As you know collaboration is truly at the core of each of our projects. It is how we work. Our work from the very start has been that of collaboration. And we have always thrived on the input of others to our work, musicians and dancers have historically been the the most obvious contributors to the creative energy. But whenever we look back on any of our projects we can't help but comment on how much the audience and those that we have met in the process have also given us so much to build on.
Our next project, ArtPrize Jukebox, that will be our entry in ArtPrize 2011 in Grand Rapids, Michigan will take that concept of inviting the visiting public to provide inspiration for us. Since we will not be having live musicians in our space this time, we are asking everyone that comes to our space in Grand Rapids to bring their iPod or MP3 player and plug in and choose a song to play while we paint. In this way we will get inspiration from the music you choose.
We invite everyone that can to come visit us, but we realize that not everyone can necessarily make it all the way to the Steepletown neighborhood of Grand Rapids.
It is an incredible amount of work to arrange such an undertaking and when you consider materials and traveling expenses, financially it is a lot to arrange as well. Last February we used Kickstarter dot com to help raise funds for our Colorboration Project Chicago. We found it was a fun and easy way to involve a lot of people in the project, many of which did not live nearby. Through Kickstarter we are provided a way to offer rewards to those that help us out.
Since the Colorboration Project worked so well and the response we got from those that got involved through Kickstarter had such a good experience that we have launched another Kickstarter campaign for our ArtPrize Jukebox.
Please go to http://kck.st/lWHF2c to see how we have designed ways for you to collaborate with us and truly be a part of the art no matter where you live.
If you can make it to see us in person, we would love it, we hope you can make it. If you can be a part through Kickstarter, it will be really fabulous.
We have been talking about what will be next for about a month now. We were pretty sure that it would be as we had hoped, but we really needed to wait until the contracts were signed. Now we announce that our next project will be in September of 2011 in Grand Rapids, Michigan for ArtPrize.
ArtPrize is the world's largest art prize competition with some enormous prizes. First place is $250,000; second is $100,000; and third is $50,000. It is a big deal with close to 1800 artists competing for the prize. The competition will be tough and quite honestly it will be an exercise in marketing as well as it will be an art project.
Never the less, we are very excited about it. We will be in the Steepletown Center, sponsored by Steepletown Neighborhood Services. Our studio will be set up as a coffee shop that people can come in and have a cup as they watch us work to the music that they will provide from the playlists of their iPods.
This will be a big undertaking to pull this one off and for starters we are have launched another Kickstarter campaign. Our goal is to raise $950 by the end of August to fund the purchase of our art supplies and materials for our wooden panels. We will be painting over the course of the first week of the event sixty-eight 4' X 4' paintings.
This is the video we made to accompany the Kickstarter campaign. Please go to our ArtPrize page to see more details.
We have made up some really fun rewards this time around that make it real easy for everyone to participate on all kinds of levels.
We are truly appreciative of any support and help, but most of all, we would love to see you in Grand Rapids next September. If you wont be able to be there stay tuned for a "Ustream" link that you can watch the action as it happens on line and in real-time!!
Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure, just like Sonny and Cher sang, The beat goes on...
Well it does for The Colorboration Project.
Before we officially announce what will be next, we felt we would be completely remiss if we did not mention the fact that three of the paintings we did in Chicago were just installed today in the lobby of the incredible State Theater in Traverse City, Michigan.
Art in the State Theater
What is the special occasion you ask? Or is there even a special occasion? Well, yes there is. Tonight is the opening of the new Woody Allen film, Midnight in Paris.
Opening tonight.
The State is a renovated theater which has become a real anchor in downtown Traverse City. Since it's reopening downtown has really be revitalized with lots of new shops and restaurants. It is a cutting edge movie house with arguably the best sound and projection in the country for a venue this size.
So it is a great honor that the paintings that Tali and I did were chosen to be displayed in this way. This is the first time in the history of the theater that they have featured art that would be a tie in with the film.
To everyone that supported The Colorboration Project - Chicago in so many ways. We really appreciate everyone that came out to and we hope that you were glad you did. Thanks from the bottom of our hearts!
Alpha Bruton/Phantom Gallery Chicago link
Curating from near and far.
Cara Dehenert Huffman/ I AM Logan Square link
Facilitated in ways that were most helpful.
Mark Fishman
The man with the goods on 2515.
Genesis Art Supply/artsupply.com link
Phil Faro made sure we never ran out of paint.
Nora/Lynn/Jack/Artists and Display link
A classy act in Milwaukee that got us off to a great start.
Kate and Steve Strong Family link
Never complained about all the early morning arrivings.
Gabe Patti FB link
Stage building, PA, Curatorial Duties, Reeds.
Natasha Casanova link
Art Collector, I AM Logan Square
Bill and Karen Berenson
Great dinner, great company, and the best pen pal ever.
