Today Alex and I are going to San Mateo to spend the night at Dad's and then we're off on an early flight to Hawaii.
Packing today, I thought how oddly different it is to take a trip with your parent/s as an adult child. As a kid, you got parked in the backseat with enough coloring books to keep you from becoming a maniac. If you were small enough you couldn't even really see out the windows. You didn't know where you were going until you got there. Adults took care of boring details.
Now at almost 35, I'm scurrying around the place. Camera? Battery charger? Phone, charger for that. Do I have enough shirts? Will airport security hassle us because Al is half Iranian? Will there be enough pillows in the hotel?
Dad recommended bringing a walkman for the flight. It's been a long time since I've been anywhere that took a long time to get to. No coloring books this trip.
My walkman only plays tapes, so the music I'm bringing is rather old, too. Echo and the Bunnymen. The Dead Milkmen. Bad Music for Bad People by the Cramps. A mix tape I made after a break-up 10 years that heavily features Henry Rollins and the Dickies. Some stompin' mix tapes made by buddies from college. I sometimes miss the narcotic whiff of a brand new tape. Your favorite band would finally release their new album. You'd rush down to Rainbow Records and grab a tape out of the bin. Get it on the bus and open it, even though you'd have nothing to play it on til you got home. Crack open the plastic case and ***ahhhh***. Better than ditto paper.
Now I'm really dating myself. For Father's Day I bought Al a copy of Wall of Voodoo's "Call of the West", which has "Mexican Radio" on it. I've been getting back into 80's music (not that I ever strayed that far from it...). I figured out how to play the digital cable radio stations and have it set to "Retroactive". God, total nostalgia mode. At first I worried that my neighbours would hear what was going on and laugh. Now I don't care. I turn Adam Ant all the way up and bop around to "Goody Two-Shoes".
I'm waiting for Al to come home from a job so we can get going. I'm babbling on here because I won't have a computer this week. My Dad's bringing his laptop. But the rooms only have a dial-up connection. How will I exist? I guess I will manage to drown my woes in Hawaii. Mango daqueries here I come!
MPK
P.S. Posted a pic of Dad and me at the Old Fishin' Hole at Frontier Village in San Jose. For a few bucks they'd let you actually catch fish. That place was cool. They're having their reunion picnic tomorrow at the old site, which is now a scummy condo complex. Catch ya later!
Friday, June 24, 2005
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
New Painting
I started in on the new painting. I'm tentatively calling it "ashlar", though that won't likely be its final title...since the word actually appears in the painting.
The painting started out as a drawing of three buckets sitting on a bench. It was yuck and I didn't like it. It took me awhile, but I decided to go on painting "portraits" of my big book. I sketched in the image, and wrote the word "ashlar" next to the book. I spent the next few months trying to decide if it needed more words. I finally decided last week that it didn't, and sealed the whole thing over with matte medium.
I got into it and blocked in the background. I chewed on the brush handles for a bit, and then decided that the main image was not going to be blue, like it is in the book. I think it looks nice right now in brown. I'm trying to decide on something special for the little "hole" where the stone has been removed from the structure. In the book itself there's a bright square of blue.
MPK
The painting started out as a drawing of three buckets sitting on a bench. It was yuck and I didn't like it. It took me awhile, but I decided to go on painting "portraits" of my big book. I sketched in the image, and wrote the word "ashlar" next to the book. I spent the next few months trying to decide if it needed more words. I finally decided last week that it didn't, and sealed the whole thing over with matte medium.
I got into it and blocked in the background. I chewed on the brush handles for a bit, and then decided that the main image was not going to be blue, like it is in the book. I think it looks nice right now in brown. I'm trying to decide on something special for the little "hole" where the stone has been removed from the structure. In the book itself there's a bright square of blue.
MPK
Saturday, June 18, 2005
More Cameras
Three more cameras, images taken from the last post I did about cameras. I still enjoy doing these, so I guess I will keep going. My buddy Andy gave me a shelving unit with 24 sections in it, so I'm figuring on using that to display these. So that means...many more cameras to go.
