Napoli, Italy

These days are sweet.

I wake up to the transcendent drones of Nam myoho renge kyo filtering up the spiral staircase from the downstairs living room. I walk down to the kitchen and my host joins me for coffee and biscuits when she is done chanting. We try to understand each other with hand gestures and the teensy bit of Italian I know as we dunk our biscuits in the strong Neapolitan coffee~ and then I am on my way… Down the hill, toward the water with the great Vesuvius in the distance. I take the scenic route along an old magnificent castle by the sea and catch the #4, picking up my friend and collaborator, Jade Fusco at a stop along the way. We take the train all the way to the train yard.

We arrive, check in and start to unpack paints. The workers at the depot all crowd around making chit chat about the work. They bring us coffee after coffee all day long. We enjoy the ritual.

We tune the radio to the classical station and rock out to Italian opera and french piano music while we tackle the tram. We have a total of 8 days to paint it before both of us leave town. Jade will go to Bologna to show her work in a group expo and I will go back to NY to finish some jobs before heading to Brazil for the winter. In these last days in Napoli I will host Hearts of the World at a local school and finish this tram. It will debut on the streets of Napoli on Dec 16th.

More soon~

The beginnings~