Spring is here!

April 9th, Ali and I went to Madrid. This was my first time seeing another European city outside Germany. We spent a week there and besides the weather not being the best, everything else made for a wonderful time. We celebrated Easter and my birthday. The Easter parade was unbelievable. I cannot even adequately explain it right now...and unfortunately don't have photos.

Entrance to the oldest restaurant in the world. Me at Museum of Ham. delicious! Ali at the pension.


Most of the time was spent in the museums - especially the Prado. We actually went three times! to take it all in. Also, to see the Bacon retrospective which I loved. And the Goya paintings!
I was a little disappointed with the contemporary museum - Reina Sofia. But did get to see the famous Guernica there so it was worth it.

Found Picasso painting. Found still life with bread. Statute of Don Quixote

And now I have been back for a few days. Spring has brought a burst of inspiration and I am busy working away in the studio. Really, really enjoying it. I have a group show here opening June 26th and it is nice to have a deadline. I am not sure how many pieces will be in it yet. But nevertheless I am on a roll. And experimenting again. I will send more details when it gets closer. Below is an image as well as a studio shot. I am not sure what i think of the new work yet - but it is different for me. And different is good and getting me interested.






Finally I will be in the States July 20 - August 31. Dividing my time between an artist residency, Chicago and Peoria. Hope to see you!

Love,
Sarah

on the Move and Going Bauhaus

Once again, it has been too long since I have last written. As many of you may know I had to move rather suddenly at the beginning of this month. It was due to a miscommunication/disagreement between Doug who I sublet from and Kai the roommate and long-time tenant. So unfortunately, I got caught in the middle and had to scramble to find something immediately. Which I did! miraculously. It is an apartment in the Bauhaus world heritage apartment complex. see the link below for some pics and information. If you would like my address let me know and I will email it to you.

http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.de/denkmal/denkmale_in_berlin/en/weltkulturerbe/siedlungen/carl_legien.shtml

When I get a little more settled and get some furniture I will take some photos. This new place is my *own* place and unfurnished so there is a lot to get. I have been cooking at my boyfriend's house and using various friends' internet as well as internet cafe's. Those two necessities have been the hardest not to have. Tonight I was lucky to get pretty much everything I needed for my kitchen (plates, silverware, glasses, mugs, coffee press, kettle, toaster, and so on) for only 12 euros from an American woman who is moving back to the states and just getting rid of everything. well kitchen related. she lives in a furnished flat. So now 12 days in, I can cook!!! And enjoy a cup of coffee (have had the beans already :)). Which reminds me of what we take for granted. what I have taken for granted anyway. And all of the stuff it takes to live. just the simple things. necessities. are heavy. cumbersome to move around. can add up in price. And the running around to different places for different things has made things feel overly hectic and nerveracking to say the least. Though I know it won't be like this for long.

And now I am at my boyfriend's house sick on the couch. looking at my new loot. and trying to rest and get over this cold. He is at the Berlinale. I went to 3 films there but just didn't feel up to tonight. I went to 'Help Gone Mad' (Russian), Winter Ade' (German documentary), Kill Daddy Tonight - something like that - (German). The Berlinale is pretty neat for lack of a better adjective. People take it real seriously. no popcorn or snacks because of the noise. doors to the theater close at precisely the start time and no late comers.... and many of the theaters are so lovely. pink velvet curtains and so on. and all seem to have cool a cafe/bar/restaurant. But if they didn't it would not be Berlin.

A couple other notes on the subject of culture -
Saw Paul Klee show before it went down and got lost in his universe of Klee'. Huge huge retrospective with hundreds of pieces almost too much to take in. And Ali took me to a modern dance performance. which neither of us cared for that much except that some of the movements the dancers made looked like Francis Bacon positions. we both got that which was interesting. It seemed like most of the time people weren't dancing, it was more theatrical and about dialogue. and I can't remember the name of the performance or the director just that he is a big name and from NYC and based in Europe now....that probably doesn't mean anything to any of you. sorry I am rambling a bit!

