scd abroad

the impossibility of keeping up. tuesday, 29 november 2011

2011-11-30T01:58:00.000+02:00

(If you click on an image it should pop up larger in a different tab)

It is almost 4 weeks since I left Israel. But, in spite of these who blog daily, for me, here as in Umm el-Fahem, living life gets in the way of recording life.

Yet there is so much that I didn’t mention, and too much that I mentioned simply in passing.

Soon after arriving home I was invited to write an article about my experience at the gallery for the on-line newsletter PEACE X PEACE (http://www.peacexpeace.org/2011/11/art-in-the-arab-sector/) which some of you have already read. It is a summary of my time at the gallery.

I am proud to have stood with the citizens of Umm el-Fahem as a participant in the October 21^st Demonstration Against Violence to demand that the Israeli police do their job to enforce the law in Umm el-Fahem as throughout Israel. To quote my wise friend Amal Elsana Alhjooj, “There is no room for ‘cultural tolerance’ when it comes to violence.”

Many people have asked me to describe what I did day-to-day at the Umm el-Fahem Art Gallery as it was not a residency to make my art. My responsibilities were developed in consultation with Said and Lilli based on my pre-art professional experience and my artistic practice. I did whatever was needed and in general my work encompassed: interaction with the gallery’s art teachers -- from presenting my work to brainstorming about their work with children; making use of my organizational skills, particularly efforts to further the documentation of the collection, and networking with external groups, gallery visitors, and, now back in the U.S., through my involvement with the newly formed FRIENDS of the Umm el-Fahem…. association.

I do not want to give short shrift to the art on exhibit in the gallery. It is professional, engaging, and interesting. The current exhibition “Personal Story” is the presentation of four artists' stories through different artistic mediums, as narrated by three curators.
I have mentioned the ceramic sculptures on the roof by Jewish-Israeli artist, Rafi Munz. The work is whimsical, imaginative, and unusual in the environment of Umm el-Fahem. It was a delight to watch visitors interact with the pieces in the roof-top gallery space and it was wonderful nourishment for peoples' ( adults' and children's) imaginations. Here Munz's piece seems to howl at the full moon:

The other three artists are Arab-Israeli, and like all of our stories theirs are both particular and universal.
Fatima Abu Rumi's skillful work retells a difficult personal journey. Her self portraits and those of her father are exquisite paintings of a moving and politically and socially charged story. Here Fatima puts a finishing touch on one of her pieces:

Nidal Gabarin studied in the former Soviet Union. Many of his paintings are urban landscapes with an impressionistic slant and others outdoor scenes not found in his home of Umm el-Fahem.

Ammar Younis' photographs present us with more than we can see in the image before us. He offers a perspective steeped in pride of place and history.

In addition to his prize-winning documentary photographs and videos he is an amazing teacher.

The gallery's first floor houses Memory of Place, an exhibit of archival photos and film footage of the Wadi Ara region. The images and documents offer an historical view that is expanded by photographic portraits of today's elderly citizens of Umm el-Fahem. These photographs have been taken by both Jewish - and Arab-Israeli photographers. Complementing this exhibit is the gallery's significant archival project to collect the history of the Wadi Ara area through video recorded interviews of its elders, some who have passed their hundredth birthdays.

From time to time in the coming year I may post about activities of the FRIENDS of Umm el-Fahem Museum of Contemporary Art.

And I hope that if you make a trip to Israel you will plan stop by the gallery for a couple of hours (if you let me know I will make the connection for you before you leave).

In closing here now, I will let the images below speak. And I am always be happy to answer any questions that you might have (e-mail address: suzart0207@gmail.com)

The kitchen in our (i.e., the volunteers') apt. on the gallery's roof. Wait until you see what is under the tablecloth

It's a light box! showing a composite of scenes from the city of Umm el-Fahem.

A two-image digression:

Nothing to do with the gallery but in spite of their dispositions I love camels and had to share this photo. I met these guys at the Desert Ship, the last stop on the NISPED Tour for Women in the Media of the Bedouin Women's Projects.

My dear, longtime friend Vivian Silver (second from right, about whom I shall brag) and her crew came to the gallery to collect me for a half day in Haifa. Yona Yahav, Mayor of Haifa, who Vivian and I worked with many moons ago, to V's left. To her right: her mother Roslyn, her husband Lewie Zeigen, son Yonatan and Maayan, son Chen and Ori. Now back to Umm el-Fahem:

Members of Sharikat Hayat (Women of Valor), a project of the Municipality of Umm el-Fahem in partnership with the JDC (the "Joint"), met with gallery staff on October 26th to talk about their efforts toward economic empowerment for women, learn about the gallery, and plan what they might do together. Fifteen of the women will now be participating in a weekly workshop at the gallery. (On the walls are images depicting the winning design for the future Umm el-Fahem Museum of Contemporary Art.)

Ruwan (left) and Laila prepare for the Art-in-Education program. Both born in Umm el-Fahem, Laila studied art at Beit Berl College and Ruwan has just begun her studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

10/29 Artist teachers Tamra and Orguan make sheep to give to each child as a gift for the coming holiday, symbolic of the sheep traditionally roasted by each family for the Feast of Eid-Ul-Adha*.
* re http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eid_al-Adha: "Festival of Sacrifice" or "Greater Eid" is an important religious holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide to commemorate the willingness of Abraham (Ibrahim) to sacrifice his son Ishmael (Isma'il) as an act of obedience to God, before God intervened to provide him with a ram to sacrifice instead. The meat is divided into three parts. The family retains one third of the share; another third is given to relatives, friends and neighbors; and the other third is given to the poor and needy.

Saleh Sharkawi (whose family photos can be seen in the archival exhibit on the gallery's first floor) -- coffee grinder or drummer?

No, we didn't eat lunch like this every day, but we did eat well!!! At the table is Lilli Stern, who you have not seen before (at the back, left, head tilted right). Lilli is the gallery's Volunteer Liaison and Fund Raiser.

Kamle, who among many other things was our source of vitamin C, brought to us freshly picked from her tree.

Perfumery in neighboring Bar Ba'ah.

October 30th, Said and the gallery, hosting the visiting ALLMEP Executive Director, bring together representatives of organizations in Wadi Ara engaged in cross-border or shared society work.

Said Abu Shakra and scd.
Assalamu alaikum. Shalom v'l'hitraot.

PEACE X PEACE

2011-11-22T17:21:00.000+02:00

hello! hello!. still to come, a final post about my recent time in Umm el-Fahem.

however, this morning i want to share with you a link to an article that i was invited to write about my experience. it has just been posted on PEACE X PEACE Raise Women's Voices Build Cultures of Peace.

and it is my hope that one day you too will have an opportunity to visit the gallery or future museum.

until later, suzi

saturday, 29 october 2011

2011-10-29T23:02:00.000+02:00

i physically will leave umm el-fahem: the gallery and my new friends and acquaintances, in a day and a half. but the connections are strong with a whole lifetime ahead to grow and, we all hope, bear witness to the success of Said, et. al.'s efforts.

i regret that i have not posted more frequently. i will use photos as the story line to post below, as usual in no particular order.

[NOTE: i will use another post to speak about the work that i have done here]:

the first two images below are large sculptures of household objects representative of welcoming guests and family members into one's home. they are on the road from the junction into umm el-fahem.

the road/walk from the junction (highway) into the center of umm el-fahem/the gallery is about 1.4 miles (2.4 km). for a new yorker this is about 28 blocks, a daily routine. walking toward the junction from the gallery/our apt. is downhill. coming back up is thus uphill. however, not just uphill. UPHILL! the pull of gravity begins
a bit after the road splits -- go to the left and it is "main street" with cars vying for parking with other vehicles and pedestrians, stores, bodywork garages, restaurants and local fast food eateries (mac donalds and pizza hut are in one of the small mall buildings between the junction and the center of town).

go to the right, up to the gallery, and each step is as rich an experience as any fancy work-out machine. and so we go to the right instead of continuing left where we could instead simply walk into a large (all is relative) building housing google's offices, a bank, two different chupat cholim medical clinics, etc., take the elevator to the fifth floor and walk out to the street where the gallery is located. an even greater challenge occurs when we are carrying bakbookim (bottles) of soda water. sometimes we take the elevator up to our apt. on the third level from the street level but we still feel that we have done our daily exercise.

(note: while muscles formerly unused are getting used to the workout our bodies are fueled with delicious edibles in amounts also not customarily consumed at home. in the weight department nothing lost but also hopefully nothing gained.)

follow the car above right up to the gallery.

for almost three weeks i have walked by what i was certain was a bakery but confused by the lack of the unmatchable aroma of freshly baked bread. thursday afternoon i popped in. the two women who were working spoke arabic. we know what i speak and we all spoke a bit of hebrew. i found out that the baking begins at midnight and the machines are closed down at 10am, 7 days a week. so this morning i was up and out in time to watch the pita, as it turned out, being baked. it smelled yummy and i bough a sack of 12 or 13 "pitot" the smallest amount possible to purchase.

since i am back into talking about the local food i will share images from two parties joanna and i were invited to yesterday, friday 10/28.

the first was a family celebration welcoming month old achmed, third son of said's sister alia's daughter byan. byan's husband's family owns

the market is in the Abu Dagash building about half way down the road to the junction (highway). it is a brand new building housing a mini-mall -- in addition to the meat market, an italian restaurant, a cafe, clothing stores, a large orange cell service provider store, a name brand, expensive, eye glasses frames store, and a number of still empty store fronts. the meat is reputed to be THE best and for the celebration the women in the family made special spiced meat patties that were grilled with the usual lamb chops, and kabobs. the tables were laden with salads AND french fries!

women and men sat separately during the luncheon. we arrived later than most as siham, said's wife, mother of ruwan, was shopping to purchase items to set up ruwan's new apt. sat., today. they will be 5 apt-mates in university housing, the hebrew univ. of jerusalem. housing seems to be arab students with arab students, jewish with jewish, at least in the first year when the university makes the matches. ruwan who at 17 1/2 years old is totally comfortable in the company of all others told me when i inquired that she is happy that this was the case because she will feel more at home living with other arab -- female -- students. she is the youngest but no doubt she will hold her own.

back to the party: there was a person in a clown costume as the m.c. for the kids, many quite young children. the hokey pokey, simon says, ... are the same all over the world. later we moved to the dessert and catch-up-with-family-members area & one of alia's sons began taking the boys (no matter how the girls pleaded for their turns) on speedy rides standing up on a hand truck, to the dismay of some of the mothers but to the total delight of the squealing children.

for dessert there were sticky, sweet pastries (but knowing that we were going to a dessert send-off party for ruwan at said and siham's at 5pm i did not have dessert although i did have a few sips of thicker-than-usual turkish coffee)

the weather was glorious and we stayed long enough for siham to catch-up on family goings on. while joanna and i missed most of what was being said the environment was warm and welcoming and being outside was delicious, listening to fabulous arab music a pleasure.

the weather:
i had occasion to see the mini-blizzard in nyc today (29 october 2011, around 11am in nyc) when david and i skyped and he took the computer to the window

here it continues to be in the mid to high 70s Fahrenheit, going down to the low 60s F in the evenings.

desserts friday evening, 10/28

a gathering and sweets in honor of ruwan who would leave on sat., today, 10/29, to begin her first year of studies in the department of education (studying special education) at the hebrew university in jerusalem.

Said and Siham have 5 children: the eldest, a daughter is doing her PhD at McGill in clinical psych, the next, a son, is studying architecture in munich, the next, a daughter who i had the pleasure to meet, is studying dentistry in jordon, and the youngest, a sophomore in high school, knows that his field of study will be astronomy/space studies.

above: Said, Siham, Ruwan

above, Siham and Said (and the maple walnut cake still warm from the oven).

Said writes each of his children a letter when they leave for school, something that no doubt will treasure more with each passing year.

Lilah, far right, and Siham look on as Ruwan opens her presents.

Joanna takes down the translation of the recipe for the chocolate walnut cake with cream filling. Center, Kamle, with Ruwan.

Ruwan is enjoying herself.

