....

THE MACHINE THAT CREATES AND DESTROYS ITSELF

2012-02-09T16:40:00.000-08:00

SALTON SEA
BOMBAY BEACH
SALTON CITY
CA

TRADE THE CAMRY FOR A CARDBOARD BOXY

2012-02-09T16:37:00.000-08:00

SLAB CITY
SALVATION MOUNTAIN
CA

HOT FACT FOR THE COOL NIGHTS TO LEARN

2012-02-06T16:30:00.000-08:00

SEGUARO NAT'L MONUMENT
TUSCON, AZ

DATELAND, AZ

IMPERIAL DUNES, CA

THE OASIS OF WEST TEXAS

2012-02-03T14:37:00.001-08:00

There was a moment of weightlessness, swimming in an oasis: Balmorhea certainly exists because of the natural springs. There is also a shallow lake, a reservoir, that appears to have been poured out on the ground in a petulant act of spillage occurring perhaps yesterday. Alongside the water there are small camping spots that may be occupied at the exchange rate of four or five dollars inserted into a mysterious door slot. Later we met Luma Rose. She had pendulous breasts and a luminous, toothless smile and told us that we might be her guests there. This turned out well the next night. I wrote a small note to the mysterious door slot telling them that we were now family, and the night wind continued skimming off the lake. A raft of snow geese appeared the second morning. Coyotes singing the first night. We returned with one less vehicle because my van imploded before we got to Pecos.

The oasis itself produces a million gallons every hour. These days the water still runs directly into the dusty dirt, long irrigation canals into town with sluice gates to divide up the weekly allotments for gardens and such. The spring itself has changed its shape. There is a state park around it, a building or two and a parking lot with a bottled-water vending machine, and the oasis has inevitably become a swimming pool. Later in the season, I will imagine the crowds of people that are possible. It will be the only cool spot along the road to Big Bend. There are smooth-looking, flat, shy turtles and indifferent black fish. There are probably snakes, and there are small cackling diving ducks. In our case only one other visitor was swimming, an older man with a dignified if somewhat stiff stroke, and an upsetting habit of only breathing once or twice a minute in big gulping snorts.

The pool starts shallow, turns a corner, and abruptly becomes deep. It is perpetually seventy-five degrees or so. All the bodies will make it feel warmer. I stood on the bigger diving board and looked at a solitary mound at some distance from the foothills. I’m not sure that elephants or water buffalo are more careful of their drinking water.

During the second day, we left Balmorhea. On the way out we noticed that the Rock Shop had opened. The owner is a new widow. All of the rocks remind her of her recently departed.

Diffused sensations. A cold night. Trucks on the highway. Terrible smell of burning fluids. Ian has to drive to a gas station twice to poop. I sat there and looked at my things and thought, “This is a completely self-referential space. When it dissappates, it will be a little like dissolving. That is exhilarating and terrifying.”

(Now it is time to go and meet the man who I may sell the van to for scrap. Steel is apparently high, but high for steel is low for me.)

Friday. Pecos is has the same weather every day, more or less. Today I have learned that my nose registers not only the dust and dryness, but also traces of sulfur dioxide on the breeze. The things that I have owned are more or less disassembled, sorted, discarded, scavenged, dumped. We attempted to pawn some things. Pecos has no pawn shop. This morning I called into the West Texas Hotline with a slightly adenoidal tale of woe and had several calls from sympathetic people with a passing desire to talk about what remains of the van. At which point, somebody called from out there some where with an offer of $500, and this sounded so much like a saving grace that I could not hide my enthusiasm for such a form of getting ripped off. Butter pecan milkshake for breakfast from the Dairy Mart. Al of the thriving in-call businesses around here are managed by sturdy gangs of older women who laugh at me in Spanish because I claim to be able to handle their burrito. Nobody wants to buy a brand propane tank. There are no pawn shops in Pecos. The diesel mechanic, a globular fellow with a stained beard and inscrutable slow manner, approaches in a golden cloud and apparently offers us work clearing out a school bus packed with further crap. His assistant is the dirtiest human being I have ever seen, the white of his eyes hurt to look at by comparison. They do not take the weekend off. Best case scenario, somebody gets a good transmission for cheap with a van attached. Worst... the scrappers around here are grim. Maybe a hundred bucks. The oldest scrapper only has one tooth, but it as large as several regular teeth, so this seems to even things out.

What is going on around here? Oil companies and natural gas companies. Wayne Sparkman, the man who will crush the van if nobody wants it, says that the past two years have done strange things. The population has swollen, the Economy Inn is full of large pickups, C & T Donut and La Nortena Famous Tamales and Dairy Mart and Golden Palace Chinese and any other Kwik-Mart or taco stand is clotted with solitary men who don’t cook for themselves. A friendly ex-con in the library admires my words per minute and I watch fascinatedly over his shoulder as he attempts to get a $54,000 loan from something called givememoneynow.com to finance his theoretical gourmet beef jerky enterprise, which will have to hit the ground running as he will operate out of his pastor’s living room. I mention that he might want to be careful with unscrupulous loan websites or at least look for one with a slightly more professional name. He thinks about this and carefully starts a new search: “Who … will … give … me … a … loan … for … beef … jerky … business.”