Also, I will be planning a trip home this summer. Sometime around August. 1 week to 10 days in Peoria. 1 week Chicago and two weeks residency at Ragdale Foundation in the countryside outside of Chicago...hope to see as many of you as possible. I will let you know dates when I figure it out.

More later on the job situation - which is at the moment okay and not a situation - but nonetheless keep sending me good thoughts, prayers, energy - whatever you believe in. That would be great. The shaky economy is felt here and everywhere I suppose.

So that is it for now...take care.
Hope you are well.
All the best!

Sarah

Fröhliche Weihnachten

For Christmas, I will be sitting at home alone, trying to download bits of Charlie Brown's Christmas off youtube as it continually freezes up and has to be reloaded.

okay, just kidding. I am spending the day with a couple friends that are staying here and we will make dinner together and decorate a tree!

I am thinking of all of you as the holidays near. I *wish* I was coming home to visit.

Recent Highlights:

Work

• I finally got a couple days a week working at my gallery and then a month or so later found out they are closing already.

• ----scrambled to find something else-----ah, this is wearing on me!!

• found another job with my friend/former roommate from Chicago as a virtual assistant (THANK YOU SIMONE)

• possibly have a second job with the travel website again. Thank God!Both of those jobs combined would be full-time. It is funny to think I am in German working for two American businesses

SocialLife (or lack)

• I have been a hermit lately - tend to do that in the winter - and have used the time to make progress on some paintings. I can see a subtle shift in the work as living in this new place, and another country is undoubtedly changing things.

• my roommate is out of town and that is a celebration in itself - he 'doesn't like Americans'...soooo maybe I get to be the exception?! probably not. But that is okay.

• My friend, Kelly Marie is coming to visit December 28th. really looking forward to it.

• I got to see two 'somewhat old' friends recently - Brad and Tim. separate. Somehow with both of them, we had lost touch in Chicago but were able to reconnect here in Berlin. Brad and I went to this neighborhood spot, Tomsky for drinks. And then for a late night falafel. Tim and I had lunch at the organic/health food cafe next to the gallery called Eve and Adam's. Then stopped off at this group show I was apart of in an old, art nouveau swimming hall (the pool was no longer in use - people have asked me if my pieces were floating in the water- so, no) in the south of the city.

Germany

• Interesting moment - Talking politics with the Getranke store owner in German and my German is horrible. Realizing how far you can get with only two words besser and schlimm (better and awful) in the context of politics.

• I appreciate America more with the distance though I still *really* love it here and could live here for years if I can figure out how to make it work as well as afford to visit home. As Marc would say "Live and Die Berlin". Still that said, I am only planning to stay a year or two. We'll see...

Holidays once more

• Thanks to Mom's package - I now have my snowflake sweater just in time for the season. it has pompoms on it - Perfect!

On a side note - I had no idea people were really reading my blog until I received more and more emails asking when I was going to update again. So thanks for caring!! I will keep it going, okay!!

Merry Christmas! and Happy New Year.
Love,
Sarah

This and That

above: It's official! me getting registered with the city.

I will warn you do not read further if you are looking for interesting tidbits.(smile) It has been a little while since I posted. And if I waited until I had something interesting to say it might be even longer. I say this because I have settled into a routine and overall normalcy here. It longer feels so strange and foreign here. Odd that happened so quickly. In some ways, I think I needed it to happen because otherwise I would be overwhelmed. And also say this because, I am really struggling here. Not the sort of interesting thing to read about. The main challenge is finding work. I am studying German now but my skill level is very beginning and that pretty much rules out getting a job in anything but babysitting and cleaning houses. I have a few babysitting jobs but all are just the occasional night. Many people are in the same position here - especially artists, because there are a lot of artists coming to live in Berlin. As many of you know, I had come to work at a gallery job here but that fell through. I have now been offered a job there once a week but it is again not enough to live on. If I get the money situation worked out, everything else is fine. I do have my visa now which is a difficult thing to get here. I was lucky that I was with the right man on the right day for my appointment. I was granted an artist freelance visa which is extremely flexible and means I can basically do whatever work I would like here.

