Thanks for visiting. This site is currently getting redesigned and things are a little messy. If you are looking for something and can’t find it, please email Jason at jason@knowingtrees.com . He’ll do his best to be helpful!
“It’s funny to think of myself as a person who is old enough to reflect on some good times.”
Jonas Friddle
Jonas Friddle joins Getting to Know Trees to talk with Jason about how the good times of the past inspired his new collection of songs, Jug Band Happy Hour. Visit jonasfriddle.com to pick up the recording and to learn about his album release show, Feb. 5, 2023 at Space in Evanston.
The sweet moments in this video took place on June 5, 2021. Toro was one of my dearest companions and rest teachers. Can I sing you to Sleep? was inspired by and written in a workshop guided by Octavia Raheem.
Amongst all the layers in the world that might have you feel and do otherwise…
May you feel loved.
May you find rest.
May you experience moments of ease.
May you sing.
Maria McCullough (she/they) loves to share and explore with others through music, movement, laughter, love and rest. Maria is grateful to be living on Tiwa Land/Tewa land in so-called Albuquerque, NM and is at the beginning of a relationship-building journey with the land and beings here.You can contact Maria and learn more about her offerings here.
One of my music students, Elijah, has offered some music inspired by this time of giving and receiving. Present Time! is Elijah’s musical take on the excitement of opening Christmas presents. Enjoy!
Elijah is in the 7th grade, and has been playing guitar for 4 years. He likes seals and loves to go ziplining.
He has been writing songs with his guitar for 3 years and has been composing with standard notation for one month.
Help a loved one (and/or yourself) start 2023 off with some music!
Contact Jason at 773-369-8268 or jason@knowingtrees to discuss some options. He can work with your budget and schedule!
It’s been three years since I left my home of the previous 25 years and drove this Uhaul trailer into the great unknown.
During that time, as I laid my head down on my pillow, I heard the roaring wind and crashing waves on the Lake Superior coast and the sand-filled gales and coyotes howl in the foothills of the Chihuahuan Desert.
The winds of change have been heaving me along the highway for a long time. Now, it’s time to settle back down.
A few weeks ago I was packing up another Uhaul to make a move which I know would bring me to a lull in the vigorous wind gusts. My friend, Kevin Burrows, wrote a short piece on social media which summed up exactly how I am feeling, as the winds die down and I settle into my new home.
I am honored that he agreed to allow me to share it with you.
Where have you been blown from? Where did you get blown to? Did you find a soft place to land?
I landed in a soft place when I was born into my mother’s Sanchez family: A wonderful group of human beings; loving, humorous, alive!
Since I carry them all in my heart I am always in a soft place….
Today, I am honored and humbled to offer for sale pieces from my Listening Wide-Eyed: Limited-Sight Contour Drawings of Musical Instruments series. Between now and early July 10, 2022 you can purchase a piece of one-of-a-kind artwork made specifically for you or a loved one.
The Listening Wide-Eyed series is an outgrowth of my visual art, musical and mindfulness practices. Each one-of-a-kind piece from Listening Wide-Eyed is created through a limited-sight process, where I make a drawing on a sheet of bristol board without taking my eyes off the subject. I don’t look at the board until I am done drawing. Within the messiness, the structural knowledge and spiritual essence of each instruments expands.
Each drawing is a made-to-order, one-of-a-kind piece of visual art. They are created with wax pencil and bristol board. Each purchaser is invited to customize their piece, in regards to which instrument, the use of color and matting. There are also options specific to gifting one of these drawings to a loved one.
This process started as a way to strengthen my visual record abilities. As my practice bloomed, this limited goal fell away and the drawing practice engendered more connections between the parts and the whole of both the instruments and myself. How do we move? Where are we sturdy? Where are we delicate? How do those and other qualities affect our presentation to and relationships with others? Considering these questions allowed me to hold and play each instrument in a more open, inviting way.
We see and hear ourselves, and others, every day. I hope having these drawings in our living space, practice room, or at a family dining table prompt us to notice moments when we are making assumptions about what we know about both ourselves and others. I hope that they can act as a guide to remain open, curious and to foster connections in musical spaces and all other relationships.
This round of sales does end on July 10, 2022.
Order form for Listening Wide-Eyed: Limited-Sight Contour Drawings of Musical Instruments
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