tgMCOCO

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tiny gallery Mobile Cabinet of Optimisms, Curiosities and Other Possibilities

Formats available: Quicktime (.mov)

tiny gallery walkaround

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more like a turn-around in one spot...

Formats available: Quicktime (.mov)

Scenes from the Circus

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june 20 world premier at the arbuckle road impromptu alternative theater

Formats available: Quicktime (.mov)

A Puppet Show

A few back stage pictures from our little puppet show out Arbuckle way.

a few snaps

Margaret Has a Website!

She might not ever say it out loud, but I will. Go on over to margaretcouchcogswell.com and get your eyes full of sweet handcrafted art that holds a thousand stories.

You'll be glad you did.

It Begins

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The Cacophony Circus, under construction

Formats available: Quicktime (.mov)

A collaboration of epic proportions...The Cacophony Circus Ultra-Light Theater of Other Possibilities. Quite likely my life's work, awesomely supported by a rowdy band of un-indicted co-conspirators who have a high tolerance for my enthusiasm and grand visions. This is the beginning of something spectacular, I'm sure.

Well, at least memorable. I have declared this to be the Summer of Fun.

DIY. Socially and economically accessible. Cheap Art. Socially relevant. Mobile and fluid. Colorful and fun. Shoestringing at it's best...

Stay tuned. We'll be doing shows starting mid June, reports from the field will follow.

MB, out.

afloat

Fern

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Ferny's Big Adventure (collaboration with Beth Schaible)

Formats available: Quicktime (.mov), Flash Video (.flv)

Quote du jour...

Gustave Flaubert:

"Be regular and orderly in your life like a bourgeois, so that you may be violent and original in your work."

(this an antidote to the feeling that is best summed up by the french phrase that translates roughly to "feeling like i'm juggling cotton balls"...)

L'Orchestre d'Hommes

(photo by: FOURNIE PAR LA PRODUCTION)

Stop what you are doing and check this out.

L'Orchestre d'Hommes

the Tintamarre Caravane, under creations, is my favorite...
I need to learn french, stat.
If you do a youtube search of the group you can easily find enough videos to keep your agog for several hours.

tiny gallery note

It should be noted that the tiny gallery is a collaboration with the most awesome Ms. Margaret Couch Cogswell who was involved with the making of the thing from it's conception, but was on the road during the night of the rollout. We wanted to get it in the hands of Phil Sanders asap for it's inauguration so did it sans MC. But rest assured Margaret and I have big plans for the little thing. Stay tuned...

tiny gallery at Black Ops Soapbox

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grand opening

Formats available: Quicktime (.mov)

Somewhere in Va

Somewhere in Virginia this beauty is ready to be put to good use.
I think a secret bookmobile... riding the rails.

You should come to this...

Something interesting might happen...


(Penland School, this coming Thurs night...)

Emerson quote...

I got to spend time with a sweet wild rabbit friend yesterday afternoon, sitting in the sun and talking about life, the universe and everything. Somewhere in there I said "you gotta trust your intuition...". Then this morning stumbled on this quote via following links like running down a rabbit hole...

"All our progress is an unfolding, like a vegetable bud. You have first an instinct, then an opinion, then a knowledge as the plant has root, bud, and fruit. Trust the instinct to the end, though you can render no reason."- Ralph Waldo Emerson

TImely.

I really need to read more of Derrick Jensen...

via

What is the Sound of Art Happening?

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sound sculpture from found and altered parts

Formats available: Quicktime (.mov)

Raleigh Co. WV miners

"Oh a miner's life is fragile,
it can shatter just like ice.
but those who bear the struggle
have always paid the price."

-kathy mattea



A few articles about the terrible mine explosion in Raleigh Co. West Virginia this week.
You can read about it here and here.

You can make donations to aid afflicted families here

and send angry letters here, and here for again choosing profit over safety.

Stuff to Read

Might want to have tea, coffee or a drink and take some time with this. Pretty long, but worth the read.

What is Art and Where it Belongs

How is it these things keep falling into my lap? Random bits of stimulating writing, I love them.

