Kali Tal’s fine art and photography weblog
Nov 13th, 2009 by kali
Short Circuit Stories & Stations of the Cross is now available at Blurb.com. The artwork in this 40-page, full-color volume was professionally photographed, and the text is bilingual, in German and English. Printed on high-quality paper, the book features my circuit board and RAM chip narrative pieces. Blurb.com has a nice preview feature so you can browse pages.
Jan 28th, 2010 by kali
The January doll is part of a 12-month journaling project, in which I decided to mesh my interest in beading and jewelry-making with my work as an assemblage artist. At the end of the year, all the dolls will be exhibited together as an installation.
More info on the doll and the project are available at my Fresh Monsters site.
Jan 27th, 2010 by kali
My fine art work has been on hold recently because I’m still setting up my new studio, but I’ve been able to do quite a bit of beading and polymer clay jewelry design. (Pictures are posted at my jewelry blog site, Fresh Monsters.) I do have an idea for a new multimedia series based on my photos I took of the Utah and Arizona deserts last May.
It was probably my last trip to my beloved desert for many years, and so it’s especially poignant for me to work with the images. I took my husband, who had never been to the U.S. before, because I wanted to show him the part of the world that meant the most to me and he was appropriately awed. At the same time, were were both disappointed at the amount of development in previously untouched areas of canyon country. It was especially noticeable in the Paria and Escalante regions.
I’d grown used to the fact that once deserted parks have turned into parking lots (Arches is the worst, where you can’t even find a parking space to walk down a hiking trail), but it saddened me to see the canyons around Kanab now surrounded by housing developments. (Especially ironic in light of the mortgage crisis — I’m sure most of them will remain empty and some will fall to ruin without ever being occupied.)
Jan 2nd, 2010 by kali
Check out my progress on the January Doll, over at Freshmonsters.com…
Jan 2nd, 2010 by kali
My first post of the year is about the wonderful Bead Journal project, founded in 2007 by Robin Atkins. This project invites artists to keep a journal in beaded format, with one entry a month. Members are given great freedom in the forms they can choose, and I’ve decided to use that freedom to the fullest, by creating a beaded doll every month to represent myself. The dolls will be mixed-media, and I’ll be using polymer clay, found objects, beads, wire, glass, paper, and anything else that seems to fit. Each doll will have the same face, but I suspect the end result will be quite different each time. At the end of the project, I’ll create an installation piece that incorporates all the dolls. (But don’t ask me what form that’ll take yet!)
You can follow my adventures on my Fresh Monsters jewelry site, and they will also be posted on the Bead Journal Project 3 Blogger site. We’re not allowed to post pictures on the Project Blog (some members don’t want to be influenced by other artists’ choices), so you’ll be able to find both descriptions and images of my project at Fresh Monsters.
Dec 14th, 2009 by kali
I’ve relocated from Berlin to Bern, Switzerland, where I’m anticipating a New Year full of creativity and excitement. I will miss all my friends and colleagues, and wonderful Studio Ross/Tal, and especially my studio mate, Paula. And I’ll carry many good memories of the Sunday Artist Buffets!
If you come by Berlin, contact me to arrange a visit to my new studio, which features a garden!
Dec 7th, 2008 by kali
| January 25, 2009 | ||
| 4:00 pm | to | 8:00 pm |
Dear Friends,
Thanks for supporting our Sunday Salons over the last six months. We’ve had a great time, and we hope you’ve enjoyed them too. We look forward to more Salons in 2009.
The holiday season is upon us, and Paula and I have decided to wait until January to host another Sunday Salon at Studio Ross/Tal. Paula has a show coming up (invitations forthcoming), and I am deeply immersed in making jewelry which will be on display in January as well. Given the large number of holiday parties and exciting events in Berlin from late November through December, we thought you might not miss us too much if we took a short break.
The next Salon will take place on Sunday, January 25, after which we will go to a bi-monthly, rather than a monthly schedule. In the “off” months we plan to host some different events, including film screenings and workshops. We’ll send you information about these events as our ideas develop. If you have ideas about events you’d like us to host in the studio, feel free to contact us an make suggestions.
We look forward to continuing to build community and sponsor events next year, and hope for your continued attendance and support.
Happy holidays!
Kali Tal & Paula Ross
Oct 19th, 2008 by kali
| October 26, 2008 | ||
| 4:00 pm | to | 8:00 pm |
We welcome artists, scholars and other creative people. Share food and conversation, and connect with interesting and creative people.
DATE: October 26, 16:00-20:00
WHERE: Studio Ross / Tal, Grüntaler Str 7, Ground Floor, 13357 Berlin
(Gesundbrunnen S+U)
Door charge for buffet & non-alcoholic beverages: 7 EUR. (Bring your own alcohol, if want to drink.) Your payment helps subsidize these events so we can continue to serve the community.
Reservations are first-come, first-served. We can host up to 45 people but fill up quickly, so don’t wait. And if you must cancel, please do so 48 hours in advance so we can invite people from our waiting list.
What brings us together is our mutual interest in the arts, and that we can all speak English, either as a native tongue or as a second (or third, or fourth) language.
All English-speaking artists and art-appreciators are welcome to attend, and you are of course welcome to bring along non-English- speaking friends and partners, since many of us also speak German and other languages. Feel free to bring portfolios and business cards, although all sharing and conversation is informal. The focus is on making connections with other interesting people, and on enjoying the food and company.
