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Behind the art studio
hibernating
Nov. 1...
"I need hibernation in order to create" - Terry Tempest Williams (p.58)
Nov. 8
Nov. 15
leave no trace?
So in class yesterday, we talked about how we have both liberal and radical feminist movements, but environmentalism is still in its preliminary stages – still reactionary. As Aliza put it, for many people, the environment/nature is a museum. Leaving no trace, experience is limited in many ways to observation, a surface level brush with “the wild.”
This just made me want to interact with my site! What would a radical environmentalism look like?
I saw this documentary a while ago, called Rivers and Tides. It shows the work of Andy Goldsworthy, who calls himself a ‘landscape artist.’ (it’s available through Tripod – it’s a slow-moving film, but it’s worth the time!) Here's an example of his work:
I like this method of "play" with nature, so I tried it out too (not as intense..)
Other notes: today was my 6th visit to my site. I don’t want to move yet – I heard back from Ed Harmon about Grounds’ plans to change some of the space into a wildflower/conservatory area. So I want to be there, at least for a few more weeks, for further developments.
Processes - leaves and sweat, heros and songs
encounter #3: The Fear.// one huge mass of flying ants crawling over and upwards // Rambling – the urge to discover – to see what was cut away // What are we trying to create? Harnessing // giant trees in the jumble vs. giant tress on campus, surrounded only by grass
encounter #2: man-made yellow borders sprayed in/onto the ground. little flags, victory over the conquered land, staked claims to the squared off, colonized dead grass. insecticide. In the air: thousands of tiny white bugs. where are they when it’s not humid?
encounter #1: my body in the humidity – leg hairs, sweat behind my knees, gathering at the edge of my forehead, water leaving my body, why? for the sake of preserving, just like the leaves. the purpose of sweat and leaves. mud. barefoot. some of the grass slides in the mud with the pressure of my toes. I imagine that by walking – just walking – I am tearing the away roots’ fragile hold on the saturated ground.
#3 –
disturbed at the power
of trees – gargantuan – so
different in the jumble
gargantuan trees –
their power is in place, a force
contained by mowed grass
#1 –
I re-discover;
My body’s sense of leaving
as leafing. Purpose.
beyond ideas
Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there. (Rumi) I saw Eternity the other night |
I See Clouds playing tricks on my eyes and disrupting a sense of stability. I am reminded, suddenly, as clouds uniformly pass over - not hurried, but neither are they slow - that we are positioned on a rotating globe - it is only because it is so large (like a carrier ship in the tides of the ocean), that we do not sense the movement. staring at the clouds (which I know are moving) I can, suddenly, reverse, see the negative - as thougth the sky was a backdrop we rolled by. |