ARBOREAL PROJECT, the sheltering tree, part 2

This week, those of us participating in the Arboreal Project (organized by Julie @ LAND OF LOST LUGGAGE) will post photos of our chosen tree/trees...the first posting was in August. . .and here's MY playground tree, outside my former classroom at Winchell School, hugged and loved by thousands, photographed TODAY, and last week with a few leaves left, and in August.
It too seems to be a unit of
two or more trees,
gathered together for the good of all.
to nestle, hide, protect.
shelter.
dream.

CALL AND RESPONSE: blog style

 

WAITING FOR THE SNOW
TO SOFTEN THE SEASON'S REMAINS~
NAPPING AWAY WORRIES

my little haiku, again personifying nature, thinking of dried seeds and stalks 'napping', waiting to be reawakened in the spring:
a response to a 'call' ... not intended, but heard. by me. more than once. the beauty of community is provocation at times, provoking/stimulating>>> thoughts/responses/action perhaps. and so it is for me in the blog world. when i see that haiku simple has a new posting, i go there. and then the words start rolling in my head and i respond.
happens with photos posted, or quotations, or collaging, bookmaking, suggestions to relax, or center, or even cook!
in this case, feel and say and then happily count the syllables.

BOOOOOOOOO!!

 

bridges to nowhere

 

 

 

 

back out "in the field" today,
stalking heron. caught a few
with the zoom, but needed a telephoto.

humanmade pieces pop in these wetlands,
and these brought alaska to mind.
the assosciation wouldn't have been there
a year or so ago.

today's warm walk

 

tranformations
seen in the smallest details.
walk slowly, hold a hand.

remembering the river

 

 

the river ran wide
in back of the farm
where i grew into me

I AM NOT AN ARTIST

I'm not an artist. I AM PRACTICING (this is a little play that my friend and i adopted. we say we're practicing artists, haven't "graduated" yet)
And i'm not even enrolled in a class right now.
I've been busy on the other side of my brain editing curriculum as a paid favor for my former school system. Who knew it would take so long? T E D I O U S.

Now i'm back to practicing. When i went to my first post retirement painting class about 2 years ago, and was asked what interested me, i laid my hand on the stack i'd brought along: watercolors, acrylics, pencils, oil sticks, gouache, pastels, ...and said, "i'd like to learn how to use some of these".
It takes lots of practice, including the practice of telling my brain off once in a while. the chatter. the frustration. the arguments.

I read in a book called SPARKS OF GENIUS by a MacArthur fellow, Robert Root-Bernstein, about the tools of creative thinking as he presented many of the macarthur foundation fellowship recipients from a great variety of fields. The painter described had a 'successful' career, schooling, shows, sales...but was not satisfied. He decided to work on a painting, one painting, over and over, repainting it many times, and everyday for maybe two years, varying the positioning of a line. huge pieces. when he finished, he had a huge collection.

that's my lead. i'm painting MY mountain (i own a lot of geography: my arch, my mountain, grin) over and over again. PRACTICING with my stack of stuff that makes marks. it started in that first class, which is the last picture that i posted, in acrylics. and then ... many have followed. above that are smaller ones, one of my photos and journal entry from last summer, and the first group of four are not finished, and may be tossed, but i'm working on them now...they're 4x6 inches and on the same grainy piece of paper with too much gesso on it. but...i'm learning this way. by myself. and the more i play, the looser my head becomes, and the wiggly lines and blending colors start to emerge.

the first photo....my license plate, and one from new mexico. that's where MY mountain is. my arch is here in michigan with me. MY LOVES, these two states.. BUDDHAFULL NEW MEXICO, and a reminder to "LOVE THE ONE YOU'RE WITH."

NOTHING LIKE SEEING YOUR NAME HANDWRITTEN IN THE MAILBOX

 

 

 

 

REAL TIME.
SNAIL MAIL.
TIME TAKEN
TO STAMP AND POST.
IN THE BOX.
THROUGH THE AIR.

these are from taos friendships formed at workshops at the mabel dodge luhan house.
Carol Austin sent the first talisman with the cross. on the rothko calendar now.
yesterday, the joy of opening a card from my friend renee in
denver, dancers around the fire, so old blinking light on margarittas
in arroyo seco. two georgia postcards that i bought at the harwood museum there this summer.
the red asian silk piece is from caroline in montreal. and a card from sas in berkeley.

SO YOU SEE, IT'S NOT JUST THE MOUNTAIN I LOVE THERE.
and from a card from my vllbff, this quote:

"FRIENDSHIPS don't just 'happen', but the best ones seem to fall into place right from the start, naturally and easily, as if they were always meant to be..."

MY ARCH: waiting for winter

 

 

 

 

of course, for every thing there is a season. and of course, we should "love the one we're in..."
as some of you know, i'd claimed this roadside arch of twisted vines as mine late last winter, and i keep a close eye on it as i move along in my vehicle.
it seems to be having its last hurrah as it wards off the thoughts of being buried alive under snowdrifts in the near future, and as i described it to a friend, it has a 'flurry of flaming leaves across the top, like a crew cut gone wild'...

if you have a description to add, please do so.

MORNING WALK

 

 

 

 

first signs
with the big chill
just seconds away.

