Reflection and Response.
V.
0.000000
0.000000
Tools of the Trade: Shake This Maze, 2nd Edition
Reflection and Response.
V.
the LIFESTYLE
Reflection and Response
Tag Archives: Visual Arts
The Porch Swing: WORD of the day
Here is the third installment from The Porch Swing , a weekly series focusing on a unique version of Reflection and Response. Samuel Bostick, our first resident artist, brings us his WORD of the day project which centers on a word presented with his personal blend of creative writing. His first and second posts bring new light to classic vocabulary. Stay with us as he presents another piece in the ongoing series crafted through the lens of Reflection and Response as part of the LIFESTYLE collective…
Photo courtesy of Creative Commons, Jim Natale.
Perseverance: n. 1) Adherence to a course of action, belief or purpose without giving way; steadfastness. 2) To persist in or remain constant to a purpose, idea or task in the face of obstacles or discouragement
WORD of the day: Perseverance
Day in day out, we move in order to make progress.
Moment to moment each second building on the next
The click clock tick tock
Time keeps running will it ever stop?
Click. Clock. Tick. Tock.
Understand this clearly, all things have a purpose, a charge in this life.
Every day comes with its challenges, this is certain. Some days more challenges than others…
These past few weeks have been rough.
Burning holes in Pockets, Bills marauding mail boxes;
Tough times still my hustle the world will not stop, a rhythm-a passion the world will not take.
This heart beats with purpose.
Yesterday brought word of a woman…she lay in a coma, a fight for life…
all due to the abusive hands of a partner, a lover
Fatal attraction.
Steady increase in teen pregnancy, more and more absent fathers
Fuck. (On second thought…Don’t)
Schools raise tuition and cut classes
…whats the remedy…
prisons yards, military recruits, pockets full of stone
its MEAN out here!!
Move with conviction, keep a balanced mind, follow your passion, keep goin hard, make ‘em feel you! PER.SEV.ERE
Still I Rise.
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don’t you take it awful hard
‘Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own back yard.You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.-Maya Angelou
Reflection and Response.
Samuel Bostick
the LIFESTYLE’s role is to create collective space for active Reflection and Response through the arts. This space is built around dialogue, expression, collaboration, and artistic (ex)change involving international craftspeople and their realities. The Porch Swing series opens up a Reflection and Response residency where we feature a Collective member’s ongoing project through weekly installations.
Tools of the Trade: Shake This Maze, 2nd Edition
More documentation of the Shake This Maze process. Individually handcrafted.
Reflection and Response.
V.
Feature: Ellie Cross
the LIFESTYLE is a place for a global dialogue on creativity, Reflection, and Response associated with the arts. This week we are proud to feature Ellie Cross, whose commitment to community arts has led her to opportunities to interact with people around the world. She currently is part of a team that is starting an International School in Mumbai, India where she will become an art teacher after the school opens its doors in August. Check the dialogue below and view some recent work Ellie has been a part of in Mumbai!
That’s why I love community art projects and arts education, because it challenges the myth of the artist as some talented genius-loner making things that regular people can only appreciate.
Leading off with some basics, where are you from? And where are you at?
EC: I’m from Seattle, but I’m living in Mumbai, India at the moment. My day job is helping start up a new International School, where I’ll be teaching art once we open up in August. This has fed my brain as I’ve explored the educational landscape here, plus supported and grounded me as I feed my insatiable inner appetite for community art projects.
What does Reflection and Response mean to you?
EC: Reflection means your brain thoughtfully digesting things, and according to the dictionary, it also means “the throwing back by a body or surface of light, heat, or sound without absorbing it.” I believe the most powerful art does both of these. It shines some truth straight into your face by revealing something that’s been in front of you, previously unexamined. I think that’s what James Baldwin meant when he said: “The purpose of art is to lay bare the questions that have been hidden by the answers.”
As for response, I think art is response. The way I see it, humans are like little dust bunnies that roll around collecting tiny sparkles of dust, aka inspiration. Sometimes a dust-sparkle punches you in the stomach and you lose your breath with the truth of it. Sometimes it just gets filed away unceremoniously into your fold of pre-accumulated dust and it doesn’t germinate until much later. Sometimes it swirls around the tip of your tongue until something else catalyzes it, and art is born! We might create the art as individuals but it’s always the product of much more than that. Which is helpful to remember as an artist, because it takes the weight off of you a bit.
How do your current artistic endeavors fit in with that definition?
