Now I am Here, #7

I took a walk through Golden Gate Park the other day and loved watching the interplay of light through the trees in relation to my own movements and distance.

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Road Trip No. 1

lava field

A few weeks ago I went on a road trip from Reykjavík to Höfn. The drive took my friend and I along the south coast of the island with many stops along the way, a few planned and many spontaneous... waterfalls, massive rocks and the sea, an abandoned plane, fields of moss-covered lava, glaciers and glacial lagoons, icebergs, ruins of old houses and barns, black sand beaches, hot pots and a very old pool built into the side of a mountain. I think my favorite moments were the ones in which time seemed to stand still or to not even exist. What a good feeling. It was an amazing experience!

You can see all my photos on Flickr.

steam and snow

a very old croft or turf house

DC 3/Sólheimasandi

an abandoned US Navy plane on a black sand beach

Heinabergsjökull, glacial lagoon

the Atlantic Ocean at Vík

Thanks for reading.

Hmm, Very Interesting…My Favorites 2013

David Choi

Here it is: my list of 2013 favorites! This year it's exclusive to the internet and it's a long list. I must say, 2013 was the year I completely fell in love with the internet. I liked it a whole, whole lot before, but this year, wow, I saw and read so many interesting things every single day. This post covers only a fraction...

Jewelry

David Choi's work (top image) is my absolute favorite jewelry of the year. Those fabricated forms are pretty wonderful. I also love the work of Begoña Prats and Helena Lehtinen.

Art

The Topography of Tears by Rose-Lynn Fisher, a collection of photographs that examine different kinds of tears, took my breath away.

Berndnaut Smilde creates cloud installations in beautiful spaces…while Share Your Sun, a project by Ólafur Elíasson, gives everyone a chance to participate by posting images of the sun where they live. Light Echoes (video below) by Aaron Koblin and Ben Tricklebank is a fantastic video of digital imagery projected by a moving train on the ground below. After watching the video I became very interested in the work of Aaron Koblin, too.



I also love this video of the first encounter after years of separation of once partners/artistic collaborators, Marina Abramovic and Ulay. It happens at her MOMA retrospective and it moves me every time I see it.

Street Art and Graffiti

Ian Strange (above image) has roots in street art and graffiti and also creates incredible installations, photography and video.  I am especially drawn to his "Suburban" project. I also discovered the graphic, large-scale installations and paintings of L'Atlas (below image) and the graphic yet fluid illustration and wall work of Cannon Dill.

Abandoned Spaces

I became interested in ghost buildings when I was living in Antwerp, Belgium and since then have been collecting images of them. I was really happy to see this post on Hyperallergic that features the phenomena that "remain as an unintentional texture of memory..."

I saw two posts on abandoned buildings that I revisited throughout the year...haunting images from "Creedmoor State Hospital," (above image) and others that focus on "Family Life Frozen in Time" by Niki Feijen. 

Music

Zola Jesus, whose music is intelligent and emotional, has an incredible voice and really knows how to use it. (I was also lucky to see her live this past fall and it was a thrilling show.) And, I'm always happy to read about my absolute favorite musician ever, Björk. This post in particular describes a concise "History and Style of a Music Maverick." 

Maps and Information

"Where You Are" is a collection of maps by a variety of artists, writers and thinkers, each inspired by personal experience. I've not seen the book in person but I've spent lots of time on the website where you can examine each map. 

I became a little obsessed with the US Wind Map (above image) which shows live wind patterns. I was also a little obsessed with all the wonderful diagrams and charts on Information is Beautiful, a website that features information in all sorts of beautiful ways. Finally, I was impressed with "The Beauty of Mathematics" which shows lovely depictions of math as found in our every day lives. 

Writing

How to Write: A Year in Advice from Franzen, King, Hosseini, and More is an inspiring article about process and creation from different writers' points of view, but the information can be applied to any discipline, in my opinion. I've been taking notice of poetry recently and really enjoyed "What is Poem?", an article that explains poetry and how to appreciate it better in simple terms. My favorite part comes right at the end and centers on a one-word poem. 

I can't remember if I've shared this on the blog before because I've talked about it with so many friends...it feels like maybe I wrote about it here, too. I read Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke (above image) when I was in Iceland. I spent a lovely morning in the library in Skagaströnd reading these letters and as soon as I was done, I read them again. Then I read them a few more times over the course of my residency and since returning to the US. They don't take long to read and are simply beautiful and inspiring.

Interesting Articles

"When the Conscious Listens to the Unconscious" and "Haruki Murakami: Talent is Nothing Without Focus and Endurance" are two articles that got me excited about what I do while also giving me a tremendous sense of calm, an "I'm-on-the-right-path feeling." The first one is all about intuition and theory, while the second one talks about the importance of working hard and being tenacious. 

Podcasts and Videos

The above video is a mesmerizing time-lapse of a container ship delivering cargo in Rotterdam. I saw it on NOTCOT at the beginning of the year and was transfixed. The accompanying music is also really good.

I don't remember how I found Brene Brown's "The Power of Vulnerability" TED talk, but I am so happy I did. I've listened to it several times and find it inspiring every time. Vulnerability is always the right choice… "You Are Here", "The Soul Patch" and "Letting Go" are all Radiolab podcasts I listened to while I was embroidering my "Island." They are fascinating and brought tears to my eyes. 

Nature

Last, but certainly not least, I really hope to see total cloud inversion one day as shown in "A Sea of Clouds Fills the Grand Cayon." (above image)

That's a long list and I see I've used the word "inspiring" a lot. These links were truly inspiring for me and continue to be. I hope you visit each one and enjoy them as much as I do. Tomorrow I will post my Icelandic favorites!

...and here are the lists for 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2012 Belgium.

Thanks for reading.

Going Into Nature

I've spent a little bit of time in nature in the past couple of weeks going for hikes and walking in city parks. I'm looking at light and how it interacts with different kinds of things like leaves, trees, and water. I'm also taking a closer look at moss and see trees as simple lines...

See more images on Flickr and on Facebook.

Thanks for reading.

New Sources

One more thing before I share the new piece I'm working on and explain my Nes residency project--I want to share more about my new sources. I admire natural forms, of course. I have a collection several years in the making of seed pods, branches, and other similar objects back in the U.S. I usually say I'm inspired by the formal qualities of these pieces--I see shape, line, pattern, and so on. But, it was not until now that I am truly looking to the natural world for inspiration. I am not surprised...from images I have seen of Iceland before I got here, I knew. When I read there are over 700 kinds of lichen, I knew. Now that I am here, how can I not be influenced? I went for a long walk the other day along the cliffs and began collecting images with my digital camera. Between these forms, the landscape, and the weather, I have much to look to.

Tomorrow I will show you the piece I am working on!

See more pics on Facebook and Flickr.

Thanks for reading.