HAW RIVER FESTIVAL- Painting Rivr Critr Pitchrs

Oh Man,

Well last weekend I did my 2nd Haw River Festival. It is an annual festival to honour and celebrate the Haw River, a golden green and blue vein rich with cool aquatic life, languidly drifting and occasionally tumbling through Chatham County.

Last year I decided to commit myself, and my tire art business, to being a part of this festival on a yearly regular basis. Somehow, it feels like a good match..

So I paint faces, and more often arms, with renderings of the 'neighborhood' flora and fauna who call this river home, 'denizens of the deep'. I also bring some of my tire art to show and share, including Luther, the snapping turtle I made of bicycle tires on a sewer pipe. And indeed, the inky black sculptures seem right at home amongst the cool and lush blue/greens of the 'riparian rushes.'..

And It has been a real treat these past two springs, to 'get in touch' with this community of wild life, and will be for as long as I do it. It is fun to take stock of who's who, kind of like going to a family reunion. "Oh, there's Uncle Ron, the yellow bellied slider, perched on someone's fore arm like a log. Or aunt Izzie, the Rough Green Snake, draping herself around cousin Henry's wrist. My aim, I suppose, is to help 'connect' the festival participants with these locals. To remind us of who's who, and just who's land we're on!

Traditionaly this festival has been held Down By The River, and an old abondoned tushkins factory, in sleepy little Bynum, a small Mill town, come tight knit community. But this time, due to some sad complaints of 'local' realtors (who don't even live in state), it was moved up river to up and coming Saxapahaw. Now there are a ton of great things to be said about 'Saxy', (gracious home of PaperHand Puppet) and a TON of great things to be said about the festival this year (Kickin Musical line up, thanks Germane!). You could very well say that this festival took it to a higher level, and from many important angles, this is admirable.

However, I have to confess that I feel like we lost something in the move. I miss the Bynum site. It was a little more down on the water. A little more down homey. I don't know, maybe I'm just a whiny sap. I will have to try to make a better effort to adapt next year.

This year I decided to concentrate on reptiles and amphibians. You have to draw the line somewhere (or risk overwhelming yourself with work , and your customer with choices), and this seems like a distintion I can live with. So I picked a few of each:

Rough Green Snakes

Yellow Bellied Sliders, (no photo available)

Blue Tailed Skinks

and Anoles.

For Amphibians, I did Bullfrogs and Tree Frogs. Next Year I will add in salamanders (Fiery Red Efts). I did do one striped Salemander.

I decided to change the name of my service from 'Haw Rivr Cridr Pictrs' (kind of an homage to Clyde), to Taboo Tattoos- these are animals that people generally regard as creepy, but they can also be 'befriended', if you let go of your fear alittle...

Well, I did get blessed with some pretty darn wonderful neighbors. Right next to me were two most inspiring old friends, Jan Burger and Emma Skurnik. And while I felt a little bit sheepish to be hawking my two-bit carny tattoos next to these two phenomenal illustrators, they were every bit as good company as I knew they would be. And across from me was none other than the Goddess of Liquid Green Goodness herself, Zulayka Santiago, with her Liberacion Juice Truck, from which she whipped up refreshing concoctions which kept me cool through the long hot day. I also met some interesting local artists.

There was another facepainter down the way, (doing nice but more generic face painting), with a much quicker techinique. I am still not sure how I feel about the festival bringing in both of us....

In some ways, I was actually ok with this. I don't know that a little competition is a bad thing. Also, last year I was kind of swamped, and another painter's presence this year reduced my business down to a more manageable stream.

However I also did come away feeling a little bit disapointed. I put a lot of work into cultivating a product that is somewhat particular to the festival. While I had no formal exclusivity agreement with the planners of the festival (at all yet), I guess I had hoped that they realized my intentions, which seems a little silly to assume, now that I say it. I really can't hold this against them. But maybe I should have been more bold, and brought the subject up with them. I suppose it is not too late, and maybe I will. However, this would also beg the question of fidelity towards them. Is such a thing worthwhile, right or necessary?..

