Harpia Harpyja

OtherPeoplesPixels Interview

2011-09-29T12:11:00.000-07:00

OtherPeoplesPixels is the wonderful website service I use for my sites. OPP's Amber Hawk Swanson interviewed me about my art for OPP's Featured Artist Blog.

Incantation at Peanut Gallery

2011-05-04T10:53:00.000-07:00

I just installed my piece at Peanut Gallery last night along with artists Meg Leary and Jenny Kendler. The exhibition is shaping up to be pretty special. Here are the details:

INCANTATION
a multi-media collection of recent work by local artists who have one foot planted on earth and the other foot planted somewhere much more interesting

Artists participating include Kerry Couch, Katie Arford, Meg Mccarville, Jenny Kendler, Caitlin Hennessy, Meg Leary, Michelle Villarreal, Anna Timmerman, Molly Schafer and Elisa Harkins.

Opening reception Friday, May 6, 7-11pm
We hope you can make it! If not, email the gallery to set up an appt. to check out the show over the next few weeks.

More info: Peanut Gallery

Gold Addy Award!

2011-03-18T14:11:00.000-07:00

Endangered Species Condoms which feature 3 of my illustrations win a Gold Addy Award in Tucson! The condom boxes also feature illustrations by artist Jenny Kendler and were designed by Lori Leiber. Congratulations to everyone.

R.I.P. Brian Jacques

2011-03-09T07:25:00.000-08:00

I started reading Mr. Jacque's books as a child and have continued reading and rereading them to this day. I'll never forget one hot, sunny and still summer afternoon sweating in the local library searching for a good book. I had already read every book that seemed interesting that summer and the kid's section had left me wanting something more. More substance, more complexity, On a whim, I ventured to a different section of the library. I walked among the stacks, feeling conspicuous in the adult's section. I turned down a dark row to avoid a woman reading in a chair. I believed that, at any minute, I would be discovered, a trespasser and sent back to the kid's section. In fact I felt so uncomfortable I decided to retreat, but just then some slowly floating dust motes wandering in a beam of sunlight caught my eye. The building was old and had few windows. As I observed the dust motes and the magical-seeming beam of sun, I noticed a book behind them. Intrigued I picked it up. It's cover proclaimed: REDWALL!

The book was to be as magical as my discovery of it. When I returned Redwall, I again visited the Young Adult section and found Mossflower. I have always wanted to illustrate a Brian Jacques book as the world is so vivid in my mind. Thank you Brian Jacques for all of the great adventures!

Happy Holidays!

2010-12-19T18:41:00.000-08:00

I just made these cute holiday bird magnets (ink on wood).

Artist Talk

2010-10-22T07:22:00.000-07:00

I will be giving an artist's talk next week. I'm having fun going through my work and source material/ reference images in preparation. I plan to focus on strategies of storytelling and share some of the books and illustrations that inspiration me. I've titled my talk "I Am Miyax Now" after a decisive moment in Julie of the Wolves.

My talk will be part of Mess Hall's Double Feature Lecture Series. I was invited to present my work by artist and publisher of Bailliwik, Surabhi Ghosh.

More info on our Double feature is here.

Human Rights Campaign National Dinner & Auction

2010-10-06T07:42:00.000-07:00

I've donated a print of my piece "Specters/Bloodwrath" for the silent auction component of the Human Rights Campaign's National Dinner. The art auction was coordinated by The Corcoran College of Art and Design where I received my BFA. The event is now sold out.

Exciting News!

2010-09-02T20:45:00.000-07:00

I've been busy with preparations for Renegade Craft Fair where Jenny and I will be exhibiting and selling prints from our Endangered Species Print Project. Including Jenny & myself at least 3 of the artists should be stopping in at the booth during the fair.

2010-08-22T17:47:00.000-07:00

Illustration for Fashion Pulse Daily

2010-08-16T19:20:00.000-07:00

Final for the Fashion Pulse Daily piece on Versace's 2010 Resort Collection and the first installment of Illustrate This a new series I will be illustrating for Fashion Pulse Daily.

Sketches for Fashion Pulse Daily

2010-08-16T19:15:00.000-07:00

Sketches for Fashion Pulse Daily piece on Versace's 2010 Resort collection focusing on micro-prints.

In the end we decided to illustrate the product photo but I thought I would post these sketches for fun.

new painting

2010-07-16T18:58:00.000-07:00

My new painting of the Moldavian Meadow viper. ESPP prints of the viper will support the great conservation work of the Hungarian Meadow Viper Life Project. You can purchase a print here.

I can't believe The Endangered Species Print Project is 1 year old!

2010-07-15T18:48:00.000-07:00

The tattooed Sumatran Tiger, the elegant Whooping Crane and the totally awesome Moldavian Meadow Viper burst onto the ESPP scene today! Sink your claws into our three new prints before they disappear at EndangeredSpeciesPrintProject.com.

The Moldavian Meadow Viper print by ESPP founder Molly Schafer supports The Hungarian Meadow Viper Life Project, which is keeping these amazing snakes from the brink of extinction.

The Sumatran Tiger print by Maine artist Alison Wheeler benefits the Sumatran Tiger Trust, which works to preserve these gorgeous beasts in the wild, where only about 350 remain.

The Whooping Crane print by ESPP founder Jenny Kendler helps fund Operation Migration. You may have already heard of this amazing organization, which releases captive-bred Whooping Cranes into the wild, and teaches them to migrate using ultralight aircraft!

Excitingly, ESPP's new prints are on a gorgeous and sustainable, art-quality bamboo paper!

As you know, 100% of the proceeds from ESPP print sales go directly to front-lines conservation, so please be generous and purchase some for your family and friends! Because ESPP prints are limited editions based on the populations of the species depicted, some editions are running low already. Be sure not to miss out!

commission for Annalemma

2010-07-04T18:42:00.000-07:00

My new illustration for Annalemma magazine was just posted today. Annalemma is a rather fantastic literary and arts journal. I illustrated a story by Rae Bryant titled Chinchillas in the Air for the online version of Annalemma. You can read the story and learn more about Annalemma here.

R.I.P.

2010-06-02T09:25:00.001-07:00

Arrow to Arrow

2010-05-18T08:11:00.000-07:00

Molly Schafer

"The Intruder"

Watercolor on Arches paper

2009

I'm excited to announce I am now working with Arrow to Arrow. Arrow to Arrow is an online gallery and shop specializing in affordable one of kind artwork, limited edition art prints as well as other special small run products. The artworks featured are exclusive to Arrow to Arrow and only through their website.
All prints are gallery quality, printed with archival pigment ink on archival Hahnemühle Matt Fine Art Paper.

Jess Fogel, formerly of Fontanelle Gallery, is the mastermind behind Arrow to Arrow. She soft-launched the online gallery and shop this week, with more works to be added in the coming weeks. You can also check the A2A blog for updates.

Prints of my piece The Intruder (above) are now available. Stay tuned for more exclusive prints and paper goods featuring my work. And check out the work of the other lovely A2A artists.

ESPP's first show

2010-05-05T19:08:00.000-07:00

ESPP prints by Molly Schafer, Matthew Hilshorst, Jenny Kendler,
John Vilhauer and Alison Wheeler
Thanks everyone for coming out!

We are for real serious about endangered species. Don't step.

L to R: ESPP prints by Jerstin Crosby (Golden-Crowned Sifaka),
Barnaby Whitfield (California Condor), Matt Adrian (Madagascar Fish-Eagle)
& Noah Scalin (The Vaquita - upcoming release)

Here are a few pics from the opening of ESPP's first show, at barbara and barbara gallery in Chicago. You can check out all the pics from the opening (and become our fan!) on ESPP's Facebook page.

2010-04-30T08:24:00.000-07:00

Vipera berus normal and melanistic color patterns

I've finished painting the Moldavian Meadow viper for an upcoming Endangered Species Print Project release. Viper conservation is not a popular field. I guess we are hardwired to fear snakes. Still, they are an important part of Earth's ecosystem. I was glad to learn of efforts to form The Viper Specialist Group this morning.

2010-04-15T10:28:00.000-07:00

Kohei Nawa

I can't stop thinking about you...

2010-04-07T09:47:00.000-07:00

I went to see the baby mammoth at Field Museum again.

Lucy and Bart

2010-03-27T18:31:00.000-07:00

http://www.lucyandbart.blogspot.com/

thanks The Shiny Squirrel

Neozoon

2010-03-04T08:16:00.000-08:00

ESPP in Ready Made

2010-02-20T12:39:00.000-08:00

My collaborative project with Jenny Kendler, The Endangered Species Print Project, is featured in both ReadyMade magazine and Orion magazine this month. Read more about ESPP on our site or check out my more frequent posting on the ESPP blog.

