OhMyGosh, !

Number Two!

You can see a bit by The Lost Art, a musical performance by Kevin Pope, slideshow by Lori 16mm, stand-up & acting by Mr. Chad Hopper, and MORE.  Plus, there will be an art therapy exercise, quizzes, and a bushel of prizes.  Be ready for Thanksgiving by practicing your jokes on us and collecting recipes, this Thursday.

the quiet grumble of mid-November

This is a picture of the metamorphosing studio.  As you can see, the tripod on the floor represents the intention to start working on the video art project that was mentioned several posts ago.  The grumbling heard quietly throughout this month of not-very-many posts is the sound of being behind on so many things, as always.  Mostly I am behind on reaching my goals of self-representation on the web (both here and at r-e-r-t.org), but it is moving along, inch-by-inch.

I had a partial furlough this past week (and this current week), during which I had hoped to get caught up on those and other things, like preparing for TONIGHT’S WORKSHOP, but things tend to never really go as planned. However,  I am still glad for tonight’s forum, where I am going to get to work with others on a project that is still so mysterious to me.  I’m excited to see what happens!

(And here comes my philosophical rambling of the week:)

At-home vacations can be good times to reconnect with the balance point between your practical needs and your high-falutin goals, and through that, to redefine your priorities.  At the beginning of my “vacation” (which wasn’t really a total vacation, but was at least the idea of freedom), I was overly anxious to CLAIM my time and use it as selfishly as I could (i.e. by focusing on the stuff on my art to-do list).  Having to battle that against other responsibilities, I got kind of exhausted by that emotion fairly quickly!  Now that I’ve had enough of “my own” time that I’ve gone ahead and “wasted”, I feel that my outlook is more balanced (i.e., my greediness has subsided).  So, what I’ve learned is:

#1.  I exist not (only) to serve, but to INSPIRE.  This is what I should remember when I am forgetting to save enough space for creative work, or when I am doing something for someone else just because it is my habit to do so.  I have a creative inner child, here, Hello!

#2.  On the other hand, the ability to structure time in a way that leads to accomplishment requires maturity.  I have tended so far in my life to work really well within externally-drawn boundaries (school, themes, deadlines, etc.), and, in fact, I rather depend on them for my motivation and determination.  (That’s one reason why I do so much collaborative work.)  I need to develop my own inner authority figure whom I can trust, follow, and be accountable to; until I do, I better be grateful to those external structures (i.e. “day jobs”)!

#3.  Never underestimate the importance of warm-ups!  (Sweeping is one of my favorites.)

Time Exchange works! & E.A.S.T. is gonna be great.

before -- after

I met a new Austin Time Exchange buddy today and cleared some paths in her living labyrinth!  Wow, it is amazing.  Smells so good, like lemon trees, geraniums, roses, and life.

Passionfruit. Mary's son, Sequoia, told me the right way to eat a passionfruit: open it up and chew the juice out of the seeds! This one isn't ripe yet, though.

You’ll have to check her out (Mary Kraemer – Rosa Milagrosa) during E.A.S.T. in 2 weeks!

Also, for those in Austin, TOMORROW -and every 2nd Sunday- there is a social orientation to ATEN (Austin Time Exchange Network) with potluck to follow!  If you want to get involved and start trading work hours with other Austinites, come out to Soma Vida (on Rosewood) at 5pm!

And speaking of E.A.S.T., definitely keep an eye on the Co-Lab schedule, for there is going to be a very special week of Happenings there.  >heart<

Now I make Wigs, too

Leah commissioned me to make a “dark (balding) clown” wig for Next Halloween (I happened to finish a year early)…
and it turned out pretty GOO-OOd!  Now accepting pre-orders…

Instead of making a Dia de los Muertos altar, I just managed to finish my beerbox mask in time for the Butthole Surfers show.  I wanted to get it on to the stage so that they would accept it as a gift, but it ended up just on the ground on the side of the stage.  <:-/
Who knows where it ended up?

IN OTHER NEWS!

what?  Well, there’s a new show at Po’Boys, which I would like to post pics of, and Side Sauce (new compilation CD by Night Viking & Friends) is allllmost done, and the puppet theater needs to be documented, completed (with help!), and used.

That’s some news!

Junk-a-Thon wrap-up…

The CENTER shifted even further east, since there are friends all around now.

I love how Chad tends the store.

Good people as always! I hope everyone is as happy with their purchases as we were happy to part with them!

Treats: empanadas, cider, and a potluck at 6:30; the dewy mornings, warm afternoons, and chilled sunsets.

()

Boxes of COMICS and beautiful weather.

Highlights: The most STUFF ever.  Our team of sellers did very well — Leah with her giant-tarp Bag Sale of clothes, Monkeypants with his media (books/music/magnets), and etcetera.  Mike was absent but delivered a crib full of more mutant soft toys, several of which had the laughing voice boxes that took a long time to quit.  I think the creepiest one of all was the one that died early, the rubber Satanic-baby-head on a string. <!>

One person was disappointed not to find any dead-people slides or skull belts. (!)

