LET'S GO TO THE MOVIES

photo by Elisa Rolle

I'm on a workshop adventure. Filling in for me this week is Rose Owens, who loves seeing movies. Here's her suggestions for films to view this summer.


 from Rose Owens:

One of my favorite things about living in San Francisco is the culture. We are so lucky to have a multitude of museums, musical venues, and a vibrant populace that encourages art. San Francisco's movie theaters hold a particularly special place in my heart, with the Castro Theater as a crown jewel. Here, you are treated to a live organ performance before almost every screening, classic 1920's movie palace architecture, and some of the most addictive popcorn I've come across in my time.

The Castro's monthly schedule is a treasure chest, frequently chock-a-block with classics of cinematic history, as well as cult hits and modern triumphs. It also plays host to many Bay Area film festivals, including the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, which is the longest running Jewish film festival in the entire world! (It runs from mid July to the first week of August, so wait until next year to buy a pass.)

Inside the Orinda Theater, another film festival location. unknown photographer

Below is the list of films I was lucky enough to catch at this year's festival, with three highlights annotated accordingly...

To Dust
(Narrative Feature, directed by Shawn Snyder)

This beautiful and heartbreaking film centers around Shmuel, a Hasidic cantor, who has recently lost his wife to cancer. Shmuel is having nightmares of his wife's body as she moves into the next life, and finds himself grappling with questions and issues not easily discussed in an Orthodox community. He finds solace and friendship in the form of a local science teacher (played winningly by Matthew Broderick), as they embark on a journey to discover what happens after death. A black comedy to be sure, but one that really speaks to the pain and confusion when a loved one is lost, as well as the importance of reaching out when in need.

306 Hollywood
(Documentary, directed by Elan Bogarin & Jonathan Bogarin)

Having lost a grandmother who was a real character, full of stories, and with an inimitable sense of style, I was entranced by this documentary about siblings attempting to encapsulate who their grandmother was. 306 Hollywood is the New Jersey address where Annette Ontell (a fashion designer/dressmaker for Park Avenue women) lived for sixty-seven years, and the Bogarins have created a stunningly detailed and maddeningly creative film that breathes life into every corner. Utilizing found objects from within the home, including band-aid tins filled with loose change, upwards of four vacuums, and audio/visual recordings of Ontell and her family members, we are treated to a Wes Anderson-style dollhouse of a movie. It's certainly one not to be missed.

The Sentence
(Documentary, directed by Rudy Valdez)

Mandatory minimum prison laws are often overlooked component of our justice system, and one that I personally knew little about before watching this film. Cindy Shank, a mother of three young girls, was sentenced to fifteen years in a federal prison for drug conspiracy charges related to her ex-boyfriend's activities while they were dating. Valdez, Cindy's brother, filmed the family for ten years as they hoped for and worked towards her clemency. By shining a light on the family, we observe not only what they were experiencing during the decade of loss, but also how much Cindy missed as her three daughters grew up (the youngest was barely a year old when Cindy was sent to prison). Important viewing to educate ourselves, and to help make this country a better place.

The Prince and Dybbuk
(Documentary, directed by Elwira Niewiera & Piotr Rosolowski)

Shalom Bollywood:  The Untold History of Indian Cinema
(Documentary, directed by Danny Ben-Moshe)

Science Fair
(Documentary, directed by Cristina Costantini & Darren Foster)

Roll Red Roll
(Documentary, directed by Nancy Schwartzman)

Etgar Karet: Based on a True Story
(Documentary, directed by Stephane Kaas)

Blue Note Records: Beyond the Notes
(Documentary, directed by Sophie Huber)

Satan & Adam
(Documentary, directed by V. Scott Balcerek)

Love, Gilda
(Documentary, directed by Lisa D'Apolito)

Budapest Noir
(Narrative Feature, directed by Eva Gardos)

Hope you enjoyed this peak into the SFJFF, and see you at the movies! 

