The Waribashi Project Blog

Waribashi and compost

2009-10-21T12:24:00.000-07:00

I don't know if you remember that the Japantown Center (shopping mall) did not have a recycling program in place because it was voluntary in 2005 while I was doing the Waribashi Project in San Francisco. Today, however, all businesses are required to compost by city law. I wonder what effect this will have on the businesses there, how easily they will find it to comply (and compost waribashi) now that it is the law. At the time of the project, chopsticks were going into the trash and smashed in one of their 3 trash compactors and headed straight for the landfill. Maybe this will change....

Waribashi Project video online!

2007-01-25T00:29:00.001-08:00

Hi Everyone!
A two-part video short of the the Waribashi Project is on Guba.com and YouTube.com.
The Guba version is larger. Guba.com Part I is here. Guba.com Part II is here. YouTube.com Part I is here. YouTube.com Part II is here.

This video was produced by Jake Richardson, an independent videographer who I worked with to make the video. This video mainly covers the 1999 Project in Japan and doesn't include the 2005 work. The 2005 project was featured on Pacific Fusion, a national TV magazine series about Asian Pacific Americans. I will try to get that blurb online in the near future.

Bioneers Conference this weekend

2006-10-18T00:11:00.000-07:00

I will be speaking at the Bioneers Conference in Marin this weekend during the Saturday Afternoon Sessions in a workshop entitled "Eco-Art Activists: making the Invisible Visible". Thanks to Susan Leibovitz Steinman and WEAD (Women's Environmental Artist Directory) for making my participation possible. Check out the Bioneers website for more info.

TV Spot

2006-01-08T01:19:00.000-08:00

Just to let you know, the Waribashi Project will be on Pacific Fusion TV, KRON 4, Sunday, January 8th at 12:30 PM.

Tool Fantasy

2006-01-05T00:36:00.000-08:00

Its been a while. I have been trying to recover from chopstick madness. I know its been a few months. But washing all those chopsticks can take a lot out of a person. Here is a photo I chose to help cheer me up. I was in a Snap-on Tools truck that Indigo and I found during one of our roadtrips. Its like a fantasy drawing I might have given to Santa to describe what I wanted for Christmas when I was a little girl. Its so beautiful, don't you agree?

I have been playing a lot of music while I try to get my jones back for working in the art studio again. The music is great because it is so immediately gratifying. I don't agonize like I do in the studio agitated by art business. I am very grateful for and humbled by the music. It keeps coming around to help me live. Another thing I can do with sticks... I am "Charlotte Watsu" aka the drummer for LICK, an all women's Rolling Stones Tribute Band featuring Christina Michell, our Chick Jagger. Come check us out! The jpeg is my kickdrum head.

Change in the JA community?

2005-10-26T08:05:00.000-07:00

After this project is over in Jtown, I think I will have to stay away from the neighborhood for a while. Yesterday, I popped into the center while they were having an event. What was on the food table? Lots of disposable chopsticks, styrofoam plates and no visible way way of disposing the chopsticks to the compost as I have been talking about the whole time. I was offered food and I pulled out my portable set. I can't force anyone to change, but you can imagine how frustrating it is after all the work, fundraising, artmaking, blah blah blah.

Lots of people have asked me what the response has been from restaurants. The restaurant staff in general have been supportive and in some cases very enthusiastic, but there is currently no system of recycling or composting in the mall. This is 2005! If you go to Japantown Center, you will notice that there are no places to put your beverage bottles and cans. That is because these are going directly into the landfill! The Japantown Center has three trash compactors in order to mash all the waste into their garbage bins - everything including, cardboard and all other recyclables is going into the landfill. The Golden Gate Disposal and Recycling Company did a garbage audit as a service to show the Japantown Center how much they could reduce waste and their costs. They found that by simply implementing recycling, they could save over 25% on their garbage bill! (which could be passed down to the businesses and their customers). Those savings could be applied to composting services for the enormous amounts of foodwaste generated from mall businesses. My sources say these improvements have fallen on dead ears.

