Rust Is Heavy

Heading out the door...

Artomatic in Maryland: Oct. 30 - Dec. 12, 2015

Trigger Warning: Large insect with far too many legs

If you go to the Maryland end of the Orange Line (New Carrollton), slither between the parking garages, cross the street and walk up the hill past a sort of marshy little wild tangle, then the 2015 Artomatic building will be on your left. It is on Corporate Drive, boy is it ever, so corporate it looks!

It also has a parking lot. It does not, as far as I know, have giant centipedes.

(I was actually trying to rescue this poor mangled metaphor but ended up killing it. It may already have been injured by the time I saw it -- in my sink as I was washing dishes -- but its condition declined precipitously once it met me.)

My art space is 6-016, in a little corner room on the top floor. Opening night is October 30th (more photos here at some point!)

Collectivism is a Tease [Revised post!]

Apparently an Artomatic occurs this autumn after all...

Will EFAC exhibit, in all our glorious collectivity?

It is not yet known. But we are having ideas.

IT IS KNOWN. As it turns out, Artomatic is pretty staunchly anti- that idea. It is all about the individual (unless, I guess, you're a glass school). OK then! I still signed up. There will be new stuff, and it MAY* contain hidden nods to the work of my collectivity-buddies. Come see it! Wilds of Maryland, Oct. 30 - Dec. 12.

--- djh

*spoiler: WILL

Chainlink Cube Under Way

The ECO-Visions show is coming up next weekend.  I'm supposed to install my piece this Sunday.

I'm not as far along as I would like...  I wish I had another week, but I don't.  Anyway, I started the actual assembly last night.  The poles that comprise the cube edges and vertices have been assembled and are now quite sturdy.  Today I will start to hang the chainlink that forms the faces.

As usual when I do a project in a new medium, I create lots of spin-off art and ideas for future use.  Here are a few pictures showing things I've been doing with chainlink.

The Hyping of the Dodo

If All Be True

A novel of magic, mischief,
sex and other intoxicants,
old friends, ancient conspiracies,
& the Philly Folkfest.

Read a free excerpt online: dorothyhickson.com

Currently seeking agent/publisher

The above text appears on little cards I am making in preparation for the aforementioned fest, which starts this Thursday. Hand them out? Leave little stacks near the information booth? Tape them up in the portapotties? Maybe I will make them into a hula skirt and do the dance of a thousand papercuts.

Self-promotion feels unnatural to me (perhaps I should say blatant self-promotion, as there are those who categorize all art and adornment as "showing off") -- but really, what's wrong with showing off, when there's something to show? I have spent a lot of time and energy on this novel. Never enough, and far too much of the energy went into avoidance rather than work, but there has also been work.

The book is in final "Gamma Draft" tweak-level revision and will go out to one more trusted (and patient) reader at the end of this month. September will be the time of querying agents, researching publishers, and refining my (shudder) promotional materials.

Someday, we hope, the book tour.

Things in the Works

Artomatic may be doing an event this October -- in the wilds of Maryland. Should this take place, I hope to turn up with a small installation and/or to read something from my novel, the Gamma Draft of which is currently tormenting me full-time.

You can help (with the installation, not the novel) by donating old scissors or shears of any kind, hardshell suitcases, a little red wagon and/or a dissecting table (table or wagon could be returned intact at the end).

Meanwhile and unrelatedly, here is a beautiful project Bxiie has in the works: Build Sculpture for ECO-Visions. To help Bxiie out, see details at the link.

More on these and other adventures as they develop.

Paper Pirates

I've been out of touch but with good reason.  I'm really busy building several outdoor somethings for Sculpturefest, a show in Woodstock, Vermont, that starts the weekend after next.  I also have some 3D work going on, a new PVC piece in progress, and am working on the concept for another outdoor piece for Ecovisions, another outdoor show in Woodstock starting in September.  

On Saturday, June 13, Rabid and I attended the Paper Pirates event in Brooklyn.  

The premise is fun; interested people send up to four photos then go to the party.  At the party, everyone looks at the pictures.  When the signal is given, everyone grabs a photo or photos that they like to take home.

Two weeks ago, I sent Paper Pirates four pictures; three of sculptural stuff and one of my friend, Scott Slagle, DJing.

The party was in an event space.  It was kind of busy.  The below picture is not mine; it is by Paper Pirates and from their Facebook page here.

There were a lot of pictures; maybe two hundred. 

The first cool thing that happened was right as we entered.  The event was sponsored by 'Stolen Rum' and the various social media ads had stated that rum would be on offer.  Well, the bar only had beer.  That was fine, really, though I had been building an interest in having a sniff of rum.  So I ordered a beer for Rabid and one for myself (not too expensive; $4 each) and asked about the rum.  The bartender said that they were only serving beer.  I told the bartender that we had come down from Vermont expressly for the rum.  He looked as though he was at a loss for a moment and then gave me both beers and wouldn't accept any cash.  Thank you!

Rabid and I wandered around and looked at pictures.  

Along the way, we found three of my pictures; one in the above shot and two in the below.

We realized that the Slagle DJ picture was not on one of the walls.  I got this weird sinking feeling.  Why would they put up my other three pictures but not that one?

We took another walk around the room and both saw the Slagle picture at the same time...  It was by itself on the front of the DJ booth!

Wow!  I felt honored to have my picture set off all by itself.

After a bit, Rabid and I tracked down Tim, one of the Paper Pirates guys, and I thanked him for the placement.  He remembered that my picture had come with three sculpture shots and we momentarily discussed the broad scope of what I do.  He had to move along but he warned us that the picture stealing would occur in the next fifteen minutes or so.  We went and staked out images that we liked.

After a bit, the DJ announced that the pictures could be removed.  I took the understated WTC image shown above (I am remiss by not knowing the name of the photographer yet but I will update this post as soon as I figure it out).

The DJ took the Slagle shot.

One of my images was abandoned.  It was sort of a default picture and I agree that I could have selected a better one.  After the comped beer and the Slagle placement, I was perfectly fine with my lonely lame picture being left on the wall.