I had several interesting interactions:

Well, first, I would be remiss if I did not mention "Hugo" a blue tailed skink strutting his stuff with flair and pinache on the brickwall 'cat walk' behind me. Thought I claimed he was 'with me', he was actually just a local volunteer. For his service, I provided him amnesty from many enthusiastic lizard spotters. I think it must be a special treat to be getting a skink 'tattoo', and then see one crawling across the brick wall in front of you. To me, this is what the Haw River Festival is about...this is why I do it.

I had another little kid he boasted that he had just caught a blue tailed skink down by the river, where he was canooing. For his stealth and bravery, he was awarded a discounted skink tattoo. (I hope Hugo didn't hear about that though).

Also, I met a fellow face painter, a real pro, and a really nice person, and she invited me to check out her Face Painter's Guild! Who knew? She invited me to come and share my art with them. Was strange to me that she thought I had something to offer.....I feel like my techniques and materials are pretty 'primitive' at this point. But it was a nice invitation, and I look forward to talking shop with them some day...A quicker technique would probably serve me well..

There was also a funny kid with punk rocker parents, 'Townes', who got Very excited when he discovered my booth, and roared that wanted to be "COVERED with tattoos"! Instead, he settled for a bit of my own inpiration (what was to be the tattoo of the day, edicted Emma). He wanted a beating heart in the middle... Funny Kid.

Had a couple challenging parent experiences, but perhaps this is par for the course. (though I have never had such experiences with the Central American parents at other festivals).

One was the mom of my first customer, who said her little daughter wanted a butterfly. I said I didn't do butterflies, but I could offer her a reptile or amphibian, a tree frog perhaps? The mom was getting a little pushy, and said "c'mon, what do you care? You're getting paid!".

This was an interested comment....and begged a lot of good questions about my business and presence there.

Who was the boss? She, the customer, who held the money? Me, the business owner/artist?They say "The customer is always right". Does this apply to artists too? Are we exempt?....

And was I there to spread some 'river gospel'? Or was I just there to make a buck? as she seemed to be suggesting?

And there we were, frozen in time, at the gate, locked in a face off. It felt like all eyes were on us..

Now, I have nothing against painting 'mariposas' in general, and I have made a lot of kids happy this way in the past, and surely will again in the future, at other lovely events.

But I knew deep down that that's not what I came to do. I had spent the last two days studying frog and lizard anatomy, prepping my colors, and boning up on reptile 'lore', and I wasn't going to throw all that away for a pushy momma. Maybe if it had been the end of the day, I might have appeased her. But I didn't want to spend the whole day painting butterflies. And even more, I didn't not want to start my day this way. No way.

I could have told her to go to hell, or to go to the other face painter, which probably would have been the simplest thing to do. But I wasn't 'goin' out like that' either. So I asked the little girl what she wanted. She sat before me, big scared eyes, mouth a clasped coin purse, an enormous weight now placed on her tiny shoulders. 'Do I listen to my bossy mom? or to this weird guy holding a paint brush?'

I asked her gently if she wanted a tree frog on her hand? or a butterfly? She was mute. The tension in the air was enormous. I asked her again if she wanted a frog (admittedly I probably rigged the election). Slowly, shyly, tentatively, she nodded..... yes, that she did. Well, wether this was fair or not, I don't know. But what I do know is that at this point, all of the tension melted. I moved in quickly, painting a cool damp pale green tree from on her hand, and then a fly on her shoulder, and then finished it off with a long tongue curling around her arm to catch the fly. The mom had relaxed and Let Go by this point, and seemed to value the unexpected thing I had given them. The kid opened up too, turned out to be a real card, and we all enjoyed our time together, they posing for a family portrait at the end. We thanked each other warmly and sincerely, and they, my first customers of the day, trotted off into the crowd, it seemed, satisfied customers.

I had another Mom, not so satisfied, who bulked at the price."5 dollars for that?!" I looked down at the frog on her kid's arm. "Well, I've got to get myself here and back you know" I said. "Listen, if you can't afford it, give what you can. You give me what you think it's worth." I could tell that she could afford it, but I think she was feeling ripped off by vendors in general, which we all can relate to. Also, I had to admit to her that the design was one of the less difficult and complex. I settled for $3, and feel ok about it.

