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.)
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!
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)
Weaving
Click on the title of this post to see the pictures more up-close. I’m using the 2nd-to-last image as a desktop picture this week.
Invitation
__ W – O – R – K – – P – A – R – T – Y __
8/16 Sunday (and/or) 8/17 Monday, after 6pm!<>
<> <> Puppet studio+theater will SOON be open to the public.
<> HELP NEEDED: trouble-shooting for safety, minor carpentry, materials organizing, and decorating.
<> ADDITIONALLY: Green-thumbs invited to offer advice on wild plant management and herb gardening.
<> <> Compensation: Time Exchange currency
<> <> Location = 2608 Rogers Ave. (in the back) 78722
R.S.V.P.!
Performances Upcoming
Well, ya just stay busy don’t you?
That’s my answer to a lot of questions right now.
And it’s still exciting, all this work to do!
Some things accomplished, other things brewing:
– Joined the Austin Time Exchange Network! Check it out.
– Received a beautiful 1/2 report /visual edit from Chad that I will post on a School (without walls) page very soon!
– Got on board the visioning-for-a-REPURPOSING-RESOURCE-CENTER group. Evolving out of what was Greater Austin Garbage Arts and pulling in more (and more) powerful potential with strong collaborators, this as yet nameless model for a new way of relating to waste and resources is going to be a beautiful addition to our city in a short time!
– Other synchronistic connections happening that will bear fruit soon, soon.
– Trying to cut down on sugar and yeast. Cool!
– Getting ready for an awesome mini-tour with Night Viking to McAllen, TX, this weekend!
– Monday: Work Party! ! (for building both the Studio and the Theater!) +brainstorming for future projects [–> playhouse made out of ???? bottles?? oh my!]
– Puppet season is right around the corner…
– I started my performance archive!
Next week: Radical new blessings, keeping the ball rolling, and Doctor Clown v.1.something <<<<
Important To Note
The post from /Monday was spurred by a flyer-to-email communication with someone who was advertising free consultations for “outdoor room” projects. I saw her flyer at El Chilito on Day 2 of Junk-a-Thon, and felt immediately drawn to both the photograph, which was of human and plant people enjoying an outdoor shower, and to the text: someone offering design + build services “for people who like to live outside”. Yes! Outdoor rooms! That’s so it! I went home and started looking at “my yard”, thinking thinking.
It took a little while to actually contact her due to a problem with my email account, but that was probably good to have the time to percolate my ideas, leading to writing the outline I posted to this blog. The person on the other end of the flyer, Patrice Mallard, came by on Thursday/Jupiter Day. Getting a professional’s perspective on what I’ve been plotting and pondering is an immense help.
So, she came today, and off the bat offered some important information: 1st, “greywater systems” are NOT legal according to CODE (unless, unless, unless, and she would not want to get officially involved in anything like that). Oh yeah. Well, she pointed out some important reasons: Detergent is the #1 pollutant in our water, which as city water systems go, is apparently ranked #10 in the country. Now that could be coming from car washes,,, (where did THEY get through that loophole?), or who knows what else, but also: some people are washing their clothes outside and putting the sudsy H2O on the ground. Now you could say, “But I only use biodegradable soap!” and that is true, but is your neighbor going to use biodegradable? Are they going to try and “go eco” after your example, but without going to all the same precautious ends to make sure it IS actually “green”?
Hmm. Okay. Well, and the rainwater I could collect off the roof is going to be no better or worse for plants than what currently is feeding my garden of eden, but I better not water any edible plants with it. (Yech! Asphalt shingles.)
So then we walked around back:
hot as hell
Yes, it is blazin hot out here. There is no attractive shade, no refuge. The tents are just covering STUFF.
So then I talked more about my basic studio needs and she started verbally sketching a vision.
And I filled in my handy cork-map with her proposal, which I think is very reasonable and probably the most practical solution I should shoot for.
I know you can’t really read what it says on there, but the important thing to know is that I am going to be calling upon my friends’ help soon, especially those who can help me acquire some POSTS (I need 16 – 8′ or taller) and who have experience with framing / porch-building. (You know who you are!) AND, I’ll need a few people who have some old, repressed anger to get out to wield pick-axes on a bit of old parking lot. And, we’re going to MOVE the old shed! (And magically transform it into a PLAYHOUSE.)