I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to begin this project here, but I feel like I have been holding the reality of this project on my own. I think the Japanese American community's inertia on this and so many issues is enough to make this homegirl run screaming.

I leave for Spain next week for a much needed vacation.

TV crews, Dept. of Environment, kids etc...

2005-10-21T23:21:00.000-07:00

Today was a very busy day at the gallery with people trying to see the show in the last few days. KRON4 and Pacific Fusion (Asian Pacific cable TV) were there. Thanks Karen and Antenor! Then staff from the Department of Environment came through. Then 18 little kids from Nihonmachi Little Friends. I told them an abbreviated version of The Lorax.

I feel sort of lucky to have made it through the day. I am growing increasingly more tired and less able to think. Barcelona is looking pretty good right now.

Meanwhile, the closing reception is tomorrow. The new catalog is out, fresh off the press and it looks beautiful. You can get it there for $15.

Also, thanks to angryasianman.com for posting about the show!

New video piece added

2005-10-13T22:23:00.000-07:00

I don't know what got into me but I had to add another video piece to the installation. Here is a still from it. It was really fun to do. I don't want to spoil it so I won't say what happens yet. You'll just have to see.

By the way, I went to this great show by Debra Greene at Kirkeby's on Texas between 17th and Mariposa in the Potrero area of San Francisco. Beautiful drawings and paintings that talk about time, process, labor, systems, micro and macro. Please check it out.

Original Mammoth Polaroids for Sale

2005-10-06T19:18:00.000-07:00

The above are polaroid prints available for sale. There are 5 prints of each view but each is an original print. These prints are 20 x24, large format polaroids made from the Mammoth Camera, one of just a few camera's like this is the world! For more info on purchasing, contact Justin at Red Ink Studios at pjustin@aol.com. Two prints will be exhibited at the Waribashi Project show in Japantown Center.

The catalog is finally done and at the printers. Thanks to Leda Black and Sibila Savage, it will be a beautiful catalog with an essay by Karin Higa, the Senior curator of the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles. These will also be available for sale starting October 22nd, the closing reception of the Waribashi Project.

Here is photo of the group from Crissy Field Center in the class Charity and I taught last Saturday. This week I am doing an artist lecture at CFC (www.crissyfield.org) Next week, Nicole Jung (who is on the far left) will be leading a "Recycled Utensils To Go" class.

The true cost of art

2005-10-03T01:06:00.000-07:00

Another photo from the current installation.

I was teaching a class "The Ecology of Chopsticks and other Disposables" with my friend Charity Maybury at the Crissy Field Center. The group was Crissy Field Center's I-YEL Program, high school youth who I believe will change the world. One of the things we discussed was the cost of organic food and how we experience it as so much more expensive than the other stuff. Because organic food is best grown and cared for in small farms, the costs are different. We are actually paying for the true cost of food - real food without chemicals, locally grown. Of course, there is a lot more to say about this.

Later in the day, when the class went to see the show at the gallery, I was asked how much money this project was and why it cost so much since the chopsticks were free. I think I was a bit unprepared for the question and wasn't as articulate as I would have liked to have been. You see, I am totally fried. I have raised about $30,000 for a project that was budgeted for $35,000. This means that all the project expenses including equipment, printing, graphics, press, washing supplies, photo documentation, studio supplies, travel expenses, research materials, art transportation, and everything else including my salary for a year had to come out of this. I worked about 250 hours just on preparing chopsticks from the dirty bins to their clean useable state. I do not get heathcare, social security, vacation or sick leave. When you calculate all the time - grantwriting, talks, classes, press, catalog, documentation, studio work, washing, phone calls, meetings, networking, supply runs, installation, working with contractors, and the artmaking, etc...I make less than minimum wage. It actually ends up being about $5.45 an hour.

And unfortunately, I will be flat broke at the end of the month. I can get bitchy about it, but I'm not asking for pity. I am really glad and grateful that I have had the opportunity to do the project. This has been an amazing experience, but I'm just explaining that our budget did not reflect the true cost of art and artists, like me, are constantly in a economically vulnerable position. Art costs a lot more.

