Questions for the Belief Wall

Please write down what it is you truly believe:

Why did you choose to be a Montessori teacher?

What motivates you to come to work?

What do you hold dear about being here (at Bellevue Montessori)?

Any other text you would like to incorporate into the mural in the tree house that pertains to the beliefs of this school that you uphold:

Starting again

- daily practice of writing what comes to mind with both hands

-Received a commission to start a second wall. It is a mural restoration project, a landscape. As I restore it (patch the holes, add a fresh layer of paint) I hope to incorporate a layer of text, the beliefs of the school (which will come from a worksheet for the teachers and from the voices of the children). I will document the process again and develop a slide show of the changing landscape. (Which in the end will depict the same scene.)

Distaff

Distaff:
1. a: a staff for holding the flax, tow, or wool in spinning
b: woman's work or domain
2. the female branch or side of a family

Candy Chang

My partner just brought this artist's work to my attention - he subscribes to an RSS feed (I don't even really know what that is, but it sounds interesting)... I like the way this artist combines collaboration with the public and activism/awareness in a simple and affordable and beautiful way. I also like how this piece has not been destroyed, but rather maintained in a public context.

Candy Chang's Post-It Notes

Want Wall

http://www.flickr.com/photos/31808466@N06/sets/72157614175822764/show/

For some reason I cannot copy it directly to our blog but here is the link.

I really enjoyed the skylight film you made while thinking of my work! It is exactly it!

I am feeling quite empty- not sure where to go from here- I'm hoping to get some feedback from you, for I really did not get much of it at school.

almost done with translating our piece into morse code.
stay tuned for pictures - shooting them soon ( I hope) !

xx
A

This doesn't have anything to do with anything really...but how funny for a sculpture installation/procession idea?
xxoo
A

While drinking coffee and thinking about your piece

I also see this piece as a performance - or live action /time lapse video piece, maybe with sounds/echoes of "what people want"..
did you ever get my postcard? I sent it a bit late

want wall

I'm putting together a slide show of the painting process. I realized in Vermont that it is this version of the work rather than the stagnant wall that is the piece. Bare with me - I am slow in the technical aspects. If you know of a way to present the images here in a slide show format please let me know.
For now, another glimpse:

more pictures of your install please!

overwhelmed one thing at a time

underachiever there is only one thing you must do, be born and die, rest is extra

scattered me too

"has trouble following through" those projects must not be as important, do the one that is you this moment

noisy quiet

static static, movement, dance

wanting more of myself always

bad skin it revolves around my cycle

transferring Faith's words

overwhelmed
underachiever
scattered
"has trouble following through"
noisy
static
wanting more of myself
bad skin

The last card exchanged at Montpelier.

Our City Dreams

Nancy Spero

I went to see Our City Dreams last night at the Film Forum.

The 8 o'clock showing was apparently the premiere!

We caught the 10 o'clock show.


Marina

I was one of 5 people in the theatre, which brought back a lot of memories of New York when it was a lot less crowded and when I was a lot younger. It was interesting to be watching a movie about women artists making art in New York - to hear about how people move to this City to make work.


Ghada Amer

The movie follows the lives of five women artists who have lived, or currently live, in New York City.
It was very interesting to hear different perspectives about their art making processes, and the paths their lives have taken them through the NYC art world. Having been born and raised here, I have never been driven to find success here - I've always seen this City as the small ant hill that it is...I've never understood why people come here. If I weren't born here, I would never move here.


Swoon

Even though I did not need to see this movie on the big screen, I'm glad I did.
It was a special evening, and I'm glad this film exists.


Kiki Smith

the day of my birth 31 years ago

The day started poorly, with little sleep (some insomnia throughout the night). When the tears came I was in the middle of registration. Fortunately there were many shoulders offered.

The day progressed and my mood moved. I have to remember that that is it's natural flow. The imprints from yesterday:

- daughter's solo of happy birthday (will ring in my ears forever in her high pitched tone)

- the raspberry chocolate tort with the number 30 on it (my love forgot I grew one year older)

- a critique with Faith (a very natural discussion of the evolving scape)

- a personal connection with the work of Sowon Kwon

- walk to dinner (Thai food) through the winter wonderland albeit a freezing one that is Montpelier

Day 3

sitting in an uncomfortable space...

