Reality Check
#122: Ruth Tabancay & Stephanie Metz, Deepa Paul, Margaret Atwood, Elizabeth Neel, Fuad Arif, Austin Schrock and Paperful Shop (pocket notebooks), Jaden Chavez and Rob Scallon, and the Wind.
HERE & NOW
Still dealing with allergy/immune system issues, and thus low energy. It’s the reality of my “here and now.” So I engage in low-key activities: meditation, daydreaming, drawing, cutting and folding paper for tiny books, dishwashing, reading, and even editing work. Seriously, I just want to hunker down and hibernate like a bear for the coming winter.
ART
RABBIT HOLE
Gallery Route One presents an Artists’ exchange between Ruth Tabancay and Stephanie Metz:
I never know what I’ll find on Substack. Just trawling around I recently found a newsletter by Deepa Paul, who writes “on sex and relationships, motherhood and family, and the never-ending creative process of writing to become fully myself...a Filipina-Indian writer in Amsterdam.” She has just found a publisher for her memoir, Ask Me How it Works, on her exploration of polyamorous marriage.
Margaret Atwood embraced the crone in her for Halloween and Dia de los Muertos. Yes—I do think something like this would be fun next time I celebrate this holiday. What would make a good crone costume? Go as myself!
“The less tactile our world becomes, the less we actually exist in it. And we become more voyeur . . . to have a sensation of physical touch, for me, is like proof of life.” In her abstract art, Elizabeth Neel confronts issues of control and release, family ties, and the line between bourgeois “order” and chaos. What she says starting at approximately 9:30 in the video really resonates with me. Content Warning: some disturbing photos of blood and guts, dead animals (especially in the first 40 seconds of the video):
Fuad Arif talks about being able to work in an art studio. Sometimes it’s just a place to think and do nothing:
Do you type your writing or art notes in your phone? Austin Schrock’s cheapie Marble Memo notebook is replacing his phone, kind of.
I’ve been using the same little notebooks for awhile. I think their cheapness (and size) is the secret. One doesn’t get all precious about writing notes in these notebooks. You can buy a bunch and just keep them on hand. And while writing, you can be sure that you won’t be spied upon, nor will slimy advertisements creep in and start distracting you.
If you’re a DIY type, you can make your own pocket notebooks. Video from Antonio of Paperfulshop.com:
SOUNDINGS
Guitarist/cellist Jaden Chavez, of Pueblo, CO, meets the wind, who plays his guitar. This “collaboration,” and the quality of Jaden’s attentive listening is beautiful:
Jaden Chavez teaches Rob Scallon how to jam with the wind off Lake Michigan near the Windy City. But this wind is not the same as in the desert! Sand and the cold temperature present challenges. I wish Rob had worn goggles! Note: it takes a few minutes for them to get going, but they persevere:
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