Tales from the Microbial Laboratory

~travel trailers and the disappearing south~

Tomorrow evening, amidst predicted heavy rains, there will be the first French Quarter Artwalk of spring - and I am thrilled because of two artists featured:  Stephanie Nance at LimeBlue and Gordon Nicholson at Corrigan Gallery.

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Now how fun is this - I came to know of Stephanie Nance's work (she's from Austin, TX) because she left a comment here on a post I wrote about silly Airstream distractions.  It seems that Stephanie's studio is a travel trailer, and that she is rather fond of trailer paintings - so how could I resist her work?  The one posted here will be in tomorrow's show - and is an image she emailed me a few days ago.  Of course she also does wonderful botanical paintings - and I'm looking forward to seeing more of those tomorrow evening.  She has a wonderful way with color - they are bright and fun and simple and well, sort of perfect in their own way.  I am thrilled that she shipped some of her work up to Charleston to my friend Jeff's gallery, and I can't wait to see them.

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So - there will be trailer paintings at LimeBlue - and right next door, literally, will be the work of - yes - my architherapist.  Now how fun is that?  I met with him today, and of course forgot to ask for permission to post some of his images here - but you can follow the link above to see some examples of his work.  His work - mostly watercolors I believe - are deeply southern images, images of places long neglected, perhaps forgotten - as mentioned on the website, images of the 'disappearing South' - coupled with text that changes how each piece is viewed based on an individual's interpretation.  I can't wait to see his show - his first he said - and I hope that the rains lessen just for awhile, so that others will come to see his show - and Stephanie's - as well.

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Travel travelers and the disappearing South.  A typical Friday evening in the springtime in Charleston, South Carolina.

~(a kind of) freedom~

This painting is 35" wide by 50" tall.

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I know this because it is now time for my larger paintings to go to the home of a gracious friend who is providing me some safe space for their storage during the Airstream Year (notice how I optimistically didn't type Years?).  I'm measuring them all before I store them, so as we wrap up the design 'stage' of this new home thing I can keep their future presence in mind.

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I've dragged this painting around with me for awhile now (which is a bit of an understatement) - this is a painting that I did in 11th grade while taking a high school art class with the instructor Waldo Johnson.  Sometimes, even still, I think back over that class and the freedom that Waldo Johnson gave us:  he believed that painters - paint - and that when a student didn't want to use charcoal and draw that green pepper, that perhaps it was okay, and perhaps it was also okay when the student came in with some yellow enamel paint and old white house paint and asked if she could 'do something' else.  I will be forever grateful that day, when Mr. Johnson's response was 'why yes'.  So I can't look at this painting with unbiased eyes - because it has always represented freedom to me, freedom to simply ask about an alternative (if you don't like what's been put in front of you), freedom to not feel constrained by a vegetable (that is good for you), and freedom to go down a different path (even if it is a painful dead-end - and sometimes it is not so much a dead-end, as it is an awkward painting to carry around with you for the rest of your life simply because).

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(Mr. Johnson passed away several years ago.  My Mother told me.  I've been thinking that I should write his family, to tell them how much I appreciated him.  This is one of those things that one should indeed do - and I regret that I haven't.  Yes, I know, it is something that I can still do...and will.)

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So this painting traveled with me to college and graduate school, to my postdoctoral position, and now to my crumbling home in Charleston.  It's chipped a bit, and has benefited from the help of my friend Jeff, who made a frame for it (which has helped to slow down some inevitable warping).  I have this on-going debate in my head about what I named it - 'Darwin's Theory' is what I think I called it, and if you look closely, it really is a flock of animals, birds and crustaceans and hooved animals - with the profile of 'man' in the middle, with a single 'string' leading to his brain (which also contains a few things wandering around in all of that 'matter', including something that looks as if it has a duckbill).  All of this now makes me smile, because even then I was taking advanced biology in high school, fascinated by diversity - and yet secretly craving to do art all of the time.  Some things never change.

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I've gone through some extraordinary measures to protect this painting.  Each move, another story - followed by the question '...and did the painting make out okay?'

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So today, this painting goes into storage (as do a few others, including this one and this one and a few others that haven't made these pages), I need to finish editing a section of a student's dissertation proposal (and get comments back to her)...and I need to begin to put my landscape plan for my new home down on paper (and remember, this is not so much of a design as a plan - so will incorporate several fundamental LEED components, for example, I will limit 'turf' to 40% of my existing lot.  That is something I can easily do, would like to do - because - doesn't that mean more beds, more places to plant - and perhaps, just perhaps, I should forget about all of the stuff that I need to do today, and just place a seed order?)       

Chuck Keppler at LimeBlue

Tonight is the December Artwalk - my favorite one because the evening is guaranteed to be cool and downtown always looks so nice, with the streets dressed up for the holidays.

And if I might twist your arm, please stop by Jeff Kopish's gallery, LimeBlue (62-B Queen Street), and take a look at Chuck Keppler's show.

Chuck is a marine biologist at the campus where I work (bio), and I knew him for several years before I discovered that he had an 'artsy' side.  He started out doing gigposters that have become quite popular - and now he is expanding to other subjects and approaches.

Stop by.  I'll take a break from grant writing and do the same.

 

~wood~

Tonight I went to the opening of a custom furniture and cabinetmaker, Michael Moran.  I was so impressed by the simple beauty of his designs (check out these for example) - and how each piece complimented the beauty of the different woods.  But what I also enjoyed was his appreciation of his craft and more importantly, his appreciation of the wood itself.  It was evident in his work.  Above one of the pieces was the following:

The Woodcarver by Chuang Tzu (translated by Thomas Merton)

Khing, the master carver, made a bell stand
Of precious wood. When it was finished,
All who saw it were astounded. They said it must be
The work of spirits.
The Prince of Lu said to the master carver:
"What is your secret?"