Collectives and Cooperatives

Becoming ever more interested in the social and economic values of these types of situations:

Collectives

Cooperatives

Collaboratives

These kinds of groups lend themselves to artistic endeavors- ideally a non-hierarchal gathering of people bringing various skills to the table, all of which are equally valuable, and contributing to a common goal.

Smart people can be self-organizing and accomplish wonderful things.

So, Troublemakers, Rabble Rousers, Jesters, Clowns, Activists, Free Spirits, Misfits, and Crumudgeons:

UNITE!

"I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable,I sound my barbaric YAWP over the roofs of the world."
The world can only change if someone(s) are willing to go first and show other possibilities. Who better than artists?
Meaningful work. Oh, yeah.

a good sign

i saw this picture today.
i wish i knew where it came from but i'm sorry to say i don't.
regardless, i think it's pretty amazing.

A series worth reading, good with morning coffeeze...

Fluid/Form

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the Master of Plaster

Formats available: Quicktime (.mov)

North Fork, VA

Today I resewed an old pamphlet book for my mother that her great aunt gave her when she was younger.
By today's standard it is a little zine, written by her great aunt, all about the family history and times of her family in rural virginia.
It is a great and personal account of the life and times of my ancestors in the late 1800's and early 1900's.
I particularly like the following portion that is under the section
"THE FARMER AND HIS WIFE"

"In those days (1885) men walked, the didn't ride on a tractor to plow, harrow, pick corn, and do other farm work. A life insurance agent in talking with me about the great decrease in the length of life of men declared that they were simply sitting themselves to death. That many, many, commuters have to endure the stress and strain of fighting the ever increasing traffic, then sit at a desk all day, again face that homeward bound traffic, eat a big big dinner and sit and watch T.V. until bedtime. Stress and strain no exercise and over eating cause serious health problems. Yet people say this is progress. Is it really?"

The section labeled 'Women's Lib' is also great.
It makes me want to make zines!

Tweaking...

Makings some changes to the blog, getting it ready for Spring.

The most noticeable parts at the moment are the new header (thanks Beth!) and the relocation of some of the sidebar items to their own pages. We'll be filling those out in short order. If anyone has suggestions for additions please post them in the comments. As well as, you know, any comments.

We want the SAC to become more active and dynamic, a center of exchange and a showcase of interesting happenings.

Contribute: ideas, links, art, opinions.

Growth, change, action, motion...a burst of new energy.

We are so DONE with winter...

Why I love Google Reader...

Because how else would I stumble across this amid the sea of everything that is the internets?

"I've heard it said that within our deathly culture, the most revolutionary thing anyone can do is follow one's heart. I would add that once you've begun to do that–to follow your own heart–the most moral and revolutionary thing you can do is help others find their hearts, to find themselves. It's much easier than it seems."- Derrick Jensen



excerpted from todays Wish Jar Journal

thumbnails

a few photos from ireland adventures...
lots of photos for viewing here

Evolution

Spring is around the corner, and I'm pondering thoughts of renewal and change. The Collective will continue to evolve and refine. Flux, it's the way of nature.

I offer that as an explanation for whatever tweaking you might see on this blog in the near future. With a lot of snow still on the ground, I'm feeling like cleaning up the look of these pages and make some room for light and air.

Stay tuned, and contribute if you'd like. You're more than welcome.

The Postcard Reclamation Project

So in January I started the Postcard Reclamation Project as a way to reuse and give new life to all of the old postcards I have lying around my house. I hate to throw out old mail so this project serves as a way for me to take something old but dear and reuse it.

THE PROCESS
Artist cards, souvenir cards, and random postcards are partially sanded and painted before being letterpress printed and collated into groups of five. Lots of layers of ink and chance operation make no two cards alike.
The collated cards are packaged with a handprinted belly band that has a description of the project.

Cards are available at my etsy site.

John Baldessari | Recycling Images

Artist John Baldessari talks about being a pack rat and discusses his attitude towards appropriating images. art:21

Groundswell (a story of sorts...)

In a bizarre chain of serendipitous events this came together before I finished my coffee this morning...

