SEEDS, PODS AND VERTICAL DRAG

 

Weather: High 70’s today, breezy, mostly clear blue sky. 50’s tonight.

Seeds, Pods & Nutcases

Dearest Readers,

I’ve been slow in adjusting to my Southern Normal–six weeks since my last blog when I left Vermont, and over a month since arriving in Decatur. As usual after the long drive, I couldn’t shake a breathless sensation in my chest for a week or so, and a fuzzyness in the head.  I call it Vertical Drag. It’s some sort of jet lag for same-time-zone auto travel–in this case north to south within the same longitude. (Rutland VT to Georgia). It’s like a mean old friend, come back to nag me. Gone now and good riddance. 

Along the route home I picked up some signs of Fall in the shape of seeds, pods and tree detritus. I did some drawings realistically at first with a sharp HB pencil and some touches of white, then I let-it-rip for the second rendering. 

My grandson Roman and I found a spiky chestnut pod on the sidewalk in Brooklyn. It’s been slowly opening its clamshell mouth on my Decatur window sill.  A chestnut rattles around inside.

Chestnut 1

Chestnut 2-Dream of a Chestnut

I picked up a storm-downed pecan on the ground in Raleigh, NC at my friend Ann’s house along my route home.

Ann's pecan #1

Ann's pecan #2-Dream of a pecan

I brought a pointy, pimply milkweed pod from Vermont that burst forth a slew of silky, seed parachutists throughout my kitchen.

Milkweed Pod and seeds

Vermont milkweed pod and seeds #1

Vermont milkweed pod and seeds #2

 In Atlanta, Fall manifests in a magnolia tree’s seed casing, studded with red kernels tucked inside custom sleep cells...that already broke out.

Magnolia Seedcase #1

Magnolia Seedcase #2

Grandson Jack gave me a tiny acorn with a poufy beret

Jack's Atlanta Acorn 9.23.2012

 I rescued a fat standard pine cone from the street, 

Decatur Pine cone 9.30.2012

and some sort of tree vine seedpod frozen in the act of spitting out its contents, long gone.

Tree vine seed case_Decatur10.1.2012

My cherry tomato plant still produces a few fruits a week. I pop them in my mouth and taste the sharp, acid-sweet flavor burst in my mouth.

Cecelia's Cherry Tomatoes #1

Cecelia's Cherry Tomatoes #2

I’ve set up my studio in my home again. I’m playing regularly with my grandson and granddaughter, visiting friends and going to openings. From out of the blue, a feeling of deep wisdom has settled in.

FALL IS COMING-I’M GOING

 Weather: 50’s today, windy, grey clouds, turbulent sky. 30s-40s tonight. Frost predicted in isolated hollows.

 Maple beginning to turn on a dewy morning

 Dearest Readers,

Autumn in Vermont is in the wind, and I am getting ready to return to Decatur, GA this Saturday the 15th. I miss you Southern friends, my kids and grand kids. 

Cecelia, Michael and Susan at SculptFest opening party inside

 The opening reception of The Well, my marble lined hole and ladder in SculptFest 2012 was a great party inside, but a complete washout outside. The same squall that spawned a tornado Saturday in Brooklyn, NY dumped sheets of driving rain on the installations Saturday evening. We had a great party in spite of the mess. The Well filled partly with water, but drained nicely, and survived in perfect shape, all white and washed clean. I took this picture Sunday afternoon around 3pm in a bright blue autumn-ish light.

Hole survives the deluge in perfect, spanking clean whiteness

When the show ends in late October, the hole will remain a permanent piece on the grounds of the Carving Studio. The director plans on sending me regular photos, as nature inevitably will alter The Well’s appearance. (Cool!)

I’ll close with pictures in Rutland that mean fall in Vermont is on the way.

Early morning clouds rising from mountain valley in Rutland

Dad and son Noah waiting for the school bus at East St and E. Center St.

Boarding the bus at East St. and E. Center St.

Rutland's United Way Drive Thermometer

Leaves and plum-like fruit fall from a tree

Powdery mildew on a summer squash leaf

Rutland Vermont State Fair ends this week

Entrance to Vermont State Fair in Rutland

Dewy morning spider webs

Crows on old Dana School building-overcast sky

DAY 22 – THE HOLE IS DONE!

  DAY 22, Monday: Mid 70’s. Dry. Blue sky. Brilliant sun. 

The Well

Dearest readers,

Done. Finito. The hole project at the Carving Studio is complete–five days ahead of schedule. She’s officially entitled “The Well”.  (She because I feel like I’ve been inside the earth’s body).

The small hole within the hole

 I re-dug and repaired the small hole that once again descends 18” under the floor of the larger hole. Jonathan, the Studio Manager and I lowered the 14 foot hand-hewn ladder into that small shaft today, cleaned up the surrounding area and...Voila! She goes down and rises up.

