Expensive Lesson

I am still reeling from a costly and inconvenient lesson in having Suitcase Filled with Nails, published in Canada.  I believe in jumping on the band wagon of start ups but this time I fell off and got under the wheels.

The flip side is Suitcase has been republished by Book Publishers Network in Seattle and is available everywhere and through mainstream distributors.

A couple of weeks ago Rick Steves, the famed travel writer did two radio interviews with me, to be aired at a later date.  I’ve got readings scheduled July 13 at Eagle Harbor Books on Bainbridge Island and at the University Book Store in Bellevue July 20, plus a string of other events.

From one Artist to Another

Shurooq Amin posted in Shurooq Amin's Art Cafe

Shurooq Amin 9 June 08:50 Wall Photos A brilliant witty book by my friend Yvonne Pepin-Wakefield about her experiences teaching art, deali...

She Asks the Questions I could not

I had these same questions but put them to the back of my mind, fearing if I spoke my mind in Kuwait, I would end up in big trouble, or worse.  I think my answers to these questions are in the paintings I did of women in abaya and beyond. Shurooq Amin 30 May 15:06 Questions. I like questions. They stem from curiosity and a thirst for knowledge. We were created with brains and we were encouraged as children to ask questions. The brain is a beautiful thing; perhaps as an organ it's aesthetically unpleasant to look at, but one would assume your brain is inside your head and so you only need its functional value. You are blessed with a working brain. Use it. Ask questions. Don't be shepherded. Don't "maaaa" and "baaaa". And whatever you do, don't just complain from the comfort of your home and sit back and wait for others to fight for your rights. So I'm asking questions: Would forcing a woman to cover her head with Hijab or Abbaya make her any less sexy? Would forcing a woman to cover her head make her instantly submissive to men or to authority? Would forcing a woman to cover her head create a moral code of conduct WITHIN her to make her a pious, religious woman all of a sudden? Would forcing a woman to cover her head eliminate corruption and immorality from the world or even the country? Would forcing a woman to cover her head solve the problem of hunger, poor economy, mediocre health system, a failing educational system, rape, molestation, pedophilia, theft, embezzlement, or even wife/child abuse? Would forcing a woman to cover her head help the progress of a nation or an entire Arab civilization? Ask these questions with me. Ask them everywhere until they echo around the world. Ask them until "they" (those in authority who are NOT using their beautiful God-given brains) answer with the correct answer. For there is only one correct answer to all these questions. The answer is: NO. I like questions.

Changes

After an expensive and steep learning curve, Suitcase is going into a second printing, different publisher and WILL BE AVAILABLE THROUGH ALL MAJOR BOOK DISTRIBUTORS, and ebook platforms.

New Cover, Second Edition

More and Even More on Censorship

• What is happening to Shurooq, a Kuwaiti, also happened to me and I wrote a book about this journey

  
  

  
  

  Shurooq Amin

  Dear art supporters: I was invited to MBC Beirut to appear on the program Kalam Nawaen to speak about my journey, about the closure of my show, about censorship & about freedom of expression. Yesterday MBC Kuwait came to my studio and filmed for 3 hours. After I land in Beirut, I'm shocked to be told that MBC was ordered to cancel my appearance & ban me from speaking about this on TV! They received a call from the Ministry of Information in Kuwait ordering them to ban me from speaking! Since when is MBC controlled by Kuwait? Since when is MBC against freedom of expression? Who is afraid of my art and why? It's not political; it's not religious: it's just art! What's going on here?

Slide Show/Book Signing Friday the 13th

Port Angeles Fine Arts Center

For immediate release

Enter Stage Left series runs 4 Friday nights beginning April 13

On April 13 the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center begins its fourth annual Enter Stage Left series, which every spring accompanies the annual Strait Art exhibition of north Peninsula artists. Set against the backdrop of this lively and diverse exhibition of 29 visual artists the series presents programs of readings, lectures, music and theater also from local talent.

All programs begin at 7 pm. Admission is by donation at the door and benefits the programs of the Fine Arts Center.

April 13 • Program 1 vYvonne Wakefield: Suitcase Filled with Nails

Port Townsend artist and arts educator Yvonne Wakefield presents a slide lecture and reading from Suitcase Filled with Nails, the recently published book chronicling her experiences in Kuwait. Leaving a secure career and home life in the Pacific Northwest Wakefield immersed herself in the climate, landscape and culture of this small desert state.

For six years she taught art to university aged Muslim women, and learned to “negotiate tribal and misogynistic land mines set by detractors who are threatened by anyone, especially a spirited American woman, who encourages freedom of expression.”

Suitcase Filled with Nails transcends prevalent Middle East stereotypes and is filled with insights on working, living, and coping in a culture that is in many ways the total opposite of what she had known before.

Four of Wakefield’s paintings drawn from that experience are included in Strait Art. Wakefield holds a doctorate in Human Organizational Systems and has been widely recognized for her art education methodology. She has taught art on three continents to a wide range of ages and abilities. Her own art and articles on art have been exhibited and published internationally.  She divides her time between Port Townsend and the Tieton arts community in Eastern Washington.