4. Speed in Saudi Arabia

“Speed now illuminates reality whereas light once gave objects of the world their shape.” - Paul Virilio 


Odd how we have selective vision, we see things that are right in front of us, and then one day new things begin to appear. As if they hadn't been there all along. During this past month I have been struck by this phenomenon. I’m settling in and able to see more and notice as I’ve learned a little bit about getting around and recognizing things here in Saudi Arabia. Things like speed cameras, and how to read the speed limit in arabic! I got my driving license and proudly joined the growing ranks of women that are driving now in Saudi Arabia. The ban on female drivers was lifted by the Saudi Government in 2018. I transitioned from bike riding to driving, and am enjoying the freedom to move around this country at a faster pace, on my own. Driving has helped me understand this place better and to notice things and contemplate things that I would not have been able to otherwise. If, as philosopher Paul Virilio wrote “speed now illuminates reality” whereas light once did then driving is a necessary step towards acclimating one's point of view to the objects of the world. 


I should mention the process of getting my US license converted to a Saudi license. Luckily this was rather straightforward for me. I had to get my license translated and attested, get a medical exam, pay the licensing fee through the government app, and then attend a meeting at one of the local driving schools. All of this is not possible without a phone, the connection to trackable technology is a key feature in Saudi Arabian life. Having a phone is essential. In essence all of your government documents and permissions are security checked through a double check system resulting in lots of unique codes being sent to your Saudi phone number. I should also say that you can’t get a phone without a beach account or maybe it's the other way around… but either way everyone has a phone. Even Abdu, a Sudanese bedouin camel shepherd, has a phone and he lives in a tent with a herd of over 80 camels and migrates through different parts of the desert all year round. The phone is not a mark of wealth. It is a necessity, and a force of change in this part of the world (as well as everywhere i guess…). I celebrated my birthday by getting my driving license. I thought this was a way to feel connected to my current home and to celebrate the changing culture. Up early to celebrate the day I booked a taxi to take me to Jeddah at 5:30AM, arriving at the Dallah driving school promptly at 7AM. I was directed to the women’s side of the school and sat in a room filled with women in hijabs and abayas that were waiting for their lessons. I was quickly moved into the main office where I waited for the women that would check my paperwork.  There was a very stylish looking young woman wearing camouflaged military fatigues, pants and a shirt. As I waited the other women (only women working on this side of the school) offered me coffee and chocolate. We smiled at each other and I said hello “Sabah Al Khair”, and thank you “Shukran”. My paperwork was checked and within minutes I had a shiny Saudi drivers license. 


I rented my first car when my husband Peter visited Saudi Arabia. We drove to Thuwal, a nearby fishing village for a fresh fish dinner at a traditional Saudi restaurant and then to KAEC (King Abdullah’s Economic City), a town like KAUST (gated and exclusive) to see the Liv Golf extravaganza and beach party.  The golf tournament was lavish with lots of areas set up for selfies, close access to many famous golfers, golf carts escorting groups of people to various bars and beach clubs, a fireworks display , and lots of fancy juices and Red Bull. I also drove back and forth to the airport in Jeddah to retrieve Peter’s lost bags. Thanks to Saudia for finding them and to the Apple AirTags that helped us encourage the airline to look in the Charles De Gaul airport. Showing where the bags were - lost in Paris and then arriving in Jeddah. Driving is definitely a little crazy here with lots of speed and cell phone cameras, roundabouts, u turns instead of left turns, driving on the shoulder, and passing fast on the right or left or wherever. It is somewhat surprising to see this type of aggression on the road because in person most people here are soft spoken and exceedingly polite. I also learned that as a driver you can be fined for eating or drinking while driving. Which put a cramp in my style of driving with a Tim Horton coffee.


A few more thoughts inspired by my change in velocity from walking to biking to driving. Dramatic shifts in speed highlighted contrasts that are embedded in life here. 