Ladder emerges from inside the smaller hole

A thought or two...

Week 1: In the digging phase, I hoped I would have insights into my deepest self and maybe some answers about the nature of death. I fancied myself the “hero” on a personal quest, struggling against adversity to find some kind of truth. Instead, I became aware of my body and its limits, concentrating on practical stuff like not pulling a muscle or straining my back. No grandiose ideas or ultimate truth emerged from my tired brain.

Week 2: Figuring out how to make the ladder was stressful. I have zero experience with woodworking. I couldn’t sleep that week, worried that I would not be able to harvest the wood parts from the trees on site, or make the ladder strong enough. I learned a big lesson. Just Do It! Take the first tentative step, be patient and attentive to maintaining the ladder’s beauty as well as practicality. With this attitude adjustment, and an openness to suggestions from sculptors, I fashioned a workable ladder from the natural materials at hand. It served as a big ego boost and an eye opener. I am grateful to Louis Lalli for showing me the boyscout lashing technique.

Week 3: Lining the hole with the marble shards provided meditative time. Piecing and fitting was a gentle exercise in hand-eye coordination. As I spiraled the shards up the dirt walls, I felt like I was building a life, step by step. It was the opposite of Shakespeare’s idea of life’s “mortal coil” in Hamlet, unwinding like a spool of thread. This mortal coil was wrapping up into a life, stone by stone.

The opening reception is this Saturday the 8^th from 5-8pm at the Carving Studio, 636 Marble Street in West Rutland, Vermont. I hope some of you readers can attend. SculptFest runs through October 21^st.

 

DAY 19 – THE WALL IS UP!

 “...being the ant, I never understood the pleasure of barely slipping something in under the wire.” 

           -Ann Patchett,  Truth and Beauty

 

DAY 19, Friday: Mid 70’s. Hazy. Threatening rain.

48" marble shard lining is complete

Dearest readers,

Woo-hoo! Step by step, shard by marble shard, the lining of the hole is up to the rim. It needs some finessing where it meets the surface of the earth, the small shaft descending below the floor has to be re-excavated, and the ladder positioned inside it, but right now, I need to run. The sky is black, wind is whipping, feels like rain on the way...gotta tarp the hole and go. (I'm going to buy myself a double chocolate donut at Dunkin' Donuts!)

DAY 17 – THE MARBLE WALL IS RISING

 Work. Keep digging your well.

Don’t think about getting off from work.

Water is there somewhere.

    -Jelaluddin Rumi, (1207-1273), “The Sunrise Ruby”  

DAY 17, Wednesday: High 60’s. Solid blue sky. Dry. Breezy.

Choosing shards, and lining the hole

 Dearest readers,

Lining this earthwork project with marble shards is like knitting a very heavy scarf. It’s a peaceful, repetitive process that keeps on growing. I lay out a ring of marble possibilities around the rim, jump into the hole (carefully), then go round and round trying different pieces to find the best fit. Sometimes I hammer and chisel the shards to fit into a particular spot. When I dug the hole, I made it taper from 42" in diameter at the top down to 32" diameter. It gives a greater illusion of depth, and allows the shards to lean back slightly against the dirt walls as the un-mortared stack climbs upward.

Stacking pattern closeup

Getting out of the hole is a challenge, but my arms are getting stronger, and I can hoist myself back up if I gingerly find one secure toehold on the stacks of marble. As the wall rises, I’m not so bent over. My back is thankful for that!

32"-39" high

I've completed over 2/3rds of the lining. The height around the cylinder is now between 32” and 39”! (I still need to dig out all the silt from the small diameter hole below the piece of wood...another day.)

I'll close with two heart-hole drawings. One is like the heart continents of Pangea hovering over a hole. The other shows a double heart with holes through the aorta, veins and arteries.

9" x 12", Charcoal and conte on paper

9" x 12", Charcoal and pastel on paper

 

 

DAY 16 - MORE RAIN-NO PROBLEM

 THE HOLE ON PONCE

A hole opens up on Ponce de Leon Avenue

And I fall in.

A shiny hybrid swerves.

Its youthful driver swears.

I’m breathless.

Etta stands on the rim

Looking in,

Leash draping down.

My arms hang limp.

Fingers dangle.

“Hi Sweetie”, I mouth

But nothing emerges.

My feet slip in the mud.

I try to zip my leather jacket–

The black one Mengu gave me

After the zipper broke.

A hand with a pair of feet

Drops orange cones

Around the edge,

And waves the wheels around me.

Etta stands her ground

But is ignored.

I long to climb out

Before the road crew fills me in.

