Pilgrimage to HERMITAGE

    This last weekend, I made the trek up into Virgina, and across its soft, fair land to the coastal city of Norfolk, boarding house of lumbering giant tankers and battle ships, which berth at her shores.
    It is also the home of Hermitage Museum, a small house perched down the shore, in a glady inlet.
And this place was the reason for which I was paying my visit to that fair city.
  In my company, were three deaf mute tire sculptures. Not much for conversation on the trail, but all as well for me, as I was in the employ of the caretakers of the castle, summonded to usher these three to pay a visit, a pilgrimage of sorts.
   When I arrived at around Dusk, I was weary from the road, and eager to deposite my cargo, and find rest from the night. I had hoped to arrive in the area the night before, to roost the night in the Great Dismal Swamp to the west, but rumors of hairy black beasts lurking in those woods disposed me of that notion.
    More over, one of the pilgrims, the one with the single eye, was giving me a hard time, and I had to spend an extra day getting him ready for the journey. As it turned out, the man I used to gather the bandages from (truck tire innertubes), had taken to chopping this precious material into tiny bits, to better fit them into the waste barrel! You can imagine my horror when I discovered this, with dwindling day light leaking away behind the horizon.
    But with my mutton mitts I managed to delve into this juicy, stewy barrel, and haul out several flubbery black fishes, who flopping wet on the pavement. And from this spread, I selected a few that I hoped would do the job, and hauled these back to the workshop, to get to work while there was still any light left at all.
    When I finally got the pilgrim put back together, I had lost a whole day of travel, and so, instead of arriving the day before, to scope out the lay of the land, I arrived at the temple, just moments before the closing of the gate. Not the way i like to arrive at a temple, but I was there with my cargo in tact, and that was the important thing.
  When I passed through the gate, I was struck by both the places antiquity, and upkeep. Every thing seemed both very old, but also very tended too...Lots of old brick, trellises, vines, cast iron, the stuff of legend... I hauled my passengers to the front door which was several giant slabs of oak, bolted together by iron hinges, and gave a knock. No one answered, so I put the big fat one down, and turned the latch, and gave a gentle push...from those old iron hinges, came a wailing shriek....I tightened my grip on my passengers and stepped in.
   There, in a warm, but dimly lit hall, stood a desk, behind which stood a woman. "Can I help you?" she inquired. "Yes, I am Travis, son of Stephen and Edith, Grandson of Ted, Evelyn, Dorrit and Robert, Great Grandson of Caleb, from the toes of the Appalaichans to the South, and I am a sculptor here to drop off some pieces for the Spiritual Visions Exhbition. Is Melissa Ball around?"
"Yes, I will go and summon her" replied the woman, and dissapeared up the stairs..
   Melissa is the Programs Director, who I had been corresponding with for the past several months, in arranging the visit of my three passengers to the Gathering. In my minds eye, Mrs. Ball was a forty year old woman in a black turtle neck, with maybe a few greying hairs, and a cross around her neck (this is just what I imagined the inhabitants of this monestary like institution to look like, though her writing was begining to betray a more spritely and youthful demeanor)...
     A few moments later, down the stairs tumbled a young woman of only 21 at most, and I could only try to fathom that this was Mrs Ball, with whom I had been writing!..
    "Hi, Glad to meet you!" said Melissa. So we went upstairs to deposit my travelers, and she gave me a quick tour of the gallery space, where the artworks would be lodging/showing. They are pretty small rooms, probably the smallest that I will have shown on yet, come to think of it. But this doesn't trouble me at all, as the walls were impeccibly kept, and I think that the small space will provide a more intimate experiencing of all of our works, both individually, and also with each other.  (my bandmate, Joey Howell, recently pointed out that the small stage we just played on gave us the chance for much tighter interactions musically, as a group, and I think he is really right).
   Melissa also gave me a copy of the contract to sign. I have to say that it has been a real pleasure doing business with Melissa and the Hermitage Foundation. There is just a degree of professionalism in working with a museum that I have hither to not yet tasted. All of the paper work is already in order, everything has been thought through long ago, and schedualed well in advance. I just have the general easy sense that 'it is being taken care of'. And I can tell you that, having now tasted this fruit, I'd like more of it please! My appitite is wet for more engagements with institutions such as this fine one.
   At about this time appeared a very well dressed woman, who introduced herself as the Director of the Museum. She told me she was interested in seeing the (vanity) postcards that I had asked the Museum's permission to design, for the purpose of announcing my artworks' inclusion in the show. She also told me she'd like talk with me about an idea she'd had....So, she invited me back into a small room, which used to be the servants quarters, and she and I and Ms. Ball sat down at a large lenolium covered table, to discuss this mysterious business...
  There, around this table, she made to me a proposal for a future engagement with Hermitage Museum and Gardens, which perhaps I will discuss later, as things firm up. In the mean time, they agreed to let me take the contract for the holding of work for the Spiriual Visions Exhibition with me, allowing me to bring it back the next day or mail the next week. While I trust the Museums intensions, as a practice, I never like to sign any contract on the spot, and they were gracious in understanding this.
  Colin, the in-house Art Interpreter, was kind enough to give me directions to good camping spots along the beach, and so we all bid one another good night. I tried to persued Ms. Ball to show me around town, but alas, she had other plans. But she was kind enough to fill me in on where the action was at in town.

