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