Above and below: Far left, Kamle, center Ruwan, & scd

i am not posting a number of photos with others in them out of respect to the fact that they contain images of iman, a lovely young woman who does not want photos of herself floating around the web.

fearing a crash any moment i shall post this now as an installment with more anon.

oh, wait, one last thing. friday night we had the treat of viewing the video of the engagement party of the second daughter, the dental student (i do not have the correct spelling of the names, and do not want to mangle them).

what a party. hours of dancing, first just the women of the future bride's family. then joined by the women of the future groom's family, then the men from both sides join the women. the dancing never stopped (3-4 hours) and when it did it was for the engaged couple to exchange rings and then accept gifts of incredible jewerly from almost everyone there.

protocol of traditions/of the event reigned. if anyone ate it was not while the video was being shot (hours worth. we watched some of the party/the dancing fly by at high speed). women were dressed in everything from very traditional to quite revealing outfits. variations in head scarf styles seem infinite, some must have gone to scarf beauticians as headscarves were transformed into intricate and beautiful flower-like knots.

the guiding rules for headscarves: no hair showing, no ears showing, no neck showing. otherwise, as stylish or not as one chooses, and make-up runs from none to heavily applied. a noticible similarity between many orthodox women who wear sheitels and many orthodox muslim women who wear headscarves is while they are only to show their hair and beauty to their husbands the wigs and headcoverings are selected with great care and style.

the men all had on white shirts, ties and dark pants, the shirt and pants are (at least historically) standard israeli menswear for such occasions, but the ties set these israeli-arabs apart from jewish israeli men. (oh, and i only noticed one guy wearing jeans.)

the engagement party was held in Said and Siham's home (outside) and it was a family-only event. we all sat on the comfortable furniture cushions, there for over an hour clapping to the beat, entranced by the music, the dancing, the clothing, the whole experience. joanna and i ar still not clear though it has been explained, about the engagement and the wedding traditions. it seems that there must be an engagement (which means an exchange of rings among the other jewelry given, much of it gold and diamonds) in order for the couple to go out in public together without a chaperone. the wedding is a private religious ceremony followed by a party. it seems that the engagement is the required public notice and the wedding party simply a reason to have a party, but ... not sure.
# # #

monday/tuesday 24/25 october 2011

2011-10-25T23:55:00.000+02:00

note: i intended to post this last night, however due to technical difficulties i finally gave up trying to upload the images and shut down the computer. it is now tuesday evening and i will try with renewed energy.

thank you very much! to those who have posted comments. actually they do not seem to get posted but instead are sent to me through e-mail (and the terrible e-mail situation is why i decided to re-start the blog). mysterious.

my fingers cannot possibly work as quickly as thoughts to share with you are pouring out of my head. five days have passed since i last posted. i will continue to not write in the order of when things occurred, for i think that it does not really matter. certainly with each day i get to know, and appreciate, the people connected with the gallery (in whatever way) a little better as they too become better acquainted with me, and as they and i move together into the future trust will grow and that will make a difference. but it is my hope that simply the anecdotal information and snapshots will combine to create a rich, visual image of my time here and of the personalities and lives of some of umm el-fahem's residents.

on october 18th i wrote about the tragedy of the triple murder that had occurred the previous evening, monday the 17th. while the particulars of this story are terrible and involve so many of the people of this small city (e.g. Said's wife Siham, principal of a local elementary school, had to bring in psychologists this week to meet with the children in her school, for children of some of the extended families of both of the families involved attend her school), it is the larger issue that has mobilized the people of umm el-fahem, neighboring arab villages, and other arab-israeli towns in israel.

the issue was brought up last thursday, oct. 20th, by visitors to the gallery: my friend, artist rosemary solan from jerusalem, and two of her friends who live on kibbutz meggido (among the many kibbutzim on their way to total privatization: complicated, fascinating, and raises the what makes a privatized kibbutz a kibbutz question) not far from umm el-fahem.

All had been to the gallery some previous time which speaks to the israel they would like to live in. They talked about the fact that arab on arab crime is not pursued by the police, and that it is thought by many (jewish and arab israelis) that it is not in the interest of the israeli police to spend time, resources, or energy to solve crimes that take place in arab-israeli towns (siting known instances of this seemingly accepted "policy").

It was with this conversation in mind that i determined when i heard friday morning about a demonstration planned for friday mid-day that, if it seemed not to be a stupid thing to do, that i wanted to participate. joanna felt similarly.

we had been invited to said and siham's home for friday breakfast.

it is a family tradition that said prepares breakfast on friday, although the household was like any other with teenagers in that they slept late, then ran out, missing the feast that said and siham set before us, grabbing something from the table halva -- halawa, haleweh, ħelwa, halvah, halava, helava, helva, halwa, halua, chalva, chałwa -- anyone?

[an aside: one of siham's brother-in-law's family owns the local halva factory. given my limited time remaining here in u e-f i may not have a chance to go on a tour of the factory but will look forward to joanna's description. and this is as it should be as joanna loves halva while i love my childhood memories, & most of all the memory of benny (my father) enjoying it, more than i do actually eating it. for those who did not grow up with this delicacy, fresh, not packaged joyva, although that too, especially covered in chocolate, has known to be a tasty treat, it is basically sesame paste (tahini) and sugar.

on the way to the abu shakra home we had asked said about the planned demonstration. it had been called by the mayor & city council for 12:30pm friday, after prayer ends. the point was to send the message that arab blood, arab lives are not not less valuable than jewish blood, jewish lives, that the citizens of umm el-fahem do not condone murder or violence and that they want the murderer apprehended and brought to justice. also when we asked him, said responded that it was perfectly safe for us to go and n fact the people of u e-f would feel very good that those not from u e-f support their efforts.

ruwan (his and siham's 17 1/2 year old daughter who we have gotten to know as she works in the afternoons at the gallery) was going and was happy to have us go with her and her good friend afnan.

we later learned that this was the very first time that ruwan (recently admitted to the hebrew university in jerusalem for the program of special needs in the dept of education) had participated in a demonstration, unlike afnan (now a student at the american university in jenin) who had gone to demonstrations as a child with her parents.

and so we ate, and ate, and ate some more (no dessert although siham had baked. simply no way to manage it after the fabulous omlette and multiple pita dishes (made in a special electric pan) with various toppings: wild zatar, onions and cheese, tomatoes, onions and tuna, and freshly made olive oil which tasted spicy, great hummus, etc. ruwan and afnan were anxious to go and finally got us away from the table.

they took the care of us as their charges very seriously. afnan did not let go of me and ruwan held on to joanne.

we were with the women and children. the streets wind around and up and down and we had no idea where we were. at points we were basically running, with afnan and me getting further and further ahead. it turned out that at some point the heat and the difficulty of walking/running in inappropriate foot ware caused joanna to turn back and find her way to the gallery.

afnan heard her phone despite the roar of the women and we stepped out to wait fo ruwan and then again began looking for holes in thecrowd to squeeze through and move further and further toward the beginning of the throng of women, and then at last into the futbol (soccer) field for the speeches.

it was not always comfortable for me. i could not understand the slogans being chanted or the handwritten signs. i asked for translations throughout the demonstration, yet still.

joanna'simage appeared on panet (web site:http://www.panet.co.il/online/articles/1/2/S-466582,1,2.html ) and mine on bokra (web site:http://www.bokra.net/Articles/1148996/%D8%A3%D9%83%D8%AB%D8%B1_%D9%85%D9%86_%D8%B9%D8%B4%D8%B1%D8%A9_%D8%A2%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%81_%D9%85%D8%AA%D8%B8%D8%A7%D9%87%D8%B1_%D9%81%D9%8A_%D8%A3%D9%85_%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%81%D8%AD%D9%85_%D8%B6%D8%AF_%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D9%86%D9%81.html).

joanna in the sunglasses, in the headscarf front right is ruwan

In the photo with me are, l to r, fatima, afnan and ruwan.
we are smiling as if posing because we were posing. the journalist asked us as everyone was leaving the field if he could take our picture.

the police have been advised by the mayor that if the murderer is not identified by sunday then demonstrators will set up camp outside of the office.

the police station is located at the entrance to u e-f. as i have previously mentioned, i have not seen even one policeperson inside of u e-f, other than yesterday when the police officer who heads the police dept.'s community service program for the area was invited to j's completion celebration (a feast j brought in for all of us for lunch, served on the roof of the gallery to mark the last day of his three months of community service). don't know if the policeman's invited presence at the table counts as police in u e-f.

what i know is hearsay, i.e. i don't know the actual numbers but most seem to agree that the u e-f police force is made up of scores of jewish-israelis and at the most 4 arab-israelis.

the tension between the police and the local citizenry runs high. as we walked with teh demonstrators joanna and i felt people's anger at the situation and sadness at the murders and disappointment with the system, but we felt no tension nor were uncomfortable in the crowd.

it is difficult to believe that the police will begin to do their jobs as unbiased law enforcers. but perhaps the recent demonstration -- the largest ever in umm el-fahem or the area and the first time women have participated as a group will result in resident representatives of u e-f and the police sitting down at the table to talk about their concerns and what the police might do to correct them (but probably not).

o.k. so as to post this i will end with some photos of local foodstuffs, and the last image of an interesting positioning of stores in one of the new local buildings, a mini mall.

p.s. wednesday, 19 october 2011

2011-10-19T11:44:00.000+02:00

post script to last two postings:

oops. sorry for the duplicate (?triplicate?) postings. it appears that one cannot edit without re-posting the entire entry.

i am now sitting in our darkened kitchen where i cannot feel the delicious breeze or the sun on my toes, but i can see the computer screen which i need to do whether working on the blog or on the gallery's collection's documentation.

i have wnyc on in the background as i feel quite cut off from the news. strange, sitting here in umm el-fahem, so far from home in so many ways yet so connected. Said and others here have mentioned to me how far away tel aviv can seem to the inhabitants of umm el-fahem while at the same time how close america feels because of technology.

we take so much for granted re: our world view(s) but minimize or ignore the complexities of the impact and ramifications of technology in 2011 on others whose point of reference is not western culture.

you who are reading my blog understand. but those among us, fellow americans as they say, who are not exposed through travel and experience to/do not interact with cultures unlike our own, who are not sensitive to the miscommunication and "speaking" at cross currents that occurs among and between peoples. scary.

wednesday, 19 october 2011. brief update

2011-10-18T20:35:00.003+02:00

short update: another sunny, gorgeous day, a bit cooler than it has been. i sit on the roof, the doors open to the open air gallery, hesitant to move inside the apartment to work even though the screen is barely visible in the sunlight. the city is quiet. few cars on the roads/sidewalks generally crawling with cars, parked anywhere a driver can find space. walking on the sidewalk here in u e-f is a game, for one must dart out onto the road when cars block the pedestrian walk space.

if there is a demonstration going on we do not see it (we have a great view of the main street and beyond from our roof) and we do not hear it. we hear only an occasional car driving on the road below. the gallery is closed and most stores appear to be closed. we will ask tomorrow for someone to explain to us what was hoped to be gained by today's strike/slow-down/closures.

it is an ideal day to work and perhaps i will even have time left to seach my computer for images for my second talk this coming saturday afternoon (for the office staff/art instructors). i spoke last sat. about my "still lives" exhibit (2009) about the women among the first jewish community in nieuw amsterdam/new york and their female descendants. the question that surprised me most during my talk was "are you jewish?" i don't know why, perhaps because i can make myself understood a bit in hebrew, but i thought that everyone at the gallery, and on the streets when we spoke, assumed that i am jewish.