I was catching up on Rachael's blog where she linked to this which is worth a look. Then it occurred to me that wow, stuff like this is happening all around us and how cool is that? Shoestringers, Sweet Meats, all sorts of random and energetic collectives doing stuff all over the place. And then I thought, hey, we're part of a groundswell of a new generation of artists and makers who put together shows in alternative spaces and practice a DIY mentality on a daily basis. I think that's really awesome and powerful! So then I was thinking, well, groundswell isn't a word you hear or read every day so maybe I better check the defintion (below) but I only got to that after stumbling via Google onto this!

The Groundswell Collective

(I should note this happened early this morning, before coffee and after a pretty awesome dream I had that was consistent with all this stuff...)

Here's the standard definition for "groundswell":

groundswell

Contents [hide] 1 English 1.1 Alternative forms 1.2 Etymology 1.3 Noun

[edit]English

[edit]Alternative forms

• ground swell

[edit]Etymology

ground + swell

[edit]Noun

groundswell (plural groundswells)

1. (nautical) A broad undulation of the open ocean, often as the result of a distant disturbance
2. (by extension) A broadly-based shifting of public opinion

so, to conclude, I have to say the evidence is clear:

Everything Is More Than One Thing...

and away we go...

Mark is 50

Hello friends.
The chief instigator MB turns 50 today!
Head over to justmakingstuff and wish him the happiest of days!

I'm digging this idea...

Fits in with reading some articles about Potlatch and Gift Economy. Pointed to by Shoestringer Rachael.

Itinerant Artist Project.

Yup, makes me happy and hopeful...shifting the paradigm, suggesting other possibilities.

On the calling of art...

The calling of art is to extract us from our daily reality, to bring us to a hidden truth that’s difficult to access - to a level that’s not material but spiritual.

Abbas Kiarostami

Winding up SAC at SAS

Well, we're all home safe and sound and enjoying a quiet snowbound weekend (at least I am, I think Beth might be printing and Margaret is on the road doing her next thing...) I caught up on pics and blogging the Roadtrip site and did a progress report on my latest sound sculpture. And I'm already having ideas for another Shoestring adventure and the dust hasn't even settled on this one yet!

Next stop, I'll be sowing the seeds of creative chaos in the Shoestring Digital Collaboratory for a week this spring at Penland. Beth is coming to assist and we hope to get a good crowd of folks that want to raise a little ruckus and make some fun stuff. Who knows what madness might ensue??? Stay tuned for more info on that.

Huldra Notebooks

Our friend Marianne of Huldra Press has some sweet new little notebooks on her blog/etsy.
check em out.

Shoestring Public Works

I vote we absorb these guys into the Collective! Prime example of DIY, making something out of nothing AND making their immediate community a little bit better.



The Astoria Scum River Bridge

Jason Eppink and Posterchild making stuff for the common good of the neighborhood...

photos du jour

Shoestringing on the Road

Catch updates at the Shoestring on The Road blog...

Getting Underway

Mr. Ford's old boats make great Circus Vessels. Agnes is out of mothballs and leaving port at sunup, docking and delivering the intrepid crew by sundown to St. Andrew's-Sewanee School for a week of exploring Other Possibilities.

Bon Voyage!

A most honorable endeavor...

This is quite beautiful, the kind of work I aspire to.

Takes my breath away.

Worthwhile reading here.

(re-blogged from JMS)

Inspiration

I just watched this. You should too. Neflix has it on streaming.

Trailer below, website here.

Beautiful Losers film trailer from beautifullosersfilm on Vimeo.

Shoestring Tamale Express

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Day two of the SAS show install

We drove. We stumbled onto awesome tamales. And oh yeah, we installed a show..

More info about it here.

I'm feeling a little awesome tonight...

On the coldest day of the winter so far..

I've always had this dream of doing some sort of traveling/guerilla art/impromptu/tent revival/road show where you could roll into a town, do a thing and roll out, leaving behind splashes of color, snippets of sound, encouraging words, echoing laughter and fond memories.


I guess today is the beginning of sorts. We leave at first light for faraway places, and adventures to unfold..

Taking the Shoestring Artists Traveling Circus and Just Add Water Art Show and School of Other Possibilities on the road...

All systems go...

Bon voyage!