   So I headed out into the night, to see what I could find. First I found Doumar's Bar-B-Q and IceCream shop, a drive up and sit down diner. It was just what I needed. There, I tried to hunt up a swing dance. I figured in a port town like Norfolk, they've got to have a swing dance somewhere on a Friday night.
A young couple admitted they had heard of some around, but they didn't know where. Other than that, Zilch. Probably should have tried to pick one up on a wifi radar signal, but it was getting late, so I settled instead for a bar. My first shot was close, but upon entering the establishment, quickly realized it was not the dive I was looking for, but a swanky resteraunt bar. The hostess confided that it used to be more of a dive but had recently gone upscale, and she was then kind enough to direct me to the dive in the sky I was searching for.
   I pulled into the dark parking lot of the Taproom. As I got out of my car, I noticed a man unloading drums from his car onto a small, overloaded dolly. I said, "Sir, I know you don't know me from Adam, but I am a drummer; can I offer you hand bringing your gear in?" Some musicians are fussy about others handling their gear (probably for good reason), and others are greatful to make one less trip out to the car and back. This fellow turned out to be the latter type. "Well actually, sure, here's one you can take right here", he replied. As I took the hi hat stand, and a bag of other stands, I commiserated. "You know, I don't really mind playing for free, but when I play out, some body better pay me to lug all my junk out there and set it up, and break it down again!" at which he laughed in recognition.
  Once inside, he shook my hand in thanks, and I went to find some much longed for brew. Once I had my tasty NewCastle in hand, I took the last available table, next to two pretty salty looking fellows.
Perhaps they read my expression like a book, which probably confessed my disapointment that they were not at all the lasses that I wished they were. They glared back, probably with very similar sentiments.
    But sitting there staring at my beer long enough, I decided it was time to make some friends in a foreign land. So I asked them if they were from Norfolk. The shorter one, who I took to be Phillipino, and a dock worker, from his cap and boots, said he lived here now, but that he was originally from NY city, and that we was infact of more carribean descent.

   The taller, thinner fellow to my right, replied in a thick Gaelic accent, that he was "flom a bit faerther aest 'an 'at."  I asked him what had brought him to Norfolk. He replied that he had sailed across the Atlantic to the east coast, and then had made his way to the West Coast, and was on his way back, when "e' rlubar bloke", he said, rolling the thick rich R's, like peeling the crust off the top of clabbered milk.
   The "rlubr bloke?" Was this some nautical term I wasn't familiar with? I wondered. I thought of another Irish sailor I had met at the Marina in San Francisco. He had proudly shown me the hull of his small skiff, which was soaked in a two inch deep puddle of water. "'at's wot keepsit frm' rottin'" he'd proudly informed me. The next time I saw the poor fellow though, and I asked about his skiff, he glumly shared that it was now sitting on the bottom of the bay, (perhaps well preserved in the sea water, but sadly unavailbe for sailing and admiring by him).  So in my head, I was picturing this guy passing through the locks of the panama canal, when the rubber or tar pitching that sealed his boat started giving way, somehow landing and stranding him in Norfolk, VA. "You say the lubber broke? What's the lubber?" Land lubber?
"Noe.." he said for the 3rd and clearly the last time. Still rolling his R's, but spacing his words out very methodically, and looking me dead in the eye. "The.....RUBbar......BLOKE."
   ....."Aaaah" The Rubber. That Rubber, ah yes, I see.....  so I guess you set down you anchor then did you?" "Yes" he said, "a s'pose 'at a did."
   So he, the moored sailor Milo, and the dock worker Miguel and I shared some beers and some good stories, and I was able to make a tired sailor laugh till he sighed, and I for myself  was glad for their company. Miguel took an interest in my innertube wallet, and asked how he could get one. I whipped out one of my new business cards and gave it  to him, directing him to my site. Then Milo showing me that his belt was made out of recycled tire rubber, but reprocessed, it seemed, I had never seen anything like it!
It turned out that Milo is connected with a crafts festival they have the first week of december. Since he seemed to appreciate crafts, I gave him a card too, and asked if he was a craftsman himself. No, he replied that he was of a more pracical "functional" disposition, but that he liked working the bar at the craft fair. He also informed that Norfolk is THE best sea port in THE WORLD, for a number of very sound sounding reasons. Yes, this guy was a different sort than I, very practicly mindeed indeed.
So eventually, I bid them fair well thanked them for their company, and pushed off, back out 'to sea' to find my camp site under the crisp starry sky...
   The next day, after some more exploring downtown, I returned the contract to the Museum, and got an excellent tour of the Museum's incredible art collection, from Colin, the Museum's Interpreter, an Asian Art expert. There are some truly remarkable pieces of art in this museums collection, including incredibly detailed and imaginative carvings in Walrus and Elephant tusk by ancient Japanese artists, and even a rather startling ritual vessel dated back to neolithic China...

  I was suprised to find when I got back home a couple days later, that Milo, the beleagured sailor, had passed my info onto the organazer of the event, who invited me to apply. I replied that I was already booked for a couple crafts show in Siler City that weekend. But it turned out to be a really neat event, a Fair Trade festival'! So she said I could take a rain check for next year.
  Who knew I would be making friends in foreign lands like this? It was good to get out, and stretch my 'sea legs' a bit.

