so sometimes you wake up and you're not on the coast

Red Rock State Park
Sedona, Arizona

MAD Magazine Explorer

from WOID: a journal of visual language

III)
When Matisse was an old, old man, a bit before his death, he went on a walk. As he tottered down the street the waiters in each cafÈ, one after the other, came out to stand in homage. When Verdi was an old man, as he went on a drive in the country the peasants came up by the side of the road and sang the Exileís Chorus from Nabucco. There is a god, wrote Arthur Rimbaud, who falls asleep amongst perfumed hosannas, and wakes up for the elderly and frail. If there ís such a god, he has his heaven, which is art, and his hell: the New York art scene.


Paul Werner

Woodland Pattern Book Center

I am teaching a workshop at Woodland Pattern this Thursday. Here is the title and the description:

Text/Image/Memory
It is easy to write about the 'loss of one's childhood' or the 'loss of a parent.' We have heard these phrases often enough to think we know what they mean. But I suspect that the reality of our life experiences is far more complicated than we often care to reflect on. Those realities include joy and pain, wonder and confusion. Often we struggle for words that will do justice to these feelings. In this workshop we will examine strategies for re-visioning experiences that have been formative in ways (both positive and negative) that we struggle to understand. We will look at the work of others as a starting point for visualizing how we see the world. The process of making, a mystery in itself, often gives us the gift of memory with new understanding.

It has been a pleasure to prepare for - and it is a pleasure to return again to Woodland Pattern - a place that I have so much affection for - and has been so meaningful in my own development as an artist while I have been in Milwaukee.

They have a wonderful archive of people who have read their work and exhibited in the gallery that is really worth checking out. One of the pieces that is a favorite of mine is the following by my friend Mark Anderson. It is from MANUAL.

You start small and expand as much as you desire, in the course of your life, but language is something that is often taken for granted, and over time, expediency will replace curiosity, and of the thousands of words available to learn and use, you'll probably settle on a small handful that serves your needs.

At some point, perhaps, you will travel to a foreign country and if you are a standard American with nothing like a second language you will be reminded of that early stage in your life when the range of your vocabulary was really really narrow. It's probably something you won't think about too often, but in the beginning, you had one word—[gurgle, sounding like hi, why and I]. Then you split that into two, then a third came along, then more and so on, but eventually you may forget what it was like to have only as many words as you had teeth.

Eating is something that gets underway at the beginning, and it grows and changes as you do, into more advanced and particular behaviors which eventually relate to your response to hunger more as a metaphor than prime manifestation.

From the initial urge to suck—a desire that never really leaves you—the things you will do to appease your appetite as you step beyond the world of the crib multiply in manifold forms, dodging and weaving around your ability to control and understand them.

Confusion ensues when hunger leaves the realm of the stomach, and mashed peaches gives way to cigarettes, coffee, bigger toys, new clothes, ,more this, better that; better job, bigger hat; greater power, wealth, knowledge; more money, more time; more me.

Hive

into a light most unexpected the glass hives
executed labors whose writings in a darkness are lost

meanwhile they exhaust the city's supplies
and live only in the midst however abundant

inaudible to them the murmur that comes to us
song of abundance psalms of grief

an entire absence of hesitation
whereby they break with the past as though with an enemy

it is not without prescience their summoning
as though nothing is happening will come back

to live as long as the world itself in those who come after

too vast to be seen too alien to be understood
prefers what is not yet visible to that which is

as a society organizes itself and rises so does a shrinkage enter
so crowded does the too prosperous city become

the era of revolutions may close and work become the barricade
suddenly abandoning generations to come
the abode of the future wrapped in a shroud
a door standing not now where once it stood

we are so made that nothing contents us

Carolyn Forche

Originally uploaded by lesliefedorchuk.

MESSENGER: MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging

The Mercury-bound MESSENGER spacecraft captured several stunning images of Earth during a gravity assist swingby of its home planet on Aug. 2, 2005. Several hundred images, taken with the wide-angle camera in MESSENGER’s Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS), were sequenced into a movie documenting the view from MESSENGER as it departed Earth.

Comprising 358 frames taken over 24 hours, the movie follows Earth through one complete rotation. The spacecraft was 40,761 miles (65,598 kilometers) above South America when the camera started rolling on Aug. 2. It was 270,847 miles (435,885 kilometers) away from Earth – farther than the Moon’s orbit – when it snapped the last image on Aug. 3.

[link through post title]

Telegraph | News | Unicef bombs the Smurfs in fund-raising campaign for ex-child soldiers

Zero Church

John and I saw Maggie and Suzy Roche perform ZERO CHURCH last night at Alverno. The first concert in what is looking to be an impressive season of offerings.

They (the Roche Sisters) were quick to point out that this was not really "a concert" as Zero Church is, if you will, the result of research into how people pray.

From their website: "This collection of prayers is a result of work we began at the Institute on the Arts & Civic Dialogue founded by Anna Deavere Smith at Harvard University. "The Institute focuses on artistic collaboration and discovery while exploring issues of race, identity, diversity and community."

