Hello Again!
Well, I guess I took the rest of the summer off from blogging. Oops! There’s a lot to catch up on. And some reorganization of things (but I’ll stick with this theme).
For now, please enjoy the murky-bright colors of this TIMELY flier (made by Chad and me)…
Recently Writing Related
Well I just finished posting this, and I’m feeling very accomplished. I’m going to tell everyone.
I really feel like rambling in a free-associative way, but I’m beginning to think I should funnel that sort of thing into performance art. (By the way, the next The Lost Art appearance will be a short thing at Emergency Casserole @ 4:30pm, and after that. . . May 7th at Co-Lab.)
On the other hand. . . why, where did that hand go? Hand? Hand?
Oh yes, I have GREAT NEWS! After long last, and after writing “I need an editor” over 20 times a month, on to-do lists and notes-to-self laying discretely all over the house, I have finally hired an Editor of my very own, Mr. Chad Hopper, who has so many good ideas he really ought to work as a “creative consultant”. As a result, I’ve gotten an Assignment! woo-hoo! Next up, we’ll figure out a deadline for that assignment.
I think this means I’m headed towards some sort of self-publishing project cycle (until my giant boxes of paper scraps are obliterated). See, it is a matter of health. I can’t hold onto things forever, or I’ll be buried alive. Plus, the beauty within these collections is worth sharing, in some way or another.
For now, the bi-annual Journal will go under the name suggested by my editor: ARTFORMATION.
see you soon.
GREAT MONDAY, EVERYBODY!
Lots to report today;
We are on a roll !
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Got started this morning with a gust of Lori 16mm, who came by to create marvelous
stenciled artistic creations on clothing,
filling up the reserves for 3 weeks from now when the Art-Hungry Populace comes to Ye Olde
Junk-a-Thon!
With finesse and furious pizazze, she filled up one+ clothesline with wearable art. Chad and I made some, too.
Then, with batch #1 drying, spray paint cans were removed and additional supplies were found in preparation for the kids’ Art Class.
Not long after school let out across the street, Patrick, Marina, and Jennifer showed up to learn how to make Stencil Art! I demonstrated the process, from finding a surface/cloth, to choosing a stencil or a flattish object, to applying paint, and hanging to dry. Marina and Jennifer worked nonstop for an hour on all sorts of colorful designs; Patrick made a new stencil, of the letter “P”, with the help of Chad, who also took these photos:
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So, pretty good format for a day. Maybe we can get someone to come help do screenprinting on another Monday?
If not that, we’ll definitely be at work again next Monday, perhaps on the first mortar-and-object collage.
And Saturdays! The Quilt-Sewing gatherings must start! I think Saturday afternoon might be a good time for me (or maaaybe Monday nights). We’ll just get together, share our sewing skills, design a quilt, work on individual picture-squares, and put it all together. We don’t have to meet every Saturday, just when people don’t have better things to do.
Sundays are our great Clean-up days. I didn’t get pictures, but there was some fun Boy Scouting type of activities yesterday, as Jeremiah, Patrick and Brer-John explored into the thickets of the backyard and learned about some of the differences between live plants and dead ones. There just might be a garden sprouting up soon!
P.S. I am having trouble formatting this page!
Figure It Out!
Okay, I have a bunch of ideas and interests, and I am on the brink of putting it in some logical order.
For this website, the clean and tidy website, I ought to make a simple list / art resume / CV. Since it is the web, of course you should be able to click on the shows/events and pull up a page of documentation.
That would be good, but it is hard to finish things like that because they are about organizing the PAST. I am dying to have at least one foot in “the future”!
So, let’s see if we can together make sense of this. Stepping into the future: I want my work to engage health, creativity, and community. I want to be a scientist (investigating, documenting) as well as an artist, teacher/facilitator, steward of the Earth, and community hub. Yesterday I was contemplating the name “Paradox Marriage” (“paradoxmarriage.org”), and the tag-line : “Environmental group with a holistic approach to ecosystem health.” (The catch is: the work produced by the group is art.) This includes the health of humans, the health of neighborhoods, and of course, the health of animals and plants, too. I want to start where I am, on Rogers Ave., and let myself dream big. My yard (which is shared by several households) was recently under scrutiny by a city inspector who, responding to an anonymous complaint, informed the two landlords of the adjacent properties that they would have to clean up the reported “unsightly” materials or else face a fine. Well, that’s a great place to start. We’ve got a great incentive now to 1) establish positive communication with the property owners, 2) establish + broaden communication among the tenants, 3) create plans for projects on our land (I say “our” in the sense of everyone who feels they “have a stake in it”) and start working on them. Examples: garden plots, community art (maybe a mural?!), cleaning the soil, re-greening the far back of the lot and encouraging a small wildlife habitat. I am eager to do research about the history of the land and neighborhood, both through official documents and through talking with people. I am eager to meet local resources with expertise in various subjects and bring them to the evolving experiment. Yes! I Am Qualified. . .
So, can you help me figure out what to do to make all of this REAL? What things should I be thinking about as far as tying it all up in a bow?
I can see sending out a letter of introduction and solidarity, just a hey howdy, to all the community groups and good eco-businesses or other people in town who I want to ally myself with. Allies! What do my potential allies need to see, hear, read or experience in order for this dream to become real outside of my head?
I have for a long time thought I’d have an Earth Day sort of event here, with an arts flavor, and use it to christen a project like this. Maybe this is it, and now I have to just visualize and craft that presentation.
Feedback?
Synaesthetic Breakfast 