ARTISTS SUPPORT ME WITH A VOTE:AS ME OR AS MOTHER TERESA?

SHOULD I GO TO ST PATRICKS CATHEDRAL AS MYSELF OR AS MOTHER TERESA TO SUPPORT THE CATHOLIC NUNS? VOTES FROM ARTIST FRIENDS

Dear Friends.
  I received this letter below and would definately like to go . Cant make all of them. Need your vote. Please advise. Should I go as ME OR AS MOTHER TERESA on Tuesday May 29th, 4:30-6:30 to St Patrick's Cathedral to show my solidarity?
  Im definately going, just dont know how to go...as art or as life. Issue is, can art/life intersect here? Or not?
Not sure what is "appropriate", and dont want the Mother Teresa appearance to be mis-construed or distracting....
You know how things can get! In being more carefull,
Linda ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Dear Friends:
  This message goes out to all concerned Catholics in the metropolitan New York area from Call to Action New York and Voice of the Faithful New York.
Next Tuesday, May 15th, we will STAND WITH THE SISTERS in prayerful vigil outside St. Patrick's Cathedral from 4:30 until 6:30PM. We will repeat our sidewalk vigil on Tuesday, May 22 from 4:30-6:30PM, and again on Tuesday, May 29 at the same time.
At our VOTF NY meeting last night, we agreed to seek to have the mandate against the Leadership Council of Women Religious (LCWR) revoked. In this action, we are joining Catholics across the United States who are gathering throughout the month of May to protest an unjust mandate issued without evidence or pastoral care.
If you are not familiar with the recently announced doctrinal Assessment by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, read about it here. Support the sisters by signing the national petition here. Over 40,000 have already signed. As agreed at our meeting last night, our goals in addition to having the mandate against the LCWR revoked are:
1. Show all nuns across the US that we stand with them,
2. Encourage the clergy to shed their silence and join our prayerful and respectful protest, and
3. Help the people in the pews stand up and find their voice in support of the sisters.

All who are interested can make signs ("Stand with the Sisters" or "We Are ALL Nuns") and meet beneath the Atlas statute on Fifth Avenue directly across from St. Patrick's Cathedral between 49th and 50th Streets in Manhattan. Those who wish can gather at 119 West 23rd Street, 10th Floor, Room 1003, at 3PM on May 15 to make signs here. We will then go up to the Cathedral as a group at 4PM. Help get the word out. Please forward to all your family, friends and mailing list members. Look for more communications in the coming days. This is our opportunity to repay in a small way the sisters who taught us and trained us, for all the love they showed us and the sacrifices they have made.

  NOW IT IS OUR TURN TO SHOW THE SISTERS SOME LOVE.

######################################################################################################################### HERE ARE THE RESPONSES FROM THE ARTISTS WHO SENT IN THEIR VOTE TO THE QUESTION, "SHOULD I GO AS MYSELF OR AS MOTHER TERESA?" I THANK ALL OF THEM FOR THEIR THOUGHTFULL SUPORT OF MY QUESTION AND THEIR ATTENTION TO THIS ISSUE OF JUSTICE, ETHICS AND HONOR. LINDA MARY MONTANO , MAY 2012. ######################################################################################################################### #############################
I cannont believe this is happening! THANK YOU DEAR SIS for supporting them. This is a hard call to go as You or ...as you. Do youn kow any of the sisters yourself? I would ask them and explain your heart wish is to support them. Caterina DeRe ##############################################
Linda, Since Call to Action and Voice of the Faithful are pretty serious stuff, (and there may be Sisters of Life - founded by Mother Teresa there- altho I doubt it) It seems best to go as a lay woman in SOLIDARITY with the nuns. Keep Mother Teresa for those special events where you want her presence to be warmly felt. I VOTE FOR LINDA MONTANO to go as herself . Luv, ARTMOM Sister Maryjane Robertshaw
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I would do this as LIFE not as ART an go as yourself. The context is such that a person making ART while participating could distract from the solidarity of the action. Michael Titus Parkes #################################################
Linda, Thanks for including me on this thread. My two cents... They are doing a protest to call attention to the issues they want the world to see. That's what protest is about basically. Making a stand and getting a message out. When throwing pebble into water (several hundred people at a protest) you want the most ripples (millions of people to know about it.) Question to ask… What would help get the message out? What would make the point?Then they will be thrilled! Photo ops are always very important. I would vote FOR you going as Mother Teresa. Perhaps you can have her holding a sign? Or doing something that makes the point they want to make. (Mother teresa on a cross comes to mind, but that would be a bit much! For sure!) As my Dad wisely told me, "Not everyone is going to like you." Some may be offended. Possibly. Possibly not. But in any case, the vast majority will love you. Why live life trying to make EVERYONE approve? It just doesn't work. On the other hand, there are lots and lots of protests I do not go to at all. I prefer to do some art project, more privately-- in small gallery or something interventionist. Yesterday lots of people protested Bank of America, which can be a cruel company. It is foreclosing dozens of houses in our neighborhood every week. But I did not go. Instead I am producing an "Occupy Bernal Foreclosure Fighter Fiesta Block Party and Good Neighbor Awards Ceremony. More my style. I don't like mass protests. I feel uncomfortable. Its not my way generally. But occasionally can be fun. So if you feel uncomfortable going, don't go! Do it YOUR way. Whatever that is. Like you always tell me, "you will figure it out." Love, Annie Annie Sprinkle #########################################################################
My immediate reaction ...go as YOU the other will be too much of a distraction ........my opinion, Bob Schuler
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LINDA, THERE IS NO QUESTION - MOTHER TERESA. YOU LOOK SO MUCH LIKE HER THAT HER WORSHIPPERS WILL THINK YOU ARE A VISION ! YOUR FRIEND, DIANE TERAMANA #######################################################################
Hi linda, Don’t have a strong sense of which would be best. To err on the side of caution might be best. Love, Joan Joan Apter ######################################################################
Perhaps as Performance it would be not in the spirit of the gathering, but you are the one to know... Josepha Gutielus ########################################################################
GO AS YOURSELF. TO GO AS MOTHER TERESA WILL BE PERCEIVED AS DISRESPECTFUL. IN YOUR HEART, YOU KNOW THE ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION. Steven Kolpan ############################################################################
I wouldn't know what to tell you, Linda, I think it depends on the context, or whether you feel you would be helping by being there as Mother Teresa. My first instinct is..in that context, maybe mis-construable or distracting, my second is, well art is important, but you know that you will be meaningful to be there as yourself--that is art as well. Best of luck, Mira Schor #####################################################################
Go as the mother. Beth Stephens #############################################################
dunno, ask jesus? Paul McMahon ######################################################################
Dear Linda Can not read all the info on this issue in the read about it link but I signed the petition. I think the question of going as Mother Teresa or not is complicated ..It could bring some publicity to the vigil that could be welcomed by the participants if they want that .. and visually impacting the event with your spiritual re enactment perhaps another plus. I just do not know how people would take it . Yes it certainly would be a distraction of sorts but not a bad one, given the location in NYC there are many distractions and I think your intent is to focus attention? Have you included nuns and religious "certified professionals.." in your inquiry as to the art life intersect appropriateness at this event ? I think if you are not sure , perhaps you could go to one event as Linda and get a better read on your concerns. I think your reserve indicates you do not feel totally right with it. Whatever decision you make thus will be the right one for the day.... Hope you are well. Love Marlena Marlena Marallo ###################################################################
Dear Linda, Thanks so for sharing and asking for counsel from friends. I know how you feel, though on a minor scale. That is, when I am going to give a poetry reading. It is the art, the creative work that matters and yet there we are by name. Am not sure if this makes sense, but perhaps begin by being yourself, sharing briefly to those present about why you came, how you believe art communicates (is a communion) between all who are present-- and you wish to offer a blessing in the role of Mother Teresa. Maybe say something about how those who have passed over, our ancestors, are available to each of us as companion spirits to strengthen us (through their gifts) on the journey, give us courage to be in ways on our own we would not consider possible. Before a reading, I'd pray, asking God, the divine, to remind me that my writing is a vocation and I've tried to be faithful. Whether people understand or care about what I've written is not "my job." Go with the flow, I'd say to myself, hide in the poems, they will protect you. And so, Linda, I will be with you in spirit, no matter what you choose to do. Courage and Love, Cookie Carolyn Cook ############################################################################
I say go as you holding a large picture of Mother Teresa...otherwise if you go as Motherr Teresa, you'll be called out as a publicity hound... Tobe Carey #########################################################################
Go as both! Pauline Oliveros #####################################################################
Dear Linda, This is a good problem. I read Dear Abbey all the time and love her advice, so I'm putting on my DA wig and working on an answer to your question. Well, since there's gonna be sign-making/carrying during the protest, the words carried on them will represent the thoughts and feelings of the protesters. You, Linda, have other talents, as highly developed as a few well chosen words, for sure. Your costume or character, in my opinion, would not detract from the protest. I believe it would embellish it. Either way, your voice will be heard; but you can empower the event with your art. Yes, add art to reason and you turn consomme into goulash or visa versa. Good luck, Bart Bart Freidman ########################################################################
Dearest Rosita Life / Art / is the question.... just go is my answer !( congratulations if u read through the 'doctrinal assessment!!! I couldn't really understand it but when I saw 'radical feminism' and 'homosexuality' I guessed the patriarchy were up to no good!! ) I send my support to you & the sisters . seems like time is way overdue for a more enlightened outlook! Elizabeth Cross #########################################################################
Thanks for including me as a friend...sending the pics and in asking for opinions... we all have one. I think it would be too theatrical for the Mother costume. Save it for Halloween. Instead make your statement in a way that is "huge" and with integrity. Have a large button made (or make one yourself) saying what you want to say and wear it on a red hat, white veil or something. Loving you in support xoxox Joan Yushin Loori ##########################################################################
Here are my thoughts... if the protest is advocating that "lay people" can hold banners saying "we all are nuns" then I think the answer is obvious. You need to go as MOTHER...but this can be subtle. If you don't want to be an overt MOTHER T this can be an implicit action. Wear the habit but the attitude can be as "quiet" as need be for your comfort zone. Read the moment in the moment to guide your performance. love you Namaste Victoria Aruna Singh ############################################################################### Either way...you'd surely be seen as Mother Teresa....and if SHE ever had anything to say in support of religious women other than obedience being THE virtue, dressing as Mo. T. would give you a chance to quote her. If not, why bother? I wish I could be there with you... blessings! Beth Bastach #####################################################################
i understand your desire to go as mother theresa but if i were you, i wouldn't. as you said, it might be misconstrued. i think the symbol of mother theresa is loaded. why don't you go as a nun? one of many? . Angelika Rinnhofer #########################################################################
I think the decision should depend on whatever is best for the 'cause' And i wouldn't have an answer to that Is there anyone who could advice you, i.e. re good 'publicity' for the cause or not? I would vote for life. Moira Roth
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Go as Mother Teresa but be prepared for some people to be offended(Doug Hall as JFK at the JFK Museum in Dallis for instance-people were crying). Then meditate on it and learn from the experiences. There's a chance that you'll hurt someone's feelings-although I don't know why but people are offended. Question: Is offending people the same as hurting their feelings? Meditate on that. Dale Hoyt
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My gut reaction is: go as yourself if you intend to blend in to the protest, go as MT if you intend to publicize your attendance as an art event. or... go to the protest as yourself and stage your own protest event as MT.... since you thought of the question I assume that deep down you have doubts about going as MT, so perhaps listen to that... Chris Harvey ##############################################################
Well dear Mother Superior, on the one hand MOTHER TERESA is distracting, but on the other, that's just the point, of all sisters/mothers she must be there to show support. Of course all the old fears and hatred of costumes and theater will be arounsed, but that may not be a bad thing. i vote for MOTHER THERESA. Gabrielle Cody ##################################################################
Hi Linda, We think you should go as yourself to avoid complications of an iconic reference.... Much Love, Carolee Sherry Carolee Schneemann ####################################################################