Pecos might be the single most difficult place for this exact make of diesel to break down. There might be pawn shops in Carlsbad.

There are new pickup trucks on every street and likely a third of the town is in dry disrepair. It took three days to find the “main drag.” Everybody is hanging out at the Wal-Mart. Ian’s theory is that suddenly there is money where there was not, and nobody knows what to do with themselves-- James says that this reminds him of the Gulf Coast last year during the oil spill. It seems to be compounded by the fact that it’s difficult to get a loan out here. I imagine that the various drilling and banking companies are fully aware that this is a hit-and-run behave accordingly: we’ll soak you for as long as we can and then get out. If you ever managed to get a loan, you’ll likely default on it. Sparky says, this is the desert, we’re in the desert. There’s a give and a take. Water is more precious than gold. The gas companies are using town water for extraction, and there is only so much water in the ground. When it’s gone, that’s that, you’ll have taken too much and you won’t get anything back. The water here is highly alkaline anyway. The post office has five feet of salt water in the basement. But Balmorhea, they’ve got nice water down there. They won’t let us tap into that. We would suck it dry by noon every day.

Blamorhea and Pecos. The oasis and these ruinous craters of the moon. The lunar base will be either a natural gas rig, alone on the sea of crisis, the sea that has become known, saturated with light. Elsewise it will be a lonesome taco stand listening to Coast-to-coast on the interstellar AM, waiting tiredly for the earth to rise.

AKWARDLY ONWARD

2012-02-02T16:24:00.000-08:00

SMALL DANCE OF THE SMALL FURNITURE
PECOS, TX

WAVE IT SWAYZE

2012-02-02T09:29:00.000-08:00

SLIGHT GESTICULATIONS
AND ALONG THE WAY
COMMENTARY.
NEW ORLEANS, LA >>>> PECOS, TX

NORTH NOR' OYSTERS

2012-01-20T20:43:00.001-08:00

GRAND CHENIER, LOUISIANA
Spartina spp.

we have a degree in SCIENCE.

NAME NEW STRAINS AFTER SANTANA SONGS

2012-01-16T15:06:00.000-08:00

UFO WELCOME CENTER
BOWMAN, SC

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED SPICE BLEND

2012-01-05T09:01:00.000-08:00

Your browser is not able to display this multimedia content.

SECRET LIFE INVERSION

2011-12-08T15:22:00.000-08:00

INSIDE-OUT BONFIRE

IT IS YOU

2011-11-22T16:13:00.000-08:00

NOV 17, NYC

SYSTEMS FOR FURTHER INTENSITY OF LIVING

2011-11-17T15:45:00.000-08:00

Day of the Dead, New Orleans

Levee Wall

The end of the world.

Music Street, New Orleans

Myrtle Street, Baton Rouge

A PHILOSOPHY OF REFORMS, AS FAST AS POSSIBLE

2011-10-07T14:31:00.001-07:00

IF THERE IS NO STRUGGLE

THERE IS NO PROGRESS

THOSE WHO PROFESS TO FAVOR FREEDOM

AND YET DEPRECIATE AGITATION

ARE THOSE WHO WANT CROPS
WITHOUT PLOWING THE GROUND.

THEY WANT RAIN WITHOUT
THUNDER AND LIGHTENING.

THEY WANT THE OCEAN

WITHOUT THE AWFUL ROAR

OF ITS MANY WATERS.

POWER CONCEDES NOTHING

WITHOUT A DEMAND.

-frederick douglass

HOW TO TURN ANYTHING INTO SOMETHING ELSE!

2011-10-05T22:32:00.000-07:00

"How To Turn Anything Into Something Else"

Anna Ialeggio, Robyn Hasty, Aly Perry, Nick Pagliugi, Siena Mayers, Tracy Jarvis
Noah Church, Ellery Neon, Ian Ferris
Greg Kalliche, John Kane, Charles Calder

Featuring the work of kids from the following Big Picture programs:
Lighthouse, Southwark, Wissahicken

35' x 100'
N. Broad & Race, Philadelphia PA
Philadelphia Mural Arts
2011

(first sketch prior to painting... you can see how it's evolved)

What follows is a text which we wrote collectively about the process of painting the mural...

In the summer of 2011, several members of the Miss Rockaway Armada crew embarked on a project with 31 kids ages 10-14 from three different schools participating in the Philadelphia Mural Arts Big Picture Program.

Through drawing games, collage, and impromptu theater exercises, the kids were prompted to create new and fantastic worlds out of the ordinary. What resulted was a dazzling assortment of colorful characters, fabulous creatures, and fantastical settings.

At the onset we wanted to establish with the students that their imagination are real and possible...To create a world you wish to live in, first you must envision it. The process of making this mural was one of emergence and collaboration. There were few set rules, many open-ended possibilities, and a willingness on everyone's part to respond to others' contributions. Together we made a world that is at once a version of the one we inhabit, the one of which we are afraid, and the one for which we hope.

Though the images in the mural appear strange and whimsical, they hold a mirror to the world the kids inhabit in real life - there are systems of travel, places of danger and places of rest, spaces of darkness and of light. There are factories that pollute the water, and there are portals that hold new possibilities. A dragon's back turns into tracks and supports a freight train, a lemon transforms into a bird taking flight, a boat becomes a whale, and scissors' arms
break apart to sprout separate individuals. This was aptly summarized by 10-year-old Marquis Fabii, (ultimately becoming the title of the mural), "How to Turn Anything Into Something Else."

