the priest and the matador

in the slow Mexican air I watched the bull die
and they cut off his ear, and his great head held
no more terror than a rock.

driving back the next day we stopped at the Mission
and watched the golden red and blue flowers pulling
like tigers in the wind.

set this to metric: the bull, and the fort of Christ:
the matador on his knees, the dead bull his baby;
and the priest staring from the window
like a caged bear.

you may argue in the market place and pull at your
doubts with silken strings: I will only tell you
this: I have lived in both their temples,
believing all and nothing - perhaps, now, they will
die in mine.

-Charles Bukowski

Bountiful Davis Art Center

The Bountiful Davis Art Center's Annual Holiday Show & Sale opens this Friday November 19th from 7:00pm-9:00pm. The exhibit includes over 90 artists from throughout the state of Utah with all pieces priced below $500.

Monolith
Silver Gelatin Print



















Bountiful Davis Art Center
745 South Main
Bountiful, Utah
(801)292-0367

Hours
Tuesday-Friday 10:00am-6:00
Saturday 2:00pm-5:00pm

Finished Bookbinding Project...

First Annual Student Invitational Exhibition

First Annual Student Invitational Exhibition opening reception tomorrow night from 5:00-8:00 at the Williams Fine Art Gallery.

Show is on display from September 16 - October 1 and features the following selected artists from the BFA and MFA program at the University of Utah... Tom Betts, Tess Cook, Anastasia Copeland, Kurt Coppersmith, Stefanie Dykes, Jan James, Juanita Marshall, Heidi Somsen, Lucia Voker and Miranda Whitlock.

City Weekly's 2010 Artys Nomination

Hey folks... I just found out my exhibit titled Visual Dialogues I did earlier this year with fellow artists Savana Jones and Cat Palmer has been nominated for a City Weekly Arty award for Utah's Best Photography Exhibit of 2010. If you could take a quick minute to vote for our exhibit we'd appreciate the love!

To vote go to...
http://www.cityweekly.net/utah/artys

Images from the exhibit...

Overcoming the Creative Void

This summer has been consumed by landscaping, weddings, reunion's and every crisis imaginable and unimaginable. Needless to say all that stress has led to a horrible lack of creativity. Just as I have often wished for the existence of an artist fairy that comes and takes failed projects away while you sleep in a slightly drunken stupor (thus ensuring no one, including yourself has to witness your failed attempt at greatness) I often wish these same fairies brought seeds of creativity; ideas worthy of genius they willingly implant in your receptive ears while you are in that same slightly drunken stupor.

For myself, as well as every other artist/writer/musician I know, the worst thing that can happen to you is to have nothing to create, no idea, no spark. Nothing but that panicked feeling that consumes you and is ever growing in mass. You are doing nothing worth doing. Your washed up, in a rut. You have no ideas, and the ones you do have, you mention to no one due to the fact they are lacking in innovation to the point of humiliation.

As this pretty much summarizes my summer I thought it wise to take a time out, remember wise words for just such situations and with summer coming to an end get a jump start on having a more creatively productive and mentally healthy fall.

The best piece of creative advice I ever got during such a situation came from a very talented artist I happened to be studying Tai Chi under. I had a very important exhibit coming up with two other artists and as the fates would have it had no idea what to make or not make. Being not only a very wise man, but a very kind man, one night after practicing our movements he told me;

"All the great works of art you will ever create in your lifetime already exist inside you. It is only a matter of being open enough to allow them to come through."

Just like Bukowski's motto, "don't try," it hit me with a moment of clarity. How blessedly simple it really could all be. Now I just had to learn how to be open, such is life. Ultimately it is a journey. We are as Van Gogh said, all pilgrims on a pilgrimage.

In the mean time, at moments when those gifts from the art gods are not forth coming, I have collected a few tips and tricks along my "pilgrimage" from fellow artists/musicians/writers that seem to keep one from slipping into the violent ugliness of the creative void.

1. Oblique Strategies - One Hundred Worthwhile Dilemma's
Created by the talented Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt I was first introduced to these wonderful cards by a professor when I had a moment of doubt in regards to a project I was working on for his class. It's a simple process, draw card, follow directions, no matter what the directions. It might seem slightly superstitious, but these cards quickly became a staple for the entire department.

2. "Walk, then work." - Degas
For centuries walking has played an important part in the creative process. Like poems, walks are unique moments loaded with introspective opportunities and endless sensory experiences.

3. Shower
It might seem odd, but if I had a dollar for every creative person I know who gets their best ideas in the shower I could buy myself a pony. Well maybe not a real one, but a really good smallish replica. I'm not suggesting you stand in the shower until hypothermia has set in, but perhaps just pay close attention while your in there.

4. Go for a drive
This one is tried and true by yours personally. But you must understand something very important about trying this method. It can't be just any drive. It generally requires the cover of night, a cup of coffee and excellent tunes. It also helps if you set out with no destination. I once drove 5 hours for a cup of coffee, but hey what can I say, it worked. A good adventure never hurt anyone.

5. Write something, anything, everyday
Another great professor I studied under reminded me of the importance of writing, about anything, as long as your writing something everyday. His philosophy includes the need for artist's to clear their heads. A cynic at heart, much like myself, he believes writing provides a means of purging ourselves of the mind numbing garbage we acquire as a result of our society. A quieting if you will, a way to clear our heads in order to have moments of questioning that are so important for making good art.

6. Read
I once heard a highly successful song-writer say he spends the first 4 hours of everyday drinking coffee and reading a book. Not only did it boast his vocabulary, but he found all sorts of experiences to write songs about, none of which he had personally experienced. Now generally I believe in making art based on the reality which one participates in, but I also strongly agree that the books we've read, I mean really great books, shape our perspectives. (I've never been the same sense my torrent love affair with Kerouac.) Many great artists have used literature and poems as starting points for really great work, especially Whitman. One can never get enough Whitman.

Budding Binder

Watching the curiosity, passion, and fear in young budding artist's can be just as nerve racking and exciting for the observer as it is for the doer. The moment when doubt and hesitation is replaced with self assured conviction are always worth celebrating. Here's to a moment of success for a first time book binder age nine.

Altered Book; Hannibal 75

he waited in the gray dawn
drawn back to the first place he ever saw her
never to feel her this time

she was here years ago

now beneath this light
her photograph
a memory dislocated

Gulliver's Travels

Several weeks ago on the outskirts of Zion National Park I found myself inside a small rare and used bookshop in Virgin, Utah. Virgin Goods Used & Rare Books exists inside a small old red brick storefront graced with sun faded floral curtains. Inside books fill every inch of available space. The smell of aging paper emanates from the tightly packed shelves. Gently used to the abused, first editions and rare out of print books are neatly ordered in serpentine patterns of mismatched shelves that snake around tables stacked with neat columns of paperbacks. An antique register rests on a glass counter top filled with pawned jewelry. A precarious wall sections off the store from the Virgin Community Post Office that shares the space along with the only employee who runs back and forth depending on what bell is beckoning. An assortment of old black and white photographs from a forgotten family album are for sale in a box next to a section of 1950's text books. As I methodically thumbed through the titles jazz played in the background and I couldn't help but notice how perfectly contented I was. For lovers of the written word bookstores such as this are sacred places, places where one comes across the origin of a new altered book project...