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 I recently took a little visit back in time and looked at the very first issue of Artella. The theme of the issue was Time: When Cronos and Kairos Kiss. The subtitle was inspired by the column that my father Lonnie Kliever, a popular university professor in the philosophy of religion, had written for the issue. I found his words so enriching and inspiring, I was moved to share an excerpt with you:.
As usual, the Greeks were ahead of us in thinking and speaking about such conundrums at time. Where we use one word to describe a whole range of things, they had the good sense to use different words to mark distinctions in reality and in experience. For example, they had three different words for the experience of love -- eros for possessive love, philia for friendly love, and agape for sacrificial love. Not surprisingly, the Greeks had two words for marking the differences between the experiences of time -- kronos and kairos.
Cronos (in the English spelling of kronos and from which we take our word "chronology") is sequential time. Cronos is the time of clocks and calendars. Cronos can be quantified and measured. Cronos is linear, moving exorably out of the determinate past toward the determined future. Cronos has no freedom. Kairos is numinous time. Kairos is the time of festivals and fantasies. Kairos cannot be controlled or possessed. Kairos is circular, dancing back and forth, here and there without beginning or ending. Kairos has no boundaries.
Like most mysteries of nature and life in the ancient world, these different experiences of time were seen as the manifestations of different gods. In fact, the Greeks represented time with nine different gods, but the main gods of time were Cronos and Kairos. Cronos, the god of the world and time, was the most important of the Elder Gods. He was Lord of the Universe, the source of life and death. He devoured his own children to prevent them replacing him as the supreme god, but his wife saved their last son Zeus, who eventually overthrew his father's relentless rule of life and death. By contrast, Kairos was one of the subtlest gods in the Greek pantheon. He was portrayed as a winged god, dancing on a razor's edge. In one hand he held the scales of fate. He reached out with the other hand to tip those scales, altering the course of fate. Kairos was the god of lucky chance. He personified numinous moments of time giving birth to novelty and surprise.
Drawing on the ancient mythic images of the gods, we can revisit the two kinds of time with deeper understanding. Cronos is mechanistic and deterministic. Cronos is time that is ruled by the dead hand of the past. Cronos devours us with remorseless certainty. Cronos turns life into stone. Kairos is creative and serendipitous. Kairos is time that is energized by the living dream of the future. Kairos confronts us with unlimited possibility. Kairos turns fate into destiny.
The great escape to get out of Cronos and into Kairos eludes us so long as we live on this earth since the times of body and spirit are inseparably yoked. But we are not helpless to tip the balance in the direction of Kairos over Cronos. We can temper our fear and our fixation on sequential time. We can deepen our quest and our experiences of numinous time. In such synchroSherylynnety of Cronos and Kairos lies our deepest consolation and our steepest aspiration. Beauty, truth, and goodness are born when body and spirit merge -- when Cronos and Kairos kiss!
This reminds us that it is because time is so elusive that we can release the boundaries of its definition, and re-define time to mean whatever we want it to mean. In this way, we get to live each day in a time machine of our own design, traveling at our own tempo to destinations of our dreams.
Next month will be 5 years since my Dad passed away. He was a huge supporter of Artella when he was alive and, as evidenced by the above passage, he continues to be an active contributor to Artella, even today! By simply viewing our time and our entire life in non-linear, expansive terms, we open up rich opportunities for inspiration. Through this simple change in perspective, we begin to see how we too can travel through time, and how we can even connect to eternity, as our words, art, and actions of today can reverberate throughout the universe forever.
For those short on time, to simplify this week's Artellagram, here are some ”quick links” to the highlights in this edition. You can simply follow the links that you're interested in and go directly to that section.
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 1. NEW! Pilot Group for "From Here to ARTernity"! - From Here to ARTernity is a Mixed Media Metamorphosis that invites you to make dynamic, magical shifts in your life by organically re-shaping the way you think about time and completely altering the way you see it and use it! Whether you fantasize about taking 10 years off your age or adding 10 hours to your day, From Here to ARTernity is an inspirational journey with me through fun and lively lessons, mixed media art projects, a real hands-on art supply kit, live teleclasses, and an interactive community…all working together in new and very powerful ways.
For most people, time has become the biggest challenge in fulfilling their creative potential and following their dreams. In fact, the question that people ask me the most about running Artella and being a Mom is, "How do you have TIME to do it all?" Well, I have found that when we don't think we have the time, we then have to create it!…and how better to create time, than with art? While there are lots of resources out there to help you manage the time you have, I've learned that time management can only go so far. So where time management leaves off, Time Metamorphosis takes over! And that's a glimpse of what From Here to ARTernity is all about!
Each time we release a new program, we allow a small group at the start to be part of the Pilot Group, receiving a substantial discount in exchange for their feedback once during the program and once when they are done. We opened enrollment in the Pilot Group last Saturday and are keeping it open until July 2, or earlier if we run out of ARTernity Supply Kits. Those who enroll in the From Here to ARTernity Pilot Group instantly save $30 half off the cost of the program and also get to participate in 3 Live teleclasses presented by me, exclusively for the Pilot Group. Read about the teleclass topics, here!
We've also extended the deadline for those wishing to apply for scholarship aid from The Lonnie D. Kliever Scholarship Fund (Lonnie was my Dad; his were the inspiring words I quoted above at the top of this Artellagram). So if time metamorphosis meets mixed media art is a concept that resonates with you as you read more about it, come join me as we have fun creating, sharing and traveling From Here To ARTernity!
