Annie B. Campbell: Travels, Art and Musings

Isle of Skye! Oct 19-24

2011-12-06T09:46:00.000-08:00

Windy Benny!

Hello! I'm here today to tell you about Isle of Skye! Here's a map to start:

No, We didn't stay at the White Heather Hotel, this was just the most descriptive map I could find.

So we started out in the middle-ish area of the island in Portree where we spent 3 nights at the Portree Hostel It was not the best staying at a hostel but the price was right and we sprang for 2 beds in a 4 bed room. Ooo! Fancy! Over all it was a perfectly recent place. It being the off season the place was fairly empty till the weekend. We had our room to our selves the first night then got a couple interesting room mates. They appeared to be in their late 60's or 70s! I mean, I know that hostels have dropped the "Youth" part from their name, and to each his own, but when I'm 70, if I can't afford at least a bed and breakfast or have a camper ( or even a private room in a hostel!)...then I'm just not going on a trip! How happy would they have been had they gotten a couple of rude drunken 19 year olds instead of us?? (Plus the lady kept opening wide the damn window so when we would come in after they were sleeping the wind and rain would be blowing in and the room would be freezing! We would shut the window, then she would open it again in the morning while we were sleeping and leave it open when they had left the room for good! All the while politely acting like we were the silly ones for wanting a warm dry room! Weird!) Anyway....our first evening we just walked around the harbor, got some beverages and enjoyed it sitting on a bench looking out at the bay (in the dark drizzle, but whateves).
The next day was going to be a bus tour in attempt to stay dry-ish, but when the clouds suddenly cleared we immediate changed our plans! We found a hike right outside of town and it was lovely! I, however, felt it would be reckless to remove my rain suit... and ended up boiling in the sun!

Hot Lady!

Next, we took a bus around the Trotternish Peninsula and saw the Duntulm Castle ruins, did some beach combing, and saw the Old Man of Stor. The third day was rainy. Now, I only bother to even mention the rain (which normally is an assumed occurrence) because it was baaad! Even the locals were talking about it! Bridges getting washed out and what-not. But when one is on Skye (or anywhere in Britain) one cannot change their plans simply because of rain! So we headed for the area around Dunvegan Castle and by the time we got there, the rain had stopped! We walked around the area as the castle itself was closed for the season. After a tiring, damp day we didn't feel like cooking at the hostel. But we also didn't feel like paying £.9-12 for "Fried fillet of cod with potato wedges" at the fancy pubs and after 5 minutes of looking around, found this little chippy where you get the whole shebang for £6. (But no outdoor seating this time of year!).
Day three we went down to Sligachan in the Cuillin Hills. It was a beautiful, dramatic landscape. It's described pretty thoroughly in words, pictures and videos in the album so I won't go on here.We did two long-ish hikes each day we were in this area. Another great thing: due to the fact that it was Sunday and Monday in October, we had the whole bunk house to ourselves! They're was even a fire place in the bunk house with coal provided! As we entertained visions of reading or playing cards by the fire, Ben attempted to start one till his hands and arms were black! So, we don't know how to light a coal fire....whatever, they're too stinky anyway! We gave up and walked over to the pub at the Sligachan Hotel.
On our last day, we had intended to see "Scotland's most photographed castle" Eilean Donan, before getting on the train, only to find out it had closed the day before!! Boo! It's okay, I have full intentions of seeing Isle of Skye in the summer some day so I'll see it then. Instead I ended up discovering a treasure trove of metal, glass, and pottery shards discarded by an old hotel at low tide on Kyle of Lochalsh!
While waiting on our train for departure, the train featured in the Harry Potter movies pulled into the station on the other track! I tried to get out and take a picture but the doors on our train wouldn't open...cause we were about to pull off...the look on Ben's face when he realized I almost got left while trying to take a picture of the Hogwarts Train was not amused!

To close, see if you can spot any scary sea (or land) monsters in this video!

Anyway, Here's the rest of the pictures!
It was a fantastic time and I can't wait to do it again in the future with our own transportation and less hostels!
Byebye!

