Wednesday 23 September 2009

Don't Miss Today

The gravel, the stone and the marble

I did miss yesterday, this I admit, but I was away. Away from the studio as i was undertaking alternative employment and i was away from my head for a little while, enjoying a birthday treat to myself.

One of the bigger jobs we have been working on in the studio has pretty much been signed off, just a bit more liaising witht he printer and then the wait to see if the printed material comes out as we had hoped, and it is all done. This will be a relief. Then we have a week or so of the other job we have been working on alongside the other and there is a bit of clear water in sight. It has been an exciting, at times stressful but always enlightening experience working on two larger scale jobs simultaneously, whilst still trying to keep the daily jobs of our independent working and personal lives and the studio in check.

I have very recently started again with my other work that i do alongside my work in the studio. During term times I note take for disabled students at the University of Leeds. Apart from the fact it is really great to meet people with whom i would rarely get the opportunity to mix with and be around the occasionally inspiring, sometimes infuriating atmosphere of a lively university, I get to learn a lot. It also consciously makes you view things, or at least attempt to view things, from a very different perspective. Something which really is paramount to making accessible and inclusive design work and also interesting and more rounded and informed artwork. I don't think it is worth feeling bad about the fact that we as the majority of able bodied people do not regularly take in to account the occasionally greater needs of others, it is just important that once in a while we put ourselves in the shoes of others. Being aware of when, perhaps, we could offer a little help, move something out of the way or notice something that could exclude some and try to reverse this. Alongside this great benefit I get to sit on a whole range of lectures and seminars that show how vast the extent of knowledge is in a large education establishment. For instance yesterday i learned that a meat based diet can use seven times more resources such as land, water and food that a healthy vegetarian diet. And that just in 40 years the human population will rise by 50% and in some places by 100%. This factor alongside rising temperatures and seas, the trend that as more cultures become developed they turn from a vegetable based to meat based diet and the rise in the use of land for the growth of bio-fuels amounts to the worrying prediction that we will simply not have the land or resources to feed the world's population in just around 50 years. Scary but certainly inspiring and hopefully mobilising.

I have been trying to fill myself with inspiration and knowledge. I have been reading, slowly drawing, cycling, collecting treasures, watching films and finding some space for my thoughts. I had an Indian head massage yesterday which relaxed the hell out of me. I am beginning an exciting zine/mixtape project with Jaakko Pallasvuo and Matt Moroz. I am getting inspired by the work of Ilya Kabokov, perplexed by the films of the French Nouvelle Vague (particularly this), reading Dave Eggers incredibly humane and humble account of the life of Valentino Achak Deng and making plans for the future.






























































A HOPI ELDER SPEAKS

"You have been telling the people that this is the Eleventh Hour.
Now you must go back and tell the people that this is the
Hour. And there are things to be considered...

1) Where are you living?
2) What are you doing?
3) What are your relationships?
4) Are you in right relation?
5) Where is your water?
6) Know your garden.
7) It is time to speak your Truth.
8) Create your community.
9) Be good to each other.
10) And do not look outside
yourself for the leader."

Then he clasped his hands together, smiled, and said,"This could be a good time! There is a river flowing now very fast. It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid. They will try to hold on to the shore. They will feel they are being torn apart and will suffer greatly.

Know the river has its destination. The elders say we must let go of the shore, push off into the middle of the river, keep our eyes open, and our heads above the water.

And I say, see who is in there with you and celebrate. At this time in history, we are to take nothing personally. Least of all, ourselves. For the moment that we do, our spiritual growth and journey comes to a halt.

The time of the lone wolf is over. Gather yourselves! Banish the word struggle from your attitude and your vocabulary. All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration.

We are the ones we've been waiting for."



I wrote a song:
The gravel, the stone and the marble

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