Some of my ART so far (1991-2011)...

- Victoria (BC, Canada) – Nov 2, 2011, 11:02 pm –

Visit My Art Gallery & Store. Or go straight to My Art Store (on Zazzle) ’In the Arts Paradise’ for Greetings Cards, Posters, and more. Your support is greatly appreciated!

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My intention is to put living in a healthy creative flow at the center of my life, and make the result part of how I sustain myself. At some point, it is likely that I’ll offer cards and other reproductions here (online).

All originals are for sale if I still have ‘m, unless otherwise indicated (see PAGE for availability). If any particular piece interests you, CONTACT MEl.

>> My Art <<

(Chronological - most recent at the top - if it was already posted on this blog, you can then (last 5 paintings) click-through the image to the original posting, which may offer additional information and images).

2011:

‘Shamanic Journey’ – acrylic on canvas – 30″ x 40″ – © Michaël Van Broekhoven – 2011.

2010:

2009:

In the works for many years prior, by spring 2009, I finished my “mostly autobiographical book”, “ The Odyssey of RISING GROUND – A Warrior’s Journey Beyond Struggle ”.

Independently self-published “under the radar”, onto 100% Tree-Free HEMP Paper, and bound into a beautiful 8.5” x 11”, 300+ page paperback, including over 50 interior b&w images… It was one of a kind art piece of sorts. The first edition (1 test run, 41 copies with a color section, and 32 just all b&w, sold out immediately, almost all to friends and family, starting at $30, with the final copies going for $155).

In “Rising Ground”, I quote from my diary and correspondence, detailing my journey into the Earth First! movement, involvement with Julia Butterfly’s world-famous ‘Luna Treesit’ and being a front-line riot medic during the tumultuous anti-WTO protests in Seattle in 1999. After I describe my brutal arrest and torturous detention by Prague police, you get a peek inside a broken mind plunging into a full-on PTSD-induced ‘psychosis,’ grueling psychiatric hospitalizations and all. The later end of the book deals with my challenges of intensive practice and study of Shambhala-Buddhism and shamanic energy healing, both of which opened me up to a whole new paradigm of empowerment beyond struggle. A chunk of that delves into my struggle with organized religion. It ends with some perspectives from my training in Peruvian shamanic energy healing. It is detailed, sometimes even tedious, packed with chronicled personal reflections. Some fellow truth-seeking journeyers enjoyed it a lot, so they told me.

But it was hard work, and very therapeutic at that. I merely broke even on the project. Sadly, it even cost me a job: a renowned Buddhist scholar/yogi (whom I studied, practiced and/or sometimes worked with for 8 years) barred me from working again at his annual winter meditation retreat months after receiving a free copy. He was reportedly ‘offended’ by it, yet later admitted never actually having read it. This experience put the re-editing and for-all-public publication to the back burner.

Journey Beyond Violence – Artwork I designed for the cover of my semi-autobiographical book, “The Odyssey of RISING GROUND – a Warrior’s Journey Beyond Struggle”, 2009 (self-published under the radar, 75 copies only, 2009) © Michaël Van Broekhoven, 2009. [electronic file, based on paintings and collage scans]

2008:

One of my favorite temporary homes, an Ancient Redwood in Northern California, even kept me dry during heavy rain. Photo by friend in 2006.

From 2002 through 2007:

“The art of living unconventionally on less than $7k/year”.

Mixed with odd jobs, I lived “semi-nomadically” in mostly Northern California, with dozens of camp sites, couches and even hollow trees as temporary homes. The experiment was interesting, but not stable enough to create much art, I found.

2001

Art from my Radical Activist Era (1995-2000)

–> The poem by Julia Butterfly Hill, is included in her 2011 poetry collection, “Becoming: Pictures, Poems, and Stories”, see her blog for more: http://juliabutterflyhill.wordpress.com/