Studio Ruthe

Pittsburgh is Beautiful in Spring

Everywhere you look the trees are blooming and there are lots of spring flowers. Here is a tree bursting out from a tiny patch of dirt between two buildings on a street with blocks of nothing but buildings.

I took this on the way to the oral surgeon. I am better, but not good. This is my sixth day of the antibiotic. My past experience has always been that two days brought great improvement. I had only a little after three days. He thinks he should remove the implant and that will clear up the infection. Then we'll try again. I hate to do it, but I'll probably go along with that. Nasty, nasty.

For some time now, I have thought about making portraits of trees. Here is my first one: in my backyard, the shadow cast by the tree in the next yard.

Japan Itinerary and a volcano

I've been trying to plan my trip. On the second day I thought I would go to Mito, in Ibaraki to see one of the three noted gardens, which has a plum blossom festival in March. It can be a day trip from Tokyo.

Then I thought about getting on the train the next day and going to Kagoshima, at the bottom of Kyushu. Both places are supposed to be warm, which is what's tempting me. Yesterday morning I was greeted with the news of a volcano erupting in Kagoshima. It's a Mt. St. Helens type volcano, so lots of ash, no lava. Evidently ash has covered an area 5 km. around the volcano, and scientists expect the eruptions to continue for a year.

I hadn't planned to go to the volcano, but to several places nearby. I guess this will have to be a last minute decision.

One dream, big plans

The sun rose at 7:44 this morning. The radio began talking to me at 6:59. I hate getting up in the dark, so I didn't. The radio told me it was 22 degrees out and wasn't likely to get warmer. I burrowed deeper into the covers and went back to sleep. The radio stopped talking to me at 7:59. I had a vivid dream about Marcia, a long-time friend who finally pushed the boundaries of friendship too far, and whom I haven't seen for seven or eight years. In that time, I moved to Pittsburgh and her studio in Chicago was emptied and sold. I don't know what happened to her; sometimes it makes me very sad. It's hard to lose a friend, even when the friendship had become onerous.

On a happier note: I am planning my next trip to Japan. I will leave Pittsburgh on March 22 and return on May 7. Six weeks ought to be long enough to satisfy my Japanese garden obsession, I hope.

Finally -- THE PAPER

I was determined to have it posted before the end of the year, so, I'm feeling very pleased with myself. I made the first round of revisions, suggested by Steve, and I'm much happier with what I've done. I really needed his help. You can download the paper, as a PDF file under my picture in the sidebar.  Or, you can see it online at a new blog I've started on Wordpress. Visit it here. I'll be using that blog from time to time and let you know about it here.

Exercise--body and mind

I just returned from the second half of my exercise program. When I went yesterday I started to get a twinge in that bad muscle as I got halfway through the treadmill portion. I managed 10 minutes on the rowing machine then did my upper body exercises and went home. I didn't want another three days of limping. Today I finished the treadmill, the elliptical and the leg machine exercises. Wednesday I'll go back to the whole routine.

Steve read my paper yesterday and made some really helpful suggestions, so I've spent most of the day making revisions. I just have a little more to do, but this is my low time of day so it may not get done until tomorrow morning.

Here is a picture of the finished folded book, along with a detail. I don't love it, but I love the idea. I'll try again.

I curled the end papers, capped them with empty silkworm cocoons, fastened them down with bone beads and glued feathers over the scroll shape. Cocoons and feathers were supplied at the workshop. The workshop teacher did some elaborate embellishments, but I guess I'm more into form.

Phipps Conservatory

Phipps is one of my favorite places in Pittsburgh, second only to the tunnel under the convention center. They are open until 10 at night every night this month (Christmas excepted, I think). Last night Robin, Steve, Charna and I went to see what it looked like. We were charmed. I took a few pictures, but I want to return, alone for better picture taking, at dusk. I'd like a little outside light with all the other lights.

Some of the areas were a little spooky. There weren't many other people and it was very quiet. Here is a staghorn fern. (I think it would benefit from a little adjusting in Photoshop. Maybe tomorrow.)

This huge tree is amazingly beautiful. My photo doesn't do it justice.