10/18/2011
being here, welcoming each opportunity to experience life in umm el-fahem that is offered, or that i simply come across, and also sit down to write about what i have done, am doing, will do, is a challenge.

however, my apt.-mate, joanna liss, who arrived here the same day that i did and will remian here for six weeks -- teaching english & writing materials for the gallery, and she has also initiated the exploration of the development of a possible day tour of u e-f (the gallery & environs) through GoEco (the volunteer organization that she came through) -- IS diligent about keeping her blog up to date: http://bronxjo.blogspot.com/

so much happens daily that i most certainly will write in my usual stream of consciousness-mode. yes, i recognize that linear would probably not be a word most might use to describe me.

today was a very significant day in israel: the day gilad shalit returned to israel/his family. among the palestinians released in the swap was a man whose family lives in umm el-fahem. joanna and i had a conversation with j. (he is among the men doing community service at the gallery. his crime was being caught for the second time driving without a license).

j., who speaks english well, is a very hard-working man (+/- 40) from a large family. he imports meat from argentina for the arab community, in spite of the laws that make no sense but do make it difficult. i.e., meat brought into israel must be kosher even if it is designated for the arab community. he has been successful in business and lives a middle class life-style. he has 4 children (3,4 8,10, i believe) who are all learning english. he and i worked together this morning, going through the individual art storage bins to record the locations of all of the works that belong to the gallery's permanent collection (the creation of which is new for the gallery). this activity may sound straightforward but i must ask for a leap of faith for you to know that it was not.

we broke for lunch and went upstairs on the roof where the volunteer apt. is located and where the guys doing their community service sit and have their morning coffee and lunch. i learned that one of the palestinian prisoners being released today is from an umm el-fahem family. j., joanna and i began discussing this and j. was very clear that he does not feel that the returning prisoners should receive heroes' welcomes. he told us also that the family of the former prisoner has changed their views over the 20 years since he was arrested and he understands that they now do not agree that the murder he committed (of an arab who either worked for the israeli government or who was a spy for the israelis, i am not clear about this) was justified.

we spoke for a very long time about life in umm el-fahem, arabs and jews living together, the need for a palestinian state and the efforts that will be needed after statehood is achieved to go into making it a healthy, thriving country, how he teaches his children the importance of the arab saying that what is most important is to feed the head not the belly. he spoke of his many israeli (jewish) friends, of one who his son misses when things are going on in umm el-fahem that keep this particular friend away. he also spoke of those who want to develop relationships (i.e., arabs with jews) but who are sometimes afraid that they will be ostracized by some in umm el-fahem if they do. most of all he stressed that while there are things in israel that he disagrees with that life is good here and how important it is for israel and the palestinians to make peace and get on with their lives.

i don't mean at all to make the conversation sound simple or obvious. j. shared many descriptive anecdotes and explained his feelings in a way that made clear the difficulties of being an arab in israel. but he also spoke of the comfort that he feels here (he is a citizen) and how he wants his kids to grow up here although he cannot understand why the arab schools, and the other services, or the lack of basic services, in umm el-fahem, are so awful and wanting as compared to schools, services, ... for jewish israelis.

he spoke of the village that has grown into a "city" (but is not really a city yet) of umm el-fahem as compared to the other (jewish) cities of israel and the lack of parity. the discussion was very fact-based and bottom-line he was positive and forward looking.

i relate this particular conversation at this particular time because it began when someone mentioned how happy people in umm el-fahem were at the return of the prisoners. i have heard views similar to j.s from others who want parity, want peace, have jewish friends, want to continue to live together arabs and jews and build a shared future.

i have personally felt no undercurrent of tension or attitude since i arrived in umm el-fahem. but i also understand that umm el-fahem has historically been a stronghold of radical islamists.

i have not yet gotten under the surface enough to understand how that impacts life for the people who i have met who are not guided by their anger and do not exist in states of aggression against israeli jews or other jews (e.g., joanna or me).

last friday around 5:30pm i walked back to the gallery building from the bus stop, having returned from haifa, where, with vivian's family, i was given an high level tour of the city, i guess they call it.

that makes sense as our guide was haifa mayor yona yahav. vivian, yona and i worked together in the early 70s: yona sat in london as the secretary-general of the world union of jewish students, wujs, and in a mouse crap-filled loft, ..., on west 27th street, nyc. vivan worked for the jewish student press service and i for the north american arm of wujs, the north american jewish students network, "network"). traffic had been congested and i saw as i walked that there was a demonstration at the roundabout at the entrance of the road into
u e-f.

there were palestinian flags and placards with arabic writing. the demonstrators were young (college students?). there was a significant police presence and while there was the chanting one expects at demonstrations there was no violence or physical activity.

so, while i do not mean to be naive i can only "report" on my experience, which is that there are many people in umm el-fahem that want normal relationships, value dialogue, and want equitable conditions.

said abu shakar leads the effort to dialogue as he grows the gallery, develops plans for a museum, and brings community groups and school children -- through a formal program with the elementary schools -- into the gallery where they are exposed to art, culture, and much more.

as well as children's fee-based classes on saturdays.

o.k. i need/want to eat dinner. i have so much more to share: last night we went to a huge outdoor celebration, before which we had coffee/tea in Said and his wife Siham's incredible home. and after the party we socialized with then two different sets of friends in their homes as Said and Siham were giving us a night tour of the u e-f views and while riding around they kept seeing friends out walking (we also passed moshav me anni adjacent to umm el-fahem). but that will all have to wait.

for after i eat i want to start entering (into the new format) the information that j. and i today and lilli and i yesterday were able to pull together.

and the details of my wonderful tale of unplanned exploration this afternoon will also wait.

a tragedy occurred here last night, the murder of a father and two sons -- ages 46/7, mid teens and 19. it had to do with a rich young woman falling in love with a poor young man, a mother who asked her husband to reverse his absolute no re: an engagement and marriage after the couple ran away and the daughter and mother were in touch by phone. it is suspected that the young woman's father contracted someone to murder the family. because of the murdes and increased crime tomorrow there will be a total strike in the municipality. as i think that means that all stores and offices will be closed when Said was about to leave around 2:15pm i asked if he would drop me off at the entrance of the road to u. e-f (i believe 2.4 km from the gallery). the return walk was an up-hill walk that really gives one's calf muscles a workout. details on the excursion anon.

before i came lilli suggested that i bring many books as i would probably be bored after the gallery closed. while i am enjoying reading the books late at night as i try to relax to then sleep (never a strong point) there is not a chance of my being bored as the days of my short stay speed by.

wednesday eve, 12 october 2011 (day 4)

2011-10-13T00:51:00.000+02:00

i am sitting on cushions just inside the roof gallery (in order to plug in the computer), recorded arab music fills the crisp, cool air -- reached 80 however today, and tomorrow will be warmer --, the moon is amazing, and that gilad shalit is soon to be back in israel is quite wonderful.

the mosquitos are feasting on me however and so i will not sit here too much longer. last night i was reading (actually it was 1:30am this morning) when the building alarm went off. at first i froze. momentarily. i then jumped up, ran and knocked on joanna's door (our rooms share a wall). she was sleeping and had not heard it.

it was a shrill, constant sound that would simply have gotten on our nerves had we not wondered aloud if there was an intruder in the gallery. we had been warned by lilli not to wander into the gallery after hours as we would trip the alarm. but here we were, on the top floor in our quite comfortable set-up, not fancy but more than adequate, and the adrenaline was pumping. after 5 minutes of indecision i called the founder and gallery director, saiid (he spells his name said, but i have added an "i" for the sake of clarification and pronunciation). he answered immediately. and of course with cell phones the voice on the other end is generally not a surprise since the caller's name comes up.

[FYI, i believe i mentioned earlier that saiid had been a member of the jerusalem police force until he took early retirement a number of years ago. he worked with juvenile offenders, and has continued that work here by offering community service placements at the gallery to first-time offenders. the group members begin their day in the room where i am now sitting and writing. it is a huge space with a wooden dining table, a small kitchen where they brew great cups of cafe turki (and generously bring a cup each to joanna and me to start our days with a strong shot of caffeine).]

i digress. saiid sounded as chipper as if it were the middle of the afternoon. he reassured me and said that he would come right over. about 10 or 15 minutes later we heard him telling us outside of our door not to worry, it was a short. he and another guy went through the gallery floors (ground,1,2, & 3 -- the rooftop floor) thoroughly and found nothing. but they were unable to stop the siren-like alarm. they surmised that a fire in the hills three days before had filled the air with gases that had affected the alarm system. it took a long time but finally they were able to turn it off. needless to say i read until 3am when i finally felt as if i might be unwound enough to sleep, which i did.

hoping for an uneventful night tonight.

i spent yesterday afternoon going through digital images of many of the gallery's own collection's works, filling in whatever info i was able on a form that i created to catalog the collection. on sunday souad, a woman who lives in haifa and who had been sent by the gallery to a curatorial course, will join me here to hopefully enable me to complete a form for each piece in the collection, or at least make headway in the project. as this is a priority for the gallery it is a priority for me.

there is also a group from the reform movement coming to visit the gallery sunday morning who i expect to chat with a bit.

today i spent hours researching the documentation of loans to, loans by, and donations of art to museums. i drafted three such documents for review by saiid and lilli, as the family of a deceased artist who had not too long ago donated an important piece of the artist's work to the gallery came back recently to borrow it back for an exhibit elsewhere. the gallery quickly wrote up an agreement and realized that this was something that needed to be standardized.

much, way too much, of my time in new york is spent on running the one-person business that being an artist necessitates. that i can use my research and writing skills here to benefit the gallery gives me great satisfaction.

the air has become nippier. the mosquitos braver. time to go inside and turn off the computer. later,...

writing to you from the umm el-fahem art gallery, umm el-fahem, israel

2011-10-11T08:07:00.000+02:00

tuesday, 11 october 2011 (day 3)

hi there - many happy returns of the day today to j.p.! but he is in ann arbor and here i am in umm el-fahem. i am going to post the incomplete posting i started yesterday as this morning we begin the cataloguing of the umm el-fahem permanent collection. this is an important step in the gallery's transition from gallery to museum. the road ahead is long, complicated, and to be sure will not be easy. but with said leading the effort and lilli and others at his side i have no doubts that it will happen at some future point. it is a journey that i am happy to now be a part of.

monday, 10 october 2011

before i left nyc for israel i was asked many times if i would be posting on scd abroad, the blog that i set up last year to share my experiences in yerevan, armenia. i have reversed my initial response and decided to post because of constant problems with e-mail and my understanding of how fortunate i am to have this opportunity and the responsibility (and pleasure!) of sharing the experience so that others might decide to come as volunteers, come as visitors, or simply just read and enjoy what i write.

your comments are of course welcomed.

i arrived yesterday at the binyamina train station where joanna liss, here as a volunteer english teacher (hailing from beverly, MA.) and lilli stern were waiting. lilli's responsibilities at the gallery include those of fund raiser for the planned umm el-fahem arab israeli art museum (the first of its kind, as the gallery was the first arab-israeli art gallery, now joined by others particularly in tel aviv) and volunteer liaison.

joanna arranged her time at the gallery through GoEco.
she will be teaching english to a few groups of children, a group of seven women who will rotate the bi-weekly lessons in their homes, and the staff at the gallery. while the gallery prefers volunteers to stay for a minimum of 2 months, which makes sense in terms of the impact one can make through their efforts and as it does take time to acculturate, they made exceptions for both joanna (who will be here for six weeks, one of which is the muslim holiday of the major feast Eid al-Alha), and for me as i was only able to commit for three weeks.

we both hope that we will be able to contribute as much to the gallery as they will give us. their interest in our understanding the people, culture, and history of umm el-fahem, and in feeling the warmth of their hospitality is very special (and we only arrived yesterday at noon).

umm el-fahem is in the wadi 'ara area in the center of the country.

as we drove from binyamina we passed groves of pomegranates and umbrella stands on the roads piled high with ripe pomegranate fruit.

to be continued...

