Category Archives: Land Art

Autumnal Equinox

Hello Autumn (leaf work by Imke Rust)

Yesterday I realised that we have just passed the autumnal equinox…

Ahh, I have to accept that summer is definitely over and the days are getting colder and shorter. I fear the cold and was just about to feel miserable, when I decided I just need to make friends with the situation.

And what better way than celebrating the beautiful things about autumn, like the red and yellow leafs with some creativity?

The wild vine covering my soon-to-be studio is slowly turning red. It is really beautiful and I have already collected and pressed the first of these red leafs.

While photographing the leafs the sun reflected so strongly, that it made the leaf appear to be black&white…

(Click on the photographs above to see a larger view.)

I had the idea to type something onto these leafs. It did not work too well… but I had the opportunity to sit outside in the garden with my old typewriter (which my husband found in the trash). Touched by the cool sun and struggling with the fragility of the leaves, the stubborn, faulty typewriter, no idea what to write and my miserable spelling skills, I started to feel better.

As a welcome to autumn (for those of us living in the northern hemisphere), I decided to share a few of the imperfectly perfect results with you.

The typing worked best on a larger green leaf from the cherry tree.

Dear Universe, thank you for the different seasons in nature as well as in our lives. Thank you for the summer that has passed and the autumn on our doorsteps. Thank you that the sun keeps on shining, no matter what & the stars return every night. Even if we do not see them, they are there for us.

A little prayer of gratitude: Dear Universe, thank you for the different seasons in nature as well as in our lives. Thank you for the summer that has passed and the autumn on our doorsteps. Thank you that the sun keeps on shining, no matter what & the stars return every night. Even if we do not see them, they are there for us.

I even tried to type on this white feather which I found in the garden, but it was not really successful, I guess the ink tape of the typewriter is to old and dry. But I liked the photograph 🙂

White feather with love by Imke Rust

Walking Through the Night Sky

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My last post was about the blue, blue skies with beautiful white clouds…

But, do you ever walk through the night sky? Touch the stars with your toes and breathe in the darkness of the universe?

I do.

Sometimes.

(Title: Walking Through the Night Sky, 1:16min, by Imke Rust)

Just press play to start the video.

It is soft and bouncy. Just me on my journey through the stars which sometimes tickle the soles of my feet, when I pay close enough attention…

I made a video of it, the old-fashioned, stop-motion way. My camera did not catch the amazing Namibian night sky with its plethora of little stars, but you can at least see some of the big ones.

This post is dedicated to the awesome poetess Indigo Spider (if you have not checked our her fine spider web-weaving, delicately crafted and powerful writing, please do so), who commented on my last blog that she prefers the night skies over the day skies.

So I thought, wait a minute, I have something very special to share with you. An artwork, which also still needs to see the light of day…

Thank you, Indigo Spider, for being a kindred soul, virtual blogging friend and continuous source of inspiration and support!

Enjoy watching the short video!

PS. I miss the warm summer nights of Windhoek, when I can be outside and play like this forever.

Imke Rust – Wieviel Namibia steckt in ihrer Kunst?

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Imke Rust – How much Namibia can be found in her art?

Last Tuesday was one of those nervously exciting days… I have been invited for an hour-long interview on Deutschlandradio Kultur. The interview forms part of a series called ‘Im Gespräch’ – I would translate it as ‘In Conversation’. Interesting and inspiring people from many different backgrounds are invited to share their thoughts and experiences during these interviews.

Imke Rust busy making the SubRosa Artwork. Photo by Steffen Holzkamp (c)

I felt so honoured and grateful that they have invited me! And at the same time, I realised how big this is, and how much I want to make it count and how scared I am of me messing it up.

Even though I have talked publicly before and believe that I am usually faring quite well, nevertheless I still get nervous as hell. Fortunately the preparations team was super and the interviewer, Britta Bürger, was awesome and I felt safe and welcome.

Once my nervous coughing subsided and we were on-air the time passed so quickly. Before I knew it we were done. It felt as if I woke up from a dream, but have totally forgotten what it was about, except for a faint, very vague memory.

I only arrived home late that evening after a busy day in town. When I switched on my computer, I was overwhelmed to see so many emails of friends and strangers congratulating me and commenting on the interview. I was even more overwhelmed to see that almost 400 people have visited my webpage and clicked through many different pages. Wow – this was an absolute sky-rocketing record for me.

