Fighting hibernation

Every bit of me wants to eat everything I can find and sleep constantly. I wish I could say that I stepped outside today, but besides a mail check (hooray! a poetry book was in the box) and taking out the trash, I have been home all day, working. The cable guys came today and I was delighted that they wear booties over their shoes indoors. If I do one more big push, I should be able to start serious Miami prep tomorrow. And maybe make it outside so I don't become glued to this couch.

Paralysis

I started feeling sick last night and ended up sleeping late AND napping today. After the weather's usual tricks of rain, wind, rain, clouds, rain, and so on, I finally got out for a late afternoon walk.

This puddle is on the right side when leaving on the main road.

Directly across is the puddle on the left side. They're huge.

This is further along in the residential area where there are more houses.

The pine needles are all over and smell good. I am super stressed w/everything coming up (the press release just came out for the Miami show) and all my hair is falling out (I'd like to blame it on the changing seasons) but I am going to sit down right now, away from the computer, and write a big long list of everything I have to do before I fly away in several days.

Landed

We pulled up to this building, and of the four complexes, of course I get to live here. My life felt like pure comedy. Not Aspen, or Vail, or Pico Peak, but Whiteface. But the place is clean and fine (not ideal for my work, but I'll manage) and the views are of trees, which are red right now. This weekend was a flurry of unpacking and organizing. Strange to me that Ben is even bothering to do a full unpack since he deploys in just a few months, but it will be nice to have a real home base for that time instead of a makeshift, living out of boxes existence. Yesterday, we hit four huge retail outlets and then got groceries on base. After having lunch at a chain restaurant. A pretty intense welcome to the area. I called Velma while at Lowe's for refuge and a familiar voice.

I am now snacking like a fiend while adjusting to this strange setting (but not for long, b/c I fly to Miami in a week. Terrified but still avoiding the prep). To counter that, I tried to take a walk this afternoon during a deceptive patch of sun. It had been rainy and windy all morning but the sun appeared after lunch, so I ventured out, got not very far down the road before stopping to make a phone call, and then turned to see monster storm clouds and booked it back home in the rain. So much for getting my bearings today! This was the second and last pic I got to snap, with the grass laying flat from wind.

Signing off for now

My mother is being the best lately; I haven't talked a lot about how my relationship w/my family has changed since my year in Korea. Not w/my extended family in Korea, but also w/my parents and sister back home. Overall, it's good. It's kind of weird to grow through this life phase for the first time where most parties are all growing and changing, and things are on the whole improving, AND I am fully aware of it all. Usually I can't see it until later but it's kind of amazing. You never think your parents will change, and then they do, and sometimes you have no idea how to deal with that, either. The whole becoming an adult child is also interesting to live through. I know that they still think of me as the tiny baby or small girl or whatever, but we've gotten to a good stage in the adult relationship - I'm sure that owes a lot to being able to communicate better b/c of language, life experience, and acceptance of each other.

Today, my mom took me to a Korean sauna and b/c I'll be out of town for my bday next month, she got me a scrub and massage as an early gift. It was soooo nice. I had tons of yummy steam sauna time and cold tanking and am not sure how I survived it all on so little sleep, but there are much worse things to have to survive. Ha! I esp loved having the woman working on me stand up on the table w/her feet on my feet. That's my fave, but no one ever does that.

We checked out the new Korean supermarket nearby and got goodies and staples for my move upstate since I will be in the land of nothing very Asian at all. And then browsed for clothes - I got a ridiculously cute green dress for Miami, and am horrified by the fattening of America. Since when am I a size 2?! Size altering has gotten out of control. We stopped for noodles at the Korean Chinese place near the GWB and then headed home. I'm now about 1/10th into the packing routine but keep getting distracted. I'm nervous b/c Ben hasn't gotten internet installed at the new place so I won't be reliably online until next Wed or Thurs. This hopefully will not destroy me, since I still have at least one outstanding app that has to be submitted online. I'm pretending that I have a 3-month residency on an army base, so I'll just see this as one of those "it's too windy so the connection is down" or "there was a blizzard" or "an animal ate the cables" reasons for being disconnected from the world.