Desert and Sea

There is the desert and the sea, dry to wet, yellow/orange to green/blue, barren plains to color and life filled coral reefs. I have had the opportunity to explore the desert with friends here that have made friends with local Bedouin shepherds and the camel herd owners, spending evenings in the desert sharing stories, drinking camel milk, dry dusty, quiet, long views. In contrast to time I spend in the sea, up close with fish and coral and pockets of life seen through the narrow scope of my goggles. 

Modesty and Abundance

There is the culture of modesty and generosity. The conservative looking clothing, and veiled figures that appear guarded and withdrawn alongside a generosity, warmth and welcoming spirit of people eager to talk and share experiences and ideas about the world, and food, and family. 

Camping and Luxury

Camping has been a life-long joy for me but Saudi Camping takes the comfort and luxury that one might seek in the wilderness and brings it to a next level version of glamping. Saudi homes are private, often walled in with yards that are covered or not at all visible to the street. The window’s are shaded and life at home is very private. You have to wonder where all of the fabulous styles of women's clothes are being worn and it is in private homes. The privacy of the home contrasts with the camping or picnicking in public, in the evenings on the beach or in the desert large caravans of families sharing camping or picnic sites. Green spaces alongside roadways are filled with families enjoying being outside in the cool evening air. Thes public picnics and campsites are open to the environment with elaborate grill setups for cooking coffee, burning Oud Bakhor (wood soaked in perfume), and shisha.

3. Bright Light and Hot Heat

My first impression of Saudi Arabia was light and heat. The sun is bright and constant, reflecting off of the sand, the water, the cars, the glass and concrete buildings, prisms of light that during the day are brilliant and then fade as night falls into a moody mix of orange and yellow with a little flash of purple and blue afterglow as the sun sets. Slowly my eyes adjust to the darkness and realize that there is still so much light being projected by the artificial infrastructure of the town and light that is traveling far distances across the flat desert plains. The winds come and go but were not present during my first few weeks in the country but the heat was. The heat is 3D, a big hot hug that brings your clothes in tight contact with your body and pulls liquid from every pore in your body. My body sweat a lot, from everywhere. I learned that my eyelids could sweat too. It was a battle to stay hydrated to offset the amount of moisture that was leaving my body. The heat of course was only outside as buses, homes, schools, and meeting places are all air conditioned. Which brings up other issues that will come up in a later reflection. The oppressiveness of the heat however was inline with the at-capacity mental gymnastics that the first few weeks in Saudi Arabia demanded from me.

 I’ll call this time INFORMATION OVERLOAD as it was full of important information that would be shoved in and promptly fall out of my brain. The information was like carrying an armful of apples or cats that are determined to stray on their own. Numbers, letters, arabic greetings, codes, passwords, logins, accounts, IDs, phone numbers, house number, 24 hour time, and names all of these details in a constant flux of learning, relearning and forgetting. Getting lost on the streets, in my computer and on my phone was the norm. Finding my way on the curvy and monotonous streets at Kaust remains a rare pleasure, following the house numbers that increase or decrease in order and neighborhoods with names such as gardens, palms, oasis, harbor and island. My personal guide posts for navigating around the campus/compound were ironically enough the massive cell phone towers that bloomed all over the neighborhoods, along with the Red Sea, which is spectacular. Other tall landmarks including the iconic KAUST beacon, and the large air ventilation cooling towers at the KAUST university were guideposts as well. All of the infrastructure of the campus and town is fascinating to me. We are living in built environments and this place (not unlike many places where people live) is built in a region that has an inhospitable and harsh climate. Thuwal and KAUST is in the desert, with a salty sea, wind, unforgiving but rare rain storms, and more common sand storms. All of KAUST is in some ways a resort, with beaches, recreation centers, a movie theater, bowling alley, marinas, diving center, climbing wall, golf course and restaurants, along with the schools and research centers. 

Biking from cell phone town to cell phone tower is how I  learned to find my way around and fortunately one of the towers was close to my house and another was outside of my classroom. Literally connecting me to the places I need to be and the people I left back home in the USA. The prominence of the towers in the landscape and as my guideposts provided a portal at which to imagine all of the overwhelming information being manageable, traveling from space to space in and out and through my brain. Permeating my townhouse walls and things.

