ribbons publications

snake eyes storm shadow

2012-01-25T12:23:00.000-08:00

my friend Sam just commissioned me to make a drawing his Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow figures.
he had seen the big drawing of g.i. joes that i'd made a few years back when i rediscovered my collection in my parent's attic. we totally were on the same page as to how these characters defined a part of our childhoods.

what could be more intense than the dark and light ninja rivals?

the collection

songs in the valley

2012-01-15T18:23:00.000-08:00

my friend colter and i are making a song book....we want to make a compendium of campfire songs as sung and taught by some of our favorite song slinging buddies. got a song to share? lemme know, we'll add it to the collection.

here's a photo hannah took of us transcribing a song from daniela gesundheit when she visited recently (old best bud and snowblink bandmate...here's some photos from when we played at the fillmore awhile back ago). we'll let you know when the book is dropping and sing-alongs start popping.

get to work

2012-01-06T09:31:00.001-08:00

lucas ford.

the timeless way of building.

thank you drew bennett for sharing this picture.

dune mirror

2011-12-11T13:16:00.001-08:00

ocean beach dune, sf
first encounter beach dune, cape cod

mirroring dunes o' my life.
someone should write me that sea shanty.

new drawing, old photo

2011-12-08T17:27:00.000-08:00

in order of appearance
............new sumi ink shell collection, post japan.
............me and hannah, invisible ocean festival 2009, photo by: laura flippen
............and bonus old photo, morning raga performance at ukiah, photo by joel stillman

over and out.

"We Think of You"

2011-11-21T12:07:00.000-08:00

We Think of You from KC Bull on Vimeo.

K.C. Bull and Dave Wilson (Ribbons) spent several months visiting RCA beach in Bolinas, studying the space, and organizing a large collaborative stop motion event which took place on September 10th, 2011. Over 40 people contributed from sun up till sun down to make the stop motion film working under a 16ft tripod built by K.C. and Dave. Dave recently brought the film to Japan as part of a creative exchange. The field of radio towers above RCA beach was the site to receive the first trans-pacific radio transmission from Japan in 1913. The RCA event was a day to keep Japan's recent healings in mind and put forth a new transmission "We Think of You."

When I was in Japan, I was able to give copies of this little california transmission to all the people I connected with. It was also shown as part of the main event of the project I was working on there called "Open Harvest," you can read about and see about here.

and here's some photos by terri loewenthal of her experience partaking in the stop motion outing

japan

2011-10-28T03:30:00.001-07:00

been having a blast...here's some photos by a bunch of friends (sasha wizansky, kelly ishikawa, yoko, and naoko)

video by morimoto

video by yoko

rice harvest photos be kelly ishikawa

Japan

2011-10-22T15:44:00.001-07:00

I am in Japan right now working on a project with the OPENrestaurant family. it's been wild. folks are sharing some things about the trip here: http://www.openharvestjapan.com/

it's incredible getting to work in new places and find the way to communicate your ways and navigate and learn new ways.

(thanks to david king for sending me this perfect feeling image that he noted as "closeup of water behind a missionary ship, 1797").

New Drawing

2011-10-15T21:14:00.000-07:00

sitting,

each morning,

on the rock,

up the hill,

in the cemetery.

june july august september 2011.

look out weekend

2011-10-05T12:27:00.000-07:00

this weekend is stacked....

FRIDAY OCT 7
SHOCK at
starline social club
2232 MLK
Oakldn
SATURDAY OCT 8
i'll be doing an installation at SF ZEN CENTER
as part of a Bold Italic event with BARN OWL, DANNY GRODY, and DATE PALMS
it's sold out so that's kinda that
SUNDAY OCT 9
I'm having a showing at the Mountain View Cemetery
5000 Piedmont ave in oakland...i just finished making a drawing there after 4 months so I'm going to show it in the context of where it was made before it moves to it's next home. you can find me and it and more in the Urn Garden just past the main mausoleum building.

and for fun, here's some photos that Headlands Center for the Art program director Brian Karl took of a walk I led out there a couple weekends back. we walked to a secret place and listened to a recording of coconut, and played with a wind sail on cliff, and then had quiet time. class dismissed.

wowz

new construction

2011-08-13T16:23:00.001-07:00

here's the story of the building, transporting, testing, and stashing of the giant tripod structure that a group of us will be using in the upcoming creation of a day-long beach stop motion film experience.

kc's lil honda.

sir lucas ford!

goose!

hannah and her truck gloria, ready to roll

beach squirts

disassembly assembly line

kc bull and jeffrey manson, creative consultation

stashing...

staaashing...

stashed.

something's coming...