Letting it all slide

[If I can figure out a way to display this, it's going to Miami.] I have fallen off the wagon: snacking, napping, avoiding a workout, buying myself a rice dream mocha pie, and refusing to pack. I'm moving on Saturday and won't have internet access until next Wed or something heinous like that. I have this vision of living on a military base, and it involves being alone in stretches of desolation where I have no access to creature comforts. Of course, I know this is untrue since I've already been told that we are close to the library and gym and that even an arts and crafts center exists. I also have been informed that the closest place for miles and miles to purchase quinoa is actually right on the base.

I finished up a big fat app today, mailed off an auction donation, and rejoiced in my first nap of the week. Yesterday I forgot to mention that Ching-In will be on a panel Friday afternoon at Belladona’s Advancing Feminist Poetics & Activism Conference. I can't attend, but it's free, so go if you can!

The manic days

I love this painting, like I love all of Marianne's work. We met at Jentel two years back and she is having an open studio this weekend at the D.U.M.B.O. Art Under the Bridge Festival. I can't go, but hope that you can.

Tonight I got to see Jami at the Center for Book Arts opening of the faboo show I am in. I got a galley of her latest novel, which I of course started to devour on the train ride home. She's doing a neat project w/it where she's inviting artists to read it and then make art inspired by it. Participate! I totally am. I also had a fun chat w/Corinna, who works there and got the same printmaking scholarship I did last year.

Before that, I saw Sarah briefly and we sat outside to read. Before that, I ran errands. Before that, I went to visit Vijay at the printshop. Before that, I visited Robbin and Andras for lunch and caught up for the first time in over a year. I had the most heavenly fresh figs from one of their gorgeous fig trees in the garden, saw the new gallery space, and got methylcellulose from Carriage House, which I nearly forgot to pick up. I had left, was crossing the street and looking behind me, only to see Robbin hopping up and down, waving her arms. She can't yell right now b/c of a vocal cord condition, so she was hoping I'd turn around at some point before rounding the corner. Thank goodness I did!

I had dinner w/my sis and her husband at a Korean place, and talked about how I still am running around on the left side of things, like I did in Korea. Katherine wrote about her commute, which brings back so many fond and not-so-fond memories, but included a link to this: Korea is going right!!! Colonial vestiges take forever to shake. I'm glad I won't be around for this switch, b/c I would totally be on the wrong side, no matter what.

Hoorays and such

Tim Barrett, everyone's hero in papermaking, got the MacArthur!! We knew it was coming and I am psyched. He was a huge help to me when I was formulating my Fulbright project and my best reader b/c he pushed me to the next level when I thought I was done with it. He's been the example I always talk about re: setting up eastern papermaking with integrity back in the US.

Also, Regin Igloria is doing a big hike in Finland (as art)! He runs the res program at Ragdale and seriously works hard. I loved being able to peek at his sketchbooks (gorgeous) when I was a resident there a couple years back.

Found again

Yesterday I couldn't sleep b/c I thought I had lost my house key but I think it miraculously appeared again today on the piano bench and I have NO IDEA how either of those events happened. All I know is that I'm pretty mean to myself when I lose things. This is the last of three pieces that will go to Miami. My sister and her husband just booked tickets so I will have a little company once the show is up and at least two people in the audience for my artist talk.

This morning, I got a somewhat jarring email from a dear teacher, and then I went into a frenzy of making small sheets of paper from hanji scraps. It was a lot more than I expected. I did it all on the floor, squatting and on my knees, which is totally ridiculous for my back, but I can't get off the floor. I'm a floor person, and I don't know if it's b/c of the Korean blood or what. I tried to compensate for the body strain by finally working out for the first time in a week. The weather is beautiful but I miss the days of stronger sunlight when sheets and pellons and whatnot dried faster.

Now I have no more excuses to put off writing! So here I go, into the wilderness.

Lost again

Tonight was my first venture out of my housebound state since Tuesday b/c of the poison ivy rash. It's finally dying down, so I made to an opening at MGC, where I had my lovely scholarship in the spring of 2008. I was able to see old friends and my teacher Fred and it was like I had only left yesterday. It's a special place - truly a community of printers - and not many places like this exist in this big bad city. Everyone is so nice and supportive and it made me realize how much I had learned and received from them. Studio space, time, techniques, people to bounce ideas off of, the whole package. I am ever grateful.

It was weird to walk through this old hood - I had worked here for two years and now the office has relocated to Brooklyn, though nothing much has changed. I used to never feel okay w/a visible camera or shooting conspicuously for fear of looking like a Japanese tourist, but after seeing the endless throngs of people in Korea w/huge cameras all the time, I am totally over it.

