Double zero girl
Ground into a fine powder
Inhale and she's gone
Dangerous Predictions /
All 8.2 billion of us are walking around making unconscious choices in our lives. This sleep-walking, of sorts, is a result of our own unique wiring, our trauma, and our environments — both past and present. By examining the mind and actively working to cultivate an awareness of the present (in all its innocence and beauty), we can finally look up and out and forgive the often painful educations we’ve been granted, thank the Universe for its many gifts, and move forward not from the same ol’ doomsday programming but from clarity and soul.
Love.
Music Therapy /
March Tenth /
I read somewhere
Things that are perfect are dead things. Empty things. A silence beyond change or challenge. An endpoint. A blank page. You are a wonderfully messy thing. An impossible thing made of iron and rainwater. Meat and electricity. A dream with teeth. You're too good for perfection.
ART and Music
Made as an Artist in Residence at Camp V, a former uranium mining camp, turned into cool cabins on an art park in rural Colorado. https://www.campv.com/core
Studio sculpture by Light artist Annie Mitchell
Studio sculpture by Light artist Annie Mitchell
Studio sculpture by Light artist Annie Mitchell
Piano recorded in Malibu, CA 7/10/2020. Vocals recorded in Vancorum, CO 3/10/2022
Summer 2021 /
I feel like the reclusion and uncertainty of the pandemic made existing among others feel harder than it used to. It’s suddenly an enormous drain to connect and keep meaningful conversations afloat. Maybe I lost what little tolerance for it that I had and have fully embraced my inner Hermit. The rhythm certainly agrees with me.
Artist in residence
I’m currently 6 weeks into an 8 week residency in central New York at Stone Quarry Hill Art Park where I am building a floating sculpture to be displayed for the public, August 20 and 27. The 2-night event was just opened to the public today and I was told our slots are almost full so if you’re in the area and want to come .. shoot me a message.
I’ve been finding a lot of peace away from the pressures of life here. The grounds are beautiful and the landscape is so lush and green and despite what people say about New Yorkers, I’ve found them to be warm and welcoming. :) It’s rained quite a lot .. which has been amazing because it never rains in LA, but now I find myself missing the always bike-able weather of California. I composed the song below a couple weeks ago .. it has rain and thunder samples from the park.
A PODCAST
I was recently interviewed by the incredible creative forces that are Joel Krieger and Pavani Yalla for a brilliant new podcast they have put together that sheds light on people in the design community who feel a calling to use our skills in service of changing how we exist, our way of relating to the earth and our way of relating to each other. Right up my alley. It was an honor and incredibly fun. They’ve really got something great. I have enjoyed every episode and I encourage you to give it a listen.
In Joel’s words: “Outside In is a podcast about experience design for change. We’ll journey out to the margins to discover design insights in unexpected places. Our episodes will cover a kaleidoscope of experience — from wilderness treks to VR films, communal festivals to immersive theater and beyond. In each episode, we’ll deconstruct an experience with its creator — together, revealing strategies, insights and techniques for transformative experience design.”
Listen on Apple Podcasts
Listen on Spotify
Listen on Google Podcasts
Alueria at The Falls of Ohio /
LightFall is a place where art and nature collide to ignite our interest in, and love of, the natural spaces that have shaped our community. Designed in partnership with the Falls of the Ohio Foundation and River Heritage Conservancy, LightFall connects people to the historically significant landscapes of our river parks through art that inspires exploration and creativity.
I am honored to be the inaugural artist for this event at The Falls of Ohio, a site that brought great joy to my Mother and to our family. Alongside a fantastic team composed of local artist and musician WG Rickel, David Howe whom I bring with me from LA and a handful of devoted volunteers, I will be creating my largest meditative, immersive light and sound experience to date.
Borrowing from a fungus endemic to Indiana, I titled the piece, 'Alueria’. Just as mycorrhizal networks connect individual plants together to transfer water, carbon, nitrogen, and other nutrients and minerals. I see the plant world as a site of teaching for humanity; The network encourages empathy in the plant world, a shared consciousness, a shared mission. If help is needed, the message goes out and neighboring plants react. Plants will actually share resources. It’s fascinating and relevant. We should be tuning in to each other like that. And I believe we can.
Alueria invites synchronicities and resonances between us and the environment’s resplendence. The work offers a distinct opportunity to experience an empathetic bridge between the constellation of beings, seen and unseen, known and unknown. I hope you'll join us. General admission tickets are here and if you’re interested in our special donor event party on opening night, September 8, shoot me a message me and I’ll get you there.
Collaborators:
WG Rickel - Sound design and creative support
David Howe of Lightriders - Technical support
Partners:
The Falls of Ohio Foundation
River Heritage Conservancy
SoIN Tourism
Louisville Public Media
Made possible with grants from Bales Foundation and Samtec
Neglected Outbursts /
Pretty manageable, all things considered.
