Tintypes

Pat's been doing some intensive experiments with tintype and was looking for more subjects to build his portfolio. He had some time open this morning before I went to fencing.





Pat was using strobes, so I had a comparatively short exposure. A few years back, Monica had the opportunity to have a tintype done by Will Wilson, it was the more traditional long exposure, probably around 30 seconds.



(Right is left, left is right; could've flipped these scans, but seemed most appropriate to leave them.)

Lynda Barry at The Lensic

Last Tuesday, we got to see cartoonist Lynda Barry speak at The Lensic, part of the ongoing free lecture series presented by Santa Fe Institute.



Turns out, the now-president of SFI was the one who hired her to teach at Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery; her book Syllabus comes from her experiences there, and I drew heavily on it when I was designing my advanced comics-making class.

She spoke for about 90 minutes, energetic and funny even after a day leading a workshop at SFI. She's doing some big thinking about image and creativity, her presentation covered some of the things she covered in Syllabus and ranged even further before concluding with a party trick. Inspiring and insightful.

The Lowriders of Summer

Friday was the big public opening of Con Cariño at the New Mexico Museum of Art, an exhibit Monica's been working on that's part of "Lowrider Summer," which also encompasses the New Mexico History Museum.

The highlight — for me, at least — was an appearance by Rose B. Simpson's Maria, which I first heard about at her Creative Mornings talk a couple weeks back. One of my former students had work at the Strangers Collective opening, so I missed her arrival. But:



So. Sweet.

And today was the big Lowrider Day on the Plaza (so declared by the mayor). Biked downtown to catch the end of the procession — and speaking of the mayor, right there:



Walked around as they circled and found their parking, some showing off their hydraulics in the last corner.



Spent the rest of the afternoon, walking around, checking the cars. As well as the bikes at Museum of Art.











Stuck around for a few minutes of the hopping before having to head back. Had to prep the final print files for a comic I've been lettering and designing for the past few months.



One of these two is my favorite, I think.

Andy Returns, With the Feltuses

Andy and Liz were back through town with the girls, at the end of a trip through the southwest. Arrived Wednesday after Bandelier and Los Alamos, we hung out at home* and caught up.



Thursday was breakfast downtown, a little walking around the Plaza to point out the highlights, and then off to Tent Rocks. Probably the busiest I've seen it — vacation on out East, though ours was weeks ago — had it pretty crowded on the way up, though most of it seemed to be a local school trip. Nice at the top (above) and on the way back down. Leisurely pace has us out for about two-and-a-half hours. The good folks at La Choza were able to accommodate Josie's new sopapilla obsession, with the both the stuffed and side variety. Soaked out the aches at Ten Thousand Waves.

Friday, late start and early lunch including more sopapillas, then The House of Eternal Return.

Long (long-) time readers might remember Santa Fe art collective Meow Wolf's project, The Due Return. This new permanent installation, in an old bowling alley and now anchoring a new arts district is kind of a conceptual sequel, in that it's a narrative that unfolds through exploration and interpretation. I know a few of the writers on it, was following some of it coming together, but didn't know it would premier to such attention. I'd heard good things from the right people, knew enough to set the stage so we had some fun not describing it to the kids, and just going.

And it was a great time. For everyone I think, and in unexpected ways. There's a kinetic fun to just climbing and exploring and poking around (literally and figuratively). But there's a (heartbreaking) storyline in there, told through everything from video to newspapers, ephemera and, even the setting**. I found myself having more fun exploring than piecing together, but got what I thought was going on, only to hear different interpretations over dinner. Clearly will reward repeated visits.











A few, I was trying to get everyone experiencing it (Josie's calling the phone number that recurred throughout as part of the story), but much better photos of the installation itself in that Times article.

* From the next night, but Wednesday they were still getting be buddies.
** That's the encyclopedia set we had when I was growing up. Still looking for the accompanying folklore/mythology collections.

For our anniversary lunch, we watched and listened as the thunderstorm rolled through the mountains.

And then we photobombed Emi's exhibition.

Friday Evening on Canyon Road

Not techically the last Friday of summer, but it kinda felt like it. Even with days still in the 90s, autumn's undeniably in the air (and in the light). My favorite time of year, if it wasn't followed by winter.



I spent the morning and early afternoon sorting through and organizing wood type in the new 12 Tons shop. Only had to open that Shop Vac once to get a piece of type out.

Some late-afternoon rains kept Monica from her walk to Canyon Road, though made for a beautiful sky and cool breezes.



We stopped by Beals & Abbate to visit for a few minutes and to enjoy their opening. Then to Matthews Gallery for Jamie's annual show opening.



Above: Jamie and Turner, another insanely talented artist. Jamie's been returning to some landscapes; we left empty-handed, despite being pursued by one of the gallery staff who retrieved this from the back room for Monica to see.

A short stroll to the El Zaguan space for the launch of Dom's Gubernatorial run. It started off as an art project, but might be growing into something more …? When he shared this with me before the event, an image sprang immediately to mind:

At Indian Market

Click the photo to see us in Albuquerque Journal's Indian Market coverage. That's Raph and Char to the left, Monica's hat and ear behind me; I'm guiding us to breakfast …

We were on the radio again, and then went to Omega Mart.

Yesterday, we did another live Mouth of Wonder — among other things, as a public service to all the others overrun with apricots, offered some recipes.