2011-08-02T11:53:00.000-07:00

getting ready to announce a new project up bolinas.
so pumped.

We Song (virtual reality tour)

2011-06-13T20:03:00.001-07:00

dear friends, since most of you will not get a chance to visit this little installation that I crafted in Albuquerque, I thought I would offer a little virtual tour a la Johnny Mnemonic.

So here's what you see in gallery (notice Jay Nelson's magic bus in the entryway)...over in my zone you find a collection of portraits of some verrry handsome people singing, and a map offering you a walk to listen to their song.

And then you use this map,

And eventually, you get down by the Rio Grande, and you find a shiny trail marker that leads you on to this little listening space.

and just for fun, here's some drawings I made in my wanders

the end.
love
david

Crazy Culture

2011-06-11T00:39:00.000-07:00

I saw Peter Gabriel tonight.
and I think I'm going to quit my job and go for pro.

thanks Peter!

We Song

2011-05-31T10:48:00.001-07:00

I spent the last month recording the voices of some dear people singing a song I like to call "We Song." It was made on my portable tape players and each person sings along to everyone who has already sung and been recorded...then they become part of the tape and the next person sings to the new and denser chorus. it's accretional man.

this is the song that I brought with me to Albuquerque New Mexico for a show at a nice place called 516arts. But, I never like to make it easy, so I have been exploring, looking for a place to leave behind my tape recorders with the song out in the world of albuquerque somewhere. then people can find what I found here (in abq) and listen to a sound from there (back in the bay). It's an exchange. I found my spot, and now I'm getting it all ready. It's by the rio grande and I am going to be burying a box with the tape players in it so they can hopefully stay hidden for the summer there. I set up two logs that are kind of like the boxes I built for my portable recording set up.

It's been a nice art adventure so far...still 6 days to go.

Angel Island explorers

2011-05-14T13:22:00.001-07:00

moving on in a post-car world (it's officially totaled...) includes: Ferries to Angel Island. I have not been back since the big event back on July 12/13 2008...I got to visit it with my dear bud Sarina yesterday, and we cruised around remembering all the sites and things. Here's a link to some photos from back then (and you can see the following posts to see the full survey including sarina's photos from then...like the one below with andy post design for the backdrop to michael hurley's picnic table performance zone).

One Part Bummer One Part Wonder

2011-05-09T08:14:00.000-07:00

the first photograph is the bummer...car crash on the freeway on the way to yosemite.
the second photograph is the wonder...my mom and hannah and I walked away from the car crash fine and left my suffering car in a Livermore tow yard so we could rent a car and keep driving to yosemite.

wonder wins.

Digital Grain

2011-04-19T09:04:00.000-07:00

back in 2008 I had a short residency up by the yuba river at a place called Mizzy Gizzy. There was a very tiny pond on the property and one of my favorite activities was to take the old canoe out and float around. I just found these photos of me with a boatload of kids, looking a little bit peter pan...there's some good digital grain happening here. It's like the old photos of the future.

bounty

2011-03-31T12:29:00.000-07:00

in october i took a walk a picked a batch of small buds, and I've been drawing this collection each month as they dry and dry more. I've drawn them 6 times now. feels like a lot is popping out there with these past few days of sun ... this last drawing is something I made this week for SOEX's art auction. should be a dreamy collection of art work. lots to love at soex.

Help RaRa

2011-03-10T12:02:00.000-08:00

My friend Sarah Rara is raising money to complete a beautiful film and sound project. She inspires me all the time with her kinetic connective efforts in SUMI INK CLUB and LUCKY DRAGONS and I can think of no better thing than chipping in to keep the good work flowing.

check out her kickstarter page!

and here's some sumi ink club wonder images below

Control Group

2011-02-16T10:50:00.001-08:00

Control Group, curated by Chris Fallon and Jasmin Lim is up at Noma Gallery. There are some amazing experiments in practice to see. I made this movie about a journey with some of my young friends to hang a piece of stained glass up at memorial fort (see below).

(fort construction video by Daren Wilson, with Kanoa Zimmerman and Mariko Reed)

chicken barn/treehouse

2011-02-14T12:32:00.000-08:00

a month or so back I accompanied a japanese wood working class up to Cotati to help take down an old chicken barn to reclaim the wood. the first part of the day was spent cranking on a rope attached from the barn to a truck, trying to to pull the barn off it's foundation. It creaked and leaned but was stubborn. In the end, one of the dogs that was around was playing and somehow nudged just the right spot and the whole barn came down (luckily the dog wasn't hurt, just confused). It was kind of like when someone super strong tries to open the lid on a jar and then gets frustrated and little kid tries and it opens. the second part of the day was spent prying wood and then taking all the nails off the boards.

we spent the night at the teacher's home in the area, and my morning misty walk brought me to this little gully on his property with a treehouse he had made 'to keep the grandkids interested in visiting' as he said. count me in.