Most of the rooms had holiday displays; this one is entirely devoted to the holiday.

With just a little Pittsburgh kitsch. That's a melting snowman in front of the plastic flamingos.

You can take an online tour of Phipps here, and read about their trip to India to prepare for the next tropical forest exhibit. 

Term paper, Folded books and a gigapixel conference

Yes, Mage, it was a very busy week. While I was in New York last summer, I heard about an exhibition of artist books to be held at MOMA's PS1 on November 5 and 6. I planned to go, but finally decided I didn't have the time. Instead, I signed up for two book-making workshops here. One of them took place on the past two Wednesday evenings and was about folding and  embellishing books. Here is my folded book, not yet embellished. I work slowly.

This book was particularly satisfying to fold. It was a text from a class I took while I was working on that master's degree on corporate communication. I wanted to sell the book back to the school bookstore, but they would only give me $1 so I kept it.

I began the week working on my term paper. We were each supposed to give a ten minute talk about our projects. I spent Sunday, Monday and Tuesday morning trying to figure out exactly what I would say. I wasn't even sure I would be called on, but I wanted to be prepared. Being an auditor is an uncertain life. We only got through about half of the class last week and I will be called on Tuesday. I'll append my notes at the bottom of this post.

I alternated work on the term paper with work on the poster for the gigapan conference. David kept finding typos and adjustments; I kept making the changes. The conference took place Thursday evening, Friday and Saturday. I am amazed at all the uses for gigapixel imagery--showing detail in microscopic images and detail in huge panoramas. You can see the papers here and some of the gigapans from the conference here. I think they will also post the talks. Tomorrow I am supposed to begin work on the new gigapan we shot last month (along with the term paper and Thanksgiving preparations). Here are David and Simram, another member of our team, in front of our poster.

I continued going to my Osher classes, along with all of this, and on Thursday, managed to get in another quick walk in Frick Park.

The weather has been cooler, but still sunny and most of the trees still have their leaves.

Needless to say, my house looks like it's been trashed. So I'm off to the club to exercise, then back here to clean.

Notes for term paper presentation

In fall, 2008, I was in Japan looking at gardens for more than a month. Most of the gardens were in Kyoto, but I traveled to Tokyo, Nikko, Kanazawa, Nagoya, and Okayama. Most Japanese gardens use the same elements, yet each one is unique; each one has its own design and arrangement of space; most have great appeal for me, a few left me wondering why I had bothered to come to them. Allowing for some days of fatigue and the fact that winter was nearing, I still did not understand why some of those gardens had little appeal for me. This paper is an attempt to examine the elements of a Japanese garden to determine what made the difference.

I will look at two types of gardens: those viewed from within a room or a veranda, and scroll gardens, which promote interactive viewing, each few steps presenting a different view, much like walking through a museum and stopping to examine and appreciate each picture.

The elements of a Japanese garden are greenery, water, rocks, stone lanterns and bridges. Design of a garden is governed by use of space, illusion/shakkei or captured scenery, management of vegetation and growth, and an invocation of famous places, usually in spirit or in some abstract fashion.

I will consider how each of the elements is used in a garden and some of the history of that use, beginning with rocks, which are considered the most important element by the Sakutei, the eleventh century gardening manual. Further, I will show how the use of space and illusion intensify the experience of the connection with nature for the occupants of the house.

Painters, particularly emaki painters, designed many early gardens, creating a “conceived” work of art that combines a gardener’s sense of composition with the idea of scenery “borrowed” from nature. To view the garden from within a house is very much like viewing a scroll painting. To walk through a stroll garden each new view could be another part of the scroll. I did my best to frame each of these views within the viewfinder of my camera.

In addition to a general consideration of the Japanese garden, I propose to examine Kenroku-en in Kanazawa, Koraku-en in Okayama, Sankien in Yokohama and Shirotori in Nagoya and two gardens meant to be viewed from within a building, Chishakuin and  Nanzen-in, in Kyoto, using maps and my own photographs for reference.

In conclusion, I propose to illustrate how the use of space in each garden made a difference to my feelings about it.