15 july: for now, a wrap

2010-07-16T02:04:00.001+03:00

(IF YOU CLICK ON AN IMAGE IT WILL POP UP LARGER IN A DIFFERENT TAB)

this posting is my last until i travel to make my presentation to the organization that generously awarded me the lighton international artists exchange program grant (l.i.a.e.p.), the kansas city artists coalition (kcac). after that excursion (date to be determined) i will post about the experience. many thanks to l.i.a.e.p. and kcac!

through my blog postings it has been my intention to give you a sense of my experience in yerevan, armenia, during my six weeks as an ACSL (arts & cultural studies laboratory) art commune artist-in-residence. in this last posting about my time in armenia i will share images to give you a sense of where i lived and worked (the south west area of yerevan known to all there as bangladesh because when the area was first being developed it seemed to be a far away, unknown territory) and various miscellany.

i will also share bits of information and a sense of how i feel about the experience. the tale is ongoing as my relationships with new friends and colleagues and the nothers installation continue. when appropriate i will create postings in the future.

thank you for your feedback about scd abroad. while sitting down to re-size images, gather my thoughts, and write has often felt like a task i am glad to have done it.

snippet of video from installation of nothers while the naregatsi orchestra was in practice session in the gallery

image below: the food market that i stopped by daily just before its 11pm closing during the four weeks that i worked steadily in the ceramics workshop and most days after that as well. each product area was staffed by women who collected the payment for items sold by them. they seemed to work long shifts, 8am to 11pm, for a few weeks and then have some period of time off. our limited ability to communicate through language did not impact our ability to bond. i regret that i do not have photos of these women, the backbone of this working class (when they can get work) "suburb".

below are images of the teacher training hostel, situated above the primary school in the mkhitar sebastatsy educational complex that ACSL resident artists currently call home. the route to the hostel is from the food market on the main road:

the door at the top of the stairs leads to the hostel area which mysteriously i do not seem to have photos of. it is a large common room with t.v., sofa and table/chairs. off of this area are five bedrooms, each with two sets of bunk beds. each artist had a room to her/himself, with a small table, chair, free standing closet (to call it an armoire would be to exaggerate), and a standing fan. windows are not screened, a feature loved by the flies and mosquitoes.

also off of the large common area is a room with two cold water sinks, a great front-loading washing machine (energy saver) and a drying rack. having these there to use at any hour was an excellent convenience! there were two rooms off of this larger room, each with a toilet and hand held shower (good pressure and water was very hot). these rooms were designated by gender, necessary when there were middle and high school aged males and their slovenly teachers sharing the quarters. also sharing the space but in particular these spaces were huge, HUGE, insects: roach-like, spiders, centipedes,... often it was one of them against me and i was not always the one who wound up with control of the room.

across the road from the food market (image above) taking a left turn after the white building towards the right of the image led one to the ceramics workshop and to asheer's welding area (basement and outside of the school building)

(to the right of asheer is beno, a student at the open uinversity who was of great help to asheer).

above are images of the apartment buildings around the school complex
below are images of the ceramics workshop, and movses, his dog gunshar, and other friends

above, sweet gunshar. below, entrance to ceramics workshop area.

above entrance hall, clay making area under renovation (by movses, et. al.). below kiln room, bathroom, the pugger to make clay, clay drying table, movses at work, spray room, various perspectives of the work area and those who inhabit it. one of the photos is movses and davi preparing to take their work to vernissage to sell to bring in income (not extra income).

one point of the above images is to illustrate that conditions under which imaginations soar and good work is made do not have to be as ideal as we sometimes think.

much of what i have learned working with clay in nyc simply did not apply in this studio. e.g., as i covered my work with plastic to let it dry and movses insisted that i uncover it; the first time a batch of my nothers were to be fired i loaded the small klin leaving the sides/coils untouched. moveses wondered why i was wasting so much room and insisted that i rearrange to maximize use of the space. and as he loaded shelves in the larger kiln pieces of earthenware touched the shelves above which were also then loaded with work.

everything of mine fired well, & certainly while i was working in the studio almost nothing cracked or broke during the firings. my terra cotta nothers were so strong with only one firing that when a few were dropped during the installation nothing even chipped (a miracle perhaps). for me working in the studio included a lesson in trust.

movses -- his mastery of the material and his generosity of spirit and all things material -- helped make the residency a success.

my six week ACSL residency went by incredibly fast. i was focused on my work and new acquaintances. there were never enough hours in the day. only twice did i turn on the very large flat screen t.v. in the hostel, channel surfing for music to eat dinner by and glad that i was not actually trying to watch what was on in between the visual static that appeared on the screen. (the shows seemed to be cartoons, soap operas and variety shows and a few movies.)

i watched one film at a naregatsi screening for journalists. it was an entry of a very soviet russian film (mental ward, paranoid patient as sage, medical doctor as malcontent who is ultimately committed by his colleagues to ward six without his consent) in the golden apricot film festival (which takes place in july in yerevan). i read two fat thrillers by flashlight in my lower bunk bed (...dragon tattoo and ...played with fire), comfortable and secure in my army green mosquito-netted nest as i decompressed from work. exhausted i nodded off to sleep.

a few images from the city that i thought you might enjoy:
an anti-government demonstration (participants were almost all middle-aged to senior citizens) to free political prisoners (including a number of artists) who have been sitting in jail for years for speaking out against the government, and have not been brought to trial.

a cold beverage vendor at the edge of vernissage (she is there daily not just weekends)

above image, a sign that may be familiar to many of you. i was surprised to see it in yerevan.

UPDATE ON THE 7 STOLEN nothers
i received a phone call from nara hayrapetyan (image to left), manager of pr at naregatsi, tuesday afternoon june 29th (i was leaving the next morning). my pieces had been found: in the tank of the toilet. we assume that someone wanted them but was unprepared (no bag) and cut them and stuck then in the bottom of the tank until they could come back to take them. second guessing will not get at the facts. levon, nara, raphael, and the other staff members were as happy as i that they had been found unharmed (drowned, but fine).

(image to left, lilith papazyan, naregatsi graphic designer. lilith created the nothers poster.) (image below: frm l. to r., levon eskenian, director of music and programming, me, and nareg hartounian, founder and president, naregatsi art institute, in the gallery before the opening)

you have read that during the exhibit i popped into the gallery daily to speak to reporters and gallery visitors, including the audience members of naregatsi’s evening music programs. and while the bi-lingual nothers brochure was also hung as the wall text, as I have said elsewhere, the conceptual nature of the work was not always evident to viewers. but even these visitors -- unaccustomed to installations and not certain what they were seeing -- offered verbal and written feedback that the work had transformed the gallery space and their momentary place in the universe on a purely visual level. i feel that if a viewer can connect in some way with my work that i have succeeded for that moment in my role as an artist.

from the presentation of my proposed work through the exhibit levon and his staff opened their minds and their senses to the embrace of conceptual art. when we began they very cautiously considered this field of art that was new to them and to the naregatsi art institute. over the few weeks their understanding and appreciation of conceptual work and of collaborative efforts grew and was supported wholeheartedly by nareg. and then before i left levon spoke to me of the possibility of future collaborations. we all hope so.

it was a terrific six weeks. it felt great to work. and as i did i felt a part of life as lived by warm, hospitable, welcoming people trying to survive in a difficult economic environment in a gracious way: not greedy, not bitter.

as i walked around yerevan buildings were pointed out to me as ugly soviet-era structures. having been in the former soviet union and in mongolia and seen the blocky, gray soviet buildings i felt that the charm of subtle stone work on the old armenian buildings enabled them to rise above unattractive, charmless soviet architecture. there is a grace to the city that makes it feel as if the integrity of the armenian people remained intact under soviet rule.

[side bar: although resentful perhaps of a government that continues to destroy old buildings in order to construct huge, contemporary buildings of the sort that can be found anywhere and do not speak of armenia. big, trump-like structures with fancy stores on the ground level and expensive apartments above that almost all sit empty. for the government officials and the contractors

the unfortunate timing of the construction was that it occurred as the decline of people's finances and the housing market was experienced around the globe. it had been thought that these expensive living spaces would be bought by diaspora armenians but so far this has not really happened.]

as i end the postings of phase one of scd abroad i must share my admiration of susanna gyulamiryan, ACSL president and currently the only staff member (non-paid) of the ACSL artists commune residency program. susanna works incredibly hard, long days making arrangements for ACSL resident artists: organizing, interpreting in real time in person and over the phone, and translating written text, arranging for exhibit spaces, installing artwork, handing out fliers, acting as local tour guide and making arrangements for excursions out of yerevan, introducing visiting artists to local artists, accompanying resident artists shopping, trouble-shooting in the hostel,etc., etc., etc.

susanna is basically available for the ACSL resident artists 24/7. and in addition to organizing and managing the residency program she teaches at the open university, writes articles to earn extra income, curates, and does the things required of all professionals, colleagues, parents & friends in our daily lives.

thank you susanna!

12-13 july. almost but not quite

2010-07-13T01:33:00.036+03:00

i could go on (and on, and on...) but i won't. i will try and fill in miscellaneous bits and pieces, particularly with images. if anyone has any questions please feel free to ask, just send me an e-mail.

- friday, 25 june, a memorable day. in addition to discovering that 7 of my pieces had been stolen, on the way back to bangladesh i jumped onto a mini van and it pulled away as i was still sliding the door closed and my finger got caught in the door. of course i did not know how to scream help! or STOP! in armenian so i just shouted STOP, STOP, at which point women around me saw that my thumb was caught and shouted to the driver so that he understood and did stop. yes, it hurt but i lived to tell.

- monday the 28th:

in the morning i sat in the beginning of presentations that two artists/professors from turkey were giving prior to leading workshops for students at the open university. their presence in yerevan was of great significance, the culmination of the efforts of many and a model of cultural exchange in spite of official party lines. i cannot comment on the workshops as i was not there but there was great interest on the part of the students to have the opportunity to work with these professors. the following week marianne, above, a member of the open university faculty, was off to istanbul for a similar exchange.

above image: woman in center is nermin saybasili, asst. prof. art history, Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University Conservatory, Beşiktaş – Istanbul – TURKEY. her work includes spectral densities in the networked city

from the arab studies journal (spring 2010), "Reflecting on selections from the 11^th Istanbul Biennial, Nermin Saybasili draws out the curators’ explicit Brechtian framework and the transformative power of politically instructive art."(What Keeps Mankind Alive?. 11th International Art Exhibition, Istanbul Biennial. 12 September – 8 November 2009,reviewed by Nermin Saybasili)

image above: 2nd from left, artist/professor dilek winchester

(from http://arteeast.org/pages/generate/?id=114 )
Bio: The Turkish artist Dilek Winchester has studied in London and Berlin, today she lives and works in Istanbul. The moving between places and cultures is reflected in her work. She deals with the noncommittal of national and cultural identities in the face of global networking and geographic flexibility. In the seemingly insignificant, e.g. homemade yoghurt or a randomly said phrase, she detects a sense of belonging and an expression of the innate. Her projects most often are based on the participation of different groups of people, who she brings together through her action. Art serves her as a medium that can establish cultural and social communication and interaction. In Leipzig Dilek Winchester continues her work on the online project Emotional Dictionary wherein she explores the transforming potential of language and its emotional connotation.

i had requested of susanna that she ask armenna to bring in jewelry that she and her students had made to sell (e.g. in THE CLUB restaurant's store) as one of the ways that they earn money while going to university. the pieces were not labeled and i was very happy to learn that i selected a leather necklace designed and made by iness, one of the students who had volunteered to help de-install my exhibit.

image above: i am in the middle showing off my purchases. to my r. is iness, and to my l. is armenna, artist and faculty member who made the leather bracelet that i had just bought.

image above, rimma varzhapetyan (feller) chair, jewish community in armenia(JCA) & scd in jca offices

i went from the open university to the office of "the jewish community", a registered ngo referring to the secular organization within the local jewish community. the link above is a translation of their web site, http://www.jewish.am/. the other organization is affiliated with and run by the chabad, the orthodox synagogue and community projects. [here are two links with info.about the armenian jewish community, i cannot vouch for the editorial content or perspective.]

i sent an e-mail to the chabad rabbi inviting him to visit the gallery to see my exhibit but did not hear back from him. i am not comfortable in an orthodox synagogue with a mechitza (partition to separate the men and the women) and so i did not attend a shabbat service while i was there.

rimma and i had communicated with the help of susanna and then through e-mail using the great (free) but imperfect on line google translator. rimma came to my opening with other members of the community, one of whom spoke a bit of english and a little hebrew. most including rimma speak armenian and russian.

many! members of the community are intermarried. in the JCA office a young woman wearing a cross, and there with her three year old son, whose mother is jewish and lives now in germany and whose brother and grandmother live in israel but whose father feels very christian expressed to me that she feels christian. she also appeared to be close to rimma and absolutely comfortable in the organization's space discussing jewish topics. rimma travels to conferences around the globe and seems to relish her position as spokesperson. arthur topalian has a jewish father, now lives in france and is married to a christian armenian woman but seemed quite at home in the JCA. he spoke some english but unfortunately conversation was very general. the language barriers made it impossible to go into anything in depth. a situation that i came up against often but not always. however i did not feel that topics of a political nature would be something that rimma would particularly want to speak with me about even if we had been able to carry on such a conversation. her organization is funded (MINIMALLY) by the sochnut (the jewish agency in israel) and her public position would of necessity if not of belief be circumspect compared to mine. rimma was gracious and hospitable. we enjoyed armenian coffee and a spread of desserts and spoke about eghegis (the cemetery). rimma was also not shy in sharing with me the need for a sponsor (did i know of anyone in nyc or america?) to purchase office space for the JCA organization and partner in programmatic efforts. funding is an ongoing, difficult challenge.

clearly were i living in yerevan for a prolonged period i would have a better feel for the organization's activities and role in the lives of the members of the jewish community and the region. but the fact that there is a physical presence in addition to the synagogue seems to provide a sense of pride and comfort for the community members who i did meet.