by Rose Owens

**************

For information about the San Francsisco Jewish Film Festival:  https://jfi.org/sfjff-2018

Check out what's playing at the Castro:  http://www.castrotheatre.com

For information about Bay Area Film Festivals:
http://www.sftravel.com/article/guide-film-festivals-san-francisco-month-month

For Film Festivals in your area:
https://www.nyfa.edu/student-resources/film-festivals/

If you are in the Castro for a movie, make a reservation at one of these restaurants for an after-movie treat:

Poesia Osteria Italiana
4017 18th St, San Francisco
http://poesiasf.com/?utm_source=tripadvisor&utm_medium=referral

Kitchen Story
3499 16th St., San Francisco
http://kitchenstorysf.com

Anchor Oyster Bar
579 Castro St., San Francisco
http://www.anchoroysterbar.com/?utm_source=tripadvisor&utm_medium=referral

RELATIVE CREATIVITY

Have you seen the documentary Three Identical Strangers yet? The film covers the lives of a set of triplets separated at birth. The scientists who observed them throughout their childhoods took notes to determine whether nature or nurture was responsible for their life paths. The film raises many questions, but it also reminded me of being part of an artistic family. My dad, his dad, my mom, her dad, and several cousins all have had creative lives. I've featured two of my cousins, Hugh Heimdahl and Todd Heimdahl in previous postings. (Faces, 6/3/2016 & Inkotber: Third Week of Drawing, 10/23/2015)

Look at the work of another cousin Lori Heimdahl Gibson and wonder again: nature or nurture?  (I think it is both.)

Luna by Lori Heimdahl Gibson (oil)

Lori's Artist Statement explains her pull towards art:

"For me art is about being more fully alive. It is about "waking up" to see the beauty around me, and allowing a greater force to work through me. Whether doing or looking, I am more mindful and focused when engaged in art. It helps me to look at the world with new eyes, appreciating the amazing creativity of others and myself. Art is an integral part of my spiritual practice.

"I took my first drawing class in Minnesota in 1996, and since then have studied multiple mediums at St. Cloud State University in MN, UNM-Los Alamos, and Northern New Mexico College in Espanola, including art history, collage, cartoons, watercolor, sculpture, stone carving, ceramics, and, most recently, oils. I now have a studio in my home and am retired, so have made art a greater priority in my full life. I am still, though, a binge artist; just bursts of activity.

Robert Gibson by Lori Heimdahl Gibson  (bronze)

"In December of 2015 I went to Esalen in Big Sur, CA, for a 5-Day Intuitive Painting workshop with Stewart Cubley, designed to tap into our innate creativity. This workshop has opened up a whole new way of painting for me that I find extremely joyful.

Intuitive Painting by Lori Heimdahl Gibson (oil)

Bison by Lori Heimdahl Gibson  (oil)

"Having been fortunate enough to travel around the world to see many great works of art in person, I have come to believe that art is a powerful means for human beings to develop their highest and best selves, making this world a better place. In 1983 I got my private pilot's license, and must say that art is like having wings and flying, seeing life from a loftier perspective!"


Thank you, Lori, for explaining and showing the importance of art to anyone. We all are born with creative abilities.

SUMMER TIME

Four boys came careering down the road on their bikes. With glee and speed, they exulted in their summer freedom. With school out, they had time for adventures. They surprised me as they passed as I walked on the Iron Horse Trail.  It is unusual these days to see boys wandering around town by themselves with no adult supervising their actions. I smiled to see them fly by me.

Digging Project

With August here, a new school year is fast approaching. Those boys will soon be sitting in hot classrooms trying to concentrate on their studies while longing to be outside instead. As they begin their new school year, what advice would you give to them?

I think of the words and phrases that I try to live by:

Be Kind

Reach Out to Other People

Check Your Privilege

Find Joy

Remember Hubris,
that excessive pride that may lead you
 to think you are better than other people.

Reuse, Recycle, Repurpose

Keep it Simple

What wisdom would you offer to those boys?

