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WHO ART IN HEAVEN 11-03-07

March 11, 2008

TRIP- 4 ENTRIES 3 OF 4

Hi!

When I drove to Colorado for my last trip I left late in the day. I was only to the elevated semi at Fernley, Nevada (just past Reno) when the sun went down. I drove straight through the night stopping only for gas and to say Hi! to Wendover Will and the world’s largest polar bear in Elko.

About 5:00 AM, after driving the first 900 miles I stopped to sleep until dawn an hour later. I reached one of the most spectacular highway rest stops in the world at the San Rafael Ridge just as the Sun hit the face of the rocks.

I’ve probably made the trip to and from California to Colorado close to 50 times. I drive this stretch of I-70 through Utah the majority of the time. I have a feeling for the lay of the land. Even so, the time of day, the time of year, the weather, as well as my own state of mind, make it always feel like I’m doing it for the very first time. Every time I see the pool girl in Green River it’s like seeing an old friend. I always stop at Green River Coffee to fill the thermos with real coffee.

And when they are in season, as they were on this trip, I pick up a couple of their world famous melons.

From Green River I pretty much drove straight through to Breckenridge, Colorado to see my friend and graphic designer, Erin McGuiness, who I hadn’t seen in years. This was the first time I met her husband Dave and her rather cool kids, Andrew and Grace. Dave’s sister and her husband joined us for dinner. Andrew and Grace took all these pictures. Andrew, on his own, figured out how to set the self timer for the group picture. I found it in the instruction manual. After dinner and great conversation I was invited to spend the night, but hey, what’s another hundred miles when you’ve just driven a dozen.

After shooting the White Wedding that you saw in the last email I spent another couple of weeks shooting a few jobs, visiting my friends and family and seeing art. Just off the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder is the Rembrandt Yard Gallery and artist residency. All the way around the building are quotes about art and life.

I happened to be in Boulder when the University of Colorado was having a special event. The Sibell Wolle Fine Arts building was about to be torn down to make way for a $63.5 million Visual Arts Complex. Students and art alumni were invited to fill all the now empty rooms of the building with art and art instillations. I went to the opening with my good friend Judith who loves art, wordplay and has a lot of soul. There were so many things to see that I returned the next day with my friend Darlene who has a good eye for light. It’s good to see with another pair of eyes.

The sole filled room on the left was created by my friends Melanie Walker and George Peters. The piece was called, “Carbon Footprint.” The desk and chair were covered with coal. The perfect touch of the half alive plant wasn’t planned until they came across it in a dumpster outside the building. Their spontaneous nature was also exhibited when they came across a room filled with empty boxes. They, of course, made art. That’s them jumping up and down on the bubble-wrap that was the walkway around the playful sculptures.

Another of my favorite rooms was created by Judi Strahota. I had known her years ago. She moved away and only recently returned to Boulder. That pile of black is made up of thousands of individual letters of the alphabet. She told me that it was pasta that she “shaked and baked” in a bag with graphite. I’m glad she was there when I came back the next day. The night before I wondered who had authored this wonderful work.

This portrait of Sibell Wolle was created as a group project by art students. The name of the exhibit was “TOAST.” I’m not sure if this was a reference to making a celebratory “toast” or if it referred to the building being “toast”(finished, ended, kaput)! Whatever the reference, this work certainly provided food for thought.

Looking at any square foot of the floor made me wonder if Jackson Pollock’s revelation about a new way to paint was simply noticing what was under his feet.

I also visited my friend Len Barron’s eccentric garden. Len and his garden have been a part of the Boulder scene for years. He was about to move and all of the different pieces were being given away. Len has given many presentations on Einstein dressed as Mr. MC Squared himself. As we sat in the garden, the light changing under the trees highlighting different objects as it moved, the space/time reminded me of when Einstein said,”People do not grow old no matter how long we live. We never cease to stand like curious children before the great Mystery into which we were born.”

I also had the pleasure of spending an evening with two fellow photographers, Christopher Brown and Bill Napier. We showed each other pictures and talked about how the images reflected our own view of the world. Seeing our different approaches was very revealing. They both find themselves in the diversity and perfection of Nature. “You,” as Bill pointed out, “take pictures of everything.” It was a delightful time that influenced my own take on taking “Nature” pictures.

In between visits I often found myself at the edge of a still pond or along Boulder Creek near the Library. I enjoyed watching the effects of a ripple upon the reflected Fall leaves.

It all seemed so alive.

When I was seeing my friend Ken Bernstein he asked me what it was like being back in Boulder where I had lived for nearly 40 years. Perhaps it is because I spend so much of my life on the road that I answered, “I don’t really feel like I left here. When I’m here it is as much my home as where I live in California. My life happens where I am. It is, after all, where I am living. When I look back at this day I will say that for these two hours I lived with you.” I spend a lot of my life shooting, writing and responding to these emails. You spend (isn’t that an interesting word) time reading and responding and forwarding these visual plays. Thanks for living these moments of your life with me. I’m greatly complimented. In the next email I head back to California. The trip held many extra-ordinary moments. I look forward to our next visit. If you want to be removed just send a reply with “No Thanks” in the subject line. If you received this from a friend and want to be added to the list send me an email. I will be delighted to include you. jd@jerrydownsphoto.com.

I leave with a toast and a fond