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saint_monkeySo, what's new with you?
Really, that's just great.
Mystery had an interview on Thursday for a 2-year EPA fellowship, which wouldn't start till October but would hit the bullseye for Mystery as far as "career path." Strangely, she also got word of an interview Monday (Tomorrow,) for a firm here in San Fran, (Actually Oakland) I'm withholding the name, I don't want any "media filter" that they are running to pick up on the post, but they are a specialized firm that works with local governments to fill in the gaps left by state, local, and federal agencies. (There are GAPS in there somewhere? Apparently. For example, the California Secretary of State hired them to oppose the group that was bringing action opposing the recall.) That job would likely pay more, start sooner, and also be a bullseye as far as "career path" is concerned. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed there. Maybe Mystery will be really lucky and be able to choose.
I'm working on a print for the "Print Zero" exchange. I actually got done with a block early and was feeling all smug, when a refresher email came from the exchange organizer, and it had size requirements on it that I somehow missed before, and now my block is too large. I can't "crop" it, because it features text, and I'm not going to re-do it in a smaller size, so I'm moving on to another image. That's a challenge, because this exchange will be exhibited, and my personal rule on exchange art that will be exhibited (as opposed to exchange art that just goes to another printmaker,) is that it needs to be a political print in nature. These are hard for me to create, and the block I just made was nice in that the message was very subtle, and sort of timeless. The new idea I have is as subtle as a hammer, and not timeless at all, but hey, if you don't start getting dangerous once in a while, what's the point, right? Once I have the mock up done in photoshop, I'll post it for review.
Anyhow, now for the creepy bit. I got a paper order from graphic chemical the other day, (that's not so creepy) and they gave me a copy of their printed catalogue (plus a ring of paper samples, that's not creepy either, but it sure is cool,) and in the etching inks they had "bone black" listed. Mystery wondered why it was so much cheaper than other inks, and the answer, of course, is that it is made of burned and ground animal bone. It is one of the first pigments known to man, and is still used today. Anyhow, the creepy bit is this... I think it would be awesome if, when I die, they somehow could remove my flesh (maybe with those maggot pits they have at scientific supply houses,) then take my bones and burn them until they can be ground into a tin of bone black printing ink. And then they can take that tin to some printmakers, (maybe the UDub printmaking association) and have them print up their blocks.
I always have had a disconnect with this whole idea of taking the dead and turning them into these semi-immortal objects that are supposed to resist decay, and then burying them in the ground, so that they can... decay. I know it is for people who are still alive, so that they can persist with this idea that the dead are still alive... We are supposed to go to the earth, and that is what I'd prefer.... No embalming, just into the ground. But lots of local laws put together by the funerary industry, make that illegal. There is an idea (some say a myth) that the decay of the dead will cause disease, unless somehow magically transformed by a mortician. Anyhow, I always liked the idea that somehow, when I die, I can become part of something that helps to memorialize who I am. I can't think that anyone will be able to raise sanitary issues, since everything will be turned into carbon.
There are some african tribes (I don't know which ones, i can never find a reference for it,) that have an idea about death. They say that there are two deaths. The first is a death of the body, the second is the death that you have when everyone who knew you has also died. So this way, if someone can go to someone else who can tell a first-hand story about you, then to that tribe, you are still alive. Maybe that can be applied to the things you do, and the things you make... So why not the things that are made of you?
Really, that's just great.
Mystery had an interview on Thursday for a 2-year EPA fellowship, which wouldn't start till October but would hit the bullseye for Mystery as far as "career path." Strangely, she also got word of an interview Monday (Tomorrow,) for a firm here in San Fran, (Actually Oakland) I'm withholding the name, I don't want any "media filter" that they are running to pick up on the post, but they are a specialized firm that works with local governments to fill in the gaps left by state, local, and federal agencies. (There are GAPS in there somewhere? Apparently. For example, the California Secretary of State hired them to oppose the group that was bringing action opposing the recall.) That job would likely pay more, start sooner, and also be a bullseye as far as "career path" is concerned. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed there. Maybe Mystery will be really lucky and be able to choose.
I'm working on a print for the "Print Zero" exchange. I actually got done with a block early and was feeling all smug, when a refresher email came from the exchange organizer, and it had size requirements on it that I somehow missed before, and now my block is too large. I can't "crop" it, because it features text, and I'm not going to re-do it in a smaller size, so I'm moving on to another image. That's a challenge, because this exchange will be exhibited, and my personal rule on exchange art that will be exhibited (as opposed to exchange art that just goes to another printmaker,) is that it needs to be a political print in nature. These are hard for me to create, and the block I just made was nice in that the message was very subtle, and sort of timeless. The new idea I have is as subtle as a hammer, and not timeless at all, but hey, if you don't start getting dangerous once in a while, what's the point, right? Once I have the mock up done in photoshop, I'll post it for review.
Anyhow, now for the creepy bit. I got a paper order from graphic chemical the other day, (that's not so creepy) and they gave me a copy of their printed catalogue (plus a ring of paper samples, that's not creepy either, but it sure is cool,) and in the etching inks they had "bone black" listed. Mystery wondered why it was so much cheaper than other inks, and the answer, of course, is that it is made of burned and ground animal bone. It is one of the first pigments known to man, and is still used today. Anyhow, the creepy bit is this... I think it would be awesome if, when I die, they somehow could remove my flesh (maybe with those maggot pits they have at scientific supply houses,) then take my bones and burn them until they can be ground into a tin of bone black printing ink. And then they can take that tin to some printmakers, (maybe the UDub printmaking association) and have them print up their blocks.
I always have had a disconnect with this whole idea of taking the dead and turning them into these semi-immortal objects that are supposed to resist decay, and then burying them in the ground, so that they can... decay. I know it is for people who are still alive, so that they can persist with this idea that the dead are still alive... We are supposed to go to the earth, and that is what I'd prefer.... No embalming, just into the ground. But lots of local laws put together by the funerary industry, make that illegal. There is an idea (some say a myth) that the decay of the dead will cause disease, unless somehow magically transformed by a mortician. Anyhow, I always liked the idea that somehow, when I die, I can become part of something that helps to memorialize who I am. I can't think that anyone will be able to raise sanitary issues, since everything will be turned into carbon.
There are some african tribes (I don't know which ones, i can never find a reference for it,) that have an idea about death. They say that there are two deaths. The first is a death of the body, the second is the death that you have when everyone who knew you has also died. So this way, if someone can go to someone else who can tell a first-hand story about you, then to that tribe, you are still alive. Maybe that can be applied to the things you do, and the things you make... So why not the things that are made of you?
