Linocuts

Recently, I made a reduction linocut print to donate to Visual Aids: Post Cards from the Edge. Visual Aids solicits artists to donate a 4×6″ (postcard-sized) piece of two-dimensional artwork of any medium; a show goes up with all of the postcards; there is a big party where people are fancy and look at all of the little artworks (no artists names are shown, though they’re written on the back, because nobodies like yours truly submit stuff alongside other well-known artists); people buy the artworks. Money from party admissions and art sales goes to benefit Visual Aids, an arts organization that, amongst other things, organizes art exhibitions/shows/etcs that seek to keep alive a message that “AIDS is not over.” While the social and political urgency that was propagated by activist and community outreach groups like ACT UP, Gran Fury, and the GMHC in the 1980s and early 1990s seems to have cooled, there are still AIDS-related issues (social, political, medical) that unfairly punish HIV+ individuals for their status.

One issue I wanted to bring up in my piece was that of immigration and HIV status; and, I’ve always been impressed and inspired by the tactics and blunt approach of the aforementioned organizations in regards to HIV/AIDS issues–so, this is what’s guided me in my project.

In 1987, the US initiated a travel ban on individuals with HIV+ status. It’s lasted 22 years, and the US has been one of only seven countries worldwide to hold such a ban. This ban has remained, despite its evident inconsistencies with other US-based HIV/AIDS prevention initiatives, and the general public health practices.

I made seven different proofs; I'll be sending in one of them. Also pictured is the linoleum tile from which I carved. (The whole thing looks better if you click on it.)

A ban like this doesn’t make sense for many reasons, so it’s excellent news that former President Bush and President Obama have made strides to end it (so that, you know, ideally, immigrants wishing to come to the US for political asylum won’t be put in jail based on their HIV status, etc.).  In writing, the ban has been lifted as of the end of October, but this doesn’t go into effect until January or after.

I know that, in some ways, the message in what I made seems like a moot point given these recent events. It’s my intent to argue just the opposite: not everyone’s lives can be put on hold an extra three months. Wasn’t 22 years enough? Oh, government.

I crack myself up.

Untitled.

What I’ve been up to.

For those of you who I have yet to tell:

a) I’m coming back to the US on July 29.
b) I’m taking a silkscreening workshop in my hometown for the following three days! yes!
c) I have been accepted into an artist’s residency at the Flux Factory, to begin sometime in or after September.

lyon

lyon. this is what you see if you enter into alleyways leading to outside courtyards and stairwells that lead to homes/apartments: cemented-in wells that are, apparently, from the times when the romans were in charge of things.

"the pink tower", lyon

roman ampitheater

church art

nyon pool, in nyon switzerland. it's right on lac leman/lake geneva. and it is awesome.

i swam in it. super cold, but super novel to be swimming in a lake from which you can see the tallest mountain in europe.

Mountain air is so good!

I went on a family vacation to Leukerbad, Switzerland last weekend. It’s a small ski resort town high up in the Alps, and in the summer, it’s good for hiking, sightseeing, and swimming in the community thermal baths. I can confidently say I made an excellent choice in opting for this trip. I am really into the mountains.

Pictures!

my hotel

Leukerbad, Switzerland. View from a hike up a closed trail. I was scared of being caught and then yelled at in German.

the place is OLD.

I really liked this flag.

the town.

i know.

These trails are suspended by rods that go into the crumbling cliffs. nice.

walkway on the left.

While not the best picture in the world, I feel obligated to post this because I might have died while trying to take it.

Pretty tough.

town still

On the way back from the vacation, we stopped to visit some family friends at their little rental getaway place in an even more remote mountain town. The drive was scary. The views were worth it. Also there were really cute cows with big big bells. Verbier, Switzerland:

OLD.

on a mountain.

Remarkably appropriate.

Watching the final scene of Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, SW & PC are riding off to his castle after, literally, no verbal exchange post-kiss and her subsequent awakening. Four-year old J is on my lap.

J: Elizabeth?

Me: Yes J?

J: Snow White… she knows that man?

I guess I’ve decided that I don’t like blogging about myself.

Sorry everyone. I have some pictures for you though: a trip to Baum-les-Messieurs, France. And an adventure in transplanting.

this is how you know it's time to transplant

What we* saw.

I went for my longest bikeride of 2009 this past Saturday. I rode through some small towns, some country roads, and then to a road that runs along Lake Geneva/Lac Leman and into Geneva’s Botanical Gardens. It was sunny and beautiful and breezy. I really love biking here. Problem: I like taking pictures ALMOST as much as I like biking. It’s a hard balance because I can’t really do them both at the same time–at least not with this camera.

Just imagine zooming down hills towards a lake and some mountains with lots of yellow rushing by with some whimsical song like “Rainbow Connection” playing in your head. Pretty nice. Before the end of the summer I want to ride the perimeter of Lake Geneva. I think I could do it in 2 full days of biking. We’ll see.

wisteria!

there are fields and fields of these yellow flowers. i don't know if they're just a pretty rotation crop or if there's a vegetable/grain in there somewhere, but they are NEON and they are WONDERFUL.

groove is in the heart!

in the botanical gardens

a greenhouse at the botanical gardens

*me and my bicycle

Spring is my favorite season.