I have begun transferring my text- "what I want to tell you." (the red postcards I sent out before coming here.) I documented it through photos which I know I will find more appealing than the actual wall.

I found the process rushed and it actually looks pretty hideous to me today- of course I am in early process and I'm revealing it in this stage to all- some biggies of 'art', faculty.

I'm finding the text inappropriate to this context. What I should have written and what I will write tomorrow as my ground is what I have posted here the last couple of days.

With one new quote I thought of on the plane over here-
"I need your love."

It is bitter cold here.

I still haven't gotten my period since my miscarriage - 6 months and counting...

What are you working on today?

period

- bleeding for the first time in four years. (cleansing feeling)

Day 1

- a man (facility) starts the process, primes the wall white, tapes the seam in the middle (upon my request) and spackles.

- I work on the middle seam (the middle of me) and sand the blemishes.

Grounding

Sanded 40 postcard in preparation for school. All are from Montpelier and are returning to Vermont.

Handwritten on the back,
"Please write down what it is you truly want."

I have a feeling these grounds will in the future be passed on to visual artists- who perhaps will lay a new landscape?....

I'm tidying up all the odds and ends. Clearing space for the next half of the year- seeing what seeds I want to sow.

I Ching- Inauguration Day

Mr. President

Text of President Barack Obama's inaugural address on Tuesday, as delivered.

OBAMA: My fellow citizens:

I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because we the people have remained faithful to the ideals of our forebears, and true to our founding documents.

So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land — a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America — they will be met.

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted — for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things — some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.

For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.

For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.

Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.

This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions — that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act — not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. All this we will do.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions — who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them — that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works — whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. Those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account — to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day — because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control — and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart — not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our founding fathers ... our found fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all the other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort — even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus — and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West — know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to the suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment — a moment that will define a generation — it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends — hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism — these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility — a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence — the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed — why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent Mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

"Let it be told to the future world ... that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet (it)."

America, in the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

Thank you. God bless you. And God bless the United States of America.

Collab proposal

Artist Statement:

Angela Rose Voulgarelis’ beaded works are three-dimensional drawings that can also be worn. She uses Morse code to translate particular texts, transforming them into physical objects of adornment. Her intention is to transcend Morse code’s original use as a vehicle for military code breaking to offer new possibilities of communication. The cyclical - at times arduous - act of creating each piece underscores repetitive activities typically
associated with “women’s work”. At the same time, the process reveals a common thread between meditative practice and everyday actions. The beads and/or stones chosen are equally important to the work, as the spiritual and mythical significance of the materials respond directly to each written work.

Both a poet and visual artist, Maya Pindyck uses text, visual imagery, and sound to subvert each other. Often drawn upon or next to a text, visual imagery is employed to rupture or question her written poems. Her work can be viewed as an evolving reinterpretation of what is written on the page. She does this, in part, by having different readers of various ages, backgrounds and ethnicities read the same text. The act of reading her poems while listening to recordings of different readers gives distinct voice to the poem and provides space to draw new meaning upon the page. She collaborates with Voulgarelis to bring yet another dimension of meaning to her poems and to ground them in a particular physicality.

Voulgarelis and Pindyck work collaboratively to translate Pindyck’s poetry into physical objects, using Morse code as a tool of transformation. By translating Pindyck’s words into three-dimensional objects, the media of poetry, drawing, and craft are set free from their traditionally accepted categories. No longer rooted in a linguistic system, Pindyck’s poems have the possibility to be understood in a different way – by the hand and by the body. The viewer is encouraged to bring his/her own experiences to each piece, as it exists as many things simultaneously: object, text, adornment, drawing. The act of writing, the process of translation, and the dynamic that is created between the artists transforms the way in which their work can be understood. Their collaboration encourages new connections to be drawn between the physical and the ephemeral, between the body and the mind, between language and communication, and between time and space.


Project Proposal:

We propose a site-specific performance at Articule gallery, where the gallery is transformed into our studio, and work is created in a collaborative way around the concepts of time and space. Articule Gallery becomes an intersection—a site that both facilitates the transparency of the artist’s process and encourages dialogue between the gallery and the public for a two week period.

