Better shots of some images already posted.

Summer work. Not as much as I’d like to show. Too many interruptions such as “yardening” (my coinage), of yard + garden,  out of town weekend trips, the studio being too hot too often until I installed the air-conditioner I’ve had for two years, drilling down deep and writing a statement (much much time), my teaching job + preparing for a trip in September (bonjour + hasta luego).

to the people who said they needed to see my work at AAW. You’re the reason I opened my studio. Special thanks to a few people who came back several times. Let’s be friends.

Quick snaps of my studio walls before I left for the day. AAW I feel ready for you!

In the Beginning, 24” x 12” Charcoal, newsprint image on paper, 2010

Hello Folks. Heads Up. I will be doing a rare thing and opening my studio for Art A Whirl. Please come and see a lot of new work, and some all time favorite photographs. Old friends and new friends welcome! Look for a mention of me in the Onion, AV Club article on the Whirl, as well as their website. Thanks Andy S.

Casket Arts Studio Building, Suite 214, 17th Avenue & Jefferson St. NE Minneapolis

Friday, May 14, 5:00-10:00 p.m.  Saturday May 15, Noon-8:00 p.m.

Sunday, May 16, Noon-5:00 p.m

Speaking of “sidewaysness,” (see 1st image of this group) here is one. This lovely box which I believes contains a pair of women’s briefs, has a typo on the front. Instead of complimentary, it says UNCOMPLIMENTARY. This and other items were available for sale in one of our hotels. The hotel with the really really dirty carpets. The one that delivered laundry at 1 am. Not the one that Nixon stayed at in 1972.

Donkey meat going into the hotpot. This was as exotic as it got for us, though I’d of course heard of other things eaten in China, and since back have read of much more. I’m reading Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper, A Sweet and Sour Memoir of Eating in China, by Fuschia Dunlop and let’s just say I’ve learned that China approaches food in this way. They say, what couldn’t you eat? And eat it. Their approach is very inclusive, very unsqueamish. Maybe there would be no other way to feed so many people. We are more about defining what to exclude from our diet based on special diets, phobias, fears of the “unknown” such as GMO’s, and sustainability issues.

Wumart, Nanning China. Great Wall wine meets PBR. Wumart was more like a huge Asian grocery store. A lot of packaged food, plus a very large fresh seafood dept. and a deli case had lots of great Indian style breads that still make my mouth water when I think of them. PBR was the only American brand I recall seeing, (no, Dove chocolates also) and it was ironically butted up against Great Wall wine, which I think is of the same quality. This Wumart occupied the 2nd and 3rd floors of a high rise building. You took a steep escalator up to the entrance. I didn’t advance to the next floor which I presume had clothing and household things. I had an afternoon of shopping ahead of me, and I needed to pace myself. Wumart only gets so much of my time. I bought a yogurt drink, and a bag of candy. Had to pay about a penny for the small bag to carry them in.

This was the place setting before getting served seafood pizza in our hotel cafe, in Nanning. After I took the photo, I was told, “no photos!” I think this photo portrays how travel to an especially very foreign place has a sideways aspect to it. You see  more things that are different from your norm, there are more miscommunications, and you try to not feel too sideways yourself in the midst of all the cultural differences and language barriers. In spite of some sidewayness, we had a great time! Most sidewaysness is interesting, funny and good for you. And the seafood pizza wasn’t too bad either.

Where have I been?  I’ve been getting ready for a 3 week trip to China. We leave tomorrow on a 13 hour flight in coach. Ugh.  Fortunately we have what looks like a wonderful hotel  in Beijing in which to decompress and adjust to jet lag, and in which to find shelter from the current dust storm blowing through that part of the world. After seeing the photos online this morning, burkas now have a utilitarian appeal to me and those white disposable face masks don’t look that bad either. At least they would keep the sand out of my teeth.

We will be in Beijing, Nanning, Nanjing, and Taizhou, with a departure from Shanghai. After the sand and wind of Beijing, we will be headed way south, where it is tropical. So lately I’ve been in that limbo state of mind where you are anticipating and preparing for the unknown, but attending to things in the present. I read recently that the best part of a trip for most people is the anticipation, not the actual trip, or after wards. Most trips I come home exhausted, and I expect this one to be the same. This trip is about about seeing and experiencing new things, meeting interesting people, and trying not to get sick. In addition to my camera, I’m taking a new digital sound recorder. I’ve wanted one for quite a while, so I can record the sounds of places I visit, as well as images. Got to go, hope to post new things soon-

Down the Middle, 2010