BTW, Andy and Shalene are in a show called Games We Play at 21 Grand. It's up until the 3rd of July. I haven't seen it yet but I'm going tomorrow. After that I have to get ready for Hawaii. My dad invited me, Al, my bro and his numero uno Debra to spend a week on the big island. We are staying at Fairchild Resort. Evidently you need to have some sort of membership to access pics of the place on their website, so I won't link it. I will take my trusty familiar, my much beloved Canon Elph and record all.
I am looking forward to this trip, since I have never been off the continent. My dad has been with his brother a few times and has relayed alluring tales involving pork, sunshine and volcanos. I have purchased a very large hat and am looking forward to playing tourist. We're leaving Saturday.
I have started work on a new painting and hope to make inroads this week. I will post progress shots.
MPK
BTW, Andy and Shalene are in a show called Games We Play at 21 Grand. It's up until the 3rd of July. I haven't seen it yet but I'm going tomorrow. After that I have to get ready for Hawaii. My dad invited me, Al, my bro and his numero uno Debra to spend a week on the big island. We are staying at Fairchild Resort. Evidently you need to have some sort of membership to access pics of the place on their website, so I won't link it. I will take my trusty familiar, my much beloved Canon Elph and record all.
I am looking forward to this trip, since I have never been off the continent. My dad has been with his brother a few times and has relayed alluring tales involving pork, sunshine and volcanos. I have purchased a very large hat and am looking forward to playing tourist. We're leaving Saturday.
I have started work on a new painting and hope to make inroads this week. I will post progress shots.
MPK
Monday, June 13, 2005
Ann Farr June 13 1943--October 4 2004
Al and RJ's mom would have been 62 today.
She died unexpectedly of a heart attack in her home in Beaverton, Oregon. She had called in sick to work the previous week, and then had missed the next two days of work without calling in which was totally uncharacteristic of her. Her boss called Alex to say no one could get ahold of her, she wasn't answering the phone. Alex called RJ, who lives in Seattle and is closer, to check it out. RJ drove down, and sadly, discovered her body upstairs outside the master bathoroom, the water running in the bathtub.
Alex made frantic calls to Alaska Airline and we booked a flight going out first thing the next morning. Adulthood hit us like a ton of bricks. I went up to support Al, and to make sure they didn't throw out all the baby pictures. Al and RJ had always averred that there weren't any, and in fact they may not ever have really been children. But Ann was an artist and I was sure she would have documented.
Ann was a fellow alum of CCAC, which she attended in 1961-1962. After that, she left to go to SFAI for a year or two. When I met her, she knew that I had gone to CCAC. Almost her first question to me was, So, do you like Diebenkorn? Oh, hell yeah, I answered. She nodded and lit up a Virginia Slim. That was it, I was in.
She moved around a lot, but she always set up a studio to paint in, in her home, particularly after the boys got older. Her house in Beaverton was lined with stacks of painting, hundreds of them I would guess. She mostly painted abstract in acrylic on canvas. We did find a painting of Alex, done from a photograph taken at one of his readings.
She was married in 1964 to John Farr, who had emigrated to America from Iran when he was 18. He changed his name from Ali Reza Sanjarifar. No one seems to sure how they met. But she had tons of pictures of him and drawings in her sketchbook from the time. We found old letters and postcards and they were wild about each other. She dropped out of school and they went into real estate together. They did really well for awhile from what I can gather. There are lots of funny photos of them in supper clubs in Reno and Vegas.
He was in a head on collision with a lumber truck after the boys were born. He lived through that by some miracle. But the damage changed his personality drastically and not for the better. Ann and John divorced and he died in 1980 of cirrhosis.
