Chile: Valparaíso to the end

After Boco, we were lucky to get a ride to Viña del Mar, where we got a local bus to Valparaíso. I think it was my first (and only?) sighting of the sea from the land during my trip.

Carolina gave a me a lovely tour and we went up and down hills, either by foot or on funicular.

 Yes, public education!

Going down is fine,

 going up nearly killed me.

We rode the funicular (like an elevator) down from this particular hill. The city has lots of hills and so lots of stairs and funiculars.

I only looked at these steps with lovely tiles but had no intention of walking up them after the last set.

 The main square, on our way to lunch, before class.

The port, where we tried to figure out exactly how the cranes moved the huge containers in the background. There are stray dogs all over this town (actually, all over everywhere I went. One followed us immediately on the first day in Santiago after we left the hotel).

Somehow, we made it back to Santiago in time for me to take a quick shower and get dressed to teach a jiseung class that night. I loved this group of ladies, and some really did manage to finish tiny baskets either that evening or by the next.

The next day, I had lunch with departing guests from the conference who were on their way to Lima to visit Peru (if I had the time/funds, I would have done Machu Picchu, too). Then our indefatigable host Wonjung escorted me to another neighborhood to visit a printshop that has connections to Cleveland, Aguafuerte Taller.

Sanding an aluminum sheet for the litho press downstairs. This upstairs space will eventually turn into a gallery space.

This is the process of hand calandering paper. A LOT of muscle. 

When I arrived, at least three people were at work. The back presses and tables, and the middle flat files, were all built by owner Iván, whose grandfather was a furniture maker. When he got into trouble, he'd be sent to his grandfather's factory, which turned out to be much more of a blessing than a punishment.

Here, Iván works with a student. Tamarind trained, he is super ambitious and has lots of goals for this site. He spent 3 months in Cleveland as a Creative Fusion artist and learned more about how to run a printshop as a business since he already knew how to do the creative side of the work.

My apron was all tangled but I swear I know how to lace the ones that cross in the back and was very happy to meet a printer who agrees that aprons should not hang from the back of the neck!

I took an Uber early to campus (there was a LOT of confusion as to where to drop me off. I insisted that I NOT be dropped off at a cafe and kept on saying "school" and "university" to indicate that I needed to get to a campus, not a random street corner) and hung out outside and in a gallery space before my final class began.

It's always good to chase a jiseung class with a joomchi class because the success rate for the latter is much higher.

The next day was my last, which involved breakfast with Carolina, packing, lunch with Wonjung, and a quick trip to the pre-Columbian museum. I love these quipu, knots used to record.

After I left, I took the metro to another neighborhood to get final gifts and spend my remaining pesos, but then ended up on a train that ran semi-express (it wasn't rush hour, I swear!), so I got off at a new stop and walked in the wrong direction in very hot sun for a while before turning back. I hung out some more with Carolina before the taxi came to take me away to the airport. I slept for about 5 minutes on the first 9.5-hour flight, paid for an hour of sleep in a private room at the Atlanta airport, and was wiped out on the final leg back home.

I think I took monster naps for at least 3 days after I returned and finally got back to normal only to meet daylight savings alterations. And in less than 2 days, I drive east for another trip!

Chile: Mostly Boco

I should have shot better scale images before we started the wine tour but this is a quick one of the huge pots outside the second winery we visited after the conference ended. I love huge pots!

After we all returned to Santiago, we went to a different neighborhood to a Japanese restaurant run by a Korean owner who invented this dessert. The meal was exactly what I needed: raw fish ending with spicy Korean soup.

After all the joint adventures with the international group of scholars, I checked out of the hotel and headed to Carolina's place, so that we could travel via metro and bus to Boco, an area northwest of Santiago but not too far, close to Valparaíso on the ocean but inland. Her dear friend from her childhood Lorena lives there with her husband Mike, the former an architect and the latter an artist. This is his studio that they built just across from their home.

Here's Mike! His mother is Chilean and father English and he has spent time in both countries and has been busy not just with painting but sculpture and even paper cutting.

After a studio tour, we walked through the gardens and avocado farm. The air was fragrant EVERYWHERE.

Carolina and Lorena

I've never really seen an avocado tree, and suddenly I was seeing an entire plot of them. They were all over the place and we picked some from the ground (that rodents and dogs had NOT already gotten to) to take home.

Prickly pear, which has delicious fruit (that the hotel served every morning, mmm!).

A mysterious hole in the ground that just showed up one day a few years ago on the family property.

 Poppies!

We were almost back when we saw a neighbor driving back from his morning catch at the sea.

These were wonderful, too, a plant that acts like legos.

Their home was STUNNING but I didn't want to be a gawking guest so I didn't take pictures. She's quite an architect. This was one section of their library and I found Patti Smith's Just Kids, so I spent the weekend (when I wasn't socializing with the family and their family and friends who visited, and when I wasn't eating massive amounts of wonderful home-cooked food) reading peacefully and taking long siestas.

More Chile pictures here!

Chile: Exhibit, conference, more teaching

Here we are near one of the big campus' entrances, waiting for a cab. The night before the official conference, we waited for over half an hour and it became a running joke, because every time our host called the taxi company for an ETA, she was told, "Four minutes!" You can barely see the snowcapped mountains in the distance.

This was the prior day's art students' class.

Before the taxi wait, Carolina helped me install the hanging portion of my exhibit. Ended up being much easier than I feared because she brought thumbtacks and we were able to hide them so that they were not piercing the actual walls, but worked just right.

