ambidextrous ambassador

ZEEGLAS- first batch

2011-06-15T01:39:00.001-07:00

Nostalgia: fore and aft

2011-05-17T13:58:00.000-07:00

Now we have two nostalgias, the first characterized by escapism from reality and the second by dynamism for the present and principally for the future, waiting for action and decisiveness, in expectation and suspense for someone or something. The first relates to memory, the slightly sad, an unrealized desire, the imagination, etc.. The new nostalgia — with a new content, ontological content — does not like the escapism “to the past” and dislikes the memory’s “going back”... It looks fixedly at life and has eschatological content and perspective. Finally, the second has the same positive content as the etymological one : it has a direct and synonymous relation to “hope” and “expectation”. This nostalgia is for everybody and for peoples and especially for the young...

After this little essay, it is very clear that nostalgia concerns life itself, mankind and especially the young, because it gives to them an orientation and a direction in time, many perspectives and posibilities for action, an expectation for the future... Finally, this nostalgia can succeed in reviving the flat and flagging visions of every human person and humanity. In other words, eschatological nostalgia is proper for the existential perspective of humanity...

Prof. Hdr. Archim. Grigorios D. Papathomas,
Dean of the St Platon Theological Seminar in Tallinn.

http://www.orthodoxa.org/GB/orthodoxy/theology/eschatologicalNostalgia.htm

Zeeglas Machine: 17 May 2011-GLASS!!!

2011-05-17T13:15:00.000-07:00

Zeeglas Machine: Build up- 16 May 2011 with Lorenzo and Carl

2011-05-17T12:34:00.001-07:00

With gratitude and respect to Lorenzo and Carl.

Zeeglas Machine: 16 May 2011 First run(smooth, but without glass)

2011-05-17T12:20:00.000-07:00

It comes at last with peace and exhilaration. The moment of first sight is filled with power and calm. I find the warmth in my center pushing up through my body and curling the corners of my mouth. My eyes getting wider. My fingers tingling. My heart racing. Steady.

Bustin' With Lyske

2011-05-16T13:34:00.000-07:00

Lyske's Fated Arrangement:

The Good Stuff:

The Aftermath:

Battle Wounds L:

Battle Wounds M:

bits

2011-05-10T14:59:00.000-07:00

I'll start this one with an image for Italo.

Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities is in itself a deeply nostalgic book.

Four

Three

Two

One

or One

here's a nice view with the location of the coming Zeeglas machine in the background.

Yesterday's walk through the village of Enkhuizen in search of a grocery store and a basic understanding of my greater surroundings.

Progress on the machine...well already almost a week old, but here's the main wheel and the beautiful 270mm sprocket.

The early morning view out into my "backyard".

And finally the developing installation in my front window, future Zeeglas.

Week 5: In the realm of the unknown we are all romantics

2011-05-08T13:45:00.000-07:00

When confronted with the word "Zeeglas" those who had never heard it before immediately launched into creative, romantic even fantastical imaginings.

Based in fact, myth, mystery, cognition all replies to my question, "Do you know what Seaglass is?" came from a dreamers perspective. The eyes of the curious see through the lenses of the storyteller.

When confronted with the unknown, we try to create definition through fantasy....

I had just an image of glass coming out of water...and i was imaging making glass out of see water.
Nothing very exciting.

M

rough blocks of mineral salt
k

I my dear have time until heaven personally falls down to pick me up.

I was immediately searching in my head what it could be.

I saw these beautiful colors different blues, blue-greens and greens floating in layers, lighter color bits (they mite have been fish or other life) in the darker parts,
but all behind a very thin transparent glass layer, not a totally straight surface. It was under water, there was movement.
Was I under water as well?

And the shapes?

When it came clear that the sea glass is the glass that I love steeling from the beach, I immediately went with my brain to my sea collection from Africa,
still stalled out in my house. Because the shapes are beautiful and also the feeling of them are great.

Have a good sleep.

M

Hey Marc,

I first thought about a very bad movie I once saw on the boat from Kiel to Oslo.... with Reese Witherspoon.... (sorry) There it seemed that if lightning struck (?)(...hits ground... sorry bad English)

the sand on the beach it would form this weird thing with sort of tentacles.. octopuses. This was before your explanation. After I had to think about the equivalent, the sand/water beaten bits of wood... driftwood (?) We used to find it a lot in Norway and my mom and I built small houses of it for the 'nisse' (a Norwegian gnome, bit bigger).

good luck!
L

I immediatly had to think about the discovery of glass when you said the word seaglass.
It would be fantastic to try and make glass in that way, i would like to join you if you are going to do this.

J

Hey Marc,

It's difficult to remember what my thought were yesterday,
but what I remembered the came up in my mind fist was glass that was made by the salt of the sea.
Hahah now I read it back it sounds stupid.
I don't really know if this is an answer to your question..
But I actually liked the idea of imitating a nature process in a machine.
I think this could turn out very interesting.

I hope I helped you enough.

Greets,

C

hallo marc,
my first thought on sea glass was the glass made by lightning on the sea(we talked about it)

The second image that comes up is ,concerning the elements water fire etc. exactly the opposite I think of a frozen sea crystal clear ice-combined with the sound of a strong force -cracking-
what else comes up in my mind after thinking longer are the bottles with a message, drawings from cy twombly(he made a series called poems of the sea)
the words are as well combined for me with high voltage tunes and a memory of an rather aseptic, clean surrounding
take care and good luck
u

Hello Marc,

I don’t know which phrase you mean: but when I read the word sea glass I have to think about:

Something very light with green/blue (turquoise) appearance

Greetings, g

zeeglas;

mysterious word
green
time
poetic idea that the big big bleu ocean spits little colorblocks

*A

thanks to my colleagues at the Sandberg Institute Department of Applied Arts.

Zuiderzee Musical Interlude

2011-05-03T13:55:00.000-07:00

Well my video won't load so I'll share another version of the Mingulay Boat Song. THis one best only weakly captures what I had the good fortune to see. Its much better live.

