Back from my travels!

roadside attraction

not some shitty little piece of cement block and plastic

the absence of that for sure

holy light, open space

a reason to pull over

a reason to turn around and go back

taking a side road solely because the weather looks interesting in that direction

working the eternal fence line into the composition

wires too, why not?

now I can climb up on top of my van for a better perspective

hold on as the semi's roll by

always a herd of them in convoy

dodging rumble lines on the shoulder

pulling a "U" on the highway

I'm not a dawn photographer

get going late

smoke from fires burning thousands of acres has flattened the midday light

almost no contrast

just some slight variations in the mid tone range

good images in there somewhere

when I cross a just harvested field for a different view 

not roadside

I notice that there is no soil beneath the wheat stalks

just rocks and sand

later some huge woman tells me that this is considered desert

no shit! no literally. That's what makes soil

tilling desert, are we insane?

what I like is interesting weather

winds that blow my van all over the road

they bring in storm cells spreading far across the prairie

watching the sky

out of a road weary stupor

I'm brought back to life by her quickly changed mood

another still, silver, washed out day 

my god! it's Sunday

I'll sleep in till 8:30

campsites now bare

everyone else is on the road

edging towards tourist infected areas today

out of the car 

take a picture

back into the car

how am I different?

reassured, my camera is bigger

Corporate Art: Baystate Hospital's New Wing- Hospital of the Future

The daffodils are blooming here and some projects are finalizing while other are starting...I have been working over the last year on a project for Baystate Medical Center's new wing in Springfield MA. and it's finally coming towards completion! This project has been unique for me as many of my source images for my collages have been converted onto etched glass to create more of a decorative feeling within the architecture of the hospital. I had the pleasure of not only working with Deb Avery and Carla Santia, the design team for Baystate but also with artist Suzanne Tick and Raquel Barrios of Suzanne Tick Inc. who designed the glass panels. It was a project intended to transcend current thinking of what is appropriate art when renovating Health Facilities.Using locally derived nature imagery in new ways can be challenging as we did not want to use similar imagery of what has been used in other nearby hospitals. Here are a few source images for the glass panels before etching and then some of the installation shots after... Can you see some of the original photos in the etched glass?

Lamps

My last post featured some of the patterns I have been working on with my wife, Gayle Kabaker and my upcoming show at the Pushkin Gallery in Oct.

As we move into the realization phase of putting our texture and pattern show together we recognize that, like all things, we could only hope to assemble and make real, parts of our vision. However, we are enjoying how the backlighting of a lamp shade, whether it be 6 feet tall or 1 foot tall, greatly enriches the art. The soft warm glow of the smooth fabric we are printing on is very seductive. So we are making many lamps of all sizes and most of the show could turn out to be a very large marble walled room full of hanging lights. Right now I love this idea. Many lamps still to go...

Patterns on Cloth

My wife, graphic artist, Gayle Kabaker and I are currently working on a project together. This project is a cross between an art exhibit and a home furnishing showroom.  My vision is to apply patterns in an architectural way for interiors and products. In addition to the cloth wall hangings, I will be building furniture and creating lighting for our upcoming show at the Pushkin Gallery in Greenfield MA on October 21st 2011. While I see my work geared more commercially, Gayle's vision is more directed toward home decor and clothing. As a result. I'm looking forward to seeing how our styles compliment and play off each other.
Here are some of the patterns that I am currently working on...

Corporate Art: Stillness Series

What still remains from a kayaking trip down south a couple of months ago; long ago, it now seems...is an ongoing appreciation for the absolute stillness of those dawn hours on the water. 

Back home now and searching through my images from that trip, trying to put together new collages using this material, I seem drawn again to the most quiet of these images. 

Time did stretch out for me often, while wandering the pine forest and island beaches miles long, or coasting on glassy estuary inlets. I wrote before of that evening the Gulf waters were so smooth that you could see a fish jump thousands of feet away. I stayed up late that night to photograph the reflection of the stars on the ocean surface. How often does that chance come along? 

Later in the trip I photographed the stars through the forest overstory, first lit by my lights artificially, then a camp fire and finally by just the coals of the dying fire.

Another evening I set up early to photograph the full moon rise over the ocean and driftwood oaks. As the sand fleas drove me bonkers and the tide roared in I had to move my equipment and lights up the beach until each branch of a close by driftwood tree held me, my tripod, my lights, and the backpack. After the moon had risen, luckily there was enough moonlight to climb back down out of the tree and through the waves.

Sitting in my kayak offshore watching nesting osprey hassled by eagles who would rather steal than hunt, I thought about how nice it was to be out of reach from those who take my catch.

In the center of a small town, Apalachicola, there lies a Victorian graveyard, already dry and dusty in early spring. I'm taken by the wrought iron fencing, coming from the stone fences of New England.

These are some of the experiences that directed the images in this series of collages called simply "Stillness".

Traveling the Florida Gulf Coast

How often do we get to play in a warm gentle unspoiled outdoors, doing something that leads us to a place, a stillness, where we are simply taking in the wonder of the bits and pieces of what is all around us?

Slowing our own time clock down to watch the crescent moon redden as it sinks into the ocean. 

Floating on an ocean so still you have to tell the fish to stop jumping as they wreck the mirror of the surface. 

Noticing that the sun actually bends the horizon as it sinks into the Gulf. 

It is early in the year yet the air has a crisp dry stillness on this island that burns so easily, the charcoal of the last burn drawing on my pants as I gingerly move into the forrest from the shore. 

Gator tracks in the mud that I lean out of the kayak to photograph, my camera inches from where he was a minute ago.

When hunting we do not think of comfort or discomfort, sand fleas bitting, salt in my eyes, cut foot, no water, moving dream-like.

I notice that over and over I keep walking into my picture, moving slowly with the camera eye till I compose a picture. Take it, then walk into it. My focus so singular I could not go anywhere else.