About the book Spiritual Healing With Art - Curacion Espiritual con Arte
By Lorena Fernandez
With 81 pages of artworks in full color and short bilingual text in each page, Venezuelan born artist
Lorena Fernandez shares her the story of her evolution as an artist and as a human being. This book is a
bilingual testament to the healing power of art written and illustrated by the author.
To buy this book click here.
What some readers said about this book:
Seeking Meaning With Art
By Chiehwen L. Hsu Ph.D. Chair of Psychology/Anthropology/Sociology at HCCS
In her moving bilingual art memoir "Spiritual Healing with Art" (2006), Ms. Fernandez showed how she was
able to heal her spirit with art. In that book, her life story, including early emotional traumas and healing,
unfolds in a sequence of magnificent paintings, revealing the process by which the artist emerged as an
independent, open and free person.
Deep, thought-provoking
By Theresa K. Scovill, Artist and Therapist
This book is rich with archetypal material--both in images and in words. The author/artist has taken a deep
inner journey to find that simply expressing her emotions through art has helped her to heal. The art is
filled with shadow and light; the words are profound in touching places most of us only imagine. VERY
INSPIRING!!
Other comments from readers:
"It makes my hair stand up"........"It will empower many people to honor their inner truth"
"Brutally honest. This book needs a warning for adult content"..."It is beautiful and magical"
"Every page is symbolic of going from darkness into light"..."You have cheated time, you knew at 36 what
takes 50 year to learn"...."A book of great depth and few words"..."A tool for meditation"
By Lorena Fernandez
With 81 pages of artworks in full color and short bilingual text in each page, Venezuelan born artist
Lorena Fernandez shares her the story of her evolution as an artist and as a human being. This book is a
bilingual testament to the healing power of art written and illustrated by the author.
To buy this book click here.
What some readers said about this book:
Seeking Meaning With Art
By Chiehwen L. Hsu Ph.D. Chair of Psychology/Anthropology/Sociology at HCCS
In her moving bilingual art memoir "Spiritual Healing with Art" (2006), Ms. Fernandez showed how she was
able to heal her spirit with art. In that book, her life story, including early emotional traumas and healing,
unfolds in a sequence of magnificent paintings, revealing the process by which the artist emerged as an
independent, open and free person.
Deep, thought-provoking
By Theresa K. Scovill, Artist and Therapist
This book is rich with archetypal material--both in images and in words. The author/artist has taken a deep
inner journey to find that simply expressing her emotions through art has helped her to heal. The art is
filled with shadow and light; the words are profound in touching places most of us only imagine. VERY
INSPIRING!!
Other comments from readers:
"It makes my hair stand up"........"It will empower many people to honor their inner truth"
"Brutally honest. This book needs a warning for adult content"..."It is beautiful and magical"
"Every page is symbolic of going from darkness into light"..."You have cheated time, you knew at 36 what
takes 50 year to learn"...."A book of great depth and few words"..."A tool for meditation"
Book reviews for How To Exist, An Impractical Guide: Como Existir, Guía Impráctica
"A Dance in Two Languages"
By Sean Smith, Artist and Critical Theorist
At its core, How To Exist, An Impractical Guide / Como Existir, Guía Impráctica is a book of poetry and love (amor).
Penned by Lorena B. Fernández, in its pages may be found love in multiple forms: compassionate love, erotic love,
friendship love, but first and foremost a love of self. Not the self as a singular, but the self as a locus of sensation and
movement from which relations emerge. But who is this self, then, that is Fernández? Naturally, it is a multiple self that
we are describing: poet, artist, woman, mother, daughter, student, expressive arts therapist, Latin American, to name
but a few.
It is in this last aspect -- as Latina -- that lies the unique appeal of the book. Poetry has a very unique relationship with
language, quite unlike other forms of writing. The rhythm of each word in succession, the cadence of each syllable
bouncing one after the other, the flow of the entire body in expressing the verses aloud. Linguists perhaps study it in
terms of structure or form, but for the rest of us it stands as a pleasant dance to the patter of our eardrums. Because of
this unique relationship with the language in which it was written, poetry creates particular challenges for translation.
