THE BEGINNINGS OF PSYCHEDELIC ART

The “big Five” San Francisco poster artists Lto R Alton Kelly, Victor moscosso, Rick Griffin, Wes Wilson, Stanley Mouse. Photo by Bob Seidemann

Where would psychedelic music be without the art that accompanied the sound of visual experiences that represented the spirit of the times from then until now and into the future, forever!

When you think about psychedelic music do you not automatically think about the art that accompanied and enhanced the experience?  It is probably the time around 1966 to 1971 when the San Francisco Music Poster had its impact in the arena of graphic art.  This resulted in all sorts of posters, handbills and flyers advertising rock concerts.

Bill Graham,  who promoted concerts at the Fillmore Auditorium,  Winterland and a dance hall he renamed The Fillmore West  along with Chet Helms, who headed  an organization called The Family Dog, were influential in having art posters that “rocked the world” to help promote their shows.

At this time there were a handful of San Francisco artists that were commissioned to produce much of this art work.  The had become known as THE BIG FIVE.  They included Wes Wilson, Alton Kelly, Stanley Mouse, Victor Moscoso, Rick Griffin.  Their influences were that of the masters in the Art Nouveau moment  In addition, Mouse and Kelly had some expertise in advertising art.They founded the Berkely-Bonaparte distribution agency to produce and sell psychedelic poster art.

Outside of Moscoso, who taught lithography, the artists had no formal training in printing techniques   and it was the wonderful pressmen of firms like Tea Lautrec Lito and West Coast Litho  that helped to produce the art work we have come to love and recognize.

Further Blogs are being written about each of the artists…keep in touch

THINK PINK WHEN YOU THINK SPRING BEADS

Seth and I have had a passion for beads almost our entire lives.  Beads of all kinds from all over the world.  It was a natural for us to add an extensive bead collection into the equation when we started to formulate what we wished to showcase in our store.  The Woodstock/hippie phenomenon certainly included art music and crafts.  What would the 60’s be without love beads.

Our interest spurred us on and we not only collected beads for our store from every corner of the world and type but to make beads of our own.  We have become lamp workers and have and have slaved over our torches to produce hand blown beads for Woodstock Trading Company.
The key words for pink are love, passion, romance, purity, kindness, power, tolerance, compassion courage, loyalty, faithfulness, happiness, protection and softness.

My thoughts today have turned to spring colors and one of the most interesting colors to use in the torch is pink.  One of the major colorant for pink glass is erbium for light transparent pinks.  Neodymium can be used for purple pinks.  The most famous is the use of Gold in glass to produce that cranberry pink called “gold ruby” However they are hard to use in the flame and must be heated very gently or they “pop”  Seth who usually sits to my left when we blow glass can tell you, mom has not patience and very often sends particles of beautiful pink glass every which way.

The meaning of the color pink (4^th chakra) and an air element is the universal color of love.  Emotional love of self and others,   It is a color of friendship, affection, harmony  and inner peace.
We have brought in a large supply of natural stones both polished and rough for wire wrapping or other uses.  Pink stones are calming, soothing, relaxing.  They attract increases in love for yourself, family and friends.

Pink stones include pink agate, rhodochrosite, pink tourmaline,  rose quartz, rhodonite.

Smudging 2

Before you take any action with this strong and powerful ritual, consider your intention.

Keep this thought clearly in your mind.  Smudging should be done with care and reverence along with a positive attitude and that of love.

The flame from a candle is recommended to light the smudge that the bundle starts to smoke.  If there is a flame blow it out so that the smudge bundle is smoldering and not burning.   When smudging a room, after the bundle is smoking, you walk around the perimeter of the room.  Give special attention to the corners and the places behind doors.  You can also fan the smoke through the room with a large smudge feather.  If you wish, you may state a payer of gratitude  for the cleansing and keep in mind your intention of removing negativity during the ritual,

Many people like to break off loose leaves and a candle may be used for them as well.  In the very near future, Dr. Seth will have, along with the wonderful hand-made ceramic incense burners, smudge pots for the use of Smudging rituals.

SMUDGING blog 1

Over the years I have sold many bundles of sage and for the most part my customers knew what it was that they wanted to do with it and how they would and why they would “smudge” their environment.  It has come to my attention that there is an interest in this activity.  I will give some information and I am not professing to say these are the total of reasons and/ or activities of this technique.  It is just a small taste of a ritual that is many centuries old and used in many different ways with different herbs.

At Woodstock, we have provided Sage for most of our customers Smudging techniques.  Smudging is the name given to the cleansing technique from Native American.  This tradition of burning herbs for emotional, psychical and spiritual cleansing is practiced among many religious, healing and spiritual traditions.  It is a ceremonial way to cleanse a person, place or object of negative energies.
Smudging can be helpful for when you feel depressed, angry, and/or restful,  You can smudge your home, work space or crystals to remove negative energy.

In blog Smudging blog 2 I will talk about how to perform a smudging technique