At the Atelier La Francia Medellin Colombia

The 13th Grape subscription

Today via Facebook "The Thirteenth Grape" subscription began with the response of 12 recipients.
These 12 individuals will receive 13 art multiples over a year period each an addition of 13.
The individuals who reacted in time and will receive the subscription are- Devon Brady, Nicki & Ethan Kruszka, Leah Pecoraro-Eddy, Sarah Howard, Jade Dellinger, Martin Clear, Jen Saavedra, Lisa Harasiuk, Neil Gobioff, Kyle Williams, Nicky Jacobson and Jay Ellis.

Sketch for 10' Dreamachine

Clearing the studio out at the beginning of the Memorial Day weekend I came across this drawing on a piece of mdf . The drawing is a sketch for the large dreamachine built for "Refractory" and is drawn on a piece of mdf used to construct the large foam cutting lathe for the Dali Museum's groundbreaking project ( a giant egg that a Dali impersonator emerged from during the groundbreaking ceremony).

There are a lot of memories compressed into this drawing and surface destined for the dumpster!

Below are some images of the fruits of the sketch above and the lathe that it was drawn upon. The egg was cut with the help of the lathe and the dreamachine was the subject of the sketch,

The Dali Museum egg at the groundbreaking ceremony being opened by two St. Petersburg mayors.

And presto chango out pops Salvador Dali.

The event originally was to have specially cast shovels made of resin with butterflies trapped in the head of the shovel.
Here is my concept drawing for the shovels.

The extreme dreamachine, most likely the largest dreamachine ever fabricated. This dreamachine, over 10' tall, had light ports shaped like moths rotating around the light. The piece was titled "How did you come to this?"

Another view of "How did you come to this" at the Refractory event in Tampa, Fl

South most FLA 3- The Perky Bat Tower

The Perky Bat Tower of Sugarloaf Key.

As mentioned in the "Cryptoblog" entry titled "Spring Mix and a brief history of bats and hotels" the bat tower located on Sugarloaf Key was a coveted location to visit and investigate. Well, here it is! These photos show some of the structural details of the tower.

Upwards view from the base shows the chambers for the bats. Thousands of bats (colonies) could have lived in this thing. So why did they never move in? My guess is that there is no near fresh water source. Bats drink in flight so they would have to fly 80 miles to get fresh water.

The good thing about the tower is that somebody is using it as home. An osprey nest sits on top- the perfect roost. We could hear the sounds of the young osprey as well in the nest.

Somewhere in the Everglades

South most Florida 2- The Fruit and Spice Park

The next stop in South Florida was the Fruit and Spice Park in Redlands FL. This place is a sprawling group of paths that takes you by all manner of exotic trees and plants. All types of bananas, hundreds of varieties of mangos, a beautiful bamboo forest and even an area for poisonous plants.

The rules are simple- you can try any fruits that have fallen from the trees- you can not pick fruit from the trees and you can not remove fruit from the park.

On entering the park you are treated to a sample of that days ripe fruits. Here, from left to right on the top- Mamey Sapote, Canistel, Sour Guava, and more mamey sapote. From left to right on the bottom- Atemoya, unknown white fruit, Black Sapote and Sapodilla. All of these are really good. I especially like the Sour Guava or Asian Guava, the Mamey Sapote ( which tastes like pumpkin) and the Sapodilla (which tastes like a pear with cinnamon on it).

Banana jungle at the Fruit and Spice Park

Coconut palms and Sapote trees.

Phallic Sausage Tree- This fruit is used to make a beer like brew that supposedly keeps away tornadoes.

Sugar Apple- We did not try these but the Atemoya is a  hybrid of this fruit which was sampled at the  welcome center.

I highly recommend this park for anyone interested in fruit baring trees. The paths are also broken into geographical themes to some extent and are lovely to walk. Another nice thing about the park is that you get to see a good amount of exotic reptile action. We saw several very well fed iguanas and a bunch of beautiful Knight Anoles. Look for them in the bamboo forest if you go!

South most Florida

One place in south Florida that has been spoken about in terms of its legendary and mysterious nature to me throughout my life is the Coral Castle in Homestead. A double whammy of theories reporting magical/superscientific construction methods and overall "Why build it?" surrounds this structure.

Sometimes spoken of as a tourist trap by cynical travel bloggers, this structure truly has some incredible achievements to hold even the most dismissive visiter in check. My first visit to Coral Castle came some months ago on a mad weekend sprint to Key West.

The site is not a sprawling structure but what counts is the sheer weight of the thing. Constructed from jagged coral limestone blocks cut into very near perfect fits is impressive enough but the sculpted elements are over the top. Inside the courtyard are the works of Ed Leedskalnin's lifetime. Tables, chairs, steps and ornamental celestial objects all share a common finish, expertly carved from the stone.

There is a sundial and a few very tall obelisks as well.

So how did one man do all of this? Legend never gives credit to the patient work that a sculptor does to achieve something like this. Legend suggests that Ed used levitation through magnetism to get it done. It is true that Ed Leedskalnin was keenly interested in magnetism and had created a few devices that explored his theories but other evidence at the site and old photos tell a different story. Ed was fond of using car batteries to display the effects of electromagnetism to back up his theories and wrote treatises on a "perpetual motion holder", "Mineral, animal and vegetable life", facial training for young people, and all sorts of other stuff in a purely instinctive fashion. This man was no scientist. I believe that Ed was really skilled as a sculptor and had learned to use rigging, levers, and blocking to get his stones in place. I will quote something ( a page I randomly opened to) in his book " A Book In Every House "

"My definition of right is that right is anything in nature that exists without artificial modification and all the others are wrong. Now suppose you would say it is wrong. In that case, I would say you are wrong yourself because you came into this world through natural circumstances that you had nothing to do with and so as long as such a thing exists as yourself, I am right and you are wrong."

No wonder Ed never married. I don't think that kind of inflexibility would make for a good relationship.

The Coral Castle is also home to many beautiful Agama agama lizards. They are everywhere in the walls of the castle. These lizards are exotics from Africa.

Close up of jagged stone used in Coral Castle construction.

A view of Ed's electromagnetic equipment for his experiments. Very interesting stuff. Lots of hand made solenoids and coils.

And chain lifts. There goes the levitation theory.