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The lads have been doing a swell job.  One morning I left on the early side for the library, and the whole lot of them overslept and got to classes 10 minutes late.  We ALL caught grief on that one!  But the next morning, the whole bunch of them were out and to the academy early – and practicing on their own.

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clouds over Martha's Vineyard

I think I missed a day in there somewhere.

Probably yesterday. Besides my own labors of reading and writing on work subjects, the campers were involved with a long series of master classes, both as participants and observers. That was yesterday. I was pretty blown away by the level of playing that so many of the kids are achieving. Today, I was chatting with one violinist about Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000 hour theory (that you need to put in 10,000 hours to achieve mastery of something). She actually worked out her own hours, and found that she is only about 3,500 shy! These kids have all put in a great deal of effort; and it shows.

Today, I brought the junior apprentices to a local nursing home to play a concert. No masterclasses this evening – thus they had a bit of time off – not at all usual. Jen had overnighted a care package with a board game, which the lads just finished playing. Big success, Jen!

Tomorrow is a double whammy of institute concerts, in which all of the kids will be playing.

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One of my Falmouth trees

Yesterday, after dropping the lads off at the Academy, I struck out for a bit of exploration.  OK, I know where the coffee shop is. That’s important.  And from there, I tested out a marble bench in the town park.  I had a lunch at the local Indian restaurant, where I thought I was getting a great deal with the $7.95 lunch, only to find that the iced tea cost me $3.95, and the piece of nan another $3.95. 

The Falmouth Library, on the other hand, is a superb deal.  Lots of comfy chairs scattered about.  My one disappoint about this trip to Falmouth in general – before coming, my fantasy was that I’d be sitting on a prototypical Cape Cod front porch every day, doing my work – only to find that our house only has a stoop.  But I think this library is going to make up for it, and become my defacto office while I’m here. 

I took a long walk afterwards – beautiful paved trail going off behind the school skirting one of the town’s many ponds.  It looped around until I arrived again at the spiritual center of the place, the coffee shop (which is well off to the outskirts of town!).   On the walk, I encountered some incredible trees which I photographed using my phone. 

Back to the academy for master classes and dinners.  The younger group – that is, my group – has masterclasses at 5.  The kids are making incredible and quick progress on their pieces.  

For dinner, the Colorado Quartet’s first violinist, Julie Rosenfeld, had made meatloaf and mashed potatoes.  Then a bout of Frisbee (see photos below). 

Then the evening master classes.  I LOVE going to master classes.  As a non-strings-player, I’m an outsider.  Every one in the room is an insider.  But for me, there are several great aspects. First, witnessing the ownership of the subject that the seasoned veterans possess. Great, but you’re missing this, BAM – right on.  And then, there is the game of, I hear the music – what do I think they’re going to touch on.  Rarely am I right.  So at the very least, I’m honing my own music-listening skills.  And then, listening to Julie, Lydia, Diane and Katie get into it – it can be like that NPR radio show, Car Talk, except on the subject of chamber music. 

A notable thing that is happening – the kids are wanting, for the most part, to stay for the entire master class.  Some of it is the society of the older group – and some of it is genuine interest in the discussions. 

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I finished up the first book I was reading (see the blog post on Audience, Relevance, and Search) and am now on to the next.  Very important, I found the local serious coffee shop, Coffee Obsession, and made a trip to the uber-grocery-store.

The boys all had late afternoon master classes of their own, and then in the evening, there were master classes with the older kids, and a quartet comprised of college-age musicians.  That quartet played the first movement from the Ravel – which is one of my favorites.

Later, at the house, we had ice cream and tried to figure out the dvd player.  No luck on that, so I’ve embarked on the process of downloading a movie from iTunes.  MAYBE that will ready for tonight. 

Mornings are quiet time for me, as the lads tend to sleep in.  They don’t need to be at the school until 11:30.

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I spent a fair part of the day trying to figure out the Wifi; and after a lot of frustration and a trip to Staples, realized the darn wifi switch on my laptop was turned off….

One of my goals for this trip was to buckle down and get some real work done – reading and writing… and true to the idea, I’ve gotten well into an excellent book.  Hopefully by the end of today, I’ll have a blog post written on DragonSearch about that.

