zen zen

Engagement: White Light - "EWL"

zen@ovoo.com (zen) — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 02:34:00 +0000

The logistical part of the project is kicking in. Lots of figuring stuff out, like the template and where the objects go so that the Installation crew just has to pin the cardboard up and drill holes without the tedium of measuring and arranging from scratch. The mummified cat and bats' head are complimented by the scuzzy birds - all compliments from the inhouse contractor, Jack. These guys are the tip of the iceberg in his wood shop!

Engagement: White Light

zen@ovoo.com (zen) — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 08:38:00 +0000

The television program has aired on Oregon Art Beat, on the OPB network. It will be repeated on Sunday night at 6pm. There is something weird about watching yourself on telelvision. But it is not weird enough to make me pull away.....
One week to go before the opening. The calmness belies the frantic treadmill in my head.
The installation opens at Contemporary Crafts Museum and Gallery on Friday January 12, 2007, 5:30 - 8pm.
www.contemporarycrafts.org

Rugs of War - The Photo Shoot

zen@ovoo.com (zen) — Mon, 16 Jan 2006 18:10:00 +0000

Locating a space large enough to accommodate the rug (and the scarf - not shown) was easier than first thought. Paul Foster is the photographer, and he has shot all of my work for 2004 - 2005. Now that the blanket is documented, it can be disassembled, ready to be reworked as a Rug of War. The scarf is almost complete and the lettering has turned out extremely successful.
B U C K F U S H :-)

Given the issues in the news this week and that fact that his administration seems to continue unhindered, it just all makes you wonder. Someone told me last night that in the last 3 years, the USA has killed almost as many civilians as what Saddam did during 37 years of reign. And the moral right wonders why 'they - the Iraqis'" don't want this type of democracy.
z

Rugs of War - and a Happy New Year

zen@ovoo.com (zen) — Fri, 06 Jan 2006 02:35:00 +0000

The new Rugs of War series is well under way, after riding the wave of success from the performance in October, then the showing at City Hall. The icing on the cake was an image appearing in the Portland Tribune in their Picture of the Year selection. Thanks Trib!

The Rugs of War series will take 2 years to complete, and consists of hand made objects, reminescent of the objects the women made for their men during war times, but with a contemporary twist. These are not your grandmothers hand knitted sox. The inspiration comes from being in the USA, specifically because "somebody" out there elected Bush for a second term.

The Bucky Scarf - this is a 'work in progress' shot, showing the back of the piece. The front of the piece has vertical lettering that carry their own loaded message. The fun part is this piece glows in the dark and has managed to make quite a few locals nervous. Should be able to install it for a full lenth image sometime next week. Then the real work starts with the huge rug. It is literally 3 stories long and will be loaded with its' own version of WMD's. Abu Hoods, and a few other little gems. The more I listen to the radio and catch up on the brilliantly skewed news here, the more I love the fact that an entire country seems to be putting up with this little annoying stone in their shoe. Bushy - Cheney - Dicey Ricey - and don't forget the Rummy Bunny - it is all getting to be toooooooooooo much fun.
z

Fake Sweeteners and Wishing Someone Well

zen@ovoo.com (zen) — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 04:43:00 +0000

Yesterday I was asked to name an object that I thought represented my experiences here in the US. Without even drawing breath, the image of a fake sweetener came to mind - all sugary and pleasing to the palette, and 'good for you because it is NOT sugar', with no calories, non-fat and no carbs. BUT it is FAKE; another one of zillions of altered food products that seem to thrive here, and made of pure chemicals that don't seem to occur natually in your body. Convenient. Disposable. Fake niceness. So it is a product trying to be something that it isn't! Real. What would you identify?

Let's not get started on how I would describe some of the members of the current administration - (but without them, I wouldn't be so busy making art!) Now, there is an exercise in fake sweeteners if ever I have witnessed one. (That might also explain how they got the intelligence wrong about WMD in Iraq - the sweetner must have blown into their eyes and blurred their vision!!!)

Last Thursday at City Hall night was a hoot! Thank-you to everyone who braved the weather and came along for the speeches and chat. I want to pass along a genuine thank-you to David Gonzalez and everyone in Governor Sam's office that helped make all of this happen. After chatting with Sam and his staff, there is no doubt that they are not fake sweeteners at all. In fact, I could tell more......but that will be another blog post......and the rug is still hanging there in all of it's three story glory.As soon as the rug comes 'home' it will be reworked and appear in it's new role as the premier piece of a 4 work series entitled 'rugs of war'. "No sweetners will be harmed in the making of this work". This shot of the border was taken in my studio, and you can easily make out some of the letters in the work.
:-)
zen@ovoo.com

The Office Assistant - Do you miss me yet?

zen@ovoo.com (zen) — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 06:34:00 +0000

It was a little weird and lonely coming in to the space tonight, with just the security guard for company. Al had waited for me around 5, but I was delayed due to circumstances well beyond my control. Thanks for waiting though Al. Someone called the rug a snow drift when it was laying on the floor, all bundled up upon itself. I kept thinking of an image from a morning commute early in the project - when Portland was fog bound.

