Kismet Arts Tangent

Keep Begin Detach: inspired by Virginia Woolf

October 20, 2019
This event was attended by a single person and an audience in the fb stream of live video–

It was nice to use a microphone and have the event mostly be about reading her work. It was a great way to force myself to drop into the pacing of her words and the painterly approach she had to this short story.

I talked to my therapist about how I felt like Virginia Woolf did when she committed suicide. That she felt like she was a burden to her partner. Her madness, her shame, her sense of love to let her husband free of the pain of having a partner that was unable to remain stable.

Heart-breaking. I read A Room of One’s Own and it was mostly a reminder about how everyone should have universal basic income.

I think I wanna read the Lighthouse because it’s about painting. Not quite sure yet.
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Embroidery, A Beginning

July 14, 2019
My last zine describes my foray into embroidery in such a way that I would recommend requesting that if you want to get the fully pensive scoop on my inspiration through this new medium.

Long story short, I took a class with some miracle money that I came into and it has altered the course of my life forever.

I talk about it at parties. It’s a thing that is like having a new family member, I have embroidery. Love love love.
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The Boy Who Cried Naked

July 14, 2019
Photo credit: Madhav Ver

Photo credit: Madhav Ver

Photo credit: Madhav Ver

Program insert 1

program insert 2

The postcard for the show that never got produced

photos from devising session (photo credit Sabrina)

I think if I wanted to (and I might add to this later) I would write a lot about working with an ensemble on a devised theatre project. The emotions of working with people, new friends and old, and the alignment of our interests and talents.

It was good timing for me personally because I had exited a collective that wasn’t feeling quite like a team and that gave me a lot to chew on about my expectations and responsibilities as a member of a group to communicate better.

Fenner who held the script and created and executed the leadership role has been a friend for a few years and it has been great to be a part of this work that really shows their strengths as an eccentric innovator of post-modern theatre.

It was interesting thinking about initially how I wanted to bring so much of what I do into the show, but a bit of that got cut. I enjoyed the feeling of having less responsibility than I usually do in productions. (I’m usually solo or in a capacity where I am making a lot of decisions about the content).

I would add more about the content of the show, but I imagine that there are a few runs in it left and I don’t want to spoil it for you!

I would do it all again. I felt very supported and we did a lot of improv in our initial devising process which is one of my old dreams. Ever since watching Whose Line is it Anyway on TV in middle school, I felt myself get pulled to the stage.

I kept thinking that past Kat, if she traveled to me working on this show, she would be like yeah “I always knew I would be this cool.”

The Boy Who Cried Naked from Kaya Mey on Vimeo.

——————————————————————————–
The Boy Who Cried Naked,
An original play developed for The Above Ground Theatre Festival at Mojo Theatre in San Francisco, CA Summer 2019.

Directed by: Sabrina Wenske
Scripted & Produced by: Fenner
Devised by: Michele Owen, Annika Peabody, Kaya Mey, James Greene, Kat Countiss, Sabrina Wenke, Fenner
Puppet Master: Kaya Mey
Dramaturge & Pun Support by: Emily Haycock
Filmed & Edited by: Jason Eagle, Kaya Mey
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Keep Begin Detach: Inspired by Georgia O’Keefe

May 19, 2019
In this Keep Begin Detach at Em Wolfman in Oakland California. It was a cozy time in the back with some christmas lights, telling stories about Georgia O’Keefe’s life and a little about her work.

I borrowed a book of published letters of hers from the library. It’s lovely to think that what we write to our friends might be a way that history remembers us. And the mundanity of our lives become special not because the world changes and our lives that seemed normal are increasingly exotic and foreign.

There’s a moment in this video where I take some time to talk about trauma. I read an a amazing book by Janina Fisher called Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors.

I didn’t realize that one of my guests at the Keep Begin Detach was a psychologist. It’s very fascinating who shows up and I’m honored everytime I meet someone new at one of these things and get to share with them our shared passion for lovely people of the past.

A lot of her popularity was affected by her relationship with Alfred Stieglitz.

As a subject of his photography and a partner in marriage, Georgia O’Keefe had access to his art world connections. At some point she sought to separate herself from him and had other photographers take her portrait. The zine at the event contained images of her and not her work, though two letter excerpts. I brought that book of letters which also contained vivid color prints of her work that did them more justice I think than trying to reproduce them in black and white. And as a note, I did color edit (increased the contrast) the photos in the zine so that they would print on the black and white printers.
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Stickers and Drawn Stained Glass

May 19, 2019
Blogging my artworks have changed since I started using instagram. Back in the day, each of these would have gotten their own post. Now, it would be pretty exhausting to do that. In this post, I’ve screenshotted the instagram posts and collaged them into a single jpeg (for better or worse). So that’s a thing to do. Not great if I wanted to catalog my images into a digital reservoir at hi res using this blog, but I try not to worry about that stuff.

One of my friends said that they liked the colors from my drawings from back when I worked at the chocolate factory and used left over label paper to draw on. I contacted one of my old coworkers who graciously gave me some overstock and I’m back to sticker drawings.

The color quality is a little different than regular paper because the surface of the label paper is slightly waxy with some variance. I enjoy making shapes into smaller shapes because they are easier/more fun to color in with different colors. If you’re ever stuck on a piece, maybe it’s because of not enough colors, haha!

In this style, I’ve designed (among other items) a fun hat that I got made and I love it. If you want, you could also have it (buy link).
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Rainbow Valley aka Eryth

May 19, 2019
Color

black and white

This piece is called Eryth. I love its dreamy quality. It feels like rainbows, valleys, stars and suns, and shooting stars and mysterious waves.

I worked on this canvas on my birthday and invited some friends at the party to paint on it and then I finished it by myself later. It felt cool having some one else put some paint on the canvas. I should have gotten pictures. I like that collaborative feeling even if it’s really guided. I will look at the purple and blue clouds in this piece and remember that I totally have friends and they are cool and they mean a lot to me. Oh that sounds sappy, but it’s true. Friendship is magic.

This canvas was the biggest one I’ve done in this style. Throw back to these paintings that I did almost three years ago that I put in a group show at a cafe in SF. I still can’t believe I wanted to charge that much. I probably just didn’t want to sell them. Now I am really happy when the work I do gets out into people’s houses to make them happy. Looking back on it, I should have made it a really good deal because I still have these pieces and they are a pain to keep nice because they are just on paper.

Canvas really is a good investment. Hangs good and people are attracted to it differently. They can see how durable it is and how important I must think the work is. Maybe.

Canv
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Open Mic for Comedy Uke

May 12, 2019
My first improv comedy uke set in public! It was really fun. I’ve done this at parties at my house. It felt good having a mic– it changed the way I performed. And audiences of people I don’t know probably helped. The way they are more generous with you if they don’t know you. They don’t expect you to be who you are like my friends do.

I’m excited to look for more opportunities to have this kind of fun. It was weird and amusing that the same open mic had another improv comedy uke person. It’s not that uncommon, I guess.
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Chrysalis

February 2, 2019
photo credit to Jeanne Oss

photo credit to Jeanne Oss

photo credit to Jeanne Oss

photo credit to Jeanne Oss

photo credit to Jeanne Oss

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!
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