Khing replied: "I am only a workman:
I have no secret. There is only this:
When I began to think about the work you commanded
I guarded my spirit, did not expend it
On trifles, that were not to the point.
I fasted in order to set
My heart at rest.
After three days fasting,
I had forgotten gain and success.
After five days
I had forgotten praise or criticism.
After seven days
I had forgotten my body
With all its limbs.

"By this time all thought of your Highness
And of the court had faded away.
All that might distract me from the work
Had vanished.
I was collected in the single thought
Of the bell stand.

"Then I went to the forest
To see the trees in their own natural state.
When the right tree appeared before my eyes,
The bell stand also appeared in it, clearly, beyond doubt.
All I had to do was to put forth my hand
and begin.

"If I had not met this particular tree
There would have been
No bell stand at all.

"What happened?
My own collected thought
Encountered the hidden potential in the wood;
From this live encounter came the work
Which you ascribe to the spirits."

Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays from the Microbial Laboratory! 

May you have a holiday season rich in beneficial microorganisms, with reduced use of anti-microbials (toss that anti-bacterial soap!), and abundant diversity!

Yes, several days ago the lab prepared test-tubes of 'paint' (microorganisms isolated from coral reefs) and applied them to canvases (glycerol artificial seawater agar plates).  Look closely at our 'microbial palette' of 'fat fluffy white' and 'orange yellow fat' and 'dull gold'...

Herbs, Art - a Reminder

Reminder.

The day should be gorgeous.

I've made rosemary-olive country bread, pumpkin bread, and a rose-scented geranium pound cake.  A friend just gave me mint brownies.  Jeff's got his pimento cheese dip with ginger crackers ready.  I hear that there will be lemon-thyme cookies, white bean hummus with thyme...pears with brie...Yep, we're mostly going with the whole herb theme. Imagine that. 

The art is arriving mid-morning.  The mint iced tea has been made.  A keg of beer is already on ice.  The wine is waiting to be poured.  Pete's is ready! 

Pete's Herb Farm, 29 October

I know, I talk about this place all of the time.  It's like a broken record.  But if you've never made the drive out to Pete's, but you've always wanted to - or if you think spending a Sunday afternoon looking at some art, pondering your own herb collection, perhaps drinking a glass of wine (or two) and eating some of that pimento cheese dip with the ginger crackers (plus other tasty treats) sounds like a fun thing to do - then this is your event.  I couldn't resist posting the card that Jeff had made.  It definitely captures the spirit of the place.

Plus, it is the Month of Birthday, you know...

Update:  Mike, I promise that there won't be any sofa art there... 

Furriness

I couldn't resist posting my friend Jeff's painting that was auctioned off at last Friday's A Furry Affair.  It went for a fine price to a deserving bidder - but no wonder - what a fine furry creature she is!

Jeff is also one of those Forrest Gump types, popping up everywhere, and so it was no surprise to see him mentioned in Bryce Donovan's P&C 'It Beat's Working' column recently about the event.  I'll quote the section:

As for mine, a man named Jeff Kopish paid $250 for it.  Then he set it on fire outside in the parking lot.  But let's not lose sight of the important issue here:  It still sold for more than Chard's ($225), Rucker's ($225), "Lowcountry Live" co-host Ryan Nelson's ($65, which was bought by her boyfriend, by the way) and Hall's ($60).

I know for a fact (well, because Jeff told me) that he didn't set Bryce's painting on fire in the parking lot - nope, instead, it is part of Jeff's eclectic collection of art that he's been snatching up for many years now.  Here it is, see for yourself...proving once again that art is in the eye of the beholder!  (Or the toilet bowl.  I'm sure we all have a few goldfish stories to contribute.)

As for my own furry affair, my dogs and the cat are enjoying that I'm home today - and not only that I'm home, but that I'm not doing too much.  They're not doing much either - sleeping, standing, sleeping again - and sometimes I catch them in positions that are too sweet for words.  Here's (Dog) Wood, looking as if she wants to get up, but she's unwilling to disturb the still-sleeping Ancient Wonder Beagle.  Such sweetness.

         

Friday's Art Walk

There's a great (and thorough!) review of last night's French Quarter Art Walk at the redhead papers...ditto on Jeff Kopish and LimeBlue and Colleen Terrell, ditto on the $20,000 painting at Nina's, and double ditto on:

"Art is life. Art is love. Art is the reason we are not still scraping our knuckles along the ground. Respect it. Or I will track you down and rip up your fucking degree and feed it to the nearest group of chimpanzees who are, sadly, more qualified than you to enter the existing work market."

I've bartended for Jeff before too.  If you drink the wine, come on - at least look at the art! 

Art Walk

I don't know how I feel about the downtown Art Walks these days - there's been a narrowing of the diversity of art work shown, and alot of the younger and more experimental artists aren't involved.  But then I start feeling that way and stop paying attention- and that's not good either.  I feel it's important to support the art community and especially young artists.  It's not just about buying the work - but boy, showing up and simply appreciating someone's work is important too - someone that just might be struggling between thoughts of really pursuing an art career vs going for the guaranteed insurance benefits thing.  I got this great invite to Friday's Art Walk from Colleen Terrell and Lime Blue - rumors are that Colleen will be showing some larger silkscreens like this one of an interesting Charleston street corner.  I really like the invite - and think the posters might be really nice.    I'll try to go, even if only for awhile.  Just a recommendation - if you're looking for some art to support on Friday night.