Kickstarter.com link
What a great idea! Thanks again and again to everyone that supported us with Kickstarter.com
Marie Schiettecatte
Barrie Ripin
Taffy Hutchison
Sarah Elizabeth Foley
Angela Josephine
Elise Maxey
Joshua Krause
Sascha and Cora Tamarinof
Hila Zewi
Clarissa Harwell
James Gartner
Daniel Gilbert
Nelson Carvajal
Jackie Qwynne
Christine Altese
Nancy Filichia
John O'Neill
Lindsey Lyons-Fay
Reiko Lewis
Joelie Hicks
Chris and Vita Morse
Van Der Wouden Family Robert Martinek Jon Godston
Well there you have it and this brings us to the last day that we were to set foot in what has really become our second home. Actually, it had become our home, that is if home is where you spend most of your time. Since Tali had a flight back to Amsterdam the next morning we thought it would be great if we broke things down and got all packed up by 1pm and then were able to take a quick Chicago sight seeing tour and pick up a few souvenirs for the folks back home.
We knew all the paintings and the gear had to fit back into the Yukon, but since we seem to have added more things that we got rid of we were not sure how it would all fit.
After a conversation with Cara from I AM Logan Square the other night, where we joked about her taking the 68" X 96" Marbin painting and displaying it in her apartment. So, in a moment of concern for the possibility that I might have to disassemble the canvas and roll it up to take it home, I called Cara to ask if we could take the joking the other night a little more seriously. I left a message for her.
Before getting to the space to break down easels and the table with the lights and cameras, Alpha called and said to meet her at Murphy Hill Gallery on Homan, just south of the Eisenhower Expressway to talk to them about placing our Fellini painting. Since Alpha had hinted at wanting us to meet the owners of this gallery all week, so we swang by there on our way to Logan Square from Bridgeport.
Murphy Hill Gallery
We met with Ralph Murphy and then William Hill. Since we were just on our way to the space the only image we had of Fellini to show them was on Tali's phone. Thank goodness for that, Bill Hill took one look and said he loved and would like to have us bring it to the gallery to be there for the opening of their East Meets West show, that would be their last show at this location. (The whole third floor of the original Sears and Roebuck offices and headquarters.)
Great we said, but how?
We left the gallery with a new predicament how would we move this painting that was too large to fit inside this huge truck I have.
As we were driving both happy and perplexed, we got a call from Cara saying she would be honored to have the painting in her home. LOL Now we were twice as happy and also twice as perplexed.
Roof top painting transport!
Once the Yukon was back inside the space I scrounged around for something that might work. I found two 8 foot, 2 X 4's with huge nails in it. They would work by zip tying them to the roof rack... but those nails. As it turns out the only hammer I have is a half sized toy hammer that broke after the third nail was pulled. So the others were simply bent over and we were in the moving business.
Marbin being delivered.
Since Cara lived only about four blocks away on Francisco we arranged to take that one first, as sort of a test run before having to attempt driving a painting all the way past the Eisenhower.
Moving big paintings up stairs is a fun challenge.
Leaning where it will hang.
We got to Cara's met her husband and we carried the painting up three flights of stairs and after a couple of kartwheels we go the painting in place. Next stop Murphy Hill.
The old Sears Headquarter, the home of Murphy Hill Gallery.
By now, by the way, it was a bit past 1pm, in fact it was already getting to be rush hour. While we were later than we wanted to be, I was happy about two things. One it was a sunny warm day to drive with a painting on the roof, and two, we were going to have to take side streets to get there as our max speed could only be about 20mph. The stars must have been in all the right places because the delivery went flawlessly. There we were, we had our two biggest paintings safely delivered and on display.
Up the stairs to the third floor.
Finally in the Murphy Hill Gallery
As long as we coming this far south, we thought we would also deliver a painting to Kate and Steve Strong in Bridgeport where we had been staying. So much for any sightseeing.
Tali in the salon of the Strong's house with her painting installed.
We got back to the space again about 6pm and were set to just get the rest of the stuff packed up. Alpha showed up to start cataloging all the art for the Phantom Gallery archives. Did I mention we had been not packing the art so that this task could be done? LOL Alpha announced she really wanted to go see the Chicago Urban Arts opening down on S. Halsted St. and we would have to leave in thirty minutes.
Off we go thirty minutes later with a yet unpacked truck to go see an art opening. This show was all about bicycles. Some of the art was interesting and some was not. What was fascinating was not only were there tons of people there, but so was every bicycle currier in the city. While by this time we were tired and very hungry, we did not see anyway that we would ever get packed tonight.
Is that the Parthenon or the Acropolis?
