Compassion Arts Festival 2018 Celebrates A New View “Through Your Eyes”

October 22nd-27th 2018

Compassion Arts Festival (CAF) celebrates it’s 4th year on October 22nd-27th with a week of film, music, and events to inspire and illuminate. This year’s CAF 2018 events offer a wide range of creative artistry focused on a singular theme Through Your Eyes, to reflect on compelling stories of ordinary individuals from all walks of life, whose deeply personal journeys have led them to have a shift in perception in the way they see non-human animals and the world we share.

Featured programs this October will include two much anticipated Boston premieres: a speaking presentation by six time national Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Allison Argo and the screening of her thought-provoking documentary The Last Pig on 10/23 at Kendall Square Landmark Theater in Cambridge at 7pm and from NYC, a multi-media performance of The Animal Show from acclaimed composer/musician Michael Harren on 10/22 at The Amazing Things Arts Center in a benefit for Maple Farm Sanctuary. Also introduced at that same 10/22 benefit, will be a short concert of songs to open the evening from The Rattle & the Thunder, a new Compassion Arts ensemble piece about transformation with Ellie Sarty, Alfee Westgroves, Donald Vincent, and others. In addition to the festival’s main events, the week will also include small workshops, a narrative healing arts showcase, and an afternoon of talks and discussion at Broad Meadow Brook center at Mass Audubon in Worcester on 10/27 from 1-4pm to launch Creating A Compassionate World program featuring guest speakers from New England Exotic Wildlife Sanctuary, The Vegan Nest, Marlene Narrow of Vegan Nation radio and World Peace Diet workshops, to name a few.

Compassion Arts Festival is an annual event of Compassion Arts, a creative arts and education project for exploring our connection with all life. Past festival events have included presentations at Worcester Art Museum, programs with Culture & Animals Foundation at NYC’s Symphony Space, Jane O’Hara’s Beasts of Burden exhibit, and guest speakers such as Award-winning photojournalist Jo-Anne McArthur, Farm Sanctuary founder Gene Baur, and Lantern Books founder Martin Rowe, among others. Compassion Arts events are made possible through the generous participation of program presenters and the support of partnering organizations and volunteers.

For tickets, schedule, details, or more information about Compassion Arts Festival 2018, please visit www.compassionarts.org or contact compassionartsfestival@gmail.com.

Art Without Animal Cruelty

by Judy Carman

Lovey, rescued chicken at Maple Farm Sanctuary in Mendon, MA.

It all started when “The Story of Chickens” art project came to town. The artist’s plan for the month-long “exhibit”, which had been funded by a grant, was to display a group of chickens in a mobile pen for 30 days and then publicly kill them and serve them to her audience as a meal.  As I struggled to understand how such an atrocity could be considered “art,” I called city hall and learned to my relief, that such an activity was illegal within city limits.

What happened next brought beautiful creativity into the process.  When the artist learned that her original project would not be legally permitted in the area of the exhibit, she was quite open to our suggestions to use no live chickens at all and to involve our animal advocacy group-- Animal Outreach of Kansas (AOK)-- in her work. She allowed us to display many works of art that were respectful of chickensduring the month’s art exhibit at the gallery. At the end of the month, she hosted a potluck at the gallery and allowed four of us to speak to the audience about the rights of chickens. What began as an impending tragedy was transformed into an opportunity to educate people about animal sentience and their desperate need for liberation from human exploitation. I give the artist a lot of credit for that. Karen Davis of United Poultry Concerns, who helped us throughout the campaign, published a more detailed account of the event in the UPC article, “The Story of Chickens: Closing Night.”

Still, a nagging question hung in the air-- how could the original art project ever have been considered “art” and given a grant? And how could there be so many other animal abusing “art” projects that have caused the suffering and deaths of so many sentient beings? A few examples include: the killing of a chicken in a school cafeteria as a filmed art project; setting fire to three live rats; the killing and displaying of 9,000 butterflies; throwing cats up a flight of stairs; the filming of a man holding a fish while he or she slowly died; and the strapping of LED lights to the legs of 2,000 pigeons and forcing them to fly at night, causing many to die.

It is safe to say that most of these works of art, if done by a non-artist, would be considered animal cruelty and possibly prosecuted. Artists understandably demand free expression, yet none of them would claim that harming, killing, confining or using a human being in such ways would be accepted as art in today’s world. Respected artist for animal advocacy, Sue Coe, whose drawings of animals help awaken people to the horrors that animals endure at human hands, makes it clear that we must bring an end to all use, abuse, killing and eating of animals. Mary Britton Clouse, of the Justice for Animals Art Guild, states, “Art is about ideas. Animals are not ideas. They are as real as we are. Their suffering and deprivation are psychologically and biologically indisputable … No act of self-expression is worth the life or liberty of another.”

So what do we do as supporters of the arts who care about the protection and well-being of animals? Minding Animals International has just introduced a powerful new tool that will help us bring an end to using live animals in art. That tool is the Minding Animals Curatorial Guidelines. One of the goals of the Guidelines committee was “to identify and avoid human exceptionalism / anthropocentrism, which prioritizes humans over animals. Key to CAS [Critical Animal Studies] is a critique of capitalism and globalisation in its role in the domination of people, animals and the earth, but CAS also sees the intersections of all oppression anywhere and for whatever reason as motivation for employing the powerful forces of compassion and social justice...”
This revolutionary set of guidelines for artists and curators will be introduced at the International Minding Animals Conference in Mexico City in January, 2018. Carol Gigliotti, Yvette Watt, Jessica Ulrich and Rod Bennison are the main authors of the guidelines. They are also the panelists of the discussion that will take place at the Minding Animals Conference. They describe the panel as follows:

“Animal Art Exhibitions:  The growth of Animal Studies as a field has been mirrored by the increasing number of animal themed artworks and exhibitions. However, many artists and curators do not properly consider the impact of the artworks and exhibitions on perceptions of nonhuman animals, and on the individual animals themselves. The result has been numerous examples where the animal has been treated disrespectfully, marginalized, exploited, and caused physical and/or behavioral suffering. Animals have been killed as part of or for an artwork. The three panelists, along with Rod Bennison, were charged with developing Curatorial Guidelines for Minding Animals Exhibitions. Designed to avoid inappropriate and unacceptable uses of animals as subjects for artworks in exhibitions connected to Minding Animals International conferences and events, the guidelines may serve as a model for other curators in situations such as galleries, museums, performance spaces who are faced with similar decisions in their choice of what artworks and performances should be supported…”

In addition to this ground breaking panel and set of guidelines, of course, we also have the help and vision of Compassion Arts, vegan and activist artists, ethical university professors and art museum directors, and many others. Together we can find ways to establish firm vegan policies prohibiting all use of living beings in art projects around the world. AOK is currently working with a local art museum to initiate such a policy. I welcome any advice and am also available to discuss any similar projects you may have.

