I have been fortunate that this summer afforded an opportunity to film on my new documentary about Coastal Access, This film developed from my own experience with Martins Beach, a coastal spot in Half Moon Bay, generations of my family spent summers and winters visiting, fishing and learning over years its seasons. A wealthy businessman purchased the property and closed down public access.

Surfrider Foundation has fought successfully to have Martins Beach Public Access restored. I am very grateful.

I stopped at spots along the coast to gather new materials for the Spirit Dolls, perfect days and spectacular sunsets made for a beautiful gathering!

‘Sea Horse,’ is the new coastal wood and shell sculpture that came out of that journey!

I am also creating new work for the exhibits, opening one in January and the other in February 2019.

I have been in the research and planning phase for the last month, and starting to shape up the outline for both new pieces.

In this exhibit, I am addressing issues of identity and belonging, and exploring Post-Colonial recovery through genealogy.

I tackle the impact that loss of culture and tribal affiliation creates on individual and tribal health, and explore healing through genealogical recovery.

I’ll be posting an invite to the upcoming exhibits soon, and announce artist talks and events.

I look forward to seeing you!

Consider an outdoor trip to rejuvenate.

I feel very fortunate my parents started us kids off early with camping and hiking trips. Those memories, and experiences infuse who I am today.

That’s why the Outdoor Magazine article about Ambreen Tariq caught my eye. Founder of the Brown People Camping Instagram account, Ambreen started the movement to open a dialogue about the outdoor adventure industry, and, encourage people of color to explore the country’s national and state parks.

“After my first post, things just started growing organically, and the more I shared, the more engagement and support I received. I was immediately getting tons of positive feedback from total strangers…” Ambreen Tariq, founder, Brown People Camping.

The connection to nature can be enjoyed at any age!

My parents started me off early in life with hiking trips into the east coast wilds – or as I learned as an adult, better known as the more rural areas of Washington, D.C. and Baltimore.

From a child’s height, everything in nature is new, exciting and Big!

My favorite childhood summer afternoon, swinging in a hammock, reading, sometimes, just looking up at the tree leaves gentle blowing in the wind, offering a dotted shade, the sun on my face lulling me into a delicious nap.

Children exposed natural wonders develop respect and care for  nature, rooting life-long connection and concern for nature, sometimes, blossoming into career interests in preservation and sustainability.

Family camping trips turned into summer camp, where I was immersed for two or three weeks at a time, and learned to respect nature’s complexity. strips into the wilds of nature, presenting a world of exploration and adventure.

Hiking and camping were two ways I connected to my new home when our family moved to the west coast, blessed to explore new terrain on the coasts and up in the mountains.

Trips over my childhood, adolescence, into adulthood, etched into my mind and soul the land traveled in a circle in my grandparent’s car, from San Jose to Santa Cruz, up to Martin’s Beach into San Francisco. Back to San Jose.

I appreciate Ambreen’s style and approach to sharing her experiences, she speaks from her heart and life journey. Ambreen waves away people who might look down upon beginners, instead, sharing how she believes we should be encouraging of anyone trying to connect to nature. Ambreen Tariq’s posts at @brownpeoplecamping have a way of making one feel like its never too late to start!

Outdoor adventurers of color are invited to submit their experiences to Brown People Camping and open dialogue on important topics.

‘Our public lands should be more inclusive and must reflect the diverse population and history of our country. So, I am on a journey to share my journey- encourage my community and other POC to #optoutside and help diversify our #publiclands,’ writes Ambreen on one of her posts.

As part of her advocacy and education efforts, Ambreen will be speaking April 19th, 2017 as part of the Women in the Outdoors Week.

Check out the amazing speakers with Ambreen, including

Betheny Lebewitz
Founder, Brown Girls Climb

Mina Okpi
Life Activist & Founder, Black People who Love Outdoors and Adventure

Women in the Outdoors Week begins 3rd week of April, and offers a slate of lectures and presentations from inspiring outdoors women engaged in all kinds of nature adventures from rock climbing, camping, and rafting.

I love the practical nature courses – learn to navigate, plan expeditions, and gain survival skills. Visit the site for detailed schedules and locations.

One of the reasons I most appreciate Brown People Camping is because its welcoming, and inclusive, and breaks barriers by questioning the dearth of people of color in outdoors advertising and images.

