Sunday, May 31, 2009

Vacation Time, Day 25

Every summer my husband takes several trips to Utah, alone, with our son, and with the three of us. He spends months preparing for his/our adventures in Utah making packing lists, preparing meals, and getting his truck ready (as in the image above). He has a website and blog dedicated to exploring the southwest that he is constantly updating with new information. Tomorrow he leaves for a 10-14 day trip with Nicolai while I stay home to work in the studio and to teach. Although I will be working the entire time he is gone it is a wonderful time for me to be alone and have a vacation from being a mother and a spouse. This is a time for all of us to do our own things and come back together refreshed.

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Head, Spine, Tail, Day 24

I am fascinated by the the terminology used for the parts of a book and their reference to the body-head, spine, tail, footnote, and headnote. I see my body as a story that is in the process of being written. As the lines on my hands and face deepen I am reminded of this evolving story. As much as aging and watching my body change can be disconcerting I need to remind myself that this is just part of life's process. If my body doesn't age then my story has come to its end.

Friday, May 29, 2009

Creation or Destruction, Day 23

I do not consider myself a writer. A writer writes text- words on paper, words on a computer screen. These words may eventually be housed in a book, but a writer does not write books. I am a book artist. Recently my artwork utilizes published pages from books to create a new piece of work. I love to read, but I also love to take books apart and reassemble the pages so that the text no longer functions with its original intention. In my books, text is recognizable as printed letters on the page but the writer's words are lost in my translation. Jorge Luis Borges wrote: "I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library." My paradise would be filled with letters simply functioning as patterns on the printed page. Perhaps this is really what a book is, it just depends on how it is translated.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Collecting, Day 22

My scissor collection came about when my family and I went to clean out my grandparent's home after they had both passed. My grandfather was a serious garage saler. My grandmother never allowed most of the items he purchased into the house, so his purchases tended to live in the garage, however, scissors seemed to be the exception. I already had a small scissor collection consisting of about 10 pairs of scissors, but as we went through the house they kept appearing over and over again. I think I lost count at around 50. I have quite a serious collection now. It is a good reminder about how much stuff we actually need and what gets lost in the clutter. I actually caught myself the other day looking for a pair of scissors...I think I need to reevaluate my desire for this collection.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Not a girl, Day 21

I have never cut my son's hair. . It has several shades of red, gold, and blond and it is just too beautiful to butcher. He is constantly being mistaken for a girl. He could be wearing all "boy" clothes and people still think he is a girl. I am even a little surprised when men with long hair make the mistake as well. Not that it really matters...he doesn't care one bit, yet. We recently read a book about how babies are made and in it they listed all the similarities between boys and girls- but long hair was definitely not a characteristic that they could share.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Patience, Day 20

Today it took every ounce of my son's patience not to blow on the dandelion so that I could photograph him. I too had to be patient with him, to let him just do his kid thing and blow on the dandelions when he needed to, even if I didn't "get the shot." He and I are both constantly practicing our patience with each other. I realized today that this is still a tough lesson even as an adult.

Monday, May 25, 2009

The toenail fairy, Day 19

Trimming my son's toenails has been a constant battle. At one point they were so long that they were dangerous weapons. So one night I snuck into his room with a headlamp and a pair of nail clippers and attempted to trim them while he was sleeping . It actually took me two nights to complete the task, but it happened. In the morning I told him the toenail fairy came and since then he asks me to call her and have her trim them again.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Seeing is believing, Day 18

Some days I can see what is right in front of me and it makes perfect sense (like yesterday), and other days I can't see anything at all (like today). I was really struggling with what today's image would be. I was mentally trying to force something that wasn't there; trying to create on demand versus relying on my intuition. So tonight I sat down to edit images and I have to admit that I was not excited at all by my prospects. All day long I had visually in mind the color green, the shape of a backwards "C", and the letter "X"....but nothing was visually connecting while I was photographing. I felt like I had "been there and done that." But everything changed when I cropped today's image and placed it next to the previous day's image. I began to see the subtle lines in the sheets that are now made more obvious by the shape of the highway above. These are visual connections that I cannot plan, they just happen. Today's lesson: the more I shoot, the more I can begin to trust in my third eye.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Thinking of Imogen, Day 17

I mentioned in a previous day's blog that I sleep with my camera next to the bed. Although I haven't posted many photos from early in the morning, I usually take a few before my feet touch the floor. I love the morning light that comes through the window in the a.m. hours. To get me in the swing of things for the day, photographing in bed is my new morning ritual. There is just something comforting in the quality of the light coming through my window. When I took this image this morning it immediately reminded me of Imogen Cunningham's famous unmade bed image. Although a bit more abstract and in color, I think the feeling is reminiscent of her image. She was a truly magnificent female photographer that made the everyday object extraordinary. This is the principal behind my daily visual treasure hunt.

Friday, May 22, 2009

Green with..., Day 16

Last week at the hospital while visiting my father, my brother read our horoscopes. This is a family tradition when we are together. This particular day all of them seemed rather pertinent for everyone. I saved the page from the newspaper because it was the most interesting one I have had recently.

TAURUS: This is the way things are and they will never stay this way. That's life and you're learning to not only expect its transient nature, but to love it.