EC: That’s why I love community art projects and arts education, because it challenges the myth of the artist as some talented genius-loner making things that regular people can only appreciate. I do think some artists deserve disproportionate acknowledgement for putting in the 10,000 hours and challenging some incredible ideas into beautiful music/dance/visual arts, etc. I’m just more interested in awakening/nourishing creativity in kids and people that aren’t being celebrated as artists. I also love using art to change spaces, which I see as reflecting back a different reality. Especially in the murals we’ve been doing in Children’s Home, which was previously a jail and no changes have been made to make it feel like a home for kids. Even though painting the walls seems like a relatively superficial solution to a challenging situation, I think that spending the time and investing the thoughtful creative energy into those walls fundamentally alters the space. Especially when the kids have painted it themselves.
What else have you been working on recently? What are you looking to work on next?
EC: I’ve been taking a bunch of art classes in the traditional Indian arts. One of my favorites is Madhubani Painting, which is a tribal art form in which anything living gets a double outline. The outside line is the body, and the inside one is the soul. My friend and I wrote a Children’s Book about a kid’s tumultuous relationship with a bean plant, which is based on real life. We’re trying to get it published, so if anyone’s interested I do hope they holler. Also, I’m super excited to do a series of murals called “Blanks” in which certain sections are painted in chalkboard paint, so that passer-by’s can participate in the mural by contributing their chalk art.
Who or what inspires you?
EC: Abdul Sattar Edhi, this 84 year-old Pakistani that has only driven an ambulance in his life because he’s dedicated to helping people. Also, a Ghanaian man named Professor Smiles who believed in art the way religious fanatics believe in God. Caine’s Arcade and all the people that flashmobbed it. Great art blogs, like http://www.thisiscolossal.com/ and kids’ fearless faith that magic is pretty real. And definitely the Christian the Lion video when the lion hugs his long-lost human friends. I always cry with delight at that one.
Is there anything else you would like the Collective to know?
EC: When I tell people I’m either an artist or an art teacher, they quickly respond by telling me they “can’t draw.” I don’t know when being an artist got smooshed into the tiny box of fine motor skills and training associated with drawing, but I’m continually saddened by the fear many people face in the pursuit of artistic endeavors. I also think it’s important that visual arts get added to that often cited proverb from Zimbabwe, “If you can talk, you can sing. If you can walk, you can dance.” And if you can make any mark on any surface you can draw. Maybe you can’t draw the way you want to or the way you think the world wants you to. However, when you try and draw a horse and it looks unlike any horse anyone’s ever seen before–you’ve got to respect that horse. Because no one else living or dead could have made it. That doesn’t mean you have to like the horse, and you can definitely try again to make one you like more, but please stop hating on your horse and yourself. You’re not a camera and you’re not a photocopier. We have those now. You’re way more interesting than that.
Shout out to…?
EC: All the friendships, particularly the Art or Choke Collective and my amazing India collaborators that have helped make all the public art possible. The absurdly great family, the steady sweetheart, the internet, revolutionaries, manatees, and all the people doing the good work daily to cultivate love, justice, and magic.
Children’s Home mural project (Mumbai, India)
Check out Ellie’s blog for more information on the Children’s Home mural project and more photos documenting the process!
Also check out Ellie’s website to learn about powerful community arts projects she has facilitated in Ghana, Thailand, Malaysia, Tibet, Cambodia, United States, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala!
Reflection and Response.
The Porch Swing: WORD of the day
Back at the LIFESTYLE Porch!
Today we’ve got the second installation at The Porch Swing from our first Reflection and Response resident artist, Samuel Bostick. Last week we kicked off The Porch Swing series with Samuel’s first installation in his ongoing WORD of the day project, which will come through every Wednesday. Stay tuned as he continues to bring his uniquely crafted creative writing Reflection and Response approach to the LIFESTYLE Collective…
Photo courtesy of Creative Commons, Jim Natale.
Build v. 1) To form by combining materials or parts; construct. 2) To give form to according to a definite plan or process; create. 3) To establish and strengthen; create and add to. 4) To develop in magnitude or extent. 5) To progress toward a maximum, as of intensity. 6)The act, process, art or occupation of constructing.
WORD of the day: Build
A Dream is the heart’s desire, a fantastic vision. It is our charge to put effort into making these dreams, these desires into a reality. We must build. To build is to act on the faith of possibility, to put work into effect and produce. All building is ultimately defined by the basis, the core, the foundation, the wise seek firm foundation. Brick by brick, day in day out, belief by belief. Building is an ongoing process, it does not subscribe to boundaries, rather supersedes them. The possibility is endless.
Get out, make yourself, give your hands a good look; recognize the potential energy held within them, the propensity to create. Plan your route, establish firm foundation, develop a legacy- a dynasty of your choosing, be responsible for your work and lay claim to the product of your effort.
