Wednesday, December 30, 2009

darkness before the dawn




    


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one has to trust that  the darkness will end and the days will get longer
 

pots in various stages






getting back on the horse.going inward in winter, shutting down, reflecting on what I'm making why I'm making it does it need to be made. Stop... like pulling the cord on the bus or subway, going into the darkness sitting with it, and then reawakening with a fine tuned vision. I make these pots because I want to create a visual representation of peace, a place for the mind to rest. that Ahhh.., space where the mind is quieted.

Monday, December 28, 2009

czech circus (poem-a work in progress)



the czech circus entails
standing on the highway with bags of presents and a pie
waiting for a ride
people stop to see if you're o.k
if you need help
no, I'm just waiting for a ride
are we saving gas? the environment? adhering to someone's time schedule?
no one really knows, it's all part of the directors vision
the czech circus entails the juggling of cell phones, who's calling? oh it's for you
can I borrow your cell phone? Bob's garage is calling, I don't know anyone at Bob's garage, oh it's the circus calling for you
the czech circus always has a large harlequin great dane in it that takes the place of a person in the car,
and speaks a language that closely resembles English
the czech circus involves the juggling of languages. starting out in one language, switching to another and ending up in a third language
it also involves the creation of new hybrid languages, at times resulting in fits of laughter such as after statements of the following; I got a bee stink, move the mouth on your computer, I was chopping at the bit after chopping my wood
the circus involves viewing life through artistic and intellectual refrence points such as;
re-enacting Wyeths Christina's world at an old house only to find out later you brought the film camera with no film in it
not the digital camera, that's why there are no photos
the circus involves visiting guest members with their own particular talents, and creative skills and improvisational input
the Czech circus involves multiple chineese firedrills and improvisational art skits like;
putting your giant wooden art installation piece on the roof of your car, and then failing to secure it,
and wondering what that stuff is that's flying past you on the highway
the czech circus involves the mysterious playing of circus music anytime a member is nearby or in contact
the Czech circus is ongoing with new and repeat performances and coming soon to a theater near you
Anyone can join the Czech circus
you do not have to be Czech to be a member
you should, on the other hand, have a good grasp of the directors vision,
as improvisational skits are easier to perform that way

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

milkweed

we were like kids really
brother and sister
"you make a nice couple"
the old jewish woman said
at the Bronx Botanical gardens
friendship and creative collaboration
coming together easily
being scattered just as easily by the winds
Staten Island ferry ride
and you from Brooklyn
sharing the city together
from our own little cocoon
the harmony never really left our song
it was just played by different people
in other places

Friday, December 18, 2009

favorite places in the West

Pioche Nevada
Butte Montana
Tuscarora Nevada
Mountain City Nevada
Rock Springs Wyoming
Helper Utah
Eureka Nevada
Silver City New Mexico
Bisbee Arizona
Terlingua Texas
Silver City Idaho
Atlanta Idaho
Spokane Washington

I don't quite know why I love these raw, nitty gritty places so much. They are real, with rough edges, not bourgeois fantasy lands or tourist traps. The truck photo was taken in Mountain City Nevada next to the Duck Valley Indian Reservation near the Idaho state line. I met an Indian there at the gas station. He had two scurfy cute cow dogs in the back of his old pick up truck. I said" those are some cute dogs you got there" He starts chatting with me and explains that their names are; Kimo and Sabe," too funny" I said. I really like this tiny little, rough spot in the road with a twisty, climbing, road out and hard scrabble landscape , old buildings made from local rocks,and people with a fun sense of humor. I could live in this place, at least for a little while. My soul feels content there.

email dream

email from a friend to husband concerning a dream he had
"We were all in some cottage in some tiny medieval village and Lorena was yelling at me about the latest mark ups I did to her "Tails" narrative. You couldn't stand the argument and left the cottage wearing some strange fur vest to gather firewood for the goat we were slaughtering for dinner."

pots from my studio

strange things men have said to me (in chronological order)

1)"one of these days your going to have to get a job, and your going to hate it, and that's just the way it is"

2)"wake me up for Sadie Hawkins Day so you can tell em no"

3)" you are both wild and beautiful"

4)"where the hell are my socks? Why are you always losing my socks, you iniquitious woman"

life at the 45th parallel- psychological survival of the fittest


I love this truck, it says-weathered by the elements- prepared for anything-

I am currently living on double espressos with cod liver oil chasers (for the vitamin D, silly)
someone once told me" winter is a time to go inwards, for self reflection"
You mean like how a bear goes inwards, sleeping all the time?
this person no longer lives here