Sunday

2010-01-31T14:11:00.000-08:00

Sliding on ice in the park, seeing weeds frozen in a weed version of suspended animation, watching crows caw and reflect the sunlight so much they appear white. Drinking in and smiling in all the sunlight I could. I haven't seen the sun in weeks. Studying peeling bark for an answer to anything. Reliving last night's dream of ospreys & a terrifying prehistoric pelican hunting in an alley in Chicago, fighting me, telling me I must leave these frozen flat lands and return to the sea, there is no sustenance here.

Now it is a steaming mug of green tea and The Simon and Schuster Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Creatures.

My guest post for Bad At Sports

2010-01-25T13:56:00.000-08:00

An article I wrote with my collaborator Jenny Kendler for Bad At Sports has been published on the Bad At Sports blog. Bad At Sports is a weekly podcast about contemporary art, and they also have a great blog on the same topic. Our article is part of Bad At Sport's Off-Topic series. Off-Topic invites artists, curators, writers, and cultural workers to discuss a subject not directly related to the practice of making art.

Our article is titled Snakes on a Plane, Lemurs on a Plate: How Human Beings’ Actions Can Have Unexpected Consequences for the Natural World. We cover the current situation in Madagascar as well as the sad story of Guam's forests. You can read our article here.

*2010

2009-12-29T13:22:00.000-08:00

I've been swamped lately filling holiday orders for ESPP prints. Otherwise I've been spending all my studio time applying to residencies for 2010 .I'd like to spend 2010 mainly out-of-doors making art and walking in the woods or along the seashore. Or perhaps in Mongolia where the Jerboas live. See how long their back legs are in relation to their front legs? Astounding, no? Oh and just fyi- Jerboas don't stand in the fashion depicted here. You can learn more about the enigmatic jerboa tomorrow on my other blog.

*Specters/Bloodwrath Prints

2009-12-09T12:54:00.000-08:00

Prints of my drawing Specters/Bloodwrath are now available at Fontanelle Gallery's Parlour Shop along with other lovelies by select artists. If you live in Oregon, or ever find yourslelf there, be sure to visit Fontanelle.

*My Holiday Gift Guide on The Shiny Squirrel

2009-12-08T13:21:00.000-08:00

The lovely Jessica Goldfond has asked me to put together a holiday gift guide. Coming up with my gift guide was a lot of fun. Be sure to also visit The Shiny Squirrel boutique for one of a kind items you may want on your holiday list.

*I'm in Parasol Magazine

2009-12-02T08:23:00.000-08:00

I'm a fan of all things Parasol and Yasmine Surovec and am glad to be included in the magazine. It is a great issue, artists Jenny Kendler and Gerry Alanguilan are also featured. You can read/download the issue here.

*Back in Action / Art Updates

2009-12-01T21:05:00.000-08:00

So I was away from blogging for 1.5 years. My how time flies!!!

While I was away I was awarded a CAAP grant from The City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs to complete the video component of my Assateague Island adventure.

I also founded The Endangered Species Print Project with artist Jenny Kendler.
The Endangered Species Print Project (ESPP) offers limited-edition art prints of critically endangered species. Editions are limited to the species' reaming population count. For example, only 45 Amur Leopards remain in the wild, so for this edition, only 45 prints will ever be made. 100% of the sales of ESPP prints are donated to these conservation organizations.

ESPP launched in July of this year and is just $25 away from raising $1000 to conserve critically endangered species. A fact we are very excited about!!!

I also blog for ESPP here.

And most recently, October 2009, I had a solo show Dawn Horse at Lump Gallery. You can view selections from the exhibition here. Raleigh and all the people at Lump are super good times.

Dawn Horse: My solo exhibiton at Lump Gallery

2009-10-05T13:20:00.000-07:00

Lump is very pleased to present Dawn Horse. an exhibition of new work by Chicago artist Molly Schafer. Lump will host an opening reception Friday, October 2nd from 7 – 10pm during the First Friday Gallery Walk located in downtown Raleigh. The exhibition will run from October 2 – 31, 2009 and is on view Saturdays from noon - 5pm.

This project is supported in part by a Community Arts Assistance Program grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.

For further information contact Bill Thelen at lumpgallery@gmail.com

Lump
505 South Blount Street
Raleigh, NC 27601
www.lumpgallery.com & www.lumpdocket.blogspot.com

Here are some pics from opening night:

drawing @ Exit Art

2008-07-25T08:19:00.000-07:00

A drawing I made in collaboration with artist Jenny Kendler Lemurs Against Deforestation is included in the exhibition It's Not Easy at Exit Art.

The photographs, texts, drawings, graphics and other works in It’s Not Easy are printed on 8½” x 11” recycled paper, giving equal – and sustainable(ish) – attention to each work. With over 300 responses, It’s Not Easy explores the multiplicity of cultural, environmental and political meanings of GREEN.

It’s Not Easy is the second exhibition of SEA (Social Environmental Aesthetics), a major new exhibition program and archive initiative in Exit Underground that presents social and environmental issues and the way artists respond to them. SEA will occupy a permanent space in Exit Underground. The SEA Archive will be a permanent archive of information, images and videos that will be a searchable database for scholars and researchers. Central to the mission of SEA is to provide a vehicle through which the public can be made aware of this kind of work, to provide a forum for collaboration between artists and ecologists and to inspire them to continue the tradition of work that SEA presents.

The exhibition runs through August 29th in NYC.

absent minded professor

2008-07-08T09:10:00.000-07:00

Invincible

2008-07-06T13:54:00.000-07:00

My colleague and friend Stacia Yeapanis' new fanvid is pretty much the greatest fanvid ever. She is one of the few artists I know of whose is making interesting work about female warriors.

To paraphrase Stacia's description of her fanvid, We Have a Right to Be Angry combines footage from the television shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Xena: Warrior Princess, and Charmed is edited together to Pat Benatar's Invincible. The video explores real female aggression, exposed through the vehicle of her own fictional heroes.

almighty

2008-07-03T12:16:00.000-07:00

megafauna

2008-07-02T14:37:00.000-07:00

I am finally reading the last book in the Philip Pullman Dark Materials trio. If I had a subtle knife I would grab my cat and cut a window to another world right away. Maybe a world of cool horses and prehistoric mammals?

amazing photo of a shire horse from Krystian Kozerawski Photoblog

See you in Mongolia, Takhi. BFF!

Wooly Rhinos and Megaloceros 4 life dawg!

Cave Painting

2008-06-25T07:50:00.000-07:00

Actually it is a photo of museum workers cleaning an elephant skin from Picturing the Museum: Education and Exhibition at the American Museum of Natural History. View the online exhibition here.

LowEnd Theories review

2008-06-20T06:37:00.000-07:00

Review of LowEnd Theories show at Lump gallery.

Big News

2008-06-16T17:19:00.000-07:00

Tory Wright interviewed me about my work for the Team Lump blog. You can read the interview here. I really enjoyed our discussion and I think I make a pretty interesting interviewee.

and....

this is the really big news, my friend Lilly McElroy is in the current issue of O Magazine (that is correct- Oprah's magazine) for her art project "I Throw Myself at Men." Banannas!

also

I finally put the video component of Centaurides up on my website. peep it.

archery in China

2008-06-15T08:18:00.000-07:00

Super big surprise of the weekend: a last minute call from my brother to pick him up at the aiport after four months in Asia studying Muay Thai, Tai Chi, and Gong fu. He had missed his connecting flight and decide to re-route and come through Chicago.

He brought me these photos he took in China. Someone's rad desktop image and ancient arrows.
The barb-pointed ones were used for hunting hares.

more from the art hives

2008-06-14T22:08:00.000-07:00

here are some pics from 2004. i took them at double diamond deer ranch near cook's forest, PA.

this has been a fun trip down old art lane. susan mille r tells me i will be in a period of review and revision all summer so i suppose this is just the beginning. i miss deer. i switched to horses when everyone else started making deer art.

from the archives

2008-06-14T15:53:00.000-07:00

Deer, unicorns, and huntresses from my artwork and reference image archives. We've come a long way, babies.

another unicorn buck:

three weird digital collages I made back in 2004:
Sherricorn

camo, unicorns, and the signature of celebrity hunter Brenda Valentine

the least popular girl at school killed this horrible, sickly deer. She just wanted to be liked!

The popular girls and their beautiful buck.