 2. ARTbundance™ Coach Training Program Rescheduled for July 14! We’ve rescheduled the free sample workshop for Artella's new ARTbundance™ Coach Training to Tuesday, July 14. An ARTbundance™ Coach is a pioneering, unique hybrid of inspiring coach, creativity teacher, workshop leader, and spiritual guide. If you have been trying to figure out how you can steer your vocation to fit in with the world's current deep hunger, this training is a joyful, immensely promising opportunity unlike any other.
On Tuesday, July 14, I'll be presenting a free ARTbundance™ Coach Training Workshop, which will present the Top 9 creative strategies that you can pass on to your own clients, or even integrate into your own creative endeavors. We'll do some fun interactive exercises to examine your own professional, monetary, and life goals, and help you determine where your best path and next step in life might be. You also will get a first hand look at what training to be an ARTbundance™ Coach is really all about, a pioneer's wagon full o' nifty resources and tools you get to keep, as you determine if it's a right fit for you, and whether applying for the full Training Program is the inspired next step for your creative journey!
If you'd like to sign up for the free Training Sample Workshop on the new July 14 date, or find out more about ARTbundance™ and ARTbundance™ Coach Training is all about, simply visit this page.
 3. June YOUpons codes are here! Take a look at the June YOUpons, and you'll find discounts on our newest, most popular e-courses, plus plus savings on Artella print magazines, vintage photographs, and Complete Idealist Super-Bundles for creative entrepreneurs!
 4. Luxury Member Ship Update…Live Events! I’m excited to announce the following upcoming LIVE events for Artella Luxury Members:
The Live Events are just another nice bonus of Membership, in addition to all of the weekly goodies that are sent out each and every week. If you are not currently a Luxury Member, you can get more information, here. You can access the instructions for signing up for these live events immediately when you sign up!
 5. Feeling Lost? Have you ever just wished someone could hand you a literal map...with all the steps and paths mapped out to get directly to your creative dream? That's exactly what happens in my one-on-one Creative Cartography™!
 6. Earn money for spreading the word! Join Artella's Generous Affiliate Program, It has great commissions, bonuses, and it even makes your teeth sparkle! :-)
 7. Interested in Becoming Part of Artella's Team? If you're interested in becoming part of the Artella Team, check out this post in the Artella Cafe for details.
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I'm so happy to feature Sherylynne Carriveau, a wonderful collage artist and editor of The Gleaner Zine. I hope you enjoy getting to know Sherylynne and peeking into her fabulous "gleaned" life!
Artella: What tips do you have for bringing more creativity into one’s everyday life?
Sherylynne: First of all, I think everyone needs to see themselves as an artist. We all create and have creative thoughts. Then, I believe that an artist needs to take the time to see the world around him - from the picture of a horizon, to the collage of elements laying at the top of a trash can, as art. If you could only see the art around you, you would recognize it, appreciate it, and be able to express it. A baby step would be filling journal pages with the "art of the day" that you realized. This art does not always need to be tangent. It could be words heard, an expression or phrase. Writing thoughts or ideas first will keep them from escaping your mind. From there, you would pick up gleanings that match your "mind's eye" and being a composition on the opposing page of each journal entry. No work of art need to ever be complete.
I also believe that an artist needs to be open minded and experience different forms or art, either the formal works of a museum, the haiku's of another, or the ideas of someone with unexpected ideas. This form of enrichment broadens our peripheral vision, and adds new shades of colors to our palette.
Finally, the compositions of an artist need to be true to him - not copy cats that convince him that he has created art. Art is self-expression. Make something you can interpret into words or feelings - and do not be concerned whether or not if someone else "gets it." Art should pull something out of you, just like speaking releases words, expressions, and feelings. You should be able to view your work in progress and see a part of you - a mood, a memory, or an idea that you recorded through art.
You can read the rest of Sherylynne's interview, here
See Sherylynne's products in The Shoppes of Artella, here.
 If you want more artist interviews from Artella, take a look at our eBooks Artist Profiles Assembled and Artist Profiles Assembled, Vol 2.
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 ART TIP OF THE WEEK: If you've hung out in Artella Land for any length of time, it's probably no secret to you that I love puns and word play. :-) And since I also love combining words and art, you can understand why I think visual puns are the ultimate in creativity.
Visual puns combine images and symbols to create pictures with multiple, clever meanings. You can create visual puns with images, or even with type alone. The example here, titled "A Bun Dance", incorporates both: I created a visual pun with the drawing, as well as with the silly position of the letter "B" in the added type. :-)
Ivan Chermayeff and Tom Geismar call the latter a "typographic pun". In their book, Watching Words Move, they say: "A typographic pun is the substitution of an equivalent image for a letter or letters that visually define the word set in type."
The possibilities for playing with fonts, position, line and curve are endless. I believe that you can actually make any word say anything through its type alone! Give it a try: pick any word and have some fun creating visual puns around that word.
And if you are also a lover of type and letter, you may be interested to know that this month's goodies for Luxury Digital Art Members, including the Pixel Pack, Video Tutorial, and weekly Digital Art DO-torials, all center around celebrating creative type in digital art. You can get more information about the Digital Art Membership, here.
WRITING TIP OF THE WEEK: Writers can have fun with typographic puns, too. Try playing with this type of "word play" in your writing. Here are a few examples:
blOated
=qual
Aut m bile
o o
ag&in&ndag&in
Typographic puns are fun to incorporate in all kinds of writing. Poetry, abstract prose, or even more linear non-fiction writing can be well-served by such creative insertions. You're only limited by your imagination.
So... what do you th?nk ? :-)
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Marney