LINDA MONTANO:EVENTS:PERFORMANCES:WORKSHOPS:VIDEOS

LINDA MARY MONTANO'S EVENTS / PERFORMANCES / WORKSHOPS/ VIDEO




PROGRAM 1

DAD ART: A DOCUMENTARY FILM AND PERFORMANCE


In 1998, I began spending time with my aging father and for the first four years became someone who shopped, helped with his checkbook, and drove him to church; but more importantly, I got to know this incredible man as a friend and not just a father. We began collaborating on a video, with Dad telling his friends how to wave to/talk to the camera, and this became a new way for us to communicate: making art but more importantly life together. In the fourth year everything changed as far as the collaboration went because he had a stroke. The video continued as a lifesaver for something and me that Dad either tolerated or was used to. The camera became not a tool for our communicating but a piece of equipment I could hide in back of to shield myself from the pain of Dad's minute-by-minute decline. My terror and sadness would be masked.
 




During those 3 years when I took care of him 24-7 with many other caregivers, I had no thoughts of making a movie or art or a document: I just wanted to see the experience of Dad's illness from behind the camera, not up close and personal. I could not stand seeing anything with my bare eyes. I taped when he was being fed, bathed, taken to the hospital, when he was dying, when he was dead before being taken to the morgue and the day he was buried. 
 
And like all of us, responding to the death of someone close, I resurrected the film as soon as he died, wanting to see my dad, more and more, wanting the video to bring him back to life. Dad died and a film was born.
 




The resulting film is really a performance of grief and hope. It is not a film separate from my presence but an experience which includes five or more volunteers from the place where it is shown who collaborate with me.
 
I sing 7 songs while playing a piano; a master of ceremonies keeps the piece moving, one or two people give counseling; some give water to the audience; some meditate and one "secretary" collects letters to death form audience members who come 'into' the performance area and dictate their thoughts to the "secretary." There is a processional ending and Q&A. I usually instruct the performers on email and phone and the "costume" is black clothes with an emphasis on totally fabulous hair and great shoes. The resulting collage of all of the components allows for an experience of shared communal grieving.



Time: 3 hours



Equipment Needed:

Capacity for DVD Projection

2 Microphones

Proscenium Stage when possible

Two Tables on State

6-8 Chairs

Spot Lighting on approx 5 stations
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PROGRAM 2

A TERESA OF AVILA MARATHON
 


For years Teresa of Avila has been an important influence on my thinking. She is an incredibly forceful woman who was not only a mystic but also an administrator; I would declare her a performance artist. She is a mentor to me. In 1983, I performed my first Teresa of Avila performance in MT Tremper, NY where I lived in a Zen monastery, and during

14 YEARS OF LIVING ART, she became my guide for the second "Chakra"(1984/1992).



Since returning to the Catholic Church, I have re-contacted my love for her and have watched the Catholic TV channel's version of her life, TERESA OF JESU, an 8-hour docu-drama from Spain that is totally incredible. I would like to perform A TERESA OF AVILA MARATHON. It includes the 8 hours of Spanish film, plus a video I made of my version of her story and then a lecture by both a woman and man theologian who would discuss her life and thinking. Hopefully there would be a Catholic priest present at this performance who would hear confessions and give spiritual counseling to individuals throughout the performance. This event could be an overnight event or a daylong performance. I am available for 8 hours of ART/LIFE COUNSELING throughout the experience. At this time, we are in need of very strong role models who have passed the test of endurance, commitment, and love of Truth. Her life would be a great teaching for all. 




Equipment Needed:

DVD capacity

2 Microphones

chairs and tables
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PROGRAM 3

MOTHER TERESA
 


In the 70's I made videos of myself as many different personas as a way to address identity and the politics of the 70's. (see LEARNING TO TALK, Video Data Bank.) In the 90's I collaborated with Martha Wilson as Hillary Clinton to her Barbara Bush. Most recently, I have performed as Bob Dylan and Mother Teresa, as "endurance". I play a film of Mother Teresa with a pre-recorded sound track and become her for three hours. A Catholic priest would be available for confession and counseling during the performance. I, as Mother Teresa, bless everyone there and the performance becomes a suspension of disbelief and chance to receive her teachings because I honestly look so much like her that people receive her blessing without regret. In this time of irony and scare and fear and craziness, WE ALL NEED ANOTHER MOTHER TERESA VISIT!!!! Q & A to follow the performance.

Equipment Needed:

DVD Capacity

2 Microphones

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PROGRAM 4

LINDA MARY MONTANO'S VIDEOS: OUT OF THE CLOSET
 


My video output has been vast and literally unseen. I make them and store them or they hide away at the Video Data Bank. This event would bring them out of the closet, to be seen in a way that would either be all at once or grouped according to themes/patterns of similarity (death, persona, Catholicism, art/life, autobiography, elders, and documentary).
 For each theme there would be a commentator-historian of the subject for a Q&A after the films of said theme. A priest would be present for Confessions.

THE CREATIVITY/ELDERS SHOW
Montano has interviewed many elders over 80 and included 12 interviews in her video; ALWAYS CREATIVE.

This program also includes documents of Montano's performances.

THE PERSONA/ART SHOW
During the 70's Montano explored persona and made a video LEARNING TO TALK where she became seven different people. And then at menopause, she made 7 STAGES OF INTOXICATION where she became an alcoholic as seven different people to explore the concept of menopause. For the last ten years she has become living people: Hillary Clinton, Bob Dylan and most recently, Mother Teresa of Calcutta. For THE PERSONA/ART SHOW, Montano, a Returned Catholic, will host the evening as Mother Teresa or as Bob Dylan.

THE CATHOLIC/ART SHOW
Catholicism is Montano's religion from childhood and she returned full time to Catholicism in the 90's, making videos and performances influenced by this theological path. For this show, Montano will present FATHER LEBAR, CATHOLIC PRIEST/EXCORSIST; TERESA OF AVILA and will host the show as Mother Teresa of Calcutta. This show also includes performances.

THE INDIA/ART SHOW
Montano studied meditation with Dr. R.S. Mishra for over 20 years and was incredibly influenced by this theology. She will present TWO AYRUVEDIC PHYSICIANS; BENARES; SHARADA, WIFE OF RAMAKRISHNA; CHAKRAPHONICS and THE CHAKRA STORY. Montano will host this event as a Hindu woman classical music singer.

THE DEATH/ART SHOW
For this video presentation, Montano will show MITCHELL'S DEATH; BENARES; and DAD ART. She will give a lecture titled DEATH IN THE ART/LIFE OF LINDA MARY MONTANO as part of this program.

Equipment Needed:

DVD Capacity (VHS possible also)

2 Microphones

Lighting

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PROGRAM 5

LECTURES ON THE LIFE/ART OF LINDA MARY MONTANO
 


My lectures are reflective of the cultural & political climate, my personal autobiographical narrative and the energy of the group present. I often perform a fair tale or persona and then introduce my website and perform it in collaboration with the audience. I refuse to see my work or myself as separate from the audience. They are always my collaborators.




LECTURE

DEATH: IN ART/LIFE, with LINDA MARY MONTANO

This lecture/workshop offers an opportunity for participants to become verbally / aesthetically / performatively / spiritually conversant with one of life's taboo subjects: death. St Francis of Assisi called death "sister death" having drained the word of it's sting. Hopefully our examinations/experiences will allow all of us to alleviate some unnecessary issues around the subject of death/dying.

Montano has explored the topic of death in many different media and venues. For example as video: MITCHELL'S DEATH. As lecture: DEATH IN THE ART/LIFE OF LINDA MARY MONTANO. As literature: Montano interviewed many performance artists about death/ritual in her book, PERFORMANCE ARTISTS TALKING IN THE 80'S, UC Press. As literature in Montano's book: LETTERS FROM LINDA M MONTANO, Routledge. As performance: DAD ART a film/performance documenting my father's life, illness and death. As video: BENARES, a film documenting the burning ghats in India.

My belief is that seeing is healing and in this workshop we will sensitively expand our life/art vocabulary around the topics of grief / taboo / fear / illness / release / death as metaphor / spiritual aspects and other topics raised in the practice and process of group-think. Lectures by funeral directors, doctors may be included in the course/lecture.

After 40 years of teaching performance, I have developed reliable methods to elicit trust and performance courage. To feed the mind, we will look at and study the topic via video, lecture, and class presentations. The workshop will culminate with a public presentation of Montano's film/performance, DAD ART. Members of the class will be invited to participate and collaborate with Montano during this performance and will receive a PERFORMANCE ART CERTIFICATE. When presented as a lecture, other performative practices will be considered.



Needed for class:

Notebook

Pen

Blanket





LECTURE



LINDA MARY MONTANO'S TERESA OF AVILA MARATHON: A COLLABORATIVE COLLABORATION



Teresa of Avila is one of the most important influences in my life and when I saw Catholic TV's (EWTN'S) 8 hour documentary of her life, I was impressed with the brilliance of the story and the ability of the film to bring her almost back to life. I would like the audiences to have a chance to become acquainted with Saint Teresa and discover/rediscover for themselves, her now-relevant teachings at a time when we are all starved for spiritual direction. The lecture/symposium will offer performative and real-time events so everyone has a chance to participate in their own way.


