Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Kurt in NZ


Hey Everyone!

Sorry that it has been so long!  However lots of stuff have happened since I last wrote you all but I will save the people whom have ADD like myself and summarize to the best of my abilities,  Oooo something shiny! :)

Since the last time that you heard me, Emily had 2 weeks of school holidays between terms.  During that time we took a road trip around the North Island in "The Beast".  We first went to Napier, the Art Deco City of the world where we were able to see all the Art Deco architecture, I met an old anagama wood fire potter named Bruce Martin, and traveled through the area's wine country!  Next we drove up to Taupo, which is on the northern coast of Lake Taupo and looks directly across to the snow caps of Mt. Ruapehu.  We took a boat tour of the lake and got see the Maori Carvings that it is so famous for.  Then we drove up to Waitomo to see the glowworm caves and all the stalactites and stalagmites formations.  It was awesome in the Glowworm cave, it felt like you were laying on your back staring at millions of stars only they were bugs and were only a few feet away!!  Then we started to Hamilton only we were certain we were lost on the curviest road know to man, this was the "short route" that added another 2 hours to the trip and at one point led us to the middle of a paddock (pasture).  But we survived with a few drops of petrol left and made it to Hamilton, visited the community clay center, more on this later, and headed off to the Coromandel.  The Land of the Beaches!  Gorgeous area around the coast, sand beaches, Barry Brickell's Driving Creek Railway and Pottery Studio!  I almost Forgot the hot water beach!  After several days in the Coromandel Paradise we headed to Auckland, we had dinner with my friend Joe, also known as Foof, and his lovely lady, which might have been the highlight of the trip!  Also we had intended to go to the All Blacks vs South Africa test match but.....didn't, it's a story.  We almost missed our flight! but then flew down to the northern tip of the south island, famous for is Marlborough wines, and spent the next four days with our host families' parents who were wonderful.  We took a ferry and visited Wellington for one of the days, drove to Nelson, the home of pottery for another day, and walked part of world famous Queen Charlotte's Track which is part of the Marlborough Sounds and is distinctly gorgeous!  And that wraps up the 2 week holidays so back to Whakatane!

Emily had 2 weeks left of student teaching and this was the home stretch.  I on the other hand took this opportunity to dive head first into my last course, online, for UND and my undergrad degree!!!  I was also able to go snowboarding on Mt. Ruapehu with some mates which AWESOME!!!  The mountain is New Zealand only dessert therefore no trees, oh yeah, Its also an  ACTIVE VOLCANO, as recent as 5 years ago :)  During this time I also found out that I was accepted as a resident artist at the Waikato Society of Potters in Hamilton for up to 6 months.  Emily looked for jobs in NZ and had little luck.  

Well, we said our good byes to all of our friends in Whakatane and headed off to spend our last few days together in Tauranga.  We climbed Mt Maunganui, a no dormant volcano, hung out at the beach, and enjoyed a few relaxing days.  We drove to Auckland and got to airport early this time.  Eventually it was time for her to go and I dare say their must have been a stiff breeze that activated the tear ducts.  

Well, for the past nearly 2 weeks now I have been settling in to my new home of Hamilton, been to my new studio, which will be my home away from home for the next only 4 months.  Also I am staying with a lovely family the Henry's, which I work in their garden, and do some landscaping, feed the chicken, etc in exchange I have a bed and food, pretty sweet deal!  It's called Wwoof'ing, search it, wwoof, its worldwide and quite fantastic.  Oh yeah, they built their house  3 years ago and it is the only straw bale house in the city and surrounding area, its actually quite warm compared to most of the NZ houses

That is all for now, you will here from me soon!

Cheers,

Kurt


Friday, December 11, 2009

Almost Home!

I have to say that i am very sorry and i know that it has been too long and most of you won't get this because you probably have stop checking.  We have been traveling the past week and just before we left was hectic to say the least.  We went to Xi'an first for 5 days, it was absolutely crazy, and busy and wonderful all wrapped up in one.  We got to see the Terracotta Soldiers/Army, Talk about mind numbing, wow! 
 
We are currently in Beijing, yesterday we went to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, it was huge and we spent close to 7 hours walking around checking everything, wild to say the least.  Today we got back from the GREAT WALL, (notice how its capitalized) it was absolutely beyond anything i have ever experienced.  In a word PHENOMONAL! (if i am spelling that correctly).  3 1/2 days from I will be home from the greatest adventure of my life to date.  Thanks everyone for following and checking up on me.  Hopefully within a week or two I will have posted the photos from our last travels.  Its been really good love all you lots and to quote Ron Burgundy "Stay Classy" !!!
 
