Page 323
So, I have passed the three hundred page mark. My next milestone is page 390, which is the half way point of my edition. I should be keeping track of all the audio books I have heard while doing this project. Right now I am listening to The Septembers of Shiraz. It's a beautiful, poetic book, about a Jewish family who lives in Iran, after the shah was thrown out. There is a father, a mother, a daughter, and a son. The son lives in Brooklyn, the father has been thrown in prison for crimes he has not committed, and the wife and daughter are left to their own devices. It's one of those books that one might put off because it is serious, and it forces you, or me anyway, to think about things you don't want to know happen to this day. People put into and tortured in prison, for perceived crimes against some new government. But it is beautiful, and I am glad I have it to listen to while I write Ulysses, most of which passes right through me.
Sometimes I feel ashamed of my lack of lightness, but at least along with my tendency to want to think about the dark side of life, I do have a sense of humour.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Saturday, June 11, 2011
A Milestone
June 11, 2011: page 304
So, I have made it just past page three hundred. It feels as though each one hundred page segment goes a little more quickly, though right now I am slogging through some pages that are very densely worded, so it is slow going. I am trying not to think about doing it, let alone finishing it. In this sort of long term project it is better to just do it, as the slogan says.
I did get a shot in the arm this morning, in the form of an e-mail. The editor and publisher of Booklist had written a column about his struggles to read through Ulysses, which he finally did after a few failed attempts. It was a funny and heartwarming column and it also taught some things about the story in Ulysses that I would not have realized on my own. As I write out the pages on my gloves I often have the television on, or an audio book, so I am listening while I am writing. Also, I read three or four words at a time and then write, three or four more words, then write some more. Even if it were a more conventional story with a linear path it would be hard to understand what I have been reading. But Ulysses is so odd, so full of long sentences that barely have a beginning and end, that I have only a slim grasp of events taking place. I wrote a letter to Mr. Bill Ott, the author of the column, telling him that I enjoyed the column and explained a little about my glove project, including the link to my website. I sent it snail mail, and then pretty much forgot all about it.
But there in my spam box, of all places, was an e-mail from Mr. Ott that began with "Thanks for your absolutely fascinating letter. I think it's the most amazing piece of correspondence I've ever received in 30 years at Booklist...". Needless to say, this is the sort of e-mail response a girl could get used to! He went on to tell me that he would like to write about the letter and the project. Of course I told him that I would assist in any way with these plans.
The response to my Ulysses glove project has been stronger among people in the literary field than in the arts. I wish I knew how to create a bit more buzz among my visual arts idols. MOMA, can you hear me? Still, I am grateful that Mr. Ott wants to bring this work to the attention of others. For now, that seems like an excellent opportunity and also a great reason to continue.
So, I have made it just past page three hundred. It feels as though each one hundred page segment goes a little more quickly, though right now I am slogging through some pages that are very densely worded, so it is slow going. I am trying not to think about doing it, let alone finishing it. In this sort of long term project it is better to just do it, as the slogan says.
I did get a shot in the arm this morning, in the form of an e-mail. The editor and publisher of Booklist had written a column about his struggles to read through Ulysses, which he finally did after a few failed attempts. It was a funny and heartwarming column and it also taught some things about the story in Ulysses that I would not have realized on my own. As I write out the pages on my gloves I often have the television on, or an audio book, so I am listening while I am writing. Also, I read three or four words at a time and then write, three or four more words, then write some more. Even if it were a more conventional story with a linear path it would be hard to understand what I have been reading. But Ulysses is so odd, so full of long sentences that barely have a beginning and end, that I have only a slim grasp of events taking place. I wrote a letter to Mr. Bill Ott, the author of the column, telling him that I enjoyed the column and explained a little about my glove project, including the link to my website. I sent it snail mail, and then pretty much forgot all about it.
But there in my spam box, of all places, was an e-mail from Mr. Ott that began with "Thanks for your absolutely fascinating letter. I think it's the most amazing piece of correspondence I've ever received in 30 years at Booklist...". Needless to say, this is the sort of e-mail response a girl could get used to! He went on to tell me that he would like to write about the letter and the project. Of course I told him that I would assist in any way with these plans.
The response to my Ulysses glove project has been stronger among people in the literary field than in the arts. I wish I knew how to create a bit more buzz among my visual arts idols. MOMA, can you hear me? Still, I am grateful that Mr. Ott wants to bring this work to the attention of others. For now, that seems like an excellent opportunity and also a great reason to continue.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Bad Pens or Bad Gloves
page 292.