We spoke in depth to many people from different cultural and religious backgrounds about their thoughts and feelings about prayers. We were not focused on an academic or historical study of prayer, we were simply interested in working with anyone who wished to share a prayer with us. Many of these prayers were written by folks we spoke to in and around the IACD community. Some are more traditional. However, this project is not affiliated with any organized religion, and by no means do we intend to represent religions of the world. It is an exploration of faith and belief and how it has affected individuals' lives."

I was totally moved by this work when I first heard it a couple of years back - went out and bought copies of the CD for several people immediately. The opportunity to hear it performed live was a real gift.

This concert is a part of the year long initiative ART/FAITH/SOCIAL JUSTICE being held throughout the city this year. Kudos in particular to David and Phylis Ravel and Polly Morris for their work on this project.

My favorite of the "prayers" is the following:

Anyway
People are often unreasonable, illogical,
and self-centered;
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, People may accuse you
of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some
false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank,
people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone
could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness,
they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today,
people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have,
and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis,
it is between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway

Le Cache

Le Cache
Originally uploaded by maighie.

1972 Weekend

Satuday, May 19, 1972
A good rest - from 11pm (Matt & Tom) – Dad was up to 12 reading Horgon’s “White Water.” He locked a wayward deer mouse in the front room & left a trap for him. In a.m., Mr. Mouse was in the trap! Number 3 so far. 63 degrees outdoors at 7 am and 65 degrees indoors. Flock of Canada honkers swim in the pack ice and hymn us an early compline! Our buckets of ice only 1/2 melted in refrig. Girls down for more to chill wine and root beer for arrival of Mom, etc. & Vizanko’s for cookout. Hot chocolate and donuts for breakfast.
Later:
The canoe was hauled down the beach at noon – at the behest of Muriel Anne & son John. They promptly took off 1/4 mile out to pack ice – where “weird and spooky noises” abounded – but no flies –from our 80 degree shore-side temp. They saw a very large fish – rise, roll a hunk of ice and flash the 18” end of a gray tail fin that impressed them. John thought of sturgeon, Muriel of whale. Later Dad made same run with Mom – but no repeat – except for ice and Canada Honker noises - way out. The Vizanko’s brought “again as much” food – Ethel consumed 1/2 gallon on Chablis while Tom and Dad silently abstained (Christians!) A good time had by all. Tom is champ stone skipper – claiming unique Pole and Finn physiology--- Dad is horseshoe champ --- claiming unique luck at short stakes! Dad stays on with six kids – Bart, Matt, Shelagh & Mary Pavolvich –Carrie and Annie --- overnight!! Ma may come out with Mary to canoe tomorrow.

Sunday, May 20, 1972
Up at 7am- after Jiffy Pop bed at 11pm — Dad reversed windows. Bart bashed tree 7x on new Tarzan swing Dad & John hung in ravine yesterday. Dad & 6 had jolly breakfast – then unwintered the big boat & went trolling among 1,000 ice floes – on hearsay that coaster Salmon, Browns, Lakers & Rainbows are being taken off Black River Breakwall. Annie & Carrie tried, Bart, Mary, Shelagh, Matt & Dad tried – no takers. Mom & Kate came out – followed later by Wayne Smiths & daughters & dog. We cooked out on beach – dragged boat over snow and mounted it for summer. Later the Vizanko’s, 2 daughters & their Detroit fisherman guest (Bill Alexander) came for another go at horseshoe. Those two took Dad and Wayne Smith 3 games to 2. They added beer to our wine list – a good afternoon for all. Mom & gang home at 6 --- we clean up & go at 7 p.m. Weather lovely most of day – some cold and drafts off Lake ice – but 60 – 75 degree holds and mostly sun with little wind.

JENNY HOLZER: FOR THE CITY

So - about as far away from where I am right now (see picture) are these interesting installations/performances by Jenny Holzer who's work I have always appreciated. The skyline as pallette....Here is how she describes herself on her web-site:

For more than twenty-five years, Jenny Holzer has presented her astringent ideas, arguments, and sorrows in public places and international exhibitions, including the Venice Biennale, the Reichstag, and the Guggenheim Museums in New York and Bilbao. Her medium, whether formulated as a t-shirt, as a plaque, or as an LED sign, is writing, and the public dimension is integral to the delivery of her work. Starting in the late 1970s with the New York City posters, and up to her recent projections on landscape and architecture, her practice has rivaled ignorance and violence with humor, kindness, and moral courage. Holzer received the Leone d’Oro at the Venice Biennale in 1990 and the Public Art Network Award in 2004. She holds honorary degrees from Ohio University, Williams College, the Rhode Island School of Design, and The New School. The artist lives and works in Hoosick, New York.

I/O Brush: The World as the Palette

I found this today on Rocketboom.

From the site: The idea of I/O Brush is to let the kids build their own ink. They can take any colors, textures, and movements they want to experiment with from their own environment and paint with their personal and unique ink

Aside from wanting one for myself - I'd like to get one for all of the littlest people in my life: Elijah, Claire, Cameron, George and Audrey, Robin, Julian...what a great thing!! Link through the title and take a look. (Make sure you watch the movie...)