“….It’s something that’s truly frustrated me in the outdoors community—there’s an aesthetic of the way outdoor retailers advertise. Thin, usually light-skinned. It’s a very particular way of painting a community. It’s hard to see yourself in the outdoor community if you don’t physically see others like you, and you definitely aren’t seeing it in advertising.”

There is increasing evidence that time spent in nature is healing, particularly for weary urban dwellers. The San Francisco Bay Area, like so many metropolitan regions, offers amazing local, off- the-path and mapped destinations.

Even a day trip outside can shift perspective, offer an anti-dote to daily stresses, and overwhelm from cultural triggers.

Instilling love and companion with nature is one of the greatest gifts we can pass down.

Its meant so much to me to ensure for my family that I have shared the same beaches and mountains, traveled the same roads, engraving into their souls the contours of this land and region. Adventures to new third places we explored newly on our own.

I love seeing my family exploring now as a adults their own camping and hiking destinations, laying down paths for the next generation.

Ambreen Tariq sums up clearly, how broadening the visitor base for inclusion benefits everyone.

“Robert Moore put it brilliantly: “…every step a hiker takes is a vote for the continued existence of a trail.” If folks stopped hiking the Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, or the numerous other historic trails all cross our country, they would become overgrown and disappear from our landscapes. Trails are forged first by trailblazers but more importantly, they are reforged and maintained by the rest of us. Our steps are assertions about the importance of our access to and relationship with wilderness. So why aren’t we doing more to introduce new and diverse feet to the trails?”

If you get a chance, drop into a nature this weekend, share your experiences at Brown People Camping, create your own local hiking and camping group, select a nature destination for your next school vacation!

Its never too late to start!

I recently covered a march supporting efforts to promote Divestment from the Dakota Access Pipeline in San Francisco, walking the five blocks rather than taking a taxi because the streets were all blocked off. I’ve been paying for it ever as the injuries from the fall continue to pose a challenge. A 10-day treatment, new x-rays and cancelled trip to Los Angeles was the unexpected result. A reminder! Enjoy all the media and photo assignments, commissions and chances in this life! What a gift! I so appreciate each chance. View the series in the Gallery.

I am back n the studio after being out in the garden earlier, enjoying what felt like the first day of Spring, still the ground quite soaked from the rainy year we had. As I got up to go back in, I was transfixed by a parade of dragon flies, more than I had seen together at one time. Counting how many was impossible, each darting dragon replaced with another. So, I sat back, and allowed the moment to exist, and enjoy such a sight. I moved to this house at exactly this time of year. I remember seeing then one, two, three dragonflies.

I tuned into Maria Hinajosa’s Latino USA on NPR’s Podcast page. Check out Silver Screen.

In a special collaboration with the Latino culture site Remezcla, Latino USA looks at the long-standing relationship between Hollywood, Latin America, and Latino filmmakers. We find out how Hollywood movies are adapted for Latin American audiences by learning about the dubbing of the most recent Star Wars film, Rogue One. Then, we go back to 1931 when a Hollywood studio experimented by making a Spanish-language version of Dracula at the same time they were filming the English-language version. And, we examine what it means to be an independent Latino filmmaker today.

Excellent cinema history about the 1930’s version of Dracula, and how its productions values are relevant today for Latino Indie filmmakers seeking to reach their communities and wider audiences.

Latinos purchase more movie tickets than any other ethnic group in the U.S.

Innovative ways of reaching audiences often involve how the filmmaker deals with language.

I am inspired by the part of the podcast explaining more about current dubbing and subtitle options.

Transition, a 1-hr documentary, screened in California and Texas in 2006. Spanish-language subtitles. Directed by Catherine Herrera, Produced by Flor de Miel Media. Contact for Info.

I am taking back to 2002, when I was building towards distribution of my hour-long documentary, ‘Transition,’  Spanish language dubbed and subtitled films were frowned upon.

So many strides have been made in the last 16 years, Spanish language programming is understood to be valuable and language a sign of respect.

As the filmmakers in this podcast speak to later in the program, today, its important for content distributors to understand the language, history, context,  and the community to be able to fully evaluate a Spanish language film’s market and social impact potential.

Innovative approaches build on old classics, for example, creating two films at the same time, with bilingual actors, filming the English and Spanish versions.

Well forth a listen for indie filmmakers, and, enjoy streaming from the entire Latino USA Podcast Playlist.