October!

2011-11-30T13:01:00.000-08:00

I know I know, you might be thinking..."But Annie, its almost December!" Well, whatever! Its time to show you October! So here's the basic outline of what we did in October.
(Disclaimer: I'm not using European spellings on purpose! Spell check/auto correct is doing it! )

Mom sent me a care package!

The first weekend we went back down to Edinburgh to assist our friend Leonie with an event she conceived of and organized herself: The Mega Yurt Event! She is hoping that maybe next year it can be an official Fringe Festival venue! The huge yurt came from her friends at Red Kite Yurts and we spent most of Friday afternoon putting it up. The event was held at the school where Leonie teaches which is a Steiner School (known in the states as Waldorf Schools). It was an all day event with food, all kinds of kids shows in the afternoon and musical acts in the evening, with 3 yurts all together! Leonie's dad, Malcolm Le Maistre, was kind of a big deal back in the day. He has a kid's band with a singing vegetable cart that played during the afternoon and a folk band that played later in the evening. Ben and I helped put up the yurts, paint the signs, man the door and tend the bar ("one for you, one for me"). It was a great success and they even made a profit which was more than they expected and makes repeating the event much more of a reality!! We also did a little more sight seeing and went to St Giles' Cathedral , the Greyfriers Kirkyard and the National Museum of Scotland.

Then, mid month we launched a little radio station from right here in Lumsden! Its only online for 2 hours each night, but is available for anybody in the region to come use. I'm not sure what the content currently is but if you would like to hear Ben and I interviewed and hear Ben play some banjo CLICK HERE TO HEAR!

On the launch day we opened up SSW to the public for a full day of free activities including my pinch pot workshops, aluminium casting, radio broadcasting/DJing, films in the caravan, and lots of sweets and junk food! Then there was a kids disco and THEN an adult disco! Yes, the locals may have gotten super drunk and gotten into a group fight about some kind of boy-girl drama.....but they made up and went back to karaoke-ing. Honestly, I don't think they would have considered it a full Night Out if they didn't have a proper row! The kids dancing were super cute! It was really nice to have people from Lumsden and the neighbouring villages, not just other art people and existing friends of SSW.
I mean after all....we DID have a smoke machine!

Kids dancing is the best!

The next big event: Halloween! We had a pretty full schedule! On Friday we went to a small music/story telling gathering hosted by a lot of the same folks from the Open Session at the Tin hut. We didn't really realize we were expected to contribute...but we we showed up and discovered that our group comprised half the circle...we started pulling things to share out of thin air. We went around the circle 3 times and SSW was able to represent on the 2nd and 3rd go-round with "spooky" stories, jokes or songs. AND (...after about 3 drams of whisky....-its cheaper than beer!!-) I sang a song! In PUBLIC! Whoa. Ben was mighty surprised as he has never heard me sing in earnest before! And he said it was pretty good! I know he's biased...but whateves. By the end he said he was like "Yeah! That's my WIFE singing!" Anyway, when the event was put up on our radio station...sommmmebody cut out the middle part and my bit. But once he sends it to me, I'll put it up and you can all judge for yourselves. I sang The Wind and Rain in the style of Gillian Welsh cause it's a murder ballad! Ben said a little bit of Georgia came out in my song. :)
Then on Saturday we first went to the Huntly Castle (reminder: Huntly in the largest village near us, about 15 mins away) for a Ghost dancing performance, we were then led to the town square by the Youth Pipe Band!

As you will see form the pics, I was dressed as Jesse from Toy Story (because we already had a red hat in the bothy and the whole costume evolved around it and cost me all of £5.!) Though in the absence of Woody, I voted myself Sheriff! Though I did find a Woody at the dance (ha-ha-giggle-giggle), I told him he could Just be my deputy. He was just supposed to be a cowboy, plus he got his get up in Canada! Anyway, its funnier for the sheriff to be a full head and shoulder shorter than the deputy!

