About the artist:

Lex Munson has been a professional artist and designer for over thirty years. His projects have ranged from designing banks to theater sets, from interior design and graphic arts to theme trade shows and major retail/industrial exhibits. He has taught and inspired hundreds of artists, from beginners to instructors with his unique, dynamic methods, and holds a reputation for creative and entertaining demonstrations. His works appear in many private and corporate collections throughout the U.S. and abroad.

Raised in Yosemite National Park, Lex Munson’s deep appreciation of nature’s beauty began early. He absorbed Yosemite Valley’s sheer cliffs, magnificent trees and cascading waterfalls. Today his paintings recall that misty, magical world in a unique blend of fantasy and reality. Visions, reflected in bold, free watercolors that take the viewer into dreamlike vistas of Yosemite and the Western landscape. Many of Munson’s paintings are created on site, but so deeply ingrained are the images of his youth, that the majority are created solely through his imagination.

For more information on Lex Munson and his current workshops and retreats, please visit http://GetawayWithArt.com.

A Transition

We hold on
Too tightly
To an idea
That most closely fits
Into the current
Context
Of images, feelings
That are the living
reflections
Of our dearest
Insecurities
Those beautiful things
dangling
From the ropes
Tied to a stick
Above our heads
Is only us
And we suffocate
The dream
until
It is but a random
Flash of lunacy
In that moment
Before the eyes open
To see that we have grown
Much too big
For the space
We’ve chosen
For our roots

You may reach Sam Burks at srburks@gmail.com.

About the artist:

Johanna Poethig is an internationally exhibited visual, public, and performance artist. Over the years, she has collaborated with many different artists, professionals, communities, and cultural groups. The work you see here is specifically from a mural project in the Tenderloin District of San Francisco, CA. You can contact Poethig at jpoethig@mindspring.com.

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New Mural in SF

Poethig and Wofford, mugging and working on new mural in San Francisco’s Tenderloin. Expect more progress posts as the project continues over weeks to come.

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Week 4: Tenderloin Heights

Civic Center Post Office Mural: Street Art/ Mural Performance Painting/ Social Theater

It’s either “Tenderloin Heights” or “Tondo (famous slum in Manila) in the Tenderloin”.  Our scaffolding is periodically inhabited.  There are sleeping things stuffed in the tree next to the second level.  I call it the “Garden Level” .  We look over the top planks gingerly every work day hoping for no surprises. What’s worse, a tag or some human dung. Hmmmmm.  Hard to say.

The police are not around this week.  People are corralled into this neighborhood.  Arrests seem very arbitrary. There is no space in California prisons and clearly not enough mental health services.  An anti Drug War demonstration came down the street last Friday.  The police were all around that.  There was also a bomb scare at the Federal building 2 blocks down so it crowded up on our block that day. A little too cozy. A blind man knocked over a blue jar of paint and it splatted on to the sidewalk.

Natural Beauty

With a click the severed sunbeams
Flutter and descend like canary’s feathers
As a cat holds down the body.
A body trapped beneath the paws and
Claws that pierce skin, releasing
Fluid that leaves no trace.
A small stubbled head placed
Upon trembling cupped hands
That trap falling water.
The eyes make up lakes,
The mascara raging tributaries.

You may contact Don P. Musey at donpmusey@gmail.com.

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Our Son

I want to hold you,
But you’re almost my size.
With your father’s hair,
And Papa’s eyes.

You’re big and rough,
And strong and loud.
You make me and your father very proud.

When you changed from a baby
I do not know.
Though I’ve been there every second,
To watch you grow.

You surprise us and shock us every day.
We are in awe sometimes,
By the things you say.

In too few years,
You will be a man.
Just follow careful,
To God’s great plan.

And know at sunset,
When each day is done,
We are always proud of you our son.

J’Rie B. Elliott is a poetess and ongoing contributor of Synchronized Chaos. To contact her, send an email to dixiepoet@gmail.com.

Synchronized Chaos is serving you up a summer “cocktail” for July: equal parts science and nature with a splash of spontaneity.

Tapati McDaniels takes you inside the 4th annual conference on pharmacogenomics and consumer genetic testing, held on May 26, 2011, at the South San Francisco Conference Center.

Leena Prasad kicks off Whose Brain Is It, a brand new monthly neuroscience column.

Daniella Engen finds unique characteristics of wildlife through a lens and gives new boldness to otherwise unassuming moments. Sara Diamond explains the meaning of “dream logic” in her series of whimsical photographs.

Other artists featured in this issue are Ari Bernabei and Trius Fernsler. Bernabei’s paintings are joyful in the small details and Fernsler’s work is colorful and rhythmic.

Also rhythmic is the poetry by Christopher Bernard. Bernard shares a few of his free-spirited and energetic poems based on bikes.

Last but not least for poetry, Carolyn Havenhill’s work reflects upon finding peace and faith during hardships and appreciating the present.

There are 3 book reviews this month:

• Jaylan Salah on In the Palace of Creation, by Janine Canan
• Nicole Arocho on It Felt Like a Kiss, by Leena Prasad
• Bruce Roberts on Quiet Chaos, by Sandro Veronesi

You also have an exciting opportunity to read the first suspenseful chapter from A. Paul Cartier’s novel, Tunnel Road. Also check out the electric and shocking (puns intended) flash fiction by Carter Maddox.

Thanks very much for reading this month’s issue of Synchronized Chaos Magazine. Cheers!

His Spirit

In the depth of this sorrow
My heart hears you weep
A prayer in the Bible
I hope you will read
God sends His Love
To Help Carry Us Through
No Matter what has been done to us
Or the things that we do.
He mapped out our future
For as we have been told
The Highways to Heaven
Are streets lined in Gold.
The angel song is as sweet
As Solomon would sing
Our clothes are the finest
Of garments he brings.
A table of silver
Where You are His Guest
A footstool in Heaven
For our weary feet to rest
Breathe deep and feel
His abiding love
Sent from above

Carolyn Havenhill, currently incarcerated in California for drunken driving and taking part in an accident which caused a woman to have a miscarriage, writes as part of a process to rebuild her life and give something positive back to society. She and her victim now write to each other as part of a mutual healing process, and Havenhill dedicates her poem, “His Spirit” to the memory of the unborn child. She intends to continue writing upon release and seeks other outlets to continue publishing her work. You may comment here if you would like to write to Carolyn, and we will give you her address with her permission.

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