It was an exciting day at the San Francisco Mint on March 04, 2017. What a great turn-out, over 6200 people walked through the historic Mint halls and restored public rooms where miners and savvy businessmen alike traveled to exchange their gold for newly minted dollars and coins.

Today, The Mint serves the City for private and public events, and is slated to be converted for a more consistent use. The building has a wonderfully expansive feeling on the street level, with some of the larger rooms-  long glass windows, and smooth stone floors – reminding me of the feel of the studio rooms at the Esmeralda Art School in Mexico City,  housed in a building born in the colonial era and reminiscent of European architecture.

I can easily imagine a beautiful museum/cultural center space with wonderful art offerings to the public are on the horizon for The Mint.

On March 04, 2017, I gave an hour-long presentation about my personal and artistic journey tracing and uncovering that part of my family history in San Francisco and Bay Area pre-dating the City, and State.  I shared about how my great, great, great grandpa had been born in San Francisco in 1857, and the context of his life in San Francisco at that time – perhaps not that different from the times I live today, where, like then, our City has suddenly expanded in population, with uber traffic, classified this year as the 4th worst in the U.S. if not the world!

The focus of the presentation was in calling for a new collaborative project with local SF and State archives designed to pull together resources and fill out those times of history, and, as an aid to local families tracing back through tumultuous and often chaos-filled times of early California history. This effort is a continuation of the ‘Open Doors to a Healing’  Project.

In this new phase, the short documentary, ‘Bridge Walkers’ (2017) is nearing the end of post-production for distribution. This short documentary features two California Ohlone women’s efforts to to protect and preserve sacred sites and burials from development in San Francisco and Bay Area with information on how to support these efforts.

I am so grateful to be able to share the ‘Bridge Walkers Installation’ at SF History Days 2017.

Each screening provides more perspective on how best to share this 3-screen installation and adjust to fit each new screening venue. SF History Days had an amazing tech crew who I want to give a shout out, and, big thank you for SF History Days for the wonderfully large screens on which to project the installation! A filmmaker’s dream come true!

Thanks again to San Francisco History Days 2017 for the chance to share our family history, the important role New Almaden had in the Nation’s history, and, to screen ‘Bridge Walkers‘ before its official launch.

Classic and Collector’s online purchase options now includes a newly added feature to make purchase of the original artwork online as secure and easy as ordering prints – with the same high-quality materials and delivery on all our product offerings.

A new feature in 2016 – the Fun Collectors accessible product line for beginning collectors just starting their decorating of office, space and home with original, one-of-a-kind artwork.

Original art, prints, and cards can be shipped anywhere in the Americas and Europe. All products are sourced locally with reputable and experienced San Francisco printers and reviewed personally before your selected item is shipped.

Sign up at artnews@catherineherrera.com for upcoming exhibit and collecting opportunities. I do not sell my mailing lists and your privacy and time are respected.

Click on the highlighted title of the work for a drop down of prints and products to select.

‘Reimagining,’ 2015, oil on canvas board, 8 x 10 original

‘Selling Flowers and such things,’ 2015, oil on canvas, 8 x 10 original .

‘Shell Love,’ 2015, oil on canvas board, 16×18.

‘Of all the things,’ 2015, oil on canvas board, 8 x 10.

You can also order by email at orders@catherineherrera.com.

Through Spring,  stop in to visit the ‘Resilience’ exhibit at the Phoebe A. Hearst Anthropology Museum at U.C. Berkeley.

Resilience speaks to the important skill of being able to transform through art experiences that often the rational mind can not face, and therefore, can not heal. Two of the Spirit Doll series is on display in this exhibit, together with a pastel and photograph.

The Spirit Doll series are made of California coastal wood and shells, with materials collected on the coast of San Francisco and Bay Area, and, unique one-of-a-kind designed dresses and outfits.

Born from the troubling history that Ohlone and other native women experienced during colonial times, these dolls represent the wooden dolls that mission women were required to carry as punishment when they were unable to conceive or carry a child to term, often for a month at a time and in public.

Instead, the Spirit Dolls transform that experience – which women of all faiths and religions can understand – of being judged for characteristics with which we are born or experience in life – into a symbol of the beauty in accepting oneself despite any physical or other ‘limitation’ that trauma, disability and other unexpected changes in our physical ability. These dolls embrace the spirit of self-love and acceptance.