(image above:includes rimma varzhapetyan (feller), chair, JCA, 2nd from left and with cap on arthur topalian, now living in france and married to an armenian christian. arthur's father is jewish)

tuesday evening susanna and i had a delicious and typical (kilikia restaurant) armenian meal -- my first barbecue. while it could be described as touristy with the traditional music played on traditional instruments, i was the only tourist there and the food and service were good. susanna and i had eaten in caucus my first day in yerevan, where the food was very good but the service bad to rude. armenian food is great, especially in the home, and i wanted to leave with the taste of the country fresh in my mouth.

to be continued, including follow-up on the 7 stolen nothers.

july 12. a theft discovered on june 25th

2010-07-12T23:52:00.004+03:00

naregatsi art institute gallery, nothers exhibit
25 june
jerry and roger had been traveling in tbilisi and were not at the opening. they went to the gallery to see the work on friday where i met them. while i had been there everyday i guess i had not inspected the work with an eye toward thievery. they stood under it looking up and asked me to take a photo (above). as i did, jerry gasped. a piece had been cut off and was gone. we all then looked carefully and it turned out that 7 forms had been cut off and taken.

when i told raphael, a staff member, and then levon and nara, they were beyond shocked. in its five year history nothing had ever been taken but a poster lying about on a table. they offered to call the police but in the scheme of life, and with the possibility of identifying and locating the thieves zero, i told them not to.

as the tale was retold i was assured that the theft was a compliment for no one would have taken the pieces had they not thought them worth the risk. but, ...

do stay tuned...

july 8th, ... no.7 - folk museum, the cafejian (?controversial?)

2010-07-08T23:36:00.023+03:00

i think that i have confused some of the dates of when i did/saw what. no matter. everything that i did in the city of yerevan (museums, markets, feasting, ...) happened after the show opened, sometime between june 22nd and june29th.

anthropological, archaeological and cultural art/objects are of great interest to me. i decided to visit the hovhannes sharabeyan museum of folk art. the holdings began as a collection put together by a group of ethnographers and are now known as the armenian folk art museum.

i made my way to abovian street on which one can find the old and the new like this fast food eatery
as i continued my walk to the museum i passed a soviet era wrought iron fence with ornamental work that seemed to me a perfect rendering of soviet imposition on armenian sensibility. the design repeated itself in each section of the fence (as in image below) as one followed the fence up the block.
street/building addresses are confused and confusing in yerevan. they feel very haphazard and often i knew that i was almost there but not quite. and the not quite became very frustrating. streets bend and wind, numbers jump around and the logic behind the system, if there is a system, alluded me. but finally i came upon the museum (image taken from the web)
i was the only visitor and the lights were turned on as i entered a room and turned off when i left the room. as in the parajanov museum i bought a second ticket that permitted me to take photos. the rugs that i saw here were much more tribal in nature than those that i saw in the history museum. many were smaller (throw rug variety) and the designs involved more animals and less purely geometric patterns.
movses had shared with me a book that he keeps in the ceramics studio about armenian salt cellars. today there are available for the tourist trade ceramic pieces that lack the interest and charm of the originals but are supposedly reminiscent in an hand-held size. in the folk art museum are traditional salt cellars that are in excellent condition and are beautifully made and delightfully whimsical. from their size it is clear that they had a place of pride in the armenian home and their role was both functional and decorative.
the museum is small and the last room displayed handwork by youngsters from armenia and turkey. i was not able to make a connection between the work being displayed side by side, perhaps because of my inability to read the armenian text or engage the museum worker (once again an older woman ). and in general signage was sparse.

a new exhibit was also in the process of being hung (to open the following day) that appeared to be canvases with roughly painted landscapes.

a wistful feeling of nostalgia seemed to overlay the gallery spaces.

i left and took a mini bus to the area of the cafejian center for the arts. (yes, once inside i took the escalator, not the stairs, to the top.)
one enters on the ground floor where the only gallery that is open to the public free of charge is located. this gallery currently houses an exhibit of glass pieces, much of it by the american dale chihuly, including an imposing site specific wall piece. the museum shop located behind the exhibit is similar to a MoMa or LA MoCA store in stark opposition to the dimly lit, tiny shop spaces in armenian state-run museums. the young woman in the shop speaks impeccable english and rushed to engage me it conversation. she proudly pointed out items that are the work of young armenian women artists and also that of armenian children (sold to help support the school that these children attend). she was also quite knowledgeable about the items from the cafejian collection exhibited in the galleries above. the items in the shop were expensive, some VERY expensive (e.g., glass pieces created specifically for the store). it is difficult for me to imagine that much is sold as the inventory is so pricey.

cafejian's collection includes the powerful structural glass work of the czech couple stanislav libensky and jaroslava brychtova now on display.

the outside spaces on each tier offer great views of the city and the use traditional armenian jugs (see image below, metal rather than ceramic) in the fountains makes one quite thirsty. there is water to drink on at least one of the out door areas and i was so hot that i decided to drink it, throwing caution to the wind (except there was not a breeze in the air). it was not only wet, it was delicious -- wonderful spring water and as
everyone had told me since my arrival it was perfectly fine for tourists to drink. there are such fountains found all around all sections of the city/country.

i am not sure if it is clearly evident in the image below but chiseled into the pink armenian stone is work that mirrors the traditional delicate, hand filigreed work found on armenian flatware.
an installation piece in a small gallery on the top floor is the sensuous Swarovski Light Socks. installations are unfamiliar to the general armenian viewing public although i am doubtful that even a tiny percentage of the general public not involved in the art world and not among the oligarchy set has been above the ground floor gallery, if that (the outside cascade space however is used by all).
DIVERSION, observations of the economic situation:
from the unscientific poll that i took among armenians of my acquaintance not many had been to the cafejian center for art. this may be because of the entrance fee (money is tight. period. one sees many designer stores in yerevan and young armenians would blend into those walking the streets of any large city around the globe yet the economy -- to use the vernacular -- sucks. unemployment is HIGH. professionals may not be doing the work that they were schooled and/or trained to do. those that are fortunate to be working in their chosen fields are paid paltry sums (e.g. $33/month teaching on the university level).

regardless, individuals and the society is marked by spontaneous generosity: of spirit and of material things. it is clearly a valued part of the culture. (example: susanna hired naver to take me in his taxi to eghegis. when he came to pick me up i grabbed a couple of oranges, a chunk of bread and a bottle of carbonated mineral water that i had in the hostel and took it for the road. but when naver pulled up to a rest stop after driving more than half the distance to eghegis he opened the trunk of his taxi and took out multiple bags filled with bottles of soda and cookies and pastries and candies -- big on sugar not nutrition, but still -- and laid it out for the both of us. the day's work was an opportunity for him to make some money yet on the road he was showing me the same hospitality that i would have experienced in his home.)

back to the cafejian. below is an image of my reflection in a glass door leading out to one of the terraced areas as i was alone and...
and below are images of two pieces (stairs and friends) by the british sculptor lynn chadwick that are among the sculptures in the grassy expanse leading up to the cascade/cafejian.

CONTROVERSY? - while there is pride in the cafejian there is concern as well. members of the armenian art community feel that the work of armenian artists deserves to be considered among the proposals for temporary exhibits, but to date this has not happened. while this may reflect an understanding clarified in the agreement between the armenian government and the cafejian foundation the reasoning behind it is certainly not clear to armenian artists.

to be continued

7 july, back home and, sigh, still catching up (no. 6 - the gallery/the open university/the martirosyan's hospitality

2010-07-08T01:41:00.029+03:00

an anecdotal tidbit from my trip to eghegis that i forgot to share re: wine produced in the village of areni and environs (in the arpa river valley near the borders of iran and turkey)
all along the road there are stands selling large bottles of coca cola and other sodas. however, the liquid in the bottles is actually wine (it is generally reputed not to be of the quality that one finds in the corked & bottled products). this camouflage makes it possible for the iranian truck drivers to take wine with them when they drive back into iran (do we assume that the border guards allow this with a wink or perhaps some baksheesh...)
(i didn't take a photo of the stands and so i thank emily for use of hers above)

back to june 22nd

i continued to spend time in the gallery every day which gave me the opportunity to meet visitors and listen to their questions and comments about the work. on tuesday, june 22nd, visitors included flora keshishian (prof. dept. speech, commun. sciences & theater, st. john's univ, queens, ny) and four of her armenian-australian friends, including a ceramic artist (do australians self identify as do hyphenated americans...???). keshishian's passion seemed to be her drawing and she spoke of the energy to make art that results from her being in armenia. i thought a lot about this as one can imagine that the enervating heat of yerevan could easily stifle creativity (particularly in those not accustomed to the weather). but it is that which is invisible yet is clearly there when here that pushes one to communicate using art as the vehicle the thoughts and feelings running around in one's head.

on the 22nd another visitor to the gallery who i did not personally meet entered a lovely message in my notebook that i want to share:

All the best
All the brest
Love the rest
(Hmajak 22.vi.2010)

24 june

i had been invited to make a presentation of my work to the students of the open university art department. susanna teaches cultural studies to these students. that her course on gender studies is required, in the context of armenian society, is of great significance.

about 15+ students gathered (vacation had already begun, exams were over and most students work at least part time). as i went through my images they expressed surprise at the subject matter of some of my work, although i think that the surprise was probably that social problems that exist in armenia also exist in the u.s.

after the presentations the two students seated on the right of the photo above (they are married to each other) engaged me in very intense conversation about conceptual art, asking what a difference i think my work makes in the scheme of life. they are grappling with this in a very personal way as they are driven to create conceptual work but in fact because of their financial situation they had to drop out of school.

my presentation was followed by fellow acsl artist-in-residence jeri bahm-colombik presenting her individual art work (painting drawing and sculpture) which is quite separate from the work that jerry does in collaboration with roger.
thursday evening june 24th i was invited to have dinner at the home of the martirosyan family.
about a week before the june 21st opening i was walking back to the hostel with a delicious rotisserie chicken in hand for a few days' packed lunches and very late dinners. my cell phone rang and it was a call from a number that had previously registered on the phone as 7 missed calls. i never found out if it was a wrong number or kids having fun with an english (non-armenian) speaker, but as i was attempting to speak with the caller a young woman ran up to me and asked in english if she could help me. this was my introduction to my new friend shushan, a 17 year old artist. shushan's father, the symbolic painter samuel martirosyan (his characterization when i described some of his work as surreal) and her mother rusan attended my opening with shushan. i also met her artist/student brother mikael when i had dinner at their home on the 24th.

samuel's studio is in their home and i was able to see some of the sculpture that he is working on. he has moved into using found objects for his sculptured figures from past work of finely wrought cast bronze pieces. the walls of their home are filled with samuel's work, dark themes peopled with images of family members. mikael favors pastels rather than the oil paint used by his father (perhaps a factor of economics, i didn't ask) but is also autobiographical and dark. shushan who is currently preparing her portfolio for the entrance exam into the academy favors water colors. to me her style is more a reflection of her age but her basic skills are evident.

in addition to discussing art we spoke of the recent years of deprivation in armenia, and how his painting was what enabled samuel to get through those very tough times. the family was incredibly warm and welcoming, embracing me as if our families had a long and storied history.
the feast that rusan had prepared was mouth-watering. once again i had the chance to eat the pride of many armenian cooks: dolmas, accompanied by chicken & roasted potatoes , salads, breads, ... rusan may not be a visual artist but she holds her own in this talented family with her talents as an artist in the kitchen.
the friendships begun in armenia will continue to grow through e-mail and skype and hopefully the future will hold opportunities to re-meet in person both in armenia and here in the states.

to be continued

7 july, back home and yes, still catching up (no. 5, sergei parajanov museum, susanna's dolmas)