Ann was only a few years away from retirement when she died. She was having a house built for herself in the next town over, and was looking forward to having nothing to do but paint. I was looking forward to getting to know her a little better. She had a dry and acerbic sense of humor, with a voice like William Burroughs. Alex and Ann didn't keep in touch very well, but they did have two very long phone conversations in the summer before she died.
While Alex and RJ wen through the maze of legalities that death brings on grieving loved ones, I sorted through her keepsake boxes. There was tons of stuff. I was right, she knew to document. At CCAC, they always taught us the importance of the source material. I still haven't finished sorting what I brought back with us, and that isn't even a fraction of what is still in storage in Oregon.
As an artist, I figured if I died, I'd want someone to hang on to my sketchbooks and notes and drawings, etc. So, I have a little archive of her stuff and thought I'd post of few of my favorites for her birthday. Also, I did find the baby pictures. Alex WAS a child and a very very cute one. There are so many pictures of him I think he might win some kind of record as most photographed baby in the world. Not only are there photos, I also found a box of slides that documents a walk he took as a two year old across the lawn one afternoon. I restraining myself and only posting one of him.
Bye, Ann. If there's an afterlife and you're in it, hopefully you're hanging out with Deibenkorn.
She died unexpectedly of a heart attack in her home in Beaverton, Oregon. She had called in sick to work the previous week, and then had missed the next two days of work without calling in which was totally uncharacteristic of her. Her boss called Alex to say no one could get ahold of her, she wasn't answering the phone. Alex called RJ, who lives in Seattle and is closer, to check it out. RJ drove down, and sadly, discovered her body upstairs outside the master bathoroom, the water running in the bathtub.
Alex made frantic calls to Alaska Airline and we booked a flight going out first thing the next morning. Adulthood hit us like a ton of bricks. I went up to support Al, and to make sure they didn't throw out all the baby pictures. Al and RJ had always averred that there weren't any, and in fact they may not ever have really been children. But Ann was an artist and I was sure she would have documented.
Ann was a fellow alum of CCAC, which she attended in 1961-1962. After that, she left to go to SFAI for a year or two. When I met her, she knew that I had gone to CCAC. Almost her first question to me was, So, do you like Diebenkorn? Oh, hell yeah, I answered. She nodded and lit up a Virginia Slim. That was it, I was in.
She moved around a lot, but she always set up a studio to paint in, in her home, particularly after the boys got older. Her house in Beaverton was lined with stacks of painting, hundreds of them I would guess. She mostly painted abstract in acrylic on canvas. We did find a painting of Alex, done from a photograph taken at one of his readings.
She was married in 1964 to John Farr, who had emigrated to America from Iran when he was 18. He changed his name from Ali Reza Sanjarifar. No one seems to sure how they met. But she had tons of pictures of him and drawings in her sketchbook from the time. We found old letters and postcards and they were wild about each other. She dropped out of school and they went into real estate together. They did really well for awhile from what I can gather. There are lots of funny photos of them in supper clubs in Reno and Vegas.
He was in a head on collision with a lumber truck after the boys were born. He lived through that by some miracle. But the damage changed his personality drastically and not for the better. Ann and John divorced and he died in 1980 of cirrhosis.
Ann was only a few years away from retirement when she died. She was having a house built for herself in the next town over, and was looking forward to having nothing to do but paint. I was looking forward to getting to know her a little better. She had a dry and acerbic sense of humor, with a voice like William Burroughs. Alex and Ann didn't keep in touch very well, but they did have two very long phone conversations in the summer before she died.
While Alex and RJ wen through the maze of legalities that death brings on grieving loved ones, I sorted through her keepsake boxes. There was tons of stuff. I was right, she knew to document. At CCAC, they always taught us the importance of the source material. I still haven't finished sorting what I brought back with us, and that isn't even a fraction of what is still in storage in Oregon.
