Category Archives: Inspiration

Barter Buzz – exchanging art

Tauschrausch

Blogging makes you meet all kinds of interesting artists and fellow bloggers – at least virtually. Recently I have read about an initiative by the artist collective Theo: Tauschrausch (German for something like barter buzz) and decided to participate.

I love the idea of exchanging artworks instead of selling them. Exchanging my artworks for services or goods produced by somebody else, or alternative for artworks from fellow artists is such a cool idea, although not always that easy.

Theo has a offered a collection of their handmade cards and I decided to present them with the postcards of my recent land art works.

The deal was done and I received the most beautifully packaged edition of postcards:

Beautifully packaged postcards by Theo

Postcards by Theo – old fashioned black & white collage style – very cool

Thank you very much Theo! One cannot find a more beautiful excuse to take up a fountain pen, write an art postcard and send it of into the world…. (or on second thoughts maybe just to just keep them all to myself 😉 )

Have a look at more of Theo’s work here and find out who they are.

And more exchanges…

I could never really afford luxury things, such as dying my hair. So when my hairdresser told me that she just loves my artwork, but cannot afford to buy it, we quickly decided that we can fix two problems in one go with exchanging art for beautiful cuts and amazing colours. Following is one of several works, which I have exchanged with my wonderful and very talented hair dresser (Heidi from Heidi’s Hair Studio) in Windhoek.

Yin & Yang from the ‘wo-man’ series (Ink on rice paper, 70 x 70cm by Imke Rust) © Imke Rust

Stunning colours and cuts by my favourite hairdresser in return

I received this 2-piece artwork by Bremen artist Edeltraut Rath in return for one of my dog images from the Power & Politics Series in 2006:

Untitled by Edeltraut Rath from Bremen

The two painted wooden blogs are just beautiful and can be hung or displayed standing in a variety of ways. I just love the warm and sunny colours. (unfortunately the photograph is not the best)

It would be great if we could exchange real things and services with each other more often, instead of using money as a form of payment!

Tell me – have you exchanged or bartered things before or could you imagine doing it? And what was exchanged for what? Did you experience any problems or wonderful surprises? I would love to know more stories about this.

Wishing you a great week!

Frozen Easter Eggs

2 Replies

If you can’t beat them, join them…

I guess that applies to the weather too. If you cannot beat the cold – play along.

So that is what I did for Easter. As I already mentioned in my previous Easter post, I am not really into the whole Easter thing and much to some people’s despair I only ever follow rituals or parts of them, which seem like real fun to me, when I am in the mood for it or if they make some other kind of sense to me (and that does not always need to be the rational kind of sense 😉 ) .

Since we were invited for an Easter dinner and I recently read something about freezing water in balloons, I decided to create some frozen Easter eggs, suitable as an ephemeral gift for the host’s garden and the icy cold weather.

The Process

I filled water into balloons and hung them in the freezer. After the water was frozen, I peeled off the balloon.

Now I boiled some beetroot peels (the rest of the root was turned into a yummy raw salad) to get a natural and environmentally friendly colour for the red egg. Only at this stage I remembered to take photographs of the process. I used commercial food colouring for the other two eggs as I ran out of time for being more creative in making my own colours.

Boiled beetroot peels create a lovely red colour…

…which I used to paint the frozen ice/egg

The eggs were stored in the freezer and then transported in a padded cool-box to our dinner hosts.

Easter eggs stored safely in the freezer

The Result:

Then the Easter bunny (i.e. me) could not decide, where to place the eggs, to get the best visibility – these eggs were not made for hiding after all. After trying the pretty white snow blanket of the back yard, I decided it is best to place them right in view of the front door, even if there was not an ‘all white’ dense snow covering as I had wished for.But they would be in plain view of everybody leaving or entering the house.

The Easter eggs in their full glory

Easter Eggs viewed from the top

Much to my joy, they were well received…. 🙂 And we were treated to a delicious meal and lovely evening.

