Ebbs and Flows

 Unfortunately haven't had time to learn this program better. So I'm starting with pics. and not enough I know.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

It has been a week of high's and low's. The untimely and sudden loss of a dear brother in law has been a stark reminder of how precious life is and to live each day to the fullest. These developments may delay Dave's travel plans but I`m glad that Dave can be there for his family. We hope to still be able to fly out of Halifax November 9^th.

I on the other hand have had the privilege of helping Samantha install her grad show here in Halifax. It has been an amazing experience. In many ways I have a very conventional view of art and what constitutes art. Being out here among so many artists that are pushing the boundaries and focused on promoting thinking through the art experience has been very eye-opening to say the least. One of my favourite parts was watching the public interact with this piece and how they responded, the questions,the thinking. And this of course is what the serious artist hopes to accomplish and achieve in putting such a piece out there. I am so proud of her and was moved to tears several times over the course of the evening. Although Samantha sees this as an ongoing study she can be very proud of her accomplishment. My pictures do not do the installation justice since it is such a massive piece. So I will give you an abbreviated artist talk. The piece is called simply ``Mass`` and was created by stream of consciousness pinpricks, 1,300,000 pinpricks, which she counted while creating. This resulted in a beautifully textured landscaped that cascaded and flowed into the gallery. She was thinking about how desensitized we`ve become to big numbers eg. Government debt, gallons of sewage pumped into the ocean, barrels of oil produced, used, student loans etc. This image was created with several such big numbers in mind one being the population of Halifax.

Today we`re out at Windhorse farm, a retreat center two hours out of Halifax. No phone, no internet very rustic, tucked away in the forest. Truly a lovely place to relax and unwind. Today was a beautiful crisp fall day with blue skies and sunshine, yesterday on the other hand it felt like snow. We`ve walked in the forest picked chantrelles (mushrooms); Samantha is enjoying a well deserved break. Tomorrow is back to Halifax and I`m hoping to post this.

The Lone Reflective Wanderer