Dear Miso

TO: Miso Susanowa, Artist
FROM: Xue Faith, Host of Haiku Speedbuild, effective 1 March ’13
RE: Twisted Prims @Haiku Speedbuild

Dear Miso,

Hello! I’ve heard 3 things about you:
1. That you’re one of the most talented Twisted Prim artists
2. That you’re one of the best Twisted Prim teachers
3. That you don’t actually spend much time in SL these days

So I’m writing to ask if you might be willing to come by for an hour to teach a little Twisted Prim class for the New Haiku Speedbuild. After a remarkable 4-year run Special Jewell will be retiring as Haiku Speedbuild host at the end of February. Starting on 1 March I will be the new host.

One of the ways I’d like to try to advance the wonderful work that Special and others before me have done is to once-a-month have an optional class paired with a Speedbuild, and then have that Speedbuild try to focus on the ideas and techniques explored in that class. When I look at the early materials on Haiku Speedbuild the event is typically referred to as a “Sculpture” project, yet the projects I see today seem more like Architecture or Installation. I do love both architecture and installation but I’d also like to see perhaps less literal renderings of the Haikus text and perhaps encourage participants to explore more the viscerality of the haiku. Not the “word-for-word” translation, but more an expression of the underlying feelings and ideas. I think Twisted Prims might be a great medium for doing this, and for gently nudging participants to think in terms of both Sculpture and Abstraction.

Earlier today I met with Peri Afarensis, the proprietor of the Afar Sim which generously hosts both Virtual Artist Alliance events: Photohunt and Haiku Speedbuild, and she offered to hold the event at her large art museum in the desert, also at Afar. The museum setting might help to inspire participants and her sculpture courtyard would be a nice context.

If you’re able to help, perhaps a Tuesday in March? It would be wonderful to start the new series with this on the 5th, or the 12th, 19th, or 26th would also be great. Perhaps we could have Tutorials with Miso from 6:00 – 6:40pm SLT, and the Haiku Speedbuild event from 6:45 – 7:30, all at Peri’s desert museum complex.

Let me know if you are interested, or if you have any questions or suggestions.

Regards,

Xue Faith

Images of Susanowa and her work from:
• Chestnut Rau
• Soror Nishi
• The University of Western Australia

• Haiku Speedbuild: Afar/219/131/609
• Afarensis Desert Museum: Afar/115/227/2223