Once Upon a Time /
My dreams came true. I gave my love freely and wholly and I was desired and seen and appreciated. I made art and lived in my body. I had a dog to love, a person to love and a garden to tend. My mornings were slow and my days were filled with pursuits of curiosity. I felt gratitude for the opportunity to behold a divine universe.
Guest House /
11 months in .. I miss traveling. I miss eating at restaurants. I miss yoga classes with lots of people around me. I miss biking around town to my errands without a care in the world.
I miss you.
-Annie
Ignorance Is Not Bliss /
My mental practice (meditation, breathwork) is really beginning to click and it’s melting my brain with its efficacy and utter simplicity.
Let me explain.
When we meditate, we strengthen our ability to manage our own physiological responses. What Yogis try to do manually, pharma does artificially. And not even as well. It makes me a little angry... I feel I was robbed of a very important coping tool for the majority of my life. Why are we not taught how to find this medicine within ourselves?!
I wonder; is it because the techniques are from a culture we don’t fully understand? Is there a shortage of role models and teachers for us Westerners? A little of all of it? It’s true that Americans have only recently had access to these teachings. Yoga didn’t come to the US until 1947 so if you’re in the States; unless you are the grandchild of Indra Devi or immigrants, your Grandma probably wasn’t big into yoga like the Indian Grannies.
Meditation and breathwork just isn’t part of our culture and unfortunately the byproduct is that we go our whole lives thinking something is wrong with us and we need drugs because we aren’t “happy”. Our privatized healthcare system certainly isn’t going to shine a light on treatments that don't make them money. Regardless as to the cause, our ignorance of these incredibly powerful tools has resulted in our being disconnected from our core selves which then causes us to look for bliss in all the wrong places.
Understanding how important a mental practice is, I cannot understand why it isn’t a priority for every human being. I am confident in saying that learning and exercising the inner workings of the mind through meditation is more fundamental than even reading.
We’re not too lazy or ignorant to do the work… we simply aren’t taught how important and transformative it can be. If we’re lucky, we stumble across these practices and philosophies and have the curiosity to pursue answers. But because the practice is working within our minds; by a long shot a place we don’t yet fully understand, it is mysterious and therefore intimidating but this ignorance is not our fault! We shouldn’t feel inferior because we don’t understand. As my friend DT used to say, “I don’t know what I don’t know.” Our ignorance is a failure of Western society, not of us as individuals. We simply weren’t taught. Myself included.
I’ve been alive half of the total time I will be alive and it’s only now I have truly directed my focus inward to investigate. I’m part of our broken system too. Being introduced to this as a child would have saved me decades of anguish .. and run ins with death himself. It would’ve saved my family tremendous pain. Lovers and friends too.
It’s not an easy thing to wake up to the suffering I have caused myself and others but I am lucky because in that awareness, there is the acknowledgment that I have caused enough suffering and my path forward is more illuminated.
The Better Part of a Year /
As we approach a year of this pandemic-life, I find myself with four (4) paid professionals attempting to keep me balanced and I wouldn’t say no to a fifth. What is it about being still that is so difficult? Is it that our demons can catch us?
Yes. I believe so.
Alaska is a hostile place that earned its reputation but the mind is truly the last frontier. It’s in our minds that we hear such horrible, hurtful and misguided things. It’s in our minds that we suffer the most. If only our demons were more like Winnie the Pooh.
“You’re braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.”
I wrote an article a while back about how we are all hardwired for dissatisfaction. Turns out, I was more right than I even knew. With insight from my Fantastic Four, I’m learning that self-deception is a story as old as time. Humans throughout history have had a little voice in their heads telling them that things are bad, that they themselves are bad. And the kicker .. everyone thinks the same thing about them that that aggrieved little voice does. For all intents and purposes, that drive for an ideal has served us well. It’s why we have air conditioning and NASA. But it’s also why we have divorce and botox.
Hearing this nagging voice of negativity is not serving me so I’ve been turning to my teachers during this downtime to help me reprogram.
The Rope and the Snake
In my spirituality class, we touched on a topic recently that I sincerely thought I had grasped but hearing it on this day .. I understood it in a much deeper way .. and it was profound. Suddenly I knew that I have and always will cause the majority of my own suffering. My mind just automatically reacts to what it perceives as a threat and .. bad news .. the threats aren’t usually real and it takes lifetimes of practice to retrain the mind.
To illustrate, my teacher, Eben, told me a parable from Vedanta philosophy (the Hindu scriptures) called Rajjusarpa Nyaya. The Rope and the Snake.