  The museum has a fascinating story which I may go into another time.
If you would like to learn about it, you can learn a little bit on the Hermitage Museum's website:

http://www.hermitagefoundation.org/collection/museumcollection.html

Standing in as Pick Up Artist for The Scrap Exchange

A couple weeks ago, I had the honor to be invited on board at the Scrap Exchange, to fill in for Mr. Daniel Bagnel, an old CFS grade school buddy, who has just become a Papa!
 Daniel has some big shoes to fill. Not only does he keep the laberytine ware house space upstairs in order, and the Scrap's vital arterial Collections Program going, he also performs myriad technical and artistic scraprobatics downstairs
Past projects include the Great Wall of Cinema, a VHS tape masonry installation project. He was also the mastermind for the Iron Crafter contest last winter, and the sculptor of the trophies, which I coveted so...
(We'll get back to this soon, as Daniel has invited me to join him in planning the event this year- clearly he want to remove me from the battle field, to give others a fair chance..)

  So, some big shoes to fill, but I did have a barrel of adolescent fun trying them on for size...

Daniel San trained me well.
Basically, you get to drive this big white van all over Eden, searching out the honey pots of scrap through the land. The fatty deposits, thats what were after.
Coffee bean roasters, with their hills of burlapi bean bags...
Sign shops with their files of different substrates...
Advertizing companies with barrels of boring books.

But the high light of my pick up days for the scrap had to be, with out a doubt, my visit to the panty mill.
I mean what guy wouldn't be excited to visit a mythical place, where by some miracle, panty hose materialize in the world? Its the stuff of Legend!

Well I can report, that all the legends are true. Because out in Efland, in a sea of dusty gravel, sits an island of very unremarkable cynderblock. Very misleading, considering the nature of wonders which occur in an ever steady non stop stream with in these grey blocky walls....
  For inside, is a scene that would make any boy reconsider his disavowment of santa clause.
Row upon row of half clad women stand, legs extended as minions bustle about them, pouring on the panty hose solution, which dries upon contact with their bare skin. The little dwarve people then PEEL this membrane off of their bare legs, like a snake shedding its skin. These tubes are then folded, and placed into packeages, which are sealed with a label, and set in a box by the door, ready to be shipped out to working women all over the world.
OK, so I'm full of shit. BUT, what is really inside, is NEARLY if not AS AMAZING!
Because, the dainty stockings of our working girls are in fact spun almost completely by ROBOTS!!!
I can only surmize that it wasn't really working out with the leggy women and the dwarves, maybe somebody got a little frisky, don't know the whole story, but go figure.
So yes, Today is The Day of The Panty Machine.
Rows of boxes. Above them, metalic cranes hold spindles of nylon thread on the beaks, and strands of this nearly invisible floss feeds, dissapears, into these boxes, which steadily hum. Out from behind these boxes, snakes a clear plastic tube, which arches up to end about 4 feet above a basket sitting on the floor below it.
And every once in a rare moment, you hear a ffFFT!, and out poors panty! YES, A single Unit of Panty.
Incredible. You must be very patient and quick on your feet, to catch this on film...
And there are just rows of these machines, spitting out white panty legs onto the floor, all day long.

In the next room, are even more incredible machines, that do all kinds of wierd, unspeakable things to Panties. I promised the owners I would not photograph this part, as it is just too gruesome and perverse to mention,

But...Robots and Panty Hose... the stuff of Isaac Asimov's childhood dreams, no doubt.

Another pick up I did for the Scrap Exchange I will never forget. And that was the closing of Summer Hill Galleries.
It was mayhem; a free for all. Must elaborate later.
In retrospect, I realize that the harsh feeling you get in the pit of your stomach, or your heart, is about witnessing the death of a giant. SummerHill Gallery was THE Gallery in this area. And to see it go down like that leaves you gasping for air a little bit. It leaves a crater the size of the grand canyon.

As I begin to understand what that experience was, I am reminded of a few other similar experiences of death, and horror. I am reminded of a time that I helped a junk yard owner cannibalize a giant rigging semi that had flipped over, and been totalled. Peeling it's cab's scalp forward over its empty eyes, to sever the cords and antifreeze-spewing-hoses, at the base of its cranium, I had felt like an ant, devouring a mighty grass hopper.
     I also thought of my experience with Americorps, teaching in the Oakland Public School System, when there was a State Takeover, and massive firings and layoffs, the blade of Machiavelian politics swinging viscously into play.

And I think of the other people I saw there, Dan Ellison in particular, and I think wow, we are survivors.
This must be something like living through war, watching carnage all around you.

There I saw staff member John DuFort, a sculptor who I had shown with at Scrapel Hill, and who worked at the Gallery and Frame shop for years. He confided that it was odd and difficult to watch the immaculate frame shop, which he had labored to maintain in top notch order for so long, now being torn to shreds (by the likes of me). I am glad that the owners were not there to watch this carnage, as it surely would have been to much to bear.

So it was a little sad, to make this run. But I am very glad that they called us. From the death  of this state of the art frame shop, I managed to harvest, scavenge (like a buzzard), haul off an incridible collection of exotic mat boards, some metailic, some fabric laden. It was very generous of Roy Lee to share these with us.
  I do hope that these materials find appreciative hands in eyes in the ones who find them at the Scrap Exchange.

