words

Small History of Flying Fish

sandstone, guitarflying fish5

…If we set the little paraffin lamp out at night, flying fish were attracted by the light and large and small, shot over the raft…flying fish7

…It sometimes happened that we heard an outburst of strong language from a man on deck when a cold flying fish came unexpectedly, at a good speed, slap into his face…

flying fish6

…They always came at a good pace and snout first, and if they caught one full in the face they made it burn and tingle… flying fish8

…But the unprovoked attack was quickly forgiven by the injured party, for with all its drawbacks, we were in a maritime land of enchantment where delicious fish dishes came hurling through the air…flying fish1

…We used to fry them for breakfast, and wether it was the fish, the cook or our appetites, they reminded us of fried troutlings once we had scraped the scales off…  Thor Heyerdahl, Kon Tiki, 1950

Flying Fish…There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish.  But what are they among so many people?…flying fish4…Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all… DSC_0064…Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted… flying fish2…When they were satisfied, he told, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.”

flying fish3…So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets… John 6, 9-13 NRSV

In the dark and unlit ceiling of the Loretta Chapel there is a lonely painting of a chunky fish atop a heavy slab of bread.   At the moment Thor Heyerdahl’s balsa log raft was colliding with a dusty man breaking bread in the grass of Palestine.  The long pilgrim road leading through elder drifts, slabs of rock, mountains of hailstones, unearthly fish with a mouth like a grave.  The sign of Jonah.  Provision comes unlooked for, and fear is weathered away.

 

On the Passing of the Age of Thor

He showed up one day at my dad’s place.  We did our diligence, but couldn’t track anyone down so we took him to our place, my wife and I.  He had four legs then.  Thor seemed like a good name….

IMG_7713

I always go in for ironic dog names, but he lived up to his in chutzpah, if not wisdom.  He lost his leg to a 3/4 ton diesel pulling a double axle.  I thought it might cure him- slow him down a little, but those diesels pulling trailers became his white whale.  And he was darn near as fast on 3 than 4.  Lifting his leg presented a challenge, until he realized it wasn’t there.  Sometimes he just had to lift the left one though and he’d balance on the two front ones.

IMG_1073 IMG_7597

He made his mark in the world.  He was a pain in the ass, he barked at everything, pissed on everything, chased everything (excepting chickens- a mean old rooster broke that habit pretty early)…

IMG_3717

The hen’s wouldn’t let him forget even after that rooster earned himself the soup-pot.

IMG_1785

True to his kind, he always had to be where I was -unless there was something better going on…

DSC_0019

The coyotes are bad here, like most places in Kansas.  Usually they go after my hens, and Thor was smart enough to stay away- just made noise at them.  A whole bunch were real close for a few nights- carrying on at night like they do.  They must have been too much to resist.  The next day doing the early morning rounds, he wasn’t there.  You get the picture.  It is still a bit of a mystery- he left like he came- but I’ll remember him going in thinking he could lick the whole bunch.

IMG_3666

A lot of my neighbors had cause to maybe dance a little at the passing of the fierce defender of 100 yards of compacted gravel.  However, a fair number a coyotes have died since Thor went out.  Not me, I’m not much of a killer, thought not for lack of trying.    My neighbors are better shots than I, and I usually recieve a picture message of a dead Canis latrans.

My good friend Mike Schultz wrote and recorded this little song after living with us and Thor for a time.  He sent it to me just the other day and it made this post worth writing.  Have a listen…  Thor!

The Legend of Walking Man, Part 1

DSC_0080

The first documentation of Walking Man from 1998

walkingmenscan

Country and City Walking Men, 2005

DSC_0075

Another early drawing of Walking Man from 1999

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Walking Man looking out of a window 2001

 

The following is an early description of Walking Man as it appears in the play The Two Deaths of John Beartrist Laceroot:

 

Walking Man does quite a good bit of doing things, but often

is found plainly walking; in circles or in unjoined lines.

Also with regularity, in simple curves as well as complex

compounded curves accompanied with series of strait lines.

Less frequently, but often enough to be mentioned, he walks

in lines forming letters that sometimes are random and do

not spell out any sort of thing, but at other times they

make up words or sentences.

Walking Man is found often to have walked from one geographic­-

al location to another geographical location extremely far removed from the

first, kicking the leaves underneath the trees.

For the ‑ uhmm… individual, the imagination is much more endued

with the powerful swaying grip of reality than that of the

actual objective reality.  That is to say that, umm…ahh, to some people,

the life experienced within the imagination is just as real, if not more real,

than the life experienced outside the imagination…

if…the…ahh…two can be separated at all. In this consideration,

Walking Man is John Beartrist Laceroot.