When the performance begins, the only thing on view will be displayed on the gallery windows: photocopies of literature and visual investigations on the theme of time and space. The gallery itself will appear quite minimal, as there will only be two working tables facing each other in the middle of the space. The concepts of time and space will be placed in the proverbial center, around which both artists will generate work. As for the work, we plan to create poetry on the concepts of time and space, and translate the poems into three-dimensional strands of beads using Morse code. We will meditate upon, expand, challenge, and share ideas on a daily basis. As one never knows where the artistic process can lead, only time and space will tell what work will result. The gallery doors will be open to the public each day for these two weeks to encourage discussion
and participation on the themes of time and space.

We plan to have video, audio, and photographic documentation recording the daily progression of work created in Articule’s space during this time. The work and the artists would be on view throughout. At the end of the two weeks, all the work will be removed, leaving only the two desks as a visual marker that anyone had been there at all.

























Sending this into the universe - wish us luck

What do I want to say to you

an important word in these times

Accountability

ac·count·abil·i·ty

Pronunciation:
\ə-ˌkau̇n-tə-ˈbi-lə-tē\

Function: noun
Date: 1794

: the quality or state of being accountable ; especially : an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one's actions

Found great cotton muslin today.
One step in front of the other
Making curtains and trying to contain my enthusiasm, maintain my focus, and not get too distracted by infinite options...

mail

I'm sending you a sanded, pre-addressed and pre-postaged postcard.

Please, write down your want.

And send by January28th.

I want to be happy more often

Can I write that on your postcards?

clearing

" The space is airy, warm and cool breezes alternate; it is a space within nature; it is a joint space of the heart and mind balancing. There are sounds, imprinted, continuously altering the landscape. It is alive; “instead of putting his life into his novel, as is so often maintained, he made of his very life a work for which his own book was the model.” (254) Barthes talks of Proust. There is no ending; no death, and no beginning. In Barthes’s case it takes shape in the written form; “a writing that can know no halt: life never does more than imitate the book, and the book itself is only a tissue of signs, an imitation that is lost, infinitely deferred.” (256)

It is rich with nuance and variety in the words of Zohar and Marshall. It is multidimensional. “[A]…space in which a variety of writings, none of them original, blend and clash. The text is a tissue of quotations drawn from the innumerable centers of culture.” (Barthes, 256) It is a space of creative dialogue. It is a quantum reality both indeterminate and probabilistic. “A world of both/and…a plethora of often mutually contradictory possibilities, a spread of coexisting contradictions all equally real, all equally true, in their potentiality..” (Zohar and Marshall, 20)

It is a space between the sexes; between “man and woman, hot and cold, low and high tones, red and blue.” (Irigaray, 114) It can never be a truth of one. Therefore one, alone, cannot find the truth. It is ambiguous. Zohar quotes Asher Lev from his novel, The Gift of Asher Lev, on ambiguity, “Riddles, puzzles, double meanings, lost possibilities, the dark side of light, the light side to darkness, different perspectives on the same thing. Nothing on this whole world has only one side to it. Everything is like a kaleidoscope.” (Zohar and Marshall, 19) "

The above will be a five by seven or so foot painting on wall- medium; wall paint in specific landscape colors based on the painting above. The painting process will begin with tracing 'wants' (in the penmanship of the author) onto acetate and then projecting them onto the wall. Then words will be pushed, pulled, spread, erased creating a line which will then merge within the landscape.

An installation will accompany the painting process. Viewers will be invited to write their wants on sanded-image postcards, then asked to place it in an unnumbered male box mounted next to the painting surface. These wants will also be incorporated altering the landscape.

Process will end when mail stops coming. Surface will be sanded, cleared, cleaned.

the man who planted trees

resolutions

Monday, Wednesday, Friday - exercise first thing and then "busy work"/mental gymnastics: taking care of all items building, finances, bills, groceries, cleaning, etc.
Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday - uninterrupted studio time.

I hope I can stick to this schedule - it's a very important resolution!

On Friday I am transforming my studio into a more usable space for my work.
I communicated what I needed to my partner, and surprise! We're adapting our space accordingly.

Here's to a New Year of work, love, and resolve
xx

2008

studio in LIC until June
C of O
lawsuit
the red alfa
CO
holding my breath
miscarriage - in september, finally complete in december
living out of suitcase for 6 months
tamales and the beach
moving in
still not breathing
buying bed, at least sleeping better
fixing everything
sonoma in july
studio
meaning cleaning all year, especially in october
drawing show proposal
no extensions yet
settlement
Dec. 25 hostess first time
reading again
crit groups
JHS reunion
clients in and out
laguna seca to watch rossi win again

economics

I have thought a great deal on the topic since economy has been in the air:

What are our needs?