However, these two experiences aside, or maybe included, I should say that I also had several truly pleasant experiences with parents (mostly with Dads incidentally...). Parents seem to really enjoy bringing their kids to this festival, and on the whole, it seems to bring out the best in them and their kids.

But as the day wound down, boy so did I. I was getting wore out, and the festival started dragging on. I took a break, and went to sit under a tree, snarf down some BBQ, watch a kickin' Brass Band, and count my money! Wow, $60 bucks, net. While I had already topped last years net of $50, it still felt like a pittance for the full day of work. Additionally, my goal had been to gross $100.I staggered back, drained, and contemplated starting to tear down. But no such luck...

Arrived this late, twilight hour, was a different kind of customer, trolling about, on young and tender mayfly wings..

Up until this point, my customers had mainly been little kids, accompanied by their parents. Now, I am very grateful to these trusting parents, to bring their tender pups to me, to be tattooed with talismans of reptiles and toads...tis a trusting ting to do!

But now, was the feeding time of a different creature:... the unadorned eft, left on their own, with a dollar or two to spend; to scout the gettings for themselves. And as the sun dropped into the trees, and all the insects swarmed above the water, so too, these did collect about me so.

It was a trickle, but a steady one, and when they left, they brought back more. Till by the end, I had my own mayfly midge armada! Thanks to this crew, I made my $1oo, and then some.

Finally, 8:00 came, and I washed my brushes, collapsed my displays, and broke my tent tent down.

2 hours later, I was all packed up, and just in the nick of time. My sweetie pie, Carrie, met me near the bridge in a flowing flowery red dress, as she has once before. Though we missed the dance, we went down to the river, and I climbed in, and tried to wash the long long day out of me. I soaked adamantly, trying to pull my core body temperature down, because over the course of the day, I had cooked my self to the core. And I tried to loosen the monstrous knot that I had tied in the muscles on one side of my back, painting faces all day. As I lay there, beached on the river bank in the cool night air, I felt like I had worked a Full day landscaping, digging ditches. (All said, had been about 14 hours of work).

Who ever knew painting kids faces could be such hard work?

Babbling about bamboo

Today I got some Bamboo.

I am building a fort.

No, I am building a booth.

A tire booth.

A tire Art booth.

I am building a booth from out of which to sell art made of tires?

Actually, I am just adding onto my tent.

I need to create an addition onto my tent.

It's not big enough.

I am only allowed ten feet of tent space at the festival. That's not alot of room to sell art made of tires, and sell your self at the same time, and that's (what I'm told) I have to do.

So I am building of buttresses.

Buttresses, which will suspend my tire art far across the landscape, casting them like apples.

It's actually only going to be about a foot out, but I feel like I am building a gothic cathedral...

sending an archipaligo out into space, poor lonely space.

Not anymore. Now they have tire art in space.

Its fun writing like an idiot.

Now I know how Kurt Vonnegut kept it up so long..

He mastered the idiot's voice, and in so doing, said alot of very wise things.

Being tired gives you the chance to use your idiot voice.

Maybe this is what doing drugs is all about..

Masks, masks, they hide us, they protect us, and they free us.

Sometimes, they are too heavy to wear around.

That's when its time to put that one down.

And pick up a frown. Not just any old frown,

A horrid, gnashing, pulsating GRIMACE!

Show the world that you are MENACE!

Pucker up your face, like you just a lemon,

But don't be see ugly that you look like Jack Lemon.

OK, that's enough, I can see I've gone too far.

You're kreeping towards the door.

Here I am, out at the end of my butress again,

asking favors of gravity, I know he can't suspend.

Do come back some day I say.

I may stop rhyming, and I promise I won't play.

I'll just pout, and put blogs out,

short and stout.

Harvesting some bamboo

Okay, must follow thru.

This is not that exciting, but I must become obsessive, and compunctual about documenting my work, and since my dear mother was kind enough to give me her very good 'old' camera, I better use it!

Today I harvested some bamboo, for my fort/booth at the River Festival..