I am thinking about sustainability, too. If there is no art, what will happen to our country, our culture?

it lives here.

2005-09-25T02:06:00.000-07:00

Here is part of the installation with 170,000+. Photo by Sibila Savage.

I am working on another video piece I will be adding soon.

Emerging from the chopsticks

2005-09-19T00:25:00.000-07:00

Sorry its taken so long to blog again. I am finally coming out from under the intense installation process I had to go through. Four more boxes had mold just beginning to grown as I was installing, but thankfully, most of my mold prevention measures worked this time. The rest, 56 boxes, were fine. No photos with this post, but some are coming soon.

I was able to arrive at the opening still standing and able to talk. As I have been telling viewers, it took 3 days with no food, no water and no sleep. (I drank cold green tea most of the time. Don't worry! I wasn't dehydrated.) There were lots of people and lots of interest.

So the show is up now and will be up until October 22nd - five more weeks. Gallery hours have been posted as Thursday-Sunday from 12-6.

The show is still visible from outside the doors with video and sound. You really can get almost the full experience. But if you want to get up close and in person with the installation you'll have to make an appointment by emailing me directly. I may also be going every once in a while during regularly scheduled times.

I am asking folks who can spare the time to gallery sit during those hours to contact me also. When I have been able to go to the gallery, sometimes up to 50 people show up each day and a lot of people are interested in purchasing chopsticks sets. This is much better attendance than a traditional venue where most people see it at the opening only. In general however, you understand how important it is to keep the show accessible.

I will be adding more video pieces in the coming weeks. I am also in the midst of producing a 16-page catalog which will be available in October.

My artist lecture at JCCCNC is this Saturday from 3-4:30 PM including a walk to the show with a Q&A.

Angst II

2005-08-20T17:40:00.000-07:00

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

2005-08-15T01:00:00.001-07:00

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

2005-08-13T00:33:00.000-07:00

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

2005-08-05T00:12:00.000-07:00

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

2005-08-04T01:15:00.000-07:00

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

2005-08-02T00:55:00.000-07:00

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...

2005-08-01T13:01:00.000-07:00

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.

170,000+ now

2005-07-29T03:12:00.000-07:00

I know its felt like forever since I wrote. Washing waribashi is really quite an overwhelming task.

Did I mention that the mold came back. I had to rewash about 10 boxes. The basement at JCCCNC is damp and the chopsticks love to cultivate this fuzz.

Indigo and I went to Yosemite this week and on our way there we stopped in Chinese Camp, CA, to take pictures of mountains of logs. I don't know where they're from or where they're going, but they look like my chopstick piles from far away.

Oh yeah, our collection from restaurants ended last week and although I am relieved about the flow finally slowing down, I am still washing. Kimochi is still contributing and they use wood, so I thought I would just keep going with them for a while.

Thanks to Japantown Merchants Association and JCCCNC, we have identified a storefront in the mall where part of the show will be in September.

Stay tuned for the giant pair of chopsticks I am making for Children's World at the Nihonmachi Street Fair, August 13-14, 2005, in Japantown.

And did I mention that I have about 170,000 chopsticks now?

--

100,000 chopsticks

2005-06-29T00:36:00.000-07:00

100,000 chopsticks
Originally uploaded by Waribashi Project.

Here is one of the staff at Kushi Tsuru adding to yesterday's's pickup.She said she wanted a copy of this photo.

I spent about 4 hours washing yesterday - just two bins worth. I am still behind, but today we made the 100,000 mark. Indigo keeps asking me when I am going stop. I want to have 200,000 or stop by July 25th whichever comes first.

During the last week of July, I am moving the project into Nikkei Traditions, a vacant storefront in the Miyako section of the mall which is ideal for the studio and gallery.

My physical therapist was explaining to me why I have continued to have hip and knee pain since my last visit. "You just don't know how to take care of yourself." She says I have to block time in for yoga and swimming and all the exercise I used to do before this project revved up. I have been feeling that the problem of disposables - chopsticks and all the rest - is so huge, so much bigger than me and what this project can do. And so, I have been feeling overwhelmed by the amount. How can I keep up?

