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."