I'm calmer about the show going up in Miami in just a couple of weeks...oh, wait. It really is only a couple of weeks! Now I am starting to get scared. I have one ticket booked but no hotel yet, which is likely foolish, but I'm still in denial (plus I can't see past the impending deadlines for other things).

I finished three new pieces plus the biggie, so art-wise I feel solid. Admin and PR, not so solid. Plus I move in less than a week. If I can trick myself into finishing all the big apps by Wed, maybe I'll have a chance at getting things done on time. Since packing will entail summer clothes for Florida and super-duper winter clothes for North Country. Much trickier logistics than usual. Today's coping mechanism for all of it: I baked more cookies.

The itch

Last night after reading a very dense obligatory book, I laid in bed and started to get really itchy. Not the poison ivy - that's finally subsiding a bit. It's the "I have to soak that load of scrap hanji and pulp it" itch. It's exactly how Terttu gets when she doesn't shoot for a long time: "I start to twitch."

So, today I pulled out all the bits of hanji that were cut off of weaving pieces and whatnot and laid them out to soak. I also finally uncapped my bin of papermaking supplies and was so grateful to my self of 2 years ago for ordering and storing formation aid!! Since I was laying in bed last night worrying that I didn't have any goo to make decent homemade sheets. Then I put my apron on and inked up another sheet and made a new piece. I'd do more right away if I had the floor space but have to wait for it to dry before I can move it. If everything goes well, I'll have another piece done today and pulp ready for a few tiny sheets tomorrow!

Potatoes have more chromosomes than people

I just heard that on a TEDTalk by John Lloyd. I'm not paying attention, though, b/c I'm in afternoon listlessness. I finally worked on the big piece (about 6.5 x 13 feet) and also got good starts on three different drafts.

There's one app that asks on the anonymous section (which I find totally weird and nonsensical): "What else would you like us to know about you?" followed by a 4-inch line. I'm baffled as to what I'm supposed to write there. I think I'll skip that for now and consider doing some more cording.

Sheer brilliance

Tam just gave me the link to her friend Lainie's new website, and I had to slap myself to stop reading every single comic this morning; otherwise, I would still be reading now and have gotten nothing done whatsoever. All of her work is great, and I love the site itself. Especially how the little girl appears and disappears - the line drawing, then her shadow, and then her silhouette in another color! It took a little while for me to figure out how to navigate the comics, but they are SO good.

Oh, and we got press in Time Out New York for the comics show opening next week!

Still, Lainie's stuff totally takes the cake. This one made me laugh aloud. And I was looking for the one w/a huge cake on the right side of the page (see, my only partially photographic memory is useless), and just got sucked into looking at more for the last few minutes. Go and see for yourself. They are the bomb.

Stalling

I am near that place where it is dangerous to not pound out drafts for my apps. All I got done in a non-admin way was cutting down sheets and cording. I had planned to do more but was distracted by the gloom of the first half of the day and also by acting like I was going to run out of water at any moment. Clearly, I was more traumatized than I thought during my residency in Mexico a couple years ago when we often had no water and I learned that you can flush the toilet by pouring water into the bowl.

I also felt sad about how people often don't like to see each other succeed, especially if they work in the same field. When I opted out of the music world, I thought I was taking the easy road. But I was reminded by two people today of how incredibly competitive the art world is. I must have thought that because there is no physical training involved, like in dance and music, it's automatically less difficult. Oh, so naive (but, seriously, training your hand to do a faster vibrato is really hard). At least I had a bout of psychic powers: I dreamed about Tam in a green skirt and it turned out that she is wearing one today! If I was regularly psychic, I could make money like that. But maybe psychics are also very competitive...

Hard vs not hard

Jami noted yesterday that I like to put myself in hard situations. I'm not sure why I am always surprised when I hear this, but asked my sister today and she confirmed it. Her theory is that I got bad information in college from a ridiculous boy about how I haven't "suffered" enough in my life so I fell into the trap and made life harder for myself on purpose.

But I can't conceive of how I could make my life less hard, without major sacrifices to my personal fulfillment. Today was a big admin day, which is always gross, but then I finally rolled up work and made floor space and laid down the plastic sheeting and inked up. I realized as I ground ink why it's good for me to do this kind of labor: it's the only thing that reduces drama. Inner drama, that is.