Towering over everything in the top-right corner is the many-muscled Kira, a direct representation of a drawing by Big Picture student Shakira Lowery. Kira is the strongest woman in the world, has flashlight eyes and sees through darkness. She casts a guiding light on this new, uncanny place. We decided to use Shakira's image as a welcoming beacon for folks on the sidewalk and as a tribute to the strength and creativity that is demanded of us all as we set out into an ever-changing world.

IT'S SO SATURATED, THERE'S NO ROOM FOR THE MIND

2011-10-01T14:24:00.000-07:00

Neutrinos recently noticed to be faster than the speed of light. Some people think this means they can travel backwards through time.
My conclusion: the universe has been doing the moonwalk all along...

SONGS FOR PEOPLE SLIPPING INTO THE SEA

2011-09-30T22:47:00.000-07:00

AUTOTELIC XYLOPHONES
"Let Me Tell You About A Dream I Had"
Philadelphia Art Alliance
Sept 30 2011 - Jan 1 2012

Scrap wood recycled from "DINNER RAFT" (Robyn Hasty), "BOWER OF SOUNDS" (Anna Ialeggio), "TIPPY TEMPLE" (Lopi Laroe), convent on Spring Garden Street, and various construction sites. Piano soundboard from Antoinetta's basement. Organ parts (Leslie components, spring reverb tank) from 9th Street.

Script from Mississippi River flooding & Missouri tornados 2011.

Handmade electronic components amplify & distort interactive xylophones.

It's good to experience an overwhelming sound.

TRIGGER FINGER

2011-09-11T13:06:00.001-07:00

ROUNDING THE CORNER

2011-09-02T21:16:00.000-07:00

Small taste of next week. We are rounding the bend towards the next phase... involves maneuvering a cherry-picker through an obstacle course, and 150 sheets of painted matter. Spending last fond moments with detail work intended for eternal lamination 35 feet off the ground, waiting until the day that teenagers have hoverboards to be discovered.

TIDE RISES 1869 STYLE

2011-08-28T23:08:00.001-07:00

here is the contraction of space, here is the vertical tilt and horizontal expansion, here is the flexible gulf between us and ourselves.

THE TEETH OF THE STORM

2011-08-27T06:27:00.000-07:00

GOODNIGHT, IRENE

WHAT STINKIN' HURRICANE?!

BOWER OF SOUNDS RAFT

2011-08-24T06:30:00.000-07:00

BOWER OF SOUNDS
July, August 2011

Scrap wood (old convent, theater & film sets, burned out Chinatown flat-iron building, construction dumpsters of north Philly)
Evidence (fabric row of Philly, Antoinetta's estate, mysterious bamboo delivery, cigar box man, assorted places & incidents)
Sounds (oil drums, floor, brass cups, music box, contact mic'ed)
Back Sounds (ukulele, electric organ, throat, sticks, music box)

more rafts, pictures, videos, words at rockawayatpaa.com
Here: Launching the Bower

TIDE COMES IN FASTER

2011-08-20T06:21:00.000-07:00

THE FURTHER WE MOVE TOWARD

THE FURTHER END

THE MURKIER

THE BRIGHTER

THE END

FORWARD MARCH MARCH

2011-08-19T06:19:00.000-07:00

Working forward, forward at the mall.

PERFORMANCE FLOWCHART

2011-08-17T16:13:00.000-07:00

MOON GODS

2011-08-14T16:37:00.001-07:00

FIRST CANTO

2011-08-14T16:32:00.000-07:00

Smooth sailing!

The crew is tight like a wingnut (also loose like a wingnut)!

We are now embarking on the next voyage...

painting.

TINY FLAGS CRAFT NIGHT

2011-07-30T19:40:00.000-07:00

Have you ever seen nautical signaling flags? There’s an entire graphic alphabet that ships can wave at each other to talk about whatever they have on their minds. Taking that as our jumping-off point, we’ll be painting fabric flags to hang all over our boats and wave all over town. Funny flags! Sad flags! Serious flags! Flags of celebration and scheming, and flags that bring the thunder! What to bring? Fabric scraps, old clothes, sheets, paints, markers, glue, glitter, buttons, whatever materials float your boat, and maybe your own scissors just in case of a crowd... and we'll have plenty of those materials, beverages, snacks, ideas, wild theories! Can't wait to see you!

Saturday August 13
6 pm - ?
SPACE 1026
1026 Arch St, 2nd floor

How To Transform a Rowdy Kid into a Wizard.

2011-07-23T14:35:00.000-07:00

Miss Rockaway and Philadelphia Mural Arts meet again!
N. Broad & Race
2011 Kid Collaboration

Good morning, brilliant children, what did you dream about?

I wonder who can guess what theme we're working with this year.

(Sometimes it isn't clear to anyone.)

Fridge

by: Bobalouie

by: Siena

origins obscure...

BON VOYAGER

2011-07-23T14:31:00.000-07:00

our website went live recently for the summer's dose of fun and masochism.
LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT A DREAM I HAD
all are invited.

meanwhile we are also casting nets in a murky pool of child brains, dowsing for stories and hoping for a big fish.
pictures at my other one of these.

