Moment #26

A Non-Natural Nature

Moment #26

 

Finding the way

Finding the way
Perhaps they met at a crossroads 
Traveled together for safety
Probably argued about direction
Shared food
Laughed around the fire at night
Or maybe they kept their distance
Watched each other
Tracked one another
Never new the thinking of the others
And there was the star 
A celestial phenomenon
How do you follow something that is really not moving
What is the way to be found,
Is it prophecy where you come from,
An astrologers whim? 

An astronomers calculation? 
So you end up at a house
In the outer room where the animals were kept  
A young woman holds a new born
As her husband gazes at you in awe.
You bring gifts
Do you simply honer life?
Or do you know something more?
Do you share what you know?
Have you found the way yet?
Is your wisdom helpful? 
Is this what you were looking for?
Do you really know why you are here?

Is the story over?

Or has it just begun?

jeffkimsey-carroll.com

How I Understand It

 A Schematic for Adam

Imagine somewhere in time

let's say back at the very beginning

there was an artist studio

That's all there was

and it was filled with piles of drawings and designs

The artist had visions scrawled on every inch of paper

There were even designs for 

visions, scrawling, inches, and paper

and what these things would look like

Everything was thought out

You could say this artist was obsessive

but you couldn't

because you didn't exist yet;

except you did somewhere in that pile of paper

You were in the design

Everything thought out and placed in the piles

Now as I have come to understand it

the artist would often take breaks

leave the studio to dwell in the darkness

to meditate

The artist would close all the windows

leave one candle lit

called the light of love

and close the door    

Now it is not clear if it was a bad candle holder

There were many different designs of candle holders

or maybe the artist closed the door too swiftly

 The light of love started it all

and there was a real big bang when pressure built up in that studio

Yes that artist had also designed the idea of combustion

That's the story as I understand it

I mean as I was designed to understand it

Please don't tell too many people about this

or it could become a conspiracy theory on the internet

I don't want to get this artist in trouble 

or maybe that's part of the design

jeffkimsey-carroll.com

In The Play

The Art Is In The Play

I created this activity for my exhibit The Art of Play the Play of Art. The purpose is for art gallery visitors to have opportunities for direct contact with a piece of artwork. The piece in this case was sculptural in nature. As a mixed medium sculpture it involved a variety of painted wood shapes, fabric, artificial foliage, wire, string, yarn, bamboo rods, paper and a variety of fasteners. Visitors were invited to look at what had been created previously and change it in some way. Many guests had to be convinced that it was alright to make these changes and that the structure was not the art, but that their engagement with the objects was actually the art. One woman said she was filled with emotion at the idea that in an art gallery she could do such a thing. She loved the opportunity and spent a significant amount of time rearranging the space. 

I know it is important for persons who toil as artists to be recognized for their craft. I also want all people to experience and embrace artful moments that energize their living and draw us all closer together. This concept is an important aspect of what the arts are all about.

jeffkimsey-carroll.com

The people in artful moments

 

Fitting In or Out

No Name, No.4

Thoughts while looking at the image:

 I struggle to find out how I fit in

always wanting to get out

because the in can be overwhelming

and yet the out so deeply lonely.

To fit in becomes a commitment 

to which we surrender time 

and practice constantly

vulnerability, trust and compassion. 

There is no real out,

because by avoiding being in

you still impact those around you

because of their compassion

The desire of us all is to be together.

We struggle because of the want,

the want that calls to this oneness

that is exhilarating and also terrifying

jeffkimsey-carroll.com

Dimensional Rift or Cracks in the Wall

Have you ever looked at a crack in the wall

and wondered if a life form from another dimension was pushing on the wall causing it to crack?

Okay, then you are probably more stable than me.

That is where this sculpture comes from; that kind of imagining.

Something I made up while looking at the sculpture:

The Crack

Shh, I just heard a tick, or more like a teenk

It just came from that crack, I mean that's what I think

do you hear a humming, or is that in my head

perhaps it's a buzzing that I am hearing instead

Is the crack getting bigger

was it always that long

I am going to stand behind you

and I need you to tell me I am wrong

Now I hear talking or maybe it's singing

Yes the buzzing has stopped, but now it's a ringing

This crack is distracting

I have given it too much control

I am putting it out of my mind

Wait, could it become a hole?

jeffkimsey-carroll.com

My Mind Nebula

"My Mind Nebula" is a colorful cloud that swirls around in my head. In my mind's self-fabricated reality there are actually many different nebula clouds. They are where I retreated when the teachers back in school said I was day dreaming. I fill these clouds with dream, in a form of language that only the soul can read. 

    We are beings of the outer world; we live by our senses. We measure, categorize, predict and plan everything out. We are driven by knowledge. We are now coming into a time where finding a balance between knowing and feeling will be the only way to thrive and survive.

    The reality is, the inner world is as big as the outer. In fact, the inner world may be larger than the universe itself. Then again, it may be the same place altogether. Whose mind nebula do you imagine you are living in? 

jeffkimsey-carroll.com

A Search...