A few more things to mention.
1. It is too hot to be outside in the summer at KAUST.
2. Modest dress means almost always wearing long pants and sleeves.
3. White and black and go to colors because they don’t show the sweat.
4. One of my greatest indulgences was sitting just outside of my open door with the AC on. I would learn that the abundance of cats on the Kaust campus do this as well. Sitting outside of a closed door to get the cool air creeping out from below the door jam.
5. Feed the cats.
6. Learning names takes practice and skill.
7. Mosques are beautiful and welcoming spaces.  



My arrival at KAUST started with a quick orientation and then right into teaching. It was fascinating to be at an institution that is organized around welcoming lots of new teachers, celebrating departing teachers, and managing large numbers of faculty, admin, and students. I was surprised by how much autonomy I had in how I was going to organize my classes and build my curriculum. The PYP has Units of Inquiry and some integrated classes but otherwise the arts curriculum was up to me to write with my art department colleague. Together Linda and I were responsible for 800 students in 1st through 5th grade. My initial thoughts were how exciting to be part of so many young learners' art making and appreciation journey. I quickly set up my classroom in anticipation of greeting the students. I tried to imagine a space that would promote community and creativity. Thinking about how these young artists would be able to feel confident and ready to take risks in their artistic expression. I created a large mural on the art room wall. The mural would be abstract but communicate a sense of scale that you get when hiking in the mountains or sailing on a large sea or ocean. I started there. I met the students. I made adjustments. I immersed myself in ways to make art a living, breathing part of their lives even though I only see them once a week for 45 minutes. The first month at KAUST I was operating at capacity. The light, heat, and life was overwhelming and I felt like a frame of a movie film stuck and burning  in the projector heating, transforming, and spilling light all around the theater. It was exciting. I loved the challenge of month one.

After I learned that I could live here, work here, and be creative here. I had to add to my repertoire of things my responsibility at home, virocode, my art collaborative was celebrating a major mid-career retrospective and I had lots of work to do to get ready for that show.

2. In Advance of Arrival

Day 1 ended with darkness descending on my view of the Atlantic Ocean. I strained to see the landscape and the cloudscape out of the airplane window until there was nothing to see. My thoughts headed inwards. I was traveling east and felt like I’m stretching a uniformly charged long tread between Buffalo and Arabia. Saudia Airlines provided the introduction by starting off the flight with warm clothes to clean our hands and the traditional offering of cardamom tea and dates. The flight attendant passed out ear plugs and eye masks packaged with designs by indigenous women artists from the Lanununa region in Southern KSA (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia). I try to be compliant and put on the mask, the message the flight attendants are sending is “go to sleep” and as I am restless I decide to browse the provided in-flight digital entertainment to learn more about the Saudi Vision 2030 plan. A digital slide titled “Women’s Empowerment” naturally caught my eye as it championed the importance of women as entrepreneurs, leaders, and employees in the new KSA. The slide reads; “From the rights to drive, travel and divorce, to unimpeded access to official documents, the status of women has been profoundly altered for the better, sowing the seeds for a united and inclusive future.” The text is accompanied by a photograph of a woman in a hijab smiling and walking through the historic Al Balad neighborhood of Jeddah. Other works such as NEOM, “a megacity that seeks to reimagine how we live'', and The Red Sea Project for ecotourism promote a different image of Saudi Arabia than the one I grew up with. As I read on, I learn about the eight UNESCO intangible assets of Saudi Arabia and mark them as things I would like to learn more about. The include falconry, the art of Sadu weaving, Almezmar traditional drumming, Alardah Alnajdiyah a combination of poetry, dancing and drumming, Ached (oral tradition of calling camel flocks), the cultivation of Khawlani coffee beans, date palm planting practices, Arabic calligraphy, Majlis,and Al-Qatt Al Asiri female traditional interior wall decoration in Asir KSA. I drift to  sleep imagining the place I am traveling to , excited and worried about my choice to leave my family for this interlude. I earnestly hope that this opportunity puts me in the change as it is happening, and instill some change in me too.  I think about my life in San Francisco at the dawn of the digital revolution when the  internet and home personal computers became part of the fabric of life. In graduate school at  the San Francisco Art Institute I took a coding course with a founder of Apple who reminded us to set up our computers in the middle of the room so that we could shift our perspective from the close up screen to the long distance room…I wonder if that was an analogy for perspective… Anyway I watched as my friends lost their houses and apartments as silicon valley took over that city. All of this change in San Francisco happened almost concurrently with the AIDS epidemic and the misinformation campaign that spread distrust and pigeonholing on a population. It also simultaneously denied them of some basic human rights and it would take a decade to somewhat normalize care. I can trace my deep fascination with change, learning and viruses to this period of my life. Heading East I wonder what I will find and feel in the sunlight of the Red Sea region. 