Finally today the pages of "Potter's Field" seem to be coming together. I have printed a variety of mock-ups and sent them off to poet/pal - David Martin to see what he thinks. Such a strange transition - holding an image in your hands after seeing it on screen in so many permutations.... now looking at it again on the blog-o-screen - where I don't think it really holds up it's end of the bargain (probably has much to do with my neophyte abilities with technology). This changing dynamic (physical object/ephemeral screen) is of great interest to me. It is always (of late) a underlying narrative of any studio work. This book (when finished) will be about 10-12 pages. The poem speaks to the "Potter's Field" that is on the county grounds outside of Milwaukee.

Mind Work

So much of working on any new project involves time for reflecting. These early fall days it involves getting the dog in the car and getting lost on the logging trails that go through the forest (Hiawatha National). We drive and drive and park and walk until I start worrying about where I parked and have to back-track.

These days the issue is how to bind a book that is in process. I have been trying to stay in relationship with the project - not letting it spin our of control - remembering that I have the tools (inner and outer) needed to complete it. Most times if I drive far enough, walk long enough - the solution is right there.

The other day I heard writer Louise Erdrich being interviewed on KCRW's BookWorm. She said (talking about her practice of writing) that anything that takes up your mind and heart is a life quest. Yes. This is something I know to be true.

Small World Stuff - Missing Home

The chief city of modern Wisconsin, Milwaukee, was once in Michigan Territory, although it was then but a small trading post. Wisconsin Territory was separated from Michigan in 1836. However the name Milwaukee survives in Michigan, on Milwaukee Lake in Marquette County, Milwaukee Creek, St. Clair County, Milwaukee Junction, a postal station in Detroit and , in corrupted form, Zilwaukee, Saginaw County. There was once a village of Milwaukie in St. Clair Couty (1837 – 1858), named for Milwaukie Creek (presently Milwaukee); it is now Lakeport.

About ten interpretations of this name are in print, although it is not a difficult one to analyze. There can be little doubt that the correct meaning is “good land.” From Potawatomi meno or mino, “good,” and aki, “land.” The l sound it now has is the result of misunderstanding by whites. [From Indian Names in Michigan by V. Vogel]

superior

superior
Originally uploaded by lesliefedorchuk.

Sweet Water

Susan Brind Morrow wrote a piece in the NYTimes on August 31 - a fine little essay about her childhood summers on Lake Ontario. She broadens her thinking to include all of the area around the Great Lakes, saying, "Beyond Chicago and Buffalo and Detroit, this territory of the great freshwater reserves of the world is for the most part unsettled, and unsought, like a secret treasure long ago forgotten."

Sitting in the Bayliss Public Library in Sault Ste. Marie, I wonder if the residents of these small towns and communities feel like their towns are unsettled and unsought? My guess is their answers would show different POV on the subject. Some people are here because the area is "unsought" and others see the ebb and flow of tourists and other seasonal residents as an important part of how the areas define themselves. Either way - the treasure part is absolutely right.

She goes on to write about the history of the lakes, finishes with a question and then poses an answer: "Why is it necessary - all this diversity - why do you need it at this point in the evolution of life on earth?"

How she answers the question is a a long sentence - but almost a prayer - and certainly something that I feel everyday that I spend in proximity to the Lakes - from the smallest hamlet to the largest metropolis.

"The lakes and everything affected by them, the heavy blanketing of winter snow, the following slow thaw and mild growing season in a pervasively moist atmosphere, seem integrally involved in what becomes now at the end of summer, the production of all of the delightful and delicious things of this world: from the fish and the fruit to the vast migrations of breeding water birds to the bees that pollinate the vineyards and the orchards - their eerily acute sense of geometry and time translating into sweetness as it insistently flows forth throughout nature in this familiar yet rare landscape formed not long ago by huge bodies of sudden deep blue water, freshwater, the one thing needed to sustain, in all its wildness and diversity, life on this earth."

Morrow is the author of "Wolves and Honey: A Hidden History of the Natural World." The entire article is linked through the post title - and well worth the time it will take you to sign up for the free NYTimes subscription.....

Bay Mills Community College Home Page

Spent the day doing research at the wonderful little library at Bay Mills Community College on the Bay Mills Reservation in northern Michigan. Of particular interest - and once again proving the oppression of privilege (mine) - I learned that the college is a part of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium. Founded in 1972 by six tribally controlled community colleges to mobilize a concerted effort to deal with common challenges, AIHEC is now a cooperatively sponsored effort on the part of 36 member institutions in the United States and Canada. Today, tribal colleges and universities, also known as TCU's, serve over 30,000 students from more than 250 tribal nations.

The place was packed the entire time I was there. It is a large log building with confortable chairs and an interesting collection of native artifacts on the upper level. Beautiful bead and quill work, tools, and carvings. I was able to look at some contemporary work that is being done by young artists - If you are interested, check out the Institute for American Indian Arts.