Judy Carman is the author of the award winning Peace to All Beings: Veggie Soup for the Chicken’s Soul; and co-author with Tina Volpe of The Missing Peace.  She is co-founder with Will and Madeleine Tuttle of Circle of Compassion and the Prayer Circle for Animals Facebook. A recipient of the Henry Spira Animal Activist Award, she founded the Animals’ Peace Prayer Flag Project; co-founded, with Lisa Levinson, the Interfaith Vegan Coalition;  and co-founded Animal Outreach of Kansas.

The Stories of All of Us

Over the past few months Compassion Arts has been receiving stories and articles from people sharing about animals and experiences with animals that have transformed their lives in small and large ways. We’ve found these stories to be deeply fortifying and inspiring, and so we’ve decided to post a different selection each month on our guest blog as an “Animal Story Share.” We’ve chosen this month of Be Kind To Animals Week to launch the first one with a post from artist Kim Salinas Silva, who writes about volunteering at a farm animal sanctuary. (Kim will also be sharing a separate blog in the future that focuses on her artistry about animals and her upcoming exhibit in July.)  

If you have a story about an animal that has changed your life that you would like to share, please email us at compassionarts@gmail.com to learn about submission guidelines and how you can contribute. Animals are changing the world every day with their love and their “being.”  Their story matters. It is the story of all of us.

“Animals are our teachers and healers. In their innocence and wisdom,
they offer us a way back to a home they have never left.”
(Susan Chernak MacElroy from Animals as Teachers and Healers)

Mandala Twelve Pointed Star by Kim Salinas Silva

Round-About Kindness: The Shimmering Strands of Connection

by Kim Salinas Silva

For most of us, kindness to animals comes naturally. Usually, this means being kind to our pets. Now, with the exposure of factory farm abuses, farm animals have found safety and kindness in sanctuaries. Exposed to horrible conditions, pigs, cows, and goats now run and kick up their heels in green pastures, living their lives in peace due to the kindness of their benefactors. Visitors give them lots of hugs and belly rubs; they make friends not only with people but with their fellow animal refugees. It’s not unusual for persons to reconsider eating meat and dairy, once they experience their innate kindness and innocence. Animals reflect the better part of our humanity. They are kind without manipulation; expecting nothing in return.

Recently, I visited a nearby farm sanctuary to help a friend with her volunteer duties. With the exception of horses, I had never been around farm animals and was a little nervous. Inside the warm, intimate barn were several stalls in which the animals convened. Pigs, roosters, goats, sheep and llamas escaped the late afternoon chill. An enormous pig, named Jonathan, lumbered into the cozy barn from outside. Three or four llamas, lounging and chewing, blocked his path. He gingerly picked his way through them to get to his spot in the corner. Another llama, however, had already claimed that spot. Jonathan glowered before her, as if to say, Excuse me, but I believe there’s been some mistake. Kindly remove yourself from my spot, please. She gazed back at him, this rude interruption in her daydreaming. Deep, rumbling noises, eerily like those of a crocodile’s, rattled from 12-year-old Jonathan’s massive chest. Oh, my. I thought. He means business!

Unimpressed; she chewed away, not missing a beat. In frustration, he swung around to assess the llamas, all grouped together, chewing in unison. Jonathan lowered his head, grunting in a disapproving manner. Now you all, you’re just not helping a bit. It’s not so easy, you know, trying to cohabitate like this…it’s…well, it’s just NOT. His attempts to reach them fell on deaf ears. They seemed not unlike hippies, lacking only the psychedelics and ponchos. Batting their insolent, dreamy lashes, they rolled their eyes: What a draaaaag, man.

Llama-Lady sat, eyes half closed. Her protruding lower teeth and long, vertical neck gave her a regal elegance reminiscent of another planet’s beauty notions. Flustered, Jonathan began picking up wads of straw with his mouth and then moved behind her to gently but forcefully push at her rump with his snout. Push, push, push. He tossed straw onto her wide, thick-furred rear, as if to say Fine! Don’t move! Then, you’ll be the bed! As the pile thickened, she seemed to register that some kind of disturbance was going on. Slowly drawing herself up, she shook off the straw, and turned, peering down at this perplexing beast. Seizing the opportunity, Jonathan patted the piles of straw onto on the floor. Soon, a plush, comfy bed appeared.

Cozy in his corner, he stretched belly-down on the bed and closed his eyes. Miss Llama stood awkwardly, like a queen robbed of her throne. Blinking, she assessed her nemesis. Oh, well…maybe he’s not so bad when he’s asleep. She wandered over to the pig and knelt down. Leaning against his immense bulk, she nestled in and resumed her peaceful chewing, as if nothing had ever happened. Jonathan dozed away. Except for little peeps and chirps here and there, the barn filled with a rich, palpable silence. Frost from the animals’ breathing rose in the air and disappeared. All rested together.

Farm animals are incredibly abused,  yet in spite of it they retain the capacity for gentle kindness, even though seen as nothing more than commodities bred to appease our misguided appetites. But, thanks to a multitude of online videos, for instance, we now see them playing and interacting. Their individual personalities are quite apparent!

We share with them poignant similarities—and differences. They quickly let go of conflicts. They aren’t cruel or wantonly destructive. Being kind to animals means not just caring for our pets, but for all animals. The world is so noisy, conflicts and minutiae consume us. For the most part, animals live in peace and harmony. We might ponder, in this special week, how kindness might be shown both towards animals along with appreciating them for the ways they, too embody this quality. It’s a circular flow; we mirror each other. In a round-about way, we experience kindness as shimmering strands that connect us all.

About the author: Kim Salinas Silva was born in Minden, Louisiana. She has always been an artist and an animal lover. Growing up in Louisiana, she loved roaming the pastures and creeks behind her house, fascinated by the creatures she found there. She is now vegan and an animal activist. She paints about the plight of animals, seeking to raise awareness about their treatment, as well as addressing other marginalized populations and classism. In addition to her paintings, Kim also creates sacred geometry “healing pieces,” using glass, gemstones, and earth paints. Kim earned an MFA from Savannah College of Art and Design and has exhibited in New York City, Hong Kong, Houston, TX, and Savannah, GA. Her new work can be seen in her next solo show July 15-30 at Periphery Gallery, 80 Fountain St., Pawtucket, RI. For more about Kim’s artistry visit http://kimsalinas.weebly.com or  http://kimlightrays.weebly.com.

Be Kind To Animals Week

The month of May marks National Be Kind to Animals Week. This tradition began a hundred years ago as a way for people to express their love for pets.  It has evolved over time through the efforts of organizations and animal advocates working to expand our definition of what it means to be kind and to reflect on the millions of animals used for food and clothing or as research subjects or in exploitive industries.