Odocoileus alicornus

2008-06-12T13:00:00.001-07:00

A unicorn deer was just found in Italy. This little guy is one of the most unicornesque examples of an antler abnormality I have seen. It is more common among uncommon or non-typical antler growths for there to be a an additional, third antler growing between the standard antlers and usually off to one side or the other. This guy just has the one, perfectly centered in the middle of his forehead. Here he is, he is a Roe deer and a real beauty:
I've read about antlers being grafted into the middle of a deer's forehead before. I don't know if I totally believe this little guy. If he is real then verily his coming is wondrous and should be celebrated as such. According to the news story "his twin has two horns." FYI: Deer have antlers not horns.

On my long lists of ideas to work on during my life time is both a fantastical fiction novel and a chapter in a book about deer in general concerning the connection between unicorns and deer. TM. There seem to be more documented cases of anomalies (odd antlers, antlered does and albinos) with deer than other species. I wonder if this is because of deer hunting: we observe them more than other animals and feed them weird stuff so they grow larger. In the last few years I have collected images and made art work about this very topic. I'll post some pics below and maybe some arts tomorrow.

This guy's non-typical antler growth seems connected to his disfigurement. I wonder if it could be the result of a fawnhood trauma to the face, or is he hydrocephalic? Wouldn't it be weird to see him in person? A man and his friends spent 2 years stalking him with trail cameras and guns until they finally killed him. Mission Accomplished! I guess.

Before and after photos showcasing how the man in the picture killed and then brought back to life- likeness "the most beautiful creature I had ever seen" (his words)

I fear I will die the last of my kind. The lonely death of the last unicorn:

A land in turmoil cried out for a shero

2008-06-06T11:39:00.000-07:00

I've started logging footage from my equine adventure for the video portion of my project.
*The above images are screen captures from my raw footage.

also

2008-06-05T14:47:00.001-07:00

In this week's issue of New City Jason Foumberg reviews the Jeff Koons show at the MCA. Foumberg says "Koons’ sculptural wonders are of a caliber rarely seen. Some of us have become very comfortable with abject sculpture, scrappy art and re-used materials. It’s a celebrated local style, like Old Style or dirty snow" And I felt bad about my work and very Chicagoy. Is my work "Chicago art?" The thought freaked me out. Old style and old snow sum up the essence of things I dislike about this city while my lack of patience is not one of my assets and tends to shoddy up my craftsmanship. The style of working that Jason refers to is a gesture that can have a lot of meaning. Although often misrepresented by empty, slacker style art. Anyway Jeff Koons blows!

LowEnd Theories

2008-06-05T14:29:00.000-07:00

A project I have been working on in tandem with artist Ryan Swanson will be exhibited as part of LowEnd Theories at Lump Gallery.

LowEnd Theories, curated by Tory Wright, brings together eight artists whose work references craft. The politics of high and low art are present, but not the singular theme. A variety of media referencing traditions of craft such as: yarn, beads, clay and clothing are used to facilitate collaborations, provide evidence of performative acts, and produce constructed objects.

Swanson and Schafer's project came about during a studio visit between the two artists. Recognizing the same found objects in both their work the decision was made to collaborate on an assignment structured project. The two share inspiration and raw materials found at Joanne Fabric and Craft stores, take these to their separate studios and each create a piece.

Molly Schafer
Spell Mirror: good and evil

Fabric, rawhide, golden thread, my cat's fur, threaded beads, ornate gold detail, black feathers

26" x 10"

Ryan Swanson
Style Monster
Digital collage

LowEnd Theories
Lump Gallery
505 S. Blount St.
Raleigh, NC
Opening reception Friday, June 6th from 7 – 10pm
The exhibition will run from June 6 – 28, 2008 and is on view Saturdays from noon - 5pm.

another quest for fire

2008-06-04T09:16:00.001-07:00

I have only read the first book, Ratha's Creature, in Clare Bell's The Named series but forsee a possible summer reading marathon with the rest of the series. The "She" in the quote above refers to Ratha, the wildcat pictured. The "it" refers to the fire. aw yeah...

From the publisher: "Ratha and her clan are the Named, a band of intelligent wild cats whose society is based on herding deer. The Named have laws, language, traditions, and leaders. They also have enemies. The predatory raiders of the unNamed are driving them close to the edge of survival."

Ratha's Creature explores the idea of an intellectual hierarchy, hunter- gathering societies vs agricultural societies, and what it means to be a natural creature living in accord with your habitat vs trying to control it. All through the story of a runaway, don't take shit from nobody, she-cat. And set in an environ chock full o prehistoric mammals. I know!!!!

Find this book and others like it at your local library.

p.s. Ratha figured out how to keep fire quicker than those early human proto-types below. Jus sayin.

wild mare / quest for matriarchy

2008-05-31T11:59:00.000-07:00

Awoke at 7 am and broke a new personal running record. I had to run fast to escape the scars of viewing Quest for Fire last night. Would have liked to watch it Mystery Science Theater style with Elaine Morgan.

Quest for Fire is the story of some hominid dudes who lose their cave and fire to some more apelike hominid dudes and need to go find more fire because they don't yet know how to make their own, or even that it is possible to do so. So the tribe sends out 3 young males to find more fire while the remaining, like, 12 of them stayed shivering in a cold swamp. Seriously- they are standing on a 5' x 5' patch of soggy ground. Probs would have made more sense for the whole group to go since they no longer had a home cave, they would stand a better chance in a fight as a larger group, and... turns out it was warm everywhere but that silly swamp. But you know gotta get some prodigal son style narrative going, gotta have a hero.

Also curious: the men in the film were a lot better at making outfits than the women even though everybody and the ethnographic record thinks that it is woman's work. Here is some field tested science for ya: if you are cold the first thing you are going to cover are your bosoms. The director wastotally the kid in the back of the library who peeked at National Geographic like it was porn.

THOTH!!!

Also I don't think that the only way our race still exists was from procreation due to rape. That is not true for any species. UNLESS- everything Elaine Morgan hypothesized is true. And in that light I totes believe it. Morgan says that living aquatically changed hominid bodies, and since scents don't travel in water as in air estrus got all messed up. Female - male communication became confused as sex "from the back" was no longer physically possible. In Descent of Woman Morgan says "In the field of frontal sex, as in all these other cases, there must have been a time when it never happened before." It is difficult to understand how unusual this would have been, she explains "The whole ground plan of the quadrupedal structure is such that the vulnerable abdomen, containing vital organs but unprotected by the bony ribcage, is at all times defended by a barricade of limbs. Anyone who throws you down and tries to get through that barricade has only one aim in view-to eviscerate you." So a female thrown on her back would have responded by shrieking, fighting him off, and with out verbal communication he would not be able to explain he was not trying to kill her. When she finally made a signal of submission known to her species he backed off. You know like when two antlered stags are fighting? When one signals his submission the other doesn't "finish him off." Most mammals work this way, they do not kill each other, they have submission signals. Morgan postulates that one individual with a defective behavioral mechanism tried this and ignored the submission signal and therefore passed on his evil genes, as well as bad feeling between the sexes. It is an interesting idea and might explain, among other things, why we are murders and most other mammals are not.

So which is it? Is Morgan correct or is whoever responsible for this film a misogynist perv? ha ha! Puke city. Eventually the bumbling hominids meet an updated hominid model. A female with less hair, no clothes, extensive vocal communication (all the dudes say is "thoth" and something that sounds like "Nooooo!") and a startling voodoo vibe. The sense of her "otherness" is overwhelming. She is painted darkly and teaches them humor and how to make their own fire and heal wounds. (Interesting it is the same way I have seen Survivor Man Les Stroud make fire.) So I guess she is kind of like a Sacajawea figure. (All of the work, none of the credit. No wait there was that U.S. coin- the one that they had to discontinue the only other woman on a coin, Susan B. Anthony, to make. You know that coin no one uses cause it just confuses people as it is the same size as a quarter?) They follow her back to her tribe (in Africa?) and eventually clobber them and steal all their ideas- fire, weapons, and face to face lovemaking! The bumbling hominid's minds are blown by this stuff but one gets the sense, as lead bumbler stares at the full moon with his preggers wife, that by ripping off the other, dark tribe the great white hominid will not only survive, but someday rule the world. Vomit.

it doesn't matter if you're blue or pink

__________
Things that were cool about Quest for Fire: showing that various hominid groups co-exsisted, a guy gets killed by a wolf, hominid-wooly mammoth communication attempt, the painted female character she was pretty right on moving like an animal and chattering away (I might edit all the footage of just her together to make an enjoyable video), the fact that no one really talked until she arrived, the attempt to base parts of the film on science-- Oh! Desmond Morris developed the gestures and vocalizations. Yeah that guy. Kinda figures, huh?

