I soaked up another enlightening Oxbow Visiting Artist lecture this week at Copia. These lectures are such an amazing resource for Napa. Even times when I am tired and cranky, I make an effort to go and expose myself to a new idea. (see calendar at right for upcoming lectures). This week it was sculptor Katy Stone from Seattle. I had never seen Katy’s work but was intrigued by her use of mylar and duralar—materials I have experimented with minimally. Her work is indeed sublime (as she says she aspires to be). It references nature in an unpredicted way. She exploits color, texture, and light simultaneously while producing spontaneous gestural works. You can see photos from the lecture taken by Ashley Teplin at the following link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/studio-707/sets/72157603994295383/ Thanks Ashley! The thing that struck me about Katy was her fearless approach to scale. She went from creating 3-inch high blossom paintings to a 4-story waterfall piece in one slideshow! She suggested to the students that they should start with something small, do it over and over again, and without realizing, they will have made something monumental. It is an appropriate proposition for approaching the local arts scene. Let’s start with something small! Informal art gatherings, artist-run spaces, networking and back-scratching. It’s all about sharing and collaborating and growing from this promising potential into a great big waterfall of creative juices. Yum!
February 2008
February 28, 2008
February 22, 2008
The Squid and the Whale and the Nest
OK, on the lighter side now...I am so excited about the upcoming show at the Nest—our new art space in Napa. It’s called Natural History because it is meant to evoke that same innocent rapture we felt as kids on visits to the local nature museum. The dioramas, the eerie lighting and ssshhing chaperones. Remember?
The artists in the show are Rob Keller and Valerie Raven from Napa and Joy Broom from Martinez. (Check out some of their work in my photo album “artworks”.) All of these artists have a devout respect for nature and are especially inspired by the nitty gritty mechanisms of birds, bees, and bugs. What I like about their work (and their personalities) is an enlightened humor about our own place in the natural world—observers and caretakers, yes—but also sometimes the butt of a larger joke.
Aristotle and other ancient philosophers who analyzed the diversity of the natural world devised the concept of the Great Chain of Being, which arranged minerals, vegetables, animals, and higher beings on a linear scale of increasing “perfection.” The work of these three artists elude to how human imperfections are actually magnified when we examine the intricate, autonomous beauty in even nature’s smallest creations.
Please come to the Opening Reception on Thursday March 6 from 6:00-8:00 pm. There will be live music by Sound Anatomy, a super-talented acoustic trio that features Jack Hines, Joe Shotwell and Ruth Parry. Judd Wallenbrock of Humanitas Wines is providing the wine and Raul Salinas of YES chef will prepare some amazing appetizers.
Finally as an audio tribute to stuffed antelopes behind glass…I give you Herman’s Hermits “Museum”. Fronted by a lovably dorky moppet named Peter Noone, Herman's Hermits are widely seen as musically negligible. But I happen to love them. You can listen under my bookmarked songs at the right. And “meet me under the whale at the natural history museum”.
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February 21, 2008
The Devil does not wear Prada
I finally watched a documentary that I have waited too long to see. It came out last year, but unlike An Inconvenient Truth, it did not spread into the mainstream. It is the story of a military observer in Sudan and his efforts to tell the world about the atrocities he witnessed and photographed in 2004. Four years ago! and the genocide still continues in Darfur with nearly 400,000 deaths and 2.5 million people displaced.
The film is called The Devil Came on Horseback (a loose translation of the word Janjaweed). It clearly proves that the government in Sudan is ordering the Janjaweed militia to kill, rape and torture black Africans in Sudan. When Brian Steidle came back with this proof, he was sure that America would storm in and protect the Sudanese people. If people saw the charred bodies of little girls and demolished villages, they would demand action. But is has been almost 4 years since he returned and the UN and America sit on their hands.
I've heard some people blame the German people who sat by and watched the SS cart Jews off to death camps. Aren't we allowing the same thing to happen right before our eyes? You can do something, even if you just rent this movie or make one phone call or tell another friend about what is truly going on. Once you are aware, you are responsible. If you want to learn more go to www.savedarfur.org or www.globalgrassroots.org Even if policies end the violence, there are still 2.5 million refugees to feed, treat, and rehabilitate.