Signing off from China
Kurt


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Sunday, November 29, 2009

11-27-09 Rest and Recuperation

Today was a day of rest, a day of recuperation, and a day of relaxation and naps.  I felt quite fantastic to do absolutely nothing, the whole being sleepy and tired the whole day wasn't all that its cracked up to be however.  Tonight our current visiting artist, Melissa Mencini, gave an artist presentation at the Pottery Workshop, so we went to that, Tap Beer place, and home.

Happy Rest and Recuperation Day!

Kurt

 



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11-26-09 Turkey Day in China

How do you make spending 3months away from friends and family more enjoyable?  Bring a little piece of home to wherever you are.  Thanksgiving Day in China, we decided to make a huge day of it and cook tons of food, and we did it well!  I was part of the group that made the bread. We had to use a kiln to make the bread because they don't have ovens, it make for a pretty awesome sight.  Man did we eat and drink like kings tonight.  To finish of the night we had a friend whom we know give an artist lecture that was really good as well, which I also video taped and recommend you bother me to watch it.  Everything for this Turkey Day was wonderful and one to truly remember.  Oh yeah, we also played a little backyard football, which was great

HAPPY TURKEY DAY!

Kurt



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Thanksgiving Fiesta


Thanksgiving Fiesta
Originally uploaded by napoleondd86

Happiness


Heaven
Originally uploaded by napoleondd86

Oh master of kungfu and Bread!


I GIVE YOU BREAD!!!!!!


Food!
Originally uploaded by napoleondd86

The Bread Crew in Action


11-24-09 Franz and Big Vase Factories

Today we went to the Franz Factory and the Big Vase Factory which was completely mind blowing.  First the big vase factory which was amazing, all of the pots everywhere, giants and fields of them.  The kiln room was beyond ridiculous, the one kiln was 20 feet tall, it blew my mind.

Next we went to this place called the Franz Factory which is the ridiculously huge factory where they make all of these really "froo froo" ceramic works, I can't do it just with words and they wouldn't let me video tape it but we did sneak some photos.  Phenomenal to say the least.

Holla atcha all

Kurt



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The Franz


Franz
Originally uploaded by napoleondd86

Huge, just one of many buildings


Huge
Originally uploaded by napoleondd86

Just one Lady's Station


Assembly lineage


Assembly lineage
Originally uploaded by napoleondd86

TOO MANY POTS AAAAAHHH!!!!


To decorate on Scaffolding


I think i shrunk here


I think i shrunk here
Originally uploaded by napoleondd86

Rows upon Rows


Rows upon Rows
Originally uploaded by napoleondd86

11-23-09 JCI Faculty and Student shows

Today after language and culture class in the morning we went to the international office and there were two big exhibitions of work in two different galleries.  One was a student show that was a mix of undergraduate and graduate works, some really talented people for sure.  The second was a faculty show, there were easily a couple hundred pieces of work in the show, it was pretty fantastic for sure.

Hooray for art!

Kurt



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Faculty Work


Faculty Work
Originally uploaded by napoleondd86

Student Work


Student Work
Originally uploaded by napoleondd86

More Faculty work


More Faculty work
Originally uploaded by napoleondd86

11-22-09 Sanbao, Gaoling Mt., and more

Sunday nov 22

 

Today was a great day, me and Tom decided that it was a good idea to wake up late to go on a group field trip, OOPS!  Anyway we went to Mt. Gaoling which I had visited once before but there is always something that you miss.  We got to see this Millenium Tree (it really is a thousand years old) It is ginormous!  That, as well as this little village was really fun. 

Then we went to Sanbao for lunch and visited the workshop there.  It was really fun to see and there was a group of artists from Britain, US, Australia, a group of 10 or so people.  There was one of the men doing raku and it was really interesting to see all of the people, mainly Chinese, huddled around this kiln, and super excited because none of them have ever seen anything close to it.  All in all it was another really awesome day!

Later

Kurt



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At Sanbao Studio Raku firing


In Sanbao Raku firing
Originally uploaded by napoleondd86

1000 Year Old Tree


1000 Year Old Tree
Originally uploaded by napoleondd86

Jeremy Zen of Nature


Jeremy Zen of Nature
Originally uploaded by napoleondd86

Monday, November 23, 2009

11-21-09 Takeshi's Lecture and shelves

Today was a pretty tame but really great day except for the fact that a small group of us ended up cleaning and grinding all of the shelves, that was supposed to be a group project.  Such is life, i think we are all happy that its done.  This evening we went to Takeshi Yasuda's artist lecture/demonstration which was really great.  Remind me and i have the entire thing on video, its more than worth your time as an artist or idea creater.  It was a really good night and to the weekend we go.
Create something great!
Kurt


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Sunday, November 22, 2009

3 Person Motorcycle taxi


THE SUN!!!!


