Gary is the Director of Operations at Wine Library as well as the host of the entertaining and educational Wine Library TV. His message: follow your heart; follow yourself.
Watch Gary on the Late Night with Conan O'Brien show
I felt the Notice Expedition vidcast has merit to be on my blog because I find it so inspiring. The expedition team is comprised of 3 normal guys with day jobs - aged 38, 33, and 23 - who are going to cross the Greenland ice cap from south to north. In 2007 they crossed Greenland's ice cap from east to west (600 km) as a "test" expedition, to prepare them for the 2008 crossing (2500 km). They depart in May 2008.
Full disclosure: Liquid Earth (my husband's company) is the producer of the series.
The 15-part vidcast is in Dutch.
EPISODE 9: The team had such problems with their ski bindings on their 2007 test expedition that this episode is dedicated to what else than ski bindings!
EPISODE 8: Introduction to the base camp coordinator and doctor who support the team virtually while they're on the ice. They're on call 24/7 and play a critical role if something goes wrong.
EPISODE 7: Philip demonstrates the bio-fuel cooker.
EPISODE 6: The countdown to the May 8th departure is ticking off as the team packs up all their gear and sends it off to Greenland.
EPISODE 5: The team packs their freeze-dried food at Adventure Food, owned and run by Hans van der Meulen (the first Dutchman to summit Mt. Everest without extra oxygen).
EPISODE 4: Weight training to be able to pull the 125 kg sleds (275 lbs) and practicing with the kites that will pull the team and the sleds. The episode ends with some spectacular kite skiing in Germany.
EPISODE 3: (2007 test expedition finale): Joep's back is better, and he's busy untangling the kite strings. The team arrives at the deserted 'Dye 2' (former US radar station) and cross the finish line - with a lot of tourists there to witness it!
EPISODE 2: (2007 test expedition) Philip has stomach problems. Eric is flat-out exhausted. And Joep pulls his back and thinks about quitting...but says he's determined not to throw away 1 1/2 years of planning.
EPISODE 1: (2007 test expedition) The team arrives in Greenland and get started on the 600 km east-west crossing.
]]>At the age of 15, Philip de Roo sailed to Antarctica as part of the "Xpedition Cool" project under the World Wildlife Fund's Ranger program. Since that inspiring experience he's returned to the polar regions several times on various expeditions, not to mention the mountains he's climbed. Philip trekked the last degree to the North Pole in 2004 with Poletrack (my husband was basecamp), in 2007 he crossed the Greenland icecap from east to west, and in May 2008 he will cross the Greenland icecap from south to north - a crossing of 2500 km! The Greenland "double crossing" is the Notice Expedition. By the way, Philip is 22 years old.
You can follow along on the Notice Expedition's vidcast on my blog.Watch Gary on the Late Night with Conan O'Brien show
What drives you to re-purpose items that others throw away, things that you have to meticulously prepare before you can even begin to do something with them?
I feel that objects bring with them the residue of past lives and have been witness to life’s private dramas. They are like the keepers of inaccessible secrets, forever locked away with the objects. Some of my objects actually debate me in a way. The diner stools, for instance, fought me every aesthetic step of the way. I had this whole vision of how I wanted them, and no matter what I did, chemical reactions happened or other unforeseens, and the end result was that they had an extremely serious and elegant look with somber tones, kind of like a Parisian-chinois aesthetic, when my original vision was bright and cheerful and almost carnivalesque. They seemed quite satisfied when they were finished. It took me months to be able to see them for what they were and not what I hoped they would be. To this day they seem rather self-satisfied. Maybe they desperately needed a change after a lifetime of lining a diner counter with various butts perched upon them and having to absorb the odors of the grill and pies and such.
Other pieces are more complacent. The washing machine so wanted to be made masculine so I acquiesced and created a plaid-like pattern. It seemed so proud when I was done, and when the wringer arm is swung just so, it resembles a pharaoh, so I had the legs and lever gilded in 23k gold leaf. The ironing board is another plucky piece; it started out as a bright madras plaid and everything went wrong, so I started over and made a simple dot pattern almost like a Wonder Bread wrapper. Once I changed the pattern it went smoothly.
Why do you go to the trouble to reclaim glass, spend hours lovingly staining it, and then smash it to bits only to reassemble it?
It’s just another manifestation of my Obsessive-Compulsive personality. I am totally OCD. And I just love abandoned and discarded things. Things that seemingly have no use are fascinating to me.
Also, it appeals to me because it’s a challenge. I thrill to projects that are difficult in some way or totally unique. It is really fussy stuff to work with. Lately though, I see lots of other people starting to work in tempered glass, and one artist even claims to be THE pioneer of tempered glass art. This makes me want to move on to something new. That and the mess and toxins involved with the stains and the adhesives and grout and chemicals.