I have been walking around wondering what impact all this could really have. Its so easy for everyone to pretend there is no problem without making the slightest change in their lifestyles. Everywhere, people are eating merrily without carrying their own chopsticks, drinking from plastic bottles, eating from styrofoam containers, throwing away over-packaged take-out. Am I just spinning my wheels? There is a mountain of waste so much greater than what I am collecting. Its kind of a nightmare, like I am trying to spin straw into gold.

If there is nothing really forcing the issue - trees, waste, global warming - only a few seem to change. There is a force of consumption creating oceans of garbage. At the SF Dump, they get receive 2100 tons of garbage each day.

David Suzuki said he didn't believe adults would change. I don't want to believe it. I want to believe that adults can motivate and change their behaviors. I want to believe that people will get it.

I am thankful today that I had the help of the JCCCNC's new interns, Matt and Lynn. We washed about 6,000 chopsticks so fast. I was so relieved for the help. There's still more on the way.

--

10,000+ drying outside today

2005-06-25T00:56:00.000-07:00

10,000+ drying outside today
Originally uploaded by Waribashi Project.

Thanks to Judy, those 10,000+ 'sticks got put away. 3 and 1/4 boxes she said. Jackson, Brendan and I were putting them out to dry during the Kendo class at the center. Its part of the Kendo practice to wail during a strike of the bamboo sword thing. It was a very dramatic soundtrack to our task. Now Indigo is watching a Kurosawa film, "The Seven Samurai", and again there is a lot of dramatic wailing and screaming. This is how I feel about chopsticks right now. I think I may not ever want to see one again after this is all over. Ahhhhh!!!!

--

Volunteers keep me from drowning

2005-06-25T00:49:00.000-07:00

Volunteers keep me from drowning
Originally uploaded by Waribashi Project.

My nephew Brendan (13) helped me collect today. He looks very cheerful doing such a crazy obsessive activity with his auntie. I am feeling the weight of these 'sticks, so I had him push the cart. We are behind schedule in washing and so tomorrow morning (Saturday) I will be washing just to keep up. Yesterday, he and another volunteer, Jackson, and I washed about 10,000+ and set them out to dry. It must have been about 3.5 hours in labor. I will have an approximate count tomorrow. We are using an anti-mold spray to prevent that mold thing from happenning.

But like I said, I am feeling the weight. Indigo asked me how long I was going to keep on collecting. I just don't feel like I am done yet.

--

Chopsticks sets

2005-06-20T22:38:00.000-07:00

Chopsticks sets
Originally uploaded by Waribashi Project.

Here are the chopsticks sets available for $5 each or 10 for $50. All the proceeds come back to the project.--

Deinstalling the Project Launch

2005-06-20T22:37:00.000-07:00

Deinstalling the Project Launch
Originally uploaded by Waribashi Project.

You can see me deinstalling the show and the relative size of the form of one part of this installation.--

Detail of sculpture

2005-06-20T22:35:00.000-07:00

Detail of sculpture
Originally uploaded by Waribashi Project.

Here is a detail shot of part of the installation. Tracy Storer has photographed a small series of this sculpture - 20 x 24 polaroids from the giant camera - that are available for purchase.

--

Project Launch photos/Call for Volunteers

2005-06-20T22:00:00.000-07:00

Project Launch photos/Call for Volunteers
Originally uploaded by Waribashi Project.

Here is a photo of the installation at 60,000+.

The collection is continuing and its been challenging. It is very tiring to do alone. So if you or anyone out there would like to volunteer with the washing, that would be so helpful.

We have added 3 new restaurants in our collection process - Izumiya, Juban and Umeko. Many restaurants may have a decal in the window to let customers know that they are in the project, so you can look or ask for that when you go to Jtown.

Chopstick sets are available for $5 each. Great for stocking stuffers and other gifts.--

Forest Therapy

2005-06-06T23:26:00.000-07:00

Forest Therapy
Originally uploaded by Waribashi Project.

