Replies: 26 Comments
on Thursday, June 1st, olivier said
Happy birthday Hyacinthe,
I do not know you but your work move me.
for the giant art we all sick for your make me think about the packing of great wall. yes we do have stone art fron the stoneage still today as well as fantastic cave paintings some in superb condition. Lile it's funny it made yoy think to gooogle earth, I had the same. When it was launched I thought we had vision in real time not from archive phtos. I wanted to do a game where you hide somewhere a huge painting, goal is to locate it on the planet. Now I have to wait for the next in time vision perhaps to have my trip up north in Canada, oups I told you my hidding spot.
With photos we don't need to chronicle anymore, we can fully get back to the business of dreams.
on Wednesday, May 31st, mazjackson said
Dear Hyacinthe,
Belated birthday greetings and thanks for sharing your thoughts, what debate they have caused!
I am no wordsmith, but I delight in you sharing yours.
Huge thankyou,
Maz
on Wednesday, May 24th, Ruth Olivar Millan said
Happy Birthday. Ms. Baron!!
Because I am a cancer survivor I celebrate my birthday....everyday, all day. It is a great gift to be here.
Possibly my Native American/mestisaje has allowed me to view our Earth and reality in a survivor perspective. "Where there is a will there's a way" I create my own paints and dyes (when I am out of $) There is so much in nature such as grasses and herbs that can be crushed and mixed with other elements found on our Earth that are brillant in color. Carrots and beets/Spanish moss,red earth,blue oxides, carbon.Mix with vegetable oil/ egg yokes,water and teas. Go girl!!! create and keep on ...explore.
contact me ...I have more ideas to share. Believe in yourself. PEACE Artist
on Sunday, May 21st, Mark R Brockman said
I feel I must expand on my last comment. I opologize if you think I have attacked your character Hyacinthe as that was not my goal. I also thank you for your kind words about my having the talent and appreciation to work on my own creativity. Talent? No. Determination and desire to create, yes. Actually I don't agree with the concept of talent, but that is an arguement for other blogs.
My concern about your idea was well spoken by CraigA. I have just over one acre in PA (in what is concidered remote by eastern standards) of land that my wife and I found as a house was being built on it. We had no control of the trees that where cut down as they had been cut before we found it, we spend time now re-planting native trees and wildflower medows and trying to bring back a natural setting as best we can and landscaping it so that when I am to old to walk past its borders I will find things to paint, it is a long and slow procces but one of enjoyment. I try to do things in the right way, using little or no chemicals that can seep into the trout stream across the road from us or slowly work its way into the Chesapeake Bay, a two hour drive from us. I want the dear, snakes, turkey and other wildlife to feel free to wonder. I know what ever we do to our land can effect other ereas of land and bodies of water.
We are stuarts of the land not owners, we must do what we can to preserve and protect.
So forgive me if I offended you Hyacinthe, it is just that I am as passionate about the world as I am about my art.
on Sunday, May 21st, CraigA said
In fact, we live in a closed ecosystem. All actions have reactions. Pigments/dyes (chemical or natural) will permeate down to the water table and eventually flow out of your property and down a ways until it is pumped up into someone’s drinking well or reaches a river or other water body. This can be said for pesticides and herbicides as well. Injecting Rhodamine as a color tracer into a groundwater system is common practice for determining flow. However, best to check with local environmental codes as it may be regulated. Personally, I find such a proposal neither artistic nor creative. After living for many years, I would like to think an artist could leave his or her unique perspective and a sense of wisdom for future generations.
on Sunday, May 21st, gabriella said
Some ideas are better left off in notebooks, unrealized, and this idea of yours to scatter paint on your private fiefdom of 5 acres is one of them! We could call this project "Hyacynthe's Folly".
on Sunday, May 21st, Mark R brockman said
I am not attaking your character Hyacinthe only your idea. The Native American's feels that man can not realy own the land, no one can really.
on Saturday, May 20th, Hyacinthe said
The 5.5. acres that I own are mine to do with as I wish. Would you prefer that I build a house? Bring in gas lines, drill 300 feet down for water, and pave paradise to park my cars?
I think using the acreage as a huge canvas will stand for a metaphor for looking at the "Big Picture" to the delight of all the creatures we share it with because the site would be consecrated and the Off road vehicles which are killing everything would be forbidden.
Andrew you really are brilliant and I do love your statement about nature. There should be no distinction between art and human nature either.