A man walks at night along a path. He sees a poisonous snake barring his way and turns and runs in the opposite direction. As he returns along the same path in the morning, he finds a coiled rope on the ground. He realizes that in the darkness, he mistook the coiled rope for a snake and it dawns on him, in the dark it is hard to see reality as it truly is. In the light of day, we see more clearly.
This story seeks to show us that our perception of reality can be clouded. Ignorance to reality sometimes manifests as rapid judgment or fear, and when that happens, we react solely based on senses or emotions.
Guilty.
I react based on my senses and emotions a lot. And it indeed causes me a lot of anguish. I must be walking around in the fucking dark most of the time.
As I sat in meditation, trying to turn my own snakes into ropes, I wept for all my unnecessary suffering. I wept for the pain I allow others to inflict upon me. And I wept because I don’t yet know how to stop it all. This is why I have to keep practicing. I want the waters of peace to wash over me. I want to see a rope for a rope. I want bliss.
ALASKA!!!!! /
Like many of you, my year has been thrown (to put it mildly) by fortuitous events. Cancellations, delays and aggressive pivoting have been the name of the game. Fortunately, because my work is already designed to be experienced in nature, contemplatively, in silence and isolation, I’m a perfect fit for the direction public art must take in our post-apocalyptic present. It’s finally necessary to experience art outside the walls of a museum. I’m not exactly sure what that means for fine art, but I’m not here to solve that. I’m here to make cool shit in cool places that gets people moving and feeling and connecting with each other and nature.
Cut to Alaska.
I’m flying (Oh Dear God) with my amazing tech lead and programmer, David Howe on Friday to install my largest exhibit to date. I’ll have 2 separate locations running at the Anchorage Museum and .. my fav .. a more guerilla style piece for one-night somewhere in the wild. I’ll let you know where when I know myself. ;)
Biking Venice to Santa Monica /
The people in Venice are .. diverse .. to say the least. You’ll see a guy pushing his tiny dog in a stroller, then a dreaded up dude peddling a Big Wheel, then a group of the hottest women you’ve ever seen in your life wearing cutoffs and killing it on roller skates mixed in with homeless people and tourists and buskers. It’s some primo people-watching, if you’re into that.
Love and light,
Annie
Sleeving bundles of fiber optics /
Having Trouble Peopling /
Yesterday, I did a thirty minute keynote for the SEGD annual design conference. I worked my ass off to write it, to practice it and to put just the right visual story to it and IT WAS AWESOME.
Barefoot pandemic zoom keynote pregame // Light Artist Annie Mitchell
I spoke about my path to becoming a light and sound artist. Why and when I left being a big deal design consultant, what I gave up when I left, projects I’ve done and the science of brainwave entrainment. I spoke about brainwave states and how they relate to the frequency of the Earth, the clinically therapeutic benefits of awe, endorphins and nature… and of course… I spoke about my sculptures and process.
Zero uninteresting stuff. To me, anyway. Hopefully to the audience too.
Surprisingly, I woke up not feeling anxious or nervous as I expected but happy and excited. Very much the energy I have on days I get to install. It was a great sign that I’m on the right path. That feeling has always been my green light.
But today..
Today, I’m having trouble peopling. The introvert in me is strong. I need space and quiet to recharge and eat things that are bad for me. Since I already ate all the bad stuff, I’m plugged into Logic Pro working on a composition started before the keynote prep became a priority.
Even though I feel quiet today.. I still love you and miss you, World. Be good.
Annie
The Invitation /
It doesn't interest me
what you do for a living.
I want to know
what you ache for
and if you dare to dream
of meeting your heart's longing.
It doesn't interest me
how old you are.
I want to know
if you will risk
looking like a fool
for love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive.
It doesn’t interest me
what planets are
squaring your moon...
I want to know
if you have touched
the centre of your own sorrow
if you have been opened
by life's betrayals
or have become shriveled and closed
from fear of further pain.
I want to know
if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.
I want to know
if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you
to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us
to be careful
to be realistic
to remember the limitations
of being human.
It doesn't interest me
if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself.
If you can bear
the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.
I want to know if you can see Beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day.
And if you can source your own life
from its presence.
I want to know
if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand at the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
"Yes."
It doesn't interest me
to know where you live
or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up
after the night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.
It doesn't interest me
who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the centre of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.
It doesn't interest me
where or what or with whom
you have studied.
I want to know
what sustains you
from the inside
when all else falls away.