I left the square during the costume contest because I thought it was just for kids, but later, the guy running it said there had been one for adults and, had I been there, I would have won! Damn it! As we were parading from the castle to the square, I was kind of dance-walking to the pipe music in a way that I though Jesse would, and caught the eyes of at least two young kids who were totally star struck!! So cute. Next came the Ceilidh ("Kaylee") dance which is much like contra dancing. At the end, I shook the hand of yet another little boy on his way out who's mom said in my ear "Jesse is his favourite and he thinks you're really her!" It was BYOB...so we got a taxi home...BUT not before going to the pub for two more rounds while waiting for said taxi! THEN we had an after party in the bothy (pics on facebook....not very flattering!). By the way, AMERICA, you need to start stocking THIS. And it's even better with whisky in. Needless to say...we all spent most of the next day in bed!!
To see all the October pics GO HERE.........

So there you have October! BAM! Minus our trip to Isle of Skye which we'll be coming very soon!
Update of right now: I have just finished all my wet work and everything is now either drying or in the kiln! Everything will be finished by this time next week and I'll begin installation of my wall piece for the opening of SSW's Winter Exhibition Thursday. After I'm gone, the pieces will hope make the rounds at few galleries! Emily is eager to show that SSW can do ceramics (that is, once the kiln's fixed!) and I'm glad to be the spokesperson! So as of next Thursday my resume enters a new level of coolness: "Internationally Exhibited Artist"! Woot!
And to close: A picture for Chris Golden!

Art!

2011-11-15T06:04:00.000-08:00

HI! I figured its about time I show you all what I have been making and looking at for inspiration for the last 2 months! To start...think back to my first post with that shot of my studio in the B.A. Era ( before Annie). LOOK AT IT NOW:

Whoa! Looks like my child hood bedroom right Mom?...But alas, there's no Memas, Bipas or Mimis here to surreptitiously slip me $5 for cleaning it!
I have been working through some new ideas so this is going to be a bit of a mish-mash tedious art ramble so get your cup of tea now! I'm still figuring things out and welcome your feed back and thoughts. This will be the first time I've attempted to articulate these ideas "on paper" so I think this will be helpful at this 2/3-of-the-way-through-point. But might also be quite confusing!
The first decision I had to make upon arrival was: do I disregard any possibility of shipping the work back and make my typical fragile and spindly forms that would just live here, or do I keep shipping in mind and make more compact pieces, like smaller pieces that would make up a larger installation, for instance.
So, I decided to disregard shipping so as not to limit my self and formulated an idea while traveling around central Europe before coming to Lumsden. The plan included three pieces that were an evolution from the last trio of pieces I made in the states.... Here they are: Tip (these aren't even on my website yet...I'm so bad!)

(they're 24"-45" tall)

They were going to be similar shapes and sizes to Tip but with more movement ( like the huge ones from my thesis show) and have cast metal "spines" coming out of their centers with tree slices (pic below) positioned as if they were vertebrae. The spines would have been cast of iron from whittled down tree branches. While getting the ceramics studio in order (I'm the first resident since a major renovation) and waiting for the clay order, I formulated the idea into a detailed plan drawing, and spent a lot of time whittling, really! look:

I was interested in the light-colored fleshiness under the bark and how this black and orange fungus made patterns under the bark. (see it in the pics?)
...And I did some "drawings" on the wall with bendy twigs:

..And made some tree "disks":

