august

finally finished composing and hammering the remaining text of page 7 today (of the Book of Hope). now for the layers of paint and points. more pics in the Hammered Nail Pieces set.

feels good to work on....though it's a slow process with this particular series because what I choose to write feels so important. so often I was halting for a week or so...in order to try to decide what specific statements/hopes should go in this 'year'/page. with the weaves or puja/prayer pieces it's somewhat easier because each nail is a thought/prayer and there are so many that it feels looser , more able to include many things.
anyway, now out on the deck, layers of white paint building up, softening the edges of the nails....

Garbage, dumps and communities in transition

just finished reading Gone Tomorrow: The Hidden Life of Garbage

oddly fascinating history of our changing arrangements with the abundance of debris we create as a species...from ragpickers to incinerators, to islands made of landfill, to exporting of garbage, to subcultures of recyclers, etc.
Highy recommended overview.

In other news, my beloved Omidyar.net community is closing down:( so a lot of the groups are transitioning to other online spaces....recently I joined up on the new beta site Razoo.com to keep connections with many of them including the Peace Tiles Project and Amoration and Anti Human Trafficking, etc. Will also open a 10%club group there. Happy to find a group completely devoted to Trash Dump Communities so quickly joined it, contributing some things to the wiki and days later am already corresponding with an inspiring young woman who is working with art and the kids at Center for Children's Happiness in Cambodia(!)(the center I've been donating to and am so drawn to). I'm telling you, everyone is so CLOSE if you move in a direction that moves you.

Lars (of Peace Tiles) shares the fascination/calling to somehow do something with/for these communities...started a blog called craftcycle.net and we were discussing how to possibly link recycle crafter/designers here in the states with income generating projects in the dump communities...

ideas and participants welcome