I am pretty excited that two of the ‘Spirit Dolls’ from the series I began in 2015 are part of the exhibit at the Phoebe Hearst Anthropology Museum, and the healing response has spurred me on to continue the series into 2016 with some exciting new expansions on the project.

Here are a few of the new dolls from this summer.

I create these dolls in my art practice, and as part of workshops on cultural trauma. Spirit Dolls are available on commission and individual or institutional collectors can inquire at orders@catherineherrera.com.

In November 2015, I presented on invitation ‘Sitting Ohlone’ at the San Francisco Art Institute. ‘Sitting Ohlone’ is part of the ‘Open Doors to Healing’ Installation Project, and involves three interactive installations to open together in exhibit in 2017.

The photo and video installation, Sitting Ohlone, is a performance piece that engages in urban participatory performance by contemplating publicly the value in creating a world-class American Indian museum on San Francisco’s main tourist Market Street with an Annex research and residency center in the Presidio. The performance also seeks to add to the discussion of San Francisco’s modern development the voices and input of its most ancient people, the Ohlone, who still live and are active in City life, and as the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian proves, such a museum and cultural center can be a bonus to a City that attracts visitors from around the world.

Please sign up to my newsletter at artnews@catherineherrera.com for announcements of exhibits and offerings of prints or new Spirit Dolls.

artnews@catherineherrera.com.

At the Brava Theater in San Francisco, Poets & Writers West brought together Bay Area writers with seasoned, successful agents, publicists, and writers for a day of honest, straight-forward discussion about writing today, and the creative ways authors are reaching audiences today.

Let it be known that Literature and Poetry are far from lost arts, resuscitated by expanding marketing by way of technology, and the broadening list of authors that  self-publishing and growing content markets reveal.

As someone who has come into the Literary world by way of invitations to publish that lead to my first publications, and, as a photographer/designer of book covers, I really considered myself a ‘newbie,’ as I learned of the rich tradition and history of the literary arts in San Francisco and the Bay Area.

The conference provided an overview by way of the range of speakers and panelists, and offered basics for authors still starting out with the first, second or third book, about how to connect publishers, agents, and team of editors, book designers, cover artists, and publishers that any book requires – even if you wear all those hats as with self-publishing. (Wearing all the hats is definitely not recommended, even if you have to trade editing with a fellow author!)

I came to the workshop as someone with a book draft, stuck in the editing process – meaning – I have not even started to dig back in and already months have passed!

The workshop opened my eyes to the literary world around me, and, I was in awe of the people who spoke about the Bay Area literary community that they themselves had shaped over 30-40 years.

Hearing of how so many authors and editors and lovers of literary arts contributed to shape this abundant landscape gave me pause to ponder on the countless hours and collaborations over that time span.

Many stories shared how the magazines, and chap books were given away freely with no thought to anything more than expanding the reach of words and the sharing of ideas.

And, we aren’t talking about a give-away as a lead into a sale!

It was beautiful and inspiring to see how many people came together to create a living, breathing community that has embraced new waves of people while retaining their historical intellectual wealth, respecting the experience of elders while reaching out to younger writers.

The diversity of the panelists gave frame to persistent challenges, but definite progress.

Times are different.

San Francisco and Oakland are in upheaval of planning developments and underneath are those who have lasting values that are no longer needed.

You won’t find me counting out the Bay Area Literary community any time soon! Just explore online the numerous organizations, events, and contests that abound.

‘Writers in New York read other writers’ reviews, writers in San Francisco read each others books.’

One of the sayings at the conference that stuck with me was that ‘Writers in New York read other writers’ reviews, writers in San Francisco read each others books.’

Several of the best panels offered guidance on the writing process, including a pitch session that illustrated how publishing house editors ‘hear’ book pitches, with several writers selected by submission to read their pitches before the audience.

The responses from the editors was a education! I came away with the sense that there are growing audiences that publishing houses want to reach and make sales!

I must say, this being the first pitch panel I have seen since I pitched a film project  myself at the NALIP Media Conference, it was very nice to not be in the hot seat this time!

READ ALOUD

I finished the first draft of ‘Homebound by Sea’  last year as I promised myself I would do.

This year’s contract with myself is to complete the book and submit for editing and publication.

One of the reasons Poets & Writers Conference was such a gift to me – and it literally was a gift to receive the ticket of someone who could not attend – was to hear how writers and poets move beyond ‘stuck’ to ‘action!’

