More tiny paintings to recap the trip--I'm working on a series of 16.

Each is acrylic on panel, 2.5 by 3.5 inches.

Three small paintings from the Arctic, starring Antigua.

Well, it's my last night of the trip, for all practical purposes, aside from a brief mainland layover before flying home from Bodø; in the morning I'll leave the hut I've been occupying here in Å, a village on the southern end of the Lofoten Islands. Like most Last Nights, it's a time of taking stock, emotionally and otherwise, and I've been looking through the various studies I've made on the journey. Here are a few.

I've returned from Svalbard to continental Norway. Now I head north again, this time on my own and not quite so far--from Bergen up to Kirkenes.

Welcome to Svalbard.

We set sail in the morning.

Hullo from London!

Pre-Svalbard, I'm taking advantage of my open travel window to see some things that aren't strictly Arctic-related, and have been visiting the UK for the past week and a half.

Funny thing, though; the more I look around, the more my focus recenters on the poles. When was my brain replaced with a compass needle, always pointing north? 

 

Last week, I attended the UK Antarctic Science Conference--a bit presumptuous given that I am neither from the UK, involved with the Antarctic, nor a scientist. No one seemed to mind; and while I suspect I understood far less than the average registrant in attendance, I learned a great deal.

It happened that the current exhibition at the Polar Museum (pictured in the first two photos above, and yoked with the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge) was some of the work of David Smith, who among many other things, had spent some time at the Halley Research Station (in Antarctica). His lithographs struck me particularly.

I'm in London as of last night, and will spend the next week here in the city, visiting what I anticipate will be less-polarific art venues, before heading to Oslo on the 24th.

 

So I leave the states (first for the UK, then Norway, then international territory) on Saturday morning.

But before that, I've got a chance to talk about the trip (along with co-ArcticCircle-resident Christy Georg) at SPREAD 3.0, an event in Santa Fe.

SPREAD is a "micro-granting initiative"--a sort of fund-raising dinner where several finalists (in this case, seven) give presentations about their projects, and everyone in attendance at the dinner (some 250 people who have all paid cash for a ticket in advance) gets a vote for who gets the monies to support their idea. You can check out all the finalists and their projects here.

Tickets to the dinner are on sale to non-SITE-members tomorrow--Thursday the 6th--in Albuquerque at Acequia Booksellers (4019 Fourth Street) from 5-6 pm (I'll be there to help with that effort, which I'm happy about, as it's one of my favorite places to spend time anyway), and then afterwards to Santa Fe folks from 6-7.

And the event itself is Friday night...just half a planetary revolution before I get on a plane!

Update: the dates for Far Flung, the three-person exhibition I'm in with Lauren Greenwald and Brooke Steiger, have been extended. It'll remain on view through August 12.

Oh--be still, my beating heart--!

Today, in the mail, something I've been anticipating since I first began talking to the person who would become its creator: the journal I'm to take with me on the Arctic trip.

A thing of beauty is a joy forever, and a thing of utility, symbolic of adventure and discovery and nascent nostalgia, that happens to also be a thing of beauty--well. Words are useless in the face of such a thing; "joy" is just a word that dissolves into the feel of hand-polished maple being hugged to one's chest.

.....sigh! <3

Lauren Greenwald, Brooke Steiger, and myself have been cooking up a three-person show together for a while, and it finally came together this week.

The reception tonight was a pleasure. Sweet to see so many good friends and meet so many new people who came out to support us.

 

This is the last week to catch the CAS Prize 2012 show, at the Raymond Jonson Gallery at the UNM Art Museum in Albuquerque.

photograph courtesy of UNM Art Museum and CAS

The arrangement of the work shows everything off to great effect; and overall I'm really pleased. And it's always a bit exciting to see one's name up in lights, as it were.

The other award-winners--Xuan Chen, Kate Carr, and Heidi Pollard--and I gave brief talks at the gallery, in conjunction with the exhibition. Many members of the Contemporary Art Society of New Mexico were in attendance, and all were very supportive. I felt proud and humbled that so many people had volunteered their time and effort to organize this exhibition on our behalves, and had come to hear what we had to say. Sincere thanks to them all.

photograph courtesy of UNM Art Museum and CAS

The show remains on view through this Saturday.