Fernández confronts this challenge head-on by writing her own translations, each of the poems in the volume presented
in both English and Spanish. So which language comes first? In relentlessly juxtaposing the two, page after page, it
becomes apparent that there is no primacy of one before the other, no dominant identity to which the other falls
subaltern. Rather a both/and that suggests the author as always-already passing between such fixed constructs as
singular linguistic identity. In other words, Fernández dances in two languages at the same time.
(This is not to suggest that it is all fun and games. In "Fear of Looking" she wonders if "perhaps this is an opportunity /
to know my deepest weakness.")
And in case the reader begins to get comfortable with this textual form, Fernández complicates matters further by
illustrating the volume with her own paintings. Beautiful in their own right, the vivid colours of each image leap off the
black pages as both punctuation to verse and invitation to linger with the book in one's hands for just a little longer.
Now an illustrated book of poetry is certainly not novel, but when it is the same artist who creates, translates and
illustrates, one is rendered in awe at the artist's multiple talents and subsequently left to trace waves of affect
throughout the pages of the book in search of insight into the mind of this unique individual.
If a dominant identity wants to make its presence felt, it is the feminism that infuses every page of the volume, proud
without being pushy or pedantic. But even this feminism is multiple, creating tensions throughout the book that magnify
those created by its formal structure. In "Disappointment of Received Approval" she chastises the "poor little lap dog of
a girl" who waits meekly in the corner for her small bone of acknowledgment. This reaches a tipping point in "How
Thoughts Are Like Snakes," as her mind becomes "a nest of snakes / boiling with anger / each one with her idea / each
one stubborn." These stand in stark contrast to the verse "love is being born / exits innocently the uterus of our souls /
surrounded by softness" from "How To Help Love To Be Born."
How to exist, then, becomes a polyrhythmic call to the reader. The recurring theme of the book is the search for
meaning in life, and here lies perhaps that most impractical aspect of the book: the quest. But Fernández doesn't leave
the reader alone or singular in this regard: in the introduction to the book she expressly encourages the reader to become
a traveller herself, to transform the impractical into the practical through poetry and art. Not simply to be a traveller,
actually, but rather a guide through words, colours and forms on one's own journey to meaning. The quest becomes a
question: how to exist? There might not be a destination in sight, nor even one to be found, but the journey "in the
eternal minute / of the present / awaiting" will have been worth every step taken if only the call is answered.
To order this book visit the website: http://www.authorhouse.com/Bookstore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=61397
Seeking Meaning With Art
By Chiehwen L. Hsu Ph.D. Chair of Psychology/Anthropology/Sociology at HCCS
In her new book "How to Exist, an Impractical Guide" (2009), Ms. Fernandez explores the meaning and reality of
everyday existence and the choices she made about how to live her life through bilingual (English and Spanish) poems
and paintings. The book displays the amazing talents of the artist not only in painting but also in poetry writing.
Permeating through the collection of poems and painting is the artist's passion for life, a life that is not static, but is
constantly changing to accommodate new perspectives and new "pieces of puzzle". The artist expresses her strong
sense of clarity about the general path of her life, a "complicated path even without knowing its final destination". Even
though there were pieces here and there that reveal the doubtful moments about her choices, the collection as a whole
exults a sense of optimism and love for life, especially evident in the poem "How to Ensure Happiness" and the paintings
"Freedom" and "Quantum Leap". In "How to Exist, an Impractical Guide", it is inspiring to see an artist, healed by art, is
now free to use art to seek and define meaning of her existence and to affirm her creative path!