2010-07-07T23:13:00.020+03:00

june 23rd (continued)

i changed my mind and decided to walk on mashdots street to find the museum of contemporary art (a.k.a. the museum of modern art) before going to the parajanov museum. i found it (image below taken from the web) locked tight and seemingly empty. when i later told susanna of my disappointment she was very surprised and offered that perhaps they have begun planned renovations (there are many half completed construction sights in yerevan, all stopped because of lack of funding to continue)
i turned back towards the direction of the parajanov and gleefully encountered chickens sunning on the sidewalk:
the sergei parajanov museum is off the main street and the turn is easy to miss (which i did). on the way there i came across a sign that reminded me of two wonderful people, important in my life and in the world of nyc emerging -- and other -- artists. barry (hoggard) and james (wagner), this is for you:
continuing along this narrow, winding road i found the parajanov. the balcony is a part of the museum building.
one enters into a courtyard and is directed into the building. there are two ticket prices, entrance only and permission to take (flashless) photos.
sergei parajanov was an ethnic armenian soviet filmmaker. the building that houses the museum was to be his home (i could easily imagine inhabiting it). his work is wonderfully imaginative, and evidences a robust ego and playful sense of humor. others more familiar with the artist (and renowned film director) can do him and the museum more justice than i so i will cut and paste below text from the armeniapedia.org site* and also include two links for you to visit to familiarize yourself with his work, followed by a few images: sergei parajanov museum and his films

*"The best museum in Yerevan is small and idiosyncratic, the would-be final home of famed Soviet filmmaker Sergei Parajanov (1924-1990). Though an ethnic Armenian (Parajanian), he was born in Tbilisi and spent most of his professional career in Kiev or Tbilisi. He won international fame with "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors" and "The Color of Pomegranates," but his career was crippled by imprisonment (for homosexual liaisons) and denial of resources. Under perestroika, Yerevan claimed him as its own, and built him a lovely house overlooking the Hrazdan gorge in an area of ersatz "ethnographic" buildings on the site of the former Dzoragyugh village (just behind and left of the upscale restaurant "Dzoragyugh," commonly but no longer accurately known as the "Mafia Restaurant" due to a leather-clad clientele, a mysteriously reliable electrical supply during the dark nights of 1993-95, and the occasional use of firearms). Alas, Parajanov died before the house was finished, but it became a lovely museum/memorial that also hosts dinners and receptions to raise funds. Parajanov's visual imagination and subversive humor are represented in a series of compositions from broken glass and found objects. His figurines from prison-issue toilet brushes are proof that a totalitarian, materialist bureaucracy need not prevail. Look for "The Childhood of Genghis Khan" and Fellini's letter thanking him for the pair of socks. [Source: RDA]"
image above: elephant mask,...
image above, bite of the apple
image above, georgian women
image above, irises (collage, including glass)
image above, laundry (bathing day in prison camp) graphic. 1974-77

i left the parajanov to return to the naregatsi to meet with a reporter and went on from there to susanna's home to enjoy an incredible home cooked feast and spend time (not enough time) viewing work of past acsl resident artists, and other work that susanna had curated such as HUMAN DOORS: A Project by Raffie Davtian, an iranian artist currently back in iran.

susanna and i tried to tune into the my 6/22 interview with journalist gohar adamyan of public radio of armenia's "radioart" (i believe FM 107.7) but by the time she found hte frequency we missed most of it. unlike here it seems that public radio is actually a government run station. gohar's questions were quite good but i have no idea what the listening audience heard once it was edited and translated.

image below, susanna cooked up an armenian food fest feast, accompanied by pomegranate wine.

6 july, back home and still catching up (no. 4, national history museum)

2010-07-07T01:49:00.013+03:00

22 june -- guess i am still jet lagged. this should have come before no.3. oh well.
i also may be misremembering the dates. after spending a few hours at the naregatsi gallery that included an opportunity to discuss my work with a reporter from the russian language golos armeni newspaper (voice of armenia) at 4 pm i ran to the history museum of armenia in republic square (the building also houses the national gallery of art, which i did not have the time to see). (image taken from web. for sense of the scale, know that the entrance door is UNDER the white arched area in center of the photo)
this was my first experience of being accompanied (a few steps behind...) by an older woman playing the role of official watcher and responsible for operating the lights. i.e., the lights each room/gallery in every museum (except for the cafejian) were turned on for me as i entered a room and turned off as i left that room. this gesture magnified the harsh economic conditions and the dearth of foreign tourists. it was quite sobering.

the collection of the national history museum is ethnographic, anthropological, archaeological, cultural and historic in nature. the collection is not large but gives one a good sense of old (greater) armenia: its longings, its touchstones. the point of view is quite clear. wall text is in armenian, with some russian and some english text along the way. the museum visitor walks from gallery to gallery following the development the of the roles of christianity, neighboring forces/states, the genocide are accompanied by rugs, national dress, jewelry, lace,... acquainting one with armenia of the 20th century.

i felt that the national character of the country and its people has historically been defined as a national longing. in armenia the tensions between this nostalgia and memories, a push toward seemingly reckless gentrification to attract investors and the push of young armenians coming of age in a melded world dance around and jab at each other, yet the need (as described to me by many within the art and university worlds) by the diaspora for this nostalgia and shared memories remains a force to be reckoned with.

to be continued

6 july, back home and still catching up (no. 3: pak shuka, the food market)

2010-07-05T17:18:00.024+03:00

june 23rd was a much anticipated day, the show was hung and it was my first opportunity to visit yerevan's art museums.

gohar, a smart, spirited art student at the open university, had told me that before all others i must go to the sergei parajanov museum, and she vaguely described where it was located.

public transportation from where i was living on the outskirts of the center of yerevan (the area referred to as bangladesh) into the center of the city was shared mini vans (marshutkas) (following images not taken by me)
there are also taxis, however, in addition to the price differential -- 100 drams or about $.27 u.s. compared to $3.53 including the tip for a taxi --, because more one-on-one communicating was required in taxis if i had the time (a 13 minute taxi ride and a 25 - 40 minute marshutka ride) i took a mini van whenever possible up until 11pm when they stopped running. most of the mini buses comfortably sat 12- 14 paying customers, including 2 in the front seat with the driver (these seats for men only seemed to be the unwritten rule). during rush hour 3 people squished into the seats for two and others stood packed in like sardines -- adept at maintaining their balance from stop to stop in spite of the fact that there was really no place to grab onto. i knew a few of the many routes but was told by one of the teachers in the school below the hostel to take a 123, an unfamiliar route, and get off at pak shuka. one's ability to get off the mini bus resulted from telling the driver as he (all were hes) approached the unmarked stop to stop, which i somehow always managed to do.

as i crossed the street and peered into the door of pak shuka i realized that inadvertently i found myself at THE indoor food market on mashdots avenue (actually a bazaar with individual vendor's "stalls") that was on my list of must visit places and decided to detour.

after being awed by the beauty of the metal work on the entrance door
and walls i entered and realized that i was living an heaven on earth moment.
i refrained from a shopping frenzy because of my planned museum stops but just looking made me very happy.
i walked around taking it all in (as well as being lured to taste the incredible sweet apricot syrup and walnut candy ropes) before i headed out the back door to try and find the parajanov museum.

to be continued

july 12th, at home, still catching up. vernissage (& a recipe); deinstallation of "nothers" exhibit

2010-07-05T05:51:00.033+03:00

my vernissage experience
image above: suren hand carved the implements that you see spread out at his feet.

the naregatsi art institute is located at 16/1 vardanants street which is immediately to the right of vernissage (the large, weekends-only, open market). the gallery was only 2 minutes away should i be called to speak to anyone visiting the gallery while i was wandering among the treasures and trinkets. my exhibit in the naregatsi gallery was to come down saturday evening, june 26th, and so i had the whole day to explore and to purchase some gifts to bring home. i had also looked forward to this day for another reason: another opportunity to eat lahmajoun.

while we were installing the show on the 19th susanna went out to get food for beno, ernest, herself and me. she came back with something that i had not yet tasted, lahmajoun, lahmacun, lahmejun (on this last site scroll down to item dated 03-23-2007 #5, submitted by velochic). the pronunciation sounded to me like la-mah-cho. it is mouth-watering delicious. i was told it was not really armenian, that it was an arab dish. however, after looking around on line for recipes i believe that it may be a dish that became a part of armenian cuisine when armenians lived in what is now turkey and has been integrated into armenian cuisine. the links above go to various recipes. i have not yet made it but i hope to. from images on various web sites the lahmajoun that i ate in yerevan was more sparsely covered with meat than suggested in the on-line recipes (it was my breakfast on saturday as i wandered around exploring vernissage, 6/26).

back to vernissage:
image above of the hardware area, a huge section onto itself
images above and below: among the wares sold by these individuals were flatware with handworked wire filigree in the traditional armenian style.while having a grand time walking around in the baking sun (an aside: yesterday, 7/11, it was 105.8 degrees, hotter than when i was there) enjoying just looking and experiencing, i got a text from sam that the peace corps group was there. and coincidentally i got a call from lala, the group's language instructor. she was at the gallery and asked if i could meet her at naregatsi to speak with her about the installation. i did. we had an interesting conversation as lala (read more on sam's blog) had been the cultural liaison for the peace corps in armenia but i believe due to budget cuts that position is not currently filled. later sam and i sat together at one of the cafes where i met other members of the peace corps group. i was very impressed by sam's ability to converse in armenian after three weeks of intensive (6 hours a day) language instruction and living with an armenian host family.
at 6pm i returned to the gallery to de-install the show with the help of susanna and her open university students who had volunteered to help. all of whom were terrific! and in fact it was ernest's 21st birthday.
image above: naregatsi logo formed from armenian letters
image above: entrance door to naregatsi art institute, stained glass.
image above: i am not sure that n.a.i. actually has a no smoking rule, but this is where the staff members seem to take their smoking breaks.
image above: ernest, susanna, ... taking down the installation
image above: ellen and susanna prepare to pack the pieces
image above: susanna packing up nothers forms, ernest in background.
image above: iness and ellen wrapping nothers for packing

my thank yous and goodbyes to levon, nara and the other members of the naregatsi staff, new friends and future collaborators, would be said next week, before i actually left. but i will jump ahead of myself here to tell you that not only did i manage to get back to the hostel with the 365+ nothers pieces and the mirror, i packed them oh so very carefully in my cow, 9 to a sandwich zip bag, with no room to budge at all, along with the other fragile ceramic pieces from movses (image borrowed on-line)
and when i arrived at the airport to check-in wed. morning, june 30th, the suitcase weighed in at 38 kilos (83.6 pounds). even if one is willing to pay for the overweight airline regulations forbid airline reps from accepting anything over 32 kilos (70.4 pounds). i had nothing to throw out as i had distributed all containers with liquids, books, and even some clothing among friends before i packed. getting the nothers home was my priority. i had been able to pack the mirror piece too, amazingly.

and so i sat there, on the floor, pulling out the zip lock bags and putting them on the scale until it hit the required 6 kilos. i will spare you the details, but know that everything made it back to nyc and all made it home unbroken. surely some sort of miracle, no?

to be continued

july 4th: back home and catching up, no.2 (exhibit opening, 21 june)

2010-07-04T20:47:00.043+03:00

(for larger images click on each image. to return to blog hit back arrow at top of page)

21 June opening

nareg hartounian (of ft. lee, nj), the founder and director of NAI, was unexpectedly in yerevan for my opening. he had flown in for the weekend to pay his respects to the parents of two children in shushi who had been killed in a building collapse. shushi is in nagorno-karabakh, a disputed area not recognized by most governments as the independent state it declared itself to be [e.g., american peace corps members are not allowed to travel to n-k]. i had mentioned earlier that i was planning to travel to shushi with the other acsl resident artists to meet with artists, staff and members of naregatsi's shushi center. unfortunately roger got sick, the trip was postponed indefinitely as we all faced looming deadlines. having gotten our visas we were then not able to make the trip.]
while we were setting up for the 6pm opening reception nareg added an overflowing platter of seasonal apricots and yellow cherries to the armenian areni wine and rice crackers that i had set out. after instructing me that the proper way to eat a ripe apricot is to split it in half at the nut we had an official susan's first bite of an armenian apricot moment. it was amazingly sweet and tasty.

NOTE: many years there are more apricots in armenia than people can consume or process and they sell for 50 drams (currently +/- 370 drams to the dollar) a kilo (2.2 lbs.). however because of problems this year with the crop, the price now is about 800-1000 a kilo.

image above: raj (teaches photography in yerevan schools) and susanna uncork in preparation for the opening.

the reception was well attended and the work was well received on different levels: by some visually, by others what they imagined it was about, and by others what they understood about the work from my remarks & having read the bi-lingual armenian/english brochure text. the opening and my time in the gallery were also opportunities for me to meet local artists who had come to see the work.

image above: (l to r) nancy agabian*, scd, artist marine mirzoyan shushan avagyan* (*of the women oriented women's (WOW) collective ALGA NY)

image above: sculptor heriqnaz galstyan with albert and daughter arpe.

nareg is very plugged into the city, the country, and the people and is very comfortable speaking off-the -cuff. he assumed the role of m.c. and invited me to speak about the work and tom mittnacht, public affairs officer u.s. embassy in armenia, to talk about the embassy's relationship with the eghegis jewish cemetery.