PROGNOSIS, HALLUSINOSIS

2011-07-23T14:14:00.000-07:00

SOME PEOPLE SEE THE FUTURE WRITTEN IN THE FLIGHT OF BIRDS.

OR IN THE PATTERNS BEHIND THEIR EYES

OR THE ROCKING OF A CRADLE

ERRATIC LOVE DANCES OF INSECTS

INTESTINES AND ORGANS

WE ARE LOOKING FOR THE FUTURE TODAY

IN THE CRANNIES AND TRACES.

CROSSPOLLINATIONS AND INTERSECTIONS

2011-06-29T09:54:00.000-07:00

LEPAGE FARM
BARRE, VT

MIDCOAST MAINE

PUTNEY, VT

LEPAGE FARM

POTENTIAL FORMS

2011-06-16T11:30:00.000-07:00

SPIRAL Q

DIGNIFIED SETTLEMENT

2011-06-15T20:20:00.000-07:00

PYNE POYNT, NEW JERSEY...

... IT'S POSSIBLE TO STAY ...

... ADMIRE THE PASSAGE OF TIME ...

... THE PASSING OF IRON.

PHILLY WEATHER FRIENDS

2011-06-11T09:16:00.000-07:00

SOUTH 22ND ST.

MARKET ST.

RIDGE ST.

THE NAVY YARD

SOUTH 22ND ST.

NORTHERN EXPOSURE

2011-06-02T17:01:00.000-07:00

LEAVING NEW ORLEANS FOR NORTHERNLY DIRECTION

PACKING (AND RE-PACKING)

MISSISSIPPI DID NOT WANT

MADISON, ALABAMA...

... OLD HONKY-TONK...

...TURNED FLEA MARKET...

... WHERE EVERYONE HAD LEFT A MARK ...

... EVERY MARK HAD ERODED ...

... KEPT COMPANY WITH THE FURIOUS WINDS ...

... COME TO REST.

OLD RIVER, NEW CURRENTS

2011-05-19T16:31:00.000-07:00

MAGAZINE STREET

FLORIDA STREET

VILLERE STREET

CHARTRES STREET

YOU STILL HAVE MADE A CHOICE!

2011-05-01T15:10:00.001-07:00

CEMENT LAND

2011-04-28T13:19:00.000-07:00

SIDE TRIP TO

CEMENTLAND

SAINT LOUIS, MO

(textural iniquities,

playing god with some earth-movers.)

HOMELAND

2011-04-13T12:43:00.000-07:00

PETIT COCKAIGNE

has a nice portrait up on

HOMELAND

http://robynhasty.org/

INTERIOR LIFE, EXTERNAL FORCE

2011-04-11T12:58:00.001-07:00

BURNED OUT WHARF

MISSISSIPPI RIVER

MUSIC STREET

ALGIERS POINT

MISSISSIPPI RIVER

BRAINS

KEY WEST VAY KAY

2011-03-30T13:44:00.000-07:00

NEW ORLEANS -- JACKSONVILLE -- KEY WEST -- NEW ORLEANS

(simple in theory)

WILDLIFE REFUGE

STEINHATCHEE, FLORIDA

GATOR ALLEY

SOMEWHERE IN THE EVERGLADES

HEAVY REPOSE

BICYCLE EXPORTATION SWEATSHOP # 1

UNCEREMONIOUSLY EVICTED WHILE PAINTING BIKES

(EXPORTED FROM MONTREAL BY WAY OF JACKSONVILLE)

KEY WEST, FLORIDA

BICYCLE EXPORTATION SWEATSHOP #2

ALL DONE PAINTING 20 BIKES!

... then we loaded all these bikes, which all somehow fit in COCKAIGNE, into DRUMMER's hull...

"DRUMMER"

junk-rigged schooner

photo is from:

SVDRUMMER.BLOGSPOT.COM

... and she took them to warmer places where bikes are scarce and friends are many.

MARDI GRAS INDIANS (I am more pretty than you by far)

2011-03-08T15:37:00.000-08:00

ZULU

2011-03-08T08:41:00.000-08:00

BACK: PAT'S WINGS

FRONT: STEPHANIE AS SEAWEED, AND MR. ARTHUR AS HIMSELF

MYSTERIOUS CRAYFISH BOILINGS

2011-03-02T13:35:00.000-08:00

2011-02-26T17:13:00.000-08:00

This happened at the Wide World of Citrus in Clermont, Florida.

Snaking in between endless dusty rows of tangerines & grapefruits, there's a drainage ditch. A tall blue gray heron is stalking purposefully, and we are idly not looking at anything much, when it suddenly seizes (and staggers up the bank with) a gigantic catfish... he manages to keep a grip on it for a few seconds, and then the cat slaps itself loose to the ground. The heron regards this macho bit of work, seems to realize, "I don't have any way of fitting this thing down my throat... but I suppose I'll give it a shot..."

A couple tentative stabs later makes it clear that the catfish isn't getting smaller or more tractable. The heron makes an uncomfortable trip back to the ditch. It washes out its beak (that catfish is a slimy bit of business), stands on one foot, the other foot-- wades slowly away--

We make our way over the catfish. It's still alive, there in the grass.

Should we eat it?