Yes, working at the Scrap Exchange the last couple weeks was like diving into an underwater cave, encrusted with riches, and populated by mermaids. What I would do, to go back to that place to spend eternity...


 

NOTES ON REUSE CONEX

   Ha ha, I fell asleep in my chair last night trying pump out that last post at 2:30 am after I finally got home (the police officer who likes to perch in the alleyway noted 'you look tired'. You can see my cryptic sleep-smothered last words at the end there..


So I am going to try to elaborate a little more on some of the great people I met at Reuse Conex and my epic effort to pull this together, and hopefully, for your sake, perhaps some kind of coherent plot will develop (one ussually does)...


SET UP 


    Upon arriving the night before for set up, it quickly became appearent that my booth, if not my self, was drasticaly over dressed for the occassion. Though we had all had been alloted 10 square feet, most of the other exhibitors used about half of this space, opting instead for a table with a taupe table cloth..My booth, or 'hut', as the Scrap Gang called it, jutted way out into the isle. My booth neighbors rightly convinced my to trim back the bamboo twigs sprouting from my trellis poles, this wasn't Eno River State Park, after all. As the only covered tent in this large convention room, I do think it added some good variety to the landscape though, a tree patch in the taupe table savannah. Not to say that there weren't several other installations as well though, such as Form and Function, The Green Chair, and Nail Kicker, and several others.


    After I finally got my booth set up, and everyone else had (wisely) long ago left and gone to bed, I stayed up until about 3 sewing up Tyrius's guts with fishing line in the silence of the carpeted lobby. 
As I lay there in that great long tube of 'the belly of the beast', sewing away, doing an inner jig to the Pogues, a great calm washed over me, and I almost fell asleep there while sewing. However, eventually I heard the foot steps of a security gaurd making her rounds, outside (of the worm) probably thinking she was alone in the deserted convention-hall lobby, save for this bizarre giant rubber satanic snake thing. Well, when I heard her steps, and gave a "hello?" I think I must have scared her pretty good, because all I heard was dead silence for a good long while...  Eventually, I took pity and explained, "Hi, I''m in here, working on the worm sculpture." "Oh! God" she exclaimed. She explained that she had been working since 4 that morning, and when she heard the worm sculpture speaking to her, she feared she was finally loosing her mind. Poor gal. Then, though we never did see each other, as I was buried deep inside of the tube, we both shared a long long laugh of delerium and relief, I on my side (of the tire worm's belly), glad that she hadn't riddled me with bullets, and she on hers, I guess glad to know she still had her wits... 


A little while after she left, I sewed up the last seam, making Tyrius a whopping 50 foot long snake. But before I sewed up the last quarter  of the seam from inside, I grabbed my trusty scissors, and pulled them in with me. I had a 50 foot long foot-first inch-worm-shimmy to make down Tyrius's intestinal tract, and I wasn't about to get stuck in there!  


ASANA #1


I did make out, with out having to perform a self C section either. Taking a long look at the hulking giant, no doubt as tired as I was, I decided to curl him up into a tight coil on the carptet infront of the doors. I nestled his snout against his side, like a cat or a duck, and called it a night for both of us.  
I was satisfied to have completed him, and a coil seemed like a good position from which to spring the dance that he had in store.


After a few short hours of sleep in the now cleared van, I opened my bleary eyes, shook off the cold, and  exchanged my sleeping bag for some fresh duds. It was show time, so I shuffled in to get some coffee and bagels.


AND WE WERE OFF!


MONDAY
To kick us all off for Reuse Conex, we were very lucky to have a wonderful Keynote 'speech' by none other than Garth Johnson, madly brilliant mind behind 'Extreme Craft'.
What a pleasure this guy was! He came decked out in several pairs of pants, funky as skunk. And his opening address... I knew I was going to learn something from this guy! Garth is an Art History Proffessor, and he chose to use his talk to give a GREAT historic context to what may sometimes seem like a 'new' movement in the art world Art from Reclaimed Materials (his specialty). Another artist complained that he did not talk about current practices.Bah! For the past two days, the word 'Spoli' has been ricocheting around brain. Spoli, Spoli, Spoli. Spoli, illuminates Garth, is the term that the Romans used for incorporating older sculptures into new ones...thus attempting to 'borrow some of the power' of the older scuplture...! Garth seemed like a great guy too, I wish I had had the chance to hang out with him more.


I have to say I am very glad I got to hear Garth speak, because other than catching that I did a very poor job of getting with the program, and missed most of the people I really wanted to hear. It was hard to devide my focus between my booth and the conference.


But in between talks and during Exhibit times, I did meet many interesting people.


Heres a list of some of the people I met.


I was blessed at this event with the sweetest neighbor I could possibly hope to have (good luck with this so far!). Reena is the owner of Eco-ArtWare, a web-based Gallery based out of DC, specializing in creations from reclaimed materials. It was very exciting to meet her, because I have been a fan of her site for quite a while now. And we bonded almost immediately.We had a lot of good conversations throughout the conference, and it was interesting to hear that some of the artists in her stable had run into the same issues of copyrighting that I am so cautious of. Rena was a real pal to me throughout the event, even helping me to breakdown 'the hut' at the end. And She threatened to beat me up if didn't put price tags on my work! I'm working on it Rena!


