carpool from maryland: 4 hours
ferry ride from hoboken: 5.50
taxi fare to the met: 7:50
Seeing Christo's gates on the last day with wild woman and good friend Jen Lemen:
priceless.
here is jen from the roof of the met looking down on central park.
February 2005 Archives
It was an absolutely perfect day to experience this great installation. I took this shot marveling at the color of the gates against a blue winter sky.
My artist date turned out to be pretty good once I shifted out of fifth gear into what felt like reverse. (A couple things I found helpful to facilitate the downshift was to eat very messy chicken wings with my fingers and watch a movie that I have seen before and find inspiring.)
So here it is. My second piece in my apparent obsession with "thin places" portals and painting feelings instead of just stuff. Can you find the Fibonacci spiral?
You can find the original sketch here.
It is just afternoon at my designated day to indulge in some sort of well-fiiling artistic activity and I am stuck. I have been in a business high-gear, full-tilt sortof mode since the in-laws left and so coming upon my beloved free time feels almost like whiplash. I know I am better for it (taking the free time) though and yet here I am blogging instead of painting. I think this part of our culture (that rewards the overachiever behavior) is also the part that has forgotten what the day of rest is about. So now I make the intentional effort to slooooow doooooowwwn.
Todays creative journey sent me creating a series of images about the blood.
Snow day, snow day, we get a snow day! Ok this wouldn't be that big of a deal but because sweet hubby works for a University now he gets a snow day just like all the other kiddies!!! Maybe even tomorrow too.
Gotta love it.
Well I have officially joined the ranks of adding yet another christian "resource" to the shelves. I have been completely convinced that the world is moving into a less materialistic cycle with the need to own everything to the more downloadable cylcle which makes sharing and borrowing a more attractive (and clutter free!) life. Especially in ministry. So why in the world would my little company decide to produce hard product?
Advertising. I know it is crass, gross, etc. but I am constantly straddling the real world and artistic concept utopia, business and ministry. The beauty of a product meant for advertising is that people actually pay you for it. So I can pay my artists, and so on and so on. Works pretty well actually.
And I guess there is still something compelling about holding something in your hand. Like reading a book with real pages rather than online. sigh. And although I feel like I am moving backwords a few steps my own vanity likes the feel of a "product" too. (small childs voice saying,"look at what I made".)
I also have to recognize that the reality of the art world in the lets-design-a service-using-art church sense is in some serious need of direction. From artists. Not pastors, youth pastors, programming directors (add your favorite pronoun here). This sounds arrogant but the truth is that not all pastors, even the ones that appreciate art, know how to allow the artist voice to be heard without trying to control it with the result being a diminished voice.
So what's this rant about?
I am an artist advocate. I am all about giving artists a voice. Problem is... who is going to hear it? Unless the word gets out. So this little product because of what it is gets into the hands of those who just haven't crossed over into the download world. It is basically a giant calling card for the planet and more importantly, for a community of artists creating what they feel led to create. People need to see the artists and make the connection that there is something unique to be heard rather than creating so much formula that what remains is so generic that it doesn't really relate to anyone.
So I am both apologetic and proud of our little CD project. It is shipping on March 4th. Somebody somewhere pop a cork.
Had a party at our house to celebrate Daniel being 17. Hubby cooked an awesome fajita feast while three of our computers were used as gaming machines against each other (what can I say we are a house of geeks) and much merriment was had by all. I was kicking myself for being such a lousy mom and not having some decent birthday candles on hand and had to resort to improvising with some old trick candles I found in the junk drawer that we probably used when Daniel turned 6. I had a cup of water on hand to douse the offending candles and to get them out of the way before embarrassing anyone. To my suprise these things totally delighted a group of sophisticated teens who acted like they had never seen cake. The candles re-lit about a dozen times with just as many bursts of laughter while Daniel showed off his ability to circular breath. The whole thing was punctuated by applause.
Sometimes you just have to improvise.
I love Macaroni Grill. It is the only restaurant I know that gives crayons to the adults. And it is always an adventure to see what colors and how many you get (although it is a bit of a bummer when you get three of the same color - we have been known to go to the crayon basket and pick our own). In this particular instance they were my excuse for not making polite conversation with my inlaws. My mother in law called Bryan the "designated visitor" that night. And it was true. After eight days with them I just didn't have any conversation left. In fact by now it had started to repeat. And after two weeks of missing my artist date the crayons were looking pretty good. So while waiting for the food Bryan carried the conversational load, and I looked up to add an occasional comment while maddly scribbling. Daniel was reading a book the whole time.
Ok so I am not the only one who likes mack grill and the opportuny for spontaneous creativity there. This was submitted by my good friend Betsy. Any one else have a mac grill masterpiece?
Bryan picked up a copy of this months WIRED mag while at the airport with me and it had an article that made me all warm and fuzzy. A must read,Revenge Of The Right Brain is a plug for those of us that have felt a little, shall we say, boxed in. Step aside all you left brainers it is our turn!
Having spent a number of years working hard at censoring myself to function in a left brain dominated society I feel like I can relax a little. According to this article the rules are changing. Of course anybody in the emergent/pomo headspace has known this for quite some time. Me for one after paying my dues and repeatedly banging my head against this particular glass ceiling am glad to see it crack. There is hope!
image from WIRED magazine
I am back from my trip and am intent on the "sorting out" of all the thoughts bouncing around in my head like steel balls in a pinball machine. For me this takes time. Even my morning yoga couldn't escape the persistant fast forward-rewind of all the conversations that I had with some really cool and insightful people. The experience for me (obsessed with food metaphors, what can I say) was like opening a can of condensed mushroom soup and eating the contents with a spoon.
Now I need to burp.
I went to hear the swill of ideas in a setting stuffed with emergent thought (whatever). I also went to add my thoughts to anyone who might be kind enough to indulge me (bless you). So here I sit in the monday morning position, and as I begin the work of wading through the mail and uploading new work from five artists that came in while I was gone, I will reflect and digest all the contents of the emergent gathering can. Hopefully I can also dislodge from it a little. I knew I was totally emersed when I heard myself using the word "context" in a conversation. Hey every subculture has its lingo and we would be arrogant to deny it. Hopefully emergentspeak isn't the new christianese. Let us pray.