I peek out my window in time to see the brightly lit coast of Amalfi coast of Italy, passing over I drift to daydreaming about future travels and swimming in the Mediterranean sea. I was attracted to Saudi Arabia for a variety of reasons. In addition to my curiosity about its culture I noted its location, in Asia but close to Europe and Africa. A basecamp for potential travel to see the mountains of the Himalaya, East Africa, Europe, India and maybe even Australia, Japan, and Indochina. Areas of the world that as an artist and teacher I have struggled to find my way to. I work on balancing the shock of leaving my loved ones with the thought of providing a bridge for us all to view new lands in the next two years. 

`A sliver of light shines beneath the window shade and I lift it in time to see the sun just to break the horizon. A thin blue line outlines the edge of our earth as the sun light bends over its crest. Long shadows are cast from dunes and desert mountain. The pilot mentions the pyramids and I see my first view of the Middle East in the deep shadows of the Sahara desert and Egypt. I lift my shade, and red light spills into the airplane, projecting a kaleidoscope of light throughout the cabin. Startled, I shut it quickly, hoping not to disturb the sleeping passengers. I am transfixed by this sunrise and connect it to seeing the first light on the summit of Cadillac mountain, the point in the USA to see first light as the sun rises. I recall the memory of waking up at 4 in the morning to get to the summit with my family while we were on a hiking vacation in Acadia Maine. We approach the Red Sea and will soon enter the Saudi air space. Passengers start to move around the cabin, unpack abayas and and change into their traditional clothing. Women switch from sweat suits into elegant Abayas older men and a large group of young men that look like college students wrap themselves in Ihram towels as they prepare for their pilgrimage to Mecca. I too feel like a type of pilgram, not in a religious way but at the start of a spiritual journey to an unknown place that will make me explore myself and connect the world and me to my family and friends at home. 

I can’t say that I remember much about the first few days in Saudi Arabia. I know that I ate well and felt taken care of by my school KAUST and my tribe TKS newbies. The week-long orientation was overwhelming but also helpful as I worked to get my Igama - working visa, open a bank account, get some supplies for my townhouse, and try to manage the oppressive heat and humidity. Along the way I was introduced to the generous and warm characteristics of Saudi culture and religion.

Best idea ever was packing a folding bike that immediately became my most prized possession as it freed me up to make my way around campus and limit the time that I needed to spend outside. This time was wild and weird. The amount of necessary information that I was fed and then promptly forgot was baffling… still is. I am forever thankful to everyone that took the time to help me thought this time (which I am very much still working my way through).

1. Marking time spent, endings, and beginnings.

…with people I care about and who care about me.

This blog/travelog/journal will chart our adventure through reflection, reportage, and artmaking. This is my first entry and I started writing it at home in Buffalo feeling full of gratitude for the people and things I’ve been able share space with over the past 5+ decades. I want to indulge myself in this reflection as I take on a big change in my life and start a job 6500 miles away from my home and the people I care most about. I’m not sure what this blog will become but it needs to start out slow from a place of connection to the people that have cared for me over the years. I just left a job I had for 24 years with people I love working with. I am traveling away from my hometown a place I grew up in and lived most of my life. I’m worried about the distance I will be from Peter my partner in life and art, and my kids that are off doing amazing things on their own. I know that Peter more than anyone has made sacrifices for me to take on this adventure and I don’t want to disappoint him.