To order this book visit the website: http://www.authorhouse.com/Bookstore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=61397
An Ekphrastic Gem
By Diana Xochilt Muñiz, Artist and Teacher
After reading "How to Exist, An Impractical Guide" I realized Lorena B. Fernandez achieved what she had hoped. In the
opening pages of her book she stated; "I hope that this book will inspire your inner guide using art." I was certainly
inspired and more than inspired, I felt as one feels when listening to a great teacher, "equipped". A great teacher gives
you inspiration and also equips you with the right tools to move into action. Lorena has achieved both. Through the
medium of poetry, Lorena's prose becomes "teachings" as they transcend from mere clever poetic reactions and
observations. Her poems reveal an acute sensitivity and unusual ease of putting into words typical emotional situations
and psychological struggles; she does this in "How to Answer the Question: 'What's going on with you'"? Lorena takes
us into the deeper dimensions that are hidden under casual greetings:
"I'm running like an underground river. Sometimes I surface to form lakes in peaceful and sunny areas, But underneath
I continue to run into deep and dark places, Occassionally carrying toxic sedimentation..."
She ends her poem with a very direct probing question: "What's going on with you?" It's as if after opening her own
dimension of feeling she's challenging her reader to join her in opening their own.
Lorena continues other self-revealing journeys in "How to Deal with New Perspectives", "Approval I" and
"Disappointment of Received Approval". She is at times playful, ironic but always arduously and painfully honest about
her own journey of self-discovery, self-revelations, disappointment and healing.
Lorena's paintings illustrate many of her poems......or one might ask, do her poems illustrate her paintings? Either way,
she has allowed both mediums to speak eloquently and honestly about her life and to give the reader a "practical" guide
to navigate the vicissitudes of life-albeit through seeing life through this artistic prism. Truly, her work is an excellent
example of ekphrastic poetry but much more importantly an example of the courage it takes to teach and impact the life
of others through artistic mediums. I recommend the book to educators and anyone who wants to journey valiantly into
their own "inner world" being facilitated in that journey by a great artist/poet.
To order this book visit the website: http://www.authorhouse.com/Bookstore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=613977
Existing Gloriously
By Martin De Vore, Artist and Journalist
Venezuela native Lorena B. Fernandez wears many hats -- author, painter, mother, wife, dancer, scholar, healer and
engineer, just to name a few.
An A-List painter of renown in Houston, Texas, art circles, Fernandez is a seasoned veteran of the competitive
exhibition circuit as a member of the Post-Diversionists art group. And...she is also a well-known writer. Author of the
Houston Chronicle's "ArtBeat" blog, Fernandez also tackles larger projects as in the two books to her credit, including
this one -- her newest.
In the bilingual "How To Exist, An Impractical Guide" Fernandez displays both her recent paintings and poems,
revealing her innermost self -- joys, fears, sadness, hope and resilience.
The verses and art reflect the many places she has lived, including Venezuela, California, Singapore, Texas and many
others.
The book's large format provides an excellent vehicle for displaying her art. In the art of Fernandez, the reader can see
influences spanning centuries of art with traces of inspiration from Kahlo, Klimt, DaVinci, Rivera and others
representing schools and movements ranging from Impressionism to Surrealism to Expressionism.
Of her art reproduced in this book, I would say my favorites are "Imploring," "Island Woman," "Thoughts," "Horns,"
"The Birth of Love" and "Bull Rider."
The poems, all of which are presented in both English and Spanish, are an eclectic mix. Some disturbed me, some made
me sad and some made me take a closer look at myself.
One of the best things about this book is that it will remain relevant for a long time - as will the art and writings.
I highly recommend this book. For yourself, for a gift or for a preview into the mind of an artist and poet who will be
remembered and revered long after most of us are gone.
To order this book visit the website: http://www.authorhouse.com/Bookstore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=61397
"A Dance in Two Languages"
By Sean Smith, Artist and Critical Theorist
At its core, How To Exist, An Impractical Guide / Como Existir, Guía Impráctica is a book of poetry and love (amor).
Penned by Lorena B. Fernández, in its pages may be found love in multiple forms: compassionate love, erotic love,
friendship love, but first and foremost a love of self. Not the self as a singular, but the self as a locus of sensation and
movement from which relations emerge. But who is this self, then, that is Fernández? Naturally, it is a multiple self that
we are describing: poet, artist, woman, mother, daughter, student, expressive arts therapist, Latin American, to name
but a few.
