We had an idea. Why not host a series of craft parties in our house, what with our enormous "play room"? And, why not go one step further and have ONE HUNDRED of them?! Sure, it may take a while, but who cares. We will just keep crafting and keep inviting people over to play with us. We've already had three, and four more are slated for Sept and Oct. Bring whatever you want to our Sebastopol home and create to your heart's desire! We have the space, tons of collage materials, two sewing machines, one typewriter and a smattering of other goodies. Here is the latest flyer and the first one too.
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Hey! I'm part of a group show in Sebastopol! Very excited about this. Come find three of my pieces among many other talented folks. Kitty Hawk is a new gallery run by a fabulous brother-sister duo. My pieces are all printed work using letterpress, linocut and screenprinting. Come check it OUT!
kittyhawkgallery.com Last night Lukas and I hosted people for a crafty Open Envelope love letter writing party in our very fresh craft space we are setting up. It was a beautiful sight to behold: 2 people on typewriters, lots of cut paper collaging and poems made of found words. Lukas even worked on his incredible sweatshirt that once was a plain tattered grey college hoodie and now it is becoming a gallery for his screenprint designs and sewing experiments. I'll share a picture in the next phase of completion. Here are two collages I glued and then sewed on the sewing machine last night. I didn't want to stop!!! More to come. You are invited to express your love on paper through words and whatever else wants to happen. Haley and I have been offering this OPEN ENVELOPE Project for over two years now.
Here's a Dr.Suess-esque story poem about it that I just wrote! Once upon the Hwy 5, We stopped along our sunny drive. We sat and talked and suddenly, a thought occurred from underneath. We'll do it! We chorused, We'll start right now! Love will flow from town to town! With writing tools and language play Joy will spread the old-fashioned way! A thought was that, Which came to be, Something beyond just you or me. Letters sent from him to her From way up here to over there. And so a movement has begun To write some words and have some fun. We make a space and then we see What magic can be set free. Just bring your addresses, We got the stamps, So you can write to dear old Gramps. And he'll receive your words so dear And Love will surely end all fear. This Friday come join us as we continue to give thanks for all of life's blessings and celebrate community in downtown Sebastopol. We will be gathering at the corner of Petaluma Ave and Hwy 12. This is the currently vacant car dealership and the controversial proposed site for a downtown CVS.
Mayor Robert Jacob has written a letter asking our community to boycott the current CVS in the North end of town as well as the proposed plan for a downtown store. http://www.waccobb.net/forums/showthread.php?107957-Sebastopol-and-West-County-Boycott-of-CVS&highlight=cvs&p=184088#post184088 This proposed development by CVS is an example of how corporations use there monetary muscle to bully towns into deals. Let us use this opportunity to prove that together a community fueled by person power can form an unstoppable movement. In solidarity with the CVS protest as well as the Walmart protest and general non-participation in "black friday," we will gather to transform this space into our Community Vision Sebastopol. How do we envision this space being used in the future to truly benefit the community and environment in which it resides? Throughout the day there will be an open format of space transformation, crafting, skill sharing, unschooling, playing, singing, dancing, giving thanks and praise. Things you are encouraged to bring: ~ a loving attitude ~ all of your friends ~ seating ~ skills to share ~ things to craft ~ leftovers! ~ other snacks ~ games to play ~ your vision for what this space in the heart of town could be transformed into!! https://www.facebook.com/events/3769...ilter=upcoming I have just passed my one year mark for art modeling!! Art modeling is simply modeling for artists. I've mostly modeled for figure drawing groups, getting to use my body as inspiration for art creation. This feels good because, as an artist, I know how invaluable it is to have a figure to draw from. I just did my first series of sessions with an artist who is now creating a painting with me as the figure. I'm really looking forward to seeing how it turns out and will share it here! His name is Sergio Lopez, check him out! Here are a few images from modeling I did last week: This is a private painting class where I literally sit still in a comfy chair for 20 minutes at a time for three hours! I've modeled for this teacher numerous times and sometimes it is so very challenging, and other times it goes by quite quickly. It can be really meditative, and I can get in a zone where the minutes slip by and there's a peace of mind. Or sometimes I just let my mind wander and end up thinking through all kinds of little life problems, or thinking fondly of friends I miss, or what I'm going to cook for dinner. In the end, the artists are so appreciative, it makes me feel great to do this work. On the days I model nude (which is most of the time), I feel so grateful to have work where I get to be so free and comfortable with my body! Don't be misled though, it's actually quite physically challenging. I hold quick gesture poses for 1 minute (think action poses, lots of twists and active muscles), working my way up to 20 minute poses that are much more passive. Think about not moving an inch for 20 minutes! I keep my eyes fixed in one small vantage point. Moving my eyes changes my face, and you never know what the people behind the easels are drawing. Here's an example of a 30 minute drawing that was done of my hands on Monday. I had no idea anyone was focused on my hands, but if I'm doing my job well, it won't matter and I'm keeping all of myself still. By George Dawnay: I'm excited to do more art modeling, especially opportunities to work directly with artists on realizing a vision they have, or even the possibility of collaborating on what the final piece becomes. I feel fortunate to get to do this work; I'm so grateful for the chance to do something out of the box, that challenges my mind and body, and pays well to boot! Send those figural artists my way!!