I knew that I just needed to eat something before we got back or I was going to have some sort of chemical imbalance problem. As you may well know, Greektown is on Halsted and we had to drive right through it on our way back to Logan Square. Mr Gyros, I believe was the name of the place we ate. All of the restaurants in Greektown have gyro in their name if they are not called Athena's or The Parthenon. So, at 9:30pm we were eating the first real meal of the day surrounded by the most amazing and disgusting sea of humanity you might ever want to see while you are eating. from a man wearing what was quite possibly the worlds largest button down shirt, that fit him perfectly, to the homeless guy staring at Tali and Alpha six inches away as they ate while he proceeded to spit. Lucky for every one, he was outside on the sidewalk.
Leaving Greektown...It was snowing.
I am going to leave out the next part of the story that includes Rick Neuhaus because you just will find it too hard to believe. I mean would we ever get packed?
10:30pm, we dragged ourselves out of the Yukon so we could pack it up. So Alpha set up her laptop and digital camera to finish documenting the hundreds of paintings and drawings we had done. As time went on, it was more and more absurd and comments became more and more sarcastic. LOL
Back to the bricks and only the bricks.
Well we did it! Yep we did, by one o'clock we were out of there. Unfortunately it was 1am. The good thing was that Alpha was going to stay in her Logan Square office all night. It was a very good thing since she had to sit on Tali's lap for that short 3 block drive. I don't think Tali would have survived driving her all the way down to 23rd St.
It was done now. It was really over. We were so over tired that we could not process anything that would have been sadness for leaving that place. Maybe it was better that way. But we were more than tired. We got back to Bridgeport, at least I think we did, I don't remember waking up in the car, so we must have made it back safely. Chances are we fell over as soon as we were inside and didn't wake up till it was time to get Tali to O'Hare.
The 24th of March was our last day of making art in 2515 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago. After the bizzarro night on the 23rd, we couldn't help but feel a little bit odd as we returned to the space to make it all happen one last time. It made for a day of true mixed emotions and energy levels. Two things would go without saying though. First, the reality of this being the last day of The Colorboration Project - Chicago was indeed enough to make us sad. Secondly, their was no admitting, we were tired.
Walls filled with art are happy walls.
So as we went about our morning routines we automatically began reviewing the highlights of this project of which there were many. So many in fact that we knew that we were going to have to chalk this one up as a success.
Last day art sales.
One other thing we noticed was that each day there were more and more people that were coming into the studio during the day because they had heard about what was happening in this old seemingly abandon space.
We even had a father and his 4 year old daughter come in today so that she could paint with us. It was pretty funny since she was quite a precocious little lady, with definite ideas and an over active imagination.
The little artist admiring her newest work.
Tonight we had mitre slated to perform with us. And as much as we thought we understood what we might be in for, there was still just enough mystery surrounding what would be, that we had a difficult time accurately describing what the music would be like.
mitre is a group of one. It is made up solely of a man named Scott Richardson his guitar and a case made up of what appears to be a collection of every guitar peddle ever made.
mitre
Stereotypes are funny things because there is a certain amount of credence to them even though they are pretty much unfounded. Like, what does a musician look like? The last ten days we have certainly seen that they come in all shapes, colors and sizes. That said, you may never guess Scott Richardson was musician when he walked in the room except that he has a guitar case in his hand. You can only assume he is the musician since he certainly doesn't fit the stereotype of a roadie.
So much for appearances, because they really don't count for a whole lot. Another thing we learned over the last two weeks or so is to expect the unexpected. And what was really wonderful about the atmosphere that we cultivated in this immense space we allowed things to just be and there were no judgements. So when Scott was followed by two women that both could have been his wife no one batted an eye. (Only one was.) And when they sat on the couch no one but Alpha thought it a little strange that they both began knitting.
Knitting
As if last night was not surreal enough, tonight there was painting, music and knit one, pearl two...
Scott Richardson aka, mitre plays this atmospheric guitar that he runs through this crazy collection of peddles he has and samples and resample his own sounds till he fills the room with colors, textures and shapes.
Always painting, where ever we are.
Among all the music we worked with the music of mitre stood alone, and we truly appreciated that for it's originality and uniqueness. It was an interesting challenge to feel the effect of this music on us and how in someways almost forced us into slow motion.
Tali with the first brushstroke.
This is what this experiment that we designed here and now call The Colorboration Project is all about.
Collaborating in the Colorboration.
After the show I was talking to Scott about his music and I was reminded of an interview I did with the band Low from Duluth. If you know the music of Low you will understand. I asked them, what would be the perfect Low song, and Alan Sparhawk replied, "I think it would be to play a song with only one note." I told Scott that I believe that he had in fact accomplished that.
It was with a certain amount of sadness that we closed the lights on this evening, but there was a huge relief that we had done so much, so well and apparently we were going to life to tell about it.