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Yesterday, we had a bar-b-q down at the girl’s houses with the quartet members and the young musicians that are brought in to help coach the students.  Apparently, there will be around 40 students, although not all of them are staying here at the houses.  One of the kids, Julien, came all the way from Hawaii, others from Chicago, New York, and other places scattered about the country.

I learned that this is going to involve a bit more than just hanging out at the picnic bench behind the house for two weeks.  I’ve got 4 lads age 12-13 that I’m responsible for.  But you’d be hard-pressed to find a better group of boys.  “Orch Dorks”, and even more particularly, strings players, tend to be a thoughtful lot.   Last night found them huddled over each other’s shoulders, checking out their various i-devices.

One of the parents went out shopping and filled the larder with all sorts of goodies, so we’re pretty well set in that department. On the other hand, I regret not thinking of bringing some games, like Settlers of Cataan…. I think those would have gone over big.

It’s Sunday morning – the lads are all still sleeping.  They have a fairly full day ahead – orientation at the school, and a concert tonight.  The great task that I have set for myself is to catch up on reading (I brought a box o’books) and to work on the company blog.

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It is tiring and somewhat mind-numbing.  If you’re a bit shy (I really am shy!) it can be a challenge to have all that focus on one’s self.  I probably had chats with over 50 individuals last night – old friends, new acquaintances, and a lot in between.  I  take all the well-wishes and kind words in, the way some mammals store fat for the long winter – to hold me over until the next show which  could be years off.

I’m so appreciative of the support, and all the people who spent time looking at my work. 

It was also great getting to meet many artists who submitted work to the group show.  Helen Gutfreund wrote an appreciative blog post about the opening.  Also discovered that fellow painter Jerry Teters is also a fellow jazz drummer.  I’m hoping to still meet some of the other artists – quite a community we live in.

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I envy my artist friends who’ve been able to live closer to the poverty line – more modestly.  AND stick with the art.  When I was NOT in business, I kept getting futher and further into debt.  Being in business helped alleviate that.  But hopefully, I’ve learned to be more careful about finances – and will spend more time in the studio.  Thats the game plan, at least.

Another side note: I learned things running a company that I never would have doing art alone.  I feel like its made me a better, more rounded individual.  So, no regrets.

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I haven’t typically worked in terms of “projects”. In the past, I just painted, and if I had the good fortune to be invited to show, I would just reach into the painting racks, and take out the latest work. The past ten years haven’t been a good time for me as regards to studio time, but after hearing Gregory Amenoff talk about his own propensity towards “projects”, I thought, “why not”. And thus this project was born.
The four paintings in this show were all made from pairs of canvases bolted together. The paintings were made as unified pieces, but the underlying supports are bifurcated.

The theme of this show and the juried show is “abstraction”. I have my share of hang-ups about that term. After all, aren’t these paintings “real”. Aren’t those paintings of people, vases of flowers, and landscapes, all very, very abstract?

Samuel Johnson meant the word as a sort of summarizing , “a smaller quantity containing the virtue or power of a greater”. Fair enough. You have to admit; there really is a difference between an abstraction, and a realist painting… you can see it quite clearly. Where’s the picturing? I would argue that its all there… just that those artists who practice “abstraction” hide their pictures – take more liberties with how the scene changes. Or they are focussed on relationships between things. Its can be like in a dream where one moment you’re driving your car, and the next moment you’re back in your first grade cafeteria without clothes on. Reality shifts. Perhaps there is an element of obsfucation – if we came out and showed you what we were really thinking you’d all be apalled and have us put away. Or perhaps there is a play of associations, like those found in really great poetry – and those associations drift in and out. Or perhaps I really do like the way that blue brushstroke sits next to that purple brushstroke, and my, aren’t they great friends?

At the end of the day, I still feel that too much is made of the distinctions. All of us painters make paintings – and whatever the approach, paintings are objects that often require being lived with – or seen many times – before they reveal themselves fully. Each painting is created from quantities of colored matter, usually tranferred to the painting with a stick with some hair on it – and that usually being held by a human appendage (I’m leaving out all the painters who throw, spray, hold brushes in their mouths, and elephant painters). And that aspect of markmaking generated by a human body is near universal to all paintings. Each painting speaks to that bodily experience.

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