DROPLETS, MORNING WALK

HAIKU X'S 2

 

 

 

night held the soil's warmth
as it rolled in its chill...
the morning's ground cloud
a soft, cool embrace
muffled my senses to its departure
like early life's loves.

and then there was CHOCOLATE

 

 

 

 

AND THEN
there were handmade dark chocolate truffles
and apple pie

and a long drive home.

my renewed love of the great outdoors
supporting all just causes..
the spirit, beauty, and delicious detours.

local color

back in an orchard again~~ take me home country roads. childhood memories. places to "run away" to, hide out, pout, find some peace and still make it home for dinner.

not only a good year for flowers, apples too. perhaps i haven't looked closely in a long time, but this seems overly bountiful ... laden...strong branches holding the wealth. could it be the chocolate fumes from down the road?

A GOOD YEAR FOR FLOWERS

 

 

 

 

LOVELY DAY.....finally out of the slump i've been in...out into apple orchards and big skies and chocolate gardens. that's where this hollyhock was, the chocolate garden. hand made truffles just down the road from the apple orchards around a few bends from the farm where i spent my childhood.

CAN FLOWERS BENEFIT FROM DARK CHOCOLATE TOO?
the
hollyhock about 12 feet high, leaning out and waving around.

And the little bouquet i brought home for the table.
more tomorrow. just pretty healthy stuff. fresh cool air. autumn sun. breezes and whispy clouds. tomorrow, more photos and the apple pie, oh my.

don't leave home without the camera

but that's what i did this morning. no camera. odd morning. for me. the car in the shop too long, after my scrape with the garage door, and i had to be at a school at 8 a.m.....to share some thoughts on classroom environment with my friend's group of interns. it's been over two years.
i'm the passenger, barely awake, and wham. the tree lined road making its tunnel to drive through, vapors drifting from the fields and lake on the side of the road......

early surprise as
sun shafts warmed the grounded clouds
below trees' canopy


see? a picture IS worth a thousand words, and more than 17 syllables, for sure.

WHIMSY RULES.......

 

 

 

 

a bit more fun from water street gallery and current/or former michigan artists!! stephen hansen and kirk newman.....

MORE GRACEANN WARN ENCAUSTICS

 

 

 

Another of graceann's pieces, with birds and egg!!! HOPE.

i can't seem to flip the next two, SO turn sideways to see the two photos of the ten inch square piece that i own, with small envelopes and numbers 1-6.

i was drawn to the color, and to quote her from an interview: "...the concept of synesthesia. I'll look at a color and I'll taste it- as if colors have flavors. And numbers have colors...I think for me abstract art, especially color and form, have something to do with that, because when I look at an abstract painting I can taste it or I can hear it. Edges of color, one edge of color against another, that connection, that line that they make, is heartbreaking to me sometimes. Or it's joyful. I has emotion---there's a word that I can put to it that has an emotional meaning. Rothko has always been like that to me. The edges of where a red fades off to a black---it can make me cry."
WELL, YES, ME TOO!!

GRACEANN WARN, encaustics

 

 

 

 

Robyn, from ART PROPELLED in South Africa, on my sidebar, always features the BEST art from around the world. Graceann Warn is a Michigan artist, and her encaustic work was in Robyn's blog this week.
I thought i'd share a few of her works that were showing at Water Street Gallery, in Douglas, MI, and post a few more tomorrow, and then the one that i have at home.

TAOS TIME: bon voyage

 

 

 

 

bon voyage to LA DOLCE VITA (click on her blog in my sidebar to see her paintings of the SAN FRANCISCO DE ASSIS church in ranchos de taos),
caterina giglio, journeying back to our shared mountain muse!
i appreciate your thoughts of me that you shared ~~~PEACE.
more now than then.
perhaps.

1. a little crescent moon behind the chile ristra,
2. july at the church
3. dorothy brett's church at taos pueblo
4. ernest blumenschein's chuch in ranchos

ranchos de taos, for caterina

 

 

 

 

THIS CHURCH DATES BACK TO 1772 and you can see why it has always been frequently photographed and painted.
the first two shots are of the church's buttesses in the back, my favorite great big chunk of adobes!
there's a regular mudding of the adobes by many, many people to keep those walls all intact. adobe can be washed away, disintegrated by the weather over time, as you can see in the third photo.
as it should be, well cared for and appreciated .... daily!!

the playground's sheltering tree

 

 

 

 

The ARBOREAL PROJECT was proposed to bloggers by "THE LAND OF LOST LUGGAGE" and "COMMUTERS JOURNAL".....participants are to chose a tree, or trees, to watch and photograph through the seasons of a year, the first in August.
Well, i have favorite trees, some not so close by. And of course, Michigan has millions of trees......
THIS TREE is the tree that stands outside the classroom (which can be seen in the 2nd photo) just below the playground at the school that i retired from 2 years ago. I went back yesterday to take these shots, BEFORE the students show up on Tuesday, the day after labor day.
It's among other great trees, scattered about, but this one is towering and embracing and shading and protecting and changing all the time.
The bark and trunk have been weathered by the elements and by thousands of children sitting on it, climbing, and touching it over time...sometimes serving as a 'base' for a game of easy going kick-the-ball-around.

When you're seven, there's Nothing quite like an invitation by the teacher to find a spot for reading outdoors, to take a foldable butterfly chair, or look around for a quiet place. This would always be one of those places. . .a sort of uninjured "Giving Tree."

There are THREE MORE POSTS of photos, so please scroll down...(eventually, i'll learn to link those in one post??..the tech flunky here signing off)

two for one, embracable

 

 

 

 

the top floor

 

giving 1000's of students a resting/touching place

 

 

 

 

The DOUBLE TRUNK, the seven year olds' seat, all the signs of sweet embraces.