It's already had a bit of luck, it was too big and slippery for that bird.

Too much of a mouthful.

I put the catfish back in the ditch.

That whole situation was a lot like the entire state of Florida.

MUDBOAT IT IS

2011-02-26T16:46:00.001-08:00

COCODRIE BAYOU, LOUISIANA

SOUTH OF WHICH, ONLY THE TIMBALIER BARRIER ISLANDS

AND THE MANY-RIGGED SEAS

(and, you know, central america.)

LAST VOYAGE, TRANSMUTATION

2011-02-20T18:54:00.001-08:00

SECOND LINE & SEND-OFF FOR POPPA NEUTRINO (1933-2011)

FEB 19, 2011

ALGIERS POINT, LOUISIANA

THESE COLORS DON'T RUN

2011-02-17T11:33:00.001-08:00

SHOWCASE OF CITRUS

CLERMONT, FLORIDA

SAINT MARK, FLORIDA

LONG DISTANCE CALLS

2011-02-14T01:47:00.000-08:00

LAKE CITY, FLORIDA

where the streets are full of empty churches and thrift stores. a woman stiching curtains indicated the library, where i recieved the spotless sunless of several gummy smiles. a man with a wart on his nose said to me, "if you're here Saturday, i can bring you sandwich."

PENSACOLA, FLORIDA
over the bayou, left along the railroad and down to hobo beach. as you come into pensacola from the east you pass through the flatulently self-aggrandizing "Niceville."

EASTPOINT, FLORIDA
i lost my compass here during a skillet of juicy shrimp on the seawall. we drove 50 miles to find it in the dark-- it doesn't do to lose a compass when you're travelling, i don't think.

OKEFENOKEE SWAMP, GEORGIA
scared stupid every time an old tire turned out to be an alligator, unwiding smoothly into the water. later along the back roads between georgia and florida an alligator turned out to be an old tire.

EULONIA, GEORGIA
another beautiful disaster.

SHAPING UP

2011-02-12T16:53:00.000-08:00

MCLELLANVILLE, NC

HAMPTON PLANTATION, SC

FORT PULASKI, GA

BACON PARK, GA

AVENUE OF OAKS

SAPELO ISLAND FERRY LANDING

MERIDIAN, GA

WENT FOR BROKE

2011-01-01T12:33:00.000-08:00

the first yellow light of morning crackles underfoot, and everybody wants a piece:

dozing salami loaves require company

ginger cow requires oats posthaste

fawning accomplice requires a quick poop in the snow

wicked goat requires shoelaces and sweet nothings

the commandante requires a swift boot in the honker

the troops require direction. lacking this, will circle loudly for hours.

the battalion requires earplugs.

But December's gone and so are we. a winter on the farm, stoking the embarrassingly deep desires of ownership, wanting LAND, for all the goats and chickens and idiot geese we could gather. oh, well, i guess internal conflict is good for "creative tension." desires for stasis have a place in the puzzle alongside these itchy feet... allons, another smooch for the goat, and we're on our way.

je me souviens de vous bien, mon goaty amore

HIATUS IN VERMONT

2010-12-20T06:07:00.000-08:00

the best laid plans... sometimes lay down.

our van, retrofitted for mild & eternal september weather, harbored dreams of winter. how were we to know? sometimes we follow the bearings of somebody else's compass. the best thing to do, is ride along and get some warm socks.

short story is, instead of south, we went due north and threw an axle.

so we left the van in the hands of my great-uncle's mechanic and spent a couple months wandering the Vermont backwoods. as of the 20's, this state was clear-cut and pastured with sheep. the backwoods wanderer will find all the evidence they need the world grows back.

along a ridge of young softwoods, we would follow the 400 year old stately procession of property maples that three of us couldn't get our arms around. old chimneys and foundations loom up in the prickers, and an old logging town visible only in the cider apples that lined the old main street. a postal code, gone to seed.

larger wild areas, taller and broader ones, don't have the sense of recovery that New England does. we need wilderness. but we also need places where you can see how people might fit into the picture, faulty though we are and slow to learn. Vermont is a good tonic for spasms of ecological despair. the Northeast Kingdom is best of all for that.

the Kingdom is kind of like Down-East Maine. a sort of stoic and absurd sovereign republic where there's no reason to be if you're not, and no reason to leave if you're there.

we left the woods for a farm up here. the cold fronts come skidding off Lake Camplaign, just barely clear the Green Mountains, and sit in our laps all winter. just us (and five hundred chickens). more about that in a bit. happy holidays, and i hope you're as snug as i am in this little farmhouse on a hill.

KONBIT SHELTER 2011

2010-12-16T05:53:00.000-08:00

happy holidays.
breaking the internet ice again, for friends hard at the good work.

Reposted from SWOON & Upper Playground:

"The Konbit Shelter Project was created with the idea that a group of artists, engineers, architects and builders could pool their individual knowledge, resources and time to make a lasting difference in post-earthquake Haiti. Konbit Shelter is a rebuilding initiative, which uses dome-style structures and the super-adobe technique of earth bag architecture to create sustainable, inexpensive and dependable housing for the people of Haiti. While the structures are extremely resistant to natural disasters, they also have the major benefit of being comprised of 90% earth and requiring no specialized scaffolding and under-structure to build - making it a viable option for the people of Haiti to continue building on their own once they learn the method.