1. For 8 hours, the film Teresa of Jesu, will play in a public theatre space. During the film, Linda Mary Montano will be in costume, "durating" as another Teresa, Mother Teresa of Calcutta. She will offer ART/LIFE COUNSELING for those who attend the film.


2. After the film, Montano will premier her 35 minute film Teresa of Avila.



3. An invited guest will lecture on Teresa's meditation teachings, including references to Teresa's mystical instructions as revealed in her class, THE INTERIOR CASTLE.



4. Possibilities: (when in the context of a university) dance from Spanish Department; lectures on topics relevant to the symposium's theme; foods from Teresa's time offered by the anthropology department; marathon readings from THE INTERIOR CASTLE by students outside the site where film is showing; a Catholic priest hearing confessions during the film; nuns costumes from theatre department, worn by participants; and the opportunity for anyone interested to live as a nun for the day. This experience can be arranged for workshop or lecture venues.



OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE LECTURE/WORKSHOP


Montano will host a scholar from Mexico City who will lecture on the "Torma" of Guadalupe, the cloak that Juan Diego presented to the Bishop that contained a miraculous painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a proof of the miracle of the apparition of Mary. After the lecture, each participant will then perform their own interpretation of the way that miracles happen in their everyday lives.

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PROGRAM 6

WORKSHOP(S) WITH LINDA MARY MONTANO
 
 


For all. No experience necessary. I use my 40 years teaching experience, 40 years of performance experience and the feel of the group energy to cultivate an atmosphere that allows for creative fabulousness. I often have them bring costumes, wigs and come in a clothes-color of their choice to the workshop.

WORKSHOPS WITH MONTANO

Internationally acclaimed performance artist, Linda Mary Montano, often offers two-week workshops. 
Montano will show videos, will lecture on her 40-year career as a performance artist, and offers her unique teaching techniques with students and the community. Montano's book, LETTERS FROM LINDA MARY MONTANO, (Routledge) will be used as a reference as well as her many videos.
 Montano has been performing her art/life internationally and has written books on the subject. She is included in major museum shows including the Guggenheim and has received NEA grants, many awards and is in museum collections. Montano trained as a sculptor and considers herself a LIVING SCULPTURE who performs LIVING ART. The workshops will eventuate in a group-public performance based on the communal research. 




PERFORM YOUR ART/LIFE WORKSHOP
Montano has used her daily life as material for her art since 1969. She mentors others to do the same in an atmosphere of safe/accountable permission and creative insight. Food, intimacy, money, fame, pop culture, aging or death might become topics of research depending on the needs and interests of the participants. 
Theatre games, sound exercises, trust experiences are first experienced before anyone is asked to share their LIFE/ART performances. Critique is

healing-oriented, never punitive or critical. 
Videos, writing and community outreach are tools used during the process. Montano has been trained in laughter with Steve Wilson (WORLD LAUGHTER TOUR) and includes humor in her art/life and teaching. Montano considers her life to be a work of art and her art to be a transformed reflection of her life. This workshop communicates this practice.



READ, PRAY, PERFORM


Montano will ask participants to bring a Bible to the workshop. We will find places in the New Testament that resonate with each participant's art/life issue and then spend time in prayer. Time will be allotted for performing responses in a healing, prayerfull and positive manner.

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PROGRAM 7

ART/LIFE/LAUGHTER COUNSELING
 


From 1984-1991 Marcia Tucker gave me a 7-year installation-room at the New Museum where I performed an aspect of 7 YEARS OF LIVING ART: I appeared there, in the Wooster St window which they painted the color I wore that year, and once a month I came to the window from Kingston, NY (THE ART/LIFE INSTITUTE), and I saw people for 7 hours a day where I offered palm readings, tarot and healings. 




Since re-entering the Catholic church, I no longer use my gifts of being able to do all of the above, so now I offer prayer, laughter, generic ART/LIFE COUNSELING, and share my living "presence" with people on an individual basis. It is very effective and I have been doing a version of these one-on-one interactions for over 20 years as ART. The laughter is new and I find that it is very effective and allows for problems to be "seen" in an entirely different way because people become free of their old worries due to the technique that I use which has much to do with brain chemistry via sound and attitude and changing the way the brain holds onto issues. Laughter detangles problems.



It is wonderful because I spend time with living, breathing, real people in real time, away from our three sources of light: our TV Screens - our Computer Screens - our Refrigerators.
 This performance insists that another LIGHT is that of self-to-self, eye-to-eye Presence.



Equipment Needed:

May occur in public window space, Gallery, by SKYPE, over the phone, while living in an installation in a museum, or any other appropriate private space.

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PROGRAM 8

READING FROM PUBLICATIONS: LETTERS FROM LINDA MARY MONTANO (Routledge); PERFORMANCE ARTISTS TALKING IN THE 80'S (UC Press); ART IN EVERYDAY LIFE (1980); unpublished plays, and manuscripts.



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PROGRAM 9

A RETROSPECTIVE OF THE ART/LIFE OF LINDA MARY MONTANO
 




This installation would include clothes worn by me during 14 YEARS OF LIVING ART; photos of performances; objects from past performances; documents from my archive; video installations. All will be seen in the context of a museum/gallery or at THE ART LIFE INSTITUTE in Kingston NY, the present site of my archive.


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PROGRAM 10

PERFORMANCE PROGRAMS



SINGING THE POEMS
Montano will sing 50 poems written in the last 50 years. The performance ends when the poems are sung and repeated so that the performance lasts for 3 or 7 hours, depending on the venue. Random video images will be projected during this experience.



SINGING THE FAIRY TALES
Montano will sing 32 fairy tales she has written over the last 40 years. The performance will last for 3 or 7 hours, depending on the venue. Random children's cartoons will be projected during this experience.



SINGING THE ARCHIVE
Montano will sing the 69 pages of her archive and it will endure until the archive is completely read in full. Archivist Lydia Brawner will accompany this performance when she is available or perform SINGING THE ARCHIVE as a solo performance. Images of Montano's archive will be projected during this experience.



SINGING THE UNSINGABLE
Montano will sing 19 short stories written in the 80's that contain material that she now judges to be too explicit erotically to reveal in public. Montano will wear a gag on her mouth and read/hum the stories for 3 hours. Images of flowers will be projected during the experience.



PRAYER/ART
Montano will go to a Catholic Pilgrimage site and say prayers at the site for those indicating their petitions. Montano has performed PRAYER/ART at Lourdes, Fatima, the Tomb of Teresa of Avila, Guadaloupe, St Ann's Shrine, St Jospeh's in Montreal, The Vatican, Church of St Francis of Assisi, Church of Catherine of Bologna, Padre Pio's Tomb, the Eucharistic Miracle Shrines of Italy, St Michael's Shrine, St Patrick's Cathedral, the Shrine of Juan Diego, and many other sites. Montano will take others on this pilgrimage or can be sponsored to go alone and present prayers for patrons who support her pilgrimage.



ASSIGNMENT ART
Montano performs giving assignments. Each participant of the audience asks a question about how to face / handle / deal with an aspect of their LIFE/ART, and Montano gives them a public "assignment" which they complete at home and then email the results to Montano. Montano will email each participant who completes the assignment a PERFORMANCE ART CERTIFICATE at the conclusion of the event. What is most stressed is that performances are done in a spirit of SAFETY, ACCOUNTABILITY, and NON-VIOLNENCE. NOTHING PHYSICALLY, MENTALLY, SPIRITUALLY, EMOTIONALLY, ECONOMICALLY OR PSYCHOLOGICALLY DANGEROUS can be performed by the certificate holder to be.



TABOR-LIGHT ART
Montano will work with technicians to fabricate a hologram of herself as an angel and will appear in seven different sites to be announced. Montano will also do this performance in a public performance space for seven hours and audio / spoken word / media will play information about St. Teresa of Avila during the holographic transmission.



PRAYER RETREAT PERFORMANCES
Montano will meet with participants interested in spending three hours in retreat at Catholic Churches in their vicinity. Places to be announced. Montano has been performing 3 HOUR PRAYER RETREATS since 2005.



A DAY WITH LINDA MARY MONTANO
Montano will share her ART/LIFE teachings with the participant for a day. Montano will make living arrangements according to the site. Email Montano at lindamontano@hotmail.com to make arrangements.



SKYPE WITH LINDA MARY MONTANO
Montano will visit individuals, performance spaces, academic sites for performances, classes, workshops, individual ART/LIFE COUNSELING. Email lindamontano@hotmail.com to make arrangements.



DYSTONIA/ART
Montano has a neurological condition, Dystonia, and will meet with other artists with compromised health issues and perform along with her Dystonia tape, which presents her receiving Botox injections in her neck. She will ask Leon Fleisher, who also has Dystonia, to perform with her.



LAUGHTER/ENDURANCE/ART
Montano will perform continuous laughter for 7 hours. Video Included.



MASSAGE/ENDURANCE/ART
Montano will receive a massage for 7 hours from 4 different practitioners. Sounds will be broadcast to a specific public place to be announced.



VIDEO RETROSPECTIVE/COUNSELLING ART
Montano's videos will be shown as a retrospective. Montano will give ART/LIFE COUNSELLING during the video retrospective. Time to be determined by the numbers of videos made at the time of the event.



BE SIMPLE ART/LIFE
Montano will mentor the participants in the art of life/art simplicity on Skype, phone, in person, during a SIMPLICITY PERFORMANCE.



ROOT RELIGION ART
Montano will perform the story of her root religion, Catholicism, and her journey to Eastern Theologies and return to Catholicism. Participants will be asked to do the same performance at home and then email the result to Montano.

A certificate will be sent to the participants completing the process.



LINDA MARY MONTANO'S 7 HOUR GLAND-A-THON WITH FRIENDS

For over 20 years Montano studied and performed the concept of "CHAKRAS", a Hindu energy system. But when Montano became a Roman Catholic practitioner, she changed focus from Chakras to "GLANDS", using the same endocrine system but clearing the word of "religious" references which makes most people uncomfortable these days. We all have glands but many people do not think they have Chakras!



For this endurance, Montano will ask 7 different participants to represent a gland and then to perform that gland for an hour. Montano will be blindfolded for the entire event and in perpetual motion/movement for 7 hours. This choice to move continuously is a comment on the fact that people with Dystonia are always being "moved" physically by the disease (tremors or spasms) and moving by CHOICE is ecstasy for someone with this condition. This endurance is a peace offering for not only the glands of our own human bodies but also for the positive intentions of all beings at this time of great world concerns.