TREASURE HUNT

 

 

 

 

A LONG TIME AGO
i'd take time for hunting treasures.
ONCE IN AWHILE
i find myself just making a stop or
two in an antique or resale shop/market...
especially when i travel.
BUT RIGHT HERE,
close to home, i found these little treasures.
Not expensive at all.
HERON, the two inch round painted rock, signed on the back.
And the 2 inch square glass slides in metal frames...
rose colored cliffs at water's edge,
the blossoming fruit tree in a backyard,
and the classic mountains/reflections mirrored on water.

RETREAT: "The great work of the contemplative is gratitude", Thomas Merton

 

 

 

 

We're fortunate to have Fetzer Institute in my community. I've spent many days/weeks out at their retreat center about a half an hour & a world away!! Beautiful experiences no matter what the season or length of stay, alone or participating in a group.
I organized a stay for a discussion group I am a member of and booked the 8 cottages (ONE IS IN THE PHOTO COLLAGE AT THE TOP IN THE UPPER LEFT CORNER of it) and the large building for group work. Each had their own cottage around the laurel and tucked in the woods. A new experience for some, we gathered for food, stretching, walks, and I taught a little tanka lesson. Off everyone went with the little journals I made for each, and sharing followed. Plenty of solitude and labyrinith walks and wanderings about through the woods, in a stone 'chapel', and around the mini gardens (buddhist, hindi, native, english, .... et al).
two of my tanka here~~~expanded haiku....31 syllables, and by line it's 5,7,5,7,7

The mown path skirts
around the acre's bouquet
of wild,long-stemmed,uncut
flowers that seem to be there
just to call us together.

Women arrive, one
at a time to find their
way back to a Breath.
Gathering, then dispersing for
solitude and sweet dreams.
nng

"I AM AN ARTIST" when ...

 

"I AM AN ARTIST"

 
leslie avon miller (@ TEXTURES SHAPES AND COLOR in my sidebar) a blogger who inspires me, posted a wonderful piece this morning, which prompts me to respond to the 'call', to pull out a little book i bought about 10 years ago at the getty that i used in my classroom with 7 year old children. a starting point for some. for me i see my whole life. it has amazing illustrations, which i wish i could print too, by Robin Brickman to support the text by Pat Lowery Collins and it's called I AM AN ARTIST. so notice what you notice in your life.

"i am an artist when i follow a line where it leads me.
i am an artist when i find a face in a cloud or watch the light change the shape of a hill.
i am an artist when i discover shadows made by the moon, or trace patterns in the sand, or whin i name the colors inside a shell.
i am an artist when i look through a sun shower for a rainbow. i am an artist when i find one.
i am an artist when i notice that the sea is a mirror for the sky and when i make something from the things that i collect.
i am an artist when i shoot water loops in the air with the hose or discover pictures in drops of rain.
i am an artist when i cut an apple to see the star inside or when i watch sunlight turn dust to glitter.
i am an artist when i crunch through crusted snow and stop to gather winter's hush around me.
i am an artist when i look at a bird until i feel feathery too and an orange until i know what it is to be perfectly round.
i am an artist when i run my fingers over a shiny pod or across the rough bark of a tree or when i blow on a full-blown milkweed and it splinters into tiny white puffs or when i pick up a maple-tree seed and send it spinning back to earth by its twin propellers.
i am an artist when i see that the sun comes up in a soft haze and goes down in a fiery blaze.
i am an artist when i wait for a star to streak through the night sky or when i sit very still in the woods and listen.
i am an artist whenever i look closely at the world around me.

and whenever YOU listen and see,
you are an artist too."

HOPPER AT THE HARWOOD

 
 
 
 





















































































To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the 'summer of luv' in taos, easy rider, and influx of contemporary artists, the Harwood Museum invited Dennis Hopper to curate an exhibition. The pieces in this first post are Hopper's. There were more. The next posts show some of the others.
There was a quote at the entrance to the show written by Dave Hickey which seems to say it all about this extraordinary place called taos:
"Ghosts...
...places might be found where the work itself might continue to be created under chastened circumstances and in my experience Taos is one of the most beautiful and chastening places in the world. It has an encouraging history of harboring fugitives, killing priests and assassinating governors. In the zone, it has probably produced more serious art and literature than any other non-metropolitan area in the U.S. and throughout this century, Taos' virtures have remained more amenable to producers of art than to its consumers. It has resisted gentrification because, for all its beauty, Taos is not a cozy place. There is not much that architecture or lanscaping can do to mitigate the daunting hegemony of the sky, the sweep of the flat, the looming scale of the distant mountains and the perpetual interference of Lawrence's ghosts. Day in, day out, year round, Taos is hardly even a human place. It is the top of the world, more the Wild West than the Southwest, more Tibet, in fact than Palm Springs. So if you want a beautiful place to work that bears with it the perpetual reminder that all you do will be broken, buried, blasted and blown away---a place that makes you brave and serious, Taos is the place for you."

hopper's friends

 
 
 
 

Dennis Hopper curated a showing of friends' works....L.A. folks who'd come out to Taos fourty years ago, some of whom stayed on......besides pieces from Dennis, LARRY BELL, RON COOPER, RON DAVIS, KEN PRICE, AND DEAN STOCKWELL's works are shown.

hopper's friends

 
 
 
 

SUNSET SHADOW PLAY

 
 
 
 

HIGH DESERT FLOWERS

 

