THE SUN!!!!
Originally uploaded by napoleondd86

Grinding Shelves


Grinding Shelves
Originally uploaded by napoleondd86

Maybe storm troopers?


Maybe storm troopers?
Originally uploaded by napoleondd86

New Hats


New Hats
Originally uploaded by napoleondd86

Continued from Downtown....

Today we went downtown to visit some of the little antique porcelain markets and then took a motorcycle taxi, which i video'd the entire thing.  We found this old poster shop that had all of these old communist propoganda posters.  Then we got to see this lotus pond that is located downtown and it is super beautiful. 

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11-20-09 Trip to Downtown and work late

Today we had class again because its a Friday and we had to all bundle up super warm and layered in clothes.  It was a good day and that evening I decided to try and get motivated and make some pots, I did, but to do so we have to boil water to put in our throwing water, to make it warm. 
Holla from China
Kurt
 


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Poster shop


Poster shop
Originally uploaded by napoleondd86

Downtown Jingdezhen


Downtown Jingdezhen
Originally uploaded by napoleondd86

Lotus Lake Downtown


Lotus Lake Downtown
Originally uploaded by napoleondd86

Class all bundled up


Class all bundled up
Originally uploaded by napoleondd86

11-19-09 Bread and Warmth

So it has been very very cold of late and so we have been very unproductive of late consequently because we have been instead just trying to keep warm.   Dan decided to be awesome and bake some real bread which was super delicious.  Then Jufang and him gave a slide talk about their work and about this awesome arts community Rochester Folk Arts Guild also www.rfag.org you should check it out.
check ya later
Kurt


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Trying to stay warm


Trying to stay warm
Originally uploaded by napoleondd86

Bread


Bread
Originally uploaded by napoleondd86

Home cooked break, thanks Dan


Slide talks


Slide talks
Originally uploaded by napoleondd86

11-17 to 11-18-09 Gallery 1 Exhibition

So pretty much all of tuesday was spent preparing for the gallery exhibition that we had courtesy of Li Chao, who made it all happen, at Gallery 1 in downtown Jingdezhen.  It was really great to be able to see everyone's work in the gallery, everything looked fantastic. 
 
Wednesday we played football for an hour or so and bumbled around the studio for the early part of the afternoon and went downtown to try and find some clothes for me.  Then it was the opening a th Gallery, everything was really good, I know that everyone was quite happy with how all things turned out. 
Out like a light
Kurt 


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Everyone


Everyone Gallery 1
Originally uploaded by napoleondd86

Pimpin'



Originally uploaded by napoleondd86

My Cups in Gallery


My Cups in Gallery
Originally uploaded by napoleondd86

Gallery 1


Gallery 1
Originally uploaded by napoleondd86

11-16-09 Birthday in China

Monday we went to this porcelain museum to be the "American Tourists" (i want to heavily emphasize the quotation marks) they literally just took film with us standing around pretending to listen to their tour guide.  It was interesting for sure.  Then we found Gallery 1 which is the gallery which we are going to have a show and checked it out, it looks awesome and i know we are very excited.
 
It Just so happens that today is also my birthday, it came a little earlier this year as we are some 14 ahead :) We went to the tea house for some tea and then we went to the place where they have tap beer, its fantastic, and had more than our share of beers, and made some new friends. 
Holla
Kurt


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Brithday Night


Brithday Night
Originally uploaded by napoleondd86

People we met at Tap Beer place


Birthday Night
Originally uploaded by napoleondd86

11-15-09 Sunday Wood Kiln Unload

Well here it is what you all are waiting for, unload and photos of course.  I believe the exact quote that someone said was "it looks like a poop grenade exploded and hit all the pots" (i have that on video)  Actually we ended up having quite a few nice pots come out of the firing although different than we had hoped for.  With the lower temperature firing many of the glazes didn't fully mature but all in all I think it was ok.  Peace and Loves
Kurt


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Anticipation


Anticipation
Originally uploaded by napoleondd86

Poop Bomb


Poop Bomb
Originally uploaded by napoleondd86

Unload


Unload
Originally uploaded by napoleondd86