1. 2:30-3:30.....OVARIES/TESTES



2. 3:30-4:30.....PANCREAS



3. 4:30-5:30.....ADRENALS



4. 5:30-6:30....THYMUS



5. 6:30-7:30....THYROID



6. 7:30-8:30....PINEAL



7. 8:30-9:30....PITUITARY

ARTIST INTERRUPTUS

ARTUS INTERRUPTUS, LINDA M MONTANO, for panel INTERRUPT/INTERVENE, CALIFORNIA, 2008
STATEMENT 1
It is with great happiness that I sit with you today and intervene in collaboration with this distinguished panel.Let's give a round of applause to Beth Stephens and her significant other and her energetic staff for bringing all 247,000 conference details to successfull fruition. Now to my letter.
Dear Beth. Thanks for iterrupting my daily life routine by inviting me here. I have sat at home this winter, sourrounded by monumental northeast snowdrifts and there I interrupt myself from global warming, democratic debates and my personal anxieties by spending inordinate amounts of time visiting the electronic faces of Montel, Judge Judy, Sylvia Brown,Jerry, Ellen, Dr Phil, Oprah, Caesar Milan,Tyra, Flavor Flav, Katy C, Cathy Lee, Whoopie, Britney, Drew, Jay and Conan, to name a few of my friends. Beth, thank you for interrupting my attention, diverting it from my three addictions to artificial light sources: 1. My computer screen 2. My tv screen 3. The interior light of my refrigerator Beth, you have brought my face into the light of day, my face, once public now has become the new private genital, tabooed by technology.Seen by few. Beth, you have interrupted us and shyly we meet face to Face, in this glorious re-union of pre-robotized, uninterrupted, still alive flesh; flesh fed and learning how to feed. Thanks for caring Beth, Love, Linda P.S. We go home filled with hope and promise to use, as time permits, our new intervention skills with a happy grace.
STATEMENT 2:
Now I ask you to help me, interrupt me.Then I will interrupt you,and the paper I read will interrupt my video. Here's the plan: I need 7 volunteer interruptors and you get certificates stating that you too are a performance artist. What do you do? When I read my paper you will randomly call out your word to determine the accent that I use.They are: 1. FRENCH 2. ALCOHOLIC 3. KARATE 4.CHILD 5.ITALIAN 6.CHICKEN 7.HAPPY The rest of you are also performance artists and you get to perform interruptions with laughter: 1. low laughs, 2.middle laughs,3.high laughs.So when I say 1,2,3,please laugh as long and as hard as you desire.

STATEMENT 3: Resisting and refusing the urge to be theological about the number seven so as not to reference the seven chakras( MULADHARA, SVADHISTANA, MANIPURA, ANAHATA, VISHUDDHA, AJNA, SAHASRARA)or the 7 Hindu bija mantras for the chakras( LUM,VUM,RUM,YUM,HUM,OM,OM) or 7 Catholic sacraments( BAPTISM,COMMUNION,CONFIRMATION,MARRIAGE,CONFESSION, HOLY ORDERS,SACRAMENT OF THE SICK) ;or the 7 aspects of the Kaballah, or 7 color frequencies(RED, ORANGE,YELLOW, GREEN BLUE, PURPLE, WHITE), we, in a spirit of inclusive, non-offensive,non-combative ecumenism could say that the voices come from the 7 glands of the body, a reference universally shared since we all have bodies, just not the same religion. Now, let's intervene..bring your hot, warm, light filled hands to your ovaries/testes, your pancreas, your adrenals, your thymus, your thyroid, your pineal, your pituitary.Thank you, GLANDS OF
THE BODY.

STATEMENT 4:
The paper. Please change the tape. The interruptions now begin.

BLINDFOLD WINDOW PIECE

BLINDFOLED/WINDOW PEACE

I saw that Susan Kleckner had organized a window performance in Soho. For one year, women activists would use a storefront window as a place to protest. I immediately liked the form...endurance, availability, limitation. Aaah! All the things I like, deciding to do a week in there blindfolded, having practiced that a few times in the early 70's, and remembered what a sweet experience that had been. The time I allowed my husband Mitchell (Payne)to guide me, take care of me, so I could practice receiving ,was a way to give myself attention and yet be more allowing as half of a couple. And then resurrecting the 3 day blindfold for a 1975 women's conference this time living in a gallery and Pauline(Oliveros) became my guide and I became a laughing, non-judgmental,accepting nymph. Oh how happy when habituation leaves even for awhile and I had a chance to FEEL how to respond, not SEE what to do as dictated by society or my eyes or everyday worries and patterns. I knew that if I was publically blindfolded for a week I would have a chance to be SOFT-HEARTED.

WHAT HAPPENED:
In the beginning I had fear of the porta-potty which is unusual because I am usually very natural about bodily functions. I knew that people were seeing through the curtain that maybe I pulled shut, maybe I didn't but after a day using a porta-potty while blindfolded, in a NYC store window behind a shut curtain was a breeze!

RESULT:
What I discovered is that memory and imagination are picture making enteties and cause as many images to surface as sight itself. Of course I knew this from years of meditation retreats but this time I had a week of no-sight to really see it. Each word that I thought, produced a picture, an image so I never missed not-seeing because I WAS seeing my thoughts, my fears, my imaginings, my memories, . I saw images of words and realized that exhaustion comes from working so hard since there seemed tobe threelevels of sight and thought:
1 .The actual seeing of the thing or person.
2. Discarding or accepting the sight
3.Spending more time on analyzing or reacting to the thoughts that come from the seeing.
Exhaustion comes from having the burden of all three levels. By-passing level one, or sight, vacationed the mind and cut out one more need to control seen reality and after a few days I thought I WAS SEEING but in a new way.
My kinesthetic memory was strong and I moved without faltering and slowly (the window was about 4'by 8' so there really was no place to move to). And because of the slowness and carefullness I could feel when someone was there and HOW I FELT ABOUT THEM.I was captive and prisoner by choice, as art, and because I could not run away,I RECEIVED everything and everyone; the argumentative, the gentle and it seemed an occasion to balance the reality of war and peace.

NIGHT:
I din't see night but knew it was there and did alot of inner work on scared LITTLE LINDA, counseling and advising her, not waiting for mother and father or a prince in shining armor to come and unlock the door and get me out of there.(I was locked into the store.)
Thoughts(not sights) of fire, thieves, predators of all kinds came and I guess it was good charnel ground meditation and I did dial out by counting the numbers on the face of the phone and called a few friends for support in the nights, a victory .
I learned to cook a complicated soup, another victory(have no idea now what kind of stove it was.)
I learned how to prepare for senior citizenship and possible macular blindness, another victory.
I learned how to feel the love of friends who reached out with soup and visits,a victory.
I allowed myself to be a vehicle for the voyeurism of viewers, peeking at me from outside the window, 2 inches away from me, another vistory.
I like practicing new skills but as an artist, reaching outside of the 200 year old traditions that are male invested.
I like to use art as a forum and place to practice receptivity by feigning a handicapp( I was also doing this because I had been working as a caregiver and my cancer-ridden terminal client said to me one day, "This cancer isn't going to kill me, the service is!) , and I thought, I'd better practice receiving NOW before it's too late.
AFTER A WEEK OF BEING BLINDFOLDED:Equilibrium is off after 2 days,and after seven I have sea legs.Taking away the blindfold is like giving my brain a laserdose of light.Ihave sea legs, stumble, can't walk,nausea, feellike an escaped prisioner. Vow to come out of these things moregently and moreprofessionally next time.I WILL DO ANYTHING TO EXPERIENCE THE SELF.

QUESTIONS FOR LIFESPRING CLASS

QUESTIONS FOR THE END OF SEMESTER CLASS AT LIFESPRING

1. WHY DID WE WALK AROUND THE ROOM AT THE BEGINNING OF CALL WITH THE ATTITUDE OF "BEING AN ANIMAL" AND "BEING TOTALLY NATURAL" ?

2. WHY DIDNT WE EVER USE OUR OWN NAME AND WE MADE UP NEW NAMES?

3. WHY DO WE CLOSE OUR EYES WHEN LISTENING TO OTHERS WHEN THEY ARE READING OR TALKING?

4. WHY DO WE WRITE LETTERS TO OUR GLANDS?

5. WHICH BRAIN WORRIES?

6. WHY DID JILL BOLTE TAYLOR EXPERIENCE THE ECSTASY OF UNCONDITIONAL LOVE?

7. WHY ARE WE PRACTICING GRATITUDE TO OUR GLANDS ?

8. WHAT TOOLS ARE IN YOUR TOOL BOX FOR YOUR DAILY LIFE USE?

9. WHY ARE ALL OF OUR EMOTIONS HONORED?

10. WHY IS ART SUCH A WONDERFULL TOOL?

11. WHAT WAY WILL YOU PRACTICE YOUR NEW SKILLS IN EVERYDAY LIFE?

12. WHY IS BREATH SO IMPORTANT? WHY IS SILENCE SO IMPORTANT?

LINDA MARY MONTANO'S RANT-A-RAMA

RANT-A-RAMA

DO YOU NEED TO RANT AND DONT WANT TO WASTE YOUR TIME/ENERGY/MENTAL PEACE/REPUTATION/MEDITATED EQUILIBRIUM/DISCIPLINE/AURA OF SWEETNESS DOING SO?

  IF SO............SEND ME YOUR ISSUE/ISSUES AND :

1. I WILL DESIGN AN OBJECT THAT WILL APPEAR TO HAVE BEEN MADE BY AN UNHAPPY CAMPER WHICH I THEN SEND TO YOU OR

2. I WILL COMPOSE AN OVER THE TOP RANT-FILLED LETTER WHICH YOU CAN SEND: TO A PERSON TO A COUNTRY TO A MEDICAL PERSON/PLACE TO A LOBBYIST TO YOUR CONTRACTOR TO A PROPONENT OF FRACKING TO AN EDITOR OF ANY PAPER ANYWHERE TO A BOOK PUBLISHER TO A GALLERY OWNER TO A BISHOP ETC.

3. I ALSO DESIGN RESPONSES FOR YOUR NEED TO SEND A RANTING EMAIL

4.  I MAKE HYSTERICALLY GENERATED CELLPHONE CALLS IF YOU ARE SHY TO DO SO

5. I COMPOSE TEXTS AND CAN EMAIL THEM TO YOU

6. I DESIGN T-SHIRTS WITH YOUR RANT-MESSAGE ON IT IF YOU ARE NOT ABLE TO SPEAK UP AT THE GYM AND

7. I ALSO ADVISE YOU OF OTHER WAYS THAT I CAN HELP YOU GET THINGS RANTED ABOUT, OFF YOUR CHEST, OUT OF YOUR LEFT BRAIN AND INTO THE REALM OF YOUR TRUTH

I HAVE BEEN KNOWN TO PRODUCE TOTALLY ARCANE EXERCISES OF DRIBBLED RAGE THAT WILL FIT ANY OCCASION.

