Category Archives: Travel
Q: Last year you were in Paris and saw the David Hockney retrospective. What struck you the most? (Question from “Pastel, Passion, and Perseverance: An Interview with Barbara Rachko” in .ART Odyssey: Healing)
Giverny by DH, 2023, in David Hockney 25, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris
A: It was spectacular! I spent three and a half hours there, which I never do—usually two is my limit. I had known his LA work, but I wasn’t aware of so much else, including the Normandy pieces. And yes, the iPad drawings impressed me. I like that he keeps evolving, trying new tools, staying current. At his age that’s remarkable. As someone who has focused on one medium my whole life, I admire artists who reinvent themselves again and again.
Comments are welcome!
Travel photo of the month*
Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia
*favorite travel photos that have not yet appeared in this blog
My travel companions had the brilliant idea to blindfold me so my first sight of the spectacular Uyuni salt flats could be caught on film. The second photo is what I saw!
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Travel photo of the month*
*favorite travel photos that have not yet appeared in this blog
A shallow beach like the ones in Brittany. The sea is out there somewhere!
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Q: Do colors stay with you from your journeys, particularly to Bolivia and India? (Question from “Pastel, Passion, and Perseverance: An Interview with Barbara Rachko” in .ART Odyssey: Healing)
Sari shop window, Jaisalmer – Sadar Bazar, India
A: Yes. For Bolivia I think of red, white, and green—the colors of the flag. l even chose to use red frames as a kind of homage. For India, multi-colored patterns always come to mind because of women’s saris and white too, which Hindus wear on important occasions. Certain places attach themselves to your memory through color.
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Q: Travel clearly plays an important role in your practice. What does it give you? (Question from “Pastel, Passion, and Perseverance: An Interview with Barbara Rachko” in .ART Odyssey: Healing)
With friends at a Buddhist Monastery, Gangtok, India
A: Travel is the spark. It opens you up, makes you think differently, introduces you to people everywhere.
It makes you realize that people are the same wherever you go – which in turn makes all the political divisions and wars feel so senseless.
The work itself gets made in silence, but those bright sparks from travel feed that silence. Countries like India and Bolivia are full of character and color. They shift your perspective, and you bring that back to the studio.
Travel photo of the month*
Salt Flats, San Pedro de Atacama, Chile
*favorite travel photos that have not yet appeared in this blog
Comments are welcome!
Pearls from artists* # 710
Shamans performing a ‘safe travels’ ritual for our group at Tiwanaku, Bolivia
*an ongoing series of quotations – mostly from artists, to artists – that offers wisdom, inspiration, and advice for the sometimes lonely road we are on
Mental health not only exists on a spectrum but it is also often culture-specific. Revered healers and sages in one country are the ‘crazies’ in another. Context determines whether we will be treated for illness, or simply considered ‘eccentric’ and left alone. Many who struggle to hide their differences, go against their own nature, and contort themselves into an acceptable demeanor to fit in, until they break down or die, undiagnosed.
Kate Kretz in Art From your Core: A Holistic Guide to Visual Voice”
Travel photo of the month*
*favorite travel photos that have not yet appeared in this blog
Eastham, MA
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Travel photo of the month*
*favorite travel photos that have not yet appeared in this blog
Moonrise, Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia
Comments are welcome!
Travel photo of the month*
*favorite travel photos that have not yet appeared in this blog
Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia
Comments are welcome!