PREVAILING LUSHNESS
BELOW THE SACRED MOUNTAIN,
MY SECRET TO KEEP

BEFORE THE BOOK

 

LESS IS MORE: stage 3...thanks for kind comments re: the process and book in the next posting. This picture shows the point of no return, when i felt i'd gotten lost in MORE, too much blue, and that birdlike shape!!...parts i liked in this, parts i didn't, soooooooo i removed some of the pieces and sanded other parts, and folded away to make the book, which i can now appreciate. it was day 1 and perhaps you're right, i may also have let my "self-consciousness" take me to ultra-critical!!

at any rate, always good to reflect on these moments and learn about ourselves.

and the quote seems to be from David Jauss, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Maine

WHEN IS AN ART WORK DONE?: LESS IS MORE

 
 
 
 

the theme of sas colby's workshop in taos last month was LESS IS MORE.
not as "simple"...as it sounds.
we were given some words to ponder, and among them these from David Jauss, Haystack Mountain School:

"We are done when our focus shifts from curiosity about what the work could become to Recognition of what it is. If we continue to work on a piece after curiosity fades and self-consciousness takes over, the result will be a work that is OVERdone."

well said, and i'm learning to step away when that SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS takes over.

one of the first activities of the week is posted here. as the week continued, we each found our own form and expression.....but, in the beginning of less is more, we each chose a black and white copy of a photo, and were given only scissors, tape, and black construction paper.
we cut pieces to create the positive image on the wall, using the tape.That's on the left. then we were directed to use the scraps and create another image beside it on the wall, and that's to the right.
afterwards, i took the second image and glued the pieces to a large white piece of paper, adding charcoal and matte medium to create a new composition. THEN I COULDN'T STOP...and couldn't FIX the "overdoneness of my self-consciousness".
AM I MAKING ANY SENSE?

but, THERE'S always the 8 fold book, and that is what became of my "product", it went back to process in the form of a book. It's quite magical to take a large work that you're not quite sure about, and turn it into smaller abstracts that continue to tantalize our minds(and it's not QUITE finished, but almost!!)
i'll be careful to STOP often. and i know i won't add much. some text? maybe. color? probably not.

I'VE GOT THE BLUES

 

I'VE GOT THE BLUES, missing TAOS,
as i usually do when i'm supposed to be settling back into home life in michigan.
Happens everytime. my affair with the mountain, been going on for over fourty years after living there way back then, and continues since i manage to make my way back most summers for at least a short time. sometimes i say i'm never going back. can't handle the reentry. stopped saying i'll live there. like an affair, it's always sweeter when not so available...or so i've heard. hmmmmmm. grass greener. who needs green?

DISCO 2 (with disco 1 book in the next posting)

 

 

 

I had to go back and make a DISCO 2 WITH SOME OF THE REMAINING PIECES FROM THE DISINTEGRATION REMAINS...the back cover of an old book beckoned me...it had been out with "sprout baby sprout" painted on the back, and metal pieces, but once again, the surprise was the reverse side/ the unintentional doings of Nature...lovely markings and still the original signature on the cover intake. The
Thoreau quote had been on a small page attached to it, and so it's rewritten here in sepia ink with a brush and lines, the large metal upholstery tack from mexico was added which held pieces on somewhere, and in the little hanging roll, the quote
"All the birds have flown up and gone. A lonely cloud floats leisurely by. We never tire of looking at each other. Only the mountain and I." Li Bai

DISINTEGRATION COLLABORATION: MY BOOK OF CHANGES

 

 

 

 

The elements that resulted from the dance with Nature during the period between February 28th and May 1st
have been bound into a book that's 9x12 inches in size.
The weathered pages of torn parchment show markings from photos, paintings, ink, rust, and pressure.
Other pieces from the Bundles are attached to those.
I stitched the pages together, and then to the front and back covers. The front cover is like the northern lights in rust. Inside the cover are pieces in an opened envelope, rusted nail, and a deep impression of a metal part.
The back cover is what remains of a large mixed media scene of taos mountain and studio in the sky on heavy arches paper.
Along the front cover edge over the stitching is a strip of canvas in rusty accord. The tag reads: "Memory lives in the heart"

scroll down for 5 more posts of pages and pieces!!

NOW, PLEASE WATCH THE YOUTUBE CLIP in the sidebar...reading my book of changes...

 

 

 

the back of the front cover

 

 

 

 

ONE REAL WORLD IS ENOUGH: PERSPECTIVES ON PLACE, Nature's Visions, Artists' Visions,
circular impressions from the pedestal

 

 

 

 

THE BACK COVER

 

Thanks to my friend Renee for knowing just when to nudge!!
She advocates for causes, serious ones, and playful fun...
in the ART SPIRIT.

TAOS, Studio in the Sky workshop with Sas Colby

 

 

 

 

THE MABEL DODGE LUHAN HOUSE in Taos continues to celebrate and honor life and the ART SPIRIT. Mabel, 70-80 years ago began inviting artist friends to her home, high in the northern New Mexican rocky mountains. There's a long list of those who came, painted, wrote, and often stayed on.

One more week with Sas Colby and the 15 or so participants was profound. the theme this year was LESS IS MORE, and the artspirit playful.
2009's group all in black on the steps leading to Mabel's room before dinner. Below that, a photo of Mabel Dodge Luhan, Freda Lawrence, and Dorothy Brett. . .and my "less is more" painting of the 3.
we were asked to alter a postcard to ourselves over the week's time, and the last is what i did with mine. . .original had 2 women sitting on either end of the bench (attached to my first acrylic painting of the mountain from last fall/a globby mess now recycled into an elevating experience). i was ELEVATED with art in my head all week long, and the spirit still prevails here at home again while i work on my disintegration collaboration project.

i'll have more on the work done in sas's workshop, and the sites seen: the international folk art festival in santa fe; 2 very different houses: one north and one south of taos; and just some happy/beautiful snaps!!

