Studio Daze
And I travel half way around the world to finally get some solid studio daze? Or is my studio now expanded, existing all around me, enveloping me like the very environment from which I take breath. I breathe it in. I am grateful.
Byrne-Milliron Forest, Santa Cruz County, California USA
I have returned to work on the last two episodes of the first season (haha why not!) of Lessons from the Forest. The sequences deal with Lichen and the ever expanding universe, macro and micro as we are nested in both at once. Our personal perspective is an echo of an enveloping reality that echoes out beyond our conscious capacity... or is that it's yet untapped. Can we feel it somehow, in a field, in our hearts, the infinity of being in the present?
Minerals from the Berlin Natural History Museum July 2017
Plans today include working on audio, meeting the mayor of Schwandorf, lunch with the director of the Art Center where I am staying and hopefully some socializing with the 3 other artists in the show. This has been a very solitary experience. Not knowing the language, hardly a drop, really limits ones hopes and desires to communicate. I keep trying to push myself out the door and down the street to the neighborhood biergarten but I am ashamed. It is a feeling I must endure. This is how language works sometimes. It keeps us apart. I'll practice a few phrases next. I will make it a goal to go to that biergarten! Perhaps on my birthday... which is Tuesday, July 25!
Two baskets (3 feet and 6 feet tall) from 2016, San Francisco, CA USA
Looking back at some work from this past year I see that it wasn't all a loss. These guys above, though problematic (which could be more an issue of studio dimensions and storage space) moved my work in a new directions. Materially there are definite issues. But I believe I could find something more resilient, more forgiving in others like these. I also liked the wall mounted version and hope to make more of those for fun and experimentation.
More little worlds, total height around 12", maybe 10" wide. From my de Young Museum installation October, 2016, San Francisco, CA USA
From Abrams: If the past makes up the ground underneath our feet, we may benefit from on occasion, reexamining recent events to better understand where we stand, in the present. As it's my birthday month, July, I am being fiercely critical of myself. But also in awe of the flow of events. Can't list them now. Turning towards the new day in front of me, but my feet feel like they are suddenly standing on firmer, but more forgiving ground.
Soft Sundays from Byrne-Milliron Forest, Santa Cruz County, CA USA
Order of operations:
- Work on audio 1 hr
- Get ready for meetings
- Meet and greet
- Lunch with Andrea
We're getting a pretty solid rain now. The forest will be pleased. Lichen will be refreshed and ready for filming in the coming days. The tripod I managed to get my hands on weighs more than my bike! Ha! Not really but it's pretty solid. I'll find some rope and make it happen. Audio first, then video. Once I have the footage it's nearly there... or somewhere... must keep things open for magical accidents, those that happen when we pay close and constant attention to the work, when we let go of expectations and just let it unfold. But gotta get all my parts on the table.
Caio for now! Or I should practice... Tchuss!