MY SKETCHBOOK

"There are billions of precious things in the universe that we have no time to study"

- Karlheinz Stockhausen

You're not much of an artist if you don't keep a sketchbook. I have had several over the years. The present one succeeded my much traveled, self-fabricated aluminum-covered flip-style book, a mere 4x6 inches. The present leather-bound book, a gift from my mother from Blackberry Farm in Tennessee, has been to the desert of Arizona, the sun-bleached monuments of Sicily, the streets of Charleston, and around the coastal islands of Georgia. It is my constant companion and holds many of my primordial instrument designs, songs, nature observations and is in effect my 'chap book', containing in longhand my most cherished prose and quotes.

Following are a few select entries

A native American flute, flora of the northern Arizona desert, horsemen at Monument Valley

Some notes on songs for the Scheitholt and Banjo.

Journal entry from the Italy trip. Also a quote from the journal of the pioneering Minoan archeologist Richard Berry Seager.

I am keeping a running list of philosophical arguments I encounter which fit the Idea/Substance model. 'Know thyself!' I defiantly fall on the 'a posteriori' side. Also a casual documentation of a koto with full-size tracings of the bridges.

From a trip to Charleston with my cousin Steve. I sketched while he photographed. I was reading 'The Tale of Genji' for the biwa commission at the time.

From the 2005 trip to scotland marching with the Atholl Highlanders of Stone Mountain. The sketch in the pub of our traveling companions, Pam and Evan Kohler-Camp and Angie and Ron (sitting out of frame). We were lunching before seeing Roslyn Chapel, pictured with scaffolding below left.

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This little self-fabricated metal sketchbook suited my needs for a good 10 years and was made to be easily disassembled so new pages could be added. I revisited it recently and scanned some of the choice pages which were contained in its retired condition.

A sketch of the stage set for the recreated Globe Theater at Emory University

An unfinished inking of the member's dining room at the Smithsonian

The exterior of the book.

My visit to the Shaker exhibit at the High Museum. And some miscellaneous art seen while there. The sillouete, if I remember correctly, is from an American Express ad of some woman looking at art.

A woodblock i made to print postcards on cardboard boxes for mailing, various furniture I'd seen and liked, a demonstration I went to at the High Museum of a traditional African mask maker. A sketch of a coastal scene with knotted trees blown back by the wind, possibly on St. Simon's island.

Notes from the Pre-Raphaelite exhibit at the High. Study sketches of the reception desk at the Atlanta History Center.

Bring it HOME.