Thickair Blog

I am currently reading Art as Experience by John Dewey. I picked it up a few years ago on one of my days whiling away at the Tattered Cover in Denver. I tried reading it before but it just wasn’t gelling. I am ready for it now.

He is saying that Art, the creation of, is something we all have capacity, inspiration for. That ART as we know it, the art-world rather, is putting certain art objects on a pedestal of greatness, saying that the artist has had some spiritual divination in the creation of. The world then makes these a commodity, object for sale, and thus the art becomes a product and object of incredible value in the market. He says that art is something that comes from our existence in the environment and our responses to it, they can be spiritual or emotional and these responses to nature, objects, colors and sensations, are just part of human existence.

Something like that anyway. As I read it, I am so convicted of its truth. As I myself create art, I often feel that I am not creating a piece to be sold or even shown, but a piece, a response to a moment in time or glimpse of emotion within nature that draws me in, wanting me to dissect and process through creation. The artist has his problems and thinks as he works. The only thing that really makes an artist an artist, is that we are particularly sensitive to these inspirations, and take action to make creations of them. We try to take what is known, an experience, a color, a technique, a material and create or invent an entirely new way of seeing or experiencing it.

This drawing was the first in which I started to have these ideas about my drawing. That I am not interested in representing realistically the object, image or experience, but express with the linework and color the emotion or vibration of the experience, space and create a new world or image, only inspired by the one that existed in reality or nature.

It was started after a hike to the water-break river in El Valle where the water that was once a lake broke through to the oceans.

headwaters

Maximo has dug by hand 20 inch depth of soil by a 4′ wide by 37′-0″ length. He is amazing, this is incredibly hard work. The original idea was that we were going to dig in 8-10″ of river rocks, sand and big chunks of old concrete to create a drain-tile effect under the garden beds for rainy season. However simultaneously we were going down the path of creating a temporary roof system to cover the plants during the rainy season. We asked ourselves, if we are covering it, why do we need to go to such herculean effort with the soil? We have revised our planning on the roof structure from a pvc-plastic temporary solution to a metal post and polycarbonate roofing permanent-solution. The bean trellis structure is going to be horizontal rails of copper wire attached to screws in the galvanized posts. The other raised beds are going to just be a mixture of tierra negra, existing soil, rice husks (the tropical solution for peat moss) and compost. Some of the seedlings have sprouted and are growing well. My rescued tomatoes have fruit and the arugula is almost ready for harvest!

We are going to have an herb garden along the path that winds to the side entrance as you access the garden from the house. I have basil, lemongrass and parsley growing well, and just purchased a funny little oregano plant from the market. We have seeds started for fennel, dill, cilantro, shiso, and purple basil. To see the progress on the vegetable garden see the new flickr set : Vegetales

Its pretty amazing to think that we went a whole year in Panama, building a house etc. with out injury. Or REAL injury I mean, the psycho-emotional injuries are another story.  I am especially amazed when I think of those days when we were emotionally charged with anger using the air hammer….not such a good combination. YIPES.

So I was working away on the vegetable garden trellis, drilling thousands of holes for the copper rails and at some point the slightest tiniest bit of metal flew into my eye. Little did I know it though. I went to bed thinking I had a stupid eyelash. The next morning I woke to thinking I had a ‘cold’ in my eye or something, still not realizing what it might be. Went to bed seeing now that there was a little speck of black metal in my eye. I went to our clinic here, and because it was saturday morning there wasn’t anyone there. We drove to the fancy new clinic in Coronado and they attempted to remove it with saline solution and a q-tip. Still no effect. By this time my eye was swollen and red and in a lot of pain. They said that I could wait until an opthamalogist could see me, and they would call me when they could talk with him. It was Saturday evening so the likely hood was getting slimmer. He said that my eye would eventually absorb the metal and that is probably what would happen. EEK.

After a few phone calls to some very good friends that understand Panama and know a lot of people, we had through this person talked with an opthamalogist and he said I shouldn’t wait and must have it removed immediately. There is only one doctor in Panama City at the Paitilla Hospital on call that could do it. So we made the 2 hour trip to Panama City to get it removed. The doctor quickly responded to the phone call, bringing his wife and daughter with him, attended to me in 5 minutes. He stuck the tip of a needle right in my eye to remove the metal.  It was amazing that such a miniscule object could cause so much pain. He told me that he does 5 or 6 of these procedures every week because construction workers refuse to wear eye protection.

That’s for sure. While building the house, Pedro who was the person good at cutting things with the ‘flexible’ - this is what they call it but is a disc grinder that they use for multiple uses - cutting, grinding, sawing etc. He never used eyeware and there were always sparks flying wild. In Panama there are no real enforcement of safety, wearing a hard hat is sort of a joke and boy you should see the ladders they use.

