Fallen Sputnik

segment of a note to Roland

2005-05-07T11:28:00.000-07:00

Roland...

You asked about what approach I'd like to take with my design. I think aside from using materials in unique ways and using less traditional forms, I’d like to play more with my observations of culture and the environment and express it through design (more specifically in show installations). I’ve always been fascinated by ecology and the natural processes that go on. For example, a woodland area that we may perceive to be relatively (or ideally) unchanged for hundreds of years, evolves as the elements and species interact with it. This could be as simple as a tree falling over, an insect introduction or a forest fire. Each represents a single change that causes a chain reaction potentially manipulating the local landscape and ecosystem on variable scales. Often these changes encourage diversity of the system and as a result fortify it in some way. This, more simply put, is the chaos of nature at work. This chaos is also the fear and fascination that drives western cultures views on the environment. Traditionally as a culture we have fought against these processes and tried to make our environment as stable as possible for reasons of stabilizing our species on this planet. I’ll leave it up to others to decide for themselves if this is a good thing or not.

So how will this be reflected in my designs? One idea I’ve toyed around with is designing gardens that embrace changes, ether by inviting the processes of nature to interact upon it or by mechanically mimicking naturally occurring changes. I was thinking of a garden specify for the Reford festival that would consist of two layers sculptural of forms; one encapsulating the other. The outer form would be composed of a soft and malleable material that is prone to quick erosion. As it erodes over time (through wind and rain) it would reveal the inner sculpture. Thus nature dictates the changes and in a way designs the garden.

cough, cough...hack!

2005-04-28T09:11:00.000-07:00

I'm sick. I think all the late nights at work, house parties, rain days and taking care of sick friends has finally caught up with me. It's that nasty cold thats going around. Hopefully It'll be gone by the first sunny day that comes this way.

So far the garden research is starting to come along. I've found my first common element that seems to instantly capture the attention of judges. However I'm going to save sharing that insite for my next posting (isn't the suspense going to kill you?) This time I think I'm going to show you the type of work I'm currently doing so you can get a better idea about the jump I'd like to make. (note: the site will be up and down a bit over the week - its under construction) The work our office produces is quaint, quite pretty and almost 'cheerleader' perfect but as you may sense, I'm looking for something different out of my work.

Enjoy! - I'm off to grab some tea

The week-end at last

2005-04-22T09:37:00.000-07:00

I can't tell you how happy I am that the week-end is here. Things at the office were pretty crazy. It seemed that not only had business was picked up with the sudden burst of spring weather but that a band of Gremlins had decided to call our office "home". They ravaged the place all this week leaving a trail of sputtering computers and malfunctioning printers behind them. All of course at the zenneth of a rather important deadline. Years ago I vowed to never embrace technology to closely. Technology is always unreliable and if you grow dependent on it, you'll get burned. It's weeks like this where I think..geeze! that vow needs to be realized. I think this week-end I will try and turn my back on the technology that I superficially rely on the most . It'll probably be my computer. I'm constantly checking email and going on chatlines. I'm going to try and go off of it for 48 hours. Anyone else want to join me in a Neo-luddite oath?

A Goal

2005-04-18T09:43:00.001-07:00

As some of you may know, I 've been feeling kind of trapped in my job these days. It's been a cause of drama in my life for the past two years and finally I'm on the road to doing something about it. I've met a series of goals to change my situation and things are feeling a lot better. One goal, however is a little daunting and will take a lot of effort to achieve. It is to finally go out on my own and work on a project under my own name. I've though about this for a long time and have searched for a possible project to work on. I've finally settled on submitting some work for the garden festival at Reford Gardens

This is where Canadians get to stretch their imaginations when it comes to the world of the landscape. It's a wonderfully avant-garde festival where creativity runs around naked and shamelessly. So during the next few months I'll toss up some postings on here to show my progression towards this goal. This will help solidify my thoughts and force me to get things moving. So here's my promise:

I promise to explore current avant garde trends in the world over and find out what really gets the judges salivating. After that, I'll spend one month knocking around concepts for my submission to the festival.

