Steve Zissou and the Star of India

     On a recent trip to San Diego we stayed a few blocks from Harbor Drive. The Star of India, whose description can be read here, became a pleasant fixture at the start of any walk I took along the water. 

     I'm not sure why I was so taken with her. Perhaps it tied me again to my fantasies about being on the water and living off the bounty of the sea, dreams that I fostered in my short time as a child in Rhode Island. One thing was conspicuously absent from the experience though, the smell; the Pacific just doesn't carry the same intoxicating nostril filling scent of salt and sea that the Atlantic does. Still, it is an ocean and I found myself moving nearer to it at every opportunity. 
     On our last morning there I met a kindred soul who shares my yen for the ocean, none other than Steve Zissou himself. He was there filming his latest foray over the deep and stopped in to do a bit piece on the very ship that greeted me each morning. We chatted for a spell and posed for a photo. He let me call him Stevesie. And before we departed, his assistant handed me a red cap and a Speedo. With a pat on my shoulder and a skip in my step we departed, he to his next adventure and me to mine as the happiest member of the Zissou Society that day.

Unprotected

     While walking in the pinyon-juniper woodland desert northeast of Walnut Canyon, I came upon this somewhat grisly scene. 

     I imagine that the tire might have held water and that this unlucky bovine was able to enjoy it for a short time before his untimely death at whatever hands. The carcass was completely empty, yet the stench of death lingered. Fortunately I was able to stand upwind to photograph the scene.

     Over the past year I've come to enjoy this strip of land, despite its having been ravaged by cattle and unethical wood cutters. It's obvious from aerial imagery, the difference between this exhausted land and the protected area within monument boundaries. 

     The lack of vegetation provides vista views and open off-trail hiking, but the large scale sacrifice of things like oxygen, food, and habitat is hard to reconcile with bare juniper stumps, spent bullet shells, clay pigeons, and beer bottles. Still, the flora and fauna there are worth a reverent look, even if it does mean staring into the eyes of human ignorance and irresponsibility for a while.

Forest People

        Recently I visited the Phoenix Zoo. I used to love zoos. After keeping a few pet snakes over the years, I learned that I don't actually enjoy keeping an animal strictly for my own pleasure. I found myself wanting to give them increasingly elaborate environments that would mimic their real habitat. Through this process I realized my deeper desire to inhabit those places myself, and the pet was just my surrogate for that experience.
        Back to the zoo, I was okay, if a little apprehensive, about the exhibits, until I got to the orangutans. Their name means "forest person" and rightly so. When I looked into the eyes of our fellow great ape, I was immediately struck with an awareness of being looked back into, followed by deep sorrow, then by nauseating regret. That realization of consciousness motivates me, it's a part of my conscience, and changes the way I view the world.
        Not wanting to debate the mission and effectiveness of the modern zoo, I'll just say that I was afforded the opportunity, ironically, to see myself through the eyes of a captive creature I might never have encountered otherwise.

Cow Mind

A Swiss Braunvieh cow wearing a cowbell (Wikipedia)

        When you have "cow mind", then decide if you can eat cow. This thought occurred to me last night. I'm not vegetarian, but I am very curious about the mindfulness of eating. Rather than speaking of plants and animals as commodity, what if we related to them as the parts of the greater whole that we all are? There are numerous thinkers and teachers who can give more comprehensive, exhaustive reasoning, but I'm just thinking out loud here. If we really entered into communion with the life around us, what differences would there be in us and the world we inhabit? Is it possible to recognize the consciousness of our fellow inhabitants? Is it possible to know/have cow mind, dog mind, flower mind, tree mind, rock mind? How does one enter into this practice?

More later on the long time between posts, but here's part of the reason for now...

I'm having my first exhibition of paintings in far too long. 

The show is at Firecreek Coffee Co. on Route 66 and San Francisco in beautiful Flagstaff, Arizona. It opens on Friday, September 6th, First Friday Artwalk, and will be on display through the end of the month. Here's a sample of the work being shown...

Untitled 36 X 60"

Untitled 36 X 48"

Visual Journal

     This semester I am student teaching at Flagstaff Arts and Leadership Academy in Flagstaff, AZ. My host teacher, Janeece Henes, has fostered in her students the practice of keeping a visual journal. The basis of this practice can be found on this website: http://www.journalfodderjunkies.com/

     I have enjoyed seeing what students do with this format and, as with any assignment this semester, I have adopted the practice myself. As a result I now carry a book-bag full of art supplies to support the habit. Whenever I have time to fill I pull out my journal and start a new page or add a layer to an existing one. Here are a few images from my visual journal. Many pages are in progress and may not be finished for a long time as this format allows for a slow development of imagery.

Memory Stacks

Blog on Hold

With the beginning of my final on-campus semester in graduate school I'll be busy with homework, writing curricula, and completing practicum hours. These in addition to working part time and paying at least a little bit of attention to my family will ferociously occupy my time. Any blogging will most likely consist of photographs and lesson ideas which will be posted on my other blog, anartistsdaybook.blogspot.com

Around Town

 

Album Covers cont'd

     The album cover format is pretty engrossing so I imagined a few singles to go with the LP cover. All but one of these is from my own photography. I think I'll try to do that as much as possible as this project continues, source from my own images. That should also give me reason to take more photos, which is always good.

More Album Covers

     Here are a few more album covers I made tonight.

Album Covers

     The other night I decided to play with the album cover format. Using the previously posted textures as a leaping-off point, and selecting a few bogus band names and album titles, these were my initial efforts.

 

Surface

     One of the things that really excites me visually is surface. I am especially drawn to aged and worn surfaces. I took a few shots today around the house of objects whose surfaces are interesting or exciting to me.