Hello, my dear readers! It’s so beautiful and hot here in Boston and summer marches on. My wee garden is blooming but the vegetables I potted in plants are yielding only a modest harvest. I think I may not be a farmer. There have been a couple of dinner’s worth of green beans, a few salads of buttery lettuce, three small tomatoes and two tiny green peppers. But it looks like there will be a good crop of cherry tomatoes. I think the pots get too hot and even with a lot of water the tomato plants are wilting. Still, a good experiment and we’ll turn now to the farmer’s markets which are happily turning up in every town.
Our vacations this year have all been city ones. We spent five days in New York City last week for both business and pleasure. We discovered something called the New Museum—a museum for revolving exhibits of contemporary art. We visited the book shop on the main floor and couldn’t help but notice that all the books were filled with art of a fairly incomprehensible nature, at least, to me. We were short on time so I asked a rather sweet young man who was working as a host what the main exhibit was. He gave me a lengthy description that included something about surreal photographs of the end of the world. ‘It’s fabulous,’ he said. Then he hesitated for an instant. ‘But it’s a bit dark.’ It’s funny that contemporary art seems to need to be both incomprehensible and dark. I set myself the task of making art that is clear and light.
I haven’t yet found a studio but am on the list for one at the art center where I teach. I’m working on an art installation piece, 100 small paintings: 100 Reasons To Smile. I want to have it done by November when I’ll have an opportunity to launch it. More on all that when it’s done. I’ve designed my new web site and will launch it in August and will share glimpses of the installation piece as well as excerpts of writing.
This weekend I go with friend to the Institute of Contemporary Art here in Boston to see the Anish Kapoor show. Another friend spoke with someone who spent time with Anish when he was here to install the show and said he was a very nice and humble man. That’s so good to hear, not always true for an important artist like him. I love his work—it such an enriching experience to encounter it and great that the ICA has this show here in Boston which does not have any permanent installations of his work.
I finished my long writing project: The Laughter Club of India / Quebec Division. No sooner had I finished it than it ended up by some mysterious mistake in the trash on my computer without adequate backup. The good news is that my tech man is able to extract it in some form so I haven’t lost the last three months of work. I do though have to reconstitute it from a mess of files. Ack. Losing it showed me how much I truly love it and love that I’ve been able to do it. It also gave me the opportunity to begin the book on drawing as a practice to meet the creative self that I’ve been thinking about for a while. It’s based on the drawing class I teach and the incredible discovery that even without training people are capable of doing the most astounding and beautiful drawings when they free themselves of the thinking, judging mind. More on both of these projects soon.
So summer is still work time here though we’ve had two really fun city vacations. But so far no days at the beach or swims in ponds. Must make an effort to correct our city ways before summer flies by! I’m penciling in swims in Walden Pond and at least one day at the beach. Meanwhile, dear friends, I hope you’re all having a great summery summer!
I’ll be back on a more regular basis September 1. Happy swimming and cheers!