Questions: why are hominids in films always so bumbling and confused? Even confused by the natural world? Wouldn't early man move around much more efficiently in his environment, more even than we do? Was there really a time when hominids were in the midst of evolving and had to stumble around? If so how did they survive? Wouldn't they have been more in tune with the natural world, closer to it than we are? They are often pictured as if reverse evolution is occurring.

These types of films say more about how men today think, or maybe fantasize, about women and themselves than about how it was back in the day. Walking with Cavemen (and women) seems better everyday.

Don't Forget: Biology can spout mad ideology.

half hours on earth, what are they worth?

2008-05-30T06:21:00.000-07:00

juvenile gray whale

I don't know. Some days Silver Jews Trains Across the Sea plays on an endless loop in my head. I think that line is both beautiful and depressing. It can either spur me to try and get the most out of life or wallow in it's emptiness. I spend many half hours at an office job, building motorcycles in my head or whatever you are supposed to do to not lose your mind. In fact this very blog is my motorcycle. Where I can get away with questionable metaphors.

I have been reading Lame Deer, Seeker of Visions by John (Fire) Lame Deer as told to Richard Erdoes. There are so many great quotes in this book about how most people are living completely against nature and how detrimental this is. The book is a memoir of sorts and a telling of the ways and ideas of a Sioux yuwipi or medicine man. It has also really made me feel better about not fitting in, about believing the journey is the destination, and prioritizing "knowing" over analysis.

The only quote I remembered to mark is on a page discussing how every individual animal and plant differs from all the others of it's specie. Lame Deer says the Great Spirit must abhor people all trying to be the same and think the same all the time. He says "Only human beings have come to a point where they no longer know why they exsist... and so they stumble along blindly on the road to nowhere-a paved road which they themselves bulldoze and make smooth so that they can get faster to the big, empty hole which they will find at the end, waiting to swallow them up." Wow!

...

Last night Suzi and I talked for hours about such things Suzi wouldn't mind being a silk spinning insect, I mean what do we have on spinning-silk she says? Recently Jenny said to me something along the lines of - "humans have been working on their society for thousands of years and this is what they come up with?"

Way back we used to be outside, exploring all day. Now we have to stay in offices without texture, sometimes, as in my case, without windows.

...

Open water swimmer Lynn Cox is one of my heroes. I just read her book Grayson recounting a day when she was a teenager and swam far out into open sea with an infant gray whale. The whale had been separated from his mother and began following Lynn. The creatures she encounters on her journey and her understanding of the sea as a living creature itself are truly to be amazed at. Her story made me feel like I haven't lived.

Lynn Cox swimming in Antarctica

out there

2008-05-28T08:45:00.000-07:00

I happened upon a rad conservation initiative today- EDGE of Exsistence: Evolutionary Distinct and Globally Endangered. EDGE is looking out for all the oddball creatures. The EDGE blog details how scientists have sequenced the genome of the most evolutionary distinct mammal, the platypus, and found out it is odd indeed. read about it.

Also I can't post an image of this awfulness . Obese Macaca mulatta monkeys at a"wildlife park" in Japan.

.... ....... ...
Today I'd like to be a Takhi, running wild and free in Mongolia. No boundaries, no indoors, herd- bonded, and four legs. Gleeful and appreciative, I would imagine.

But I don't have much energy today so I might get taken by a wolf. Then I guess, in a way I would become a wolf. Probably a kerl, a lone wolf. Dark and satisfied in my being. Or perhaps not. Perhaps I would feel wrong and lonesome for my pack (see David Clement-Davies novels).
When searching the interwebs for pictures of Steppe wolves I mostly find photos of white safari hunters gloating over dead, lupine bodies. This makes me so angry at the way the human realm functions.
I want to be a hawk. Sometimes I think I'd trade my whole life for 15 minutes of being a healthy hawk. Soaring, diving, catching a meal, seeing forever and minutiae out of my hawk eyes. Totally determined and undeterred, I imagine. Fierce and exact. Flying, screeching, seeing forever. Perhaps a Red-tailed hawk. (photo is of a Steppe Eagle)

Basically I just want to be awesome:
Sometimes the world makes me want to be a loner, feral, Xena type if I can't be a fierce predator in the non human sense.

World Turtle Day / Interfering with nature's course

2008-05-23T07:04:00.000-07:00

According to The Center for Biological Diversity today is World Turtle Day. Please recognize.

The Center for Biological Diversity works through science, law, and creative media to secure a future for all species, great or small, hovering on the brink of extinction.

They also put out a very nice e-newsletter which I suggest subscribing to. I was thinking World Turtle Day would focus on the plight of the Loggerhead Sea Turtle (a threatened specie since 1978.) However the CBD is focusing on commercial trapping of turtles in the U.S. From their press release:

Unregulated commercial trappers are capturing appalling numbers of freshwater turtles in southern states, including rare map turtle species that are so depleted they may need protection under the Endangered Species Act,“ said Jeff Miller, conservation advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity. ”Collectors could legally harvest every non-protected turtle that exists in the wild under the inadequate regulations that currently exist in Florida, Georgia and Oklahoma. These turtles are an important part of aquatic ecosystems and should not be allowed to be wiped out.

Most wild turtles harvested in the southern United States are exported to supply food markets in Asia, primarily China, which has depleted or driven most of its native freshwater turtles to extinction in the wild. Numerous southeastern turtles are sold to Asian seafood markets in the United States as well. Many of these turtles are harvested from streams under state and federal fish advisories and bans that caution against and prohibit human consumption, due to aquatic contaminants that are carcinogenic or harmful to humans such as DDT, PCBs, pesticides, mercury and other heavy metals. Turtles live longer and bioaccumulate considerably greater amounts of aquatic contaminants than fish, particularly snapping and softshell turtles that burrow in contaminated sediments.

map turtle

Years ago I encountered a sea turtle in a bay off of the Atlantic Ocean. It was a wee infant. Stuck in a boat launch area and surrounded by 7 year old girls who would pick the turtle up, coo with glee and place her back in the water where the waves continued to smash her into the wooden dock. I watched her try to swim with her tiny flippers out of the launching area which was sectioned off from the bay by a wooden wall in the water. The water was more turbulent here because it was not allowed to flow freely. As the water crashed around under the dock feeling for a way out it took the little turtle with it, always returning her to be thrown against the wall. It was difficult to watch. One of the girls picked up the turtle and placed her in my hand. She was exquisite. It felt so lucky to be having an encounter with such a creature. Sea turtles look like they are wearing eye makeup.

I said to the group of girls "Don't you think we should put her over there, into the bay? She doesn't seem to be able to swim out of this area and she keeps getting smashed against the wall."

"But she's SO tiny and the bay is SO big." One girl worried "She's safe here, something will eat her out there." Another girl put her foot down "My mother said to not bother nature. She said I could pick up the turtle but I had put it back exactly where I found it. We better leave it here" These were difficult statements to argue with. I too don't think you should interfere with nature and appreciated that a young kid felt so strongly about it. I too worried how the tiny creature could survive in open water. I put the turtle back where they found her , she was thrown against the wall again. I exclaimed and I picked her back up.

The tribe of girls, I knew, considered themselves the protectors of the turtle since they had found it. I felt I had to convince them before I could move the turtle. "She belongs out at sea", I said, "not here. You can see she keeps trying to get out but the waves are too strong. She might hurt her head crashing into the wall. Usually you shouldn't interfere with nature but she is stuck in something man-made so I think it is the right thing to do this time. I think if we want to save her we have to put her in the bay so she can swim out. I know she's small but I bet she can do it. " They quickly came around under the shared mission of saving the turtle's life.

We carried her out of the boating area and placed her into the open bay. The water was still and clear. She took off like a shot toward open water.

...

There is one time that I did interfere with nature that still makes me shiver. I was a teenager and watching TV after school when something caught my attention. There was a large spiderweb across our living room window (on the outside) it had been there for some time. A good sized moth had become stuck on the web and was struggling and fluttering for dear life. I looked on in horror and had a mounting urge to free the moth. My brother sensing this tells me to leave it alone, it's nature. I try. But the moth just doesn't give up and I can't just sit and watch. I jump up and run to the porch. My brother gets very upset. He screams at me through the window not to interfere with nature. His words get to me. I agree with him, but by standing idly by I feel like a participator in the killing. I no longer knoww what is wrong and what is right.

