Metropolitan seminars in art

Portfolio 4. Abstraction
John Canaday

I didnt know that Picasso excelled at traditional ways of painting too. that Cezanne did abstract painting. Pines and rocks (Fontainebleu)

Pricing

1. regulates addiction

Words

Will we ever be free of them?
I dont will so.

Gloria Naylor, in the essay The Meanings of a word writes about subtle things of how sometimes we mishear words,how we misinterpret and misunderstand them.

The art of seeing

Helen Keller asks, "How was it possible, I asked myself, to walk for an hour through the woods and see nothing worthy of note?" in her essay Three days to see
I wonder how I missed the tower on the end of a corner building. I have even wished to dine on the rooftop of that building. I could bet 100$ that this conical roof wasnt on the building.
Having walked for years, I have still missed glaring details of buildings.
This time I did notice that US Airways center building has brick wall frame around glass on the west side while a building to its south has it reverse on the south face. I mention this to remember the play of material with bricks and glass. I saw a brick building recently and thought it could not be done well in any other thing. That being said, there are some people who get bored of those things and ask architects anything but that. And thats how Frank Gehry gave metal buildings.
When I sketch, I do see more details.
A View from the Bridge

Diversity

In the evening, all of us, kids in the hostel sat in a line by the wall. Sisters, the nuns at the convent school distribute the snacks. We have no idea of what is going to be the catch of the day. This wont last long. The snacks have been collected (forced to give away) from the kids who brought them from home after vacation. This was necessary. There were other kids- Chenchus who probably didnt bring any and many others who brought less. Imagine the cauldron with all sweets and savory snacks from different households.

The corner store

In this short excerpt from an essay by Eudora Welty, few lines that sum up a store's fascination.

"It was up to you to remember what you came for, while your eye traveled from cans of sardines to tin whistles to ice-cream salt to harmonicas to fly-paper(over your head, batting around on a thread beneath the blades of the ceiling fan, stuck with its testimonial catch)."

As a kid, the store that I frequented had a lady who was very tall like a Greek sculpture. Later she had a baby too. Statue of Liberty.

Between ends and beginnings

The carrots in 'Chicken cashew salad' at Cheesecake factory. A big fan of Broccoli. Even I dont understand this. But I wasnt always like this. There was a time when I had to give up on rice. Is that possible? And before that I had to eat all raw vegetables. Siddha Samadhi Yoga. And that wasnt the only change. I had to move for college.
When I joined this program my parentd would have thought that it will do me good. A healthy student can face college better. The ending of the program just about coincided with the beginning of college. Such being the schedule, feeling weak from the lack of comfort food, I was not up to battling the anxiety of coping in a college where there would 424 students who have proved themselves to be better than me.

All in a day

Pittsburgh Steelers ABC: My First Alphabet Book (My First Alphabet Books (Michaelson Entertainment)) 

Last Monday I was upto many things.
Least of which was dropping a car key into the recycle dumpster before a license extension task.
Once there my eyes scanned at 'when driving at 65 miles per hour, to halt it takes a distance longer than a football field'.
This line is from Saturday Evening Post, January/February , 1975 included in Patterns Plus

A walk by a dried lake

It is a weekend of clouds. A relief in many months. A week ago, the dam burst. I should have expected the loss of water. There is water in some spots just a surface of it. There are small fish, dried and slaked in mud. A bicycle. Many crate skeletons and tires.
When I started the walk, I was torn between two choices - one of taking the routine walk which would bring back the routine of months ago and the other of going east. In the east direction, there has been some development- a mall. Long time ago, I couldnt take that path as there was no path. On the northern side too, new condominiums have come up, the lake and park have been built on that side too. I wasnt sure if the northern and southern side were connected. Between these two banks there is a disconnected bank. So we need two connections. To find out I have to walk ahead. I havent done that in a while. Exploring by walk.
First section SE. There are about 10 turkey vultures in air and on land. One seems to be bothering another. I can see their necks red. When they soar, the white of their wings. I wished to sit on the bank steps, in their line of sight but police cordons prevented it. As I kept walking I saw a great blue heron still with its right foot lifted at an angle and that can only mean one thing, it has found a prey. Sure enough, its bill sticks out of a water with a fish in it. I go as far as the path leads me to a 'no trespassing' sign. I trace the steps back and cross the bridge.
Second section NE. I have never been this side. As I walk ahead, there is a small dog with bark. The owner, dog and I are in a triangle. I freeze to let the distance between them reduce. There are a set of high chairs around a table. I could sit here another time with a book. I pass another bridge. Then come viewing areas of ponds with yellow water lilies and a strict instruction to stay on the path. I almost reach curry road. Time to turn around. kill deers. Sandpipers. Snowy egrets. Doves. Grackles. House Finches.
Once I reach the main bridge, I am in a familiar terrain. While crossing by the marina, I find a small silver fish partly hanging from a railing. In the front part only the eye ring remains like a snail. Its strange that the wind did not lodge it down. I think of Tisdale's essay of ' The sutra of maggits and blowflies' and find a sticky looking secretion by the side which would have been the adhesive. What led the bird leave its food in haste?
Next week I want to head west.
A kid looks at the countdown number of the traffic and says ' Run, we have only 3 min' to his parents.
Yesterday two kids walking on each side of a parent are running with their little feet, hands held, to make the light. A girl and a kid who just fell are jumping that they are close to mojo yogurt and that they can have icecream.