So now that about eight big sheets of hanji are inked and six are glued together, it's time to curl up w/a book before I get back at it.

They're turning off the WATER tomorrow from 8am to 5pm (I still am baffled by why this is even allowed), so I've been thinking all day about fasting and collecting water in the bathtub. I keep thinking about the 5-gallon condensed milk buckets from Rebecca in grad school from the bakery she worked at years ago that I had to give up in one of many moves. I would love to have them now.

Call for art from Ayanna

Screwed Anthologies
call for slow, soulful, and/or fragmented video & sound art
Deadline: October 1, 2009
Send link of video, short bio and description of work to: archipelaga@gmail.com
Exhibition takes place late October, presented by labotanica in Houston, Texas

Screwed Anthologies moves beyond linear time to feature work by artists who frame time travel, sampling and appropriating, stopping and freezing time and slowing pace to create new states of existence. Screwed Anthologies will be a disjointed “exhibition” of videos, audio fragments, sound art, and workshops that draw inspiration from the art of “screwed and chopped” music, also known as screw music. Based in Houston, Texas, the home of screw music, Screwed Anthologies will challenge traditional ideas about art, its location, its practice, its players and its curation. “Screwed and chopped” refers to a technique of remixing music that developed in the Houston hip-hop scene in the 1990s. This is accomplished by slowing the tempo and applying techniques such as skipping beats, record scratching, stop-time, and effecting portions of the music to make a "chopped-up" version of the original. Screw music has grown a cult following around the world, and the music celebrates the slow, fantastic, and soulful that is reflected in many of Houston’s African-American communities.

Screwed Anthologies will consist mainly of video and sound including home videos, how to videos, screw-inspired videos, and audio listening booths, complemented with workshops, screenings, and lectures led by local screw musicians, video and sound artists and curators TBA. The “exhibition” will consist of two components: 1) primary sources- original music, film, video, and workshops by Houston-based screw musicians and 2) secondary sources- sound art, video art, and experimental music that has similar aesthetics and/ or sounds as screw music. In doing this, Screwed Anthologies utilizes an experimental and community-driven format to intersect unlikely audiences and to erase the traditional categories of popular art and gallery/museum art. Screwed Anthologies will take place in late October 2009.

one hundred black women, one hundred actions
created and organized by Wura-Natasha Ogunji and Ayanna Jolivet Mccloud.

We invite you to submit an action, gesture, movement to be included in this new performance work: one hundred black women, one hundred actions is a performance of critical actions, gestures and movements by one hundred black women from around the world to be documented then performed by one hundred black women in various public and private sites.

Through physical actions which are recorded here in various forms as photographs, drawings, video and written descriptions, the public can respond to the following question: “What is a gesture of personal power, an extreme action that is necessary in your daily life?” From these actions, we will choreograph 100 movements to be taught to and then performed live by 100 black women at our first site, TBA. It is our desire to invoke our collective strength through a work which specifically aims to locate the presence of black female bodies as central, political, powerful forces in the world.

Participants will discover and embody those critical movements and daily actions that describe their own mechanisms for survival, living, and imagining a future. These actions, which could be daily actions, repeated gestures, movements invented, or invoked, allow us to be present in our bodies. The project performs movements across borders and geographies to envision a cumulative, collective action translated into a site specific performance that has the weight and critical mass of one hundred black women to invoke shared power. This project also recognizes the power of embodying another’s voice, physical language, experiences across diverse geographies.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE:
To participate in one hundred black women, one hundred actions send documentation of a critical action, gesture or movement, which answers the following question: “What is a gesture of personal power, an extreme action that is necessary in your daily life?”

Your physical action can be recorded as a photograph, drawing, video or written description. You can send this to us via email at: onehundredactions@gmail.com, or via skype or personal conversations. Be sure to send the name of your action, your location, and website. Once we have collected 100 actions we will begin choreographing, teaching and performing these actions live in various locations.

Art Swap
labotanica seeks artists for Art Swap, a participatory exhibition in which artists of all media can exchange art with other artists for free. Art Swap centers on reciprocity and re-negotiates value and commerce in art production and presentation. The exhibition examines how art is presented, which artists are presented, what type of art is presented, and who has access to own art. Art Swap is an exhibition in which artists can hang and install their artwork and walk away with another artists' work in their collection. Art is exchanged 1 for 1, irregardless of value, material, or maker.