Possibilities and certainties:

1. Vacation did me really well. I’m refreshed.

2. Vacation did the kids well. They’re refreshed.

3. Suddenly I’m so awesome at everything I do. I guess it took some time for us all to get to know one another and work with one another because there’s a big difference between my first arrival and my first (big) return.

4. Suddenly all of my favorite methods of interacting with children are working–I’ve broken them in! Is there a fuss or a tantrum brewing? Are you hungry? Do we need to make a compromise about your bath tonight? Does someone not want to share her candy? Did someone stick her tongue out at you, which (of COURSE) made you really, really mad!?
Don’t worry; I’ve got it. Actually, I’ve always had it.

5. Suddenly it’s spring. And spring is my favorite season.

I am putting away my travel bag, which feels a little nice.

I had a really great vacation. All in all, I was moving about (lots of moving about!), visiting some dear people (never enough of you, and never long enough time with any of you), and/or exploring new places for twenty days straight (Divonne to Paris, New York, Philadelphia, Annapolis, New York, Paris and back to Divonne). It was so nice to get away and be responsible only for myself (ie: not working!) and allowed a lot of time and space to do whatever it was I wanted.

Given that the purpose of this blog is to update friends and family on my doings and travels, it seems silly to state this four months into it, but I just want to say that traveling, being a tourist, and vacationing are still foreign-feeling to me–and I definitely have hesitations/confusing thoughts about these things, which, at times, makes me an awkward and unsure traveler/vacationer/tourist. I am constantly thinking about how privileged I am to be doing some of these things. I don’t even know where to start reconciling that and am unsure if I even could.

Oof, keeping that in mind, let’s move on. So I find myself staying a week in Paris under the best and most economical of circumstances. In terms of Paris, there’s a whole lot of history there, and the apartment where I was staying had about 10 different pocket travel guides with tons of suggested things to see and do: sights, monuments, museums, foot paths, shopping, restaurants, bars, nightlife, markets, “top ten best places to make out,” etc, etc. It’s a little overwhelming and I tried to get out and see some things that I had always heard about since my very first French classes/World History classes, but also was confused, because it’s not like I would cross an ocean just to see and take pictures of Notre Dame or the Eiffel Tower (and tell me, who actually likes being around swarms of tourists?).

More appealing to me (and probably harder to do, often) would be to stay in a place (like Paris) long enough to take these things (and everything else about it) for granted. I don’t want to feel like I need to go “do things” in order to experience a new place. I want to go for a walk/an errand/(or, sure, go to a museum because I’m in a mood to go to a museum and am very interested in the exhibition), and happen upon all of these other things (parks/sights/cafés, whatever) nonchalantly, have them be apart of my normal landscape wherein they come to mean something to me. Otherwise, traveling to a place (like Sacre Coeur), hanging out/walking around and learning a little about it, and then leaving, possibly to never see or think about it much again, makes me feel terribly out of touch. I feel like I’m not appreciating it enough, treating it like it’s a chore to cross off a list or else letting its entertainment/interest-value wash over me and then end like a half-hour sitcom. In simple terms: I want to visit all of these things and places over a long, long period, and then have them become a real part of my life over some time. That would be my ideal “tourism,” but also that starts to sound a lot like living in the said vacation spot.

From my Paris pictures, you can get an idea of what I did and saw. What you won’t see are probably my two favorite parts of my Paris vacation.

1) My few conversations with Parisians and French tourists. I don’t always understand it all, but where I don’t, I can ask people to speak in simpler language, and I always come out of the experience having learned something. And I get this feeling of giddy pride that I just exchanged ideas with a stranger in another language. After a week and a half in the US, I was a little worried that my French studies were falling by the wayside, but my time in Paris quickly changed that.

2) Taking Paris for granted.
a) I slept in a lot of days, which is highly unusual for me (think waking up, on average, between 11:30 and 2pm for about 5 out or 7 days) but was also fantastic because traveling and time changes really killed me, and it was great to readjust on my own terms.
b) In general, I walked around a lot: around neighborhoods, around and to sights, etc. On my last day, I was tired of walking, so I went to a park I hadn’t yet been to, and just ate lunch there and read a little, wrote a little, sat a lot. I left the nagging tourism books at the apartment and just let Paris be, which was lovely.

The only unpleasant thing to report about Paris that the apartment’s water heater wasn’t working. You can be sure that by the end of the week I was smelling like a Parisian stereotype.

Anyway: some more pictures of things I’ve seen over these past few weeks.

ragtime piano music stuffs in new york

the hudson river

mom and dad! annapolis, maryland

for your jetson's-themed wedding. paris

from the inside courtyard of the Louvre (museum). i didn't go into the museum.

in the Jardin des Tuileries (near Louvre)

antique car show in the garden, paris

same garden/park, paris

this is something i wanted to do, but didn't get around to: napping on the seine.

i think you can understand why it's popular

standard fare