Mark that is enough with the nonsense and the ridiculous accusations regarding my character. Try using your imagination to expand your own creativity. I know you have the talent and appreciation.
on Friday, May 19th, Mark R Brockman said
WHOA Andrew! Every thing WE do is part of nature? You mean like daming rivers or making them straight or de-nuding forests, how about polluting our air, stripping top soil from the ground, how about needlessly killing off far more species then the Barons hated ravens could ever do, or dropping tons of paint on the landscape? Is all this a part of nature? Man has placed himself as a stuart of nature (do to our attempts to control it), and we are doing a poor job of it. Man has distanced himself from nature, man needs to re-connect with nature so as not to hurt it anymore, but your statment though biologicaly true (we are biologicaly part of nature) is not true in reality.
Back to you Hyacinthe. Would such a project be a profound statement about what humans do to the enviroment? Yes. Just as shooting someone in the head would show how horrible murder is. Your idea of using a vegetable based dye and sugar confirms my earlier statement of how an idea can take over. I am no scientist, but even using a vegetable based dye and sugar in the very large amounts you would need, could create havoc with the enviroment. Please Hyacinthe, remember the enviroment is very fragile, and a desert is one of the most fragile. Again in regards to your ravens (a bird of the crow family and one I admire, I wear a Raven pin on my hat) it is not their fault for eating the totoises, perhaps the tortoise numbers are down because of man, perhaps the raven numbers are up because of man. The tortoise cross the roads because it is not unusual for them to have a 2 to 10 mile radious of territory. How are they to get form place to place without crossing a road? I know, get rid of the road. OH but that road, if we believe Andrew, is part of nature because we put it there and we are part of nature.
I think Lile Elam's idea of painting photos may not be as exciting as your idea but it is a better way.
I leave you with a statement (I hope it makes you think) from world noted artist and writer,Gao Xingjian:
No artist has ever saved the world; self-fulfillment is the best an artist can hope for. His/her creations are nothing more then expressions of his/her own sensations, his/her imagination and waking dreams, narcissism and masochism, insatiable and particular preoccupations.
Don't be narcisstic about this Hyacinthe, PLEASE!
on Friday, May 19th, elaniii@yahoo.com">Andrew said
Happy birthday, Hycinthe. Of course you can do this project without really damaging the environment. Human beings, and everything we do, is a part of nature.
on Thursday, May 18th, gabriella said
Happy 70th, Hyacinthe, and my wish for many more birthdays to come!
on Thursday, May 18th, walt said
Happy 70th Hyacnthe! Hope you have as any more birthdays as you wish.
on Thursday, May 18th, Hyacinthe said
Thanks all for your environmental concerns. So necessary in the world the way it is going today.
If we wish to be part of art movements that are current today, then we must consider the significance of the art project, in regard to the statement the artist is making, the reasoning behind the project, what it would mean to others and in the long run the very state of being described by and carried out by Andy Warhol.
Just today I saw that 5 acres in the area the Baron Conservancy is located in have been approved for division into 20 lots to be divided again and on which they will build 40 houses.
Wouldn't the painted desert painting we are contemplating make a profound statement about what humans do to the environment?
Think about it. And what if instead of paint we used a vegetable base dye? Add some sugar and we would have an awful lot of happy desert denizens.
By the way, the Ravens are so ravenous they are eating the desert tortoise eggs faster than they can reproduce. Hardly anyone sees them anymore and then for whatever the reason they are on the road pavement.
I like the idea of coloring photographs. I don't believe that process can supplant the actuality, the energy engendered by the act of creating this painting.
We would of course do it for charity who would benefit from the ongoing course of photographs documenting the changing terrain.
on Thursday, May 18th, Lile Elam said
Happy 70th birthday Hyacinthe! I hope I get to be that age someday...
As for the earth painting project, I too feel that spraying paint from an aircraft is not good for the environment and all those living there. I have heard that planes who have to land unexpectedly early, sometimes have to dump their fuel this way and I always worry about who it lands on.
But thinking about your art idea, a thought came to me... If you really want to do something like this, why not take photographs of the earth from the air and then paint them! That way you would see the effect of such a project and have more control of the result. It would also not harm anyone... You could call the exhibit of paintings "What if?" You could even paint the moon!
Google has earth images via their earth project...
located at: earth.google.com
The images there are really beautiful already already... it's hard to compete with Mother Nature!