 

Introduction to the School of the Transfer of Energy

Early Fronts-piece design for The School of the Transfer of Energy, featuring a drawing of a goatsucker.

Cover for the first handbook of The School of the Transfer of Energy.

Below is a revised and very pared down introduction to what the School of the Transfer of Energy represents:

The School of the Transfer of Energy

The Institute of Signs and Levers

The School of the Transfer of Energy was established as a tool to bring a simple order and understanding to a broad range of arts, crafts and agriculture based disciplines and the outputs of those disciplines. The Institute of Signs and Levers refers to a view of those disciplines as a deliberate and purposeful technology towards the receiving, cultivation and realization of relationship to God the Father, Son and Spirit.


Symbolism of Jacob (Violence and Intimacy)

This is a blog about images and stories, technology and craft.  For the sake of Yaakov as well as others I will risk a distance from the normal sparseness of words and do my best to write a little about the symbolism in Jacob Wrestling With God.

When I make a painting, there is always a tension between intent and intuition.  In the painting of Jacob, there is meaning that I intended to place there and there is meaning that emerges as I work, often pointed out by an outside observer.  Both are placed there in faith, and both are discovered again in faith.  I receive requests to reproduce the image of Jacob Wrestling with God regularly.  Whatever other arrangements are made, I always beg the insight of the requestor, because I want to know what has been placed in my work by God, which is hidden to me, but perhaps not to them.  One gracious responder was Robbie Pruitt, who actually wrote a review of the work, which can be read on his blog.

Violence and intimacy.  The violence and intimacy of this wrestling match.  What did it sound like, how did it smell, the sweat of God and Jacob mingled in the dust?  Those who are willing to pursue God and his blessing with such force receive honor from me.  I don’t know what Jacob was thinking.  But I know I wish I had the guts to engage my God with such an intertwined closeness.  I despise the distance of religion.  I use that distance to keep myself “safe” in this life, but at what cost.  Even if I am annihilated, at least I may have a glimpse of His glory before I am withered back to dust.  I want to know who He made me to be, why I am here, what my name is, even if I have to wrestle with one who could wither me with a glance.  This story is a profound mystery to me, but I love it because God made himself vulnerable for the sake of this man whom He loved.  I don’t get that, but it makes me love Him even more.  I would rather be undone by the _ord than sit here safe and placid before my computer.

Visual Symbolism:

The banner has been present in my work for decades.  I won’t go into all it’s permutations, but in this case I think of it as God’s declaration and promise over Jacob.  It contains mysteries and words spoken in the Spirit from the beginning of creation until the end of days.  They are blank, because, who am I to presume.

The curtains speak both of intimacy and story, as they are drawn back to reveal a glimpse of the man Jacob’s story and intimacy with his God.  The curtains as well always recall to me the curtain that separated the most holy place of the temple, where the presence of God would come.  Then when it was torn apart when Jesus was crucified;  another time of violence and intimacy, when God made Himself vulnerable for those He loved.

The hands reveal the glory.

There is something important to me concerning of the knee of Jacob near the stone in the corner, but I do not understand what.

The nudity of Jacob, perhaps goes without saying.  But nothing is hidden from God.

There used to be a couple of ladders toppling about in the struggle, recalling a previous encounter Jacob had, but I decided to paint over them.

There is more in this story, because it is God’s.  But this is what I have painted.  Please, be welcome to offer your insights, and I thank those of you who have risked writing comments and emails.

Jack

(Below is a progression of the painting)

   

   

Below is the drawing that came first, and a linocut based on the painting.

 

New Effort

Welcome to The School of the Transfer of Energy.  This is a new effort designed to make more accessible the paintings and other works constructed by Jack Baumgartner.  The pages of this weblog are still being developed at the time of this message, but they are far enough along to warrant observation.  In addition to the current pages, there is now a specific page to facilitate the sale of artwork entitled Paintings Available for Sale.  Also, I hope very much in the future to have a page dedicated to the The School of the Transfer of Energy Puppet Theater and it’s production The Two Deaths of John Beartrist Laceroot.  If I am feeling very brave, there might even be a page about The School of the Transfer of Energy itself.

 new

You will find finished work as well as works in progress on the pages of this site.  There is also a continually growing mailing list in operation for those interested in being notified and updated on the progress and avaliability of current work.  I hope to integrate this site into the mailing list in the near future.  If you are interested in being on the mailing list you can contact me (Jack Baumgartner) at playbanjo@gmail.com .   

This is a weblog, so your comments are very welcome.  If you are uncomfortable leaving comments that can be read by anyone visiting this site, please email me at playbanjo@gmail.com . 

This weblog is still under development as noted earlier, so please visit it again in the future to see what is new.

Thank You,

Jack