This was supposed to be our reward for waiting so long: an amazing dinner at a place specializing in Chilean wines, over 350 of them. Lots of tastings, lots of seafood, lots of meat, a wonderful way to spend more social time with the other conference guests.

The most moving highlight was a huge demonstration that went through the streets of Santiago to protest recent horrific violence against girls and women. Ni Una Menos was organized in multiple Central and South American countries, culminating in protests on Oct 19. What we initially thought was an annoying street blockage that caused our late cab to be trapped in traffic ended up being a powerful communal display of outrage and compassion. We had to get out of the cab at the closest point to the restaurant and then walk the rest of the way. Our host kept apologizing, but we were rapt and I wished I could have stayed longer in the streets (my phone is stupid so this is the only picture that made it). The sheer number of people, the energy of the crowd—fervent but not violent, and the solidarity of the masses was truly moving. It made me miss similar crowds in Korea, lament U.S. apathy, and reminded me that it's possible to organize people to pause and do the right thing, together.

We had had a Korean fusion lunch at the conference. The rice cake had nutella inside!

This portion of the conference was sweet, with students in a kind of mock UN situation.

The rest of these photos are of the outdoor workshop I conducted in the afternoon near the close of the conference. My talk was in the morning.

This workshop was totally packed and I'm sorry that they had to turn away more people than they accepted. It was a beautiful day for the work and my students were so grateful. One even gave me a gift, totally unexpected.

I was glad to work outside after being in the conference hall all day.

She came with her mother; so sweet!

She came so prepared, with her own apron! And practiced each technique carefully.

I'm not sure I've ever had a student so happy to prepare her first strip of paper thread. The little things provide the most joy.

Chile: First 24 hours or so

I arrived in Santiago in the morning after a nighttime flight (upon which, of course, I barely slept). It took a while to find the taxi driver with the sign that had my name on it, but right next to him was the lovely couple from Hawaii who became the de facto mom and dad for the whole group for the next week. They set a great tone for the entire conference and beyond, including inviting me on a walk around the neighborhood after arrival.

That's when we spotted this Korean pagoda across a huge throughway, a small replica of a Korean national treasure.

It was an apt way to start this Korean studies conference!

After trying to take a monster nap in the afternoon, I took another walk by myself. After that, three of us met with the conference organizer, Wonjung Min, for dinner at an Italian-style place very close to the hotel. It didn't take long to learn that servings of food are HUGE in Chile. We all commiserated because hot water had broken in the hotel (very unusual), and none of us could shower. I traveled far, but the Hawaiians and Korean traveled WAY farther, so we were grimy together. But the wine was excellent.

The next morning, I stayed in the hot shower for a LONG time before meeting the students who would help me get to Campus Oriente of the pontifical university, the visual arts/theatre/music campus. It was so lush and beautiful, with original wooden windows and everything.

The first workshop with art students was great, and they picked up cording paper so well. Carolina hosted me for lunch and then we took a cab to the biggest campus of the university to meet the rest of the group and install my exhibit.

Chile: Prelude

This was my first day in Santiago, last week. I just returned yesterday from the adventure. More soon!

Information from resistance

The final version is still not right, but its wonky self is what will end up in a suitcase. Hanji has arrived but hasn't yet made it to my doorstep, so hopefully tomorrow night I can start packing in earnest.

This is upside down but just as well. Milkweed and dogbane papers. I have been struggling lately with all kinds of normal human struggles and hope that this trip will knock me out of some of it. Like Dard Hunter said before his trip to Asia in 1933, “I rather dread the trip as it will be a hard, tedious one. It is necessary though as I am getting in a rut which is a bad thing and only a decided change and a certain amount of hardship will pull me out.”

Tick tock

The time is rushing down to my trip abroad. I still haven't sewed the buttons and buttonholes but this one is nearly done. SO many buttons in double breasted clothing!!

I did this one last night.

And this the night before, thinking of Therese, who provided all the beautiful paper (made and dyed) and even the dyed thread down the front. The button looks high but after fixing all the shoulders on these two new dresses, I don't feel like fixing button placement.

Pieces of peace

Tonight was our last weaving class and my piece came off the loom! Up close is the part where I used paper thread for the weft. The rest beyond that is what we learned.

I had my final appointment with a new specialist to get the last opinion about my health concern that was first diagnosed almost two years ago in Korea. A huge source of stress, emotional pain, and panic has run its course. It was so good to hear that I'm fine and don't have to do anything drastic. A friend said it has been weighing so heavily on me that it will take a while for the calm to sink in and the bad stuff to unravel. In the meantime, I've been treating myself to lots of goodies.

Tonight I knew I'd be able to finish my scarf, though I'm still not very good at basket weave. All I want to do is beat hard, so it's really not the best thing for me.

But once I was done, I had such fun ahead! I brought all sorts of paper thread that I've had laying around for years, and wove it all in. This made me very happy. Perfect timing!

Facing south

I'm heading to Chile this month and feeling quite unprepared in terms of travel plans. I have agonized over this trip because I'm not a travel agent and am trying to mix business with vacation. But it's happening no matter what! So I'm busy weaving ducks and sewing paper while juggling applications, a sudden influx of board work, and studying (Spanish, paper history, etc.).

From the Hand Papermaking board retreat: intense, but great to hash things out in person. However, now there are hours of minutes to be transcribed.

Still trying to decide what to do with the newest duck: will I try suminagashi? Or leave it alone? Meanwhile, I need to make new brass stands for my little ducks. Full days ahead.