I have been having trouble either with the pens I am using, or with the surface of the gloves. Recently, only with the last few boxes of gloves, the glove surface is rejecting the pen. Instead of writing easily, almost as easily as on paper, the pen catches and the ink isn't a nice, smooth black. Instead it is sort of mottled and it is making the process even more tedious than it normally is.
So, today my husband is buying me new pens. I hope this helps, but I have a feeling it's the gloves, not the pens.
I am only about one hundred pages from the half way point of Ulysses, which seems close in a strange way...close to what, I don't know, but close.
Today, on Memorial Day, I am thinking about soldiers. American soldiers mostly, but also soldiers from other countries. all those people gone, killed. I know that the media thinks we, especially liberals without children fighting, are sort of oblivious to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I suppose I am in a way....I don't follow maneuvers and strategies. But I think about those who are fighting far away, all the time, and I wish they could all come home today. Alive.
I have been having trouble either with the pens I am using, or with the surface of the gloves. Recently, only with the last few boxes of gloves, the glove surface is rejecting the pen. Instead of writing easily, almost as easily as on paper, the pen catches and the ink isn't a nice, smooth black. Instead it is sort of mottled and it is making the process even more tedious than it normally is.
So, today my husband is buying me new pens. I hope this helps, but I have a feeling it's the gloves, not the pens.
I am only about one hundred pages from the half way point of Ulysses, which seems close in a strange way...close to what, I don't know, but close.
Today, on Memorial Day, I am thinking about soldiers. American soldiers mostly, but also soldiers from other countries. all those people gone, killed. I know that the media thinks we, especially liberals without children fighting, are sort of oblivious to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I suppose I am in a way....I don't follow maneuvers and strategies. But I think about those who are fighting far away, all the time, and I wish they could all come home today. Alive.
Monday, May 16, 2011
If nobody sees your art, is it still art?
Page 276.
I have been dutifully writing out one page daily of Ulysses on a glove. Sometimes I write a little more than a page. I feel like I am making progress, but as I do it I always wonder who will see this when it is done, aside from my family and a few friends. Will it find its way into a gallery? A museum? How will I present it?
Meanwhile I have also been working on the slinky drawings. I bought large (for me) paper last week. I had a day or two where I felt my imagination offered infinity possibilities. I felt that if I had the time to draw and draw I could create new work endlessly, great work, astounding work. It was a nice feeling.
The reality is that everything I do takes such a long time that the ideas pile up inside my brain and rarely make it on to paper. And if they do, then what? In my mind I see ideas for exhibits...rooms filled with slinky drawings of every size plus small more narrative drawings. Sort of Kiki Smith combined with Sol Lewitt and a dash of Louise Bourgeois (in my dreams!). But there are no rooms. I mean, there are rooms. But the owners and curators at those rooms have not been calling me. Each show I have I think might be the turning point, but so far it really isn't. I do have an exhibit coming up, in the fall. Maybe this time I'll be lucky...
I have been dutifully writing out one page daily of Ulysses on a glove. Sometimes I write a little more than a page. I feel like I am making progress, but as I do it I always wonder who will see this when it is done, aside from my family and a few friends. Will it find its way into a gallery? A museum? How will I present it?
Meanwhile I have also been working on the slinky drawings. I bought large (for me) paper last week. I had a day or two where I felt my imagination offered infinity possibilities. I felt that if I had the time to draw and draw I could create new work endlessly, great work, astounding work. It was a nice feeling.
The reality is that everything I do takes such a long time that the ideas pile up inside my brain and rarely make it on to paper. And if they do, then what? In my mind I see ideas for exhibits...rooms filled with slinky drawings of every size plus small more narrative drawings. Sort of Kiki Smith combined with Sol Lewitt and a dash of Louise Bourgeois (in my dreams!). But there are no rooms. I mean, there are rooms. But the owners and curators at those rooms have not been calling me. Each show I have I think might be the turning point, but so far it really isn't. I do have an exhibit coming up, in the fall. Maybe this time I'll be lucky...
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Is Bigger Always Better?
Ulysses: page 264
The pages have been pretty easy to copy lately, or is it, transcribe? Still, I stick to just over one page a day. I could do more, but have not.