Annie- Annie is one of the first fellow artists I met. She is a trip, and she was a pal and a half. She took me under her wing, helped me unload, kept me on track. That there is a good woman. She also let me model one of her awesome belt buckles, which I hope I did justice too. Her work was really fun and impressive too.

Leslie- Got connected with the event through her visit to my installation in Siler City. Her display was gorgeous, a light table made from a window from the Habitat home store, really set her glass work to life! Her work seems to have really developed into something very unussual and interesting,  and I am glad that she got involved. She was a pleasant presence too.


'ASANA'  #2


While people were in a talk, I rearanged Tyrius into 'Yoga Pose' Number 2. For this one, I curled him into a long S shape, and propped both his head and the open end of the tube on his back, for him to peer into. I called this one Self-Reflecting Worm, and the title is a play on the term Self-Reflexing Form. Self Reflecting Worm, get it? I swear, I should be a comedian or something. I wanted this one to be a graceful transition from the curled up shape to the knot he was to become. I don't know if it was a graceful transition, but I do think it was a graceful shape, and probably did the job ok.  And actually, I do think it worked ok as a transition.

My Mom and Sister, and Martha came by, and we had a little mini sweatshop going in my booth. That was awesome. They also convinced me that I needed to bring my coin purses up front. They were soo right. 


Dr. Martinelli  "Better Homes and Garbage"


FASHION SHOW
At the end of the evening, at 6 pm, we had a Fashion Show. For this special occassion, I donned my very special redbutton necklace, created by Norma Hawthorne?, and on loan from the collection of Stacye Leanza. It was pretty magestic, I had to keep it mostly concealed, for fear of upstaging the entire fashion show.
But the fashion show was pretty cool! No tire outfits, but I think I understand why...


I got Atom Cianfarani! This was a real pleasure. She was very cool, down to earth. But boy did she land me a suprise- She has developed severe Latex Allergies! I wanted to give her a change purse, but she couldn't take it! I feel bad for her, because I know she must have loved the material as much as I do.
She was kind in sharing her cautions with me. 


  I also met up with 'my girl' Buffy, who I approached at the Festival for the Eno, and with whom I am hoped to do a splendid collaboration with. I used the oppurtunity to lure her to my tent, and make the alligator clothespin pass off.... we'll see where she takes it...

Also, I have to note, that while there were some very lovely models on the runway that evening, Ann Woodward stole the spot light and graciously pointed it on one of the speakers, a purple haired young woman from Glasgow, Scotland, who proved herself to be a total Deva, and in turn totally stole the show!

When the fashion show as over, as soon as I could, I went straight to bed, to try to catch up on some of the sleep I had lost the night before. 

TUESDAY
The next morning I woke up reenergized. I strapped on my Air Jordans, jumped out the van, and flew through the doors, determined to give Tyrius a hell of a day. 


TYRIUS  Action shots.

Bob- I cannot say enough odes to Bob. Bob is great. When Bob and I learned we'd been accepted, I wrote Bob, and asked if I could mention his involvment in a press release, as he is another great Reclaimed Materials artist from this neck of the woods. He and his wife dropped by one afternoon, and Bob had a good time playing around in my studio. Got to show some pictures. Bob was a huge help to me, handling Tyrius. When wrangling a 50 foot long tire worm, its good to have a guy like Bob on your side.


That day, as planned, the new NC Chapter of the Reuse Alliance the 2nd Meeting there. I have to admit, that I felt pretty cool (Brittish Inteligence Style) gathering with this small group of people, to discuss next steps, and what we had gathered at the conference. I suggested that we create a focus group to learn how to incorporate Femi's software into our businesses, as this would provide us with the numbers we will need to get more funding for various projects, a goal of the group's. Anne pointed out that the Index which MaryEllen has created will be very useful to this end as well.


At the meeting, I met a gentleman seated to my left, Gustavo,  a great guy who runs an eco-friendly landscaping business, out of Siler City! After the meeting, he told Murial (who once lived in Siler too) and I the sad story of how City Hall was not working with him in his efforts to start a Building Materials Reuse Center in the building which used to be JD power sports. I think that would be so awesome. While he seems to have given up on working with the City Hall guys, I am hoping I can somehow connect him with people who can help, if he is interested.


Muriel- a classic. A fav. Muriel brought her Mama Lama, and the baby too. I think she needs an earth-worm in her menagerie, don't you?






The Scrap Exchange Gang Its always good to see the scrap girls, and its seldom I get to see them all together in the light of day! They all insisted on called my booth a 'hut'. While its true that of late I am dividing and advertizing my work into tire art for the jungle, and tire art for the hut..I don't think they knew that...were they just being deminutive?


One of the legendary Scrap Girls is Ruth- Has been a cohort and collaborator in this event from the beginning. Her work had always sounded interesting in her describing it too me. She says she likes to recycle unfinished quilting projects into her work! I always thought that was a really sweet proposition. A chance at redemption, wish I someone to salvage my miscarriages. Her work proved to be everybit as rich as her description suggested.


Nice Teacher Woman from New York. Socrates? This was a fabulous person. My favorate kind. Bright,  shining. 

Reuse in the Building Industry 

Kemi-  wow, a true gentleman. He makes this awesome software for businesses in the reuse sector to track the sources of their materials. I am very excited to learn more about this tool for capacity building. 
Kemi seems like a great guy to work with. 


