El Fin

First off I would like to apologize for the lack of a conclusion. It was a hectic, but successful end to our trip in Bolivia and we found ourselves sucked back into our American lives upon returning to the states. The openings were a complete success. Richard’s show, Experimental ARCHolage (Santa Cruz, Bolivia), was well received by the public and brought in a huge gathering. Yolanda and I were quite surprised to have a large turn up for our show as well. The show titled, Expo Residentes/Crucemos La Calle/, consisted of sculptural studies and drawings by Ruth Ewan, Richard Saxton, Yolanda Chichester, and myself. Being the first show outside the academia for Yolanda and I, it was an amazing experience and a chance to look at what the future awaits for the two of us. The trip ended with a little vacation to see Pre-Incan ruins, the famous photographic site of Che Guevara's death, and helping to make the Butch Cassidy and Sundance film. Now back in the states for a little over a month, we have found ourselves greatly missing all the friends we meet in Bolivia. Yolanda and I built unforgettable relationships with the people of the country along with Ruth and her boyfriend Dan. There is a lot we have taken from this trip and we plan to use all of our knowledge in the future. Stay tuned for more adventures from Proyecto Satélite, as Yolanda and I tackle the tasks of finishing our BFAs and working with the Baseline Group. 

Encantos

It’s the last week for us here in Santa Cruz making it quite the busy one. Since we are so busy we regret to inform you that our posts will be a bit shorter and less detailed. So to keep you  entertained here are a few pictures of what life has been these past few days. We have visited more gigantic markets, strung up Bolivian style lighting, got a motorcycle, had a cook out,  and have been working hard on completing our show for Thursday.

Día 19

End of the third week and I am proud to announce that we are done building. Next week will be spent adding the finishing touches such as lighting, a moped, and a fruit cart. Now that all the heavy building is done Yolanda and I have been able to get our pieces really rolling. Our studio table has transformed quite a bit over the 3 weeks. Piles of drawings, books, yarn, power tools, clay, and mugs of tea fill our tiny space. Being down here for the month of June has given us a lot of surprises and experiences. Having never been to South America, this whole trip has been filled of moments I thought I never would of seen or experienced. For instance, Claudia Joskowicz has invited Ruth, Richard, Yolanda, and I to help out with the third installment of a film series. The film she will be shooting will be about the legendary death of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Richard will be playing the part of the Sundance Kid and Yolanda and I will be helping out in any means necessary. After the opening we will be traveling to Vallegrande for the weekend to do the shooting. As always stay posted for new and interesting tales of our South American experience. 

Día 18

¡Buenos Días!

A lot of my discussions with the local people often revolve around the food in Santa Cruz. Being that I am a foreigner, many Santa Cruz locals often need to make sure that I have tasted the delights that Santa Cruz has to offer. Accordingly, my taste buds are very grateful for this concern. This image documents the "palta" (Bolivian style avocado- about two/three times the size of what we're used to back in Colorado!) that accompanied my ham/cheese/egg meal today.

Mandarin oranges are everywhere- mmmmmmmmm! On our material search yesterday, Julio and I stopped to talk to a fruit man named Emilio. He walks around the city with his fruit cart full of oranges, mandarin oranges, japanese mandarines, bananas, papaya, apples, pineapple to name a few. Emilio has agreed to let us rent his cart full of fruit for Richard's installation. Our first encounter with the fruit cart was not the site of vibrant colors, but with a robotic voice we heard from a distance announcing the fruits available through a scratchy speaker. Behind the fruit cart, I caught a flash of a micro (bus) that circles around the city. The micros have such character in their paint jobs and the bumper stickers that adorn them.


We had a bit of excitement on the job site today. Jon and I have agreed on a title for the side exhibition we are going to host at the artist residency during the exhibition at Kiosko: "Crucemos La Calle" ("we cross the street" or "let's cross the street"). Also, the building process for the "hay-dome" and "tomato crate" structures is nearing the end. The next considerations for the installation will deal with lighting along with adding color, possibly through orange and blue tarps. Update on the robot costume: the search has been replaced with a hunt for a broken/cheap/abandoned moped. My previous thought still holds that never in my life would I have imagined I'd be in Bolivia, driving around the city of Santa Cruz, seeking out a moped.

Día 17

The job site seems hectic as we approach closer to the opening show deadline. With the arrival of the long awaited hay bags and tomato crates Richard and I were able to get a lot accomplished. The dome is nearly complete. I have to add some small finishing touches to the backside, which I will do tomorrow.  Richard got the DJ station built and we started to pile tomato crates upon it. With just two weeks we have transformed the patio into an ARCHolage of Bolivian inspired structures. Yolanda was yet again traveling with Julio through the streets of Santa Cruz. She got a lot accomplished today. I have to say without her we would not have anything to build. The combination of her Spanish and quick thinking makes for a good addition to the team. She was able to find a fruit vendor willing to let us rent his fruit cart along with a giant hat for Richard. I am sorry to announce that there will not be robots, but the plan still seems for me to do a fruit cart performance at the opening. Time seems so short with just a week to go. Santa Cruz and its people have really grown on me and I wish we could have more time down here. Stay tuned for more building, more improvisation, and more blogging. 

