Nun’s Blog

Bam in the New Year

Sat, 3 Jan 2009 12:16:29 -0800

This year begins with Mystophur and myself in the States and a video blog by Bammers. As you can tell by this greeting (click above), she is a magnificent addition to the team! Coming to us through connections at San Francisco Art Institute, Bammers has been guiding our application for 501(c)3 status and will be leading the grant-writing team. Her studio practice spans from drawing & painting to video & sound installations. She also holds, really without challengers, the title of Best Foreign Accent Imitator. In the 6 months that I will be in San Francisco finishing the last semester of my MFA, Bammers and the Young Master will share the extreme responsibility of looking after the fuzziest of all the team members: Josie. God speed on your mission! Love her well!

Our Daily Bread

Sat, 13 Dec 2008 23:06:08 -0800

In preparation for my return to the States to complete the last semester of my MFA at San Francisco Art Institute, I’ve been noticing my life here in Italy, in Calvi, at the Santa Brigida, and at the Art Monastery as it is right now. I’ve been particularly interested in how the Art Monastery exists right NOW, in this moment, when we are not living in a monastery, we are not spending half the day making art, we are not a community of 30. Right now, the Art Monastery exists at Casale Santa Brigida, with 10- to 12-hour work days and a 6-day work week. Right now, the Art Monastery consists of 7 people living together, and the constant struggle to face the current world economic situation with open hearts and upbeat attitudes. The question I’ve been asking myself and the art monks around me is: how do we make sure we’re not waiting? How do we make sure the Art Monastery is alive and happening now, without a monastery, without stable funding, and without a larger community?

At our Monday morning weekly staff check-in, we systematically report on each the progress of each of our many initiatives: planning of the summer festival, marketing of the Santa Brigida, applications for our 501(c)3 status, etc. Before that happens though, we go around the circle and give a report first on our current personal states -- how we feel physically and emotionally -- and then how we’re doing on our contemplative practices.

It was the YoungMaster who led us into this weekly publicizing of (and asking for help on) our personal practices. It brings our attention to each individual’s responsibility for maintaining their practice. This has been a great gift to me in that my practice has evolved over the past months and I am embarking now on one that feels powerful to me and that I hope to continue from the States.

[A small digression: the nickname “the Young Master” was assigned the first time he came to visit the project in May. It’s usually said with a slight British accent and I’ve always thought of it in a stiff royal sort of way... “announcing the Young Master of Chittendomshire.” In the writing of this blog I see that it could take on new angle: the young master of Zen!]

I once read that the ideal times to sit in meditation are 6 am and 6 pm. Neither one of those times seems particularly convenient to me, but maybe that’s why, after joining the YoungMaster for one of his sitting periods, I brazenly suggested we try it out the 6 am / 6 pm schedule. He asked if I was serious. I said I didn’t know. An hour or two later he came back and said, “I’m in.” This was impressive to me because he’s not the sort who rises before the sun, young master though he is.

At the same time I wanted to be sure that the art was continuing in the Art Monastery as well. Yes, we are focused on the summer festival, but again, what about now and what about us?

So I’m exploring a process piece:

I get up at 5:30 am. I take a moment to notice the moon and then go into the kitchen and make bread. I try to stay completely present with every action and every movement. I try to notice my body, my stance as I knead the dough, the temperature and texture of the ingredients on my hands, my breathing. At 6 am, the YoungMaster joins me and we sit in meditation for an hour. I sit with the dough in my lap, taking it with me on my journey inward. At 7 am, I re-knead and shape the dough into a loaf, again attempting mindfulness. Into the oven and on with the day.

At 6 pm, we sit again for an hour. There’s no breadmaking, but there is a sense of capturing the day, marking it, noting it.

This is more meditation than I have ever done in my life. In the past I have sat irregularly and for varying amounts of time -- maybe 45 minutes every other day. This taking it up a notch (or two) in this time of stress has significantly effected my energy level and outlook.

We’re doing this for 14 days, until the day I leave for the US. Today is Day 5. Last night we ran out of flour. I meant to buy more yesterday, but we had guests and it didn’t happen. So this morning, we did our sit, the YoungMaster left to pick up Fibi from the airport, and instead of kneading and braiding, I decided to read some poetry on WorldPrayers.org. This is a lovely site that I discovered when Mystophur and I were developing our wedding ceremony. It’s structured such that you can search or find randomly Adorations, Celebrations, Meditations, and Invocations.

As World Prayers was loading I saw that I had loaded my cousin’s portfolio website last night and hadn’t spent any time on it. I clicked over and moved through his entire collection, delighting in the colors and images, the technique and texture, wondering how these images appear to people outside our family. I think they are beautiful and hypnotic even without an emotional attachment, but how can I know?

Michael Huey. Aunt Dorothy (no. 2), 2006. Based on a ca. 1942 transparency by Richard K. Huey. C-print, 85 x 121 cm.

I returned to World Prayers and clicked for a random Celebration. This is what came:

O gentle presence, peace and joy and power;
O Life divine, that owns each waiting hour,
Thou Love that guards the nestling's faltering flight!
Keep Thou my child on upward wing to-night.

Love is our refuge; only with mine eye
Can I behold the snare, the pit, the fall:
His habitation high is here, and nigh,
His arm encircles me, and mine, and all.

O make me glad for every scalding tear,
For hope deferred, ingratitude, disdain!
Wait, and love more for every hate, and fear
No ill, — since God is good, and loss is gain.

Beneath the shadow of His mighty wing;
In that sweet secret of the narrow way,
Seeking and finding, with the angels sing:
"Lo, I am with you alway," — watch and pray.

No snare, no fowler, pestilence or pain;
No night drops down upon the troubled breast,
When heaven's aftersmile earth's tear-drops gain,
And mother finds her home and heavenly rest.

the mother's evening prayer - mary baker eddy

This poem has been set to music and is a favorite hymn among Christian Scientists. My extended family is Christian Scientist, Aunt Dorothy (pictured in Michael’s work above) was a Practitioner (healer), and this hymn was featured in Mystophur’s and my wedding ceremony. Michael spoke at the wedding, creating a background for the hymn to benefit the non-CSers in the room, which was just about everyone.

Mary Baker Eddy, 1850s

The serendipity of it all is too much. I’m feeling particularly connected to my family right now, even as I am thousands of miles away from them.

I have had the feeling while meditating that my face is almost pressed up against something -- that the tip of my nose is 1 inch from a wall -- but simultaneously I can see almost to infinity. I have been feeling, at once, miniature and gargantuan, far away and intimately connected.

Photo by GoBostonCard

Bog Bodies

Fri, 12 Dec 2008 00:19:45 -0800

photo courtesy Lennart Larsen/Nat.Museum of Denmark

November 22 was the second in our symposium series, featuring one of my personal favorite visitors to the Art Monastery, Christine Finn. (The first in the series was by Gyrus.) She has such a breadth of experience and fascinating depth of knowledge on a variety of topics that really she has every right to be snobby out of control. Instead, she is accessible and easy to be around, to work with, and to listen to. What a wonder! We are honored to host her and count her amongst our collaborators.

Her Bio:
Christine Finn was a reporter at 16, a woman's editor at 17, and left her TV newsroom after a Reuter Journalism Fellowship at Oxford University, to return for a degree in Archaeology and Anthropology, and a doctorate on poetry and archaeology. She now works as a freelance journalist, presenting on BBC Radio 3, and contributing to, most recently, the Guardian, the Sunday Times, New Scientist, British Archaeology, the V and A magazine, Ready Made, and Slow Food.

Her books include Past Poetic and Artifacts: an Archaeologist's Year in Silicon Valley, of which she is writing a sequel. She is biographer of Jacquetta Hawkes, and is possibly the only Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries with a thing for vintage computers.

Left: Detail from the excavated room from the domestic art project, Leave-Home-Stay, 2007, Right: Christine Finn

She landed in Ciampino coming from Rome (though before that she was in California and Hawaii just days before that, writing a piece for the London Sunday Times about Obama’s mother). Christine is an archaeologist, journalist, and artist. She excels in everything she does. Her presentation was centered on the liminal state, using as an entry point these 2000-year-old bodies preserved by the bogs of Ireland. She proposed that, suspended in a state between ancient dead and current living, the bodies take on a different sort of significance.

photo courtesy Lennart Larsen/Nat.Museum of Denmark

What is going on here? Bog bodies are preserved human bodies found in sphagnum bogs in Northern Europe, Great Britain, and Ireland. Some date back to prehistoric ages, but most examples are from medieval times. The amazing thing that differentiates bog bodies from other ancient human remains is that the specific condition of the bogs preserve the skin and hair of the bodies (which also colors the skin a deep copper).

photo courtesy Lennart Larsen/Nat.Museum of Denmark

After her presentation, the audience peppered Christine with questions — and only stopped because dinner was ready and Italians respect food above all else. After dinner, we gathered around the fireplace and delved back into the topics at hand. I stepped out to help clean up the kitchen and when I came back the group had woven itself into an intense discussion: 3 of the 19 people there had lost both parents within a year of each other and shared their experiences around that, namely of sacred quality taken on by the objects their parents left behind. This was brought on by Christine’s presentation of her most recent monumental work: the archaeological “excavation” of her parents’ house after their deaths.

Visitors were invited to wander through the house and gardens, welcome to open any cabinet or even come into the room Christine was living in for the duration of the installation.

Christine removed layers of the house, approaching her investigation from her archaeologist perspective.

Christine says about this work, “The project's reveling in changes over time, the anomalies and anachronisms, sparked visitors' memories in a mixture of curiosity and nostalgia. My own emotional journey was made explicit through this excavation of home and investigation of art: I got to know my parents better, and 'leaving' is made more possible.”

Above photos courtesy of Christine Finn

http://www.amexhibition.com/christinefinn.html

DJ Franky & the Friendadelics

Wed, 10 Dec 2008 00:08:48 -0800

Here’s to another heart-opening, mind-warmng experience with the Sensi family. How do we get so lucky (dare I say blessed?) to come to know people like these? The DJ just turned 22 the week before and so he made us a whole lotta meat to celebrate. It had been a while since we’d been to their place and it had been even longer since we, the team, had let ourselves really step away from work. Both were welcome experiences.

This was only the beginning.

I stand for resisting the urge to feed dogs scraps from the table. Don’t teach them to beg! And yet... I guiltily admit that I was quietly slipping Gwendy bits of pork rind from my plate. Look at her!!! Can you blame me?

I made a pair of beer cozies for DJ Franky to celebrate his birthday. (He is pointing them at the label on his sweatshirt: “Smile Manager.”) Bammers painted a portrait of him-- a gorgeous line drawing complete with headphones and visual interpretation of the music coming from them.

The conversation covered film, art, philosophy, the fight against human trafficking, world economy, the nature of perception, mystical experiences, and the best liquors in the world.

The conversation was a little too lively and the food a little too scrumptious. We arrived for lunch at 1:30 pm and then stayed for dinner! I left in the early car and got back to the Santa Brigida at 11 pm. Now that’s a lunch.

This 10-hour blast of good will and wonder prompted in me some musings on the insufficiency of my Italian skills. I’ve been thinking about the patience it takes for other people
to be around me while i'm learning a new language and how abundant that patience seems in this country. Even though my attempts are always met with support and smiles, still it is so painful for me to struggle through because I know they know at least as much English as I know Italian. I remember my time in Spain and the experience, the mental shifting necessary to learn a new language. At some point, (I have not gotten there yet with Italian) you know all the words but you still don't speak the language. Then, at another point, you get pissed off
you get sick of not knowing the language
and you blunder out into the night
screaming and yelling
and then you realize
you are yelling in italian.

it isn't until you give it up
that you speak the new language.
it isn't until you admit that all languages are a sham
that you can pick up a new one.
you have to be able to try it on
like a fedora with a plaid ribbon band,
thinking that you'll just take it off again.

Just about all the photos in this blog were taken by Antoinette. Including this one. Way to activate the world into art!

Thanksgiving 2008

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 10:55:37 -0800

It was not without effort, but we did manage to acquire a turkey. It took some convincing of the butcher that yes we really wanted a whole one. When we showed up to retrieve the 5 kilo turkey we had ordered, he announced the smallest one he could get was 15 kilos. That’s almost 35 lbs, people! We only had 10 people for dinner, so we explained it was just too big. No problem: he chopped it in half!

That didn’t stop us from making stuffing (cornbread stuffing by Antoinette!), or brining (you go Mystophur!), or having a FULL SIZED Thanksgiving (go Team!).

This just in from Mystophur:

GASTRONOMIC HIGHLIGHTS: Despite their rarity in Italy, we managed to locate and prepare almost all of the the foods we associate with Thanksgivings past... sadly, except the yams. The turkey that Breee arranged from a local farmer turned out to be a lot bigger than we expected (35lbs!), so we got him to cut it in half. It turns out that this is a great strategy as it cooked up more quickly and perfectly (stuffed under the skin with apples, raisins, onions, and pancetta. BenVenuto introduced SistaFlav into pumpkin-pie making, and it turned out decadently well. Christine Finn (the archæologist/artist who offered a fascinating presentation upon "bog bodies" and liminality in art, at our Symposium on Saturday) prepared a lovely though seemingly oxymoronic "bread sauce" that is the traditional gravy for British turkeys at Christmastime. Antoinette made a cornbread stuffing and the day of cooking yielded many more gravies, stuffings, salads, and pies.

The feast was followed by copious pies-- apple pie by Breee and pumpkin pies by SistaFlav & BenVenuto (kudos to Mrs.Venuto’s show stopping recipe)!

You may notice the decorations in the background... In a moment of feeling like I was living in scarcity, I lamented our lack of holiday decor. Instead of wallowing in that emotion, I looked around for what was abundant. I collected fallen leaves from our fig tree, spray painted them gold, and hung them in every window. Then I borrowed a needle from Breee, pillaged a container of dental floss from the box of things left behind by guests, and sewing strings of popcorn (using styrofoam packing popcorn that has come in packages). I was pleased with the results, the most significant of which was restoring my sense that at the very moment we all have everything we need. Thank you for that!