The goal of Compassion Arts is to empower creativity, not only in the arts, but in the ways we think and the ways we problem solve in exploring creative solutions that go beyond the misperceptions we have about animals, ourselves and human progress. For this reason, we begin our Be Kind To Animals Week guest blog contributions with an article by our friend Barbara Stagno, the founder of Citizens for Alternatives to Animal Research and Experimentation, a non-profit organization for education and animal advocacy that shares illuminating information about creativity in science and innovative breakthroughs in research without using animals. (Text republished from www.caareusa.org)

 

Which Comes First, Science or Ethics?

By Barbara Stagno

After years of listening to defenders of animal experiments insist that they are essential to save human lives, I founded an organization to demonstrate how research using animals is not necessary. Citizens for Alternatives to Animal Research & Experimentation (CAARE),  investigates and distributes information about the diversity of scientific methods that can be carried out without using animals. Typically these are superior because they are based on human biology, not animals.

Photograph by JoAnne McArthur from “We Animals”

Therefore, it may surprise people to learn that CAARE’s philosophy is that ethics must supersede science regarding our decisions to use animals in experiments, and not the other way around.

The pursuit of research methods to replace animals in experiments must be guided by a desire and ethical understanding that they should not be used in research. Often this is the case, whether it is overtly conceded or not.

History is filled with examples of reflecting back on animal experiments that shouldn’t have been done. Had we put ethics first, the experiments would not have happened. Ethics invariably overrides science, but sadly, this typically happens after the fact.

Photograph by JoAnne McArthur from “We Animals”

In November 1957 a small dog named Laika was launched into space on the Russian Sputnik 2. It was the first time a live animal would orbit the Earth in a space capsule, allegedly to determine if she could survive in space. But scientists knew from the start that Laika’s orbit would be a death mission because technology at the time did not allow for the capsule to return to Earth in one piece.

Laika was a three-year-old stray dog, plucked from the streets of Moscow because it was believed that stray dogs were hardy, having already survived temperature extremes and deprivation.

She was trained to sit quietly in a padded capsule in preparation for her space orbit. One of the scientists took her home to play with his children before her fatal space flight, so that she might enjoy some kindness in her brief, terrible life.

Many people were outraged that a live dog was launched into space, but in response to the protests a Soviet official issued a statement: “The Russians love dogs. This has been done not for the sake of cruelty but for the benefit of humanity.”

For many years, Laika’s fate was unknown. Inevitably, the capsule was destroyed upon its return to Earth, but how long Laika had lived and under what circumstances she died remained a mystery. For a time the Soviet government reported that she had been euthanized with a pre-planned dose of poison in her food.

It wasn’t until 1999 that the actual details emerged about Laika’s fate showing that her vital signs stopped being transmitted between five and seven hours after the launch. Telemetry transmissions revealed that the cabin had become unbearably hot and Laika had died from heat and stress, much like a dog locked in car on a hot summer day.

Oleg Gazenko, one of the leading scientists who trained Laika, has since spoken out about the experience: “The more time passes, the more I’m sorry about it. We shouldn’t have done it. We did not learn enough from the mission to justify the death of the dog.”

Looking back on this incident it’s hard to comprehend how anyone could have justified this experiment. It was known the capsule would be destroyed and she would die. The technology was not yet ready to contain a living being. Laika’s launch into space did nothing to accelerate the safety of human space travel. Years more research into space engineering was needed to design space capsules that wouldn’t burn up. Laika’s sacrifice was gratuitous and ill-conceived.

Laika’s story may be a particularly glaring example of the arrogance, mindlessness and sheer evil of carrying out an imprudent experiment on an animal, but it’s not very different from thousands of other experiments that are carried out for scientific pursuits, to see what will happen, -- or just because –  all under the guise of saving humankind.

Animals are used in experiments to study pain that sever tender nerves; they are driven mad with itching in studies that seek to understand the science behind itching. Snake genes are inserted into mouse embryos to see the result: a mouse born without limbs.  Animals are starved to see whether they will choose food or a drug, they are stressed to see what they can withstand, they are hung upside-down to induce a state of depression. They are deprived of sleep and deprived of oxygen to determine if these things are necessary for life and why. Their brains are opened to map neurology pathways because scientists may learn something new, and they are force fed drugs and chemicals and toxins in doses no human would encounter, all defended as saving human life, when clearly experiments like these and so many others will not.

Painting “Animal Models” by Jane O’Hara

Fortunately, scientific thinking continues to evolve as society reflects on the failures that have resulted from animal testing. The past five years have seen the end of research on chimpanzees. While scientists and government concluded that chimpanzee research was not scientifically necessary, the decision was largely influenced by an evolving ethical awareness.

The National Institutes of Health’s based its decision on a 2011 report from the Institute of Medicine, which determined that chimpanzees are not necessary for future medical research. One could argue it began prior to that with the decision to even create such a report, because the ethical issue was burgeoning.

In its 190 page report, the Institute concluded that “while the chimpanzee has been a valuable animal model in past research, most current use of chimpanzees for biomedical research is unnecessary”.

It’s significant that the Institute of Medicine didn’t actually conclude that research on chimpanzees was no longer necessary. The committee’s report identified a number of areas where they believed chimpanzee research could still be valuable, such as monoclonal antibody therapies and hepatitis C, but nevertheless concluded it was time to end their use in research. Even though it appeared to be a scientific determination, it was strongly influenced by the ethical consciousness of the times.

By November of 2015, when NIH director Francis Collins announced that all chimpanzees would be retired from research, he declared “We have moved away from a time where we would consider chimps essential to medical research.” His statement, and choice of the word “consider” reflect a decision that was heavily guided by ethics.

Photograph by JoAnne McArthur from “We Animals”

With centuries of failed animal experimentation behind us, accompanied by a growing awareness of animal sentience that is shaking up many areas of institutionalized animal exploitation, isn’t it time we concluded that using animals in experiments is too morally tenuous, too cruel, and too fraught with scientific uncertainty to justify its continuation?

What if we put ethics first, as the European Union did in 2009 when it passed a ban to end the use of animals in cosmetics testing? Thousands of naysayers opposed the law at the time, insisting there was no way that we could assess safety without animal tests. Many acknowledged we were still heavily dependent on animal testing, so a phase-in period for the law was incorporated, with the final ban implemented in 2013.

Painting “Bubble Series: Separate but Not Equal” by Jane O’Hara

The result was a ban that sparked – perhaps forced – scientific innovation to develop areas other than animals, and came up with new and markedly superior ways to carry out tests. Ways that had applications for areas outside of just cosmetics tests and are now being used in biomedical science.

Ending animal experiments does not equate to ending scientific advancement for human health and medicine. What it requires is asking and exploring – and perhaps requiring – how we can do things differently, something which is already happening due to fierce disappointment with animal research, and in response to those who demand that we care about animal suffering.