And then, Omega Mart — the latest installation from Meow Wolf — was having its opening.

  
  


And you may note it looks rainy there … we actually had a couple hours of light, steady showers yesterday.

Eclipse

Had some Enchiladas of the Apocalypse, then took the dog across the river to get a better "view" of the eclipse. A lovely walk in the shade, especially since the unseasonably warm weather is already getting too hot for her.



Lessee … James Gleick was in town to talk on Wednesday night. It was a brief — just under 30 minutes — talk, plus about 20 minutes of Q&A. And kinda tough to sum up what it was about. Monica noted it was like a preface to The Information, a book that I struggled through, finding far less accessible than his others.

Meet and greet yesterday, plantings have been going on, a more-than-full day helping out at the Santa Fe Challenge last Saturday. Printed up a bunch of cards on Friday to take to ACE. Since there won't be any new comics.



&c.


Update: time lapse of the Santa Fe Challenge, courtesy of Barry at ACFA.

Printing the Cigar Poster

It all started when James, on one of his regular excursions to the cigar shop to get boxes to store printing stuff in, wound up with this wood insert — probably for some fancy gift box — of the various classic cigars. He resolved to print it.

He sanded it down and made it as even as possible, and we spent Friday coming up with a poster for it. I was hoping for bigger type, but when you're dealing with realities of having enough letters to set what you want, you deal with what you got.

It was decided, though, that we need another layer of artwork. We broke to figure out what that could be.

Live on Etsy

The poster that James and I have been working on is now for sale in the new 12 Tons of Letterpress Etsy store — along with some other prints from James. Got few more things to list, and we'll be working on a new poster tomorrow.

Afternoon of Words

The New Mexico History Museum, as a part of the spectacular St. John's Bible exhibit, presented Barry Moser and John Benson in a talk and demonstration today.

I recognized Moser — as you probably will too, if you click that link — kind of knowing and recognizing his work, but not really that knowledgable about it. Benson, a stonecarver … I think I was confusing with someone else.

After the usual introductions, two short movies were played — Moser's, an excerpt from a documentary about his Caxton Bible; Benson's, one that "focused on the work" from the late '70s. The former was a tight overview, actually answering a lot of the questions that pop into your head about something like that. The latter … was kind of hypnotic, with the attention paid to the chiseling of letters out of stone. It looked easy.





Then, in an experiment, they each then demonstrated their skills for the crowd. And proved themselves to be terrific performers, engaging, wry, humorous, inspiring masters of their craft.

Truly an experience to see people so thoroughly devoted to their art.

Also, both New Englanders. Benson, by birth, and totally informed by growing up studying the tombstones of Newport (which looked so much like those of my hometown). Moser, by way of a Baptist Southern upbringing, in his documentary, mentioned finishing having grinders with a friend.

Monica was working, making fonts to upload to YourFonts for their National Handwriting Day promotion. Which, given the inspiration I got today, I need to get going on myself.

I Don't Want to Say "Only in Santa Fe," But …

… at the main branch of the library downtown today, I'd just paid 25¢ to park (no, that's not the "only in Santa Fe" part … it's in a central location in a busy spot, but, yes, how many other major city public libraries charge for parking, even a token amount?), and returned to my car to place the ticket and get my bag.

Entering the building, there were two women at the parking kiosk. As I passed, one turned to me and asked, "would you like a bookmark?" She held out a selection of about 6 for me.

I liked the red beret.

Recent Activities

I spent another great afternoon with James, working up some letterpress prints. Plan is to fire up an Etsy store with this and some more of his work soon.

Mon was with Stacy taping another Mouth of Wonder (spotlight on: waffles!). That's on this Saturday at 10:30 MST, or catch it on the web site or iTunes.

From the Collection

 

On display now at the Wethersfield Historical Society, a couple pieces my grandfather made in the "Wethersfield Woodworking" exhibit.

White Pre-Christmas

Awoke this morning to about 4" of snow this morning, the nice powdery stuff this time. Shoveling and clearing the cars, then a sniff-ful walk across the river with the dog.

Afternoon at the museums downtown with M+D, targeting the Drake and St. John's Bible exhibits.

Temperature's dropping already, but snow's been melting away all day. And now a bumper sticker spotted on the way home has us wondering, "what, indeed?"

Signs of Autumn:

1. Cool enough to take the dog on a hike …



Dropped from the weeks of near-record heat to pretty cool yesterday. Mostly because of the clouds that, luckily. held their rain until we got home.


2. where the aspens are turning



The first sign of color up in the mountains.


3. A new birthday tshirt from Monica




She did the drawing this time, too.


4. Indian Market



A few weeks back; I biked over to catch the last hours.


5. Wildflowers blooming



And blocking the path to the back yard.


6. Jamie's annual gallery show



Traditional Jamie In Front Of His Painting portrait here.


7. Asking for Zozobra donations

You saw this, right?


8. Hummingbirds passing through



Not at our house. We haven't refilled the feeder since putting it out over a month ago. This is at Jim + Stacy's.


9. The arrival of the summer monsoons



Wait, what? The last month's more than quadrupled our annual rainfall. Still not even halfway to where we should be.


10. Bubonicon

Which we skipped this year, but Pete took pictures.


11. Anniversary evening out



Started with Chris lighting Monica's drink on fire.


12. Doing one giant post wrapping up the past weeks' worth of activities.