BBQ for my last night in Krasnoyarsk!

After tonight, I will be heading to St. Petersburg--a much bigger (and hopefully warmer!) city, to do a 3-week mural project at a school for deaf and hearing impaired kids. Very different kind of project, but after the experience in Krasnoyarsk, I am definitely ready to adapt to the demands of the situation. I will, however, really miss the experience I have had here living with such warm and generous people, and the immediate feeling of community that comes from doing something so huge and so intense with a group in such a short period of time. I do hope I will have the opportunity to come back to Krasnoyarsk for future ArtsLink or other public art projects...there were many people who interviewed me for local papers during the project, and people who came specifically to meet with us about how to continue such projects--I know the buzz has been spreading ever since Kendal Henry and Luisa Cladwell did the first ArtsLink project this past spring. I think the fact that there is no Russian equivalent to the phrase "public art" (instead they literally say "public art" in English--much like Americans do with other un-translatable art phrases like "avant-garde" I guess) is a testament to how ripe for future development the field is here, especially in smaller, less tourist-centric cities like Krasnoyarsk. I am very inspired to keep contributing to this development.

And thank you again, Ira, Slava, and the whole Ulanova family for their amazing hospitality (as demonstrated partially by this final feast, most of it cooked in my own bedroom!!):

Slava grills some chicken


Traditional Siberian river fish!