author...illustrator...guerilla artist
author...illustrator...guerilla artist
for christmas my husband gave me a bunch of 'found photos' ranging in time from the 30's to the 50's. i have been enjoying going through them and pondering on the lives of people i don't know. where did they end up? what did they do with their one precious life? how did they spend their days? how did they die? where they happy when the photo was taken? do they remember that shirt and how it was scratchy around the cuffs? do they long for that time, when they were six years old? or did they become damaged at that point by the adults around them? when did they get their heart broken? do they miss the person they used to be?
you can create a whole history in your head of people you don't know, complete with pet dogs and trips to the ocean.
i have my own photos of the ocean pinned to the wall in front of me. one has the sun setting on the horizon. somewhere in california, point reyes perhaps. i wonder if at some point my own photos will end up in a junk shop somewhere and a stranger will pontificate about my life in the same way. strange to think of.
time idles slowly these days like a used up car in low gear. the revving is stunted. my mind in a drift of sorts. a snow drift. (only there is no snow here.) heavy and weighted. i am caught in between projects and feel slightly like, as kurt vonegut put it, 'an armless legless man with a crayon in his mouth.' i want to pour out my heart to you and reveal some of the things that take up space in my psyche currently. yet the interenet at some point causes one to save pieces of themselves, to tuck them away for safekeeping. there are many moments when you would rather not offer up bits of your soul for public debate. it becomes tiresome after a time, and i don't feel the need to defend my thoughts as much as i used to.
so i retreat back to my journal again. i wrote to a friend recently, "writing anything in the journal feels healing, even if it's crap. i have never known why this is, I suspect it lets me know that i have my own inner life outside of everything i am on the outside."
thoughts drift to southern spain. we are planning a trip to spain and morocco for the end of may. i am looking for a place to stay in either seville or granada for a couple weeks. let me know if you have any thoughts on this or tips on places to visit. I have already begun a literary journey which includes Paul Bowles, Hemingway, and Edith Wharton. Any other must read novels on spain?
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in other news...
I am excited and flattered to have been asked to participate in the:
"Wurstminister Dog Show"
group show (includes some of my favorite artists like saelee oh, jill bliss, stefan britt, susie ghahremani, camilla engman, and many more!
154 artists will be be representing the 154 breeds recognized by the AKC
10% of the proceeds will go to a dog charity
one night showing/reception Sat. February 3rd 2007
at Ace Hotel in Portland
ongoing online show at online gallery: the wurst gallery
www.thewurstgallery.com
www.acehotel.com
more info coming soon.
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i've been enjoying all the goings on at my friend steve's site, the anti-advertisting agency.
highlights include:
free "you don't need it" stickers
a quick guide to ad-free web browsing
an interesting piece on "ad creep", did you know they are laser etching onto eggs now?
and be sure not to miss the Steve Lambert radio show. The show is made up of answering machine messages and conversations on various themes, from ordinary (or not so ordinary people).
hi keri,
i´ve never commented anywhere, but since i just came backfrom granada, working on my website,
updating photos, reading flinters here and there,writing about granada..
i read you are planning to go
many things i could say, but one should really wander around and listen to whispers of the walls, echos of long ago poets
i live in madrid, but the hostal i always go to in granada ( i do go all the time, i lived there in 2002) is hostal olympia in street :alvaro de bazan , just off gran via.
its 25 euros for a 2person bedroom, clean and quiet..
if there´s anything you need, an inflatable mattress in madrid? write us an email.
enjoy..
nicoletta
Hi Keri
It´s good to know you´ll be coming to Spain. I think you´ll love it.
Sevilla and Granada are great, but don´t forget smaller places like Antequera, Ronda, the hilltop villages of the Sierra de Cadiz, and Cadiz itself, of course. Eat molletes for breakfast, with jamón ibérico. Feel free to email me if you´d like to know anything in particular.
For reading, if you don´t read Spanish, then "South from Granada" by Gerald Brenan is beautiful.
I guess Madrid isn´t on your list, but consider it. Plenty to offer.
Hi Keri
Great website and blog.
What is the name of the new book?
Two books for Spain (I haven't read them but have seen them recommended).
Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The blind Man of Seville by Robert Wilson.
Hope they are helpful,
Best wishes
Claire
A must read is The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, although it takes place far, far away from Andalucia (in Barcelona). But it's very, very wonderful.
Granada is very beautiful and laid back. Sevilla has some nice sites, but it's more of a party atmoshphere. Drink lots of calimocho. I'm very jealous!
Posted by: Lisa on January 6, 2007 05:11 PMTwo things not to miss when you're down that part of Europe - a stay in Tarifa, southernmost town of Spain and a lovely, laidback place with huge, HUGE protected beaches (no nasty highrise hotel). And dolphin-spotting off the coast between Tarifa and Tangiers. Have a lovely time.
Posted by: Maria on January 6, 2007 10:55 AMHi Keri,
I really enjoy your blog.
I love Granada- partly because I met my (American) husband there- (we had actually worked in the same place in the states and never met- it made it all the more special and romantic to meet him randomly in Granada)- but also for the Arabic quarter where you can enjoy steaming mint tea and a hookah at one of the teatorias (tea houses). Also there is a Arabic bath-house where you can soak in different temperature pools and get a lovely massage, then have sweet mint tea in the sauna. (I'm sorry I can't remember the name of this place- it is mentioned in guidebooks- or any local should know.)