The guy from Reno left with a whole new life, though. (!)

I had so many expectations beforehand (as always); I wanted to make a bunch of spooky-awesome stuff  like Halloween/Reincarnation Wreaths, car crash earrings, hanging baskets, a panty-hose mask-making station, and of course an Awe-Inspiring Puppet Production in Mini’s (awesome) Theatre…  But, well, we did what we could!  I set up store in the studio, and that felt good.

Connections!

Had some fun for sure.

The writings/”To Do lists” leading up to Junk-a-thon are sitting next to me in a box (there are many). I guess I’ll have to do something with them now!

Upcoming Project (f/w season)

The date for the 2nd ALIEN ART SHOW has finally settled down onto late Feb. 2010.

I have decided to make my next big creative focus be a long-term project leading up to this show.  Using the puppet stage and friendly participation, we will shoot video on a weekly basis of puppets and stop-motion art.  I have a collection of idea-visions (inspiring materials) already bursting to become real, and they all fit the space/e.t. theme!

The video presented in February will be the edited culmination of this project, possibly a “mix tape” of music-inspired pieces.  Musical suggestions/contributions are welcomed!  I already know I need to listen to some Sun Ra and more Moondog.

I’ve never given more than a few seconds of thought to the idea of lunar inhabitants, but the topic has been coming up a lot in comments on articles about the recent moon “bombing”/”mission”.  Since I’ve already been working with moon imagery for awhile, I will enjoy exploring this idea imaginatively and physically.

After Junk-a-thon and the Inaugural Community Puppet Show, I will turn my fiery, community-organizing energy down to medium heat.  Sunday fence-painting, thinking in terms of my VERY local community, finishing up the theater and studio while honing my carpentry skills, and focusing on performances + this video project,  are going to be good ingredients for winter-into-spring!  (I also will spend some serious time on getting the website up to speed, and hopefully get out to see/hear more local events.)  By next spring/summer, this creative-community base (rert) should feel very solid!

SOME current fliers &”commentary”

This one was a fun collaboration back-and-forth between myself + Chad.  There should be a good little collection of fliers we’ve made together by now.

Man! And I made the puppet show production one, but you’ll have to look at http://www.r-e-r-t.org/puppets or I will scan again.  The promotion for that is still evolving.  How do you advertise a PROCESS — something that is perpetually in progress, but that requires community connection?   (many answers, flowing)

Oo-oo!  By the way, Fernando has decided: every Sunday, 3pm: Fence Paint!  Anything goes!  All ages.  Yes!

Anyway, Chad got this other flier whipped out, too:

And, also from the ALF book…

Ha!

That’s for the “programming” that I will be providing as part of the E.A.S.T. (East Austin Studio Tour) celebration in November, at CoLab (for she’s a jolly good art space).

So, here’s the run-down of things I am excited about:

Oct. 2nd: Chips’ b-day party and puppet-making soiree!
Oct. 3rd: Night Viking at FREE WATER2
Oct. 6th: |:The Lost art (of):| performs at Beerland with Palit and Liz Burrito & the Bubble Machines!
Oct. 10th: Open Call / Dress Rehearsal for puppet show.  Also, benefit for the Lipstick Pages.
Oct. 17th: JUNK-A-THON Opens! Pot-luck and PUPPET SHOW!
Oct. 18th: Junk-a-thon Day #2, w/ Craft Tables!
Oct. 23rd: Emergency Casserole!
Oct. 31st: Halloween and Butthole Surfers at Stubbs!
Nov. 15th: “An Ostrich and a Rainbow”, a movement-based play by Starlight Dance Troupe, at the Carver Theater.
Nov. 17th: E.A.S.T. workshop/performance at Co-Lab.

and more and more!  So much to look forward to.

(sigh)

PUPPET TIME, puppet time!

Hey hey hey!

RERT’s lookin up!  Please check out the current events…

Time to make some more

Junk-a-Thon is coming October 17th-18th!  Time to get busy on those craft projects and/or start looking through your house/shed/garage for things to shed!  (Buy/sell/trade home-made art, crafts, music, zines & yard sale doo-dadas!)

Changes

Been changing my theme like I used to change my hair. – Alas, no more caustic chemi fumes; after a last fun blast (“Napalm Orange”) in 2005, I decided to stay “natural” and just wait for my hair to change color by itself.  For awhile I wasn’t cutting it, either, but now I’ve reached a good maintenance length and enjoy the clean feeling of a trim.

What am I talking about- Oh yeah, Changes.

This simple theme is comforting to me because it looks relatively old*, which is more reflective of my actual level of computer literacy.  I want to be kind of “bare”, not wearing a well-designed mask or hiding behind a velvet curtain.  Well,  I do want to do that in my future puppet theater!  But on the computer, not so much.
(*Actually, it was “Sandbox” and I had to change it again because it wasn’t displaying my photos!)