Archive: 2006

2011-02-01T12:12:00.001-08:00

continuing work on my website...here's some drawings I pulled together from 2006.

Control Group

2011-01-24T18:44:00.001-08:00

I'm in a show at the NOMA gallery curated by Chris Fallon and Jasmin Lim...it's all about stepping outside your strengths and well trodden modes of making and occupying the uncomfortable and vulnerable space of the new. I made a movie, first time. just a little 3 hour ditty about taking a walk with my 5 and 8 year old friends to the fort. it was fun to make and actually totally comfortable...so maybe I didn't do a good job?

anway, it's a rad line up of people and there's sure to be some weird efforts. the opening is friday the 28th.

CONTROL GROUP
Nate Boyce
Joshua Churchill
Chris Fitzpatrick
Colter Jacobsen
Jennifer Locke
Sean McFarland
Keegan McHargue
Emily Prince
Paul Schiek
Leslie Shows
Margaret Tedesco
Paul Wackers
Lindsey White
David Wilson

CA Biennial installation

2011-01-20T12:36:00.000-08:00

here's some photographs of my installation at the Orange County Museum of Art as part of the California Biennial. just some drawings and old maps and a new map and a walk to a place.
photos by Joshua White:

photos by Colin Young-Wolff:

from the Archive: 2005

2011-01-17T09:45:00.000-08:00

it being the new year, I'm taking the time to dig into the archive and organize the things I've done and the documents I have into a proper website. Often when I meet someone who asks if they can see my work inside the internet and I direct them shyly to this lil blog, they say things like: 'so you like to dress up with your friends at school dances and go sailing?" and I say yes, that's what my work is about. but sometimes I feel it'd be nice to have a proper archive place that can be a place to look through past efforts in drawing and past efforts in outings. so, this 2011, I'm chipping away at a website.

at the moment I'm sifting through drawings and picking a few for each year, beginning in 2004/2005. This was the time I finished going to college on the east coast and drove across the country to start living on west coast. This batch includes the last drawing I made of the cape cod marsh before moving, the first drawing I ever made of the california hills, and the first drawing I made of the pacific ocean. Arrival stories...

Ribbons Semi Formal

2011-01-07T09:30:00.000-08:00

renata yagolnitzer just passed along these sweet photographs from the semi formal ... and of course you can not mess with photos of felix dancing his first grade brains out. do you remember when he popped the balloon at the final note of that one song and everyone cheered? it was like teen wold status. thanks to everyone for coming and getting in the time machine...boys playing basketball on one side of the gym, girls on the other, hormones in between. perfect.

and thanks for all the support in the fundraising effort, we're getting fairly close to breaking even in the money department, and we've certainly turned a profit in the fun department.

any last interests in chipping in would be rad! I'll make you a thank you mail!

Fundraise

2010-12-14T21:52:00.000-08:00

If you can, give a donation to Ribbons to help pay a series of steep fines and citations that were awarded by the Newport Beach Police Department for having the coolest full moon woods rave in the OC (see below).

Click the donate button and offer what you can...I promise to mail you a thank you letter, and the more you donate, the more elaborate and special I promise to make this piece of mail.

anything or nothing is appreciated.
but something would be nice.

Here's the story/photos of the night of le bust.

It was after the opening of the California Biennial at the Orange County Museum, and people followed a map/eachother to a hidden spot in a forgotten grove where a dance space had been cleared. Djs NGUZUNGUZU of LA came to make music and Kori Girard and Gus Altman shared a projection piece they have been crafting. after about an hour and half of dancing under the full moon light, a more powerful moon light appeared in the form of a police helicopter...and fines ensued. let's keep having fun in places that are ours even though they might not be in some people's minds.
photos by Tucker Nichols:

photos by someone else:

School Dance!

2010-12-14T20:29:00.001-08:00

RIBBONS

WINTER

SEMI FORMAL

DECEMBER 18 2010

7pm-11:30pm

the school gymnasium

1800 Elm st

El Cerrito, CA

Gym + Dance

2010-12-02T20:21:00.000-08:00

what do these two things have to do with each other?

oh, just timeless magic and good times on the horizon...

bounty

2010-11-30T11:53:00.000-08:00

Awhile back I walked to my neighborhood bank to do my banking and noticed an amazing collection of humble buds all across the safeway parking lot. I cupped my hand and filled my cup, and I've been drawing this collection of flowers in their fading for the past two months. It's a nice morning activity. Some of these will be for an album design project I'm doing for my friend Eli, and one will be a gift to my friend Joyce.