Museum Hill, Santa Fe's International Folk Art Market

 

Day 2, after overnight rest before drive up to taos, an early morning stroll through 144 countries.....1300 volunteers, over 20,000 expected visitors, and average income per booth for the weekend is $16,000, 90% going to the artists.

the 4th, LET FREEDOM RING

 

FROM
the television screen, that cold winter day...

Sas Colby's Studio in the Sky

 

 

 

 

It's almost time to start packing for the return to TAOS, and to another week of workshops at the Mabel Dodge Luhan House with Sas Colby from the bay area who is a mixed media artist/bookmaker and the best teacher/facilitator that I know. Here are some of the pictures from last year. . .In the studio, artists going into all sorts of directions by the end of the week. The mountain air, Mabel's spirit, and Sas's incredible talents are drawing us into our own processes.
There will be 14 participants, 8 that are returning. The group dynamics, the cool nights in the old adobes, the fabulous 3 meals a day, and open studio 24 hours a day...are frosting on the cake that Sas creates with her vibrancy and the activities through which she leads us. I'm posting one of my paintings from last year of seed pods, the magic of materials yielding surprises to me. Beginning on my slow journey into art investigations at the age of 60 has provided me with just the way to occupy my mind and challenge my hesitancy during PART 3 of my life!!

I'll be up in those mountains an additional week to poke around with my camera, my newest best friend it seems.

I'm excited to be in my favorite place, see some of my favorite people, and find out what Sas evokes in me, and us, again.

DENNIS HOPPER, a brilliance that SURVIVED

 

 

 

 

NOT still crazy after all these years.

thinking about the sadness of michael jackson's life,
his genius, and that he didn't "make" it to a
peaceful place here on earth, {nor did heath ledger, and the long list goes on, and perhaps what it is that our culture does to our gifted ones, waiting for the car wreck to happen}
and
having to applaud dennis.
he did.
i may have helped him just a tiny teeny little bit
during some of the craziest times, maybe the fresh
organic carrot juice as we tried to send away the
"hungry seekers/hangers-onners" who'd show up
in taos, 1970. but it only got more out of control
for him after that, and i applaud him for pulling
it all together for himself...well and healthy and
smart and busier than ever at 73 years old.
soooooo, off to taos, to CELEBRATE the 40th
anniversary of the "summer of luv", as "they"
are billing it.

me: now with the white hair, then with the LONG black hair in the second and last photos

AESTHETIC EDUCATION SUMMER INSTITUTE

 

 

 

 

My annual "job" has ended.

The intense work of planning with my three partner-facilatators since April
was rewarded with the training of 22 new teachers for the program. My eighth
year of bringing new teachers "on board" since being trained at New York City's Lincoln Center for the Arts in 2001, where the program originated over 30 years ago. Kalamazoo county now has over 200 teachers and 5000 students participating,
as well as around 30 working teaching artists in visual, dance, theater, and music.
You can find out more by going the Lincoln Center's website.

TAOS: taking care of the kids in the band

 

 

 

TOUGH JOB, but SOMEBODY had to do it, and it was a job, not easy to find in taos, 1969.

TAOS/ PEACE~LOVE: THESE ARE THE DAYS, my friend, but so were THOSE

 
 
 
 

Somewhere along the way I've learned to INTEGRATE the then and now, for the good of all. I am the fortunate person that I am now because of all the experiences along the way. 40 years ago, 23 years old, a year out of college, out on the new frontier of HOPE, the promise of that time...Barack Obama was just 8, son of a very interesting, independent mother. Happy mother's day to her, and his grandma, and my mom, who survived all the worry I put upon her. And I survived all the worry I'd put upon myself!!
(record album cover, 1969. i'm the "den mother" with colorful clothes)

TAOS: 40th anniversary of the SUMMER OF LOVE? in KALAMAZOO?

 

GREETED BY MY FORMER SECOND GRADERS, Pablo and Jacob. . .celebrating their last day of middle school. . .by "dressing up". I guess the Taos Summer of Luv Retro thing has spread, even to kalamazoo. We're at the 6th grade graduation of their sisters, and others that i've taught, at our old elementary school.

My how times change, or do they?

Just look at this and then the album cover from 1969 posted on MAY 10TH!!

Solstice Greetings

 

 

The ARCH and I
made it through
a long, cold, snowy
winter

and revel now
in the lightness
bursting all
around

FETZER INSTITUTE'S WELCOME "SIGN"

 

hmmmmmmmm, fetzer institute, right around the corner from my house. a "little" kalamazoo surprise, center of energy, love and foregiveness, hosting desmond tutu, tibetan monks, bill moyers, parker palmer's courage to teach, ... a long list.

check: www.fetzer.org

camera as a tool to avoid "REAL PAINTING"

 
 
 
 

WHAT WAS I THINKING?
"Plein aire?"..wasn't thinking. drawn to the idea of floating around the Fetzer Institute's lovely grounds for a week with lovely lunches served at one's leisure. i did manage a couple of little postcard sized images with my oil sticks...which i will pick up today. and had plenty of weather! and some good demonstrations. and lots of angst over my inexperience.
aw. another lifetime. i'm just a photo junkie and dis-co fan right at the moment, at least!!

mysterious "contemporary"

 
 
 

sign & blocks:
gallery stop

INSPIRATION WALL~~SHELF~~ARTIFACTS (response to invitation to share inspiration boards from 'altered page')

 
 
 
 








































MY INSPIRATION THINGS,
wings, strings,
and even beans.

pods and rods,
clay and hay.
rocks that i've "rapt"
and carried away.

and framed works
from friends
making the wall
that never ends.

