Week 5: T-Tea-Time w/ the Madhatter @ Alice in Wonderland Statue in Central Park

This week I wanted to stop focusing on the negative things we create, instead, I wanted to place emphasis upon our ability to create. I believe our role as creators, our ability to imagine and make a better world, where caring for the young, the old, the sick, the animals, the trees, the birds, the people who are not like us, our ideas of truth, beauty and love must be nurtured at a young age. A fertile imagination, lovingly nurtured, allows for empathy to develop and creates the ability to step into a world that is not our own, to feel what others feel.

This is my favorite week so far.

I came into the site, the statue of Alice in Wonderland, by Jose de Creeft, commissioned by George Delacorte, as a loving tribute to his late wife, not knowing what I was going to create, but I knew only the core of what I wanted to give.

I collaborated with Marceau M. a political ranter, who dresses like the Madhatter, and behaves eccentrically, creating smiling faces and a quizzical looks wherever he goes. By nature, he is the madhatter.

We begin by pretending not to know each other.

I sat on a bench in the corner and attempted to create something, while he steps atop the sculpture along with the children while his dog is running around. Marceau M. feels very strongly about political developments in the Middle East, and desires that we do not stand idly by while warmongers seek to destroy the planet--he takes Alice the wondering Alice who falls into the rabbit hold and uses her heart to find her way out. The children were oblivious to the rant, while the parents were not very pleased to hear this tirade. He asks me, "What are you making, young lady?"

To which, I replied, "Something. I'm making something."

Marceau M. goes on to a tangent about how important it is to think outside the lines, and allow something to happen, instead of getting stuck in a day job doing the same old shit over and over again.

At this point, the parents were very, very displeased.

And Marceau, for fear of having rotten tomatoes thrown at him, steps off the mushroom, runs away, and disappears. He calls me on the phone and says, I don't think this is the right spot! Let's move somewhere else! But his performance gave me an idea of what type of energy must be created.

So my turn.

I walked around the statue. And I reverted to the inner child within. I asked, the children, "does anybody remember the story? There's something missing here! What is this scene missing? But why is there's no Tea, anywhere?"

To which the children replied, "Oh yeah! Tea! They must have Tea! They are supposed to have Tea."

So I began making tea cups.

And we started looking for the little creatures big and small. And I made cups for all of them. And we placed tea cups in appropriate places. Of course, the madhatter must have tea in his hat, and the Chesire cat must have tea in its tail, and Alice fingers are waiting for tea, and the rabbit's pocket watch looks like he needs tea there. And the snail must have a little teacup too.

And the children, were scrambling for the "teacups" arguing about where to place them. And as we walked around the statue, other children would place the "teacups" elsewhere, making the story come to life as "teacups" would randomly appear in unexpected places, and disappear. And we look at each other quizzically asking, "But didn't Alice have a teacup already?" Oh perhaps the Madhatter took it! And sure enough the Madhatter would have two "teacups". And this game kept going for sometime with different children coming and going and playing along. And when some children would leave the statue with "teacups" I would remind them that they must not litter, that they have to promise to recycle the "teacup" when they're tired with it.

I'm not sure if I emphasized recycling aspect enough. But I am certain, that I accomplished what I intended, nurturing the imagination, living out the details of a story that parents read at night. And hopefully, as these children grow older, what they read somewhere, continues to come to life in their hearts.

Afterwards, I strolled Central Park with the Madhatter, Marceau M.--and continued into the rabit hole--had a two hour adventure of insane proportion, somewhere in there even with a mad "Queen" screaming "off with his head".

Week 4: "Planting" a "Tree"

Week 4--started with a stranger who randomly lectured the surrounding crowd on politics, plastics and petroleum after an inspired conversation. The incident was followed by an interview with NPR partly on what I was doing and my media knowledge...

I said, "making and planting a plastic tree in Washington Square Park is my silent political art propaganda against non-biodegradable plastic packaging."

Week 3: Web of Plastics

One of the things that has become clear to me after the past two times that I did the plastic project, is the necessity of writing a message as to why I'm making a sculpture out of plastic, and why that particular form.

This Sunday, I'm making a web.

When I reveal the location for this next piece you'll understand why I chose this particular location.

Technology has come a long way since the PC was first invented in 1981. We can now make eco-friendly computers, such as Mac Air.

