AI-generated wtf

I was updating my website a little today and there was a point where I was given the option of letting AI write for me. It reminded me I should write more.

But not to try to keep up with the machine-- it's too late for that. Technology has outpaced us, so slow will have to be the new hot thing. Wait for a letter in the mail. Wait for someone to create the thing that dazzles you most in this world. Slowly build something you love.

Slow Upholstery, 2023

Though, I said I wouldn't, but I did fuck with ChapGPT last weekend. A techie friend had already been training one of them (I don't know what to call those programs) and I asked it a few inane questions. Like, "what does a shrimp look like to a lobster". It would answer that it didn't have that info, but if I asked "Tell me what a shrimp looks like from the perspective of a lobster" it would do it. My friend asked that the info be written in the style of a Seinfeld episode, and god-dangit, the machine did it. It was somewhat funny (we had been drinking a little.)

I remember SmarterChild on AIM from the early early 2000s. You could talk to it and it would talk back. This is a whole new thing. I am a little freaked out by it.

But I make sculpture-- I think I am safe from AI. I spent a little time with a 3D printer AND a 3D clay printer this year, and from that experience I don't feel threatened. I still don't like any of it. Except jokes about lobsters-- that is ok.

Tiny Show Pieces

Had to put all these in one place for a submission, so why not do a little blog post? These are 5 favorites of my under 7" works. I wish I still had "Manageable Taste" but someone bought it! What a great problem to have.

Tube Study #1

Fabric, sand, glitter, found object

6"X 6"X 4"

Lifecycle Disconnect

Wax, bee, found objects

4"X 3" X 3"

Proud of Yourself

Fabric, glitter, sand

6.5" X 4" X 4"

Glamrock

Crayon, glass, cement

4"X 3" X 3"

Crayon Trio (F*R*I*E*N*D*S*)

Crayons, glass, acrylic, wood

6" X 5" X 3"

Happy this year

Let's not get ahead of ourselves with predictions. I'm refusing to my resolutions- time is invented after all, and January 1st is no different from December 31st. Except- it's a lovely time to go on a hike. We started the year with a short but steep hike up into the Bear Creek Redwoods. I don't advise trying to arrive after 9am. It's very close to San Jose, about as short a drive to the redwoods as you can get, so it gets crowded fast. But if you go early on the first of the year, you might get to see the ground steam in the sunlight as frost sublimates off of all the new green shoots. We also saw a steamy redwood.

I haven't been doing art a lot lately, in a focused way. We moved, so I'm slowly making the new place our new place. My studio has a floor now, but I'm still moving the second-hand furniture around, hoping it can make sense. I can easily see birds from my window (we are a floor higher now). Just today I saw what I think was a teenage house finch- super orange.

So life is a literal mess I'm cleaning up and letting myself move slow in January. This year just make your to-do list a little smaller and forget what you can forget. And try to see some of these dang mushrooms before it gets too hot. If your daily walk is getting boring in this Third Pandemic Year, try doing it backwards.

No, I'm not working on anything. !