And here, the lovely Zuiderzee Ballade

Week 4 Day 10(i'm gonn have to do a back blog for Week 3 Day 9, not to be missed however strange it was)

2011-05-02T16:29:00.000-07:00

Morning pic(well late night):

With a 1 meter square piece of plywood strapped to my back I stepped off the train after returning from a late evening trip to Amsterdam to get the last of my supplies. Fighting the burly wind striking harmonics in the rigging of the huge array of saiboats in the harbor, I made my way along the wall to my new home. Ik ben de kunstenaar op de maand. or so that's the title for those of us who will be sharing the fishing house for our presentations.

I moved in today: 1. to my little apartment, house #70.

2. to the fish house KP7 for my work.

To inaugurate my entrance I did a little dumpster diving and found among other things, a variety of enameled pots to use for cleaning the glass. I wheeled them down to the shore and immersed myself in something that is hard to explain. That timeless connection with experience and process, life and living. Drawing water from the frequent waves I scrubbed the hard, caked grime from the pots with sand and crushed shells, a mixture quite prevalent here and well used for a variety of things. At first I thought of myself as immersing myself in the history of this place as I dunk the pots. But I realized that it is not a sense of history that i'm touching, but rather a connection to reality the unchanging qualities of physical existence, experience.
Exfoliating too.

I was creating nostalgia, aware of the importance of this experience and the sheer wonder of having such an opportunity. A moment you know has impact even before you can see the crater's edge.

While I spent several hours at the Museum, it felt like most of the day was spent in the train.
But here I've got to give a shout out to Jan from the metal department at the rietveld.
No other way would I have been able to cut PVC end caps O.D. 350mm but with his help...Worth way more than a few pieces of Laurierdrop candy. But it seemed to put a smile on his face.

Here at two in the morning with the fresh start just ahead I end this entry with a full brain and a new neighbor.

Week 3 Day 8

2011-04-25T12:09:00.000-07:00

Morning Pics:

Boats

Bugs

And baby ducks!

I woke with a start at 7 and racing to the station ended up missing the 7:36 train by four minutes. As a result, I was left with an additional 20 minutes on top of the following hour train ride to get into Pure Sea Glass: Discovering Nature's Vanishing Gems by Richard LaMotte. This is kind of an amazing book that eplains what Seaglass is and how it is made...in detail sharing information such as the history of glass, the complexities of glass chemistry and coloration and more.
It is interesting to sit in this in between state. On one side I am interacting with people everyday to whom Seaglass is often not a part of the common lexicon or public culture. On the other side is a culture, that I have to admit that I'm a part of, where this material or object has achieved the status of phenomenon. From the thin strong roots of nostalgia that I experience to the deeply set hold of almost fanatical collecting and appreciation.
Again this material that is the result of alchemy of the mind suprises me in the extent that it is waste turned to jewel. Trash to treasure.
The questions are flowing now as the structure comes together for the machine.

I wonder how can Seaglass be effectively shared with the people of Holland???

Can it have the same affect that is start of my simple fascination?
Can it have the same affect that results in things like: http://www.seaglassassociation.org/ ?

What is that affect?

Is the source of that affect rooted in the nostalgic experience?

What is the process by which the human mind develops a nostalgic association?
i.e., where does nostalgia come from?

Is it possible to play and active role in that experience?

s the structure of this machine comes together and the process of exploration goes on I'm hoping to achieve some sort of understanding of this element of human experience.

Week 2 (days 5&6 -ish)

2011-04-24T14:03:00.001-07:00

Morning Pic:

I'm bit behind in my writing, but the pieces are starting to come together...

Doesn't seem like much yet but the pieces are coming together...
Enough so that I could take some time off to frolic with some special guests.

Mom and Mim arrived just over a week ago now. I kept up with my business but was able at long last to share this wonderful land with two of my most favorite people.

Atop Kijkduin where James Turell created a portal to the entire universe of the mind as well as the physical surroundings.

One path led to the Tulips...which have come early this year.
Yes it is a touristy thing to do. But every tourist is perfectly justified in such a jaunt. Every single time I see them I cannot help but to gasp at the intense visual experience of saturated color.

They were here for a week and I think I ran them ragged...or they me.
The last day Lida and Nienke brought them to meet me at the ZZM(Zuiderzee Museum)
I got to share this project with them and then do some exploring of my own.
We drove across the Ijselmeer on the Houtribdijk to Harderwijk the home of my friend Kees who's finishing up a semester abroad at the School of the AIC.

We finished up the trip with a wonderful dinner at the Amsterdam Cafe formerly the site of a major pump station for the city of Amsterdam....keeping the city safe from seepage.

Saturday morning early, they headed to the airport. After dinners at their small apartment off of the Nieuwe Markt, breakfasts on the terrace of the BlueWave Houseboat, and fire alarms at the Lloyd hotel we were sated, bellys full of experiences.

I spent Sunday afternoon listening to jazz at the Engelbewaarder reflecting on the pleasures.

Thanks and love.

Zg - Day 4(and 1-3)

2011-04-18T16:42:00.000-07:00

18 April 2011

Just barely made the train today. Distracted by the crisp air and the clear sky while biking then walking to the station, one thinks he has all the time in the world.

So I jumped through the doors just as they were closing and here I sit watching the waking city pass by.

After last week, progress is good on the machine:

Day 1:
Morning Pic:

I arrived mid-morning and after dropping off my Vrijwiliger's contract, I headed to the buiten museum to meet with Peter Loos the facility manager for site confirmation and to talk about electricity. To my relief, thumbs up came easily. My only worry came from the absence of the steel that I'd ordered. Though as Peter and I walked to the site my fears were quelled by the arrival of a large flat bed ruck bearing the word Metaal.

So I had all the metal and as soon as I could I set about cutting. Doors wide open, sun and fresh air streaming in. Me stumbling over "Goede Morgen" to all the passer's by...to my new colleagues for the weeks to come. I carved my way through 32 to meter's of steel over the next five hours.

Day 2:
Morning Pic:

With clouds in the sky and a chill in the air, I closed myself in the workshop and spent the day/6hours drilling, drilling, drilling. I have to boast a bit as I am proud of the jig that I made to make the marking and drilling go a bit faster...(steel plate and two broken M6 drill bits ground into center-points)

Day 3:
Morning Pic:

Welding. Jack the Metal workshop technician is in today and in a mixed English/Dutch interaction we touch base.

