The Interdictor

Boing Boing: A tale of two photos: Mississippi Goddamn

The Gulf Coast

pitcher plants

pitcher plants
Originally uploaded by lesliefedorchuk.

Listening to History by Bill Woodrow

Listening to History by Bill Woodrow
Originally uploaded by lesliefedorchuk.

The American Horse by Nina Akamu

The American Horse by Nina Akamu
Originally uploaded by lesliefedorchuk.

Around the Coasts

I first heard about the Meijer Gardens while reading David Byrne's concert journal. - and wondered where they were, because they hadn't been in Grand Rapids the last time I was there. When Elizabeth suggested that they were the thing to stop and see, we made a beeline over there and ended up spending most of the day.

A great collection of sculpture and a wild collection of gardens - all very well put together and worth the trip. If teaching a class on contemporary sculpture - this would be an incredible field trip.

Joe was particularly interested in Leonardo da Vinci's Horse: the American Horse by Nina Akamu - it is stunning at 24 feet - and makes a bold statement from any angle in the park - especially (I am told) lying underneath one of the lifted hooves. I particularly enjoyed another bronze - Bill Woodrow's Listening to History. Cast in an edition of three, it is one of those pieces that you love to sit next to and listen to the conversation others are having about "what it MEANS." (Should we listen to history? Then why is his face blindfolded? He has his ear to the ground though. Is the history in the book or in the earth?.....)

We spent a lot of time in the carnivorous plant house - the only one (they say) of its kind the country. The pitcher plants from Africa looked like giant Doctor Suess sculptures come to life.

if:book: the light of the disk is endless

Jim Canary is documenting the traditional monastic bookmaking process in Tibet. With over 30 years experience studying Tibetan life and culture, he is well qualified to do so. He is also the "escort" for Keroac's scroll manuscript of "On The Road" - travelling with the fragile 120 foot document on its international tour. In addition he is the Head Conservator at Indiana University's Lilly Library. To my mind there is a delicious connection between all of these activities.

Kim White writes, "Some of the monks are now preserving their books and their processes using digital tools. Here is an excerpt from a poem written by one of the monks in praise of digital materials, which, in his eyes, are as exquiste as a patina made from lamp black, Yakskin glue, and brains, burnished to a gloss and inscribed with an ink made from crushed pearls and silver are to me."

…The light of the disk is endless
like the light of the disks in the sky, sun and moon.

With a single push of our finger on a button
We pull up the shining gems of text…

–Gelek Rinpoche

kitchen window view

kitchen window view
Originally uploaded by shalberg.

Cumulonimbus Mammatus

clouds
Originally uploaded by shalberg.

BIG STORM / BIG LOVE

This blog was never really meant to be a "family chronicle." Those are great, but that isn't what this is. But it is often too apparent that these powerful intimate events are tied to larger and more mysterious events. Well aware that there are a number of "explanations" - (the scientific explanation, the anthropological expanation, the social science and geoscience explanation) - I prefer to dwell on the more spiritual mystery of how these things unfold. That said - this weekend we have a gathering of clans for the wedding of a beloved nephew to a equally wonderful woman - a gathering of the even larger clan on the shore of the Lake for Irish Fest - and last night the gathering of storm clouds that unleashed both beauty and fury on the southeastern corner of the state. Big storm / big love - beauty and fury all around.

clouds
Originally uploaded by shalberg.

Paint The Town

New found blog on the arts scene in Milwaukee - worth a look.

Fun with Flickr

[Click on title for link to the complete interview @ adaptive path]

Anyone linking here regularly can see that I am a great lover of Flickr. It is a really satisfying tool on several levels - professional and personal. I use it both as a way to post family images, as well as images I use in my studio work. I came across this interview between Eric Costello (the Client Development Lead for Flickr and a prominent web developer) and Jesse James Garrett (co-founder and Director of User Experience Strategy of Adaptive Path) - "user experience strategy" what a title!

What interested me was how quickly Flickr has developed (it is only 18 months old) and how the developers were seemingly as surprised and delighted as I am by how it has grown and is being used.

Garrett says: "...I would have thought that people would be most interested in their own little world – themselves, their friends, their family. But what happened was that once they got hooked on the site on that small scale, people wanted to see that big picture. They wanted to feel like participants in this larger community."

