so much sky

i awoke at 4:00 am this morning worried that i would oversleep and miss my flight to reno, but also full of ideas for drawings, sculptures, cups, installations,weather, white on white, finding a studio. fulfilling the promise to harvest from all of the traveling that i have been doing in the past year and a half.

i feel invisible in/to my work right now, or my work feels that way to me. what am i doing? what do i want? how do i take it forward, take it public, find a place to be and think and make things that suit me? so many ideas, how to hold them all and still finish everything that needs to be attended too?

fragments

bones of the painting- one of my favorite parts.

week one of mural wall- gridded and ready to rough in.

whoever comes are the right people

whatever happens is the only thing that could have

whenever it starts is the right time

whenever it's over, it's over.

china texture

we cover the universe with the drawings that we have lived.

G. Bachelard

first impressions

"i have been in china for 3 days, so jet-lagged and worn out from the summer project. I am sick with an ear ache and sore throat, it's starting to go away, and i can feel my energy coming back. Joy said that i have a deer in the headlights look, and small wonder. china is outrageous. I feel so unprepared, but there is no way to prepare for this...."

stripped down. tenacious. unrelenting. hard scrabble. utilitarian. lush. watery. fishing ponds. rice fields. new trees. so green. efficient. corn fields against lotus ponds. so much meat. piles of broken down abandoned things everywhere. vegetable gardens in front of houses. agrarian mind. coastal plains. many white cranes. few animals. everyone piles onto scooters. horns blowing. loud talking. square-on. forthright. staring. saying hello. black milk tea in the morning. incredible museums in xuzhou, night markets. darkness. haggling with a calculator. hand made nation. smiling elders. so cute. mangoes. good friends. stories to discover and tell.

i can't decide if i love it or hate it, but so happy to be here.

foundry kitchen

lunch

grocery store rice bins

mung beans

foundry broom

shoes

jetlag

what a journey i have been on this summer. I worked on phase 2 of the Shissler Recreation Center that I started last Fall, with my 2 assistants, Mike Reali and Chris Williams, and 2 more great guys, Brad Carney and Mike Konrad, who were the instructors for 12 city high school students. We worked together on a mixed media approach to a site near my house.

The day after we finished I left for China for 2 weeks, so it has been tricky to catch my breath, or have some time to reflect on everything. I expect the next couple of months will allow much time for silence, reflection and art work coming in response to everything that I have been working on, looking at and thinking about. That my work gives me the opportunity to be immersed in art and to travel is something that i am immensely grateful for. It is what I have been working for. I met sculptor Joy Brown in Nanhui to work at a foundry for a couple of days, and then travel together and separately for a week or so.

I got home from 2 days ago and landed into the shopping frenzy created by hurricane irene. I restocked my refrigerator and pantry, started unpacking,- weathering the storm with jay. sleeping and not sleeping at all the wrong times.

When i first landed in china, laying in bed that first night, my body still felt like it was flying, the roar of the jet engines still hummed in my body- and I was happy to be in that feeling of liminal space. between time zones- between knowing and not knowing. between languages and words. the displacement is never as bad coming home, i have the comfort of the language, my house, my love, my friends.

nanhui view from house balcony

foundry workshop

foundry workshop

tofu squares- the only vegetarian option on the shanghai train-

shanghai train station

landscape from train...

landscape from train

a year ago today

I was in shikoku making drawings.

fascinated by simplicity

Terrain

exterior

Terrain, door in cafe

with

watering can counterweight

Delaware quarries

right now my day job

includes

looking at natural materials

to bring into a recreation center

spray park

great view of the

Delaware River.

current focus

of research

photo from:http://designformenmag.com/?p=154

"i was fascinated by the simplicity in which people lived, while still being very beautiful, and very soft, and with a great sense of comfort using almost nothing at all. Materials are indispensable for me. I am a very tactile person, I like brutalism in a sense. I like raw materials, but I also like the ways you can use them. How you can go from a rough stone to a polished one."

" ...they are all objects (all the architectural projects, high rise or house) it's just a matter of mastering scale..."

