Christmas – Hanukah in Berlin

Now that the holidays are here, I take some time to celebrate our journey with friends in Berlin. Just to keep the theme of art for peace alive and well, I will show you some images that bring me this feeling. As the holiday feasting is also upon us, I share some artful edibles as well. Happy Holidays to all of you readers. Thanks for sharing the journey with us. Brian and Lisa

Beautiful street lights in Berlin

Berlin’s Menorah for Hanukah

Brian and Lisa at Christmas Dinner

Artful Soup

A Restored Well

Kai inspecting the well.

Here’s a peak into the well

Looking up at the Church

The Dove of Peace in Stained Glass

Artful Soup 2

Artful Soup 3

How do you top Paris-visit Family and Friends

I don’t know if topping Paris is possible, yet the warmth of Paris pales in comparison to the warmth of family and friends. Our time now is relaxed and we are spending Christmas and New Year in Berlin with Doris and Kai and visiting with many Berlin friends. I will post some photos now of our journey up north to Lisa’s sister Heike, and brother-in-law Ziggy, and nephew Manu. Then we will travel to Lisa’s parents where we will have cake and coffee with her mother and father, her older sister and her husband, and her younger brother and his wife and daughter.

We had a Jewish German reunion on our way back to Berlin by stopping in Hamburg and hosted by our dear friend Ulrich and his wife Henrike. They gave us a warm welcome with a special family pancake “friesentorte” with plum sauce and whipped cream, yummy. Our time together was warm and a sharing of our lives and we ate and we ate some more and even when it was time to leave, Ulrich gave us all bags of holiday chocolates for our trip back to Berlin. It was a beautiful time and we so much enjoyed our short Hamburg visit. We even got to take a walk between courses so that we had room for the next meal. What fun. Germany is so much more food friendly than Paris. Even when you don’t eat Bratwurst, you can find delicious foods everywhere.

Now for the photos, click on them for the descriptions. Happy Holidays and we wish you all great peace and joy!

Manu gets the Christmas present of his dreams

Our first Salad – a Work of Art

A Plate of Artful Fruits

Eggs nesting in a basket

We visit an Ice Palace

Potato Latkes with Apple Sause or Marmalade

The Famous Bremen Musicians

Another beautiful salad.

OH, Did I mention the German Cakes?

Menorah as we entered the Jewish Cafe and Bookstore

A painting showing the Jewish community fracturing

Once here was a Jewish Synagogue

Sitting in the Jewish Cafe

Stubble Stone memorial

Ulrich prepares a family Christmas treat

Sitting around the table catching up with each other.

Back into the train station for one more journey to Berlin

Here too the decorations for the holidays are everywhere

Computer Skype view

Kai and Doris’ Christmas tree

Jewish Museum in Berlin

Art and Wellness in Berlin

If you have been checking this blog every day, you have noticed that I took a break after all the action in Paris. Well, it has been quite a long journey since the early planning of this trip and all the steps that it took to get here. Now that we are in Berlin we are relaxing quite a bit and yesterday we went off downtown to do some errands and take in a wellness break. As we left Kai and Doris’ home I took a few shots of some of the sculptures here before we headed to the bus, then the subway to get downtown. It takes about 3/4 hour to get into the downtown parts of Berlin that we want to go. We visit our favorite falafel restaurant – Habibi, and I’ve included a couple of pictures. The tickets give you two hours of travel, so we are making our stops quite short so that we can get to our final stop before buying another ticket for the way home. As we are racing at times, I think that this isn’t what I’d call a wellness pace. When we finally get to the Liquidrom, all stresses are released into the warm waters. I’ll post a link to a video of the place, though it is in German, you can still get a feeling for the place. Here’s the link, you may have to cut and paste it into your browser: http://cms.cityguide.com/detail.jsp?itemId=80629030241970005&lang=de&cty=DEUTSCHLAND&feed=pub&view=list

Enjoy the photos and we will be heading north to visit Lisa’s family and likely won’t have internet access for posting for a few days. Check back when you have time and hopefully, I will get some new images and information posted soon. Happy Holidays to you as we come closer to the darkest day and the soon aproach of more light. One of my favorite season changes.

A reminder to bow when entering this new place

Pan is in the garden

Painted Ceramic Hen

Griffen atop the world

One of my favorite Kai Draeger Sculptures

A taller Buddha at the entry to the garden

Lunch for our favorite Falafel – Habibi

Lisa bringing her falafel for lunch

We finally arrive at our wellness destination

Paris- The Berman’s Last Night in the Apartment

How to find your way in Paris

Well, after recovering from all the cakes and coffee’s today, Lisa and I settle in for our last night in the apartment. We take some pictures for the memories of this place where we lived for the last week. The hard work is over for me. Seems like I’ve been working towards this trip to Paris since the springtime and especially with a narrow focus since September. It remains to be seen what future benefits this exhibition holds for me. Certainly, it is a milestone in my life and a great accomplishment to have been at an exhibition in the Louvre.