I want to know
if you can be alone
with yourself
and if you truly like
the company you keep
in the empty moments.
by Oriah Mountain Dreamer
The making of my fungal sculptures /
It’s a beautiful day in Southern California. It almost lets you forget the state of the world when the sun is shining so sweetly. Almost. It’s day fifty-five in quarantine for this gal. Holding steady over here but I do miss touch. I miss hugs and kisses and holding hands. I miss not worrying about germs. I miss biking all over my neighborhood running errands and leisurely browsing the grocery store. My hair misses my colorist and my stylist. My body misses being in yoga classes with that energy surrounding me. But these are small concerns; all things considered. I am healthy and pretty happy in my beautiful space, making art and music and yoga and food.
Last night I biked down to the beach to see the bioluminescent waves. Yes, yes, I know it’s closed but I could not miss the chance to see this. I’m a light artist!! It was not crowded at all and everyone was very respectful. Beach patrol was going up and down the shoreline with a huge spotlight though, so you could really only enjoy the moment between their passing. It was so beautiful it nearly broke my heart. The ocean was electric blue….I’ll never forget it.
I documented a bit of process today and put together this video of the making of my fungal sculptures. Each unique sculpture is hand sewn from layering sheets of silicone. Often I sew them on-site as I’m building my installations.
I hope everyone out there is safe, healthy and staying as sane as you can during these crazy times. I hope to see you around in the real world again sometime soon.
Love and light,
Annie
Day Forty-Seven /
Day 47 without human touch. I drove up the Pacific Coast to the only beach that is open to the public and sat on the rocks for a few hours feeling the sun warm my skin, listening to the waves crash against the rocks, remembering what it feels like to be human. I drove and drove. Into the hills, through the canyons, stopping occasionally to take in the view. The sky was clear and blue and you could see for miles and miles.
Los Angeles, you sure are beautiful.
Open Windows /
I was speaking to my Dad on the phone the day I released this song and he, being concerned that I was locked away in some kind of Los Angeles dungeon, asked if I had windows in my studio. It struck me as a very sweet thing to ask. He wondered about my environment … it was a deep question without him even realizing it. So I named the song, Open Windows, after his very genuine concern for me. The video was shot in Summerlake, Oregon last March at my art residency there.
Speaking a bit more about genuine concern…
When I was a teenager, my Mom and I had a lot of problems because she made me think my feelings were somehow wrong. If I was sad; “don’t be sad”. If I was heartbroken; “don’t be, he wasn’t worth it”. My sister who was at home during my teenage years was a clone of my Mom .. always telling me I needed to be happier or needed to be better, but what neither one of them ever said was, “what you’re feeling is valid” or “I understand”. That voice, that of my oldest sister, moved out when I was nine.
It wasn’t until this pandemic when I was group chatting with my sisters that I realized this brand of “soothing” has been a pretty major fuck off in my life. As we discussed the fallout from the pandemic, I was triggered in such profound way by my sister telling me to be grateful instead of upset; I saw angst from 35 years unfold before my very eyes. I won’t lie .. I got very upset because it made me feel guilty for being sad when I have every right and reason to be. We are all understandably going through some pretty crazy emotional rollercoasters at the moment.
I urge you to be thoughtful with people and their emotions…particularly right now as we’re all under such extreme stress. Next time someone shares their fears or sadness with you .. try listening and empathizing instead of giving solutions. Feeling things deeply is core to who I am and even the best intentioned redirects are going to get you a big fuck off from my inner child. At our core, we all are seeking the same things. We all want to be heard and to be loved, so let’s do that. Listen and love.
And to you, I say … what you’re feeling is valid. No matter what it is. Emotions can bring us to the height of ecstasy and to the depths of despair. Both extremes are part of the human experience. Sit with it. You’re okay. I’ve got you.
Love and light,
Annie
New Music And a Global Pandemic /
Los Angeles shelter in place orders are active due to covid 19. We're to only go out for food and healthcare. I've personally been in isolation for over 3 weeks. This song emerged during that time. The rain at the end is from LA a few days ago. The guitar is a sampling from my playing a few months ago. The singing is my own. The video is the Santa Ana’s whipping through a tree in Venice Beach last week, the day after the shelter order went into effect...obviously manipulated.
I haven’t known what to say about all of this. It’s all been said by more eloquent people than myself. It’s scary though. I’m 43 and I’ve never seen a global event even resembling this. Horrible that it had to take a global pandemic to bring us together as human beings, but hey…whatever it takes. We have certainly needed a collective wakeup call and whoo-boy…here it is. It just really sucks that so many people have to suffer and die as a result. I’m so so worried about everyone and sending all the good vibrations I can muster out to the world. Please be safe and don’t hesitate to reach out if there is anything I can do to help. I’ll even jump on zoom to cheer you up or maybe we could do a Netflix Party and watch Tiger King while making crude commentary about how fucked up THAT shit is. Whatever it takes. <3
Stay safe. You are loved.
Love and Light,
Annie