If anyone wants to help me on my research, please feel free to submit comments or interesting nuggets that you might find applicable. Wish me luck gang...And be sure to ride my ass if I don't come up with the goods.

Some Questions Answered

2005-04-11T08:55:00.000-07:00

A little while ago Jodi had tossed a few questions my way as part of a fun blog interview game. The rules of the game were as follows:

1. Leave a comment saying interview me.
2. I will respond by asking you five questions here. They will be different questions than the ones below.
3. You will update YOUR blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions

I ( being...Well the type of guy I am ) had thought that even though I didn't have a blog at the time, I should still be able join in the fun. I asked to be interviewed and sure enough the response was...Get yourself a blog and then you can play. Well look at the new blog on the block.

Here are the questions that Jodi proposed:

Q1. Did you ever finish those purple socks, or did you frog them? Did you keep the yarn? Have you done any more knitting, or did my bad teaching, and the fact that I neglected to tell you that that yarn on that size needles would make huge giant socks that would fit over your head, put you off knitting forever?

A1. Ya, I finished one of them...Does that count? It was way too freakin big to wear but would have been perfect for hanging on the mantle for Christmas. After a good laugh at the semi-finished project, I tucked it away in some box somewhere that has long since disappeared. Every once in a while I do have to urge to pick up the needles again but so far that keeps sliding back on the list of things to do. Who knows...Maybe I should work on some scarves for next winter. Can you teach me how to do one of those?

2. What's wrong with naming cats after ABBA anyway? Don't you think maybe you contributed to little Agnetha's psychosis by changing her name to Pandora?

A2: Actually I think I probably saved her from having more psychosis than she already does. Could you imagine the teasing from all the other cats in the nieghbourhood? I think she suits the name Pandora. Its more of a diva name...and no one can deny she has a lot of diva in her.

3. What sort of plants native to my area would you recommend for a rock garden made out of 5-pin bowling balls, assuming that there's not room for a lot of soil between balls? Keep in mind that our front yard is very small, maybe 25 by about 12 feet. (see, I'm not above using this game to satisfy my own nefarious ends)

A3. That's a tough one. Assuming you have a lot of sun I'd go with things like Oenothera (Mexican Sundrops), Opuntia huifusa ( Prickly Pear Cactus) Eryngium yuccifolia (Rattlesnake Master) and Antennaria dioica (Pussy Toes). If you ask me...I think you should just send me a drawing of your existing conditions and I'll design a planting plan for you.

4. What one person in the world would you most like to shag, that you've never shagged before?

Q4.Hmm...shag eh? I'm going to give you two names and its not that I can't commit to just one person but rather to assert that fact that although I like guys, I still dig chicks now and then. The Shag-girl would be Uma Thurman. Not just because it would been fun to shout out her name, but because she's got a fun, sexy attitude and a damn fine ass. For the shag-guy...I'd say Johnny Depp. He's nerdy and hot at the same time. Most of my friends would love to shag him as well so it would be extra fun for me to rub the fact that I slept with this shag-star.

5. When are you coming to Windsor?

Q5. Geeze...the million dollar question. I'll have to get back to you. Lets make the deal that I come down once this summer and you come up here once before you take off to Georgia. How does that sound?

A New Distraction

2005-04-10T18:33:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the gentle shove of my good friend Jodi, I now have the motivation to start a blog. Jodi was kind enough to challenge me and it is only because it's her that set me up to do this, that I've decided to rise to the occasion. Her blog has been a constant source of amusement (and well needed distraction) and has become a daily staple in my life. I read it...love it...and now that she looks at me to get one going, I am compelled to try and give back a little something in return. Yes, I'm not as entertaining as Jodi. I can't knit, I can't make glorious prints and I can barely figure out how this blog works. Despite these shortcomings there is one saving grace I can lean on. It is the law of this phenomena of "reality" based entertainments. The law states that It doesn't matter if you have an interesting life or not but as long as you show up, you can have an audience.

That aside, I'll try and not rely on this safety net too much. I'll do my best to represent myself, my thoughts, my daily dilemmas, my good fortunes as best I can and with luck, you may enjoy them.

Thanks Jodi, I'll give this a shot.