Why Green?

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage."
- Anais Nin

I get asked this question a lot, especially by people who knew me before I started coloring my hair green, about a year ago. The short answer is, "to look different." The long answer is at: http://claudiam.com/AboutMe/GreenNewYear.htm

In 2001 I painted this painting called "Breaking Free." (More about this painting at: http://claudiam.com/Paintings/DetailPages/DetailBreakingFree.htm ) At the time, I had just decided to go against the advice of everyone around me and stop pursuing my engineering management career to pursue full time what I have always wanted to do - my art. I had been painting seriously all of my adult life, and twice before I took time off between jobs to pursue my art full time, but I had dropped all of the leads since the last time and I knew I would be starting cold. But by the time I painted this, I knew I was going to go for it, for as long as humanly possible.

I must admit, management paid better, but I love what I'm doing right now, and I know I will always have what I create this way. No one (except myself) can cancel a project mid-stream and throw my work away. And four years later, here I am, still at it, putting my art on cards: http://www.claudiampublications.com/

These days, my advice to anyone who asks is, "pursue your dream" and/or "be yourself." Life's not long enough to do both that and what others prescribe. I feel lucky to know what my dream is, and even more so to be able to pursue it.

- Claudia

Green Hair at the 9/11 Site

"Dissent is the highest form of patriotism."
- Thomas Jefferson

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."
- Theodore Roosevelt

I got those two quotes from an art exhibit in downtown Manhattan that I saw after visiting the 9/11 site with two friends. The exhibit, "A Knock at the Door," was on view at the South Street Seaport Museum from September 8th to October 1st, 2005, and was organized by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. It showed some artists' reactions to the post-9/11 world. It included a pile of rubbish left behind after the terrorist taskforce harassed an artist for several weeks for working with biological material (a large pile mostly of pizza boxes and gatorade bottles). But my favorite was a straight jacket made from an American flag called "The (Un)Patriot Act."

It was a welcome change of perspective after I got one very nasty look from a woman at the 9/11 site, which I can only attibute to my green hair. As if my hair somehow dishonored the tragedy. But in reality, my defiant hair color honors freedom. When I read about oppressive cultures, it make me appreciate the freedom I have here even more, including the freedom to adopt a totally unnatural hair color.

Here's a photo of me and my friend Brecht at the 9/11 site, photo by Eric Pivnik, my friend who suggested visiting this site in the first place.

Now does that look threatening to you?

- Claudia
www.claudiam.com