Fibi’s Guest Blog

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 09:28:23 -0800

This episode comes to you from the desk of one of the most touching performers I have seen and a dear friend to boot. The Art Monastery has attracted many amazing people, and Fibi is the tippy of the top:

I have had the ridiculous good fortune to be a guest in Calvi twice this year already, and am about to enjoy a third visit during the holidays and experience an Italian Christmas, which DJ Frankie insists is better in a small, sweet place like Calvi than in Rome. I'm really looking forward to seeing every single one of those adorable alphae.

In July, I participated in two festivals there--first the Giornate Medioevale in Poggio and then the Cena Renascimentale in Calvi.

Photo of Poggio by Ben Venuto

For the Giorate Mediovale JuliaCesare choreographed an Isadora Duncan-style piece for some of the local girls who were all absolutely adorable. Everyone there has a medieval costume, down to the straw-soled espadrilles which seems to be the consensus footwear (terrible for dancing, though, as the stiff soles don't move with the foot and the awful things become, effectively, flip-flops).

Photo by Ben Venuto

So, for the festival, I got to dance a bit with JuliaCesare and the girls, and sing a bit with two instrumentalists, Ann Allen and Caroline Ritchie.

As an American early musician, I have developed an aversion to costumes and themed events like Renaissance Faires (even the spelling gets under my skin). It just always seemed so chintzy and forced. With trepidation, I donned my borrowed dress, and waited for the bus to take us to the top of the hill. Once there, all my resistance melted. To see hundreds of enthusiastic people wearing their meticulously-crafted garb as they jostled between the stone walls of an actual medieval town was... perfect. I was converted. I want my own dress...or tunic...or armor!

Photo by Ben Venuto

The following week was Calvi's Cena Renascimentale--a collaboration with the Coro Polifonico of Calvi, directed by the charismatic local maestro, Osvaldo Guidotti.

Photo by BenVenuto

The singing was so raw and spirited--perfect for the raunchy, folky Banchieri madrigals and other pieces on the concert. Ann (is there anything she can't do?) choreographed some charming Renaissance dances for us, and three actors cavorted through pastoral scenes that bound the music into a cohesive whole.

Above photos by BenVenuto

The food was amazing--or it looked so (was busy singing) and included a huge porchetta.

Photo by BenVenuto

One of the best parts for me was seeing my mom in the audience. Getting to spend two weeks with her was so much fun--one never knows what it will be like to spend a long chunk of time with a parent--it was so sweet. I was impressed with how she showed up, having studied Italian phrases, ready to experience the culture, and having researched the Art Monastery online. (Mom, are you reading this? You're awesome--sorry it took me so long to send you photos.)

There were a handful of instrumentalists staying at the Santa Brigida, including early music heavyweights Bruce Dickey and Candace Smith, who live in Bologna.
I had my mind blown one evening as I heard singing wafting up from the terrace and went over to discover them sitting in a circle around a table reading Gesualdo madrigals, just like the old days--everybody had their own part to look at--except they were all on laptops! Bruce passed me the mini drive, and within seconds I had uploaded the collection and was holding my computer sideways, too, like a real book. If you know Gesualdo, you know that his music was singularly strange and sinuous, beautiful and odd. Add to that the incongruous appearance of the technology, all overlooking the darkened hills of Calvi...it was something I will never ever forget.

Photo by Fibi

Photo by TigerTooth

Oh, the fig tree. How amazing is it that every single day I could pull fruit off the tree as I walked by? Or that I could dive into the pool anytime I wanted (never swim after eating, and always have a buddy with you). Kudos to Katherine (lovely sackbut player/singer) for creating an elaborate game involving many floating ring buoys, a rubber ball, and a set of rules I would have had to stop drinking wine at every meal to understand.

Photo by Antoinette

On the night before she and the other players from Basel left, we had a little party, and Mystopher pulled out the Atlantean tarot. I am always struck by the sensitivity and compassion he emanates when he's giving someone a reading. Mystopher and I have been friends for 10 years, having met in the Los Angeles music scene. I am so happy that his path has led him here, and that he and McSmalls have the vision, dedication, and talent that has brought the project this far and continues to move it forward.

Soon I had to go back home to California, but was consoled by the fact that I would be back in October to music direct and sing for the wedding. But that story I will save for another day.

See you soon, alpha dawgs.

LIVE ELECTION BLOG

Tue, 4 Nov 2008 17:28:14 -0800

1:47 am
First of all, I would like to clarify that any political stances stated here are my personal views and don’t reflect anything that might hinder the 501(c)3 status of Gli Amici dell’Art Monastery. Now that that’s out of the way OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA!!!!!!

That’s right. It says “Art Monks for Obama!”

Everyone on the Alpha Team joined Democrats Abroad. How could we not? They run VoteFromAbroad.org which is a beautiful organization: clarifying and simplifying and reassuring you that YES you can vote and just because you’ve left the US doesn’t mean you’ve given up your rights. Thank you VoteFromAbroad.org!

So our pals over at Dems Abroad are a cool bunch and threw an All Night Election Party (it also turns out that 6 of them live in Otricoli and two more in Civita Castellana-- just minutes from Calvi)! The party starts at 1 am Wednesday, Nov 5, in Rome: this is when the polls are closing in the USA. I brought my camera and laptop and here I am, amongst the reporters, blogging LIVE and in the moment. Let me tell you: I am so excited we came. As I type, Bammers is being interviewed by Italian radio 92.5-- and I was interviewed on the street before we even got inside.

Here inside the Steakhouse Grill at Termini Station in Rome, the place is plastered in posters (the Young Master and Mystophur came to Rome this afternoon to interview Italian interns and came to the event early to help set up. They made an enormous banner that says “Arrivaderci, Dubya!” and left a space for people to add a comment below.)

02:48 am
OBAMA JUST WON PENNSYLVANIA!

We are in the Roadhouse Grill and it’s packed with Americans. Everyone is wearing Obama tshirts and it’s all you can eat pancakes and American coffee all night long. Sadly, the coffee tastes more like Maxwell House than anything else. Doesn’t really make me miss the USA. But the maple syrup makes up for everything. You people in the States: appreciate your syrup!

03:21am
OBAMA WON MICHIGAN, WISCONSIN, AND NEW YORK!

In classic Burning Man style, Mystophur contacted the organizers of this event ahead of time, asking if they needed help setting up and how many changes of costume we should bring. Misunderstanding him slightly, they agreed that a change of clothes would be wise. Costumes are different from clothes in my book, but still the party is fun.

04:03am
OBAMA WON IOWA

Young Master Nathan here, taking over for McSmalls for a few minutes. Some of us are a little delirious, but spirits remain high. Every twenty minutes or so the steakhouse erupts in applause or booing and someone’s tiny dog starts yapping. There are still many votes to be counted, though, and we’re all a bit concerned by the narrow popular vote spread.

It’s surreal to be watching CNN after spending so much time away from U.S. media. It’s true that we are all kind of news junkies, but we tend to limit ourselves to what we can get from the internet. There is a strong press presence here tonight.  Bammers has already been interviewed by the Huffington Post and an Italian radio show. A photographer just snapped five or six shots of FraSciandra sleeping, her legs on my lap. Don’t tell her-- she’ll be furious.

People are booing. McCain gets Texas. I’m crossing my fingers about Colorado. More cheering and booing.

5:21am
OBAMA IS ELECTED PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

[back to McSmalls]
He won. He did it. We did it. I’m beside myself. Mystophur and I stood clinging to each other during his acceptance speech, tears streaming. All around us people are sobbing and screaming. I am so tired and so renewed. He talks about the crisis situation the US is in and I see that reflected in my own life, so when he talks about the possibilities we’ve won with this election, I have the energy to dig in here. I am so proud of us as a country. I am so relieved-- thrilled-- astonished-- that I will be able to talk about my country without apologizing, shaking my head, hanging my head. I can beam out about the US right now. We’ve done it. This is who we are.

Most of the team fell asleep in the car on the way home-- it was 7:30 am and we’d been pancaking all night. I was simultaneously exhausted and energized and stared out the window at the literal dawning of a new day.

Now everything seems possible. Being dreamers is the way. For me, it’s the only way. Because otherwise, how do great things like this happen? How do we make it possible for artists to exist in a capitalist commodity-driven world? How do we make sure that we’re still human? That we maintain our attention on the beauty and meaning of things?

Yes, clearly this election is very personal for me. When Obama says that his campaign started without much funding, I hear him in my heart. When he says that people gave $5 or $10 when it wasn’t easy for them, I hear him loud and clear because that is that same sort of grassroots campaign we’ve got going with the Art Monastery. He talks about young people rejecting the myth of apathy of their generation-- he’s talking about my generation and he’s talking about the rejection that I make when people tell me that I’m crazy for moving to Italy and struggling through to create something that I believe will change the world.

I believe that art is a vibrant essential force in this world. I believe that it makes space in our hearts and minds and souls for peace, for consideration, for contemplation, for laughter, for outrage. Art draws connections between things that we do not allow in other categories. Art creates freedom. This is what I stand for. I stand for outrageous beauty and wonder stopping us all in our tracks. I stand for art that lifts us out of our current situation- whatever that may be- and gives us a new perspective on our lives. And on other people’s lives. I stand for art that points out that I am the other to someone else. And someone else is the I. I stand for art that touches people, that reaches inside those dark and tender places, that catches the glimpse of that image you have of yourself, spitting and gnashing your teeth-- I stand for turning and facing that image and opening your heart to her. I stand for releasing that voice that tells you you can not, you dare not, you don’t deserve. I stand for radical self-expression. I stand for love. I stand for liberty. I stand for beauty. I stand for art. I stand for the Art Monastery. And I stand for Barack Obama.

If you stand for these things, then I invite you to join me.

“ And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright - tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from our the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope.

For that is the true genius of America - that America can change.“
 There is nothing that can bring such clarity to Obama’s words as being outside of the US. With the new frame of reference afforded by having an ocean between me and my friends & family back home, is that I see this stark contrast between Americans and Italians. Italians have such an incredibly rich history-- the birthplace of the Renaissance for crying out loud! The art, architecture, and music that have been birthed and nurtured in this country have shaped the world over centuries. And sadly, it is the intensity of that legacy that can be paralyzing to the contemporary artists here. In comparison with Italy, America is almost without a past, without a history. But the benefit of lacking history is that it makes room for herstory. It makes room for that which we could never have discovered before. How does a young Italian painter put a paintbrush to canvas with Michelangelo is looking over her shoulder? In America, we are not haunted by those ghosts and some of our freedom does spring from our youth.

I am so proud of us. I am proud of America. For the first time, I identify with my country. I feel connected and that feels good.

Olive Us

Sun, 26 Oct 2008 15:15:40 -0700

Above photo by the YoungMaster

The biggest major news around here is that we decided to take a day off... consistently. Yes, that’s right. We’re not going to work on Sundays anymore. It’s the day of rest, after all.
So what did we do on our very first day off? Well, Mystophur and I worked in the morning (it’s a tough habit to quit), and then we all harvested olives!

The first thing we did was put on outfits. You have to look like you’re at least trying to be rustico.

Step two: consult the other (equally un-knowledgeable) people around you. Do we take the green ones? What’s the difference between the big ones and the little ones? Do we leave behind the ones with holes?

We each developed our own way (amazing how opinionated we all were, and soon after that, competitive).

Who’s crazy about olives?

The pace picked up when Mystophur set up the sound system to blast Meatloaf. That’s when we really started to go for it.

The more we harvested the more invested we became. We began to realize how many olives were on just one tree: all six of us picked on the same tree for almost three hours and it got dark before all the olives came down.

All photos below by the YoungMaster

Josie came out to help too. She even climbed a couple trees to show us where the good stuff was.

When it just was no longer reasonable to be picking we stopped. The next day Bammers and the YoungMaster took our beautiful giant bucket to the local olive oil fella, who will press your olives while you wait. You can pay for the service by giving him a cut of the olives. He giggled a bit that we had brought him about 1/9th of the minimum, but he saw how excited we were and pressed them anyway. And then he complemented how few leaves were mixed in with our olives (we take this to mean we could probably be a lot rougher with harvesting next time).

The fruits of our labor: delicious!

Renew

Mon, 6 Oct 2008 03:17:15 -0700

A great benefit of bringing all of our loved ones to Calvi, was the opportunity to see it through fresh eyes. It turns out this place is as amazing as we suspected it was. Here are a collection of photos from wedding guests who helped us to meet Calvi all over again. These are all images of or from Calvi.

The Reception: Part III

Sun, 5 Oct 2008 04:05:44 -0700

But that wasn’t enough! After a moving ceremony, flag throwers and trumpets, stilt-walking, a feast to die for, toasts to sob for, and an accordiOn player on top of all the squids, we wanted more.

Photo by Val

(Okay, we actually didn’t. We would have been content to continue sleeping on mattresses on the floor in front of the fire. But when you are surrounded by such a spectacular collection of people with so much talent, how can you say no to more cherries, more sprinkles, and an extra dollop of whipped cream?) Despite the post-rain chilliness, we regathered in the piazza to dance to American Country Swing performed by the sweet and spicy Jennie Knaggs. Jennie’s performance was punctuated by spontaneous collaborations amongst the other performers in the crowd, amongst them harmonica-player Kevin Burrows, singers Phoebe Jevtovic & Michelle Sargent, and tap dancer Marije Nie!

video by Russ Uman

Video by the CatWhisperer

Photo by SantaFrancesca, recording the CatWhisperer recording Jennie!

Photo by PJ

Fuzzy Hat Wearers Unite!

The Reception: Part II

Sun, 5 Oct 2008 01:51:25 -0700

Photos by Steve Double

Photo by Michael Huey

Photo by Michael Huey

Photo by Michael Huey

Photo by Michael Huey

Photo by PJ

Toasts have always been my favorite part of weddings. Turns out toasts are not part of the Italian tradition-- so the Italians were educated at this particular reception because we had toasts aplenty and the kind that reach inside your chest and give your heart a good squeeze such that you’re happily listening and the next thing you know you’re a puddle of emotion, gratitude, and overwhelmed love.

Photos by SantaFrancesca

The genius of my spiritual cohort RadiantJewel was sewn throughout this wedding. She reanimated my sister’s wedding dress, keeping Molina present even while she was in San Francisco with her days-old daughter. RadiantJewel dip-dyed the dress blue, built the ruffley orange underskirt, the bolero jacket, the choker, and the garter (complete with swim goggles). But she didn’t stop with my outfit or even with accessories for everyone in the bridal party. She also created the bouquets, boutineers, and table flowers. Her soothing presence on wise words were a comfort and guide to me throughout the planning and events.