Rain

This year I waited for the rain
for three and a half weeks
The first two weekends there
were clouds with a faint smell of
shower
This weekend there were 3 drops.

Monday 10 drops.
Yesterday earth sent
a phantom wet smell.
Clouds and odors carry the
trust away

I drifted into the daily chores
Loud patter
In the balcony I reach my hands
out into the air
hands dripping, I wonder if
I should go for the drench

Today the medium rain
is a state where
I stay in it for a while
like I would in the sun

Forests

The trees in the canopy determine the trees in the understory and sometimes the trees in the understory can replace the predominant species.

The Life of The Forest.Jack McCormick.

Painting Light with its concept of shadow having a colour.

The green in Gustave Caillebotte's Boats and Shed on the Bank of the Seine reminded of the painting in yupha's Thai kitchen.


Jean Baptiste Camille Corot's Forest of Fontainebleau with the cow, made me wonder if it is possible to draw it as in the shades. Then I moved onto the rock fissure, then the trees. Smaller trees around merge into a huge one.

My new interest in trees has me reading Trees of North America and The Life of the forest

To date, I have identified Sycamore and fig trees from the guide. I felt the need for a guide after spotting a shrub in the South mountains on Holberts trail with its pod that I wanted to know more about.

Sometimes when I leaf through the book, one leaf does look very different from the other, even the pine cones. Just like how the kind of birds increase as we keep paying attention to them.

When I see the picture of a bird in a picture with text identifying an animal, I want to know of the bird too.

Laundry Drying of Gustave Caillebotte looks like smoke from a factory or the top of a factory.

Infrared reflectography shows all the underdrawings on a canvas.

Talk of the building

Conversations with Frank Gehry

I came across Frank Gehry as an architect in a movie on Louis Kahn.

Each building brings with it the chance of using a new material.In this book, looking at models of Weisman Art Museum in brown (may be wood), white and metal, I could see how each material lends a different look to the building. The wooden seeming one recalled adobe houses.

Lewis Library and its Finnish influence?

pg.94 Gehry left models(metal)outside for an entire year to see how different seasons affect the building.

About
Tempe Centre of Arts architecture and more.

Urban Decay

When cliff dwellers left
their homes
it wasnt a blight.

Grand Motions

The Great Railway Bazaar Train through Asia by Paul theroux

Books with maps have never disappointed me.

His encounters with some kind of people seem to be so skewed. He has a very good style of making any kind of conversations fit into the book. A town that I was in had its train station at one end. If it can be generalized then his travel is only through the edges of towns meeting certain kinds of people and those experiences wont be a good sample of the whole.

In a para, he sums up how trains in different countries are different with different amenities.

I wasnt prepared for his experiences in Japan.

Power and thereof

Men are not corrupted by the exercise of power or debased by the habits of obedience, but by the exercise of a power which they believe to be illegal and by obedience to a rule which they consider to be usurped and oppressive.

Alexis de Tocquille

Once in power, every effort will be done to not lose it. If possible even to gain more power. To gain new powers, new weaknesses have to be brought about somewhere. When competitive, the artifice is limited to one side of the table.

Crossing borders

The place to study, work, live - all away from home is foreign. The days leading to the departure- the crossing of the border.

Why I read

I saw a sentence with 'subvert' in it. It was the last sentence in a para.

That is a word I cant come up with in writing. It scares me. Still I read.

Trepan, Palacles in 'The Sutra of Maggots and Blowflies'

Status of a situation

Know the problem. Know the device.
How far can the device highlight your problem?

we do not directly know of the problem. A tool tells us that something is not right.
when the tool stops talking, how to guess the happening?

Problem hiding a problem.

Writing and Spirituality

If the writers work is already present and waiting to be found, then for those looking for God, is he an island for the floating? All paras need to be good for an article to work. If the beginning eludes, then Writing in Reverse as jill dearman suggests might work. If that doesnt, snuggle into the paras and get in somehow. There must be a group of islands. some small. some big.