As an artist, I figured if I died, I'd want someone to hang on to my sketchbooks and notes and drawings, etc. So, I have a little archive of her stuff and thought I'd post of few of my favorites for her birthday. Also, I did find the baby pictures. Alex WAS a child and a very very cute one. There are so many pictures of him I think he might win some kind of record as most photographed baby in the world. Not only are there photos, I also found a box of slides that documents a walk he took as a two year old across the lawn one afternoon. I restraining myself and only posting one of him.
Bye, Ann. If there's an afterlife and you're in it, hopefully you're hanging out with Deibenkorn.
Sunday, June 12, 2005
Lazy Sunday Post
Actually, I'm about to lose the use of my computer. Al's son is coming over for a few days since he's out of school (a junior next year!) and they play an internet /LAN game called Neverwinter. We have 3 computers on the LAN but the third one doesn't have a good enough graphics card to run Neverwinter, so that's where I'll be. Probably peacefully playing Civ 3 and listening to the sound of ungodly-slaying-of-eldritch-things coming from the other two computers.
Here's an interesting link: Smithsonian Oral Histories of American artists. I stumbled on it by accident. It's worth sitting down and checking out on a long afternoon sometime. Really indepth interviews with American greats.
To make this post more ceramics-relevant, here's a link to a great interview with Viola Frey who passed away last summer. She was very reticent, so this was a treat to read.
(Sidenote: I was in the next to last class that had her for a teacher before she retired. I was also one of the "lucky" grads that she selected to clean her house once a week. :) )
Here's an interesting link: Smithsonian Oral Histories of American artists. I stumbled on it by accident. It's worth sitting down and checking out on a long afternoon sometime. Really indepth interviews with American greats.
To make this post more ceramics-relevant, here's a link to a great interview with Viola Frey who passed away last summer. She was very reticent, so this was a treat to read.
(Sidenote: I was in the next to last class that had her for a teacher before she retired. I was also one of the "lucky" grads that she selected to clean her house once a week. :) )
Saturday, June 11, 2005
Last Class
I had my last raku class today. I'm taking some time off to travel (hopefully) and won't be back teaching at the RAC until Winter Session at the earliest. I just got home and I'm already sad. The students are so great and we did so much this year.
I didn't get any action shots of our raku class this session. We needed all hands on deck for the firings. We also did some new stuff that I'd never tried before. All of our firings got great stuff. My students broke with tradition, eschewing the shiny "copper penny" glazes, for matte-er surfaces and crawly alligator surfaces. They really went for it!
My saggar class was the same way (many were the same students
I didn't get any action shots of our raku class this session. We needed all hands on deck for the firings. We also did some new stuff that I'd never tried before. All of our firings got great stuff. My students broke with tradition, eschewing the shiny "copper penny" glazes, for matte-er surfaces and crawly alligator surfaces. They really went for it!
My saggar class was the same way (many were the same students
...) and really brought a lot to the class. Literally in many cases. Armloads of ferns and plants, bags of grass clippings, seaweed, fruit peels and you name it went into the saggars. Many of the pieces were artworks in their own right before they went into the saggar.
I'll post some highlights in pictures.
I don't seem to have any pics of the kiln actually firing. Just a close up of a pot in the kiln. For those who are not conversant with such things, the material the kiln is primarily made of is called kaowool.
I have some newer pics in my camera I will post soon. I am starting to wear down from class, the coffee is wearing off, and the typos are getting surreal.
MPK
I'll post some highlights in pictures.
I don't seem to have any pics of the kiln actually firing. Just a close up of a pot in the kiln. For those who are not conversant with such things, the material the kiln is primarily made of is called kaowool.
I have some newer pics in my camera I will post soon. I am starting to wear down from class, the coffee is wearing off, and the typos are getting surreal.
MPK
Thursday, June 09, 2005
Another Mysterious Book
I've been a little under the weather this week. So, nothing new from the studio. I thought I'd format and post some shots I've had on my computer for awhile of some older stuff.
This is a book I completed while still at cricket engine
The paintings are acrylic wash on small pieces of distressed canvas. The covers are masonite. Most of the images are taken from vintage stock shots from a corporate image sourcebook. I hope you can see from the pictures that there are cut-outs in the paintings, to make the next page part of the previous page and vice versa. It's about 9x12".
