Day 20: 2012 - Not my typical entry

Came across this on the internet, as well as the comment that "it made me laugh so hard the noise stopped".....we've all had experience with that type of laughter.  Well, this little cartoon struck me as that funny.  For what known reason except that this week or two or three have been weird ones?

Day 19: 2012 - Musings

I am so far away from the life of an artist. I haven't been to class, I haven't painted, I haven't drawn but I am, as always, on the internet, being fascinated by what's out there.  (Life has intruded on the life of an artist.) I am part of the author's selection committee for the Pasadena Festival of Women Authors, whose 5th anniversary will occur on March 9, 2013 in Pasadena, California.  Our search for authors with new books, female, who live semi-locally (we can't afford to fly someone in from New York for example) has led me to so many interesting blogs and articles in the last few weeks.  While researching yet another author, Gabrielle Denise Pina, this morning I came across an entry on her blog site that just struck home.  She is the author of two books: "Bliss" and "Chasing Sophea" (sic) and has just premiered a play about Zora Neale Hurston, "Letters from Zora",  at USC's Bovard Auditorium to a sold out crowd of 1200 people.  Congratulations to you Gabrielle. I hope to hear and read more about you.  Enjoy the following quote from Gabrielle's blog. Motherhood, Mayhem, & Mindfulness

It’s summertime. My children are home. Stepchildren are here and my puppy, affectionately named Mandela, has clawed multiple holes in two screens. There are floors to be cleaned, laundry to be washed, dinner to be made, chapters to be revised and new chapters for the next book to be written. I’m sighing now just thinking about it. Do I love my life? Yes. Do I love my children? Of course. With these questions being answered, I sometimes wish I had an affinity for vodka gimlets and cocaine to ease the chaos that is my life. As women, we strive to multitask and to juggle all of the balls effortlessly and we succeed most times but at what cost? Something has to give and for the life of me, I’m still trying to figure out what that is. After four decades, I’ve finally realized that prioritizing is important along with making lists, staying connected to the people you love and wine lots of wine. Seriously though being mindful helps me to maintain my sanity during those times when I wish that I were on an island somewhere alone watching the waves roll in at sunset. Mindfulness keeps me connected to that space inside where I can retreat and remember who I am even when I don’t recognize myself. Women serve many roles: educator, chef, therapist, driver, accountant and so the list goes on and we are expected to perform without complaint sometimes even while wearing fishnets and stilettos. Oops, did I write that? Navigation through life’s trials and tribulations is much smoother if you take time for yourself. Be still and breathe. Celebrate the gifts you have been given. Be grateful for the love you do have every day even if it’s three and loves to play stink finger in public. Maya Angelou said “Always I hope to grow brighter, funnier. I hope to learn to be even more well rounded. But right now, I cannot be any better than I am.” Relish all that you are yet be mindful that each days brings forth an opportunity to be better than you were the day before. The choice is yours. Now, I can go wash another load of laundry and fuss at my daughter for something or other or I can chose to listen to Donny Hathaway and take a long hot bath.   Decision made. Donny here I come.

Day 18: 2012 - Environmental Installations

Environmental installations are a really cool way to surprise and delight passersby, and typically involve creating ephemeral sculptures or patterns with natural and found materials. Another great thing about environmental installations? They may not cost you anything to create. Leave a thoughtful stone sculpture or pile for someone to wonder at. Create a pattern by braiding long grasses. Make a teepee out of twigs on top of a boulder or in the middle of a woodland path.

Here are some stunning examples of well-known environmental works:

[Clemson clay nest by Nils-Udo (2005) via designboom]

[by Helsinki artist Jonna Pohjalainen]

[“Tight Chalk Spiral” by Martin Waters]

This is usually a partial post. Click on the link to see the whole posting.

Day 17: 2012 Andy Goldsworthy's Installation Art

Yesterday's post about Zander Olsen's installation work reminded me of Andy Goldsworthy, someone whose work I haven't looked at for several years.  Love his work and loved the documentary that was done about him. 

"Rivers and Tides is a 2001 documentary about the artist, directed by filmmaker Thomas Riedelsheimer. The film received a number of awards, including the San Diego Film Critics Society and the San Francisco Film Critics Circle awards for best documentary. Now with this deeply moving film, shot in four countries and across four seasons, and the first major film he has allowed to be made, the elusive element of time adheres to his sculpture.  The director worked with Goldsworthy for over a year to shoot this film. What he found was a profound sense of breathless discovery and uncertainty in Goldsworthy's work, in contrast to the stability of conventional sculpture."

Here is a link to some of the first work I was aware of.  He worked in the forests with leaves, ice, water..........gorgeous pieces.   And then he started working on the beaches.  This photograph is what I was aware of him doing, long before I saw the other materials being used.  This whole structure is built of twigs and logs. Stunning.

Day 16: 2012 Tree, Line Installation by Zander Olsen

My daughter sent me a link to this man's work, Zander Olsen, the other day.  This is an installation.  I think it's fantastic and wanted to share it with anyone who reads this blog. 

Here are a couple of quotes from other websites about Zander and his work:
"Since 2004, Welsh artist Zander Olsen has been creating beautiful wrapped tree installations in the rural UK for his photo series "Tree, Line."

This is an ongoing series of constructed photographs rooted in the forest. These works, carried out in Surrey, Hampshire and Wales,involve site specific interventions in the landscape, ‘wrapping’ trees with white material to construct a visual relationship between tree, not-tree and the line of horizon according to the camera’s viewpoint."

Tree, Line ‘This is an ongoing series of constructed photographs rooted in the forest. These works, carried out in Surrey, Hampshire and Wales,involve site specific interventions in the landscape, ‘wrapping’ trees with white material to construct a visual relationship between tree, not-tree and the line of horizon according to the camera’s viewpoint.’

Cadair, Oak 2010

Untitled (Cader) 2008

Beeches 2004

Duncan Wood 2004

Jhutti 2004

Untitled (Corbi) 2005

Two 2005

Flat Line 2005

No Mans Land 2004

all content © Zander Olsen