About the author: Guided by the desire to increase compassion for animals used in experiments, Barbara Stagno founded Citizens for Alternatives for Animal Research and Experiments (CAARE) in 2014. Before that, Barbara worked for more than 20 years for several national non-profit animal advocacy organizations, including PETA, the New England Anti-Vivisection Society, and In Defense of Animals. For much of that time, she functioned in a leadership role, coordinating numerous campaigns to protest animal abuse in corporate, university and government laboratories, including several that led to the termination of experiments. Barbara has devoted her life and work to achieve social change through giving animals a voice and advancing a more humane relationship between humans and nonhumans.

www.caareusa.org

Talking Animals

by Duncan Strauss

(NOTE FROM COMPASSION ARTS - The following article is a guest blog contributed by “Talking Animals” creator, producer and host Duncan Strauss. Talking Animals is a radio program that presents thought-provoking discussion about animal issues through interviews with animal advocates and others. After Compassion Arts learned that Talking Animals would be interviewing Maple Farm Sanctuary founder Cheri Vandersluis, we asked Duncan Strauss if he would write an article for our website to share the story of how he came to develop a program in the communication arts for raising awareness about animal issues. Here is that story with links below to some interviews from his radio show.)

In 2003, I launched Talking Animals—my weekly radio show about animals and animal issues—propelled by two, overlapping impulses.

The first impulse was reflected, a year or two earlier, when I had altered my professional life, concluding it was time to re-direct a career path in showbiz (primarily working as a talent manager) that was proving to be an increasingly mixed bag personally, leaving me ever more unfulfilled.

This triggered the second impulse: Thinking deeply about something significant I could add to my life, whether it was a vocation or avocation, that would involve performing public service—to which I have an almost genetic predisposition. (My parents met in the late 1930s, when they were both providing social services for emigrant farmers fleeing the Dust Bowl. Their lives—together and separately-- were marked by public service, and even though both are gone now, their influence is felt far and wide, perhaps most notably in cultivating college students as public servants of various stripes via The Donald A. Strauss Public Service Scholarship Foundation.)

This, in turn, I reasoned would bring a greater sense of fulfillment.

When that light bulb lit up, I recognized that perhaps the answer was to combine some of my most powerful passions—animals, radio, journalism, music and comedy—and fashion a new broadcast aiming to heighten the virtues, while transcending the shortcomings, of pet and pet/vet shows, and overcoming the limitations of animal rights/vegan programs.

In my first forays on air, I learned a bruising lesson: Just because you conceived a format designed to yield a sharp, entertaining, engaging, and illuminating radio program is no guarantee that you actually have the ability to deliver that program! In my mind, those initial shows constitute one long blooper reel.

Eventually, though, I got the hang of it. And conducting interviews early on with the likes of PETA honcho Dan Mathews and Jethro Tull frontman Ian Anderson—I had conversations with these internationally–known figures in back-to- back shows just five months after launching the program-- suggested I was on to something with the Talking Animals approach.

That is, I’m not sure how much the punk -rock loving, chic VP of PETA and the flute-twirling progressive rock maestro would find to say to each other. But they each found a lot to say to me. And that’s the truly salient element, given that this is a radio show largely given over to the long-form interview.

Dan Matthews of PETA with Alec Baldwin

In some ways, that’s the way it’s gone ever since—heck, Talking Animals was designed to go that way, even before the Mathews-Anderson sequence (which, truth be told, I cited arbitrarily.)

The mix of guests over, say, a month long period should represent at least two or three people who appear to have little in common, other than some involvement with animals. I do not mind strange bedfellows on the guest list. Heck, sometimes I’m seeking them.

I think that’s where Talking Animals’ educational objective and public service ambition play its strongest card.

If one week, the show features a conversation exploring an intriguing new book about dog cognition, in which a listener can make a direct association to the pooch snoozing nearby in the den, perhaps that listener is more apt to pay close attention in the following week to the expert discussing the plight of animals used in the circus, and remain open in the week after that to the suggestions of a noted vegan chef. And so on.

Toward that end, I’m pleased to say my guests have included Jane Goodall, Alec Baldwin, Dr. Neal Barnard, Temple Grandin, Anita Krajnc, Gene Baur, Kevin Fulton, Cheri Vanderluis, to name just a few, including some who hold directly conflicting philosophies.

Above photos: Gene Baur, Cheri Vandersluis and Dr. Jane Goodall

I fully anticipate, as we inch our way into 2017, that this sometimes-improbable mélange of guests will continue on Talking Animals, thereby ensuring (I hope) that this whole is far greater—and richer and more meaningful—than the sum of the often disparate parts.

That’s my broadcast syllabus, anyway, and I’m sticking with it.

Duncan Strauss is the producer and host of Talking Animals, a radio show with guest interviews about animals and animal welfare issues, animal news and announcements, comedy and songs. Some of the program’s past guests have included Dr. Jane Goodall, Wayne Pacelle (HSUS), Gene Baur, Alec Baldwin, Emmylou Harris, Cheri Vandersluis and many others. Duncan Strauss was formerly a writer for the Los Angeles Times for ten years. He has written for wide variety of television and radio programs as well as articles for The Huffington Post, Palm Beach Post and Deep Roots Magazine. Strauss can be heard hosting Talking Animals every Wednesday 10am – 11am ET on WMNF, a community oriented NPR affiliate in Tampa, Florida.

Visit the Talking Animals website and Facebook page.

In Memorial: Jill Baldarelli

(March 20, 1958 - January 5, 2017)

It is with much love and a heavy heart that we share this memorial tribute to our project's generous friend and committed volunteer Jill Baldarelli, whose supportive contributions were instrumental in Compassion Arts' early development and the launching of the Compassion Arts Festival. Jill was an active supporter and volunteer at almost every event. Her participation was a fundamental piece of the foundation upon which our project was able to take root. Jill shared her time, talent, energy, expertise and resources. She provided extensive assistance in a variety of ways including preparing delicious vegan dishes for potlucks, coordinating volunteers, tabling at programs and at New England Veg Festival, distributing flyers and posters, overseeing power point for presentations, offering office resources and help with problem-solving, outreach, transportation and so much more.

We express our deep gratitude to Jill for her love in action and her openness to exploring the Compassion Arts dream.  We extend heartfelt sympathy to Jill's devoted life-partner of 28 years and her cherished family. We believe that Jill is embraced and welcomed with joy by loved ones on the other side who have gone on before her, including beloved animal companions from her youth and dog Terra. And so although she will be greatly missed, we say Godspeed to Jill as she continues on her journey, but not goodbye, until we meet again.

By Ellie Sarty

Vegan Spirituality

“Love is the most powerful force in the universe. All we need to do is get in synch with it”  —  Judy Carman

The following piece contains excerpts from a Vegan Spirituality article, edited and republished with permission www.veganspirituality.com, written by Judy Carman © 2014. To read the unedited article in its entirety from the original blog click here. Judy Carman is the author of Peace to All Beings: Veggie Soup for the Chicken’s Soul and creator of the Animal Prayer Flag Project. She is also co-author with Tina Volpe of The Missing Peace: The Hidden Power of our Kinship with Animals and co-founder with Will and Madeleine Tuttle of The Prayer Circle for Animals.