I was talking to someone at the gallery yesterday who said that there was a link between the fall of the Mayan civilization and deforestation. Because of this conversation I looked around a little online.

NASA archeologist Tom Server, has used satellite date with archeological findings and is theorizing a combination of factors - dense population, change in rainfall patterns with the root cause being chronic food and water shortage, due to drought and deforestation. I found this on what looks like some students' site.The Earth Policy Institute has a curriculum that also discusses the fall of civilizations due to environmental insustainability. National Geographic talks about Mayans and Climate Change.

Today Indigo and I went hiking for some forest therapy. The weather was perfect. I felt the cool cover of the trees, the quietness of the forest floor, and the quality of the air that can only happen in a forest. I can't imagine life without forests. I am going to make more time for these special places this summer.

--

Project Launch Show has been extended

2005-06-06T01:11:00.000-07:00

Project Launch Show Has Been Extended
Originally uploaded by Waribashi Project.

The Project Launch Show has been extended thru until June 13th! Gallery hours are 11am-5pm.

Here's a photo of Tracy Storer and his Mammoth Camera, a giant polaroid that outputs 20x24 prints. He took a series of prints that are for sale. One is a detail shot of the small swirly sculpture (which you can see on the wall behind him) and the other is a large view of the whole installation. The camera was a big toy with custom parts and a big roll of paper. It was great fun to watch him work and Tracy loves his job!

Thanks to all the visitors who stopped by today, Many saw the Chronicle article from Saturday's Datebook.

--

Waribashi Alternatives - What are they?

2005-06-05T01:44:00.000-07:00

Waribashi Alternatives - What are they?
Originally uploaded by Waribashi Project.

I would like to put out a call for ideas regarding alternatives to using disposable utensils - chopsticks, plastic, etc... If you have any ideas please send them to me and I will post some in this blog.

In the above photo, I am trying to figure out what the heck I can do with the chopsticks during installation. It appears that the chopsticks don't stick to each other as well. The humidity level is much lower than in Japan during the rainy season when I first piloted the project. Also the ratio of wood to bamboo is different in thismix. More bamboo chospticks than wood, so they slid around more.

I will be at the gallery on Sunday, the last day of the show. I'll be selling chopsticks sets if anyone is interested.

The project was featured in the Saturday, June 4 edition of the San Francisco Chronicle which can be seen on SF Gate Datebook..

--

Getting into the Habit of Carrying Chopsticks

2005-06-04T01:08:00.000-07:00

Getting into the Habit of Carrying Chopsticks
Originally uploaded by Waribashi Project.

Indigo and I went to dinner in Jtown this evening after a long day of art-related errands. After we walked a block, I realized that I left the car without my Hello Kitty utensil kit (chopsticks, fork andspoon). We were already having trouble figuring out what to eat because we were hungry. For a split second we contemplated going to a non-Japanese chain restaurant.

"What an outrage!" I said. "We're not going to a chain just because I left my chopsticks in the car." Indigo thought this was very funny since we had just spent about 5 minutes walking back and forth indecisively. So, of course, we turned around, got the chopsticks, and ate with our own utensils at Mifune's. It was great because Indigo discovered the Soba Salad entree neither of us had ever tried before.

I don't think it makes sense to not go to a restaurant that uses chopsticks just because I forgot to bring my own. Really, it occured to me that we could have just asked for silverware for crying out loud. So it would have worked out anyway. But there are a number of things to consider here. Its kinda weird being Japanese American and asking for a fork in a Japanese restaurant. (A little internalized racism, if you know what I mean). And chopsticks are part of the experience of the food, so whether you are Japanese or not, if you know how to use chopsticks, you want to use them. Besides you can't really eat very efficiently if you don't use them. So, I can see how its difficult to ask for a fork. But I am trying to see what it is like to make this change of habit of relying on disposables because its convenient. In which case, I should ask for silverware.