To which Costello replies: "...Yeah, that was definitely a surprise to us. Flickr was really envisioned initially as an organizational tool for an individual who has this huge collection of photos. The social network was built in just so that you could restrict access to your photos. But what has really taken off with Flickr is that it’s turned out to be a great platform for sharing with the masses, and not just with your small collection of friends."

Throughout the interview the terms neighborhood building, social network and interactions are all used. It is exhilirating to stand on the brink of this developing global network and examine all of the inherant possibilities.

And to think it began as an online game! Good read - take a look.

Housekeeping

In that mode today, cleaning rugs weeding the garden (the heat has broken) moving artwork around. Good time to do a couple basic updates to the blog. Things to add seem to pile up and I never get to them - so this was the evening to do this. Thanks to erik olsen and Natalie Wright for sending me links to their (and Ben Floeter's) work - see them under ART LINKS. These are MIAD alums and all around GOOD people - who have settled in various parts of California - making a go of it as their work obviously shows.

Thanks to Sheila for the stretchdaily:a creative exercise. Very clever, great idea.

Singing with the Choir: Children of the Sea/Arab World Festival

Last February at the first practice with the children for the "Children of the Sea Choir" - who knew that we would be singing all over the place - with a country western band as well as in Arabic with musicians from all over the Middle East? Well KC and Arlene certainly...but the rest of us? Hardly. I will post more images from these performances later - but link to see the article about our gig at Arab World Festival on Saturday. The last weekend in August we are in Oshkosh - at the Opera House on Saturday - and on Sunday in Chicago at: Hamsa -- From the Middle East to Midwest Festival, Lincoln Park, La Salle and Stockton.

It is second nature to at this point to travel as a group and perform together -- black, white, and all shades in between - Muslim, Christian, Jewish...from the midwest, from Africa, from many places in the Middle East. It isn't until we get up in front of an audience that I remember (again) how wonderful a gift it is to be able to do this.

lanterns for peace
Originally uploaded by lesliefedorchuk.

lanterns for peace

Originally uploaded by lesliefedorchuk.

Conner

Conner
Originally uploaded by lesliefedorchuk.

claire

claire
Originally uploaded by lesliefedorchuk.

Lanterns for Peace

Jennifer and I took the kids to the Lanterns for Peace gathering on the Milwaukee River last night. It was hard to believe that I also took Johnny when he was young. A perfect evening: crane-folding, politicians, face painting, music, dancing, playing tag and - of course - making lanterns. At dusk they are taken out to the middle of the river and float gently in the current - each carrying a prayer for peace and the end to all war.

Lanterns for Peace is a family gathering to commemorate the human tragedy of the bombing of Nagasaki on the 60th anniversary of the tragedy.

There was also an interesting collaborative project taking place on flickr- where individuals from all over went out and took images at 8:15 in the morning (the time that the bomb was dropped) and posted them. Meditate on the potential devastation that is possible/happening daily still - because of our disrespect of one another / our inability to think bigger than ourselves when we are in conflict.

30
Originally uploaded by pancala.

Kung Fu Monkey: The President and Intelligent Design

WHY RANT - when this guy does it so well!

Me and the Starry Night Mural
Originally uploaded by Happy A.

The Art of Technology

It is so amazing - and such good fun - to see the kinds of things that these technological tools are being used for by artists. Hasn't it always been this way? Whether stick or brush, camera or xerox, computer or car battery - artists have always (will always) find a way to express and comment. Was thrilled to see these two things come across the screen recently. Take a look.

First a riff on Van Gogh's Starry Night. I have always loved this painting, I remember my father talking to me about it when I was a kid - perhaps there was even a print of it somewhere in the house? For me, what is happening in this project conveys not only aspects of the creative act itself - but also what takes place once you've sent said creation out into the world - be it gallery or page or cyberspace. It becomes transformed for each viewer, they each "imprint" their own experience onto it.
Van Gogh - Starry Night - Gigapixel Image - Photomosaic

Alongside this is this footage of Jamie Lidell. Jamie Lidell Movie. Lidell is shown here in all of his glory - as the blurb on warp records tells, "with his electronic production wizardry that happily competes on a level playing field with any name producer you care to mention." Lidell will be in Chicago on October 09, at the wonderful Museum of Contemporary Art . Can't wait.