I think it was necessary for me to get into that dark place and shed that skin, and see this place for what it truly is. I'm really glad my new friends here gave me enough space to go through that, and now I feel refreshed and ready to get back into the path I set for myself before I even got here.
Started with a 20 minute iPad yoga practice, then off to the gym for 45 minutes of cardio. Saw Aimee in the hallway, and she gave me a hug, which was awesome. Emailed Ellen and Cobi asking if it was okay if I used the hammer in the studio today for a bit.Stopped by the office and got some tools I needed to set up my drawings on the wall (also got some bread). Ran into Cobi in the studio, gave him a hug, and talked a bit. It took me a while to get the wall squared with the projected image that once finished will cover the drawings. I opted to set up two rows of five with a single projection, which made the piece look massive on the studio wall, I cannot imagine how it will look in the small gallery room (the projection will have to be at least 120"x 90", not too large, but I bet the ceiling there is 10' high). Got some work done in the office/bedroom, and then went to lunch, where I ran into Rita. We both sat in the courtyard, ate our food without napkins, and talked for quite a long time. It was great talking to her about family stuff, and nice to know that so many of us have family issues in common. It was nice to have someone so nice like her and so smart just listen and give some very pointed insights and advices, specially with her sense of humor. I'm starting to feel like the courtyard atrium is really the heart of this place, because it is where we can sometimes isolate ourselves from all the other stuff happening in the building, and where we come together as human beings, and not artists or creative types.
Once again, there was an event/meeting that was supposed to take place in the library, but somehow got transferred to all the commons area, which was very annoying, as it cut the flow of the house and made almost every resident feel uncomfortable (we all stumbled upon it unexpectedly at least once). I really wanted to write there today because it is cooler than my room, but that was not gonna happen.
Did some more writing in quarto 5, did a little napping (almost fell asleep, napping for me is lying in bed and acting like I am asleep), and then got ready for the afternoon events. There were many plans of what possibly could go down. There was a hike organized by Ellen and an art gallery opening I was instigating people to go. I wanted to do both, one after the other, but did not want to change outfits between. At one point, Ellen, Cobi and myself found ourselves congregated at Aimee's studio, talking about our plans and all other things we want to do in the upcoming weekend (which had been previously discussed via email), such as acupuncture followed by pizza on saturday, a visit to this railroad district (eventually also settled for saturday) and another morning hike (on sunday). Katie was installing the show for this visiting artist (who will give a lecture, stay here for a couple weeks and occupy the studio next to Aimee), well actually she was removing all the work from the lobby area (not really a gallery...) and installing the vinyl title, which was odd at best. We could see it from Aimee's studio but were having a good time talking about random stuff, like we always do. Cathy showed up and made some small talk and left saying she just wanted to say hi and bye, with the usual big and nice smile. A few minutes later Katie showed up and tried to chum up to our conversation, but eventually we just had a couple parallel talks. She told us about some stuff happening in town, places we might want to go out to, etc, and eventually left. We all sort of looked at each other with an amused but brief WTF look on our faces, and continued with our conversation (I later shared my theory of why she was there).
At the end Ellen and Rita went for the hike, and Aimee and I to the gallery opening, Chris and Carmie still out of town, Cobi working in his studio, and Charlie probably in his room (just noticed that all people that stayed have names with Cs). Marisa wanted to do both but by the meeting time she was nowhere in sight, so Aimee and I left and went to see the Chiaroscuro exhibition. It was an interesting event. The gallery was gorgeous, architecturally speaking, and the work beautiful (more on that later). There was no food or alcohol served, but there were two types of water served in stemware by a waitstaff. I jokingly told Aimee we should steal the glasses since we were not allowed to use them at the institute (we HAVE to use the stem-less ones). We went to another gallery nearby, which had no alcohol either, but a bit of food. We walked to a tablecloth restaurant called Geronimo, and decided to skip it because it was more of a romantic date setting, and really expensive. People of all walks of life were present, some dressed up, some not, locals, tourists, you name it. I think that was one reason why alcohol was not served, because it was a public and not private event (a mild art crawl, I'd say). We still do not know if they have a first or second friday here.
We were both hungry and wanted to go to the Plaza to look around, so we drove there and walked around until we were starving, and then began looking for a restaurant. Some sort of event had just taken place there, and tons of tents were being dismantled, which impeded any walking in the actual square. Eventually we remembered there is a restaurant called the Shed that is very popular. Aimee thought it was on a side street, but between my old phone and her lack of signal we could not find its address online. Eventually we stumbled upon it, entered it and saw tons of people waiting to get a table. I walked up to the host station and tried to use my most charming face, to no avail. They also did not have a bar one could eat, only order drinks and take to their waiting room/courtyard. The wait was 45 minutes to an hour, and we knew we'd faint before then, so we walked out. On my way, I saw a tray with chips and salsa I imagine they left out for the people waiting for a table. I took one chip and walked away. Aimee thought I was completely insane because she thought I took a chip from a table being served. I actually thought it belonged to a couple standing nearby, but only afterwards, because they looked at me like I was crazy (but only realized that possibility after the fact). We laughed and walked towards the car to check some restaurants we had seen there. One was closed, one was too fancy, and the one really close to where we parked seemed right.