Thanks for reading.
February 19, 2008
Oh baby!
Spending time with my friends' new babies has been a trippy revelation. Each couple has a different approach, new theories, successes and not-so-successes. Having cool, supersmart, moms and dads--these kids are going to be amazing. But I still wonder, how do you make the decisions that will steer your baby's life in one direction or the other? How can you occupy that uber important space in your child's mind?
Although I'm not ready to go there myself, I am grateful for the many role models in my life. Could I leave my life behind, move out to the woods and raise a self-reliant bundle of joy like Manda and Doug? Could I tackle a law career and three toddlers, and still retain my Southern charm like Alison and Jason? Could I stretch my feeble brain to teach a baby sign language, Japanese and French all at once like Ari and Yoriko?
I will love to watch these beings grow up and become the result of all this careful planning. At least I can have hope for this future generation and know that they have the best folks anyone could ever wish for. Like mine.
February 17, 2008
Real and Imagined
Its days like yesterday that make being a culture sponge worthwhile. With half a day off from the Nest (thank you Nina) I went to the Berkeley Art Museum to see Borderlandia an exhibition by Enrique Chagoya. Chagoya is a master draftsman, but what is more important is his honesty and fearlessness. His work challenges politics, religion, culture, history--nothing is sacred or above criticism. It is refreshing to encounter artists who have such stong conviction and can rely on their powers of observation and interpretation.
My favorite: A charcoal drawing of a military helicopter (with Jesus in the pilot seat) being confronted by a wonderfully drawn Alice in Wonderland brandishing a flamingo. It points to both the differences and common ridiculousness of the secular and religious imagination.
The exhibition is up through May 18. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu
After that, the ideal movie to see was The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Brilliantly directed by artist Julian Schnabel, this movie describes the raw power of the human imagination (yes I believe other creatures have imaginations) in a man who was unable to move anything except hi right eye. At a poignant moment of self-determination he thinks, "I have only two things left, my imagination and my memory."
The filming of this story was done so sensitively and poetically--it is Schnabel's masterpiece. Even the day after seeing it, this movie is influencing my every thought. This morning I was deeply grateful that I can feel water on my skin, pet my disobedient cat, feed myself! All these things Msr. Bauby could not do, but he was able to write an entire book by blinking his way through the alphabet and set himself free.
Why do we lock ourselves into our physical containers--our bodies, our possessions--when we can imagine a way out? We can go anywhere, be anyone, make anything!
www.thedivingbellandthebutterfly-themovie.com/
February 15, 2008
Slow as mud.
Taking it slow is a beautiful thing. Last night my sweetie treated me to a mud bath in nearby Calistoga. It has become our annual V-day thing. Not only does it bond us, and give us a healthy glow, but it also reinforces the crucial need to SLOW DOWN. People ask me how I have energy to run a small business, work at a nonprofit gallery, and (now) write a blog. Well, it does involve a horse-like work ethic and a big ol' support team, but in part I also rely on a "moment of silence" whenever necessary. The brain starts jabbering, the heart palpitates, anxiety rising..ech.
That's when we need to pause, shake the million thoughts out of your head, look at some art, it always does the trick. Last month at the Getty, I saw part of a new series by video artist Bill Viola called Passions. It is an exploration of human emotion, based on European devotional paintings. The piece I saw was called Emergence, showing two women pulling a dead man out of a well. Played in super slow motion, the expressions on the women's faces go through several different emotions--actually a lifetime of emotions. As they grieve, you can tell from their body language, that both blame the other for the loss of their loved one, then a spark of hope when his body starts to rise from a well, then love, then loss again and compassion and forgiveness. I thought about it again as I was laying there in the mud well, about to pull myself out and into the arms of my partner. Knowing that this is the person who will run that gauntlet of ups & downs with me. What a gift to be able to tie my inner thoughts to a work of such incredible beauty. http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/viola/emergence.html
One more thing on slowing down: this poem by Emily Dickinson that is a small comfort to us late bloomers!
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