Winter Solstice 2021

So, today, at the close of the year, Winter Solstice, we mark the moment with this poignant photo of a buck next to one of the exhibits in our burgeoning Art Mind Park project where we have continued to be productive on our “Covid Vacation.” The Park where we can and do, continue to do, what artists do, finding a way to express the ineffable quality of a pair of minds long dedicated to saying, “This is what it was like while we were here.

The buck is settled in, enjoying Río Azul, made from fish-net-floats all collected from Kehoe Beach—many by the two of us and many donated by friends who appreciate our avidity for collecting the same thing in a category. It’s called Río Azul after the river in Guatemala that flows into a park, a bio-reserve nearby the ancient Mayan citadel of Tikal.

This Solitude of Cataracts by Wallace Stevens

He never felt twice the same about the flecked river,

Which kept flowing and never the same way twice, flowing

Through many places, as if it stood still in one,

Fixed like a lake on which the wild ducks fluttered,

Ruffling its common reflections, thought-like Monadnocks.

There seemed to be an apostrophe that was not spoken.

There was so much that was real that was not real at all.

He wanted to feel the same way over and over.

He wanted the river to go on flowing the same way,

To keep on flowing. He wanted to walk beside it,

Under the buttonwoods, beneath a moon nailed fast.

He wanted his heart to stop beating and his mind to rest

In a permanent realization, without any wild ducks

Or mountains that were not mountains, just to know how it would be,

Just to know how it would feel, released from destruction,

To be a bronze man breathing under archaic lapis,

Without the oscillations of planetary pass-pass,

Breathing his bronzen breath at the azury center of time.

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...the oscillations of planetary pass-pass...

What great words to evoke a forever feeling.

Steven's poem brings to mind this painting called The Thatched Hut of Dreaming of an Immortal by Tang Yin (1470-1524) and the seriousness of art and the seriousness of the creatures that inhabit our environs like this buck, long ago having given up the juking and pronging of his fawn self. We've had the satisfaction of watching him, knowing him before his voice changed and he grew antlers.

Mortality/Immortality — we think about it now more than ever before, with both of us having graduated into the seventh decade, our Biblically allotted three score and ten. This past year we’ve grieved the loss of personal friends in the arts: Jackie Kirk, Hung Liu, and William T. Wiley, inspired and inspiring artists who we’ve had the great pleasure of working with.

Plus, we mark this moment post Richard’s brain surgery where four years of increasing disability were palliated by a shunt to drain away the clouding and crippling effects of excess fluid. Like the guy with crutches in the movie Greaser’s Palace who was healed by a skydiving Jesus, Richard shouts, “I can crawl! I can crawl again!”Yes, Judith and Richard both receiving the blessing of a complaint-free moment.

We are grateful for you, our friends and family, and for the rain that has set into motion the tumult of blue buoys in our once dry creek bed. We offer an invocation, a prayer for more rain, for more water.

On this Winter Solstice, we are thinking about the continuum of change, the returning of the light and yep, we've got 'em, the “oscillations of planetary pass-pass.”

With love and good wishes,

Richard and Judith

For an unforgettable art outing at the iconic Cliff House:

https://www.for-site.org/project/landsend/

Other Eyes

How we see ourselves and how others see us on Instagram, Facebook, and articles/reviews:

At the Worlds Edge   Jessica Wolfson   Nob Hill Gazette   November 2, 2021

Set Against the Crashing Waves of the Pacific    Marley Marius  Vogue    November 5, 2021

Oil spills, plastic, rising seas:   Guardian staff  The Guardian   November 7, 2021

Provocative eco-art exhibition   Sam Whiting  SF Chronicle   November 11, 2021

For-Site Foundation's 'Land's End'   Max Blue  7x7   November 12, 2021

Artists Fill SF's Cliff House   Danica Sachs  Variable West   December 2, 2021

Artist Foretell the End of Everything  Jeffrey Edalatpour  KQED  December 9, 2021

INSTAGRAM

@for_site

@onebeachplastic

@oneplasticbeach

FACEBOOK

For-Site Foundation

For here or to go?

Will that be for here or to go?

All of the plastic we dish up was found only on 1000 yards of Kehoe Beach in the Point Reyes National Seashore. It wasn’t left by negligent picnickers, most of it has been at sea a long time before washing ashore.

When the common use of plastic found its way into our lives during WWII, plastic was touted as an exciting new material that would revolutionize and indeed, it has — providing new hips and knees, allowing for unbelievable medical advances. But we’ve been inundated with “convenience” and a throw-away ethos. In the swirl of debris, from food shopping to consumer goods, plastic is the unseen background of daily living.

Besides the blight of plastic itself, a mad scientist's brew of toxic chemicals is leaching into our bodies. We have learned that every human being has traces of plastic polymers in their bloodstream. That’s the bad news we live with these days.