INSPIRATION (wall continued)

 
 
 
 

{and a few of my "humble offerings", little practice pieces}

TAOS, FINALLY EXPOSED: big step, showing my WORK?

 
i've done very little lately.
i DO HAVE excuses.
like, work on the summer's training for aesthetic education??
hmmmmmmmmm, looking for a new haircutter???
aw, taking photos? being away?
at any rate,
one thing i did do was to frame what i've come to call "the BIG BLUE TAOS THING" because i started it last july in sas's taos workshop, and rolled it up and sent it home, taped it to the wall, and then started attacking it with my experiential devices and materials i'd bought and never used, like oil sticks. i scraped and scratched at it. and reapplied, and scraped some more. all NEW TO ME. now i've put the big thing in a lovely wooden frame, and it's ON THE WALL in the living room. the fourth piece of mine framed.
SLOW PROGRESS.
SO NOW, i look at it, and think i'd love to find out how to do "encaustic"...add ONE MORE LAYER, but just a fine film of smokey wax.

and i've added something to my blog this week. finally.

not sure for a salon

 

went into a salon yesterday to set up a "consultation" on my current year-long journey that i've been on to find a new person to cut my hair, but not all off like the person i'd been seeing for 15 years. spikey is so yesterday,(and many of the days before that)> so far, during this year,the best cuts were in chicago, and nags head, nc.....but, not practical. too far away. even chicago. a major trip to even get into the city these days, and the cost! yikes. HOWEVER, I'm
not sure if this salon will work for me either: these carvings were featured in the entrance, a local artist's work, very nice yes, and only $50 a piece in lovely frames. but, NOT A GOOD SIGN for a haircutter .

THREE MONTHS PAST

 
 



































remember winter
not really long ago but
buried now in green

the INSIDE story

 

 

 

 

one of the reasons i wanted to go back to this old beach house, circa 1920's, was to photograph some of the interior's history, black and white family shots ... nags head, outer banks.....old weathered grey shingles, on the water, still with the original family. rented only to friends of friends. we had a lovely first visit in october......quiet time there. very quiet. thought we'd try may. not so quiet, and so much colder...the NORTHEASTERN blew for 3 days. cold. rainy. let go of expectations. play scrabble in front of the oven. forget the hammock for the duration!!

SIT, and eventually I SEE

 

 

 

 

LOOKING DOWN
LOOKING OUT
LOOKING UP
LOOKING IN

SITTING TO SEE

FLIGHT: A FEW FLAPS AND A GLIDE

 

 

pelicanus accidentalis:
wing span six and a half feet

plunging bill first
endless flow,
singular to seamless lengths of nine or more
scaling close to the water
sometimes dipping a wingtip

and
economy=all weather, one day

JOURNALING

 
 









WATER
INK
WAX
CLIP
TIME

MEANWHILE, DIS-CO continued @ HOME

 
 
















just before leaving for the outer banks,
i tore a piece of rice paper off a roll,
touched it with a few sepia ink marks, added
a photo of MY mountain
and laid it between my square basket of
rocks and the round iron top of the pedestal.

that's where my favorite marks came from via the
disintegration project, and look what happened
in just ten days time!!

my new business op!! any orders for Dis-c0 MONOPRINTS!!

MARKINGS MADE

 
 
 




OCEANSIDE AND SOUND

busy at the beach markings, playful alterations

 
 
 

the ocean's disintegration

 
 
 
 


































a quick look at nature's way,
the original disintegration artist
of those elements that were ushered
in by us.
paint.
metal.
more paint.
layered, and undone.

SPRING'S SURPRISE DINNER (stimulus package?)

 

 

 

BIG NEWS!!
free dinner in hard times!!
last year's mulch in our yard
had MOREL SPORES in it.
while out to clip off a tulip,
it was such a surprise to notice a MOREL
MUSHROOM, a rare $50 lb item in Michigan's May.

yield?
a whole bowl full with
polenta and aspargus!

ARCH SUPPORTS / New Homes

 

 

 

 

No place to nest.

We'd heard this sort of ticking near the front door, and ignored it. Finally,
I had to SEE. Looking carefully, the beginning works of a bird's nest
could be seen in the very top. So much for natural branchy wreaths. It's very much like my ARCH by the road, which looks to have a ready-made nest
in its peak. But not here. We humans MUST come and go. And so did the
twiggy circle. SADLY..for now.
but
Wreaths do say Welcome.
SILLY me!

Winter's Arch Sprouts!

 

 

 

 

not sure why i was surprised!
but actually SEEING those little leaves
popping out of my ole winter roadside 'friend'
was very exciting. the vines no longer surrounded with snow.
or the post snow browness...

and then i noticed a new vine
beginning to work its magic nearby
bending over, getting ready.
ALWAYS
GOOD TO
HAVE BACKUP!

