the breeze...

We went to the beach this weekend and as always the breeze, the sound, the smell it simply healed me.
There is nothing more uplifting to my soul as standing by the ocean shore.
And it was wonderful...
But it also made me realize that my priorities need to be healed as well, so that might mean I have a lot of work cut out for me.
But at least I can try....

the knot...

I may have posted this before but I love it so much that it simply does not matter, one can reread it 1,000 times and still love it.

Untitled, 1950, Louise Bourgeois.
Abridged
...When I was little and my mother would show me something in a tapestry, suddenly there was a not. Usually knots happen to people who are lazy, because they do not want to rethread the needle too often. Plain laziness. So they get a thread that is much too long. Now if the thread is too long it's going to get into a knot, and I loved that because I didn't like to work on the tapestry, but I loved to undo the knots. I spent a long time- even today- undoing a knot. I was so patient because it represented an activity that was symbolic, that was able I was able to undo something that was a problem, it was within my competence... For me the knot is something that you have to understand to erase. People fight with each other, but if you are clever and patient you can undo the trouble. I am not very gifted at that chapter but I try...

words inspire words inpire...

Artist Ann Hamilton is a gleaner of words... and visually her use of words truly inspires...


Above images are from the piece Tropos. Tropos relating to tropism meaning a natural inborn inclination, an innate tendency to react in a definite manner towards stimuli, exemplified in the behavior of plants when they bend towards the source of light.
This is a large scale installation in which a performer burns each word of a book.

kaph, i know nothing about but it seems quite lovely...

abc a video installation in which the alphabet is erased and said in reverse.

Lineament a performer cutting a book into thread and wrapping this thread of words and language into "yarn" balls.

Hopefully these words will inspire some words in my own studio...

For more Ann Hamilton go here.

on the needle.

"When I was growing up, all the women in my house were using needles. I've always had a fascination with the needle, the magic power of the needle. The needle is used to repair damage. It's a claim to forgiveness. It is never aggressive, it's not a pin." LB, Select Statements : Louise Bourgeois:Designing by Free Fall.

I could not believe it, say it, or think it better.

writers block?

As most of you know words are very important to my work, they are really what motivates every piece I make...(but not in my photography that is all about light.) And I am simply at a loss for words... I am not sure what I am desiring, what I am wanting, or what I am missing and the words usually come from these things...
and though I love all the things I am working on I am missing my words...

And just as I need her LB pops in... her words always remind me of why I love them.

there is a major clash of voices in my brain and my house right now.

I definitely am delusional sometimes and am having some of these moments this week as I have to look deep into myself to fins a way to pay my bills, keep my art alive, and keep my love full.

What words inspire you?

insomnia!!!

So last night I had insomnia, my mind was racing about life, work, money, love...you know the regular run of the mill stressed out in your brain stuff...
and so in honor of the opening of the Louise Bourgeois retrospective at the Guggenheim tomorrow
Today we are inspired by the most infamous insomniac in the art world...
LB often discusses how she suffers from severe insomnia and that in general all night she spends writing and drawing... and though not being able to sleep would be absolute torture, in my opinion...


I am glad she has it because she inspires me most in her quick drawings and gut retching honest writings...



So in honor of her this next week is going to be a lot of LB.
This is a really nice post written on her.
Hope you enjoy the ride.

All drawings from her Insomnia Drawings.

thankyou, thankyou

and thank you.
Your votes for this paid off.
I am not only in the top 10 but I am in the top 4.
Which means that I am in the publication that the BECA Gallery produces and the actual show in August.
So I am delighted... if you have something in front of you it is always easier to get motivated to make your work. Maybe I will get some of my "in progress" pieces done!.

Thank you very much for your votes and support.
It should be a great show as the gallery looks very nice and is in the heart of the New Orleans Arts District.




Check out the work available for sale here.

I wish I knew more...

about the fascinating artist Jean Marie Casbarian...
I have had the privilege of meeting her as she teaches at a school near my alumni and was friends with one of my close professors... and in person she is very thoughtful, intelligent and interesting so... I looked up her work and it is also intelligent and interesting. She states:

I use the process of art making to probe and investigate social and cultural behavior, human limitation, and circularity. Throughout these investigations, I solicit questions rather than finding answers: What exactly is this friction that occurs when the superficial considerations of the body collide with a social or political environment, amoral or otherwise? What lies in the space between fact and fiction? Is one man’s truth another’s fabrication? Are we derived from cultural histories, both true and imagined? And with the accretion of time, do we morph into yet another self?