While I was wrapping and tieing the rug into a secure bundle, I started to think through the process of judgement. There was a distinct correlation to when people started calling the rug 'beautiful' and when it was hung up high on the wall. Prior to that moment, there certainly was a lot of consternation and judgement!Thankfully, this didn't stop a group of students from interacting with it though. Another favorite image is of baby Charley, who came to visit. It is so remarkable having a baby in your arms. Especially when you have just crocheted one honking big baby rug!

What always surprises me though is how people will readily judge a static object, but won't say directly what is on their mind if they are addressing a person. For this installation, I am the artwork - the rug is a product of my performance. You have to judge me! Like I am an object. It is interesting to note how many of you 'judged' the rug and when. It is as if you didn't know how to identify art in a new format, but once you saw something that you could equate as 'art', i.e. something hanging on the wall, then you couuld judge!

The last Friday was more emotional than I thought it would be. Being the tough old chook that I am of course. Chris came by and jived for a bit, both with his yellow glasses on and off. Eastern Oregon University sent another ground force along to check out what this project was all about. Lyle, Doug (who have an unknown political affiliations), Chris and Tim (who are both proud Independants); but I think that Jolynn might have been edging towards Republican......hmm, Jolynn, I think we need to 'talk'.....

Ned came down for a chat, after watching this for 4 weeks. He is an Office Assistant, and in the unusual position of holding the same education qualifications as the managers that he supports. Having applied for more than 400 jobs in the last year, he absolutely understands the premise of this installation, rather well! Dan and Bean are both artists and had come to the space to see if they would submit an application for the next cycle. Our discussion very quickly centered on how you must invent a choice for yourself, otherwise it all slips away, rather quickly at times. Benjamin is a recent grad of Marylhurst so we talked art of course.

Joy was checking out the listings on Portland Travel, and came to visit the project. Michala is originally from Czech, so of course we talked about all things Czech, including their craft traditions. Todd is another employee who had surreptitiously avoided the project for the entire month, chosing to interact literally in the last half an hour. His philosophy is "why watch the entire season when you can catch it all in the last episode!". OK. Todd is a Directors Executive Assistant who also likes to snorkel. I think he is trying to snorkel under the rug, given the color of his face in there!! David has quietly helped out the installation from his desk across the way. More than once he as acted as Messenger, which is appreciated and shared the secrets of levitation. The last image captured before the batteries went out is Mike. We were able to spend quite some time chatting late in the afternoon. He knew all about security, having worked in politics in Hawaii for many years. It was simple - if the Democrats lost an election, he was out of a job. After some years when his children had grown and left home, and his wife had sadly passed away, Mike decided that it was time for him to 'do what he really wants to do', so he joined a seminary. There he met his current wife, an ordained Minister.

Mary from RACC shouted me a bus ticket so that I could ride home and be dry, rather than walk those 4 famous miles one last time. Numerous participants in the project stopped by, and said farewell to the rug and to myself. Now we continue through the blog, until the rug comes back on the 1st of December.

Thanks to everyone that has been filling out the Performance Reviews too. All feedback is appreciated.
zen@ovoo.com

The invitation has gone out!

zen@ovoo.com (zen) — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 04:30:00 +0000

The weather has turned, and so it seems, has the mood of the season. With the US celebration of Thanksgiving fast approaching, I am trying to crawl out from under the end of year workload that all Artist's go through. Such as reconciling all of those rejection letters, and sourcing new hope for new projects. The rug is still dominating my studio life - and has stretched more than 18" in the last week. I just keep crocheting! Here is the invitation from Commissioner Adam's office for the gathering on First Thursday on December 1st. I think we will all enjoy a little celebration by then.
ciao,
zen@ovoo.com

The butterfly rug is emerging...

zen@ovoo.com (zen) — Thu, 17 Nov 2005 15:34:00 +0000

The rug is hanging and seems to be metaphorically evolving like a butterfly! Now that it is up, it is also extremely daunting in size, scale and sheer impact of the project. Thankfully, I had a friend help me to manage the volume of the rug as we grunted and puffed our way through hanging it over the balcony of the 'cocktail deck' in the studio. This weekend I start the ladder work - standing on it, trailing the plastic, and literally crocheting in situ - it is the only way I can get to the mid sections to do the finish work. As the rug hangs it is dropping under it's own weight - and has stretched itself out more than four feet in both directions. What you can see is the rug folded in half length ways. It is 6 squares by 10 squares.
zen@ovoo.com

The rug is like a chrysalis

zen@ovoo.com (zen) — Mon, 14 Nov 2005 16:07:00 +0000

It is Monday morning, and the new artist will be opening his/her installation about now. I wonder if the employees will have any reaction, or even notice a change - or have the ripples from last month dissipated? I can't wait to get to the studio again - the rug will be hung tomorrow, to let the weight of it stretch out the final design. Not all of the pieces are assembled yet - that will happen the week before Thanksgiving.

