Sidney

It has been a week in my neck of the woods. The picture above is Sidney Tapscott. I can tell you a few things about him:

1. He was an old gray haired man the first time I saw him and old and grey this week. This week he passed away at the age of maybe 85 or maybe 92.

2. He wore denim overalls and black framed glasses.

3. He introduced some of the best bands in town. The Hackensaw Boys (who he introduced as the Arkansas Boys) and the Hogwaller Ramblers (who he called the Tennessee Ramblers) and he played harmonica too.

4. He was a street sweeper. He kept the sidewalks clean and was paid by downtown merchants.

5. My friends own a diner and it was written in the contract that they would feed Sidney whenever he came in. One thing he liked to eat was pancakes and one thing he liked to drink was Dr. Pepper. The waitresses cut his pancakes into small pieces, even during the busiest brunch shifts. I have cut many a pancake for him.

This same diner organized his birthday parties, his wake and his funeral.

6. The Facebook group that started in his honor (about 3 days ago) has 1677 friends right now.

7. His eyes twinkled and he was a real flirt. He had a lot of "girlfriends" and a lot of these girlfriends were waitresses.

It's hard to explain what it means to me.  We all knew he had this hard life but I don't know the details. The care that people gave him was genuine.

Thinking of Jerome Caja

I culled this photograph of Jerome from http://www.boston.com/community/photos/raw/2008/12/a_long_way_from_mayberry.html

I've been paying more attention to my dreams lately. And I woke up this week remembering Jerome Caja and seeing his work in San Francisco almost 20 years ago. I saw little paintings of drag queens done in nail polish on tin foil. Beautifully done. Campy and wise and wacky. He also used bottle caps, plastic ashtrays, liquid eyeliner, glitter and coal.

He was also a performance artist and a character.

Read more here: http://www.queerculturalcenter.org/Pages/Caja/CajaIntro.html

Plenty more of his racy art to be seen on the web

the good stuff at home

I came back from Chicago with Proximity Magazine.

Proximity is a magazine dedicated to contemporary art and culture.
Our mission is to amplify discourse on local and global art ecologies. We hope to serve as a map of artists, collectives and alternative spaces to commercial galleries, museums and universities ­as a means of connecting and cultivating sustainable creative communities.

http://proximitymagazine.com/magazine/issue-7/

I'm looking over a million rad ideas on the plane ride home, tons and tons of sites to look at, and there is my friend PATRICK COSTELLO.

http://ptackcostello.blogspot.com/

We just had dinner together two weeks ago in little old Charlottesville. He is one of the nicest, most fun people around. I knew his work was amazing. Turns out that his blog is one of the raddest and I think we need to do a project together pronto.

Here are some images. You dig?

Butch Anthony, *Sigh*

Go and look up everything you can find about Butch Anthony. He who makes life into art and magic down there in Alabama. This is the south I dreamed of and how I came to be here and why I will never leave.

"Mr. Anthony, a lanky and laconic 46-year-old who dresses exclusively in Liberty denim overalls (he owns 25 pairs) and a battered straw hat (he has 10), is a self-taught artist, builder and local hero, whom the state of Alabama once chose to make a Christmas tree ornament for the White House — the Bush 43 version. He is also the host of the Doo Nanny, the annual alt/folk art “micro” festival, as he calls it, that started as an “art party” he and two friends gave on the side of the road 15 years ago in nearby Pittsview, and moved to Mr. Anthony’s property here three years ago. " (New York Times)

http://www.museumofwonder.com/

Over 10,000 curiosities from around the world and beyond.

Admission
25 cents.

Celebration!

 

Look at this party!

In September I was in Hanover - Ashland, VA. The Community Services Board sponsored a Recovery Festival held at the city Arts building. I drove past it at first, thinking it was a wedding. White table cloths, flowers, sunshine, fruit and veggies and lemonade - then came booths and booths of art made by people with psychiatric histories. Art of every stripe - hand-painted helmets, lithographs, altered books, flower arranging, photography, painting...then came the drum circle! And amazing hula hoopers! And a live band!

Somehow my name was put out there as a person who could speak about art and recovery on the stage with a microphone. And I really want to do these sorts of things even though I can't stand so much attention! (I know people look at me, covered in tattoos with my loud, goofy laugh and assume I love attention, but I promise I'm an introvert)

Sometimes I talk about how few rituals and celebrations we have built into our society - I really believe we are meant to make music together, to make art, to celebrate. This was wellness in action - a glorious day!

(all photos - www.photosbyjoelle.com)

...and Counting:

http://wafaabilal.com/html/andCounting.php
Wafaa Bilal's brother Haji was killed by a missile at a checkpoint in their hometown of Kufa, Iraq in 2004. Bilal feels the pain of both American and Iraqi families who’ve lost loved ones in the war, but the deaths of Iraqis like his brother are largely invisible to the American public.…and Counting addresses this double standard as Bilal turns his own body – in a 24-hour live performance -- into a canvas, his back tattooed with a borderless map of Iraq covered with one dot for

each Iraqi and American casualty near the cities where they fell.

Telling Stories

I hear a lot of good stories. And I had the idea to tape them and put them in a slideshow format like a beautiful piece that I saw on the New York Times website. Somehow I didn't realize how much I am not like the New York Times - in terms of knowledge, know-how,  resources, equipment...

Barbara is a friend of mine, nearly 35 years my senior. She has shown me a different way of  "growing up" than I knew was possible. And she achieves a lot through the art of storytelling.

Here Barbara tells me about the purple lady, an artist and character who impacted her life.

http://hosting.soundslides.com/mkv9v/

May was Mental Health Month

I may need all of June to recuperate! I had a garage sale/fundraiser for Firewalkers. Then we hosted a Wellness Expo with On Our Own on the 20th. I put out a little art group leaders guide book. We applied for grants because our money runs out in July. Then the VOCAL conference and all that brings. In my case it brought a crown making workshop, among other festivities. Here are some pictures:

I had all of my usual art supplies and together we made crowns. At the end we had an official crowning ceremony where we took on a title, such as Princess of Faith, Queen of Books and King of Jews (this one caught me off guard!).

Being an activist can be draining and I'm not even much of an activist! Happy to have this time to play...

What have ya'll been up to?

Firewalkers in the East Village

If you happen to be in NYC tomorrow....

I'm presenting the book "Firewalkers: Madness, Mystery and Beauty" and some dialogue about what this thing we call "mental illness' even is...

 “Firewalkers: Rethinking Mental Illness”


Bluestockings Bookstore, 172 Allen St. New York, NY 10002 212.777.6028
...
Friday, April 1st @ 7PM - $5 Suggested

www.thefirebook.org

Altered Books

Here is some of the work done by a group of 12 in an hour and a half class. It was a first time experience for all, even though some of the people felt very comfortable about their artistic abilities.

I was really pleased at how everyone dove in and I was impressed with the results! I love how we all start with the same materials and the finished products are so very different.