NOT Another Roadside Attraction

 

 

 

May Day Manifestations got me out with the camera to check on the winter arch, posted MARCH:ANOTHER ROADSIDE ATTRACTION.
After watching this curving vine all winter, usually with deep snow mounding around it, I photographed it and then, coincidentally, saw a very similiar one at our art institute the next day, but made of steel links! alas, the dualing arches.

Soooooooo, i thought i'd check to see if it had begun to SPROUT, to MANIFEST itself for our mayday.....and it had. BUT, as i started to drive away, this circular ORB caught my eye on the other side of the road. it was surrounded by open space. ORBedBARBedWIRE. it won't be disintegrated any time soon, but i will keep a watch on it to see if it somehow disappears some other way!

GOODNIGHT, disintegrated Moon

 

 

"With all your science
can you tell how it is, and
whence it is, that LIGHT
COMES INTO THE SOUL?"

2 Months, 5 Days of Lovely Preoccupation with "Disintegration"

 

DISINTEGRATION Artists do worthwhile things and "don't catch hell":Tree Bundle

 

On our tree in February, "PERSPECTIVES OF PLACE",
Tri-fold newspaper, gessoed, with
watercolor images concealed
and revealed when opened on
May Day

 

NATURE'S
MARKS:

There are no stains
there are no mistakes

Disintegration Favorite// the WRAPPED ROCK

 

 

MY BIG SURPRISE:
who knew what was happening
on the back of the
watercolor sample sheet.
I was "expecting" the paints
to bleed into each other. But
no, not through rain, sleet, snow,
or high winds. But, the pedestal rusted
and with the weight of the rock it was
wrapping~~~sweet surprise!

 

 

 

 

 

IN THE BEGINNING
STAGES OF PROCESS

the BIG BUNDLE

 

This bunny's been through a great deal since February...keeping Sas's spirit in the air!
The weathered 'bunny love' pin held the hat in place through blizzard's gusts and torrential
rains...at last, MICHIGAN'S SECRET is revealed. Well, revealed at least to disintegration artists: WE HAVE REAL WEATHER here!

The whole disintegrated enchilada UNWRAPPED

 

The gang's all here

DISINTEGRATION: HOMAGE TO SAS

 

Sas Colby gently inspires
the spirit of this world.

Seth Apter encourages
even more to play with it.

EARTH DAY BLESSINGS

 

"The limitless sky of meditation.
The clear moonlight of wisdom.
The truth revealed as eternal stillness.
This earth is the pure lotus-land..."

hakuin(1686-1769)

early spring morning, just days away from may 1st

 

This will have to be an annual project!! Watching "disintegration"? Hmmm? Witnessing change, yes. Drawn outdoors, to "check" the bundles, and SEEING the transformation not so much in the art, but in the setting. Snow has never ever seemed as tenderly beautiful as it did this year, nestling my little bundles out there. May 1st, I'll have to post side-by-side shots of nature's effects.

"ALWAYS FILLING, ALWAYS FULL"

we know.
it all depends.
it all depends on where you're standing,
if you want to make the next move,
take that extra step.
do you question if it'll be worth it?
or do you know that it will be.
it will be, because it is, afterall,
there. and what you do when you're THERE
is the difference.

is the lake always filling, or always full?
AM I?

GRATITUDE IS LIGHT

 

 

Postcard for Jeanine, Waiting "On the Cusp"

gratitude is lightness, unburdening

THE INAUGURAL POEM DAY

i gave this personal techy journaling place of mine the name OPENINGS CONNECTING. i think it's about
NOTICINGS, of the openings, that are connecting....things, people, ideas, beliefs,and HOPE...events, musings, and a few how to's and why not's.

today, some of that opening "magic" touched my little world connecting a young woman, long a favorite artist/jeweler JEANINE PAYER in san franciso, and me,in kalamazoo. that coming together came at a point of resonance. january 20th, us,~~~you,me,them. we were watching, listening intently to our tv's. here. and there. and almost everywhere. i was snapping photos of my screen, alone, jerry gone for the day. it is beyond my words. perhaps it's in obama's words, in elizabeth alexander's (in the photo above) inaugural poem "PRAISE SONG FOR THE DAY". we shared the unbelievable, at-last joy of being "on the brink, on the brim, on the cusp,"..."any thing can be made, any sentence begun."

and so, a few days later, i wrote to jeanine through her website. for twenty years jeanine has honored the word, the life of poetry and it's power, in such an exquisite manner. i said in my email, YOU MUST...use this inaugural poet woman's words! and the rest of the story is described on her blog GLIMPSE for wednesday, april 1, called ELEMENTS OF CHANGE at http://blog.jeaninepayer.com/ . i'm the "FAN imploring her to contact the poet"; the "woman who was so emphatic" described in her first paragraph. a woman she doesn't know. but we do know one another because we shared a universal moment and the feelings it created. and now, words from the inaugural poem are inscribed on pieces in her latest collection. and she has given pieces to michelle obama and daughters, oprah winfrey, and ME(be still my heart!)..among others. and are available to you, too. bravo, jeanine payer and studio!! amazing. the strength and significance of belief and shared consciousness is remarkable, more so after such a long period of disparagement in our world.