Structuring the unstructured

zen@ovoo.com (zen) — Fri, 11 Nov 2005 15:03:00 +0000

There is always a fair amount of envy from my non-artist friends over my 'lack of a job'. There is a completely misplaced perception that 'artist's don't work very hard or much, and that they are undisciplined'. These same 'friends' kick and moan about how 'their job takes up too much of their time' and yet, it is not like they are doing anything with passion in their off hours!

What usually happens is when these friends have significant down time, 'unemployed for long periods of time', they have no clue as to how they must structure their time to be productive. One of the hardest things to do is self-direct your energies - and one of the easiest things to do is to hide behind your job, using it as the perpetual excuse and always griping 'if I didn't have to work I would be.......'

I have had two people tell me the same thing this week - they don't like to work very hard! Give me a break!! Either work harder and get to where you want to be, or stop expecting the world to deliver your life to you. It is this sense of entitlement that is the most galling. Especially as it is always this same type of person that wants to glob onto you when you have success (and they don't)! Take responsibility for your choice to not work hard and go find others that have the same outlook. Humans are self-selecting - I hang with other equally hard working and highly disciplined artists.

So, how has my life been this week - interesting and busy! I've only walked 20 miles, because the destination is closer to home. The rug is coming along nicely, and now requires two people to lift and move it. There will be photo's early next week. The daily structure is quite different now - I start around 10 in the morning and work through until 1- 2am. That gig in the Portland building was a cinch in comparison!
zen@ovoo.com

Listening to your own voice

zen@ovoo.com (zen) — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 16:04:00 +0000

Yesterday was a day of work in silence with no conversation. Sometimes the thoughts get a bit raucous, but the isolation is incredibly powerful for the art work. Nothing quite like being a middle aged woman laughing at your own jokes when you are on your own! Anyhow, Jolly brought me this cartoon published in the New Yorker a couple of weeks ago. Credit is readily given to the artist and the content is too apt to the project for me to overlook.

A new life with the rug

zen@ovoo.com (zen) — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 15:58:00 +0000

It is different now, sitting alone, crocheting. No lobby, no faces of misery as people come in to work. Just silence, and the swish of the material as I work on the border. :-)
zen@ovoo.com

The Office Assistant - Catching up on the backlog

zen@ovoo.com (zen) — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 03:38:00 +0000

Thankyou to everyone that called out a cheery 'hello' this morning. The comfortable routine is back in place. Walking 40 and Working 40. (Yep - I really am walking my commute and it really does add up to 40 miles in 5 days.) Have you ever looked at yourselves as you walk into the lobby - what a bloody miserable lot you all are. Nobody seems happy to be back at work, or expresses it through their facial expressions. It makes me want to launch the Loaded Smile ever more frequently. Every aspect of this nascent community is appreciated though - from the friendly frequent visitors to the small clusters that insist on ignoring me 6 times a day.

The key question today has been 'what will become of this (quilt) at the end of the installation?' I don't quite know just yet, but Drummond navigated me to the office of Commissioner Sam Adams, where I met Jesse Beason. Word on the street is that Sam is a keen supporter of the Arts, so it seems appropriate that all enquiries be directed to him somehow. Apparently Sam was in Australia last week, and left for the Czech Republic today. He doesn't need to travel so much to find me - I am right across the street. "Hey Sam - if you are in Czech, can you bring back my studio boots? They are in the second drawer of the white dresser." If anyone has any inspirational ideas on what to do with this huge, growing quilt, then email Jesse - :-) The stats for the work to date are impressive - 30 square meters and counting, weighing in around 15 pounds right now. The plan is to try and hang it up on Wednesday, before I get lost underneath it all.

Perhaps another way to look at this project is to ask "is all of this work in vain?" Which might be like asking "are you spending your life in your job in vain?" What does "in vain" actually mean? Take it all one step further and the conversation always arrives at Iraq - "have soldiers died there in vain?" What would be your reaction if I sat here for another month and methodically dismantled my work, pulling each square apart and rewinding the plastic back onto the spool? Would that work be 'in vain?' And if I did, wouldn't that get right up the nose of these same people who comment that this project is a 'waste of time'.