The bunny left some frozen Easter eggs at the front door…

And if they have not melted, they might still be there today…

Wishing you a great remainder of the week!

Finally the rain has come to Namibia

4 Replies

Just a brief update, on two of my previous posts. Let me start of with a quote, which is very central to my understanding of what this is about:

Gratitude in advance is the most powerful creative force in the universe. (N.D. Walsh)

Some time ago I posted two stories about ‘calling the rain’ in Namibia, “Waiting for rain” and “Secret ingredients for making rain“. Namibia has been really dry and many people were/are afraid that this will be a year of a disastrous drought…. (you can read more of my thoughts about this at ‘Where are the clouds?‘).

Now, finally the rain has come to Namibia!!! Whoohoo…!!!

Besides being really happy about this news, I had to smile to myself, as it just proved to me, that the sending out positive intentions with the rainmakers is really working.

We just have to be patient and keep on believing. Even if it takes a bit longer. Trusting that everything is the way it should be and it is good. Just wait without fear, knowing that everything that is is a blessing. Our prayers will be heard, our needs will be taken care of! So count your blessings (really do) and praise each one of them.

Over the past few months I have made several different ‘rainmakers’ to remind myself to keep on believing in the rain and that it will come, no matter how bleak the forecast looked or how many people exclaimed their fear and worries. Each time I make one, I consciously imagine the rain falling and saying thank you to the universe that it has always provided me with everything I needed.

It does not need to be an elaborate artwork, Sometimes I even think the easier they come and the more fun they are, the better. It makes it easier to feel joy and gratitude in my heart. And I think that helps to focus the energy and my desire for rain and not on getting a ‘perfect’ piece of art out there.

Here are some of my rainmakers:

Another ‘Rainmaker’ which I have made in January in Namibia ©ImkeRust

‘Seeing the Clouds’ – a digital artwork of superimposing a raining cloud onto a satellite view of southern Africa/Namibia by Imke Rust ©

‘Cloud with the Flower of Life’ – digitally manipulated photograph by Imke Rust ©

After the first good rains we all hope and pray that it will keep on raining, till we have enough to overcome the next dry season.

Inspiration to others and their contribution

Some friends have liked my rainmaker idea so much, that they have decided to make their own rainmakers and that surely played a big role and contributed to making it rain 😉 . Here is an photo from a rainmaker, which my brother’s girlfriend Amanda has made:

Amanda’s Rainmaker ©
What she wrote about it: it has alot saying and meaning to it. If you look close.
A. Clouds bonding. B. Protection for Our Solar System, The Sun C. At Full Moon there is Poaching, so I created the Stars and Moon, with a Cross that Protect the Wild Animals, there is an Oryx. D. Grass should Grow very High. E. Flowers for the Bees. F. Enough grass for the Cattle. G. Enough Water from the Clouds, going Left to Right. And it has worked somehow.

How cool is that?
It feels great that my ideas and work keeps on inspiring others, and they come up with their own unique and beautiful artworks or rituals.

Thank you, dear universe, for all your blessings and sending rain our way! By the way, I am still eagerly awaiting spring/summer over here in Berlin… 😉 – but I am sure you have already made a plan for that too! 🙂

Happy Easter Bunny!

4 Replies

May this happy Easter bunny jump straight over the rainbow and into your heart!

Happy Easter Bunny (Ink & water colour on A4 water colour paper + digital text added) by Imke Rust ©

I do not really celebrate Easter and have always found it quite odd how the Christian story of Jesus’ death and resurrection was combined with colourful eggs, chocolate and cute bunnies… But I guess as long as it has meaning and importance to somebody, it is cool, and it is good to have rituals and reasons to celebrate.

Possibly my inquiring mind too often asks ‘Why?” and is not easily satisfied with the ‘normal’ answers if they do not make sense to me. And I am puzzled by how many people never even ask this question, or are just too easily satisfied with the often superficial answers or reasoning.