Now the spider is coming. I reach out and try to tap the moth from the web. "Don't do it! Don't do it!" I can hear my brother yelling but it sounds like I'm hearing him from underwater. My finger touches the web, the moth's slowing wings beat against it twice and my whole being is overcome with the sense that what I am doing is completely wrong. Similar to when I got shocked on the electric fence around my aunt's horse pasture the feeling coursed through my whole body. I was filled with guilt and wrongness. I pulled my finger back and went inside, avoiding the living room.

...

My dad recently told me a story that has been haunting me. He ran into a duck hunter who related this story hoping other people would learn from his mistake. (FYI: Part of a hunting dog's job is to retrieve what the hunter has shot. If you shoot a duck your dog will run/swim out to retrieve it. That is what it has been trained to do.) So this guy is out with his dog and sees a raccoon swimming. He thinks about how raccoons eat duck's eggs, etc. and that they are competition for him. So- he shoots at the swimming raccoon. His dog takes off after the shot and swims out to get the raccoon. Except when he gets there the raccoon puts up a fight. This guy watched as the raccoon climbs on his dog's head and drowns him. Oh my god, he thinks, I just killed my own dog.

adventure on the equine isle

2008-05-14T10:40:00.000-07:00

I have returned from the wondrous edge of the continent where my cat and I camped on Assateague Island. Our time on Assateague was a dream. Complete with feral horses, extensive wildlife encounters, and a renewed connection to the universe. My sadness at being parted from the sea only seems to intensify over time and already I long to be back in the shore's embrace.

After crossing the bridge to the island the first 60 seconds on Assateague went like this: Spotting two roadside Sika deer I stopped the car to watch them when suddenly, a horse jumped over the guardrail and landed on the road right in front of my car, 2 more of his crew followed. Deer and horses milled about around us while I wondered what I was getting myself into.

I do not have many photos from the island. Wrangling 2 tripods and a cat on a leash turned out to be as difficult as it sounds. I ended up ditching the digital camera and shooting video.

my campsite. the red bump is my tent and just past the horizon line is the sea. no other humans around.

My (awesome) hair is blocking the horses I was trying to take my picture with. I made some new jewelry from treasures found in the sand.

our neighbor, the Red-winged Blackbird, was always nearby

roar! Redwing tried to steal Sid's food.

and a horse drank from his water bowl.

pony invasion at camp. you can't hear them coming in the sand.

Creepy Sika deer would alternate between a high tolerance for my prescence and agressively stamping a warning. I tried not to bother them when they were in a temper. The males have prong like antlers that look rather sharp.

Every evening we watched the sunset. The cooling sand and ocean breeze made it a multi-sensory experience. It was really one of the best things ever. One night as darkness grew a horse whinnied angrily on a nearby dune.

Falling asleep to the sound of waves crashing against the shore.
Waking up smelling like a musty caribou.

Being unreachable, out of touch, and out of the force field of faux urgent importance that e-mails vibe me with was fantastic. I'd like to keep it going at some level. Without the internet, the news, advertisements and the like my mind was undistracted and focused.

After 2 hours back at work my feet hurt from wearing shoes, my toes kept reaching for sand. There are no windows visible from where I sit. I had to keep looking at a computer. My eyes hurt. My body began to feel sick. It is so stuffy in here with no ocean breeze, no steady reassurance of crashing waves.

i'm off on an adventure to pony island

2008-05-01T19:14:00.000-07:00

yep. i leave the day of the Kentucky Derby and won't be online for awhile.

yeah i went to the art fairs

2008-04-28T14:25:00.000-07:00

Alex Da Corte's Accessory at NEXT

art weekend

2008-04-22T18:23:00.000-07:00

NFO EXPO at Version 08: Darkmatter

Jerstin Crosby and Tory Wright came to Chicago from Raleigh to install Manifestation Gestation Station with myself and Thad Kellstadt. The project which reprented Lump Gallery/projects at the Version Festival's NFO EXPO consisted of a 20 foot wall with drawings by the four of us, Lump Lipshitz, Jason Polan, and David Colagiovanni.

Teamp Lump install at Version 08:

we also collaborated on a large mug tree. I think I won the ugliest mug award for this Joann Fabrics fiasco/masterpiece
We got to hang out with a lot of rad people at Version.
Paul Nudd was ballin' outta control while Bert Stabler gave away free zines and conversation.
Niels Post and Jeroen Bosch from Rotterdam's Trendbeheer. These guys once cycled from Rotterdam to Paris, during winter to see Matthew Barney's Cremaster Cycle films.
Jereon and I discovered we shared an interest in taxidermy and skull collecting. He gave me a lot of tips about skinning your own animal that I will most likely never use, but still good to know. I gave him a copy of the VanDyke taxidermy supply catalog and he was most pleased. Their booth had some of the best work in the show. Including a really great video Calling 911 by Jan De Bruin who focuses his camera on one or two people in a public space and follows them, creating a narrative. The entire video was one continuous shot. Jeroen 's lil equine guys were my favorite arts at NFO EXPO. They are less shiny in person and look all meaty like they have been skinned.
Tory and I also stopped by Bucket Rider, Kavi Gupta, and Monique Meloche galleries Saturday morning. Good shows except for the Kendell Carter show at MM which we agreed felt disingenuous and overdone. I especially enjoyed Claire Sherman's paintings of wooded areas and other wild seeming places (sadly the paintings from the show are not on the site).

This ruled but she forgot to consider the floor, that is installation 101 Karen

Sunday was Karen Kilimnik(above), Gordon Matta-Clark and some other artstars at the MCA. First time I saw a Paul Pieiffer in person. I really dig his work. I heart Karen Klimnick and hate all the art school advisors that couldn't find "the piece" when I was doing similar scatter art, weirdly related, multi-media things in my studio.

(i'm a big fan)

Then it was back to Version for a bit before I departed for Black Is, Black Ain't at the Renaissance Society. A very thoughtful show curated by mastermind Hamza Walker.

According to the Ren's website the exhibition "...explores a shift in the rhetoric of race from an earlier emphasis on inclusion to a present moment where racial identity is being simultaneously rejected and retained."

This Carl Pope piece was used as the exhibition poster

My friend Elizabeth Axtman's video American Classics was obviously the highlight of the exhibition. Liz was in town for the show and posed for my cell phone.
After Black Is, Black Ain't I returned to Version Fest to de-install , act silly with the remaining Team Lump members and see some of The Rotterdam VHS Festival which was a lot of fun.

Thad, Tory and Josh enjoying a multitude of relationships

Rural Scenics

2008-04-17T12:00:00.000-07:00

Space Avaiilable

It is interesting the effect knowing someone has on viewing their art work. I often consider this while viewing the work of my critique group. Knowledge of their previous work and personal motivations influences my perception of their current projects. I feel I know where they are coming from and that is quite a different experience than the authoritative "cold read" we are taught to create for as artists. Knowing something of the artist or their previous work often enriches the experience of their art. Other times it can distract you from what you are really seeing. And sometimes, for instance the Winslow Homer show at The Art Institute of Chicago, it is just superfluous. What follows below are my thoughts on viewing a large exhibition of an artist I know very well.

Two weeks ago I went to Pennsylvania to see Jim Schafer's solo exhibition Icons and Incongruities: Photographs from America's Heartland at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts. Schafer has been a photographer most of his life and all of mine; he is my father. He works as a commercial architectural photographer in addition to being an artist. I have been looking at my father's photographs all of my life. I have often wondered at his influence on me after having seen so many of his images; surely some formal properties have been burned into my mind's eye.

In junior high I earned spending money by filing endless stacks of his slides. I was exasperated at what could be termed his absent-minded professor tendencies. Art photographs would be mixed in with commercial work. Often while on assignment photographing a mundane jail or office building he would focus his lens elsewhere. I would find photographs of sights he had seen along the road while driving to his assigned subject. I could just picture how these photos came about; it is a scene I am very familiar with.

Gano

It was a recurring scenario on family trips and even once on the way to the grocery store. All of a sudden we would hear my father exclaim, the car would veer off the highway stopping in some ditch along the road. He would be gone for a seemingly endless amount of time to a kid on vacation. As our car rocked from passing 18 wheelers my dad with his cargo shorts and tall socks would be out in someone's field or the middle of the road with his tripod. I don't know how my mother put up with this. She never seemed bothered by, it often sitting there with a smile on her face, only concerned when it seemed likely he would get hit by a passing truck.