In a childs hands

horseshoe stakes become cymbals
bean bags begin bean wars
fishing rods become swords
and hoola hoops can rain as drops

Sixty years later

Dee does not care about things she hasnt worked for. There was a rumor that ism would not be tolerated. Her friend Umbre's life is hard to imagine without the daily routine of chants. She cannot recall the hymns she sang every morning. Her book is warped with alphabets she cannot recognise.


After listening to the Mongolian throat singing, I can appreciate the mockingbird emanating throaty buzzes.

Looking down from the Light house , SanDiego seemed like a Greek polis with occupied rolling land.

Glovebox has the answer

A banana cracked open at an edge in the center. Ill fitting pants. The crack didnt reveal anything unexpected. For the most part since it is homogenous, except for the small dots inside. Imperceptible. The threads are louder. Even with its nose cone, it is hard to eat it fast with its filling taste in fewer bites.

Long time ago, a good friend urged me to go through the car manual. With no problems, it is hard to find your way through a manual for a solution that you only need later. service checkup revealed that a HEPA filter had to be changed. If outsourced, it would cost lot. Now is the time to look at the manual. For the current problem, the manual suggests dealer as the answer. Some self help videos and some confusion resulted in a good part (recently replaced) - air filter being replaced. Do-it-yourselfs make you believe in the impossible. A look at the glovebox, it aint gonna give. Other models flap in. It is supposed to be easy. Push in from the sides and it is expected to fall down vertically, revealing the cabin filter. With so much insistence of its possibility, it had to be true. The car now has a clean cabin filter. A look at the contents of the old filter - makes one think that its job is to chop cut trees into manageable size before trashing. Only these twigs and leaves are dehydrated. Inmates in car should smell the wilderness.

If entry into your car is not push button, you have a curfew coming up. If battery failure can prevent start up, how dont the extensive tests reveal its status? A shutdown which resets your radio, clock and thereby forces you to go the manual. A code could lie in a piece of paper in a tiny ziploc, with its knowledge that someday that those numbers would be punched in to unlock a radio while you are in ignorance until that moment. Suddenly the dashboard has secret letters which will get you back to correct time. If I am suprised that I will use some of the buttons to punch in numbers, I am even more to hold one long enough to beep.

The Art of Maintenance has just begun. The car decides to unfold itself through the crack of the hood and the glovebox. More mysteries ahead.

Feigning Immortality

The radio sends smooth waves
while the listener drifts to sleep
may be one more song
and then I can pull the plug

While the brain drifts to sleep
The hand that can pull the plug
waits for a discordant song

What kids see

At a grocery store, I set the milk gallons on the ground, waiting for the conveyor belt to roll forward and bring up space from the bottom. A kid of four or so, lifts the gallon saying thats easy. I admired his strength. He then found a toy baseball and threw it. It landed on the belt. He had many questions for the cashier. when the belt was free, he was going to help me lift the gallons on to the belt. As he moved ahead, he asked me to check if there was another baseball from where he had picked the previous one. His eyes couldnt reach it, but the mischievous must feel the presence of a green lit button on everything.

Carrying the tree

Right after a workout
the world looks new
A tree overlooking the road
now framed by jacaranda trees
with flowers and no leaves

On my way to work
I pick the
clumps of flowers - unwilted
green stems like lines
to keep the color with me
throughout the day

Avian Gardener

A lantana surrounds
a plant with leaves
triangular
like a betel leaf

Above by the
side is a
bird house
with different seeds

farmer of the spilt

Display

A baby squirrel
beat its tail
as long as itself
over its back
a threat display

A mockingbird
lands onto the grass
picking a grain or worm
in the wet
A cat still young
to know its tail as its own
was all stealth
with hidden movement
in its hind legs
The bird then hung
around for a while
on an arch
a lamp
a rooftop

Pregnant

still early
massage said the nurses
lying on the table
I felt cuts into
hard calves
pumice over dead skin

Shadow

Have you seen
a shadow run
or even walk
on the ground

In the days

when playing with
dirt was fun
You hide a small stick
in a clump of sand and
shape it like a small
long bank.
Your friend marks the
place where the stick
might be with joined
hands on the ground
If you find the
stick in the unmarked
area you win

A bird is a color

Dark Goldenrod with black spots
Two birds with opposite pigments
small Owls
I regard them,
they fling a
one and half insect
I let the memorabilia crawl

I regard a baby
her shriek talk
her palm tight softness
she shies her head around

Night's voice

Does the night sing
like a bird awake
or stars twinkle loud
do the crickets lend
their chatter or is
it their drone, snore?

