Art Collective
I had another successful photobooth at the eggtooth. (See previous blog post) It’s fun and I would like to do it at more gatherings, but I’m not that proactive about securing the gigs.
I used my new canon, on the lowest resolution setting. And it was easy and fun.
For those of you who know who has been inspiring me, then you also know that they inspired me to buy a uke.
I got this one off of craigslist for $40 and it’s a miracle. I love singing and playing. My improv classes at Comedy Sportz Seattle are paying off in joy!
I also like writing down songs too. I’m working on a new project called The New Lullaby Shop, where people can send me money and I’ll write them a lullaby personally. So far only one person has done this but it turned out really well. I’ll be posting them to my new dedicated instagram: thenewlullabyshop
I’m excited about going to open mics and playing house shows. We will see if peeps really dig it.
Michael Dooley who has performed at two events that I’ve helped produced was very generous and hosted a jam with me and Sean Real.
I haven’t had a lot of free improvisation jam sessions. This one was so lovely, I already miss it. There’s a lot of sweet comradery that comes with improv. We were very accepting. We listened and flowed with each other for over an hour. Me on my Bb clarinet, Dooley on his violin, and Sean on their Banjo (with an electronic bow at times!).
It was lovely:: sometimes it felt like an epic movie soundtrack and other times it felt like a porch hangout with one of those jug bands. I would totally do this again and recommend it for all musicians that like to improvise.
I have a nice clarinet– I started playing the clarinet in 6th grade. It feels like a part of me, my past, an extension of my body. It was so cool to feel like there was a reason carry it with me, just waiting for its moments. I wish I was in a band. I wanna go on tour. Sigh. I want so many things in so many directions.
A friend of mine saw my kickstarter where I’m trying to raise money for a camera that has a mic-in option to make better ASMR videos. And he sent me his CANON DSLR! It is so amazing having such a nice (so many pixels) camera.
I went to the latest Klanghaus event, Grillhaus, and sharpened my photo chops on some candid event snapshot type stuff and it turned out well. Felt good having something to do at a party other than telling puns. Lol. Here’s just a taste of what I got.
I’ve been artistically aligned with Michael Dooley as of late. He invited me to run my overhead projection art photobooth at his house show! I’m getting really good at colors and textures on this thing!
The above video is me practicing for the photobooth.
Here’s a smatttering of the photos I took that night. It was fun changing the doilies and colors but even more satisfying to walk away and see people engage the textures and cellophane on their own. It’s a great thing for a party, visually appealing and interactive! I can’t wait to do another photobooth!
I curated my first Klanghaus event (with a lot of help from the team). Teddy Hulsker, program director of Klanghaus saw my psychobotany show at SF Fringe last year and has been wanting to present it at a Klanghaus event.
It was a joy to have some of my favorite artists contributing work to Planthaus and it was lovely having some new faces on board! A crowd favorite was Plant Portraits by Anjelica Colliard.
I also enjoyed the musical plant meditations (I helped with the vocal framing of it) of Michael Dooley who live-looped violin and a jar of water connected to a contact mike which happened in a Living Room Fort made of fabric and PVC pipes for support. It was a headphoned experience shared by 4 audience members at a time. Very special intimate mini-show that recurred 4 times the hour it was scheduled.
It was a lot of logistics and communication to coordinate that much plant-related art in one place, but with the help of the Klanghaus team, a lovely evening was produced and I’m relieved that it went so well.
Juancy Matos was our guest artist, rallying the attendees into a beautiful freeform noise making ritual/meditation that defies further explanation.
I performed Dance Therapy/Dance Playback. I also talked about Pauline Oliveros and Deep Listening.
As a group we drew graphic scores and a couple of them were performed on the spot!
The open mic included a fun sonic game where a person was “it” had to close their eyes and then after someone else made a sound, the “it” person had to guess who made the noise.
We performed Wind Horse together and a dream of mine was realized. I love the overlapping storytelling and the call response feel of the piece.
One of my favorite collaborators mailed me two shirts for me to petal. I got this set of dyes from Flax arts store. And it’s been really special seeing different shades of colors creating depth and variety to the blooms.
I use a 7 inch plastic hoop to hold the fabric while I paint. A shirt takes about 4 solid hours to petal. Each petal needs a dip from the paint well. And about 90 petals fit each hoop. Unscrewing and rescrewing the hoop is tiresome. I wonder how other fabric handpainters keep their fabric taut.
It’s weird pricing these because I want them to be affordable, but they are also a bit tedious and a lot of handwork. It felt good because the commission was from someone I admire and whose audience are people that will appreciate this detail, but to work on something for four hours and then give it to a stranger. I will be
Kismet Arts Tangent 