Reflection and Response.
Samuel Bostick
the LIFESTYLE’s role is to create collective space for active Reflection and Response through the arts. This space is built around dialogue, expression, collaboration, and artistic (ex)change involving international craftspeople and their realities. The Porch Swing series opens up a Reflection and Response residency where we feature a Collective member’s ongoing project through weekly installations.
Tools of the Trade: Shake This Maze, 2nd Edition
Shake This Maze, 2nd Edition. The handcrafted process is in Full Effect..
Reflection and Response.
V.
The Porch Swing: WORD of the day
the LIFESTYLE Collective builds. Welcome to the premiere of our newest weekly series: The Porch Swing. the LIFESTYLE’s role is to create collective space for active Reflection and Response through the arts. This space is built around dialogue, expression, collaboration, and artistic (ex)change involving international craftspeople and their realities.
WE, P and V, share our original visual arts and music projects at the top of the week on Mondays. On Thursdays we showcase Snapshots from the Collective, a series that is driven by photography contributions from ANY individuals. Fridays alternate between Talk of the Town, a series that serves as a discussion and dialogue forum, and the Feature Series, which presents international artists’ perspectives on Reflection and Response. The Porch Swing now opens up a Reflection and Response residency where we will feature a Collective member’s ongoing project through weekly installations. We leave the choice of medium in the artist’s hands to mold their Reflection and Response.
We are PROUD to present our first resident, Samuel Bostick, who will join us on The Porch Swing and engage the LIFESTYLE Arts Collective in dialogue through his unique blend of creative writing. Samuel kicked off our Feature Series back in September – http://the-lifestyle-rr.com/2011/09/23/feature-samuel-bostick/ – and we’re excited to break ground on this new series with an important Collective member at the helm!! Stay tuned for his WORD of the day project, coming through every Wednesday…Craft.
Photo courtesy of Creative Commons, Jim Natale.
SB: Aright, so this WORD of the day business is a exercise I’ve been pushing on for some time now. I find words to be pretty interesting lil gizmos. I recognize the power they carry. When I first started the WORD of the day postings via twitter, I was doing a word a day. Since then its developed into a week long process of meditation and reflection focused on one word. Quality over quantity. I don’t know what got me started on this project, that doesn’t matter so much…I like words, they breath a great rhythm to life. Now, what y’all need to do is STAY TUNED to the the LIFESTYLE’s Porch Swing series & peep the WOTD developments via twitter- @THEREALSHANTS.
Stay cool,
Samuel
Vision, n. 1) a- The faculty of sight. b- Something that is or has been seen. 2) Unusual competence in discernment or perception; intelligent foresight. 3) The manner in which one sees or conceives of something. 4) A mental image produced by the imagination. 5) The mystical experience of seeing as if with the eyes the supernatural or a supernatural being. 6) A person or thing of extraordinary beauty.
WORD of the day: Vision
In this hour, that of the haunting, Do not fall ill to weakness.
Strength in its Truest is steadfast in diligence
Diligent especially when the will is weak.
Understand, Focus is at the root of Vision and Diligence is the fruit.
Vision present in the experience of a moment,
The smile of a young child
Vision wise to see down the road,
preparation for winter’s chill while the summer is yet sweet
Vision Faithful in times when the light is dim, when the road is dark
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me.
who or what shall we fear lest our eyes, our vision, fall short of faith?
Vision…
do not fall victim to appearances, masks of deception; as an image is warped by the clearest and purest of waters, this world is manipulated by the appearance.
Do not be confused.
remove yourself from the place where confusion dwells
for confusion itself is a tool of the enemy. This shall surely, without fail, cloud your vision.
Have you seen a king crowned with false gold?
Imagine it!
A King adorned with fool’s gold
What a sight! A mockery at best!
Take heed:
This is a wise man, a wise woman, whom dare embrace confusion.
Guard your Vision, Stay on track…
Reflection and Response.
SHAKE THIS MAZE
Shake This Maze
Shake This Maze is a project that started sometime around 2009 in Buenos Aires when I decided to get back into writing more personal lyrics. During this time I had the good fortune to be able to work with talented musicians both inside and outside of the city of Buenos Aires. Conversations about life in Buenos Aires can be heard on “The Villa,” which was recorded in Villa Carraza, a low-income area outside of the city. While in Argentina I also work with a woman with an amazing voice whose version of “The City,” brought out such soulful tones in the track.
