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.