day 10: goat

This is goat, she doesn't have a name. She lives in a little house right next to the office. She is very sweet and likes to play with the stray dogs. Next to her is Max, he was milking her for the bread in the bakery.

Here is my progress on the assignment: Head is securely attached to the backpack, one paw done, the other a few layers to go, nothing painted, no costume sewn yet, and earlier today I realized I hadn't started the tail at all. I've been working slowly all day and will be working slowly all night. The puppet is due to be done tomorrow. We shall see.

day 9: anything is possible

This is one of the handful of places to work on puppets and where I have been the past week. The stairs lead to the second level, a room of old furniture, industrial sewing machines, a sketchy table saw, tools, supplies, and puppets made in the years past. The first floor is a dance studio where every afternoon little girls in pink ballerina outfits walk by holding their mom's hand. It is so sweet.

Last night Jeri and I went to dinner with an old friend Younghsu, who lives just five minutes away. She was an intern at Spiral Q two summers ago. She e-mailed a me about a year ago and said that if I ever was in Taiwan that I was welcome and to make sure to contact her. I told her thank you for the lovely offer but I highly doubt that will ever happen.

sad news

This photo was from my long car ride today. See the tall building far off in the background, underneath the freeway signs? That is Taipei 101, it is the tallest building in the world. BUT as of August 2, the developers for the competing tower, Burj Dubai, will surpass Taipei 101 by 12 meters. It will be completed by the end of this year. Taipei 101's time is short.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taipei_101
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burj_Dubai

day 8: work, work, and more work

I am so wiped out, it's 1:30 AM. I'm up late 'cause I didn't do much work during the day. I went with Katy (a lovely person on staff that I like very much) to Taipei city to get fabric. We left at 10 AM and didn't get back until 4:30 PM! It only takes a half hour to get there, but the van broke down on the way there, kinda got lost in circles at the gigantic fabric warehouse, then katy continued to be lost on the freeways, and trying to deal with my visa was more time-sucking hoopla.

See above for the highlight of my day, a photo essay of me taking the paper mold of the clay mold.

p.s. typhoon shmypoon, it was no big whoop

day 7 : the land of rain, rain, and more rain

I've been busy with paper mache all day, just like the rain. The type of mache they use here is this super thick rice paste used for cooking (it's pre-made), just add water and that's it, no cooking. It's ready to go, it doesn't go bad and also super strong.

Unfortunately, I woke up around 7AM this morning because it was raining really hard. I had a little panic attack because we've been working outside underneath a seemingly structurally sound and large awning. But allthe outdoor roofs here (and the office) have leaks. Also my sculpture was close enough to the edge of where the ground was covered, that I was worried if the rain was falling at an angle, all my work would be ruined. So, I ran out in the torrential downpour, kinda wearing my PJ's still and found Jeri to be there! She had already wrapped up all three of our sculptures. whew.

Jessie and I just laid out some major tarpage, bricks and a fortress of tables to help protect our ridiculously heavy clay molds from the big typhoon that is hitting in the middle of the night. They said it shouldn't be bad because the center of it will not be near Taipei. We shall see.

garbage trucks

One funny thing to share about Taiwan. You know how ice cream trucks play a song when they go by, garbage trucks do that here! And not just any song, but "Für Elise" which is the famous composition by Beethovan. Over and over and over. . .wild huh?

day 6: day off

Today we went to the National Palace Museum. Here is a fascinating but lengthy history of where the majority of the collection comes from. Basically this museum is full of China's treasures because of historical events that I will not pretend to know in detail. http://www.npm.gov.tw/en/administration/about/tradition.htm

Definite highlights: 17 layered concentric balls carved out of ivory, very old and gorgeous curio boxes, all the tiny tiny tiny carvings that exhibited high craftsmanship, old and rare books, old school movable type, stamping my sketchbook when I went onto a new floor, and just beautiful things everywhere.

breakfast

Every morning that I am at Dream Community, I eat here at the Grain Mill Bakery. Usually comprised of tasty fresh bread with spreads. recently this blackish sesame paste has tickled my pickle.

When I am here, one the bakers offered Mandarin lessons to us artists at 10AM every morning. Very sweet!