But really...honestly, I had NO idea what I was doing or why I was doing these things! Then the clay came at the end of week 2. We ordered all different colors and textures and my wheels started turning a little more easily but I still didn't start the stumps, and I didn't know what was stopping me.
Two weeks after arriving we went to Edinburgh for the weekend and on the bus, looking out at the landscape, it became so clear: other than the cast metal aspect of this idea, I was 95% sure that I would be making the same pieces if I were at home! They were, for the most part, in no way related to where I am, the new landscape I'm in, and new experiences I'm having...so what was the point!? Why come all the way across the damn ocean to make what I would make at home? Furthermore, I realized the idea of never being able to ship them home really did bother me and needed to be taken into consideration. So, it was a relief to see the obstacle so clearly and know that that's what was holding me back. That feeling lasted about 5 minutes till I thought "Shit! What AM I going to make then?!" But, we were on our way to Ed for the weekend, and for once in my freakin' life I told myself that it was fine that I didn't have a plan right now and to just open my eyes and look around more and pay even more attention to the things I was looking at and taking pictures of with the set intention of discovering a new idea...but also not try to force it.
By the time we returned, I had a seed of an idea. And again, contrary to my usual ways, I began making with just that seed of an idea...no plan (!) and decided to just see where it went and that that was the only way I could truly let the influence of my surroundings have an effect. Wowie Zowie! This is the complete opposite of my working methods in grad school, but that's the wonderful thing about a (long term) residency: there is no fear or anxiety in not having a detailed plan. But one must keep working of course.
So! What was it that got me going on a "new" exciting track? STUMPS! Ha! But wait...a completely different type of stumps! Really! There were two sets of images that were piquing my interest. First, these two stumps from a public park in Edinburgh:

It occurred to me that I was so drawn to these stumps because of the shape of their out lines. Its not very common to see this kind of thing in the states. If a tree needs to be removed from a park or yard, it's chopped up by a stump grinder and removed. But not here, they just left it and didn't replace it. So, still not knowing exactly where I was going with this, I made a couple stumps emphasizing the shapes and was interested enough to keep going:

There's also this one, which I think was inspired by my recent experience of being finger printed (grrrrr...).

The other main aspect influencing this work is logging forests. You may have picked up from previous pictures that all the pine woods in this region are for logging. We can walk just a 1/4 mile here and see them. I can see one out the window right now. Aesthetically, I'm interested in the whorls of the tree rings, each different like a finger print, with the contrast of the straight diagonal lines made by the saw:

My interest in these logging areas caused a conundrum for me for two reasons. Part of the concept behind the work I make at home involves condemning destruction of the environment, but I didn't want to come to this country as a guest saying "You shouldn't be logging! Logging bad! Naughty Scotland!"...And it's not that I was suppressing these feelings, I honestly don't feel that way. The deforestation of Scotland happened so many centuries ago (mostly 1300-1600) that it does not fit into my usual miasma of negative feelings about environmental destruction. Also, due to prevalent high winds, a lot of the higher hills in Northern Scotland were bald to begin with! Additionally, the sight of these pine logging areas being harvested does not bother me because, if they didn't plant pines for harvest, there would hardly be any forests at all! So it's a whole different experience than say, the sadness I felt upon seeing the logging forests in Washington near and in the Olympic national park, where huge stands of old-growth trees used to be and you see pictures from as late as 1900 of proud men standing at the base of a 500 year old felled tree. Anyway, I digress.

So, to sum up: I'm interested in the stump's shapes, patters and their interiors...but where to I go with this if I'm not relating them to my two usual references (the human body and environmental destruction)? I made those stump forms directly from the images above and wanted to keep using direct references from my surroundings for the shapes. Due to that aforementioned scarcity of old trees, there is also a lack of old stumps, and the shapes I tried to invent myself were not nearly as unusual or interesting as the real thing. Then, I was walking past the table of one of the other residents who is creating maps of her experiences while walking outdoors. She had a huge map of just this region unfolded on her table. I noticed that there were green blob shapes denoting the forested areas...and they looked like the stump shapes! I borrowed the map and traced the green areas and came up with these forms:

I made a few more single stumps, and for some reason, the notion struck me to cut the middle out. I think I was tempted to cut all the way through while carving tree rings... It was interesting how I now had a negative and possitive of the shape derived from the map form:

Plus I like how much the shape changes from paper to stump form, to negative shape, to removed core...without me intending to change the shape at all! Still not quite sure why I'm cutting the middle out! It is interesting looking at least, no? But again, I'm just following whims and letting the ideas build off of and on top of each other. At first, I was afraid to work this way because I was worried the work would be too different to from my existing body of work... (unfortunately, at this stage of my "emerging artists" career, I must be concerned with potential university employers/curators wanting to see a cohesive body of work). But it still looks like mine....right? What do you think?
Anyway, I decided that with the remaining month left, I wanted to make a grouping of theses forms that "fit" together. Now the ideas are starting coalesce a bit more...these are map forms, it makes sense for them to go on the wall, and have profiles that some what puzzle together, like our own continents... So I simplified the map tracings, slightly altered them so they would match up a bit and made this arrangement

Installation plan. (ended up adding an 8th cause they didn't fit together so well once they were made of clay!)