 

Working on my term paper

I struggled for two weeks to restate the goal of my project, following the  professor's comments. I sort of knew what I wanted, but I didn't know where I was going with it. Finally turned in this statement:

Japanese Gardens are the subject of poetry; poems are created and read in gardens. They appear as backgrounds in scroll paintings, and emaki painters designed many of the earliest gardens. Japanese gardens grew out of reverence for nature, but trees and plantings are shaped to conform to a Japanese ideal of nature, making gardens a true art form. In some, the viewer can appreciate the scene from a special place, a frame, in others the viewer can be more interactive, he or she can enter and stroll along, each few steps presenting a different view, much like walking through a museum and stopping to examine and appreciate each picture.

 Rocks, water, stone lanterns and decorative bridges, sometimes a tea house, and plants are the elements of a Japanese garden. In addition, the two concepts: illusion/shakkei or captured scenery, and replication of famous places, are often used to organize the garden space. I will explore the use of those elements and ideas to create aesthetically pleasing spaces. Then, using maps and photographs I propose to examine Kenroku-en in Kanazawa, Koraku-en in Okayama, and Shirotori in Nagoya and two gardens meant to be viewed from within a building, Chishakuin and  Nanzen-in, to determine what constitutes an aesthetically pleasing space for me.

Now I have to begin writing the paper. I have several free hours after my Osher music class this morning, then lunch, then just missed the bus so walked a mile or so instead of just waiting for the next one. Of course, a cup of tea was necessary as soon as I got home. Listened to phone messages. The Republicans have the wrong number for someone. Opened Word. Did you know National Geographic has jigsaw puzzles you can play with on line? Last night was a reception for a Gigapan exhibit David arranged in the US Steel lobby. If you zoom in on the right side you can see Ivetta's head, my back and Qing, one of my ESL students. Because the camera keeps moving, if the person moves, only part of her will show up.

Only an hour before I have to leave. Guess I better start writing.

Rearranging my life

I'm staging my own private rebellion this morning. I was supposed to go to the African food class; went back to bed instead. This is the second of this term's classes I've bailed on. My tolerance for nonsense gets shorter and shorter. The problem is finding replacements. I don't want to sit home in front of the computer. I do too much of that already. I'm still turned on by the Japanese art history; still doing the reading. I've decided to write a final paper this semester--about Japanese gardens, of course. Then I can put it in my book.

A one paragraph statement about our final project is due today. Here is my statement:

I walk through a Japanese Garden in much the same way I walk through a museum, each few steps showing me a new view or picture to examine and appreciate. Some gardens give me more pleasure, I return to them over and over. Others don't hold the same enchantment. I look for magic in a garden, just as I look for magic in a work of art. That's the only way I can define it. Most Japanese gardens have the same elements: greenery, water, rocks, stone lanterns; yet they seem to be able to come up with infinite variations. Clearly, some are more successful than others. Some don't begin to be interesting. I propose to examine three or four stroll gardens, considered to be among the most beautiful in Japan, in terms of their use of space (mapping), illusion (shakkei or captured scenery), management of vegetation and growth, replication of famous places.

This is an opportunity to explore why I liked some gardens and not others. I am delighted with the serendipity.

Labor day labors

It's been a beautiful weekend, the best one all summer--sunshine, cool breezes. I walked about a mile on Saturday, then two and a half on Sunday. This morning I went back to my health club to work out. Rehab was closed, so you can tell how dedicated I am. Unfortunately, my afib kicked in; I was wiped out all afternoon, never got out to another beautiful day. I feel better this evening after taking a long nap. 

I'm so inspired by the Japanese art class I printed out all the readings and I'm slogging my way through them. Most of it is way over my head. I vaguely remember something about Hegel from college, but never read any Foucault or the other two guys. The class is about space in Asian art. I understand a lot about space in art, but I"m not at all sure about the readings. I'm anxious to get to the class tomorrow, find out if anyone else understands this stuff.

After making several flag books and a few single page books I'm back to work on my garden book. I think I've got about 250 pages already, mostly photos. I'm thinking about another trip to Japan, probably April or May. I don't know how this will work with my afib or all the blood tests, but I've got a little time to work on it.

This week is Rosh Hashanah. I wish you all a happy, healthy, peaceful new year.