I'm baaaaaack! I'm back in Sonoma County, my homeland, the place where I am from. While traveling brings all kinds of growth and magic, I am ever so grateful that the aspects of home life that I was longing for are in my arms again. Number one:The Bounty of Sonoma County. We have full swing abundance from this land, the hot days of summer. The above photograph was the first food I prepared since being home, and some of the only food I have had a creative part in since leaving home 2.5 months ago. Hummus, tomatoes from my mom's garden, olives, grapes, yuuuum! Number Two:Community Play Time. This photo I took at the Cob Stomp party next to Hardcore Cafe in Sebastopol. What we're lookin at here is nothing less than a father delighting his mud-covered babe by juggling balls of cob. For those of you who don't live in West County or Portland ;-) cob is essentially a mixture of dirt, water and straw that is used to build earthen structures. We love it because it's straight from the earth, cheap as dirt, and gets people together to dance in the mud. You can make bricks out of it, or apply it and sculpt it like clay to a substructure. You can also cast it into forms like you would concrete. Anyhow, coming back to a sunny gathering like this made me feel right at home. It also connected me back to the Sebastopol Village Building Convergence, which I will make a special post about soon. For now, check out SebastopolVBC.org Number Three:Bike Riding & Blackberry Season.
Lukas and I daydreamed about blackberries multiple times while traveling and had our fingers crossed that these roadside treats were still ripening upon our return. And, O Joy!, they are. We've probably picked and eaten close to what would cost $40 at the store. The pictures here are from the Joe Radota Trail that runs from our house in either direction to downtown Santa Rosa or Sebastopol. Riding a bike to me symbolizes freedom. Feeling the elements, propelling myself with my own strength, riding anywhere I feel like, acting a little like a car, with the benefits had by pedestrians. GLORY! The last two weeks has been full of a family that goes by WALSH. This is my sweetheart's flesh and blood; a large, boisterous, witty and active crew who hail from the East Coast where I've been since the end of July. Each year for the past (7?) years, all ~28 of them gather at a large house and spend an entire week together, bodysurfing, playing corn hole, poker and Catch Phrase, napping, and eating a ton. Fortunately, I was eased into the enormity of the family through the "Peter and Stephanie" branch of the tree for the first few days. As I quickly learned though, these two have an abode that is frequented by any number of other cousins and friends, so before we left for our week long family vacation I had already met about 11 of the family members! The same day I met Lukas' parents, I shared a hotel room with them. But that's not all; we also bunked up with Lukas' grandma and her sister. It became a joke that I was going to be sleeping on the floor between the two beds of parents and grandma. Everyone was very easy to get along with, although the toilet was immediately clogged and fixed twice, and then again stopped up by the morning, so all 6 of us were shit out of luck. ;-) How's that for bonding with the family. After that we had most of a week to lounge at a beachside house and do what our whims requested. I got plenty of family stories and successfully answered a plethora of questions about myself as I got to know all the Walsh characters. I've now said goodbye to Damanhur a few long days ago. I felt so much love leaving Dendera, the nucleo I lived in for two weeks, and that gave me a lot of closure. Lukas and I got big hugs and kisses from everyone there. For the week before I left, I worked on a project I have yet to tell you about. Zigola, an enthusiastic artist of Dendera, invited me to work on a project that Qualia and her were spearheading to paint a caravan (or trailer) with plants and animals that people of Dendera are named after! They lobbied for me to be able to use this as part of my work-trade with them and I painted pretty much every day for a week, a few hours or more a day when it was raining (which it often was). I am so grateful they put their trust in me to work on such a project. For them, it was a significant trailer because Falco, their leader who passed away last year, used to travel around with this trailer on the journeys that are part of Damanhur culture to go out into the world and discover new things to bring back to the community. For me, it was an opportunity to paint something bigger than I had ever painted, and to continuously work on a painting for longer than I ever had before. As I am developing my ability to have longer-sustained energy toward my endeavors and to leap into my creative power, this was perfect! Here are some photos of what it turned out looking like. |
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