First day in India

I flew out of Chicago O'hare on December 12th to Paris and then to Mumbai. I spent the night at the airport in Mumbai and then caught an early morning flight to Vadadora (Baroda). Yesterday was the 14th when I finally arrived. The artist I am collaborating with, Shelly Jyoti, picked me up from the airport. She welcomed me to her home and served me the most delicious homemade ginger chai tea. It's made with some kind of basil and fresh ginger. Amazing. I was so tired yesterday that I failed to take any photos of my new surroundings. Just imagine a crowded dusty street lined with fruit and vegetable venders with motorcycles piled high with passengers (women in saris, kids sitting on the handlebars) zipping in and out and competing for space with cows sauntering by and cars beeping furiously. I'm glad we have a driver here!

We installed the show yesterday. The walls in the gallery are cement (this is typical of most buildings) so the way you hang artwork is by tying it up with string attached to hooks up at the top of the ceiling. I have 14 pieces and Shelly has 20 wall works and 2 installations. This was not small task. The Red Earth Gallery space is gigantic and the scale of most of my Devon Avenue Sampler works is quite small so it took a while to figure out the right placement but we did it. Today was just have some last minute finishing touches and then we are ready for the preview opening tonight.

The most memorable thing from yesterday had to be eating. Breakfast, lunch and dinner were all home cooked - saag paneer, roti, chipati, rice, soup, daal, lots of tea. I'm in culinary heaven.

Exciting news - we got written up in the Sunday Times of India, Ahmedabad (Dec 13, 2009) - "Pre-Independece Struggle Over 'indigo' plantation on canvas." They even printed a photo of both of us. I need to find an online link to post this. I only have a print version.
Installing Indigo: New works by Shelly Jyoti and Laura Kina which opens tonight!