After arriving in El Valle, as we began our house design process, many people described the strong Northerly winds in the summer time. I wanted to make sure that the house was well positioned on the site to maximize airflow for reasons of passive cooling as well as keeping air flowing through the house to prevent mold. In my research, I came across information about the geological formation of Panama. I was so fascinated to learn that this place I was living in, was a critical player in world weather, ocean formations and life as we know it today. I felt a sense of gratitude and appreciation that I was going to build my house in what some people say is the bridge of the universe (that’s another story).

From Wikipedia:

Scientists believe the formation of the Isthmus of Panama is one of the most important geologic events in the last 60 million years. Even though only a small sliver of land relative to the sizes of continents, the Isthmus of Panama had an enormous impact on Earth’s climate and its environment. By shutting down the flow of water between the two oceans, the land bridge re-routed ocean currents in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Atlantic currents were forced northward, and eventually settled into a new current pattern that we call the Gulf Stream today. With warm Caribbean waters flowing toward the northeast Atlantic, the climate of northwestern Europe grew warmer. (Winters there would be as much as 10 °C colder in winter without the transport of heat from the Gulf Stream.) The Atlantic, no longer mingling with the Pacific, grew saltier. Each of these changes helped establish the global ocean circulation pattern in place today. In short, the Isthmus of Panama directly and indirectly influenced ocean and atmospheric circulation patterns, which regulated patterns of rainfall, which in turn sculpted landscapes.^[1]

Evidence also suggests that the creation of this land mass and the subsequent, warm wet weather over northern Europe resulted in the formation of an Arctic ice cap and contributed to the current ice age.

The formation of the Isthmus of Panama also played a major role in biodiversity on the planet. The bridge made it easier for animals and plants to migrate between the two continents. This event is known in paleontology as the Great American Interchange. For instance, in North America today, the opossum, armadillo, and porcupine all trace back to ancestors that came across the land bridge from South America. Likewise, ancestors of bears, cats, dogs, horses, llamas, and raccoons all made the trek south across the isthmus.

Despite the traditional placement of the front door perpendicular to the drive way, I made it parallel so that the house could be positioned North facing. The concept in the design was that the open living and dining space would act as a wind tunnel with the same window and door element at both front and back of the house. The walls would be inset to form outdoor spaces, extending the outdoors in and the indoors out. As heat accumulates, I designed fans to pull the air upwards and out through the three casement windows on each bounding wall.

This was the idea. In practice, it works much better than I thought it would. The skylights in the space allow tons of natural light to fill the space, but at the same time, creates a lot of heat. Despite this, the ventilation the window and door system creates by employing the natural breezes that burst through, the main living space is the most comfortable space in the house. I find that we are just as happy hanging out inside as we are outside. Other than ceiling fans, we have no means of mechanical heating or cooling, and we find them only necessary in the bedroom at night. In the summer evenings when the breezes are strong and the coolness of the humidity, makes me want to put on a pair of socks, I close the doors and the residual heat absorbed in the walls during the day keeps us comfortable.

Living in Panama, especially the quaint little town of El Valle, we are limited in our restaurant choices and even so, the menus are all the same. Chicken and rice, Corvina and rice or french fries if you prefer….etc. etc. So foods we would have normally ‘gone out’ for are something we either do without or - are learning to make myself. I have nearly perfected things like eggplant parmesean, great marinara sauce, dabbling in the Thai food world with a modified drunken noodle thing. So this week I spent a day in the kitchen busily trying my hand at new and complicated things. One of which was home-made pizzas. I expected it to be half-way soggy, doughy or not quite right, but I was so excited that it turned out so fabulous I had to share. I will try not to make too many food posts, but I felt this one was truly Artesan. But actually it was mostly due to the recipe, which was really great - from the one and only 101 cookbooks. These were margarita pizzas with hand-made pesto, fresh tomatoes and mozzarella. Simply delicious.

A lot of people ask me what I do with ALL my time here in Panama. Well besides working on my arts, learning to be a better cook, gardening and so on, I also do the cleaning. With a simple modern house, the idea of the clean lines, well is just that. Clean lines. But in the tropics, where you have the windows open constantly and the wind is always blowing, the lines get slightly fuzzy with the dust. It is amazing how much accumulates in one day. In Colorado, we were able to get away with having ‘cleaning day’ where we dedicated one evening after work to cleaning the house top to bottom. Here, my cleaning day is one full dedicated day plus the daily projects of dusting and sweeping.

One of the biggest challenges with the cleaning is the cleaning of the porcelain tile. After several GOOGLE searches and research I have tried a variety of cleaners and mixtures to get it right, and also wanting not to put heavy chemicals all over the place, we have settled on a method of very hot water with 3 squirts of JOY!! in the bucket and a well-squeezed sponge mopping. I still get a little streaks, which I found that if I did a ‘rinse’ layer with hot water after makes it better….but essentially means having to mop the floor twice…joy.

