Heat, Bugs, and Bamboo

The studio is accessed from the dining room or from the narrow road bordering the four bedroom house. It’s an ideal set up and one of the brightest interior spaces. It’s also one of the hottest. We’ve installed a free standing air conditioner that hasn’t been able to cool lower than 30C (86F) although it’s noticeably cooler than the outside temperature even in the shade. That said it’s a beautiful studio in a beautiful place and worth wading through the heat. The indoor Japanese style tub is a dream. After riding into town and back it’s a refreshing soak.

We walked early this morning to the Kamiari Shrine 神在神社 atop a steep hill enshrouded in a bamboo forest. Beautifully dense bamboo stalks clicked and cracked against one another as the leaves caught the breeze. There’s a consistent breeze since we’re so close to the Sea of Japan. It blows a hot sunbaked wind that is cooling and welcome although not exactly refreshing.

Sharing a studio with CC has been great. We haven’t worked together since our MFA days in 2003. Sharing the studio with the occasional sideways scurrying crab or three-inch long beetle isn’t as desirable. Today we passed a street mirror housing a massive yellow and black stripped Joro Spider brazenly overseeing its web. I looked up the species and was terrified when reading that these huge insects are venomous! I regretted looking it up but forced myself to read further and found that they are mostly harmless to humans. Still terrifying!

Work is coming along in the studio. I am taking inspiration from the visual qualities and physical placements of Shinto shrines and the profound spiritual connection to nature that the shrines embody.

Work in progress