There really is no choice when asked for here or to go? It’s all here, and there is nowhere for it to go. Simply, there is no away.

So here we are at the Cliff House, a place of gathering, a place of celebration, a place on the edge, and yes, we are at a precipitous moment. But we have turned ourselves toward the joy we feel at participating with other creative souls to say what artists have always said, “What if...” and then the miracle of the creative mind catches a breeze, and we are off on a journey all the way out from here to there. “Will that be for here or to go?”

Lands End: HERE

For timed tickets: HERE

About for-site.org HERE

White Out of the Box

It was the luck of the draw that Judith's name was pulled out of the hat to submit an artwork for the Bolinas Museum bi-annual fundraiser Hardly Strictly Mini. 

The Bolinas Museum writes: 

Join us for this favorite biennial holiday exhibition and sale that presents artworks by nearly 100 accomplished coastal Marin and Bay Area artists! Paintings, sculpture, photography, and more – there is something to delight everyone. Almost all artists are selected by an equitable lottery as well as a core group selected by recent Bolinas Museum curators and staff. Participating artists have the choice to contribute either three artworks no larger in any dimension than 6 x 6 inches or one artwork no larger than 18 x 18 inches. The result is exciting, high caliber, varied, and affordable! It is an opportunity for all to give themselves or loved ones the timeless gift of art. Purchases benefit both the artists and the Bolinas Museum. 

Opening Reception: Saturday, November 20, 3-5 PM

Judith writes about her entry White Out of the Box — 2021:

Why is there something and not nothing?

Calcite and chalk were the first whites used by Paleolithic artists, rendering animals thundering across the walls of caves, in the Dordogne region of France. Although the exact meaning of these artistic expressions may never be known, they are thought to represent some symbolic or religious function.

White is the most common color of plastic that regularly washes up on to Kehoe Beach, Point Reyes National Seashore. As shards and fragments, these objects represent the use-it and toss-it ethos of our contemporary consumer culture.

Now take a minute and let your eyes adjust, to the seemingly monochrome of this box. With white, nothing but white, there is not the distraction of color wheel colors. But there are subtle variations of the shades. Allow the light reflecting from the shapes to come into view.

You might wonder why white would be included in any discussion about color. White does play an important role in any palette and on any paper. That said, which white is right? From eggshell to polar bear, or how about mayonnaise?

Back in the day, white was made from a carbonate of lead but, unfortunately that caused another kind of delirium. Once it was discovered that lead was the culprit many artists gave up on Lead White. These days a trip to the paint store will reveal an astonishing selection of non-toxic paints:

And, these days, during a walk on the beach you can easily collect a bag full of plastic in whites: antique to quartz to beige, pale cream to golden to caramel.

Love for Breakfast

Meet the intrepid Stacy Messerschmidt who has just launched her podcast and store, Love for Breakfast. We love her and we know you will too when you read her courageous story of taking an enormous life leap, leaving the security of a corporate job to follow her bliss as she sets out to visit all 50 states to celebrate her fiftieth year.

GO Stacy!

We are pleased to be the inaugural program, the first episode on her podcast. You can listen here to our interview with Tracy and you can follow her here @iwantloveforbreakfast and @stacymesserschmidt 

GO Stacy!

Parameters

When we step outside the parameters of our One Plastic Beach (1,000 yards of Kehoe Beach) we feel transgressive…beyond the pale. We report about one such offense — a New Year's Eve affair.

But the story in the Point Reyes Light about the rebuild of the parking lot at Drakes Beach and the expansion of the tidal wetlands to make the area more accessible to the elephant seals that come to breed, plus, a visit with Amelia had us bounding to Drakes Beach for an outing.

This last year and a half we haven’t got out much — we’ve been at home watching our hair grow. The refreshing ocean breeze was perfect for letting Richard’s freak flag fly.

 

Oddly reassuring — even though we've been on a beach break, the plastic has not.

Felt like O&H&W to find our tried and true stand-bys from our “hit list”  in just a half-hour.

12 shotgun wads

1 tampon applicator

2 disposable lighters

1 milk pull tab

1 Kraft cheese spreader

2 Starbucks swizzle sticks

Handful of assorted lids 

Chunks and pieces of foam 

2 water bottles

Etc.

Etc.

Old Home Week often capitalized O&H&W : a week of special festivities during which a community invites former residents to return for a reunion.

O&H&W - hey, we're back, baby.

Show UP

We almost didn’t go. It’s been a year and a half since we’ve attended an art opening/reception and since the new wave of Covid variants and back-on-with-the-mask-rules, we thought no one else would go either.

Thinking of our Lang’s never give up motto, with the core tenet we always show up, we got in the car, buckled our seat belts and headed in.

Google Map directions guided us over the Golden Gate Bridge then along the path that we drove year after year to work at Electric Works. Past many memorable sites we call “scenes of triumph.” 

