Collaboration Nation Numero quatro

Collaboration number 4 from Jesse Albrecht, Dan Attoe, and me (Bill Donovan).

Number 3 from Jesse Albrecht, Dan Attoe, and Bill Donovan.

Collaboration # 2, from Jesse, Dan, and I

Here is the second drawing I have drawn on from Jesse and Dan.

Jesse Albrecht sent me some drawings that he and Dan Attoe had worked on.

So this is the first drawing I have worked on too.

I drew the old man with the multiple color face and the stripped shirt.

I like working with my friends. The three of us know each other from the University of Iowa, where we all went to grad school together.

I was excited to draw on this because both Dan and Jesse really made a nice drawing.

David Dunlap and Jesse Albrecht

I admire these guys: Jesse Albrecht and David Dunlap, here they are holding a drawing that they made together.

Jesse went to school with me, and David was one of our professors. Knowing them has changed my life in subtle ways.

For instance to hear David talk about how when he was young he tried so hard to carve out an identity among his peers with his art, to seperate himself, and now he will tell you it is better to be involved with other people making art together. He built a pool in his backyard beneath a walnut tree, when the walnuts fell they stained the water and made the pool water into ink, so David started an ink farm. It took me 5 years to appreciate that appropriately.

Jesse makes gigantic ceramic statues which resemble columns or warheads or urns, and creates representational reliefs that wrap around the form. One example is a snake unhinging its jaw to swallow a self-portrait of Jesse when he was a baby. Great big images that someone can sink their thoughts into.

Thanks David!

Thanks Jesse!

I found something and I was not looking for anything

I started reading a pretty famous book about Zen, The Beginners Mind, that I made fun of when my father gave it to me as a birthday present. It is really interesting, and has a lot of genuinely profound insight.

I think this book could hurt no one, and help most people.

Click here to see the book, and 2 others

especially click it if your life is crazy, or if you feel like your brain is a chaotic swirl of mashed potatoes, pasta sauce, and a show from the adult swim programming on cartoon network.

Jesse Albrecht

My friend Jesse is a genius, click here to see his art displayed in the Arizona landscape.