When I first posted an image of this piece I called it "A Search For Place." My thinking was that the bright particle in the abstract photo at the center of the piece was representative of an entity searching for its place in the universe. At the time I thought that was what most persons were doing, seeking a place, a person or a situation that gave them that sense of place; that 'this is where I belong' feeling. Since then I have come to see it differently. The goal of the journey is not to find one place, but the search is within, to draw your true self out so that no matter where you are, there you are and that is the belonging. You then have the peace to belong anywhere and everywhere. So this piece has a second name, "A Search For Self."

jeffkimsey-carroll.com 

The Skins We Wear

The Individual Next to Me

On this plane of existence

we are each a very colorful entity

all living in the same universe

no matter how far we are from one another

We impact each other 

The variety of skins we wear

disguise our true nature

The true nature cannot be described

It is felt none the less

It is a feeling of oneness

that both excites us and terrifies us at the same time

It is this emotional polarity 

that causes us to in one moment wage war

and in another risk our own life to save another

I will continue this thought later on.

jeffkimsey-carroll.com

 

The Body Broken

 I feel movement 

around me

within me

passing through me

way beyond me

all the time

The vibrations of this movement

break me apart

This is not a negative fracturing

The breaking apart allows me to be more

a part of everything

This is good

Video of the Body Broken

jeffkimsey-carroll.com

Fragments of Stories

Inside my head are fragments of stories.

They are all mixed together

like a jig-saw puzzle

that makes no sense.

There are many more than those pictured here.

jeffkimsey-carroll.com

A Fragment of Process

"A Fragment of Process Done" 27"x16"

Shape has Power
surfaces are marred
in the process
of making.
blobs of paint,
grease, glue
and stain
tell the story
of a hundred projects 
or more.
Little stories
of moments 
left on a table top
I give it a shape
of no significance
attach flame
to symbolize
it being torn apart
Then I set it all
on a field of 
unintelligible glyph
intended to evoke
feeling rather than
understanding.


The Top Layer of
this sculpture was 
part of a work bench
that built many 
exhibits at the 
children's museum 
I work at. I drew little 
pictures into all the 
paint and glue blobs.

Two Close up shots showing some of the little drawn in
stories




Jeff Saving Stories

Pandemic - Art

So here I am with all kinds of time. Laid off, trying to collect unemployment, told to stay at home, so why thousands of people are suffering and dying all over the world I am in my garage making stuff. Feeling guilty for having no real skill to aid the situation other than the ability to stay put. They are claiming it is the best way to help but it does not feel helpful. So I will continue to cut out chunks of wood cover them with paint and hold on to creativity for those who are fighting for there lives and all the people on the front lines in hopes that someday we can all get back to our dancing, painting, writing, or whatever we/they may do.

"One Moment In the Way"
Wood an Acrylic Paint 22"x13"

The color and shape of life 
are there...
obscured by a moment
We did not want,
expect,
or plan for.

I did not realize what I was creating until this was a few steps from completion. Distressed forms blocking vibrant color symbolizing life peaking through. All on a base of illegible scrawling designed to draw out feeling rather than understanding.

Jeff Holding on 

Part 2 of new project

New working title: "dream complex"
Still putting it together, three layers just set in place. It is still three separate layers. I am working on selecting the photos. Some may change yet. I will also continue to bring more of the line drawings into the upper layers to dray the layers together. Check out the close ups!

 

In the image to the right you can see how i have brought the line drawings up onto the middle layer, in the green opening. I may do more of that at random places.


Jeff dreaming forward.

Out of This

Out of this
Comes the fragment of a shadow
That whispers of light
I break forth
Into a shower of illuminating waves

Out of this

I carry fragments of dreams
That whisper of impossibilities
From the dark confusion

I hone a reality

Out of this

I carry fragments of being
That whisper to me of fullness
I hold rooted in the dark and stretch out into the light
And weave from this a self

Out of this,
Out of this
Again and again
I continue to reshape this self
Always anew
Into everyday.

"Out of This"  Sculpture/painting/ wall hanging - created to depict one rising from a night or darkness and bringing forth from that darkness new life. All that lives draws from the dark, that of rest and even from dark times.   Another location on the web to see this sculpture.

Jeff drawing out!

Layers

 "Off Set"
One more in my layers series of sculpture. Still not sure if the layer represent individuals in community or if the layers are emotions layered within an individual. I think it can go either way. If I am looking at it as a community of beings I am seeing how they move with and against one another. Then when an external force or event impacts one how it pushes one into another. Yet I also see the community resisting or supporting. 
If I see this as emotional layers of the individual it feels like the different emotions are impacted and respond with motion to absorb or deflect the event or force.
Either way I am trying to make visual something that is not visual. I am cutting more of these when ever I can. This is a study or exploration that I need to make visual.

These are painted wood cuts roughly 24" high x18" wide. 



A closer look. The sphere or event in this case is a community unto it self. Life in a drop of water or one solar system crashing into another.




Jeff  piling it up

On My Knees

I fall to my knees
to know closely the earth,
to gaze into the grass,
deeper into the soil.
I find myself there;
I am of this earth.
The lines of every root
every stem, twig,
or edge of a leaf
are continued
within me,
and I know
I am continued
in them as well.
when I raise my head
to the sky,
I draw the lines
into the heavens, 
outline the clouds
connect the stars;
the rays of all the suns
reach down to connect
to me.
On my knees
I humble myself
to be with,
to always strive to be a part
of all the lines,
of the drawing
of creation.

"on my knees" wood cut 17"x7" paint and ink

Jeff on my knees

Okay, Been awhile!

I am 
The burning bush
All of life
The flame
It takes
All my strength
To not
Be consumed...


...Perhaps I should not work so hard.





 "I am the burning bush"
Wood cut 17"x 8" paint and ink

This style of sculpture is a product of play. I do not always enter into their creation with an idea. I actually allow the shapes to tell me what they will become. I cut random shapes, sometimes paint them and then move them around on and among each other until I find their story or relationship. The ink line drawing is to symbolize the complexity, it is a non definable  emotional language. I just like lines and shapes.
 
       Jeff trying to get back to blogging