[NOTE: i had put in cold call to mittnacht to ask if the embassy would fund the nothers exhibit brochure. while there was some formality in the process basically mittnacht was positive about supporting the work of an american artist who had been motivated to work in armenia. i did not know that the embassy had funded the 2009 publication JEWS IN ARMENIA: THE MIDDLE AGES, a compilation of papers delivered at a may 2009 symposium sponsored by the NGO, the "jewish community of armenia". it had not been clear to mittnacht that my art work was based on material from the eghegis jewish cemetery excavation site reports (authored by prof. michael stone of the hebrew univ. of jerusalem & archaeologist david amit, jerusalem).

image above: (l. to r.) nareg hartoumian, tom mittnacht, scd, rimma varzhapetyan (feller) president of the "jewish community of armenia" presented scd with a copy of the armenian-, russian, and english-language publication.

dessel with movses avetisyan, master ceramicist in charge of the mkhitar sebastaci educational complex ceramics workshop in bangladesh, his son hayko, and associates garik margaryan and lucciano zaqaryan who most generously gifted the mirror to the aritst for the show's second piece "There can be no difference if there is no sameness", Armenian Merchants in the 17th and Early 18th Centuries, v. baldounian & m. makepease, eds., 1998. image below: artist presented with special NAI ceramic pomegranate (far r., levon eskenian, musical director NAI)

i was asked by the naregatsi art inst. (NAI) staff to to spend a few hours at the gallery each day as it seems some journalists simply pop by thinking that i will be there. while here, there have been gallery visitors as well as media which has given me an opportunity (through verbal and body language communication) for feedback.

there is a definite disconnect over one point, even when i am in dialogue with viewers speaking about the installation. i make it very clear that this work is not about religion. that i used the 6 pointed star of david (armenians seem not to recognize it as a "jewish" star) and the kachkar (cross) to imply the difference between the double-sided forms. however even journalists had a difficult time with the concept of "nothers" and attribute the idea behind the work to god. collecting clips that discuss the work incorrectly has been quite frustrating.

e.g., while this article is thoughtful the lead is absolutely incorrect, the point having been clearly made to the reporter that god is not a part of this conversation: youth on line

there was the journalist (male) who asked me if my intention had been with this work "to bring feminist ideas to armenia". there was no point in trying to explain that i approach everything in life from a feminist perspective, it is simply a part of who i am and of my work.

many take satisfaction from thinking that the work is about motherhood as women's destiny (although university students ask me do you have children while others -- some not much older and generally male -- ask me how many children do you have). artists and others involved in the world of art understand conceptual work while the general public seems to be perplexed and uninterested. when i am at the gallery and able to engage people in conversation (often with the help of a translator) they listen intently and ask questions and are open to what i describe as the responsibility (my belief of course) of those with histories of being labeled "outsiders" to be open and inclusive of OTHERS. but the education system, the wall text in the national history museum (yea! yesterday i got to two museums. finally!) clearly reinforces nationalistic behaviors.

as an artist i can only hope that viewers start a dialogue with themselves and/or others about what they have seen and so at least i feel that with some i have succeeded in this.

artist susan c. dessel and president ACSL art commune artists' residency program susanna gyulamiryan as the evening winds down.

susanna took this shot unbeknownst to me, but i feel that it communicates the very good feelings that i had about the ability of the work to communicate with a new audience.

to be continued

july 4th: back at home and catching up, no.1

2010-06-24T10:35:00.040+03:00

july 4th, back home and catching up
(for larger images click on image. to return to blog hit back arrow at top of page)

13 june 2010 day trip to eghegis -

(above image of scd 45 minutes outside of the village of eghegis)

as the work in my nothers exhibit is based on material from the medieval jewish cemetery in eghegis a bit about my june 13th trip to eghegis. susanna arranged for me to travel to eghegis and the surrounding sites by taxi. naver, the driver -- young, eager, inexperienced, non-english-speaking -- and i managed to find our way to the village of eghegis (in vayots dzor province in the south eastern region of armenia, on the bank of the eghegis river which flows into river arpa ) and went directly to the cemetery.

image above: looking down from the parked taxi to the bridge across the river and up to the cemetery

we cautiously descended down a steep incline in the taxi. naver parked his vehicle and we walked down to the bridge across the rapidly flowing river and up (and up) stone steps until we sighted the brightly painted blue metal cemetery gate. being present within the stone walls of the cemetery gave me a very primeval feeling. only the gate and the flat standing cases with armenian-, russian-, and english-language signage broke the spell of having walked into time past. the site was officially opened to visitors in 2009 after the 2000 - 2003 site excavations. after only a year it is once again overgrown and many of the semi-circular gravestones (dated 1266 - 1396) are covered by thick grasses, weeds, and lovely wild flowers. i had the feeling that there were many more burials than the excavations and now visible gravestones indicated as there was an almost palpable sense of many souls at peace with themselves and their surroundings.

image above: entrance gate to the medieval jewish cemetery, eghegis
image above: when found most of the gravestones were covered with lichen, such as this patch on the stone above. now unseen or undecipherable text on many stones had been destroyed by lichen
image above: (portion of stone wall visible) three gravestones in the eghegis medieval jewish cemetery

images above: examples of a gravestone decorated with still-visible relief sculpture with both jewish and armenian iconography
image above: engraved text in both hebrew and arameic
image above: now i understood why professor stone's driver drives a hummer. with the help of two young men from the village we did manage to get up the incline.

in the cemetery i walked from gravestone to gravestone, placing small stones on each to mark my visit and honor those buried, picked a few wild flowers to dry, and then just sat thinking.

once up the hill we spent the rest of the day driving around the breathtaking landscape

and visited the winery in areni
the 2nd image below is of family members hand labeling the bottles

we then stopped at an army base so that naver could deliver a care package to his "brother" (all young men must serve two years in the armenian army)
our last stop was noravank: the 13th century armenian apostolic church monastery; residence of of orbelian princes and, in the late 13th/early 14th century; and also housed momik, renowned armenian architect, sculptor (*of khachkars, the armenian cross) and a master artist of armenian illuminated manuscripts (link to but one of numerous sites with information about novarank).
to be continued

the show is hung! 21 june 2010

2010-06-21T00:30:00.023+03:00

incredible. the show is up (click on poster image to see larger version).
smokers move outside and under the stairs at naregatsi for their cigarette breaks. in a country where almost everyone smokes everywhere, this was notable.
blown glass entrance door to the naregatsi art institute

the naregatsi art institute is a very active cultural center and the gallery's 4th wall is not enclosed, i.e., facing onto the seating for the musical performances. last night while hanging the installation i was told as the lights were being turned off that there was a 7pm concert. i moved into the office and continued cutting lengths of 12 lb. fishing wire with a young classical pianist performing in the background. while it broke the rhythm of my work it was actually quite lovely.

by 2am i had finished hanging the forms on 6 of the 12 wires each wire across the room short side to short side represents a month.
i had had some help from 4 of susanna's students for a few hours in the afternoon but they each had previous plans so could not stay. beno and ernest had hung the wires from unsecured pipes resting on the type of "L" hook one hangs a plant from in front of a window.
there was an 11:30am concert this morning thus could not begin work until 1pm.
geghecik (one susanna's students and a recent grad who had helped a couple of hours yesterday surprised me by coming in today around 2pm. image below) she stayed until 9pm and her help and problem solving abilities are the reason that i was able to leave tonight around midnight with the show hung.
for a few hours late afternoon we shared the area of the naregatsi with young instrumentalists learning armenian traditional (?folk) music. it was great. in fact
geghecik took video of it as i hung forms but not sure how to get it up on this blog.
the posters are up around town, the bottles of wine bought and movses drove me to the naregatsi with the work yesterday, and in addition to other efforts susanna's facebook page is getting the word out.
image above: nothers poster at the club restaurant, yerevan

i am very excited. below is the brochure (thanks to the support of Thomas Mittnacht, Public Affairs Officer, U.S. Embassy in Armenia). click on each page and then use the magnifying glass icon.
o.k. did not want the opening to happen without giving you and idea of what the exhibit is about. but now, to sleep. and as a very large mosquito has been buzzing around me since i got back to the hostel and i have not been able to kill it i cannot wait to jump under my mosquito-netted bottom bunk bed.

hope to share more with you as the week goes on. please also know that while i have been terrible at responding to e-mail i very much appreciate your writing and the news. and while a blog is totally self serving in that it is but a monologue to talk about what is happening in my life, i do care very much about what is going on in your lives.

later, suzi

june 11-14, about art/armenian perspectives

2010-06-14T22:20:00.018+03:00

6/14 note: i began writing this post on june 11th
we had a huge as in HUGE thunder, lightening, torrential rain storm last night. since then there has been no internet connection out of bangladesh (the so.-west area of yerevan where I am living).

ART, perspectives that I have encountered:

- about a week and a half ago movses’ friend garineh matsaryan -- not sure of spelling -- came by for coffee (the ceramic studio and more specifically movses avetisyan, the young master ceramicist/teacher whose studio it is, is a magnet for numerous drop in visitors throughout each day and evening. more about that another time). garineh is currently teaching at the secondary school and retooling herself as a graphic artist. she is of movses’ parents generation (i think he is in his late 30s). she told me (later confirmed by others) that she was a famous artist during the soviet times. a painter and performance artist, garineh spoke about how times are so difficult now – for all but especially for artists. she told me matter of factly how during soviet times artists were able to live on what they earned ("...much less, but it took much less to live"). it was impossible to determine if she was speaking wistfully she was so matter-of-fact. she did not address the issue of what kind of art she was expected to create then and able to create now.

unlike grigori, the administrator of the fine arts college i had previously mentioned, my impression was that garineh seemed exhausted: a reluctant teacher and more concerned with the economics of her situation than with the freedom of creativity.

-- last monday in gyumri we (the current ACSL artists-in-residence) were privileged to make presentations of our work to the art institute students who rarely have opportunities to meet with working artists. they packed the room (and waited for us patiently as we were late to get there –time in armenia seems to be an inexact concept – and then eat (service in restaurants is still being honed. individual’s orders are not synchronized. food is brought to the table haphazardly and it appears the kitchen staff and servers assume that the diners have plenty of again time. a remnant of soviet times?)

roger presented in english and russian (I keep forgetting to ask him why, as it is clear that those in their 20s do not know russian, although the school director did and the art historian might). his and jerry’s presentation included a lot of text around the art of intervention. this presented a challenge for susanna (who is very well-versed/teaches cultural studies and theory at the open university) to translate quickly and basically for students to whom this is entirely new material. asheer akram and i presented our work, installations and sculpture, that challenged the students as well as the work presented unfamiliar perspectives on social and political issues. The most energetic reaction from the students was to a piece of asheer’s created for a group exhibit “war and religion" the crescent of islam (pg.14, item L68-161). he explained that this was not meant as opinion but as something to think about, an explanation they seemed reluctant to accept.

the art historian (field of concentration 20^th century art) initiated a conversation with me after the session. she wanted me to understand that armenians do not accept art as a way to think about societal problems but she hopes that changes.

unfortunately we did not have the opportunity to see the students’ art. we spent an hour walking around the old part of the city – the charm and interest of the architecture along with larger soviet-era structures still evident -- that had been severely impacted by the 1988 earthquake. It appears that it individual structures are now being repaired and renovated by people who can afford to do so and the area will slowly become an upscale gentrified section of the city.