Another interesting note: the space between looks like rivers! But the individual pieces still look like stumps. So now some semblance of a concept is starting to develop....instead of condemning/commenting on the lack of trees...I'm exploring the prominence of the land...using a form that represents the former presence of trees. The Appalachian mountains of the American East and the Cairngorm Mountains in the North of Scotland are very similar in age and geography ( at least from my observations). But when you look at the Appalachians, you notice the thick blanket of trees, but here you notice the shape, color and texture of the land. And both are beautiful and intriguing in their own right.
Here is a progress shot of the installation:

Wall installation progress 1, middle stump removed.

Wall installation progress 2. middle stump off to the left, walls on 3 out of 8.

They will all have walls of varying heights, and as you can see, the middles are already cut out.

I'm not sure how the cores will be re-attached, probably mounted a couple inches above their corresponding openings. The clay colors vary from black to tan/gray mixed in all manner of combinations!
So! There you have it! The first batch of the 4 individual stumps is in the kiln now, and these progress shots of the installation are from yesterday. CLICK HERE to see the full visual inspiration/art album (about 80 images). Again, I'm interested in all manner of comments from anyone, not just my artsyfartsy friends...especially if you've read this far! ( I know at least Virginia has read this far! Hi Virginny!...and probably Chris too...and Mom and dad...).
Post Script 1: Sadly, even though these stumps are definitely sturdy enough to ship, there will be no money left over at the end of our stay for crates and shipping costs...they'll live in Scotland for while after the exhibition until I can save enough to get them back, I guess!
Post script 2: I wrote most of this last night...and I woke up (earlier than usual) with the clearest head I've had in a loooong time! I had no idea these unorganized-and-unspoken-until-now thoughts we clouding my whole mind so much! Whew!
Coming soon....All of October (whoa!) and Isle of Skye!
Thanks for reading! Byebye!

Sunday Walk

2011-11-06T14:48:00.000-08:00

Hello! Guess what!? I'm actually doing a blog post about today on today! I'm preparing a big fat post that covers most of October, so while waiting for that, I thought I'd share our walk from today. It was unique for a few reasons: because our immediate surroundings are so wonderful and it was a perfectly clear, not very cold, windless day, which is rare even in summer and almost unheard of in November!
So we walked down our street and into the hills following sheep trails and headed for the nearest high spot. I may have mentioned before that Scotland allows free access to hill walkers, even on private land. It's pretty great. There was still frost at the beginning of the walk in the low lands, though it wasn't very cold. It was actually warm enough to remove our jackets atop the hill! It was beautiful! I love the tree rings with the saw marks accentuated by the frost.

The video from the top of the hill. There's narration so make sure your speakers are on and watch out for Upside Down Bennys! <-- Video link.
Even though it was only 2pm our shadows were crazy long! (It gets dark at 5):

As we descended we walked through multiple groups of sheep. When they first spot you they stare at you for a few moments, not sure which way to run: ( the black sheep could care less!)

Or maybe they stay put and pee out of fear!:

Then they trot away in little panicky groups..till the get distracted by some grass. Here they are running from Ben. (He is SO scary , right!?)

On the way back we heard and engine so we started looking around to locate the vehicle and caught this farmer herding his sheep with.....a sheep dog? Nope! <--Video link

Anyway, It was a lovely day. Hope the weather is nice at home too!

SSW Life Weeks 1-3 (though right now we're in week 6! I'm so pokey!)

