In process: et al # 4

Introduction:
Welcome to a blog for my fourth painting in the et al series. I am currently working
with truck drivers I meet at truck stops along Interstates 85 and 40 as they pass
through my community. Their contributed drawings will inform and shape the large
canvas painting I am creating in the studio.

Check this blog to see photos of my painting as it develops, the encounters
and donated art from the truck drivers. I will also post my thoughts
as I go along.

Completing this series of paintings is one part of my Rockefeller Fellowship Project. I also plan to use these donated doodles to create a work for the art in the air contest.
If I win a spot in this contest, the painting will be posted on a billboard
along the highway in my area. Enjoy!

Saturday, July 31, 2004

A truckstop along I-85

Today I visited the TA Travel Center on I-85 just east of Greensboro,
North Carolina along I-85. After getting permission from the management,
I met several truck drivers in the truckers' diner as they ate lunch and
watched the news. It took me several attempts to shape my presentation
in a way that would be well received. The truckers were patient,
asking questions when they did not understand. After introducing myself
and my project, I asked them if they ever did any drawing as a kid.
Many said they did, giving it up for different reasons. One trucker named
Shawn told me he had planned to go to art school in Florida but hurt his foot
and could not attend school. Several truckers said they drew floor
plans. One man with a dark tan said he designed a lot of things including a
large boat that he had been working on for years. He drew a picture of the
boat, taking time to describe his efforts to improve its design. Another
trucker talked about his earlier work as a farmer. He drew a tractor. I
felt good about the encounters. I never pushed myself on anyone. I sat and
drank coffee while they worked or just chatted. One trucker drew a map of
the Middle East, expressing his disgust with the president-bashing he
saw on TV



One trucker, a very polite older gentleman, told me he
was too shaky in his hands to even write and could not draw. I asked him
what he would want expressed in the painting I would do. He said "respect
for the trucker and the job he does, and more respect of the truck on
the highway."

On the way out, I ran into a chaplain named Jim who had been a trucker
for 30+ years. He told me that biggest influence on truckers was loneliness.
He said that weeks away from home and the inability to leave a job for
family emergencies and other personal reasons made the job hard on people.
That and too many temptations; hookers, drugs, porn, etc.


As I left the truck stop and pulled onto the highway, I viewed it in a
new light. Every trucker I talked to had families many states and many
hours away. I would be home in 1/2 hour.

Monday, August 2, 2004

Ed, professional driver and Chinese linguist

It was raining when I stopped at the flying J Truck stop at exit 150. I had just gotten off the highway after talking on my CB to a trucker for the first time. His truck and my car had come down a steep ramp together and he had been tailing me. I picked up the CB mike in my car (one I had installed for this project.) I said "Driver, this CRV won't go any faster (I was doing 70). He immediately came on the air laughing and commented that I needed to "reconsider" my Kerry-Edwards bumper sticker. He said something about Veit Nam that I could not make out. I ended the conversation with a 10-4-not wanting to start a lengthy argument over politics.

Inside the "Flying J" I asked permission to speak with truckers. I had my new UNC ID card pinned to my shirt, and new handouts to give the truckers. These were a response to my last visit at the TA Travel Center. I found that the restaurant was closed for some reason, maybe a broken water line or something. The truckers' lounge was full with people watching a movie. They were too engaged in the movie to bother. I found several drivers talking in booths. After entering the conversation on the weather, I introduced myself. One driver was from West Virginia, the other was a older gentleman who had a paperback book in his hand. Both were friendly and seemed interested in my project. His name was Ed, when asked he immediately shared an image "You should show a dad at the door of a house saying good-bye to a wife and baby." I asked him to draw it and he protested that he could not draw. Later, I would get a simple drawing of this scene from him.

My conversation with Joe turned to his interest in prehistoric images found around the U.S. Later, Ed would share a lot of his life story with me; his years in school-one at Yale, the loss of his wife, his life as a Chinese translator. He would share his theory with me that prehistoric Chinese traders came to America and taught many of the native people a trading language that influences names all over. Ed broke down words like Arizona, Niagara, and Shenandoah, to show me the Chinese root words. I was fascinated, not only by his theory but by the diversity of people driving rigs that he represented. "Oh!", he said "there are people with Phds driving on these highways.

Finally, after covering a broad range of subjects, I asked Ed what one symbol best represented him as a person. I was imagining some pre-historic symbol. He answered, after a pause; "A cross. There are big crosses on the highway that are set up by someone. They are lit and can be seen from far away. Those crosses mean a lot to me," he said. As we finished our conversation at the doorway of the Flying J the rain stopped and a rainbow appeared behind us in the sky. As I drove out onto the highway I thought about how driving must give a bright minded driver like Joe a real challenge to fill the hours upon hours of solitude with thoughts worth thinking. Ed had obviously found a way.

Thursday, September 2, 2004

This past month I have been painting on two works in response to my visits with the truckers. The first is the large et al #4 painting. Measuring 72" x 80" this work has undergone numerous revisions. An early version and the current image are pictured below. I am still working on this piece.



The other work I have created is a submission to the Art in the Air contest. If it wins, the work will be made into a billboard and displayed on the highway somewhere in my the Triad area of North Carolina. This would be cool since the work is a response to the truckers I interviewed and from whom I collected doodles. Here is the finished work.

Wayfaring Stranger, 7" x 20", mixed media.

The requirements for the contest required that the work be 7 inches by 20 inches. I initially had a tough time working at this size until I got the idea to cut up my own painting and reassemble it. The resulting effect was what I was after; lots of energy, a complex design, with simple icons. I named it after my favorite folk song, Wayfaring Stranger. The lyrics of that song reminded me of the stories of loneliness and separation I heard from the truckers.

Friday, September 3, 2004

This morning I opened the paper to read a story about the death of Thomas Dee Rhodes, 58. Thomas was a long distance driver who was found dead at the same Flying J Truck stop I had visited for this project. Apparently he died last Sunday night while sleeping, alone in his truck.

Wednesday, September 8, 2004

Last week I stopped by the flying J truck stop where Mr. Rhodes died. I asked the manager if there had been any memorial set up by the truckers for Mr. Rhodes.(I wanted to use its image as material for this work.) She gave me a hard glare and a quick "no." In that look and comment I sensed that the "god of commercialism" would not approve of such bad-for-business attention. "Will that be credit or debit?"

Tuesday, September 14, 2004

Looking at my et al # 4 painting again after giving it a rest, I realized I needed more of the contributions from the truckers in the work. I had been focusing on the core theme of loneliness but now feel a more complex set of themes is needed to capture all I have experienced. So I added a cross, the image that Ed, the Chinese Translator-turned-truckdriver said meant so much to him. Added too is a mother and child stick figure (hard to see online. Hidden in house.) The small truck dumping stuff was drawn by Jim, the pastor-to-truckers I met.

The cental road element in the middle was added to give some organization to the composition. I changed the front banner to read "Show me your hooters!"; a sign that was seen on a truck. Apparently "flashing" truck drivers is a fad out on the highway.

I felt this last element balanced the cross at the top. The boat at the bottom left is my response to a donated doodle of a boat drawn by a trucker. The "tree of life" over the cross comes from the same trucker that drew the house. So, I'm feeling good about the work. I will let it cook some more and maybe make more changes. I need to start collecting doodles from my next community; the UNC house cleaning staff.