Little Sketch of a Sketcher

Sketch of a Sketcher, 21cm x 29cm, 8" x 11.5", 2012, graphite, Moleskine folio Sketchbook A4.

For the first time in the 5 years I have lived in my apartment, I made dinner for some friends. Really I am a recluse. I cooked curry, my usual fare. I had a tiny poetry salon/birthday celebration on Sunday night... 4 of us only, and while each of us read fairly lengthy pieces, the others drew. Thanks Brandon Pitts, Iddie Fourka and Jennifer Hosein for standing by me.

 My little sketch of Jen, not so good - but sharing anyhow. I will paint this one, and it will look very different when finished I hope!

(It was nice, but I don't think I will peep out of my shell too often. Family, though, come for gatherings at least once a month or more often. Two children in their 20s, with their partners, often here. A busy little spot. Guess at heart I'm a family person. :))

                              

Video on the Origins of International Women's Day...

Well worth watching for the origins of International Women's Day, and for some Danish history of the building where it all began....



Videoed and narrated by Bent Lorentzen, uploaded on March 8, 2012. Direct link: A Danish House United, Divided, then Destroyed.

"This short documentary captures US street-artist, Frank Shepard Fairey (famous for the Obama icon), working on a mural in the hot Copenhagen sun in August, 2011.

Shepard Fairey attempted to evoke "transformative" healing upon a 3-story facade overlooking the rubble of the historic 69 Jagtvej (Hunter's Road) property in Copenhagen's Nørrebro borough. He certainly did not expect the "extreme left" violent response to his kind, generous and "repeated" artistic efforts, including graffiti that stated, "Go home Yankee," and later being assaulted near a Copenhagen night club. Through interviews, the video also brings in a bit of the extreme left POV, as to why some found it offensive.

Sadly, what seems to have gotten lost in that drama, except through Shepard Farley's efforts last summer, includes how the demolished building holds a history far deeper than the recent decades it served as Ungdomshuset (The Youth House).

Towards the end of the 19th century, the building was called Folkets Hus (The People's House), and functioned to coordinate Denmark's emerging labor movement. And in 1910, 130 women from 16 nations met to to plan Women's Suffrage and demand their natural right to vote, and to establish March 8 as "International Women's Day."

In 2001, the building was purchased from the city by a corporation that sold it to a fundamentalist Christian sect, called "Faderhuset" (Our Father's House), and in 2007, following an exhaustive legal battle, the mayor of Copenhagen demanded that the remaining youth squatting there leave.

Though mostly peaceful, the protests then escalated, especially after the police used lethal-level tear gas to storm and evict the remaining youth. Riots then broke out on the city streets of Copenhagen, and the police arbitrarily arrested anyone without cause other than a guess that they could potentially disturb the peace. The Supreme Court later called ruled many of those police tactics illegal.

A follow-up video will focus more of the women's deeper perspective on the subject.

More about Bent Lorentzen, his books and work:
http://www.amazon.com/Bent-Lorentzen/e/B001JOZZAQ

http://www.facebook.com/people/Bent-Lorentzen/1198146266
Musical score by Aborada, traditional/interpretive native Inca music from Peru, is with their permission.

This work is dedicated to all the women in my life who've made me a better human being, including Mette, Ginger, Danusa, Kali, Anjani, Maureen, Joanie, Judy S, Susan, Sharon (thanks for your brilliant critique), Brenda (Happy Birthday!), and most significantly my Ma."

                              

Dancer in Red and Black

Dancer in Red and Black, 2012, 16" x 20", graphite and India and acrylic inks on stretched canvas.

The second image is in my Moleskine, and 8.5" x 11". I was going to continue working until I arrived at a similar place to the image in my Moleskine. My daughter thought that I could leave the painting as a raw sketch with the red and black ink. It doesn't feel 'finished' to me... and so I am struggling a little with knowing that it may work at this stage as is, and I could overdo it and decrease its energy by continuing to work on it. Not sure anyone can offer any art advice, but I'd welcome any thoughts on the two images. Thanks!