While I was packing up in the deserted parking lot of the hotel, Kemi came down looking for the waterbottle he set down to help a very tired looking booth mate, and helped me pack up a little. We hung out and had a good time talking about Tyrius. We decided I need to get a stretch limo for him, and just shuttle him around from party to party, the big celebrity he is.

Nail Kicker decided Tyrius was a menace to society, and kept a close watch over him!



Leslie from Asheville/Shakori- Starting a Creative Reuse Center in Asheville!



Erica Pittsburgh Reuse told me she like my work. I asked her what she liked about it? She said what she liked best was the sign that said no photos. She said she could appreciate that, and we had a good talk about it. 


William Photographer Very kindly helped me take some photos of Tyrius Tied, as my camera's memory card was tragically full up by that time. William took some gorgeous shots, and I can't wait to see them.

Duke Students- Eddy?


Sandy


Moise- Reuse Connections?

Cleaning up afterwards with Congolese.


Garth -
He did bestow the honor of coming to visit my booth, which I think he seemed to enjoy, though I did not get as much of a chance to discuss my work with him as I would have liked. We were joined by a Fiber Artist and proffessor at NC STATE, who was hosting Garth the next day in her class. She turned out to be very cool! First, she answered a candid question which I have been dying to ask NC State Design school professors, and that is, would it be worth my while to attend the program? She asked me why I would do that, and gave me her honest answer which I found very helpful. Then, looking around my booth, she told me something else, which was very funny for me to hear. 
She said, "I hate to tell you this, but you're a Fiber Artist."
Well, I don't know if she expected this to offend my male ego; even if it did, which it didn't, I had to admit that it was something I had suspected this for sometime now! And actually, I had to thank her, and tell her what an honor this was for me, as I have recently considered approaching some Fiber Arts institutions, but I wasn't sure how I, and my tires would be received. This certainly gave some validation to that suspicion..


There was also another Artist there, Jan Ru, who is a professor at NC STATE's Design Program. She was very cool (her installation art is amazing, and she is starting a reuse program there.
They invited me to come visit with Garth the next day. While I was Very tempted, and would have been a reallly fun adventure, unfortunately I had to pack up that night, leaving no space to sleep, so I had pass on the oppurtunity. Jan Ru did invite me to come speak to her class another time though!

BREAK DOWN Congolese. 

MaryEllen Etienne, the Director of the Reuse Alliance, who organized Reuse Conex seemed pleased with Tyrius's participation, and said some very sweet things about him. She said she liked that Tyrius crawled around the space over time. I was glad she felt this way. As I told her, and several others, Tyrius  is a worm, and worms will wiggle.


IN REFLECTION


ATTENDING CONFERENCE
I did very poorly at this. I think I missed just about everyone I wanted to hear talk. I have always been pretty bad at getting with the program, and I really suffured for it this time. However, I did happen in upon a few rare gems, most notalbly a teacher talking about art projects, and a great talk about reuse in the building industry. Still I missed Anne, Reina, Atom and Femi, all people I really wanted to hear.  Its hard to do several jobs at once...Also, in general, I was so wiped out from the double installation the night before, of my booth, and then Tyrius, that I was just kind of out of it the whole time. I don't feel like I was at my best in my interactions with people. 
This was both a lesson, and a realistic glimpse into what I am trying to pull off. 
Showing both a large public sculpture, and also offering smaller works through a both, was somewhat the realization of the dream business model for Reptire Designs. But attempting to pull this duplicity off at the conference amply demonstrated the pitfalls of this model which I have always been both weary and tryed to be cautious of: namely of spreading my self too thin. And at this event, I felt, at least, visibly so.

Return from ReuseConex: Victorious!

Holy Shit.... That was Amazing.
I don't even know where to begin.
But one thing I think I can fairly say about my involvement, is that, with all due modesty,
'Tiny' Tyrius "TURNED THAT MUTHA OUT!"

Heres a list of SOME of the people I met, or saw there.
Reena
Leslie
Bob
Ruth
MaryEllen Liked that Tyrius crawled around the space over time.
Annie
Jessica
The Scrap Exchange Gang
Nice Teacher Woman from New York. Socrates?
Building
Kemi
Nail Kicker
My Mom
Leslie from Asheville/Shakori
Doctor "Better Homes and Garbage"
Erica Pittsburgh Reuse
William Photographer
Duke Students- Eddy?
Sandy
Meeting.
Gustavo, great guy, say story of Siler City
Nathan Connecting.
Fashion Show Revamp,  Buffy, colaboration
Atom- Latex Allergies
Moise- Reuse Connections?
Cleaning up afterwards with Congolese.
Garth
Fiber Artist NC STATE
Jan Ru NC STATE

OK, Its almost 2:30 am, And I KONKED out. In fact I am littarally half alseep....!
But Get off tihis thing...

Returning to the treadknot (as I tend to do)

Well,
  I have turned my attention for the past week or so back towards my booth.
MaryEllen, the Director of the Reuse Alliance, recently sent us the layout of the exhibit hall, and it looks like aside from my fellow Reclaimed Artists, I am going to be in excellent company with the other exhibitors too.
In fact right next to me is going to be none other than Eco Art Ware, a web-based gallery of art and crafts made from Reclaimed Materials. You can check them out at
http://www.eco-artware.com/index.php

I also see that, to my renewed delight, Atom Cianfariani, Reue Artist/Fashion Designer All Star WILL BE SPEAKING AT THE EVENT! Holy shit. I feel like a school girl about to wet her pants, and I mean that...
Want a taste? Check it!:::
http://atomsdream.weebly.com/rubber-textiles.html
If you take a gander, you will see that Atom does a whole more than this two. I am interested to hear her speak.