Photo by Steve Double

Another unstoppable source of light is one Mrs.Goody. I might be slightly partial, but she made what I can confidently say is the best wedding cake I have ever had. EVER. And I’ve been to a lot of weddings. Besides the fact that the cake has orange polkadots (an idea I mentioned to her in passing, before Mystophur and I were even engaged, about my fantasy of a wedding cake. THESE are the kinds of people I want in my life: the kind who listen, take note, and ask why on earth wouldn’t your fantasy be possible?), a pumpkin-ginger cake with Canadian maple syrup butter cream frosting. Oh dear. Oh my. What a cake. What a woman.

Photo by Steve Double

Sometimes, especially in Italy, it’s hard to get a hold of people.
Sometimes, going through the effort is really, really worth it. Collaborators of ours had recommended this accordion player from Rome. By the end of the night we wanted to bring him home with us. When he wasn’t melting your heart with classic Italian folk songs, he was accentuating someone’s joke or photograph with such nuance and sensitivity it’s really hard to believe he doesn’t speak English.

And how rad that PapaWoo was inspired to join in. Ah, the international language of music.

Photo by SantaFrancesca

Video by KittyKat

Photos by KittyKat

The Reception: Part I

Sun, 5 Oct 2008 00:48:09 -0700

Our original plan was for the guests to stream out from the ceremony and into the piazza, where we would be met with glasses of Prosecco, sbandieratori (the local trumpet-playing & flag-throwing troop), and a surprise stilt-walking performance by the director of Grotest Maru. But the weather had other plans and rather than get sopping and cold, the Mayor swooped to the rescue and invited everyone into the Sala Consiliare, the room we first met him in, the site of so many negotiations and town council meetings. Although the sbandieratori (some of whom had missed school for this very important performance) had to do a much-edited version of what they had prepared (only the tiniest boys of the troop could fit their flag throws inside this very high-ceilinged indoor area), still it was fantastic and all the cozier.

Photo by JdB

Photo by Michael Huey

Photo by Steve Double

We were especially delighted by the toast the Mayor gave (pictured above with Neena), pointing out that he never imagined when we first met in this room that two years later it would be host to so many Americans!

Photo by Steve Double

ViceMayor Luca also gave a speech, inviting everyone back to the Festival of San Pancrazio in May to celebrate the patron saint of the town, which Calvi has done without fail every year for 300 years.

Video & Photo by SantaFrancesca

Photo by Steve Double

Photo by Michael Huey

Photo by Santa Francesca

Video by KittyKat

Photo by Steve Double

Just when we thought the height of spectacle had been achieved, this mystical magical creature appeared, stunning the crowd while she floated around the room, sprinkling us all with heart-shaped confetti, and bestowing maribou boas with blinking hearts on Mystophur and me. We can only fantasize about bring this little taste of street-performance troop Grotest Maru back to Calvi and the Art Monastery. Perhaps a collaboration with the sbandieratori is in order?

Photo by Michael Huey

Photo by Steve Double

Video by KittyKat

Photo by KittyKat

Photo by SantaFrancesca

Le Nozze

Sat, 4 Oct 2008 12:23:03 -0700

Photos above and below by Steve Double

It turns out that a wedding is, at its core, the act of publicly declaring your love and commitment to another human being. It makes sense that such a declaration would involve spirituality, that you would invite the important people in your life to participate, and that you might want to wear a cute outfit. But whether the pocket squares on the groomsmen are perfectly matching or the seating arrangements get shuffled actually has no effect on that declaration. In fact, at the end of the day, there isn’t really anything that can touch it. Even serious things, like if your sister can’t come because she just had a baby or your father because he passed away, still the message is heard and the transformation takes place. People say that no matter how well you plan something will go wrong on your wedding day. I say, no matter what goes wrong, everything will be exactly perfect.

Photo by the CatWhisperer

Photo by the CatWhisperer

Photo by the CatWhisperer

video by KittyKat

I love that Mystophur guy something fierce. Fiercely enough to ask my friends and my family to come all the way to Italy to listen to me say it officially. I’ve got a friend who says that marriage is one of the truest things-- that whether or not there’s a legal contract or a priest presiding that when two people turn to face each other in front of their communities and make vows real magic happens.

I think he’s right.

Photo by Steve Double

Photo by the CatWhisperer

This particular wedding, Mystophur’s and mine, is all wrapped up in the Art Monastery. When we got engaged (there was a significant shift when that happened too), the first thing I said was, “Our wedding could be the opening ceremony for the Art Monastery.” We spent the next 12 hours (literally) talking about whether or not we should or could change the Art Monastery from a thing that we daydreamed about together into a living breathing project, an actuality, our baby that would possible so much in ours and other people’s lives. We decided yes. That was three years ago.
So this was more than the banding together of two people in a love partnership-- it was the opening of an arts institution. And what is a marriage if not an opening?

Photo by KittyKat

Photo by the CatWhisperer

So we spent some time developing a ceremony that meant something to us and meant something to the Art Monastery. We asked our friends, a veritable army of professional musicians, photographers, costume designers, graphic designers, letterpress artists, religious leaders, and party planners, to help us. They did.

Photo by the CatWhisperer

We had not one but four officiants. Representing the traditions of Catholics, Presbyterians, Jews, and Christian Scientists, we asked PadreMartini (Catholic priest who sits on the Board of Advisers to the Art Monastery), Maurice van der Putt (former Catholic priest who now designs funeral services for families of multiple faiths), UncleFreeman (my father’s brother, a retired Presbyterian Reverend), and Herwitz (musical director on Broadway who might as well be a rabbi). They each brought a different essential perspective to the ceremony.

Photo by Steve Double

Photos by the CatWhisperer

Our dear friends, collaborator, and frequent blog subject, JuliaCesare, did us the great honor of performing Isadora Duncan-inspired repertoire, embodying the spirit of marriage, calling in those divine forces.

Video and photos by KittyKat

Unfortunately we don’t have a high quality recording of the ceremony, but here are two samples: Vidi Speciosam and Adiuro Vos.

Photo by the CatWhisperer

Video and photos by KittyKat

Photo by the CatWhisperer

Photo by KittyKat

Photos by Steve Double

I will never forget those who stepped outside of the experience in order to record it. Thank you so much to those fantastic individuals who so generously gave their photographic services.

Photo by the CatWhisperer

Medieval Feast

Fri, 3 Oct 2008 11:52:52 -0700

Above photo by KittyKat. Flower & fruit arrangements by RadiantJewel & Bammers, who used local flora.

Friday was a busy, beautiful day. The first day of the wedding festivities! Pretty much everyone had arrived from the USA, Germany, Netherlands, UK, and all over Italia. We convened at an incredible buffet at La Locanda del Francescano in Calvi. (Mystophur and I had asked the owner there to put together a simple local cheeses, meats, and fruits lunch-- we were met with an astounding and gorgeous array. What did we expect?

Photo by TigerTooth

The group of about 40 then trooped to the plazza and were treated to a tour of the monastery museum and gardens led by none other than our pal Vice-Mayor Luca Racanicchi. These were the first moments that it began to hit me that all these people from all these different parts of my life were here together, in a much more pleasant version of Sesame Street’s “This is your Life!”

photo by TigerTooth

Since the tour, as people send me the photos they took, I have the special treat of seeing these sights that have become extremely familiar with the fresh eyes of people arriving for the first time. I can’t tell you how invigorating this is. More views of Calvi and views from Calvi on the “Renew” blog entry.

photo by KittyKat

After the tour, the members of Hartkeriana performed a Vespers for the Feast of Saint Francis in the Chiesa Santa Brigida attached to the monastery.

photo by KittyKat

Then we all trooped to the Casale Santa Brigida (Guest House of the Art Monastery Project and our prototypical location while the monastery is undergoing restoration, aka Wedding HQ!) for the Medieval Feast! While we had been touring the monastery and listening to the sweet sounds of Hartkeriana, Bammers, JuliaCesare, and TipTap had been slaving away; preparing a menu centered around Morino’s porchetta that was historically accurate; transforming the simple restaurant of the Santa Brigida into a medieval hall; and solving the problem of the simultaneous arrivals of 120 guests and rain.

photo by Steve Double

photo by Keno

The infamous Porchetta da Morino did not disappoint!

Entertainment for the evening was provided by, once again, Vice-Mayor Luca & his medieval band! Made up of suspiciously adorable relatives, they are the Calvi version of the Partidge Family.

photos by Djwanna

video & photo by KittyKat

photos by Djwanna & Val

The toasts. The toasts were so touching, so perceptive, and so revealing, that I just about lost it in them moment and I just about lose it just remembering them. Our friends and family, it turns out, not only love us, but they really, really know us. These are some witty, eloquent, well-educated folks with which we’ve surrounded ourselves! Go us!

My peeps from the homeland, my mentors and heroes, ex-colleagues and dear, dear friends: KittyKat and TheBeast.

Prehistoric Rock Art

Sun, 21 Sep 2008 05:19:34 -0700

The most inspiring moments in this project are when our little prototypes take form, bursting out from our dreams into this shared reality on planet earth. And that’s what happened yesterday, when we had our first Art Monastery Symposium.

Gyrus, expert in ancient rock art and archaeology of consciousness, led the first in a series of symposium-style lectures and discussions. His richly visual presentation mixed scholarly archaeology with very personal engagement.

He showed us images of cup-and-ring art dating 3000 to 6000 years ago, from the Bronze to Neolithic ages. Apparently the same sorts of images show up on flat rocks in open plains across northwest Europe. The images are striking and it’s easy to imagine devoting years of research to studying them.

Gyrus led us through a discussion of “passage graves” used for communing with dead via rituals and trance states. He drew connections between some of these abstract patterns, especially spirals, with the first phase of entering into a trance-like state. He related the spiral to the journey toward death, as well as the birth process. The image below shows the entrance to one of these passage graves in Newgrange, Ireland.

Gyrus told us about David Lewis-Williams’ theory of Paleolithic cave art, presenting the surface of a rock as a permeable membrane between this world and otherworld. Perhaps these images are not meant to depict a temple or a path or a breast or an eye, but are meant to point out an unnoticed liminality.

Water over rock carvings.

Water over water.

Afterward, we sat around and discussed the relationship between art and archeaology, the difficulties and liberties that come with each approach, and the sort of expectations one carries from each of these disciplines.

Our discussion benefitted from the presence of the keynote speaker of our next symposium (November 22), Finnian. A fantastically warm and experienced archeaologist turned journalist and artist, Finnian brought to the discussion an additional layer of knowledge and stimulating questions. I’m so glad she could join us and am psyched to hear what she has to say in November.

Also visit Gyrus’s blog: dreamflesh.com.

Porchetta

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 05:21:47 -0700

Is it because we’re in Italy or because we’re in a tiny little town that these things happen to us? The night before our wedding, Mystophur and I are throwing a medieval feast. The guest star: a roast pig, complete with the orange in its mouth. We asked around and everyone agrees who makes the best porchetta: Morino. SantaFrancesca knows someone who knows him (turns out he doesn’t have a shop: he’s just the guy who makes the best porchetta), so she and I went over to his house to find out how much it would cost. Upon arriving I knew this guy was a character. “Look at these beauties! I have to kiss everyone as they come in!” When we asked about the porchetta, we explained that it was for a party the night before my wedding. He squinted at me. “Where is your husband?” I explained that we were staying at the Santa Brigida. “You bring him here tomorrow at 1pm. We’ll have lunch and then we’ll talk about porchetta.” Does this happen in all small towns?

The next afternoon SantaFrancesca, Mystophur, and I arrived at Morino’s abode. He was standing in the door waving to us: the prosciutto and melon was already on the table.
What followed was a purely delectable experience. The food was exquisite: simple and perfect. After the antipasti he brought out a giant bowl of pasta with what looked like a normal tomato sauce. But on the tongue the sauce bloomed into a rainbow of flavors. When Mystophur quizzed him about how he made the sauce he explained, “You have to be Morino to make this sauce.” He also went on about how women aren’t good cooks because they’re too concerned with “health issues.” “More salt, more oil, more herbs!” he demanded.

When Morino left to fetch the next course, I filled everyone’s glasses with water. When he returned (with a pan heaped with pork) he lamented that I filled his glass with water: “Why not the wine? Now I have to drink all this water first!” The wine was spectacular, I must say. He made it himself (as well as growing the tomatoes for the sauce and the pigs for the grill). He said he collects the grapes, washes them, presses them, and then lets the whole thing ferment, without filtering. When he does filter, he gets far less wine than a professional would, but what is left is a robust flavor. White wine that was almost amber in color. Fantastic.

During lunch he regaled us with stories from his life (When Mystophur asked his age he told him 17, but we’re guessing it’s a joke on 70.) There was something about this man I wish I could capture on film or in words. He was somehow so vibrant, so terribly present. He talked about his wife, who passed over 7 years ago, and while he didn’t tell sad stories I felt myself choking back tears. He loved her so much. At one point he turned to Mystophur and said, thrusting his thumb back toward me, “You hold on to her tight now. If you lose her, you lose everything.”

What Morino doesn’t know is that Mystophur’s love goes to another level. Mystophur loves me so much that he sets me free. It’s a powerfully beautiful and brave thing. And the result is that I feel more deeply connected to him than any other human being.
And Morino has managed to go on. In his exuberant way, he told us dirty jokes and then, when we asked for advice on whether we should get goats or chickens, he dropped all jokes and dove into sage advice honed from years of raising animals.

At another point, while filling Mystophur’s glass with another homemade cocktail, Morino suddenly asked about Mystophur’s dad. Mystophur explained that he had passed on, Morino nodded solemnly, and once again I felt a rush of emotion. What was it about this man that brings out such intensity from the heart?

We tried to say goodbye two-and-a-half hours after arriving, but then he took us to see the pigs, the cow, the chickens, the land, and the wine press.

He loaded us up with fresh eggs, bottles of his magical tomato sauce, sloughed off prosciutto, tasted the newest wine, and even plucked a watermelon from the earth for us to devour later.

Although Morino seems to be from another universe than the one I am from, I feel instantly attached to him. I adore him. I plan to learn as much as I can from him; with regard to farming, cooking, loving, and giving. Add another star to the case of characters: Morino is a keeper.

