more street cleaning in mojacar

at the turning point of this short month at valparaiso – 13 days behind me, 12 days ahead. boredom often sets in at this halfway point, but i am not in danger of being overwhelmed by it. soon enough i will feel the waning of my last days here and with a sense of urgency often comes increased creative energy. i have become familiar with these patterns looping around – different players, different landscapes – but the cycles remain the same apart from their incarnations. i can trust in these seasons, knowing that soon enough i will be here again.

found objects, photo transfer on cardboard

scavenging in mojacar, spain

i’m revisiting my earlier pledge to use found materials as often as possible, so am at risk of being seen as an eccentric bag lady as i collect trash and other goodies in this village of mojacar. there are several crumbling old ruins that make for enthusiastic treasure hunting, and i have begun to combine various found objects and images into some cohesive whole. i suspect the town has become accustomed to the peculiar behavior of the residents of fundacion valparaiso, considering about 80 artists and writers visit this residency every year.

found objects on cardboard

found objects, linen, photo transfer on cardboard

wall splat, collbato, spain

aged, scraped, layered walls and doors abound all over europe, but this one distinctly caught my eye. especially the splat of burnt umber paint thrown by someone in a moment of fun or passion perhaps? the pentimenti of history is so evident here and shows that time is the most glorious artist of all. the wall shown is in a small village outside of barcelona called collbato, a rest stop on the pilgrim’s way to the monastery of the black madonna in the montserrat mountains.

wall in collbato, spain

fundacion valparaiso, mojacar, spain

just arrived to the peace and beauty of southern coastal spain. the wind blows in from africa, the full moon rises out of the mediterranean. this residency is made for serious work, in direct contrast to the last one, which involved all sorts of drunken debauchery ~ (not me, i swear, but there are lots of stories to be told!).

posting just a simple view of the residency compound last night at sunset. there are 8 women artists here for the month, 4 painters, 4 writers, either danish, nigerian/french or american. this part of the country deserves at least one side trip to granada, possibly cordoba, and i hope will include flamenco – music, dancing, singing. i’m thinking the moorish history/architecture will find some kind of home in my work. will post when i have something to show.

fundacion valparaiso, southern spain

exhibition in el bruc, spain

a few of my images from our group show in el bruc, outside barcelona. there are five visual artists who have survived various dramas here at can serrat to make the time to pull this exhibition together. what’s left of us are 4 americans and one german artist, and we have cemented our bond with this final show.

a detail of a larger painting using different images collected along the way. the statue shows up again but in a different context.

a detail of a triptych again juxtaposing disparate images to create a whole.

poster for our show

can serrat, spain

now half way through my residency here at can serrat, 45 minutes northwest from barcelona. it is the liveliest and largest of the residencies so far – with 8 core artists and additional workshop groups that come and go. we are a mixture of writers, painters, photographers and an aerialist, mostly from america and norway (can serrat was founded by 12 norwegian artists 20 years ago). this is the closest i have been to communal living since my college days, and i muster as best i can some semblance of discipline. but conversation is in turns cerebral, adolescent, invigorating and base – depending which way the wine flows. i’m thoroughly enjoying it.

am now starting to bring in some of the images from my earlier travels, and the statues i shot at pere lachaise cemetery in paris have come to the fore. because of the nature of the images, it seemed like a good time to interpret the “labyrinth” stage of the heroes journey, especially after my brief stay in slovenia (more on that later).

mixed media on canvas

venice biennale

a few of my favorites at the venice biennale ~ there were so many more, but much of the video and installation work doesn’t translate well into photographs. my all time favorite video/film work was done by fiona tan “disorient” in the dutch pavillion, and joan jonas. other standouts were pascale marthine tayou’s huge installation/video/sculpture room – a cacophony of african sounds, textures, images; jorge ortero pailos latex venetian “wall”, and nikhil chopra’s mixed media installation room.

the macedonian contribution - a fun house view of venice

an engineering feat

a large scale photo of the arsenale building before the installations - the building itself was hard to compete with - gorgeous!

valerio berruti - delightful stop motion painted video of this little girl in a chair

an indian artist - sorry forgot his name but loved the work.

simple

venice

i’m already in spain now, but just now posting venice. had the good fortune to be here during the venice biennale, the (arguably) best contemporary art show in the world. much of the latest art leaves me dry, but with this much to choose from, there was no shortage of inspiration, not to mention the city surrounds of the atmosphere, canals, architecture of venice.

classic venice

classic venice too

spices at the market in urgup, turkey

totally my colors ~

last day at babayan culture house, turkey

this month in ibrahimpasa has been one of deep reflection, absorbing the nutrients of this ancient and sensuous world. the work has come slow and with resistance at times, as any effort to compete with my surroundings falls flat. i finally surrendered to its will, and am trusting that the osmosis is complete and the internal creative compost grows dark and rich. now 4 months into this odyssey, i am moving deeper into the vastness of letting go of the shore yet not having caught sight of new land. there is both discomfort and anticipation in this stage of the journey.

what i have to show is part of a small series i’m still in dialogue with – after buying a piece of an old kilim, and biting my lip as i cut into the beauty of what it was, i entered into some kind of relationship with the fragments, and began stitching onto paper, and finally adding paint. i will continue to develop this work at my next destination – slovenia – and see if the different elements will come together as some kind of a whole.

leave tomorrow for istanbul, then venice for the biennale, and on to branik, slovenia, 90 minutes east of venice. after this time of some stillness, i’m feeling the energy coming back, and will look for the thread that binds all these places and experiences together. 

deep thanks to my hosts, willemijn and paul, artists and creative confidantes ~

old kilim, pencil, metal ornament, paint

old kilim, pencil, acrylic paint

my studio