So, this has been a pleasurable turn for me, inwards towards my homies, my locus, the treadknot.
I made a hearty batch of the little guys, the change purses over the course of the last two days, and it was such a pleasure to work that form again.
   I also found that I seem to have honed my skills, and the design seems to be refining itself, as it should...
I think that I may decide to up the price on them just a little, here at the festival, but also in general.
Why?
Well, I have always felt that the treadknot is a sort of sacred form, and at times I have wondered if it is a tad bit sacriligious to enslave them with task of handling 'filthy lucre'. I think I've gotten over that, for the time being, I mean, if we Jewish "God's Chosen" are the financiers of the world, maybe a treadknot will make a great change purse, who am I to say? (and it does).
  However, that issue aside,  I do feel that, with the increased attention to detail that I give each one, that they are becoming works of art in themselves.
So I think I might up them from $16.50 to $18, and some more intensive ones even on up to $20 or $25, which is the price a seasoned craftsman once suggested to me.

So I am putting most of my focus right now on merchandizing these slick little buggers. 6 years down, and I still think these things are the hottest thing since...hottentots...
I FINALLY wrote up a sheet to go with them today, including a 'how to care for' sheet. It was fun doing it. It makes it alot easier to send these guys out into the world, when I take the oppurtunity to explain what makes them so special, and how to keep them that way.

And Thanks to my wonderful friend Stacye Leanza, I now have a gawgeus hangtag to dangle from their chains. Stacye was kind enough to respond to my plea for help (in return for a lot of free help on murals in the past two years, I think) and update my logo design a little bit, for this new application. She was super to work with, and I am REALLY pleased with the result. As she would say She should be a Graphic Designa! Heres a peak:

(sorry, won't let me load it) Basically, she added my website at the bottom, and configured the tag line (with my direction), to make it much more readable. She must have done SOMETHING for the resolution too, cause it looks Much better than I ever remember seeing it. Damn that looks good Stacye!

In other news, I have secured another van, God Bless Diane! Diane Swan, a good fairy sister of Chatham County, who we are all blessed to have in our midst. She uses the van to instal the gorgeous cabinets that she installs in the special and lucky homes hidden around this county. If you are interested, please check out what beautiful touches of trees she brings to a home's cabinetry: http://www.facebook.com/diane.swan.galleries

Diane warns me that the van has no working windows, no AC, no radio. Pshaw.
My options? Suffice to say, None of them a running van!
The Diesel Van, well, its a long story. Not this time, sorry buddy.

OK, better hit the hay. Feel a headache on the way, and I'll be needing that noggin for the next day.

Life is Rife

Ahh life.
Life is rife,
rich with smack downs for the overly enthusiastic, the ambitious, the dreamer.

A country western singer once sang "Houston is a woman who kicks you when you're down."

And Reality, she is a scowling, squat frumpy woman, waiting ready with her bludgeon.

So this morning, I inhaled my breakfeast, and before anything could snag or stall me, rode straight down to Roger's studio, eager to sew up those tires, and see this things lips get that much closer together, within reach of that much anticipated self-smooch. (God the self-sexual tension of an apprehensive, giant pubescent grub can be immense! Ah yes, we all remember those awkward teenage years.)
  Well, while there might be a lot of angst and longing involved for our self actualizing friend, I on the other hand was feeling fairly blase this morning (or at least trying to convince myself) "What a luxury" I thought, "to be able to just GO, and SEW, with a clear goal in mind. So simple. I wish the rest of running this business was so simple...."

Ahh life.

But once I started clamping this new batch of tires together, before I went ahead and spent the day sewing 20-30 tires together, I had to go take another look at the worm, and see just how far this was going to get me..
  And it seemed, looking again, that ONCE AGAIN!, my eyes had decieved me! How pernacious, the wishful eyes!
For re-estimating how many I would need, it now seemed more like 75-100 than 30-50! (I'm trying to be more conservative in my guesses now). OW!

So, Mater Reality has regained her grip.
Lucky for me, I am quick on my feat.
Time to restrategize again. And fortunately, now I have a 50 foot length of tire worm to 'play'; with.
In some sense, this is where the 'fun', and perhaps free associative 'art' begins...

OPTIONS

1) SEGMENTED KNOT
 All though I have stubbornly returned to the knot several times now, when I probably should have just left it be, one option for the knot still remains.
That is to break the worm into its three Tyrius-sized segments, give each a head and a butt, and wrap these around each other, in a segmented version of the knot, something I have actually never done before...Conceptually this could work pretty well. The symbol for Recycling, which I was planning to reference in the piece, is actually, as the organizer of the conference has reminded me, not for just recycling or Reuse, but for 3- Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. So each of the different worms would then represent a different prong of that trident. A little bit didactic for my tastes, but it might be cool looking, in a designy, or perhaps redeemingly MC Escher sort of way, plus it would be kind of cool to see a big worm orgy of Reuse, which you could say this conference/expo is.
Technically, this is slightly complicated. I would have to build 5 new worm butts/snouts (tyrius's butt is toast), and figure out how to attach them to one another. However, the idea of 3 equal sized segments, which I balance around each other, and attach, say with a simple carribeaner, has its own certain grace and appeal to MY mind...