I am really enjoying my new place. A nice-sized office/work space and bedroom. I have a roommate but he is out of town a lot and so it feels like my own apartment. which is really, really what I needed. I started painting and after a 6 month break it is feeling good but also kind of awkward. I am going to keep going of course! I have to put the money issues out of my head because it can be hard to be creative with that on your mind.

For Thanksgiving I am going to my friend Mira's house. She is a recent expat from California. Her Dad is visiting and evidently is a very good chef. I am going to bring a side but I am not sure what yet. maybe green bean casserole! (that's right Ann!) if I can find cream of mushroom soup. I haven't looked for that yet...I also met a new friend Marisa (also from CA) and we really clicked. She reminds me of the kind of friends I have in Chicago. At last, that is also what I really needed.

So that is it for now I suppose. Please send me luck, wishes, prayers whatever you believe in to me that I can find a solution here! thank you!! And if you know of a computer job I can do remotely that would be great too! Next post will have some good news in it. This I am sure.

best to you,
Sarah

Künstlerin Inside

Yesterday I started packing. I am moving again. So soon. But this place on Christburger was always meant to be temporary anyway. And now I have another temporary place to stay in. A sublet from my friend Doug. Just 4 blocks from here. The good thing is I don't need to learn a new neighborhood. Which is nice to think. His place will be a live/work situation. A nicely sized studio off the bedroom. It is homey but also a bit raw on the edges. Perfect. It is those types of spaces that feed my creativity. Too nice of a place and it doesn't seem right to work in; too raw and its not comfortable. But this has the right mix. And if that weren't enough it has a rust-colored couch. The clencher. deal closer. Every studio I have had in school - undergrad, grad - have all had a rust colored couch. It is a requirement. Like needing lots of light. Though I tend to prefer a cave with light. a contradiction but if you saw this place you would understand. It is removed from the street. Set back in. a place to retreat. And on break from painting I can look across the way, at the painter neighbor. straight into his window and see him stepping back from his easel. To pause, reflect and then start in again. And then I will take a sip from my hot, jasmin tea and start in again too.

I am not sure why I started packing. I am paired down to one large suitcase and one smaller one - freeing and humbling at the same time. I don't move until November 1. But I am excited to move and the closer I get to this date, this place the closer I get to painting again. My supplies come in the next week or so from Chicago!

And maybe sometime I can meet the painter across the way. Doug or I, one of us, suggested I make a sign for the window. Künstlerin Inside. But then we decided Painter Inside sounded cooler. Or was it Painter at Work? But this man seems pretty absorbed in what he is doing to actually look out the window and up at mine...we'll see. But at the very least, other people in the neighborhood will know.

rainy sunday

Last night,
Ulrich's bike to the Isenberg's to watch Jules.
air was cool
along Shoenhauser Allee;
still getting used to navigating through the crowd-
ed sidewalks and busy bike lanes.
The night was nice. Little Jules was adorable.
We played skateparks, watched some children's shows from my childhood,
and then I put him to bed. Quiet.
Sitting next to the bookshelf I looked at all the titles. The Robert Creeley one seemed right

A Place
The wetness of that street,
the light
the way the clouds were heavy is
not description But in the memory I fear
the distortion. I do not feel
what it was I was feeling. I am im-
patient to begin again, open
whatever door it was, find the weather
is out there, grey. the rain then and
now falling from the sky to the wet ground.

The Answer
Will we speak to each other
making the grass bend as if
a wind were before us, will our
way be as graceful, as
substantial as the movement
of something moving so gently
We break things in pieces like
walls we break ourselves into
hearing them fall apart just to hear it

and another one from a bent notecard, for Jeff -

Inside and out
impossible locations-
reaching in
from out-
side, out
from in-
side - as
middle:
one hand.


