Angst II

I have absolute horrible angst again. Show is coming in 3 weeks. Its complicated. I am also sick with a cold.

I need a video projector that can project well with ambient light. So if there is anyone out there who can loan or rent me one for 2 months without interruption, please let me know.

I am worried about the krill. I got the photo from this site.

Its the bottom of the food chain that seems to be disappearing. Well, I suppose that's one way to deal with rampant chopstick use. No plankton, no krill, no fish, no eating with chopsticks! That's not really what I had in mind.

Conversations at the Nihonmachi Street Fair

Here is a before and after experiment. Things are slow in the studio. I have gotten bogged down with other things. This is how it usually goes.

Instead of the studio this weekend, I was passing out flyers about the project's upcoming public programs with Ranger Cidney, Ranger Fatima and interns at the Crissy Field Center booth. Of course it was great hanging out with them, but mostly I talked to folks at the Fair about the project.

One guy talked about how chopsticks are great for draining potted plants in the winter. A woman suggested posting on craiglist to get others to donate their chopsticks to the project. (I think this is a great idea, by the way. I just haven't gotten around to it.) I met a former chef who had ideas about working with other restaurants to develop green practices. Another woman said her church was collecting their chopsticks for the project. I hadn't heard of it and so I hope they get them to me soon.

I have since installed a dehumidifier in the gallery at JCCCNC and it fills to capacity everyday. Hopefully it will keep the mold away because I found another moldy box! Darn!

Synthetic Lake Anza

Indigo and I went to Lake Anza with Eve and Michelle last week. While Eve was swimming in the dark successfully escaping the citation wrath of the lake cop, Michelle obsessed about all the buckets and shovels left behind by daytime visitors. Look at it! I mean everybody is leaving their stuff at the lake. You don't even have to bring your own bucket and shovel. Just root around in the sand and you are bound to find something.

It was funny at the time. I have been worrying about plastic though. I am often worrying. Its a habit. I have come across something that has really given me the chills about plastic and makes me think that I can never in good conscience bring another plastic thing into my life if I can help it. Watch the video from the Algalita Marine Research Foundation and you will know what I mean. Its material for another project too. Okay, I can't really think about that now.

Thanks to National Park Service rangers from Crissy Field Center, The Waribashi Project will be doing outreach about our public programs at the Nihonmachi Street Fair this weekend.

Studio work is good

It is good to work in the studio. Sometimes it is the main way to treat angst. I feel much better today after having worked a bit. When you see a grumpy artist, just tell her she will feel better if she gets to work. Its almost always true. Indigo sang the "I was right" song when I reported an improvement in my attitude.

I also got to hang out with my friend Liz Harvey who makes groovy, playful, conceptual fiber sculptures.

So I collected some dried chopsticks, videotaped some ideas and played a bit. Here is the beginning of an experiment - sculpting what is beginning to look like a figure. Chris Hirano from the JCCCNC asked me "who's the guy on the chair?" "Chris Hirano in chopsticks," was my reply. hee hee. One box of chopsticks goes a long way.

The sublime and the angst of urban life

Indigo calls this "sublime." We went to Point Reyes a few weeks ago and it was so foggy, you couldn't see where the fog ended and the water of Abbott's Lagoon began. We sat in the fog for several hours while flattened on the beach listening to the waves.

I wish I was there now. Sometimes I feel like I am just not cut out to be in the urban setting, flogging the art business like Sisyphus. I don't want to do it. And most of it takes away from the studio anyway. I have terrible angst and worries. This, if you don't already know, is the artist's burden. I suppose some people enjoy it. It is hard to know whether or not it makes a difference. Sometimes it just feels so hard and unsustainable both financially and emotionally. I think the art process always has me facing my fears.

I played on my drums for a couple of hours since the beach was a bit far. I am trying to internalize the metronome.

Cupcakes

Isn't this beautiful? Indigo's birthday was a couple of weeks ago and we ate these in celebration. I just like to look at them. But they're gone now. Yum yum.



Like cupcakes, there are some things that should be experienced often. Big beautiful trees like this one in Tilden Park. I was telling Indigo that I'm not good at tree identification. I want to say that this is an oak, though.

I washed more chopsticks yet again. I will be collecting washed chopsticks from now on, though. I am trying to stop washing even though I am tempted to keep going.

A few more to go...

I have a couple more loads to do and will have a few to do every once in a while. Finally I am beginning studio work today. I have to get a dehumidifier because the basement at the JCCCNC can grow mold so well. Argh! I am relieved to begin studio work however.

I have about 56 boxes full of chopsticks. Let the experiments begin! More later.