News from the Ranch

2010-11-24T10:11:00.001-08:00

here's a drawing I made the morning of my friends drew and sarah's wedding at Walker Creek Ranch. it was a wild few nights...some of their friends are really good at partying, I did my best to keep up.

and also, today Vicky Gannon (of Art Practical and other fine publications), put up her first part of a two articles on the Art21 blog about a person named david wilson who I happen to be. I discovered Art21 (a PBS art documentary series) in high school and it was my earliest awareness of Barry McGee and Margaret Kilgallen, so it holds a special place in my heart and I'm honored to have Vicky write such thoughtful things for their audience. part two comes out in the next few days or so. happy thanksgiving buddies.

Sumi Ink Children

2010-11-20T20:15:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd take the opportunity of this nice rainy saturday evening to look through and share some photographs of a wild day at school a couple weeks back....I teach an art class at an elementary school and I'm always looking for new ways to freak kids out (and inevitably get one-upped by the true freak masters). This time it came from an offer from a parent who works in printing to create a blow up print of any image I might be interested in using for a class. I thought about what would be cool to do with this proposition and the first thing that came to mind was the drawings that come out of the drawing sessions that are held by my dear friends Luke and Sarah and the SUMI INK CLUB. They offer brushes and ink and a very generous spirit and create collaborative drawings on paper and walls and windows and and ceilings and buildings and everywhere. It's amazing and I love them. I got this idea that if I had a large print of one of their collaborative drawings (which tend to be all black and white), me and the little ones could spend a whole day just cruising on color and responding to all the secrets and hidden faces and shapes and stories that exist inside one of their pictures.

It was rad, the kids went hard. this is what it looked like:

ps, this is the 300th blog post of this here ribbons blog. here's the first one 3 1/2 years ago (a post that has never been topped...). hmm, maybe it's best to not associate projects with kids with nudey self portraits. hmm.

High Seas

2010-11-15T10:16:00.000-08:00

Water Time

2010-11-08T13:04:00.000-08:00

I've been scouting out the waterways of Alameda lately...I'm learning about how boats get around while looking for docking options for a bit of a sailing outing I'm organizing with Elias Reitz as part of the big OPENWATER event going on this weekend.

what's the OPENWATER event? it's the newest brain child of the chefs and artists of OpenRestaurant. There's going to be a temporary restaurant conceptually oriented around issues of WATER with panel discussions, video and sound installations, and contributions from some truly inspired individuals. The full schedule is here, the dinners are going to be amazing, but you can also just come by and visit this space. (check out the photos below of a series of walks I've taken around the area...it's a special part of our bay area.)

walks with kids

2010-10-27T10:15:00.000-07:00

that might be my native american name if I were in a movie a la dances with wolves.
here's some photos I took during my residency at the Berkeley Art Museum. I led a class with some kids where we took walks and collected branches and other things of interest and built stuff back at the museum. it was tré fun.

thanks to Daren for the extended loan of his little camera...good friends are the best.

deYoung

2010-10-26T11:25:00.001-07:00

I just found some images of the collaborative performance I did with Lucky Dragons over at the deYoung last month, organized by VOLUME....Luke and Sarah brought people together to make sound, I set up a row of projectors and set out a palette of materials for folks to make a panoramic vision. interactions abound....since the Lucky Dragons performance has people creating sound through touch and the movement of objects, lots of people asked if the animations of the projectors were creating the new sounds. it was only emotionally linked, but I like to say 'Yes.' Why take away the magic?

I just got back from the big opening down at the orange county museum...the moon walk moon dance (moon march as frank suggested) was quite a thing. we had a lovely group walk with the moon blazing, and we arrived in the secret woodsy place to dance and hang, which we all did very happily for about an hour and a half and then a giant beam of light came down from the sky and lit everything up around us. it was a police helicopter and they supposedly had been looking for us for an hour! it was intense. in the end, I received a few steep fines, for which I'm going to have to concoct a fundraiser idea...but really, it's okay, it's important to dance in the woods no matter what.

stay tuned for a soon to be determined fundraiser idea!