2011-10-26T16:45:00.000-07:00

Hello! We've gotten quite settled here in Lumsden and we are actually just a little beyond the half way point! So seeing as it's week 6, I should probably show you week 1-3! (I knew I wouldn't keep up with this! Well, at least I'm doing it!)) In this new album, you might notice a distinct lack of any pictures relating to what I'm making or looking at for inspiration. That's because I have pulled out those photos and will put up a post this week that is just about that alone. Also, I didn't really have much clay to work with till week three anyway, so I was just kind of taking in my surroundings and whittling (Really!). It's a very, VERY different thing to be at a residency where just looking about you and taking time to be inspired and affected by your surroundings is just as important as the making itself, than being at grad school where its about making art at a break-neck speed and constantly defending every aspect of the final product. Took some major re-calibrating even though I've been out of school well over a year. But more on that later... So the album for this post is mostly our daily life in Aberdeenshire...and other people doing artistic things! I won't say much here because this album, like the other's, is heavily captionized.
General thoughts about our first few of weeks here: we both felt instantly welcomed into the very small and constantly changing community with-in SSW (we, unfortunately, have very little contact with the rest of the tiny town). There has been plenty for Ben to do. Some times he spends entire days at our house drawing, playing banjo and making bread. He's just finished a drawing for the Carolina Chocolate Drops (a big-time old-time band from North Carolina) and a drawing for the banner on the SSW Blog (not posted yet...but it's got lots of sheep!). He is often at SSW (note: the house and SSW are 1 block apart) helping out with various projects as well. As for me, it's funny that I thought I would have SO much time to make art that I would get sick of it, but there are so many activities and fun distracting things going on here or in the area multiple times a week! It's also interesting to come to what feels like a very remote place, seemingly unattached from any thing we know...yet the Tin Hut, where the Hot Seats have played 4 times over 6 years, is just down the road, Emily (the creative director) lives in a cottage owned by a potter and metal sculptor who teach at U of Georgia and have been repeatedly to Penland, AND Emily was at a wedding in NY state last year and saw the Gentlemen play! Small tiny world.
Anyway, I'll get on with the pictures, since there's so many! Click Me. Enjoy! More fun stuff coming soon!
Oh! Cool thing tomorrow (Thursday)! If I were on top of this, I would have already posted
about the radio station launched here at SSW on Oct 15. You can see SSW's Blog post about the launch here. ( I gave very popular pinch pot workshops :) The station is online just 5-7 each evening, but Ben and I will be on air talking about art/playing music between 5-7 UK time and 12-2 US time if you want to listen live. BUT you can go to: Radio Lumsden's site here and listen any time! I'll send out a reminder tomorrow.

Ok Bye!

Following

2011-10-13T04:15:00.000-07:00

Morning! People are asking how to follow this blog. I explored the options and it looks like you can "follow" and be a "member". Don't know what the difference is! Make sure you scroll alllll the way down the blog to see these options. I still don't know if either of these options will put a notification in your email or just put an notification on your google or yahoo "dashboard". If people have more info about how to follow blogs, please post in the comments.
Thanks! P.S. Which of these cookies below would you NOT want to eat?

Blog 2 Amsterdam and Berlin Sept 4-13 2011

2011-10-12T17:53:00.000-07:00

Hi! Well, I'm doing great with this blog, eh? I'm only about 3 weeks behind! Anyway, I'll do better...blah...blah. It takes so longggggg! First off I want to point out that you can "follow" this blog by clicking below. That way I can stop sending annoying emails every time I post something. So today we're here to talk about our time in central Europe. It was Ben's first time there, so he was pretty jazzed. We were kind of uncharacteristically (for me) winging our travel plans as I seemed to have used up all my planning energies just getting my self across the ocean! This resulted in some unsavory hostel accommodation and some wasted money on lots of last minute bookings. But that made it exciting, right?!
Anyway, it was nice to just show up and figure stuff out day by day. We stayed in the cheapest hostel we could find with "decent" ratings the first night. So bad! I woke up once to the owner arguing with a group of drunk German guys who had snuck people in at 3 am and then there were mosquitoes coming in an open vent right over my bed all night! Anyway, we moved to a much nicer hostel right next to the Vondel Park. We spent most of our time just exploring, and managing to do maybe one touristy thing a day. Highlights: The van Gogh Museum, canal-side picnics with cheap strong beers, walking through the Red light district trying not to make eye contact with the "ladies", the Condomerie, Ben trading one of his prints for a wooden tulip souvenir with some school girls. Lowlights: rain, wind and more rain...which we seemed to mind less after visiting a cafe...