Monday, December 14, 2009

mestre (poem)


mixed bag
bare feet stomping on the wooden floor
tall black guy wearing his sweat jacket
with the hood up
drinking a beer from a paper bag
he kept on the windowsill
in the back of the room
some getting up
some coming down
drums pounding
berimbau, mysterious, haunting
playful porteuguese voice
flirting, taunting
legs flying higher
ginga, ginga.., ginga..,.
puerto rican girl with the pouty face
getting into it
spirit, floating in the air
grounded in a faraway recess
we all came for it
reconnecting to life
in the batizada
the chamada
this place called a dance class
spiritual initiation hall
to more than we could understand
(Loremil Machado 1954-1994 )

Thursday, December 10, 2009

poem for Vito


Vito was an old Italian portrait painter
who lived over our loft
on East 12th street
in n.y.c..
The one next to Physique Memorabilia,
a little hole in the wall vintage magazine shop.
He spent his days painting and listening to opera
which I could hear
penetrating the wooden floor boards that seperated the space between us
If we got too loud underneath him he would bang his pots and pans on the floor
and yell
"shud UUUUP"
I miss you Vito,
although I hardly even knew you
green party members coming in and out of our lives,
Roberto the Nuyorican poet
Ben the old vaudville actor sleeping on the trampoline we found abandoned in Jersey City
occasional sitings of Frank Stella on the street
and that trip to City Island,
Who were we?
then and now?

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

landscape as contemporary painting




"nothing but an icy loneliness that fills the head with emptiness and the heart with sadness".
Erik Satie







Sunday, December 6, 2009

the law of competing enthusiasms

A friend of ours has a theory of his called "the law of competing enthusiams" which is based on only having enough energy to tackle a few interests at once. I have come up with my own version of this which I call my "law of competing anxieties" which goes like this- I have to get some clay work done, I don't want to glaze, it's messy, maybe I'll write for awhile, to work myself up to the courage to go and get messy, thus actually in a backhanded way getting writing done. When I get to the point where I'm blocked in my writing or I come to a standstill, and glazing seems easier than sending a manuscript off which touches off greater anxieties, then I get my glazing done. Get it? maybe it can work for you. So my advice is to have many irons in the fire and then you can hop skip and jump around according to your inner state, and get a lot accomplished despite your anxieties- or always have something else in the line-up that you want to do even less, like doing the dishes- Good Luck

I remember there was a quote about Jim Palmer the famous baseball pitcher that went something like this;" the guy's got complexes on top of his complexes"

favorite quote lately

quote from my friend Mike, an Idaho native " Ice belongs in a drink" I went to a party last winter and my friend didn't have any ice cubes in her freezer to put in our drinks, so she went outside and grabbed some icicles off the roof and we had cocktails with our own individual icicle twizzle sticks. They were the coolest, no pun intended, drinks I ever had, Tincture of Icicle Margherita, Idaho haute cuisine!


http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="http://www.flickr.com/photos/experiment33/402827060/in/photostream/"> rel="cc:attributionURL" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/experiment33/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/experiment33/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Thursday, December 3, 2009

absurd contradictions



just because your head is in the clouds, doesn't mean your feet aren't on the ground

With Scenery like this who needs modern art?




places I have lived;
N.J, N.Y.C
California
Vermont
Washington state
Oregon
Idaho

places I would like to live in the future;
Chile
Argentina
Cuba
somewhere in Mexico
San Luis Potosi
the South of France




Favorite song lately

"Tiger by the Tail" by Buck Owens

Friday, November 27, 2009

Favorite poem by Sparrow

Muffin
The Earth is a muffin, still warm inside.

http://www.softskull.com/detailedbook.php?isbn=1-932360-86-7

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

pulling back, hunkering down, going inward

closing off, laying low,
time for self reflection
winter brings it on
like a blanket of silence
patches of monochromatic colors
paths beaten down, then sealed in ice
animals taking on winter coats
glassy pools deep amber in shades
there is nothing and at the same time
there is everything
stillness, then
the abyss

Monday, November 16, 2009



bowl image by bgd
birdhouse image by me

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Doubling down


It's showtime, Set up is in four hours. Clint Eastwood's squint eyed face and the quote, as I open up the kiln, comes to mind " are you feeling lucky punk?, well are ya?" 156degrees on the cool down. I can crack the kiln and look inside" whew" a few good pieces I can view on the top shelf. Nothing like running it down to the wire " get em while they're hot folks" too much New yorker in me. The top shelf bodes well for what's in store further down, good omens or at least a decent start. Always have something new, improved, moving forward. Over the hump and down the final stretch. My mantra on show days is "don't sit down until your done" No time for inertia or reflection, forces are gaining down the final stretch, the trumpet blares, "and we're off"