I am so grateful that people have listened to my interview and felt it was interesting enough to find out more on my webpage. Thank you!

For everybody who missed it, if you are curious to hear me talking about my background, Namibia and my art, you can still listen to it on the archive page of Deutschlandradio Kultur, by clicking on the link below. Sorry, once again this is only in German without any translation.

I have had several requests to have my webpage and blog in German. Strangely my German writing is not as fluent, even though it is my mother-tongue. And as much as I wish I could share everything in German too, I just do not have the time to translate it myself or the money to pay for somebody to do it for me. Maybe one day I can change that!

Ok, here is the intro to the interview.

Die Namibierin Imke Rust steckt schwarze Rosen in die Wüste, klebt Regenwolken auf Felsen und lässt Plastik-Goldfische in Eis-Bächen schwimmen. Häufig sind es symbolische Kunstprojekte, mit denen die Künstlerin vor der massiven Umweltzerstörung warnt, die Namibia durch Uran- und Phosphatabbau droht. Sie ist die Nachfahrin einer weißen Missionarsfamilie, die in das damalige Deutsch-Südwestafrika auswanderte.

Click here to read more and listen to the interview.

Klick hier um weiterzulesen und das Interview zu hören.

We are talking more about this artwork: Coat of Arms by Imke Rust

We are talking more about this artwork during the interview: Coat of Arms by Imke Rust

Pendlerin zwischen den Welten – Commuter Between Worlds

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Excitement!!!

Some time ago I was contacted by a journalist who likes my art and wanted to interview me for an article in the magazin ‘afrikapost – Magazin für Politik, Wirtschaft und Kultur’. I agreed, although I have to admit that I was so nervous and almost said no.

Now the article is published and I am so grateful for a wonderfully written portrait of my art and me. Thank you, Tobias Döpker, editor of the Mannheimer Morgen Newspaper for taking the time and interest and for summing up the long interview in a perfect way!

So writing today’s post is made very easy for me, as I have the kind permission to share the article with you! Unfortunately for all my English-speaking readers, the article is in German. I am afraid you will miss out this time. I am sorry about that!

But, according to my site statistics the German readership of my blog and webpage has increased tremendously in the past two years and is actually leading in numbers, so here is a small special gift to all of you who are fluent in the German language. 🙂 Viel Spass beim lesen!

Please click on the image to be taken to a readable PDF version.

Magazin spread of the article in the Afrikapost Magazin (2/2014/Juni)

I hope you enjoyed the article! I would love to hear your thoughts about it!

Rainmaking Experiment #3

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Notes – Rainmaker Experiment #3:

Finding the rain inside of me

23/01/13 – Farm Otukaru, Namibia

A hot day – dry earth, clouds on the distant horizon and an empty dam. Ideal to start this experiment.

Be.
Rain.
Have the intention.
Imagine.

Have fun.
Lighthearted play.

Notice.
The bringer of rain.
The wind.
Swaying my body.

Recognize it everywhere I look.
My blue toenails like large water drops.
The butterflies…
The clouds on the distant horizon.

Blue raindrop nails and butterflys attracted by them...

Blue raindrop nails and butterflies attracted by them…

Feel the heat.
Be grateful for it.

Touch a tree. Climb it.
Touch the earth. Caress it.

On my favourite tree – in awe how they survive through so much dryness and still have grey-green leaves.

Looking down at the earth…

Touch water. Play with it.
Throw it into the air to create drops.

Happiness.

Throwing water drops…

Use my fingers, dipped into water
To paint raining clouds on rusted surfaces.

Drawing water

Rain cloud painted with water on a rusted drum. drying quickly.

Use a stick to draw a raining cloud
On the dry sandy road.

Believe.

Rain cloud drawn onto dry earth with a stick

Notice how I sweat.
Being in touch with my own wetness.
Be grateful for the water inside of me.
Pouring out.

Take a cold shower,
A cool, wet relief.
Closing my eyes,
Imagining the cold water as rain on my skin.
More gratefulness.

Drops start falling outside.
Finally.
Rain.

Finally it is raining

Today it is raining in Berlin. The rain reminded me of my rainmaking experiments in Namibia. I always wanted to share the notes and pics I have made of this experiment, but the time never felt right. So, sitting with a grey sky and the sound of rain outside of my window, I am enjoying the memories of some time gone by and sharing them with you!