Actually I do like rituals and the whole original idea behind them. So I thought to share with you an Easter ritual which I found quite cool:

Collecting Easter water in silence…

A few years back I had the privilege to celebrate Easter with some friends in Germany who had a very special ritual. We had to get up some time before sunrise (a real challenge especially in the cold weather) and go to the forest to find a natural spring. All this time nobody was allowed to talk or say anything – which made me be very aware of everything we did and contemplate the energy of the spoken word. Somehow it felt really sacred, and I think that it focused the attention strongly on the intention, instead of dispersing it with too much ‘mindless chatter’. I do believe that words are a strong creative force and whatever we say has an impact on our reality.

At sunrise everybody collected some fresh water in glasses which we brought along and took some of the water to sprinkle over us and wash our hands. The water which was collected is called Easter water and will be kept in the house for the whole year as a kind of protection and blessing – it is supposed to stay pure and fresh for the whole year. Only once the water has been collected and the sun has risen, everybody stands in a circle, hold each others’ hands, say grace and blessings and wishing each other a ‘Happy Easter’. Somehow I really liked that.

Happy Bunnies

For today I decided to share with you my ‘Happy Easter Bunny’ to bring you a smile and some happiness. And to remind us all, of how grateful we can be. This bunny is the weirdest looking creature, rather ugly in a way and surely not able to hop along in a graceful manner with those legs – but still, it seems to be so happy and full of lightness, radiating warmth and love and not caring a single bit about the outside circumstances. I wish that he may pop up in your minds and hearts whenever you feel down, lonely or insecure and remind you look for the beauty and blessings in even the darkest moments.*

So, wishing you all a very happy Easter bunny and enjoy the weekend and celebrations – remember, there always is something to celebrate 🙂

* For everybody who wonders how I work or come up with the images:

The birth of the Easter Bunny

Often I just put my pen to paper and start drawing whatever comes to my mind – in this case I saw an image of an owl and started to draw the eyes. Then I am guided by the drawing and somehow it tells me what to do next. I do not consciously think about it, but just follow what feels right. Being very rational, it is often really difficult to let this happen, because my mind tries to tell me stuff, like: ‘you drew owl eyes, so this must become a bird’ or ‘this is really ugly, you can’t do that’, ‘this is not the kind of legs a bunny has…’. I try to ignore the critical voice of my mind and just follow my heart and eye and am often really surprised by the outcome and the insights I get from the process and the final image. It is as if a kind of dialog happens between me and the creature that I create. If you are interested to read even more about my art making process, you might want to look at one of my earlier posts “…and sometimes they tell me their names“, which is still very popular and insightful.

Calling the Sun

4 Replies

After a brief appearance in Berlin the sun and warmth have disappeared again, making way for cold winter temperatures and a thick layer of snow.

So this is my official call for the sun to return. And my goldfish once again helped me with the task, by reminding the universe of the shape, colour and fun the sun can bring.

Goldfish, sun & snow ©ImkeRust

And since my family and friends back in Namibia are still desperately waiting for the rain, I thought I just send over a some clouds which I have collected some time ago (knowing that they might be in demand soon 😉 ). And I have asked them to take along all the clouds from Berlin and other rainy friends which they encounter along their way. Common clouds – the party is happening down in Namibia, so get yourselves over there in a hurry!

Cloud#1389 ©ImkeRust

Cloud#1394 ©ImkeRust

Wishing you all a happy week! Filled with sun or rain – whatever you need! But mostly filled with gratitude and love for that what is…

Screaming for the Namib (Part I)

4 Replies

Today I have an extra-special treat for you:

Its video time!!!

For the first time I will share one of my art videos on my blog. I still must get around to update my webpage with pics and info about my latest solo exhibition for you, but till I get to do that, I thought of sharing the video “An infinite scream passing through the Namib” with you. The 4min video is a short documentation of an art action which I have done in Swakopmund in April 2012. It was publicly shown for the first time at my exhibition in December 2012 in Swakopmund. Guests of the exhibition loved this fun video so much, that I decided to share it with everybody on my blog too.