I guess my question about such a project would be "What is the purpose?". Is it to show what an artist can do? or is it just a way to make a "big splash"? :) Sorry I couldn't help myself... :)))
I guess it brings up even a bigger question for me... which is "What is the purpose of Art?". As artists, what are we trying to do here? There is more to it than just being "remembered" for our work and wild ideas, I am sure. I always thought that artists help to bring new ideas and dreams of what could be into the hearts of others, inspiring the move to "make it so". Do we really want to live in a world where paint is landing on our heads at anytime without being able to control it?
I wish you well with the project and look forward to hopefully just seeing photographs with paint on them.
sincerely,
-lile
Webmaster/Artist of Art.Net
on Thursday, May 18th, Mark R Brockman said
Ed, Ed, Ed. Ravens are a wonderful and beautiful creature, they are NOT intent on destroying the last generation of desert tortoise, that would would give them evil intent and they are not evil, they are only doing what Ravens do. Surviving. Something that would be difficult for them to do should Hyacinthe bring her idea to reality. If she does, what of the desert tortoide then Ed?
on Thursday, May 18th, Mark R Brockman said
We all have thoughts, ideas that we act on and some that we don't act on. Some we should have acted on and didn't, some we did act on and shouldn't have. The mind is full of wonderous and dark thoughts. Hyacinthe's idea on the surface sounds intriguing, and spectacular, but in truth would be devistating, so lets hope it stay in the mind to seed other unharmfull ideas. Creativity does in fact grow and germinate from ideas often unconnected to the previous idea, and this is good.
But Hyacinthe you still have not adressed what I asked earlier; Isn't this the vary kind of thing you speak out against in past blogs? It is an idea, but no more then that, as you have others do the work for you including nature itself, nature which would have to defend itself from your's and other's actions. The artist must have more connection to a creation then just coming up with an idea. Don't you think? Would it be art or just another idea (the art of an idea).
I know it may sound a bit reactionary to dwell on the enviromental harm your idea may cause, given that (I hope) you will not act on the idea, but the enviroment is so fragile and that so much harm has and will be done to it, at times in seemingly small ways, (and often in large ways) I think we must be over vigilant to keep it safe. Besides, no matter how wonderful your idea may seem, the end does not, always, justify the means.
Please think long and hard before the idea becomes greater then you and unstopable. Do not think yourself beyond making a mistake, we all make them, no matter how gifted or talented one is. An intriguing idea, YES, lets keep it only an idea, PLEASE.
on Thursday, May 18th, yvejahns@yahoo.com">Evelyn said
I believe your art work shows an inner sensitivity to things around you - symbolic unseen and what is actually seen with our eyes. When you think about floating paint over land, its not the same as floating it onto canvas. Canvas is made and prepared for paint - our natural lands are not. Looking at your work I would be highly suspect if in the end you pursued this project - because it would damage and cause harm in the process.
on Thursday, May 18th, Margaret Stone said
We sift through ideas in the workshop of our minds. They flow and often, for a visual artist, they pass for review on our inner screen. From this, ideas are spawned. Whether or not, Hyacinthe, you actually do this, you are exploring an idea that could and probably will lead to other creative endeavors that might not have existed without this particular process. Happy Birthday and I wish for you expansive creative energy for all your endeavors.
on Thursday, May 18th, Ed Baron said
Hyacinthe forgot to mention the lizards, scorpions and black widows and the road runners.
This desert is anything but hospitable. The tracks run randomly in every direction. The washes are dry repositories of constantly changing materials being carried down toward the dry lake bed and gold mine.
This project would move by itself. At first confined to the 5.5 dedicated acres that would serve as a canvas, it would change and move as the winds and the rains carry it down toward its destination.
The record of this moving piece of art would involve photographing it from a plane, after alll, it could all only be seen from the air, so the art would add to the historic record of patterns made on the desert by tracks of all the animals, dead brush and human debris deposited continuously.
It would be for the delight of the red tailed hawks, the cactus wrens and of course for the ravens who are intent on destroying the last generation of desert tortoise, and reducing the debris of furniture left at abandoned houses to wooden bones.
on Thursday, May 18th, Hyacinthe said
Thank you all so much for your good wishes. Jose your comment was so defining and compelling. The thing about an inspiration is that once engendered by opportunity it empowers another process.
Imagination is the process by which ideas are contemplated and evaluated.