In the end it looks great. Just don’t walk on it with muddy feet!!!

For me a goal as an architect and artist is to be able to make beautiful, artful things without having to spend a lot of money doing it. By this I mean using normal, everyday materials in creative and beautiful ways. I am so impressed with the art by Jen Stark because she is doing just that. Her stuff is so exciting and cool, its so genuine I am sure the idea for her came out of nothingness.

Listening to an Alan Watts lecture the other day, I was reminded of this idea of nothingness. The comment that we are agitated and bothered by ‘nothingness’ is completely true. One of the hardest things to do is to sit with yourself and do nothing. But in those moments of nothingness, something arises. A thought, creativity or something. Its what humans do. When humans are confined, imprisoned, locked or trapped into some kind of living or struggle, the emptiness that they feel or experience is challenged by a feeling of trying to fill it with something. Here in these tense moments our imaginations open and our minds and reveal things that could be completely obvious or quite profound. Ingenious uses of ideas, material and space is completely natural sense and within us all, but somehow flourishes in the darkness.

So then I started thinking about this world-wide recession, and how it is bringing about a sort-of feeling of nothingness also. A different kind of nothingness for sure, but one people are getting very agitated over nonetheless. Its a material or economic nothingness, but our culture is so at one with the dollar, it seems that that money is somehow the very some-thingness of their life. I learned I had this cultural gene inside of me as I immersed myself in Panama and realized that the vastness of the American way of materialism and wealth is unknown even to ourselves. I feel that we have very little concept of the immense opportunity we have by just being born American. So many others in the world survive on so very little, yet Americans believe that the luxuries they enjoy like $5 lattes and Outback Steakhouse, are actual needs, and without them they have ‘nothing’. I don’t mean to trivialize what hardships people are going through right now, but in comparison to what I see here in Panama, the Americans are quite dependent on money and material wealth.

As a contrasting example, I went to find my neighbors’ gardener to help me with a small project one Saturday. I knew where he lived as I had given him a ride home a few times before. I went to the road entrance to his house and walked up to the house. The bright green house is small, tipico construction with a little front porch, but in the front yard, another house had been built. It was a home constructed with rusted, probably discarded, corrugated metal walls and roof. Barely a box. They had clothing draped to dry and air out over the openings that had been cut for windows. I had no idea that they were living like this. But despite their having nothing, they routinely share the fruits of their trees with me, someone they know has the money to buy oranges and bananas.

These lessons I have learned on nothingness, material nothingness and mindlessness, my mind and heart are spawned with new approach and appreciation for nothing, as it is really something.

Today I went with my neighbor, who is an avid birder, bird watching. She lent me a pair of binoculars and gave me tips on how to see the birds through them. Panama is reported to have 972 species of birds, more than Costa Rica. In just a few minutes outside our door, we were spotting 6 different birds in only one tree. The first glimpse of the little bird face in the binoculars was amazing. From the ground, I could see he was orange, but to see his face so closely it was intricate the markings of black around his eyes. The most exciting sight however, was the Green Kingfisher. She had a feeling we might see it, so we waited and there was nothing. Continuing on she recognized the call it makes right as it goes fishing into the water. We went back, and there they were, both male and female perched on a wire waiting to snatch a little breakfast.

El Valle is renowned for its bird population. Living here, I have seen Toucan, Green Parrots, Hawks and Falcons but one of the best was three little owls that sat perched and huddled together in the shrub of my front yard. My friend went in for a closer look and they all closed their eyes, as though a child does when scared and forcing visions of fright out of their view.

No, its not a little monkey or caged bird but a strange stinky mixture that I have hopes will be a key to success in bread making. I have made three attempts at bread making thus far, and each go I learn a little more of what maybe worked and what did not, never yet to achieve that mmmm moment. The last batch I made accompanied the home-made spinach raviolis with roasted pepper and tomato sauce. It was the best thus far and was made with the sourdough starter I began just a few weeks ago. In Panama, there aren’t many types of flour to choose from, but there is one store that sells more specialty type foods and I was able to obtain Bread Flour. Bread Flour has a higher protein content which makes for higher gluten in turn makes crustier better bread. The trick is however, is getting the magic touch, its not just add the right flour and “voila”! Today I fed the starter, which is a simple task of dividing the existing starter and feeding it with more flour and water. It sort of stinks up the kitchen, but perhaps it will all be worth it.

Sourdough Starter:
1 pkg active dry yeast
2 c warm water (110-115 degrees)
2c all purpose flour

In a 4qt non-metallic bowl,, dissolve yeast in warm water; let stand for 5 minutes. Add flour, stir until smooth. Cover looseley with a clean towel. Let stand in a warm place to ferment for 48 hours; stir several times daily - the mixture will become bubbly and rise, have a “yeasty” sour aroma and a transparent yellow liquied will form on the top. Use and replenish or nourish at least every 2 weeks.