After a few moments he is aware that i can barely call myself an amateur arc welder. To my eternal gratitude he takes the intiative to set me straight and give me a concise lesson in Dutch and welding.
"Makkelijk, eh?" is his punctuation every time. ("Easy, eh?")
The art and craft of welding with electrodes comes clearer to me as i spend the day in the cool sun challenged by joining pieces of steel with hot caterpillars of metal.
Only one incident in which I knocked my table over sending 60 Kg of metal crashing to the ground. A few demerits noted with a sidelong glance from the Meester.
The guys from the Painting workshop are fascinated by the "foreigner" making art in their back yard.

Season Opener of the Buiten Museum-ZZM

2011-04-02T14:04:00.000-07:00

Friday I had the opportunity to participate in the season opener for the Buiten Museum at the Zuiderzee Museum.
The Buiten Museum, the quaint historical replica/recreation of 19th century Holland will be the location of the Presentations by myself and my fellow Sandberg Institute participants. It officially opened to the public today(though our show opens on the 26th of May). Yesterday was a special opening for the entire Museum collective. I was invited to set up my manual Zeeglas machine and share it with what must have been over a hundred employees and colleagues of the museum. There was a lot of positive reaction and I look forward to working amongst these enthusiastic people. It seems it is all coming together.

Here are a few images and short films from the day.

Here I am again!!!

2011-03-25T10:48:00.000-07:00

Hello All-

After quite a long absence, I'm returning to blogging. This time with a purpose: to register and spread the development of the story of Seaglass in Holland.

I hope you'll join me and send your thoughts and comments.
And of course you are all welcome to come visit the Zuiderzee Museum in Enkhuizen.

Cheers,
Marc

Zeeglas for the Zuiderzee

2011-03-25T10:37:00.000-07:00

Seaglass or Zeeglas
See below for Dutch:

I have been invited to participate in the exhibition at the Zuiderzee Museum entitled: NIJVER|heden. For this exhibition I will explore the production of nostalgia through a specific object: Zeeglas. This object is made from waste or discarded glass from everyday use and while remaining waste in one sense; it derives certain attractiveness and preciousness as a result of the timeless affects of the sea. This transformation makes Zeeglas attractive to the eye and to the imagination, thus it is a strong source of nostalgia. Where I come from Seaglass is ubiquitous; everyone there has a tale to tell. In Holland, Zeeglas is rare or even unknown. Why is Seaglass unknown here?

Beyond the concept of nostalgia my aim in the context of nijverheid is to compare various means of production. To this end I will build an autonomous Zeeglas production facility to juxtapose against a manual, DIY process. The small-scale cottage industry operation I have already built uses old bicycles, machines that are intrinsically Dutch to produce something that is quite foreign, Zeeglas. This machine will be powered by myself and willing participants and will slowly etch and grind away at a limited amount of broken glass to produce something that is reminiscent of the nostalgic objects from my childhood, while silently bearing the effort of many hands. For comparison I will build a large scale machine that will effortlessly make 50 Kilogram batches of the same product. Each batch, representing the amount of glass waste produced per family per year in Holland, will be made available to those families around the Zuiderzee and beyond in a way that will seed the true product: nostalgia.

Through opportunities at the Sandberg Institute and the Rietveld Academie among others, I plan to bring this experience Directly to the heart of Amsterdam.

Zeeglas

Ik ben uitgenodigd om deel te nemen aan een tentoonstelling in het Zuiderzee Museum getiteld: Nijver|heden.

Voor deze tentoonstelling is het mijn doel om de productie van nostalgie te ontwikkelen via een specifiek object: Zeeglas. Dit object is gemaakt van na alledaags gebruik weggegooid glas dat, ook al blijft het in een bepaald opzicht afval, een zekere aantrekkingskracht en kostbaarheid verkrijgt dankzij de oneindige aantasting van de zee.

Deze transformatie maakt het Zeeglas aantrekkelijk voor het oog en de verbeelding, het vormt daardoor een krachte bron van nostalgie. Daar waar ik vandaan kom is Zeeglas vanzelfsprekend; iedereen heeft er een verhaal over te vertellen. In Nederland is het een onbekend verschijnsel. Hoe kan dat?

Naast de notie van nostalgie wil ik binnen de context van nijverheid verschillende productie vormen met elkaar vergelijken. Ik heb daarom een autonome Zeeglas productie-installatie gecreëerd, als tegenhanger van een handmatig - ‘do it yourself’ - proces. Deze kleinschalige huislijke industrie gebruikt fietsen; typisch Nederlandse machines, om iets te produceren wat de Nederlanders juist vreemd is; Zeeglas.

In de tijd van een maand, aangedreven door de kracht van de vele handen van welwillende bezoekers van het museum en mijzelf, zal deze machine een beperkte hoeveelheid glasscherven gladschuren en polijsten, totdat er iets ontstaat dat aan die nostalgische objecten uit mijn jeugd herinnert.

Tegelijkertijd zal een machine op grote schaal moeiteloos partijen van 50 kilo van hetzelfde product voortbrengen. Elke lading, die de hoeveelheid glasafval representeert dat per jaar per familie in Nederland wordt geproduceerd, wordt toegankelijk voor de families die rond de Zuiderzee en verder wonen, want daar zal het eigenlijke product gezaaid zal worden: Nostalgie.

Via mogelijkheden bij onder andere het Sandberg Instituut en de Rietveld Academie, ben ik van plan om deze beleving Rechtstreeks naar het hart van de stad Amsterdam te brengen.

ok i'm back with a new video

2009-09-12T14:21:00.000-07:00

so i've been gone for a while. but i'm back in amsterdam and well i'll splain that later.
now i just want to show my new video:

Birth

2009-05-13T16:38:00.000-07:00

i just made this.

h ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-f4QwTt3uNY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnnDPf-K-8U

Pippa's last hurrah!