Over the past few weeks I have been able to connect with friends and family. Soaking up the company of my 90 year old dad who lives a few blocks from my home. My dad and I regularly get coffee together, paint, run errands, and enjoy a meal at my house with music weekly. I’ve shared food and stories with friends on their front porches, wondered at the stars by their outdoor fires, and looked at a lot of art in NYC with my Art21 crew and in Buffalo at our newly reopened AKG gallery. Recently I have had a lot of coffee with friends (I love coffee) and we have to talked about our world. One of those conversations started with coffee and turned into martinis as the cafe closed and we relocated to the bar across the street. My family gathered together at my sister Lauri’s house to celebrate my new adventure, everybody from my newborn great nephew to my husband, nieces, nephews, brother, sisters, father-in law, uncles, and my dad. They all got together to eat and drink and help build my confidence for my time away, with their support and excitement. My Nichols School colleges and alumni whom I worked with from 1-24 years gather together to celebrate our time together. Kristen my art teaching buddy/ lifelong friend and BFF help organize a heartfelt send off with the help of my partner in art and dear friend Kari, along with Dillon, Barbara, and Maggie all of whom have shaped my time at Nichols. I was able to connect with so many people, all who made time out of a lovely summer day to say goodbye. I ever got to visit with Paul Errickson who came from Poland via Pittsburgh to toast the celebration. The photos below are from the parties and I’m thankful for the prints of their smiling faces that I have been able to bring to KSA in my carry-on. The love I feel from the people that have been part of my daily life is profound. Thank you all. I am finishing writing this from my kitchen table in my house in Saudi Arabia and know that I when left Buffalo and headed for Saudi Arabia (via the Adirondacks and then NYC) full of love.

"Love is a combination of care, commitment, knowledge, responsibility, respect and trust", “Love is an action: never simply a feeling” – bell hooks

My friend Elaine talks about astrology all the time and suggested I subscribe to a newsletter that today delivered me this particularly special horoscope

July, 30, 2023 - Libra

Spending time with the individuals we care about most can help us relax and unwind after a difficult day because these people naturally bring out the best in us in every arena. Though we may feel frazzled or overwhelmed, our family and friends see only the good qualities they have come to appreciate within us. Consequently, they encourage us to fulfill our potential where tranquility is concerned by reminding us that we are more than capable of handling any challenge that comes our way. All they ask in return for this gift is our engaged presence, which we can easily provide when we are able to cast off the accumulated stresses of the day at the gentle insistence of those people who wish to enjoy our company. Peace will come easily to you today when you spend time with the people who bring out the best in you.

This is the note I sent to my colleagues, alumni, and students:
Saying goodby to a place that has connected me to important people in my life. My memories of this art room are of sharing it with ambitious student artists who filled the room with big ideas, re-imagined futures, and amazing artwork. I will forever be connected to those of you that shared this space with me and also to the 20 years of Antigravity Club expeditions. Thank you for a wild and adventurous 24 years of art and learning. I am moving onward and upward to a new adventure teaching in the Middle East. I invite you to stay connected to me for I feel connected to you. Send me your artwork, send me a greeting, and follow along on my adventures in teaching @Seeartrun and in my artwork at @virocode. If you are traveling in the region please stop by.  Packing and bringing lots of student artwork and gifts. Thank you all for sharing a part of your life with me. I can’t wait to see where we go from here. 

The photos below mark the time that I said goodbye; from my classroom, to my dearest family and friends. There are pictures of parties, packing, and a quick stop at treeshores to say goodbye for now to the flora and fauna (who cooks for you now…). We have the amazing treat of being able to see Paloma’s opening in Jersey Boys the night before my flight, and Claudia and Peter joined me at the airport to make sure I was able to check my bicycle with my luggage.


”I think I’m quite ready for an adventure.”