Now would be a good time to mention where we were staying at night. As you know, our work space was in Logan Square which is the northwest side of Chicago, but we were staying on south side in Bridgeport. Thanks to Kate and Steve for putting us for the duration of our project. They were more than accommodating when it came to the ridiculous hours that we were coming and going in. We are forever grateful for their patience and hospitality.
That said, it was Monday morning and we got to experience the tail end of rush hour as we headed north to the Home Depot at Kimball and Addison which would end up being one of our most frequented places in the next 10 days.
We picked up some miss mixed paint for real real cheap and some various and sundry items that we had decided on Sunday that we would need in order to do what we wanted to do.
Armed with the equipment we needed we headed off to work and started preparing panels to paint on with gesso and white paint. Even though we only used white paint, somehow this process began to make this crazy raw and dirty space feel like our art studio. There is a magic that happens for artists every time they smear a brush filled with paint on to the surface what ever it is that will soon become their next masterpiece. Since we brought every panel and canvas that we could from our studios in Zwolle and Michigan we had more than a few panels to prepare.
That said, it was Monday morning and we got to experience the tail end of rush hour as we headed north to the Home Depot at Kimball and Addison which would end up being one of our most frequented places in the next 10 days.
We picked up some miss mixed paint for real real cheap and some various and sundry items that we had decided on Sunday that we would need in order to do what we wanted to do.
Armed with the equipment we needed we headed off to work and started preparing panels to paint on with gesso and white paint. Even though we only used white paint, somehow this process began to make this crazy raw and dirty space feel like our art studio. There is a magic that happens for artists every time they smear a brush filled with paint on to the surface what ever it is that will soon become their next masterpiece. Since we brought every panel and canvas that we could from our studios in Zwolle and Michigan we had more than a few panels to prepare.
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| As Willam would say, "Gesso? I gesso!" |
Soon enough Gabe reappeared work on the stage, and part of that required driving to pick up a few sheets of plywood from some clandestine location in a very cold and windy downtown alley.
After getting back to Logan Square and dropping of Gabe to finish up the stage, Tali and I went to meet Phil Faro at Genesis Art Supply at 2417 N. Western Ave.
Phil Faro has a cool name for himself because Phll is a pretty far out kind of guy, but when we stepped in to Genesis Art Supply we were not really totally prepared. This is one trippy place, so much so that Phil actually started to seem pretty down to earth. This art store is the sort of place that has such narrow passageways that you must go to the end of the shelves to turn around if you want to go back the other way. Filled with artwork of aliens, rastfarians and hari krishna surfers, this place could have been transplanted from some of the Old Town headshops I knew in the early 70's. Never the less, they treated us very well and at that point we added Genesis Art Supply to our list of sponsors. Thanks Phil.
We were surprisingly not anxious as we prepared for our first night's performance. Gabe Patti's band The Aperion Project were to be our first collaborators. The Aperion Project consists of Gabe on Clarinet and Sax, and Brandon Rizzo on flugal horn and laptop computer and keyboards, and they had special guest Paul Yoggerst, aka Palu the Poet on guitar.
After getting back to Logan Square and dropping of Gabe to finish up the stage, Tali and I went to meet Phil Faro at Genesis Art Supply at 2417 N. Western Ave.
Phil Faro has a cool name for himself because Phll is a pretty far out kind of guy, but when we stepped in to Genesis Art Supply we were not really totally prepared. This is one trippy place, so much so that Phil actually started to seem pretty down to earth. This art store is the sort of place that has such narrow passageways that you must go to the end of the shelves to turn around if you want to go back the other way. Filled with artwork of aliens, rastfarians and hari krishna surfers, this place could have been transplanted from some of the Old Town headshops I knew in the early 70's. Never the less, they treated us very well and at that point we added Genesis Art Supply to our list of sponsors. Thanks Phil.
We were surprisingly not anxious as we prepared for our first night's performance. Gabe Patti's band The Aperion Project were to be our first collaborators. The Aperion Project consists of Gabe on Clarinet and Sax, and Brandon Rizzo on flugal horn and laptop computer and keyboards, and they had special guest Paul Yoggerst, aka Palu the Poet on guitar.
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| The Aperion Project opens things up. |
This night's performance was like stepping out in to nowhere for every one involved. This was the first time we were really testing the space out acoustically. We were pleasantly pleased by the full sound we had and we found the environment really suited the quirky atmosphere we had created, and The Aperion Project seemed to slide right in that mold quite well.
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| First night under the lights and camera in some time. |
We went into this project thinking of it as a grand artistic experiment in the most literal sense of the word "experiment." We were going straight ahead being completely open to what might come to us. We were happy with what we got as results for this first night in our laboratory.
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