The harvest moon festival (Chuseok in Korean) fell on a sunny hot day but I wanted to see my old student Irena at her public art project. She has been doing so many things like this and I am so excited that she continues to do things from public awareness projects on Covid prevention/vaccination to drawings for county public library cards.
It took forever to get back into the studio after getting back home but I finally mixed up some persimmon powder for two coats on a whole mix of paper pieces that could use it. I had left these woven paper bits to dry and then realized I really needed to block them.
Usually I am too lazy but I did it both times. It was amazing also to watch my knitted pages shrink immediately upon being dipped (since I had used hot water to mix the powder, makes it so much less lumpy).
Bill had been turning wood and gave me a practice bowl, which was perfect timing as I was in the studio realizing that I had no appropriate glassware and plastic would melt with the hot water. Plus now the wooden bowl will get lovely coats of permanent color.
There was a lot of other BS going on and it all seemed to escalate right before I flew out very early, including my own poor planning with ordering a car too late and then realizing I needed to drive myself to the airport. After two flights, I was finally back on big island and also on vacation! I'm still not sure I believe the second part.
After Lisa picked me up, she pointed out the full rainbow right outside the house (I couldn't get the entire thing in the pic but we could see it).
She had picked up delicious mochi as well! What a welcome treat.
My first day, we hiked up to a local fruit stand. Here is Tutu in the process of moving her sprinkler and near her stand, all on the honor system.
Even the person-made rainbows are delightful.
In a search for more papaya, we saw the way that dragonfruit actually grows, sprawling out across the ground.
And ginger!
The okra was enormous (I've only seen it in Virginia, and here it's warm all the time) and Tutu was about ready to start pickling.
The papayas were still green and we saw that though they grow really tall, there were plenty that get so heavy that the branches bend over and fall down.
Kevin spotted what looked like ripe fruit so Tutu went uphill to get her picker (a plunger on top of another handle, since the grabby claws can damage fruit), but it turned out to only be half ripe. But it was good morning exercise. On the way back Lisa pointed out a kukui tree and also betel nuts on the ground. I felt like I was in dye central (and two nights before I left home, I had been at Oberlin walking past all the sidewalks stained by walnuts).
After some errands, she showed me Magic Sands beach, and then
a nearby cove down the road that is much calmer since the reef beyond breaks the waves.
After a quick snack, we headed to Donkey Mill Art Center to see Yeonsoo Kim's artist talk. The potluck that preceded was incredible and even included homemade makgeolli! The invasive coqui frogs got louder and louder as the night went on and Yeonsoo made a comment about he liked the idea of all these animals listening to his stories.
In the morning, Kevin had already prepared papaya, so gorgeous. We were all looking forward to the weekend workshop, though I don't think any of us really knew what to expect.
Yeonsoo did demos all morning and then after lunch we got to work. There were students who were experienced potters who got right to the wheel, and then the rest of us worked on building our pots by coiling rather than slab building. We were totally exhausted but the group was very kind and funny so it was good company.
This is Yeonsoo's demo piece. He explained the way traditional onggi is decorated with lines to delineate the sky (top), landscape (middle) and sea (bottom). He drew himself in the middle,
A fish on the bottom,
And a bird at the top, which was based on the birds we could hear and see the feet of as they walked on top of the translucent covering of the outdoor ceramics studio. We have homework tonight! I am so exhausted that I'm not sure how I'll get that done, but glad to be a student—what a luxury.
Irena Wong
Lisa Rodondi
Donkey Mill Art Center
Yeonsoo Kim
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