Ashes and Snow

A couple weekends ago we went to Santa Monica and saw the Ashes and Snow exhibit. From the website:

Gregory Colbert's Ashes and Snow is an ongoing project that weaves together photographic works, three 35mm films, art installations and a novel in letters. With profound patience and an unswerving commitment to the expressive and artistic nature of animals, he has captured extraordinary, unscripted interactions between humans and animals.

His 21st-century bestiary includes more than 40 totemic species from around the world. Since he began creating his singular work of Ashes and Snow, Colbert had mounted more than 30 expeditions to locations such as India, Egypt, Burma, Tonga, Sri Lanka, Namibia, Kenya, Antarctica, the Azores and Borneo.

The show first opened at the Arsenale in Venice, Italy, in 2002. The Nomadic Museum, the permanent home of Ashes and Snow, debuted in New York in 2005 and is charted to travel the globe with no final destination.

The title Ashes and Snow suggests beauty and renewal, while also referring to the literary component of the exhibition—a fictional account of a man who, over the course of a yearlong journey, composes 365 letters to his wife. The source of the title is revealed in the 365th letter. Colbert's photographs and one-hour film loosely reference the traveller's encounters and experiences described in the letters.

Colbert, who calls animals "nature's living masterpieces," chose to film animals in their native habitats in an effort to be true to each animal's voice. The film can be viewed as a work of art as well as a poetic field study. The film was edited by two-time Oscar-winner Pietro Scalia. It is narrated by Laurence Fishburne, and the musical collaborators include Michael Brook, David Darling, Heiner Goebbels, Lisa Gerrard, Lukas Foss, Nusrat Fateh Ali Kahn and Djivan Gasparyan.

The Ashes and Snow exhibition includes more than 100 large-scale photographic artworks, a one-hour film and two nine-minute film haikus. None of the images have been digitally collaged or superimposed. They record what the artist himself saw through the lens of his camera. While Colbert uses both still and movie cameras, the images are not stills from the film. These mixed media photographic works marry umber and sepia tones in a distinctive encaustic process on handmade Japanese paper. The artworks, each approximately five feet by eight feet, are mounted without explanatory text so as to encourage an open-ended interaction with the images.

We did not look at any of the letters. The best part was the short films because you were able to see the pictures in live action. Truly amazing how these animals interact with humans.

Afterwards, we ate a corndog and fries at the original Muscle Beach. Venice Beach now is the site of Muscle Beach where the first Gold's Gym is located.

Bubbles

(I tried to get this post up on Friday but Blogspot was having issues. I'll get a post up with some pictures for this post and I'll get a post up about our weekend moving Kristi to S.F.-Randy)

Not much going on here....unfortunately.

It appears that the media has talked enough about "high" interest rates and bursting bubbles that people are freaked out. Over the last two weeks, we have had no more than 1 agent come see the house. We were supposed to have someone over yesterday but it appears they did not show up. Our realtor tells us that everyone in her office is complaining about the same thing. All I can say is that we're tired of it. Somebody buy our house!!!

We've spent the last few weeks not doing a whole lot exciting but we've stayed busy. One weekend we had a birthday party for Laura's mom, the next weekend was Mother's Day and we had her parents, uncle, and grandma over for dinner. The following weekend we went with her parents to Lake Casitas to do a test run of their boat (this time we are positive it is working right) before our trip to Bridgeport.

This weekend we are going to help Kristi move from Davis to San Francisco. Friday night we are driving up to Fresno. Saturday morning we'll travel with my parents to Davis were we will rent a Uhaul and pack her things. Sunday morning we'll drive to San Francisco and unload, then drive to Fresno that night. Monday we will come back home.

The next couple weekends have no plans currently. Hopefully we'll sell our house!