It is in this last aspect -- as Latina -- that lies the unique appeal of the book. Poetry has a very unique relationship with
language, quite unlike other forms of writing. The rhythm of each word in succession, the cadence of each syllable
bouncing one after the other, the flow of the entire body in expressing the verses aloud. Linguists perhaps study it in
terms of structure or form, but for the rest of us it stands as a pleasant dance to the patter of our eardrums. Because of
this unique relationship with the language in which it was written, poetry creates particular challenges for translation.
Fernández confronts this challenge head-on by writing her own translations, each of the poems in the volume presented
in both English and Spanish. So which language comes first? In relentlessly juxtaposing the two, page after page, it
becomes apparent that there is no primacy of one before the other, no dominant identity to which the other falls
subaltern. Rather a both/and that suggests the author as always-already passing between such fixed constructs as
singular linguistic identity. In other words, Fernández dances in two languages at the same time.
(This is not to suggest that it is all fun and games. In "Fear of Looking" she wonders if "perhaps this is an opportunity /
to know my deepest weakness.")
And in case the reader begins to get comfortable with this textual form, Fernández complicates matters further by
illustrating the volume with her own paintings. Beautiful in their own right, the vivid colours of each image leap off the
black pages as both punctuation to verse and invitation to linger with the book in one's hands for just a little longer.
Now an illustrated book of poetry is certainly not novel, but when it is the same artist who creates, translates and
illustrates, one is rendered in awe at the artist's multiple talents and subsequently left to trace waves of affect
throughout the pages of the book in search of insight into the mind of this unique individual.
If a dominant identity wants to make its presence felt, it is the feminism that infuses every page of the volume, proud
without being pushy or pedantic. But even this feminism is multiple, creating tensions throughout the book that magnify
those created by its formal structure. In "Disappointment of Received Approval" she chastises the "poor little lap dog of
a girl" who waits meekly in the corner for her small bone of acknowledgment. This reaches a tipping point in "How
Thoughts Are Like Snakes," as her mind becomes "a nest of snakes / boiling with anger / each one with her idea / each
one stubborn." These stand in stark contrast to the verse "love is being born / exits innocently the uterus of our souls /
surrounded by softness" from "How To Help Love To Be Born."
How to exist, then, becomes a polyrhythmic call to the reader. The recurring theme of the book is the search for
meaning in life, and here lies perhaps that most impractical aspect of the book: the quest. But Fernández doesn't leave
the reader alone or singular in this regard: in the introduction to the book she expressly encourages the reader to become
a traveller herself, to transform the impractical into the practical through poetry and art. Not simply to be a traveller,
actually, but rather a guide through words, colours and forms on one's own journey to meaning. The quest becomes a
question: how to exist? There might not be a destination in sight, nor even one to be found, but the journey "in the
eternal minute / of the present / awaiting" will have been worth every step taken if only the call is answered.
To order this book visit the website: http://www.authorhouse.com/Bookstore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=61397
Seeking Meaning With Art
By Chiehwen L. Hsu Ph.D. Chair of Psychology/Anthropology/Sociology at HCCS
In her new book "How to Exist, an Impractical Guide" (2009), Ms. Fernandez explores the meaning and reality of
everyday existence and the choices she made about how to live her life through bilingual (English and Spanish) poems
and paintings. The book displays the amazing talents of the artist not only in painting but also in poetry writing.
Permeating through the collection of poems and painting is the artist's passion for life, a life that is not static, but is
constantly changing to accommodate new perspectives and new "pieces of puzzle". The artist expresses her strong
sense of clarity about the general path of her life, a "complicated path even without knowing its final destination". Even
though there were pieces here and there that reveal the doubtful moments about her choices, the collection as a whole
exults a sense of optimism and love for life, especially evident in the poem "How to Ensure Happiness" and the paintings
"Freedom" and "Quantum Leap". In "How to Exist, an Impractical Guide", it is inspiring to see an artist, healed by art, is
now free to use art to seek and define meaning of her existence and to affirm her creative path!