The Legend of DJ Frankie

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 13:41:03 -0700

As you may have guessed, DJ Franky wears, under his every day business suit, a black belt in the ancient art of Charm Jiu Jitsu. He goes easy on the common folk, resisting the urge to defeat everyone in his path with a mighty gust of delight and swoon. But on this particular day, he was not dealing with just common folk.

This was the day that the Art Monastery had an appointment with the Minister of Tourism for the entire region of Umbria. Mystophur, JuliaCesare, and I drove to Perugia and picked up our hero at the train station there. Together we trooped into the government building, and without ever having met this man, proceeded to offer that we would happily receive funds from the region. The MoT was unimpressed, and while he liked the idea of the project, was about to wish us luck and usher us back out the door. That’s when DJ Frankie pulled out the big guns. Nodding and smiling and agreeing with the MoT, our DJ changed the music, as it were. The next thing any of us knew, the MoT was laughing and delighted, joking around with JuliaCesare about signing up for her Isadora Duncan workshop. Well, there you go. That’s DJ Franky for you. The meeting ended with the MoT pointing out multiple different sources that we could apply to for funding and heartfully wishing us luck.

We walked out of the office and into the hallway and looked at each other blankly for a moment. Then DJ Franky motioned for us to get in the elevator. We leapt in and as the doors closed did a little dance of success: it is great success to have convinced a government official who is not friends with any of us, that the Art Monastery Project is worthy of funding. It is the first, hopefully, in a long line of strangers-turned-supporters.

Although the project IS amazing and absolutely DOES deserve support, we can only assume that this meeting would not have quite so swimmingly without the inimitable DJ Franky. Thanks again DJ.

But who is your un-named Sensei? I have my guesses...

Santa Brigida

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 15:54:13 -0700

Boy, have we had some wacky times in the Casa del Popolo. We even joked around about telling the Mayor to forget the monastery: we want to make this dream happen in the Cdp! But then, just like so many times before, divine providence intervened and offered us something we never would have come up with on our own: an agriturismo.

In the 1980s, the Italian government ran a great program that offered funding to small local farmers to restore the buildings on their land into B&Bs. The requirements to get the funding were that it had to be a working farm and the proprietors had to serve or sell their guests the products from the farm. The ol’ one-two punch of boosting tourism while helping out local agriculture. It worked and now there are tons of adorable little B&Bs sprinkled throughout every tiny little countryside town. Including Calvi. There are 8 agriturismi in Calvi... that we know of. Who knows? There could be even more!

When Mystopher and I began planning our wedding one of the first and easiest decisions was where to host our parents: at the most gorgeous agriturismo: the bio-agriturismo Santa Brigida in the midst of their organic olive farm. But when we went to make the reservation we were informed that it was no longer running and that the owners were looking to rent it out. We complained to CartolinaMia, bemoaning our bad luck, and she jumped out of her chair (or I imagined that she did, as she is in Bloomington, Indiana and we are in Calvi)-- “The Santa Brigida is available? Let’s take it!”

Next thing you know CartolinaMia is in Calvi, meeting with the owners. And now, the Alpha Team is moving into the most beautiful agriturismo in Calvi! Here’s the plan:

Since we don’t have time, experience, or desire to run a hotel or a farm, this place is no longer an agriturismo. It is now officially Casale Santa Brigida: the guest house of the Art Monastery. To be used as a prototype location while the monastery is under construction and as overflow housing. We can offer members of the association housing to create income for the Project and live in a fabulous place in the meantime.

Check it out: CasaleSantaBrigida.org

Tell all your friends. This is the GREATEST way for you to support the Art Monastery Project: come and stay with us!

Oh, and if these pictures weren’t enough... there’s an infinity pool. Seriously. And a commercial-grade kitchen. Great yoga spaces. Hiking. Foosball. Not even joking. Come and visit us.

San Pancrazio

Sun, 18 May 2008 01:40:58 -0700

[This Nun’s Blog posting by JuliaCesare.]

Calvi's San Pancrazio Festival was an important moment. At least in my mind, it represented something of a debut for our little team. San Pancrazio, I should explain, is the patron saint of Calvi. Once a year, around his feast day of May 12th, Calvi dell' Umbria turns itself upside down with parties, ceremonies, and general medieval style merry-making. The festival, by the way, goes all the way back to the 13th Century.

What the Calvese have done, and the passion with which they organize and enjoy these days, is a beautiful sight to see. The first evening I was able to attend was the "Tavolate" basically giant feasts set out for free around town. They are each hosted by a different group. For example each year, when boys are born here, they register their names, and each year four twelve year old signorini are chosen to represent San Pancrazio (who was martyred as an adolescent). So, each signorino's (little man's) family, is responsible for putting on a feast. Then there is the table of the dame (the women) and the various others. All in all, there are seven or eight giant feasts which all have to be "opened" by a marching band. Before the band passes, you may not eat, but everyone visits each table, to scope them out, and hopefully to be invited…that's the other part, is that you have to be invited to eat. Each Tavolata features porchetta (giant roast pigs) and cheese and fruit and wine and fava beans and many more things that I can't remember, probably due to the fact that each tavolata also featured a few kegs of wine. And this is just one night, people.

Other festivities include a mass for San Pancrazio, featuring the prized relic of his arm. There is a ritual in the piazza in which the four signorini ride horses all around. When it's time to put the flags back in the church, there are four pairs of men who run sequentially into the church, in full medieval regalia, shouting "e viva san pancraziooo!" In fact, full medieval regalia and shouting eehviva san pancrazio was common throughout the week. Not to mention the fireworks.

It was not only our first time participating in this venerable festa, but we were presenting a Vespers for the Feast of San Pancrazio and "Tra Quercia e Ulivo" a Duncan Dance and Medieval Music new work. To do this, we were packing the artists into the Casa del Popolo. YouJeans, world class Gregorian chant expert, conductor, composer, and Belgian foodie, was sharing my normal cubby with PadreMartini, another Gregorian chant expert and PhD candidate. In the back room was I, Dishy, one of my dance colleagues from New York and erstwhile best friend, BenVenuto and SistaFlav, and Little Orphan Annie. Mystophur and La Presidentessa were in their normal hideaway, and good sports La Tedesca and Meyer were tenting it in the back yard.

The Vespers went off quite well on Tuesday, the church had quite a good crowd. It was really interesting to see a Vespers produced as art... or ritual... or art… or… it inspired a lot of conversation between Dishy and I, actually, on the relationship between art and religion and their specific goals…Anyway, the singing was beautiful, the moment inspiring. We followed that up with a dinner at the local Taverna, made completely unforgettable by the group of 20 or so young Calvesi playing a traditional Pancrazio drinking game at the next table, which involved regular shouting and banging of mugs on the table. I for one, kind of enjoyed the spectacle although it made conversation next to impossible.

My experience of the rest of the week was a bit myopic, completely dance focused. It was great to be able to concentrate on art for the first time in a long time, although the difficulties inherent in trying to be both artist and organizer became abundantly clear, mostly in my elevated stress level.

On Thursday night, Dishy and I danced at the Amadeo Modigliani Institut in Rome, a gig that the always fabulous DJ Franky hooked me up with. We were performing in a beautiful little room in front of three real Cariatide by Amedeo himself, quite a treat and a bit scary at the same time (my last piece involved a lot of spinning very near them, and I don't have to remind you they're worth more than my life).

Saturday was "tra Quercia e Ulivo" in a piazza in Calvi. Dishy and I had done a workshop with the kids on Wednesday morning, since we'd decided to include them in the performance. That too was a good decision, they had fun and so did we, and they were certainly some of the most enthusiastic kids I've ever worked with, and well behaved. We had a few dicey moments cause it rained right before we had to dance, and actually during my solo. I was just hoping that my beige tunic didn't become completely scandalous.

But La Tedesca has a beautiful voice, and Little Orphan Annie is a strong musician, working together was really great. Dishy and I agreed that it was exciting to work together, especially to pair Duncan dance with medieval music and to construct a whole piece together with the musicians.

The same night, Christopher sang in the choir with the Calvesi, in full medieval regalia. (photo here) The next day, everyone left. Everyone pretty much crashed, and got ready to head out to the US….

Mystophur with the Vice-Mayor’s brother

Art Work. Work of Art.

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 10:33:21 -0700

My birthday is April 26. It was on my birthday that I started freaking out. BenVenuto & SistaFlav left that morning. Mystophur was leaving April 27. After dropping him at the airport (at an uncivilized hour, I might add), I went to the Diego Rivera Gallery at San Francisco Art Institute to meet our hero, Handsun. A contractor from Santa Cruz, our hero learned about the Art Monastery Project at Burning Man the year before.

[cut to Burning Man]
On Tuesday night of the week-long festival, we gave out TiraMisu made from scratch by two real live Romans: Matteo & Carlo. We also gave out chilled prosecco in glass flutes. We were very popular, as you can imagine. Mystophur got up and spoke about the project briefly and then a Talent Show ensued. I thought at the time that talking about the Project there was out of place, that people didn’t want to hear about the outside world at an event like Burning Man, so I didn’t get up to say anything and Mystophur kept it short.

Cut to a few months later when we get an email from this fabulous man who used to live at Esalen. He loves the project. He wants to know more. He happened to be in San Francisco visiting friends, so we meet for coffee. We talk about the options and decide the timing might not be exactly right to get him involved, but promise to keep him in the loop.

Cut back to my birthday and I’m freaking out. Mystophur says,
“Let’s call that guy to help you build your installation.”
“He’s not going to want to do it, honey. Why would he?” said the Voice of Reason.

Cut to a few minutes later when Mystophur is handing me the phone and when I put it to my head I get an earful of excitement—Handsun is actually thanking me for the opportunity to work on the installation. Incredible.

9am on Sunday morning, April 27. Handsun and I meet at the Diego Rivera Gallery. He calls it the Frieda. I decide he’s IN. We make some sketches, go to the hardware store, adjust the plan and return to the space. We spent the next 15 hours creating a frame out of electrical conduit that is the exact dimensions of the bedrooms in the convent in Calvi. Complete with arching ceiling. I painted it copper and marked with tape on the floor the thickness of the walls (almost three feet thick!). I put in a desk and sitting chairs, my computer, printer, and all my files, a plant, maps of Italy, photos of the place, and a poster proclaiming The Art Monastery in Calvi dell’Umbria.

I would not have gotten the installation done to such a state of glory without the sterling attitude and know how (and tools!) of our hero Handsun. Now, like soldiers from the trenches of an art war, we are forever bonded. We put weeks of work and development into 15 hours. Without lattes and dolmas, we never would have made it. When I left the space at 3am I was not happy. And when I re-entered the space the following morning at 10am I stopped in my tracks. When had it come together? And how had I missed that moment? It looked great!

(Yes. He’s a stilt walker. And yes, that can be very handy when building an installation!)

I spent the following week, Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm, sitting at the desk. Doing the same work I do everyday—the business of creating an international arts center.

The following are shots of and through this amazing piece by Laura Boles Faw, Perception. Pretty great piece by a pretty fantastic person. She also helped me SO MUCH with setting up the event at the end of the week- the culmination of the week-long performance: how did you guess? a fund raiser!

It All Comes Back to the Vision

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 08:09:06 -0700

On the drive from Seattle to San Francisco, I read a book about fund raising and it was positively fascinating. The author talked about our hang ups about money—that we are raised not to discuss money and certainly not to ask other people for it. But the fact is that really beautiful wonderful beneficial fabulous ideas often fall outside the realm of our current economy. Does that mean they shouldn’t be done? Just because our capitalist system doesn’t take those things into account? And there are loads of people out there who have wealth and want to help. They want to feel connected, to make a difference, to have a positive impact on the world. They are, in some ways, really similar to those people with the big ideas, the dreams that are so sweeping that the fly right out of the realm of capitalism. And so then, why wouldn’t these paths cross? Why wouldn’t two souls (or more) help each other to achieve beauty? Freedom? Peace?
Although fund raising can sound horrible and sometimes feel awkward—it is just one step in the giant work of art. So let’s be artists. Let’s get this project off the ground.

Seattle, Washington

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 14:18:45 -0700

We met up with Ben Venuto & Sista Flav at the Seattle airport and, because we were too hungry to do anything else, stopped at a random Chinese restaurant. There, Ben Venuto proceeded to speak Mandarin with the waitress and win the hearts of everyone. The food was unlike any Chinese I’ve ever had. Nice beginning.

We went to Nadine’s and got settled, then gathered ourselves up to go have dinner with Mystophur’s college chum, FightyFight (a charming and benevolent soul whose name does not denote violence of any sort). Mr & Mrs FightyFight produced an enormous tray of crab legs—the ones Seattle is famous for—and we ate until our bellies could hold no more. It was really really fun.

Nadine’s house is incredible with gorgeous views of the sound. Brick had hung all the art the weekend before, so we helped Nadine prep food all morning. The event itself was fantastic-- really interesting people showed up and we raised nearly $4000 with another $1000 coming in from Microsoft Matching Grants. If you are a Microsoft employee, please donate through your Matching Grants program! What a difference it makes!

But perhaps the greatest donation we received at that event was the addition of a new team member: Natano! I’ve asked him to write a blog entry about his impressions in these early days of his exposure to the project. His thoughts are coming soon.

While the images have that charming gloom that only Seattle can make charming-- we saw an incredible range of weather that weekend. From sunny and hot to snow and then hail, Seattle filled every hope of a weather show we could have hoped for.

Enormous thanks to Brick & Figgy for organizing the event-- even though it was a high holiday for Brick and Figgy’s pregnancy marches on! You two are superstars!

BenVenuto & SistaFlav snuck off to Seattle proper to see the sites. Mr.Venuto’s photos are below--

Bloomington, Indiana

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 17:54:02 -0700

When Mystophur and I arrived in Bloomington we had slept only three hours the night before. It was cold and raining and although Mystophur’s mom had picked us up at the airport, fed us lunch, and then delivered us to Mimi & Ric’s—we were dead on our feet. And then.... we crossed the threshold into the Martino’s house it was like stepping into an oasis. Toasty warm, comfy couch, rich colors, loads of pictures effusing the magic that was their wedding, candles flickering, and if you can believe it, Ric was just taking cookies out of the oven. It was a middle-American dream.

