Month: September 2011

TRACES. THREADS. SURFACES.

A three day group show featuring the works of Carlo Abruzzese (paintings), Donald Fortescue (sculpture), Rod Henmi (drawings), Barbara Holmes (installation), Sandra Kelch (works on paper) and Gabriel Russo (assemblages).

If you weren’t able to come out to the aWay station at the Headlands then this is your chance to see some developments from that work.

As well as some great new work by some of my dear friends and esteemed fellow artists.

Drop by! Say hi!

A.Muse Gallery, 614 Alabama St. (nr. 18th), 2nd floor. San Francisco.
Friday – Sunday, September 30 – October 2nd, 11am – 6pm daily.

Post-Headlands post – The Headlands Worriers

“He’s whittlin’ on a piece of wood.

I’ve gotta feeling, when he stops whittlin’,

Something’s gonna happen!”

Cheyenne – Once Upon a Time in the West – Sergio Leone 

The Headlands Worriers jammin’

A great group of people came out and spent time with me in the aWay station in August. Friends, colleagues, fellow artists in residence, headlands staff and interns. People from Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Canada, England and all over the US.  

A total of  50 whittlings were made by more than 40 people (and three dogs!). Some spent 2-3 hours in the aWay station, some spent days!

I’ve am building an archive of all the whittles on the aWay station page which you can get to by clicking the link at the top of the page or from any aWay station post by clicking on the first mention of the aWay station.

If your piece is incorrectly cited please let me know. All the pieces are now en-route back to their creators – dispersed across the globe.

Thank you everyone!!

Whittling: The Last Class by John Stone

What has been written
about whittling
is not true

most of it

It is the discovery
that keeps
the fingers moving

not idleness

but the knife looking for
the right plane
that will let the secret out

Whittling is no pastime

he says
who has been whittling
in spare minutes at the wood

of his life for forty years

Three rules he thinks
have helped
Make small cuts

In this way

you may be able to stop before
what was to be an arm
has to be something else

Always whittle away from yourself

and toward something.
For God’s sake
and your own
know when to stop

Whittling is the best example
I know of what most
may happen when

least expected

bad or good
Hurry before
angina comes like a pair of pliers

over your left shoulder

There is plenty of wood
for everyone
and you

Go ahead now

May you find
in the waiting wood
rough unspoken

what is true

or
nearly true
or

true enough.

“Whittling: The Last Class” by John Stone, from Music from Apartment 8. © Louisiana State University Press, 2004.

Thanks to both Lawrence and Emma-Louise for forwarding this on to me.