Travels With My Shoes

My first evening in Amsterdam I attended the birthday party for a three year old. Friend Joy Ehrlich and lovely son Tobias had been invited, and I tagged along to the Plantoon, a green area in the middle of their neighborhood. Joy was a zebra and I a chimpanzee. It’s been a while since I put on a monkey mask, chimped and chased kids, but it was not hard to slip back in time on a warm summer evening among a congenial group of young parents.

I stayed at a quiet annex built by Gerbrand and Willeke, older artist friends of Joy’s. A bit like a movie set —huge armoires with china and mirrors, extraordinary tiles with figures and flowers made by Willeke, a low chandelier over a round table and a taxidermed turkey way high that watched me as I did my yoga stretches. I spent evenings with Joy, her partner Hans, and Tobias. I only went to one museum the FOAM museum and saw Guy Tillim’s exhibit “Avenue Patrice Lumumba.” I was unfamiliar with his photography so not only was it interesting to make a new ” discovery ” but also to find work that was unexpectedly powerful.

I also visited The Tree House, an exhibition space close to the American bookshop, to investigate it as a possible Shoe venue. I found the BEST place to have early coffee too: Open early, 2 blocks from the annex by the canal, populated by noisy local men who were perfect for scribbling…

An older New Zealander came in and began a banter with an Aussie living in the city. ” No, we’re from New Zealand and we’re better lookin’ than you Australians”.

I said ” Well I’m also a Kiwi.”

“Yeah, well you’re better lookin’ too!”

“But you’re looking at my back….”

“Got a good look at your front when I came in.”

When I showed him my sketch he said, ” You got me ears roit.”

It was very funny. They were tourists, not stiff-necked and I recognized that casual sense of humor from times in Australia and London.

By buying olive oil and hairspray from a local Turkish grocer, I was able to do some oil pastels but every time I got up from the table I spiked my head on the low hanging chandelier. But I succeeded in getting some work done in Amsterdam, my hope to do work throughout this trip.

On Friday I left for Berlin. At Amsterdam central station on my way to the airport, some people were helping me board the train; they took on my bag before giving me a hand… and the doors closed! We all threw up our hands in horror and made wild gestures but off chugged the train.

One more petit catastroph for me to chalk up.

However, through the heroic sleuthing of Joy, and Hans driving to pick up the bag, making a last minute rescue mission to Schipol airport’s Lost and Found before the bag was to be transported to the black hole of L&F in the Netherlands, the bag is now with Joy, to be forwarded to Ireland!!

This entry was posted on Monday, August 3rd, 2009 at 5:40 pm