I tracked another walk with my gps device, this time the trail up to the summit of Mt. Laugarvatn. Beautiful views of Laugarvatn and beyond and another track!
Back in California: Artifacts of Passage
Look for my work this summer in both of these exhibits: Sometimes Books & Orangeland
Baking Bread the Icelandic Way
As Liz said, "It's fine eating the same thing each day but we are!"
Until we were treated to an Icelandic tradition, baking hverabrauð underground in a geothermal area. Kristveig, one of the directors of Gullkistan's artist residency demonstrated the making and baking of hverabrauð, a rich brown rye bread made with "lyftiduft", the Icelandic word for baking powder that sounds like "lifting up". Once the batter was made, it was spooned into greased containers of what was around, a milk carton and a bacardi can. They were sealed well with cellophane, plastic wrap and tape, then taken to the lakeside where we dug two holes and buried each. The following day, after 24 hours of cooking, we unearthed, unwrapped and enjoyed a feast of hverabrauð and butter with smoke salmon and trout.
Around Laugarvatn and Eyvindartunga
Landed
An Icelandic Language Lesson
Laugarvatn, hver, apamensskubragur, Natturulaekningafelags, Nupsstadarskógar, lygirimur, malfræði, æfingar, Hvitarvatn, skaldagemlur, gjola, hrassviðri, hnukapeyr, Eyvindartunga, hvasst, padsujoar, hlytt, hlyr, hnjukur, höfði, hraun, farviðri, andvari, heidskir, Bardarlaug, Snæfellsjökull, læknir, logfræthingur, kjuklingur, hunangsflugan, þingvallavatn......... I could go on. Yes, overwhelmed with odd combinations of letters from an English speaker perspective, letter combinations like: "hv", "hn", "gj", "tn", "hl", "hnj", "gja", "jao", "hr"
Found a way to start connecting to the Icelandic language by looking and writing their place names. I was advised before I left that their place names often give clues to the landscape of the place. For example, "vatn" of Laugarvatn means "lake" and Laugarvatn is located on a lake. "Vik" of Reykjavik means "bay" on which it is situated. "Foss" of Selfoss means waterfall and "jökull" of Skálafellsjökull means glacier. A start, anyway.
While I looked and recorded more Icelandic place names, Liz had another approach! Check out this utube site: Learning Icelandic Pronunciation
Walking my GPS and Marking Territory
I have arrived. Iceland feels like New Zealand, another island with volcanoes, changeable weather, expansive landscape and skies. I am living in a small resort town called Laugarvatn, which means "bathing lake". No soaking experiences yet but plan to visit a hot springs soon! I have settled into an apartment in town, sharing facilities with Elizabeth Sher, an artist from Berkeley, Ca. We have a view of the lake and Mt. Hekla, an active volcano with its last eruption in Feb of 2000. Apparently there have been signs that it is close to a new eruption. My studio is located at the Eyvindartunga farm, about a mile away. We walk there daily. Yesterday, I began my tracking project. Before I left Ca, I purchased a Garmin GPSmap 62, thinking that this might be a way to incorporate walking into my artistic practice. Yesterday, I tracked my first walk, documenting a tour around Laugarvatn, between the town and Eyvindartunga farm and then around the farm. I plan to continue tracking my walks, collecting their shapes for my artwork. Must wait to see how they will be used? And I still have some figuring out to do. Thought we were residing in the southwest part of Iceland but gps is locating me in the northeast. Notice the pink dot on map. Where am I?
Off to Iceland
I leave on June 19th for the Gullkistan artist residency in Iceland. Lots to do as I collect supplies, make piles and muse on possibilities for work while there. The residency is located in Laugarvatn, a small school village 90 km east of Reykjavik. It is an agricultural area, close to some of the most popular tourist sites of Iceland and close to the highlands. The village of Laugarvatn has 250 inhabitants, one childrens' school, kindergarten, high school, and the department of athletic pedagogics of the University of Iceland. I've been told that there is one outdoor swimming pool and a good sports facilities inside and outside. There is a grocery shop, Lindin restaurant and summer hotels in the schools. The closest town is Selfoss, 45 km south of Laugarvatn. Around Laugarvatn, there are farms and many summerhouses.
Check in periodically, as I will use this blog to record my experiences there.
Cuts and Cuts
The Cover Cuts series reflect an interest in the changing role of the book as digital delivery systems become the dominant mode of transmitting knowledge and information. I construct primarily with old book covers; and occasionally, like the wind, other materials enter the work. I translate these remains into constructions using the process of "cutting" as a way to reference the changing role of the traditional book structure. More iterations can be seen on my website.
Lines Left Out
I recently revisited "Lines Left Out", an installation that I made four years ago for the Big
Read Project of Sonoma County. I was invited to create an installation in response to the
selected book, Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451. A friend's book group recently read the
book and invited me to talk about what I had done.
An opportunity to revisit, review and possibly rethink the project and how it is still
influencing my current work. At the time I found it ironic that themes of the book that
interested me most, were issues that I needed to address in the making of the installation.
Issues such as: What gets seen? What gets cut? Who decides? How that process happens?
How pace can affect what gets seen, remembered and forgotten.
I received the invitation in July of '07 and installed it in early October, only three months to
create and install it. The Library Gallery at Sonoma State is a large space and I work slowly.
Could I do this? Given my interest in the changing role of books and screens of technology,
I had already started this work without knowing. I inventoried what I had: book covers &
parts, organza silk, silk-screened American target silhouettes, prints, a salvaged structure,
bamboo, and 4 x 4 blocks.
My challenge was to put them together in a form that spoke to the feeling and space of
Fahrenheit 451. Bradbury's themes from 1953 are still relevant today. Magritte and the
silhouette, surrealism, photography, walls, mirrors, memory & memorials, and the dandelion
came to mind. I "burned to keep a focus!" to the rhythms of Bradbury's words: "Quick. Click, Pic,
Look, Eye, Now, Flick, Here, There, Swift, Pace, Up, Down, In, Out, Why, How, Who, What,
Where, Eh?" Cut, Cut, Cut. A process; cutting became a way to reflect on a theme of the book.
After deinstalling, I made Lines Left Out, an iphoto book that records a poetic response to my
installation experience, using landscape, artwork, book parts, and images of the art
installation. The visual poem was inspired by Paul Klee's concept of drawing, "taking the line
for a walk", the words of New Zealand artist, Hadwen, as he described landscape as "the place
where everything we see, know, and imagine exists...a field punctuated by natural and
introduced landmarks that exist not only in the physical sense, but as signifiers of our
mental, psychological and spiritual world.", and Dorothy Richardson (Pilgrimage), turn of the
20th century author committed to wandering in territory of the tangential with the belief that
"nothing is a side issue".
I showed this iphoto book as a slide show to the book group. And upon reflection, I realize
how this work was a beginning and has since stimulated the iterations, "Cuttings" and
"Long Look". I am soon to travel to Iceland for an artist residency this summer. My
head is churning in anticipation for the next iteration.