Now we will pack and clean and tomorrow morning we will head off to the airport and make our way to Berlin. Many of you have written, and a few of you have commented on my postings. Please feel free to express whatever you like and if it isn’t too insulting I’ll post it. Seriously, this blog is interactive and since starting it, there have been over 2300 visits. That’s a lot of viewing for such a travelogue.
Well, here are more pictures to share.

Even when Brian rests, he’s looking at you

How long is he…….resting

Butterflies in the apartment on the curtains

Another butterfly

No wonder I don’t sleep much-we’ve got a rooster

A hen to go along with the rooster

The view of one of the book shelves.

Lisa keeps up with her emails

Lisa’s smiling face

Louvre Exhibition ends and the tourism begins

Well, that’s not totally true as I’ve been taking in the sites each day. And now that the exhibition is over, I’m on holiday and Lisa and I decide to go back to the Old Jewish Quarter to see the district when it’s not Shabbot. We got there hungry and that was possibly a mistake as everything looked so good we went into the restaurant I photoed the other day with the hummous take out. Well they have a seating area and it was also like a wine cellar. There was even a spiral stairway up to a seating area on the next level. Just watching people go up this very tight spiral upwards was interesting as they stayed up there for a minute and then spiralled down again. The food was quickly served and we were quickly done with the plate of foods, when we had some cheese cake and went out the door only to find an incredible Jewish Bakery.

We had to walk a few blocks before we were ready for coffee and another cake. What an interesting bakery as everyone looked like they were Jewish. Well I don’t mean to stereotype, but the black hats and the dark black coats, were part of the give away, and the women all looked like my relatives. I felt right at home, and the food looked great and the coffee and cakes were wonderful. As I paid the bill, I noticed two posters advertising a gallery showing of art about Obama and a film festival about Cristal Nacht. See the photo and open it to read what I have to say about this image.

So what else to do but to  look in all the shops and find something for our holiday gift giving. I encouraged Lisa to pick out a warm coat as we entered an outlet store (Eva Tralala is the designer label and Nina Jacob the store name: 23, rue des Francs Bourgeois) for wool clothing. When she found the right one, I asked the woman salesperson if they had anything that I would fit into and sure enough I found myself wrapped in a wonderful coat. We left the store knowing that our Christmas gifts to each other were handled. So now that we are done, all that is left to do is to pack our bags, clean our apartment, and head out to the airport in the morning. Well there is this blog to finish as well.

So the next blog will be from Berlin, not sure if it will be tomorrow or the next days. Thanks for your interest. I love sharing all of our trip with my extended community of supporters. Your support has helped us get here to Paris and I hope that we have given you a good view into the experience of the Louvre exhibition and beyond. Our best to you for the holiday season. Brian and Lisa

Entry Guardian

Ancient Paris Doorway

We take lunch but without the wine

An incredible array of baked goods

One happy Jewish bakery fan

Heres’ the second happy customer

What a juxtaposition of poster topics.

Lisa’s color and style-a great gift

What a great sound from these Russian musicians

Lisa and I send you our Happy Holiday greetings

Completion of SNBA Exhibition and Museum d’Orsay

Today brings the exhibition to a close. I am uplifted by my experiences here, the artwork, the artists that I have met, and the public appreciation of the art. As the event comes to a close for me, I have received a certificate for participating and a special stamp on my business card as the other paintings get stamped directly on the back side to prove that there work was here in the Louvre at the SNBA exhibition. Every little bit helps in making the artwork more valuable to the buyer. I’m not sure who will get to own this beautiful Genesis, and it now has a bigger aura than before coming to this exhibition.

After leaving the Louvre, Lisa and I walk across the Seine to the Museum d’Orsay, a beautiful museum within a former railroad station. There are breathtaking viewpoints and enough sculptures and paintings to overcome on with emotion as well as exhaustion. We experienced a bit of both and retire to our apartment after another full day of art appreciation.

Tomorrow will be our last full day in Paris and as the exhibition is now over, I am completely a tourist and can begin my vacation time. What an adventure this has been. The blog has received an incredible number of visits and spiked during the time David Caruso came through. I had over 1400 visitors to the blog over two days just to see the photos of him. My picture was shown on many TV tabloid type blogs and one actually thought I was his bodyguard. An unlikely role that I would play. Anyway, what a great and fun experience this has been and I hope you have enjoyed the photos and the stories. Brian

I get one on my business card

This is the official stamping of the painting

Bob Berger gets the SNBA Stamp of approaval

My certificate of participation in the SNBA Exhibition

The d’Orday Museum

A huge magnificent clock in the museum

The Bear and the Bearman

This Barrias sculpture of Marble and Onyx

A totem of masks carved in wood

This Cordier sculpture was one of three

A wing of protection or ?

The museum has as many paintings as sculptures

.

Meeting more Artists and Touring

Saturday in Paris is not the best time to visit the old Jewish Quarter if you want to see the Jewish shops and restaurants, yet this is the day that Lisa and I took a walk through this part of the city. We are on our way to the Pompidou Museum though I am taking my time photographing way more than I can upload onto this site. So I will share a few of the highlights of the day with you. Enjoy them as much as I for taking them. I particularly enjoyed the Brancusi Artelier where you can view well over a hundred works of his art. Lisa and I part company as I head back to the exhibition to meet with our German friends Stephan and Sanne. Lisa joins up later for the Awards Ceremony and our dinner date. There will be more to come.

