I have been reading Seeing is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees, a book written by Lawrence Weschler that follows over thirty years of documented conversations with the artist Robert Irwin. It is breaking my heart in the best way.

I think a lot about the cyclical and contradictory trajectory we are all on as artists. Always there is this pattern of building something up, only to arrive at a place where it becomes necessary to strip away; to get at the essence. But the amazing part is that the thing is somehow better for it. To have only started with the sphere would deprive the polygon somehow of its history and richness, though its surface qualities as it ultimately becomes a sphere may appear unencumbered.

What: East Bay Open Studios Preview Exhibition
When: May 1 – June 10
Artists’ Reception: Friday, May 4 from 7-9 pm
Where: 150 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, Oakland, CA
(Free Parking on Saturdays in the Clay Street Garage at 14th Street)

Also be sure to check out First Friday this week at Swarm Gallery + Studios (MAP) from 6-9 pm. I’ve been busy ramping up for Open Studios so there’s lots of new work to share. Additionally Terry Furry will have an installation up in the studio common space with “live, ambient, far-out cello improvisations” from Hugh Fox, and Jordan Essoe will be doing a performance piece in the gallery. Please come by, say hello, have a drink, it’ll be a great time.

Also! I started a welding and woodworking class, something I’ve wanted to take since college (but never found myself with any open electives). My grandfather was a machinist and my uncle a carpenter, so I am predisposed but have always been intimidated by the tools and the process and how to jump in. I mean, how do you shape metal? How does a nobby tree become a perfectly smooth, beautiful tabletop? I couldn’t be happier to get away from the computer for awhile and work with these basic materials.

Here are some things in progress:

Here are some photos from the studio this weekend:

I’ve been trying a new schedule out for the past couple of weeks. I get up at 5:30 or 6am and head over to my studio for an hour or two before going to work at the ol’ chocolate factory (pssst, we’re not really making chocolate).

I enjoy mornings, even really early ones. Once I am out of bed, that is. Some days I don’t make it in, but I’m trying not to be too judgmental with myself about it. Progress, even in small increments, is progress all the same. In the past, if I felt I didn’t have more than an hour of time to spend, I’d skip going all together. But I’ve found that even if I don’t have time to settle into a flow, even if I only have 30 minutes that day, the summation of the week’s progress is still rewarding.

January is breezing by, and it looks like the rainy season has finally caught up with us in the Bay Area. I’ve been busy at work, but am doing my best to chip away at progress on a large painting. Time is always a struggle!

Something I really love about January is hearing about everyone’s fresh outlook, big ideas, new ambitions. Amazing people in my life have launched some great new labors of love and ingenuity. Check them out!

Folk Fibers – Textile artist and organic farmer Maura Grace sources and creates beautiful, handmade goods that both progress and pay homage to the great tradition of American craftsmen and women.

Liberty + Lunch – Lover of life and food, designer Katie Inglis shares in all her adventuring, whether it be geographical, philosophical, or gastronomical.

Ink Meets Paper – Entrepreneurial couple Daniel and Allison Nadeau have launched a new website for their letterpress studio. Not only do they create beautiful products, but they take great care to share the story and process behind the projects they undertake.

Eureka Coffee – Photographer and all around amazing lady Jessica Caisse is gearing up to launch a mobile coffee cart that serves up brew from the best micro-roasters around. Um, yes please. Follow her progress and get ready to sample some amazing coffee, folks!

Rigamaru -  Chris Sasaki (the love of my life) and myself have launched a new online store for the little company that we began together in Portland. Art shows, collaborative projects, and new products are in the works, so it’s shaping up to be an exciting year!

New studio postcards just arrived. If you’d like one, send me an address and I’ll drop one in the mail to you.

Here are some photos from the past few days. I’ve picked up again on a large piece that I had started earlier this year and then set aside while I tackled a few other projects.

So I want to try something new around here. I take a good amount of pictures throughout the week. Sometimes it’s because certain colors or architecture catch my eye, maybe an interesting texture, or something ironic. And while I don’t have any sort of secret ambition to become a photography wiz, it would be nice to catalogue them somehow, somewhere.

I think it’s a valuable exercise to take photos. It offers a nearly instant process for experimenting with things like framing a composition, observing the principles of natural phenomena like light and physics, and manipulating the perception of those phenomena. Not to mention, capturing and expressing narrative.

I thought a little bit about starting an entirely separate blog to share the photos, but honestly, when I see other artists compartmentalize their work across various blogs, it makes me crazy. There is already too much to keep track of in life, people! This is why they invented tagging. And anyway, since this blog in large part is to record and share my process, I think the photos have a valid place here. I hope you all think so, too.

So I’ll be cataloging all my photo ventures under the ‘Secret City’ tag. Look out, San Francisco.