Who most inspires you personally and why?
I am much inspired by Alexander Calder as I love his work and find it fascinating that he invented the mobile, named as a counter to the French “stabile”. I also very much admire Marcel Duchamp because of his use of objects and the wit and soul and search evident in his work. Joan Mitchell is one of my favorite painters, and I am much enamored of Gustav Klimt for obvious reasons and parallels.
What are you currently working on?
Right now I am curating a show about the lack of coverage in the arts, which will run for the month of February 2008 at The Hampden Gallery at The University of Massachusetts. I have a 2D work in a show that is up at The Augusta Savage Gallery, made with glass paints on gessoed handmade paper. That show is en route to Cameroon, West Africa next. And I am doing a filmed interview for cable access television.
And I am madly applying for grants to build a full scale installation, which will be a room based on a feminist novel written in 1983. The installation will cost about $80K to build, and so I have assembled a team of advisors at 5 colleges and museums across the US, including a preparator at a prestigious museum and professors of fine arts, women's studies, art history, and culture and anthropology. With their support, I am in the grant process, and if we can raise the money for materials etc, the project will begin in the spring (ed: of 2008) and will take up to a year to complete at a 40 hour week with interns etc.
So between having work in a few places and spending days on grant narratives etc. and then, oh right, earning a living with freelance work, I am averaging a 60 hour week, and so at this time I am not actually in the hands on part of any of my projects. Sometimes the planning takes a lot of time. My work just came back from the museum (ed: Springfield Museum of Fine Art) so one of my other projects is returing all the work to the people who own it and lent it for the show and assimilating it all back into my studio. While it was gone I painted my floor and sealed it with a poly coat and rearranged everything to fit better.
But at this moment I am just painting. I need a break from the physicality and the toxins of my sculptural work.
If you could offer one piece of advice, what would that be?
Art is that which comes from the soul. Follow your most random inclinations. Don’t copy others. That’s not art, that’s just imitation. Don’t be afraid to be original. Art with an underlying guilt complex is tortured, and that can be felt by all who encounter it. Art is not about ego or entitlement. The best art is free of all that. You can’t tell people what and how to feel about your art. Attempting to convey that you are the best or the first or the most muddies the waters of perception. And always experiment. Don’t waste all of your time planning or trying to figure out how to do something based on available instructive materials. Forethought is good; plunging in and using your experience as a guide is actually doing something.
Mo, thanks so much for your time & heartfelt best wishes with all of your projects!
To learn more about Mo's work, see her website www.fridgequeen.com.
Jamie Buchanan-Dunlop is both an expeditioner and an educator. He is the founder of Digital Explorer as well as the co-founder of iNomad and Offscreen - all of which engage young people on big issues. His mission: to take working-class British teens to see the world on their own terms, give them the tools to report back to their peers on their experiences, and watch them connect with the world. As well as teaching geography and citizenship to 11-16 year olds, Jamie has led expeditions to the Himalayan regions of India, Pakistan, and Tibet as well as the Atlas Mountains of Morocco.
(Video shown with permission)
I spoke with Jamie at length, and he graciously allowed me to interview him.
How many kids do you take on expeditions each year?
At the moment, I run one Digital Explorer expedition taking between 8 and 15 pupils (per) year. However, the whole point of the Digital Explorer is that we can capture that magic of an expedition and transmit it to classrooms across the UK and further. In February 2007, we took 9 pupils to the Emirates and Oman, but we had 20,000 follow their experiences everyday online. I think that we should be more ambitious when we look at youth expeditions and measure their impact, rather than the pure numbers involved. Having said that, I would love to have the funding to run about six expeditions a year focusing on the big global issues.
What types of things do Offscreen, Digital Explorer, and iNomad teach kids?
We don’t teach kids much at all, and that’s the whole point. Maybe we share some basic expedition skills and help them develop digital media and art skills, but that’s about it. The important aspect is to facilitate pupil to pupil education. What the pupils have to say is the most important thing, and being a teacher, I know that any message is far more likely to be taken on board if it comes from someone the same age and from a similar background. All I do is provide the structure and support to allow for this flow of ideas and experiences from the world to the classroom.
What would you say has been your biggest success story?
Working on the Offscreen Student Expedition was incredibly rewarding. It was great to join the work that Offscreen had been doing with art and the Middle East with the methodologies we have been developing with the Digital Explorer. The results have been fantastic, and we have produced an alternative view of the Middle East for schools around the world.
What is your idea of personal success?
