Han and his Sculptures

As we started to conceptualize the new space we knew that we wanted it to not only be functional but also beautiful and educational. The building itself is industrial, square, serious, solid and we wanted to preserve that history and those qualities while still recognizing our appreciation of the natural, the fluid and artistic.

We decided that we needed a natural element inside the building and the image of a tree became part of our design. When local sculpture artist Han, decided to delay his summer visit to Valle de Bravo in order to help us… we knew that we had been given an amazing opportunity. In a perfectly appropriate inauguration, the tree sculpture started before any other element of the building. It took nearly a month and collections of recycled metals, woods, computer equipment, hoses and anything else we found to build the sculpture that will prove the focal point of the new building.

Han dedicated himself and his personality to the project. For those of you who know Han and his affection for horses you wouldn’t be surprised to hear that his horse accompanied him for most of the project, while stabled inside the bodega. Han’s other horses in the forms of sculptures stood alongside his work with the tree and many friends joined him throughout the construction and the process. It was a process that we will never forget and will always be grateful for – not only for the final product but for the quintessentially artistic, generous and effervescent spirit of Han as he created his work of art.

meetings.

I’m not really one for meetings.  I mean, I understand the need for them, I can appreciate them, I often organize them but honestly… they aren’t really my thing.

I like action which is probably why entreAmigos does things at a fairly frenetic pace.  Sitting around and talking about things only really works for me if its because we are planning the soon to happen, action!

Nonetheless, May and June had been set aside for meetings.  We knew that the new bodega would change everything and we wanted to take the time to re-organize and restructure entreAmigos with the infrastructure that it needed to grow, become more independent of my personality and ultimately become a better organization.  And, of course, we needed to design the new facility!!

I started by meeting individually with many of the people who offered advice or have always been there to guide us… Douglas Fir, Skip Dickerson and many others.  Then Rick Kahn and Libby Weathers facilitated a two day retreat to help us analyze and better understand ourselves as an organization, this was followed by a group meeting led by Gail Mitchell who worked us through our strengths and weaknesses analysis, and a few weeks later the entire team embarked on a several hour journey into redefining our mission and vision together with the pro team of Horst and Magdalena Steinmeyer.  As part of my commitment to the process, I then met individually with each of my staff to work through objectives and goals for particular departments.

At the same time, the design team was getting together once a week to work on the plan.  We discussed sustainability, building, responsibility, objectives and we scheduled design, “charrettes” (process walk throughs) with various stakeholder groups. We even embarked on the meeting in grand style, holding a community forum where more than 70 people showed up to talk about what they would like to see and were willing to do.   It is fun, its effective, its necessary…  and its another meeting.

Its nearly the end of June and the toe tapping, nail biting, painful breathing that I’m experiencing has nothing to do with Restless Leg Syndrome, although my mother would tell you otherwise. (Once I received a scan of a news article titled “Restless Leg Syndrome and What You Can Do” and a little note from my mom, “honey, I think you might have this.”)   The truth is that I am itching for action, I’m tired of thinking about it, talking about it, speculating about it… my anxiousness is giving me the shakes. I’m ready, more than ready to get it moving and get closer to getting it done.  please. please. please don’t make me go to another meeting!