Mimi was one of the very first collaborators who joined the project. She been a travel agent and running her own travel company for years and years. She specializes in custom tours of Italy. After years of relentlessly working to create really special deeply unique traveling experiences for people, she realized that no matter how perfectly everything is arranged, you still don’t live in Italy. Having dreamt about her own arts-based community (Villa Alchimista), Mimi was really psyched when she heard about us and our project. Our minds are clearly aligned and she dove in, offering her enormous knowledge and saco di gente to move the project forward in so many ways. We’ve traveled with Mimi for weeks at a time, all over Italy, looking at dozens of monasteries, convents, villas, and castles. Suddenly, we found ourselves in her home, and it was such a special experience. I’ve been so grateful to her and her perspective and as we’ve grown closer somehow being in her home brought everything together. It was simultaneously soothing and exciting.

That night we had dinner at Keates’ house. A monumental art project in itself. Keates has more than doubled the size of his house, personally building using the incredible ecological technique of straw bale. The finished parts were stunning-- creative and gorgeous while functional and liveable. The unfinished parts were fascinating and I found myself encouraging him leave them that way.

(This is not his house-- but this is what straw bale building is like.)

Keates, Mimi, & Ric, together with J&J, masterminded the Bloomington event, which took place the following night. The event was hosted by the Bloomington Cooking School (and when I say hosted, I mean hosted: the location, food, wine, labor, and service were all donated by the Bloomington Cooking School, not to mention that their mailing list and reputation provided many of the guests!).

Frans Hals, Jester with a Lute. c. 1620-25
Oil on wood, 28 x 24 1/2 in. (71 x 62 cm). Musée du Louvre, Paris

The musical entertainment was, once again, other worldly.
The Early Music department at the University of Indiana in Bloomington is among the top in the world. Their student ensemble, lead by Nigel North, world-renowned lutenist, performed multiple times throughout the evening. For me the highlight came at the end of the evening, when Nigel played by himself, sitting just feet from where I was seated. I developed an entirely new understanding of the music of that time and specifically of the lute. So intimate and personal, it was a unique treat to have such a private performance. We are honored and delighted at the prospect of developing a relationship with Nigel North and with the Early Music program at IU: to host study abroad programs, for them to endow a room to host professors on sabbatical, exchange of musicians, ideas, and projects. The possibilities are abundant.

Completely different from our previous events, the Bloomington event was a five-course sit-down dinner-- and some of the participants didn’t even realize they were attending a fund raiser. Truly organized by the local team, the real donations came from Keith, Jan, Jack, Mia, and Eric. Mystophur and I just breezed into town, showed up for a fabulous meal, listened to virtuosic music, talked about our dream, and raised a whopping $5800. What an experience! I keep saying that something in this project must be really right on because it attracts the most inspiring and fascinating people. Thank you Bloomington crew!

SistaFlav's NYC

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 09:03:29 -0700

This Nun’s Blog entry by Sista Flav-- her reflections on her experience of the USofA!

First Time New York City

I’ve been studying English language since very little and never experienced visiting an English speaking country. Now, I did it!! I finally stepped on the US ground and stayed for two weeks!!!!

First city to visit and first fund raising event for me was New York. I arrived in the afternoon and then went directly to the event. It has been so exiting that I actually didn’t feel any jet leg and I just could not stop looking around, talking to people, smile and enjoy the wonderful views of the city.

Did you know that in New York there is a USA adhesive flag on every single and shining subway car?? I’ve been amazed with what frequency you can see the USA flags in the city. And I’ve also been surprised by the people’s friendliness and smiles, by that nice welcome when you step into a shop and hear “Hello, how are you doing today?”.

I guess I’ve been impressed with all good things because of my happiness in finally being here. However, I believe that nonetheless the numerous years passed after it’s independence, the Country of Liberty, still believes and shows it’s freedom ideals in its way of being, in the people’s behaviors. It seems that there are no limits, no restrictions and yet, everything is under control, organized to the perfection. Then you’re free to have a bicycle ride in the center of the town at any age; you feel free to dress as you like, hey! people have flip flops on at any time and with any weather!!! Squirrels run free in Central Park, and if you like, why not have a nice Vespa ride in the wide and busy streets of NY??

I have to say, that my first impression in being here in New York is like walking in a movie scene. It’s strange how the movies could produce such a parallel reality in me and now, it becomes real just walking in the streets, it’s really a great experience to live and I thank very much Benvenuto for being such a good Cicerone in New York.

NYC Fund Raiser

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 09:15:27 -0700

One problem with a blog is that the frequency of posting is inversely related to the amount of work we’re doing! Nonetheless, I will do my best to catch us all up on recent events.

The fund raiser event in NYC was just amazing. The space (thank you Professoressa MaestroStein!) was gorgeous and we thoroughly transformed it from an architecture office into a Gala ballroom & art gallery. As pictured during set up above, we had an incredible spread of perfectly delectable Italian treats (thank you Mrs. Venuto!)

We pushed all the desks to the walls and then draped enormous amounts of black fabric (borrowed from Lori “Save the Day” Bellilove, thank you!). Then over the fabric we hung fantastic donated art from fishingline so that it was floating magically. It looked so slick even Ben Venuto wondered how we did it.

The entertainment was exquisite. La Monica was ethereal and transporting, just like always. After bewitching the audience with a few numbers, Feebster spoke about her experiences visiting the monastery in Calvi during the June tour last year. She related a magical moment I remember as well: when she spontaneously sang in the Night Offices and the whole building seemed to come alive.

There was something going on in that moment-- some connection amongst the history, the architecture, and years of women’s voices vibrating off those walls. I was transported onto some other spiritual level and before I knew it, I was crying. This room, by the way, is the one that Mystophur and I plan to be married in. (There is magic in this place and we are going to let it out. Let’s get over there and get to work, people!)

Charites was really, really funny and had the clever idea of auctioning off the role of Paris such that an unsuspecting member of the audience (secretly his wife, whose middle name is “Save the Day,” had won the auction), who was then serenaded and fought over by the singers. It was priceless.

SistaBook, in the middle in the above photo, is completing her graduate studies in Baroque gesture, and employed by Charites throughout their performance. It is mesmerizing-- the lilting sounds of the women’s voices flowing and then perching on a note, and at that same moment they strike a pose, often linking the three of them. It’s a lovely marriage of acoustics with aesthetics. I’m really looking forward to seeing what she and her ensemble will do at the monastery. Brooke also spoke about her involvement in the project. There’s just nothing like a gorgeous goddess singing like and angel and then speaking like a college professor. Can’t get enough of it. These are the people who will be sitting around the dinner table together. A table full of them. A room full of them. A monastery full of them!

SistaSamVenuto & SistaFlav

SistaSamVenuto, MrsVenuto, & JuliaCesare

Overall, the New York event was inspiring and delightful. The turnout was great and we raised $3200! This effort would not have possible without the hard work of many people, especially Ms JuliaCesare. She kept on this event like seals on carp and it totally paid off. Thank you for your dedication, amica mia. Another hero of this event was MaestroStein. Son of La Professoressa, MaestroStein was instrumental in finding the space, helping to set up, hosting meetings, coordinating, transporting, music directing, and finally, after all that, playing the harpsichord! So grateful to you, sir. Grazie mille. The Venutos also came out en force-- BenVenuto forever leading the gang, MrsVenuto with the tasty treats, MrVenuto with the wine & other donations, even SistaSamVenuto with the art collecting. What a famiglia! The artists who donated are kind and generous souls:

Rachel Ostrow,

Mindy Belloff,

Scot J. Wittman,

Jessica Levy
&

Zito.

Zito at work! Portraitizing none other than our very own Sista Flav! And that red one hanging on the wall in the background is a Zito portrait of MamaCesare!

Lori Belilove’s Isadora Duncan Dance Company

Wed, 9 Apr 2008 16:37:22 -0700

On Wednesday, April 9, Mystophur, Feebster, Maestro Stein and I were invited to watch Lori Belilove’s Isadora Duncan Dance Company rehearse.

Julia Cesare was dancing with them after being out of the studio for a few months, but any audience member without prior knowledge never would have known. It was fantastic and thrilling to be able to watch them at such close range (we were in the dance studio with them as opposed to watching from a theater seat). Also amazing was talking with them about the intention behind each piece, the music, the connection between and among the dancers, the emotional experience of the dancer and the audience members.

After the rehearsal we went to the Isadora Duncan Dance Foundation headquarters a few blocks away. We had snacks and wine and talked about the possibilities for collaborations between the Duncan dancers and the Art Monastery. The conversation was an explosion of ideas from all fronts. The energy in the room was brilliant, sparkling, poppy. We watched videos of previous performances and listened to music by La Monica and imagined the overlap.

These are the moments that make all the stress and sweat and lack of sleep worth it. The magical moments when two groups of professionals in seemingly disparate fields come together. Synergy!

Thank you to Pheebs for letting me borrow her camera and to Ms. Belilove for letting me take the pictures.

While these images get more and more abstract, I have to say that it reflected the experience of being there the longer and longer they danced. There is something in Duncan dance that for me recalls Chi Kung-- the movement of energy and emotion and invisible power through the body. It is somehow quite emotional, dare I even say that it is spiritual? And if I were to go that far, wouldn’t it make an awful lot of sense to have a dance project like this in an art monastery? A cloister even?

Luck & the Venutos

Mon, 7 Apr 2008 08:15:45 -0700

Mystophur and I and the whole Art Monastery Project are some lucky, lucky peeps. I was talking with someone about the project and my newly international life and she shook her head and said, “You are so lucky.” I was annoyed. I thought, “I’m not lucky. Italy didn’t happen to me. I made a decision and then acted on it. Yes, all this is amazing and dreamy and I’m doing a lot of work toward that end! You, too, could be “lucky” enough to decide to move somewhere beautiful and go after something idealistic. I dare you. Go ahead, be lucky!”

But now, a few days later I have a new perspective on her comment. Luck may be playing a role. Sure, it was my decision to go to Yale, but was it my decision to become friends with Pix? Or was it luck that I met her? And then, because we’d been friends for so long and she told him about the project, BenVenuto found his way into this project. And then, because BenV is such an enormous and essential part of this little organism, his parents got involved.

First, they offered to pick up Mystophur and me from the White Plains airport and put us up at their place for the night so we could get into NYC rested the next day. Then, they took us out for an incredible French dinner. Holy yum. At that dinner, they introduced us to a pair of people who are fascinating and overwhelmingly relevant to the Art Monastery: Mr & Mrs Sopranon.

Mrs. Sopranon is assistant to the President of the American Academy in Rome in New York. We had long discussions about the two institutions and how we might build a relationship between the two. Our dreams would be to become a junior partner to them-- the incubator that helps give rise to those greats who earn the Rome Prize. She was bursting with advice and encouragement.

Father Sopranon is the priest at St. Andrews in Stamford, CT, the historic Anglo-Catholic parish in the heart of downtown Stamford, a parish of the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut, and a part of the global Anglican Communion. He was previously the organist at St. Francis Episcopal Church. He was nearly jumping out of his seats and certain points- he and Mystophur hit it off so delightfully. I loved that I was sitting between them, in the cross-fire of their mutual admiration.

The evening left Mystophur and me abuzz, full of really exquisite food and energized by the meeting of great intelligence and like-mindedness. It is so exciting to meet these sorts of people, the Venutos & the Sopranons. It is the greatest honor when people who are so alive in their own ideas, so smart, and so charming like the Art Monastery, get the vision, and jump in on figuring out how they can help. What an honor. And what luck!

The City of Angels, the sequel

Sun, 6 Apr 2008 14:37:37 -0700

All photos by the charming and adorable Marcus!

The days before the event were jam-packed with errands, of course: order large prints of our most beautiful images of Calvi and the monastery, have them mounted, purchase frames, pick up the prints, make object labels and bid sheets for the silent auction, have the ubiquitous long and involved session at Kinkos, find a great deal on printing postcards overnight, upload the order, pick them up, trim the drawings, figure out how to hang them, buy the hardware, find out we can’t hang anything in the space... My intention was to take a photo at each errand location- but in the end the charm of running around LA getting ready for an event is just not the same as the charm of running around Rome trying to find your car.

So, how did the LA event go?

The entertainment line up was positively killer. I mean, this is LA afterall. Our headliners were Moira Smiley, Kristen Toedtman, and Kerry Walsh, woven together by the ridiculously smart and funny Bennet Jones. Of this group, I know Moira best and I have always adored her. I mean, she lives up to her last name, so I know she’s my people. But her voice is hypnotic, lilting, lovely, and combining her voice with Kristen’s was alchemical. Really great.

Kristen & Moira

Kristen, Moira, and the incredible Ed Levy

Kerry is a real live diva, belting out opera tunes and making me see that she could fill a much larger room. My favorite song performed was Agnus Dei from Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle. This was a sneak preview into the work that inspires the Art Monastery Project’s Petit Cirque Solennel, where Kerry sang the part of the tattooed lady (this is a startling image all in itself (let’s cover this commandingly feminine body with tatts!), backed up by a chorus of twelve, including Mystophur and his wonderful friend Temmo. Seeing this semi-staging of the act in the project that I have read, and heard, and discussed with Mystophur & ShellyBelly, was so satisfying. The whole thing came to life and I can feel the power the final staging of this could have. Some of that power comes from the juxtapositions-- tattooed mezzo, etc.

The performances of these top musicians, serious and profound, were woven together by “Benèt”, our MC, an international pop star wearing skin tight 80s fashions and touting his upcoming film, “Knife with Legs.” I don’t know what the rest of the audience was doing, but Mystophur and I were rolling in the aisles.

Benèt in action

Ed, Jean, & Moira

In the middle there is our gracious and wonderful host. Our dear friend who puts us up whenever we come to LA, has hosted Art Monastery presentations and aperitivi, helped us with the organization of this event, and on and on and on. Thank you! You are such a wonderful support in so many ways!

Also, big thank you to Marcus who captured these moments with his camera.

The City of Angels, the prequel

Fri, 4 Apr 2008 06:14:36 -0700

Oh LA. City of Angels. The first stop on our eight-city fundraising tour. As soon as I got on the flight from SF to LA everything took on a filmic quality. I lamented that my video camera was buried in the heavy bag in the overhead compartment. Certainly now is the time to start videoing, recording, documenting more than just Josie popping her head out of the carrier (though she is not with us on this trip). But toward what end? I could make a documentary about this experience, but I need a plan before I start shooting. And at this particular moment, I am more involved in making this Art Monastery thing happen than I am about filming this thing happen. Conclusion: I need a film crew. Must be the water in LA. This really makes sense to me.