Then an overnight bus to Berlin! Woo hoo! What a relaxed city, but also so much going on! We had a great time with Aaron playing and watching music. We met lots of his great friends. Highlights: the Berlin Aquarium, and our walking tour...I can't think of anything else right now...its late, just check out the pics! And YES! This guy really does live at the Aquarium! He made me pee my pants a little.

Alright, fun time is over!
Now for what will hopefully remain at the Worst Part of the Trip Ever! (Gemma! Don't Click!) After a terrible, early morning Ryan Air flight from Berlin to Edinburgh, Ben and I were held by Immigration....in an ACTUAL Detention room...for over FOUR hours. That's right...we were Detainees. Literally. They made dossiers on us and everything. Holy shit ('scuse my french) was it the WORST! Here's what happened in a (big) nut shell. We made the "poor" decision to be withholding with the residency info and just say were visiting (which is exactly what I did on my way into Edinburgh the first time and had NO problem). But this agent was a total ass hole with a chip on his shoulder and when he saw "3 months" on our landing cards and the old musician's permits stamp in Ben's passport, he turned into "mean cop". This put us instantly in defense mode and Ben and I both started to try and explain what we were actually doing there. But because he was scary and we were nervous, we totally sounded like we were lying. We kept speaking over each other and bits of random info kept coming out as we tried to figure out what would be the "right" things to say. He we also convinced that Ben would continue to play music for money. He was very aggressive with his questioning "How much money do you have? You can't live off that. Aren't there "artists colonies" in America you can go to?"...etc...Overload.
He took our passports and made me go get our luggage to look for my sponsorship paperwork (and while doing so, didn't have Ben to help me lift the pack and I did a bad thing to my shoulder which STILL hurts now). But guess what! I accidentally threw out the paper work in Berlin! Woot! Go Me! Oh, he loved that. I gave him the contact info for SSW. We sat there at the immigration kiosks for about 30 minutes, assuming he was calling SSW.... Nope! Just starting our files. Then they took us to have our bags searched...because we had been in Amsterdam. They went through EVERY LITTLE THING...that took another 30 minutes. Oh, did I mention that we had gotten up at 6:30 am and it was now 11 am and we had not eaten or gone to the restroom yet?
We were then taken to the detainment room after our bags and phone were taken and stored and we were patted down. This is where we sat, for 4 agonizing hours, not knowing if we were BOTH going to get sent home or just Ben or what. The officers in charge of us detainees (3 all together) were actually very nice (...because they can't do anything that could be construed as "abuse"). They brought us coffee, food and water. But we were too nervous to eat. Ben and I were separately and extensively "interviewed" (interrogated) by Officer Stick Up His Bum to see if we would tell the same story. He had printed out the residency info from SSW to see if I got all the stats about my program right. He had been to the Hot Seats website to see if there were more gigs. He recorded all our answers. At the end I asked if he had called SSW. No. Can I go into my email and show you the certificate "I don't know if that will be necessary..." Everything was so vague. We were then, again separately, FINGER PRINTED.... and they took our pictures...of what? Our faces... or in other words...mugs? Yes, fucking mug shots. It felt like we were being arrested when at no point had we actually done anything wrong. You're allowed to stay in the UK for 6 damn months for no reason at all. We're here for 3 and BOTH have sponsorship numbers.....Can you tell I'm getting mad just writing this? So after 5 hours altogether he decided he had enough info to prove we were telling the truth...he never apologized for the evident stress of the situation or for detaining us for no legitimate reason. And...he never did call SSW to verify my story. Well that man can kiss my you know what!! Just before we were released he said "Mr. Belcher, I would suggest you let your wife do all the talking from now on." HaHaHa!