For kids we had a lot of patience for this type of thing knowing that it had something to do with my dad following his dreams. That was what my mom would tell us as we hung out in the car and waited for my dad. "When you kids grow up I always want you to follow your dreams no matter what." she'd say. When we finally grew impatient sometimes we would be put to use watching for oncoming traffic. In this way we either helped him get the perfect shot or not get killed. I could never be sure.

While filing slides I would come across some of these photos. Whenever I found an image that clearly had nothing to do with a commercial assignment my dad would tell me to file it in "Rural Scenics" an ever widening folder of slides in his filing cabinet. "Rural Scenics" sounded impressive but it was really designed as a catch-all for his random photos.

After years of sneaking in photos while on his way somewhere else my dad started taking trips with the only destination being to find something to photograph. Without kids around to beep the horn and say get on with the trip his ideas have been allowed to germinate and develop. It is apparent to me that for years my father had an inkling of an idea, a recurring inspiration. Showing me a photograph of a building he had come across he would often remark "There's just something about it."

High Noon Shadow Cross, Haven Kansas

The work in Icons and Incongruities builds on Schafer's previous Heartlandscapes / Vigilante Architecture exhibition. Vigilante Architecture focused on re-purposed buildings and a sincere use of space. Humor, multitude of compositional details, and honesty all play a role in Schafer's work. In Icons Schafer explores an iconic mid western structure: the grain elevator. His photos treat these structures like temples rising above the surrounding towns. The idea of an ambiguous presence looms throughout the black and white photos. A native of the woods and hills of Pennsylvania Schafer is wowed by the endless expanse of sky in the mid west. He connects the sky to an idea of god and the weather's potential to impact crops. In High Noon Shadow Cross, Haven Kansas a grain elevator looking a lot like a tall country church complete with a cross, looms over Haven, Kansas. The cross is really a shadow. Schafer noticed it late morning and figured around noon the sun would cast the shadow into the shape of a perfect cross. He waited around for noon, probably by the side of the road somewhere.

To read reviews of the photographs in Icons and Incongruities click below.
Jim Schafer's photos Capture the Slowing Beat of the Heartland (recommended)
or
Exhibit Captures Sense of Abandonment in Old Midwest Towns

Shop (closed)

baby piglets

2008-04-14T12:12:00.000-07:00

I am in Business Week!!! click on the slide show portion of the article.

Henbane Reviews:

NewCity - The Stinking Nightshade

Time Out- Five out of Six Stars, not bad

& we met a lil gator

There is much our cultures could share

2008-04-09T13:07:00.001-07:00

Bruce Lee, baby

2008-04-07T20:25:00.000-07:00

Time means a lot to me because you see I am also a learner and am often lost in the joy of forever developing.

I'm very self-sufficient...And, should I fight, should I do anything, I have made up my mind that, baby, you had better kill me before I get you.

Quoting Bruce Lee from Jeet Kune Do: Bruce Lee's Commentaries on the Martial Way

2008-04-03T14:10:00.000-07:00

“It is very true,” said Marianne, “that admiration of landscape scenery is become a mere jargon. Every body pretends to feel and tries to describe with the taste and elegance of him who first defined what picturesque beauty was. I detest jargon of every kind, and sometimes I have kept my feelings to myself, because I could find no language to describe them in but what was worn and hackneyed out of all sense and meaning.”

from Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility

blood lizards

2008-04-01T14:09:00.000-07:00

please click here to see the the most metal lizard ever squirt blood from his eye. totally rad.

(i don't know how i feel about National Geographic calling a creature a freak of nature)

2008-04-01T07:54:00.001-07:00

'nuff said.

Specters / Bloodwrath; At my end I'll take you with me

2008-03-29T15:50:00.000-07:00

Prints are available of my new piece Specters / Bloodwrath; At my end I'll take you with me here. The original piece is graphite, acrylic, and colored pencils on paper and is over 4ft x over 5 ft you can see it in person until April 21st at Henbane: Dialectics of the Feminie Sublime at Medicine Park.

Black Eire and other aquatic mammals

2008-03-28T12:46:00.000-07:00

Fionna from The Secret of Roan Inish

Contemplating the Sea

The term Black Irish is used to refer to an Irish person with dark hair and eyes. The implications of the term and meaning are varied and up for debate (you can read more about that here.) However for the purposes of this post I'm mostly interested in the fantastical. I had heard the term black Irish but never thought too much of it until viewing the film The Secret of Roan Inish. The grandmother in this film, set in Ireland, comments that her grandson is one of the dark ones. This was oddly familiar to me. As I was growing up my Irish-American grandmother, who I always considered to be part mermaid, ceaselessly commented about my dark eyes and especially my dark eyebrows. At times the teasing was unbearable; no child wants to be marked as different.

According to legend and myth the dark eyed Irish or Scottish are the offspring of a Selkie. A Selkie is part seal, part human. She can shed her seal skin and take human form. If someone, perhaps a lonesome fisherman, hides the Selkie's pelt she will be trapped on land as a human. That is until she finds the pelt and returns to the sea often leaving her human children as sad, whimsical, dark orphans.

Growing up I spent a lot of time with my grandmother, mostly just imagining. We made up stories and songs, drew pictures and saw things that no one else could see. Perhaps they weren't really there at all. Regardless we led a magical existence for a few years. She talked of the sea often and made me promise, almost daily, that when I grew up and earned some money I would buy us a shack on the beach. Until then we spent our summers at the local swimming pool punctuated by week long trips to the Carolinas or the Delmarva peninsula.

Selkie tales are full of longing. The human Selkie misses living in the sea. Often she comes to resent her human husband for keeping her on land. In the tales I've read she always finds a way back to the sea. Similar to a Selkie lonesome for her seal family my grandmother would lament her deceased brothers and sisters, longing to see them again. She looked forward to seeing her family again after death. All this time I thought my grandmother was part mermaid but now I'm thinking she was really part seal.

The last time we went to the ocean together was after she had had a stroke. She was a tiny, frail version of herself. Walking down to the shore in her trademark "beach bum" hat was an effort. At night she insisted on sleeping on a hard, wooden bench on the screened-in porch. She wanted to feel the sea's breeze and listen to the waves crash against the sands all night. What an awesome lady. I thought she might disappear into the sea while the rest of us slept.

As humans we have much in common with aquatic mammals. We rely on vocalization as our primary means of communication as opposed to olfactory communication which is favored by many land mammals. Elaine Morgan postulates that this may be a result of an aquatic past. We are the only primate that sheds tears. The only other creatures which have similar glands for shedding salt water near the eyes or nose are marine creatures: seals, sea otters, saltwater crocodiles, even marine snakes and lizards. That bit of webbing between our thumb pointer finger? No other primate has that. Is it a stunted aquatic adaptation? A feature which if we had stayed in the seas would have continued to develop?

I get excited when science and myth brush against each other, like waves washing over a shore. Those moments are the catalyst for a lot of the art I make. My personal mythologizing continues to weave a web of connections and loose associations. An amalgam of classical and personal mythos, half-truths and re-combinations...I feel as if everything of import (to me) can be connected. I feel inclined to consider things in relation to each other.

Aquatic ape theory and a folk memory about a longing to return to the sea where we once, perhaps, lived. Is this the creative brain trying to process residual aquatic inclinations? A way to whimsically explain observed similarities between us and them? Or a saved bit of knowledge: once we stayed in the sea. Remember this just in case things on land go sour again.

Totally Radical : Aquatic Ape Theory

2008-03-27T11:00:00.000-07:00

The longer I went on reading his own books about himself, the more I longed
to find a volume that would begin: "When the first ancestor of the human race
descended from the trees, she had not yet developed the mighty brain that
was to distinguish her so sharply from all other species..."

Of course, She was no more the first ancestor than he was- but she was no
less the first ancestor, either.
- Elaine Morgan

Elaine Morgan
my heroine of evolutionary theory

The very same longing is what led me to start drawing hairy, hominid females as an undergraduate art student. It is a theme I have come back to often and in various ways. Explorations of this and related subjects led me to realize how much of an ideology biology can be. The role bias (whether gender, racial, species based, class, etc. etc.) plays when theorizing or attempting to understand is immense. The different perspectives surfacing from women in the world of paleo such as Elaine Morgan and Olga Soffer have brought up easily over looked tidbits that open possible doors to a female prehistory.

Elaine Morgan is the fierce presence behind the Aquatic Ape Theory (AAT) and we have her to thank for developing the theory and sharing it with the world. Sir Allister Hardy was the first person on record to wonder about a possible aquatic past for Homo sapiens. The aquatic idea was not a popular one and not wanting to risk his career and become a target of ridicule in the scientific community he did not do much more with AAT.