(basics; food, shelter, clothing; spiritual fulfillment)
(Can the quality of the basics improve the latter?)

Now,
we are a country filled with junk- junk that does not decompose easily (long lasting junk)
we have made our structure upon junk
there is no real need of the junk and the structure is collapsing

In collapse there is a clearing- a time for reflection, cleaning-

What are the things that matter?
What is it that we truly value?
And in case of a thing, what quality does it have?

family tree

Shame, I know exactly how that feels - to date, I've had 13 teeth removed and they've all been painful!
Remember to ice your jaw for as long as possible - the only time I did not do this, the side of my face puffed up like a baseball!

Wisdom Extraction

Mid morning I had two wisdom teethe extracted.

There is a whole process around this experience that I'll try to recount here, for I feel like I need to speak of these two wounds that are so peculiar- willed wounds.

It began with a regular check up a few month ago after I had been avoiding the dentist for roughly two years. With having Alenka I see my time, alone, as very precious so two hours with a man or woman scraping my teeth is very low on my list of delicious solitary work.

Through that meeting- (with an enormous machine revolving around my head taking an X-ray, almost sci-fi ish in feeling) I found that the top right wisdom tooth- number 1 or 30 not sure how they number them at the moment- was decaying. I could see through the circular dentist mirror it was starting to turn brown.

After scrapes and an exchange of foreign language exchange between the dentist and the nurse entering this language simultaneously into a computer- I was released with a referral to a extraction surgeon across the street. The dentist visit left me with in a state of fear, like I had to take care of this 'problem' as soon as possible.

I had a preliminary meeting with the surgeon- mostly with the nurses who took that revolving X-ray again, followed by a conversation with the dentist who although not looking directly into my mouth, talked of the procedure to come pointing to the X-ray as he went along. Then he allowed some time for questioning leaving me with the phrase, "you are a ticking time bomb." I think I pushed him too much in the questioning. So I scheduled the surgery right before Thanksgiving two weeks out- all the while a bit nervous that my teeth might..., I was not sure what- explode?

This morning after not eating since the previous night, I arranged for a friend to watch Ali and for Will to drive me there (they wanted someone to remain in the waiting room throughout the episode and then drive me home as I was, and am on a lot of meds.)

I walked in thinking it makes sense to get the top tooth removed with local anesthesia (although the during our conversation the doc was clear that all 4 had to go- not sure now of the reason if there was one. My memory is blurry and with the current drugs he actually may have had a few I just don't remember.)

So I told this to the lady at the desk- that I wanted the decaying tooth removed. She, doing the budget for the procedure was a bit aflutter from this change- (the original 4 tooth removal was to cost us around 600 dollars on top of the 85% that our glorious medical coverage pays- which is one of the higher percentages.) In any case after talking with the nurse I was getting wired up and prepared. When the dentist walked in he said- facing my X-ray again "so we are doing one tooth (the number) under local anesthesia..." I said that would be my preference although I was still open to his input as this was my first experience with extractions and his eighth from just today. We decided on the top right and bottom right, 30 and 1, (a perfectly healthy tooth but who would now loose his grinding partner and might be a 'problem' later on) under general anesthesia (I would sleep throughout so I would not hear the cracks next to my eardrum and so I would not be tense, hence making the task a bit more difficult.)

As they put on this laughing gas and I shed some tears on my upcoming loss of consciousness, I remember thinking and possibly saying, "Please just tell me you are not doing this just for the money,"

I came to the nurse wheeling me out and seeing my husband. No goodbyes from the man who extracted teeth leaving two wounds.

Partners

partner landscape

(powder shavings mixed with oil medium on board)

Begin Anywhere

I am pleased to announce an upcoming group show in which we are both participants. It's called Begin Anywhere and it opens in Berkeley next week.

Hi C and R,
Attached please find images for my piece for the Map/Nomad show you are kindly organizing.
Feel free to use any or all - not sure what your thoughts are on image selection.
After spraying with fixatif, I plan to mail it out today.

Some thoughts on the theme of the show:
Nomadic in nature -
structure of the piece is flexible to accommodate traveling -
one can hold each card in one's hand, or arrange as group (within group).
Traveling by one or many...