After moving back to Seattle to finish school at the University of Washington I formed a group called 55thandBrooklyn, and tracks such as “Past That,” “Wake Up,” “He’s Your Guy,” and “The Christmas Song,” were part of the live set of 55th later performed live around Seattle at venues such as Fourno’s, Lucid, and Waid’s in early 2011. After graduation in March 2011, I got a job at Duke’s Chowder house, a Seattle seafood chain restaurant. The members of 55th had gone their separate ways and I focused on solo lyrics accompanied by acoustic guitar. Experiences from Seattle during this period crafted through this type arrangement can be heard on “This job,” “Making Spaces,” and “Jade Eyes.” Final recording of these later tracks was done in two different apartment studios in Madrid, Spain.
The final two tracks of the album were projects begun years before I even left for college. “Livin on the West Coast” comes from the P.Muller and Sneaky V days of 2002-2006 when V and I first started messing with composition and arranging music with Garage Band in Berkeley. In “Spark This Shit Flaming” I used a beat from Seattle that samples me playing drums from my parents basement in 2003.Then in Spain I wrote the lyrics and recorded and mastered the track.
I started out using Logic Express 8 in Argentina and finished up with Ableton Suite 8. I have used the same Apogee one interface and MXL V88 mic for 3 years.
While the tracks mostly come from me, this project is 100% collaboration between V and I. If it weren’t for his idea to start this project, there’d be no album. If it weren’t for his craftsmanship, the tracks would have no presentation.
In order to purchase the album:
-Directly from Peter in Madrid at upcoming shows, album release parties, open mics, other shows or contact at the.lifestyle.rr@gmail.com
-Directly from Vicken in the New York City area or contact V at the.lifestyle.rr@gmail.com
-For orders not in Madrid or New York City…
Shake This Maze USA:
Shake This Maze Europa:
-8€ for European orders and $10 for orders in the United States. All other currencies are accepted.
An important idea of the album comes from the title track: “Shake this maze to the core with these chords and verses/Mix genres like cops, johns, whores, and virgins/Turn the source of hurting into a sense of pride/ Find the gold on the shipwrecks of life.” Music for me has been a main source of Reflection and Response, and the tracks on this album are just that: Reflections on everyday experience. This release is an ultimate Response.
The making of the album artwork was a handcrafted process involving 6 stages and multiple mediums. We started by ordering 50 blank recycled chipboard album covers and some CD sleeves from the good folks over at Stumptown Printers, and Shake This Maze was soon on its way…
1. Cover Art, Part 1: Acrylic paint stencil
I started the cover art by cutting a stencil of the “PM” logo that I had created for Peter about a month ago. An old-school classic stencil made from the basics: a manila folder and an exacto blade. Using red acrylic paint and a brush, I hand stenciled this first layer on the units.
2. Cover Art, Part 2: India ink stencil
Next, I cut another stencil of the lettering I drew up for the album title, Shake This Maze. Using india ink and a brush, I centered this second layer over the red “PM” backdrop.
3. Back Cover
For the back cover (not pictured) I hand-wrote some credits with a Pigma Micron #8 pen..
4. Tracklist
Moving on to the tracklists, I used a Pigma Brush pen to write the song titles. I also marked each unit with a 1/50, 2/50….49/50, 50/50.. on the right inside cover. It would be dope to see where all of these end up, so hit us up with the whereabouts.. we might have to set up a map to keep track!
5. CD Labels
I printed the “PM” logo and the “Shake This Maze” lettering on Brown Kraft CD Labels, which we then threw on each CD..
6. Assembly
Finally, using a hot glue gun, I folded and assembled each case. Look for more goods in the inside left pocket too!!
This was a dope collaborative project to work on, and it’s amazing how each album case turns out to be unique in some way – whether it’s slightly different placement of the cover lettering stencils, or the individually numbered inside pocket…they all have their own vibe and character! I think this handcrafted approach is the only fitting way to showcase Peter’s original, honest, and raw creative talent. Reflection and Response.
V.
Reflection and Response.
Shake This Maze Pre Release Post
Shake This Maze is a compilation of tracks I made from 2009-2012. The recording of the album was done by me in Seattle, Washington, Berkeley, California, Oregon, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Madrid, Spain. The songs feature talent from most of those places who each add their own flavor to the tracks on which they appear. The title is taken from the chorus of a track off the album, entitled “Shake This Maze.”
V and I are putting out this album 100% independently. V has provided original handcrafted artwork and branding. From the logo to distribution, recording to shipping, this album comes from the LIFESTYLE collective’s international network.
We’re finishing the last touches on the CD and will be proud to bring you the final version very soon!!! Thanks for the support!!
Reflection and Response.
-P
Shake This Maze
Tools of the Trade. Shake This Maze, the album, in motion!! A week and a half left…
Reflection and Response.
V.
the LIFESTYLE 