I normally would have gotten some lusher looking stuff, but when I got to the grove, behind a condemned looking house, I found an earnest neighbor had been hard at work... there was alot of dried out bamboo laying already cut. And since I am still just roughing out my trellis scheme for the booth, I thought this would work fine. So instead of cutting down alot of new culms, I invested a good while tidyed up the pile and yard a bit, good bamboo source stewardship, very important (for future bamboo projects). When that was squared away, I bundled up the choice poles with some inner tubes- very handy for this task! hoisted the hulking bundle on my right shoulder , climbed on my bike, and off I went!

This is always an interesting riding experience (wish I had a picture), somewhat akin to sailing, though your rudder is your front tire... and your sail, well it is about 25 horizontal feet. Somehow it works, you just have to keep moving, and steer slow, like on a large boat; and as far as other traffic goes, sort own the road...because with all that cargo weight, it slows, well, real slowly....generally it wants to go home though, though sometimes it wants to go sniff a bush...

Anyways, when I got the bundle

back to the 'kitchen', I cleaned it, stripping off all the little branches with a stout knocker, a trick my good buddy Billy Altheiser showed me in Oakland, CA, which I will be foreever greatful for, old pal.

Then, I had to der shleppin ze bamber up to zie shtudio. Here I am shleppin, imagining that I am Indiana Jones of Siler City....Shameless.

Finally, home sweet home....

Next I have to figure out how to get it up there...

To be continued.....

Do you Wuv me?

Hey People, Friends, Strangers, alike, LEAVE ME A NOTE SOMETIME! I like it! Does this blog make me look fat?! I wanna know!

At the time of this post, I have had 101 views of my blog, and only ONE Canadian kid, Cedric, has had the balls to leave me a note. Thanks Cedric, you are boon to your country men. hope your cool ass photography is coming along.

Come on guys.. doesn't have to be rhapsodic. Just a little hello.

Love Travis

Durham Art Walk, Fall 2008

I thought I would give the Durham Art Walk a try
And Halloween Weekend brought all kinds of treats, and even a trick.

THE TRICK
The trick came first this time, which suits me.
For about a month I had been arranging to show with 2 other artists in the lobby of the Snow Building, an elegent old art deco office building with torrazzo floors, elevators and polished granite walls. My mother used to rent a studio upstairs, back before its upscaling renovation, when the building was still still afforbable, so I thought I knew what I was getting in to. But upon arriving with all of our gear the night before, I and the other artists were faced with the rude realization that the new owners intended us to use a space next door, that was still under construction. 'Just take down the hard hat area signs, set your art down in the plaster dust, and make the best of it', was the suggestion. Maybe it was my fault though, I just assumed they meant the lobby, I never fathomed they intended for us to show in the dust nextdoor! I stashed my stuff, and went on with my Halloween plans, with a major case of the spookes..

But by and by, my pardner (following his own volition) saw to it that I 'chase that devil back down in his hole', (in true Haloween tradition). After a full night of monster mashing and also consorting with some spirits (some very atTractive spirits I might add, check it out on youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqRD5EDh-oA,), the next morning I found myself on the sidewalk downtown, bleary eyed and blinking at a rising sun, which heralded in one big beautiful weekend for Durham Art Walk, and what's more, it seemed, a bright new day for America! (Traction Got Out the VOTE!).

AH, NOW FOR THE TREATS
When life hands you lemons, put them back and grab some oranges, that's what I always say. Following would be booth mates, Letitia's lead, I set up on the sidewalk instead, In front of the Snow Building anyways, right down at Five Points on Main St.- a more choice location you could not find to spend the next two days. The sun warmed the new red brick sidewalks toasty, and damned if we weren't going to set ourselves out there like the greatful fat iguana's we were.

Luther and Lola
"Quitchyer complainin' already!"

I was in good company. Boothmate Lynn hunkered down , and gallantly brightened up that under-construction space nextdoor with her exquisit jewelry- (she really did- it was amazing, everything just receded to background). And boothmate Letitia, down from VA, brightened up my sour assitude with her strong-lassitude, culled from 5 years experience on the circuit (she shared her Tandoori chicken lunch with me-what a sweety- this girl knows how its done).