Elaine Morgan could give a care and went to town fleshing out the theory in numerous texts including The Descent of Woman.

In Descent of Woman her complete lack of self doubt along with the sheer ferocity of her hypothesis leave me with both tears in my eyes and loudly exclaiming "Hells yeah!" as she takes me from point to counterpoint. Morgan is a wrecking ball in the shoddy, old house of tarzanist thought.

In Descent of Woman Morgan repeatedly counters Desmond Morris, author of numerous books including The Naked Ape for his male (bordering on misogynist) centered view of evolution.

Last week while in the waiting room of my veterinarian's office I noticed a book on the table. The picture on the cover was of two wee kittens cuddling. And beneath the title Catwatching: Why Cats Purr and Everything Else You Ever Wanted to Know was the author's name... Desmond Morris. At home I googled it up and yes- it was indeed the same Desmond Morris. I laughed so hard.

not amused by Desmond Morris or sparkly thing

New discoveries in the mammal world including a report published last year in Nature that modern humans lived near and ate creatures from the sea as well as a study of gooey substance that only covers new born humans and some aquatic mammals support Morgan's theories. David Attenboro interviewed her for BBC radio 4 about the latter.

There is so much I want to say about Elaine Morgan and her various texts. I just wanted to get my bias and fanaticism out of my system first and give some background. Stay tuned.

Battle Scars

2008-03-22T15:00:00.000-07:00

Last December Kelly, Joe and I declared 2008 The Year of The Warrior. Joe went to Thailand where he is currently studying at a Thai boxing camp for 2 months. When he gets back he will pretty much be indestructible. In anticipation of this I turned to steel and Kelly and I began studying the medieval long sword with The Chicago Swordplay Guild. Today was our second to last class and it is getting intense. First off we had to do around 30o situps on a hard wood floor while holding the evil medicine ball over our heads. Then we had to have the evil medicine ball whaled at us by furious nerds and i almost got a mastectomy when catching it. (evil medicine ball= a ball filled with 12 lbs of sand. it is supposed to be equivalent to taking a punch.

Later we did something new, circle your opponent and attack. I was paired with ol' warlord McClure and about 1 minute in she came at me with a stocatta thrust. Due to a blind spot from my face mask I didn't see it coming and blocked way too late. Kelly smashed her sword right into my knuckle. It was seriously painful and when I looked at my hand my middle finger was all lumpy on one side. For a moment I thought it was because my bones got rearranged and I'd never draw well again but it turns out Kelly's sword smashed into the ring I was wearing so hard that it was smashed nearly flat. The ring acted like a tourniquet on my finger and pushed all my flesh out in a big lump. There was no way it was coming off. After ignoring the advice of my instructor to use the pommel of my sword to bash my ring back to a circle while still on my seriously pained finger we found someone with pliers who said "Cool it popped a blood vessel!" but eventually got it off my finger.

Warlord McClure of the Clan McClure

It takes more than that to vanquish me and it wasn't long before we were back at it. poste longe! Needless to say Kells bought the cupcakes today!

not vanquished!

It is sad that swords and cupcakes saturdays are coming to a close. We are going to continue onward with the year of the warrior but perhaps with something that is a little more about being a warrior and less about revenge of the nerds. The rapier? Apache knife fighting? The jury is still out but by December we should be able to shoot a bow while riding horseback on a unicorn.

red velvetz 4 life

we bring knife to fist fight

2008-03-20T09:05:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow night is the opening for Henbane: Dialectics of the Feminine Sublime, a group show I am showing a new drawing and a video sculpture in. There is a lot of bananas work in a tiny space so get ready to get yr mind blown.

Opening Reception March 21, 7pm to 11pm with
a video screening at 8pm
Henbane runs from March 21st to April 21st 2008 at

Medicine Park
2659 W. Chicago Ave.
Chicago, IL 60622

also

2008-03-19T11:45:00.000-07:00

random google image search find. the jpeg was titled apes & angels. i don't know whats happening. evolution? but that horse is so good.

Wunderkammer

2008-03-19T06:54:00.000-07:00

My friend and artistic collaborator Jenny Kendler has started the blog
Wunderkammer: A Journal of Environmental Art.

To quote Kendler:
"Wunderkammer is an online gallery created to coalesce and enumerate the growing number of artists making work about human being's relationship with the natural world. The goal is to present and record this group, in our time of ecological crisis, as a fascinating and important artistic, social, and political movement."

Kendler and I have collaborated on several pieces about human/animal/planet relationships. We are currently collaborating on a video titled The Black Narmaid. Together we are also exploring projects that will aid causes such as deforestation, endangered species, and shotguns for lemurs more directly. We plan to collaborate on future projects with the intent to turn art into cash for such causes. Stay tuned or holler at us if you'd like to be involved.

In the meantime visit Wunderkammer. To date Kendler has profiled Maslem & Mehra, Harri Kallio, and a group show about photography & the contemporary environment.

HENBANE: Dialectics of the Feminine Sublime

2008-03-17T07:03:00.000-07:00

HENBANE: DIALECTICS OF THE FEMININE SUBLIME

featuring work by Jenny Kendler, Meg Leary, Molly Schafer,
Amber Hawk Swanson and Stacia Yeapanis.

Unlike the traditional sublime, the feminine sublime does not domesticate the object that might be a source of threat. Instead, it accepts the relationship of both pleasure and pain, or life and death, and the potential dispersal of the self.
– Joanna Zylinska

Henbane opens with the full Crow Moon on March 21st and will include a gallery exhibition and video screening. The cast of characters featured in Henbane includes Hillary Clinton, Female Centaurs, Xena Warrior Princess, Feral Girls and a Real Doll special ordered in the artist’s image. The interdisciplinary exhibition includes photographs, drawings, videos, appropriation-works and wee sculptures that often refuse to make hierarchies or distinctions between classes of knowledge, medias or genres.

The artists of Henbane are also part of a critique group that supports and assists the members in the creation of their own individual (and sometimes collaborative) projects, while maintaining a critical core centered on feminism, identity, fantasy, political activism, environmentalism, and culture studies. Henbane seeks to draw on this gestalt, focusing the central energy of the group towards the innate conflicts and resolutions located within and between gender and sex.

Like these dialectics, the feminine sublime is inherently hybrid, dispelling gender-specific ideas associated with the traditional sublime. The theory of the feminine sublime proposes a way to view the external world that welcomes the dissolution of fixed identity as a means to extend our respect and understanding outwards --- from a self-core unafraid to fluidify it’s boundaries.

Henbane runs from March 21st to April 21st 2008 with an Opening Reception March 21, 7pm to 11pm and a video screening at 8pm

MEDICINE PARK is a new artspace featuring new work by Chicago artists of all mediums. Gallery hours are Sundays 12pm-6pm and by appointment

Medicine Park
2659 W. Chicago Ave.
Chicago, IL 60622
773.255.5582

efficient predator

2008-03-14T09:48:00.001-07:00

I took these before the snows. Low quality cell phone pics. An unidentified raptor has made my neighborhood his/her hunting grounds.

Such a simple,tidy procedure; practically leaving the skeleton intact. Take note Italian eaters of horse flesh.

Lilly McElroy at Thomas Robertello Gallery

2008-03-13T07:10:00.000-07:00

I Throw Myself at Men #4, 2006

Tomorrow night is the opening for my good friend and fellow golden girl Lilly McElroy's solo show at Thomas Robertello. The exhibition, I Throw Myself at Men, includes photographs of McElroy in bars throughout the midwest where she launches herself through the air into willing, male participants. The images imply both embrace and attack, alternating vulnerability between McElroy and the men. If you are in Chicago be sure to check out the show. Opening reception: March 14th 6-9pm.

I Throw Myself at Men #2, 2006

show some compassion, slaughter me now

2008-03-12T08:34:00.000-07:00

That is the message Handle With Care is sending on behalf of horses raised in Spain and sent to Italy to be slaughtered for human consumption. The horses are cramped into trucks and driven for 46 hours. Horses must continually shift their weight to maintain balance and have a difficult time traveling in trucks, especially ones fattened up to be human food. According to Handle With Care the journey is similar to being forced to walk for 2 days without rest. The horses are covered in feces and must fight each other for access to one hose when it is stuck in to give them a drink. And when one horse slips and falls he is trampled by the others. Sound appetizing, jerks?

