(photo is part of where & how I met Richard this March. This is view from my hotel window in Glasgow Scotland. I was in Glasgow for new moves, This is Performance Art festival & for festival's Winter School course that Richard mentored)
Artist Walks, in Portland with Richard Layzell &
RosalieSchweiker in London, Lily Gael in Portland, and Elspeth Owen in
Grantchester CP
Sunday morning, May 15th, 2011 @ 8am pst Lily is taking an artist’s walk in Portland with artist & friend Karim Alladdine. Although you might not be able to see this next part, we will also be walking with Richard Layzell and Rosalie (Emely) in London where it will be 4pm gmt. Thinking about the walk, the where, how, & why of it, I did the same thing Richard was doing in London. As he put it, he was dithering until he decided on the route. My dithering ended before Richards, but when you think about it that makes perfect sense; when you fly into the UK its almost always the next day. You might wonder how Elspeth figures in on this time shifty-ness? Elspeth is a time zone unto herself, that’s how I figuring it. She’s so deep in earthtime of the UK that I imagine Time comes out to meet her instead of the other way around. (in the next blog post, I'll put the description she sent along of her collaboration with Sundays walk ).
I decided to walk with Karim after getting down to the question: what do I desire from this walking? (of course I’ve learned that often when I have a yearning, so do some others). The answer came easier than expected: I want to walk with an artist friend who I love, and who, after hanging around together, I leave feeling more inspirational, more forgiving of reality, a bit sillier, and foolishly happier to be alive.
Sounds a little like being in love don’t you think? And like a lover, my desire is crawl in deeper and listen, to hear what he has to say about art these days. To ask, suppose, say a bit, listen some more, noodle about the Portland urban streets and parks with our heads and feet. I want to share in his sweet, brilliant big mind. I want to ask strangers to take our photograph. So, I am going to walk next to Karim and hang on his every word. Listen with eyes glistening.
Our Walking Route: approx. 5.5 miles. We will make our way from the Salmon Street entry gate of the live volcano Portland calls Mt. Tabor Park, heading downtown to Portland State University (home to the dept of art’s Social Practice program and this weekend’s 12/13/14May openengagement.com conference) along Hawthorne Blvd until it curves left @ 12th Ave, then left again, and becomes Main Street. We’ll follow Main to the South Park Blocks and head west, past the Pdx Art Museum, the Historical Society, a few churches. Along the Park Blocks @ Salmon street (where we started remember?) huge old trees will tower over us. I think we’ll come to the end of our artist’s walk talking about humility and generosity. Leonie, Quinn, and Dexter, Karim’s intimate family, will meet us at Portland State. We’ll hug and kiss and Leonie will drive us all home.