In return for your assistance and moral support, I will assure our on-the-job comfort with frosty towels and vats of lemon-honey-water, followed by hose-downs and a super meal that will fill you to your boots.
Oh yeah, I’m also going to need various truck-rides at different points. Picking up palettes, posts, tin, concrete, salvage 2x4s, and CACTI. Taxi truckers, I will pay the gas $.
Alright, that’s the update! Course set, steer straight!
🙂
PROPOSAL:
Basically, my proposal is this, flexible to variations, and happily responded to, YES or NO:
Collaborate with me on this project to make “my backyard” (which is semi-“public”, in that it is not fenced in and has hosted numerous public gatherings so far) a lively, beautiful, quirky, KID-PROOF sanctuary/destination, with more happy PLANTS, private areas, and functional attributes.
Some of the challenges I am currently facing are:
1-Storage decay & insecurity.
2-Unclear boundary of workspace.
3-Extremely rocky and glass-filled dirt.
4-Unpleasant ground-cover with too many burrs!
My hopes for the space are to:
1) “Fix” my current storage space system to store: items for specific events, tools and materials for specific outdoor projects, and Art. Storage must be secure and dry. (I am working on this part now).
2) Area immediately surrounding storage => an organized studio. Stuff for my own projects needs to be secured/locked, and additional shelves for future students/co-workers should also be considered.
3) Create a raised sink (+ greywater processing and irrigation system) for use during outside events or workshops or studio time. This structure will bring some life in the form of some irrigated plants — perhaps vines or kitchen herbs.
4) Create a few comfortable and fun places around the area (a swing, benches, some mosaic, collaborative public sculptures, puppet theater stage, etc.! (This is where I am extra-open to outside ideas and inspirations!)
5) Replace the current ground-cover with one that is hypo-allergenic and softer.
6) Overall, to Increase peaceful play, promote creative work, provide an enjoyable experience for out-of-doors gatherings,and to be AMAZING.
I KNOW that I need help with this, and I FEEL that it is a project that many people could get excited about, depending on their degree of investment. I know that people need to feel that a project is beneficial to them in order to invest any amount of time or energy into it. I see this as beneficial to many because of the number of potential uses the space can have: a learning space (“The Austin Cooperative Free School“, if you need a name for it), a work space (for outdoor crafts), a place for community puppet theater, more artsy swap meets, collaborations with other friend-organizations, etc. To wrap it up as “conceptual art” I may refer to it as the Recycling Center, where rescued materials are cared for, traded, and crafted. In addition, the environment itself is a slowly evolving work of art (indeed, A Living Space). Artistic/professional collaborators may use the space to showcase their work, to create an example of their skill that will be seen by many people, even while each part is a thoughtful contribution to the community.
There is some food for thought. Bon appetit!
Office project
[After-thought/Edit: Constant struggling with organization –> a personal thing we all wrestle with in various ways, with varying degrees of success/failure and emotion. It looks like I can make an art project out of this.]
— = — = — = —
“Need help with project scheduling, untangling threads,
computer stuff like scanning and posting, taking dictation like a real new-fangled secretary,
Flag-making; uniform closet help, Municipal Club and other club members. But that’s outside. Let’s just nail this office helper bit first.
Okay, u-mm, done.
Working On…
I just put a lot of time+energy into a big fun group project: The Teeny-Tiny Diorama-rama ZOO, at Co-Lab. It turned out really well; I’ll have some photos and video up here pretty soon!
Also in the works: Interviews #1 and #2. I am bringing interviews to this website as a way to share with people some current examples of projects and approaches which are inspiring, educational, and “evolutionary”. To that end, you will see and read about the various beautiful DIY outdoor projects that Scott and Jen Webel have undertaken in the transformative stewardship of their yard. Then, a conversation with the acupuncturists at Neighborhood Acupuncture Project, who are part of the movement to make acupuncture accessible to all through community-style treatment. Evolution!
Even more going on: Junk-a-Thon #6 is right around the corner — June 13th & 14th! And I shore do want to start working on a puppet show soon. And bicycle choreography. Woo-hoo, summer!
For $100 I Can Make something Happen this week.
If I were on the Community Improvements “task force”, there would be:
-more plants
– outdoor municipal joys (cement-works, interactive, sculpture, events)
At the top of my list of projects are: “The Movable Fence” (get the kids to make mazes, corral dogs/people) – AND – an outdoor sink! that works (connected to hose, to wall) and can encourage art projects and plant irrigation
(details/photo forthcoming)
[And the summer puppet show is really happening. summ months.