Later writing down what the Isenberg's have in their refrigerator. Wilhelm Brandenburg Schwarzwaelder Schinken and Rewe bio Maasdamer. New ideas. It seemed funny to do something like that but I am already getting tired of the same few things I buy.

Noah came home and let me borrow the new David Sedaris book, 'When you are engulfed in Flames' and I am eager to read it.

And while the bike there was alright what I truly love are late night rides. It is one of my favorite things. Everything quiet. And the street lights show you only what you need to see.

Once home wrote a bit and then went to bed.

Today spent making plans for some important things that need to get down the next week or two. And then cleaning. Looking after Ulrich's flowers. His one request besides taking in the mail. Though I don't know how his flowers could possibly last for two weeks. I took the withered ones out and made new smaller arrangements. I imagined myself the day before his arrival moving one limp bud and faded greenery around in a small vase. At every turn, still looking lifeless.

Laundry: whites and darks draped over the drying rack near the heater in the window. smelling like wet ferns. Not really. Though ferns do sit next to the washer.

Have to go get ready. Olga is coming with over with a pumpkin and we are going to make some soup.

A Place to Rest

Today I am taking a rest. This last weekend, spent in Leipzig, was traveling at its most challenging...if something could go wrong it did. Plans didn't meet up at several points in one evening to the point where I just wanted to go home but well I couldn't! I am not sure where home is anyway...but that is another story :) And one day was spent walking with all of my stuff. A heavy backpack and satchel because I was between places to stay. And the friend I thought I was staying with the second night apparently fell through. Mercury is in retrograde. At one point, I went down by the canal and sat in the sun watching ducks for an hour or more. And moments like that saved me.

The reason for the trip was to attend an artist salon I had been invited to on Thursday evening. I arrived Thursday morning and left early Sunday. The plan was to stay 3 days because I had a few friends I was trying to meet up with but alas it could have been a day trip! Anyway, despite all of this, it was still possible to appreciate the city. I found it even more beautiful then I remembered from last year. Having the sun this time helped and everything was aglow.

I loved seeing the galleries in the Lindenau district which I had not seen before. Just the space itself, an old building with layers of paint and plaster eroded away provided enough inspiration for me to make a whole body of work. This building housed 4 galleries I believe. The one that really blew me away was just an empty couple of rooms - a "project space" I suppose - called Cloud Cuckooland by Vreni Spieser. Empty, well, except for elaborate doodles wallpapered on the walls and drawing and coloring on top. No one watched the space and there were no other visitors. I felt like it was just there for me stumbling upon a treasure.

Below:
Lutzner Str. in Lindenau near the gallery buildings
just inside one building
inside the adjoining one - 'Cuckooland' !
detail of Cuckooland




Also the walk from Schleussig to the 24 hour Exhibit in Plagwitz at night along the canals was breathtaking. As I crossed the bridge looking down at the canal and the tiny dotted lights of the bars and the big billowing dark silhouettes of trees. I wish I had some photos of this as well as some documentation of the 24 hour Exhibition; an event which went from 0 to 24 hour (midnight to midnight). It was part -art show -hippy -bonfire, -musical performance - theatrical spectacle - and other things too that are a bit hard to sum up. The art was so bad it was good. And I really regret not having any images of it.

Here a photo of old wood set in a shop window.


I do have some very cool images of a photography show I saw at the Spinnerei gallery district.

Below:
an amazing space in Spinnerei

photo by Carsten Tabel
sculpture by Carsten Tabel


fiber pieces by Regine Mueller (see far right of frame)

drawings displayed in the dark! with only the light from the hallway

photos of sculptures by Nadin Maria Ruepenacht (not sure who did actual sculpture in front)

photos (don't know the artist) displayed on the floor which I loved

Ellenrieder!! paintings of explosions



Hope all is well with you! For more photos please check flickr...