            -C.K. 1.27.2009

 

DAY 16, TUESDAY: Low 70’s. Mostly cloudy. Damp. Afternoon rain. Clearing.

Julie Puttgen

Dearest readers,

I tarped the hole yesterday and it worked! Despite a night of showers and a downpour at noon today, the walls of the hole held! Miss Julie Puttgen, formerly of Atlanta visited today from Lebanon, NH. Here she is looking down the hole after we peeled back the tarp. Everything is wet, but no visible water damage. 

The sun emerged as Julie and I walked the grounds of the Carving Studio here in West Rutland. Ripples of sun reflected from the eddies of blue water in one of the four abandoned marble quarries, and flickered “like flames” as Julie said, along the marble walls. The sculpture interns swim here, along with local kids who arrive with towels over their shoulders. The quarries are described as skylights above a deep network of underwater marble mines, tunnels and grottos. 

I stacked more layers of marble shards...a patient puzzle of balance and compatible shapes. One side of the hole now has 22” of marble lining. The opposite side is 24” from the floor. I’m encountering those pesky projecting wall boulders and figuring out how to incorporate them within the jig-saw of marble strips. Fun!

Here’s my final two boat hole drawings, keeping the rain gods at bay.

9"x12", charcoal, acrylic, pastel and oil stick on paper

9"x12", charcoal, acrylic, pastel and oil stick on paper

DAY 15- THE WALLS ARE MELTING!

 “One day Persephone, the young maiden of spring, was picking wildflowers with her mother Demeter, the goddess of grain...The earth began to rumble. Suddenly the ground cracked open, splitting fern beds and ripping flowers and trees from their roots. Then out of the dark depths sprang Hades, god of the underworld...Hades grabbed Persephone and drove his chariot back into the earth. Then the ground closed up again, leaving not even a seam.”

             -Favorite Greek Myths, The Kidnapping p.35, retold by Mary Pope Osbourne

DAY 15, MONDAY: Mid 70’s. Mostly cloudy. Humid.

After the rain on Saturday

Before the rain on Saturday

Dearest readers,

Nature is fighting back, trying to reclaim the hole. A driving rain on Saturday, the first in the two weeks I’ve been digging, flowed sideways under the protective canopy, and poured down into the hole, dragging clay from the walls onto the floor, burying parts of the two rows of marble shards I had stacked up earlier in the day, and filling in 10” of the 18” smaller shaft with wet silt. When I arrived at the hole site, I was in “shock”.

But after a few minutes of whining, it was time to just surrender to what happened, instead of struggling with the way things were. I’m not often successful at this, but this time I was.

So...I got to work again.

2 new layers of marble

 First I removed the now caramel colored, formerly white marble shards that form the collar of stone around the rim of the small shaft. (I like the new earthier tint.) I positioned a temporary piece of wood over the little hole so I could have more space to put my feet. I dug out the two rows of the thin marble lining that I had laid on Saturday, leaving them colored brown, and scraped out a pail full of soil from the floor. I laid two new layers of marble, scraping the walls, and maneuvering around the boulders that stick out of the walls. The circle has become an oval.

 

 

Choosing the right sized shard

 Next, I arranged an assortment of the long marble shards along the rim, that Lianides, the Polish sculptor-in-residence let me use. These are discards from his megalithic stone carving in progress. 

Positioned along the edge like this made it easy for me to grab what I needed. I’ll have some help Tuesday and Wednesday I hope, when friends come and hand me the shards so I will not need to keep climbing out and dropping myself down in. 

Etta the Sculpture Dog

Etta is free to roam, but after a few days of exploring, she now chooses to rest nearby. One artist has dubbed her “Sculpture Dog”.

Tight space

 I don’t have a lot of room to bend down as I line the walls with the marble, but it is a peaceful process. Finding the shard with the most suitable height and width to ring the wall is a meditative, albeit dirty, trial and error process–like doing an earthwork jig-saw puzzle. Each shard has a long, flat top and bottom, and rough, slightly curved sides, about one or one and a half inches high. I'm stacking them on top of each other, alternating rows like bricks without mortar. It’s critical to be sure each row is secure before proceeding to the next level. Sometimes I need to chisel away an edge to create a better fit. None of the shards are the same size, edge or curve.

16" of marble lining

This is how I left the hole. I completed 16” of layered marble shards and managed to round out the oval somewhat. Rain is in the forecast. I tarped the hole this time. We’ll see what the space looks like when I return! Three more hole drawings below. I call them boat holes to appease the god of rain.

Boat Hole and Tunnel #2-9" x 12"-charcoal and pastel on paper

Boat Hole and Tunnel #1-9" x 12"-charcoal and pastel on paper

Boat Hole above a Black Hole in the Deep-9" x 12"-charcoal and pastel on paper