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Archive | June, 2011

Last views and conversations…

By on June 21, 2011 in Uncategorized

Today is my last day in Athens for a few months.  The next time I post from here will be, God-willing-and-the-river-don’t rise, in October when I return from Tuscany with the Aegean Center group.  This morning I am meeting with an old friend and shooting the breeze with her for a while, then off to have more coffee with others and then lunch with yet someone else.  I am blessed with the ability to meet and retain friendships across vast distances, friends who care about me and whom I care for deeply as well.

 

I have checked my flight info; been to the bank for traveling cash; sent some emails off to the US.  All I need to do is pack and be on my way tomorrow.  I should be home in Ancramdale by 8PM EST.  IT will be so quiet compared to Athens.  It seems like I am walking through some kind of Bladerunner-esque scenario of modern and ancient forms, new and old technology meeting and melding into something quite different.  Tourists mingle with locals, illegal immigrants with the police, junkies with the clean and sober.  It’s a melting pot of east and west, the happy and the tragically insane.

More to come…

JDCM

Back in Athens…

By on June 19, 2011 in Paros

How many times have I written that phrase?  It seems like more than it actually is.  In any event, here I am, back in Athens, en route to the US from my stay on Paros and the Aegean Center for the Fine Arts.  My time there was fantastic and tumultuous.  I created wonderful work but ended up losing friends and  connections for the future.  My own emotional needs steamrolled over the needs and lives of others.  I have made my amends to those who felt hurt.   I am sure that the bridges I help to build (and burn to the ground) will never be rebuilt.  As Shakespeare wrote, ” The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in the stars, but in ourselves if we are underlings.”

Athens is hot and full of life.  The EU is showing signs of wear and tear due to its unstable economic design and in Greece, as elsewhere, the protesters are on the street.  In Syntagma, in front of the Parliament, the Indignants have erected a small tent city.  There are marches daily by many political parties but  for the most part it is peaceful this weekend.  Last week there were firebombs, tear gas and police action but for now it is quiet.  The riot squad is very visible and in force.  I stay away form this kind of action as it could put me in danger some where down the line. I have avoided pictures of the protesters because it doesn’t feel right.  I am not a spy, snoop or the press so I feel uncomfortable possibly making them uncomfortable.  Plus that avoids any chances of violence coming my way.  Let’s avoid that, shall we?  Hawkers and food sellers have taken advantage of the small encampment and have set up their shops around the platia.  Economic irony.  Also ironic is the busy-ness of the McDonald’s across the street:  mostly protesters and so forth.

For now it’s museums, meetings with friends, and sleep in my over-priced hotel.  I’ll post a review of that on Trip Advisor when I get back to the US. For now some banking, a coffee and a meet-up with my mates.

More to come…

JDCM

 

Amazing, simply amazing…et fini!

By on June 13, 2011 in Paros, Uncategorized

I’ll make this one short.  I sent three large boxes of stuff home to New York last week from Paros.  I have tracked them through the postal service and two of them have arrived  in Ancramdale as of today.  I mailed them on the 8th and they are there already.  That’s five days.  Amazing.  The third I mailed on Friday the 10th.  It is currently going through customs in New York.  Amazing, simply amazing. This means my portfolios, all my dark room notes, some odds and ends and all my sketchbooks have all arrived safe and secure in the USA.  I am thoroughly impressed with the Greek postal service, my hat is off to them and I will trust them to the ends of the earth.  Bravo!

I have shut down the dark room here at the Aegean Center until next fall when I return.  I had a flurry of printing to do last night, mostly snapshots for friends.  After I was done toning I realized I was absolutely finished.  I was spent, out of gas.  It felt like nervous energy burning off and suddenly I was free.  I left clean-up until this morning when I went in and dumped the chemistry, washed out the bottles and shut it all down.  Fini!  I feel complete.

In other developments, detente seems to be holding and my personal cold war seems to be thawing for the better.  We are talking and although I do not know her true feelings regarding what has ocurred I have come to a startling and sober decision: it is easier to be her friend, regardless of the circumstance, than to think of her in any other way.  We may never see each other again after she leaves in a few days, may never have any sort of contact at all over the rest of our lives.  She can hate me out loud.  She may even walk to the other side of the street to avoid me.  I will always refer to her as ‘my friend’.  It is easier on my soul to do that than to think otherwise.  If she were to call me out of the blue and ask for assistance, I would help her.   I ask for nothing in return.  No allegiance, no contact–not even friendship on her part.  There is too much conflict, hate and anger in the world as we speak.  I am not willing to add mine to the mix.  She has a friend in me.  There’s a song in there somewhere….

More to come…

JDCM

The ghost town…

By on June 10, 2011 in Paros, Uncategorized

It is quiet here.  Although there are small knots of tourists, mostly retirees, the nature of Paroikia has changed with the departure of many of my fellow Aegean Center students.  There’s no more back and forth from classes or the digital lab, the darkroom or painting studios.  The cafes are no longer host to small throngs of eager-eyed art students from abroad, at least from my perspective.  I am still working in the dark room, though, at night when the air is, conceivably, cooler.  This is really not true since the ambient temperature in the room itself is upwards of 70*F.  I have had to begin cooling down the developer with ice packs made from 500ml bottles and even then it takes a while for the soup to drop to 21C.  I am currently printing snapshots from my time here: landscapes, hikes and street scenes.  Mostly for memory’s sake than anything else.  Tonight I’ll enlarge a small landscape from a hike: olive groves, stone walls, rocky hills behind and puffy white clouds in an azure sky.  It should be a pretty little piece and if I get it down I’ll make three copies for gifts.