At the center of this project has been NYC-based Swoon, whose intricate wheat-pastes and paper-cutouts have been seen on the walls of countless cities and galleries. While humanitarian architecture and street-based art that Swoon is known for appear to be vastly different mediums, the concepts behind them remain the same to her: "To bring things of beauty to people where they are, where they need it. To turn up where you are not expected to be, and to make everything out of love."

During the summer of 2010, the team behind The Konbit Shelter Project traveled to the village of Bigones, Haiti with the goal of educating and employing the local residents while constructing a community center using this technique. Now, the team will be returning again on December 21st to begin construction on single family homes, and the sale of Swoon's WALKI PRINT will immediately go towards funding the construction of these homes.

RELEVANT LINKS:
The Konbit Shelter Project: http://www.konbitshelter.org
Walki Print: http://shop.upperplayground.com/p/SWOON-WALKI-PRINT-
KONBIT-SHELTER-PROJECT/UP40610PT
Upper Playground Web Store: http://shop.upperplayground.com "

ps. the print is beautiful. and so are the shelters.

so pleased

2010-08-13T19:07:00.000-07:00

"SEE THE DIFF?"
by THE MISS ROCKAWAY ARMADA & FRIENDS

CITY OF PHILADELPHIA MURAL ARTS PROGRAM
52nd & Media St.
(left to right: anna ialeggio, arielle bier, robyn hasty, greg kalliche, charles buckets, luke bouschee)
SPONSORS: city of philadelphia department of human services, the surdna foundation
PARTNERS: the generous staff at Conestoga Playground, Mastery Charter School, & Southwest Community Enrichment Center
FEATURING THE WORK OF:

Andre Choney, Charles McNeil, Chuquese Howard-Hughes, Dante Gibbons, King Daryll, Dejah Vincent, Hannah Hassett, Jazmine Smith, Jemille Edwards, Jevon Edwards, Jirah, Lamech Allain,Maya Lee, Miles Lee,

Dimonique Bautista, Anthony Dixon, Anthony Evans Jr, Tatiana Hall, Jessica Mason, Ryan Mason, Brenea Mitchell, Gabrielle Mitchell, Jerrel R. Mitchell, NiJae Mitchell, Anita Pacheco, Kyree Richardson, Nyah M. Tucker, Khaleel Walker, Mahsaan S. Wearing, Niziyah White, Anthony Woodlock II

false start out of the gate is OK when you are the weeener at last.

2010-08-13T17:23:00.000-07:00

two attempts to hang our mural end in success!
on Friday, rain in spits & starts drove us off-site and into the Museum of Physicians (the mutter museum)... oh well.
Saturday was a righteous success!

five hours of sloppy, soupy work slinging "P90X" (nova gel, matte medium, industrial glue?)
like greg says: "we done! what we doin' now?"
here's a couple zooms...

and a visit from some friendly hooligans!
anita, friend, benea, tatiana, nyah! and creep.

getting goopy, taking pizza & water ice breaks, snapping pictures like a toad eats flies.

(but it wasn't always so idyllic. early today, we weren't quite finished. can you imagine!)

but clearly we did the deed.
and visited an amazing pesticide bodega on the way home.

arielle is astounded, i am petrified.

blurry eyes, & twelve pairs of sticky fingers

2010-08-11T00:18:00.000-07:00

it's done. it's done!
well, actually, it's really only about to start...
but a sweaty week of endless painting has come to an abrupt conclusion,
results in these 8 1/3 rolls of mural,
tidily dealt with.
more photos of the painting process to follow.
for now, we have scrambled brains for breakfast lunch & dinner
so it is time to nap!

FINAL COUNT-DOWN!!

2010-08-10T10:57:00.000-07:00

now we are six- excellent luke, splendid charlie, fabulous greg. now this is a decent crew.

our layout for the week: no sleep, some watermelon, mural's done by wednesday, goes up thursday, friday we visit to a russian bathhouse and get life flogged back into our limbs with oak leaves by a swarthy man wearing a unibrow. or i suppose we could just go out to dinner.

here, a sleepy charlie greets the dawn after a lonely night of painting the sky...

and today,

a visit from thirty friends!

most of the gang, from Southwest Enrichment Center, and Mastery Charter.

a few faces missing, but the rest are covered in juice.

not to be outdone, they paint all over our walls.

not sure if it's been said, but about 85% of this mural is direct from behind the eyeballs.

what up, southwest! what up, mastery!

a lean mean time was had by all.

the pick it up dance

2010-08-10T10:50:00.000-07:00

this dance was invented at southwest some time in july.

here it's interpreted by andre, poppin' & lockin' master!

(it started as "clean it up" but that's nowhere near as catchy.)

time staggers on!

2010-08-07T12:00:00.000-07:00

these are the stagnant waters in which we swim...

having so much fun

but

we haven't left this fishbowl in days.

some more friends will be here soon to rescue us from ourselves

(i mean, help us paint)

oh yo we did it now!

