Jon Axtell of the DIY Venue DIRT offered me a show in his gallery space. The show was installed just this last week. I was so happy to see my pieces hang together like this.
The opening ceremony consisted of Andrew Rose, Zoe Donnellycolt, and Hannah Ayasse (of Psychobotany at Planthaus fame). A similar approach as Psychobotany, (performative authentic movement) except prerecorded music this time.
I do wish I knew a good musician/audio collaborator. I felt a little stretched thin being director. I definitely allowed myself to do the best I can and not stress out too much that the reception room was still playing its background music when the show in the gallery started.
I sold pieces to friends and I really liked that. I brought some blue orchids. I loved that feeling of hosting the evening. I also wrote a lovely artist statement that I really like because it’s not so pretentious but more practical. What inspired me? What materials did I use? What do I see for the future?
I really liked the hanging technique for the paper: binder clips and neon string attached to hanging hooks. Very accessible. No glass or framing. Relatively inexpensive.
I’ve been promoting this show as my first visual solo show. I had some pieces in a bookstore in Seattle and I should really count that, but that opening night there was a book artist there, too so it wasn’t like a solo solo show opening. Anyways, big milestone. I’ll put more pics here when I have time to upload them from my camera.
I loved working with these dancers (as usual). They were so happy to wear the petalled clothing I had for sale. I highly recommend them as a way to shoo out the boogies in the space and bless the works.
Photo Credit to Zoe Donnellycolt (pictured)
I love working with my overhead projector. Such magical light. The fabric the dancers used was also very successful. I will do more with that.
I felt very prepared. I had commemorative fridge magnets and flyers for my next show available at the door. We got donations that made it very worth it for the dancers. It felt so satisfying being able to offer them some monetary value. In the past I haven’t been able to set prices or control the door money. This was nice.
I highly recommend this venue and Jon Axtell’s management of the gallery show process. His encouragement really inspired me to do well in a low stress way.
hanging WIP photo
Also I am happy that a nice person bought my boyshorts!
A version of psychobotany called “Psychobotanikon” was mounted at the Center for New Music in San Francisco. It was an interesting experience for me because it felt like PlantHaus for adults (there was a grand pianist as the closing act and Michael Dooley performed at both).
Among other things, what was different about “Psychobotanikon” was that David Samas, my collaborator on psychobotany wanted to direct. He wanted to address some feedback he got from audiences specifically about choreography, I think. Also he wanted to make changes to the music, and had some ideas about wardrobe.
I said yes to this. It was a curiosity because psychobotany was the first production I’ve ever directed. (production in this case, meaning that it wasn’t just me doing a thing, but I managed a team and liasoned with the venue, etc.) Anyways, I told David that I would let him direct if we changed the name and he established his directorship over the production. I would just be doing the live light looks with my overhead projector and making the programs and purchasing and hanging fabric to drape on the stage.
It was super weird because it was like I was a captain of a ship and then I stepped down to be a science officer, but it was the same ship with the same mission but then some of the crew got replaced. The show used a photograph of the old show with a mover who wasn’t on the new ship for the facebook event. The whole thing felt very weird. I love art and I love the music and all of that but it felt weird to have less control over the result.
Instead of 2-3 dancers, there was just one. I enjoyed her movements, but I miss working with the other dancers and their joy at the end of the piece when they talked about what they experienced with each other through the improvisational freedom. I think that is an integral part of psychobotany, the shared experience of the movers.
I do like that I was commissioned to paint wardrobe. Everyone involved on that stage was petalpetaled! That was really lovely to feel like they were unified by this pattern. That part was really a dream come true for me. The first time my handpainted clothing were worn onstage in a group! (the first time for my handpainted clothing on stage for a solo performer was last month :) so cool!)
I loved the way Christina’s dress turned out. To watch her move in it made me feel alive and fulfilled.
(text from the program)
PlantLife
PlantLife: an Immersive Evening of Phyto-Experience December 12, 2018
at the Center for New Music 55 Taylor Street, San Francisco, CA 94102
Join us for an evening of music, meditation, art and dance celebrating the consciousness of our allies in the green world.
