Dusting off this shoulder amidst the gathering of dust upon that very shoulder. And the other one too. High and Dry at the Jen Tough Gallery through Dec. 18, 2023

 An opening tonight at the Jen Tough Gallery in Santa Fe features a bevy of NM artists, and I'm in that mix. 

H6 (vein) - or Harbor 6 from 2014 is my contribution to this group show. 

There have been many recent signals pointing to - or eliciting from inside me - a kind of urgency to reignite a dormant engine of production but even more so, of exploration. 

Even typing this post is another tickle on a comatose toe as I reflect on the source of these Harbor Paintings and ecosystem of thought and impulse in which I was immersed.

Don't get me wrong, I've continued my tinkerpassion, but my mind space has often been bent more toward problemsolving at the job - imagining possiblities at the job than on those activities back on the home/making machine front. Somehow I only this week, but a couple of pieces together upon waking from a dream. The blueprint exists.  It's now up to me to but on my big boy tool belt and get to hacking away.

Reflecting back on this body of work, I just had occasion to watch the trailer I created for the original exhibit for the first time in many years.  It's probably one of my 2 masterpieces. 

Celestial Sensing Device

Fig Tree branch and metal tripod

 

Arrhythmic Accretion

 

Arrhythmic Accretion, paper, graphite, wood

 

I'm participating in FourteenFifteen Gallery's Fun-a-Day 2023 exhibit this month (Feb 10- Mar 3).

This annual exhibit invites folks to commit to a daily practice throughout the month of January - whatever that practice might be.

After ruminating on it for several weeks I decided that I would commit to playing the set of bongos that Angelika bought for me as a birthday gift 20-21ish years ago.  I've only very occasionally tapped on them over these ensuing years. 

To format this exercise as an exhibit-able physical form, I covered the head of each drum with a square of heavy paper. On top of this I attached a piece of carbon paper.  The idea being that the spanking strikes on the bongos would be transmitted through the carbon paper onto the layer beneath.  

After a quick test, it was clear that the record of a single day's playing would render very little visible interaction so instead of a collection of 31 separate pieces for each drum head, I would use just the two pieces of paper to collect the accumulated wear over the course of the month.  

A side view showing the support structure.