36 collages

12.27.10

The room that we live in grows more complete; cold water, then hot.

Dishwasher then not. (A leak). Repair parts ordered.
Boards scraped then stained.
A pot of fennel and sweet potato stew.
I look up the Dutch painters, i.e. Vermeer's The Milkmaid to compare them to the before picture of the conditioned space:

Before (I like the quality of light through this window.) It does feel like the way the light was painted in those Dutch works.


After
The rehab began in Dec of 2005. My mom was still alive. I was giddy to own property. Little did I know what was involved, how intense, and demanding the building restoration would be.

I almost don't know how to act. everything is clean, beautiful, tremendous, new floors, shiny stainless steel, and the inevitable scratch or ding. How to live comfortably with grace? And how to get my art back on track?
I've got the exhibit opening at Birger Sandzen Jan 9th. Something to look forward to- the frames are contemporary and fresh-
The room at the gallery:


It will look nice. 36 fresh collages.

Trip

October 2010
Lots of sunlight early and late, made photographing a joy.

Back from a trip. Brought the camera and took lots of photos- (see Facebook, too). Passed some quirky things; "Sore Loser Tattoo" , "Alive Again Taxidermy", "Prestige Laundry & Snack Bar" & my favorite, while driving at night-- among huge mountain passes, pitch black, the yellow diamond sign, "Watch for Rocks". Yikes! We did not stay here:

Though we did visit this rock shop: Large ostrich eggs, with the promise of an omelet recipe.



There were no rocks or cafe-- just the sign.









This was the entrance to a cattle ranch:

Wonderful folk art

Though dinosaurs may have roamed the long ago this was the only one I spotted: It was busy eating a manikin and no relation to this cowboy: Who sadly had a hole where his crotch should be.

Which reminds me of the many rest stops en route-


I was sad to return to chaos and stress - the building saga, problems galore. Though I learned my collages are part of a two person exhibit at the Birger Sandzen Gallery in KS!

Will it ever be easy, complete, sane? Still glad to get away and see some beauty, as ever, it is there waiting, resonant, willing, and calm.

Until later.

Andrea Fuhrman c 2010

Fleur d Lisle

October 4, 2010
Visited KS City last weekend- show at the Buttonwood, "Visions of the Flint Hills" benefit for the Kansas Park Trust. My two framed landscape photos are in it shameless promotion:($300. each)- for a great cause!

The Flint Hills are a beautiful place to walk, watch clouds, bees, lizards, see sky, so peaceful.
In KS City I discovered how nice it was to sit on my friend's porch and feel the sun, in a green landscaped neighborhood. I live in a rural downtown town, so my glimpse at "nature" is to see beetles crawling out of the cracks in the sidewalk- that I must fix someday.

Took more super macro photos yesterday:Finished reading Ingrid Betancourt's book called Even Silence Has an End - stirring. She was a political prisoner of FARC in Columbia for 6 plus years. Weirdly (and inappropriately) I have only been hostage of this building rehab for five years.
I'm watching Wild China, a dvd set produced by the BBC of the wildlife, flora and land of China. Huge land- so much variation in climate. Breathtaking gorgeous imagery.

Purchased a lovely lace like dresser for the apt. A small treat for storing things. A concrete wish for being able to actually use the dresser, to have some order. Time to bring up all the old bureaus and put clothing from suitcases into drawers. I do wonder why I have all this stuff?

Something I have been noticing a lot lately is that the Fleur de Lisle keeps coming up as an image. In Home Depot splash back tile; as a flash of something in a film, or on clothing, a finial, etc. As the word "chaos" was a word for me in 2009 while I used photography to shoot my way out of my misery- to DO something productive while I felt so stuck and helpless about myself.
Protection. Heraldic. Boy Scouts. A flower. Purity and Chasity.
Now it's Fleur de Lisle coming up everywhere. (This one's borrowed from Wikipedia).


I was soothed the other day by a song by Alanis Morrisette, "That I would be good". How to hold on to the beauty in everyday?


My work, #2601 is finally on its way to the Bryn Mawr Rehab Hospital for the ArtAbility exhibit. I won the photo award for this work.

I will be submitting work to the 27th Annual Five State Photo exhibit in Hays KS. It's being juried by two folks who have been to Photo Fest in Houston which I was told is a good place to have art photography reviewed.





#2601 Andrea Fuhrman c 2009

That all of us would be good.

Bugs, allergies, remanents, elderberry

Sept 9, 2010

Crickets, cicadas, crawly things, elderberry and an infant. What a lovely day. Do I take the elderberry? It doesn't smell very appealing. Babysitting Fisher - he's the ultimate exquisite baby.
I am loving the book by Susan Piver, How Not to be Afraid of Your Own Life. Meditation as a way of being present. Being lovable and gentle with myself along with the rest of the human race.

