22 July 2014
One time on vacation my family almost missed an international flight when Stephanie was left behind at the hotel. I sat and wailed at the airport, refusing to leave without her. My father persuaded me to board the plane, but only when he promised to have Stephanie mailed home with the fastest priority delivery service available. This was no easy feat as we were flying from Japan to Switze...
10 July 2014
The process of making kamana is a joint effort between men and women. Women first create the bowl with soft clay, coiling up thin strands in the shape of the dish and smoothing the sides. Once dried, the men polish the inside of the bowl and use a chip-carving technique to decorate the outside with shallow reliefs. The women then low-fire the pottery; and men complete the process by paint...
27 June 2014
COPENHAGEN, 1646Curiosity brought you here. Although it is rainy and there is a chill in the air, you came out anyway because you were compelled to act. The rickety carriage stops in front of a weathered stone building adjacent to a shadowed alleyway. This area is quiet, distanced from the rowdy market squares in the city center. The cobblestones are wet and treacherous after a rec...
06 June 2014
Deep inside the Democratic Republic of Congo in Central Africa is the Kuba Kingdom. There, men and women work side by side to create highly symbolic cloths, known simply as Kuba cloth. The cloth is fabricated from the leaf of the raffia palm tree, the plant with the longest leaves in the world. The transformation from leaf to textile is easy to understand, but difficult to exe...
29 May 2014
21 May 2014
On a recent trip to New York coinciding with Sotheby’s contemporary art auction, I visited a gallery exhibition and came across a work of art that was refreshingly distinct. This piece, composed of aluminum and copper wire, hung on the wall like a golden tapestry interwoven with streaks of silver, red and black. Although clearly a sculpture, it mimicked the movement of cloth undulati...
21 March 2014
Years ago I collected the drawings of Bob Meyer, an American artist living in Paris, France. Bob is a theatrical director, writer and actor, but in my mind, first and foremost he is a visual artist. His pencil drawings always struck me as magical, almost hypnotic. He has the best line I’ve ever seen. In just a few movements he can lasso all sorts of feelings ...
20 March 2014
While sifting through the PRIMITIVE Warehouse preparing for the SPRING WAREHOUSE SALE, I find myself uncovering pieces that have left an imprint on me over many years of dealing with cultural objects. It’s funny how a particular item can transport you to a different time and place, as if the object itself is a portal into history.In the south corner of the warehouse stands a group of carved la...
30 July 2009
On the way back our accommodating driver misunderstood his role and while carrying on a conversation with Cherry began giving us Mandarin lessons. The inevitable result of his being a conversationalist, teacher and driver at the same time was he began to slow down and meander. But we were in a rush. This time, time was really running out. We began chanting, “Faster, faster!” He look...
30 June 2009
We went to stone and wood carving markets today. Chinese New Year shuts everything down so the places were like ghost towns. Our timing was not perfect, but this was the only time we could get here this trip. Some places opened up when they saw us coming. We continually interrupted card games and tea drinking.When we arrived at one particular market I was expecting something organic--small stal...