"... I don't want things to be too clear, I want to provoke infinite curiosity. I want people to be more and more curious, b/c that means that there are still many things I can show, and many things I can tell them and life is like that, it's infinite. and fortunately, it's that way b/c that's what beauty is, what strength is, what energy is. That's what gives me the desire and the strength to continue. I like suprises... I like that my work evokes emotions. For me it is important to be timeless, infinite..."

Vincent van Duysen

the sea and the mountain

always provides perspective and inspiration for how to live and make work...

I just got back from a week of traveling, some down time, some ocean time, and some time in the deep woods of ct and vermont. Sand is still spilling out of sheets and pillow cases...

So beautiful and green, I was at Stone Harbor for the first time w/ jay and new friends, it was overcast the first day, but a perfect excuse to play wiffle ball. On Monday morning a whole pack of us went to the point to look for shells and walk. It was raining pretty hard by the time we got back. So cool.

I was given a ticket to Wanderlust Festival, a yoga and music festival at Stratton Mountain. I am still absorbing 3 class days, (thats 3 yoga classes) lectures, incredible music and so much rain. I used that as an excuse to stop off at Still Mountain Center to hang out with Joy, Jimmy and Ryo for the day. I was able to make some pots in the studio monday night, then joy and I went to see her exhibition at the Billy Morris Gallery in south Kent Ct. The work looks fabulous! check it out if you are in the area.

I got to Stratton Mountain around dusk, glad to land. I stayed in a cabin off site with a bunch of cool people and spent most of my time at the festival taking a variety of classes (some anasura, ashtanga and vinyasa). So interesting, so spacious and intense. I was kind of fine with all that rain, b/c the energy was so high to begin with. It was good to meet new people, I was inspired by the ease and sense of protection the mountain offered. I didn't get to go on hikes or get outside enough b/c of the rain, but loved being inside watching it all happen.

please check out:

Jeff Haynes

http://jeffhaynesmusic.com/

and

todd Boston

http://www.toddboston.com/

drawing workshop at Nabarts

i finally signed up for a workshop that i have been contemplating for years. the time was never right, or something. I am so happy that it worked out this time. 3 days of looking at things, trying out new materials, looking at books... I am incredibly inspired by the experience. I found out that i actually like charcoal (compressed) and adding wax to the mix can create areas of translucency, opacity, density and atmosphere.

I worked with Tim Hawkesworth and Lala. Slipping open books into my studio of artists, aerial views or looking at work with me. It was such a generous exchange. I'll be thinking about this for a long time. Reminding me again how necessary it is to be in the studio. in silence, attentive observation.

check it out:

http://drawingworkshops.com/

let them think twice

these pools, that, though in forest, still reflect

the total sky almost without defect,

and like the flowers beside them, chill and shiver,

will like the flowers beside them soon be gone,

and yet not out by any brook or river,

but up by roots to bring dark foliage on.

the trees that have it in their pent up buds,

to darken nature and be summer woods-

let them think twice

before they use their powers

to blot out and drink up and sweep away

these flowery waters and these watery flowers

from snow that melted only yesterday.

spring pools

Robert Frost

spring has been so rainy and changeable here, we started installing the mural about 2 weeks ago, but the weather has been cold/hot/rainy and windy. yesterday Mike and I started mixing color. I love going through the mixing phase. It is always interesting to see what the internal response is- and how non verbal it is. Looking at gallons of pure color is really exciting. And I always remember going to fabric stores in Lancaster, laying color over color to find the combinations of dull and sharp to make into quilts. My color sensibility has definitely been influenced by the family quilts, handed down. Muted, dusty, worn but sophisticated, instinctive responses to unusual color combinations and dye lot changes.

I also planted some radishes, arugula and herbs in the garden that I am sharing with friends. so excited for greens and things. A couple of drawings.

For Japan

http://www.savethechildren.org.au/

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2011/03/13/japan_earthquake_tsunami_relief_efforts

even a small donation will help the relief effort.

Noren in Naoshima

wall painting in Naoshima

Go'o Shrine by Hiroshi Sugimoto, Naoshima

Seto Inland Sea, Japan