Mystophur went down to LA five days before me, loading his schedule full of meetings with fascinating and supportive people, musicians, experts in Early Music, and the like. By the time I arrived on Thursday, he felt like his time in LA had been so useful that anything more than this was extraordinary. Great!

He picked me up from the airport and whisked me to the Skirball Cultural Center, where I was promptly stunned by the beauty of each indoor and outdoor space. Previous to that I was already feeling really grateful to Cherries, my old friend from my days at Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York, where he was IT Director and I was Editor of Publications. He has since gone on to revolutionize the technological aspects of the Guggenheim and now the operations of the Skirball. When I wrote Cherries to ask if he could get me a space there, I was mostly joking. Isn’t it only big fancy organizations who have events there? Matters not, because Cherries donated the space to the Art Monastery. What a guy!

We found time to stop by Mystophur’s old pal’s place. These are quality people! For the first time ever, I found myself imagining the possibility of living in LA. I would only consider enjoying that sort of weather if I were hanging with people like this in their amazingly cool bungalow house complete with a tiki bar they built themselves in the yard. We pretty quickly got into a fascinating discussion about spirituality and world religions. When we couldn’t decide between ordering pizza or ordering thai, we ordered both. Turns out: great combo.

That’s a baby under her shawl, by the way.

EastaFlav

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 14:13:01 -0700

This just in from JuliaCesare...
pictures coming soon from Ben Venuto...

For Easter, SistaFlav invited the Alpha Team (minus Josie and McSmalls who are in California) to her house in Cerveteri near the coast. So at about 10 o'clock on Easter morning, Mystophur, BenVenuto, and I piled into the Kangoo in the pouring rain, armed with a plant and some wine, to head over there and meet the family.

Now, this was no run of the mill go meet mom and dad big ol' American family Easter with egg hiding and rowdy good times..(ok maybe my idea of holidays is becoming a little rose colored from the distance) A little background: SistaFlav's dad is a diplomat and her family is definitely a bit aristocratic and very international. They were also a bit wary of crazy American artists employing their wonderful and scholarly daughter and living in a monastery, which right now isn't even a monastery but the Casa del Popolo. Of course, we all looove SistaFlav and her work, so we wanted to make a great impression, have them fall in love with us, and fully support SistaFlav in her work here. In fact, Mystophur and BenVenuto were pretty nervous. I was totally fine until we got in the car and they started talking at which point I got completely jittery too. This apparently resulted in me creepily smiling a lot at dinner, too frightened to talk in my usual frenetic manner, in an attempt to seem simpatica and composed and not make a fool of myself (a special thank you to Mystophur for the feedback about the creepy smiling).

Anyway, we got there fine, met JohnDog, a giant black thing whose wagging tail could maim a small child, and started chatting with PapaFlav over an aperitivo, while SistaFlav was helping out in the kitchen. He and Mystophur had a lovely conversation about music and art, and it looked like things were going well. In fact, they were. PapaFlav has a really cool collection of art and is also a painter as a hobby. Actually he makes these really beautiful Baroque portraits that do not look like hobby art. He has a very interesting mix of Asian and Indian wood paneling and doors, along with European things...nota bene..this combination would also totally work in the monastery. We looked at the Maddalena Penitente and a couple other things and then...a tavola!

MamaFlav and SistaFlav outdid themselves with some homemade ravioli. Then we ate a freshly killed chicken (!) which MamaFlav had made with an amazing fruit and chestnut stuffing, some veal, and the salad. We were all getting pretty full, so that meant it was time for the TWO beautiful tortes that Sandy, SistaFlav's Sista, had made. She is a damn good pastry chef it turns out; the colombo (traditional easter cake in the shape of a dove, except this wasn't dove shaped) was absolutely divine. We all found room somehow.

Following this incredible feast, Mystophur, BenVenuto, SistaFlav, and I ran off to do a bit of walking and digesting. Since it was still raining, we actually drove to some castle or fort, here my memory gets a bit hazy (all that digesting you know) and walked around. The best part of this, for me, was a tiny zoo with an eel in a tank. No, really. Have you ever looked closely at an eel before? They are WEIRD. I kept hoping it was gonna eat the shrimp that was in there too, but no luck.

Well, after these adventures we returned to CasaFlav, where she gave us a tour and let us see even more really cool art and antiques. We also got to see pictures of BabyFlav, which was really cute. And the best part was really that by the time we returned and as we were leaving, it had become obvious that her family liked us, they REALLY REALLY liked us! We took a big ol' group picture and were off with good wishes all around, and even invitations to return.

Getting to know SistaFlav's clan (two sisters, a brother, mom and dad, and an aunt, not to mention JohnDog) was a really good way to spend a holiday.

Epilogue
We had decided to take SistaFlav back to Calvi with us, so first we swung by her place to get some clothes and her kitty, Wombat. He is beautiful, all black, really nice. Except he doesn't really like cars. So, he poops. Lucky that the window in the Kangoo was broken and stuck wide open, so we had plenty of fresh air.

In the meantime, the four of us also had a really great evaluating and closing conversation about our work in the last two months. It is really great to be part of this team-I not only admire each person on their merits as a cool human being but genuinely respect their work and trust them. They say they think the same about me-- which means I am a damn lucky girl. And now all we have to do is raise a ton of money in the United States.

I mean, people, Happy Easter.

Good Friday was a Good Day

Sun, 23 Mar 2008 08:15:35 -0700

This just in from Ben Venuto!

...Good Friday was a good day for The Art Monastery Project -- a stark contrast to the morbid memorial that it is in the Christian faith. Mystophur awoke at an entirely irrational hour in order to finalize the formatting and put the finishing touches on The Art Monastery Project's application for the Bando. Having discovered near midnight the previous evening that we had -- in typical timely fashion -- run out of black ink for the printer, he then emailed the finished documentation to our Calvese Angel, Santa Frenchie, to be printed. After the rest of the crew arose and prepared for the day ahead (much coffee was required given the late-night team effort of the day before), we departed for S. Frenchie's house to retrieve the printed documents and walk them over to the Comune for triumphant delivery and official submission.

Without our two colleagues gifted with fluency in Italian and their monumental efforts in translating page after page (and then re-translating re-worked pages!), all of this would have been entirely impossible... it was only right, then, that they have the satisfaction of handing over the finished product.

JuliaCesare, The Bando, and SistaFlav at the Comune door.

The moment of truth!

Following a brief pause to revel in the soothing sense of pride (and relief!) accompanying our accomplishment, we piled into the Kangoo and made haste for the seaside city of Civitavecchia and our next appointment -- no rest for the weary! Actually, to be perfectly honest, it was rather relaxing... rarely does a business meeting in the United States involve so much food, and almost never such delicacies as fresh, home-made fettucini con salsicce e funghi, prepared by none other than the most revered figure in this culture: Mama!

The coastal town of Civitavecchia, literally "ancient town," is built atop an Etruscan settlement and is surrounded by ruins, tombs and necropoli, such as those at nearby Tarquinia. These days, however, Civitavecchia is mostly known as an industrial, factory town and a port city for ocean liners and freight ships. Judging by the break of the waves on this windy afternoon, I would guess that it also has a lively surfing scene (a theory strongly supported by the presence of a classic CA-style Surf Shop).

We were there to visit a young maestro of furniture building and restoration who has expressed great interest in lending his talents to our enterprise... and his workshop did not disappoint: beautiful woodwork was in great abundance -- as well as a few pieces awaiting miraculous transformation into restored treasures -- along with such rarities as a bicycle featuring wooden wheel-rims!

We were greeted at the entry to the property by some peppy little piglets, eagerly engaged in a feeding frenzy only briefly interrupted by curiosity about the unusually-impressed guests.

And, upon entering the workshop, we discovered a large table strewn with all kinds of tempting foods (including prosciutto wrapped around the end of breadsticks -- the Italian version of "meat on a stick"!) and a feeding frenzy of our own commenced immediately. A short while later, Mama's fettucini arrived -- and was quickly consumed. Some time (and great quantities of food) later, there was a discussion on the myriad possibilities and potential relationships between The Art Monastery Project and our skilled woodworking friend.

After a long day of eating and talking, we returned to Calvi just in time to attend the processione... which had been moved indoors due to inclement weather, and was transformed into an elaborate stations-of-the-cross ceremony. At the conclusion of the service, there was a minute or two of awkward silence... and then -- perhaps to remind us all that there is a happy ending to this gruesome crucifixion story -- we were all treated to a couple rousing accordion numbers! For such a small, quiet, country town, this place never ceases to surprise me. Buona Pasqua!

Josie the Travelling Cat

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 11:24:12 -0700

On the way to Italy I was a nervous wreck. I could neither sleep nor read because I was so preoccupied punishing myself for torturing Josie by bringing her on such a long flight. When Mystophur picked me up at the airport he peered into the carrier and said, “She looks fine!” and I realized in that moment that all the worry was for naught.

This time I was calmer, and sure enough, Josie is a champion traveller. We had a two hour flight to Frankfurt, a SIX-HOUR layover in Frankfurt (during which the above video was made), followed by an ELEVEN-HOUR flight to San Francisco. In this time, Josie meowed maybe four or five times. On the flight to SF, I had the good fortune of an empty seat next to me, so Josie sat next to me instead of on the floor by my feet. I unzipped the top of the carrier part way so she could pop up when she was curious.

This system seemed so good that I actually fell asleep (this might also have had to do with the fact that we left the CdP at 3 am. God bless Mystophur for driving and coming into the airport with me.). I awoke to the woman behind me tapping me on the shoulder: “Excuse me, your cat has gone for a walk.” I was too confused to get my seat belt off and suddenly another woman was standing in front of me with Josie in her arms. A popular and well travelled little feline, she was happy as a clam.

TigerTooth picked us up at the airport and carried us home. It is strange and wonderful to be here. Everything is different and the same.

When you watch the video above, note her curly & bent whiskers. Fire kitty!

La Partenza

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 11:06:51 -0700

I can not believe it is time for me to go back to the States. Two months is the blink of an eye -- or less! -- with a project like this. I can’t believe how much we have gotten done these past two months, the friends and contacts we’ve made, the ground we’ve covered, the new words we’ve learned! My feeling about the project is, in some ways, completely different now. It’s REAL. Real in a bricks & mortar kind of way. In the kind of way that you know exactly how much milk you like in your coffee. In the way that you know how to get places without looking at the street signs. The Art Monastery Project is happening. Of course there are hurdles between now and when we move into the convent, between then and when we are world famous and changing the world, between then and when Calvi is truly our home and we’re speaking Italian with ease. But those hurdles don’t look so murky and terrifying as they did two months ago. They might seem overwhelming at times, but if we keep our heads down and keep on truckin’, it looks to me like we are going to get there. The biggest question mark-- maybe even the only question mark-- is money. In my heart of hearts I believe that the only thing that could stop this project from succeeding and having a significant impact on the world is funding. We have really smart, really dedicated people working like mad on the Alpha Team. We have legions of professional artists waiting in the wings. We have an ever-growing network of supporters who bring us new ideas and opportunities to build bridges and forge lasting connections with the local communities and beyond. People like DJ Franky, who have experience in just this kind of thing and know the system, are not worried about us finding funding. Still, it’s the only factor that causes a tremor in my heart. But THAT’s why I’m headed to the airport tomorrow! That is why we are embarking on an ambitious 8-city tour of the US, asking those inspired souls to donate to the cause.

Here I go. Wish me luck.

By the way, check the list of cities and think about who you know in each location! Consider attending one of these events. They are really fun and entertaining. If you come and bring a friend, you’re making a significant impact on our stability and on the future of the project.

US Fundraising Tour
April 6 ~ Los Angeles Event
April 12 ~ New York Event
April 14 ~ Bloomington Event
April 16 ~ Kansas City Dinner
April 19 ~ Seattle Event
May 2 ~ San Francisco Event
May 21 ~ Buffalo Event
June 4 ~ Boston Event

The Importance of Bruschette

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 10:42:19 -0700

First things first: a pronunciation lesson. What seems like decades ago (but is actually about a year ago) I was in some charming little Italian ristorante with our friend and collaborator (one of the very first to join the Art Monastery Project full force and now, our biggest donor), MM. I said, “Ooh, let’s get the brooshettah.”
She said, “You did NOT just say brooshettah, did you?”
“Of course not! I would never!”

I will spare you from the italian pronunciation lesson that ensued, except for the following highlight: it turns out that “che” in Italian is pronouced “keh.” Okay, now you can read on with proper pronunciation. Feel free to share with your friends.

Also, notice in the above photo, is Ben Venuto the one who has been teaching Josie she can just snuggle up with the fire? I don’t know, but he IS the one who built this ingenious contraption pictured below to toast the bread into bruschette.

[Another Italiano tip: the plural of bruschetta is bruschette.]

Did you think I was joking when I said that the CdP was rustico? No no, we truly use the fire to cook our bread and meet. And when I say “we” I mean “Mystophur & Ben Venuto.”

Fireside snugglers: caught in the act!

Even snuggling doesn’t stop the Alpha Team from working. Seriously. We work all the time. When we have guests, we still work. When we need affection, we keep on working. Poor JuliaCesare gets overwhelmed sometimes-- we need to get that boy of hers to come back from London and into the monastic fold!

DoubleWhammy Visits

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 10:02:27 -0700

This weekend we had multiple visitors, really good friends from all kinds of different places! DoubleWhammy, infamous London photographer, came with charming Egyptian-English partner in crime (pictured at the bottom of the stairs there). Simultaneously, Zoozy, German dancer from Berlin came with her fabulous pal Geraldo (pictured at the top of the stairs, just down from Mystophur). Mystophur and I had the pleasure of meeting Geraldo last January: on our very first trip to Italy to scout locations for the Art Monastery we stayed at Torri Superiore, where Geraldo was living and working at the time.