SPECIAL GUEST: We are privileged, once again to have an official representative of the BBK-Berlin attending the September Salon. BBK is the Professional Association of Berlin Artists, with more than 2000 members, and they are reaching out to English-speaking artists. There will be no formal presentation, but the representative will circulate during the Salon and explain the advantages of BBK membership, including access to subsidized studio space, access to production equipment (printmaking, digital equipment, etc.), workshops and other opportunities.
This month, we’ll be serving serving an eclectic and wonderful assortment of spicy and mild curries from both South and Southeast Asia, cooling and savory salads, and the usual table of delicious desserts.
MENU
Salty Malaysian Chicken Curry
Fiery Seafood Curry
Pork Vindaloo
Yellow Ginger Vegetable Curry
Cashew Nut Curry
Braised Pumpkin
Lentil Salad with White Grapes and Carrots
Red Hot Rice Salad
Southeast Asian Onion-Tomato Condiment
Carrot Raita
Yogurt and Mint Raita
Mango Chutney
Coriander Chutney
Coconut Semolina Cakes
Cashew Meringue Cakes
Bananas Stewed in Coconut Milk
Sep 2nd, 2008 by kali
In August, 2008 I asked photographer Stephen Gerlich to shoot a series of my recent work titled “Short Circuit Stories.”
The canvas for each work in this collection is a discarded piece of computer hardware — a circuit board — a map of reality-driven, mathematically-based thinking that is already compromised by anthropomorphism. (“My computer doesn’t like me! My computer does what it wants, not what I want! Computers make me feel stupid! Computers are a tool of the devil! Computers will save the world! And so on.) The practitioners of Afro-Caribbean religions (Vodou, Santería, Condomble) have already identified the deity who governs computers: Ellegúa/Legba, a capricious trickster, the god who opens the gateways for other gods to enter the physical realm, a figure found most often at crossroads. This god has also been adopted by science fiction writers who have for years been using Legba as a metaphor for the power and double-edged potential of virtual reality. The obsolete, discarded circuit board is a once expensive, once cutting-edge piece of technology that has metamorphosed into “junk,” even though it may still function. It is also dangerous garbage, since disassembly and disposal present serious human and environmental risks. Despite being nominally whole, its existence has become meaningless and malign in a world where “progress” has rendered it not only useless, but often, unintelligible. Repurposing the circuit board within a narrative framework acts as a corrective to the notion of “growth for the sake of growth,” which is the ideology of the cancer cell and might as well be the motto of capitalist societies.
The other images and objects that comprise the work have been collected over a period of almost thirty years. Some are much older than that — costume jewelry inherited from my grandmothers, antiques and oddities. Each has already been the object of careful selection, and final incorporation into a completed artwork is the endpoint of an already lengthy process. There is a deliberate mix of “expensive” (coins, semiprecious stones, collectibles) and “worthless” (advertising, cheap toys, rhinestones, rocks, shells) objects in each narrative frame, because these pieces question the notion of assigned value and underline the point that it is interpretation rather than inherent worth that determines value.
Aug 25th, 2008 by kali
| September 28, 2008 | ||
| 4:00 pm | to | 8:00 pm |
Graphic by Paula Ross
Studio Ross / Tal, Grüntaler Str 7, 13357 Berlin.
Reservations are on a first-come, first served basis. We fill up quickly, so don’t wait. And if you must cancel, please do so 48 hours in advance so we can invite people from our waiting list.
SPECIAL GUEST: We are privileged to have an official representative of the BBK-Berlin attending the September Salon. BBK is the Professional Association of Berlin Artists, with more than 2000 members, and they are reaching out to English-speaking artists. There will be no formal presentation, but the representative will circulate during the Salon and explain the advantages of BBK membership, including access to subsidized studio space, access to expensive equipment (printmaking, digital equipment, etc.), workshops and other opportunities.
The August salon was a great event, with over 40 people in attendance. Among our number were painters, sculptors, conceptual artists, new media artists, filmmakers, photographers, opera singers, comic book illustrators, gallerists, curators, and many more. They included established artists and those just beginning their professional careers. Conversation was lively, people networked, and at least a few collaborations were born. We’re very excited about the next salon on 28 September.
What ties us together is our mutual passion for the arts, and that we all speak English, either as a native tongue or as a second (or third, or fourth) language. All English-speaking artists and art-appreciators are welcome to attend. Feel free to bring portfolios and business cards, although all sharing and conversation is informal.
The Caribbean menu at the August salon was a real hit, especially the sweet potato pie and the dulce de leche candies. Quite a few people tried callaloo stew for the first time and were surprised and pleased by the unusual mix of flavors.
This month, we’ll be serving authentic Ashkenazi cuisine, which has its roots in the Jewish shtetls of Russia and Poland. My Ashkenazi recipes were passed on to me by my grandmothers — each of them cooked in a different style. My maternal grandmother was first-generation American, and so her recipes are closer to the original versions. But my paternal grandmother (a fabulous baker) was 4th generation American and introduced me to the New York version of Ashkenazi classics. For those who have never tried this cuisine, it’s rich and satisfying, tart and sweet, fresh and full of flavor. I haven’t found wonderful New York Jewish food in Berlin yet, so I’ll do my best to fill that gap.
On the Menu
We suggest a 7 EUR voluntary donation to subsidize the food costs. For the first 4 months we suggested 5 EUR, but we found that wasn’t coming close to covering our expenses. With 7, you’re still being subsidized, but Paula and I won’t go broke and will be able to keep hosting you month after month. Larger donations are of course happily accepted.