This really sums up the last few months for me, but it has been, and will continue to be a tough lesson. But at the same time, one that I am thankful for.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

There's no place like home, Day 15

Red shoes make me happy. I love looking down at my feet with them on. When I wear them they always seem to take me somewhere exciting, like Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz. Even if they just take me into my backyard.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Nico, Day 14

Stains on the fingers act as a diary for the day's activities.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

New Perspective, Day 13

I have a love/hate relationship with flying. I HATE turbulence because it reminds me that I am in a machine hovering above the earth which could come crashing down. At the same time I love having a widow seat on the plane so I can see the sky and the earth from a different perspective. My plane flight home was just fine. No delays, a row all to myself, a beautiful view, and of course some turbulence. Overall I had a good flying experience but I was relieved to step off the plane. In a way my flight today was like my visit to LA. It was wonderful to see my family, friends, to be in LA, and to eat good food, but it was definitely emotional and exhausting at times. Having my dad in the hospital reminded me that this life is precious and myself and my loved ones aren't going to be around forever...it was an important reminder. I am extremely thankful that my dad is going home tonight and he will recover. But all of us really need to just sit back, relax and enjoy the view.

Monday, May 18, 2009

LA LA Land, Day 12

My dad and step-mom live in Mt. Washington above the city of Los Angeles in a house that my father designed. It is a unique structure made from concrete, glass, and steel. I am staying here while I visit my dad in the hospital. It has been a bit strange not having him in the house while I visit, so today I decided to walk around the house photographing objects that remind me of him. This is a piece of rusty metal from an old Coca cola sign which hangs in the kitchen/dining room area. It's actually one of my favorite objects in the house. I photographed the sign just because I liked it and not because I thought it would relate well with the previous day's image. As I was making my image selection I was struck by how similar the shapes of the "L" and "A" look like the noodles dangling from the chopsticks. It is my goal with this project to make this happen visually, but I am very happy when I only become aware of it after the images are dumped from the camera and I am able to place images side by side. This is significant because I feel I am working from an intuitive place rather than forcing a connection.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Pho, Day 11

After being in and out of the ICU all day visiting with my dad, we had a wonderful Vietnamese meal in Atwater Village. Usually when I am on vacation I photograph my meals, and this trip has been no exception.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

I See You, Day 10


Breath, blood, tubes, needles, bruising, clots, oxygen, cords, monitors, fluids, excretion, drugs, food, love, care, family, dialogue, change, healing, life.

Friday, May 15, 2009

Layers of meaning, Day 9

I have a collection of romance novels that I tear apart and transform into other sculptural pieces. I usually just photograph the sculptural work to document it, but I decided to photograph a work in progress and place it in a different context. I am fascinated my the formal aspects of printed books- the margin, the pattern of the text on the page, the quality of the paper, the covers, and the layers of the pages themselves. I recently had a discussion with another artist about the future of books in the digital age. He argued that they are an obsolete technology, but I countered his argument by pointing out that they have been around for hundreds of years and you don't have to plug them in.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Embrace, day 8

I worked in my studio all day today...sort of. I took breaks now and then to photograph for this project. I found out this morning that my father is in the hospital. Knowing this, I just couldn't focus on one thing for very long. It was a day full distractions... and these words spoke to me.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

In the neighborhood, Day 7

The monks posed for me this morning.....

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

common object, common site, Day 6

My husband is a tea drinker. An obsessive tea drinker. So there are always 3-4 empty cups with tea bags around the house, especially on his desk. I am constantly harassing him about about it. But today I was grateful for the empty cup.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Morning Math, Day 5

For the next two months I will be working in the book binding studio now that I am done with teaching. My husband Gerald is assisting me with a huge project for Naropa University. The project consists of making 81 custom portfolio boxes. We began cutting down materials today.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

By Hand, Day 4

I have begun photographing everything...including the kitchen sink. This project is already teaching me to be much more present in the moment.

Saturday, May 9, 2009

White Rectangles, Day 3

I went to bed thinking about white rectangles and I woke up thinking about white rectangles. Since I now sleep with a camera next to my bed it was an obvious place to begin photographing this morning.

Friday, May 8, 2009

A pattern that connects... Day 2

The second day of my project was a bit more challenging compared to the first. I now had to make an image that in some way visually referenced the first. I became much more conscious of what I was photographing. And of course choosing an image was much more difficult, because I can't change my mind once I have made my decision. I think this project will turn me into an actual photographer...I never really felt like one before.

This image was taken in my backyard of a small alter my husband created. The white lines on the ground are streaks of light passing through the lattice work in the fence. I love the rigidity of the pattern compared to the haphazard arrangement of the river rocks.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Day one, #1


I currently teach photography at the University of Colorado, Boulder and I captured this image walking to the graduation ceremony. Today I took over 200 photographs to start this project and it was tough choosing the first image. The image that all others will spring from in a sense. So here I am, camera in hand, walking down the street. Perhaps a bit cliche but it seemed appropriate. In the early stages of photography the medium was described as "the art of fixing a shadow"...need I say more.

And so it begins...

Today is the beginning of a new project. A visual diary of the year to come. I have made a commitment to myself to carry my camera everywhere so I can record what is going on around me. I will choose one image to represent the day, but each image will in some way visually connect to the previous day's image.

How this project formulated in my mind began with a collaborative assignment my photography students participated in a number of years ago with students at a school in Medellin, Colombia. We called the project "Broken Telephone" based on the whispered word game that is played in a circle. One player whispers a phrase into the ear of the person sitting next to them and it gets whispered around the circle until the last person says outloud what they heard. The phrase or word usually is nothing like what it started out as. Each of my students sent an image to Medellin, then they responded to an image, and sent it back to us, which was then passed to a third and different person in another class. It was great fun and some wonderful image combinations were created and revealed at the end of the "game."

I have given myself the same assignment, but the game will be played only by me to see where this next year leads. I have titled the project "39+" because today, the day I began the project, is my 39th birthday.