2009.04.09 19:00 - Beauty in ordinary things

The Guardian for this meeting was Sylectra Darwin. The comments are by Sylectra Darwin.

Sylectra Darwin: greetings!
Pema Pera: hi, Sylectra!
Pema Pera: You look nicely wild!
Pema Pera: is this a new look?
Sylectra Darwin: Yes indeed! A smoky skin.
Pema Pera: what an interesting combination!
Sylectra Darwin: It's awful, I know.
Pema Pera: oh no
Sylectra Darwin: But the smoky skin has bright red tattoos which are kind of cool.
Pema Pera: I don't mean that, it is fascinating :)
Sylectra Darwin: It's from the elementals collection.
Pema Pera: ah, do they have their own sim?
Sylectra Darwin: So how are you?
Sylectra Darwin: No, just their own store.
Sylectra Darwin: Hi Aurel.
Pema Pera: fine, happy to be in rainy California
Pema Pera: HI Aurel!
aurel Miles: Hello Pema!
aurel Miles: Hi Nostrum!
Sylectra Darwin: Pema, what are you doing in California?
aurel Miles: oops - sorry I called you Nostrum, Sylectra
Sylectra Darwin: No worries.
aurel Miles: and talked after the bell....
aurel Miles sighs
Pema Pera: Ah, because Sylectra's Group's lable is "Nostrum's", I see
Pema Pera: hehe, Aurel, not to worry
Pema Pera: Syl, I'm in Berkeley right now, to work with Stim
Sylectra Darwin: Oh, fantastic!
Pema Pera: I'm visiting Stim or he is visiting me four times a year - a pattern we've held up for about seven years now
Sylectra Darwin: Any new media stuff to play with this time? VR helmet?
Pema Pera: three weeks out of every three months
Pema Pera: hehe, no
Pema Pera: just RR of the Bay Area
Sylectra Darwin: Well that is super. I bet it's wonderful there now.
Pema Pera: well, raining . . . feels like Holland
Sylectra Darwin: Things are really nice in NJ this week, especially today.
Pema Pera: still pretty though
Pema Pera: I love the spring, but in NJ I have pollen allergy
aurel Miles: we have had snow and greyness and wind
Pema Pera: which is one reason to escape to Berkeley this time of the year
Sylectra Darwin: I enjoy watching the bushes slowly unfurl their leaves and open their blossoms.
Pema Pera: snow??? wow
aurel Miles: yeah
Pema Pera: in Vancouver?
aurel Miles: six months of winter this year
aurel Miles: no no
aurel Miles: Ottawa
Pema Pera: ah!
aurel Miles: I am from Victoria
aurel Miles: but i live in Ottawa now
Sylectra Darwin: Okay...
Pema Pera: ah, okay, got that wrong, sorry
Sylectra Darwin: When will you see the sun, Aurel?
aurel Miles: understandable
aurel Miles: well - we used to get it all winter
aurel Miles: and it made the snow lovely
aurel Miles: but with climate change
aurel Miles: who knows
Sylectra Darwin: indeed.
aurel Miles: the ironic thing is
aurel Miles: i tried to go home again and i can't take the gloom
Sylectra Darwin: !
aurel Miles: pacific northwest climate is not for me
Sylectra Darwin: wow.
Sylectra Darwin: IT's nice to have sun sometimes.
aurel Miles: and now it seems to be seeping into the Eastern part of Ontario
Sylectra Darwin: Sun on the snow is especially lovely.
aurel Miles: Ottawa had its darkest, rainiest summer ever last year
aurel Miles: you know that saying?
aurel Miles: must have brought it with you
aurel Miles: about the weather?
Pema Pera: oh yes
Pema Pera: :)
Pema Pera: I do that often, while traveling
aurel Miles: i think about that quite frequently lately...
aurel Miles: i wonder if there are too many west-coasters in ottawa
Pema Pera: hehehe
Sylectra Darwin: hehe
aurel Miles: and that's why the weather went goth on me
Pema Pera: Thank you for your nice stories this afternoon, Aurel
aurel Miles: thank you Pema
Pema Pera: about the ovoids and all that
Pema Pera: I had seen them, but didn't know their meanings
aurel Miles: i have some expertise there
aurel Miles: their meaning is still debated by art historians
aurel Miles: but not much by First Nations artists and Elders
Pema Pera: in fact, I like to collect T shirts, while on travel, and I have quite a few T shirts that I picked up in Vancouver and Seattle
Pema Pera: with lots of ovoids on them :)
aurel Miles: ha
Sylectra Darwin: What is an ovoid?
aurel Miles: i like to think about that idea of life tension in the joints and openings
aurel Miles: hmmm
aurel Miles: repeating myself....