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Nature in nature out
















image by: BuffaloGirlsDesign.com
Am I drawn to the leaf and thus it inspires me in the studio or does the love of rich earthy colors draw me to nature? Some things are deeply ingrained in our souls, the love of nature, the love of the outdoor marketplace, harkening back to ancient times from every corner of the earth. Modern life progresses forward but we stay rooted in what grounds us Posted by Picasa

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

nature inspires glazing

walking the resevoir with the dogs, the scenery is made to order. Two bald eagles, herons, osprey. The good company of a dear friend. It doesn't get much better than this. Stops along the way , for photos of inspiring shapes and colors; pale yellowy tans, rust, gold, brown specklesPosted by Picasa

Monday, August 17, 2009

the poetry of process

holding the wool and silk in my hands
scrunching and folding
repeating over and over again
fingers inspired by the materials
look at the lovely essence of the silk
dancing together with wool
like Isadora Duncan
on stage
many tiny steps
until it is finished, complete

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

complexity of life

One strives for simplicity, but often times has to deal with the complexity, the mess, the disorder that arises while one is searching for order. Cleaning out the studio, I feel like a bouncer at a night club- you, not you- are the decisions I have to make. Striving for perfection, there are little murky puddle areas along the way one has to contend with. What was I thinking? what am I striving for? Does the artwork come from within, or from some preconceived notion, a vision dancing like sugar plums in my head? I see it , envision it, way before it can come to fruition. Making pottery is like the birthing process, pots come through the wheel from some mysterious place, sometimes with their own will, other times mildly related to an idea I had. Keep going, cleaning up, honing the vision, perfecting. All in the stream of consciousness. Ta da..,

Monday, June 22, 2009

blue mood

Posted by Picasa

Saturday, June 13, 2009

art vs. chach

There is a difference between art that is well crafted,timeless, and made by a skilled craftsman, verses clever gimicky, product design. When you pick up an object and hold it in your hand, ask yourself this question"What does my soul feel?" I'm not saying that there shouldn't be a place for cute clever, gimicky objects, but one must consider; is this object timeless? will it look nice with other well crafted handmade objects by other artists because it fits into the catagory of art? Or is it like the furniture at the giant big box Swedish furniture store, looks nice when surrounded by all the like stuff, but not particulary high quality hand craftsmanship or sophisticated design, that will look attractive when brought into the home setting and displayed with other handcrafted artisan items of different styles for years to come.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

landscape as art







clarifying process

simple, timeless, earthy yet elegant. good craft lasts through the generations. Paying attention to detail, being patient, it's all about the process, being present each step of the way. Mindfulness is a duty to oneself, one's work, one's community. Stay on the tracks, try not to get derailled.


photo credit: buffalogirlsproductions.com

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

the beauty of nature


the beauty of nature thrives regardless. This picture was taken by the side of the road in tumultous economic times

sketchy patterns


like a pencil sketch or charcoal drawing, nature needs no more

Up on the auction block


charming starter home, move in condition

leg up in the world


Monday, June 1, 2009

skyscraper

A lovely home with a view, privacy abounds, sun infused rooms, great room has open feel

weather beaten old shed



knocked off it's center, withstanding the elements, it is off kilter, yet still standing

Wednesday, May 27, 2009


Thursday, February 26, 2009

morning musings

sitting in front of the woodstove, teasing apart wool in preparation for carding while my homemade rolls. Well, actually they are Georgene's fluffy rolls- a lovely african american woman from the deep south who's recipe for fluffy rolls everyone raves about.- are rising I'm pondering the nature of creativity. How one maintains a steady flow of energy, not overly excited only to burn out later, not stuck, not lacking, but that of the nature of the empty vessel, receptive to creative flows steady strong ready to recieve. The ideas are filling up in my mind, of what to do in the studio. The pots are also formed and finished in my mind, long before my body can catch up. I'm very excited by the kiln results from yesterday. Upon opening the kiln It was a bit of the feeling reminiscent of the spaghetti western" The good, The Bad and The Ugly" but enough of the good to keep the momentum positive and moving forward. Always the goal is to strive for that perfection,perfect results, no waste, utmost effeciency. but perfection is a goal to strive for and one is grateful for any success regardless. So back to the drawing board, back to the catalogging of results in my notebook. Onward, forward march