Entries from torn journal pages -- 2007-2008
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Notes to self on the power of gesture in works of art:
Traces of human interaction are more powerful and emotionally potent than the direct encounters which made/left them.
Objects left behind often feel more real than those which can be perceived and touched in the present.
Memory and nostalgia are most effective as an artistic device when they are inconspicuous.
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Some nautical terms to remember:
Wing on Wing
Full and By – sailing into the wind. getting on w/ the job but w/out stress; moving into the wind, relaxed.
Close Haul
Beam Reach – widest distance across the boat
Chafing the Shrouds
Broad Reach
Hauling Out the Main Sail
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"Life is a She Wolf: You never know when, instead of suckling, she may decide to eat you." -- AM
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5 comments:
Some whale boat terms to remember:
Mincing horse
Leaning knife
Bible leaf
Boat spade.
Made me laugh. Nice.
Traces of human interaction are more powerful and emotionally potent than the direct encounters which made/left them.
Objects left behind often feel more real than those which can be perceived and touched in the present.
So true. Port Arthur in Tasmania was a penal colony dating back to the early 19th century. Many of the buildings & prisons remain upstanding to some degree(mostly sandstone), a few remain fully intact although most of the buildings are half or nearly-fully decomposed or destroyed. It's now a major tourist destination and also the scene where a gunman killed 35 people in April 1996.
Looking at your post it makes me realise that Port Arthur is now...'art', like an installation piece. The effect it had on me was palpable, I was just overcome. I visited in July 2005, it was sunny and fresh and cold and it is situated on the most glorious harbour surrounded by lush green hills - it's such a stunning vista and it's unfathomable as to how such a harsh colony could be constructed in such a beautiful place. The thing is...you feel it when you're there, you feel the souls of the convicts and what has come before as your wondering around the old prisons and builidings and you read all the tourist inscriptions etc, and.... juxtaposed to that stunning, fresh vista of Port Arthur....I was just blown away...
Apologies if I'm raving but your quote reminded me of this. I can't wait to go back now and get blown away again.
xo
Thanks for sharing your experience, Ross! That's exactly what I'm talking about!
In the woods I often feel the "traces" left behind. Trees seem to hold so much memory. The events they've witnessed often shape them. Quite literally. They gesture toward one another in slow, slow embrace or hunch against the wind. Gesture, the vocabulary of action.
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