WHAT IS THE RESULT?

 YOU AND I BOTH BENEFIT: YOU GET TO FEEL BETTER AND I GET TO EXERCISE MY RANT-MUSCLES WHICH INCREASE EXPODENTIALLY AS I AGE.

TO DISCUSS:

CALL 1-7*5-%%3-#2@#@%8

WIKIPEDIA ENTRY-LINDA MARY MONTANO

Linda Montano From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search

Linda Montano Birth name Linda Mary Montano Born January 18, 1942 (1942-01-18) (age 69) Saugerties, New York
Nationality American
Field performance art
Training College of New Rochelle Maryknoll Sisters (novice) University of Wisconsin (sculpture) Influenced by Michelangelo, Teresa of Avila, Yoga, Padre Pio, Allan Kaprow, Lena Kelly, Lily Tomlin, Eva Hesse, Bob Dylan
 Awards ARTIES Award, 1st Annual Performance Art Award, Franklin Furnace (1986) Susan B. Anthony Award, Window for Peace (February 1988) Bessie Award for Innovative Artists (Seven Years of Living Art, 1992) Best Performance Artist (Chronogram, 2000)

  Linda Mary Montano (born January 18,[1] 1942, Saugerties, New York) is a central figure in contemporary performance art. She was raised in a devoutly Roman Catholic household, partly Irish and partly Italian, that was surrounded by artistic activity. Both her parents played in an orchestra[2] but Linda's fascination with Catholic ritual and desire to do humanitarian service led her to join the novitiate of the Maryknoll Sisters after one year studying at the College of New Rochelle.
 After two years with the order, however, Montano was suffering from severe anorexia, weighing only 80 pounds (36 kg),[3] and she left the order to return to her former college, from which she graduated in 1965 as a sculptor.
During the rest of the 1960s, Linda continued to study and began performing, and by 1971 she was devoting herself exclusively to performance art.[4] Around this time she married the photographer Mitchell Payne.
 During this period, Montano drifted away from the Catholic Church, but despite this loss of faith, Montano was consistently to acknowledge the influence of her strict Catholic upbringing on her work - for instance in how the discipline of convent life and her family's loyal work-ethic made her able to carry out extremely disciplined performances in her later career.[5][6] Montano's first major performance, Chicken Woman (1972) was based on her MFA sculpture show at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. There she exhibited nine live chickens in three 8-foot (2.4 m) by 16-foot-long (4.9 m) minimalist chicken wire cages on the roof of the art building. It was titled "The Chicken Show" from 1969.[7]
Linda had moved to San Francisco 1970 with her husband,[8] and it was there that she established herself with performances like "Handcuff" (1973 with Tom Marioni) where she was physically tied to other artists, and "Three Day Blindfold" (1974), where she lived for three days blindfolded and had to find her way around. The death of her husband led to further exploration of art as a healing modality ("Mitchells' Death", 1978) and she continued her art-theology dialogue by living in a Zen monastery for three years and to Ananda Ashram in the 1980s where she studied with Dr. Ramamurti Mishra for over 30 years. His influence and appreciation of her vision encouraged both her art and life.[9]
 Upon meeting Taiwanese performance artist Tehching Hsieh, they performed a collaboration whereby the two artists were bound to each other by a length of rope 24 hours a day for a whole year (from July 4, 1983 to July 3, 1984).[10]
In the following seven years Montano did another ambitious project titled "Seven Years of Living Art", in which she lived in her home in Kingston wearing strictly monochromatic clothing, spent a portion of every day in a coloured room, and listened to a designated tone, all of which corresponded to the energetic qualities of a specific chakra.[11] She changed colour every year, and after the project was finished followed it up with "Another Seven Years of Living Art", in part to memorialise her mother, Mildred Montano, who died in 1988 of colon cancer.[12] This time she did not use the colours, but aimed to focus on the same chakras.
 From 1998, Montano has given cycles to other artists, hoping to give three cycle to three arts each dating up to 2019.[13]
 After this, Montano focused upon freelance teaching of performance art, caring for Henry Montano (her increasingly ill father) and counseling people again practicing "Art/Life Counseling", a technique she used for seven years at The New Museum where curator Marcia Tucker had built a private room and allowed Montano to counsel people once a month in the window installation which was painted the same color that Montano wore for that year.
 At that time (1984–1991) Montano used tarot, palm and psychic readings as tools of discovery as well as attentive listening so that she could respond to the questions of her clients and she intended to find the most creative way to respond to their problems and difficulties. (Currently Montano still does "Art/Life/Laugher Counseling" but without the assistance of tarot, palm and psychic readings because they are forbidden by her current practice of Catholicism).
The influence of her father led Montano to return to Catholicism and ultimately to Church attendance,[14] and since 2005 she has taken gathered prayer requests to more than ten Catholic pilgrimage sites throughout the world. Montano also meets with others in Catholic Churches for 3 hours silent retreats, re-seeing the concept of endurance from new Catholic-eyes.
Since returning to Catholicism, Montano has made numerous videos exploring the faith, including Father Lebar: Catholic Priest and Exorcist; Saint Teresa Of Avila By Linda Mary Montano, and currently Mother Teresa of Calcutta. She also performs three-hour endurances, lip-syncing as Paul McMahon and Bob Dylan. Her work investigates the relationship between art and life through intricate, life-altering ceremonies, some of which last for seven or more years. She is interested in the way artistic ritual, often staged as individual interactions or collaborative workshops, can be used to alter and enhance a person's life and to create the opportunity for focus on spiritual energy states, silence and the cessation of art/life boundaries.




[edit] Videography "Characters: Learning to Talk: (1978) 45 min "Mitchell's Death" (1978) 22 min "Primal Scenes" (1980) 11 min "Anorexia Nervosa" (1981) 60 min "On Death and Dying" (1982) 22 min "Sharada, Wife of Ramakrishna" (with Andy Cockrum and Chris Erlon) (1995) 23 min "Seven Spiritual Lives of Linda M. Montano" (with Andy Cockrum and Chris Erlon) (1996) 13 min "Seven Stages of Intoxication" (with Andy Cockrum and Chris Erlon) (1996) 34 min Father Lebar: Catholic Priest and Excorcist (2008) Saint Teresa Of Avila By Linda Mary Montano Mother Teresa of Calcutta [edit] Collaborations Tehching Hsieh (collaborated on Art/Life One Year Performance, 1983–1984) Rachel Martin Annie Sprinkle [edit] External links ^ Linda Mary Montano ^ Linda Montano is Living Art (interview with Ascent Magazine) ^ Heidenry, John; What Wild Ecstasy: the Rise and Fall of the Sexual Revolution; p. 382. ISBN 0684810379 ^ Wark, Jayne; Radical Gestures: Feminism and Performance Art in North America, p. 98. ISBN 0773530665 ^ Wark; Radical Gestures; p. 98 ^ Linda Montano is Living Art ^ Montano, Linda; Performance Artists Talking in the Eighties: Sex, Food, Money/Fame, Ritual/Death; p. 17. ISBN 0520210220 ^ Montano, Linda; Performance Artists Talking in the Eighties: Sex, Food, Money/Fame, Ritual/Death; p. 17. ISBN 0520210220 ^ Linda Montano ^ The Year of the Rope ^ Linda M. Montano: 14 Years of Living Art ^ Montano, Linda M., "Death in the Life and Art of Linda M. Montano"; in Miller, Lynn C.; Taylor, Jacqueline and Carver, M. Heather (editors); Voices Made Flesh: Performing Women's Autobiography; pp. 269-281 ^ Fisher, Jennifer; Technologies of Intuition; pp. 167-180. ISBN 0920397433 ^ Fisher, Jennifer; Technologies of Intuition; pp. 167-180. ISBN 0920397433 Linda Montano's Site Interview with Linda by PRI/WNYC's Studio 360 Linda Montano in the Video Data Bank Persondata Name Montano, Linda Alternative names Short description Date of birth January 18, 1942 Place of birth Saugerties, New York Date of death Place of death Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Linda_Montano&oldid=452602609" View page ratings Rate this page

LETTER TO BISHOP

Dear Shane,

As my performance art student, I am asking you to write and then eventually perform your life crisis, your personal trauma, your inner suffering. Of course I demand that you have a private therapist working with me at this time and all 3 of us will come together to discuss your process and progress for the sake of safety and good ethical art/life/psychologial health and practice.

After I read your art-letter which you must cc to your therapist as well, we will set up a time to meet. Thanks,
  Linda
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Linda
Here is my letter and it is cc'd to my therapist as well.
 Can we meet next week all 3 of us?
Shane
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 LETTER  FROM MY STUDENT SHANE TO HIS LOCAL BISHOP

BISHOP C,
Thank you for representing clergy abuse survivors at the Rome meeting, FEB 2012. As a former altar boy and male survivor who is not a member of SNAP or asking for money or doing any other public disclosure, I would like to offer some discerned insights from my perspective. Some of us survivors are confessionally secretive, forgiven, but never "out of the stench of pain" so to speak. Our battlegrounds are our memories. What do we want? What do we need? Everyone would have a different answer, here are some of mine:

1.THERAPY PROVIDED BY THE CHURCH.......
WITHOUT HAVING TO DISCLOSE NAMES AND NUMBERS OF OUR PERPETRATORS(I HAD 4 DIFFERENT ONES)..THE WAY IT IS NOW, U CAN GO TO A DIOCESAN CONTACT FOR CLERGY ABUSE COUNSELING BUT THE NAMES OF THE PERPETRATORS ARE TAKEN..... IT DOES NOT FEEL SAFE OR PRIVATE. ANY OTHER WAY THIS COULD BE DONE? INTERNET? YOUR FINDINGS WOULD BE APPRECIATED.

2.A YEARLY STREAMED MASS OF "HEALING" FOR ALL ABUSED SURVIVORS THAT IS STREAMED SO THOSE STILL IN "HIDING" CAN ATTEND???????
 OTHERS WHO ARE PUBLIC AND THEIR FRIENDS CAN BE THERE IN PERSON. IT IS IMPORTANT THAT A DAY EVERY YEAR AT A FIXED DATE, HAPPENS IN EVERY PARISH INTERNATIONALLY. 3. THIS IS A MUST........................