In excerpts from Judy Carman’s article “What is Vegan Spirituality?”, reframed below, Ms. Carman reflects on the paradoxes often found in traditional religions and other spiritual practices, the human experience and our true nature of compassion. Ms. Carman writes “We are dual-natured individuals. We have a survival nature that tells us to protect ourselves at the expense of others if necessary; and then we have our true nature of compassion that longs to care for others, even at the expense of ourselves.” It is at this fork and intersection, where these seemingly separate realities meet, where love and true spirituality through actions can be found.

Judy Carman writes:

“Eckhart Tolle said, ‘All the things that truly matter—beauty, love, creativity, joy, inner peace—arise from beyond the mind.’ Spirituality is what we feel and deeply know in our hearts and spirits, i.e., “beyond the mind.” Spirituality is the unseen, but deeply felt, Love that dwells in our hearts. In this sense, caring about the suffering of animals, in spite of society’s pressure to ignore it, means you are in touch with your true heart and your true spirit.  

The two most radical and revolutionary ideas ever conceived are the Golden Rule, ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you’ and the profound counsel, ‘Love One Another’. While many religions are rooted in the acknowledgement that faith is based on that radical love, there have been added loopholes that make it possible to rationalize not doing unto others (such as, animals, slaves, women, etc.) as you would have them do unto you. The Golden Rule idea is revolutionary because it asks us to act from our spirit, which is unselfish, connected to all life, and free of cultural and religious dogma. It is the highest ideal for human behavior. If we evolve in that direction, we will become “Homo Ahimsa”—the kind, compassionate, nonviolent human being we are destined to be. By taking the vow of ahimsa, of nonviolence and love, also known as veganism, you have demonstrated what it is to live a spiritual life—one in which your heartfelt beliefs are in synch with the way you live. You are demonstrating how to love one another, not just the human ones, but everyone. You are demonstrating what spirituality truly is.

Many people are on a journey to live from the highest ethic, to discover their own true nature, to awaken in consciousness, to find lasting inner peace, to understand their soul’s mission on earth, and to learn to live in a sacred and mindful manner on the earth. When we understand what spirituality really means, it helps us to assist other spiritual seekers to see that veganism is an essential part of a spiritual path. There will always be a sense of incompleteness and numbness until one opens one’s heart to the animals. Tina Volpe and I wrote The Missing Peace to demonstrate through the stories of many people that the ultimate inner peace is found when we give it to others—not just human others, but all others.    When we really think about it, veganism is the ultimate spirituality, the highest form of consciousness in which one realizes that all life is sacred.”

(Images above: Vegan Spirituality logo, Peace to All Beings book cover art, The Missing Peace book cover art and the Animal Prayer Flag Project.)

Vegan Spirituality is a network of spiritual seekers, vegans, animal advocates and artists working to create a more compassionate world for all life. Vegan Spirituality offers grassroots outreach, community, retreats, workshops, Compassionfests, events, online gatherings and resources. Founded and directed by Lisa Levinson of In Defense of Animals, Vegan Spirituality was originally a program of Public Eye: Artists for Animals and has since grown to extend nationwide in its community network for peace for all life. www.veganspirituality.com

Santa Claus, Vegan Parenting and the Spirit of Giving

I see Santa Claus as the personification of the Spirit of Giving- an embodiment to inspire us to tap into our own generosity. It is a connection we hopefully keep year round. When my children ask if Santa is real; I tell them, "Absolutely! The Spirit of Giving is real". As a family, we make gifts for our friends and family; we bring cookies to the neighborhood fire-fighters; and the kids each pick out a toy to purchase for charity. I feel so blessed to be a part of this energy- this Spirit of Giving, even in this relatively small way. And by blessed, I simply mean that I recognize the beauty and opportunity to contribute through that sharing.

I like being able to see myself with pride and feel like my Best Self. I often remind my oldest child, “If you’re ashamed of it, don’t do it. Listen to your body.” Here’s the best part of it: For most of our days, there is a tomorrow. There’s the chance for growth- to be even better versions of ourselves. The chance for atonement- to right a wrong-doing. And the chance for redemption- to earn back trust that had been broken. What an incredible blessing! To be able to: learn, grow, adapt, change, forgive and be forgiven. It’s like a new year that’s waiting to dawn, when we’re ready.

I carry gratitude with me all year round. Not only is this who I want to be and how I wish to experience the world, I model this way of being for my children. I teach my children to “pay nice back and forward”. Simple laws of physics tells us that energy can never be destroyed, only transferred. Perhaps, we can even transmute that unkind energy that comes our way. How powerful is that?! To empower our children, ourselves, with putting that energy into the world. Mmmm, Sounds a lot like LOVE to me. ;) Happy Holidays!

Alfee Westgroves is the host of Alfee’s Vegan Parenting Tips at WCUW 91.3. She is an activist, singer, actor, teacher, social worker, and the single mother of two. Born and raised in Mississippi, Alfee moved to Massachusetts at the age of 18- the year she became vegetarian. She recently celebrated her 22nd year of vegetarianism; the last 14 as vegan. For more on Alfee’s Vegan Parenting Tips: www.wcuw.org

Compassionate Holidays

In light of the recent political shift, many of us are in a state of mourning, and worry. Not so much for ourselves but for the future of Mother Earth and her animals. To stay emotionally and spiritually strong, we may have to take off our warrior armor and step back to see the bigger picture, i.e. how much we have actually achieved for other species through the years. In that vein, we can feel inspired and empowered, knowing that we will continue to make amazing strides for the innocent and vulnerable.

Isolation and feelings of loneliness may occur for many individuals who strive to live a compassionate lifestyle. Such isolation is often exacerbated during the holidays if family and friends aren’t embracing cruelty free celebrations. However, if we take advantage of our quiet and “lonely” moments, they can provide amazing spiritual revelations that give us strength and focus. We can celebrate and give gratitude for our understanding that other species feel pain, cry, thrive on companionship, laugh, and worry, just like we do. We are among the circle of compassionates and we are as strong as we are caring.

As an animal intuitive, I know that other species keenly understand our energy and our feelings, and they are naturally very “psychic” on an incredible level, beyond their inherent instincts. Animals sense the shift in our environment as it relates to pollution, toxins, and human encroachment. They sense a disruption in their environment long before it’s visually evident to humans on a microscopic level. No matter how humanely a cow, a pig, or a chicken are raised before going to slaughter, there is no such thing as a humane slaughterhouse. Those animals know they are going to die a horrific death. Graciously, we have not contributed to that terror and suffering. For that, we give thanks. The true essence of Thanksgiving!

