Culture Lab // Margin

An art/performance piece featuring myself and 4 other artist debuting this Saturday

I was invited to participate in an ongoing project called Culture Lab that brings together small groups of artists to collaborate on a Jewish theme. Culture Lab is organized by a group called East Side Jews which was started three years ago by TV writer Jill Soloway because there was no interesting or creative Jewish activity on the East Side. The early events were like happenings – very creative, spoken word events with local writers in unusual spaces. I love their mission statement: “East Side Jews is an irreverent, upstart, non-denominational collective of Jews living in Los Angeles’ East Side. We hold monthly events at unlikely venues during unpopular holidays for Jews with confused identities.” They received a large grant last year and became a part of the Silver Lake Independent JCC with even more innovative programs.

This is the third iteration of Culture Lab. I was paired with 4 other artists to make a piece around the theme of Margin. There are 2 choreographers, 2 visual artists and one storyteller/filmmaker. I am creating an 125ft mural that wraps around the performance space. There will be dance, installation, interactive components, storytelling. You can arrive anytime between 7p-11p – it is a durational piece so everythign that is occurring (dance, interactive activity, storytelling) will continue to do so throughout that time. The show will be performed twice – this coming Sat. and next Sat. the 20th. The flyer is below plus a sneak peak of the mural in progress. If you are in LA, please stop by!

some los angeles characters

everything starts small

The message in this animation hits me in the tender spot.  I need to embed it deep inside my brain so when I get monumentally impatient, I remember that sometimes a wobbly little toot is as loud as it’s gonna be.

pep talk from Ira Glass on refining your craft

Ira Glass, the creator of This American Life, developed a new genre for radio by telling the stories we needed to hear. I found an inspiring interview with him discussing the chasm between our taste – what we know is good work – and our ability to make work (insert your artform here) that lives up to that ideal. His advice: don’t give up and practice, practice, practice.

isn’t she lovely

I’ve been going through my files looking for great greeting card images and finding lots of buried treasure in the vaults. Surprisingly, I found a few that I forgot existed.

This lovely lady turned up from the early days when I began scanning and collaging my pen and ink drawings into the computer. I am delighted to get reacquainted. She makes me feel happy and hopeful. I’m not sure under which card category she would live but maybe she could float between love, nature and spirit.

Happy Earth Day!

swimmin’ with the fishies

the garden of inner delight

err…

Sorry to have disappeared for so long. Life has taken many twists and turns over the last few months and I usually don’t do much art when the ground is heaving this much. This is a drawing that I started a month ago and finished today. It’s not deep or filled with hidden meanings but it sure was nice to remember how to do this.

mernet