Me re-enacting the Scream by Edvard Munch on the Swakopmund Jetty.

Here a short info what the whole art action is about:

In order to raise the local and global awareness about the dangers of the exploitation and destruction of the Namib desert and coastal area through mining and other proposed industrial developments, I initiated this public art action based on Munch’s painting “The Scream”. During the hour before sunset I asked passersby to re-enact the scene of the original painting to show their concern for our Namibian environment and have photographed their ‘screams’, while the whole action has been captured on film by Steffen Holzkamp of Onexa A+V.

In 2011 I have painted my own version of the Scream (you can see it here). Munch’s “Scream” painting has always reminded me of the jetty in Swakopmund where I grew up, and slowly the idea developed for this art action. The title came from what Munch has said about his inspiration for the painting.

“I was walking along a path with two friends—the sun was setting — suddenly the sky turned blood red — I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned on the fence —there was blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord and the city — my friends walked on,and I stood there trembling with anxiety — and I sensed an infinite scream passing through nature.”
Edvard Munch (1863-1944) about his work “The Scream (of Nature)

And here the video – Enjoy!

"An infinite scream passing through the Namib" 
Video, 3:57min, © Imke Rust
An Art Action by Imke Rust documented in video and photographs 
@ The Jetty, Swakopmund, Namibia. 17h00-18h00, 2 April 2012
Based on the artwork "The Scream" by Edvard Munch. 
Concept & Photographs: Imke Rust
Filming & Video: Onexa A+V

With special thanks to Martha, Makafa, Erson, Isabel, Brad, Britta, Lena, 
Luisa, Stefan, Jasoni, Helia, Elina, Burkart, Steffen, Armand, Logan, Ros,
George, Jan-Daniel and Janelle for your "screams" and Onexa A+V and the 
National Arts Council of Namibia for supporting this project

Also have a look at Part II to see some of the photographs taken during this action!

Did you like the video? Did it put a smile on your face? Or a new thought into your head? Does it inspire you to think of what you can do for the environment?

Then please share this post with your friends via Facebook, YouTube, Twitter or by email. And please show your support by leaving a comment or “Like” either here or on YouTube. Thank you!

Interview on the German radio

2 Replies

Do you understand German and would like to listen to an interview about my latest art exhibition?
Then I invite you to please tune in to the NBC German Radio Station on Sunday, 13 January 13 at 18h00 (Namibian time).For those of you who are not living in Namibia, you can listen to the interview on NBC’s livestream via the internet @ http://96.31.83.87:8110/ . If you have missed that one or cannot make it, don’t worry, there will be a re-broadcast on THURSDAY at 22h00 (17 January).

The program’s name is Kaleidoskop and it will feature a 30min interview with me, hosted by Annemarie Brell. The interview will give you an insight into my views on environmental art, we are talking about my works that have been exhibited recently in Swakopmund at my solo exhibition “…and I sensed an infinite scream passing through the Namib” and I share information how the works originated and what my intentions are.

Many people have commented that they have really enjoyed my earlier brief interview done in the beginning of December, just after the opening of the exhibition, so I hope this will be equally interesting. 🙂

You can find more information on the radio station’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/germanradio

Me busy installing the 99 black roses (made out of barbed wire and rubbish bags) in the Namib desert for a temporary site-specific installation.

Love is…

4 Replies

… sharing a parking bay.

: Top view of the busy parking lot, with the beach- buggies snuggling up closely together.

New Year – more fun, more love and more inspiration.

That is my plan. In the past I have hold back on sharing many everyday things which inspired me or made me smile, because I thought that I should stick to only posting things related directly to my art. I have come to realise lately, that in many ways my life is my art and my art is my life, and I cannot really separate the two – or want to anymore.