Sorry for the reticence. I haven't had caffiene in two days. I finally broke down and brewed a cup of Blackberry sage tea. God I want coffee.
This is a book I completed while still at cricket engine
The paintings are acrylic wash on small pieces of distressed canvas. The covers are masonite. Most of the images are taken from vintage stock shots from a corporate image sourcebook. I hope you can see from the pictures that there are cut-outs in the paintings, to make the next page part of the previous page and vice versa. It's about 9x12".
Sorry for the reticence. I haven't had caffiene in two days. I finally broke down and brewed a cup of Blackberry sage tea. God I want coffee.
Monday, June 06, 2005
Back in Civilization
This weekend Alex and I headed to parts north to attend a wedding of friends. It was an all weekend affair at Pinecrest's Bear Lair. The camp is dotted with tent cabins which were billed as "rustic". It was more tent than cabin. The mattresses were ancient. I am spoiled by my recent gift to myself of a mattress topper of memory foam, and I wished for it dreadfully. Alex is one of those people who can sleep on a slab of concrete, so he had no trouble, except that his mattress was two inches lower than mine. Even with the twin cots shoved together, we had a significant gap.
Still it was a beautiful site. My last foray into the wilderness was over ten years ago, and I forgot how cool it is. If it got internet, I would go more often.
For some reason all that peace and quiet gave me insomnia. I tried all of my tricks and managed to induce short Benedryl comas, but not real sleep. I got to go to the wedding ceremony, but afterwards one beer and a few snacks and I was totally beat. Alex limped me back to the tent cabin and I slept like one dead. Evidently I missed quite the saturnalia of a reception. Alex was eyewitness to many events, but he unfortunately did not have the camera, so all I have to offer is pictures of trees and other neat shit. For the picture of two guests mooning the camera with the bride posed between them you will have to apply elsewhere.
Beer and wine were served at the reception, but everyone came armed with poisonous amounts of liquor. As people showed up to check in on Friday morning, we all inventoried who had how much of what. It was cute in a sad way, like children with candy. The wedding was at 4 pm on Saturday. Most of it was gone by 3 am Sunday morning. I was practically the only one not hungover the next morning. The breakfast buffet served in the camp dining hall looked like a line of zombies who really needed bacon.
Still and all it was nice to hang out with people that I don't see very often. By 10:30 on Sunday I was ready to scream from all the peace and quiet, so we buggered on outta there. I got home, kissed my computer hello, and slept in the arms of memory foam.
Still it was a beautiful site. My last foray into the wilderness was over ten years ago, and I forgot how cool it is. If it got internet, I would go more often.
For some reason all that peace and quiet gave me insomnia. I tried all of my tricks and managed to induce short Benedryl comas, but not real sleep. I got to go to the wedding ceremony, but afterwards one beer and a few snacks and I was totally beat. Alex limped me back to the tent cabin and I slept like one dead. Evidently I missed quite the saturnalia of a reception. Alex was eyewitness to many events, but he unfortunately did not have the camera, so all I have to offer is pictures of trees and other neat shit. For the picture of two guests mooning the camera with the bride posed between them you will have to apply elsewhere.
Beer and wine were served at the reception, but everyone came armed with poisonous amounts of liquor. As people showed up to check in on Friday morning, we all inventoried who had how much of what. It was cute in a sad way, like children with candy. The wedding was at 4 pm on Saturday. Most of it was gone by 3 am Sunday morning. I was practically the only one not hungover the next morning. The breakfast buffet served in the camp dining hall looked like a line of zombies who really needed bacon.
Still and all it was nice to hang out with people that I don't see very often. By 10:30 on Sunday I was ready to scream from all the peace and quiet, so we buggered on outta there. I got home, kissed my computer hello, and slept in the arms of memory foam.
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