Pirates Booty

The Pirates Booty:

witness to the visual feast of unimaginable riches served in hurricane aftermath where the author paints the meal in a kitchen of still- life splendor on the dessert island of Barbados.

 

John's couch

 True to my previous entry about renaming this blog I offer you ( dear reader) these photos with the following explanation:

This is me with an airplane that recently flew around the world.

I flew here to a hangar that has been owned by my family for longer that I have been alive.

Although, I was reluctant to go here because it's dusty, hot, very far from the ocean, and the air smells bad because of the nearby factory farms, I had to go because it is a kind of Mecca.

As my dad said, "all roads lead to an airport... " and in this case, the airport he is talking about is Chino. what?

I haven't been there in decades and what I am going to talk about happened there more than a half century ago. 

Probably 20 years ago, this hanger housed a Russian airplane that was capable of aerobatic maneuvers that no airplane today can achieve and even if you knew how to fly this it cost well over $1 million to buy and was uninsurable.  My dad's friend Jurgis Kayris, made modifications to this airplane so that when the airplane was shipped back to Lithuania, no one would know what modifications have been made.

A half century ago, well more than this, this hanger held in airplane:  an aerobatic airplane that flew so well the son of one of the richest men in the world, (the inventor of the Lear Jet) John Lear, purchased this airplane for his own. 

That was the Jungster I-- an airplane designed and built by Rim Kaminskas.  

At the restaurant in this airport called Flos, which is still there today,  My dad designed the Jungster III for his client, John Lear, and, in eight months, built the airplane so that it was ready for the Reno air races.  That airplane later became the first plane to surpass 200 miles an hour air speed . John L then sold the airplane to an Air Force pilot friend who sought and acquired the sponsorship of none other than Richard Bach, who was at the top of his fame after writing the seminal book Jonathan Livingston Seagull .  The famous airplane was donated to the Smithsonian museum.

 John Lear himself was denied his inheritance when his father died in 1976 and although I don't know what he did to piss his father off so much that he was left without a penny, but I can only speculate ... His friend Major John O Hall was convicted of selling secrets to the Russians and is in prison to this day. 

At the ripe age of 10 years old, I really don't know the details of this intrigue, but I can tell you these were formidable individuals and I could feel their presence and greatness of these antiheroes when we opened the doors to this hanger. 

The accompanying photos are not photos of minor junk.  Similarly , the photos of the vessels that I create  (shown in this blog)  carry with them, the complex meditative thoughts that swirl around in my head as I create them.  If you look closely at the artifact shown in the picture, the remains of  a couch wrapped in a fabulous upholstery which came from the home of probably one of the richest men in the world,  You can begin to see all that one of MY Vessels can hold.  What stories can this couch contain?

One of my earliest memories of something that was worthy to remember is the image of sleepyhead, John Lear, With his famous P 38 lightning in blazoned with the number 76 parked outside, greeting my dad and I, as we slid open the hanger doors on a Sunday morning To begin work on the airplanes inside.

He was living in the hangar and sleeping on the couch.

Well  as of today,the couch went into a dumpster and the hangar has been swept of all traces of the people who came here.  There now is no evidence of what mischief went on here.  John's couch is a Vessel of  obfuscation

The renaming of this blog

"All of us are surfing events, responding to tectonics deeper than we know. Only time will tell what we’ll be forced to sit and think through and attempt to describe."

The renaming of this blog 

Careful readers of this blog will know that the many entries here comprise a series of honest explorations into environmentalism sailing lore and sacred geometry. All of these explorations customarily are of a voyage type that is above the surface, however, recent events such as the renaming of the Kennedy Center , The creation of so-called fake news, and the undoing of an honest direction to find being has caused me to recognize that perhaps there is some benefit in exploring underneath the surface, hereby engaging in a few lies deceit of my own, perhaps a renaming of this blog to 

vessels of deception 

vessels of obstruction 

or simply 

vessels of Trump 

as in this below the surface vessel trumps yours that was formerly above the surface ...honestly there there is no deception in deception pass near my home and obstruction island is merely the route the ferry uses on particularly windy or nasty days and the house on Trump Island near me most nearly burned down a few years ago and since ICE arrested, the workers who were rebuilding the house I don't think there is anybody living there because there's no one to take care of the place.  These local sailing landmarks aside, the geometry of the vessels I create do hold a tangled web especially because the bizarre nature of our recent reality is often on my mind;  as far as environmental goes, I am reluctant to admit that these tipping points have occurred and there is really no need to keep a lid on it. The vessel that was rocking is now spilling.( and about to break.)