Torri is an inspiring and mind-boggling ecovillage in a 13th-Century village. Started by German activists from the squat scene, it was Zoozy who recommended it to us. Staying there was like staying with a family: we were immediately enveloped into the fold. We stayed up late with them, quizzing them about how they got started and furiously taking notes on the volumes of valuable advice they bestowed on us. They recommended other communities to visit and that golden information shaped our trip. We returned at the end of our trip and a few months later Mystophur’s ensemble The Pacelli Project performed in their church, thus beginning what we hope we will be a symbiotic friendship. The Torris will always always hold a tender and special place in our hearts. If any of you plan to travel in Italy you MUST go and stay with them. It is a one-of-a-kind experience.

But that was more than a year ago and since Geraldo has moved to Berlin and then to his home town in southern Italy. We hope to entice him back to Calvi and into our garden, where he might employ his formidable knowledge and experience of permaculture and gardening.

We met up with our guests in nearby Narni. Yes, this is actually where C. S. Lewis was living when he wrote The Chronicle of Narnia and it really does feel like a fairy tale.

Adding to the fairy tale experience, we rendezvoused there with DJ Franky as well, who then had a quick business meeting with us (we never stop working. even with guests. even in fairy tale towns.), and provided us with all kinds of exciting opportunites for grants and sponsorships. DJ Franky always bears good news.

One afternoon, DoubleWhammy led us in a yoga session on the lawn. The image below is the end of our session in Corpse Pose. It’s a tricky one, but you too could work up to it!

The session was really wonderful and it left us all with fantasies of morning yoga at the Monastery-- JuliaCesare and I developed the plan that we will start with a silent walk around the perimeter of the garden for warm up, ending in the center plateau for yoga. I can’t wait.

DoubleWhammy and his Egyptian goddess also made English Breakfast. And in a fabulous outfit as well. Double is the kind of guy who is restorative to be around (whether or not you do yoga with him). He is constantly cheerfully building the fire or not minding sleeping on the mattress on the floor or fixing that thing you had accepted in it’s not-so-great state. He and his lady were a breath of bubbling glittering energy and we can’t wait to have them back. (Who knows what he’ll fix next time!)

Unable to resist, Josie has singed her whiskers AGAIN! This time she got her little eyebrow also, curled right down to the nub. *sigh*

Morning Walks

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 00:26:47 -0700

The one ritual that we’ve developed at this stage in the Art Monastery Project is that some of us get up at 7:30 am and go for a walk. Mostly it’s JuliaCesare and me, but sometimes Mystophur comes too. We walk along the winding country roads, picking a new side road each morning. We take Sundays off.

This morning JuliaCesare is in Rome and I got up to have the walk by myself. It’s drizzling and wet, but fairly warm. With each step I felt my hip flexors opening up, warming, and becoming more dynamic. A warm feeling of power gradually travelled up my spine. I noticed the air movement between my ring and pinky fingers as my hands swung with each stride.

The fact is, I’ve been feeling overwhelmed. Mystophur and I are planning the wedding, the fundraising tour of the USA, the publicity materials in both English and Italian, the bando. The entire Alpha Team is working every day of the week from before breakfast to after dinner. We meet new people every day who jump into the project, volunteering their services. Still it seems like an awful lot.

At night I lie in bed and wonder about my upcoming solo show at the Diego Rivera Gallery at SFAI. I install that thing on April 27, the day after my 32nd birthday. My original proposal is no longer feasible: to install a 16-foot diameter above-ground swimming pool in the gallery; to build bleachers around it; to do a synchronized swimming performance at the opening reception; to project the video documentation of that performance down onto the surface of the water for the remaining week of the installation.) It has become clear to me that the thing to do is to present the Art Monastery Project. What would be really spectacular is to find a way to have the SF fundraiser event in the Diego with my installation. This morning it all seems possible. There is so much material -- this website & blog, the hundred of images of Calvi & the monastery, the art projects we have planned for this summer, the document we’ve been slaving over to describe those projects, the business plan, the floor plans of the renovations, the Gregorian chant of Christopher’s groups, the Baroque ensemble La Monica with Phoebe, the history of the nuns dedicated to education, my plan to transform the 1730s cistern into a synchronized swimming performance space. There’s so much material here. I just have to figure out how to present it.

Deep breath.
We can do this.

Just an example: I discovered a folder of BenVenuto’s photos that I never published anywhere. They’re of neighboring towns we visiting a week or two after arriving here in January. Seems forever ago now!
Click the image below to see the slideshow.

BBQ with DJ Franky

Sun, 2 Mar 2008 04:09:19 -0800

You may remember that in earlier entries I referred to a charming and knowledgeable PR expert introduced to us by The Pigeon and her partner. That is DJ Franky. He’s a partner in a Roman comunicazione firm. For Americans, we don’t have an exact equivalent to comunicazione-- but the nearest equivalent is PR or maybe marketing. They specialize in all the written materials about your organization, incubate budding businesses, and help to search out potential funding sources. DJ Franky’s expertise and knowledge are vast -- moments after meeting him he was coming up with innovative ideas for funding the Art Monastery. He immediately got the concept and seems genuinely thrilled about the project. It is really great to see an Italian understanding the project with such immediacy and following that up with volunteering his services. All this AND the man’s warmth and good heartedness beams out of him like water over Niagara Falls. I feel extremely grateful for this addition to our team!
So DJ Franky invited us over for a positively scrumptious BBQ with his ridiculously charming family at his breathtakingly beautiful summer home in Otricoli (15 minutes from Calvi) and we laughed our fool heads off the whole time. After lunch, we moved inside and he advised us on the bando and offered to connect us with multiple really interesting funding opportunities (a stipendium we could use to employ Flavia, Umbrian and European grants for various art projects, a corporate sponsor for the whole Art Monastery Project). He seems to be a miraculous combination of good friend and wise counselor. How did we land this angel? Thank you universe!

Click the images below to see the full collections of pictures from that day.

View from the house

When he wasn’t grilling up a wide variety of meats to perfection (including some killer ribs), DJ Franky was living up to his name by adjusting the music to suit the mood.

Frenchie is missing from this picture because she’s behind the camera.

When he offered us cigars after lunch I just couldn’t resist.

Things got wacky-- is that a ray gun or a wine opener?

It was Sista Flav’s birthday, so DJ Franky crowned her Easter Queen.

After our post-lunch business-strategy meeting, we walked through the backyard and admired the neighbor’s horses and olive trees.

Santa Maria in Trastevere

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 16:15:07 -0800

Yesterday when we were in Rome to see the Orto Botanico, we passed by Santa Maria in Trastevere, one of the oldest churches in Rome. This is the first church I went into exactly a year ago, on the trip when we saw Calvi for the first time. It felt to me a really big deal to re-visit this site, to go inside and remember the feelings of overwhelmedness, the jaw dropping beauty, and the uncertainty of what I was going through then. Walking into the same gorgeous space, this time LIVING here and knowing I could come back to see this whenever I might desire, was a completely different experience.

The image of Mary flanked by five women holding lamps is a 12th-C mosaic and some believe it might be one of the earliest iconographic depiction of the Virgin nursing Jesus.

Inside the church are a number of late 13th-century mosaics attributed to Pietro Cavallini on the subject of the life of the Virgin, centering on a "Coronation of the Virgin" in the apse.

This is said to be one of the first depictions that presents Mary on the same level as Jesus, sitting next to him as his peer, as opposed to at his feet or standing nearby.

In other late-breaking news, Josie is taking after Icarus.

Apparently unthwarted by fear or reason, we discovered this morning that she had gotten herself quite an impressive burn. That stripe of fur on her right front leg is permanently brown and a big ‘ol strip is singed down to the skin- though I don’t think she actually damaged her skin. I swear it’s not THAT cold in here. What is she trying to tell me? Or is it just that she’s expressing her American-ness in wanting more, more, more?

Orto Botanico

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 10:38:35 -0800

Today we went to Orto Botanico under the superlative guidance of our Art History of Gardens Expert ProfessorMama. She advised us to see the Corsini Garden because it was designed by Architect Ferdinando Fuga in 1741. Recognize the name Fuga? Yes you do! Fuga is also the mastermind behind the Convento di Santa Brigida in none other than Calvi dell’Umbria, the future home of the Art Monastery.

Although you can’t tell in the pictures, ProfessorMama is about a million months pregnant-- but that did not stop her from wearing a smart little outfit and marching us up and down and all around the gardens, plying us with expert knowledge the whole time. What a woman!

Click the images to see the full portfolio of images from the visit. Be prepared for a lotta cacti.

Those aren’t orbs, are they? 

So fuzzy... you could almost be lulled into petting them.

To me, one of the most magical experiences in the Orto Botanico was a veritable room of bamboo. At least 15 feet tall, the bamboo is growing in a circle such that once you make your way in you are enveloped into a breathing, swaying, living private room. Really special in the midst of a public park. This has inspired in me the idea of emphasizing certain parts of the garden that is part of the Art Monastery-- there are some parts of the garden that seem to be sectioned off. Were they originally for private contemplation? What would a contemporary artist do with an installation that has such a history? How would that space grow or transform over time, through the seasons, and over the years?

Another point about the garden of the Art Monastery: certainly other gardens of similar size from that time would have been punctuated by stone sculptures. Is that so for a convent? More likely that those funds would have been relocated to altars and shrines. So what forms will appear in the garden of the Art Monastery?

Can you tell that I’m thinking about the project more concretely? (Ouch: no pun intended.) Maybe that’s because there has been announced a bando! A bando is a public contest, so we will create an application presenting our project that includes the sorts of artwork we’ll be doing there, the benefits to the local community, the vision of the Art Monastery Project, and the renovations we would propose to the building and gardens. The application is due at the end of March, but our goal is to hand in our documents before I leave to come back to the US on March 18. A big part of the documents we turn in will be the Art Projects we posted on this site a few days ago. (It has been constant work on the bando that has delayed a few of these postings.) Okay, back to work!

Viterbo & Villa Lante

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 14:40:50 -0800

We went to Viterbo today on our way to check out the gardens at Villa Lante. I felt like I was in a big city-- there were so many shops! And cars! Turns out Viterbo’s population is about 20,000-- a megalopolis compared with Calvi (pop 1,800, now 1,803 since Mystophur, Ben Venuto, and I moved into the CdP)!

We stopped into the lovely church Santa Maria Nuova. One of the oldest churches in Viterbo, this example of Romanesque architecture was built in something like 1080.

Mystophur was crushed that we didn’t get to the chiostro longobardo (lombard cloisters). They closed moments before we got there. How could they do that to us? We recovered by eating pizza.

The town is filled with lovely details like the door knocker at the top of this entry and the gate below.

Viterbo is also known for these external staircases that create little balconies (profferli).

Piazza Populare

Door to the Cathedral

Viterbo poses with The Lux

Then we continued on to Bagnaia, a smaller town just outside Viterbo. Villa Lante, attributed to Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola (there is no contemporary documentation) is, with Bomarzo, one of the most famous Italian 16th-century Mannerist gardens. Click the image below to see the the full collection of images.

Extremely formal and extremely gorgeous,
even on a grey day. At the top of the fountain below, notice two design elements that are also in the garden of our convent: the star is also above our well, and those four mounds around a central taller mound sit astride the entrance to the garden.

Related design elements in the garden of the Art Monastery.

The many fountains imply that the architect was inspired by Villa d’Este, an expansive water garden built in the mid-1500s.

Hey you stone carvers out there-- we’ve got the perfect spot picked out in the garden of the Art Monastery for a stone dining table like this one-- can you do one with a fountain running down the middle?

Take a Hike

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 15:22:49 -0800

The Lux and I consulted with TheCatWhisperer and then found the map just above the monastery of the nearby trails. Turns out there are a bunch!

It also turns out that it’s a great idea to take a picture of these sorts of things with your digital camera so you can consult it 15,000 times on your hike. Complete with zoom feature. Aw yeah.

It might look like The Lux is standing amongst the shrubbery in the above photo, but she is standing in the doorway to a little (and i mean piccolo) house.

Complete with “windows.”

But those windows reveal a lake. Or, maybe more accurately, a swimming hole.

So that tiny house is actually a changing room!
How charming! We also discovered some cinghiale.

Okay fine, they weren’t really wild boar. They were enormous local pigs. I was secretly relieved there was a fence between us. Sometimes snorting can sound aggressive, you know?

At Least The Weather was Nice

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 14:51:02 -0800

Just when you start to trust the Kangoo, you take the Lux to the train station so she can spend the weekend in Rome, wait for the train with her for 20 minutes, come back, and the car doesn’t start. No problem! We bought jumper cables last time this happened! Stopping strangers on the street is a great way to practice your Italian (and way easier when you have jumper cables to point at). Eventually I found someone who was willing AND had a car. Turns out it wasn’t the battery. Grr. I called SistaFlav, who called il meccanico, who said he would come as soon as he could (two or three hours, giving me time to study my articuli determinativi). Two hours later, JohnnyJocko showed up to rescue me. (It sure does smooth out the ragged nerves when people start their conversations: “Betsy, bellissima, dove cé?”) Moments after Johnny and I worked out where I was and I put my shoes back on and got in his car, il meccanico showed up. So Johnny left and il meccanico got the Kangoo started. I understood that he would follow me to the Casa del Popolo and then he would lend us his car while he took the Kangoo to the shop. But then when we left the train station and I turned left toward the CdP, he turned right. Huh. So I got home and waited a few minuti and asked JuliaCesar to call him for me. Turns out I was supposed to follow him to the shop. Oops. Guess I should be studying more than articuli determinativi. JuliaCesare came with me this time (let’s just be sure to understand everything this time, no?) and when we got to the shop they gave us the option of waiting half an hour. After two hours, a half doesn’t seem so bad. Especially when you have good company and wacky yellow pom-pom trees to examine.

Il meccanico replaced the starter for free. All tolled, the experience took five hours, but at least it’s a happy ending. The Kangoo is back in action! And at least the weather was really nice.

Josie works just as hard as the rest of us.

Ostia Antica

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 04:08:35 -0800

The Lux has arrived! We discovered our new system whenever people fly in to Fiumicino: we’ll keep them awake by immediately taking them to the most amazing ruins in Rome: Ostia Antica. Located at the ancient mouth of the River Tiber (ostium means mouth), Ostia was said to have been founded by Ancus Marcius, the fourth king of Rome, in the 4th century BC.

Originally, Ostia was a military town-- a fort built around the mouth of the Tiber , the entry point for hostile armies. [Over time, the Tiber moved and the river is no longer running next to the ruins.] Once the area was secure militarily, Ostia became an important commercial center, swelling to 50,000 in the early Imperial period.