From top to bottom
Fathers Corpse, video projection.
Listening to white, installation.
You said you would be there, video projection.

Her work reminds me of artist Ann Hamilton in how she installs and uses image and words... I am very intrigued...Her website offers individual explanations of each piece.

did you know?

that the way to not have to deal with the, oh so annoying, separation of oil from natural peanut butter... is to store it upside down? The amazing things is...it works.

Just something I learned form C this week...though he admits he did not invent it.

But learning this and looking through my wedding album got me to thinking...
how often it is that we stop seeing the charm, good looks, and intelligence
of the ones we love the most...
simply because we have the privilege of being with them every day.

How can you make a point to appreciate the people you have in your life more rather than take them for granted...

crochet hooks on a mission...

an undersea mission at that.
The IFF is creating and asking for contubutions to their coral reef project.

The Institute For Figuring is crocheting a coral reef: a woolly celebration of the intersection of higher geometry and feminine handicraft, and a testimony to the disappearing wonders of the marine world.

So lovely both in its beauty and its mind...

You can participate to.

inspiration

looking for inspiration in familiar places...

painting by C's Nana

old friends...

As I sit with anticipation of the opening at the Guggenheim of the major retrospective of Louise Bourgeois...
I begin to think about the 3 artists whom I love the most, whom have inspired me and more importantly have taught me...

Louise is the 3rd, she is a new love only a few years old...
Sophie a long time friendship...
and Annette a lifetime.

As I enter a new phase in my career, I must confess I am not wanting to find new inspiration I am wanting to revisit my good friends like an old book, those that have inspired me from my infancy as an artist...
today, Annette:

The above 2 images are from her Collections, Collection to Find My Best Signature.

One of the first pieces I ever heard about of Annette Messeger's was the piece My Collection of Proverbs. Proverbs about women from all over the world, noticing the negative statements, and fear behind them Annette embroiders them with love... reclaiming.

Some examples are:
"You must take men as they are and women as they want to be."
" A single women has a broken wing"
"The devil swallowed a women but could not swallow her"

10 years before I ever though if picking up a needle and embroidery thread, I was captivated by her honesty, courage, text, and stitch.

Collection of Anatomical Sentences:

"I think therefore I suck."

Her humor and anger and brave voice inspires me still to this day as much as the first.

Merci mon amie....

what did you do this weekend...

I was all NY traditions all the way.
First, a good old fashioned Yankees game, but of course as someone who lived in Massachusetts for over 5 years, no cheering for the Yankees.
I was cheering for my real home town team, the Cincinnati Reds... and we kicked those Yankee's butts....
But I have to say the Yankee fans were so fun and SO loud.


Now getting home from the bottleneck train station and craziness of the crowd, that was not so fun but we survived....

image from coneyisland.com

And then the wonderful fabulousness of the amazing entity called the Mermaid Parade.
A Coney Island tradition.
This parade is over 20 years old and is part of celebrating the summer season with a nod toward the mardi gras parade which existed in the early 20th century.

In reality it is crazy costumes, lots of naked boobs, tails, nets, stilts, roller skates, hula hoops, and fun!!!!



And then after the parade is done you get to pig out on french fries and corn on the cob at the beach...


Then there is the infamous Wonder Wheel, at one time the largest Ferris wheel in the world, and only one of 3 of its kind... the cages drop and swing as you go around.......
So fun and what a view.
And after the parade of king and queen into the ocean with fruit thrown to the gods you go home sun burnt, exhausted, and smiling.

A good way to start the summer, now I need to rest.

one way or the other...

Why does it seem like life is always a decision between two sides...
Will I live at the seaside or the city?
Will I have children or not? and when?
Will I take this job or that?
Will I have a quiet simple life or a glamourous busy one?

Why does it seem to be so hard?

I want to be on the inside of the window, on the outside of the window, and perched on the damn sill.
Is that possible?

don't forget to visit me here.

a place to be...

I have been craving vast open landscapes and the sound of water, in my head I am here...
I think....I am feeling a bit claustrophobic...missing New England summers

So I thought I would get a little lost in Joel Meyorwitz's work from Cape Light.


this body of work makes me hear the waves, smell the sea, & feel the breeze in my hair...

and at this moment I want nothing more to be at the New England seaside with C.

Meyorwitz also has a lovely new body of work dealing with air and water.
See more Joel here.

there is light...

It may seem like I am looking at darkness but there is light at the other side of one of these doors... I just need to keep opening them.