An address or sign in the old Jewish Quarter

Humous to go and more

This was one of my favorite door knockers

Door Knocker II

Lisa looks at the French produce

Looks like spring is coming soon

This building houses the Brancusi collection

A peak into the studio

Brancusi’s tool bench

Incredible Detail work on the side of this building

More Details and Gargoils

My German Friend Stephan and me

Award winning Canadian Sculptor

Heide and her bronze couple

Eugene with his two sculptures

Award Ceremony

Incredible view at night

What a concept

Lebonese restaurant dinner table

Building a path to Peace

My Art for Peace project is progressing and as the rug rolls out there is much going on in prep for the big trip. Once again, my thanks to all those who are pitching in to make this trip a dream come true. Lots of helping hands make the work go smoothly. I’ve shipped out the Genesis sculpture and it will soon be traveling over to Paris. Building the crate and getting it out the door was a big first step to exhibiting it in the Louvre. This is a big check-mark and it is done.

On Thursday, KUOW FM radio interviewed me for a program not yet scheduled to be aired. I’ll let you know when I find out when it will be ready. They said they will need a couple more interviews to make the segment work. The focus was Art for Peace, and I hope the message gets across. Here’s a link to an article in the LA Times that mentions me as one of the sculptors going to the Louvre. Tony Dow is featured. Does he look like an aged Wally to you? http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2008/11/tony-dow.html

Speaking of Peace, over last weekend we had the Art in the Woods studio tour. It was a wonderful event and another artist working for peace stopped in to see me, her name is Catherine Foster. She has a art for peace blog, please check it out! http://wishupeace.blogspot.com

I’ll be posting again as news comes my way. Thanks for your interest and support. Brian

Arriving in Europe

I am here now after the two air flights, three buses, and one train ride. I’m about 1.5 hours northeast of Prague. My contact at the studio picked me up at the bus, and took me to my hotel. This is the same hotel we stayed in last May and the person in charge remembered me, so that was very welcoming. As I get picked up to go to the studio at 5:50 am, he said that he would have the cook make me a breakfast to go each evening so I would be prepared for the next mornings work. Very kind people and the town was also very welcoming, other than the fact that the one internet coffee place didn’t have the right password for my computer to work there. I’ve taken a few shots of this little town, and there was an gallery opening with 50 people standing outside on the street in the cold, listening to a young man singing in the doorway, a song that reminded me of a young Frank Sinatra.

Standing on the street listening to a cruner

The flight out of Seattle to Amsterdam was a smooth one with me sitting next to a young man. I asked if he was from the Seattle area and he asked me if I knew of a country called Nigeria?

Here

We had hours of conversation around his culture, his career choice as he is in the banking industry in charge of transferring money from banks that have extra funds to those who are short of funds. They use the same banking system as we do in the western countries which have been in great upheaval these last couple of months. They have the same problems as well. What I was facinated by was how much wealth there is in his country. He told me that his city Lagos, is like New York or many of the big metropolis cities with long commute times and too many cars on the road ways. He owns three cars, though he says that he will sell two of them when he returns home. He has been in the US for three weeks visiting his brother in Maryland whose home is going into foreclosure. We talked about the huge problem this is for so many families on our country and the banking systems that built loans on false value and promises of a wealthy future for all that bought into their mortgages. In his company and in most, they get 25 days off paid each year. His bank is owned by a woman and employs many women. He said in his culture that woman have the same rights and freedoms as men, and that has been a problem for him as his girlfriend who he wants to marry is off in England studying, and he wants to marry and raise a family. We spent many hours around this  and I felt like I was helping him see the bigger picture around his and her needs.   It was very connecting and he said that he would see if he could help bring my artwork to Nigeria for an exhibition, and also he sees a great need for reconciliation work between cultural and tribal divides.

Gbenga

So now you wonder why am I here, anyway. I came to work in the glass casting studio that cast my Genesis. I will post some photos to keep up with my daily activities and accomplishments. The jet lag has me on a strange sleep schedule. The first night I was here I slept till 2am and that was it, last night I slept from 6-11pm and then was up the rest of the night. Fortunately I have a good book to read. I’m very tired, likely from all that I did over the last couple months in preparation for this big adventure. I’m very happy to be at the studio and after I have solved the internet problem and the cell phone problem, I’ll be back to some sense of normalcy. Though not speaking the language in a foreign country doesn’t make life relaxing. The smallest tasks get very complicated without language skill. Like today, I ate lunch with two of the workers at the studio and none of us spoke a word of common language. I ordered what I thought was chicken with mushrooms on pasta, and what I got was deep fried mushrooms and boiled potatoes. No chicken at all, and they all thought this was what I ordered. I ate it quickly to keep up with the workers short lunch break. They are very kind and friendly, but we really don’t know what the other is really saying. There is one helper who speaks some English and he is my lifeline in the studio. He worked for Libensky and Brychtova in the mid 90’s until Stansilav died. He has been a great help. I am already feeling great appreciation, not just because of the language but that he is supplying me with tools as well as where to find whatever I need.