Frankly, I really don't care what meaning you assign to the vessels I create so if you must go there below the surface, I'll be there too.

Vessel of AI-intention

Rain fell lightly as an AIchmophobie--sailboat aimed straight across the bay. Its name, "AiAizle," painted faintly on the topside. A sailor named Algernon stood at the rail, his gaize fixed on the distant mainland.

As the sailboat glided, Algernon felt a-thrill.

The atmosphere was alive with the sound of air crashing against the hull. He imagined trails of adventure waiting, ready to unvail. A faint trail of light appeared, illuminating the aisling vision.

Suddenly, a gale arose, making the sail strain the rigging. Algernon remained conciliate, adjusting the sail with skill. "I can sail through this!" he proclaimed, ascertainment in his eyes. The boat sailed on the waves, a daring display of arit, not  aischrolatreiaand.

As night fell, a brilliant star       (Venus) shone, guiding Algernon back.

The rain ceased, and a calm, tranquil aire filled the bay.  Aizle returned safely, and Algernon, with a smile, knew that every sail held a   chance of arrival at a Haida Gwaii

or an Aitutaki Island.

From the earliest date,  humans have used vessels to carry water and other essentials.  Starting with our own cupped hands and evolving from found objects such as gourds, hollowed out logs and then, later, pottery and metal.  The decoration of these vessels is perhaps the oldest known artform.  The patterns that have evolved from decorating vessels -circular volumetric objects- gives us the understanding that we are apart of something greater.  In order to understand the decoration on a vessel, the viewer must "see" the pattern in its entirety-- even though it is not possible to physically see around to the other side.
Similarly, Sacred Geometry, Sailing (Voyaging), and Environmentalism share the abstract idea that the participant must have faith in the greater system that is not apparent in one's own singular point of view.

The fact that anyone can simply cup ones hands and create a vessel gives me the knowledge that as an artist, I can apply the use of my hands to create vessels as well.  The creation of this art is not only about the re-discovery of the meaning of making a vessel;  it is about creating meaning as well.

In modern culture, the drinking vessel has been stripped of its meaning to the extent that our fine china (the highest expression of a decorated vessel) sits in our basements and is only occasionally used.  Instead many of us consume our drinkables from single-use containers made of plastic and cardboard which are devoid of any decoration or design except carefully placed corporate messages and we thereby support the  waste of precious resources and contribute to pollution-- and to think we are sanctifying these devoid vessels each time we hold them up to our precious lips!

Vessels of Intention are vessels which are made so that we can share our common ancestry, they are about discovering meaning in tasks as simple as holding a glass of water to our lips to drink, and they are about using our own hands to create something that will nourish our soul.  In these pages you will find instructions on how to make a vessel of intention using the methods that I employ and also, you may find the inspiration to make them yourself, for your own specific purposes.

Of the Vessels that I make, I have a limited number for sale in order to support my continued making of Vessels.   vesselofintention@me.com For me, the practice is also a form of meditation, so I only produce about one Vessel per day (if that).   find me at  Lopez Village 
Lopez Island WA  360-468-3331

Namaste,

Mike Kaminskas

Corona

 I don’t want google to remove this blog due to inactivity, I’m writing this:  the necklace pictured is something I’ve been working on lately and I’m sure you will recognize it from the contents of this blog.  Because I see this blog as a uniform body of work, I’m not going to describe the necklace or the knot specifically, but I will say this knot was first used in China and because it is made up of exactly 64 crossings yet it is a single strand that resolves where it began, I’m sure you will recognize the symbolic reference to computers.  Furthermore, as a survivor of covid19,  I’m wearing this as an amulet to ward off reinfection.  Currently, I’m making one a day as a meditation because I’m not really making very many vessels right now.  I’m going to try and distribute extras (necklaces and amulets featuring this particular knot) to anyone I come into contact with which is not many people right now for obvious reasons!!  Hopefully I will have a nice supply when this is all over

Homeomorphic

Intuitively, two spaces are homeomorphic if one can be deformed into the other without cutting or gluing. A traditional joke is that a topologist cannot distinguish a coffee mug from a doughnut, since a sufficiently pliable doughnut could be reshaped to a coffee cup by creating a dimple and progressively enlarging it, while shrinking the hole into a handle.

This from Wikipedia. . .
Notwithstanding, a vessel of intention is a coffee cup and the line I use is a handle,  my interest lies in the ability to hold something which cannot be held .  Or the equivalence of that which the vessel holds with everything else.