To participate, send digital images by Sep. 26th
Exhibition installation: Tues & Wed, Sep. 29th & 30th, 5pm - 7pm
Opening reception: Thurs, Oct. 1st, 6-8pm
Art Swap takes place: Fri/ Oct. 2nd & Sat/ 3rd, 12pm - 6pm

Opening tonight in Brooklyn

A friend from my NYFA days, Lynn Saville, has curated a show of Brooklyn visual artists, who are also life partners. Their own work, as well as a portrait photograph of each couple (taken by Lynn, a faboo photog), represents them in this exhibit that opens tonight at the central branch of the Brooklyn Public Library. I can't go b/c I'm not allowed out of the home (no shoes! Damn this poison ivy) but other people with unaffected feet are welcome!

Jami Tuesday

I had all these brilliant things to report but then got caught up in the usual admin BS and now I am barely awake. But the short version is that I had lunch with Jami and then we hung out at her place and swapped stories and she gave me sage advice on everything that matters. She talked about forcing herself to interact with people b/c it's a good thing to do for all those involved and I kind of felt like, why bother if you don't feel like it? But then I left and thought about everything she had said and realized that it IS really important to do that (at least in my case) since otherwise I end up thinking in irrational and paranoid circles. Even when I think I don't feel like it and would be perfectly happy to be alone for long stretches of time with no meaningful human contact - as in, in-person contact. This is key.

So today was totally worth it even though I aggravated my poison ivy by wearing shoes and walking. It's probably my last solid girl date this year. I could be wrong, but I really have to do admin work that acts like Medusa and rest the foot and finish up some art.

Take easy

I had a profound desire for a chunk of the afternoon to be horizontal and reading. So I read this for a bit. Eventually I righted myself and have found some fantastic notes from a performance class in grad school:

People get real upset about real estate

People are confident jerks

American dream = OWNERSHIP

Waiting/patience/commitment creates anxiety

Our large ego (developed for survival, superpredators) is a specific insanity, and it is a challenge to overcome that ego

No sense anymore of gratitude and sacrifice

The weather is perfectly balanced in terms of light, temperature, and wind. I patched some hanji that came unglued. I sent a proposal and printed floor plans. I browsed this. I ran for 20 minutes. I unrolled a piece from three years ago and rolled it up again. Same with a piece from nine years ago. I ate an apple. It's that kind of Monday.

Women, friends, yay

Today was gorgeous! I met Helena near her NYC digs and we got lunch to eat on the park along the Hudson River. I had been telling her about Barbara, my friend and teacher from 7th-12th grade. On our way to tea at Helena's place, waiting to cross the street, you guessed it: Barbara pulls up to the stop sign! I flagged her down and introduced them in the middle of the road. It was really quite amazing. Tea and company were wonderfully nourishing and it was a trip to see each other in NY after having only spent time together in Korea. She's going back soon, and I'm jealous. But I am also thrilled that she is spending more time there. Her insights and perspective are different from most everyone I know, so I love having her in my life and being able to connect in person when our paths cross.

Then, I rushed downtown (going from UWS to LES was less painful than I feared; I think the good mood helped. I'm also getting better at letting go of anxiety about being late once it's fully out of my control since trains don't fly) to go to Ching-In's reading. It was a sweet crowd and the best part was seeing Maria at the end! We went to a bar around the corner and got simultaneously acquainted and caught up - we've been in touch thru email for probably over a year now, and tonight was our first in-person meeting. She was the one I turned to when I got to Korea last year and was mercilessly thrown into the "you're not married?!" culture. We shared our grief and I was able to provide her with fresh material for her work, which she describes succinctly.

I do have to say, though, that coming home to that awful news about the woman at Yale was a buzzkill. Unspeakably sad.

Peanuts and lovelies

[A 2009 piece on hanji and a 2005 book w/cover image by Terttu.] After a lot of rain, getting library books, and inbox slogging, I got up from an afternoon nap and went to town to meet Terttu for a pre-date before a group date at a roomy bar. It was SO much nicer than I had feared. Everyone who said they would show up did and I loved seeing and hugging in person. We ate lots of peanuts and threw the shells on the floor and caught up. Joy even brought Amy, so that was a special unexpected treat, and I only had to ride the subway once tonight. Ching-In brought a sweet little handmade paper book from China and Shayna told her latest love story and I read Bohumil Hrabal's Too Loud a Solitude on the way there and back. Hooray.