I’ll post some photos of what I working on and also some of the community events, like last night was the Christmas Tree lIghting. OK here come the photos.

This is the place where for two days, I couldn

Approaching the hotel the first night

Here

Bringing the Christmas Holiday lights to the people here

Here I

Clay Model

I will post more tomorrow once I have internet access again, and I make more progress with my work here. Thanks for viewing and if you want to write something about all this, it might stimulate some interesting comments. Thanks, Brian

Early Beginnings

Starting my work at 2 am seems to be my schedule these last couple of days. I haven’t adjusted to the time here, yet I’m not working on my Pacific time schedule either. I fell asleep at 7pm and at 2 am I was wide awake and began my work. I got some good insights and ideas flowing yesterday and went to work on paper for my new designs called Being, another one called Manna, and the third plan is to make a larger Genesis form. All these are coming through a plan that will begin tomorrow and into Friday with a way to build these symmetrical forms here in the studio. I was thinking that I would need to either machine these designs as they are very symmetrical, yet here everything is built up rather than subtracted. This different approach is part of my learning that with this building up skill, you can make most or all designs. In my subtractive approach, as I’ve been mostly a stone sculptor, you have to make your form from what already exists, unless you work with glue and build up a form from smaller pieces. This isn’t how I’ve worked, so it is great to work in materials like clay, plaster and wax for this building up technique. I also am using some foam pieces to create a build up layer so that I don’t have to make my entire thickness out of clay. This is how I did the last two models here, starting with a base layer of foam and then coating out the edges with clay so that the plaster mold will only be exposed to the clay. I hope this makes sense. Is anyone out there even reading this? Well you don’t have to answer, but you are welcome to comment to any of these blog posts. I will add today’s work, Lisa’s design for a larger Gateway, though I have built this one in the vertical format. It will be much taller and thicker than the early ones I cast. These will also be polished on all sides. I haven’t picked the color yet. That will be fun.

Looking at the bottom and face of Gateway III

I think Lisa will be happy as I am that we can collaborate on this work.

Getting Ready to Go

(Finally got to post something from the Czech Republic after a couple of days without internet) This didn’t post for some reason and I’m not sure if it will show up in the right date order. Thanks for your interest.

Heading off for my big adventure, Lisa and I held a going away party for friends who didn’t come to our big event in October, and combined it with a surprise birthday party for our dear friend Gordon. He turns 50 in early December and will be on the east coast, so his partner and I made up the plan, and given that he was coming over for the going away party, we could easily surprise him with cake and warm hearted well wishes. He was completely surprised and was a great addition to the evening’s festivities. See these pictures to get an idea of the fun we had celebrating.

Cara helps me with my head wrap

Up Up and Away

Here

Winding up the week and heading for Prague

I hope you have enjoyed reading about my adventures in the glass studio and the region of Bohemia here in the Czech Republic. My week has ended and I am now in Prague visiting with my dear friend Beate, the former director of the Jewish German Project on the German side. We haven’t seen each other since a long time and so it is good to have some time together. We will explore Prague and I will post a future blog about this time.

And I want to bring you up to date with my last day in the studio. Two major goals for the day, finishing up my work and getting myself to the hotel in Prague that I will be staying in. The day began with another early start, and here’s what my to-go breakfast looked like.

This breakfast to go was also my lunch

My mornings at the studio would begin with some blog time, and some Skype time with Lisa and this internet connection was really great to not feel disconnected in any way with home. So now onto the day and the work. I had the goal to finish up my models and go over the color selection and the scheduling of the production with Vaclav. Our meeting was at 8am so I had some time to check in with Peter, my helper with making the molds from my clay models. The day looked really packed for me to get it all done, and it went very well. Here’s the last model called The Light Keepers which will stand tall on it’s end, will be in a purple glass which will let the most light through in the center point.

The Light Keepers

Peter will work on this form, making the plaster model and preparing it for casting. I meet with Vaclav and find out that the earliest my new glass sculptures will be done is mid-April. This big lead time is just one of the slow aspects of glass casting. I have learned a great deal while here this week, and want to thank all that shared their gifts of knowledge and friendship with me. I have been welcomed to return as long as there is space in the studio to work. The room that I worked in is usually a storage space for all the master models they keep. They prepared it for me and now need to more all the models back into storage there. This is a warm and dry place and that makes it ideal for mold storage, not the kind of mold that we have in our wet Washington, that comes when you store something in our climate and you get mold on your mold. I’m making a joke and our mold got me very ill a while back and I’m happy to not have my respiratory problems that our mold can cause. Am I getting off track here of what?

So back to what this place is all about, Glass Casting! Here’s a picture of the first inspection after a number of molds have been cooling for weeks.

Looking into the kiln

So now the last big hurde is getting to Prague. As the last minute before going to the bus station, I am offered a ride. A woman customer will be arriving soon to inspect a huge job they have just finished for a wealthy Russian family. It is a fabulous artwork with 2 large doves with wings that span the height of the casting. It is made of 7 or 8 large pieces of glass crystal, absolutely clear. There is a crest design in the center of the two birds. I was asked not to take any pictures of other people’s artwork, so I can show you what it looked like, other than to say that it was about 10 feet in height and 7 or 8 feet in width. I would imagine this job costing $100,000 or more.

