Laughter

Laughter trumps any language barrier.
As I was having dinner, many bowls of strange new flavors, a woman from down the street wandered into the kitchen. The exchange that ensued between my hosts and her had us all in tears. I have little understanding of what exactly was said but with all the smiles, laughter and hand gesturing I couldn't help but join in. By the end we were all wiping our eyes and holding our sides, gasping for breath and red in the face. Everyone should laugh that hard at least once a week.

I have 1,958 feet of steel in the studio. Approximately 140 feet of that is now standing up on base plates; twisted, bent, curved and crimped. Welded and tacked, taking shape. Students wandered in and out all morning, in between classes and while on break, until school let out and they headed home. I watched them run by while in P.E. class and walk across the street to the mini-mart for lunch. All the while taking in what I can to put back in the sculptures.

There is a greater world at large out there but I know nothing of it. No T.V., no newspapers, limited internet. I eat in the same kitchen in the same chair day in and day out. My time here is an immersion. I wake in a foreign land to a foreign language, eat the cuisine of the culture, walk the same street past the same village houses to the studio to reflect everything I have seen, smelled, tasted and heard. Take it all in and let it all out in steel lines. It is an immersion of culture and art, one and the same.