I’m writing short scripts/scenarios. ((CASTING CALL))
maybe will need to workshop summa these _____.
wee-hoo!]
Basically, In case you are wondering about the School>> we are in a building infrastructure stage. Art must flourish~ relationships be watered~ compost taken care of lovingly, … materials put to good use. There are a lot of people living here now, including some recent arrivals and their various regular visitors.,, so, sometimes punctuation gets flipped, and we go on and try to catch up on chores. But conversation does get made, there is a new puppy, and now it’s getting hot so the AC’s are on and loud. And those Cats! It has been announced: A Puppet Show!
+ you will soon see a FREE IDEAS (for a free school) section of the website
Really and More
- Open-call Art Show at the Laundromat
Latest Pile
- SUPER SETTINGS! – consulting and installation
- news and interviews (and science) internet TV show (group project w/ San Marcos folks)
- Commitment Cafe — part of the free school; kind of a paradoxical combo of words; we want people to experience the positive feelings associated with accomplishing a goal — to that end, we champion (carry a flag for) i.e. encourage flexible structure of the buddy system or committee type, placed in a comfortable context.
- Make Rert give birth to an educational Video company (ex: Molly’s “How To Brush a Dog”)
- no more art; just “[Absurd] Crafts”
- a show of only Really Long Things
- getting serious about dance by forming a group with some musicians (female would be a welcome change) to get together in a dance studio (or other well-lit setting) to play and shoot video from fun angles.
- Reviving… THE MONTHLY COMMUNITY PUPPET SHOW! a Variety show for the E X T E N D E D Family. For example, in one part, you tell the news.
So! Anyone wanna get started on anything? I have questions barring the way on some of these, so help me if you can: 1) I am stubbornly obsessed lately with thoughts of “masonry”, building with rocks, cinder blocks, mortar mix, mud. Maybe good walls make for good neighbors, maybe also a maze or puppet theater would be best, but really I need some advice. Come to my back yard and stand in it with me. Many people have already been there during Junk-a-thon… but the rest of the days, I want to spend more time out there, but I ccan’t stop thinking of
big stones and where to place them.
??
It may be that it is just fine the way it is. So my need to create, to domesticate, might be an imposition.
But then again, I do have instinct. This is one, this weird rock part of it. And then the bringing people together for hand-made entertainment and sharing- that too. I think I like it.
It’s hard to know how to communicate all this sometimes, and when I am not communicating, the things in my head don’t seem quite real. (and they stay in my head). But I think they are; they’re not premonitions, just urges.
This morning I went to an “oculo- and cosmetic surgeon” because my optometrist insisted that sebaceous cell carcinoma be ruled out as an explanation for my inflamed eyelid gland. I knew however, that this $120 consultation would only lead to a prescription for an even more expensive, not necessarily necessary, procedure, which it did, and which I can’t afford. (I’m going to see what acupuncture can do.) But the woman working reception was very warm. As I was sitting down she scanned my paperwork, and she asked if I was a writer. Because, “With two middle names, you ought to be a writer!” Well, thanks! Maybe I will.
whoa!
Some recent highlights: YESTERDAY: An adventurous day with my twin nieces in Imaginationland. Then the Night Viking lasagna family dinner was nice.
MONDAY: School without walls had a hand-sewing class that went very well. We all made tiny heart pillows, except for Marina, who made a football. / Before that I modeled more vintage clothing for Leah’s Threadhunter business… / After that, got a little more balanced internally at The Neighborhood Acupuncture Project clinic. / Then the O.P.E.R.A. House got together to make a crazy flyer for our upcoming May project (at Co-Lab): Teeny Tiny Diorama-rama Zoo. It’s an open-call show for dioramas, but we are going to make a zoo installation as context for the entries. Dioramas due opening night: May 23rd! / Finally, watched The Devil and Daniel Johnston and slept.
