Mushroom Meditation

This past Saturday I participated in my first morel hunt with fellow members of The Illinois Mycological Association in a forested area in the outskirts of Chicago. It was a great mixture of new foragers and seasoned experts. Fungal knowledge was shared freely about how to find morels as well as what other species of fungi were called. We all had a great time which culminated in finding a great number of morels at the end of our expedition.

Looking for morels or any mushroom reminds me of when a moment of insight arises. Like when I have a problem to solve, I research it, activity think about, sleep on it, and then when I’m doing something completely unrelated the solution reveals itself. Similarly when looking for morels, you must be mentally prepared, know what your looking for and where to look, but it is when I was NOT looking for them that I saw them. I would stand still, in the right spot and wait for them to reveal themselves to me.

Finding morels involves pattern recognition within the density of patterned information of the forest.













The first patterns learned are the pattern of Ash bark and what a dead elm looks like and you begin following these patterns through the forest.

Then once you see your first morel, the pattern of the cap is imprinted in your mind, and you look at the ground, hoping this pattern will jump up. The harder you look for the morel pattern on the ground, the less likely you’ll see it. I found that looking casually, like I was waiting for something else would cause them to appear.The rush of the reward of finding one can be blinding or sometimes it can bring clarity to see the neighboring morels. But, either way, eventually my mind had to “reset” to the patterns of the Ash, Elm and Morel, cycling through all three without hanging onto any of them too tightly. My mind also wanted to find other patterns, like, that they grow in the open, but then I’d find one under a bush, or that they grow about four feet from an Ash tree, but then I’d find one nowhere near an Ash tree. Ironically, our biggest find of morels was not distinctly near the two tell-tail trees, but was in an area that was more open.

After three hours of this on Saturday, when I closed my eyes, I could see the patterns, mainly of the Ash bark and the morel cap. I found myself looking at the roadside as we drove away, unable to stop looking for them, even as I was moving too fast and too far away to possibly see them.

Reality Check

Art Advice is a helpful website I just started looking at.

Redundantly American in Free Februrary

We went to see the Hopper exhibit Saturday at The Art Institute, during free February.

The Hopper exhibit was predictably lovely. His work reproduces very well, so there is not much more revealed in viewing the paintings in person. The canvas are not unexpectedly big, but the colors can be quite vibrant. I really prefer his work focusing on urban and prairie scenes which include much visible and psychological space. There were some very cool early etchings, including two depicting the first "El" car. which I've been in at The Chicago History Museum. I find his work incredibly American, and it is not secret, that I am an idealist American, and I love being an American. His work captures American scenes and psychological space. After seeing his body of work, I felt like I knew him. I really feel like he was always right there with his subjects. That he wasn't an estranged visitor to the scenes and characters, but that he too dined with locals late at night, or sat lonely in a hotel room, or chatted with bathers on the east coast. I felt that he was right there with capturing what was current, because he was doing it. In the 50's towards the end of his career, he began painting western-route 60-esque travel and motel scenes. Just as America was embracing the car and newly paved and connecting roads. He seems redundantly American- being as he appears in photos, "Joe American", he seems to live the American life of the time, and then he cinematicly captures it in paint.

The last painting was the best and truly a culmination of his life's pursuit.


Saturday during free February was not the best time to see art, but is was a refreshingly casual and boisterous day at the museum, where everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. And the museum was packed with a sea of visitors, really the way it always should be.

Don't miss "Girls On the Verge" in the basement. Its delightfully uncomfortable, sensitive, humorous and shocking.

Gordon Matta-Clark

This past weekend, Michael and I went to see the Gordon Matta-Clark exhibit at the MCA. I was so happy to finally see the MCA hosting (almost) contemporary art, and an artist that I've admired for a long time. The exhibit is great, but since Matta-Clark's career was so short, there wasn't much there that I hadn't already seen or read about. I was really inspired by the table of books that was source material for and documentation of Matta-Clark's work. I took notes.

The Art of Creativity

I've been working diligently towards my next show, happening in June at Northeastern Illinois University Gallery. I named the show "White Moment". It will feature new and "old" work integrated to create a new installation and new understanding of the "old" work. I am really excited about it. It’s almost as if I'm beginning to use my own previous works as found objects, and combine them together to recontextualize each other into new work. I feel liberated.

I googled "White Moment" before I sent it off to the curator as the title of my show, and the article "The Art of Creativity" from Psychology Today came up. I printed the whole article and taped it into my sketch book. There are so many interesting points articulated there that I have been trying to articulate myself about the direction of my work. I will be mining that article for new work and for my show statement.

I want to write a clear essay/statement for my show "White Moment” which articulates and explains my relationship to and my investigation into the relationship of art viewing, art making, and meditation. An article in the text “Buddha Mind in Contemporary Art” touches on the relationship between the three. I don’t mean to suggest that they are interdependent, but they are also not independent. The ideal moment of making, viewing and meditation is that of “no mind”.

"If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything; it is open to everything. In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, in the expert’s mind there are few."
-SUZUKI-ROSHI

The Caucasians

Sometimes I think about carpets. Michael and I currently use a 30yr old cow hide in our living room, which is still really cool, but as you can imagine, balding.

I've admired over time a graphic folky rug style and pattern, but finally discovered its region and makers today.

The Caucasians:


I love the brilliant colors, graphic animal and plant symbols and the use of white to emphasize the negative space.



The colors of this boarder are great. I love the variation of dye lots.



I really love this irregular pattern.




The shapes in middle remind me of quail.

Tub Practice

So as I mentioned, I was going to practice for the tub shoot this weekend, but there were some problems, and now I need to borrow someone else's tub.

Problem one was that the pilot in the hot water heater went out. It took a while to figure out why the water was luke, and then to light it. I then waited a couple hours for it to heat up.

After filling up the tub and getting in I was practicing submerging and I realized I would need some kind of plug in my nose because water was getting up it and I thought it would be worse with milk. I went to Michael's studio to look for ear plugs to see if those would work without deforming my nostrils, when there was a knock at the door.

I wanted to ignore it because I was in a towel, but then another knock. And I thought for some reason it could be about the tub full of water. And it was! They guy down stairs said water was coming through his light fixture in his bathroom! I quickly got dressed and went down to his unit to see the globe of his light fixture full of water! I helped him take it down so it could dry out and it seems that there will be no damage to his unit. But I guess the overflow in my tub is not connected to the drain! Thank god that wasn't milk dripping down to his apartment!

So now I need to use a deeper tub or a tub with a functioning overflow. I will have to call my friends....

Research and Searching

Researching for art is sometimes funny.

My next task today, after taking care much teaching paper work and what not, is to research for the video I'll be making this weekend.

I'll take a bath.

I need to take a bath to determine how much water I'll need and to practice my moves.

On Saturday with the help of my friend Tesia I will make a video of my face sinking and emerging from a white opaque liquid to take a breath. Its like a video version of my piece Breathe . I figured the best way to accomplish this would be in my bath tub. Yesterday I bought three boxes of powdered milk, enough to make 15 gallons of fat free reconsituted milk. Tesia will bring a light kit from school and her video skills, and at times we will both be in the tub of milk in my bathroom. She will need to stand in it to get an over head shot. I hope it turns out well.

I am making this video for my upcoming solo show at Northeastern Illinois University Gallery for this summer. I will show this new video, Breathe, and reconfiguration of Sentient and a few other new things. The show is called White Moment.

I am searching for mirrors for this show. I'd like to collect many mirrors of any rectangle or square size, with any frame or no frame, but I can't seem to find any at the thrift stores...