Wow...I just wrote more about that experience than Amsterdam and Berlin combined....it was traumatic! Man it was SO GOOD to be out of there! Anyway you can see all the Europe Pics here.
Oh! Before you go! I would like to draw your attention to 2 good things to support:
The fun one: The Two Man Gentlemen Band have a kickstarter fund raiser to make a vinyl album, if you contribute, you get an album! There's levels for all budgets. Its all explained HERE also, check out their facebook page for hilarious videos asking for donations!
The save-the-world One: Please go HERE to vote for Lucy Buck who is in a competition to get funding for a children's program in Africa. There's TWO Lucys! Make sure you vote for the right one! Just takes a few clicks! Thank you!!

Next time: the first 3 weeks of Aberdeenshire life and the Mega Yurt Event!
We close with my first meal of freedom after the immigration incident:

See you next time!
Oh and in case anyone was wondering, we DO have a load of post cards and we WILL send them out...eventually!
Bye Bye!

First ever blog post! UK Part 1

2011-09-22T03:59:00.000-07:00

Hello! Look, I made blog just like I said I would! The picture above is depicting the final stages of my planning right before leaving Cape Cod. You're looking at multiple do-to lists, shopping lists, packing lists, lists of lists, bus schedules, calender, and a little light house salt shaker to remind me all the while that I was ignoring the beach and headed off to gray skies and an early Autumn. But its worth it!! It took a lot of work to get our lives into storage and our selves to the UK for this long!
These first few posts are going to be mostly picture based (Picasa Web albums), which I'm sure you won't mind. The pictures are heavily "narrated" so you can follow me and Ben's journey through the UK and beyond. So make sure you look out for captions while paroozing my albums. I suggest slide show mode so you can see the whole picture and caption all at once. First, A little disclaimer: I'm creating this blog for two reasons: as a journal for my future self and for my family and friends who choose to read it. I'll try to be amusing sometimes (most times), but this is not written for the entertainment of the general public (as so many blogs are). So, seeing as this blog is just as much for me as it is for for you all, every post won't be all sunshine and rainbows and funnies. Some you may find dull, some negative ("making art is haaarrrrd!"). But it will be generally informative and entertaining, I hope! Also, please let me know if the color scheme and/or font is hard to read. I'm going to start from the beginning and hopefully catch up to the present rather quickly. If my past journaling experiences hold true, I will never keep this up unless I'm writing about the present.

We have just finished our 6th day at the Scottish Sculpture Workshop and things are going swimmingly (....it will be even better when my clay comes...)
I'm going to start with the first stint of the trip: my time with the band in Scotland and England. If you have about a half hour to spare, I highly recommend you read Josh's Hot Seats Blog V and Hot Seats Blog VI (in case you're not aware, things in purple, like those blogs, are clickable direct links) to get the full, hilarious view of life on the road. If you have an additional half hour, click all of Josh's blue links, especially if you like kittens... These blogs cover the time I was with them. (My band name is Ezmerelda Volcano. Why, you might ask? Well, because Ben's band name is Hieronymus Volcano, of course). Granted, his blogs to not show the Band Wife perspective, but it will suffice, and I am mentioned multiple times. ( I was given the opportunity by Josh to contribute the female perspective for the band blog...but could a lady write about so much flatulence and vulgarity and still call one's self a lady?!).
So, now that you have read Josh's blogs...you are ready to see my pictures. Click HERE to see my online album from Aug 23 thru Sept 4. (Oh wait! Warning: there is a big chunk if pictures from the Tate Modern in London, so unless you have a specific interest in modern art, you can skip that section. If you do check it out: after each art image is a picture of the a placard identifying the work). Also, I took 3 videos of the band at various venues...but it seems Josh must have "cut" them from my camera instead of "copying" them. So you'll have to go their site it you want to see they boys play the UK.
So...I will leave you with these Very flirtatious Velociraptors
Tune in next time for BenAnnie tour Amsterdam and Berlin and Edinburgh Again! ....(and also Detention! Dun dun DUNNNN!)