I read a nice article/essay by the publisher of Booklist magazine, Bill Ott, about his attempts to read Ulysses. He tried many years ago, decades actually, and didn't make it as far as page 100. But now, he is listening to it, and is almost halfway through. I have a feeling his book version was the same as the one I am using, because he said it had 783 pages, which is exactly the number of pages of my library copy. When I am done with this project I shall have "read" Ulysses, but not understood much of it. Most of what I learn, I learn through reading about it when others write about it. I know it takes place on June 16th. I know it is mostly the thoughts and snippets of conversation of Leopold Bloom. I think Bloom's son is dead. I think Bloom may have cheated on his wife, Molly. I think the end of the book is Molly's...eighty four pages with only four, unpunctuated sentences.
Part of the reason for doing this insane project, is that it will be my version of big. So much of what I see in museums and galleries is BIG. BIG paintings, BIG sculptures, BIG installations. When I draw, I draw small, and always have. But I think that to be recognized as an artist you have to do something's BIG. I can work on one glove at a time, on my small studio desk, or on the kitchen table, but when this is finished, there is no doubt that it will be BIG. Let's hope this BIG project makes some people take notice of my smaller work.
The pages have been pretty easy to copy lately, or is it, transcribe? Still, I stick to just over one page a day. I could do more, but have not.
I read a nice article/essay by the publisher of Booklist magazine, Bill Ott, about his attempts to read Ulysses. He tried many years ago, decades actually, and didn't make it as far as page 100. But now, he is listening to it, and is almost halfway through. I have a feeling his book version was the same as the one I am using, because he said it had 783 pages, which is exactly the number of pages of my library copy. When I am done with this project I shall have "read" Ulysses, but not understood much of it. Most of what I learn, I learn through reading about it when others write about it. I know it takes place on June 16th. I know it is mostly the thoughts and snippets of conversation of Leopold Bloom. I think Bloom's son is dead. I think Bloom may have cheated on his wife, Molly. I think the end of the book is Molly's...eighty four pages with only four, unpunctuated sentences.
Part of the reason for doing this insane project, is that it will be my version of big. So much of what I see in museums and galleries is BIG. BIG paintings, BIG sculptures, BIG installations. When I draw, I draw small, and always have. But I think that to be recognized as an artist you have to do something's BIG. I can work on one glove at a time, on my small studio desk, or on the kitchen table, but when this is finished, there is no doubt that it will be BIG. Let's hope this BIG project makes some people take notice of my smaller work.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
May 1st
While I wrote Ulysses the movie All About Eve was on the television in my studio. There is hardly a better film to have on while working. The conversation is perfect...everything about it is perfect.
I only did a little over one page because I always have to think about whether or not to work on drawings. Today I wanted to keep going with my series within a series, the paintings on math papers. These are a few I'm doing with hearts and words, about saying the right thing and the wrong things. Also, I started a new slinky drawing and once I get going on those I become a little obsessed.
I thought about people who had a moment where they went from obscure, to famous. I thought of David Sedaris and also, more recently, Julie Powell of Julie and Julia fame. What must it be like to know that you are getting the thing you wanted? The attention, the money, the chance to be a success? I admit that while there is a tiny part of me that believes it's still possible for me, for the most part I feel like it is not going to happen. But if it does, I think it will be this glove project that turns things around. If not, I suppose I won't have to buy dishwashing gloves till I die.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Weekend
Page 260.
Today I spent hours doing things other than art work, but all of the other things seemed necessary. I did manage to copy another page of Ulysses, and start a new slinky drawing.
There are many things I wish I had more time for. I wish I had time to watch more movies. Movies feel like they should take up more space in my life but I rarely go out to a movie and hardly even ever watch them at home. But tonight I did watch Untitled, a funny movie about the art world. Some of it made me laugh out loud.
I spent some time moving things around in my studio, and packing completed gloves. I have around four shopping bags full of gloves, well over 100. I wrap gloves, five to a sheet, in glassine, put them in a grocery bag, and put the bags in my closet. It amuses me to have bags of rubber gloves with tiny writing.
Maybe tomorrow I can do more than a page again. No hurry though. Who will show these?
Today I spent hours doing things other than art work, but all of the other things seemed necessary. I did manage to copy another page of Ulysses, and start a new slinky drawing.
There are many things I wish I had more time for. I wish I had time to watch more movies. Movies feel like they should take up more space in my life but I rarely go out to a movie and hardly even ever watch them at home. But tonight I did watch Untitled, a funny movie about the art world. Some of it made me laugh out loud.
I spent some time moving things around in my studio, and packing completed gloves. I have around four shopping bags full of gloves, well over 100. I wrap gloves, five to a sheet, in glassine, put them in a grocery bag, and put the bags in my closet. It amuses me to have bags of rubber gloves with tiny writing.
Maybe tomorrow I can do more than a page again. No hurry though. Who will show these?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)