3.A COMPASSIONATE , CARING EXORCIST IN EVERY DIOCESE WHO IS CONVERSANT WITH WORKING PRIVATELY WITH ABUSE SURVIVORS WHO OFTEN NEED DELIVERANCES FOR YEARS!!!!!!
N.B I AM NOT SAYING THEY ARE FULLY IN NEED OF AN EXORCISM BUT THEY ARE DEFINATELY IN NEED OF DELIVERANCE FROM A TRAINED EXORCIST.

4. A SUPPORTED CHARISMATIC RENEWAL PROGRAM IN EVERY PARISH SO THAT A WEEKLY LAYING ON OF SAFE , YES SAFE HANDS CAN BE EXPERIENCED IN A CHURCH SETTING WHICH IS LIKE A MINE FIELD FOR US SURVIVORS....
THE CHURCH, ROMAN COLLAR, INCENSE ETC ARE ALL TRIGGERS FOR MANY OF US......THINK HOW WONDERFUL IT WOULD BE IF LAY AND CLERGY WERE ABLE TO TOUCH AND BE TOUCHED AS JESUS DID BY LAYING ON OF HANDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

5. AN ADMITTANCE THAT WE CLERGY ABUSE SURVIVORS SUFFER FROM PTSD...AND ARE OFTEN SEVERLY FOOD PHOBIC(CASE IN POINT I WENT FROM 130LBS TO 80 IN A FEW MONTHS AFTER ABUSE )....
AND THAT WE NEED TO BE TREATED BY TRAINED SPECIALISTS FOR PTSD IN A SAFE, PRIVATE, FINANCIALLY SUPPORTED ENVIRONMNET. I HAVE BEEN IN LIFETIME THERAPY, ALL PAID BY ME, BECAUSE I DO NOT WISH TO BE PUBLIC WITH THE PERPETRATORS NAMES.

  6. A PLACE, RETREAT HOUSE , WHERE SURVIVORS CAN BE GIVEN SCHOLARSHIPS TO BE WITH OTHERS IN A HEALING WAY, EVERY YEAR, FOR THE NEXT 50 YEARS.........

7.IN CONCLUSION: PRAY FOR US WHILE U R THERE, BISHOP CONLON, DONT JUST TALK ABOUT US AND THE NEW "POSSIBLE ABUSED" AND DONT JUST TALK RULES OR WAYS TO PROTECT CHURCH COFFERS. REACH INTO YOUR HEARTS AND FEEL YOUR PAIN ABOUT THESE COMPLEXITIES AND FEEL OUR STORIES. MAYBE A NEW HEALING WILL COME????

WE DO THIS SO WE CAN BRING FRESH AIR TO THE COMPLEXITIES OF THE OLD SCRIPT BECAUSE NOW: WE SURVIVORS OF CLERGY ABUSE:
A. ARE OFTEN SUICIDAL;
 B.WE ARE TRIGGERED BY CATHOLICISM EVEN WHEN WE HAVE RETURNED TO THE PRACTICE OF OUR EARLY FAITH;
 C.WE WANT TO SHOUT THE HURTS FROM THE ROOFTOPS BUT WE SOMETIMES TAKE ALL OF THIS MESS TO PRAYER INSTEAD;
F.  WE HAVE EATING DISORDERS;
G. WE CUT OURSELVES;
H.WE DIE OF SUPRESSED EMOTIONAL SCREAMS;
I. WE DRINK AND DRUG;
J. WE WANT TO BE TOUCHED IN HEALTHY WAYS BUT WE CANT KEEP OUR MARRIAGES TOGETHER BECAUSE WE ARE REPELLED BY TOUCH;
K. WE ARE WALKING TRIGGER-REACTORS;
L.  WE ARE WAITING FOR/HOPING THE CHURCH, THE ORIGINAL BETRAYER OF OUR INNOCENCE AND TRUST, CAN HELP US HEAL INTO A NEW LIFE .

  AND YOU PRIESTS AND NUNS? YOU CRINGE AT THE THOUGHT OF US AND OF WHAT YOUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS HAVE DONE TO US...I KNOW, I'VE SEEN IT.

  YOU DONT WANT US TO ENUMERATE THE WAYS FATHER/SISTER ______ DID THIS OR THAT. WHO WOULD WANT TO HEAR ALL OF THIS?

 BUT IT SEEMS TO BE TAKING US YEARS TO PURGE AND PURIFY OUR HEARTS OF THESE CONFUSED VOICES, AND TELLING THE STORIES OVER AND OVER TAKES TIME UNTIL THE STORIES ARE MEMORY FREE.

YOU SHOO US OUT OF CONFESSION AND COUNSELING WITH A "SAY AN OUR FATHER,"....IT HAS HAPPENED TO ME...I DONT BLAME YOU, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

 BUT: THIS TRUTH TELLING TIME IS TOUGH FOR EVERYONE AND TOTALLY NECESSARY.

DO NOT BE AFRAID.

PRAY FOR US AS WE MUST BEGIN TO PRAY FOR ALL OF YOU NOW........IT IS A 2 WAY STREET.

PEACE BE WITH YOU AND DO GOOD LOVING WORK,

S.
Name withheld at advice of my lawyer FEBRUARY 5, 2012 ========================================================================

Linda here is my letter. What do  you think? Im so glad you are my teacher and mentor, see you soon, Shane

THE LAST 7 YEARS OF 21 YEARS OF LIVING ART

THE LAST 7 YEARS(2012-2019) OF ANOTHER 21 YEARS OF LIVING ART(1998-2019)

  WHAT:
 I am interviewing artists/lifeists interested in participating in the final 7 years of ANOTHER 21 YEARS OF LIVING ART. The mission statement is below.
  The artists selected and I will have 2 yearly skype meetings and email access throughout the performance, fourteen meetings on skype total.

SELECTION:
 Selection of a participant or participants will depend on content/concept/compatability.

HOW TO APPLY:
 Send a 700 word description of a commitment you would like to make for 7 years to: lindamontano@hotmail.com . The performance begins December 8, 2012 and ends December 8, 2019. Send inside the eamil, not as an app.

COST: There is a yearly fee of $100-$700, sliding scale, each year or an appropriate barter.



  DESCRIPTION OF THE CONCEPT ANOTHER 21 YEARS OF LIVING ART (1998-2019): LINDA MARY MONTANO

MISSION STATEMENT:
 ANOTHER 21 YEARS OF LIVING ART (1998-2019) is art that compassionately practices an appreciation for life and is a durational continuation of my exploration of the art of consciousness. The artist/lifeists invited to this experience, ecumenically choose their own unique methodologies and explore their work while remaining in virtual/internet communication with each other throughout their practice of compassionately transforming their life, via art.
 It is based on Linda MARY Montano’s endurance: 7 YEARS OF LIVING ART + ANOTHER 7 YEARS OF LIVING ART = 14 YEARS OF LIVING ART, 12/8/1984—12/8/1998. www.lindamontano.com, www.vdb.org http://lindamarymontano.blogspot.com

DESCRIPTION:
“When I finished 14 YEARS OF LIVING ART, an art experience-endurance based on the 7 chakras, I became so enamored of working with time that I wanted to share that joy with others, and so I designed ANOTHER 21 YEARS OF LIVING ART. I felt that other artists could become virtual/internet art family and I would feel as if I were in good company, with like-minded friends, doing work based on time, endurance and with reference to my past work, but interpreted by each artist according to their discipline, practice and personal aesthetic." Linda Mary Montano.

PAPER GIVEN AT THE ART THERAPIST CONFERENCE IN OHIO

PAPER GIVEN AT THE ART THERAPY GATHERING IN OHIO

It is a pleasure to be here with you and as you know I am a performance artist but I will address the concept of forgiveness and then show you videos of my work demonstrating the ways I use my own life issues as fodder and material for my art transformations. Thank you.

It is never too late. We are allllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll walking wounded. Life wounds us, people wound us our family dynamic wounds us. These wounds are sent into the subconscious and with therapy, prayer and 908343281439-8 other techniques, they are brought to the surface and analyzed and eventually healed. Each person has their own technique. When there is a trauma, we are triggered and the old wounds appear.
With our parents, unless there is a conscious and heart-felt program of looking at and healing the wounds as a family at home while growing up, the surgical scars begin to be remembered and there is great reaction like anger, pain and rage, when the pot gets stirred by traumas. Divorce and death ARE change and unsettle the equilibrium and these old "triggers" emerge. There is often a PAYBACK because things that were never settled or ways of relating that were painful get to become cards in the playing deck....He did this, he said this, she , we never, he never, we always, this happened in 19.... etc. And when there is a chance to retaliate, we do it...that is natural.....buttttttttttttt, it is also a chance to unearth the past and to deal with it in a new way.
The hurt of a currrent and present situation dredges up the whole mess and deep and unforgiven or UNCOMMUNICATED OR UNHEALED old patterns are remembered.

  We are ALLLLLLLLLLL walking timberboxes for sure, waiting for a match. Divorce is a match, death is a match, and unless the match is extinguished, the suffering of the present thing gets complicated with old hurts. Our memories of 30 years ago come to the surface and we hurt 3209874023894 times more now because of these complications. We wanted THE OTHER PEOPLE TO CHANGE THEN..... AND NOW we want them to change. THEY WONT! Only we individually can and HOW is the question for each of us to find .... This is where it is never too late comes in...If we are reared to suffer, we can change that pattern and choose more positive ways of living the rest of our lives; if we are raised to complain or to be dictated to or a myriad of other patterns that are not healthy, there is always a chance for healing.

Each person chooses their own path of healing. But we have to remember that WE ARE ADDICTED TO THE PATTERN WE LEARNED AS CHILDREN and the person we want things from is also ADDICTED TO THEIR PATTERN that they think is just FINE!

BREAKING ADDICTION to the past pattern is a tedious, thankless job but a necessary one. And we cant expect anyone else to break theirs..... Win-win communication/everything is my wish for allllllllllllllll of US here at this conference...yes US.

 Our own parents did the best they could but we cant lag behind and not upgrade our ways of communicating and loving when traumatic things happen because that is a waste of time and talent. If money was the families drug of choice then WHAT IS OUR NEW METHADONE? How do we find people, places and group therapies to help us out of our own hell-holes? How do we add positive "drugs" to our tool box? Do we say: Im sorry? I did wrong? I was wrong? This should have never have happened ? Why did u? You hurt me when...I didnt get the right love, attention, time, or communication? Who do we say this to? Ourselves? Parents? God? Learning how to decipher our wounds and hurts is sometimes learning a new language as difficult as Checkoslvakian......But worth the try. You tube has many examples of healing modalities from around the world to study and learn from.And later on I will share some of my videos that demonstrate my aesthetic healing process.

