YOU GOT TO DABBLE (Prologue: The "Back in the Day Files pt. 1")

In my last couple years of college (right when it was getting interesting) I had a couple great creative experiences which were almost completely unrelated to printmaking - or any endeavor I had embarked on previously.  The Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition was putting together an annual arts exhibition/event, which was sort of like a juried art show inside a festival.  I participated in that show two years in a row, showing films and paintings, and in my last year in Oklahoma a friend approached me about proposing an installation for the event.  We cycled through about 20 ideas before agreeing on a proposal.

My partner Jessa.  This is what we started with.

This is where we got to.  Probably several thousand books.  Mostly worthless, which were bulldozed with the hangar in 2007.

 We were pretty naive in guessing that we could build an entire room out of books on an honorarium of 150 dollars, and we really only partially played out the idea after a lot of trips to and from OKC from Stillwater with carloads (literally sagging under the weight) of found and bought books.  We went through the honorarium really fast going to antique stores and thrift stores, haggling for bulk prices on Reader's Digest volumes and Encyclopedias.  It was an exhausting affair just gathering books - but then we had to install them from the ground up, covering as much of the walls of a 10x10 foot room in an abandoned airplane hanger using only hot glue, duct tape, spray adhesive and a chop saw (for alterations, of course.)

Later that year, I was went on a trip that changed a lot of things for me.  Jack Titus, Who is a drawing Professor at Oklahoma State, and who had been a big influence on me creatively, sponsored a Wilderness Studio course on a plot of land his family owns in Texas.  We were allowed to do anything we wanted on a three day camping trip on this plot - which was really expansive with a lot of crazy history.  It was adjacent to his family Cemetery, and according to Jack, was a one time a home to slaves. There was also a large herd of cattle that would pass through, which we were warned about being a liability to our work.  It was a pretty amazing experience.  I owe a lot to Jack.  

I painted this tree. 

The Tree was extremely dead - and when I leaned on it at spots - the dead wood would give in.

This guy Michael did some awesome stuff with cattle bones he found.

This was Natalie - we dated.

According to Jack the tree was still there, relatively unscathed the following year.

Graham did this piece in the Cow Pond. 

Lots more to write about - including my involvement in the Doel Reed Project of Taos, and my work at the Fechin House.  Up next, is my peice on photographer T.J. Proechel for The Fiddleback.