Día 16

These crates have been on our radar since we arrived to Santa Cruz. On our walks, we come upon these tomato crates that have been discarded on the side of the street or piled up against buildings along side trash bags. Yesterday, Raquel finally revealed to us the tomato crate jackpot. While Jon and Richard worked at the site, I went on another material search with our ever so smiley Julio. We took the bumpy scenic drive out to the 7th Ring, reaching the countryside, with hopes of meeting the owner of these crates. The owner had been running a bonfire, and was covered in charcoal dust. We arranged to purchase 150 crates at 5 bolivianos a piece for Richard's installation. I am hoping to rehire a man named Chicha, who is delivering 35 more bags of hay to the site tomorrow, to go pick up the load of crates as soon as possible.

I feel that I am getting to know a different side of Santa Cruz through these material "búsquedas.¨ With our trusty taxi driver, Sergio -Buenos Aires Radio Móvil #18- we also went on a search for heavy duty staples and to buy 33 meters of canvas clothe. Then we hit up calle Ballivian, walking into about 20 different colorful costume shops asking for "un traje de robot, o halgo parecido platiado" (a robot costume, or something similar, silver). The closest I found was a shiny mouse outfit. I am going back to the shops with robot pictures that Richard has prepared to see if someone wouldn't mind tailoring a couple robot outfits for the exhibition next Thursday. I have to say I never thought I'd be walking the streets of Santa Cruz in search of a Robot Costume (oh the life of an artist!)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch... Andrea and her friend Andy came to help with the installation again. Together, the four of them made as much progress possible before the hay and crates arrive. We are nearing the one week count down till the exhibition on June 25th and the patio is certainly transforming. There is much more building and material collection to be done so the pressure is on! Nonetheless, I think we are all happy and thriving off of this experience.

Día 15

Lunes. For the first day of the week we accomplished quite a bit. Richard and Yolanda went on yet another material search and purchased 150 tomato crates and 30 more bags of hay. While they were riding in taxis and bargaining for supplies I was at the job site. My morning mission: stack 50 bags of hay on top of the dome structure. It proved to be difficult and exhausting. The first stacking method I tried proved to be too weight bearing and the dome structure semi caved in. I replaced the woven supports and added new beams coming from the floor up the roof of the interior structure. Richard liked the look of it so it worked out for the best. I achieved success after going with a more layered brick stacking method, but was hindered by the amount of hay bags I had. Tomorrow we will get the 30 we purchased delivered and I will be able to finish stacking. Richard and Yolanda returned with a chain saw and an avocado the size of a melon. We took a lunch break and I got to hear all about their adventure to a local sculptor’s studio. On Saturday Yolanda and I will be going out there to pay a studio visit and learn more about his work. After lunch Richard gave me a chain saw demo and we cut large logs, assembling them into a roofed area that will contain a fruit stand. The day ended with Richard taken good advantage of my climbing skills and had my scale up the tree to cut down some dead limbs. The day was successful. I got to build all day, which I love, and am now completely exhausted.

mi segundo fin de semana en santa cruz

Andrea took me on a material search to the "7 Calles" market. This is a taste of the multitude of fabrics available.


I have become very fond of these electrical boxes that sit outside just about every building and residency. This set of boxes especially caught my attention because of the rigged wire trying to hold the larger case closed.


Best find yet- a used book store! Look at the lean on that book shelf. Ruth and I have already made plans to go back, it is such a special nook in the center of Santa Cruz.

Fin de Semena 2

Well it’s the second weekend already here in lovely Santa Cruz. We have reached the halfway point of our trip with quite the memorable weekend. Richard and I spent Saturday morning working on the installation while Yolanda went on a search for yarn. We met back up in the afternoon and paid a visit to the America Home Center, Bolivia’s home depot. Our purchase: an automatic staple gun, matching green hard hats, multi colored bamboo sticks. Sunday was a day of rest and studio time for Yolanda and I. Julio showed me a hidden kiln in the back of the residency house and gave me a generous amount of clay. This is a nice treat for me. I was worried about what to do for the show and thought that my ideas were too close to Richard’s work. Right now I feel stronger as an artist working with clay. Day by day working with Richard is helping me to learn how to use other materials and tools that I am not familiar with. In the future I want to adopt more of these methods into my work and branch into a mix of sculpture and ceramics.  That is all for the weekend report. 