Briefly, here were some of the tips that resonated and might for you too:

1) Reading aloud the work of an author you admire, a tip shared by several authors. Author Wendy Lesser shared her experiences as a creative child growing up in an artistic household and immersed in the words and art that inspired her to become a writer;

2) Copying down the work of an author you admire as an exercise for learning good story structure and to better understand the sentence structures of respected writers you read and support;

3) Reading the letters and journals of writers you look up to and respect, a great tip shared by Yiyun Li.

Seeing her literary heroes helped Li see her own process in a new light, and she felt, took some pressure off to know even these writing geniuses had their own faults and disappointments. Yiyun retells the story of one of her favorite writers, Checkov – whose letters she reads for inspiration – and how he wrote to his friend about a book he had in mind, and over numerous letters, laid out the entire map of the book’s story structure, with very specific detail about the arc  and each character.

And still, Chockov never completed that book.

Alejandro Murguía, author of the American Book Award-winning, ‘Southern Front,’ and, ‘This War Called Love,’ spoke about the importance of ‘time’ in the structure of a story, and in mapping the book’s arc.

In fact, mapping time in the story may very well be the most important element of the story structure, said Murguía, professor of Latina Latino Studies at San Francisco State University and first Latino Poet Laureate of San Francisco.

You can order Alejandro Murguía’s books at www.alejandromurguia.org

It was very grounding to hear Murguía share his wisdom, and writing guidance. The notion of time resonated with me, as time – reaching as far back as the Ohlone have been on the coast of California, and to the ancient pyramids in Mexico, where I lived for 7 years – has been something I have given a lot of thought in writing Homebound by Sea.

Literary agent Ted Weinstein, publicist Amy Packard Ferro and publishing veteran Debra Englander gave a run-down of the publishing process and important tips in The Savvy Self-Publisher.

This panel – together with author Keith Devlin – gave a straight-forward, advice- filled talk about the self-publishing industry, and the examples of creative packaging that point to how authors can reach new readers through a combination of traditional and cutting-edge publishing.

I have great respect for writers who are leading the way as self-published artists.

Designing book covers with original photographs and commissioned art for writers and poets has been such a profound joy in my life.

Kim Shuck, Cherokee Poetess and Author, is one of those authors with whom I have worked who has crossed back and forth between traditional and leading-edge publishing. Kim Shuck’s long list of publications, including the recent Sidewalk NDN, reaches an international audience. Visit her site at Kim Shuck.com.

Nitza Agam, Memoir author, is working on her second book, due out in 2016, the cover for which I have already created some mock-ups. You can find Nitza’s first book, Scent of Jasmine, here at AuthorNitza.com.

‘Why We Write,’ Panel at Poets & Writers Conference

By the afternoon, the conference peeled back the layers, exposing some of the more intimate challenges as writers, facing criticism, sustaining oneself in the face of rejection, how to move beyond blocks and how to keep the view forward to be be able to complete the books we want to share and feel passionate. Melissa Faliveno, associate editor for Poets & Writers Magazine asked good questions of the panel that included D.A. Powell, and Michelle Tea.

One of the writers I met that day spoke so highly of D.A. Powell as a writing instructor, and recommended him as someone who will push a writer to grow positively to extend their craft.

D.A. Powell spoke on the importance of reading one’s work before an audience, so the author can hear how audiences react to the writing, to listen to where there is room for improvement. Readings offer an important step in the writing process, so the hard work of the author is not lost in an incomplete or less crafted book.

Reading is Sexy!

Alejandro Murguía got the biggest applause of the day when he mentioned his view that nothing is sexier than lovers reading to each other!

For whatever reason resonates with you in 2015, join the literary community in the Bay Area, check out local authors and recommend their websites, and attend with a friend local readings on topics of interest.

We are quite fortunate in the Bay Area to have such literary capital and legacy to foster community, sustain long writing careers, and, invest in the next generation and the many communities where writing can serve.

I am grateful to have a chance to share the stories and life experiences of the people featured in my film and photography work. I feel good when people invite me to share their story with you – the supporters, audience and people from afar who want to learn more.

Once again, your generous, online, secure, tax-deductible donation makes it possible to continue with this non-commercial work that simply can’t be done with out your investing and making it possible to purchase the equipment, afford the working space and time, and supporting a wider distribution of the art projects.

Flor de Miel Media produces the inclusive stories and perspectives that strengthen democracy and our country as a whole.

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