Ostia itself was provided with all the services a town of the time could require; in particular, a famous lighthouse. By 1954 eighteen mithraea had also been discovered: Mithras had his largest following among the working population that were the majority of this port town. Archaeologists also discovered the public latrinæ, organized for collective use as a series of seats that allow us to imagine today that the function was also a social moment! In addition, Ostia had a large theatre, many public baths, numerous taverns, inns, and a firefighting service.

With the end of the Roman Empire, Ostia fell slowly into decay, and was finally abandoned in the 9th century AD due to the repeated invasions and sackings by pirates. In the Middle Ages, bricks from buildings in Ostia were used for several other occasions: It’s rumored that the Leaning Tower of Pisa was entirely built of material originally belonging to Ostia. Over time, the town was buried in silt from the Tiber. The silt was a great preservative and that’s why so much of this city remains.

This is the best preserved working town (the other two well preserved Roman cities - Pompeii and Herculaneum - were aristocratic vacation spots); much of what we know today about life of the working class come from the remains of Ostia.

We made a picnic.

Birthday Girl and her pal visiting from Amsterdam.

The Lux basks in the fact that an hour after she landed in Italy she was sitting in the midst of Roman ruins, drinking wine, and fresh mozzarella.

I was overwhelmed by the beauty of it all.

The Lux. on the other hand, was workin’ it.

After all this we went to the Lindt chocolate store.
Woah.

Another recent arrival: another daughter for our graphic designer. There’s some cuteness overload going on in this pic!

S’mores

Sun, 17 Feb 2008 12:29:25 -0800

Our girl Face gave us a great gift last night: she brought marshmallows in her suitcase from the USA so that we could roast them in the fireplace at the Casa del Popolo. S’mores! Aw yeah. That’s what I call a team member!

SistaFlav is totally converted-- she’s turning more American every day. Josie continues to hang out in the fireplace.

All the time.

Seriously.

The our fabulous bi-cultural PR consultant, The Pidgin, joined us for a working lunch and tour of the garden.

The Pidgin and her partner have connected us with the previously mentioned partner in a communicazione firm (which is a lot like a PR firm but also does fundraising and connects corporations with cultural outlets). Basically, he has volunteered to help us with our written materials, acquire funding from the larger european community, and connect us with small business incubators (sounds warm, doesn’t it?). To sum up, he’s a godsend.

The tour of the garden was followed by a guided tour of the museum of the convent and a visit to the most historical point in Calvi: the presepio. Thirty life-sized terra cotta figures made in 1546 are usually locked up in the Chiesa Sant’Antonio.

At one point the baby Jesus figure was stolen (who would DO that?) and has been replaced by a replica.

Mystophur tested the sound in the church by singing. Everybody loved it. Especially me.

After the tour we had a meeting with the mayor so that our PR team could meet him. It went well and seems like they impressed the mayor. The more real live Italians we have on our team, the better.

The Greatest Parking Spot Ever III

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 07:30:04 -0800

We got the car back!

Turns out the hand brake was not fully engaged and there was an ever so gentle slope in the road. So our little Kangoo, ever so leggermente, sidled up to the car in front of her. Which just happened to be a BMW. Our theory is that the driver of the BMW came back to her car and noticed that our little Kangoo seemed to want to go home with them. So she called the vigili who came and took Kanga to their place.

I’m all enchanted with Italy so I’m not going to point out that Kanga was at the very first tow place that we called three days ago and it is the very same operator who searched via license plate and told us they didn’t have her in the tow lot. I won’t mention who nice it would have been had she considered the possibility of searching both lots. Moving right along.

In the aftermath of this ordeal, the Alpha Team is closer and more productive than ever! What a team!

Speaking of closer, our little JosiePie has been sleeping, playing, and generally hanging out in the fireplace. I mean, wouldn’t you? It’s warm AND the ash matches her outfit. But apparently last night she had a bit of an Icarian moment because this morning the whiskers on the left side of her face are curled at the ends and the fur on her left shoulder is singed!

The Greatest Parking Spot Ever II

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 10:46:50 -0800

This morning I woke to SistaFlav’s bellissima voice saying the bellissima words, “We found the car!” Since I heard that news at a good twelve hours ago you might think that I am currently back in possession of my vehicle. But we’re in Italy, folks, and things can sometimes be... complicated.

Turns out our car was stolen and was not towed. Well okay, it was towed, but not because of the parking situation. Apparently it was the victim of a hit-and-run-- someone pushed it out of it’s spot. Then the police (what is the difference between the polizia and the vigili? Another item for the Unclear List.) towed it out of the way.

SistaFlav took me on the motorino to the vigili to fill out the paperwork to take to the other tow depot (you can’t have the naughty parking violators mingling with the innocent victims of hit-and-runs, can you?). There, we learned that the transfer of ownership that we did in Calvi the day we bought the car had not gone through the system yet (big shocker) and technically we don’t own the car. This would be a monumental problem, except for that I was there with SistaFlav, who uses this undefeatable combination of TRUTH and unmitigated CHARM. She got the officer to go from frowny and suspicious to concerned and helpful. The officer told us that if we brought all the original documents (the title to the car, the proof of insurance, the Art Monastery corporate bylaws, and my passport) that she would get things moving for us. Of course the title and the bylaws were in the Casa del Popolo and the insurance was in the car. (I had my passport on me but it seemed so small and unimportant.) So SistaFlav and I leapt back onto the motorino, zipped back to her place, begged to borrow her sister’s car again, and drove like mad the hour to Calvi.

In the car on the way there the four of us remembered that today is Valentine’s Day! So we decided that Mystophur and I would stay at the Casa del Popolo. SistaFlav and BenVenuto took the documents went back to Rome. They called an hour ago to report that they got the insurance and that the car just had a scratch along the side-- not at all the mutilation and horror we had feared.

Tomorrow morning, I will take the 7:12 am train to Rome, where Face will pick me up on her motorino. Then she and I will meet SistaFlav and BenVenuto at the vigili. Assuming that we can get the car started (remember now that the whole reason this happened is that the car wouldn’t start for Mystophur on two days ago) now that we have jumper cables, we’ll be back in action by tomorrow afternoon.

What could possibly go wrong?
Heh heh heh...

One last note: Being here at the Casa del Popolo on Valentine’s Day with Mystophur is perfect. He made french toast for dinner and I made a fire in the fireplace. After dinner he gave me a Tarot of Atlantis reading. This is the three-dimensional tarot system that Mystophur developed, complete with a mythology, language, and opera. We sat down on either sides of the Tarot and smiled at each other. We met because I wanted a tarot reading. Now I’ve watched him give so many readings that I know all the rules and procedures. I took the mother octahedron in both hands and put my energy into it. I could only think of our relationship and our long term future. I tossed it. Mystophur looked at the facing card, smiled and silently handed me the next pyramid. Following the same procedure, I tossed again. Mystophur looked at the facing card and began to melt. The card of the Lovers in the balanced position.

The Greatest Parking Spot Ever

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 11:37:27 -0800

Yesterday we went to Rome. Today we’re still in Rome. Because our car is missing. Towed? Unclear. Stolen? Possible, but unlikely.

Our story starts yesterday when BenVenuto and I went to SistaFlav’s to have our Italian lesson while Mystophur went to meet with an partner in a “communications” firm. Mystophur called a few hours later elated to report that the meeting was absolutely amazing. The gentlemen is coming to Calvi on Sunday to see the convent and hopefully meet the Mayor. He’s thrilled about the project, wants to represent us and help us acquire funding from the Italian government. He is somehow closely affiliated with the Modiliagni Foundation, which gives money to painter and sculptors who are just starting out (I can totally go back to painting!). He seems almost too good to be true.

Mystophur was almost as excited about the incredible parking spot he got-- right in front of the Castello Sant Angelo! A few minutes later, Mystophur called back, significantly less happy, with the news that the car wouldn’t start. SistaFlav took her motorino to fetch him (she doesn’t have a car so BenV and I waited for them at SistaFlav’s), tried the car again, assessed the parking spot, marveled at its fabulosity, and brought him back. By that point it was too late to borrow jumper cables from the neighbors so we decided to stay at SistaFlav’s and deal with the fiasco in the morning. I was very impressed with her selection of pigiami-- a set with little chickens for me, with reindeer for BenV, and teddy bears for Mystophur. I have a great picture but Mystophur won’t let me post. (Email me and I’ll send it to you!)

[I would just like to say that it was really nice to sleep in a heated house. I had forgotten how nice it is to be able to leave your arms on the outside of the covers. Also confirmed: we are such black belt snugglers that sleeping in a single bed poses no problems. Not having earplugs and being in the same building as Mystophur when he sleeps, however, is another story.]

In the morning, Mystophur and I spent all our cash on jumper cables. Then we borrowed SistaFlav’s sister’s car and we all went together to rescue our sweet little Kangoo. The only problem was, the Kangoo was not where we left her. After some investigation we discovered that the area (completely full of cars, last night and this morning) is actually a tow-away zone. Hmm. Maybe the spot was not actually the Best Parking Spot Ever. But SistaFlav was shocked-- towing never happens here.

So we got a phone number from the cops who were hanging out there, not at all concerned about the tens of other cars parked in this supposed tow-away zone, and SistaFlav began what turned out to be a lot of phone calls. Finally we just went to the nearest towing depot-- all the cars from this region are towed to one spot, the cops assured us.

We got there, walked through the lot, and did not spot our Kangoo. She’s hard to miss, so this was painful. We were glad that we had posted those pictures of the car on the blog because we were able to read the license plate number! The blog saves the day! Except for that we were totally still in the situation. We also learned that we need the libretto to retrieve the vehicle- which being good car owners- we have safely filed away at the Casa del Popolo. Of course, without the car, we can’t get to the Casa del Popolo.

Figuring we can cross that bridge when we actually locate our vehicle, we called the other tow depots. No vehicles by that plate number. So we went to the Police Station to file a report. [At this point, Mystophur and I were high-fiving each other about the fact that we had paid extra to insure the car against thievery and celebrating the fact that we could find another Kangoo but this time be sure it’s a diesel. SistaFlav was sad to inform us that in Italy it could take up to a year to get the settlement from the insurance, so we would need to purchase another car with our own funds in the meantime. Harsh, so harsh. All high-fiving ceased.]

The cops also thought it was extremely strange that a car that wouldn’t start AND isn’t popular among car thieves would disappear and not show up at the tow depots. Alas, by the time we finished filling out the forms, we were friends with the cop. Ironically, in the police station there was a photo of the very spot we parked in front of.

Once again, we have been afforded a great gift by the blog: the emotional dissonance of “Well, at least it’ll make an interesting blog entry! Wait, SistaFlav, will you ask the police officer if we can take a picture?”

So where are we now? Back at SistaFlav’s, having called all the tow places for the second time, including the ones on the fringes of Roma. No Kangoo. So we’ll stay here tonight and appear at the tow places tomorrow- hoping that if we walk through all the lots we’ll spot our shining yellow girl. Cross your fingers for us. Josie must be hungry!

Amazingly, we still had a meeting and work session.
God bless this Alpha Team!

Sista Flav

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 14:11:57 -0800

As it turns out, everybody on the Alpha Team is a great photographer. It’s like we’re a bunch of artists or something. Check out this slideshow of images taken by Sista Flav and her friends Mau & Simone.

Parco dei Mostri

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 11:49:39 -0800

To thank Michelle for all her hard work, we took her for a bit of fun on her way to the airport: we stopped off at the Parco dei Mostri: Park of Monsters!

This place was originally called “The Sacred Woods of Bomarzo” but is referred to by everyone as “Park of Monsters.” Prince Vicino Orsini commissioned architect Pirro Ligorio (who went on to work for the Vatican after Michelangelo died) in 1552.

Did you catch that? 1552! No power tools, people.

There are a lot of nooks and crannies, benches and little rooms carved into these sculptures (e.g. underneath the Pegasus in the above picture). It turns out Orsini’s desire was the create a magical place where knights and ladies could wander and “lose themselves.” What becomes clear is that there’s a bit of a naughty implication: it’s a 16th-Century make out spot!

The sculptures were carved out of the massive boulders that were already there. This is the piece that really steals the show-- you enter through the mouth to find a room lined with benches and a (sacrificial?) table at the center-- all clearly carved from the rock. It’s amazing. And it’s been there for more than 400 years!

When we asked SistaFlav to translate some of the inscriptions for us, the place took on an even more twisted vibe-- the lines of poetry warned against wandering the world without looking for the deeper meaning, asking the visitor to gaze upon the horrors of these monsters in order to put things in perspective. Che romantico!

The Art Monstery Crew

My favorite monster

Un Giro dell Giardino

Sat, 9 Feb 2008 13:38:03 -0800

Above photo by BenVenuto

After a Tarot of Atlantis reading, I realized I had not meditated once since arriving. The next morning I woke up before anyone else (a first!), made some tea, and went outside. There’s an enormous log in the yard and there was a spot of sun blazing down on it. I did the little bit of Tai Chi that I know and then sat. I wound up, surprisingly, contemplating the universe. I felt so aware of my feet on the ground and the bark of the log and the sun on my skin. At the same time, I was aware of the bigness of the universe. I thought about how surprisingly calm Josie was on the plane on the way here. How much she must trust me such that even though she was in this strange scary and new situation, she was fairly calm. If I were to have that same sense of calm about my own life, would I get as much done?

After lunch, BenVenuto, SistaFlav, Michelle (in from Berlin for the weekend to help Mystophur with researching the Circo Rossini project), and I went to the monastery and walked through the garden, leaving Mystophur at home to work work work. The garden sure is big. And beautiful. And I could see myself here, spending time in this place, soaking in these flowers and olive trees. And from where I stand, it looks like if I just keep plugging away, it’s likely to work out.

View from the garden

This is one of the two cisterns I plan to renovate (read: remove the wheat field) into a synchronized swimming performance water wonderland.

This is the other one.

We also explored Calvi a bit. They are in the process of ripping up the asphalt and installing the original cobblestones. The parts they’ve already done are gorgeous.

We stopped by the ostriches on the way home. They’re a little bit addictive. Michelle and I were snapped away with the cameras and one reached over the fence and pecked her camera! En garde!

The following are photos Michelle took of the garden.

And what’s a blog entry without photos from BenVenuto?
The below images are from him.

View of the monastery from the garden