As we move into the New Year, we know we will face challenging obstacles in our efforts to improve the lives of animals. We may at times feel defeated, but we will also rejoice in our successes and triumphs. We are aware that we are all connected to this amazing circle that we call Life and shall steadfastly remain on the path of true compassion.

Be kind and do good things. “Minochige Gizhewaadizi”

~Linda G. Fisher

Linda G. Fisher is an artist, writer, vegan, and interspecies communicator. Her artwork can be found in galleries and private collections worldwide. She is the author of several published works about non-human animals and is currently completing her memoir. Linda is Ojibway and Cherokee and a tribal member of the Ojibway Nation. Her family is of the Catfish clan. She shares her home with an adopted dog and six rescued parrots. www.lindagfisher.com

(Paintings by Linda G. Fisher featured in this piece are Brahma Bull, Red Moon and Woman with Three Doves, They Return Again, and Peace on Earth.)

The Link Between

by Will Tuttle

What is the primary link between the outer world we share that seems to be heading toward more intense conflict and the inner world of our attitudes and internalized narratives that gives rise to this outer world? Although it’s overlooked in our culture, it’s food: that primary and existential bridge between the outer and inner. In eating, we take in what is outside of us and incorporate it into the living cells of our being, and it literally becomes this vehicle with which we self-identify and through which we express our awareness, our feelings, and our lives.

Food is the lost and hidden key to transforming our relationships with each other and with all life, and if we look deeply into our outer problems and dilemmas, we’ll find that it is our practice of animal agriculture—and our inner practice of the attitudes required by this abuse of animals—that imprison us in our bewildering maze of intensifying problems, rendering them overwhelming and insoluble.

We can pause and reflect and savor the situation, and look in a new direction for answers. We can contemplate food and recognize that we were all born into a culture that forced us, virtually from birth, to eat the flesh and secretions of certain animals who are bred, confined, attacked, and killed for this purpose. We can grasp the significance of this, that early on, we are injected with the habit of disconnecting the reality that is on our plate from the reality required to get it onto our plate. We can learn to appreciate the weight of this, and that the prime taboo in this culture is honestly discussing the pervasive negative ramifications of using animals for food and other products. The reason it is such a potent taboo is that, in our hearts, we yearn to live in a world of kindness and respect for all life, and we know better.

We naturally feel a kinship with animals, so we repeat to each other many inaccurate narratives to justify our relentless mistreatment of them, but the main weapon in our ongoing oppression of animals is our learned disconnectedness and our inner compartmentalization: we turn away, numb our feelings, and create inner walls that block awareness. All the primary institutions in our culture (religion, science, media, family, government, business, and education) cooperate to keep our catastrophic abuse of animals well hidden, ignored, trivialized, and accepted.

By consciously practicing respect and kindness in our meals we create the foundations for authentic positive change in our society. The world peace diet approach to living is a two-step process. First, bringing our outer lives into alignment with inclusiveness and compassion through adopting a vegan lifestyle, and second, bringing our inner lives into alignment with this through inner purification practices such as meditation, inner listening, and inner questioning so that we can heal the attitudes injected into us from infancy by the pervasive herding culture of materialism and exploitation. As we change ourselves by resensitizing ourselves to our true nature, we become authentically capable of exemplifying and sharing these positive changes with others, and we can see signs of this happening all around us. Healing our inner corruption, we can co-create a society and leadership that mirrors this. We will be worthy of a world of harmony and freedom when we give cows, pigs, chickens, fishes, and other animals harmony and freedom, and when understand our true nature and let it guide us in our relationships with others.

(Images: World Peace Diet book cover and paintings by Madeleine Tuttle, Compassionate Harvest, Alive!, Living the Dream, and Companion Forever…  To see Madeleine’s art and learn more about her work visit http://willtuttle.com/madeleine.htm)

Dr. Will Tuttle, visionary author, educator, and inspirational speaker, has presented widely throughout North America, Europe, and the Pacific. Author of the acclaimed Amazon #1 best-seller The World Peace Diet, which has been published in over 15 languages, he is a recipient of the Courage of Conscience Award as well as the Empty Cages Award. The creator of several wellness and advocacy training programs, he is also co-creator of VeganPalooza, the largest online vegan event. The editor of a recent book on the interconnection of social justice issues, Circles of Compassion: Connecting Issues of Justice, he is also the co-founder of the non-profit Circle of Compassion and the Worldwide Prayer Circle for Animals. A vegan since 1980, he is a frequent radio, television, and online presenter and writer. He is featured in the acclaimed documentary film Cowspiracy as well as other documentaries such as Vegan: Everyday Stories; Hope For All; and Animals and the Buddha.

Dr. Tuttle’s Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, focused on educating intuition and altruism in adults, and he has taught college courses in creativity, humanities, mythology, religion, and philosophy. A former Zen monk and a Dharma Master in the Korean Zen tradition, he has created eight CD albums of uplifting original piano music. With his spouse Madeleine, a Swiss visionary artist, he presents extensively throughout North America and worldwide at college campuses, spiritual centers, conferences, and peace, social justice, animal protection, health, and environmental gatherings. To learn more about Dr. Tuttle and his work visit http://willtuttle.com or http://worldpeacediet.com.

We Animals, Martin Rowe and Jo-Anne MacArthur

by Jane O'Hara

We Animals, Jo-Anne McArthur

I was happy to have the chance to catch Martin Rowe in Pleasantville, NY in Professor Angelo Spillo’s classroom at Pace University. Rowe’s presentation was a part of a series of presentations and activities at Pace University for their Earth Month celebration. I had heard Martin Rowe speak last year at the Compassion Arts Festival with the same program, We Animals, with his personal interpretation of Jo Anne McArthur’s photographs. Rowe is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Lantern Books and publisher of We Animals, as well as well as nearly 300 other socially relevant books. In We Animals, McArthur’s work reveals the barriers we have built which allow us to treat animals as objects as opposed to sentient beings. Her images document the plight of animals across global industries.

But it wasn’t a repeat presentation as it turned out - though that would have been fine - as Rowe’s presentation so richly investigates the depths of Jo-Anne McArthur’s important work. Rowe is a writer himself, and among many other accomplishments, he has a master’s degree in Religious Studies. It was this part of Rowe’s background that played a large part of this discussion of McArthur’s work the other morning. With her compositions and use of dark and light he drew parallels to religious works and enlightened us on how with this unique perspective McArthur shows us a completely different animal.

Martin Rowe's presentation on We Animals

There is no end to my interest in McArthur’s hauntingly beautiful work. I have my own history with her. I was pleased to have her join the exhibit I curated of 13 artists in 2014, Beasts of Burden, first held at the Harvard Allston Education Portal Galleries. She will join us again when we go to our next destination in 2017 at Los Angeles’ National Museum of Animals and Society (NMAS). Martin Rowe and I share a strong interest in Jo-Anne McArthur’s work, along with her wide audience. The documentary The Ghosts in Our Machine is Liz Marshall’s powerful documentary focused on McArthur’s journey to record these ‘ghosts’ and get exposure for her revealing work. Not surprisingly it’s a tough challenge as so many refuse to report on these animals, even generally compassionate, truth seeking publications. Lantern Books, however, has published the book We Animals and it is a worthy tribute.

