To view the complete interview with Ivy , please go to www.vimeo.com/242006462
This is how I reach Ivy –
I have an idea and I begin to engage with it. It begins to grow shape and then morph, picking up speed and expanding in all directions. It dictates all actions and decisions as it gets larger than myself as I previously identified as myself, I’m growing with it is all the ways I cannot predict, this is creation and this is my definition of work.
I make lists and I plot and begin to hatch. A mega storm of connecting thoughts and actions somehow link and often sync, and then this shape begins to actually take shape and momentum is achieved.
This is a foundation and its time to build the visible structure, here I go!
The Nature Of Refuge is my aero plane, my sweet flight, I’ve begun, I’m on the road and I’m catching the wind in my teeth.
I am now on my quest to find the women who will connect with me and tell me their stories of refuge and search for safety. I have yet to conduct my first interview and I am ready to begin.
Reno, Nevada. Little weird town. It made me laugh in delight from the first moment I drove in while being guided to my friend’s house through the Google Lady and she took me into downtown where Circus! Circus! was all lit up in gaudy splendor against all the other shabby spangle that is Reno’s gambling mecca.
I am here to go to church, that is my plan.
In my idea structure, I’ve seen myself initially meeting the women that I interview in church that I will engage in this project; reaching across the aisle so to speak and shaking hands,
“Hey Human, how are you?”
I see myself meeting women in all kinds of environments but this is a door I could see opening and walking through first, so that’s what I had in mind for Reno.
But of course life and work and that creative spark always presents itself much more immediately than an idea and the trick is to recognize the moment and jump through the hoop of opportunity, flexible and landing in the middle of juicy interaction.
And that’s exactly what happened.
I met Ivy Antonowitsch at the end of an evening touring artist studios in this cool, big old building with a dear friend who was introducing me to new friends. We were having fun exploring different creative environments and then to a little punk rock show in the gallery on the ground floor where the only one who was dancing was this fabulous gentleman who had levitated himself out of his wheelchair and was seriously getting down.
I had seen a sign earlier in the evening advertising glitter tattoos on the 4th floor and though the evening had wound down I really wanted one, so we went to investigate. Elevator door opens, hook to the right, an amazing pink scooter covered in pinup girl decoupage, bumpy brightly colored art pieces hung on all the wall space leading to a door, a sign for glitter tattoos – yes! New friend and I knock on the door that says “Ivy and Henry”, we try various knocking styles that we hope to entice the Glitter Tattoo lady back out for the evening, the third one works, the door opens and there stands Ivy, she just woke up but she invites us in.
Gracious and welcoming for the start, Ivy leads us through her fantastical landscape of her home, she is a multi-media artist and her home is her canvas, an environmental artist consecrating her chosen sanctuary. As Ivy is giving me the most beautiful rainbow hued mermaid glitter tattoo, she is telling me an extraordinary story of spontaneous violence that erupted in her and her partner Henry’s life the year previous and the subsequent suffering that their life had been consumed by since. Heartbreaking, intense, extreme vulnerability, epic storytelling from the get go, Ivy spoke her heart all the while continuing to paint the sparkly mermaid on my arm.
Another new friend calls out across the room,
“Sara, you should interview Ivy!”
I hadn’t been thinking along those lines because of my preconceived idea-notions, but in a flash, my idea-structure shifted, adapted to the scenario presenting itself and this woman sitting next to me in her fabulous pin striped gown painting glitter on my arm, and I said,
“Yes, that’s a great idea, Ivy what do you think?”
Ivy thinks it’s a great idea too, she again is so gracious and open, agrees to an interview and portrait the next afternoon and being my first voice in my project, I’m excited!
I arrive the next day and the connection and conversation and photography is all I could have hoped for, golden and rich and true. I’d like for the video of our conversation to speak for itself, but I also would like to write my impression of Ivy here because she commands my attention with all that she is.
Ivy is: eloquent, strong, alone, brave, scared, tired, wise, direct, independent, in love.
To view the complete video with Ivy, please go to vimeo.com/242006462
Here is a woman who had known pain and the truth that is waiting to be gleaned from those brave enough to exist in the fire and open their eyes and see the truth that surrounds us all. Pain being the most direct teacher, the brightest illumination.
This is Ivy Antonowitsch, she is from Reno, Nevada and she is a multi-media artist. Ivy is a brave, resilient American woman and I thank her here from sharing a piece of her amazing story.
This is the nature of refuge.