2009-05-06T00:15:00.000-07:00

Man i'm still trying to catch up...but for those of you who are still there and interested, there's lots more to come.
yesterday i learned to watergild...putting gold leaf or silver leaf on objects using water and gelatin...amazing...i'm hooked. pictures soon.
but for right now i'm still blogging in last week...
this was the last dinner with Pippa Dickson and her boyfriend Mark. He was a chef for many years. french training....so it was a special night since he agreed to give us a lesson.
the menu besides the chateau CONDOM:

potato-leek soup

roasted leg of lamb, roasted with rosemary a bit of garlic and salt and pepper.
the juices were then mixed with a stock made from trimmings and drippings and cooked down with red wine. butter, more fresh rosmary...incredible.

frenchie style potatoes peeled and one side cut off. face down in a deep pan with broth and butter....ahhhhh.

ta daa......

i think this picture best indicates the levels of satisfaction and this was only barelyinto the massive amount of wine consumed that night!

and finally dessert! of course...rhubarb creme brulee no less!

Kröller-Müller to mull over...mmmmm

2009-05-03T12:42:00.000-07:00

This post is dedicated to Mr. Charles MC and A'dam Nezbootie: i would have given anything to have you two with me on this day...it was last monday and actually i'd be glad to share that day with everyone.
The Kroller-Muller Museum is the pearl in the oyster that is the Park Hoge Veluwe a gigantic and magnificent park with a landscape unlike i've seen anywhere else in holland...

the park was originally the hunting grounds for the family Kroller-Muller a family that made it's wealth in the blast furnace industry, a successful business that allowed them to amass one of the most spectacular private collections i have ever seen as well as build a small hunting lodge on the property:

Along with around 91 Van Gogh Paintings and 180 of his works on paper are some other highlights that struck me and i wanted to share:

this woman was stunning standing in an opening staring into the woods. graceful, refined yet simply beautiful.

this is true voluptuousness...the sexiest fat i've ever seen...

this piece by richard serra entitled "one" is a solid piece of steel nearly 6 feet tall and six feet in diameter...you can almost feel it's gravity when in proximity to such a mass!

Kenneth Snelson's "Needle Tower"

This one's for you Nezbootie: an exibition comprised of their conservation lab. definitely something people don't think or know much about...here's the Nez in his lab at the clark art institute helping me with a project in march:

Self-portrait in a piece by Michelangelo Pistoletto

This French or perhaps Belgian couple was so inspiring to watch as they strolled the gallery looking at the art conversing and pulsing with tangible appreciation.

this one i fell in love with...the woman and the artist.
"Woman in Black Evening Dress" by Isaac Israels...ugh so sensually painted...

they had to kick us out of the museum and we were all suffering from Stendhal syndrome, tearing up and blushing...or maybe we just needed some stustenance...let me tell you this picnic tasted almost better than anything i've ever eaten with the museum as an appetizer...course it helped that it was of champagne, sausage, cheeses both french and dutch, vegetables and chocolates. savored with the company of durk, anna, mark and pippa!

http://www.kmm.nl/?lang=en

Suprise

2009-05-02T14:13:00.000-07:00

A surprise visit from steve gibbs resulted in a nice tour of zaandam and some great conversations. Discussions reaching from blowing glass on cruise ships to blowing glass with wood burning furnaces.
great stuff as usual followed by great food!!

oh yeah, and this same evening i saw a stunning, exciting, inspiring movie: "One Night in One City"
GO SEE IT AS SOON AS YOU CAN!!!!
an amazing czech stop motion animation film with no dialogue and yet i was riveted....could have been hours i have no idea i was completely consumed by the movie.
http://www.jednenoci.cz/indexen.php

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWG81TJgC8c

full of surprises. every detail from imagery to timing so effective so well considered and yet effortless in it's meticulousness. ahhhhh.

an finally here is a surprise for you...since it's been a while...

bells bells bells bellls

2009-05-02T09:46:00.000-07:00

Time passes evaporating. irretrievable as the snails trail.

the next few posts will attempt to catch up with time....

here's an exciting event near utrecht.
the opening of Bernard Hessen's Toren...a bell tower conisting of hundreds of blown glass sphere's as well as many many lead crystal tuned bells.
yes tuned!! he worked with a bronze bell foundry to test resonances and forms as well as different clappers and mechanisms for sounding.
the cool thing is this project started at Vrij Glas where Durk melted a range of concentrations of lead crystal from 5% to full lead crystal to experiment with resonance and sound quality...one endeavor that fits in to the mission of Vrij Glas.
the bells were finally produced at the leerdam glass factory with a team of czech glassblowers from Petr Novotny's Factory: Ajeto, where the sphere's were all produced.
Congratulations Bernard!!

coincidence

2009-04-22T15:18:00.000-07:00

just an odd interesting addition.
the main character in "dante 01" is named st. george.
he is celebrated as a saint and martyr on april 23rd...today.
hmmm.

imagine

2009-04-22T14:49:00.000-07:00

walking home tonight from the imagine film festival i started seeing the harbingers of queen's day...chalked areas on the sidewalks marked with the word "bezet" meaning that that spot has been claimed for the citywide open market that takes place on koninginnedag.

imagine is formerly known as the afff or the amsterdam fantasy film festival is a ten day festival of fright, gore, fantasy and exhilaration...i tried to go to my first film last night, "let the right one in"(highly recommended and thus sold out.damn.). got tickets for tonight and saturday. say dante 01 tonight...a very intense french film by marc caro(writer and director) who also directed my favorite movies: city of lost children and delicatessen. the film was visually stunning...the story a little bit less so but would have been better had i gone with a group... cause i leaves a lot for pondering and discussion. kind of a futuristic, messianic, creation story. definitely recommended.

this after a day of bustling about the studio building things and organizing still.

yesterday was a treat...in the morning we went to den haag(the hague) to the gemeente museum. an incredible complex of buildings designed by berlage with some prismatic lighting tiles restored and created by the vrij glas foundation!!
anyway, we went to see the exhibition recording the past forty years of glass from the rietveld. it was a good show. the rest of the museum is phenomenal!!! the basement is one big wonderkammer and the glass collection is incredible...here's a fopglas or trick cup that i've seen in books before and tried to recreate. seeing it in person i'm inspired to try again.