Pema Pera: please do!
Pema Pera: Syl was not here this afternon
aurel Miles: it's a form used a lot in west coast first nations art
aurel Miles: looks usually
aurel Miles: like a rectangle with rounded corners
aurel Miles: and it swells a bit
aurel Miles: people refer to it as being packed with dynamic tension
aurel Miles: with life
aurel Miles: the idea of life
aurel Miles: and you see it all over Haida art
aurel Miles: also Tsimsian
Sylectra Darwin: Sounds great.
Pema Pera: ah, sorry, my battery is running low, and in the coffeeshop here there is no electric outlet in sight :( . . . .
aurel Miles: Kwa kw'a kuwa
aurel Miles: etc etc
aurel Miles: anyhow
aurel Miles: blah blah
aurel Miles: i will show you a picture
Sylectra Darwin: oh dear
aurel Miles: oh Pema
Pema Pera: sorry to have to leave so quickly!
aurel Miles: sorry to see you fade
Pema Pera: I should have brought a second battery
Sylectra Darwin: yes indeed.
Pema Pera: or a few ovoids!
aurel Miles: yes
Pema Pera: nice to meet you both here -- see you soon again!
aurel Miles: goodnight!
Sylectra Darwin: okay, take care, Pema
aurel Miles: enjoy your coastal weather
Sylectra Darwin: ...and there he goes.
aurel Miles: an ovoid is an expression of an autonomous life force
aurel Miles: within a larger life force
Sylectra Darwin: that's cool.
aurel Miles: yeah it's interesting
aurel Miles: you see it in drawings and prints a lot
Sylectra Darwin: Why the square aspect? human construct mixed in?
aurel Miles: and in traditional culture
aurel Miles: poles
aurel Miles: it's not really square
aurel Miles: one sec
Sylectra Darwin: kk
aurel Miles: http://www.houseofthespiritbear.com/...eid/index.html
aurel Miles: if you look there
aurel Miles: and look at the wings of the raven or the eagle
aurel Miles: see how every feather
aurel Miles: every joint
aurel Miles: or on the beaver
aurel Miles: every limb
aurel Miles: has those ovoid shapes?
aurel Miles: they are expressions of life - at least that is what i was taught
Sylectra Darwin: That's really neat.
Sylectra Darwin: I wonder why I haven't heard of them until now.
aurel Miles: sorry - it's late here, i am a little tired and hence a little quiet
Sylectra Darwin: My mom was really interested in Native American art.
Sylectra Darwin: That's quote alright - me too!
aurel Miles: well, how many art historians do you know?
aurel Miles: and how many from the west coast
Sylectra Darwin: none.
aurel Miles: and how many who have looked into that
aurel Miles: yeah
aurel Miles: that's why
Sylectra Darwin: But I got to briefly see an exhibit in NYC on the Pacific coast native art.
aurel Miles: Doris Shadbolt has some interesting things to say about it
Sylectra Darwin: It looked very polynesian.
aurel Miles: i have a hard time with travelling shows
aurel Miles: of that kind of work
aurel Miles: because they are considered to be alove
aurel Miles: alive
Sylectra Darwin: Why?
aurel Miles: and i have seen canoes splitting and dying as the dry out
aurel Miles: in the musuem here
aurel Miles: they are meant to be part of life
aurel Miles: meant to be in use
Sylectra Darwin: Oh yes,.
Sylectra Darwin: Of course.
aurel Miles: not meant to be observed that way
aurel Miles: museums - for some types of art
aurel Miles: are like zoos
aurel Miles: and i don't like them much either
aurel Miles: i'm talking about antiquities mostly
aurel Miles: bowls
aurel Miles: masks
aurel Miles: canoes
aurel Miles: poles
aurel Miles: especially poles
Sylectra Darwin: yes it's hard to look at that stuff in a static exhibit.
aurel Miles: i saw one in the british museum and it just seemed so desperately lonely
aurel Miles: and brittle
aurel Miles: the prints and paintings are a different thing
aurel Miles: so are sculptures made to be sculptures
aurel Miles: but the poles have a lifespan
aurel Miles: and they deserve to live it
Sylectra Darwin: yes indeed. Useful objects have an inherent beauty in their usefulness.
Sylectra Darwin: brb - need to relog
Sylectra Darwin: Tying to get the PaB listener to record me again now that I am back.
aurel Miles: good
Sylectra Darwin: Got the first half of the log and restarted the second.
aurel Miles: i feel a little awkward cause i would like to listen for a while
Sylectra Darwin: it is okay to listen, even with only two people...