Also going to the gypsy caves in Sacramonte overlooking the city to see a flamenco show at night is worth the time- it's a little touristy but really lovely and romantic to sit under the stars and observe the passion of the flamenco dance.
A lighthearted, well-written book about Southern Spain which made me laugh out loud numerous times: Driving Over Lemons by Chris Stewart.
Enjoy your travels. Nothing is more wonderful and life enriching than experiencing another part of this beautiful world.
Christina
I'd highly recommend Barrie Kerper's _Collected Traveller_ series; she has one on Morocco and it will lead you to many excellent readings in addition to being a great travel guide. (I love the one on Paris.)
Posted by: Rebecca on January 5, 2007 08:34 AMman, thanks for posting steve's links! he always used to do really interesting stuff when we went to art school. how random to come across him here. or maybe not so random. have you ever seen the tony gatlif film 'exhils'? it has some spain parts and as always beautiful music!
yes yes check it out sistah!
much jahluv,
Meenu
Posted by: meenu on January 4, 2007 11:07 PMI agree with Rita- Granada is so lovely! As well as the Alhambra, my favourite area was Sacromonte, high up on the hillside. Such a gorgeous view and like another world.
x
Posted by: stacey on January 4, 2007 10:31 PM
Hi Keri,
Sounds like you recieved a great present for Christmas. I didn't get one i'd hinted about, so bought it for myself. it arrived today.
For that i must thank you. taking scisors to my much anticipated and fabulously illustrated Living Out Loud will be hard, but i want to play so much, so i'll get over it. THANKYOU!! :0)
Posted by: kate / spiral on January 4, 2007 08:38 PMWow, what a wonderful present. There is truly a great source of inspiration in each found photo I come across. Storied untold, mysteries to uncover. So great. I, also, am thinking a trip to Spain will happen for me this year. In case you do not know Spanish, I have found the podcast, Coffee Break Spanish (http://www.radiolingua.com/cbs/home.html), to be easy to learn from. And it's free!
Posted by: freelisa on January 4, 2007 07:03 PMOooh, jealous. I was in Morocco and Spain at the end of september and loved both. I loved loved loved Granada and stayed twice as long as I had planned. Seville...not so much. Maybe if I'd stayed longer. I was hostelling and a main frustration with Seville was that there was a real lack of affordable accommodation, while Granada had lots to choose from. Washington Irving wrote Tales of (From?) the Alhambra after living there (!) for a while. I haven't read it yet but plan to. Probably worthwhile addition to your reading list. And you MUST MUST MUST go to the Alhambra.
Posted by: rita on January 4, 2007 07:00 PMWhat you said about the eggs,you dont mean the smiley faces that come on the ones I buy now do you?I kinda like the smiley faces peering up at me in the carton.
Posted by: lisa jane on January 4, 2007 04:57 PMI love old photo´s as well, they always make me daydream.
have fun with planning your trip to spain!!
Sophie
Posted by: Sophie on January 4, 2007 04:56 PMoh, i love found photos. i find that i ponder them more than my own, familiar photos because of the mystery. then i return home, so to speak, and wonder who the first gal my grandpa was ever sweet on, or why was aunt tessie holding that eyeless doll ?
seville, i hear, is lovely. a friend once told me she felt her brain unwinding as she walked through seville. i can't wait. i want to be unwound.
lovely post, keri--
Posted by: Enthusia on January 4, 2007 02:28 PMBeautiful post, Keri. I have a facination with old photographs, too. I made family cookbooks for everyone in my family for Christmas with handwritten photos & recipes going back to the 1920's. Now I'm thinking of starting a collection of family stories, stemming from all the b&w images of deceased relatives. Who were they?
I've been thinking of the pouring out my heart versus saving pieces of myself dilemma regarding my blog, too. What to say, what not to say...
As for your trip to Spain and Morocco - very, very cool! I can only imagine the amount of inspiration you will find there! There is a blogger by the name of Maryam who is currently living in Morrocco who may be able to give you trip advice. She and her husband either have or will soon have a guest house there. She's also a human right worker. She sounds very nice and very interesting. Her blog is...http://moroccanmaryam.typepad.com/my_marrakesh/.
Regarding Spanish authors that write about Spanish locales try Arturo Reverte-Perez (it might be Perez-Reverte). He wrote The Dumas Club.
Posted by: Erin in Boston on January 4, 2007 02:16 PM(hi mati! :)
too funny...i was just writing up a post on the lack of in-your-face advertising here when our server got hacked into and it's all a mess...but i will get back to it soon.
i think you'd like it here keri.
ps old photos, what a perfect gift...
pps do share what you think of spain...it's marked as a next destination on our map, so excited to possibly see it through your eyes!
jenny
Posted by: jenny vorwaller on January 4, 2007 02:07 PMwhat a great gift of old photos & congrats to a new year of exciting shows! horray! i loved sevilla, but i was never more lost in a city... it winds around and around in a maze... and the lonely planet guide was never more wrong about the accuracy of open hostels, but an adventure nontheless! the tiles there are amazingly beautiful.
be well,
mati