Prior to the opening of the World Sculpture Park in 2003, the sculptures created at the previous symposia since 1997 were displayed at Shengli Park. A smaller venue adjacent to the Song Yuan Hotel where we spent a greater portion of the forty days. A few of us ventured into Shengli Park, passing under the colossal monument of Chairman Mao Zedong at 4:30 every morning to join the Changchun locals for the 5:00 am sunrise Tai Chi sessions. Quite an awakening experience that proved as the days progressed, to be very enlightening. I will miss the warmth of the people of Changchun, the great dumplings with tea, corn on the cob, and watermelon. Most of all I will miss going to the World Sculpture Park studios to tackle a piece of stone, in such an energetically invigorating and inspiring environment. Many many thanks to the People of China and the enchanted city of Changchun for inviting me to the 8th and final symposium. Your warmth radiates like “A red sun in the center of my heart (1) ....At life’s full flowering!” (2)
1) A red sun in the center of our hearts, refers to Chairman Mao in posters and music
2) At life’s full flowering: is a line from a 1925 Mao Zedong poem, Chang Sha.
[written in 2006]
The 8th Symposium was said to be the last. But noting will ever be the last in a city that is promising to become the nucleus of High Technology.
There have been three more Symposia since 2006 and the Year of the Rabbit 2011 will be memorialized by the 12th Changchun China Sculpture Symposium coinciding with the 3rd China Changchun International World Sculpture Conference where 100 countries will be represented. If Chinese Astronomy has any indication : Conversely speaking, "nations will also become more insular and increasingly lock down their borders to protect against the 'other'. However, 2011 will also see new art movements projecting a distinct national identity taking the world by storm."
I was invited to submit three proposals as were sculptors throughout the world. After months of thinking and drawing sketches that surfaced in my mind, I began to have recurring dreams that filled my soul with great joy. I read many books about Mesoamerica in order to tap into ancestral sources,
both for inspiration and for guidance. I attended a short conference that was presented by a local Archeology museum. From that moment there was no other subject with which my mind was more preoccupied. I started also reading about Chinese astrology and finding the commonality in both cultures.
To make a long story short, * Absolute infinity * was conceived in a dream. I opened my eyes at dawn and drew some sketches with pencil and paper that are kept on the window sill near the pillow. I submitted the requested proposals and continued the conversation with friends. One Sunday morning when I was making the maquette, a friend came by with Pan Dulce and I made her favorite Puerto Rican coffee. We sat outside under the bath of the mid-morning sun. I continued to shape and tie pieces of wire when she asked "what are you making?" "Is it going to be somewhere?" She told me to imagine myself there and start packing. I told her that I was not that optimistic. She said "You have to be; I already see you there and you must accept it." She was not as surprised as I was when the news arrived. I feel as fortunate as in the Year of the Dog 2006.
I was nicknamed a Spider Monkey and a girl told me "You are a Monkey." I was born in the year of the Monkey. In 2006 after buying the mask I became Monkey King, who can change into 72 different forms. The year of the Rabbit is traditionally associated with home and family, artistic pursuits, diplomacy, and keeping the peace. In accordance with the themes of : Friendship, Peace and Spring, set forth by the City of Eternal Spring 长春市 , Monkey King will journey Eastward home this summer to awaiting Tea and Dumpling. He will create * Absolute infinity * When completed, it will be his biggest accomplishment thus far.
Hear State of the Arts, a radio interview with host Monica Gomez on Ktep Fm podcast recorded @ the University of Texas at El Paso 27 June 2011
There have been three more Symposia since 2006 and the Year of the Rabbit 2011 will be memorialized by the 12th Changchun China Sculpture Symposium coinciding with the 3rd China Changchun International World Sculpture Conference where 100 countries will be represented. If Chinese Astronomy has any indication : Conversely speaking, "nations will also become more insular and increasingly lock down their borders to protect against the 'other'. However, 2011 will also see new art movements projecting a distinct national identity taking the world by storm."
I was invited to submit three proposals as were sculptors throughout the world. After months of thinking and drawing sketches that surfaced in my mind, I began to have recurring dreams that filled my soul with great joy. I read many books about Mesoamerica in order to tap into ancestral sources,
both for inspiration and for guidance. I attended a short conference that was presented by a local Archeology museum. From that moment there was no other subject with which my mind was more preoccupied. I started also reading about Chinese astrology and finding the commonality in both cultures.
To make a long story short, * Absolute infinity * was conceived in a dream. I opened my eyes at dawn and drew some sketches with pencil and paper that are kept on the window sill near the pillow. I submitted the requested proposals and continued the conversation with friends. One Sunday morning when I was making the maquette, a friend came by with Pan Dulce and I made her favorite Puerto Rican coffee. We sat outside under the bath of the mid-morning sun. I continued to shape and tie pieces of wire when she asked "what are you making?" "Is it going to be somewhere?" She told me to imagine myself there and start packing. I told her that I was not that optimistic. She said "You have to be; I already see you there and you must accept it." She was not as surprised as I was when the news arrived. I feel as fortunate as in the Year of the Dog 2006.
I was nicknamed a Spider Monkey and a girl told me "You are a Monkey." I was born in the year of the Monkey. In 2006 after buying the mask I became Monkey King, who can change into 72 different forms. The year of the Rabbit is traditionally associated with home and family, artistic pursuits, diplomacy, and keeping the peace. In accordance with the themes of : Friendship, Peace and Spring, set forth by the City of Eternal Spring 长春市 , Monkey King will journey Eastward home this summer to awaiting Tea and Dumpling. He will create * Absolute infinity * When completed, it will be his biggest accomplishment thus far.
Hear State of the Arts, a radio interview with host Monica Gomez on Ktep Fm podcast recorded @ the University of Texas at El Paso 27 June 2011
