Bizzy Bee

I am coming into my second week in Regina.  I have been facilitating a lot of multimedia workshops with youth and doing artist talks.  I've been doing the workshops in the inner-city as well as a school in Ochapawace, which is 180 kms out of Regina.  These workshops and talks are being produced through a partnership with the Sakewewak Artists' Collective where I am dong my residency and the Mackenzie Art Gallery.  It has been very fulfilling work and a lot of what I have been talking about is our relation to technology and the different feelings that come with that when engaging in a digital and non-digital practice.  I have been showing a 2 min video as part of my talk that features hiphop artist KRS One.  He is an artist that has been educating with his music since the 80's.  In the video he talks about the 4 elements of Hip Hop, Emceeing, Djing, Breakdancing and graffitti and how the essence of these forms require no technology.  I think I'll post the video on here soon....cuz I am about to go on a tangent.  What's been funny to me is that only one youth knew who KRS One was.  I must be getting old.

My video piece Sala is slightly on hold right now.  It has given me pause to think more about the ephemeral nature of it.  Been reading and discussing Performance Art a lot while I have been here.  I moved from my hotel into Michelle Serreda's awesome 2 story house.  She performs, teaches and produces Performance Art across the world.  We've been having some very fun discussions about Fluxus, Absurdity, process oriented work, cultural work etc.  It's helped me meditate a bit on my piece.

I have also been painting a little bit and making some digital work for the upcoming group exhibition, Wuulhu - to fuse together, here that I will do with the youth I am collaborating with. And a a design I made for an event I will be performing in at the W2 in Vancouver in November called Indigenous After Dark.  I will be performing live-visuals with my group Skookum Sound and will be mapping video installations throughout the W2 space and in the Woodwards atrium.  I have been busy organizing the technical aspects of that in my spare time.

Image for Indigenous After Dark Poster

Image Design for poster - Wuulhu group show w youth from Ochapowace and North Central Family Centre.

sala = patience - stills and screen captures

travelin'

I have arrived in Regina for a 2 week residency.  I will be spending some time making a series of new drawings while I am here.  I walked around the city today.  It was empty of pedestrians and everything was closed with the holiday thing going on.  I was fascinated by the square and rectangular shape of nearly all the buildings.  I guess this isn't so unusual, but the way the stack into each other creates some interesting shapes and grids.  I started working on a geometrical drawing based on my little excursion today.

I have finished the first edit of my video, Sala.  I am still working on the artist statement for it and will continue editing and refining the piece.  I felt like I should change the name of the piece to exhaustion or stamina.  Taking photos in photo-montage style with no remote while trying to record a live-painting isn't the easiest thing.  My neck and back are still pretty sore from painting on the floor in awkward positions.  I partly did this on purpose and was actually inspired by an interview I listened to w Jack White a musician with the White Stripes and Dead Weather.  He was talking about how he makes himself purposely uncomfortable on stage with how he sets himself up when he is drumming with the Dead Weather.  He said he wanted to create these uncomfortable scenarios so he felt sharper and was challenging himself as an artist to not get too complacent.

I will post some stills tomorrow...internet here at the hotel won't let me

More to come....

Screen Shot  - Sala1

Success!!

I managed to solve the technical issues I was dealing with before.  I am nearly ready to unleash  the ruff cut.  The problems I have been figuring out were mainly with lighting....primarily under-lighting.  It's kind of sad because in a past-career I did lighting and technical training at the Firehall Theatre with one of the best lighting designer's in the city.  It is different trying to light for a camera though and with a greenscreen in the background...especially when the lighting options I have are limited.  On my ever-growing wishlist is a soft-lighting kit.

One thing a photographer friend of mine told me is that over-lighting is better than under-lighting.  It's easier to decrease the exposure and brightness post-production than it is to boost it.  Simple.

Working on some sort of artists statement for this piece.  Will drop that next week.

In other news on October 7th I will be leaving for Regina, Saskatchewan for a 2 week residency with the Sakwewewak Collective.  I will be making new work, doing some workshops, and a small exhibition/performance at the end.

Well....I am hoping to get a ruff cut of my new work up soon.  I have had to re-start this project twice now.  I didn't safety check my footage and my first efforts were too dark to work with and the framing didn't work with another try.  It is kind of challenging to be the one performing (painting) and filming (with the camera locked off on a support structure.  I chose the word Sala, which means patience for this piece, so I guess I get what I asked for.

With this piece I am working on the unveiling of my process, as I feel I most often talk about my personal relationship to my work and my process.  This piece is also linked to the dream-state, and the use of pictographs as signifiers of dreams or experiences in another realm.  This piece is acting as a digital-picto, with the marks digitally recorded and made on the floor of my house, instead of outside on the land.

So at this time I have about 5 layers of gesso on my living-room floor.  I am waiting for this last coat to dry, so I can sand it and apply the base coat of paint for the mural again.  This project is also testing the patience of my 3-year-old son and my wife as I am taking up the prime hangout spot in the house for a while.  I am trying not to rush the process and still keep everyone happy. Sala Sala Sala Sala

Weekly Reflection #1 - Action!

I took a year away from school due to medical reasons resulting from a car accident and I am finding the transition back into school sometimes jarring and even unfamiliar.  During my medical leave, aside from periods where i was in too much pain, I created my own schedule for work. I only have this one studio course this year and am learning to adjust to the amount of time academic courses take from my studio practice.  I am interested in all of my courses and the readings, but am looking forward to when I am back at the helm of my schedule :)

I have been having a couple technical difficulties starting my new video project. I was hoping to get it started on the weekend, but am now adjusting that to Tuesday night.  I think it will take 4 or 5 Days to film the piece and then a number of days to edit.

The video will be in 4 parts. I aim to get 2 segments finished this semester and 2 during the Spring semester. The first part of my video will be based on the word Sala, which in the Heiltsuk language means patience.  Patience is something I have had to really instil back into my practice.  I find that my ideas are further ahead than my current abilities. Most of my work is rooted in my culture I need to be aware of protocols and things like that when I am making work that remixes traditional form and content either digitally or conceptually.  I have had to scale back some ideas after going back home this summer and seeing that there are really some strong rules about what we can and cant do.  I have always tried to push boundaries while still operating in respect to my culture and have come to realize that I will not be able to please everyone.