This also links up nicely to my previous post about rituals, explaining how the ancient rainmaker or shaman would connect with the spirit of the rain through a ritual.

Today I am grateful for the rain and joyously breathe in the fresh, wet air!

About Abundance

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Do you ever long for more abundance in your life?
I do.

Imke Rust Tree Glow
When I struggle with really grasping a concept, really feeling its truth in my body, then I try to look at it from different and unusual angles. Usually I stumble onto something that helps me to understand.

In this case, I looked at it in two different ways:
I looked at the word.
And I looked at my environment.

Abundance.
Abound dance
Ab bound dance ab(away from) latin
Away from – being bound
Bound by what?
Spellbound?
Bound by the spell of scarcity.
So dance away from the scarcity spell!

Good Riddance!

Long ago somebody told me that the phrase of ‘Good Riddance’ actually stems from an old tradition of dancing when something has left your life or you want to get rid of something: a good rid-dance.

So dancing to break the spell and bring abundance into your life and dancing to rid yourself of things that you do not want in your life anymore…
So let’s dance and keep dancing!

In German it is called Überfluss.
In a way it is very similar and gives additional clues.
Keep flowing.
In the flow.
Over flow – move flowing-ly. Dance. Water. Move.

And then I have looked at the environment.

I grew up in a desert environment.
Desert is THE epitome of scarcity.
Of death, starving, limits, dryness…
Of barely surviving.
Backing down to the barest minimum.

Now I am in a lusher environment.
With forests nearby.
Forests are THE epitome of abundant life.
Of life, growth, exuberance, lush-ness, humidity, flow.

So lets dance the forest…

Dancing up a forest (Imke Rust)

I have to admit, that I have written this several weeks ago, and just found it yesterday and decided to finally share it. Mostly to try to cheer myself up, to rid myself from my fears, from the pain that is keeping my body from dancing and my soul from believing in abundance…

The following would be a truer depiction of my current state:

Detail of a painting (Acrylic on Canvas, Imke Rust)

I guess sometimes, we need to entertain the words, thoughts and images of a more positive state of being to try to get us back into that state. 🙂

Wishing you a beautiful, overflowing and abundant weekend!

Falling in Love With the Unknown

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Cherry Blossoms Close-up

On Easter morning we went for a cycle trip, when we noticed that the street was lined with thousands of pink flowers. More leaves were floating down from the pink blooming cherry trees with every new breeze. What a beautiful view!

A lady was watching from the window ( I heard that this used to be regarded as the favourite pastime of Germans for many years, before TV took over), as we stopped and started to pick up hands full of these fresh blossoms and packing them into my shopping bag. Curious about our actions, she asked, what we plan to do with it and was not too impressed when I told her that I do not know.

I really did not know. I just knew they were pretty, they were abundant and available and easy to collect. And I knew I would find something to do with it…

For two days I just did not have the time to even think about it. On the third, I knew the time is running out, as the petals will start to rot. I enjoyed watching the petals float from the trees, so I thought lots and lots of floating petals would be something fun to film.

Fortunately my husband and his daughter had a bit of time and were willing to assist me on the very vague idea and so off we went with some cameras, the buckets of petals and – in the last moment I thought of taking along our mirror as a large round shape.

The vague idea turned into a bit of frustration, as we tried to find a way of doing it and make it look good. Look good for me from an artist point of view and look good for my husband who is the expert in filming. But the beauty of creativity and working with what you have, is that if one idea does not work out, there are millions of possible alternatives. And there is always something one can do.

Maybe it is not the grandest of projects or delivers the most spectacular results, but we sure had lots of creative fun, excellent teamwork and a great time together. There might be a short video one day and there are some photos.

And we brought some excitement and beauty to the life of some people and dogs who passed by ‘a woman in a tree playing cherry blossom fairy’…

Being the cherry blossom fairy sprinkler

Alarmed dog who was not allowed to investigate

The camera crew seen from up the tree

Creative assistants having fun

View from the tree: My favourite image…

Displaced mirror with petals

Finished Work: Spring Circle

Leopard Sighting in the Forest

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Once again I have swopped the warm African sun for the cold, dark and wet winter in Germany.