Past the innovative green SFPUC building, with an amazing collection of artworks (including three of our prints) curated by the SF Art Commission.

Past the State of California Building where Senator Scott Wiener's office hosted many outstanding art exhibitions. 

Past the SFPL Main Branch where our Reading Stones are on display and where we totally triumphed in 2012 with our The Plastic in Question.

Past our old digs on 8th Street. The Buzzell Electric Works building looking very closed and shuttered. 

Onward to Minnesota Street Project Remember Pre-Covid when MSP was the lively hub of galleries and events with readings and receptions, the book fair— on and on. We spent so many happy hours there.

Onward to the Rena Bransten Gallery for the exhibition Just one word: Plastics 

With our masks secure, pulled up tight over nose and mouth we stepped in to the largely empty atrium. But, we had an uncanny feeling of belonging when the Greeter looked Richard in the eye and asked, "Are you Noah’s dad?" Out of the blue!!! How did he ever recognize Richard with just the thin slip of his face visible? The greeter Sigfried went on to name Clementine, Aloysius and Kris. It is in the eyes, in the eyes.

Gallerist Trish made us feel especially welcome with the comfy chairs so we settled in to see if and who might attend. Before we knew it we were off and running...Richard was holding forth…

Left: Gallerist Trish Bransten     Center: Richard Lang      Right: Mansur Nuruallah transforms materials that are bound for the trash.     Pics from his recent residency at Recology.

To be in the presence of the inspiring Tony Cragg, Palette 1982 with our Shovel Bands hung in proximity was a conjunction of triumphs. Along with Nurullah’s Absence of Light wall piece and William T. Wiley’s Unknown on the floor. 

Soon the gallery filled up with lots of people and lots of small dogs. Even with their masks on, most folks were recognizable but for some it took a double-take to recognize after such a long sheltering time.

We applaud the commitment of the true-blue art professionals and appreciators who always show up. And family who show up: The Lang Gang with Noah, Kris and Clementine since their camping trip was smoked out from the Dixie Fire. They dressed up and showed up. Check out Clementine, stunning in lime green.

It was a grand gathering, even with the muffle behind masks conversation, we got the one word, loud and clear, PLASTIC.

On our way out, there was nothing muffled about @telstarlogistics yabai-kawaii firetruck! and the karaoke. @mike_arcega ’s karaoke and SMOKE!!!

 

38th Parallel

After over a year of sheltering tight, the Covid vaccination is giving us the lift we need to think about enjoying time with other people. We laughingly now say, “Hey, come on over and see what we did during our Covid vacation."

When “outside and distance” became the new normal, we realized that here at RanchoD we have plenty of both. Inspired by the likes of open-air sculpture parks of Storm King in New York and Oliver Ranch in Sonoma, we are creating and placing sculptures on our property.

Welcome to Art Mind Park

On Saturday July 31, we hosted a group of ten people and two dogs from the 38°N Explorers Club for an official inaugural tour of our gardens and sculpture grounds. Thanks to Steve Dunsky for organizing the excursion of folks associated with the Visions of the Wild film festival. This year the festival went online and around the world introducing us to planetary citizens concerned with place and our place in it.

Visions of the Wild sponsored the Global Recycled Plastic Art Challenge introducing our One Beach Plastic project and Shannon and Kathy O’Hares’ Obtainium.

The Nature, Sculture, Community program featured Steve Oliver (Oliver Ranch) and Dana Turkovic  (Laumeier Sculpture Park) 

First stop on our AMP tour: signing in... 

Then we proceeded to the walk the walk and talk the talk about the biological imperative that connects the artworks in our outdoor arena: The Gate, The Drought Dots, The Shrine. Check out Art Mind Park blog a repository for more stories the sculptures/artworks. AMP is still very much a work in progress. Yes, it is the creative process that motivates — the visions of what we have not made yet that keep moving us forward.

Surrounded by the glorious and eye-dazzling images in Richard’s studio, the potluck offerings were delicious and the conversation was lively. Everything goes better with the Large Hadron Collider.

In the afternoon, a smaller group was on its way to Kehoe Beach. 

With the blamy ocean air and the sand swept clean, for most people on the beach, plastic was far from mind. But, as we like to say, "we're professional" and so were the other enthusiasts from our group. Before long we had collected plenty of common shards and recognizable pieces along with a couple of rare finds.

Steve discovered a new geological category of glomerate - glasstiglomerate (campfire melted beer bottle with embedded rocks) akin to the plastiglomerate we used in our Reading Stones.

Dragana retrieved this bolt, getting it out of the waste stream. It goes into the special collection of Bricolage, the moniker the French Dadaists used to refer to objects to be repurposed in a McGiver-like action. A Bricoleur is a handyperson, a DIYer, who can make something out of nothing. We are long practitioners in this industrial-age re-use fun and frolic.

Such a pleasure to share with kindred spirits, among so many other things, the 38th Parallel.