We ordered some chips with salsa and guac and an entree that had a bit of everything (a sampler). Food took for ever, but we talked about everything and everyone, people watched, enjoyed the shade and breeze (sat outside) and when the food arrived, ate like pigs. It was yummy, I specially liked the sopapillas with honey at the end (my first time). It was nice having cloth napkins for a change, or any napkins. Eventually we drove back without any major getting lost incidents (a first for us), though the sun was blinding, directly into your eyes. Aimee reminded me I needed gas (still driving around with the gas from the road trip, insane), so we stopped at Smith's (the grocery store also sells gas) and I filled the tank for $3.45 a gallon. I realized I was out of tomatoes, so we ran to the store and got a few items (5 tomatoes, 4 bananas, and 1 coconut milk carton for less than $6. Drove back to the institute and found Cobi, Ellen and Marisa sitting in the couch by the computer, chatting, etc.
It turns out Marisa went to the gallery but got there after we had already left. The faulty signal and shitty phone combo did not let me get the message until then. We all began talking, Marisa was prepping her dinner, and we talked about all kinds of random things. I checked my email and saw that Katie has sent a group message about the visiting artist and the Mix event on wednesday, how we all needed to get a group picture taken on tuesday so we could be identified as artist (whatevs). She also asked us, once again, to have the studios open, which we had already voiced that we did not want that to happen (about 400 people are expected). We don't want a bunch of people walking into our space, touching our works, and potentially breaking, damaging or stealing supplies. Ellen was gracious enough to reply on our behalf again saying no. This passive aggressive behavior is so unnecessary.
I grabbed a bottle of wine, Aimee grabbed a blanket, and we ll sat around and talked about all kinds of things. A new trip to the Rouge Cat was mentioned, even though Katie had said the place sucked unless one arrived with a big group (duh) and that for dancing to happen we'd have to initiate. It was then that I realized that the reason she had walked to us was to ask about the open studio at the Mix, but that she probably chickened out and sent an email instead. At one point we considered going out to dance (but we all had enough to drink and were tired), then we tried to dance in the commons (but no CD players or speakers), and then we all eventually went to our own rooms. But we did talk about all kinds of thing before that, such as cultural relativism, travel experiences, baby Aliens with mullets, and the local art scene. In our view the works being made here are decorative, and we do not mean it in a negative way. Some are actually very beautiful, but overall most works here seem to lack some sort of intelligent curiosity or conceptual underpinning. They are mostly aesthetic experiences with varied degrees of success, which I believe bodes well with their purchasing audience (which I imagine are mostly from TX and AZ, besides the local one). There is one gallery we all agreed had some more challenging work (in the Canyon district), called Turner Carroll, where they feature an artist I find amusing, with one of the best names ever, Rusty Scruby (though others preferred other artists featured). His work uses mundane two dimensional objects, such as playing cards and color swatches from a hardware store to make up images and objects. In this new show (they changed their exhibition since our initial visit there), they had other pieces by Rusty which incorporated three dimensional constructions that formed images only seen from a particular vantage point (otherwise they were just prim-like repetitive shapes intertwined). It remains to be seen what the local art scene will offer, as we explore other venues later today, and later in the week with the new show installed and the visiting artist lecture (I do not believe she is local, but was curated locally).
But before we all left for the night, John joined us and talked about this whole MIX event. I found it really annoying that a) he keeps pushing the subject down our throat (it is a social/drinking get together, has nothing to do with art) every time he sees us, and b) he keeps asking us to display our work. Also he really wants to have the hallway to the bedrooms open so people can transit there, because he is afraid the space is too small to handle all 400 people (which Aimee does not believe to be the case, because he mentioned that there were 400 at the Pig Roast when in fact there were probably 150 tops, and not at the same time). The last thing I want is some random drunk person walking and talking loud while I am in my room (in case the crowd turns out to be extremely obnoxious). He also brought up twice that we should put our works up somewhere in the house, since we did not want to have the studios open. He even pointed to some stuff pasted on the wall between the bulletin boards as some art work he had or he had made (no comments on that). I wanted to tell him that if he wanted to put one of his personal checks written up for $5,000 on the wall, because that is what he was asking of us. I then said if they wanted we could project our works from a powerpoint over the fireplace (a suggestion from Ellen). That whole exchange left us all with a weird taste in our mouths, and we all left around the same time. I wish this place was a bit more organized and professional, it is a shame that the people that work here (not all) bring this place down. It is somewhat typical of non-profits on the brink of being something really spectacular, which is the case here. But they can get by with just being good enough, it is their niche that goes unquestioned, so they will probably stay on that path for a very long time.
Walked to my room and photoshopped an image I hope Marisa will have a laugh, or two. I'm glad to be back on track, following my goal.
- posted via iPad
Location:Cerrillos Rd,Santa Fe,United States