**********

During July Watercolor Month, I tried to complete a small painting a day. I didn't succeed every day, but I used some of the photos from Norway to make quick sketches. 

I had started with a stack of miscellaneous watercolor papers. As I used them, once again I realized that with watercolors the paper makes a big difference. Some of the papers, thin and with little tooth, did not permit me to push the watercolors around much. I had a harder time mixing in colors on the paper than I do when I use either Arches 140 Rough or Fabriano 140 Rough. 

The type of paint matters too. I tried using Kuretake pan watercolor for the first half of the month. Though I liked the feel of the paint, I found they were much harder to move around and to make corrections than with tube paint. For most of my painting, I'll stick with Daniel Smith or Winsor Newton non-staining colors.

 I also felt that I had a breakthrough to make my sketches work better. For example, I finally made a sketch of water that looks like water. I hope I can use that knowledge with larger pieces.

Norway sketches and painting mat

Sometimes the mats that I use underneath my paintings become interesting in themselves. I like the abstract landscape that resulted from a month of painting off the edge of the paper.

OUT IN THE WILD

The Tree of Life

Waking up at 5:30 in the morning to the dying screams of a fawn leaves me standing at the window with sorrow knowing there is nothing I can do. I watch the small group of deer at the top of the hill where they normally spend the night. They are restless and running back and forth. I hear the crows excitedly cawing and unreasonably hope it is one of theirs. And then the lone coyote slips down the hill and quietly jumps the fence.

Later, I look for the fawn, hoping that the screams were just the "che che" of a fawn anxious for its mother. But, no, the fawn is dead, already wet from the sprinklers, stretched and gutted by the predator. The morning events remind me of the news stories this spring of whale watchers on Monterey Bay aghast as Orcas slipped by mother Grey Whales, corralled and killed their babies, filling the ocean with bloody water.

We are not used to such terror or viseral sightings in suburbia. But we are more and more encroaching on wild land, which means these sights are more common. We remind ourselves this is part of nature. Kill or be killed. Starve or eat. But that doesn't make the sight of death any easier.

Our backyard is usually a sanctuary. We have hosted deer and their fawn over the years, raccoons have given birth and raised families under our deck, a jack rabbit snips at flowers and then bounds up our hill, skunks waft through looking for mates, birds of all kinds feed at our feeders and drink from the fountain. But sometimes, nature appears at its most cruel. A mother deer died trying to give birth at the top of the hill. The animal control person who collected the body for us reminded me that deer do not have veterinarians or hospitals to assist them. A butterfly fell at my foot, beautiful just barely alive. Birds raid other birds' nests and leave broken eggs and feathers strewn on the ground.

This morning's abrupt awakening lingers with me and reminds me of the closeness of life and death. I  stand over the spot where we buried the fawn and thank it for giving us a brief view of its short, joyful life as it would bound over our fence each morning with its mother to go out to search for food.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Have you ever gone to a place where your first impressions help you define the character of  that area? Maybe in the Southwest or Hawaii?

The western side of Norway, which is mountainous, separated by deep fjords, with farms clinging to the steep grades, conjures up stories of giants leaping across mountain tops, gnomes snuggling together for warmth in barns and offering protection to isolated farm families, and trolls hiding under waterfalls and bridges.  Stories aside, the images of gigantic stones, water, and cleanliness created an impression of the character of Norway.

Rugged Norway

Stone: Mountains of stone, walls, foundations, fences, roofs, sculptures.  

Timber: Heavy logs used for houses, buttresses to hold up slate roofs, neat stacks for fencing

Tunnels: To connect one side of a mountain to another, the Norwegians have bored tunnels as long as 10 miles through the mountains, including one with a roundabout separating two roads. In the middle of the tunnels are stops with colored lighting to give drivers a break.

Uredahl, a good source for brown goat cheese. Across the fjord is a farm on a steep hill.