Misconceptions!

Eee! I just found out that I've been giving out the wrong info for months about perilla. It's NOT wild sesame, it's just called that for no reason. Thank goodness my food science-trained dad clued me in: it's actually part of the mint family and not related to sesame at all. I want to clear that up since I hate spreading misinformation. Oil extracted from perilla seeds is what my hanji teacher uses to oil his paper, and it goes from a light yellow to a deep orange over time. And smells SO good.

The other major misconception is worse, but harder to counter: the whole "rice paper" confusion. I go crazy when people refer to hanji (or any thin sheets with long fibers formed w/eastern techniques) as "rice paper" and then lecture them about how there's no such thing. Rice makes crappy paper, and the best you can get is rice straw paper. At that point, you might as well eat newsprint. I won't continue on this rant b/c I've already done it before.

The good news: I mailed off three apps today and was invited to do another show upstate! Yes, crazy, but it will be work from the first show and some older work that would be just right, so I'm going for it.

Back in the saddle

Late last night I panicked b/c I realized that I have an incredible amount of writing I have to do for deadlines clustered around the end of the month. I called Ching-In for advice and then slept on it. This morning, I tore three applications apart. I get a funny adrenaline rush from doing apps, and maybe this time it was intensified b/c it was three at once and I felt well-equipped w/good slides. Plus I did a hasty self-teach of the bare bones of iDVD so that I could include my hanji research on video. Years on the road doing apps has trained me like a wild animal to hone in exactly what I need to survive: where's the nearest accessible printer, office supply store (for envelopes, CDs, DVDs, etc.), and post office? These are the things I instinctually seek out every time I change location.

Or maybe I was just feeling rushed b/c I had a date today w/Kiwon and had to drop off a zine for a show opening in two weeks. I zigzagged thru town on foot, stopping for a cookie at my fave vegan organic place, until I reached Little Italy. I have to say, I am not crazy about NYC lately. I don't know what has changed - me or it or both. After walking around the street festival for a while, I reluctantly took the subway home. My first ride here since last May!

Vertigo, again!

I woke up this morning with vertigo. Not too intense, but coupled with the tiny bit of poison ivy on my foot, I had a bit of a rough night and morning. This is the third bout of vertigo I've had in four years and I suspect it's from last night's painting of five of my fingernails. I seem to suffer in odd years: 2005, 2007, 2009. So I took it easy today, sewing up two books, napping, watching "Persepolis," and mailing lots of art. Some of you will have gifts landing in your mailbox in a few days (others will have them placed in your hands this weekend in NYC when I emerge from hiding). Today is a special day: Melissa's bday!

[When Stefan shot this, I thought, "man, they look weird. Like things marching off a UFO."] I finally did some website updates. I put up info on where to buy things here, and finally made public the mail art story that is hanging in my current show (they had been private b/c they are dreadful snapshots). If you start here, you can click thru the latest images of the latest work from last month. The big 2D ones are hidden until my next show gets hashed out.

Clunking

Yegads. Messing with an already delicate rhythm makes it hard to get back into gear. I got stuff done today, but it hardly feels that way. I had lunch w/my late friend's mom and then we sat in the library park for a while (as I flipped out internally about the excess of UV rays I have gotten this season). I finally caved and got a new library card, as if I have time to do catch-up reading. But I got a sweaty workout done, sold electronics, and compiled a press list. If I can get a reader for my pending hanji article, then I can get that off the to do list, along with party planning for this weekend.

Labor day sloth

[The final piece in the show: hand-ground ink on perilla seed oiled hanji - perilla is in the mint family and commonly used in lots of Korean cuisine, especially the leaves. The oiled paper goes from a light yellow to deep yellow to deep orange over time and UV/air exposure.] I still could use way more sleep but it didn't happen today.

Yesterday morning before the opening, I walked around the town, which truly is a hamlet. Tiny, quiet, one general store, and that is it.

This was the old school, I think. There is a much more contemporary one built behind the main road with huge fields for a playground, baseball field, and rolling hills.

I barely took pictures of the show and forgot to take a huge stack of postcards to blanket anyone I meet in the next month. But Bright Hill will have readings that will bring more local people into the space, and that's really who the show is for.

