shore points

Trips always make me energetic and I think blogging is the perfect way to share your travels. I happened to be visiting my family back east, when a friend telephoned me and told me my 35th high school reunion was happening over the week-end. No way, I wasn't going to go! At the last moment with much deliberation, I made it and the affair turned out to be sweet, warm and supportive. We did a lot of dancing that night to retro DJ tunes - very apropos.

These photos are from the Jersey shore; in particular a small town called Avon, located in Central Jersey, about an hour and a half south of NYC. I grew up a few miles inland and always envied the Victorian houses. They seemed big and mysterious and right out of a Edward Hopper painting. (For my next blog entry, stay tuned for the porch aesthetic.) Anyway, if things got too tough around the house, we would retreat to the Atlantic Ocean, the beaches, jetties, the boardwalk, the concession stands, and amusement parks. I first learned linear perspective from the Atlantic's horizon.
One of the typical shore birds......the scavenger, the gull. (Check out the BLUE sky!)

The famous ice cream signs and my favorite choice was Strawberry Shortcake.

Lifeguards (and I knew quite a few...), the American flag, the blue sea, errant sea vessels, tanned bodies that look like have been dipped in a chocolate vat, tall grasses and funky, worn old fences are still a common sight.

Here is the beach guard who checks your badge......His character seemed fitting.

New Yawk

My sister and I visited the Metropolitan Museum of New York in upper Manhattan. The Turner exhibit was beautiful and afterwards we went to the roof top of the Met.

(Turner was a British landscape painter and he uses light in a brilliant and painterly way; but he also fuses the perfect amount of dark to his paintings.)

Here are some of our glimpses. The photo above is the wonderful skyline of New York, a perfect combination of green and concrete along with a massive sunny day.

This is a reflective independent sculpture from the contemporary and controversial artist Jeff Koons. His works are playful and they modify the example of our kitsch, fast paced and surface society.

This is another one of Koons sculpture. These sculptural works are gigantic and you

can catch an idea of scale by looking at the other people in the photo.

Joisey heat and some bragging rights

My luck turned to drop dead gorgeous weather on the east......sweating as I write this from a neighborhood jog, I love the salt and smells that emanate from the damp grounds and from my body, the sauna like wet, the stickiness, the sometimes uncomfortable humidity which gives me a youthful glow and I think how fortunate I am to experience another place, to travel, to see and to be among family and friends. This upcoming Wednesday, I will be flying to the Northwest, back to Alaskan temps and back to another reality.

essentials

There are a few things that I couldn't live without in Alaska. Listed below are those essentials; not given in any particular order.
1. NPR Radio Station
2. the library (especially the inter-library loans - you do a great job Loussac!)
3. a companion (but highly questionable at times......)
4. lots and lots of exercise
5. travel (anywhere - and to any means to get there - I just try to go!)
6. high speed internet

home

What is home? What is place? At the moment, I live and reside in Anchorage; we have the house, the dog and a work place, our social activities, so I consider myself a resident of Alaska. But, I get peeved when people ask me if I am Alaskan. Actually, I don't like to be pegged as any one thing. Yes and no, I respond. My background involves lots of pieces that have made me into what I am today. Friday, I am leaving for the East Coast to see family and New York. I consider that my home too because I instantly immerse myself into a world that knows me; the girlfriend since eight grade, the boardwalk with a vast horizon of the Atlantic and it's aromas, a mother, a sister and brothers, the stoop, and a neighborhood with the same neighbor who lives across the street. I grew up there.

(Well, of course, of course, everyone comes from some place! And why make such a big deal out it all! Lighten up Katherine I keep reminding myself. And on the other hand, we are all good at keeping it together on the surface level. Many times I get tired of the regular protocol banter. La, la, la.)

Soon after college I left my home state and spent twenty years in Los Angeles where I found my career ambition and a community of like minded people; I grew up as an artist on the West Coast and that too is my home. I miss being there, I get sentimental and nostalgic for places and familiar haunts.

Place and home is a natural consciousness; absorbing and learning what is around you. I would like to think of my home as planetary and a universal venture in nature. At the moment, I am here in the physical but continue to expand collectively; I open myself up to multiple possibilities, so my theory of home does not become a fixed place but a evolutionary process of time and flight into the unknown. And, I find that exciting and worth talking about!

good work

Last night I reviewed Project II with my class. Students could choose between working with a Pollock inspired idea or work in a photography media. Above is Neil's shoes pollocked..... (Jackson Pollock was a 50's abstract expressionist painter who revolutionized the NY art world with his famous structured chaos action paintings. Ed Harris plays him in the film Pollock. Pollock was also a drunk and was known for his abusive behavior. He died young (and drunk) in a car crash.)

These projects are pretty loose because the class is not designed for artists, but I find that the students really enjoy the hands on projects exciting. AND, they come up with some really good stuff!

Pictured above is part of Joel's art piece. In fact, he brought in his entire bedroom door covered with all these fantastical images! It is a conceptually based work and I thought clever with all his thoughts and ideas written about each photograph. He is very interested in computer animation and design.

Also above is Kellie's photography project. Her husband took this picture of her. Kellie is blond and she confessed to the class that she likes wigs. (Go figure!)

don't sweat the small stuff

We experienced heavy and dense rain during our visit last December to Malaysia and Borneo. In fact, we were suppose to go to the Eastern part of Malaysia to do some diving and snorkeling, but most of the resorts were closed because of the rains.

This picture was taken in Kuching, Sarawak, Borneo. A fisherman does some net fishing in a torrential downpour. It would rain tremendously hard for hours and then clear up in a flash. There were wonderful thunderstorms; great sounds that were deep and stirring. Malaysia is known for it's heavy monsoons this time of the year so it wasn't a surprise to us. We would sometimes sit on steps under our umbrellas and observe the racket. You could do that easily, keep warm and be sweating the next moment under a luminous clear sky and beating sun.