As an artist I unknowingly started to include one of McArthur’s images into my The Rabbit Hole painting, of a rabbit at the butcher. I found the image online and later discovered it was McArthur’s! When asked she generously allowed me to use the image in my painting and was pleased with the idea.

Rabbit Hole, Jane O'Hara

To have Martin Rowe give his unique presentation on Jo Anne McArthur’s work is so perfect. While her work certainly speaks for itself, Rowe’s insights bring attention to the historical implications of her point of view. In the religious artwork context and with his comments on the meaning behind a face turned away, or up, the use of shadows I was able to understand a new level of why these photographs are so important.

About this blogger: Jane O'Hara is an artist and curator whose paintings make visible animals in today's society; those adored, as well as hidden ones in captivity for our use. O'Hara is the recipient of the Peace Abbey's Courage of Conscience Award and the curator of "Beasts of Burden," an exhibit in which she is also a contributor, that features  the work of 14 artists whose range captures the complex ways in which animals have influenced our lives.

Sharing the Love on Mother’s Day!

The unconditional love of a mother and her babies is a bond that is shared by all species. In this way, we are all are alike. Compassion Arts celebrates this special love by sharing some creative ways we can nourish compassion on Mother’s Day. Part 1 of this blog shares some delicious vegan options for Mother’s Day brunch in “May the Fork Be With You!” and then Part 2 closes with the story of Habibi at Maple Farm Sanctuary and other info in “May All Beings Be Happy and Free”.

First, for Part 1 of this piece, we will focus on what’s for lunch. In this “May the Fork Be With You!” section we are most appreciative for the contributions from culinary artist Nina Vecchi, formerly of Peaceful Plate TV. Nina has compiled a list of recipes for creating your own cruelty-free Mother’s Day brunch, selected from websites that offer creative ideas for plant based foods. Choosing a menu from vegan recipes can be an inspiring and rewarding form of making a difference for animals, people and the earth. It is not only kind, it is also delicious. This Mother’s Day you can celebrate with a menu that shares the love and increases the peace in every step, or rather, every bite.

May the Fork Be With You!

Vegetable Frittata
Tiramisu Pancakes
Fruit Salad in an orange bowl
Soy Free Benedict
Smokey Maple Sausages
Asparagus crepes with white sauce
Sweet Potato Hash
Watercress, Avocado, and Tangerine Salad
Tea Sandwiches
Tropical Raspberry Lime Zinger
Chocolate Pots De Creme
Berry and Lavender Scones
Coconut Layer Cake

May All Beings Be Happy and Free

It only follows that when talking about Mother’s Day we should include other species and also look at the stories of people working to create a more compassionate world for all. For this Mother’s Day tribute we wish to close with Cheri Ezell Vandersluis' story of Habibi and Crystal at Maple Farm Sanctuary in Mendon, MA.

Left: Crystal when she arrived at Maple Farm Sanctuary, Top right: Maple Farm Sanctuary co-founder Cheri Ezell Vandersluis bottle feeding Habibi, Bottom rIght: Cheri and Habibi

In sharing on this moving mother-daughter story and the rescued animals at MFS, co-founder Cheri writes:

“When Crystal (Habibi's mother) arrived at Maple Farm Sanctuary we thought we were rescuing an old skinny cow with inflamed organs which caused her stomach to stick out. Not only was she very ill but also pregnant. Her prognosis was grim, but we hoped with the help of our vet to turn her condition around at least long enough to deliver her calf.

Unfortunately, Crystal’s health began to fail three weeks before her assumed due date. Our vet came to anesthetize her and open her belly to deliver the calf. Seeing little hope in his eyes, I reached in and helped him pull out a small limp calf. Seeing her lip twitch, Jim and I took the newborn calf outside and “cuppaged” her rib cage to loosen fluids and stimulate her to breath. Twenty minutes later we heard the weak but precious sounds of life. At the same time, our vet euthanized Crystal and closed the incision. Our hearts ached from this loss, but we now had a beautiful little girl to take care of. We called her Habibi.

If on a farm, Habibi would have had at most one or two feedings from her mom or been removed immediately from her. She would be raised to be a dairy cow, for veal or sent to slaughter. Being the only mom she knew, I instead bottle fed her cow colostrum for three days and then she was raised on cow milk replacer. Today Habibi is the “queen bee” at Maple Farm Sanctuary and bosses around other cows, llamas, goats and us! She enjoys the freedom to live in peace and tranquility as all beings deserve.”

Habibi enjoying the sun at Maple Farm Sanctuary

To learn more about the story of how Maple Farm Sanctuary changed from being a working farm to being a sanctuary, you can explore the Tribe of Heart documentary “Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home”. In this award winning film, the candid and true story narratives of several people reveal their intense personal journeys at a crossroad in their lives and work, including Maple Farm Sanctuary founders. The Peaceable Kingdom documentary shows how assumptions and perceptions about animals and inherited ways of life led to major change. The film sheds light, through strikingly honest interviews, on the amazing connections shared with animals, inner conflict, social and economic pressures, dismantles stereotypical notions of farm life and reveals the emotional lives of the animals themselves.

We wish to celebrate and acknowledge the creative artistry of Tribe of Heart for using their art and storytelling craft to create this film. We also celebrate and acknowledge the creativity and work of farm sanctuaries and individuals working in humane education for helping provide true freedom of choice for the kinder world we want to co-create. Below is a short list of local farm sanctuaries in the New England/New York area in alphabetical order. If you know of any who we might like to learn about that are not listed here, please email CompassionArts@gmail.com. Thank you for sharing the love!

Catskill Animal Sanctuary
Farm Sanctuary
Maple Farm Sanctuary
Sunny Meadow Sanctuary
VINE Sanctuary
Woodstock Sanctuary

Celebrating The Culture and Animals Foundation on Earth Day

by Ellie Sarty

Folk artist Jacob Knight created this celebration for the animals at the request of the Cartin Foundation, which subsequently gifted the painting to Culture and Animals Foundation.

Earth Day is a time when we make a conscious note to celebrate the earth and the life on it (including animals) for whom it is home. For me, Earth Day is a time to reflect on love for life.  Love for life and the earth is not specific to humans. It is inherent in all individuals (non-human and human) and it roots us together as kindred family on our shared planet. This year, I choose to honor Earth Day by celebrating this love in sharing about the work of The Culture and Animals Foundation.