It takes time to adjust to carrying my own utensils even while I am< doing this project. But since it started, I have used my own utensils every time. David Suzuki said in his recent lecture in San Francisco that adults are the hardest to change. Kids get it right away, but adults are stubborn and don't want to adapt. I think this is where environmentalists have to work the hardest.

I have been thinking about how to make carrying my own utensils easier. One thing would be to put clean utensils out by the entryway of the house, so that I grab them when I go out. I could also keep them in my car. My mom always puts written reminders for herself on the front door. Maybe I need that too.

Oh and by the way, The Waribashi Project is selling chopstick sets in a bamboo box for $5 each.

--

Report from the Project Launch

2005-06-03T03:06:00.000-07:00

The opening reception went well thanks to Red Ink Studios and everyone who worked hard to make it happen. I will post photos when the show is done. There are still a few days left, so check it out in person. But I am exhausted.

One of the things that exhausts me is watching viewers who are completely oblivious to the fragility of art. I mean wine and sculpture just don't go together. One guy put his foot right through one of my pieces and then made a bee-line for the door. Nope, he wasn't going to say a thing to anyone. My poor girlfriend was a complete wreck after trying to police people and their children and their dogs (dogs at a gallery opening - I don't get it) from toppling over pieces, picking at the work trying to pull chopsticks out, etc. Talk about untrained art viewers.

So, one of the lessons here is crowd control for the masses. One artist suggested putting up an electric fence. Another talked about an annoying alarm system. Indigo suggested Indiana Jones-like boobie traps with poison darts and spears. Hmm.. Just a little hostility toward the viewer. Gallery rage, you might say. An interesting theme for a show, I think. A barrier for the sculpture is a good idea though. What form that will take, I don't know yet.

What seems to happen with my sculptures (and I think this is a good thing) is that people want to touch it or interact with it. The untrained and unsupervised viewer, unfortunately, tends to destroy. I am thinking that people are like this with the environment in general too. And so, it is part of the educational process we have to go through. But training of some kind needs to happen. The state of art education today in the USA. Sigh.

I did have some good conversations about chopsticks. People, especially women, get really fired up about the absurdity of environmental destruction for a short-term profit.

The Project also has been listed as one of the picks of the week by the SF Weekly. Its funny reading too as it is full of wild inaccuracies. Just for the record, I have been collecting chopsticks for only 3 weeks (not for many years unless you include the couple of years its taken to find funding) from 9 Jtown restaurants and its about 60,000+ right now. Collection has been halted for 2 weeks because of the UNWED conference but will resume next week after the show comes down.

--

The first pile

2005-05-31T23:38:00.000-07:00

So this is how installation began. I gave myself a couple of days to
experiment with forms. These are works-in-progress. Come see what I
did with 60,000+ which is what I have in the collection so far. The
opening is Wednesday, June 1, 5-8 pm. Wine and green-lipped mussels
provided by Kono New Zealand. Joe Mangrum is
showing his work "Detonation Earth" also. The show is from June 1-5
with gallery hours from 9 am to 5 pm. Hope to see you there!
--

Mold!

2005-05-31T23:28:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, while installing for the Project Launch and show at
Red Ink Studios, I opened a box and found this. Mold - green powdery
stuff and its sticky webbing. I tried not to breathe it. I realized
that over half of the collection, about 36,000+ were infected. So I
brought them back to JCCCNC and spend 9 hours on Sunday washing them
again! I believe that the chopsticks had not thoroughly dried before
I put them in the file boxes. Fortunately, I survived the washing and
was able to install the show!
--

40,000+ chopsticks so far

2005-05-19T13:53:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to dry chopsticks outside but since it has been
raining I dry them inside. Here are some of them on boards. I have another photo of them to the right on the ground extending about 30 or so feet because I don't have enough room on the boards themselves.
We will be halting collection next week so I can get ready for the installation of the collection and works-in-progress June 1-5, 2005at Red Ink Studios, 1035 Market Street between 6th and 7th Streets in San Francisco. We'll resume collection the following week.