WIDESPREAD COMMUNITY MAKING

transfer process

 

 

life's third chapter.
third season..of time.
time to challenge and ponder
and play...

i loved taking this photograph
of a basket of my rocks and
learning to transfer and print
it into a book during my class
on tuesday. thanks to my favorite
teacher (she reminds me she's been
my only teacher). but, not so true.

anyway, take photo/image and xerox it. . (not inkjet, but xerox). within half an hour, tape the image in place where you want it transfered, image side down. use solvent from the hardware store, in a well-vented area or outdoors, and with a q-tip, apply solvent to a small area/maybe an inch square, and then take a burnishing tool and quickly rub over the wet area...quickly while it's wet. do this over the whole image, lifting to check occassionally. or google solvent transfers, or try (moleskine site / three robbers)

IT TOOK THE WINTER

it took the winter's time
contained on a shelf
to know when to leave

BETWEEN TWO MOUNTAINS

Caught

Between two mountains,
the Old and the New.

Caught between the seasons,
summer's rush to escape humidity
and winter's dash to avoid blizzards.

We sit

still

waiting

for this confined feeling to slither away
off our shoulders, out our fingertips.
We remember to glance to the west
when it's just the right time of day
to catch that color in the clouds,
that color that warms
our whole selves.


And then
it's spring.

Escape plans
and baby birds
are hatched.

Windows
reopened.

from MAXINE GREENE

"There are times in my own life when, half deliberately, I take a kind of restless action to uncouple from the familiar in the midst of ordinary life, just in order to see".

WAITING TO BE COMMITTED

I've worked on these "scraps" at different times for awhile, salvaged pieces from studio in the sky, taos...a good way to LOOK before committing to the GLUE.

FINALLY FRAMED

 

REPRESENTING

 

GINGER OWEN-MURAKAMI teaches at WMU, photography department, and spoke during an artbreak at the KIA tuesday....google her name to see photos of her work. Extradorinary.....and the dress/kites installation was part of a collaboration with my favorite drawing/painting teacher, Vicki VanAmeyden. go to homepages.wmich.edu/~gowen/history-installation-state.html-10K-

in response to La Serena's ten thousand miles

 

for La Serena

that phrase:
"ten thousand miles away"
brings a familiar feeling to me.

it's the same feeling in the
wind howling tonight
as it carries
the long, low whistle
of a train to my window.

it's taking sleepy travelers
away,
or back again.

someone like you might be on it..
someone leaving the rhythm
of their heart
ten thousand miles away.

someone like you
having a heart
wide enough to open
in more than one way.
more than one place.

touch the milagro you brought back.
inhale the lilacness of that memory.

 

ANOTHER ROADSIDE ATTRACTION

It IS about NOTICINGS. Taking time and processing.
And so it is when we connect in deliberate ways.
At least once a week, I'm on Parkview Ave driving through some of the rare green space surviving in our city limits to my favorite market. This Arched Vine would catch me as I focused on the often slippery, icy road, and I'd think about bringing my camera back .... finally did on Monday, snow evaporated, a cold but sunny day, and the arch's arms seemed to be flailing about~~greeting me. I'll return to it often, catching its active ReIntegration. .

BRING IT ON IN

The following day, I was walking through the area arts exhibition at our Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, and...the "Arched Vines" were before me again, intricate metal work standing in the middle of one of the side rooms off the main gallery space. I'd love to visit this piece outdoors after a few seasons pass! Maybe I'll become a "stalker" if I find out who buys it!!

STUDIO IN THE SKYE

"To rise to the sky you need
Two wings, a violin, and so many things,
incalculable things, things without names,
a license for a large slow-moving eye,
the inscription on the nails of the almond tree,
the titles of the grass in the morning"

and good friends.

(my altered postcard on the right, the original on the left)

homage to rebecca, always here

ALL WHEELS TURNING

Hollander's: an exercise in FOCUS using that "other side of the brain".

CONCERTINA BOOKS

AH, FINE MOTOR SKILLS~~~not my FORTE`

ANN ARBOR, HOLLANDER'S Concertina Book Workshop

Honore, Mary and I spent yesterday at Hollander's (THE WORLD'S BEST PAPER BUYING PLACE!)

in
Ann Arbor taking a book-making class. Very detailed work>>warranted rewarding ourselves with a great dinner/wine at Gratzi before the long drive home.!!

SPROUT, BABY, SPROUT

NOW the bunny has gotten into this project too~~~waiting for colors to blend.

OMG..."things are falling apart"

Falling apart? no......just "disintegrating"....om.

(right photo taken one week earlier than the left, the effects of some serious rain & wind!)

the little "sassy" bunny

The bunny is really a manifestation of the second grade teacher gene, so silly at times. I'd created my great EXPERIMENTAL piece, yet another, on 18"x24", trying out my different "toys"=watercolors, acrylics, oil sticks, collaging in some of my photo and poems..rolled it up as a bundle to hang from a tree or the fence, and it leaped out of my hands and onto the bunny, anticipating easter? i don't know. but 7 year olds would appreciate it!! and add to it!!

NO LONGER PRIVATE

OPENINGS CONNECTING

No longer private.

This is an opening
that will allow threads
of connections ...
connecting ideas that may only rattle in my head,
or they may reach out to a friend.

Openings allow "traffic" (breezes, voices, lightness)
in both directions~~~shared energy propelling or
calming. the goings and comings of vital forces.

My friends feed to me so many ways to see and
be in the world .....often detecting things about me
much more clearly than i'm able.

So many gifts come to me this way !!
perhaps the gifts i gave out daily, hopefully,
to the children in my classrooms not so long ago.
i'm in the world-learning-theatre now,
going to the "specials" of life by choice...
workshops, classes...art/gym/book groups.

taking risks, playing with purpose as means
and ways evolve to create~~~~just for the
pleasure of that.

and discovering the deeply hidden joy of
smearing paints!