Día 12

Hola! I want to shout out a THANK YOU to all of you that have been reading our blog. This is a grand experience and we are so happy to share some of our stories with you.

Building is strong and steady. I must give props to Jon, he works hard yet patiently on the job site. The dome structure really started taking shape using the beautiful scrap pieces of wood from locally grown trees. The reds looked especially stunning in the sunlight as we started weaving pieces into the frame. The picture above offers a glimpse of the rickety ladder that makes for a thrilling job-site aura.

Learning from Richard's artistic process has geared our focus towards paying heed to the "vernacular" aesthetics within the environment we reside in. This evening we were offered a chance to share our own photographic research of Santa Cruz. Through our awesome new friend Andrea, we met an energetic group of young artists- Javiera, Kelly, Andres, Marcus, Marco. Javiera invited us to be a part of her "urban installation" event this coming weekend. Coincidently, the theme of the exhibition has been our photographic obsession for the past two weeks: Santa Cruz. The idea is to hang up from 5 to 10 photos on a chosen street corner in the center of the city on Saturday. Then on Sunday, we show our photographs in the main plaza, Manzana Uno, as a collective. We are so appreciative of this opportunity!

Día 11

Today we worked slightly in reverse. With the new arrival of Ruth (another artist in residence for Kiosko) we got a bit of a late start. Flying in from London, Ruth was brave and bold enough to venture out with use in the late morning for some salteñas. She is a fun person and our time together should be good. We let Ruth catch up on sleep and went over to the job site to get working. Working hard till dark we got a lot done. We have been experiencing a little bit of problems but nothing to really hold us back. The day might not of been possible without some help. The interne for Vamos magazine, Andrea (Dru) and her friend, Andrea (Andy) was nice enough to spend their day off lending us a helping hand. It’s nearly two weeks now. Yolanda and I have a pretty good grasp on what we will construct for our show at the end of the month so now it’s only a matter of building. The days seem long and the nights short with much work still to be done. 

Día 9

Power tools are a blessing. Today was the second day on the job site. We accomplished a lot. The first anchor piece to Richard’s installation is showing much progress. The weather here is turning cold and the rain comes and goes. Personally I found the day to be delightful. Within a day of working together the three of us have found a successful system. Minus the slapstick moment of Yolanda hitting Richard with a plank of wood we are working well with each other. We’re cooking with gas.

Our workdays start with a team meeting covering the day’s plans and goals. Richard assigned me the task of maintaining the job site. I leave slightly earlier than the two and work on preparing everything for the day. Working in Bolivia is interesting. Power tools never seem to fit into the right plugs. The wood we are working with is extremely hard to deal with at times. I am constantly dealing with breaking drill bits and stubborn screws. Although these create problems they also make for a great learning experience. As Richard’s assistant I am learning more then I would from a class setting. Apprenticeship is a very traditional form of art teaching, it offers the unique chance to learn from a professional. No assignments, no grades, just raw experience. 

Día 8

Reporting 8 June 2009:

Jon and I didn't sleep much last night- we were both restless from processing an exciting weekend. I think we were also anxious for the week to come, fore today we commenced the building stage of our project. Our visual research and materials searches will never come to an end, but now our main focus is on building the installation. Our day was a bit rickety, as we became acquainted with the tools, materials, and each other. Improvisation and intuition are often key components to the artistic process, and have been crucial on this trip. As you can see (in the photo above) by our improvised ¨sawhorse¨, we are learning to make art in situations that don't offer the accessibility (and excess) of resources of say, the Home Depot.

For the days to come, Jon and I will be working with Richard from 10am to about 6:30pm (with a lunch break somewhere in there). In studio time this evening, Jon created a "sketch" model resourcefully using our broken tape measure as his material. I worked through some sketches, contemplating recurring shapes that I've taken note of recently. As Jon and I have been working so closely with Richard and his artistic process, it is inevitable that we are influenced by his aesthetics and philosophies. I have the sense that our installations will be very representative of our "apprenticeship" with Richard, and may also demonstrate a further discovery/development of our "artistic sensibilities" as we digest the visual/cultural magnificence of Santa Cruz.

Even though I am acting as translator for Jon and Richard, there is much about the Bolivian Spanish language that I am not accustomed to speaking in the U.S. or in México. The primary example is in the use of "vos" instead of "tu" when you adrress somebody in a personal manner (where one may say "como se llama vos" instead of "como te llamas"). I am trying by best to adopt the use of "vos" to avoid offending the local Bolivians who may see the "tu" form of speaking as an insult. I will be stumbling with my Spanish for a while, but I crave to blend in the best I can, plus "vos" sounds beautiful!

