Pandora Star - The Amazing Plywood Hen

I made this brid for the Kitsap Forest Theatres production of "Into the Woods." Unfortunately, I didn't see the show, but I heard it was fantastic. The Forest Theatre is a truly remarkable place. It is an ampitheatre tucked away into the woods in Bremerton. The stage appears to be formed by the natural flora of the woods, and the wings, backdrop, and orchestra pit are made of unprocessed wood and covered in bark and moss so that they disappear into the forest. I will not say that it is a magical place, since that would undermine the awesomeness of reality.

She's actually pretty simple. It's a 2D template with rotating feet on an axis. It's based on those wooden running duck toys. The feet are leather and make a pleasant flip-flop sound when in use.

Ladies and gentlemen, the sensational 

PANDORA STAR

The only photo of her (the hen, not the girl). I didn't paint the beak or the eyes.

Sketches.

Special thanks to Chris Stanley for setting this up.

The Gut-Wringing Machine & The Book of the IS

 I'm moving to another city in a couple of weeks, and I've taken on two awesome, but time-consuming voluntary projects. The first is a film adaptation of Charles Bukowski's short story, "The Gut-Wringing Machine." This story is about an agency that literally wrings the guts out of people to make them more compliant and suitable for the workforce. The film is puppet-based, using a combination of Bunraku and rod puppets. The project is directed by Seattle-area musician and performance artist Ricky Gene Powell. At present, I am working on character designs and storyboards.


I also volunteered to make a book cover for "The Book of the IS: Failure......to WIN!"

by San Francisco-based mechanic and former mayoral candidate "Chicken" John Rinaldi. I just got it in the mail, so I haven't read through it yet, but the title is somewhat self-explanatory. This is a self-published, self-publicized endeavor by Mr. Rinaldi to save a warehouse/art space in San Francisco. Below is an excerpt of the email where he explains things.

"Go ahead. Tell me it's not gonna work. Blow your nose at me. Dance on my grave. 

You happen to be talking to a man who bought San Francisco real estate selling hub caps on ebay. I beat City Tow and cost them 54 million dollars. I ran for mayor for second place and people gave me over $40,000. I directed a circus where noone actually had an act and people are still talking about it. I'm single handidly making Dungeons and Dragons cool again. 

WE CAN TOTALLY DO THIS.

Here is the plan: we just do it. And it'll work. Somehow. Probably not in the way we can imagine, but it will all work out somehow. We just have to start. 

The release date for the book is September 19th. 

I am going to throw a dinner at the warehouse maybe on the 18th of september. I have a friend who owns an 1860's farmhouse on Bernal Hill, we will do a thing there in October. A picnic in Dolores Park. And a few readings for sure. I've never released a book before. I have no idea how to do this. 

So here we are, artists collaberating on a project. The way it should be. I will be in all of your debts for any help you can provide me with. I'm open to any and all ideas and suchlike. 

Please, respond to this email and confirm that you can do this by the 30th so your work can be part of the gallery show. 

Thank you so very much for being who you are, doing what you do and helping me be whoever I have to be, whatever that means...."

sincerly,  chicken 

Old Things

Enjoy.

Witch Doctor/Swine Flu Exorcist

Rod puppet arm. I lost the rest of the puppet.

An Angel in Reverse - pre "Birds with Arms"

Phat Beet

One of my favorite images - 2008?

Clumsy linocut 

Self-Portrait, 11/12/09

Nuclear Summer - Fremont Solstice Parade

This is the first year that I have been involved with Seattle's heralded Solstice Parade, the festival of the famed naked cyclists. I apprenticed with Seattle-based puppeteer Brian Kooser on a parade ensemble that poked fun at mankind's limited knowledge of nuclear power by creating a parade float of a flimsy nuclear cooling tower, surrounded by workers in turn-of-the-century, Jules Verne-style equipment. We walked the parade route, inspecting onlookers for radiation exposure, chasing down deformed babies, and making the audience thoroughly uncomfortable. All in all, it was a success. You can read more about the Fremont Solstice Parade here.

The Fremont Arts Council facilitates a number of parade festivals throughout the year. The FAC Headquarters is an old powerhouse in Fremont that has been converted to an open studio and puppet lab. They host ongoing classes and workshops in community art and crafts. The Powerhouse is where most of the floats and props for the Parade are built. I worked with Brian and about 8 other artists and performers for about 6 weeks to create "Nuclear Summer." The tower, the monster, our helmets, and our armor is for the most part papier-mache. We tried to make our equipment look as clumsy and defunct as possible. In the parade there were 5 ground-workers, 2 stilt-walkers, and 2 deformed Chernobyl babies. I was the shorter stilt-walker, and my duty was to keep the babies under control. One of them, played by the magnificent Corey Scherrer, handed out terrible candy to onlookers.

The wonderful Barbara Lueke 

The tower under construction

Brian

Brian and the monster

The lovely Ally "Petitbonbon", my comrade-in-legs

Rivets & paint

Corey & Mylinda. 

The amazingly sexy Brian Kooser

Frank Zucker

Yours truly. The sexiest picture of me that exists.

Footage. Those Freemasons had to give candy to EVERYONE.

Special thanks to Brian Kooser, Deidre Muns, Costica Usanu, Marchette Dubois, Evelyn Bittner, Jason Wilson, Corey Scherrer, Barbara Lueke, Leslie Zenz, David Marine, and Toni Mikulka.

San Francisco Fail

I'm not a great journalist. I've been in San Francisco for almost a month, and I have not documented anything. Or hardly anything. I've been moving around too much to take photos or do any sketching. I am in Daly city right now, in the apartment of my dear friend Avery. There is a hollow body-cast of him under the table.

Also, my camera works no better than Kleenex box with a light. But a Kleenex light-box probably has more retaining power than my camera. I have taken some beautiful photos, but they are lost in the void. It was foolish of me to think that I could keep a piece of the world to call my own. I will try to salvage something, if I can.


Edit: SCORE!!! I just recovered these photos. I met Jon-Paul Bail and other artists from Endless Canvas at a street-art lecture and demo at Viracocha in SF.

A letter from Andrew WK

Dax & the bucket. Set for Ragged Wing Ensemble's "Open."

Encaustics

Playing with crayons.

"Banks of Green Willow" - 2010, mixed media on driftwood.

Image from an Anglo-American Jonah ballad of an innocent young woman who is cast into the sea by her lover (a sea captain) because he can not bear the shame of her bearing an illegitimate child. I wanted to be thrifty by chopping up and re-configuring my bad figure drawings. Technically, it's a collage, but there is enough wax in the wood to constitute an encaustic.

"Leach" - 2009, encaustic on driftwood.

Sold at "A Night Out for Haiti - Benefit & Art Auction" - April 2010

"Ceres" - 2009

Untitled -2009

Observational Sketches

From September 2010 - present. Most were drawn in 5 minutes or less.

My legs, drawn from a compromised position.