Sunday, January 24, 2010

Progress: January 24, 2010


I think I prefer the Tongue Rug sketch to this mock up. The sladdakavring looks lifeless. Perhaps it needs to be animated slightly? Or are the labels too stiff? I'll have to keep playing at it. J'aime la façon dont les langues se chevauchent, le tracé de mon parcours qui ressemble à des bouts de fils éparpillés.


Saturday, January 23, 2010

Process: Placenames


Found a great book on Quebec family names by Roland Jacob, Votre nom et son histoire. Les noms de familles au Québec (Montréal, Les Éditions de l’Homme, 2006).


I already knew that the Legault family name meant one who dwells by the forest, but did not know of its origin. Jacob forwards two explanations. Either gault/gaud is from the Germanic root Waldo (to govern), or it is from the Germanic root wald (forest, woods). He believes the second to be the origin of the name, which would make Legault similar to the Laforest family name. (55) Though Gault placenames still exist in Eastern France (Marne, Loir-et-Cher and Eure-et-Loire), the French ancestor of all Legaults in North America, Noël Legault dit Deslauriers, was of Breton origin (Irvillac in Finistère). (142)


I had thought Lapalme was a nickname for a stone carver (one who uses his palm to mesure stone). It could be rather that it was a nickname associated to the practice of pilgrimages. Lapalme, like Palmer in English, was a name to designate the pilgrim who brought back palms to prove that he had undergone a long journey. (296)



Anger (angier) comes from the Germanic root Ansgari, a composite name formed by the root ans- (name of a pagan god) and the root –gari (to be ready). However Angers is a family name attributed to a person from the city of Angers in Anjou. (66) There seems to be many hypotheses on the origin of Anger.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Process: Vargtimmen


Addicted to Scandinavian crime novels by the Icelandic Arnaldur Indridason and the Swedish Åke Edwardson. Currently reading the Edwardson series translated into French: riveting stories that are beautifully written and translated. In Chambre numéro 10 (Rum Nummer 10, 2005), Detective Winter mentions the hour of the wolf whenever he is reflecting on a case in the wee hours — a reference perhaps to the 1968 gothic horror film by Bergman, Vargtimmen. The hour between night and dawn is thought to be a transition time in Scandinavian folklore with more babies being born and more people dying at this time than at any other time.

I often find myself wide-awake at 4:00 a.m. Instead of getting upset over the sleeplessness, I've started taking advantage of this lucid time: I read or write, work on art projects. I have a long list of ‘to do’ items for the Tongue Rug project. My problem is finding the time after the full-time job. Perhaps the insomnia is a blessing?

Most of the novels take place in Göteborg, but I pay close attention to placenames as I have three waypoints in Sweden.



Ången Lake (S-1)
Nyköping municipality in Södermanland län on the south east coast



Ängesån River (S-2)
Överkalix municipality in Norrbottens län
in the extreme north (Swedish Lapland)


Ängesån River (S-3)
Hofors municipality in Gävleborgs län on the Baltic Sea coast

Though I am partly of Swedish ancestry, I know little about Sweden. Until I visit in person, I have to rely on my own imaginings of place based on fictional points of reference. Looking forward to that unsettling confrontation between fantasy and reality when I finally do make it to those waypoints.