Bought more lumber. Duane is using an orbital palm sander w/ hook & loop sanding discs on the joint compound. He wants a Makita instead of the tool he's got.I put the sheet rock and wood donut holes from the pipes and can lights in the window. He trimmed the 7" discs so there are curved remnants. I like round. Circles, pods, spheres. Like the planet we are on.


I dream of lime as a color, shades of it, and hot red and blues and purples and sage and turquoise.
Colors of an old film Sweet November.









Working on the Supermacro series. I burn a new dvd to run as a slide loop- so here's what it looked like last night in the display window:








I'm humbled by the other photographers mentioned on Arthood. I'm applying to other places to show my work. Ideas welcome.

Been busy

September 2
Baby sat for little Fisher today.
My re-entry into caring for friends' child in a long time.
He's 3 months, filled out, with excellent communication. Fussy when hungry, wet or tired.
So easy to please. Expressed milk from mom and he suckles it happily. The incredible beauty and translucency of his eyelids when he naps. His attentiveness to things in the world, the wind chimes, my breath, the sound of chirping peepers in his rocking "bed".

I've framed two small photos lately- for a show in KS City. They are images of the Flint Hills, and more representational than the abstract photos.

I attempted framing the two works w/ plexi- and as usual, the world is not static (dust, spots, etc.) free. A struggle.




Have had some chaos lately; sent a large photo to a show in PA. UPS dropped and damaged the crated work-and sent me the "balance" of the item.
So the frame is being repaired, the print and mat damaged. Had to reprint the photo- and the printer I use has a new machine, so the colors aren't the same. Do I send the revised work back to the PA venue? I'm supposed to hear back from UPS soon about whether they will honor the insurance that they accepted when they took the package.

Last week I was a panelist for a grant-giving organization. Reviewed lots of images, stories, listened to music and watched film clips from talented artists. It was really interesting and challenging to determine who was actually meeting the guidelines and whose projects sound feasible, innovative, unique-- or are they enterprising concepts? A bit of some juxtaposition and even contradiction here. Something that is innovative may not actually be marketable.

At the hotel where I stayed overnight I simply channel surfed and watched with horror about parasites on Animal Planet.

Shot some photos from the hotel room: The bed, the view, the a/c vent.











The sheetrock is receiving its coat of joint compound. A luscious kind of painterly strokes with a knife. Happy to do it, despite the enormity of the whole project. I remember working at a gallery in Chicago and loving the application of spackle to cover over the holes and pencil marks from the absent art.










Another oil spill today in the Gulf.
What kind of karma that area has.
Or what kind of greed and corrupt practice to foul the water.
The blue planet. The water of which we are also comprised of.

Have watched a fabulous series about water shot in "HD". The filming is spectacular, but the writing and narration fails. I could watch it without sound, as kind of a silent magical panorama of images. (Silly note: Reminds me of an earlier TV channel that showed a Yule log burning in the fireplace on XMAS day.)
So I've been busy.

To Salina today. Saw a great graffiti en route. Took some photos of it on my return. Luscious painterly shapes, a bit reminiscent of Guston? Or Morris Graves?
Had lunch with a friend who is an actor. Asian chicken salad. Iced coffee. So interesting to learn about the discipline of acting to be the art where one's body is the art; one's expression, movement, speech, affect, emotion. She made a beautiful drawing of a costume for a performance. Brave and brilliant. We talked about Louise Nevelson's fabulous eyelashes.

In my work I appropriate, circle round the image, editing and forming it to my own aesthetic. I react, recreate, respond, and putter. Yet when out taking photos, I am exposed, and possibly observed while I work- if a car or truck zooms by. I hide myself behind the camera, and peek into a world of my own making.

Tomorrow, make new DVD slide loops of my newest work and prepare to ship framed piece to a show.

My parents' wedding anniversary tomorrow, if they were alive.

Splash!

Visited the Kenwood Cove Water Park today to shoot peopled images of the Byzantine smalti glass mural designed by me! Wonderful to enter the wave pool, and float near the mural wall. The lifeguard whistled me away from the wall however- perhaps when the waves occur there may be someone who bumps their head? We swam the "lazy river" which has a current, circling the water park. We opted to go "tubeless" while hoards of people floated by. At one part of the part are a series of water slides, which looked like fun. I showered off the chlorine and the room smelled of lotion and dampness.
Yet I remember being little and being very scared of the long wooden slides at Steeplechase. I think I tried it once. I remember the "picnics" that my father's workplace offered to employees. A whole day at Steeplechase. I went wild. Funny mirrors, a caterpillar ride that had a top that came over the length of the cars, riding a swing that people sat in slings which were bound by centrifugal force so the arc of the circle became larger. And bountiful cups of vanila ice cream- I took a pack on the Ferris Wheel, while my sister and my father rode the parachute ride- which often got stuck at the top.


Earlier today I took some supermacro photos; but wasn't able to shoot for long.

Progress on the building continues. As I write the sheetrock envelope is being installed. I look forward to using joint compound!