Wednesday, February 1

one million flakes of obsidian

This is my Dad's way of proving: you think you have a studio? THIS is a studio!
(I got him Crocodile Dundee [need i specify which?] for Christmas)

in the back loading dock entrance of this once-upon-a-time grocery store lies this Mayan stone carving. it's one of only three original casts of this particular piece

Dad let us touch it even though it was one of the more important museum artifacts being stored there, but this didn't cure Michael's frowny face...yet

It smelled like you imagine it smelling in Indiana Jones when you see that warehouse of millions of important objects just sitting around. Apparently the Mayan calendar completes a major cycle in the year 2020 at which point, my Dad joked, some new age types would be watching for the end of the world.

and now...the studio within the warehouse of lost museum artifacts:

that's not an arrowhead, THIS is an arrowhead!

that's not a fancy arrowhead, THIS is a fancy arrowhead!

that's not a flake of obsidian, THIS is a flake of obsidian!


o.k. maybe THIS is a fancy arrowhead!

THIS is how you hit obsidian with a rock!






David gets the hang of it, but was in less of a good mood than Michael...


THERE's Michael's smiley face...but that's not quite a smiley face

THIS is a smiley face!


nononononono

now i feel like a prodigy

all my brothers really wanted for Christmas were cool hoodies. that's about the scope of things i coveted when i was their age too.

after twenty years of teaching college kids the basics of flintnapping, Dad had to admit he was impressed with the quick learning curve all three of us were showing our first time in the pit. i guess it's in our blood.

THIS is delicate antler/leather work to finish an arrowhead!

THAT's a David smiley face!

so that was the unexpected studio visit of Christmas break in Utah that reminded me that i have even more in common with my father than i stopped to realize: Studios.

p.s. Dad is an archaeologist who focuses on the most ancient civilizations of Mesoamerica. He also studies ancient tool-making technology and is some sort of expert (as i'm sure you can tell from the photos) in obsidian.

12 comments:

David said...

brilliant paul hogan references.

Joe said...

when i was a freshman your dad came in to my archeology class and napped the hell out of some flint for us.
this post fit nicely with my post on studios. nicely done.

savoury toothed tiger said...

hey mr. clark, are we related? you look familiar...
thanks for the mick dundee prop.

that would warm Dad's heart joe. it makes me wonder just how many lives he's touched with his obsidian proselyting...and how many of those lives i'm connected with.
let's keep this blog continuity. you choose the subjects and i try to match you.

Joe said...

Mr Clark, you are the brother of Ian are you not? Ian and I were friends in denver. jared, you met Ian when you came to church with us that sunday and his sister spoke or shared her testimony.

David said...

whoa dude... my world is colliding.

stt - clark was my grandmother's maiden name, so maybe a few lines back we are related.

however, why i look familiar is that i'm the gent that spent some time with suzanne in denver on your guys trek on the way out here. ring a bell?

papa n. - i am the brother of ian. how do you know him, how did you know this about me?

savoury toothed tiger said...

denver brings us together! o.k., i remember meeting you (mr. clark) with suzanne, but it was dark and i didn't get a good memory on your face...but i remember you're tall, which is another connection between the three of us on this post that will band us together.

David said...

that is true... perhaps there is something to this clark business though... are any of your father's relatives from california?

Joe said...

Mr clark, sorry to blow your mind like that. Ian and I are friends through are ward in denver, though I know live in Olympia, WA. Audry is really good friends with my wife, Michelle. She also took the discussions at my house. I'm Joe Penrod in the offline world. www.amishrobot.com/joe
I found your site a while back and kept thinking you looked familiar and figured out who you were while reading it. I found it linked through some other sites I read. Ian verified that you are his bro.
I wish I had a Clark connection too. Jared, maybe Michelle and I could adopt you?

David said...

joe,

so does that mean we've met?

small world

Joe said...

I don't think we have actually. I've been over to Ian's house and met your brothers, but I think you were out of state.
It is a small world. I was pretty shocked to realize you were Ian's brother.
I can't believe you and Jared have met. Tall people always seem to group together. I've always had tall friends even when I no longer played sports. It's probably the clear awesomeness of height that bonds us all together.

David said...

re: awesomeness of height.

yeah... i always had tall friends in high school too. i was among the shortest, and i'm 6'4" my friends were large chaps.

hey jared, my latest entry is going to be about art and i'm linking your art site, if you don't mind.

savoury toothed tiger said...

i welcome the link