I am not sure what personal success looks like at the moment. It’s easier to think about what I would like to achieve… a global network of youth expeditions, with pupils exploring the world on their own terms, beaming back their messages and experiences to the classroom; pupils everywhere learning from their peers, rather than the agenda-laden messages and media they often receive; and an academy for young explorers, so that we can give them the skills to be the leaders. I think that exploration will be fundamental to human development this century. We think we know the world, but there is so much more to explore and understand from cultures to places to processes – global warming, poverty, life in cities, water, sustainability, cultural conflict. Young people have to be part of the tradition of exploration, and that means all young people based on talent, and not on the ability to fund their expeditions.
If you could give one piece of advice, what would that be?
"You must be the change you want to see in the world." - Mohandas K. Gandhi
More about Jamie's work can be found on Digital Explorer, Offscreen, and iNomad.
What was the hardest part of your journey?
The hardest part of my journey was beginning it. The daydreaming, the chatting in pubs, the pouring over books and maps, and the easy fabrication of excuses to procrastinate: all that is great fun. But to finally say, “Right- this is my dream. It’s time for the excuses to stop. It’s time to do it. It’s going to be hard and it’s going to be frightening to begin it.” But how much more frightening is the prospect of not doing it and for my life to be stalked by the gnawing phantoms of regret?
Dreaming about a four-year life as a wandering hobo is a lovely thing. But to finally decide that I was going to give up the chance to earn huge money in the city, that I was going to give up my friends and my family for years in the pursuit of a very selfish goal: that was hard. Saying adieu to my girlfriend was brutal. I had spent the four happiest years of my life with Sarah. But I had no interest in an office career and Sarah was too sensible to want to cycle the world, and so compromise never seemed possible for either of us. It was inevitable that a crunch time would arrive. While I tried to scrimp and save and plan for my journey and Sarah leaped into the racing currents of the career world we slowly drifted apart without me really realizing. It was only when the moment of goodbye arrived that I realised how huge a part of my life she was and just how deeply I loved her. Crying uncontrollably, I tried to reassure myself that my anguish was a good sign of my commitment to my journey, but that was rubbish. I was throwing away the best days of my life with my best friend for a bloody bike ride. I had never in my life been as lonely as when I watched her drive away for the last time.
And actually getting on my bike and riding away from my front door was terrifying. I was too daunted to be proud that I had crossed my first border: from being a person dreaming of his big journey to somebody who is actually on his journey.
After that, all this came true (written by W. H. Murray):
“Until one is committed there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation) there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way.
I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe's couplets:
'Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.' "
Having met so many people during your adventure, did you find a common thread that binds us all together?
Talking with people of every race, religion, political view, and wealth level was eye-opening and helped widen my own horizons. From having to make thousands of snap judgements on whom to trust or not to trust, I saw that first impressions can occasionally be misleading, but usually they are not. I was helped by so many strangers, many of whom became friends and inspirations and without whom I would never have succeeded. I will be forever indebted to all those people. I learned to trust people, to relax and to believe in an essential goodness to the human race. Almost everybody in the world treated me well. Nobody ever refused me water. I was only refused permission to camp twice (both occasions were in Europe). Everywhere else in the world I was given at least a safe place to camp and often a bed, shower, and feast. Everybody has hopes and dreams and loves. Everyone laughs at something funny. Don’t believe what you see on the TV: the world really is a good place.
What was the greatest lesson you learned?
There are several things that stand out clear and bright for me now. Simple things, small truths; almost platitudes. But they are things that mean much to me now:
So what's next?
God, I wish I knew!
Before I began I had had several motivations for wanting to attempt to ride round the world. I reflected now on the ride, on how it had differed from my expectations and what it might lead to in my future. I decided to begin as a quest for adventure, to see some of the world and to escape from England and the conveyor belt of my life. I longed to escape from tedious routine (although in fact my life on the road was dominated by repetitive routine). I wanted to challenge myself and to see whether I could follow faintly in the bold footsteps of the great men and women who had gone before me and told mighty tales of adventure in epic books. I wanted to see whether I could do anything remotely similar. There was only one way to find out, and that was by having a go. And I had wanted to do something that I would certainly fail unless I poured everything I had into it. I wanted something difficult. And I got it: this was the hardest thing I had ever done physically, mentally, and emotionally. So what do I do next? I have been home almost 2 years and have not yet found the solution. I feel I cannot really do another big journey because it is bound to be an anticlimax after that. And I don’t feel fulfilled sitting behind a desk…
I am running the Marathon des Sables in March 2008 - a 150 mile run through the Sahara desert. That will be very tough so I’m focusing my energies on that at the moment.
Of course, nobody’s ever cycled to the South Pole so there’s plenty of challenges still awaiting…
Are there any links you'd like to share?
Yes, Hopes and Homes for Children (www.hopeandhomes.org)