2010-08-04T14:47:00.000-07:00

PASSED our design review.
now we can officially do the mural (in fact, we are ready to start the painting!)-
it's a miracle what a little leverage will do for you... thanks lisa murch! you are super!

oh how we do now

2010-08-03T15:07:00.000-07:00

we turn the corner into the last weeks!
firstly, using a projector and a very heavy ladder to transfer a cartoon of the design onto very large panels of "parachute cloth." which will rip if you so much as blink at it, go figure.
this part is highly fun.

thou, trusty ladder

... and then today (plus thursday), we went back to the kids that started all this nonsense, and we printed some more designs that they had made onto beautiful burgeoning burgundy t-shirts!! ha!! what a scene!

sneaking around

2010-07-30T20:17:00.000-07:00

the final design (ish)!
the design board has given us some trouble, we're supposed to be waiting until they "pass" us to start painting, but clearly that's rubbish.
we will make our own rules with a meaningful smile...
so come help! 10.5'x41' of highly detailed psychadelic dream realm is waiting!

DE(sign e)VO(lution

2010-07-25T18:44:00.000-07:00

what will our brain look like?
these are the clues.
(ps. it is so hot in philly that we don't wear pants. so don't expect any.)
this are coming out of the past 2 weeks of farting around (very proffeshunally).
the schtick was thus: a call & response based around messages in bottles, and other mysterious modes of transport, between two groups of kids across town. a lot of kids wrote back using paper airplanes and eagles and, in one case, two jets racing for a pizza.
a lot of it was stimulated by the question of how you go about submitting a message to the world at large, what you might say and how you would say it, and why you would do such a thing. much of the images do not surprise until you look at them closely, it is so cool how kids can fool you into thinking that they aren't interested at all, but then magically put they sticky lil' finger right on the major artery.

so we seek within for design responses to these equally gnomic queries:

***messages in bottles rally toward paper airplane fleet as they battle over who has the finest hot new dance.
-submitting a concern to the sky, but the answer isn't what you expected and it comes by sea (or eagle)
-kid worries come in monster form and defeating them might not be what you had in mind (instead, a stylish tea party of equals)
-wall-paper for the sky king's council chambers as the insects petition for a new love
-sharing a story with somebody you will never will meet, but you'll mysteriously have the same name (and the same corn-rows) <--TRUE STORY!
-an octopus who serves dinner, catered by Quentin, delivered by bicycle

etc etc you get the point. the world is wide and mysterious, and maybe the bottle you found came full of cheap wine, but it's empty now and it holds the world.

part 2, devo.

2010-07-25T18:40:00.000-07:00

i love this one above, it's robyn's subliminal christmas story!

more clever clues.

two sappy people

2010-05-05T18:34:00.000-07:00

two classy dames out of their league but very much in their element!

SET OF NOISE

2010-03-25T23:02:00.000-07:00

SET OF NOISE

in this case as part of an all-lady sound portal at Fort Gondo last night

with LARVA LOU, GHOSTS HAVE I BEEN, SYNASO PRO

starring: loop pedals!

sprung

2010-03-19T17:02:00.000-07:00

what's the use in going along just to get along?
better to go too far and build too wide.
burgeoning garden spreads and soils geometric, horse poop shoveled very thick, vehicular loomination and chicken commotion.
a view of the new yard-- though we have dug up the entire thing, a great percentage is pathways.
not shown: broccoli & rapini.
and of course,
here's the hard-working muscle.

painting the mural in the last staggering gasps of that cafe, now closed. mural remains. a microcosm of saint louis, brought to you by the remains!

and lastly, the continuing cycle of chickenry. we built the coop for all imaginable trouble, but that was the trouble. who imagines an aerial wild dog attack? well, now we know.

straight to th' dome

2010-03-14T14:40:00.000-07:00

does anyone ever take a peek at this page?
if just one did and they looked at this, it would be worth it.
"this" is Domes For Haiti-- the project of a friend in NY, juggling conduit and vinyl and shipping containers.
DOMES DOMES DOMES

intrepid space ship

2010-03-10T19:55:00.000-08:00

... so it goes without saying, the microloan is closed. i highly suggest the deliverance of this meme to greater gene pools, because money is only matter!

PETIT COCKAIGNE was purchased with the kind assistance of the Miss Rockaway Armada!

THANK YOU SO MUCH TO EVERYONE WHO P(L)AYED ALONG!

first week

2010-02-23T18:27:00.000-08:00

one test drive, one consultation at the Hy-Ho diner, and 990 microloans later! days away from getting this thing into my yard to start tinkering with it,

because of y'all.

this has been amazing. so many thanks to everyone who has trusted me to pilot this leaky money ship on its voyage around the cape of good hope.

letter of intent

2010-02-17T11:39:00.001-08:00

friends, friends of friends! hope you are all well & happy.

i'm writing to query of the collective brain: anybody interested to reaffirm the re-bourgeoning flight of the tiny tramp steamer? and to be reaffirmed in return?

to put it plain-- i'm putting together next year's dream out of ether and sunshine. in casting about for 2500 low-key dollars, a conversation with Callie developed about mutual support for the dreams of friends. there are so many of us, our plans are myriad, and our strengths manifold: how about trying out a new kind of springboard? a combination of mutual aid, funny (well, amusing) money, and old fashioned love letters?