Susan gave me this print as a gift, which I loved instantly. It's already above my bed. In her words,

the three women in the print represent the Three Sisters of Haudenosaunee tradition ... Three Sacred Sisters: Corn, Beans & Squash, primary food staples of the People of the Longhouse. Of course, in many cultures three women show up in one way or another ... this is how they show up in our tradition. They also go back to our Sky Woman Creation Story, because when Sky Woman fell through a hole in the Sky World she grabbed at the Celestial Tree up there ... one thing she pulled off the Tree were seeds to grow Corn, Beans & Squash ... she also pulled off Tobacco and so when we make Tobacco offerings and pray in that way, it goes back to our first home.

I chose the Sisters because we are women friends and because over the years you have sent me photographs of you and women friends .... very important among Haudenosaunee people for women to be support each other and be of strong and brave heart and give to their community. I see you as doing this.

No need for me to add to the poetry of a poet.

This was on a trail that I walked with my sister and her husband today at Wave Hill, our little outing before having family time.

This was my absolute favorite drawing of my visit upstate. I had done the loop from the gallery to the church and up to the main drag, leading down the hill past the new school, and back, but had to do it again just to shoot this.

The library lives in the same building as the gallery. It's non-circulating and not catalogued yet, and covers only humanities, but it's a wonderful space for the community. I spent a good deal of my weekend in the children's loft on the floor working on my laptop.

I assume that this church is why it's named Church Street. The parishioners just came and went for the 9:15 service, no fuss, no muss.

My parents were really shocked by the back-country nature of this area, but it felt totally familiar and normal to me. It made me realize how much traveling I've done on my own path and how it leads me to places that all feel familiar, or come to be that way. Of course, a comfortable home is a wonderful thing to return to, but I find nothing weird or out of the ordinary about me ending up in green, quiet, sparsely-populated places with no cell phone reception.

This made me recognize that showing here is exactly what I was meant to do. The people who come are attentive and actually read the work, so it was ideal that there was such a heavy text component (makes sense, this being a word and image gallery). Everything fit. I had panicked in CT, thinking I didn't have enough work for the space, but it was just fine, especially since I recognized the great value of breathing space for work. I feel lucky to have a place where I was encouraged to show old work b/c it felt like a short retrospective, giving continuity to work that seemed all over the place when considered separately.

In my artist talk, I went through the two galleries, talking about the journey that started with the dying of a longtime friend, to losing her and my search alone, to constant traveling and traversing various media in the wandering. In the story that serves as the anchor to the exhibit, the wandering girl finally decides to return home and that is when the hanji kicks in (as in, literally, becomes part of the artwork). As my statement said, "This is the country that holds many of the stories that complete my own."

The audience was wonderful, invested, and followed my wandering right onto the path of last year, even when I did the show-and-tell portion of my talk with hanji objects and pieces. Someone asked what was next, and I realized that I will be at this forever: I like beating at the messy paths too much to go mainstream. And I've been on its fringes for so long that it feels perfectly normal to me. So, after today's lack of exercise, tomorrow is back to work: full force into Show #2.

There and back, hooray

I'm home after a long day of waiting for the opening, then doing it and the talk, and then making the trip back. It went well - a respectable crowd given holiday timing and location - and the heart of it being that the people who gave birth to the people who made this show possible were all there. I figure, if I can give an artist talk in front of my parents and the parents of my friend whose dying and death inspired the bulk of the show, I can do anything. And I'm not talking about giving a lecture to a darkened auditorium; these people were all nearly in my lap.

There were some special surprise visits, too. Lavinia and Susan both made trips to cap the start and end of the opening, and I got a good grilling on my artist statement, which proved that people actually read them! I didn't put explanatory text up as I thought that I would, but am still okay with how it turned out. More on why this was the ideal spot for me to show, and show this particular work, after I get some rest.

Hung!

The show is hung, and I SO could have done it tomorrow morning and saved my parents the hassle of all of this overnighting in the boonies. I have a habit of purposely overestimating the amount of time these things will take, even when I know better, just b/c I like a big, fat cushion. Besides, there is a gorgeous new library here so I am fine w/it. There is a boy who has been mowing the lawn for longer than I've been installing, it seems. At least that's not me.