7 PM Meditation with Plants, Michael Dooley — every 10 min in the rehearsal room (limited to 4 guests)
8 PM Pet the Tiger: Psychobotanikon
Cheryl Leonard, David Samas: Invented Instruments Christina Braun: Butoh Katarina Countiss: Live Projection, Painted Wardrobe
9 PM Sarah Cahill, Piano: Patterns of Plants, Mamoru Fujieda
Meditation with Plants is an opportunity to turn off the conscious mind and experience a deep listen to a musical track being spontaneously created by plant energy, violin, and water.
The format is a headphoned experience for 4-6 people for 7-minutes for as many sessions we can do in an hour.
Psychobotanikon was collaboratively composed by instrument inventors Cheryl Leonard and David Samas, all of whom have been working with natural materials for decades. It explores themes of plant consciousness, botanical perception of time and the voice of the plants themselves. Developed with live projection and dance to express the private life of plants and celebrate the interconnected sentience of every living thing.
Patterns of Plants, composed between 1996 and 2011, is Mamoru Fujieda’s magnum opus. Working with the “Plantron,” a device created by botanist and artist Yūji Dōgane, the composer measured electrical fluctuations on the surface of the leaves of plants, and converted the data thus obtained into sound using the Max programming system. Through a process he has likened to searching “in a deep forest” for “beautiful flowers and rare butterflies,” he listened for musical patterns, and used them as the basis for composing short pieces, which he then grouped into collections reminiscent of Baroque dance suites. The resulting music is as varied and lovely as any garden. But it is more than ornamental; as pianist Sarah Cahill notes, these are pieces of great depth and expressivity.
BIOS Cheryl E. Leonard is a composer, performer, and instrument- builder whose works investigate sounds, structures, and objects from the natural world. Her projects often feature natural-object instruments and field recordings from remote locales. Leonard has received grants from the NSF’s Antarctic Artists and Writers Program, American Music Center, American Composers Forum, and ASCAP.
Christina Braun, a lifelong dancer, has produced Butoh dance symposia, performances, and workshops. Her choreography with collaborating composers has been presented regularly since 2002. Her core teachers in the Butoh form are local treasures Hiroko and Koichi Tamano.
David Samas is a teaching artist, composer, instrument inventor, curator, conceptual artist and social sculptor. A queer, native San Franciscan from mixed immigrant roots, David got his a BFA from the SF Art Institute in conceptual art in 2000 and studied poetics at the New College of California. He is the director of Pet the Tiger Instrument Inventors Collective and curates the Window Gallery for Invented Instruments at the Center for New Music.
Michael Dooley is a sound artist, violin looper, and experimental performer. His work is centered around texture, repetition, process, chance, and spell — built from a blending of violin harmonies, modular synth noise, samplers, and contact mics on practical objects. Much of his work is site-specifc, and creates a relationship between the sound, space, and scenario. He received a degree in Literature & Film from Colorado College, and has completed a Meisner Acting Technique training program under Rachael Adler, and currently studies Yat Malmgren Movement Psychology under Tom Bentley-Fisher, all of which have deeply impacted his approach to music and performance.
Katarina Countiss is a multimedia artist based in Oakland, California. She enjoys exploring color and texture through light, ink, fabric, and paint. The leaf/petal motif she calls petalpetal is an exploration in patterns, a celebration of nature, and a meditation in its creation. katarinacountiss.com Words: There’s a soft rustling. Crunch, crunch of leaves underfoot. The clouds the clouds the clouds– I like watching nature, the cycles remind me how time passes and how precious is our one wild life.
Sarah Cahill, recently called “a sterling pianist and an intrepid illuminator of the classical avant-garde” by The New York Times, has commissioned, premiered, and recorded numerous compositions for solo piano. Composers who have dedicated works to her include John Adams, Terry Riley, Frederic Rzewski, Pauline Oliveros, Julia Wolfe, Yoko Ono, and Evan Ziporyn, and she has also premiered pieces by Lou Harrison, Ingram Marshall, Toshi Ichiyanagi, George Lewis, Leo Ornstein, and many others. Cahill’s radio show, “Revolutions Per Minute”, can be heard every Sunday evening from 8 to 10 pm on KALW, 91.7 FM in San Francisco. She is on the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory, and curates a monthly series of new music concerts at the new Berkeley Art Museum. For more information, visit http://www.sarahcahill.com.
