2023 in review
The time has arrived for wrapping up 2023. This year I’ve chosen to avoid the topical and focus on a few core memories found this year.
In that spirit, the photos below are a kind of semi-chronology of the year — gathered as experiences and moments important to me personally. Flounders, successes all were present in varying amounts, but I can say I’ve learned and grown in ways that also evade description sometimes. Enter the picture: my newly found and refurbished Selectric II typewriter (mechanical computer, let’s say) not forgetting the also foundational Smith Corona Electra 120 which has lent itself to a variety of experiments pictured below.
There’s a sort of irony ranging from mild to moderately spicy in the act of sending out a digital newsletter after one has developed a love of typewriters. But perhaps writing in any form is good enough. Marshall McLuhan, eat your heart out.
Nature remains an important backdrop for meaningful experiences I continue to be lucky to find here and there. Small walks or hikes, or a ride down the Salt River with a local steel sculptor/artist make for memorable periods of relaxation and reflection.
On the regular I continued the tradition of my bike-based directionless explorations known in French as a dérive. Often ending up in a coffee shop, or on a Saturday for an afternoon craft brew. Some wanderings are more circuitous than others, to be sure.
In the summer Mary Papenhausen and I decided to move in together. The decision was natural after we’d begun dating in March, and were quite familiar with each other’s patterns of life. Searching online randomly one evening I found a listing for a rental property I was familiar with from architecture school; a modern 3 story townhome by Architect Michael Underhill, a former professor who still teaches at ASU. We toured the property and decided to go for it (and were lucky enough to be chosen). In a blisteringly hot July week we moved all our belongings; Mary’s record collection, my 800lb gorilla, I mean books, and the variety of artistic objects and knickknacks we’ve both collected over the years. It takes quite some time to truly settle in a place, and we’re still very much in that process today.
The big spring news of a new relationship with my now partner, Mary and the new space we now inhabit in Downtown Phoenix now allows the two cats to have much more space and natural light. So much natural light they seemed quite confused the first few weeks as to whether they were inside or outside, wandering around with confused meows which was quite comical, if revealing that space affects us quite deeply, even if we are a cat.
The photo above captures a slice of process in the migratory library — installed onto new shelving I built echoing a previous version. I’ve yet to count all the books, or really categorize them other than by 4 “sections” reflecting Theory, Architecture, Fiction, and Reference... and a 5th non-categorical literary catch-all section.
The Salk Institute in March, which we visited on a trip to San Diego to visit friends, remains one of the most impressive pieces of architectural design I’ve ever had the pleasure of experiencing. As Mary and I started officially dating on this trip (yes, we filled out all the forms) and the rest is history.
Mary and I also visited San Francisco in the early Fall for the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival — one of the largest free events in the world. The music was incredible and we caught up with a few of my old friends from Berkeley. We also visited SF MOMA — a first for Mary, and we soaked up the amazing exhibits like cats to warm milk.
On our SF trip we visited our friends Kenny and Paul in Oakland one evening and we were struck by the beauty of the East Bay and all it has to offer. Great conversation, good food amounted to several hours of recounting favorite artists, musical and otherwise and hearing about projects from all angles.
Back in Phoenix creative projects continued, and the park-set birthday party for Sara Anderson (local event planner and all ‘round extraordinaire) gave me an opportunity to bring my Electra 120 to the park with an agenda… create a giant scroll of happy birthday wishes. So I found a roll of Japanese rice paper on which we could continuously type all our good wishes. The scroll isn’t pictured below, but it was glorious.
Poetry collaboration is one of those rare things which allows a creative overlap, to see into another’s process and way of thinking. My friend Josh Wiss, local poet and creator, joined in on a test of the ‘birthday scroll’ idea and we set to exquisite poetry quickly, writing line after line of reflective prose. The photo below is one of the results, the Japanese paper allowing a certain transparency was particularly nice, as it allows a kind of analog overlay of images from my computer monitor.
Many thanks to Mary’s encouragement, I also completed my first book of poetry which is short and contains still a few errors in print, but on which I’m working on a longer more refined version. Contact me if you’d like a copy.
I’m lucky enough that my Saturday mornings continue to be filled with the occasional ‘Sketch’ meet up with my friends and fellow creatives John Parman and Peiting Li of Berkeley, Ca. The discussions are deep and broad, weaving together many more topics than I could list about our perception of art, symbols, and writing topics and methods.
The ASU Student Mixer this year at the Air Apparent James Turrell Skyspace was another great success, connecting students and professionals and giving me personally a chance to clarify through description what continues to inspire me about architectural practice. Students ask great and inquisitive questions, and the conversations while guided often ranged far and wide.
To top the year off, Mary and I announced our engagement around Thanksgiving to the world. I ordered the rings from a jeweler in Paris, and they represent Mobius bands, or infinite surfaces of a sort. I do think we’re quite lucky to have found each other and every day is a new opportunity to learn the pattern of the other’s thinking and ways of being. Living with someone inclined to a vast musical knowledge has its perks I must say, and I’ve benefited by becoming drastically more domesticated than the PCT hiking version of me ever was. Hopefully I’ve added some value here and there as well with comedic moments, or showing Mary a few things she’d not have seen otherwise in art, or architecture.
Topping out the year earlier in December was a trip to Los Angeles to see pianist and composer Hania Rani at Teragram downtown. Her performance was mesmerizing and unforgettable. We made a couple new friends at the show, one of whom is a writer and creative coach, and the other who collects paper (a vast abbreviation for what seemed to me to be an extensive career in print making and paper art).
I hope everyone has a warm holiday filled with reflection and love.
-Rocky and Mary