I would have to hire crop duster planes. I could give each plane a color (like they do in the Chinese silk painting workshops.)
I could use it as an art project for the Marines at the base that is so close. They fly over the property all the time.
Should the paint spraying be synchopated from the air?
Should the planes go one at a time? Spray according to a preconceived design I first created on paper? that paper could be sold to finance the project.
Could I have men with air compressors on the ground also spraying? Could I have men with blowers moving the colored sands?
This project is fun to think about?
does anyone know if it has been done before?
Jose what do you think about the Stonehenge replica found in the jungle the other day?
on Thursday, May 18th, jose freitas cruz said
Artistic intervention in nature, if wisely done, can leave lasting impressions for generations to come. The examples are too many to mention. Some of my personal favourites are the Buddha sculptures carved out of the massive rock at the temple of Polonnaruwa in Sri Lanka or the ones that existed until a short while ago in Bamian. There's an intriguing rock formation south of the Atlas in Morocco where an artist has painted some of the boulders the colour blue worn by the Touaregs. There is the ancient city of Petra... and I could go on. It is not a matter of improving nature but a matter of counterbalancing all the other activities of man that leave lesser marks on this great canvas/rock we all inhabit [the list of which is unfortunately much larger]. Art is intervention and what greater privilege [and responsibility] than to reach a point where you are able to leave a meaningful mark on such a precious surface. I’m sure this idea of your’s is but the seed of a new project and I trust that through the work you are accustomed to go through as an artist you will refine the idea and come up with the most expedient means of intervening in harmony with your surroundings. All the best and a Happy Birthday Hyacinthe.
on Wednesday, May 17th, Olga said
Happy Birthday, Hyacinthe! Great health and energy to you. I wish you to be always inspired and to fullfil successfully all your exciting projects.
on Wednesday, May 17th, Hyacinthe Baron said
Thank you Laurens for the link to a paint company. Surely that would be the first step.
For the reasons Art and Mark cited this is an exercise in how far the imagination can take us in exploring potential and opportunity.
I thought I did question what the point of such an art work would be and that of course it remains nothing more than a concept, yet one worth noting.
On the other hand there are artists such as James Turrell who has purchased the Roden Crater, is transforming it into a creativity and cultural center and has been given millions of dollars to complete his project, so that ultlimately, when it is complete, he will control the opening through which visitors will be allowed to see the sky from within.
We are discussing opportunity as applied to the arts. I was hoping creative individuals such as the artists who respond to these blogs would be inspired to explore this subject and some of the others I have raised.
on Wednesday, May 17th, Mark R Brockman said
Happy birthday Hyacinthe.
I must agree with Art Z, that spreading, pouring paint on your land; what an enviromental disaster that would be. Beside, no matter how hard an artist tries we can never improve nature. Did you once have a job with the Army Corp of Engineers? Sounds like one of thier ideas, "Lets improve nature." The idea also strikes me as one of those works of art that isn't really art, you know, the kind you complaine about so often in your blogs. Well anyway, have a wonderful time thinking about it and I hope it never happens, there are far better ways to express yourself. Happy Birthday.
on Wednesday, May 17th, Art Z said
Have you considered the wisdom of spattering paint over 5 acres of "land as pristine as time itself"? Doesn't sound like fun for the Jack Rabbits, Kangaroo Rats, sidewinders, coyotes and desert tortoises living on your canvas.
on Wednesday, May 17th, Laurens Barnard said
Good luck Ms Baron from South Africa
Laurens Barnard
Filmmaker/Artist
paint: www.duraline.co.za
Well my 70th birthday passed and I spent the day making a list of all the art projects I intend to do in the future. I won't post it here because it is way too long. Some are left over from earlier days and some are brand new.
Perhaps later at Stonehenge artists came out into the light and hung paintings rendered on woven fabrics of sheep wool like linen on the giant slabs of stone, or even painted on limestone and stood these up against the stones in a formal exhibition. Perhaps Art patrons circled around (as in the Guggenheim Museum in NYC) toward an inner circle where the revelations of the paintings would be revealed by the artist, or some ancient critic. And the artists who seized the opportunities to exhibit learned to take the images they had been creating out of the caves and into the drama of sunlight and moonlight guided and shining through formal arrangements of huge stone slabs like so many bright lights while drummers beat the slabs to create sounds in a variety of tones like Moussoursky's Pictures at An Exhibition.