Here's something that you should consider the next time you upgrade your computer.

What happens to your old computer that old piece of junk that you purchased 10 years ago?

Unless your uncle happily took it from your hands and is still using the junk in that space in the attic he likes to call his "office"--your computer has just officially become electronic waste.

Pause for a minute and consider the fact that electronic waste contains toxic materials such as lead, beryllium, cadium, mercury and lovely toxic substances.

Hm. So what exactly are we doing with these lovely poisonous materials?

Big surprise--

we are shipping them to China, India, parts of Africa and developing countries--our "recycling centers" where our partners are cheap brokers calling themselves recyclers--

The lovely result is (ironic tone here):

"Uncontrolled burning, disassembly, and disposal which causes a variety of environmental problems such as groundwater contamination, atmospheric pollution, water pollution as well as health problems.

Thousands of men, women, and children are employed in highly polluting, primitive recycling technologies, extracting the metals, toners, and plastics from computers and other electronic waste."

If you don't believe me, here's a photographer's site to visit (and also pictures of environmental activism by Greenpeace)

http://www.alexhoffordphotography.com/node/6

Week 2: Evian Flu

[Jan 28-Feb 4]

Week 2 of the plastic street art project came together quite well, right after a victorious, most lucky day making staff as Frontliner with Greenpeace.

I was on a rush b/c work finished late.

I invited friends to join--to make the piece bigger--

but knowing my friends were coming from work at the office, then heading off to some dinner on a Friday night, the likelihood of them bringing plastic products was slim to none.

Luckily at the Greenpeace office, there was a bag of accumulated plastic waiting to be recycled.

I grabbed those, placed them in a Trader Joe's bag and walked around like I had groceries.

(Can never be too cool in NYC. :))

I had connected over FB with Jose Antonio Alcayaga III about collaborating with this piece and his concern was also mine--

"Will we have enough plastic?"

Of course there are plastic bags and plastic garbage everywhere, but I'm not prepared to dig them up from the trash.

So as a backup plan, I mentioned that we will make a bird skeleton, if we don't have enough plastic.

I looked up images of a bird skeleton as a preparation.

When I arrived at the planned site, I walked around just to survey the scene. There were two police officers leaning on a column on one end. And to avoid trouble I placed the plastic material behind the columns.

At 7:15, I was still alone. No phone calls from friends who planned to be there and I thought everyone was a no show. bummer. So I started setting up, arranging the plastic in various sizes.

Then Jose, says "hello."

This was the first time we met. Smiles all around.

We chatted about the groups that we lead and exchanged pointers.

At 7:30 right before we started the work, Saulius shows up, dressed to go to some important meeting. He had been there since 7:00 but couldn't find us, and he had somewhere to go by 8pm.

So I introduced the two collaborators and we immediately began.

The work process went rather quickly. Big props to Jose who's energy and artistic background really moved the project forward.

We took photos. Jose took a 30 second video, capturing an angry woman in the first few seconds.

Then we titled the piece, Jose's brilliant suggestion of Evian, a play on Avian. The full title became Evian Flu--born and raised in Plastic Island.

Many people stopped to take photos. One guy mentioned, the piece looked like Teradactyl, which is related evolutionarily to birds. He also said that most likely petroleum is made out of dinosaurs skeletons which is what the plastic is made out of. What an interesting thing to think about!

We left for dinner, came back 2 hours later to dismantle the piece--but it was gone.

So wondering what happened???!!!???

Brilliant! Just Brilliant!

The launching of the first week of the environmental project showdown of 9 1/2 weeks began in 1/17 - 1/24 in Union Square Park right by the statue of the peacemaker Ghandi.

So on 1/17, I hit a brilliant idea. I was living in a friend's pad in Union Square while he's away adventuring in some crazy festival in the Bat Caves of Malaysia. To drive the apathy away, I wanted to create something. I wanted to paint but a. don't really have my easel b. cannot randomly just set up large canvasses on my friend's living room and wait for oil paint to dry c. know how obsessive I am if I start oil painting--

So, I brained stormed a way to figure out how to be creative without any loot, without any baggages.