So I get to go with Valerie, and she tells me that she needs to make a quick stop in another city to pick up some samples from another company she works with. Seems that she works for a company that sources custom made glass items for wealthy Russian businesses and families. She is heading us up to the mountains north of the town that I have been staying in. We are driving into the snow though the roads are clear. She is a fast driver, pushing her Audi through the curves like she has trained with some of the best autobahn racers. I’m a bit nervous as I don’t know where we are going and I have to surrender to her generous offer to take me to Prague.

A quick shot of my driver

So we are off to a chandelier maker as she has a client who wants these glass lights in their home. She says it’s the rage in Russia. Oh, well it seems like this was the case in the US back in the 50’s as I recall my parents having one or two of these types of lights.

This is the chandelier showroom

So I mentioned that we got lost, and found ourselves in Poland. Yes, that’s right she took a wrong turn which didn’t seem obvious, as we followed the road through the snowy mountains and then the signs changed and the cars had different plates. We got out of Poland very quickly leaving the border town and headed to her destination of the chandelier showroom.

This map was the proof that we were in Poland

I am happy to say that we got back on the right road and though it was quite a drive, I got to see village after village that was mostly working with the making of Czech glass. Beads, glassware, and all kinds of other glass products made in huge factories, all looking like ancent Russian constructions.

A modern glass factory

I will end this post here and will fill you in on some of my Prague life.  B

Art Tourism

Once again, I write about my travels and today it will be about Prague. I’m not a travel writer, so don’t expect me to educate you or have historical content. I took it all in as a visual artist, seeking the minute details of the artist’s hand whereever we went. I am traveling with my dear friend Beate, and we walked a great way, as well as learning a bit about the busses, trams, and metro. Here’s a peak at our start of the day. A very nice breakfast as part of the hotel’s accomodation. And a little fun making sculpture at the table.

Lots of choices of yummy foods

Hard to keep my sculpting hands still

We are off to see this gem of a city

One face of the castle

Veiw as we approach the castle

This entry to the castle has a warning of sculptures

Castle guards marching in procession

The Charles Bridge with many tourists and sculptures, great view place

Bilek sculpture

We came upon this memorial

Finding art everywhere, I became the art

Sitting in one of my favorite restaurants

I just don’t have much time to write this morning, so I’m posting some of the photos and will head off into Prague for some more tourism. I have attempted to get this posted on the top of my blog, and will see how it shows up with this new way of posting the photos on the left side and then the text on the right. Let me know if you like this look better. I’m so new at all this that it’s taking me a while to work out the bugs.

Well enough said, I’ve got to get ready for another breakfast and maybe even some new sculptures.

Heading back into the Old Jewish Quarter

Well today will be my final day in the Czech Republic on this trip. I have come to love this country. Prague is a gem of a city and though I feel that a weekend is as much as I want for this visit, I could easily come back here over and over and not be bored with all that there is to see and experience here. Beate and I don’t have much planned and we are taking the train to Berlin this afternoon, so everything is through the time schedule of when to catch the bus to catch the metro to find the train station to finally get on the train to Berlin. I am much of a worryer as well as a warrior, so I want to be early for all of this. I will post some pictures as I did yesterday with some text on the right. Some of the pictures when you click on them, I have added some additional comments. This is true for most of the photos that I have posted. Will see how it goes today as I’m sharing a ethernet cable with my host’s Doris and Kai and so I may not have much time today to finish all I want to say about Prague.

Now I will start with the warrior and an image that speaks to me about slaying our inner demons, critical voices, or the voice of the judge that keeps holding us/me back from going for it, whatever that is. Here it is on the side of one’s home.

Slaying our dragons

So now that we’ve got the dragons out of the way, we are off to explore all the beauty that lies ahead. Here in Prague it is everywhere.

So now on to some of the sites and delights, oh the glass art and the food art, and the architectual art, the art of language with so many people from so many countries and cultures, this city is alive with life from all directions.

Proof that I am really in Prague

Time to go now.

It’s a problem having more pictures than I have time to post. I’ll attach here a few and hopefully when I return I can put together a better way to present my trip through a more complete slide show.

I’ve been working on this off and on all day now that I’m in Berlin and I must end it now as I get up in 5 hours to go to the airport to Paris where I will meet Lisa. I’m very excited to see her again after these 10 days apart.

My best wishes and I’ll send pictures from Paris.

Cast Glass Sculpture

Bakeshop goodies

Bakeshop Cakes

Doormen Detail

Memorials in the walkway

Close up of one of these memorials

Finding My Way to Paris

So today, I am off to Paris and after printing out my boarding pass ahead of time for the 6am arrival at the airport, Kai walked me to the gate and I went in clearing my two bags without a problem. I sat waiting the half hour for them to begin boarding. I sat and took a couple of photos to prove that my big adventure was unfolding as it should. Little did I realize that I was waiting in the wrong gate, as this was airFrance and not airBerlin. I was told once I got to board.

