Yesterday I said I had been wanting to ask Eva a question for a long time, and so indeed I did- as follows is her response.
CZ: I have been thinking about this for awhile, and please forgive me if the answer is in your archives. What prompted you to start your website, and what has been the instigation to keep it going? Just curious, there are not that many people who have been on line, especially in Portland as yourself!
E.L.: Sometimes I wonder why. I really do.
The major reason I began a diary online is because I have done the diary thing (in notebooks) better and longer than just about any other aspect of my life. There are times I did not exhibit art but I still kept a diary. I no longer dance but I still keep a diary. In the end, it seems I really am more of a writer than an artist, for I don’t actually make art every single day but I must write every day.
Yet I don’t publish in a formal way like most writers. I don’t have any books out etc. I wanted to get it out somehow. Novels weren’t in me though, not any that I know of! Just the diary. But as Oscar Wilde says, he always has his diary with him, as he always wants something sensational to read.
Of course there are other things in the website than the diary, but it seems to be the thing that is always there. the actual gallery Lovelake no longer exists. And Artstar Radio is sometimes on vacation and besides, it doesn’t relly need much of a website (a site of nothing but transcrpts would be cool but too much work).
Anyway, I’ve looked at the numbers and by far the diary is the most popular element in the website. I figure I must be contributing something.
Eva and I have been corresponding for almost a year now, and I had the pleasure of meeting her quite a few times since our first email. As you must know, Eva Lake is a Portland based painter, writer, radio show host/historian, gallerist and avid bird watcher. The first entry on line from her diary archives is May 2004, but if you read carefully you will find she has been doing this all of her life.