Why not slaughter the horses in Spain and ship the meat instead of the live animal? That is the question being posed by animal welfare groups. Answer: Horse meat goes bad so quickly. Humans prefer the taste of freshly slaughtered horse flesh. But not enough to pay more for it so that better transport can be provided for the horses. Does it taste like chicken... or terror?

Here is my question: Would some benevolent source please give me magical powers and super human strength? With my new powers I promise to do right by non-human animals. Perhaps I could ally with those elephants with PTSD wishing to exact revenge on humanity. Hit me up elephants. I'm in your corner.

Read about those elephants here. The article is amazing and you must read it all the way through. (i found a link to the article on bioephemera by way of Hungry Hyaena)
*update- OK, ok this is the article everyone has been telling me about (but never directing me to, mind you)

You can watch the Handle With Care video about horse transit here if you like. I always wonder about the people who go undercover to get these videos. How can they do it? I couldn't maintain. I would lose it, start knocking people out, unlocking cages and the like.

And in other animal news...
Thank goodness for this dolphin.

Love is a battlefield

2008-03-10T12:46:00.000-07:00

My weekend was mainly spent working on this new piece. It is getting hard to sleep in my studio/bedroom with all these creatures haunting the walls. I'm daring myself to try and finish this piece so it can drop 03.21.08 at the Henbane show. (no promises no demands)

Sunday night was a JAMMS pizza party / video viewing / photo editing extravaganza. JAMMS is my critique group:

Jenny
Amber
Molly
Meg
Stacia

Meg's shit is too real for the interweb.

Friday night Jenny and I went to Lucy Lippard's lecture Weather Report: Art and Climate Change at Columbia College. Lucy Lippard has mad moxie. My favorite quote from the lecture was:

"I hate "post" anything, especially post-feminism."

fo shizzle. I stopped saying post-binary stat. At the reception afterwards we chatted with her over beers and skewered meats (of which i did not partake). Pretty much if you are eating skewered meat in my face you better be Lucy Lippard or Lucy Lawless. I'll bring the grog, ladies.

Jemima Parry-Jones and the International Centre for Birds of Prey

2008-03-07T13:01:00.001-08:00

Do you wish your life was more like this:

"It was always fun to unlock the door each morning and night and be greeted by the Twit Twooooo of Mugwort, the female Tawny Owl..."

and this:

I do. I first heard of Jemima Parry-Jones on BBC Radio 4 (they do fantastic nature/science pieces and you can listen online). She was in the process of moving 187 birds of prey, 70 different species, from her National Birds of Prey Centre in Gloucestershire, England to what was to be their new home the International Center for Birds of Prey in South Carolina. That was in 2004. Moving that many raptors at once, plus her six dogs from the UK to the US was obviously a HUGE undertaking.

Just listening to the details stressed me out. The responsibility of ensuring a pair of Steller's Sea Eagles survived the drive to the airport, an international flight, and period of quaratine seemed panic inducing. So many things could go wrong and nobody wants sea eagle blood on their hands.

The move went well however and by the time the birds were out of quarantine and settled in their new home only a few had not survived. This success was not an accident a lot of planning and expertise went into the move. Jemima Parry-Jones, MBE has been working with raptors most of her life, has authored books on falconry and raptors, managed her family's raptor center since 1982, and has one of the world's largest and most diverse collections of birds of prey. The title of MBE, (Member, British Empire) was awarded to Parry-Jones in the Queen's Birthday Honours List, June 1999 for her services to bird conservation.

Parry-Jones spent 3 years in South Carolina and the new center never opened. Things went sour; apparently she was expected to turn over control of her birds to the center. Parry-Jones' fame had been used to gain donations and attention for the new center but according to her new website she was treated with "staggeringly vindictive behaviour from the Center in South Carolina."

What do you do when you sell your family land/raptor center, pack up your life, 6 dogs, and the fate of 187 birds of prey, move to another country and it all turns out to be a gigantic, horrible mistake? Go on a shooting rampage? Form a militia of falconers? Nope you just build more crates and pack everybody back up, fly back to England, wait out quarantine, get a new facility and open your own damn International Centre for Birds of Prey.

The International Centre for Birds of Prey plans to open in 2008
The Conservation of Birds of Prey and their Habitats through: Public Education; Captive Breeding; Treatment and rehabilitation of wild injured birds of prey; Research for understanding, health and the conservation of all birds of prey.

photos from International Friends of Jemima Parry-Jones

And So On...

2008-03-07T12:06:00.000-08:00

That was quick! You can see the artists I selected for the curatorial project And So On... by clicking here. Quite Lovely.

Women in the City

2008-03-06T09:14:00.000-08:00

The work of four seminal women artists, who began to emerge on the international art scene at the beginning of the '80s within the feminist movement, will penetrate the urban and social geography of the city of Los Angeles.

Jenny Holzer, Barbara Kruger, Louise Lawler and Cindy Sherman y'all.

check it

Breck girl inspiration

2008-03-05T12:15:00.000-08:00

Dan Halm's curatorial project/blog And So On... explores how our own art world networks inspire us. Based on the old Breck shampoo commercial where word of Breck is spread by one woman telling two friends, and so on and so on... Each artist selected to partake in this project invites two additional artists and so on and so on...

Monday I was selected by artist Tory Wright

I will update here when my two artists are posted.

I really think this is a nice project, so organic, simple and sincere.

terror from the sky

2008-03-03T06:39:00.000-08:00

Introductions

The Harpy Eagle Harpia harpyja is considered to be one of the world’s largest and most powerful eagles (the Phillipean Eagle is larger, although not as bulky so it is a bit of a toss up). The female Harpy has a body length of around 3.3 feet and a wingspan of up to 7 feet. Female harpies are significantly larger than the males.

Yr girl's talons can be a the size of grizzly bear 's claws! And she eats tree dwelling mammals like monkeys, coatis, and my homeslice the sloth.

( bad mojo dude)

A truly terrifying creature who to be honest has always slightly repulsed me (for the record I identify with the red tailed hawk and the peregrine falcon). My current interest in predators and the feminine sublime (stay tuned) has led me to embrace the darkness. Although the spell casting sound of her scientific name Harpia harpyja is what really won me over.

Well that along with her connection to the animal-human blur, hybrid hominids, centaurs and the like. Harpia harpyja is named after the harpies of greek myth. The harpies were winged death spirits. Part bird, part woman the cruel and vicious harpies worked in torture. A harpy also gave birth to the horses of Achilles. You see how legit my personal mythology is? Everything is connected.

The harpy in Peter S. Beagle's masterpiece The Last Unicorn is one of my favorite depictions. Beagle's harpy has a third breast. I gave him an extra mammary shout out in this detail of my piece Neo-simian Witchcraft / The Harpy.
Neo-simian witchcraft was my original blog title. The end.

Really Rad Videos

2008-02-29T07:45:00.000-08:00

Really Rad Videos
Part Deux:
a leap day extravaganza

Opening Reception:
Friday, February 29, 2008
screenings at 7pm and 9pm

Peep Rise Up a collabo video I made with Jenny Kendler. Non-human Animals attacking humans/Black Sabbath sing along/star wipes galore.

Lloyd Dobler Gallery is pleased to present Really Rad Videos Part Two, a new screening program that will take place every few months at Lloyd Dobler. For our second installment of videos, we will feature work by Adult, Julia Hechtman, Juiceboxxx, Jenny Kendler, Diego Leclery, Kyong Park, Steven Rura, Molly Schafer, H. David Waddell and others.

The Focus of Really Rad Videos is to present a wide variety of intriguing, thought provoking and just plain awesome videos by emerging and established artists from all over the country. Content ranging from popular culture, music videos, dancing scissors, Lego Mario, graffiti artists and social awareness. Join us for one of the hour-long screenings at 7pm and 9pm at Lloyd Dobler Gallery.

Fantastical creatures

2008-02-28T12:51:00.000-08:00

I am featured in an eloquent, thought provoking essay "Nature's Mirror" by Jason Foumberg in this week's issue of New City. An excerpt of the article follows.

"...In summer she will venture out to Assateague Island off the coast of Virginia, renowned for its feral horses. Schafer will take camp there, build a wigwam-style structure, sleep on caribou hides and attempt to become feral herself. In order to fund the expedition, she is selling her drawings, which likewise consider a wilderness inside us that exists but must be sought. Often, she speaks about fantastical creatures, and as if by magic, drawing them brings them into her possession. The drawings recall some distant memory, conjuring primitive peoples and life in the prehistory. The voyage will be the fulfillment of the drawings. How rare to be able to live one’s art..."

Read the full article
http://www.newcitychicago.com/chicago/7493.html

More Jason Foumberg