Remote work-life began for me on March 16th 2020 in Minnesota, United States. Life as we knew it ended. In slow motion time cycles globally, many of our institutions closed. Alongside the shock and grieving for the tragic illness and death due to COVID-19 that continues across the globe with the United States at the…
For some time now I have admired the work of artist Abbey Ryan, an American painter who is well-known for her realist still life paintings and who creates a painting a day. The exquisite rendering of still lifes in her typically small paintings are undoubtedly remarkable but what also draws me to her work is…
Before the COVID-19 crisis unfolded in the United States in March 2020, Design for Community Resilience (DCR) – a program I lead at the Center for Sustainable Building Research at the University of Minnesota – began work in January on a project with partners, UMN Extension’s Southeast Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships, for the community of…
As the world rearranges itself in the face of the global pandemic caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) I notice two dominant themes. One is the remarkable, rather, shocking, shutdown of things as they have been – events, offices, stores and whole countries on lockdown/curfew/shelter-in-place in an attempt to ‘flatten the curve.’ Decisions and actions that…
Reading the Vaishnava text, the Srimad Bhagavatam, one encounters incredible and complex descriptions of the universe and its meanings – it’s a vast scripture that seekers dedicate their lives to reading, hearing and absorbing. Last week reading the descriptions in the Second Canto (Chapter 1) I was struck by the description of the gigantic universal…
Madhubani art, from the region of ancient Mithila, modern-day state of Bihar, Eastern India. Childlike forms, gods and goddesses, story glimpses flash in my mind. The landscape of Indian folk art is vast and Madhubani art is a popular artform, familiar, seen in paintings, on sarees. Now on Pinterest and You Tube videos, it is obvious…
My interest in the Silk Road and related topics led me recently to watch two series – remarkably grand productions – on Netflix, “The Story of the Buddha”, a production from India, and “Marco Polo” a production from Hollywood. Both made a deep impression on me. Each told a story of historical periods, the first,…
I’m not quite sure how the word and the concept of ‘interstitial’ has come to the forefront of my consciousness since last week. Perhaps it showed up in the interstices of my mind during one of my chanting meditations. Or perhaps it was in something I read. In any case, the word concept has captured…
The topic of religion and its more inclusive cousin, spirituality, has always fascinated me. I have found myself often in some sort of dialogue with the topic – in discovery within, or in reaction to, or in direct engagement with, over time. Being born and raised in a country/land steeped in religion and spirituality, India,…
Recently, Women’s Leadership Community, in Minnesota, of whose leadership program I am an alum, invited me to contribute my art to the pages of a reflection journal (A Woman’s Leadership Journal: Exploring the Path of Wisdom) which would feature blank pages with meaningful quotes interspersed with pages of art. The cover would feature the work…
We often think of globalization as a modern phenomenon, but the Silk Road epitomized it in ancient times. Established toward the end of China’s Han dynasty (202 b.c.–a.d. 220) in the first and second centuries, the Silk Road reached the height of its glory in the Tang dynasty (a.d. 618–906), Stretching 7,000 miles from China…
(The artist’s journey may be solitary on one hand but it thrives on camaraderie and inspired company. Cecilia Ramon is an artist and dear friend and we are continuing our collaborative exploration together. Every week that we can, one of us will send the other some inspiration in the form of an excerpt from a…
Teaching Catalyst 2019: Extended Communities of Practice with colleagues in the School of Architecture at the University of Minnesota. My focus is on teaching related to Boat Cultures and the intersection that emerges from rural Minnesota – small town of Milan which has a large Micronesian population, on an area settled by Norwegian/Scandinavians on what…
The artist’s journey may be solitary on one hand but it thrives on camaraderie and inspired company. Cecilia Ramon is an artist and dear friend and we are continuing our collaborative exploration together. Every week that we can, one of us will send the other some inspiration in the form of an excerpt from a…
Last Fall, two university colleagues and I reconnected reminiscing of some creative projects we’d done together that involved writing and design. Those memories of creative productivity sparked an idea for another collaboration. What if, we chose an art one of us had created and then all three would do creative writing in response to that…
Virajita Singh 