes in our performance. It also alleviates the stress that comes with the job. If we enjoy what we are doing, time seems to move faster and the day goes by quickly. Sometimes we don’t even notice. The opposite is also true when we really ‘have’ to work but we don’t want to work. The day seems to drag forever.

What does it mean to enjoy the fruit of our labor? Again, we need to find our own meaning. It could be just to be able to kick back at the end of the day and be satisfied with what was accomplished. It could be being surrounded by the people you love, or having that alone time we all need. A glass of wine, a good book, a movie, food, all this things that makes us feel that it was worth. Our days are indeed few, and our lives go by like a short clip in the very long movie of existence. Why not enjoy what we do while we do it and then after?

This is what I have observed to be good: that it is appropriate for a person to eat, to drink and to find satisfaction in their toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given them—for this is their lot. Moreover, when God gives someone wealth and possessions, and the ability to enjoy them, to accept their lot and be happy in their toil—this is a gift of God. They seldom reflect on the days of their life, because God keeps them occupied with gladness of heart.

Ecclesiastes 5: 18-20

I Want Something Else

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Bas-Relief Sculptures

Several years ago I began teaching children with disabilities. I entered an uncharted territory and had no idea what to expect. It was an adventure from the start. I learned a lot about human behavior during those years.

“I want something else!”

That was the cry of one of my students. She repeated this words until she was screaming her heart out. Nothing could calm her down. Until her attention was diverted she would continue claiming she wanted something else but she would never say what she wanted. In multiple occasions I took walks with her trying to calm her down. During our walks she asked the same set of questions in the same sequence several times, “What are we doing after that?” She wanted to know what she was doing next after the walk and five or six events after that until the agenda of the day was completed.

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Wind by Ivan Tirado

I don’t think we are so different from her. We often want something else. You heard this before, “The grass is always greener on the other side”. We are always searching for something different from what we have, but we can’t tell what it is. We often want to know details of the future ahead of us. We want to be certain we covered all the bases. We want to make sure we are in control. The truth is we never are. We may claim we are but we are not even knowing what the future holds or knowing what we want, we are not. Honestly, that is a good thing.

Wanting something else provides an opportunity for hope. It allow us to consider the difference between need and want. Not being in control allow us to be thankful of the now. The past teaches us how we got here, how to live today, and to work hard for a better future. We can’t be idle but constantly moving towards our goals with the compass of hope.