gentrification in yerevan is the art as intervention issue that roger, jerry and their team of three open university students: gohan, vahe and david, are working on with local grass-roots activists who as it happened had hung an SOS sign from their building. the issue is the paltry sum that was paid to the former inhabitants of center city buildings who were forced to move so that high rise buildings could be (were) built. The former residents could not, of course, afford to purchase apartments where they had formerly lived. the current residents in this building on north street are afraid that

the same thing is about to happen to them. their building is the only old building that remains standing on what is now a pedestrian mall. the rest of the street is filled with built but basically empty or partially completed luxury buildings that it had been thought diaspora armenians would purchase. the ground floor storefronts are either very! expensive boutiques recognizable throughout the western world or are empty. - back in Yerevan, still about art

i had a good, very interesting meeting with seda stepanyan, a smart editor/reporter for the (now web site, formerly print weekly) ARMENIAN REPORTER, having contacted them before I left the states and delighted that seda then contacted me soon after my arrival. after the interview seda wanted to show me a piece of public art – a sculpture of the composer arno babayanian (1921-1983) – that had caused a scandal in the municipality and to this day is a great annoyance for many. seda described the soviet influenced sculptures that dot the city as states where one head can be cut off and replaced with another and it will make no difference. the very large statue distorts the composer’s facial features, hands and fingers. he is sitting at an elongated piano where the heavy marble almost seems weightless as floats above the ground, rsting on one fat leg. it is a wonderful piece. a piece that emotes and allows the viewer to go beyond the media and into the heart and mind of the composer and his music. The head of the municipality and the members of the art committee held their ground and did not remove the piece but time will demonstrate the impact of the public uproar on future commissions for public art.
i am interested to see the work that will be shown in the september 2010 gyumri biennial. there is clearly a small cadre of artists in

armenia

plugged into the global community of contemporary artists in spite of a reluctant public audience. but whether this remains a mostly underground movement is not clear.

once my show is hung I will have the opportunity to visit the museums and galleries and develop a greater awareness of contemporary art taking its place among the traditional, modern and folk art that becomes accustomed to seeing throughout armenia.

i did have an opportunity today to stop by the open university. i took a photo of susanna sitting beneath a piece by one of the current students. and with that image i will end this posting.

continuing at last, monday night, 7 june 2010

2010-06-07T20:27:00.008+03:00

hello! since last i wrote i have basically been at work 12 hour days in the ceramic studio. YEA!*!* for yesterday, sunday, i reached my goal of making 400 multiples for my installation.

there is still much work to be done, but now it feels doable. the first 200 have been fired, and if dry the rest will be fired this thursday evening.

great news to share: last monday, may 31st, i took half a day away from the studio to meet susanna at the naregatsi art institute. she had arranged an appointment with levon eskenian, director of musical programs and also responsible for bringing visual art opportunities to the members of the visual arts committee. naregatsi is a terrific space that presents very interesting cultural programming. recently susanna and levon collaborated to present ACSL artist in residence, italian/swiss composer willy merz, in a discussion about and a short program of new music. the naregatsi center's programming to date has leaned heavily towards the presentation of traditional material and art and this foot into contemporary music generated a lot of interest and was very well received.

it appears that my exhibit will be the naregatsi gallery's first exhibit of conceptual art/installation art. this new work is a visual interpretation based on:
- the material from the excavation site reports (professor michael stone of hebrew university, jerusalem) of the medieval jewish cemetery "discovered" in eghegis, armenia (1999) and research that i did on medieval jewish communities (particularly women and children)
- the fact that armenians have been the OTHER in the diaspora and the issue of relationships with (& attitudes about) the OTHER in armenia today.

the installation, titled "nothers", comfortably fits the sensibility of the venue. for as stated on their web site, it is the nageratsi institute's belief that "the arts reflect the past, enrich the present, and imagine the future".

today we visited the art institute in gyumri (more on this later) and tomorrow it is back to sanding. thursday and friday we are off to the disputed area of nagorno-karabakh (yes, we got our visas) hosted by the nageratsi art institute shushi branch, and sunday i will visit the site in eghegis.

begun sunday, 30 may 2010, to be continued.

2010-05-30T06:47:00.006+03:00

yesterday morning on my way to the studio (a 5 minute walk) when i passed the FOOD MARKET one of the saleswomen was cutting flowers in the little garden in front of the store. last night when i stopped in to purchase items for today's lunch and dinner i saw vases and jars with the flowers positioned throughout the store. when i was at the fruit & vegetable counter (each section of the store is run like a stall: you pay for your purchases as you get them) i remarked to the woman (using sign language, english, a stab at an armenian word) how beautiful the rose was. she immediately grabbed it, wrapped the stem and handed it to me. i am still smiling.

when i bought apricot jam my first day here i thought the brand name so appropriate. last night i went into the hostel kitchen to find a container for the rose there was an empty jar waiting for me. i hope you can read the label.

there is a lot to share but time to post right now is impacted by my 12 hour studio days as i attempt to finish the first stage of a ceramic-based installation piece.
thus this is going to be in bits and pieces and not in chronological order.

yesterday i worked it the studio alone, as on the weekend movses takes his wares to vernissage to earn additional income. the radio is always on YEREVAN FM and the song list includes many repeats of songs such as DON'T WORRY, BE HAPPY, STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT,... i changed the station for the day to what was reminiscent to me of arabic tunes. when movses' friend proceeded him into the studio last night (a man who i had not yet met) he said barev (hello), looked at the radio, and asked turkish? then you like it. i shook my head yes and gestured that it was o.k. to change the channel. then movses walked in, listened to what was on he radio and walked over and changed the station.

this suggested to me a need for a cultural exchange program between armenian and turkish artists in a neutral location...

must now run to the studio to be let in before movses is off to vernissage. later,...

thursday, 27 may 2010

2010-05-27T06:41:00.005+03:00

ACSL residents jerry bahm-colombik and roger colombik have arrived (hailing from texas, they first stopped in romania). funded for their acsl residency by artlink their work is art as intervention. susanna organized a meeting for them with her students and they have now formed a team to work together to create art dealing with gentrification and the impact of such actions on life in yerevan.

(jerry also makes a great guacamole). later,...

tuesday morning, 26 may 2010

2010-05-26T07:02:00.005+03:00

i am working in clay -- making many multiples for an installation. clay is very process oriented and on a schedule outside of my own, e.g. once a piece is made it must dry slowly in order to be fired. and the klin must then be available for me to fire my work. i arrive at the studio when it opens at 10am and am there until 10:30pm. this does not allow time right now to explore my neighborhood, the center of the city or sites outside of yerevan. when the initial work is done the next steps in my process will give me greater flexibility with time.

sunday i was to meet movses to let me into the studio at 9:30 as he was coming by just to collect his own work to sell at vernesage market. there was a small glitch. i was locked in. it seems that once the evening security guard leaves sunday mornings the door is locked until his return sunday night. i knew about the need to call (susanna to call the hostel manager as there is a language barrier) to get in before 8pm but did not realize that i woudl not be able to get out without making arrangements beforehand. thus, taking a page from asheer's bag of anecdotes i had not choice but to jump out of the window if i was going to make it to the studio in time to be let in so that i could spend the day at work. attached is an image of a door and windows. my escape was made through the 2nd window to the right (your right) of the door. the one with the ledge. nifty, huh?

but, i made it to meet movses at the studio on time.

must run. more anon.

oops! 5/22

2010-05-22T15:57:00.006+03:00

i was not finished nor had i edited my post when i obviously touched some button inadvertently and the screen disappeared and the posting was up. sorry. i will finish quickly. after a lot of walking around trying to get oriented (those of you who know me understand the challenge that poses as i am directionally challenged) we had a delicious meal at caucasus. favored by artists, among others, the food is armenian and georgian (reminiscent of middle eastern cuisine) and was delicious and inexpensive in comparison to american (*nyc) restaurants. the waitress, who was sweet but not great at her job, obliged us by taking the image above as is the photo of asheer scoping out the art college for a potential location for his sculpture.

when we left the restaurant it started to pour after two days of sunshine. susanna put me into a nyc subway-like packed mini bus and told the driver where to let me off. i hoped for the best and the driver did advise me of my stop. i went food shopping in the very up-to-the-minute "food market" yes, there is a huge sign reading FOOD MARKET (the next day i returned with dictionary in hand) where earlier in the day i had been to a local deli-like place around the corner from the hostel. then i headed home.

yesterday i spent the day working in the ceramic studio. everyone was lovely and sign language worked but as the studio filled up with adult students throughout the day as well as some high school kids i was sorry that i was not able to share in the conversation. the music however, a radio not CDs, was totally familiar all day: from aretha franklin, to charles aznavour, to american and brazilian music from the 1950s through the 90s.

my work progressed slowly but i look forward to getting into a faster, if not frantic, rhythm tomorrow (today movses was unavailable to open the studio up so i am catching up on a lot and soon hope to head out to explore the business center of this area which is a bit of a walk but appeared to be open stalls when i rode past in the mini-van.)

so for now and probably a while, hello and goodbye from yerevan. scd

yerevan, 22 may 2010

2010-05-22T13:46:00.007+03:00

it is saturday afternoon, 5/22, in yerevan (local time is 9 hours ahead of EST). i left nyc jfk last tuesday evening, breakfasted in cdg, paris, stepped off of my 2nd flight in yerevan wednesday night.

susanna gyulamiryan, the incredible, high-energy organizer of the ACSL residency program, was there to greet me. thanks to months of e-mail correspondence we felt as if we knew each other and there was an immediate connection.

we traveled by taxi to the Mkhitar Sebastaci Educational Complex where i am living in the hostel (used by teachers taking courses here throughout the year) as is asheer akram, a kansas city, mo. artist, and also a recipient of a liaep grant, a project of the kansas city artists coalition. the hostel is in south-west yerevan. the area was nick-named bangladesh when it was being built in a formerly uninhabited area of the city because it was considered far from the town center. there were also four kindergarten directors staying here this past week who introduced me to delicious local pastries the evening of my arrival.

asheer and i each have a private room that generally houses up to 4 with 2 bunk beds, closet, table, chair and small book case. the common space includes a large screen t.v. (with local programming), sofa, dining table, a small kitchen and a bathroom area with the usual plus a brand new front-loading washing machine. my first shower was a bit nippy but on wed. asheer showed me the trick of adjusting the water heater and the hot water now flows.

due to my work schedule and desire for flexibility i am preparing my own food. but thursday, my first morning here, i went down to eat breakfast in the primary school co-located in this building. i was greeted by at least a hundred primary school children and their teachers beginning their day singing folk tunes and dancing circle dances. it was wonderful, and the cheese and bread and sinful cheese pastry delicious although the nescafe (which i now realize is the caffeinated norm) did not measure up.

time and timing here are a bit more relaxed than in the states but best to realize that on day one. the afternoon began with susanna, asheer and i walking taking the 5 minute walk to the secondary school complex across the main thoroughfare to the ceramic workshop (with a first stop in asheer's basement welding space) where ceramic master movses avetisyyan offered me a table for my work and tour, including my introduction to gunchar, a huge, old wonderful pooch who makes the workshop his home. movses and i communicate with the help of an armenian/english dictionary but his hospitality is clear. the whole complex is under renovation -- or was, lack of available financing seems to stopped everything in mid-air -- still the set-up is amazing for a high school although just as smoking seems to be a national trait, work in the clay studio gives no heed to dust masks (i brought my own) or other health considerations. movses, who made two of the 3 electric kilns (no gas) i think through cannibalization, is an artist who also sells his work on the weekends at the large vernesage outdoor market.

we then walked over to the fine arts college dept of art, directed by artist grigor khatchatryan. asheer was scoping out (see image) possible locations for the large steel sculpture he is making and we then returned to grigor's office for more nescafe and an overview of his art work. grigor introduced contemporary art in armenia through his work in the late 1980s (think marina abramovic with a sense of irony and humor). (a link to an introduction to contemporary art in armenia) contemporary art and theory. susanna taught the first courses here, at the open university, on feminist art and gender theory (she still teaches this curriculum) but traditional work and approaches still appear to be the norm.

asheer returned to work and susanna and i hopped a mini-bus (shared van) into the town center. she helped me conduct a bit of banking business and we walked over to a possible location for my exhibit, the naregatsi art institute. a violin performance was being recorded by t.v. in the entrance lobby thus we will return next week. the space appeared to be lovely, and located close to republic square this organization serves armenian culture past, present and future.

8 days TO DO....

2010-05-11T01:04:00.007+03:00

i'm in nyc. it's may 10th and i leave for armenia on the 18th, whether or not all items on my TO DO list are indeed done.

i have not yet begun packing but (see photo) have brought home some tools from my studio to take along with me to armenia.

i am very excited (to say the least). susanna gyulamiryan of art and cultural studies laboratory (acsl photos and acsl information) and janet simpson of kcac have been terrific to work with from afar. and professor michael stone (armeniologist, the hebrew university of jerusalem, and poet) has been incredibly generous to me, an artist who simply happened across his work on line.

i am very fortunate to have this opportunity and i look forward to sharing some of the experience with you in the coming weeks. stay tuned...