Stones carved for implements

Stones supporting a house

log buttresses

logs cut to fit tightly together to keep out weather

Strong slate roof in Voss 

Stone sculpture by Gustav Vigeland.
Part of the Vigeland Scupture Park in Frogner Park, Oslo

One of the many long tunnels inside the Norway mountains.

Water-filled Norway

Surrounded by seven hills and seven fjords, Bergen, a seaport, is the gateway to the fjords. Look in the town for a long, low building where rope used to be made. If you think about the length of rope needed on sailing ships, you will understand how long the building needed to be.*

We saw waterfalls all along the way from Bergen to Flam. Near Mrydal, one of the ancient stories came to life as a spirit danced high above us beside the waterfall. Sounds hoky, but the performance was so unexpected and far away that it felt dream-like instead. The spirit is a member of the Norwegian national ballet company.

Clean, Colorful Norway

Clean: The outside of houses, the streets without trash, show an innate sense of design, organization, and orderliness (Maybe learned from stacking and sculpting all those rocks?)
Colorful: Many buildings are painted red, shades of green, mustard yellow or white. Because of moderate temperatures in the summer, flowers flourish everywhere.

Friendly Norway

"Hei, hei!" were the first words I heard from the Norwegian flight attendants as we boarded the plane to Oslo.  Everywhere we went, we were met with friendly smiles, even at the beginning of the tourist season as huge cruise ships anchored at stops along the fjords.

Brother and sister guides at Hallingdal Folke Museum

The Dozens of Cousins from the U.S. and Norway have dinner together

I came home full of stories about a visit to Norway and with a glimpse of how the character of Norwegians has developed from the land they live on.  Have you been to a place where the countryside shows you the spirit of its people?

****

If you are in Nesbyen, which is a ski resort town and a good place to reach hiking trails, check out Guesthouse Hagaled Gjestegard:   http://www.hagaled.no

*If you are interested in how rope is made, watch this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&reload=9&v=By8K5mKSwDA

WATERCOLOR EASY

In the middle of hot July, in the middle of Watercolor Month, I remind myself of the decree: paint one watercolor a day for a month. A good challenge, but easy to become overwhelmed if I try too hard to "make a painting." I remind myself that I have done the same practice for a year with calligraphy. I set aside a half hour each day to work on the Chancery Cursive alphabet. I've followed Julia Cameron's advice from The Artist's Way to write morning pages each day. In both cases, practice worked for me. I think I'm better at writing and calligraphy now. I just have to set aside a half hour a day and  also my own expections of what I will produce.

Various palettes
 using both Kuretake
 and Prang pan watercolors

In the middle of hot July, in the middle of Watercolor Month, I decided to experiment with a collection of Kuretake pan watercolors. I'm used to painting with watercolors from tubes, but I have three trays of Kuretake just waiting to try. The paint is creamier than most pan watercolors, but it still takes practice to learn how much paint and water to pick up in my brush. I found some of the colors, especially the blues and violets, to be quite staining, which means I had to work fast around the edges to soften them.

The violet in the background hills dried too quickly

I started by making several palettes of places following Mimi Robinson's guiding idea from her book, Local Color. There are several good books including Robinson's that showcase palettes of color. They are beautiful to look at and a way to see how one color can change completely when mixed with another.

Then I graduated to simple landscapes on small paper using ideas from Huntley Baldwin's book, Local Color: Jackson Hole in Words & Watercolor.

All of these practices are similar to meditation: taking time to focus, being in the moment, and listening to the quiet. None of these paintings will see the light of day in a gallery or book. They are practice only. They are a way to center myself without expending too much energy. They are a way to let go of my inner critic and play.

I have heard from so many people, "Watercolor is hard," and it can be. But these small paintings and palettes are a good way to take the first step. Sometimes I end up cutting them up and repositioning the pieces into another picture to remind myself they are just practice.

