9616-Q3 Memories, Dreams, Reflections
Growing up in rural “New England” USA, in the 1970s, I was always fascinated by images of cities I saw in the newspaper or on television. Every building was so different, and there were so many people. I’m sure many would have traded for my life of quiet reading and bicycling alone in the woods, but there was a dream, that with so many people, there might be a few more like me. In rural New England, there were zero. As I moved through elementary school, and university, I took a deep interest in building and landscape architecture, and how it affected the people inhabiting spaces. When I was finally able to start spending time in New York City, during many college-age visits in the ‘80s, I was thrilled. There were cool buildings in every direction, Times Square was seedy, and there were freaks everywhere. I maybe should have moved there, but I stayed in school upstate. Later I visited Boston, Montréal, Los Angeles, San Fransisco, Dallas, Detroit, Denver, Lima, Iquitos, Geneva, Vienna, Vancouver, Toronto, Mexico City, Sydney, Queenstown, Christchurch, Copenhagen, Prague, Paris, and more. So many cities, so many people. Today we might say, “so many differences,” but then I would have said, “so much variety.” People form societies, societies make choices, and choices make culture. Each of these cities, each of these cultures, transformed my perspective of the world. They informed me of the options, of the possibilities, of the range available. Each visit generated stacks of memories, the collection of memories fueled my dreams for visiting future cities, and dream-memory feedback loop provided opportunities to reflect on my own choices, my own possibilities, my own range. 9616, the initial quad in the collection, exemplifies the transformational power of cities, architecture, landscapes, and freaks of all stripes. May we all discover our possibilities, and find our own range. Gallery sheet: https://ln5.sync.com/dl/a6e030d10#2vd4h9vi-9jtym3na-95qgbw34-vsbytawn
8239-Q3 Swimming In Stone
The blue reflections of the sky remind me of the deep blue waters of the natural world: the ponds and lakes, the streams and rivers, the gulfs and oceans. When I was young, visiting the American Southwest desert near Phoenix AZ and the Grand Canyon, I learned that water has the capacity to carve and shape the earth, even stone, over time. Oceans cut coastlines, wetlands eat trees, and flash floods are deadly. Combined with wind, the drench of a hurricane can wreak a whole city in minutes. Water, usually a soft, gentle, flowing, sparkling, refreshing, life-giving necessity can also be one of the most powerful and destructive forces on the planet. Just as the Colorado river cut through rock to create the Grand Canyon, the tears of our life cut their own path through our history, through our being. Our watery tears help express some of our experiences — of happiness, joy, sadness, anger, rage, melancholy — and these cumulative experiences create the patterning and decoration of our entire existence. Tears can also be life-affirming, and cleansing, reminding us we’re alive, and feeling, still flowing. As we pour ourselves into the world, flowing around obstacles, leaving our own marks on people, on places, on things, on nature itself, we might remember that we, too, are mostly water, with just as much impact. 8239, the second quad in the collection, reminds us that water can clean, and water can cut, but water keeps moving. If life is a pool, let’s jump into the deep end, splash around, immerse ourselves in everything, and flow forward together. Gallery sheet: https://ln5.sync.com/dl/828240310#qvdpns7y-wejumjy5-3ag7hgp6-b9wuevf7
Ripples at Sunset