2) OCHO- Figure 8
So, I allowed myself the chance to play with this now long, snaky meandering tube, and there is actually some potential therein, beyond 'the knot'.
The first obvious move, would be to just loop it into a big donut. Stick a stem on the top, light it up, and you've got a pumpkin, just in time for halloween. Well, while I have always wanted to do that for halloween, as the form really does own its own grace and mystery, as I finally got to see in my installation at Roger's 233 last 3rd Friday, and it IS right on time...I want to take it a little further than that..

So then, the next obvious move was to try wrapping this long snake in a long curling S. Got to say, this is pretty Sexy... (I caught myself thinking of the Ocho's in Tango Dancing, how marvelously Tyrius performs this step..)
So then I took Tyrius non existant butt (we must be related!), which is now just a giant gaping tube opening(...?) and propped it up on the edge of his back. And then I took his head, and propped it up on the other side of his back, so he is looking into the tube.
Ok, now at this point, I am begining to sound a like a favorite Aunt of mine, from Wisconsin, who had particularly dark and twisted sense of humor (not unusual for the region). Or perhaps a very immature artist..

And this begs the question, is it appropriate to show a sculpture of a worm peering into its own ass, at a
Reuse conference in the foyer of a fancy hotel in Raleigh?..I don't want to embarrass anyone, but..
Well, YES! It is!!!
Let me see if I can convince us both...


Well, lets dig deep here, and start at the foundation, I mean, like it or not, this conference is about Reuse, and the very nature of reuse addresses the tail end of the waste stream. Am I wrong? Need I say more?

So we have here this worm, who we could say represents our consumeristic society, and he is pearing into the CORNUCOPIA of his own waste stream, which all of us in the reuse industry know, IS none but such! The tube, with its glowing ribs, actually IS very remeniscent of the cornucopia, the horn of life, that neolithic symbol of the bounty of life. Why not?

(Interestingly, the cornucopia is a theme that has occured in my work before, back in 2000, Always a marvel, how ideas come back around...)

This Neo Pagan scultpure would no doubt have Jesse Helms rollicking in his grave, a holy ghost tent revival all his own. Well, with all due respect, Jesse, you and your worms have your revival, and we'll have ours.

 

Trying to find my tires

Well, after a great, life replenishing band practice in Pittsboro, with my fabulous bandmates of Zambamboogie, I hauled ass into Durham to try to peel a few tires and some rims from the knuckles of my old friends at the Durham Bicycle Co-op. But no such luck, when I arrived, the place was deserted.
So, this morning I stopped by the Scrap to cancel my encrusting party, and learned the DBC had moved their operations to a spot by a railroad tressle which I know well.  As they are only open on Sunday's (and thursday's too now) I just took a peak, and then went along on my round.

First was the Bicycle Chain in Durham. Those guys are my number 1 supplier,- they have been heros during this process, even attempting to get some of the other stores involved in the effort. These guys, Jeff, Brian, Geof, Carlisle, have really been coming through for me. And true to form, they had a fat stack for me. One big pile in the back seat.

So then off I drove to Chapel Hill, where I stopped first by Performance Bicycles, where I spoke to Scott the repair shop manager, who was happy to help, (I will bring them a basket to set out back), and then Franklin Street cycles, where Linkon was also were very helpful, and gave me two heaping armfulls, probably n part thanks to Bryan's representation.

Then I stopped at a favorite tire pot in these parts, the tire pile behind Back Alley Bicycles. Jason has always been very supportive, and has given me free, wide open picking privilages from their pile out back. And, miraculously, their pile had magically swelled since my last visit, only a couple weeks ago. This struck me as most bountiful luck indeed.

And then to top off, a great big 'tattude' dude pulled up and introduced himself as the new manager of The Recyclery. I instantly got a good vide from this guy. He told me I could take any of the rims in their pile outside the tent, and was very enthusiatic to contribute to the project. (This was great news, as I was a little nervous about having missed the Co-op in Durham.)

A nicer more generous guy I couldn't have found. I think that between he and Jason of Back Alley Bikes, I might have found some formidable Allies in the Carrboro area. As I picked through the pile, and did a little tidying of the pile in return, I thought to myself, "you know Travis, it is time to lay down your old (deeply rooted) prejudices about Chapel Hill (and Raleigh), because with in the walls of these cities, are at least a few fine people."

So I STUFFED the back of my little carrolla with nappy tires and rusty rims, dropped in to thank the crew, and headed off back to Chatham, about 20 blessed mountain bike tires closer to bringing this sculpture end to end...


Before I go, I would like to send a salute out to Geoff, of the Bicycle Chain in Durham. Geoff just recently retired from his post there at the shop, and this appears to conclude many years I have had the pleasure to work with Geoff, as an informal supplier of tires for Reptire Designs. Geoff has always been willing, not only to help me collect the cast away tires from their shop, but also helping me connect with other shops in the chain, and give me advice and in sites into tires. He is also the first person to commission a Hell-o-Holster, which I custom made for him and his ride.
Geoff has just been an all around great guy to work with, and I wish him a GREAT next chapter.