and here is a piece by durk valkema called "glass city" made for his graduation exhibition in the early years of the rietveld...in the background from left to right are durk, scott and andrea.

on the way home from the museum, we passed a sight that before now i'd only heard of....the fields of tulips in bloom. so much more luscious and amazing than i could have ever expected or than these pictures represent.

decadence and work

2009-04-20T15:10:00.000-07:00

This past week was incredible.
i mentioned earlier that Scott and Andrea were here.
i should do right by them and start with scott's arrival.
he came almost straight from murano where he'd been for ten days researching an article on the state of the glass industry in murano.
he came with bottles of fragolino...a lovely wine with a subtle flavor of strawberries...illegal in many parts of the the e.u. because the grape they are made from are an american varietal that is resistent to a grape parasite and thus has been known to transmit these devastating parasites to other vinyards.

anyway we started our week off by drinking a few bottles of that stuff.

then the work started...friday saturday sunday and today good long days of oval rondels for the commission. and just to prove that i've actually been doing something here's this:

hard work begets decadent nourishment here with my friends in amsterdam.
the first day at the instruction of anna i made a spectacular "plumenspekenfleskarey"
for those of you who don't speak swedish transliteration, that is pork tenderloin stuffed with prunes.
the next evening andrea made lentils with mint sauce to go with racks of lamb that i grilled at the studio:

of course, there is always time for a beer after a full day of working...here's durk about to enjoy his...in a glass i made last year.

after a successful week at the studio we enjoyed a spectacular dinner at our reliable staple...the amsterdam cafe housed in an old machine station a beautiful old building almost completely open inside...almost as spectacular as the company toasting our successful week with a nice bottle of bubbly:

new favorite whisky: Caol Ila
new favorite dessert: lemon sorbet with vodka

some fun vids to check out that i made this week:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWNXCwaQ5Kw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHZgCM8FTcc

New or Re-newed focuses for this week are:
the tree house, Imagine or the AFFF...hope to succeed in seeing several films, taking Torde Boontje's work: transglass to new levels....i feel like this stuff was novel and interesting but could be taken much further and still keep the simplicity of design and concept as well as stay away from complexity in production...we'll see...i'll post images of what i come up with.

staring into fires...

2009-04-17T13:59:00.000-07:00

today was a wild one.
gray and cloudy skies greeted me too early.
but it was off to the studio.
i spent the morning blowing glass with Scott Benefield and Andrea Spencer, dear friends freshly engaged and currently engaged in the production of a large architectural installation.
we made flat oval plates all morning...experimenting with color combinations from a furnace with molten blue and several additions of bars of color.
it was so nice to be using glass again...my first time since i've been back here.
refreshing to focus on clean gathers and fluid efficient movements.
bright hot fires burning before me.
at ten til one i jumped on my bicycle and raced across the north sea canal and through the edges of amsterdam for my blacksmithing lesson. a free day as bert was busy with clients. so daniel, my fellow student and i took turns masticating iron with our unskilled hands. staring at the black wreathed fire in the forge i danced with the metal finding the right heats to make some traditional tapered rings and then loosening up to slowly meticulously smash a chunk of iron into an undulating leaf thin and delicate. pictures will come soon.
before i new it the afternoon had been burnt up and i jumped back on my bike and retraced my steps under the emerging sun...back to the studio, with burning thighs, to do some clean up and organizing in the work shop and then to take on my last firey challenge...grilling two whole racks of lamb for dinner. a feast with lentils and mint sauce and a nice spanish wine.

three fires...three crafts ascending into art.

"a goddamn beautiful day!!"

not sure what to title this one

2009-04-16T14:55:00.000-07:00

well i just really like this photo...it's on the desk i'm making in the tree house.

so tomorrow will be my second lession from bert meister...the local blacksmith and metal smith...just across the street from where i'm living. the business has been in his family for three generations...and he's not sure what's gonna happen next so he decided to teach some classes. it's a nice shop with a couple of anvils. the goal of the class is to make a damascus knife...

i was telling durk about this amazing jazz quartet that i happened upon last year when i was here....and then last sunday i found that they were playing a concert at the "bimhuis" in the museikgebouw...this amazing concert space on the north sea canal behind central station that is a cantilevered room with one wall that is all glass and looks over the city. above is a bit of an improv by Narcissus...this time as a quintet.

ugh it takes way too long to upload to blogger.
so the rest will be youtube links.

anyway. there are tons of amazing things happening...been doing a lot of welding projecs, organizing durks workshop, cleaning the rain gutters(no small feat...you should see them...i fit inside them), lots of biking.
spend the the afternoon at the rietveld academy...gonna spend a a day a week there helping out in their glass department. as well as getting to know the campus and students...cause i have aspirations. lots of jazz as above...if you look closely you can see the train passing in the background.
glassblowing gonna start tomorrow...working with scott benefield and his fiance andrea to produce material for a large architectural installation for a hospital in ireland.
then there is this...there are amazing machines for everything in holland.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kP3ZTna0uk

this one's for matthew...this was empty a few nights ago..an old tram depot.

Week's end

2009-04-12T09:54:00.000-07:00

Reflecting on the week, it's still damn good to be here:
meeting with a designer who i might get to work with in may after his return from the furniture fair in milan.
changing the pot in our furnace and lighting up for the coming artists.

making progress on a few odds and ends projects: glory hole doors, the wall in the studio at belamystraat. getting the tree house dialed in little by little.
it's a bit of a cave this tree house...not good for my appetite for light. makes it hard to wake up in the morning...but makes for a good reason to try and get out more during the daylight hours.

so i met this great artist at dinner last week.
her name is Joanneke Meester, she is an artist who is achieving some notoriety or fame here in holland. her big hit was a miniature gun made from her own skin...that sky rocketed her.
her work is quite disturbing, but in the short conversations i've had with her she indicates that there is a great deal of beauty in them...the light and colors in her installation "need you" for example and in some of her new collages i have seen a pastell-like combination of hues and an arrangement that is pleasing...but i still find it hard to dissociate the macabre and gore from influencing those characteristics. this is work that i'll have to do because i think it is a mindset that is interesting to follow and experience...i guess, in now writing this, that i already have the skill. for example i do see the beauty in butchering the animals on the farm. or in the light and colors of the roadkill that i have photographed in the past...i guess it's a language in myself that i have to learn to use on others.

anyway, here is a link to her work and some images to support what i'm saying.