  Our "WORK" as ART THERAPISTS is TO GIVE ourselves new SKILLS TO REVERSE old DAMAGES AND THEY dont come easy and are tiresome to learn and hard to find the right situation to learn them with and in.......... because trust/trusting that a new positive life can happen is never easy to receive or learn or even ask for. And trusting people is next to an impossible thing to learn! But has to happen....So when you are dealing with clients who are diffident or slow in trusting, be patient and remember your won process in your own days of trauma and grief and anger. The funny thing is that the more we all get into the muck and mire and totally putridness of the past and really look at it and dredge it and not FEAR IT and mine it for the information it has, the HEART begins to open to MORE APPRECIATION and love for those we think caused us pain and now our parents/or the enemy/ or the problem maker can be truly appreciated for thepossibility they gave us to grow and for the sacrifices and care they gave us and parents are understood for having done the best they could do given THEIR LIFE STORIES AND TRAUMAS...

Seeds get sown out of the shit. So dont run from the stench, just use it. It is a very rich emotional time for all when bad things happen to good people! The "death" that is experienced is not physical but the opportunity is for ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLL to get on our knees, learn, get the emotional help we ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL NEED so the remaining time here is one of peace, inner joy and compassion.

IN art, process, new doors opening and solidarity,
A Fellow Traveler On The Path To Inner Peace.

Thank you and now I will share 4 videos that illustrate my method of making art of/from my life traumas.

HOW I DISCOVERED TERESA OF AVILA

HOW I DISCOVERED TERESA OF AVILA, LINDA MARY MONTANO, 2012

My own Catholic journey began 70 years ago, 1942, in this small village, Saugerties NY, where I was raised traditionally in an Italian-Irish home.The training included Catholic grammar school, Catholic college and a catechetical grade school life inspired by women saints:
 Bernadette,
 Joan of Arc,
 Therese of Lisieux,
 Claire of Assisi
 and Rita among many others with the Blessed Mother Mary as the penultimate Everything .

Although invitations even back then to be a saint were held out as a vocationally smart choice, I remember now, especially during Mass at St Mary's Church, one minute from here, that I somewhat foolishly wondered why I could not be a priest, regretting that I was not born a man.

Teresa of Avila, I'm so glad that I eventually discovered that you were a multi-faceted saint/ mentor/teacher/reformer/architect/feminist/musician/comedienne/poet/traveler/author/mystic/Doctor of the Church and model for all women; inviting us to pass through the glass ceiling of the Catholic Church's politics and institutional anacronisms; showing us how to travel toward an authentic and genderless path to prayer and bliss, devoid of and actually not needing external position or power; showing us how to travel to the altar of our inner heart.

At the age of 19, I thought that the only way for me to fulfill my desire for deep spiritual connection was to enter the convent and so I joined The MARYKNOLL SISTERS, staying for 2 years but leaving with a need for not only therapeutized emotional maturity but also desiring a life of service, having learned so many beautiful lessons from these women of joy and generosity.

Teresa of Avila, you provide us with many visual maps for our inner journey, using simple metaphors . You taught your nuns that praying is like watering a garden using 4 levels of effort: the first is pulling water up from the well ,the second is using a water wheel, the third is taking water from a stream and the last method is letting go and allowing the garden to receive water from the rain.
 Eventual effortlessness. I left the formal practice of Catholicism for a number of years and studied with many teachers from various Eastern traditions who taught and demonstrated their theologies of transcending the vagaries of material mind via silence. My gratitude to them will be forever. My art also began to reflect a new level of introspection, stillness but was often spiced with a humor that cut through aesthetic seriousness.

Teresa of Avila, the general consensus or at least my early thinking was that the spiritual life had to be a dour training in severe penances but in reading your books and manuals for nuns, I am astonished by your ability to cheerlead others via dance, song, joy and a hilarious humor. Teresa of Avila, woman of balance.

In the mid 90's, I returned to the church and now consider myself a practicing Catholic and still a performance artist, a somewhat oxymoronic combination. This time, after having left 40 years ago, my head is not in the sand of secrets, my heart is not avoiding the human challenges of the Catholic Church, and I am inspired by Teresa of Avila's ferocious loyalty to reform and making things better but in my own unique way. Teresa of Avila, you are such a meticulous and masterful technician of the sacred and I trust that in time, if I keep practicing your teachings, I will begin to understand your inner language of prayer with its: consolations, unions, raptures, ecstacies, mystical betrothals and ultimate marriage with divine love.

 Teresa of Avila, please lead me into the 7th Mansion. Right now. I hold your hand.

Linda Mary Montano, 2012 Saugerties NY

7 SITE PILGRIMAGE

7 SITE PILGRIMANGE: LINDA MARY MONTANO


CAR/VAN COME TO SAUGERTIES FROM YUR SITE , NOON IF POSSIBLE OR BEFORE.

ORIENTATION AT LUNCH

1. VISIT CATHOLIC SITE. SAUGERTIES

2. VISIT PROTESTANT SITE. SAUGERTIES

3. OLD CATHOLIC CHURCH. WOODSTOCK

  4. TIBETAN MONASTERY. WOODSTOCK

5. ZEN CENTER. MT TREMPER

6. NATURE. SAUGERTIES

7. SELF. SAUGERTIES I RETURN WITH YOU TO YOUR SITE. AND PERFORM A 7 HOUR PILGRIMAGE TO THE HEART :

1.  3 HOURS SITTING IN A CATHOLIC CHURCH AT YOUR SITE, JOINED BY OTHERS;

2.  3 HOURS OF ART/LIFE COUNSELING;

3.  1 HOUR SINGING MY HEART OUT AT YOUR SITE.

A FICTIONAL LETTER ABOUT CREDITING OTHER ARTISTS

A FICTIONAL LETTER TO MY FICTIONAL ARTIST NEICE

Dear S,

  It was wonderful to hear from you but better yet to see you. Skype is such a great way to connect and it's free!!! So glad you are following in my footsteps, so to speak, and are studying art. Smart women we are!

You are not only my neice/my god-daughter, but also a friend, so it feels safe to warn you about some art etiquette/art table manners that I wished I had learned some 40, 50 years ago when I first started out. And it is even more important that you learn this because you are in the Orient where the information I am about to tell you is so important.

So cutting to the chase; realist that I am (you've seen my paintings) I want to honestly list the not-so-nice names you might be called in the creative underground, and the art-sins you will be accused of committing if you don't perform acts of professional politeness, acts of accountability and acts of crediting the source of those works and ideas of yours that are "re-inspirations", or mirrors of someone elses art.

Why am I so insistent? First of all because you are studying in China and most likely will reference other artists from there; artists from the past and present, because that is how we learn and how we begin coming to our own internal art language and personal practice. The name of the game is: copying. Copy until you are YOU.

  But what you have to remember about China is that they not only acknowledge and honor their families and ancestors but they credit their art lineage, gurus and expect all artists to know how to do that, when to do that, why to do that and where to do that. Simply put, your teachers, and those other artists who have influenced your work, need to be respected and "bowed to" if not physically(a joke) but internally and absolutely always mentioned when your work is talked about by you or the media.

 Don't forget this. Because I learned the hard way and never gave credit and didn't know that I should have done that, I was artistically snubbed; uninvited to group shows; refused retrospectives; and seemed to be avoided at openings. I ranted, raved and wondered why I was being persecuted, but then again, aren't all artists persecuted? Thinking that, I let it go and isolated myself, but a friend let me in on the honor thy mentors secret and then things changed for me and my process. It seems that my hubris had addicted me to the "I am a genius artist" paradigm and I foolishly thought that anything I did, said, made, sold, traded or wrote about was GOLD from the heavenly realms of MY OWN SUPERCONSCIOUS!

 Sure my work was divinely inspired as is all creation, but I snubbed past human sources and didn't want to admit that I had seen, literally copied and lifted my goodies from the history of art and I must confess, ideatonally ripped off my past and fellow travelers on this fabulous path of ecstasy and inflated ego mongering.

S, maybe you will have a chance to get this right, early, and to make it even more speedy I will list the mean-spirited labels I accrued way back when I was without a clue that respect is essential to success! So plug your ears, close your eyes and here we go!

I was called a: performance pirate source avoider intellectual art property thief devoid of devotion doppleganger intuitve monster identity doubler i'm the best,bully genius grafter cloned clown suck-up sickophant self agrandizer ego maniac chest inflater grand stander sloppy footnoter pretty plagerizer Yes. I was pretty then and thought that it was enough to make good art but maybe it was even better to be a great body. I thought my dazzling teeth and distressed clothes, soft-voiced sufferings and endurance-like dedication to my art was my ticket home, but my head was sadly in the sand. I was pretty but ripping off my mentors!

How does my story relate to you? You, a daughter of the 21st century? You are living at a time when the internet, and apps and you tube and media give you everything for free and you can take/appropriate/re-cycle/copy/control/delete/enter and shift any and every thought, word and deed whenever you want or need. No charge, no accountability!

 So, of course, you would never, ever even think of thanking the past or present "influence". You are too quick for that, not trained to do that, and this current age of ONE INFORMATION has 100th monkeyed you into ONE.

 In this mind/world, no credit is even considered or due! So in some sense you are sinless and free and everything is maybe un-rippoffable? I would appreciate your thoughts on this. But remember, you are in China and you have to follow their traditions and probably there are a few elder-artists here in America, who would appreciate being credited ....so respect, renown and reward artists whose heads you are aesthetically sitting on, standing on and dancing on!!!!

Why? Because we are now in our 70's, 80's, 90's, 100's and although we are still and will always "work", it is seldom seen, so we trace our gratitude back to INVISIBLE sources. That is our job and we have time, dimished body-energy and the impending invite of the Final Performance to spur us on to bowing before THE ONLY GENIUS WHO EVER IS, WAS AND WILL BE!!!!

S, sorry for waxing escatological with you but just wanted to pass on some of my crone stuff. Always footnote the masters! And make sure you bring me back tons of Chinese incense!!!!

Hugs and applauding your fabulousness,
Aunt O

PERFORMANCE AND HAZING

PERFORMANCE AND HAZING

Birth is a rite of passage and so is death, our final performance. Between birth and death there are other passages:our first word, school, dating, love, puberty,jobs, marriage, downsizing, childbirth, sickness, old age and more sickness.

Common characteristics of rites of passage are: ISOLATION/ CHANGE/
REBIRTH/TRANSFORMATION.

