With Love, from overseas

In which Cecil galavants about, teaching, art making and seeing the sights

I am back overseas and it’s great. After two years of teaching in Denmark but from my house in Los Angeles (read teaching at 3 am) it was delightful to be back in person with the amazing students in Viborg. This time it was helping the graduating students as they embark on their thesis projects and I am continually blown away by their brilliance.

KLM lost my luggage for ten days on my way to Belgium from Denmark so I wore the same thing for almost two weeks (thank you for all who helped me buy underwear, sweater, shirt and toiletries!) I made a pitstop in Brussels to coordinate a bit with André Ristic about a new opera project that we are working on. Stay tuned for news about that premiere probably around early 2024. It’s exciting to have a new project with André and this one is going to be special. It will be a different take on using images and opera, so not quite a comic book opera like the previous two, but will still be a blend. I do like making it easy for people to be able to “read” the story of the opera more than just supertitles.

While in Belgium, I took some time to do a bit more research on Private Matthews and his whereabouts during the beginning of his war. I was greatly helped by Simon and Raph from Skylarcs who are battlefield archaeologists. They helped me to pinpoint the trench system near Essex Central Farm that Private Matthews was in for most of his war and look at what the British called the German trench system that he was sitting across from. You can’t make this stuff up. It’s sort of a good sign and also spooky and also sad.

Very thankful also for Roger at Ypres Battlefield Tours who took me down to the south salient to go exactly to the spots that Private Matthews was. If you’re going to Flanders for a WWI tour, I highly recommend him.

I then went to a mini artist residency in Bourgogne at Porte Peinte in Noyers the cutest little Medieval village. Shout out to new art friends for life Dillon Feldman (composer) and Stanlislava Ovichinnikova. There was a partial solar eclipse on my birthday and I led the artists in residence outside armed with pinhole solar viewers to watch it. I went mushroom foraging. I saw so many stars. I went to Dijon to see a dance performance that used math theorems for its choreography. I saw so many museums. I went to Paris and saw a play at the Comedie Francaise that an old classmate from my youth directed and had dinner with my friend artist Heidi Wood.

I’m off to London now, writing this to you from the Eurostar, about to go under the channel. I’ll be there doing research at the Imperial War Museum, seeing plays, filling the creative bank and tabling at Thought Bubble. Travel is so good for the soul. You can always see pictures of those things like buildings and art and places at my travel insta CecilOnTheGo

As always, I’m writing and want to write more. So, as always feel free to pick up any of my old books. I made a twitter thread describing all of my back list.

Till the next time.

Love your friend Cecil