Joanneke Meester

maybe these shots are little too much. but they are the start of a project to come.
anyway. i met up with joanneke to go to an opening of drawings in the oost. the show was underwhelming but the experience turned out to be fantastic. she brought this other american artist who was there doing street art installations and having a show...you may have seen his work:
dan witz
he has a book of his work coming out soon so watch out for it.
turns out he's been on the art scene in nyc since the 70's and while we were at the drawing show we met up with this artist cosimo who new of dan and dan knew of him...since the 70's but they'd never met. so this was big.
we all talked and went to cosimo's house, where joanneke is having a show of her collages. hung out drank champagne and listened to stories of the LES in the 70's.
so amazing. i kinda felt out of place...but was glad to be the fly on the wall.

a final shot in the oost(east) part of amsterdam...looking west.
a part of the city that i am inspired to explore after my meeting with the designer and a few other short trips out that direction.

2009-04-06T16:11:00.001-07:00

i learned something wonderful from my friend alex, she told me that the dutch say that the clouds are their mountains.

she also told me how to explain their initial distance the dutch say that they are "watching the cat climb out of the tree" i think i'm almost at the base of the trunk if not on the ground yet.

Zondag

2009-04-05T17:29:00.000-07:00

Hell, i've got to get to bed earlier than this...this is crazy...while you all back home and further are just finishing dinner, it's 2:30 in the morning. yeesh.
anyway, what a wonderful day.
started with swedish pancakes with fresh vt. maple syrup...from the howe/ferro conglomeration.
mmmmso good. oh yeah and tart strawberries.
then spent the day walking and made my way to arti, the local artist collective where i saw this piece by an amazing Austrian artists...well it was amazing til dinner but here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGtlbn0BJuc

so that was pretty great.
then i went to hortus botanicus to see a piece by my friend Petra Groen.
interesting, provocative title.

"on the origin of species" by Petra Groen

also spent time in their butterfly house...some of my favorite insects...lepidopterans.
this one is bigger than my hand:

skipped over to de engelbewaarder for a few beers and jazz...had the beers...missed the jazz...had to get home.

then i returned for the climax of the day:
dinner for mirette and milan

14 of us eating a 4kilo salmon that durk cooked. amazing artists and thinkers...amazing converations. incredible food.
met this artist, academic: christine who's family has collected art for ages and who blew gebhard's piece out of the water: years ago she made a film in a similar manner only it was for the use of 35 projektors....and the subject matter was way more interesting given the presentation process: rain
unfortunately...the piece was never realized cause the venue fell through.

what a day though.
so much to think about...so many new people...good people...great people.

Great excitement: knitting and more

2009-04-04T15:48:00.000-07:00

so i finished my first knitting project today. yep. knitting. i knit a scarf...a wonderful loose knit scarf out of the finest polywire...well actually it was the shittiest polywire. it's a long story, but in short, i became fascinated with it. so fascinated that i rolled it up into the nice balls that you see in your grandmothers knitting basket. i packed it into my luggage and in brought it with me to amsterdam. and yes tonight and last night i taught myself to knit and knit a scarf. tadaa:

i plan this to be part of an installation when i get home including a fence charger and then perhaps expanded with the addition of other knitted things. umm...comfy...no.
so that 's the excitement in my life...oh yeah yesterday was pretty fun too. check it out:

hot pot change part 1

hot pot change part 2

hot pot change part 3

what a great experience to behold.
as was the afternoon sun today:

settling in...amsterdam

2009-04-02T08:43:00.000-07:00

i arrived this morning after a unexpectedly sleepless flight.
so odd to be back and feel this strange comfort in connection with my surroundings.
little by little i will turn that into comfort with the masses surrounding me.
but it's good to be "home" in my tree house apartment 91-and-a-half on the belamystraat

there is an interesting tradition of tiling around entranceways here...interesting in that the imagery is always quite impressive and iconic i think.
here's an example.

i'm exhausted.

Home again but looking back

2009-03-05T11:59:00.000-08:00

Awww Shucks...i couldn't help myself too much to show and share. but it will be kind of piecemeal and disorganized...the important thing is to make sure to eventually share all the anvils and the story.

wow...it's a long way back from the last real bbfrombtob...that was salt lake. now i'm gonna skip way ahead.
...
ok here we are...a couple days in austin and all i seem to have to show for it are a bunch of anvils. both found in a patagonia store...exactly the place you'd expect to find them right?

Actually Yvon Chouinard...one of the founders of patagonia started by teaching himself to forge pitons for climbers...hauling his 138 pound anvil around probably kept him in good shape for climbing.

This anvil below was on the wall in the store...read more:

barreda boys: from bay to borough num....uh...hmmm

2009-03-05T11:40:00.000-08:00

Looking backwards into a fading light.
juxtaposed against the rapid onset.

time and novelty passes swiftly

is it foolish to go on with this chapter...so much has change so many experiences.
a new form of liberation...would the images and stories be anvils in my luggage?

or lights for others?

Last Anvil: Atlantic Ave. - Brooklyn

Barreda boys: from bay to borough num 6

2009-02-18T00:13:00.000-08:00

Oh yeah i nearly forgot...our first meal on the road...over priced and underwhelming...but one hell of a name:

Rising early to a setting moon the immediate landscape looks so alien, a long, low, flat barrier between us and a more earthly set of mountains in the distance.

the salt formations here are called cotton balls made up of mostly borax...it is here that borax was discovered and was picked by chinese workers and carted via 20 mule teams to san francisco.

unaccustomed to such thick air we escaped to some altitude...relatively.

but then took a detour to the lowest point in the u.s. called badwater basin.
standing and looking up to the cliffs one can see a sign marking sea level.
it's that white band in the upper right corner of the photo...282 or so above us.

dry cracked salt-mud anvil.