I want to live and see my life as an artwork. I actually like the German word “Lebenskünstler” a lot. Directly translated it would be: life-artist. I understand it as somebody making his or her life an artwork. Unfortunately it is generally used to refer to people who do not earn a steady income and rely on others for their survival, in a negative way.

So, even if some future posts do not have an obvious or direct link to my art, I feel it is an important aspect influencing my art and who I am, and I hope you will enjoy the occasional ‘non-art’ posts too.

Love is… sharing a bit more of who I am with you.

Thank you for being part of my life and art!

Starting of by Looking Back

2 Replies

All the best wishes to my blog followers for the New Year! Thank you for your support in the past and I am looking forward to sharing my art and thoughts with you again in 2013.

Wow, 2012 has been a busy and exciting year! My latest solo-exhibition has just ended and I had such a great response to it, that I am deeply grateful and humbled. Thank you all who came, commented, sent good wishes or supported me in any other way. I am busy getting ready for another fabulous new year and preparing to soon update my webpage with new pictures and information on the past exhibition and other news. Till then, I leave you with a brief review of my most viewed blogs of the last year.

I love feedback and was excited to get some nice statistics about my webpage and blog from WordPress (where my page is hosted), and would like to share some of the highlights with you:

My webpage received about 8700 views in the past year. Visitors came from 99 countries!
Most visitors came from Namibia. Germany & The United States were not far behind.

You might want to re-read my three top blogs from the past year – the ones which have received the most views are:

Cat and thorn circle

1. Tokoloshe Trap (or How to Catch Creatures of the Night) This blog tells you more about the origins of one of the works (Tokoloshe Trap) on my latest exhibition “…and I sensed an infinite scream passing through the Namib”.

Clay Sculpture by Imke Rust (c) front view

2. The shoes you wear… and how they are connected to my art This one is a fun post about a very old work of mine, but seems if you put the word ‘shoes’ in the header, you might get more hits… (This blog got 184 views in 2012)

Tate Kuru, a Tree and a Road

3. Tate Kuru, a tree and a road – a story of courage and doing the right thing This post is an inspirational post and explains a bit of my thinking and background to the art project I worked on for most of the year which resulted in my solo exhibition “…and I sensed an infinite scream passing through the Namib” which was shown in December 2012 in Swakopmund to great acclaim.

I would love to hear which was your personal favourite blog post, story or artwork of mine of the past year? And is there anything that you really would love to read or see more about this year? Please let me know!

Art Clubs – what a brilliant idea!

4 Replies

Sold! This lady will be traveling to her new home(s) in Denmark.

I have just sold this drawing on paper from my current figurative series to the Danish art club “C67” (from the town of Hjørring) after they visited me in my studio. Their visit to galleries and artists’ studios in Berlin was organized by the Danish artist Mads Dahl Pedersen, who’s studio is in the same building as mine. (Go and check out his artworks by clicking on his name, once you are finished here).

Besides being happy about another sale of my art, I also got to know about art clubs for the first time. Here is what I learned about them:

Art clubs are very popular in Denmark and it sounds like such a cool idea: Each member pays a small monthly fee and the money gets used to buy art. The members of the art club can then hang the work in their own houses for a month, after that time the work goes on to the next member, so that everybody gets a chance to live with the artwork. Once a year they hold an auction, where the members can bid on the works they really like and want, and the highest bidder gets to be the final owner of the work. What a cool idea to stimulate the interest in art and keep it fun and interesting, while at the same time building up a good collection of art!

This particular club has eleven members. I think that is an average number so that each member can have each artwork for one month in the year. And each member pays about 60 Euros per month. I guess the amount payable is made up by the group and depends on their income. So that starting an art club is not a matter of being well-off, but rather of putting your money together to buy great art. And you meet once a month, go to galleries together, talk about art and exchange ideas and views.

Maybe this idea can take root in Namibia (or wherever you are living)? What do you think, is this a brilliant idea or what?