Arrangement is flexible -
piece is encouraged to be installed in various ways - to change position, open possibilities...

Very little preciousness -
if nature of piece and show is to travel, piece is to maintain its fortitude for long travels.
Weathering encouraged.
I imagine this piece can also be blown away just as easily as all of us can be blown away ... poof!

Ultimately, I think there is no "map" - only that of the heart.
More thoughts when they come my way.

With love,
Angela Rose

Nomadic proposal and response

In the midst of major shifts in economic, political and social structures we ask the question – what does change look like to you? In what ways are we connected in the midst of the change?

The hope is that we come together as a community of artists and present a dialog about the nature of change – what does it mean now, what could it look like? The authorship of the work is less important than the intent.

The plan is to have these works be nomadic and move to different places and spaces. Like nomads of the past and the present these works will not travel aimlessly, but systematically based on where the resources are.

The first stop is Berkeley, California...

Please use a foldable map, cut the map to 30 x 18.5 inches (76.2 x 47 centimeters), and intervene on the map as you see fit, based on the theme proposed. The map should be foldable after your intervention for ease of travel.

It is the hope that the work will be captured and documented on a web site, and the travels will as well. Please write your name and contact info clearly on the map (back or front), eventually the work should return to you.

Please take this opportunity to re-imagine your own circumstances and envision change!

Thanks for your time, consideration, and looking forward to hearing from you soon!

Love,

C & R

The most interesting thing on Facebook so far..

Rules:
* Grab the book closest to you. Now.
* Go to page 56.
* Find the 5th sentence.
* Write that sentence as your status.
* Copy these instructions as a comment to your status.
* Don't go looking for your favorite book, or the coolest one you have -- just grab the closest one.

My sentence is:
"The Emporer Constantine I at first defended Arius, because he liked the idea of a single supreme deity whom he might identify with himself."

exchange with Maya

food for thought

When I get your clear questioning, I really don't need any more (schooling) than that- Your questions are right on. We pondered these with my artist-teacher just last week.

The idea that the postcards need to be in coffee shops around town has been on my mind since I bought a stack months ago. There is a fear of course of bringing it physically into public- which is ironically what it needs.

It is of course my fear- of being in public. The other fear is sanding the entire card where no trace of a recognizable space is left- ironically again I know this is what the cards need- as the space itself would then be space. This other fear is letting go of the image.

Thousand it is. I will work until then and see what that will bring. I make partners as I sand one (I think I showed you an image of this earlier.) So I have felt like I am in mass production mode: I cut a cardboard to the size of a postcard, followed by layers of gesso and then make duplicates out of the shavings. So far they all present a horizon- making a continuous landscape once the cards are aligned. (Again this does not talk of the space that I want more of a scape.) I will be excited to see what happens once the horizon is sanded. What do I paint then? I guess the space...

The writing is a learning. Learning the rhythm of the hand that wrote it and hopefully understanding the meaning through the process at a greater depth than just through the act of reading. It is this understanding that I want to recreate for the viewer. One way I have been thinking of doing this is through a projector: the handwriting copied onto a transparency which a viewer would select (connecting to someones word or phrase) and copy with ink onto the same wall the images hang on.

(I have purchased a PO box!) For now it is back to the sanding board and getting the cards to cafes. Thanks, Angela!

Hi Tereza,
Some suggestions below about your postcard exchange:

I would write to people individually, through regular USPS mail.
Also, I would post the invitation publicly, in coffeeshops/at school?
The medium of the internet seems to be incongruent with the way you'd like to work with people (hands on, meditative...)

Also - have you considered buying a PO Box for one year, so your home address is not public.
I love my PO Box - it's great for projects like this.

Be a bit careful about the interventions on the front of the postcards - I'm much more interested in the scratched out, whited out areas than the strict representation of what is left untouched. How could those elements work in more communication with one another? I can see you with thousands of these postcards. Why are you whiting out areas and keeping others? What is your motivation behind that work? Why are you writing on top of the writings of others? What is your intention in doing this? Can the two sides be seen at the same time? Do they exist in the same space?

I think you are onto something quite exciting - but I'm a little concerned with the "nostalgic" look of the Dana piece..that could just be my interpretation.

Could the meaning of the postcards change if they originate from other countries, written by other groups of people?
What is the impetus to collaborate?

Dana exchange