The Snow Building is as classy and elegent of a building as you find in Durham, and I was very lucky to get to show my work there in its cavernous entryway. Such a setting really brings artwork to life, thanks to the DAC for giving us this rare oppurtunity to show our rubys and garnets in the rico canyon of our downtown, which was once the pride and glory of CenterFest (R.I.P. - Bring it back on center!). Such a setting can't help but rub off on artwork, and fine crafts and art compliment architecture so well-

a little saliva on the stone,

 buffs it all up and makes it shine!

HIGHLIGHTS
Several events/highlights stand out for me from the weekend.
One was when Big Tyrius the tireworm hit the scene -and I must say, I think he really hit it.

Man Loved to Death by Giant Grub in Back of Pick Up Truck

For those of you who don't know Tyrius, he is a big grubby puppet that I and my faithful assistant, Alexander, fashioned for PaperHand Puppet Intervention's show "I AM AN INSECT" this summer.

He was fabricated by hand-sewing mountain bike tires bead by bead,
creating a long tube, with a tapered butt and a snout. The cool thing about Tyrius is that he can stretch out and contact (by dint of each tire's 2 side walls, which show his faded pink and yellow tender side). On a cold day, he is about 10 feet long. But give him a good tug, and he more than doubles his length (accordian style). As things were starting out slow, I thought I would bring him downtown to sign some autographs, being the big celeb he is these days. My good pal Dane was trusting enough to lend me his 'new' station wagon. So I pulled up to the curb, opened the hatch, and with a shout and a heave ho, let Tyrius fly, hurling him out into space above the pavement, almost twice the length of the wagon in front of it. Beautiful. (I should do Lamaz for Station wagons!)

Here am I, gracefully reenacting the glorious 'Flight of the Tire Worm'
for some mesmerized Japanese tourists.

And awww, Tyrius made a friend.

This one little lass was not one bit daunted by Tyrius's rough exterior. She was even kind enough to share her balloon with him.

Fearless Worm Trainer At Work,
Do NOT attempt this at home!

(Fortunately for me, earthworms don't have teeth, so the best the big brute could do was was limply gum it).

Another thrill was when a couple kids recognized my art. To my amazement, whenever I bring the big guy out, a kid will see him and say "hey, I saw that at the puppet show!", or "Mom, Mom, its the worm!" This always makes my day.
But what blew me away this time, was that this little girl recoginzed my change purses, from the Scrap Exchange's Artist Marketplace. Wow, This was new for me.

Also encouraging was that three seperate, completely sane looking people proclaimed "this should be public art!" Well cool, lets do it! I'll bring Tyrius over for tea any time. This was cool for me, because Durham has often been in the back of my mind when developing this work. Durham is a diamond in the rough. A funky tire tyed in a funky knot, all it's own.

Another Highlight was that my mother, Edie, was showing her Incredible new portraits next door (of people she has met in her travels ), and that was kind of proud for me. Her artwork has just exploded in that last several years, and I was proud to be showing with her downtown, more or less, side by side.

And I got some nice visits from old friends, and made a few new ones too.

Da Crew

That night I ran into Scott and Colin from the Durham Bicycle Coop at the Federal, and got to share some of my art, and a beer with them, out on Main. Colin upgraded to a sleak black coin purse, and Scott made his own good selection in exchange for a Canadian 20. Damn I love this town!

Tyrius showing off his dimples.
Yeah. pretty cute lil' T, pretty cute.

And to cap the weekend off with a purple fez, that night my Super Friend Ana (pictured above) helped me cart Tyrius to a comfy pine needle nest, nestled against some pine trees at EK Poe (a school). My friend Suzie had asked me to bring Tyrius to show and tell with her Kidnergarden class. So the next morning, groggy Tyrius got a 50 kid wake up call! What a blast. We rolled his big grubby ass out to the garden out front, and made him gallop through the leaves.

The kids were amazing- when I told them all my story as an artist/designer, miraculously, they fell utterly silent. In all my spotty years of teaching, I have really only experienced this one time- I took this as a high mark of honor for my art- but maybe it was just nap time (they had some good teachers too).

So in summary,

I may be guilty of singing my victories, but mark this weekend a win for good weather, sharing and friendship! Ain't that the way its supposed to be?!
I didn't sell a whole lot that weekend, but I hardly noticed. I felt like I was being taken care of, in many other ways.