Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Sunday, March 15, 2009
March 23, 2009
The cardinals are building a nest. In addition to the tried and true stick/leaf combination, this pair has added an old plastic bag. They don't know what I know - plastic in a nest contributes to a lack of stability. The nest could be blown from the tree in a storm. Every spring I see lost eggs - and worse - hatchlings, because their nest included manmade materials. Should I pull out the plastic and monitor the yard for unsuitable bits of trash? I feel a responsibility to these creatures who can't know the peril they're courting. Or is it a path I shouldn't travel? Am I meddling when I intervene with Nature? Or am I stewarding?
March 22, 2009
Nothing in the world
is as soft and yielding as water.
Yet for dissolving the hard and inflexible,
nothing can surpass it.
The soft overcomes the hard;
the gentle overcomes the rigid.
Everyone knows it is true,
but few can put it into practice.
Therefore the Master remains
serene in the midst of sorrow.
Evil cannot enter her heart.
Because she has given up helping,
she is the people's greatest help.
True words seem paradoxical.
Verse 78
Tao te Ching
Stephen Mitchell translation
March 21, 2009
Men are born soft and supple;
dead, they are stiff and hard.
Plants are born tender and pliant;
dead, they are brittle and dry.
Thus whoever is stiff and inflexible
is a disciple of death.
Whoever is soft and yielding
is a disciple of life.
The hard and stiff will be broken.
The soft and supple will prevail.
Verse 75
Tao te Ching
Stephen Mitchell translation
March 15, 2009
We discuss abstraction in my design class. One way to think about abstraction is to ask how much a representational element can be altered before it is no longer recognizable. What must remain intact visually in order for an object to retain its recognizable essence? And does it matter?
Artists have used symbols and partial or abstracted versions of objects for centuries. Sometimes the viewer knows what the symbols mean and sometimes only the artist has the key to the secret visual language imbued in her work. No matter how much an artist chooses to reveal, a picture is successful if it is integrated and compelling enough to hold the viewer's interest.
You may or may not recognize the Cuckoo Clock by the chains and ghost image of the pendulum swinging. But perhaps you will see in my picture of rough wall texture and chains a sense of... passing time? Orderliness? Constraint?
Even an image that doesn't give all the clues to its form tells a story. It's whatever story we want it to tell. A visual shape shifter.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Friday, March 13, 2009
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Monday, March 9, 2009
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Friday, March 6, 2009
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Monday, March 2, 2009
Sunday, March 1, 2009
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November 20, 2008
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Being and Non-being
Substance and Light
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