material things

cakestand Originally uploaded by dressform.

this is the lovely new - but quite old looking cakestand I got as a gift from my parents while they were visiting last weekend. it is in the prized middle of the dining room table spot... i look at it daily and it makes me happy. is it silly that mere things can be infused with such joy? i am sure avid aesthetisists would say of course it's not silly - design and funciton and form are what help to shape our interactions and reactions with the world. (side note: i have started a book by Cynthia Freeland - "But is it Art" - she is a professor of aesthetics. i think this is pretty swell and wish i had the opportunity to take an aesthetics class - the philosophy of what appeals to the eye.... sigh....). but i can't help wondering about objects in the world and how we place value on them. (of course this situation gets extraorinarily wacky and potentially icky when it comes to art objects). i don't proclaim to have any answers - i just know what i like! (and for an indecisive libra like myself this in and of itself can be a big thing).

i'm not sure if it's the weather, the creeping and everpresent tendonitis in my arm, or the lack of good sleep (there is a german shepard on the block that has been barking at the lovely hours of 2-5 am), but i have been a bit sluggish of late. i have taken a mini-poll and everyone i know is extraordinarily busy and so i just have to assume that the year of the rooster wants to start with a bang. all work and no play makes lisa a dull girl. maybe i should consider all of this an experiment. how far can all of this go??

i did see richard shaw's show at B/Q gallery. the one watercolor pallete house killed me. i did have to wonder though if his vocabulary is ever going to change? does it even need to? when you have been making stuff for 40+ years is it harder to change - or are you just so focused that you find new small ways to institute change. is this satisfactory - for you? for your audience? should this even be of concern as you work in the studio? it could easily be a dammed if you do dammed if you don't situation. (note: don't think of these things while actually making - much too stiffling!)

OH! exciting - my NEW NEW NEW brushed aluminum apple powerbook G4 shipped today. (drive faster UPS drive faster!). my wallet is upset with me but my heart and mind and hands are excitied! finally a hard drive with enough room to store my tunes and my images and all my clients' crap! yay! now i have to see about a sleeve for it (must protect it) i did see these amazing carrying cases at Casauri - the sun striped citra medium envelope is pretty nice.... and then if money was NO object how bout these pretty things at ACME alas money is an object.... maybe i'll make myself a little pocket for the time being..... it's still lovely to behold nice material things....

two more things (long post - i know - but it's been ahwile) 1- the show at Oakland Art Gallery is pretty good. Michael Arcega has a bunch of tiny balsa wood tanks (which OF COURSE I LOVE) and a fellow Mills alum Heike Liss has a nice photo series. 2 - if you are coming to visit CA and would like a dreamy place to stay my friends are renting their cabin in Marin County- it's actually where I got married. it's beautiful and serene and lovely. check it out