Encantos

 More photos from Nico's farm. We took lots. 

Fin de Semena

The first weekend in Santa Cruz proved to be excellent. Richard has been using the time to plan for Monday and in the meantime Yolanda and I have done some drawings/brainstorming for our show. Still taking lots of photos and I apologize for the lack of a flickr site. We will have it up and running as soon as possible to give all you bloggers the full Bolivian experience.

Saturday was nice and relaxing and in the evening we joined Raquel, Roberto and company for diner. The night finished with Roberto taking us to a local bar. Those of you from Boulder it was the Bolivian version of the Downer. Which means I was I loved it. Live music, cheap beer, and gross bathrooms. Mi favorito.

Sunday was quite the day. Yuda took us out to see a friend of her’s, Nico. He lives on a large farm about 30 minutes outside the city. We ate more oranges then Florida can shake a stick at. His family grows more types of oranges then I knew existed. Nico gave us the tour showing off his 5,000 pollos, a handful of pigs, cows, and orange trees as far as the eye could see. We witnessed a chicken being bleed out. I thought that was cool.

Nico’s familia was an amazing example of the Bolivian people. They always have to tease me about my lack of Spanish speaking abilities, but are wonderful people nonetheless. We drank coffee and stuffed ourselves with fresh baked goods (pan de arroz y charque). God I love Bolivia. 

mi fin de semana

I went to a book fair this weekend where I found a restored Spanish book from the 1500's. The man holding the book was showing me how Castilian Spanish has changed since then. For example, Astrología used to be Aftrología.
This image at the entrance of the chicken warehouse is covered in old grain bags that have been sewn together- so beautiful!


Words can't describe what a gorgeous and epic presence this water tower has for me. The smell here is also indescribable as we were right next to some gigantic pigs!

Encantos

Here are some patterns and such that we have begun to notice and grown to love.

 

Día 5

We ended this week with quite the productive day. We started the morning off early at seven with tea and pan (bread) with Estevana (our host father), then we ventured out on the autobús to the gallery. Accompanied by Julio (a saint and the handy man of Kiosko) we set out on a search for materials. First stop, the lumberyard…an OSHA nightmare. Yolanda worked on translating with Julio while I shot some videos of the workers. They use a nail to guide the wood through the table saw and it’s a wonder that they have all their fingers.  Packed in a taxi we set out towards another lumberyard to purchase large tree limbs. Along the way Richard was hit with inspiration and we ended up purchasing 50 bags of straw. After unloading the supplies at Kiosko we jammed ourselves back into the taxi and went to the hardware market. A fiesta of tools, hardware, lights, etc. the place was hustling and bustling with the sounds of business. I cannot stress how important Julio was today. Without him I was left drawing out tools in the air in a total state of confusion. Returning to the gallery in the evening, tired and stressed, we unwound with some beers. The people of Kiosko are a talented and hard working bunch and it is joy being along side them. This weekend we will do some laundry and prep for a build day on lunes (Monday). 

Encantos

A photo of our shower. It is heated by electricity and has a number 2 pencil jammed in it. I always get a little shock when I turn the water on. A good wake up call.

Día 4

Reporting June 4th:
¡Hola, saludos desde Bolivia!
Every day, we are falling more in love with Santa Cruz. ¡Nos encanta! Even though we enjoy the walk along "el primer anillo" (the first street that circles around the center of Santa Cruz), Jon and I decided to take the "micro" (city bus) to get to Richard's house more efficiently. We caught the #17 Red line that circles around the first ring of the city, and were thrown off when the driver took a little detour. Come to realize, the buses have a check point near the main street called "Ave. Irala" where our driver did not hesitate to get off the bus too pee in the bushes!

At the residency house (our studio space), Richard worked on his drawing while Jon and I started the process of creating models (3/4 scale) of the installation destined for the back patio of the Kiosko Galería. When we were all getting restless, we went out to our favorite Peruvian Restaurant, ¨Tanta.¨ Jon and I had a chance to do some of our own studio work. I took this opportunity to make some sketches based off my more compelling photography. I also began to make a sketch model for myself in preparation for my own installation. I am very attracted to the way people hang their tarps, signs, and fabric. We all marveled at a beautiful "informal sculpture" where a vendor had tied his blue tarp to a rope that connected with a red and white sack on the ground.

This evening, Kiosko Galería had an opening featuring American-Bolivian video artist based in New York City, Claudia Joskowicz. We all feel very lucky to meet Claudia, and to experience her video titled "music to watch dead girls by" (2006). The show also features emerging artist collective, "Colectivo Línea 29," whose art consists of videos and public interventions addressing the current Bolivian political scene. At the show, we had a chance to meet hard working artists and made plans to make varied studio visits this month.