I need to make cheap work of art, that at most takes only one day to create, and that makes a lasting difference. That's when I connected over the web with Einstein, no not the scientist, the artist-- @Ula Einstein. Great last name, great energy, great artwork. Just one look at her work and I thought plastics. Why not make artwork out of stuff we throw away? Brilliant! Just Brilliant!

So this is who I am when I hit a brilliant idea. I don't think about the logistics, I don't sit around and plan every single last detail, I just do whatever is compelling.

I was compelled to volunteer with Solar Cookers International at the UN--where as usual during such events plastic cups were being thrown away. Plastic cups that looked perfect for my plastic sculpture. So, I stuck around until the very end of the event where a fellow volunteer, Nurunnahar, helped me collect precious plastic pieces.

When I'm creating something, I also visualize the most spectacular things. Like crazy spectacular things!!! But I'm open and thankful for the various manifestations of what those spectacular things end up being.

Like for instance, I visualized the first week to be a collaboration with friends. Everyone makes their own plastic sculptures and we all have a jolly good time having a snowball fights drinking warm coffee/tea with 20 plastic sculptures sitting on the nearby benches and people going "wow. That piece is cool" and another person goes, "that's brilliant!" and then someone asks, "why are you all doing this?" Then of course we'd all reply that we want more consumer activism, that we want legislation for biodegradable packaging replacing the petroleum based packaging that ends up as toxic waste in the ocean. Then friends who are photographers would take photos of this 20 plastic sculptures in Union Square and we'd all have started a movement. Yes! That was the vision!

But I don't recall telling anyone the plan, in those terms. I just daily wrote on facebook, and various social medias to keep everyone posted--I need red plastic bags (for my sculpture's intestines), I need plastic white wires (for the skeleton). I guaged from people's reaction and felt people don't really do things that are different, that people don't really do things for free, that some people are not really passionate about the environment, and ahem, I'm doing this on a Monday-- I had a feeling in the back of my brain that maybe today was not really going to turn out the way I visualized--that maybe I'm going to have to do this on my own. But that's okay! Fine by me!!

So 1/23 arrived. I made my sculpture in the living room, planned the sculpture to be easy to assemble, while dancing to some electronic music, talking to people, texting people. I checked the weather. Okay. Geeze that's just perfect. 1/24 is freezing with a high of 17 degrees. I invited some photographer friends to come and take photos. One said way, way too short notice, another said, will be at work, the other one said, will be there, but didn't show up, and another goes, I don't do anything without pay. Right on. Just as expected.

So the big day arrived. 1/24

I quadrupled my layer of clothes, I felt kind of like Raphie's brother in a Christmas Story. At 2:50p I set out with 2 plastic bags packed full of assembled plastic cups to the astonishment of the doorman who opened the door with a "yeah, that's weird" look on his face.

My brother in spirit, Saulius was there at exactly 3:00p--smiling. I didn't even text him the location. For some reason, he just knew it's going to be by Ghandhi's statue. So we set the sculpture in place and I stood there thinking "the cops will make me put this away!" I remembered the paranoia of my short lived days as graffiti artist a.k.a. rubbishriot, always looking over my shoulder waiting for a ticket or something. Then a policeofficer walks past and doesn't say a word. Perfect! This is brilliant!

We stood around for a little while longer and talked to some people who were really excited about the piece. I think we may have found further collaborators!

Saulius and I left the piece at its location for 3 hours while we browsed around Barnes and Noble. I had my phone on me the entire time, just in case friends showed up. We had some warm apple cider from the Union Square farmer's market and talked about writing.

At 6:00 pm. I disassembled the piece, put it back in the plastic bag and recycled.

I'm on two day rest before Week 2 preparations starts for a sculpture in Staten Island beach, and yes, I'll attempt better communication of visualizations.

And thinking about craigslisting or submitting this idea to a certain group of organized improv group... What do you think?

Brainstorming for the Staten Island Week! Join me for one of the weeks or all of the weeks for this mission, help me plan and organize, or refer friends who are into this type of thing. Thanks!

WEEK 1: Plastic Man/Woman

LOCATION: Union Square

WHAT: I'm making artwork from accumulated plastic.

TIMEFRAME: one week 01.17.2011-01.24.2011. Interactive contributions welcome :) Repetitive.

OBJECTIVE: To make a habit emphasizing our roles as creators; to observe how we deal w/ movemnt and change with regards to what we create, to see that lack of awareness results in a toxic environment.