Air France not Air Berlin

I had to find my way out of the gate, out of the terminal and find another building which was about 1/2 hour walk. I had 20 minutes and when I cleared my bags again, and raced to the gate, I was the last passenger to arrive. My bags had no place above and so I had trouble getting them under the seat. Fortunately, I was in an isle seat and found a way to get my bags under the seat in the middle as no one was taking this seat. I sat in a big sweat, but relieved that I had made it.

Tight fit

Now I am on my way to Paris and I will arrive in a different airport than Lisa. We both have directions to the apartment and will arrive just before noon time. I hope it goes smoothly as I haven’t yet practiced my French lessons. I will pause here as the attendant is here with my morning beverage and a snack.

Back to the creative process. I took some photos in Berlin on the Robot machine in Kai Draeger’s studio. It is controlled by a computer and can cut stones or other materials as well. Kai and I discussed the using of Rino software to design forms for sculpture. He showed me some models that he has produced by a company in Germany that can make my designs in a printing process using wax. This wax model, can be further carved by hand, then taken to the mold process for glass casting or bronze casting. He also showed me how they can also make the models in a sand casting for making forms in cast iron or I can imagine pouring hot glass over this sand form, or into this sand mold.

The Berlin Robot

I would need some time in this experimentation of using the newest technology to create my contemporary designs. I am excited about this new direction as well as what I learned in the glass studio in the Czech Republic. Kai took me to a parcel of land that he is negotiating with a church to see if they will give him permission to live. If so there will be much space to have a studio and even a house, if Lisa and I want to stay in Berlin for a part of the year. We will see what unfolds, as I am in an exploration of being an international artist with a studio in Berlin, Paris, Prague, and …….  Suquamish!  All from my humble roots, I grow now into this new view on life and what is unfolding and revealing.

This is the proposed new property

Happy to have arrived in Paris airport

If you remember to slay the inner dragon/demons the dreams can unfold into beautiful butterflies. This is the possibility that I feel now, like our president elect- Obama, YES WE CAN! I believe that we are here to realize our dreams and to grow into our greatness, our potential realized. This comes from the base of support that I feel from you, my base of support, my friends and family. I feel the inspiration in my art to express our most essential nature. The essence of ourselves.  This comes not from my mind but from my heart and soul.

Some of the first sculptural forms to greet my eyes

After many attempts to find the apartment, I finally find the right street and make my way up into the studio apartment rented to Lisa and I by Michele Van Slyke of Bainbridge Island. So much appreciate this as it feels like a home away from home with touches of Michele’s artwork everywhere I look. I get to the apartment an hour ahead of Lisa, and make some tea and get myself ready for the big night ahead of me setting up the exhibition. I think!

So now Lisa is resting and I am working on the blog. There is DSL in the apartment so I’m good to go.

Lisa's overnight flight = Need for nap

One of many surprises exploring Paris

So I will begin where I left you yesterday. Lisa is napping adjusting to the jet lag and after she wakes, I suggest that we go out and do some grocery shopping. John Willett calls us and just when I’m giving him the best directions to come over his phone dropped the call and he never called back. i couldn’t reach him, so I decided to leave him a note on the front door and that he would know that we were off shopping. Lisa said that we would meet on the street. I wasn’t so sure but open to that happening. I had gone out looking for him earlier when it was snowing as he had our address, and he never showed up.

John was lost and then we showed up

Brian and Lisa out on the town

Our first meal together. Moroccan

After connecting with John we do a little grocery shopping

I was trying to show John how the streets are arranged

Louvre at Night

Entering the Louvre

Just entering into the great hall

Setting up the Exhibition

American art held in Customs, this is all there is!

John was lost and then we showed up

I will end this here until I take more pictures and find out what happens this morning with Customs.

Customs Releases the Artwork

So the high drama continued today with customs creating some stressful hours holding up the exhibition set up withholding the American artwork. All other countried got their artwork through, but I think the French don’t really like us. I got a call at about 2pm, letting me know that the artword was to be released any minute and that I can come by at 4pm ot help with the set up.

Lisa and I were wandering through the Montparpanasse Cemetery. We were very touched by some of the grave stones, the peacefulness of the place, and that there were a number of burrials taking place while were were there. A sculptor that has given me great inspiration is burried here along with many other sculptors.

Tomorrow morning the exhibition begins and a big crowd is expected. I got to meet Tony Dow and his wife, and look forward to spending some time with the both of them tomorrow. The Gala event is tomorrow night and hope to have some fun pictures of that tomorrow. They estimate 4000 for the party.

I’m posting the pictures a new way, set up with thumbnails in a gallery format. Just click on the photo to see a bigger image as well as a caption and description. Soon I will get some sleep, it has been another great day in Paris, as we ate and drank though many cultural foods and drink.