Washing takes hours

2005-05-13T20:00:00.000-07:00

It took me about four hours to collect and wash today. The bin was
very full. Here is a photo of me preparing the chopsticks for the
sanitizer. There were a lot of chopsticks at the end of the day. I
think I need heavier gloves and an apron. I will let you know the end
of the week count on Monday.

Another restaurant, Miyako Restaurant, joined the collection process
today. Thank you!
--

3000 chopsticks per file box

2005-05-09T22:55:00.000-07:00

Here's the box for reference. Multiply by 6 and that is the end of
last week's count. Yep. 18,000.

The collection after one week

2005-05-09T22:42:00.000-07:00

I washed the end of last week today. I couldn't do it over the
weekend as I was stricken with a terrible cold. It took me almost 3
hours. Here is a view of the dish room.

One file box is approximately 3000 chopsticks. We have at least 6
boxes worth after seven days - about 18,000 chopsticks. This exceeds
that amount that I collected in Tokyo (15,000) from 11 restaurants in
12 days. I have a better infrastructure for collecting here at home.

I must confess that although its only been a week, I have been
feeling sort of sick at the amount. It feels gross. It feels crazy.
Its kind of overwhelming.

One restaurant has decided to pull out. They said that the dishwasher
is too busy to separate them out. Okay. I wonder what they will do
when we introduce composting and bottle and can recycling later. I
hope that is not too much trouble.

I have noticed that there seems to be a predominance of bamboo
chopsticks. I think we will try to find the restaurants with the
wooden ones. I have found they are a bit easier to handle
sculpturally.

I am hoping to get volunteers to help with the washing. Some of the
restaurants have requested pickups twice a day.

--

Chopstick Collection Has Begun

2005-05-02T22:56:00.000-07:00

Today I picked up used chopsticks from 8 restaurants in Japantown. For the first day, the collection went really well. Everyone knew I was coming by, thanks to Chris and Rich who dropped of buckets this morning. It is going to take longer as more restaurants jump on. And it took a while to wash the chopsticks. If things go well, we will have quite a stack for our demonstration in June. Knock on chopsticks!

bigstackblog1.jpg

2005-04-28T01:05:00.000-07:00

One of the stacks from the 1999 Tokyo project during 12 days of collection.
--

Environmental Memory

2005-04-27T23:44:00.000-07:00

I went to an inspiring lecture by David Suzuki (http://www.davidsuzuki.org/), renown scientist, environmentalist, broadcaster and author at the Herbst Theater in San Francisco tonight. When asked about where he got his motivation to do his work on the environment, he said, "I feel desperate." And then he added, " We are not leaving the same planet for our grandchildren."

Mr. Suzuki told us about how, as a young person, he and his family went fishing and could catch fish within 10 minutes of throwing out the line. Now, he said, there are no longer salmon derbies, festivals around catching salmon, because there aren't any around. There are no more fish like the way he experienced it as a child. The thing is that there also seems to be no "environmental memories," no clear picture of what the environment was like for our elders. These stories are not being told and passed on.

I remember when I learned that almost all the trees in the Tahoe area are second and third growth because they were clearcut between 1860-90. There were historical photographs on the ferry boat showing the logs piled up in the lake. I was shocked to realize that the trees I grew up seeing were so young. I also took note of how the Washoe people, who hold Tahoe as a sacred place, mourned. And, of course, they too were brutalized. But they still retain their environmental memories.

I am thinking of how waribashi production consumes millions of trees every year. US junk mail consumes 100 million trees a year. I don't think I know how to hold a picture of that many trees in my mind. I wonder if I will get to see it.

Waribashi anxiety

2005-04-24T03:30:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! Its so late its morning. Just got the first couple of pages of the website up. Here's my first blog entry.

I have anxiety about disposable chopsticks. In 1999, before I went to Japan, they were just stats, shocking ones and huge numbers, but still just numbers. Then I saw how many used ones I could collect that were going straight to the landfill. Eleven little noodle shops in 12 days. 15,000+ waribashi. Here is a photo of one of the stacks.

So now, The Waribashi Project will be launching collection on a much bigger scale within the next few days. So stay tuned...