Thrown to the Wolves
Four short memoirs
Orly Avineri
In my mixed media workshops and retreats, in the US and abroad, I often say something like: These are the stories and now let’s get to the processes. Here, we linger with the stories.
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We Are the Kissers and the Tellers
©Orly Avineri Subscribe now In the best possible way. We are Noticers with capital N. We are Noticers of many things. That’s what we are good at. Not by accident, but by design, for survival. We had to become that. We ‘notice things’ since the beginning of our particular time here on earth. Documenting our visceral experiences in any way that suits us, just in case they’re stolen from us, not…
Am I an Artist?
And why don’t I care?
Of Setting Intentions
©Orly Avineri It was many years ago, in the month of May, at Ghost Ranch, a retreat center in Abiquiú, New Mexico. It is known for the dramatic landscapes it is nestled in, breathtaking scenes of pale pink, rust-red, and gold ochre, cliffs, mesas, and vast skies. Subscribe now And so many tumbleweeds, still attached to earth, awaiting departure into the unknown, or to a fence nearby. It is also…
Mountain Goats
©Orly Avineri In the Negev Desert where I grew up there were no lions of any kind. But yes, Mountain goats, the Nubian Ibexes, ruggedly walking on near vertical cliffs. Males were with dark brown mane down their backs and well grown beards. I remember, as a child, my utter fascination with them. I remember their distinct farness. Subscribe now Now, so much older, as one who makes things and is…
I’ve Noticed
©Orly Avineri Subscribe now This quote by Thomas Merton, The Way of Chuang Tzu, is one with which I open almost any mixed media event: When an archer is shooting for nothing, he has all his skill. If he shoots for a brass buckle, he is already nervous. If he shoots for a prize of gold, he goes blind or sees two targets. He is out of his mind. His skill has not changed. But the prize divides him.…
Between More and Less
©Orly Avineri Subscribe now This morning I am driving to Whidbey Island, Washington State, to guide one of my favorite workshops: Exploring Minimalism in Mixed Media. And although this trip up north from my home in the Willamette Valley, Oregon, requires a few steps to get there, there is something about it that feels surprisingly, to me, simple, calm, enjoyable, soft, even adventurous. One that…
Good Enough
©Orly Avineri Subscribe now A good enough time passed since he pointed a gun at the old man’s face and demanded: ‘Tell me where the children are’. And once he found them at an uncle’s side yard, he told their mother, in their presence: Don’t you ever dare ‘kidnap’ them again. A good enough time passed until everyone involved pretended this never happened. That’s when it was finally ‘okay’ by the…
The Unbearable and Comforting Distances of Ne’ima
A very short story
Get Achingly Attached!
Lessons taught in Taos
I Am Not Creative
The story of Shasha