Author: Deb Koffman

These cardboard costumes (and accompanying song) became a little performance piece.  These are my friends from my ‘authentic movement’ women’s group.  You can watch the youtube video.  You can also see more pictures in my Don’t Stare It’s Not Nice book.

Everybody needs a safe place to just sing their heart out….I made this out of a recycled refrigerator box and acrylic paint.  I displayed booth in gallery, people had fun singing from the inside and out.

There are so many ways to respond to life…to thoughts, behaviors, feelings, words.
Why do we choose just one way?  And which way should we choose???   The right way? The best way? A different way? The easy way?  A difficult way?  My mother’s way?  My way?  Your way?  No way?
This cardboard installation can be arranged and rearranged in any number of ways!

 

I always have a choice.  email deb to order a spinning wheel.  $475 plus shipping.  Made of plywood and acrylic paint, really spins!  Approx 2’x2’ish.

I need to hear, and see words that encourage my well-being, lift my spirits and open my heart.  These do that for me. I made them big so they would fill the space around me and I could hear them LOUD AND CLEAR.

There are other words I hear (inside and outside myself) that aren’t so encouraging.  I know they only encourage suffering because  they deaden me, make me feel depressed, anxious, worthless, ‘stupid’.   I don’t need to hear them any bigger or louder, but I do find it useful to feel, and see the difference between them.

The interesting thing is that I have a choice which words to pay attention to.  There are people and places and voices that support my well-being.  It seems  essential to surround myself with those voices.

You can order this print as a reminder for your well-being.

I often see the world…people, places, situations, filled with anger, violence, resentment, fear.  I noticed that as I was seeing and hearing these qualities I was influenced by them, and becoming angry, resentful, afraid.

I was feeling more and more depressed with this view and thought “wow, this isn’t working”, so my artist self kicked in…

I wondered what the world be like if it were filled with joy and love and kindness and patience.

I imagined that as I observed these qualities, I would be nourished by them.   And as I was nourished by them, I would become more joyful, loving, kind and patient.

The practice of filling my life, body and mind with what feeds my soul seems a useful and good thing for me and for the world I live in.

I can fill myself with anger, worry, fear, judgments or I can choose humor, humility, respect, love. What I fill my mind, my body, my life with is my choice.

There are several prints that offer instant joy and clarity!

Whisper your wish…and then set it free.  This is my brother, Marty, demonstrating how the booth works.

I think it’s so important to have a safe place to complain. Something miraculous happens when I complain consciously…I discover what I really need.  Then I can ask for it.  This is my brother Marty(who never complains! trying out the complaint booth).  Made from a recycled refrigerator box and acrylic paint.

This cardboard installation of sitting buddhas speaks to my need to remember that I can simply sit with my feelings.  Hold them, be with them, not judge them.  They are all equal, no one better or worse.  Just different.  All worth experiencing.

My book Don’t Stare It’s Not Nice has more to say about this piece.  And several prints and cards that offer a simple reminders.

Order this print.

These doors are a reminder that my feelings  and needs matter.  I need a space, a place, time to be with them, experience them.

Anger is as valuable as dreaming, as valuable as making mistakes, as valuable as not knowing.  Being with them shows me what they have to offer me.  They each serve me in some way.

I can’t always be ‘perfect’ and ‘certain’ and ‘happy’.  For me, being a functional, resourceful, creative human being means accepting, respecting, making room for all parts of me.

These doors are part of larger installation of 15 doors that I photographed and photoshopped so I could put it in this context.

You can order the print as a gentle reminder.

This cardboard and acrylic piece is a reminder that every moment is precious, interesting, worth feeling, worth knowing.  The  sad, painful, difficult ones as well as the funny, sweet, remarkable moments.

These are performers at IWOW having their unique moments!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can order a collected moments print as a lovely reminder to value all the moments of your life.

 

I have often thought about death and how I want to live my life.   What really matters?  What nourishes my heart and soul?  This series made me laugh, and some of the headstones touched my heart.  They are made of cardboard, and the ones placed in the graveyard are photoshopped in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Order the print for a gentle reminder of what might really matter…