The Lawn Bike now has a very sickly looking layer of brown sod on it. I also roughed in the fence posts to get an idea of the final appearance. Now I have to level out the grass and water it a lot. Where is my green thumb?

Since the portable lawn bike is a tricycle it required complicated steering linkages similar to a car. This is not a difficult thing to fabricate. It merely takes more time than a simple bicycle. The next step will be pedals, chain and a hasty test ride.

This time the project is hardly about being a bicycle at all. It is a new absurd situation. I want a portable yard since I live in an apartment in Japan. I need a place to kick back and barbque. I could be flipping steaks while waiting for a traffic signal or rub my feet through the grass in rush hour traffic. Those activities are a ways off but the foundation has been laid. There are a few milestones in bicycle fabrication. The first is the connection and alignment of all the wheels so the bicycle can roll. In this case it is a tricycle and therefore has an intermediary milestone of fabricating the steering system. After this the connection of the chain and pedals nearly completes the bike. Usually the flimsy seat and inadequate brake are hastily fastened at this time for a premature test spin. Then everything is finalized and disassembled for painting and final greasing and assembly. This project is at milestone one.

I pulled some bikes from the gutter to use on my next project. My studio has filled up with stuff and now I need to turn these objects without value into art. Because of entrance exams for the new school year I was unable to use the studio during March so one day I sneaked in to get my sewing machine and sewed a new inflatable suit at home. The suit is big and red so I decided to call it Big Red. Next month I will be having barbques on my new portable lawn bike. Let the games begin.

For various reasons Kjell returned to Himeji after one year in New York and upon his return set up a painting and ceramics studio in an old leather factory. One of Kjell’s student’s family owned the factory and donated the space. I did not have a chance to see the studio during my time in graduate school but saw it during a brief visit to Japan in May to prepare for my project in Nagoya. Since coming to Japan to begin my research I did not have an opportunity to visit his studio until now.

He built a room inside the large factory that is still half used in the dying of leather. I enjoyed seeing the studio and the art activities of an old friend and colleague. Visiting the studio of an artist for the first time is rewarding as well, but seeing the studio of an artist that you have known for a long time allows for deeper insight into their work and ideas. Kjell has always experimented and investigated the body and the figure in representational forms as well as abstract images. He continues this work in the form of drawings. paintings, and more recently ceramics.
He has completed a few murals in restaurants in Japan including one that he had to repaint after the establishment burnt down. He is studying under a ceramicist named John Dix and at the end of February quit teaching English to pursue art making full time.

I enjoyed my time with Kjell catching up and playing boci ball in the grassy area of a nearby temple. He and I are headed to the kiln where he studies and works with John tomorrow. There they fire a wood burning kiln called a noborigama. More information about Kjell and his art adventures can be seen at www.kjellhahn.com.