In this monophony,
the bear watchful
of a handful kid
is always silent

Preserving mould

A finsihed form
vs the flutes and
folds of a hanging cloth
Why are the edges and
walls polished
smooth, perfect
parallel, perpendicular

A prickly pear
next to a
grass bush

Memory

is a mischance
of steps traced back
to spot the hawk like
bird at the edge
of a tangle of walls
from the l b h sides

All the times you
stop by
the flower,
the ants,
for the time they deserve
they stay on
their stalks,
their mounds
forever.

Sleep

is relieving your
neck
from holding your head

tray table in flight

Chaski

Each journey
A relay with your
twins or triplets
till you meet the next
who can see what
you are about to see
and close to what
he is about to see


Chaski from pg 19, Forest primeval to park Avenue, The Routes of Man, Ted Conover

The Good of Culture

Cross Kneed


To alleviate pain
Unfurl
only to cross at shins
Why cross?
The good unknown to us
like an appendix
If time is the teacher
why lament on generation

With time

And out upon that naked lift of pasture
Where lay her stillborn child, she came, and there
Was caught in the wash and welter of two waves
Of life.
Ann Garner,James Agee
An interesting interview of Andrew Hudgins, the editor of Agee's selected poems.

Imagine all the things we lost,
safe in the waves somewhere
far away from us.
These dont diminish
as they recede.

Those who are next to it
are married to the sea
But how is the sea a refuge
for those who are not

Ironic that some time ago when I saw a foreign pop song where a guy throws letters into the oceans, it was unbearable to see.

Snow

In the Realms of the Unreal, a small girl in pink is watching the snow fall, through a window. Her arms are close to her body but her reflection in the glass shows them slightly away. May be its right to alter the reflection. May be thats how her mind feels, alittle free, watching the snow fall. As the narrator feels that he could watch it all night, I wonder if I can watch the sunny afternoon all along.
A group of people sit on a bench. they are tols that they are in a place for skiing. The snow patch is thin, then after all their motive to be there might be questioned. There is a patch of connecting ice on a tree. Then it starts snowing. In some place the snow falls definitely in big blobs.
May be the people will be stranded in th house for long.
A big bird on the road is feeding on something. A small bird by its ear is extracting something useful. A man and his son watch this in a blanket. Once the bird is done eating, it contracts itself closer to earth and expands itself longitudinally, ready to follow the movement of the watchers. I close my eyes and stay calm.
Last evening was the beginning of heat.

Blood shed

In abundance things look different.
A cut covered in bandaid is
different from a bottle of blood.
Through the plastic like grape juice.
cauldron of all types
jerry cans of it
all transparent, not just to contain
but to seethe, to pour, roll, waste
lie mute but still bubble as screams

Weeds

In the office parking lot
in enclosed curbs lay
some morning glory bushes
the one with the flowers
lay the farthest
looking like mini
Wilson weed.

Afar a medium sized
palm tree
when I could see its
whole length
its like I found a
place to
sit under

urged by
Pausing from Haiku mind, Patricia Donegan

Turn over

This morning I woke up to moonlight
from the window
where I pulled the blinds to make way
for the next days sun.
Last full moon morning we were
up at Piestewa peak watching the
biggest moon west

The wrinkles on my shirt are gyri
the depression are the sulci

With batter I can make them
lie at an angle and then meld

**************

If each side of our brain had symmetrical functions, then one side injury would make the other side emotional? Internal phantom limb or would it go crazy with the unhealthy signals?

*****************

Each hemisphere moves the opposite side of the body. Why should it be so?

*********************

How do radioactive isotopes used in Positron Emission Tomography cross the blood- brain barrier?



Brain, The complete Mind - Michael S Sweeney

Adult by choice

The sea animal that can stay juvenile
(ask the lady at the phoenix zoo)
Is it scared of growing up
what if it could become an adult
and then reverse molt like a millipede
if it doesnt like

Periodomorphosis in 'Millipede Summers, Silurian Nights' by Sue Hubbell

Norman Maclean

What would a poetical soul be like (forever and at this moment)?

Wordsworth

Spots of time

To be made

the model of the poet for whom all of reality can enter the poem - Michael Davidson

To be made

poetry that attempts to become responsible for all a poet knows about himself and his world - Clayton Eshelman

Tool use

The first I heard of it
by an animal is a story
in which a thirsty crow
makes the water level
in a pot rise by
dropping gravel into it.

One optimistic crow
that will always
find the half filled
glass full

As I watch a congo
chimpanzee pound a bee hive
I wonder how it can hold the
stick in its sole
wrapping around it like that
leg of its were a third hand
free to do the holding while
its arms support its weight
on the tree

like our hands free to hold
the cellphone while
still walking