the arc of heaven
the arc of heaven one spring stroke, that great, arcing curve of beauty, a bow to heaven which is the doubl'd arrow-slinger that celebrates that dawn, that just now closes -- revealing the pearl, she hanging in the sky like one luminous pendant -- launching the day a pendant of splendor. She goes -- and the day remains. in beauty, ever cycled. TSG | decatur island On Mar 27, 2010, at 10:52 AM, Gregory Furman wrote: spring storm...
BRANDFIRE
BRANDFIRE As a designer, presuming strategic intention, the practice is never about what's on the surface alone, but more to what lies beneath. The legacy of any design decision lies in historical experience -- it is about the story of what has been, what story might be told now, and how that story could extend to the future. For each of us, exploring the idea of design might be to the link of the signature -- the "signing" of a solution in the original use of the word. For every design might...
Ravening | A love of the Crow’s Family
Photo by Tim Girvin Those of us that have been around...crows, rooks, ravens, jays, magpies and jackdaws. Have known and loved the raven, and family, in all manifestations for years. Why now, would there be such renewed and continuing enthusiasm about the crow -- which, familial to the smartest bird group in the world -- is essentially a black bird. For me, it's a continuing saga that goes way back, so a love of this family is nothing even remotely new. But the saga of the raven -- literally,...
Calligraphy on the wind
Notes on installations, surprise and the awakening of beauty, discovered. I've written about the idea of poetry on the wind, words that gesture to an impression, that tied to a string, written on handmade paper or the stock of recycled paper bags, flutter and turn in the breeze. For me, that fluttering bespeaks leaves, that are turning; and in the etymology of the word, liber -- the foundational character of the library, tells, from circa 1374, from Anglo-French, going back in time: librarie,...
D R E A M I N G
I was taking a rest, after a long week -- a contemplation: and things came to mind that recalled the journeys that have been, and what new emergences shall be. And those dreams were deepening, in the meaning -- the meditation on making -- and the creative spirit that can be unbound, in reflection. ..... D R E A M I N G Sometimes, in the work of the week you stretch back to the weekend which might not be the end. there will be more. It might be the beginning of more work, to find the right full...
What I wonder about: personal brands, icons and totems
Why does Tim Girvin love crows and ravens? Some people have equated the raven as being something inextricably linked to me -- my personal brand. That is, when people see something on the raven, or the crow, they presume that I know about it, or should. And they tell me about them, of course. And yes, out there, I know there are others that are captivated by the raven'd compulsion, endlessly fascinating they are. "Say, did you hear that story about the Raven starting up a bulldozer and driving...
The Exploration of Personal Ritual
Getting to the soul of things. What is a thing? I've wondered about that. A thing. thing O.E. þing "meeting, assembly," later "entity, being, matter" (subject of deliberation in an assembly), also "act, deed, event, material object, body, being," from P.Gmc. *thengan "appointed time" (cf. O.Fris. thing "assembly, council, suit, matter, thing," M.Du. dinc "court-day, suit, plea, concern, affair, thing," Du. ding "thing," O.H.G. ding "public assembly for judgment and business, lawsuit," Ger....
The Desert | Mystery Sought…
I have longed for the desert, since I was a child. I'd asked my Mother, after seeing LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, to learn the theme on the piano, so she could play it over and over. And when we sat together, at the piano, the cascades of memory in sound, the long sliding compositions of those strokes would forever beckon to the recollections of those notes, in sequence of story in theme. Never forgotten. Never shall. So, being in the UAE, I'd savored the idea of returning to the true desert, to be out...
The nest: an installation
The beginning, forming the nest. I've written about creating an installation -- actually, many installations and placements -- over time. Dawn Clark (http://dacarc.wordpress.com/) and I built a nest -- woven of sticks that we found on the beach. One week later, two weeks later, it's still there, but it's moved; it simply lifted up, and drifted to another location. Three weeks out -- it's moved again. Things come and go, and by the time I return the next time, some weeks from now, it will...
A love of the Raven
I've been out walking; and listening; and looking skyward -- up through the trees, into the clear blue sky. And what happened there were three ravens, flying at once, over the top of me. And when the Raven flies, I always stop, quiet in my step, because there's a character about that bird in flight that is unlike any other. It's the sound. But today, there was something different in that sound -- arching, banking, rushing side-bound, wings vertical, pointing up and down, sky and earth, there...