Barreda boys: from bay to borough num 5b

2009-02-17T23:54:00.001-08:00

Finally...on our way. we stopped for a little nourishment at the world famous "Hat" and enjoyed some intense Pastrami Dip.

then hit the open road. destination: Death Valley

long in to the night we traveled civilization growing scarce as quickly as the waning daylight.
but in that darkness with seemingly no one around twinkled billions of bright eyes winking in the sky. more perhaps than most will see on a typical evening. so with orion burning bright we set up camp 190 feet below sea level and staggered to bed curious what this menacingly named landscape might bring come morning.

can you see orion?

Eucalyptus anvil...alright i guess this is graffiti...but at the time it seemed a better option than carving an anvil into a tree...which to be honest has not totally left the realm of possibilities.

Barreda boys: from bay to borough num 5

2009-02-17T23:42:00.001-08:00

On the way out of Claremont...no sooner had we crammed ourselves in the car when disaster struck. benign intentions to turn around and get on our way. no need for drama. yet she found us in the form of a low overhang. need i say more?

so now about 1 day and 6 hours behind schedule we can happily get on our way....

Mud anvil

Barreda boys: from bay to borough nun 4

2009-02-15T15:28:00.000-08:00

Ooh how do I update a blog from an iPhone without pictures?

Verbalize my senses....
Example:
Imagine it: anabandoned ranch on a secret plateau named "squeaky springs" ... Speaks volumes... Can you taste the dust? hear the crunch of the gravel and the crisp whistle of the breeze interrupted by the shriek of rusty hinges?

But don't let's get ahead of ourselves. First to Claremont where the dry sunny landscape of so cal was replaced by a glistening green electrified by surrounding fog and raindrops that prick with cold.
David and I attemped to summit mt baldy only to be turned around the thundering voice of reason blaring from the loudspeaker atop the five-oh-mobile.

Yeesh...i give up...there's no way i can do justice to the following images with my words:

Henry Chang and Davidcito

Alexander Chang

Alexander

Walter, Alexander, David, Nicole and Henry...a wonderful perhaps 18 hours spent playing games, watching Letterman and eating home-made Korean Barbecue ribs.

in our excitement we nearly forgot it was valentines day and totally forgot that we were encroaching....
so here's a Valentine Anvil for lovers.

barreda boys: from bay to borough num 3b

2009-02-13T03:26:00.000-08:00

Images from the Museum of Jurassic Technology:

crab fox with hologram

Micro-Mosaics made from butterfly wing scales and diatoms...incredible to me that i was able to put my camera up to the lense of the microscope and get these images...they barely visible to the naked eye.

Blurry image of the famous Megolaponera Foetens after death

no anvil

barreda boys: from bay to borough num 3a

2009-02-12T23:05:00.000-08:00

"I wanna stay up all day"

an island of coils of gold and shimmering ayes

drifting and sprinting before me.

went fishing this morning with my cousin steven.

brought david too, but only for ten minutes...a shade of green told us he was done.

nary a fish was to be had...steven is convinced that i'm bad luck fisherman.

strike two.

i had a blast on the choppy, seemingly barren seas.

after a few hours, however, we knew when we were beat...headed in and fulfilled a fulfilling day with accomplishment of a dream of mine: going to the Museum of Jurassic Technology.

you'll know it from the book: mr. wilson's cabinet of wonders.

i reveled in the obscure constructions, radical installations and numerous curiosities.

simple assemblages reminiscent of the museums i used to make in the base of the barn...inspiring me to return to that kind of work.

and the cheery on the top of todays sweets was dinner at Diana and Steven's house with my cousin's Isla and Jax....sweet chunks of heaven.

Isla Rain reading

Cousin Diana and Baby Jax

Family Meal

Nanna Bunny and Jax

Barreda Boys: from bay to borough num. 2

2009-02-11T22:17:00.000-08:00

Looking down on a hawk soaring over the angels.

second day in la...davidsito is still under the weather.
so around lunch time i ran up the mountain to the getty and reveled in the citadel of creativity.
had a pleasant tour of the architecture, but was overcome by what basically turned out to be a private tour of a show on russian futurist books. the passionate great grandfather of todays zine culture. spent over an hour getting wonderful information and stories from one of the curators and even got the other curator to join in.
these artists writers, created new languages in art, in aesthetics and rewrote the rules for the languages that existed.
precursor to the dadaists they developed poetry of "zaum" - trans-rational language that spoke through sound and appearance rather than meaning.
so i wrote one too.

seethe

the slide

grumble

twist

essst

calm

Mav

veneer

eeeeer

earse

slow

to walk.

wire anvil

Barreda Boys: from bay to borough num. 1

2009-02-10T13:49:00.000-08:00

"stop paying attention to every note"

we left sf bout mid day yesterday packed into an overloaded jetta like forest animals in a mitten.
david in the pilots seat, grey in the archivists seat and myself under a precarious mound of possessions engulfing me further at every left hand turn.
cruising the 101 we landed at davids friend len's house...a former associate of david's who energized us for the first leg of our trip by telling us of covering the la riots.

with the presence of laurence olivier he recounted several stories of hot shots and near misses.

as dusk approached we inserted ourselves back in to carefully proscribed positions and took off with the sun setting over our right shoulders.

stopping at a little mexican dive for nourishment and a glistening fullmoon lit vista point for wonderment we progressed down the road calmly and smoothly...a bit more smoothly than the we can say for the overloaded rear springs.

anyway, here are a few shots

at the starting line

cloud anvil

chip anvil

pacific barreda boys

midway

2008-11-10T05:36:00.000-08:00

Halfway through the residency Kait Rhoads(my fellow fellow) and I gave slide presentations and then demonstrated a glassblowing-performance in front of nearly 30 spectators. below are images from that performance:

A large step for ME

2008-10-21T13:52:00.000-07:00

We'll i've successfully completed orientation and have technically begun a six week residency at the Creative Glass Center of America.
Finally an opportunity to get back to glass(which i've been away from for the past two months whilst fixing roofs and butchering sheep.) and focus on my own work.
My hopes and excitement have been elevated all the more with the knowledge that i'll start my residency with my friend and colleague Josie Gluck as my assistant.
keep an eye out...i'll have lots to show.