SPECIAL THANK YOUS Derek Drudge for your supportive role in Psychobotanikon
The Center for New Music for hosting this event at their lovely venue. With performance/rehearsal spaces, shared and dedicated work spaces, and community resources, the Center is a hub of activity around new music that amplifies the work of creative musicians and creates space for new ideas.
I had the privilege of painting Annikah and taking some photographs and video. We put on The Knife’s new album, Shaking the Habitual. I worked with Annikah on psychobotany over a year ago. And did some projection art at her wedding! It was nice to paint her body while we talked about our lives at my house.
Pax my housemate also took some of these photos.
I edited these photos with photoshop’s content aware to add to the dreamy quality.
I really like using liquid trays for my overhead projector. I use liquid watercolor for color and then grapeseed oil and water. I also bought some tiny styrofoam balls that look pretty neat and are kind of rascally. Some other things: I have a wet tray and a dry tray. The dry tray currently has styrofoam balls, plastic microbeads, colored beads and iron filings. Very fun to apprecate how multitudinous they look.
Gosh, these things keep getting smaller. The first one, I paid stipends to artists to play pieces that resonated with the inspiration, but now cuz I’m broke, I just show up with a zine and read from it and hope that the people at home watching the live stream are enjoying the feeling of not having to show up in person?
It was great to have Sasha there. She really brought a lot of great insight to Julia Kristeva. I have been really enjoying Kristeva’s book, Intimate Revolt.
I really enjoyed Sasha’s poem. It felt booming and passionate, also ancient. The way she writes is intriguing because it uses great and long words.
I did another round of Dance Therapy/Dance Playback. It was nice having such a small audience. It felt intimate and short.
Klanghaus event, WitchHaus was chill. I had my worries because I think that witchcraft is an often disrespected religious orientation. Made into stereotypes and misunderstood. But, it was fine. It was smooth and bright. I brought my face paints and enjoyed making the event a little more festive. I handpainted the WitchHaus banner at the front of the house. It’s such a fun addition because it’s so big and welcoming.
I focused more on the promotional videos. It was a great experience making three short videos and posting them to social media. It was so cool having performers from Klanghaus dressed by the event curator, Sasha, and a little time carved out to be at the venue and get some sweet shots.
Jeanne sang text that Sasha wrote and it was stuck in my head all week and I loved it.
the first carousel storyfirst pages of the other carousel stories
Hard to write about a writing project. So much writing and so much more.
I kept having this feeling like I wouldn’t do something unless it was for an art project. Like I couldn’t find meaning in brushing my teeth or reading books I wanted to read. I had a burst of energy from a blossoming romantic one-sided crush and I decided to pour it into a simulated art residency.
It’s a thought experiment of what would I be doing right now if I was at a residency– I think the best way I’ve describing it is a text-based solo RPG. I felt like I couldn’t just start writing about my feelings, but I could write about me writing about my feelings.
This month’s zine for Kat’s Zine club is a typed version of the notebook I kept during the residency. I also used instagram’s carousel feature to create small sets of images that relate to each other in a weird picture book way– 10 images or less– recreating them doesn’t give the satisfaction of the swipe to turn the page of a very short story.
I’m excited to create a similar but actually really different experience for other people using this approach of simulation or fictionalizing.
It’s going to need a few trials to hone it into something that I feel confident about — I enjoy the hope that it will help people achieve the residency experience without having to take time off of work and lose money in travel, etc.
One of the interesting approaches is the social media limitation. I used social media less during my imaginary residency and when I did, I pretended that I needed to have a director sign off on it.
It really helped me focus and ask myself the question, can I be reading right now? Instead of scrolling–
I loved visiting this place and interacting with the objects and mystery of the weather. I decided I had to end my residency because that’s the premise. Is that it has an end. And now I get the great adventure of taking on a new role as a docent.
When I was in middle school, I was really into text-based RPGS. I would like to ultimately get the very same kind of forum going for this, and probably should do that in the next iteration but then also I am intrigued about a google-doc forum. Especially because it’s a different kind of accessible.
Now that I’m writing this, I think that it is going to be a forum eventually like the ones I enjoyed in the early oughts. I want to style the html so it has that vintage website vibe– so exciting! I love a project that changes and gets more structure as it goes on.
(Nightworld is still there, but also different looking but kind of the same)
Kismet Arts Tangent 