sunny spots

I stole this photo from the Blue Rose Girl blog. This Sunday I went to Libby's in Mystic with all the other Blue Rose Girls for brunch and roller skating. Libby's sunny apartment by the water has become my fondest haven. Life has been rushed, hectic and confusing, and I've been keeping a nocturnal schedule and not seeing much daylight. But for a few hours I felt as wonderful as it looks in this picture. Yellow walls, yellow mimosa, yellow Alvina socks! See the official BRG recap here.

dark night of the soul

Before it goes on 2 months since I've blogged...

Back in November I had to go to the Danforth Museum to repair a small crack to the Grace angel on display there. The museum staff was kind enough to let me in after hours, along with Libby and Grace who came with their knitting to keep me company.

On our way out they let us into the Ana Maria Pacheco exhibition: Dark Night of the Soul. I knew I'd want to see it, but I didn't at all expect what I found there.

It is one room kept nearly dark, with a stone patio in the middle on which 19 giant carved wooden figures stand in a mysterious grouping. I walked the perimeter around them, glimpsing other figures behind in the shadows, with spotty light catching just a hand, an untied shoe, an agonized face. Our guide told us it was okay to walk onto the patio and through the figures. All three of us hesitated. Though they are not realistic, the shadows, their stilled intensity, their hugeness make them appear to move and be realer then real.

I stepped in feeling dwarfed and intimidated, and followed the direction most of them were looking toward, finally coming to Saint Sebastian with a chest full of arrows. It completely stopped me and filled me with things I couldn't identify. Then I got dizzy and the levelness of the room began to fade. I had to hurry off the patio and out of the room before I fell.

It's been a long time since I've had an experience like that in a museum. It's been a long time since art moved me that much. The exhibition is there until May 18, I hope to go back. It shouldn't be missed.

gifts

2007 was full of gifts, because I'm lucky to have the greatest friends on earth. I mean it. Sprouting paper whites from my mum; my fire eating page in the local paper framed by Margaret; a hand made (blue!) pottery fountain from Eric; fire photos of me from Haus; the most amazingly thoughtful gloves ever made for my winter-chilled middle finger by ElizaB; a Peruvian mirror of masks from Sandra; and a gorgeous new Canon Rebel xti camera, (technically company equipment, but around for me to take all these pictures with!) from Karl.

Master Peter

I meant to put this up a long time ago! Thanks to Bob Bresnick for YouTube-ing this video of the Master Peter show we did at Wesleyan University and the Kennedy Center. The puppets were built by Leslie Weinberg and her Wesleyan students, and I built the horse at 4:45. The puppeteers were also all students directed by Bob, except for Don Quixote's right arm, which is me, at 5:44. I miss this show so much.

Watch the other 2 Puppetsweat videos listed too. I didn't put them here because I'm not in them. :)

toy teachers

Four of our students added Bob and me to their puppet show. We played cops, kind of.

toy theater

The Quinnipiac puppetry class wrapped up with five happily surprising toy theater performances.

annunciation

The winter of 2007 has been wonderfully full, too full to blog about yet. To fill in the gap, here is one of my all time favorite paintings, Fra Angelica's Annunciation at the top of the staircase of the San Marco monastary in Florence. When I first saw it 12 years ago it knocked me over, and it continues to whenever it pops up, which it often does at the most interesting times and in the most interesting places.

Happy holidays to all!

shadow puppets

Bob Bresnick, my co-teacher, and the Quinnipiac students' shadow puppet dress rehearsal. Karl and I built and designed this nifty, portable stage. I'm looking forward to using it myself.

CWOS 07: Sunday

Meg, me and Kim on the final day of City Wide this year; our great bright room; Tony; and our annual Thai Taste celebration afterwards: Kevin, Kim, Tony, me and Aidan.

assistant

I really need one, especially so I can relieve my mum who diligently comes and works 16 hour days without (much) complaint, stuffed into my tiny studio with me, matting and framing so I can keep painting. Here she is with the box of prints getting ready for City Wide Open Studios, which has become such a big endeavour.

She has to put up with a lot when I am in pre-CWOS stress. She's learned the trick of making martinis to keep me out of her hair.

CWOS: Toxic School (take 2)

It's my 6th year doing the New Haven City Wide Open Studios Alternative Space. We're back in the former Hamden Middle School, and I'm so happy to be sharing a room with three super talented friends: Tony Baloney Juliano, Meg Giannotti, and Kim Mikenis. This week they've been busy working on cleaning and decorating the Computer Lab, while my space (last photo) is a bit lagging. But with my mom's help, by Saturday it'll be rocking. www.cwos.org for info and directions.

Japanese

A package from Houghton Mifflin arrived today with 2 copies of The Water Gift in Japanese. I was excited enough to blog about it, and while posting I saw this on Blue Rose Girls posted today. My life abounds with synchronicity lately.

The books had neat little scraps of paper in them that are just as interesting and unfathomable to me. Of course I have to give one of these to Kenichi, Waka and Linka.

angel in transit

Figuring out how to pack and ship the angel took about as long as making her. I had to build a form fitting box that fit within another box. I felt bad for the art handlers who had to deal with my detailed instructions, but the Child at Heart people took it in stride. She's currently on display at the Newburyport, MA library, and goes onto the Danforth Museum on October 31 as part of the Robert's Snow exhibition.