A PURE PRIMARY BROWN

Earlier this semester I read Wittgenstein's Remarks on Color for class. Such a strange text, really--musing about the nature of colors, hashing it out, round and round. For a couple of days I really looked at colors, considering whether they were translucent or opaque, and if they lined up with my assumptions. I mentally compared white walls with white clouds, blue skies with blue glass. I looked for "true" red, and agreed that it existed only in my mind. I took this photo as a sort of case-in-point response: blue is lighter than white (sometimes).

And pure white is elusive.

For the same class, I've continued to cut and paste and paint and stitch and type pages for a commonplace book in response to readings.





My apartment is a bit ramshackle, but I get a lot of light.

(As long as there is light to be gotten)









Esther's friends, Lauren and David, are part of a "Works of Paper" show at Sam Weller books that opened on Friday.

THE WILLY-NILLY SLAPDASH

There were a couple of rough weeks back there--most likely a preview of the next couple of weeks. But at the end of a round of deadlines, the sky is bluer. The sun more splendid. Even watery espresso tastes good.

Catie and I browsed the bookstore and came away with a tarot pack and The Philosophy of Andy Warhol. The gutters offered up their leaves.

This photo should have been included in the Halloween post. I was a blank canvas, but ended up a collaborative masterpiece. A few other people ended up as masterpieces, too.


There are two libraries in my life these days. Salt Lake Public Library is a real community hub, and not bad for studying either, as long as one avoids the back corner of the 3rd floor, which seems to be where a lot of transients hang out, and it gets rather noisy with rustling plastic bags and hacking coughs. I don't mean to be heartless here--I think it's impressive that the library here is a resource for everyone--transient, student, parent, child.


Will invited Nate and I over to help him brew some beer, which mostly involved drinking most of Will's stash of beer and occasionally stirring a big pot full of hops and such. It will be two months until the fruit of our labor is ready.



Will and Melanie live on 11th Ave, high above the city. A steady stream of bicyclists pedaled their way uphill. We watched the parade from Will's porch.

Last night V read some poems as part of the Working Dog Reading Series, alongside another poet and two (great!) fiction writers. The tiny bookstore space was overflowing. Not everyone could hear. Lucky for me, I was within spitting distance, so I heard every word, and every word was fantastic.

SNOW, ROSES, AND GHOULS

The view from my dining table/desk is of a vacant lot, which is not particularly scenic, but allows for plenty of light.



I've enjoyed watching the leaves turn and fall of the trees out there, but now I'm starting to miss the way they masked nearby buildings.

For our first snowstorm the flakes were huge and the light was weird. All in all, it was a pleasant experience.


I was catsitting for Magoo, Judy's cat, during the storm. Judy's house is a good place to watch a snowstorm.




Then the snow melted as quickly as it had fallen. I saw Craig and Ernie out in the sun, doing yard work at Judy's, and they gave me some roses. Snow and roses...huh.

Jackson has tipped the glass over twice, spilling water everywhere.


It had been quite a few years since I dressed up for Halloween. I guess it was time.







V. dared to pickpocket Kim Jong Il's whisky.

Halloweeners are not still lifes. In fact, they move quickly. All that dancing and laughing. But I did manage to capture Esther Kim Jong Il and her constantly shedding sheep, Jordan.

THE STOMP, THE WHIRLWIND

Last weekend I flew to Denver. It seems Brigid has mastered the fine art of something or other, and I was lucky enough to see her thesis exhibit, which was also the culmination of a residency at Platte Forum, where she's been living and working for the past two months.

Ross also flew in from Seattle, and Bryce flew in from Indiana. The three of us met at the airport and scurried off to PF to see Brig and help set up the exhibit. Have I mentioned that these two are engaged to be married? Looks like we will be adding another goofball to the family.


There were many elements to Brigid's show, but it all centered around dance and dancers.

My mom was there, too, stitching these paper panels into a sort of thread-drawing quilt.

Projectors were set up here and there, intersecting with each other, shining through this fabric, across this room, on that wall. Some images were of the thread drawings, fading in and out of each other.

Another part of Brigid's project involved a group of middle school girls. The girls learned some dances of various traditions. They danced and filmed and edited their film. They made flip books of the dancers.

We managed to go back to my folks' house to get cleaned up before the opening.




The opening was packed--dancers and their families, Brigid's gazillion friends and teachers, the awesome Platte Forum staff and their volunteers.

One of the highlights of the evening was a perfomance by Brigid and Amanda Bishop, flamenca extraordinaire. Mandy has been dancing for years now, and is entrancing. While she danced, Brig mixed video projections in response. There are some amazing photos of the performance up on the Platte Forum website, but of course a photo doesn't really capture dance and film.




I suppose I've always known that dance is narrative, but I honestly haven't watched many dance performances. The emotional narrative Mandy dances is striking and intense.







There were some unexpected aspects of the work, too. From one end of the gallery, looking through projections and lights and fabric, other viewers became part of the piece. My dad spent along time performing his role as viewer-dancer.


Brigid filmed and interviewed women from different dance traditions: Spanish Flamenco, Mexican Folklorico, West African, Native American, and American Jazz Tap. Their portraits were displayed at the gallery entrance.

The next day Ross and my mom and I went to see a book arts exhibit at the Art Students League. Funny how this "book" looks a bit like a whirling flamenco dancer to me.

And it turned out that Judy, the founder and artistic director of PF, had a book in the exhibit.


There were lots of sculptural books, butt there was a table of books in the more familiar book format. One of my favorites was by Sarah Bryant.






In anticipation of seeing my dear old childhood friend, Kate, and meeting her new baby, and her two step-children for the first time, I enlisted my mom's help for the final touch on Diego's sock monkey. My mom is pretty handy with the chain stitch.



Diego's monkey lounged about, enjoying the sun on his first day of life.

He visited Brigid, back at the forum.

And spied on Ross' homework.

And finally made it home, to his owner, baby Diego.



Leo's Halloween costume was pretty terrifying.





If death removes his mask, do you think his real face might be sweet, like this one?

And then Bryce's band played their final show together. Ross and I had never seen them live, so we felt lucky to get the chance before they disbanded.

Brig sang on a couple of songs, so I got a backstage pass.

I know, you never go to MySpace anymore, but just this once...they're really great.



And then the lights came up and the brooms came out and the letters on the marquee changed and the Bluebird staff kicked us out onto the street. And the sun came up. And there was brunch to be eaten with my folks, and planes to be caught, and one flight to be canceled (Bryce's), and turbulence to bump through, and pages and pages to be read, a paper to be written, groceries to be gotten, cats to be fed...


But word on the street is that Brigid successfully defended her thesis. She is now a Master of Fine Arts in Electronic Media. Embody will be up for another week, I think, and she and Mandy are doing another performance on Friday. You should go.