<![CDATA[Niles Vallejo Hagemann Artist - JOURNAL]]>Fri, 15 May 2026 00:29:28 -0600Weebly<![CDATA[April 09th, 2019]]>Tue, 09 Apr 2019 20:46:56 GMThttps://www.nileshagemann.com/journal/april-09th-2019 Dream fiddle Boat​
Here is my latest creation which I call a Dream Fiddle Boat from a series of dreams I had years ago that my teacher at the time said I must make,and thereby allow to teach me.After two years in the making she has already taught me that i can do what I did not think I had the skill for.The slow process of figurando and trial and error kept me very grounded during a difficult passage.This instrument is Shamanic in nature and I believe will be used to travel with.The ancient history comes from the Mongol Horse Fiddle ( which was an epic story of the nomadic peoples who also repurposed their large ladles into stringed instruments).Sometimes one must make something wholly non utilitarian to free oneself up.
]]><![CDATA[Why paint when the country is going to hell in a handbasket?]]>Wed, 05 Apr 2017 15:07:48 GMThttps://www.nileshagemann.com/journal/why-paint-when-the-country-is-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket
  • I am back home after a month assisting my wife Annie in running 2 Ancestral Heritage programs up in Canada and the San Juan Islands of the Pacific Northwest.  For me, at this time in my life, painting is not the one thing that I do all the time, obsessively, that defines my response to our cultural turmoil.  It is the many things coalescing into a rich life that expresses through my art, or craft, where the quiet elder can hear what wants to be done.  For sure, the ancestors are clamoring to be remembered, as they want to help us understand how we got here.  So I may go through dry times in my creative dreaming, and instead turn to our gardens, growing food for the people that come to work with us, and then the urge to beauty making returns quite naturally.  My life, well liked, true to my nature, becomes the "art".  Much of what I have been drawn to in my life is a love of the "old ways".  As Gary Snyder says "Go light, stay together, know the flowers."  Living simply, knowing the complex old technology of food medicine, stories and myth, is embedded in what comes out later as a painting or a story or song.  Perhaps a lot of what we do out in this rural high desert is the practice of following our soul's promptings and remember what our particular genius is as medicine for the world.  For youngers to be with elders who care to listen to their lament.  At times going on a walkabout to renew our contract with the divine is all we can do.
  • The way I am moved by paintings is rather mysterious.  I look at Richard Diebenkorn, The Society of Six(early California colorists), Alexi Von Jalensky, Fairfield, Porter, and the late Douglas V. Snow, a Utah artist that lived near here, and the magical realm opens up, knowing based on place, that feeds my particular soul.
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]]><![CDATA[Welcome to my renewed website]]>Thu, 19 Jan 2017 17:39:10 GMThttps://www.nileshagemann.com/journal/welcome-to-my-renewed-websiteWelcome to my renewed and improved website. It has painting availability, prices, all kinds of cards and prints that are easy to obtain complete with framing options and shipping through my affiliated website niles-hagemann.pixels.com. To further connect with my fans I will blog about my life, my work and what my wife and I are doing as our way of bringing beauty into this world as well as creating culture through guiding initiatory wilderness experiences. The website will automatically link to Facebook, LinkedIn and other social media. I have 13 new paintings that haven't been seen and a new section with woodwork and micaceous clay pottery. I also invite you to comment on the journal page and on the contact page as well. Next spring, summer and fall I plan to host open studio days at our home which will include our small farming project. We live in rural southern Utah near Capitol Reef National Park, surrounded by wild mountains and endless desert beauty with many camping, motel, airbnb opportunities so that stopping by can turn into a refreshing adventure. My next journal entry will speak to what programs my wife and I offer.  Warm regards to all of you, Niles Hagemann
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