Tribute

For a heartfelt and thought provoking re-awakening into the meaning of compassion and what kind of world we want to create, I recommend visiting the Lantern Books Youtube channel to view “Honoring and Celebrating Tom and Nancy Regan: The Culture and Animals Foundation”. This compilation of videos by former CAF grant recipients was organized by Martin Rowe and is not only a moving tribute but is also an informative reference. The tribute shares both personal stories of gratitude for Tom and Nancy Regan’s work as well as the ways that The Culture and Animals Foundation has supported positive work for animals. Compassion Arts contributed a video montage for this tribute, Culture and Animals: Love in Action, beautifully crafted by Laurie Johnston of Two Trick Pony. We used a song of mine from a project that was funded by a CAF grant years ago, instrumental in seeding what is now Compassion Arts today.  

Culture and Animals Foundation

For those unfamiliar with The Culture and Animals Foundation (CAF) , I urge you to explore their website and the many endeavors that CAF has helped support over the last 30 years. Founded in 1985 by Tom and Nancy Regan, CAF is “a cultural organization expanding understanding and appreciation of animals — improving the ways in which they are treated and their standing in human society. CAF believes that through the arts we can awaken people to the plight and grandeur of kindred animals–and ultimately build a deeper understanding of human-animal relationships and a greater respect for animals. In seeing and understanding kindred animals, we see and understand a part of ourselves.”

Tom Regan

If you wish to take a deeper journey into the work of CAF co-founder philosopher Tom Regan, his writings span 40 years in books such as The Case for Animal Rights, Empty Cages and other thought provoking essays and articles. A founding pioneer on the moral rights and inherent value of all “subjects-of-a-life”, (human or non-human), Mr. Regan reasons in his work that respect for basic rights of sentient beings includes the right not to be treated merely as a means to the ends of others. He shows in his writings that this philosophy is not founded on any radical new fringe theory of ethics, but rather that it follows from an existing and “consistent application of moral principles and insights” that humans already hold. Click here to read more.

Gratitude

I once saw a quote that read, “Love is an action. Love, the feeling, is meaningless without love, the verb.” I think of people like Tom and Nancy Regan when I consider this thought and I thank them for having courage to live their truth. Tom Regan has been a transformative voice for animals long before there was a movement or support for such work. I reflect on how walking the talk of “love in action” can seem difficult in the real world but how The Culture and Animals Foundation has always remained consistent as a peaceful organization nourishing respect for life through awareness and nurturing creative positive thought.  

This Earth Day I thank the individuals (human and non-human) who have helped show various paths in the journey to our true nature of compassion. I thank the Earth for her patience and forgiveness as we work to remember and rekindle our shared and inherent love for life. And I thank The Culture and Animals Foundation for being a vessel for this love in action.

“The earth is what we all have in common” (Wendell Berry, poet)
Photo at www.onegreenplanet.org 

About this blogger:  Ellie is an animal advocate, singer, songwriter,  and Compassion Arts creator and founding member volunteer.  

Jane O'Hara, Joy Askew and Gretchen Primack: A Program on Compassion for Animals

by Celia Watson Seupel, guest blogger

“Right Here” by Jane O'Hara

It’s Wednesday April 13 th , early morning. The sun is just striking the tops of the buildings, the traffic is still rousing itself, and the streets are quiet. I pick up the singer/songwriter Joy Askew from the corner of 77 th and Lexington Avenue, NYC in my van. We are heading for a celebration of animals and compassion in Pleasantville, New York.

Throughout the entire month of April, The Nature Center at Pace University in Pleasantville will host events, performances and educational activities for Earth Month.

Today, Compassion Arts is presenting, “Animals and Culture in Art.” Poet Gretchen Primack and painter Jane O’Hara will be joining with Askew to create a multi-dimensional event. The performance will raise awareness of the need for compassion towards animals, including farm animals and wildlife, while also demonstrating a kind and creative way of communicating that message. Sometimes, by using arts and culture, the message of compassion can be more profoundly offered and understood in a different way.

The Nature Center at Pace is part of the Dyson College Institute for Sustainability and the Environment. Its main purpose is to promote general education and awareness around environmental and sustainability issues. A perfect place to celebrate and talk about the lives  of animals! A big shout out and thanks to Angelo Spillo for helping to make this special event happen.

Gretchen Primack, Poet

Primack, who says she’s interested in writing poetry that raises consciousness, starts off by reading from her powerful book, Kind. From “Ringling,” an elephant’s musing begins:

Maybe someday you will trick
for me.
Maybe I will find value in you
on one foot.

Primack’s poems punctuate O’Hara’s compelling presentation of her paintings. As O’Hara shows us large, projected images of her paintings on-screen, she tells us more about her journey to veganism and her paintings’ symbolic meaning. O’Hara tells us that she believes the only way people can continue to do what they do to animals is to avoid the reality. “People need to believe these [animals] are not sentient beings,” she says. “I want to talk about what happens to animals in the real world.” Not to shock us with graphic horrors, but to help us understand animals as the individuals they truly are.

Jane O'Hara, artist

Blue Ribbon by Jane O'Hara

For example, in the painting “Blue Ribbon,” with her surrealistic mix of symbolism and fine realistic detail, O’Hara explains, “the calf is scared, isolated.” Separated from mother and security, maintained as an object.

In the second half of the presentation, Askew plays across the spectrum of our emotions with her plaintive and powerful songs.

Joy Askew, Singer/Songwriter

In one song, Askew chants a poem of Primack’s backed up with her previously recorded, haunting chorus of “Mercy,” the poem’s title:

“… Our mouths
are glossed with fat.
Leave your gods
at the door:
there is no room here
for even one …”

“We have choices,” says Primack. “It’s about respect, the use and abuse of power.” Students come away from the 1 ½ hour presentation moved. “It was very powerful,” says Jessica Pernicaro. “I like how they used the different mediums to present the message.”

Devin Newman, an older student and also a veteran, says, “It’s good for the younger kids to have these perspectives.” Newman, who is not vegan but has lived with others who are, adds, “It’s about where you put your money. Every dollar you spend is a vote! I wish the performance had been larger, a bigger venue. This would hit home for a lot more people!”

As a center committed to the environment, says Spillo, animal enrichment and compassion are a natural fit. He hopes to do another, larger Compassion Arts event in the near future.

About our Guest Blogger: Celia Watson Seupel is a poet and journalist who lives in New York City. Her books include a memoir about trying to save her brother from obesity, Eating the Shadow.

Introducing the Compassion Arts Blog

Welcome to the Compassion Arts blog. Here weekly blogs will be posted by the Compassion Arts team and guests writing on compassion, creativity, animals, nature, environment, art, music, books, plant based culinary arts, recipes, veganism, writings, dance, theatre, film and video, inspirational stories, events, transformational programs and projects, organizations, humane education and peaceful positive food for thought. If you would like to suggest a guest to write for one of our blogs in the future please email us at CompassionArts@gmail.com.