Strolling through the famous Montparnasse Cemetery

Brancusi’s grave stone

This is the main coridor when you enter the exhibition

This is a view of one of the side coridors

Everyone is working together to get our space set up

Now they won’t give us enough lighting

Woman in the Genesis

Everyone is looking at Genesis

Here’s what our exhibition space looks like

SNBA Exhibition at the Louvre is a Happening

Well, it finally happened. After all the planning and fund raising and traveling, today is the day for the exhibition to open. I woke up with a stiff neck and didn’t get to the exhibition hall until picking up a new sweater at the original Bon Marche. This department store was very fun to go to as there were people there who actually wanted to help me find what I was looking for. I loved the attention and got a very thin but warm woolen sweater. The temp here is about freezing and well I don’t need to talk about the weather, let me get you to the opening.

I got to the exhibition hall and it was very quiet. I have wondered how people would even know about his as I have read so little publicity releases and have found so little in the press. As the day rolled on more and more people came until the place was completely packed. There were some incredible moments which I have captured in photos. I will post them again in gallery format, so just click on any one of them to see it larger and also to read any of the comments I’ve included. Just to let you know, YES that is David Caruso of CSI Miami, and yes that is Tony Dow, the child acting start Wally Cleaver in the Leave it to Beaver TV show. I also got to meet one of my sister’s class mates from where we grew up and it is likely 45 years since I saw her last. We both instantly recognized each other.

Genesis with the Artist

Brian suggesting to Embassy Rep to buy a Genesis for Paris

Lisa, Virginia and me

Enjoying the text written in French

Tony and Lauren Dow, with Sheryl and me

Tony Dow and I

David Caruso enjoying a minute together

Here David Caruso poses with Gallery owner Bob Berger and Sheryl

Another photo op with Laura from Spring Valley

Shot of the crowd when we were leaving

As we reach the bus stop the full moon sits above the Louvre

More Photos from the Louvre Exhibition

Lisa and I took many photos that I am just going through this morning. I will post them here without a lot of words. Enjoy them.

An old entry to the underground

This is the entry door to the exhibition

I’m standing by the official banner

Here’s a look down the hallway to the pyramid

John strolls under the glass pyramid

Another animated shot of David, Lisa, and Virginia

David Chatting with Bob Berger

Meeting other artists and touring Paris

Started the day by getting on the right bus in the wrong direction and it took an extra hour to get to the exhibition. Lisa and I toured with the #69 bus which goes from the Eifel Tower to the large cemetary on the east side where Jim Morrison is buried. We didn’t go into the cemetary as it was getting dark and our friends from Germany were soon to arrive at the exhibition. While I waited for them to show up,  Lisa visited the exhibition and I talked with people about the American artists. I was told by one of the organizers that one of the American painters won and award. The winner is one of my favorites in the entire exhibition. We will see tonight who all the winners are. Unfortunately, it was not Genesis which was selected for the winning sculpture. I don’t know what the judges were thinking, well I never know what they are thinking. Maybe some day, I will be a judge and I will know what I am thinking. So here are the photos from Friday and we are soon off to visit a museum or two and get back to the exhibition in the afternoon. (click on the photo for details, enjoy!) Brian

Eifel Tower tops Lisa’s crown

Men in the park playing Boche Ball

Ornately carved doorway

Lisa and the award winning painting

Chinese award winner

Posing with Chinese painter from the US

Posing with a Chinese sculptor

A Chinese sculptor asked me to pose with him

Waiting for the bus with our German Friends

Pilchuck Glass School is a dangerous place

Though I was only a few miles away from my usual summer sculpting symposium hosted by NWSSA.org, as the crow flies, I was attending the Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, WA, and I was in dangerous territory. Stepping away from Camp Brotherhood (site for NWSSA’s Symposium) for the first summer time since 1992, to enter the glass community at Pilchuck was a great opportunity as well as a great risk. As I went to continue my study of glass casting there, the exposure to print making, glass blowing, glass everything, as well as a complete wood shop and metal shop to make whatever, was soooooo tempting to just explore these realms. Yet there was a need for sleep, which was something that I have done a lot of since returning home. The awakener was one day being asked how it felt to be the oldest student at Pilchuck this session. I hadn’t noticed nor felt that way. What’s a number anyway??? I was likely one of the earliest to climb the steep hill to my room, most nights after midnight. My roommate often came in when the morning birds were chirping and then would show up for breakfast at 7:45.

Well on to the art itself….. I took a turn at print making to visually show the inner volume(“in reverse”) of my last glass casting.  I had a great time and got lots of praise for what I created. To see some images of my and some observing photos and time there, here’s a link: http://picasaweb.google.com/blb4peace/PilchuckSession32009?authkey=Gv1sRgCOK-uuPgv83R5AE#

Here’s a few photos of what I set up in my home to show the new artwork. Hope you are all having a creative time this summer.
Here are a few shots of the glass cast sculptures.

5 prints and two glass castings

I will be teaching a hand carving workshop this coming weekend in Poulsbo, WA, August 1 & 2 if anyone is interested, please email me. Sculpt and print proud! Brian

The “Mid Time” – spaces between and what to do….