DESCRIPTION: This is what most of us do anyway, we recycle, but most people never get a chance to create something beautiful in the process! So any plastic objects that we come across in one week is welcome. We are not going to be digging out the trashed plastic on the garbage dumps, but simply collecting the plastic objects from our normal day-to-day interactions, even plastics we normally don't even recycle--in one week's time!! Bottles from drinking sodas, the plastic bags, the plastic container from carry-out food, plastic wrap. How big the creation becomes in that one week depends on how many friends commit to consciously contributing. Thank You!!

BACKGROUND: As human beings, we are always moving. There is a unifying element of sameness within our movements, no matter how bizarre our situations and movements may be. Lasting changes is a conscious process. Most of us, even if we are constantly moving, changing our surroundings, fail to effectively bring about lasting changes because we get lost in the movement, in the complexity of our society, and lose touch with our connection to the Inner Creator. Or if our surroundings seem at stasis, we lose awareness, boredom sets in and we fail to create something beautiful and create a toxic environment instead.

MILESTONES: "Habits are created by an average of 9.5 weeks of repetition, potentially as long as several months, but missing one or two days of repetition will not impeded the process." --from European Journal of Social Psychology

WEEK 1: In Union Square--PLASTIC MAN/WOMAN

We're creating a sculpture of man/woman, connecting us to our inner creators, and at the same time bring awareness to how much plastic we use in one week, and repeating this process somewhere else-- How big the creation becomes in that one week depends on how many friends commit to consciously contributing.

BUDGET: 0 dollars

NEEDS: A camera and friends, collaborators and contributors, suggestions for venues, etc and places to stay while doing the project

Trip to the Art Store

One of the essential part of being an artist is the trip to the art store and there is nothing more exciting than finding a good art store.

When I lived in a little rural town in Virginia, I drove 1-1.5 hours to get to a small art store in downtown Charlottesville. It was really tiny. But to the extent that the audience is regional, and prefers certain color range, it was more than sufficient.

So I usually go to stores with a composed list and really, really know for sure what colors I want.

If you love colors as much as I do, or if you have painted before, you know that the color tones are one of the most important choices an artist makes. So upon entering the store, I have this certain color in mind, and I get to the store and voila, poof, the color I intended on buying costs $60 for a little tube or worse yet, I can't remember what color I wanted because I fell in love with a different color. And I go over the internal dialogue that so many artists go through--the dialogue of what process brings the best work, the process of going with the flow and emotional-driven art? i.e. I Looovvve this color! or the process of disciplined intention, sticking to a narrow range of tones, sticking to the list or rules so to speak.

So I drive home happily with the new color and think about how it's going to change the content of the work and before I get home I think about another connotation that the particular color could invoke in whoever looks at art and I think about my audience and I'm muttering under my breath and the internal dialogue resumes about sticking to original intentions vs. going with the flow....blah blah blah.

I bet some men go through this with their choices in women! And vice versa! which is better, going with intention of getting a particular girl or falling in love with someone else....

Okay, I digress.....

But one thing cannot be debated. Going inside a good art store for me feels like Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. One such particular art store, that I took forgranted while living in New York, is a four-storied art store in Chinatown.

I returned there today.

One room is lined by little shelves of various colors and tones within that particular color range. And there are 20 or so color brand, which differs slightly from other brands. These colors are so much better than the colors you can find in all the palette of Adobe photoshop. These are only base colors! I guess it's true that within photoshop you can adjust opacity, but that's it! you cannot create your own color, tone, shade or hue from mixing several colors at once. Give me an organic palette any day!

Finally, one wall that gives me shivers of pleasure is a long wall lined by brushes of all different sizes, shapes and textures. And when I have time, and hiding under a baseballcap and dark glasses, sometimes I just play with the brush and feel how soft the bristles are and imagine the type of strokes it can deliver based on the pressure of my wrist. Oh so hard and strong and will deliver calculated lines and this one is so sweet and soft and caresses a rosy pink creating a blush on the cheeks ;)

So. Yes. Weird. But before you judge an artist, just you think about how you respond to something you love--like maybe your tie collection, your golf club collection, or your shoe collection or your make-up kit or your food or your wine or your clothes or your house or your car or your, ahem, baby

ok. maybe I go too far.