For example, birth! We are isolated in a hot tight, airless uterus, squirming, trying to swim. Mom eats biscotti, drinks capuchino,drops wine on our bald, misshapen head and after nine months of this we choke ourselves out of that impossibly tight space to be slapped to tears and then de-clogged in our eyes and de-mucosed by suctions and latex fingers unclogging our air passages of soft, gooey, curled milk phlem. Isolation, change, transformation and a baby is born into the circle.

The cycle continues and we get to do the ritual of inclusion again and again on our own AND unless our culture addresses rites of belonging in a sophisticated way(see American Indian vision quests)we are relegated to our devices and make up somewhat pitifull rituals of belonging for ourselves because we all need a group of peers recognizing and clapping for our isolation cycle, and friends giving us attention for our change cycle and family rejoicing with us when we are reborn, we come from our struggles and life passges feeling unconnected to ourselves and each other, completely unceremonied!!

I have always felt that performance art/body art is a life of creating brilliant rites of passage. We are not performing public penances or self inflicted masochistic rites. We are not acting out neurotically. Conversely performance gives artists a chance to practice for the passages to come but also to perform in substitution for the audience members unaware of their need to make a big deal out of their life or not skilled enough to make up a ritual of inclusion for themselves.

 And I also have always felt that hazing is a brilliant rite of passage although it is often performance gone amock and powered by power crazy-male actions. Maybe it's the alcohol that throws it all off. But admittedly, the greeks are smart enough to know that they need to belong. Smart enough to know that they need ritual. Smart enough to know that they need to get high. Once they clean up their methodology, they will be performing an important service to their brothers and sisters.

NO MORE FEAR OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

NO MORE FEAR OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

Would it be possible to diffuse the old programming that Catholicism unknowingly suggested in the 50's?

A possible method: How about having a day long performance?

  Maybe a year performance which includes nuns and priests praying in public?

A practicing Catholic broadcasting Catholic stories?

  A Catholic grade school reading the lives of the martyrs and saints from the roof of their school until the book is finished?

This experiment in understanding would culminate in a re-enactment of a martyr's life story, performed by an endurance artist whose life is mirrored in the martyr's life.

How about it?

LITTLE LINDA BECOMES PERF-ARTIST TO CATHOLIC LINDA

LITTLE LINDA(LL)BECOMES PERFORMANCE ARTIST CHICKEN LINDA(PACL)BECOMES ROMAN CATHOLIC LINDA MARY(RCLM) CHANGE

1.1942:
LL was born into an orthodox Irish/Italian Catholic family and desired more than anything else to be a saint, no matter the cost.

2.1942-1959:
LL was inspired by the colors, sights ,sounds and smells of the Roman Catholic rituals she attended with her family, not really understanding the Real Presence.

3.1950.
 LL faints with ecstasy when the priest conscecrates the Host and lifts up the Real Body and Blood of Christ at Communion for the congregation to venerate.

4.1950-1960,1990-present:
 LL and RCLM go into a small wodden box at the back of the church, face a male priest and tell him her sins so that she can feel her heart cleaned and clear.

5.1959-1961:
LL enters the convent for two years, reaching heightened states of consciousness.

 CHANGE:

6.1962-1991.
PACL becomes thoroughly disillusioned with the politics of the Church, the exclusivity of the practices, the oversights of the organization, the focus on action over contemplation, the humanness of the clergy and finds a place in the art world where she can use her talents, leadership and ability to transform energy creatively. PACL performs art actions bordering on the dangerous, transgressive, outrageous, and desires to become a performance art saint although she has no regard for the ethical,emotional, financial or physical consequences of her actions.

7.1962-1995:
PACL makes poor judgments and indiscriminate dicisions in relationships and notices the ineffective consequences of living compulsively.

8.1978.
PACL begins to receive real life messages of mortality,death,close calls, bad choices, personal illnesses, impermanence and practices new age, eastern and earth-centered methods to achieve harmony and understanding of reality.

CHANGE:

9.1990
RCLM feels a need to unscramble the misinformation of early theological programming as taught to her in the 50's and gets a highly trained Catholic professional to help her in her theological re-emergence.

10.1991-present:
 RCLM begins to use the Roman Catholic sacraments, specifically Confession, to clear her heart and mind of past secrets, guilts, shames and obscurations.

11.1991-present:
RCLM collages together the best aspects of eastern traditions and earth-centered theologies, current scientific research and post Vatican 11 teachings in her practice of Roman Catholicism.

12.1991-present:
RCLM drops the autobiographical centered performances of her past and includes the theological.She drops cynicism/irony(almost) for the mystical and the art of everyday life supercedes chosen endurances.

13.1991-present:
RCLM surrenders to and obeys Catholic teachings from her childhood but this time admits to and chooses to see where the patriarchial aspects are still operative. The truth is, she is there for the Sacraments, not the institution.

14.1991-present:
RCLM has transfered feminism, godess worship, earth mother rituals and psychic insights into a workable and coherent relationship with Mary, the Blessed Mother.

15.1991-present:
RCLM performs in collaboration with the Higher Artist. She no longer makes art her God but God her art.

NO CHANGE:

HOW TO RELEASE WAR FROM THE CHAKRAS

HOW TO RELEASE THE WAR FROM THE CHAKRAS VIA THE SACRAMENTS:

  1. Bring your attention to your first chakra at the perinium. Bring peace to all of your earth, food, money, car, insurance, computer and property issues. Baptize yourself anew and live inwardly ,peacefull on a minute to minute, daily basis.

2. Bring peace to your second chakra, the relationship and sex center. Bring peace to all past present and future sexual events along with forgiveness. The sacrament of Communion can be participated in or imagined and this level of sacredness can now be felt in all transactions.

3. Bring peace to the third chakra the warrior center. Let the adrenals be at peace and the guts be in harmony as well as the 22 feet of intestines.The Holy Spirit, through Confirmation, bestows even greater energy on all daily actions and gives perseverance and courage to do the right thing always.

4. Bring peace to the heart center, the fourth chakra. Let all rooms of the heart be balanced and working beautifully and empty of old issues that are irrelevant and limiting. Marriage to the yin/yang the right and left brain the male and female within brings an ecstasy that is palpable.

 5. Bring peace to the fifth center, the throat chakra. Let the thyroid be perfect and the communication skills benefit from this peace. All boundaries are spoken of, all communications are forthright. Confession of any sins or transgressions are made as soon as possible to the priest or the friend so that the soul sparkles in unencumbered freedom of expression and contentment. Nothing more need be done except to bask in that purity of spirit.

6. Bring peace and attention to the sixth center, the third eye. Vision is principled and the mission statement is responsible and of service to all as well as self-nourishing. We Ordain ourselves to our highest life purpose as if only a short time were left of this earhtly life.

7. Bring peace and attention to the top of the head. The seventh center radiates with energy and light and the pituitary gland is well. The brain is in aroma-heaven with the smell of thousands of flowers. We receive Extreme Unction, the sacrament of the dying to prepare for the daily dying in prayer and meditation. Always prepared, and in ecstatic presence we share our news with all.

P.S.:Caroline Myss made the connections between the Chakras and Sacraments and the Kaballah.I truly thank her for this theological breakthrough.

 Linda M Montano, September, 2001

BORN TO BE REBORN

BORN TO BE RE-BORN

  Pauline Oliveros, Ione and Linda Mary Montano are all decked out to celebrate their birthdays.

RE-BORN: PAULINE OLIVEROS:THE EARLY YEARS , Video: Found images of Oliveros by Montano, edited by Kristina Wolff

  RE-BORN : Linda celebrates Pauline' birthday with a video titled: PAULINE OLIVEROS: THE EARLY YEARS; Narrated by Oliveros, Edited by Jackie Heyen.

  RE-BORN : Pauline and Linda celebrate their decade birthdays: Pauline,80, May 30th; Linda, 70, January 18th, with a performance: BORN BEYOND SPACE.

RE-BORN : Pauline and Ione celebrate their May birthdays, Ione, 75, May 28th: Pauline, 80, May 30th with a performance: BORN BEYOND TIME.

  Please come all decked out in your party clothes and bring your favorite birthday pot-luck food to share.

SITTING/READING OUT LOUD TERESA&JOHN

SITTING/READING OUT LOUD FROM THE WRITINGS OF TERESA OF AVILA & JOHN OF THE CROSS: THREE HOURS

         LINDA MARY MONTANO IN COLLABORATION WITH NICOLAS DUMIT ESTEVEZ

WHAT: Performance artists LINDA MARY MONTANO & NICOLAS DUMIT ESTEVEZ, will sit for 3 hours and read out loud from the writings of 2 Spanish Saints: TERESA OF AVILA &JOHN OF THE CROSS. YOU:

 You are welcome to come and sit with them at the Lampman Chapel and listen;
or to imagine this experience from your own home/work/school/walk/sleep.

  DATE: Friday, May 11, 2012 TIME: 1:15-4:15 pm

SITE/DIRECTIONS: Lampman Chapel Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York 3041 Broadway at 121st Street, New York, NY 10027 **

When you arrive to Union’s Lobby ask the receptionist for directions to the Lampman Chapel **

THIS EVENT FREE MONTANO will be offering 2 ART/LIFE COUNSELING/SKYPE performances to pay expenses for this event. Cost is $1.00 per minute. To become a participant of one of these art-historical re-enactments from 1984, contact lindamontano@hotmail.com for more information.

BIOS: Linda M. Montano, a seminal figure in contemporary feminist performance art, has been actively exploring her art/life since the mid 1960s. Her work investigates the relationship between art and life through intricate life altering ceremonies, some of which last for seven or more years. She is interested in the way artistic ritual, often staged as individual interactions or collaborative workshops, can be used to alter and enhance a person's life and to create the opportunity for focus on spiritual energy states, silence and the cessation of art/life boundaries. Montano has performed in over 300 hundred venues. She is the author of several books including: Letters from Linda M. Montano, Performance Artists Talking in the Eighties, and Art In Everyday Life.

Nicolas Dumit Estevez is an interdisciplinary artist working mainly in performance art and art-and-life experiences. He has exhibited and performed extensively in the US as well as internationally at venues such as Madrid Abierto/ARCO, The IX Havana Biennial, PERFORMA 05 and 07, IDENSITAT, Prague Quadrennial, The Pontevedra Biennial, The Queens Museum of Art, MoMA, The Institute for Art, religion and Social Justice at Union Theological Seminary, The MacDowell Colony, El Museo del Barrio, The Center for Book Arts, Longwood Arts Gallery/BCA, The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, Franklin Furnace, and Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, among others. Residencies attended include P.S. 1/MoMA, Yaddo and the MacDowell Colony. He teaches at the Transart Institute in Berlin, Germany. Born in Santiago de los Treinta Caballeros, Dominican Republic, he lives and works in the South Bronx.