Whilst pondering that one (thanks Al!) Ellen and her purple hat checked out the volume of the work. Susan told me how she has moved departments, and life started to feel better (with some interesting circular feedback from people that had worked in that department too!), whist Charles checks in on a regular basis - in his designated role of Supervisor. For the record, the plastic is reclaimed - not recycled. It was sitting on a loading dock when the kidnapping took place, in broad daylight, saving the spools from certain death in a land fill. Now it is very happy to live quietly as an art project.

The Office Assistant - In the Portland Tribune

zen@ovoo.com (zen) — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 14:15:00 +0000

WOW - the impact of the Tribune article is startling. My sincerest thanks go to Joseph Gallivan for the story and Jim Clark for the images. :-) And also to everyone that came to visit because of reading the article. The 'good' news is that there was no crochet accomplished today - and the conversations were incredibly interesting. There is also a link on the website to the Tribune article, under Media, print media. Given the rapid speed of change to the site at the moment, always hit your browser refresh button with each visit.

Adrienne visited again, telling me how she began working here as an Americorp volunteer. Barbara came in as the Bearer of Great News. Then Bill came by - he practices Zen. Half way through that chat Channel 8 as Tim Jacobs arrived. Like all good media coverage, I haven't seen the spot on the news - if I owned a tv, the chances would be better! Alex and Carolyn from Standard Insurance came by to check out my authenticity because they are both Office Assistants. We had fun! despite the look on Alexs' face as she tries to crochet. Then Christine came by to chat Artist to Artist - to be joined by Connie, who was in a Tai Chi class with Christine more than ten years ago and hadn't seen each other since then. Lorena took on a Ceremonial robe, and
Joyce brought her entire Ceremonial Art class by. Mick the Amex Musician snuggled under the rug, while Andreas went Corporate with his cell phone in repose mode.

Thank-you to everyone that take the time to check in each day, have a chat, and peruse the quilt. (Al and Bonnie are keeping my nutrition levels up!) Also thank-you to the person that made a point of telling me that she LOVES her job, but doesn't think much of the Tribune article or care much my art work either. I was thrilled that she made the effort to tell me. Now I hope she is able to read the premise on the project and can follow the dialogue on the blog.

The Office Assistant - What were those questions again?

zen@ovoo.com (zen) — Thu, 27 Oct 2005 05:13:00 +0000

So, what do you REALLY want to do?
And why aren't you doing it?
What would you do if there were only 24 hours left of existence?
And what would you do if you had one year left to live?
Now, answer that first question again.....

Christopher came to visit and quietly put each of those questions into focus. His comment is in the book, and is a very sobering perspective. His answers also seemed to amplify the 'non' answers from everyone else. There is nothing quite like the knowledge of how much longer you might 'have' to make you think about those questions and get this stuff figured out. As Christopher accurately noticed, this installation is not a commentary about an actual job - but rather about the security and comfort that a job can generate and in reality, how transitory that security and comfort (or any security and comfort) really is. It is only when you have taken it all for granted and are suddenly confronted with circumstances of incredible magnitude such as premature death, or situations way beyond your control, that each moment takes on deeper significance. He bowed his head in thought and touched the work with gentleness. Everything matters when you know that time has gone. Christopher is not the first person to share this story with me. But he is the youngest. I was grateful for the long, slow, rainy walk home.....

Jesse and David from Commissioner Sam Adams Office came by. Jesse's comment about "finding the perfect job I never knew I wanted' was refreshing. Debra has already started a process to create the life that she wants and has some insightful comments on the process. Michelle used to work for the City, and in fact, bumped into someone from her past life whilst visiting the quilt. Michelle prefers to not 'be on the path' but rather 'watches to see what coming'. When you first meet Laura Sewell, you wouldn't know that she had lived 37+ years in India and can catalogue books in 5 languages. Her spirit matches her gorgeous jacket, and twinkles through her eyes. Her attitude said it all - it is not about the money! I hope she can visit again next week. The "RACC gurls" came by - Lorin, Kristin and Ingrid, getting all wrapped up in the rug.....Mikko played under the crochet, and will bring a friend when he comes back next week too. Another visitor gave the analogy that right now, his life is a round room full of doors and he is scared of going through one in case he misses out on something else. In the end he is sitting alone in an empty round room full of closed doors. It seemed that every decade and stage of life has been represented today, and that everyone had a story of how security and comfort had been disrupted unexpectedly.

And now the quilt is starting to organize itself. With the help of Jesse and David, there is a strong possibility that the quilt will hang in one of the atriums over at City Hall, in time for First Thursday in December. (I hope Sam brings my boots back for the event!!)