I am having my horoscope read today by a fellow student from Belgium and it will be interesting to see if the reading matches up with my current life changes and bio-rhythmic waves. I am packing boxes for storage and shipping having already shipped my portfolios and a box containing my 4×5 back to the US already.  The shipper said 3 to 5 days, which means a week at least.  I hope they reach Ancramdale in good shape.  The weather has been odd.  The scirocco that has been coming through the Cyclades as of late has brought with it dust, hot Saharan winds and a general laziness that speaks of even hotter climes than Paros.  Yesterday was hot and cloudy most of the morning and I lay on the beach enjoying the heat without the direct sunlight.  Back at my flat and after my siesta I awoke at 4:30 to find that the clouds had rolled away and the sun returned in all of its blistering glory.  ‘Hot’ is a relative term, but it was that alright.  By sundown it had cooled a bit but I slept with the air-con blowing so at least I was able to get a full night’s rest without sweating.

I have been given permission to update my photo site with some of the figure studies I have created.  I call this series ‘Opus’, which in Latin means ‘work’.  They will be in series and I will have to have the prints scanned when I get home.  It will take some time, but time I have.  Strange…Many years ago I was in a rock band called ‘Furnace’.  I wanted to create a larger, longer piece called ‘God-Family-Work’.  This idea was pooh-poohed by the other band members and I was eventually drummed out of the group for being too irresponsible and lazy.  Now I am creating a piece I call ‘Opus’.  Perhaps this is a philosophical thread that has always run through my life.  Today I search  family, or more precisely a community of fellows; I continue my seeking for guidance from a Power greater than myself and I labor for the results I wish to attain.  Am I living the design I hope to create?

More to come..

JDCM

Detente, maybe…

By on June 7, 2011 in Uncategorized

A wise man has reminded me that without the darkness we would know no light.  This may sound like a glib and cliche statement, but like most cliches it exists for a reason–it holds water.

More of the Aegean Center students left yesterday, one left this morning and the bulk leave tonight on the evening ferry to the mainland.  That leaves only 5 of us to stay on for a few days. Those that have left are going back to the US and some are traveling through Europe for a short time until they, too, depart for the States.  There are tears and more tears, typical for the shared experiences of young women while the men give each other manly hugs and handshakes, ‘good lucks’ and ‘safe travels’ instead.  Yes, we have shared this too, but on a different level than the women.  Neither is better or worse than the other, just different.

The conflict that has smoldered since the end of April seems to have reached a period of detente, or perhaps less.  The two of us sat at the same dinner table yesterday and, while we did not converse, there was little chilliness.  Afterwards at a local cafe, the chill was back in the cold war and the true fluctuating nature of detente was revealed.  At least it is not a shooting war.   The fear of any cold war, however, is that conflict will erupt and the barbs will let fly.   I’ll watch for that and dodge them if I can.  Avoidance of actual contact is crucial to this dynamic so the concept of staying away from each other is preferable to actually being in the same room or indeed the same town.  This too shall end.

My work here has been intense, lovely and defined by elegance, craft and artistry.  I have been told this by others, so I am not just patting myself on the back.  I attribute some of this to the pain and angst I was feeling (am still feeling) during this time.  I can point to my work and say, “This was good.  This I accomplished. This is beautiful.  I have excelled in this medium.”  Regardless of what others may think of me–whether I am the butt of their jokes, whether they call me names behind my back–I have kept up my end of the commitment and proved myself the more honorable man.

More to come…

JDCM

The session ends…

By on June 4, 2011 in Uncategorized

The Aegean Center hosted its student show last night.  It was a huge success with a large attendance and some excellent work to be shown.  I was grateful to have a couple of pieces on the wall and a hefty flip-file of matted work for the populace to look at.  Downstairs in the courtyard a slide show of the past three months ran on a computer screen.  It made me a little sad to watch.  Not because of any emotional tie to the school or friendships I may or may not have had during this time, but for the simple fact that, as a whole, I am not in it.  Sure, there are pictures of me on the hikes, grilling, and a couple during a dinner (I have not been invited to many, perhaps one or two…) but overall it seems that I have attended a much different school than the others.  Many of the images seem to be from nights in the bars and birthday celebration for one of the students I was not aware of and not invited to.  In short, I was working most of the time–which is, of course, what I came to do.  I already know how to stay out all night and drink with the locals.  It is not an appealing prospect for me.  Still, it would have been nice to have been invited to dinner once in a while.

I busted my ass this session and it shows.  I have 45 pieces of  finished work, most of which are all but gallery-ready.  They only need proper mattes.  For now the simple overlay matte works well for transport.  I’ll be mailing these home next week instead of trying to carry them on a plane with me.  Last night I received some lovely compliments from people whose opinion I respect: my teachers and also a couple of art experts. These are people older than I and more knowledgeable.  They are the ones I turn to for counsel and guidance in things both artistic and personal.  They have wisdom I do not.

I have learned important and unfortunately cynical lessons this session: do not offer assistance to anyone but if they ask for help, give it freely and walk away.  It is their choice to follow.  Also, do not give gifts to those who you feel are trusted friends.  They will betray you, turn on you like rabid dogs and poison your relationships with all the other people who you come into contact with.  Perhaps I am being dramatic, but this has been my recent experience.  This is the wisdom I offer.  Take it or leave it.  I will not apologize for saying these things.  My spirit has been crushed this session and has turned me into a darker version of myself.

More to come…

JDCM