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.

To the top of the mountain

This was the view from our condos in Vail over the weekend. It was hailing when Alta and I drove in from Denver, and then it rained, and up top it snowed a bit.

The gondola ride to the mountaintop was warm and the views gorgeous, of course. I know the yellow of the aspens turning was brilliant, but it made me miss oranges and reds of eastern autumns.

Our board retreat for Hand Papermaking was very intense but also wonderful. It's always a treat to have dedicated time with other papermakers and people who really care about the field. There is so much work to do going forward, but this was a good way to get motivated as we face lots of transition.

Last night, I was still exhausted from the travel and being behind on sleep/work, so I got my floating selvedges on and only wove about 3 inches before I called it a night. I'll be back today for fresher eyes!

Complements

The nice thing about a class paced over a month is that there's time to get everything done without panic. Somewhere, I dropped a yarn because I ended up with an odd number. Oh! Now that I look at it I see where (at the end). A shame, because it would have been very easy to add last night. But these mistakes are good for the learning bank.

This new one got ahead of me and turned up a little too quickly, so it will be a bit of a short body. But that's okay. Hoping I can still shape it to not look too stumpy. I fly in less than two days for a working board weekend and spent all day doing homework—I left the house to do it, otherwise, I would have kept weaving!

Priorities reshuffled

I just couldn't pry myself away from this one, even with so many deadlines looming.

Though I did make time yesterday to wind the white part of the warp and sley my reed.

I wrote in the morning but really had to stop because this one was calling, loudly!

These days

I hate the feeling of so many half-or-less-than-half-finished projects going at once, but that's just what's happening right now. Sewing came to a screeching halt but I still intend to get it done within a month (I don't have a choice, since that's when I leave for Chile and need to have everything ready by then).

I tried to keep myself sane by starting a new fat duck. Instead of balancing admin with making, I tried to go 100% admin in the face of deadlines, and it made me very unhappy. So I went full force into this one.

Of course, now it's also on the back (or middle) burner as I get back to more admin, but I tried to be much more patient than I usually am.

Which means that it has nice curves and doesn't suddenly get smaller when I get impatient and want to cut away spokes. Imagine that! I also did a bunch of admin and was approved for fiscal sponsorship, so people can donate to me and write it off on their taxes.

Can you believe what I'm doing now to distract myself even further? Tonight was my first of a four-week weaving intro class. I wanted another chance because my first class years ago was so awful. This time, I'm going to have a proper cotton warp. Plus, we are learning completely different methods from the first time, so I get to try new methods in a beautiful space with great energy.

Also, the yucca is resting after the hot cook. Master juggling!

Labor Day

I've wanted to test yucca for papermaking for years. I got scolded for trimming the outer leaves the way that I did, but I don't think they look THAT bad, and will eventually get back to looking the way they did once the new outer leaves fall down.

Velma warned me about the suds that will appear when I cook, which reminded me about yucca being used to make soap. I'm glad that I'm doing a cold cook for a week, soaking everything in soda ash and water while I decide whether I want to use induction or electric heat.

The labor hurt a lot but it was only about an hour and a half of work, so I can't complain. I need a better decorticating tool but it's all reasonable if I space the work out rather than trying to do all the steps in a hurry hurry hurry. I'm trying to not be in such a rush, imagine that!

Last week's labor included updating my bibliography and publication list. I would happily scrape yucca to avoid doing that kind of work again!