Geeked out on national park land

[National Park Service Horticulturist Greg Waters Leading a Stone Wall Construction Demonstration]

Stone Wall Workshop at Weir Farm National Historic Site
Wilton & Ridgefield, Connecticut

On Saturday, September 26 from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., Weir Farm National Historic Site will host a hands-on stone wall repair workshop in celebration of National Public Lands Day and National Park Service Volunteer Day. Begin the day at 9:00 a.m. with a park ranger-led discussion about the significance of stone walls as landscape features at the site and in the region. The workshop will continue with a demonstration of stone wall construction, followed by the opportunity for participants to try their own hand at wall repair. This is a perfect opportunity to learn how the stone walls in New England were made, or how to care for walls on your property.

Participants should bring work gloves, sturdy footwear, clothing that is appropriate for outdoor work and a brown bag lunch. Drinking water will be provided. Participation is limited to 20 people and registration is required. To register or for more information, please call (203)544-9829 ext. 11 by Friday, September 25.

National Public Lands Day is organized nationwide by the National Environmental Education Foundation, a foundation chartered by Congress in 1990 to advance environmental knowledge and action. The annual event educates Americans about critical environmental and natural resources issues, builds partnerships between the public sector and the local community, and improves public lands for outdoor recreation. National Public Lands Day began in 1994 with three federal agencies and 700 volunteers. Last year nearly 100,000 volunteers worked in 1,100 locations and in every state. Now, nine federal agencies and many state and local lands participate in this annual day of caring for shared lands. For more information on National Public Lands Day events, visit www.publiclandsday.org.

The calm before

Lunch and a walk today w/Barbara was lovely, though I feel like all I do anymore in conversations is monopolize them. Pictures of my artwork in CT, and of my studio work.

Time to nap before I cram tonight for this weekend's trip, install, and opening.

Avoiding the underground

Ah, the wondrous booklet that lists the artist-in-residence programs (I still wish there was a site w/good hyperlinks directly to the program sites) was uploaded in PDF form. I read the hard copy a few nights ago in bed. I highly recommend such activity. Click here, then scroll down and click the rainbow-y swatched cover.

I heard some horrible rumor about the national parks being collateral to China for mortgaging our national debt. And a story from a friend who went solo to Zion National Park, and through a valley saw a Walmart. He went to his room afterwards, threw a fit, and cried. I'm glad that I have friends who are moved this way but wish more people in the world were. I finally got a few pics from my month on Connecticut's only national park land uploaded.

Today was quite a day. A heavy morning load of work, writing, show prep, exercise, family time, catching up barely w/Ching-In back from China, and then dashing down for a long shoot. I don't know how Stefan does it, but he's such a pro. I always have too much to carry to bring my own camera, but if you saw the rigging for these shoots ... they're often more impressive than the art itself!! Also, traveling with a 4.5-foot roll of paper that can't be jostled on either end is quite a challenge. I have managed to make it into town and not ride the subway, which is something I've been dreading. Let's see how long I can keep it up.

Meeting family and a friend for dinner in Koreatown was a nice way to cap the day. Hopefully tomorrow won't be as intense, and I'll have enough down time to get everything packed for the trip and install on Saturday for my show.

Almost ready

[I keep forgetting: I'm in this super cool show at the Center for Book Arts in NY that opens on Sept 23.] My fingers were covered in too much glue today to shoot. I prepped almost all of the big hanji pieces so that they are rigged to hang so that Stefan doesn't go insane when I bring them tomorrow for a photo shoot.

Also, I was going to say that it is so hard to find all the NPS residency programs, but there is a list (info is kind of outdated, but better than nothing).

I miss Eric

Omg!! He drew a portrait of me. haha! Not really, but this is often how I feel.

"Real" re-entry begins

I got everything done on my list today except for finding my library card! This is particularly devastating to me. I know I could easily just go get a new one, but I have this memory of it sitting in a ceramic bowl with two sets of belly beads from Ghana in a storage bin. But I've since moved everything from that bin to another, so I have no idea where it got lost in transit. Today was also my rude awakening to the wonderful facets of American academia that I had not missed at all while out of the loop. Last night, I read through a list of different national park artist residency programs that made me wish I was a backcountry expert. How amazing would this be, in Alaska?? But I got a great offer to share a studio and beater in India whenever I make it out there, so who knows what adventures are ahead.

I decided to clear inventory before the year is out, so I went through my work again and pulled out pieces that need to be out of my hands and in someone else's. But this is my way of avoiding putting sleeves and hinges on all of my new work - photo shoot is in two days! Tomorrow will be pure prep. Tonight: a date w/Steph! I am finally ready to see friends, and realize that I am totally thirsty for it.