Mid Time is what I’m feeling on the inner world. I am exploring this feeling of mid. Midlife is what mostly comes to my mind, yet as I recently turned 60, I am most likely past the mid point. It shows in my artwork as I took a passionate turn a few years ago, just when I was reaching a great level of accomplishment with my artwork and with my peace work, and started my second attempt to use cast glass as a sculpting medium. After three years of casting, I can now say that the work that I am producing in glass is very satisfying as each sculpture is the realization of what I envisioned. I am dreaming some new ideas, but that is for another day of writing. Today I’m addressing the mid time, between the beginning and the end, the place where I have enough life experience to know that I don’t have to begin again, yet what will carry me through till the end? I hope to capture some of this in my latest sculptures, and stone seems to be my sketch book, though it doesn’t ever feel like graphite on paper. I am happy that my body is cooperating with my passion, though there are many groans and slower movements these days. After nearly 20 years of stone carving, I’m slowing down, lifting less weight, and enjoying making sculptures from remnants of other sculptures. These remnant assemblages give me the advantage of not having to carve every part of the sculpture, just some of the parts and then assemble with my pinning method.

I’ve been partaking in some talks lately with mythopoetic men, Daniel Deardorff, Martin Shaw, and Michael Meade. Some speak of the soul as what one accesses in the forest, and the village is mostly where we access mind. Taking time in the forest experience, turning away from the electronic world, connecting with my inner nature where my true nature lives. The trials of this time of change, are the trails leading me into the forest. Stepping away from the village can be of great risk to the norm. My daily routine and work will suffer from my absence. And what is to gain….maybe this is the mid time, how to hold back from the doing. Oh this is challenges my drive towards responsible behaviour. What will my culture and society say if I no longer produce, if I don’t pay my bills, if I take time for something new to emerge like a spring to fill up.

During the time I wrote about in my recent blog (6months to the day), I found that my body and what felt like “my cells wanting me to stop”, and at first I felt frozen like I was connecting with some kind of trauma, then when I asked my soul what it wants, I was told stillness. I rejoyced in knowing that something wasn’t wrong and that listening and spending more time in the stillness, would give me renewal and strength to face the hard times which might be ahead for me, as the art market and the peace work has slowed dramatically with the economic downturn. Stillness was available to me in each moment and risking “missing something” like a sales inquirey, or the news or the internet, was what I had to let go of. What a difference it made not to follow the political conflict streams and the news of war and economic crisis that pervades our media.

To go ones own way is a challenge yet the rewards are great. The path is authenticity. I hope this gives you an idea of what my mid time is about and what I am doing with the time. May peace and stillness be with you as well as your creative productive self. And if you find yourself in mid-time, know that you are not alone.

Here are some of my latest sculptures photographed around our home gallery. When I get enough of them completed, I’ll do a photo shoot with better lighting. Enjoy!

6 Months to the Day – New Work

I don’t know what kept me from writing all these months. I guess when I returned from Europe, having had a peak experience of showing in the Louvre, sculpting in the Czech Republic glass studio, and living in Berlin with our friends and family, I just wasn’t ready for the frozen economic climate we returned to.

Without going into much of the details, my gallery presence and livelihood derived from gallery sales were in a free fall. There had been no income during the 5 weeks of travel, no sales, and with the grim news of the economic downturn and possible collapse of our banking and economic structures, I was in a personal crisis which I couldn’t write about. I noticed that without appreciative art lovers, buyers, and art patrons I felt I was no longer needed. My message of Art for Peace was not timely, though the wars continue to rage. As the fallout from the money crisis continued, galleries began to fail, I lost two right away and a third is ending today.

As spring began, so began my creativity again. I think that I had needed the rest after one breakthrough year, I wasn’t yet ready to maintain such a pace. I found that turning 60 was another factor. In the slow winter months of this year, I pondered whether I was to begin a new direction. My sculpting was not yet calling and I felt like I was in a second mid-life crisis. I pondered each day what would I do if my art livelihood had ended. I DON’T KNOW! This was the continued message, and though I have many other gifts and skills, I didn’t feel done with my art. So I waited and soon I received the beautiful glass sculptures that I designed in the Czech Republic. ART = RENEWABLE ENERGY. I had found my renewed energy resource, my artwork. This was a timely shift in perspective, as I don’t know how long I could stay in the I don’t know place.

The excitement I feel when I see the sculptures that I originally envisioned, returned me to my passion for creating this kind of Art for Peace, beautiful forms, simply presented, playing with light. Sitting on my work beach was a calcite stone that I had begun last year and now I was ready to  bring it to a completion. I had found the spirit and energy it takes for me to suit up in protective gear and take on the slow reduction of stone, to find the final form and the look I’m after.

Here is the latest in my Omega Series, call Light Maker…..

Calcite/Granite • 29x27x16

I’m now back in the studio working on a new series of sculptures some for the garden and some for indoor, and I will post them as I finish them. I have scheduled an Open House and Art Sale for July 26th from 1-6pm to share the new work as well as what I create at the Pilchuck Glass School where I will be a student under the direction of Australian glass artist Richard Whiteley. I’ve also scheduled a stone carving workshop for August 1 & 2, so let me know if you are interested.

Don’t hesitate to leave a comment, so that I know that you are interested in seeing and reading more from me. Thanks, Brian