As I see this blog is being linked to

I feel I should link it to my work.

That's all.

On Blogging

There's been some talk in one of my circles of friends about boredom and being stuck in ruts and similar things. It seems like we've been doing the same things over and over again without even really the urge to do new things. Last summer this was not a problem, in fact it seemed like I was doing new things and going to new places constantly. At that point I had just graduated from college and was having all other kinds of problems adjusting to life without it - graduation is in some ways like quitting an addictive substance (at least to borderline workaholics such as myself) but without any kind of rehabilitation centers, or support groups. In any case, I was out there with all of this time on my hands, and also writing letters to Anthony while he's at sea for the summer. I think I was writing them every day sometimes and at least 3 a week, and I did want to try to make them entertaining, so I would be telling him about what I'd been doing, and that act - the act of retelling what exactly it is that you've been doing - was in many cases a motivator to do some of these new and different things. And we all know that blogging (personal blogging that is) can have this same effect. I think that there's even joke tshirts about this. And I know that I've said things about how terrible I think that is in the past - doing something just to blog about it later - but on reexamination, I'm not sure if I can continue entirely to hold that opinion. Because at least you are trying new things and purposefully trying to stay out of a rut, and that does mean something.

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Bananas!

My dad cutting down bananas with a machete this morning.

Art!

I've put up two new pieces on my lov.li page - small stuff, but check it out. The big project has undergone another change - those drawings I posted a couple months back have been scrapped, and I'm making drypoints instead.. but the camp-mats are done. Expect to be seeing photos of "Maps/Territory" (working title) within the next month or so.

Also: Portland residents: tonight's PSU MFA lecturer is Emily Prince - if you can make it down to the 5th Ave Cinema at 7:30, I would be willing to bet that it will be fantastic.

First Thursday

First Thursday was really lovely last night! Not only was it less cold and rainy than it seemed like it was going to be, but the work was quality. Here's some highlights that might be worth making a trip out into the cold for, if you missed them last night:

Heather Redetzke's IMMEDIATE RESPONSE REQUESTED at Quality Pictures is delicate with a really lovely pallete. She drew on the envelopes her power bills, student loans, and credit card offers came in, turning the onslaught of worthless crap that shows up at all of our doors into something precious and beautiful. Do check it out.

Lauren Clay's Decked Out In Delight at Tilt was potentially my favorite show of the night. Emily pointed out that she lives in a world that is perhaps related to Jason Traeger's world. There are candy colors and strange paper machines.. Clay's work is less rococo than Traeger's, but both are strange and glorious. Be sure to look at the details.

Hap Tivey's Sands of the Ganges at Elizabeth Leach strikes a kind of balance between quiet, meditative work and eye-fuck vibrating shapes and light. Although the images are static, several of them seem to vibrate, or move, so you can find yourself staring at them for a while, waiting to catch that movement.

Pulliam Deffenbaugh is full of lovely work.. Thomas K Conway, Casey Watson, and Linda Geary are all showing solid work. Especially love Conway's small still-life of egg shells. The common containers become this strange tiny tower - something architectural and phallic - a tiny surprise.

Lots of other good things, that I'm sure I'm forgetting! Go see!

I have done something to upset my body and now I must pay.

Not strictly true, actually. I have a mild tummy ache and a bit of a runny nose (the last fragment of a cold) - not perfect but relatively good. It was this cold I recently had that reminded me of that constant interest of mine: the complete unruly hell it is to reside in such fragile packaging. Of course it is also glorious to live like this, as we do. It's just that with all of these futuristic contraptions we have (internets!) it's easy to forget that the physical condition of our bodies can mean so much. When you are in a virtual space, do you notice the tactile sensations of using your mouse and keyboard? My tummy ache has become secondary, a background noise to this that I'm doing right now. I hardly notice it, but it continues as background noise to this.
I worry that there is this gap too large to fathom between each of us, because of tiny things. That all of the work we do at perception in hopes of shared experience is just lost because we are always in these fickle bodies. Not to champion a bodiless existence - I like too many things about all these nerves and meat - but I just worry. It's lonely. Absolutely impossibly lonely. I want to feel what you feel, just for a minute, and then - oh the empathy! oh the overwhelming one-ness!
Moments where I think I have found understanding are breathtaking.