Tonight, Night Viking is playing our first show since January 28th! Show starts 9:30 at the Chaindrive. The opening act, Sunday Papers, is reminiscent of Elliott Smith, in a good way. We’re 2nd and we are really revved up! After us is The Smiling Knights and Bridge Farmers, whom I have not seen, and probably won’t since I have to get up early tomorrow…
Ye Olde Junk-a-Thon, Trading Post
(with Time Tunnel)
Come see the Amazing Feet, whiskers–
No, really. If you wanna just get out of the house, rifle through some garage sale items, vintage clothes, comic books, ART, fortune eggs, puppet kits, unique stencil-covered wearable objects… and/or converse with neighborly types + iguana-dog-cats, crawl through a tunnel into the land of the future, enter other mystical portals, etc., we’ll be here. Probably’ll have goodies to eat, on the grill, as well. Bring your ham or pemmican, currency or other goods to trade.* 10am-7pm, Saturday and Sunday. Rain or Shine!
*If you are BARTER inclined, I know that I for one (Amanda), could certainly use: flower pots/planters, cinder blocks, mortar, rocks, plants, soil, etc. Chad mainly needs currency and/or publishing connections, since he is about to get a bunch of teeth pulled; but, he might trade for some awesome old magazines or picture books. I’m not too sure about the druthers of Lori, Leah and Kevin, who are bringing stuff to sell, but if you are totally broke and have nothing to trade, you can still come and just enjoy the festivities and weird landscape!
2608B Rogers Ave. – right across from Campbell Elementary School –
What do you want to learn? What do you want to teach?
(Thank you, Landon, for crystallizing this thought through conversation.)
<______This post is a form_______>
The purpose is to figure out what you would want to teach
and what you would want to learn at the School without Walls.
Read my lists, then write your own lists, in a comment trail…
! !
____________________________
WANT TO LEARN
_Language practice, cultural educations
_Tap-dancing, other dance forms (p.s. there is a “Folk Dancing” class at Hancock Activity Center; I will go if someone else goes)
_Environmental sciences (soil testing, pruning, landscape tips, how to tend a wild-scape as well as garden plants, etc.!!!)_Local history
_How to fix sewing machines
_Computer video editing
_Animating on the computer
_How to cook awesome amazing Indian food or other healthy special treats.
_Welding
_something that you want to teach?
Oh, so many other things! (I will keep editing my lists)
WANT TO / WILLING TO TEACH (or facilitate)
_painting or drawing
_astrology as a language and a tool for understanding
_dance/movement exercises (for healing, expression)
_recycling unusual trash items into art/craft objects
_Life Questions
_synaesthesia / hybrid art forms / brain stretching
_puppet show creation
_music notation
_ ?
Off the Top of My Head
Ahh, it’s good to get some March rain. Spring is supposed to be messy. So, though I was planning to do my first mortar-collage (mosaic experiment) this Sunday or Monday, I’ll just have to wait and see.
Here are some ideas of what I hope to bring to this blog soon, and also to physical reality:
- An interview with Laura, Tony and Paul of the Neighborhood Acupuncture Project! (I volunteer there in exchange for treatments)
- Junk-a-Thon product previews (photos), like some of the finished products from last week’s stencil session, plus other stuff we will be peddling.
- An “Art Project Archive” page (my version of a Curriculum Vitae or artist’s resume)
- A hard-copy pamphlet/info-sheet that explains this whole constellation of community projects I’m startin’. (ready by Junk-a-thon, 3/28)
- Soil Testing=== I want to test the soil on our lot to see what’s in it (nutrients, pollutants, elements). I really know nothing about how to do this, so I’m just asking around. Whatever I learn, I will share here!
- Speaking of sharing, part of my make-share-learn-teach mission (hey that kind of has a ring to it…) is: I want to make skills and knowledge available to others. So, one way of doing this is to video-document (thanks Wendy!) whenever I have someone over doing a demo or workshop, or whenever I track down a soil expert, etc. I am a total novice at holding a video camera, and I’m about to teach myself how to edit. That said, documenting is one area I welcome help in! And, look forward to a freeskoolatx YouTube channel!
- Oral history projects, more interviews, neighborhood research and connecting (going local!)
- More dancing, and a Litterbug Jitterbug (Chad’s idea of a trash pick-up parade made fun)…
- Community quilt progress (starting this weekend?)
- A silkscreen workshop or demo would be an awesome follow-up to stencilling.
- Mm, a cooking class?
- More information for astrology clients!
For the present moment, I am watching the rain.
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:
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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!
Quilt story
Who wants to learn how to sew? Who already knows how to sew and wants to help make a quilt by meeting weekly or almost weekly? I have materials! And a re-arranged living room that would be a great meeting place. Let’s make a Visions for the Future quilt!
Synaesthetic Breakfast 