Check out Mimi Robinson's website and her book, Local Color:
 http://mimirobinsondesign.com/?page_id=19

Two other good watercolor palette books that I found at Barnes & Noble. They tend to go in and out of stock at both B&N and Amazon:

600 Watercolor Mixes by Sharon Finemark:  at Amazon https://www.amazon.com/600-Watercolor-Mixes-Recipes-Techniques/dp/1596682655/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1531439713&sr=8-1&keywords=600+watercolor+mixes&dpID=519yP2U0UwL&preST=_SX258_BO1,204,203,200_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

Watercolor Painters Pocket Palette By M. Clinch
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_20?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=watercolor+painters+pocket+palette&sprefix=watercolor+painters+%2Cstripbooks%2C204&crid=XVP8RVDHJ3P7

Kuretake watercolors are manufactured in Japan. They also make Zig markers and other calligraphy supplies. Check them out:   https://www.kuretake.co.jp/en/

A REMINDER OF WHAT MAKES AMERICA GREAT

At the Voss Folkemuseum in Voss, Norway

Thirteen cousins and spouses stood in a small dark room. The chimney overhead was the only light. The room, 30 feet by 30 feet at most, was the home of two Norwegian farming families in the 1300s. Fifteen to twenty people shared the room as well as the tasks to keep the farm on a steep hill running.

Fast forward, after the Black Plague that killed half the population, to the 1800s where Norwegian farmers' children had less and less land to divide between them. The United States offered them another chance to prosper. Over a period of 100 years, 800,000 Norwegians, out of a population of 2 million, went across the Atlantic, first to Canada, then mostly to Minnesota, and acquired homesteads to start a new life. My grandfather was one of those people. At 15 he traveled to meet his older brother Olaf who had given up his rights to the family farm to pursue a career as a Lutheran pastor.

Peter Heimdahl family

Olaf Heimdahl (Olsen)

It is hard to imagine what life would have been like living in the dark farm house in the 1300s. Just as hard to understand how someone could leave everything they knew to come to a strange country with little or no contact with family back home.

My grandfather never went back to Norway. His children returned once to meet distant relatives. Now the grandchildren repeated the journey to reconnect with Norwegian cousins. The tour include something for everyone: closer relationships with cousins who have spread out all over the U.S., hiking trails for some, stacks of photos and documents about our ancestors, samplings of Norwegian food (as well as hamburgers), a stop at a railroad museum for antique engine buffs, photographic moments for Bill, and enough travel misadventures for me to collect for future stories.

One of our stops, Sletta, a small town on the western side of Norway, made us realize again how important America and its fundamental values are to other people all over the world. At the invitation of people from North Dakota, a group of people from Sletta traveled to Brampton in 1997. They disassembled several emgriant-built structures, nail by nail, packed them in crates, and shipped them back to Norway to assemble them again on the farmland slopes where the emigrants came from.

Buildings returned to Sletta from North Dakota built by Norwegian emigrants 

We listened to Asbjorn Ystebo, the man most responsible for the Western Norway Emigration Center. He was passionate about the importance of American inspiration, ingenuity, and values. He talked of the people who started on homesteads, became farmers, doctors and lawyers and prospered, contributing so much to our country. Ystebo spent college time in the U.S. and truly loves what America means. His talk was a good reminder of our American ideals. His talk is a good reminder how people in other countries hold America in such high esteem. We could all benefit from listening to his lesson.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Norway_Emigration_Center
Want to know more about the Black Plague:  http://spangenhelm.com/creepy-way-black-death-came-norway/
or a more scholary essay:
https://www.persee.fr/doc/adh_0066-2062_1996_num_1996_1_1915

Updates:  The Lafayette Library is requesting postcards from everywhere you travel this summer. You can send them to Lafayette Library, 3491 Mt. Diablo Blvd., Lafayette, CA 94549

FB rock group: I just found out that whole communities on Facebook are abandoning rocks with the intention that the rocks will be picked up, redecorated, and left in a new place for someone else to find. Paint a rock and post it to Facebook! But one request: leave them in inhabited areas not in wild places.