Sylectra Darwin: Two sensory impressions for tonight - sunlight on new snow...
Sylectra Darwin: and useful things in plain sight, pleasing to the eye.
aurel Miles: i love sunlight on snow
Sylectra Darwin: I wanted to say that my grandfather was a machinist and he made things out of metal.
aurel Miles: ah
Sylectra Darwin: I got two priceless things he made...
Sylectra Darwin: a stainlless steel spatula and long-handled fork.
Sylectra Darwin: My grandma had them for 50 years and now they are mine.
aurel Miles: that's lovely
Sylectra Darwin: I have them in the drawer with all the other utensils. Their greatest beauty is in their sturdiness and utility.
aurel Miles: the japanese have a word for that
aurel Miles: i forget what it is
Sylectra Darwin: What a nice concept!
Sylectra Darwin: I was reading a book on decorating and they had a page on decorating with useful things, as in pots and pans in the kitchen. It really appealed to me.
aurel Miles: i like that too
aurel Miles: i adopt that approach when i have a garden
aurel Miles: everything has to be both beautiful
aurel Miles: and edible
aurel Miles: form + function = beauty
Sylectra Darwin: so true. Like herbs?
aurel Miles: yes
aurel Miles: and roses
aurel Miles: lavendar
aurel Miles: some tomatoes even
aurel Miles: they can pretty used right
aurel Miles: scarlet runners
aurel Miles: pansies
aurel Miles: all of them are edible
Sylectra Darwin: oh yes, all of those.
aurel Miles: not coriander
aurel Miles: never again
aurel Miles: i was warned and i didn't listen
Sylectra Darwin: I grew vegetables one year, and there was beauty in those.
aurel Miles: yes
Sylectra Darwin: really?
aurel Miles: oh lord
aurel Miles: i had a friend who grew herbs
aurel Miles: and edible flowers
aurel Miles: that was his business
aurel Miles: supplying hotels
aurel Miles: etc
aurel Miles: and he gave me everthing
aurel Miles: rosemary
aurel Miles: marjoram
aurel Miles: thyme
aurel Miles: things i never even imagined
aurel Miles: like pineapple sage
aurel Miles: but no coriander
Sylectra Darwin: hi steven
aurel Miles: so i thougth i would just buy the seeds myself
aurel Miles: and he said - don't do
stevenaia Michinaga: hello
aurel Miles: they bolt
aurel Miles: Hi Steven
stevenaia Michinaga: hi Aurel
aurel Miles: and they stink like you would not believe
aurel Miles: at first it's fine
aurel Miles: but gradually
Sylectra Darwin: yes indeed.
aurel Miles: your whole garden smells pungently
aurel Miles: like coriander
aurel Miles: and nothing else
aurel Miles: i can't cilantro anymore
aurel Miles: it repells
aurel Miles: and that's why
aurel Miles: so i should have listened
stevenaia Michinaga: I am so full from dinner, what are you two cooking up?
aurel Miles: idle chatter
aurel Miles: what was dinner?
Sylectra Darwin: My bf's 14 year old girl just got home and saw that she had left herself signed in, and her dad put up a profile pic of his mouth on her facebook account. lol!
stevenaia Michinaga: no such thing
aurel Miles: oh no!
Sylectra Darwin: It was funny. One of her friends commented, Is that your dad's mouth?
Sylectra Darwin: hehe
aurel Miles: i remember being 14
aurel Miles: very easily embarased
Sylectra Darwin: she's pretty bullet proof after putting up with dad all this time.
aurel Miles: that's good
aurel Miles: how was dinner Steve?
stevenaia Michinaga: as time passes, I realize that the food cooked at home is better than the food cooked by both our mothers
aurel Miles: to your own tastes
stevenaia Michinaga: but the desserts are usually better
stevenaia Michinaga: no, I think they loose their sence of taste over time
aurel Miles: conventional wisdom amongst chefs is that one is either a baker or a cook - never both.
stevenaia Michinaga: desintigrating over cooked asparigas with hollendaise sauce (from a mix) just doesn;t cut it
Sylectra Darwin: Guys, I need to go take rest.
stevenaia Michinaga: by Sylectra
aurel Miles: bye
aurel Miles: i am getting tired too
aurel Miles: my typinmg is starting to show it
stevenaia Michinaga: sorry to come so late, see you all soon
aurel Miles: i am in eastern north america
aurel Miles: so it's after 11 here
aurel Miles: not to worry
stevenaia Michinaga: same here
stevenaia Michinaga: perhaps not so north as you
aurel Miles: but i am going to vanish soon
aurel Miles: probably not