Eames in Harmony

Haven’t posted anything to this blog in ages! Mostly in Nashville lately.

Was able to (very briefly) help out with and photograph part of the installation of “A Healing Palindrome”—a stage of Eames Demetrios’ Kcymaerxthaere project—in New Harmony last week. The installation is in a field behind Richard Meier’s Atheneum. Some photos here. More info about the project at www.kcymaerxthaere.com

Heritage Days in New Harmony

Had a great time this year shooting for the Visit New Harmony website visitnewharmony.com and meeting some great artisans at the annual Heritage Days. Tinsmiths, potters and woodworkers, oh my.

Infodumps and Datafills

Was happy to meet the artist Leticia Bajuyo (www.leticiabajuyo.com) recently at the close of her show “Infodumps and Datafills” at the New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art. Helped her document the installation, the largest part of which was a pair of large horn-like “speakers” constructed of re-purposed compact discs (they felt a little like dragon scales, and were very interesting in various light and shadow situations). The speakers were connected to a pair of Theremins, which could be played by the viewer. The show was rounded out by a dense black sculpture made of re-purposed digital cable, and a number of related drawings on wood. Delighted to later find out that Leticia and my buddy Mark Hosford had gone to graduate school together. Small, funny world. One of the speakers below for feel. Difficult to convey the space, scale, the addition of sound, etc.

Visit New Harmony!

We had a lovely ceremony tonight in New Harmony, launching 200 of these lantern/teeny hot air balloon thingies to celebrate the launch of visitnewharmony.com. The lanterns were particularly beautiful and magical after the sun went down. Children squealed, strong men fainted (well, OK...children squealed...a lot). Lots of oohing and ahhing all around.

Light is such a powerful symbol, it’s odd looking at these pictures of people concentrating so intensely on these things as they hold them gently before letting them float away on the slight wind, like they’re holding something that belongs to a another, more magical world.

The children seemed so excited for the little floating critters to escape, as if they’d both won some small victory, running along after them for a while and hooting with joy. I think the lanterns are symbolic of good wishes—for us, and for others—sent out into the world. We can only hope that someone’s property isn’t currently ablaze across the river in southern Illinois, where they were all headed;)

Um...Where did that year go?

Just realized I haven’t posted anything here in a little over a year! Started with my mom’s cat dying and slid downhill from there. Will try to remedy that in near future. Here’s a fun time-lapse video of a project I collaborated on with my pals Bryce and Elizabeth recently (isleofprinting.com). It’s an installation at Pinewood Social in Nashville, that we call a “mural” for lack of an adequate term. It’s a wall of 2000 cans for made-up products that act as “pixels” and create a changeable image out of the wall.

http://vimeo.com/86653248

Woods.

My mom, Miss Anne, just found her little cat buddy Woods dead when they got home. Unexpected, but in all honesty, when is any death really expected? We hang on to all life tenaciously.

He was a great companion to her and her husband, Bobby. Had his own place in bed, was a good cowboy movie watching companion for Bobby, was a good pal to his friend Chippy—a stuffed chipmunk? squirrel? something...—who came to live with him from FAO Schwartz in New York. He was only about six years old, not old for a cat.

Because of my allergies, I’ve never been much of a “cat person”—to say the least—but for a cat, Woods was pretty good people. R.I.P., buddy.

Bridge to nowhere.

No, not the Sarah Palin one. The bridge which for decades allowed motorists to seamlessly travel from Indiana to Illinois and vice versa. Defunct bridges make nice metal sculptures.

A world in white gets underway.

It snowed in New Harmony while I was in Alabama having rain for Christmas. A veil of tears for the virgin birth. The snow at Christmas, of which spake Emerson, Lake & Palmer, forsooth, fell here. Mmmm...commas. Always enjoy a hike when snow is pretty freshly fallen, but offered no alternative, I trod out into the starting-to-melt, stale snowfall yesterday to see what I could see.

Well Mr. Johnson, a “roofless” church don’t keep the snow out, let me tell you.

Particularly enjoyed tromping around by the river and under the currently-defunct Wabash River bridge between Indiana and Illinois. The last time I spent much time down there much of the surrounding area was underwater during “the great flood of ’11.” Can’t believe that’s been over a year and a half ago.

Arnold Ziffel meets Art Potatoes and the Butterfly Girl

My tiny rural Indiana town was overwhelmed this weekend by hordes of out-of-towners bent on some German music and a beer&bratwurst&funnel cake buzz. Kunstfest—literally “Artfest” (thus the “Art Potatoes” served up steaming by the Boy Scouts of America).

Made friends with this little pig. He was shy, but happy, wagging his pig-tail the whole time I was chatting with him. Reminded me of my childhood obsession with owning a smart, funny pig like Arnold Ziffel from Green Acres. “Farm living is the life for me.” ;)

Kids everywhere with painted faces. Ella was a butterfly.

Also, I was strangely attracted to the Ruritan’s funnel cake stand, but was victorious over temptation...I’m on a low-funnel cake diet.

Ms. Inman

Sweet Allison Inman. I love this woman to pieces.

Her skills are manifold. In these pictures, you’ll thrill to: curious stick-handling, nut tossing, old-dog loving, mysterious-look throwing, vintage porch-glider riding, car standing, etc.

We had been talking about my photographing her for ages, and she was always mysterious and reticent about reasons not to. For some reason this day she said “I think I want to take some pictures”—I picked up my jaw, hid my surprise, and grabbed my camera. The wardrobe styling is all her. She manages to look un-ironically lovely in overalls and bare feet, in her happy backyard.

Sometimes pictures of certain people feel kind of private and special, maybe a little fragile. These are like that. Look on them with your gentlest eyeballs, kind blog-reader.

Later that same day—I had been house-sitting for a week while Allison was in San Francisco for work. Was heading back home the next day. We went to see Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom at the Belcourt, and seemingly the next thing I knew I was in the ER with her at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Blood and morphine and worrying. Most of you will know she had a nasty bike wreck which left her badly concussed, with a bunged-up neck and some broken facial bones, a scraped-up face and a bloody eyeball that would frighten small children.

Thankfully, all’s well (relatively) and after much drugging and resting and good nursing from her mom Norma and many other caring friends, she’s back weaving in and out among the living. Her sweet face is going to be OK, except for a small, hardly noticeable scar. Glad to have documented this calm before that storm. I had been putting off posting these, hoping to say something more perfect. But this will do.