my own little dream is such: outfitting a step-van as a mobile culture recording device-- sound studio, art studio, tea studio, sewing studio, coupla chickens & tomato plants, etc. how many times have i wondered what i had to give the places i pass through? learning to move gifts of energy and arms and paint and things like this-- what are you doing, what are you making, and how can i help? what's the artifact which i've been carrying without knowing quite why that you need? what might you do with another pair of hands?

money though.
it's a gift of time that we can give each other in very small increments... so put a penny in the pot, and the penny will return to you wearing a stylish new hat!

if this is something you'd like to try, sending a small amount money out into the world to return accompanied by fragments & stories & songs & artifacts, click on the picture of Left My Heart In Kirksville, below. **(now defunct, don't be clickin')** it's a link to a paypal donation page. this goes into my private paypal, which to begin the microloan experiment, is empty. please make sure that the address you use will be the right one a few weeks or months from now (please also enter in the comment box: about how rapidly you'd like your loan to home home again).

if it works, it's just the newest way that you all have been the wind in my sails. so many thanks, and so so so much love.

if paypal isn't your jam, send me a post for the address of the real house of toast.

this is my homage to studs terkel, and my prayer investment in archival history, and my delight in sharing the movement of space/time with other people swimming in that medium (which is everyone, pretty much). new form, same function.

the challenge is not that this small amount might not appear eventually on my horizon-- only that i found the right van about six months ahead of schedule! and, oh, it's perfect.

so- anybody's wingnut foundation taking applications?

love to you all,
anner from saint louis.

Tiled Sink Addition

2010-01-07T15:31:00.000-08:00

Cutaway & tiled work sink replace aged plaster pocket wall.

Delux Chicken Condo

2010-01-07T15:28:00.000-08:00

Constructed 2009 for superior chicken lifestyles.

2009-11-28T09:13:00.000-08:00

Raccoon Raccoon (mnpls) & Spelling Bee (stl) played a fun fun show with us last night in THE CAVE!! wish i had more photos but the camera and the cello sprung leaks. you shoulda been there. that Raccoon Raccoon babechick carried on like she had a cello inside her body and the physical manifestation of it was just for those who those who might find the vibrations of the evening unsettling otherwise!!

FEVER OF AN UNKNOWN ORIGIN

2009-07-03T14:18:00.000-07:00

Fever Of An Unknown Origin
an Incorrigible Opera
in 9 parts
~ 60 min duration
July 3 2009
BASSO, berlin

Adina and Arielle Bier, K. B., Elisa Horsman, Anna Ialeggio,
Jacki Jo, Beatrice Jugert, Lisa Jugert, Claudia Kapp,
Mika Crackelton, Ellery Neon, Raúl de Nieves, Jamie Dirtsicle,
Book Rollo, Wendell Seitz, Sweettooth, Ossian Winningham, Andrew Ziegler

SPEAK EASILY

2008-10-18T14:55:00.000-07:00

SPEAK EASY
a musical Truck Shanty
Saint Louis MO
October 2008

made from garbage, wired for interior/exterior amplification
presented at ARTICA Festival & Cranky Yellow Gallery
freely available on streets of St. Louis

CHINKS & TRACES & FARE THEE WELL

2008-06-09T15:29:00.000-07:00

- time elastic: -

- i have slept under your temples and bones -

feeling soupy. more to follow. i love you.

ON 2ND THOUGHT

2008-04-28T12:53:00.000-07:00

- happy good love monday -

- hearts & flowahs -

RUINATION DAY

2008-04-19T10:13:00.000-07:00

- at the edge of the world, someone -

- in a hole -

- waiting to snag a hairy eagle leg. -

- eagle trap traps elk -

- not far away, here, -
- an effort that i made to eat a sandwitch in a beautiful enormous place. -

- a small place where someone was, -

- such greater effort in living than in eating a sandwitch. -

- these are those that came later -

- before i -

- after them -

- which makes them -

- ?? -

- afraid, maybe, -

- or glad for the convenience. -

GO HOME, IT'S SAFER THERE

2008-04-07T12:33:00.000-07:00

THE ONE & THE OTHER

2008-04-07T07:57:00.000-07:00

- not to suggest that one thing opposes the other -
- but they are a study in difference -
- for example, toad here -
- was an accomodating model -

- the other one -

- well -

- glad i was busy skiing downhill on a loose rock face -

- but also glad we met -

ABOVE A THOUSAND SAD SONGS

2008-04-05T19:46:00.000-07:00

- in the land of vertical lift and horizontal expansion -

- it seems reductive to take pictures -
- especially to think of changing things -
- how it comes fast and goes slow -
- so la la. -

THE SMALLNESS OF BEANSMOBILE

2008-04-03T14:36:00.000-07:00

i'm calling this one EZ Beaner. for obvious reasons

THE NARROWS OF BEANS CANYON

2008-04-03T08:32:00.000-07:00

mrs sippy

2008-04-01T14:42:00.000-07:00

"hot tothy"

2007-08-31T11:27:00.001-07:00

bad oral hygiene, light table, digital camera, happy ending.

far frozen north, cont'd

2007-01-26T13:34:00.000-08:00

a month that refused strenuously any definitive definition.

o'really

2006-12-14T17:31:00.000-08:00

lets move ourselves up to the cold frozen north
where breathing is how we'll tell time, tell time.
and we'll never regret never trying harder
for we do what we can, to just keep from dying.