As a reminder of the creative fun that can be had in the cold I decided to share with you a little sketch I did on an outing to our favourite forest last year.

There were lots of frozen puddles of water and I liked how clear they were, like solid three-dimensional piece of nature art. Feeling a bit homesick I instinctively decided to add some African imagery to it. Maybe something like rock-art on ice?

I happened to have a white Tippex marker with me and started to draw a kudu. I was moderately happy with that. So a bit further away I started again, drawing a person, thinking this might turn into a traditional hunting scene.

Kudu and man on ice in the forest

The lines I drew dissolved and moved in weird ways on the ice surface, so I did not have much control, and thought adding a bow and arrow would totally mess it up. I felt awkward and unhappy with both figures. It needed something interesting to happen to save it…

Along came the leopard.

Leopard and man on ice in the forest

Interestingly the leopard started to chase the person and not the kudu, who was watching from a safe distance.

Unfortunately I cannot tell you how the story ended, as it got so cold, that I rather put on my gloves again and walked on.

Last view of the scene with the leopard chasing the man into the distance

Wishing you a happy and playful week and the perfect weather for your creative expressions!

Imke

How to deal with shit in 2014

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2013 has been a transformative, beautiful and challenging year and I hope that you too can look back with gratitude for its blessings.

Here is to wishing you a
spectacular, happy, loving, healthy and abundant 2014.

Even with the best wishes, each year we will have some challenges to deal with. We have prepared a fun video message for you on
how to best handle life when it gets rough.

(duration: 1:45min – watch it till the end!).

We hope you enjoy it!

Please feel free to share it with your friends and family, too. We would also love to hear your comments 🙂

Sending you lots of love and happiness, Imke

Imke Rust

Interdisciplinary Artist

Category Archives: Land Art

Autumnal Equinox

Yesterday I realised that we have just passed the autumnal equinox…

Walking Through the Night Sky

But, do you ever walk through the night sky? Touch the stars with your toes and breathe in the darkness of the universe?

It is soft and bouncy. Just me on my journey through the stars which sometimes tickle the soles of my feet, when I pay close enough attention…

Pendlerin zwischen den Welten – Commuter Between Worlds

Falling in Love With the Unknown

I really did not know. I just knew they were pretty, they were abundant and available and easy to collect. And I knew I would find something to do with it…

And we brought some excitement and beauty to the life of some people and dogs who passed by ‘a woman in a tree playing cherry blossom fairy’…

Leopard Sighting in the Forest

As a reminder of the creative fun that can be had in the cold I decided to share with you a little sketch I did on an outing to our favourite forest last year.

Along came the leopard.

How to deal with shit in 2014

Here is to wishing you a
spectacular, happy, loving, healthy and abundant 2014.

Even with the best wishes, each year we will have some challenges to deal with. We have prepared a fun video message for you on
how to best handle life when it gets rough.

Last days of summer

Yesterday I realised that we have just passed the autumnal equinox…

But, do you ever walk through the night sky? Touch the stars with your toes and breathe in the darkness of the universe?

It is soft and bouncy. Just me on my journey through the stars which sometimes tickle the soles of my feet, when I pay close enough attention…

Imke Rust – How much Namibia can be found in her art?

Finding the rain inside of me

Drops start falling outside. Finally. Rain.

Do you ever long for more abundance in your life? I do.

Good Riddance!

And then I have looked at the environment.

I really did not know. I just knew they were pretty, they were abundant and available and easy to collect. And I knew I would find something to do with it…

And we brought some excitement and beauty to the life of some people and dogs who passed by ‘a woman in a tree playing cherry blossom fairy’…

As a reminder of the creative fun that can be had in the cold I decided to share with you a little sketch I did on an outing to our favourite forest last year.

Along came the leopard.

Here is to wishing you a spectacular, happy, loving, healthy and abundant 2014.

Even with the best wishes, each year we will have some challenges to deal with. We have prepared a fun video message for you on how to best handle life when it gets rough.

Drops start falling outside.
Finally.
Rain.

Do you ever long for more abundance in your life?
I do.

Here is to wishing you a
spectacular, happy, loving, healthy and abundant 2014.

Even with the best wishes, each year we will have some challenges to deal with. We have prepared a fun video message for you on
how to best handle life when it gets rough.