Chipmunk city

Out in Wyoming and up in the Curt Gowdy State Park close to Cheyenne and a vertigo alert at 7000' above sea level; chipmunks under our feet running everywhere, hurrah, deer, big birds, cactus, decomposing and crumbly granite and quaking aspen.

 bear scratch marks possibly, on the aspen

 lots of sky and space!!!

 

 spot the deer ears 

 big rocks

 a view

 very big rock

 

 cactus

 big bird with white tummy

wrestling granite, the closing

It has been a great three weeks, the sun has shone on four artists wrestling granite in the fabulous Contemporary Arts International, Acton Massachusetts. The closing ceremony brought in some lovely people and it was so good to see so many friendly faces from my previous visits to New England. It perhaps is not a 'closing' but a gathering of friends before the next time we meet. I thank all those able to get along and make the day so much fun. 

                 The stone ready to move

in position in the "New Archaeology" underneath, Andy Moerlein's 'skull'

Yin Peet, director, Viktor Lois, artistic director, four artists-: Alexandra Harley, Andy Morelein (US), Wu Te He (Taiwan), Tamás Mosonyi (Hungary)

www.contemporaryartsinternational.org

andymoerlein.blogspot.com

email Te He gogogoart123@yahoo.com.tw

www.mosonyitamas.hu

last day

Last day and it is off to the quarry for a little light dusting and re arranging the furniture.

From this, my stone is at the base and had to be moved so I was not working directly beneath Andy Moerlein, to this …….

 and all done. Three glorious weeks in excellent company, great food in a beautiful setting. Perfect.

fun in the quarry

I was going to call this 'Fun with  4" grinder' but thought better of it. Not much left to do and the closing knees up is on Saturday

 Washed …..

  …… drying out a wee bit, the stone is quite warm so it didn't take long

 A really poor photo of a woodchuck in front of the rock pile, Tim de Christopher's 'man' is in the background. I stayed and watched the woodchuck patrolling ziz-zag across the grass for as long as I could bear the mozzies, but as soon as I moved it shot away into the rock pile.

tooth fairy needed

The air tools arrived today, hurrah! I need slim chisels to clean out the crevices so they don't look like they have just been slices by the grinder. Carving is a solitary occupation, the compressor  and the grinder are very noisy so it is visor and industrial ear protection. I also use gel gloves as the air tools vibrate so much and the gel absorbs the vibration, however the rattle is so strong I think my teeth are coming loose.

day ??? forgotten

I am losing track of time. A symposium jolly to New York was brilliant, our feet didn't touch the ground. Storm King sculpture park on the way down with enormous sculptures and some great David Smiths, Guggenheim Museum, Central park in the rain, saw a red tailed hawk on the Metropolitan museum, an Afghani meal, Czech beer garden and Times Square (a visual overload if ever there was one) and our digs, the studio of a Taiwanese activist.

Statten Island ferry in the morning, followed by a walk up through Wall Street to the site of the twin towers, then to China town to watch a dodgy deal involving fake Gucci  handbags out side the window where we were eating

 a wander through China town to…

  the New Museum showing Arab artists, very political works about the difficulties of for e.g., migrant workers, Lebanese displacement. 

In Union Square we were surrounded by a very moving and peaceful protest about the deaths of black men at the hands of the Police on one side and the Hare Krishna chants on the other. Then it was home back to the peace and quiet of the quarry and a lump of granite to wrestle with.

Day 7- back on the stone

 Red Whit and blue, (and green)

 Progress

Day 6 at Andres Institute

 On the way to Andres institute to meet up with good chums we found a yard sale. 

 And these are the most excellent chums, Susan and Russell who were my host family on my first visit, completely lovely people standing in front of my sculpture from 2011

 and the wonderful Bella!

It was so good to catch up with friends, see my sculpture, the new additions from other symposiums and a glorious meal with John and Nadiya Weidman

Day 5 in the quarry

No chipmunks! This is quite heartbreaking however as I carve I have tiny frogs hopping about beneath my feet and dragonflies hovering about all the time. Occasionally and not often enough, a humming bird which are exquisite. The woodchuck keeps a very low profile but he can just about be seen beneath the foliage. A swim in the quarry pool at the end of the day rounds things off.

day 4, looking up

A rainbow over the studio, it rained but not enough to stop play. The sound of the rain coming through the forest was beautiful

facial scrub

Being in the sun means factor 50 for my delicate skin. I have a canopy which means I am working in the shade most of the time but I need to walk around occasionally, I talk to the other artists, get a drink etc, so factor 50 it is, this needs topping up regularly. However by the time I have done 5 minutes carving I am covered in a fine layer of dust so putting on the sun cream gives me a facial scrub, some people pay a lot of money for that- maybe this rugged form of exfoliation could catch on.

day 3 in the quarry

  coming along with the carving, no chipmunks have been spotted so far but frogs and dragonflies everywhere and a humming bird popped by earlier.

  and a swim at the end of the day

frog days

 Saw this next to my stone, which Tamas says is a Kecskebka, or goat  frog in Hungary.

  still alive and then……

I ate tofu

I