The Art of Seeing - Workshop with Abba Yahudah

THE ART OF SEEING

A journey into the social justice and healing aspect of art. This hands-on workshop will focus on art as a tool and a means of self-remembering through re-calibration of our vision/ sight, in order to see life through different lenses. This will broaden our view and allow us to foster new perspectives in which to process our experiences. We will explore the art of "seeing," with the intention to show and prove that our perspectives are based on our positions, and to a great extent determine our state of mind and subsequently, our quality of life. We have the power to change and we can use art to achieve this. (Art supplies will be provided.)

This workshop is part of OneLife Institute's Transformative Visions series, and is offered free of charge thanks to funding from the Akonadi Foundation.

Instructor Bio

Born in St. Catherine, Jamaica, to a family of artists and builders, Abba Yahudah early on vowed to devote himself entirely to art; making everything he did a creative exercise. By the age of ten, he developed a very detailed eye, showing remarkable skill with the pencil, and able to draw the identical likeness of anything he saw. He migrated to the United States in 1981 and at the age of fifteen took his first job as a sign painter. During those formative years he won several national poster contests and a number of his works were published in local and national media such as: Sights and Sounds, The Apprentice Writer and Student Voice.

The African Diaspora, Ethiopianism, mysticism, and the Rastafarian experience inspire his art and writings. He believes in the ultimate unity of all spiritual traditions, but as a Jamaican, unable to escape the Catholic and Baptist missionaries, he has been particularly influenced by Christianity. He could be considered a Gnostic Rastafarian in the sense that he has retained the jewels of truth in Christianity, but has radically dissected the false patriarchal ideologies that subjugate the feminine principle. He prefers to take history all the way back to the land of Ethiopia, where humanity originated from the primordial womb of the Mother.

Abba Yahudah’s fine art has traveled internationally, to Italy, Spain, Ethiopia, exhibiting at the Habesha and Lela Art Galleries, and Jamaica, with an exhibit at the University of the West Indies. He has also exhibited at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., and numerous galleries in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Even though a painter, Abba Yahudah spends a substantial portion of his time writing and has published his first book “A Journey to The Roots of Rastafari - The Essene Nazarite Link,” in 2014. He currently resides in the San Francisco Bay Area and divides his time between Jamaica, Oregon and the Bay Area.

Learn more and see his art: abbayahudah.com

FAQs

What are my transport/parking options getting to the event?

Oakstop is conveniently located on BART and bus lines. Street parking is free after 6pm. And there are several paid lots nearby. You can use this platform to locate lots and compare costs: http://www.parkme.com