the aftermath

2008-08-13T17:41:00.000-07:00

easing into life again...i miss you...come back.
restless sleep without the bourbon or the laughter.
lots to do.
made twelve bucks off the empties...the ones i could return that weren't covered in pig grease.
finally got rid of the garbage too. yikes.
almost back to normal.

what's next. off to Salem Art Works tomorrow for four days to teach: an artistic experience in glass. then next weekend i'm sure you're all coming to our fundaiser: a moveable feast
come check it out.

http://www.salemartworks.com/AugustEvents2008

until later enjoy this:

blessed

2008-08-12T09:04:00.000-07:00

on a rainy thursday afternoon they started to arrive despite forecasts for dreadfully rainy weather throughout the entire weekend. it started with a pregnant couple who came with about a hundred pounds of prepared foods for this rapidly growing beloved parasite that we get to keep when it finally comes out.
by mid day on friday the lousy weather man had thus far been correct. torrential down pours with dramatic thunder and lightning striking and then receeding only to return with refreshed artillery. i ran off to blow glass attempting to focus on the 18 inch diameter bowls i was trying to make rather than the possibility that i might not get to see my dear friends due to the spreading rumor that my family farm in tunbridge had been swallowed up like atlantis.
but they showed and they kept showing. nearly a hundred people bearing down on the earth to celebrate the 129th annual P.I.A.P.R.I. and that is not counting the large number of babies who tethered the sunshine with their wondrous gazes and silky hair to burn the clouds away and give us a weekend of clear dry weather, warmth and laughter making the fifth pig roast at vista alegre farm the first piglet roast ever.
yes it is true that the gods saw these wondrous little beings converge and knelt down before them. a reality powerfully evidenced by the fact that as the second to last car drove away on sunday evening the clouds gathered above the towering pine tree and cried large crisp droplets. streams of happiness and sadness flowing through the trampled grass washing away mounds of pig grease and vomit. oh what wonders.

thank you all!!

updating

2008-07-22T11:11:00.001-07:00

So, i'm updating my last posts with some of the pictures that i wished to share. shouldn't take too long to go back through.
cheers,

2008-07-18T23:35:00.000-07:00

Wow-
ok so i'm back. it is amazing how one, that being me, can let things go so easily.
for shame i say.
anyway. so yeah bolivia.
what an incredible experience.
learning about large scale glass furnaces. how they are constructed. how they function. how to make them efficient. then translating all that into spanish supplemented by lots of charades.
what constantly overwhelms and inspires me is the ingenuity i find in the people from that part of the world. a lifestyle i hope to emulate in the south american microcosm my parents made on our farm...and beyond. how a group of people who want to develop factory glass figure out how to do it quite successfully relying mostly on their eyes and ears to decipher such a project. how the need for refractory materials arises so the guy down the road figures out how to make them and there they are...of pretty damn good quality too. this supported by a working energy that is not to be believed is astonishing.
So after five days there we durk valkema (integrated glass systems) and i produced designs for their new furnace implimenting changes that should save them up to 25% in fuel and increase the quality of the glass that they are melting. i cannot wait to return...hopefully this winter to see how the project has come together and if our ideas and communications worked.

quickie

2008-06-24T19:34:00.001-07:00

wanderings followed by parillada and pisco drinks. que suave.

Picante de Lengua

2008-06-24T14:58:00.000-07:00

Yeah that's right, for lunch i ate a scrumptious tongue. Still difficult to get over putting a dead animals tongue in my mouth, but once i do...mmm...mmm.mmmmm. Taste...hmmmm, that word seems so different now.

So it's day two. not much sleep last night as my dreams were competing with the bottle rockets and firecrackers for fiesta de san juan. no idea the reason, but it was on, even though they try to prohibit the fireworks due to the cloud of smog that hung around all day today.

The factory however sits on a hill overlooking the smog so it was clear breathing for us. a great day to watch the workers...oh wait they're all drunk and skipping work for the morning. no problem. we consumed our morning with calculations. major hurdles overcome especially clarification of gas consumption...oh you mean the factory only consumes about 45,000 cubic meters of gas per month not 1,800,000 ? Great. it was nice to be given a few duties from durk in the mathematics department and get some good technical explanations from him...next step was to butcher them with my spanish.

spent much of the afternoon watching the workers straggle in and going over details of production and charging the furnace. how to gather out of the furnace in order not to trap bubbles. why it is bad to put 200 kilos of cold glass into the furnace in one go.
anyway, most importantly i had my first opportunity to gather out of the furnace today. it felt great. gonna see if i can take advantage of an open bench here and there over the next few days.

oh yeah, for the nerds here's a bit of info to get you started:
http://www.valkema.com/
and
ME

Day one...I think

2008-06-23T15:02:00.000-07:00

So i got on the plane yesterday in Boston. Fell asleep before we took off. We lurched forward and I opened my eyes to see the runway speeding by some unfamiliar buildings. Absolutely no idea where I was. None. It took a few minutes. What a strange feeling. Seems to be happening alot lately.

anyway, somewhere around 17 hours later i landed in Cochabamba Bolivia. Foggy headed from altitude and too many airline breakfasts checked into my hotel and dozed for about an hour before heading to Fabrica Crisil.

Yeah, so i'm here in Cochabamba for five days to act as translator for my friend durk from amsterdam. we are here to design a new furnace for a small production facility on the request of their partner Fairtrade. this is a dutch company that has become involved in promoting fairtrade and improving production facilities in latin america. lots more to that but i stop there.

for now i'll say that i'm a lucky lucky person. i'm in bolivia. in the most comfortable region...it's winter and i'm in shorts and a sweatshirt. i'm helping a dear friend inspect and develop a small glass facility. it's amazing. the people who own and run it seem to be saints. the workers function like a well greased machine, especially after lunch. however it could be a factor of the animal fat that they keep on the marvers so that they can roll the glass in place.
insert amazing pictures and videos here...sadly i left my cord at home so i'll offer some visual evidence of said wonders later.

anyway. my brain hurts from translating though i'm unexpectedly surprised at my spanish capabilities. and i'm tired so i fall face down on my bed and feel the middle of my back relax and sink down into nothing...jump up to finish this my first blog and then...