To order this book visit the website: http://www.authorhouse.com/Bookstore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=61397
An Ekphrastic Gem
By Diana Xochilt Muñiz, Artist and Teacher
After reading "How to Exist, An Impractical Guide" I realized Lorena B. Fernandez achieved what she had hoped. In the
opening pages of her book she stated; "I hope that this book will inspire your inner guide using art." I was certainly
inspired and more than inspired, I felt as one feels when listening to a great teacher, "equipped". A great teacher gives
you inspiration and also equips you with the right tools to move into action. Lorena has achieved both. Through the
medium of poetry, Lorena's prose becomes "teachings" as they transcend from mere clever poetic reactions and
observations. Her poems reveal an acute sensitivity and unusual ease of putting into words typical emotional situations
and psychological struggles; she does this in "How to Answer the Question: 'What's going on with you'"? Lorena takes
us into the deeper dimensions that are hidden under casual greetings:
"I'm running like an underground river. Sometimes I surface to form lakes in peaceful and sunny areas, But underneath
I continue to run into deep and dark places, Occassionally carrying toxic sedimentation..."
She ends her poem with a very direct probing question: "What's going on with you?" It's as if after opening her own
dimension of feeling she's challenging her reader to join her in opening their own.
Lorena continues other self-revealing journeys in "How to Deal with New Perspectives", "Approval I" and
"Disappointment of Received Approval". She is at times playful, ironic but always arduously and painfully honest about
her own journey of self-discovery, self-revelations, disappointment and healing.
Lorena's paintings illustrate many of her poems......or one might ask, do her poems illustrate her paintings? Either way,
she has allowed both mediums to speak eloquently and honestly about her life and to give the reader a "practical" guide
to navigate the vicissitudes of life-albeit through seeing life through this artistic prism. Truly, her work is an excellent
example of ekphrastic poetry but much more importantly an example of the courage it takes to teach and impact the life
of others through artistic mediums. I recommend the book to educators and anyone who wants to journey valiantly into
their own "inner world" being facilitated in that journey by a great artist/poet.
To order this book visit the website: http://www.authorhouse.com/Bookstore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=613977
Existing Gloriously
By Martin De Vore, Artist and Journalist
Venezuela native Lorena B. Fernandez wears many hats -- author, painter, mother, wife, dancer, scholar, healer and
engineer, just to name a few.
An A-List painter of renown in Houston, Texas, art circles, Fernandez is a seasoned veteran of the competitive
exhibition circuit as a member of the Post-Diversionists art group. And...she is also a well-known writer. Author of the
Houston Chronicle's "ArtBeat" blog, Fernandez also tackles larger projects as in the two books to her credit, including
this one -- her newest.
In the bilingual "How To Exist, An Impractical Guide" Fernandez displays both her recent paintings and poems,
revealing her innermost self -- joys, fears, sadness, hope and resilience.
The verses and art reflect the many places she has lived, including Venezuela, California, Singapore, Texas and many
others.
The book's large format provides an excellent vehicle for displaying her art. In the art of Fernandez, the reader can see
influences spanning centuries of art with traces of inspiration from Kahlo, Klimt, DaVinci, Rivera and others
representing schools and movements ranging from Impressionism to Surrealism to Expressionism.
Of her art reproduced in this book, I would say my favorites are "Imploring," "Island Woman," "Thoughts," "Horns,"
"The Birth of Love" and "Bull Rider."
The poems, all of which are presented in both English and Spanish, are an eclectic mix. Some disturbed me, some made
me sad and some made me take a closer look at myself.
One of the best things about this book is that it will remain relevant for a long time - as will the art and writings.
I highly recommend this book. For yourself, for a gift or for a preview into the mind of an artist and poet who will be
remembered and revered long after most of us are gone.
To order this book visit the website: http://www.authorhouse.com/Bookstore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=61397
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