Jelly side up

This photo was Zaya's idea- I'd say it was a co-production. 

Seems she's doing that thing that medium-sized people do, which is to say she's loosing teeth. Lucky for us she is growing new ones too- big ones that seem to barely fit in her mouth at all. These teeth keep moving without asking permission from either of us. The tooth is hanging from a fine thread and suddenly the valued muffin with jelly is alarmingly painful to eat. Just when one begins to think they know what they can count on. Luckily, we came up with this work-around...

Long Ago

After going to an interesting lecture by Charlotte Cotton at Mills, I've begun reading a book by her- The Photograph as Contemporary Art. The photographer as interpreter of events, it seems. I fell in love with photography as it allows for wordless communication- ironic now as I come to terms with the importance of verbally communicating my thoughts on images.  

There is a fine line between a snapshot of my daughter and an image that goes beyond that. This one helps me remember what it was like being 7.

extra bits

I suppose it is important to keep in mind the relative importance of things. 

That being said an activity that I find to be largely underrated these days would be the importance of turning ones compost. 

To discover the creepy-crawlies thriving in what we've left behind. 

Begin the Over-Again Ceramic Adventure

Up to no good, Sean & I have gotten into more trouble.
With a new idea we went and purchased some once-loved plates and cups, etc. and then we drew on them with a ceramic over glaze. I am learning. We fire them in a kiln and voila! A re-creation fit for the Over-Again label... heh.
Where can I see this work you ask?
Ah, well, if you are in this Bay Area you can visit the lovely and wonderful Blankspace Gallery, where our work will be making its debut. This Friday night is the time if you want to be there with the crowds.
Otherwise, if you really just want to sit behind the computer, you can!
just go to www.overagain.etsy.com and shop to your heart's content.
And, as things develop there is a new blog just for the Over-Again things.
Wish us luck....

a 4x5 of my daughter & our dog. May love be with you. 

summer of '96

For the summer of 1998 I intelligently ran away to join the circus.
No ordinary circus I fell in love with a special one, and one that too few people over on this west coast seem to know about. Much to my delight, yesterday's NY Times has a wonderful article commemorating the Bread & Puppet Theater; article here. Holland Cotter wrote a really beautiful synopsis, and there is a short slide show there as well. I highly recommend it.
I first went to see the circus in Vermont the summer of '96, right after graduating from college. I took a few 4x5's, which I will try to post here soon. So much I could say, but to summarize I was awed by the place (Northern Vermont farm land), the performance (amazing earth-full puppets) the beauty (as these puppets were used to celebrate our world and the land), and the generosity of it all. All performances are free. Rye bread (which I later helped to grind the flour for) with garlic aioli is given away. Somewhere close to 30,000 people attended that year, and by the time I was working there the "party" atmosphere at the camp sites had gotten so large that by executive order the entire celebration was shut down.
That fall I helped as we went on tour through the Appalachian mountain range- I saw places I'd never been and worked harder than I ever had in my life.
Reading this article makes me want to go back, makes me wish everyone could see that pageant, and makes me wonder why such beautiful things become such small pieces of our collective reality. It needed to stay smaller, but at the same time I wish it could be much, much bigger.
Bread & Puppet's web site here.

seeing all

For those of you who have seen my artwork- you will know that the google "street view" images came as an interest & surprise. At first I was not sure what to make of it- their images being so close to what I've making. A strange companion, google maps. Yesterday I finally looked around and found some really wonderful images- and something very nice about having a defined number of images for me to work with. A collaboration of sorts I guess. This one here was taken in my home town of Oakland, CA.
Now I went to a fun site: digg.com and have discovered photos of the cars that are taking the photos. In fact, microsoft is now also driving around taking their own god-dammed pictures (thank you). So far, one can only see a few of our metropolis's from a close-to-eye-level-view, but rumor has it that these cars are all over the place now and so it seems there is more and more on its way. I'm hoping they will become more international soon- I would love to check out the streets of Haiti or Chad or Istanbul, while at the same time petting my dog and drinking my tea. Multi-tasking 21st century style.
Here is a link to the photos of the google vehicles. I saw the green van on the Bay Bridge briefly- I should have taken a picture but I thought it was big brother out to get me.
Here is a link to a brief article about the microsoft ones vs. the google ones.
What is this desire that clearly more than just I have to document the roads and views and street life in our towns? What can we learn from this fascination? & from the images?
As now gigantic companies compete to document the mundane, I guess I'll sit here and consider documenting these documents.

which one is first

Summer must be here. Zaya's last day of school is tomorrow and the sun is up and the melons and zucchini and tomato's that I've planted are growing-everything needs tying up and then leaves my hands smelling wonderfully green. A smell that is sacred for its ephemeral-ness like the smell a babies head. As the gardening volunteer for the class, we put together a grand finale in Zaya's classroom- eating coleslaw from the cabbages that we'd planted and singing songs that made even me laugh.
I heard a wonderful bird outside now and thought of the songbirds that are going extinct- being kicked out of their territories by building and development followed by the new climate changing their food sources, changing their lives. Some days I can think of these things and feel overwhelmed- that so many of us care and yet it is hard- beyond the obvious of recycling and caring and trying not to drive my car- to know what to do to help. How much to give and how much to take. Realizing that unless there is a major sea change within each of our lives as a country, even as a world, the devastation will be unfathomable before we realize what we've done.
Reminding me of a segment I heard on npr with sound-recorder/ documentarian Bernie Krause. here is the closest excerpt that I could find:

Among his first lessons on how sound can reveal profound changes in the environment: his recordings of Lincoln Meadow in the Sierra's Yuba Pass. There, he recorded before and after "selective" logging of trees. The company said the work wouldn't affect the habitat, but a year later Krause's recordings showed profound changes.
"The density and diversity of bird and frog life was completely altered. The place looks absolutely fabulous, but the critters are all gone," he said.
--S.F. Chronicle, May 2oth, 2007

Bernie Krause- sounds of silence

He is also integrating some of his sound collections with google earth & google maps- so that you can see the land from above, see a map from above, see the ground from street level, and now hear what the place sounds like. amazing. good? bad? I have no idea. Earth documented, encapsulated, captured and easily accessible. seems to file itself away nicely. http://earth.wildsanctuary.com/