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September 24, 2006

art weekend!

by gl. at 11:59 pm

what a lovely weekend!

first, creata hosted a free day at the portland art museum to see the oregon biennial exhibit.

there will probably need to be a whole 'nother post about the biennial, but i was especially charmed & delighted to discover mariana tres' "Homespun Universe: The Wondrous Works of Anabella Gaposchk," a whimsical collection of "old" gelatin prints made from common baking ingredients by a fictitious home astronomer in the early 1900s. the entire thing is an elaborate & fanciful story: in addition to the fuzzy photos of baking soda constellations housed in period victorian frames, a small display case includes created & found artifacts like letters, quotes, spice canisters, egg beaters, gloves, handkerchiefs, and a tiny book of bank statements. this engaging collection from the "society of nebulous knowledge," also includes a documentary audio tour featuring music from the imaginary musical "upon the orange moon." suitable for a quaint display at the maryhill museum, the photos alone are beautiful and convincing, but every component is its own layer of fascination, and taken as a whole the subtle details and histories are like the best kind of poetry, creating an imaginary world that could have been real, should have been real, but isn't.

(unfortunately the art museum has very limited info about the biennial on its website, but portland modern has a pdf page about an earlier version of "homespun universe" from 2003.)

after the biennial, creata paid for our lunch at the red star tavern, which ain't cheap. i was surprised to find the red star has the best mac & cheese i've tasted at a restaurant. i should take "clients" there more often: given the name of our studio, the association is too good to pass up. :) and i'm beginning to recognize people now: even though i make it clear "i'm NOT an art therapist," i think they respect my role as a "creative advocate."

after a stop at rob's 33 1/3 birthday party (which qualifies as the best birthday concept for an audiophile), i dropped off some cardboard trays from the Fabulous End-of-Summer August Art Swap over at linda womack's: she showed me her studio, which was extra cool since i won't get to do the portland open studio tour this year.

today i had a new independent support student in the studio. i had forgotten my typical opening poem and so used keri' smith's e.e. cummings piece as an opening:


["to be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting."]

i'm learning that independent support sessions are more improvisational & conversational than creative clusters, which is great for individual attention, but because the sessions are shorter than clusters, it also makes it more likely we'll run out of time for the art component. so i don't know whether to make the sessions longer (because we could easily talk longer) or simply set the time more rigidly, at least to begin the art project.

the rest of the day i spent in the studio, puttering around & putting things away. i haven't done that in a very long time. i sorted through some of my poetry boxes and put things on shelves, i crossed some things off the todo.studio list. it always takes longer than i think it should, but it always feels good to do it.

posted by gl. | September 24, 2006 11:59 PM | categories: artist's way, exhibits & events