It’s been raining steadily all afternoon.  I might as well be in pajamas, because I’m not going anywhere.  The sound of it coming down on the tarp-roof of “the studio” was at first exciting like camping; now it is reminding me (unfortunately) of the Venus scene from Ray Bradbury’s The Illustrated Man.  Slight, pointless anxiety- as if some part of me keeps having to make sure I’m not going to drown.  It is a beautiful music made of individual note-drops, but after going on for hours, they blend together in monotony.   Although at first I thought it was this persistent consistent noise, combined with being house-bound, that was breeding in me a slight tension; now, I think it is more that I CAN hear each raindrop.  I am AWARE of their impact.  The drought has been waiting so long to break, and now we all have a deeper respect for the impact and importance of this water…  And as it fills in the holes that I dug last week (for erecting the posts that will hold up the theater’s roof), I become once again so small, so relatively ineffectual.

Change happens slow and fast, depending on your perspective.  To me, the progress out back (see Studio/Theater plans, August blog) is achingly slow: steps forward come only after steps back; I replaced the studio canopy in a three-part process, rain proving flaws in my engineering vision, leading to progressively more sophisticated (though still extremely rag-tag) designs.  Building on no budget!  Well, I do like challenges.

Yes, so the work I’ve been doing is, to me, behind schedule and beside the point I wanted to be making by now…  To others, who have no idea of my plan and to-do list, every change is a surprise!  Quick vs. slow.  Nice.

Last time I was at my mother’s house/library, I picked up her old copy of I Ching: The Book of Change (translated and edited by John Blofeld, 1968).  I’ve been enjoying the introductory/explanatory chapters thus far.  As this post illustrates, I am taking thematic comfort from the philosophy expressed (Taoism).  The author explains that he chose to title the text in the singular rather than more common plural (Changes) form, because [he believes] “the Chinese authors selected the title to reflect their concept of Change as the one unchanging aspect of the universe normally perceptible to human beings.” (p. 23)

So, the Tao is one unchanging Change; in our human experience, there are many many small changes– to back up and look at the bigger picture, and squint a little: yeah, it does all kind of blend together in one endless flow, like a river.  Opposing energies/forces, mixing and flowing.  The I Ching, when used as an oracle or divinatory tool, simply tells you how to best manage your journey along that river, by suggesting action or inaction as the better choice for the given situation.  The framework is also very moral, based on what the “Superior Man” would do, i.e. one who “[desires] to live in harmony with the laws of Heaven and earth,” (p. 42).  I shall enjoy studying this as I continue to seek a deeper and deeper experience of Balance…

I am good at creating the appearance of drastic change in a short amount of time (in performance, installations), mainly through the manipulation of materials.  I like this.  From a formal perspective, it is based on a very simple/rudimentary fact that drama, change, and contrast are all attention-getters.  If I can get an audience’s attention, then there is the hope that I can give them something.  Curiosity is one of my favorite of human emotions, if it is an emotion.  Anyway, spending time crafting different ways of getting attention is a lot of what art ends up being about; the other part, which is kind of independent of art but nevertheless integral to its meaning, is that which is being expressed.  A lot of times after completing a big art project/show/event, I have felt a kind of let-down deflation, because though my material efforts may have been noticed and enjoyed, what I put into my work in terms of thought and concept ended up feeling like coins tossed into a dark well.  It’s not that there was no response or impact, it’s just that I have no way of knowing what the response or impact was, not unless someone took the time and effort to respond.  Usually it’s just: “Hey, I really liked your show!”  Uhh…  “Thank you!”  Occasionally there are conversations that go beyond that, and I can hear my initial statements echoed back to me, affirmed.  Rarely, someone will point out things that I hadn’t even noticed, or they suppose themes that are so far from my intention that I get the delightful feeling of curiosity myself (energy returned back to me).  Case in point: some “stranger” at Jo on the Go in San Marcos commented that my installation of hand-made wallpapers there was “obsessed with genetic mutation and reproduction.”  Now that gives me something to think about!

I guess some conversations are slower than others.  Points-of-view change, slowly, gradually, like evolution.  And sometimes there are bolts of inspiration, other times confrontation, and moments when resonance is felt so clear, you really can almost hear it ringing.  Let’s circle those moments and talk about them, make art, discuss again.

The frustrations I have on the physical plane, battling obstacles and practicing patience, stem from my eagerness to contribute to the dialogues going on in art and community, compounded by self-imposed limitations on how I want to make that contribution.  Vision pulls me forward and mud pulls me down, grounded.

While I am typing, various pieces/relics of art pieces past are outside in my “studio”, slowly accepting moisture through their completely non-archival surfaces.  I’ve got a tent full of future trash!  Why?  (I’m exaggerating a bit… it’s not FULL… and some of it is former trash, future art…)  These things hold, to me, not-fully-discharged caches of meaning.  If someone picks one of them up, the story attached to it just starts rolling out of my mouth, sometimes.  Here at Synaesthetic Breakfast, I hope to someday bring you some of those stories, and pictures-in-words.  Then the cardboard may safely melt back into the earth…

It’s not raining anymore!  Bye-bye.