MoonWALK MoonDANCE

2010-10-21T08:36:00.000-07:00

I'm about to get in the car and drive down south to LA and then the OC...I'm in a show at the Orange County Museum of Art called the California Biennial along with some people I think are amazing. Besides sharing some drawings and some maps and ephemera from past events...I decided to see what it's like to plan a thing down in Newport Beach (a bit of a different scene than I'm used to). I went down for a week to scout out a site for a possible full moon dance party which would be the night of the opening. It's an extremely developed area (Fashion Island I learned is not actually an island), but I discovered one fairly forgotten stretch of marshy low woods. I spent four days clearing an area of all the tall grasses and reeds, and now I've carved out a little woodsy dancehall. I invited these rad djs from LA, NGUZUGNUZU to come make people move, (on the recommendation of my lucky dragon brethren) and a dear friend Kori Girard who now lives in LA will be screening some video pieces that he made with Gus Altman....it'll be an experiment! I'm just going to go down and pass out these invitations and maps at the opening and see who wants to take a group walk through the fullmoonlight to the woods for a dance and assume we'll get at least a bit of dancing in before newport beach police catch wind. I'll report back...if you're in LA and want to come send me an email! ribbonspublications[at[gmail

angkor wat

2010-10-18T10:16:00.001-07:00

Jungle Hug

2010-10-11T14:14:00.000-07:00

hannah and i just got back from cambodia...traveling is so over rated, all you do is go to remote villages and ride elephants in jungles and then going swimming with cute cambodian children by waterfalls or go to thousand year old temples. actually it's amazing.

"ush"...that's elephant for 'go'. at least that's what our elephant driver (a young girl) kept saying.
here's the story of me drawing a waterfall and making friends with some kids. drawing proves again to be the ultimate connector. yes, I'm wearing a wrap.

oh, I took this picture for nat...I knew he'd appreciate the phenomenon of "cosmic" brand motor oil t shirts that I saw across the country. even in the smallest towns, I was constantly reminded of the feeling.

okay, that's just a jet-lagged taste...next time I'll break off some photos of our visit to the temples of angkor. cosmic.

new drawings

2010-09-23T11:25:00.001-07:00

here's a few new drawings that I got around to scanning today...top two are from ukiah (the valley mountain painted from inside an outside bathtub...the valley view of powerlines drawn while sitting on the seat that my friend sam made, see below). the third one is the new view from hannah and my new home. there's a big west facing window so we pay attention. and the last is a drawing of four spotted rocks I found. just the normal stuff I like.

okay, well, actually, hannah and I are going to cambodia tomorrow, so I'll be in deep jungle temple territory for 14 days. much to tell afterwards no doubt...pumped!

sam's seat....more photos of his here

dang jamie

2010-09-01T19:52:00.000-07:00

frank passed along these photos of the ukiah dance party a few months back, and captured a rare sighting of jamie dutcher's teen wolf transformation into a wild animal of dance...have you ever seen a dj have a stance like this?? a m a z i ng.

i wonder what sam is dancing to? perhaps it's frank's new rad band keepaway?

here's oldnew frank singing back when we were ship (filmed by sam as it were..)

here's newold frank drumming with keepaway...

and more...
Keepaway on Governors Island - exclusive Show Cobra session
Uploaded by brooklynvegan. - Watch more music videos, in HD!

more

go frank!

Invisible Ocean 2010

2010-08-29T16:21:00.000-07:00

hey! more good things to know of ...

my dear friend Eli has planned year two of the INVISIBLE OCEAN festival up at Old Mill Farm in Mendocino. It's quite something to plan a music festival from the ground up...and a whole other thing to have it go so well that you plan a second one. Last year was dreamy, and I know this year will be dreamy in old and new ways.

all the info on the event can be found here. get tickets soon! getting them now will not only secure your spot but will grease the wheels of this event...everyone needs a nest egg.

and here's some photos to give you sense and perhaps wet your appetite for a final summer celebration.

Coconut Grace Cathedral...crucial

2010-08-19T09:25:00.001-07:00

Land and Sea and Episco Disco present the record release of Coconut at Grace Cathedral this Friday the 20th. the new record has a perfect drawing by jesse schlesinger for a cover, and has some perfect touches by colter on the vinyl.
this event is going to be off the chain...I'm going to be flying on the red eye to the east coast that night, but I want to go so bad that I'm packing my bag and bringing it to the show so I can stay til the last possible second....so there's a chance I'll be the guy running out of the cathedral in the middle of a song with a suitcase.
it's probably going to happen

all info is here

back in book

2010-08-17T08:20:00.000-07:00

so, after my first book in 'ribbons box set,' I took a little break to do lots of stuff, and now as lots of stuff is settling nicely to a close, and I'm getting to work on book 2. As you might remember, this series of books charts the course of the shows organized over the past 4 1/2 years under the name ribbons. The first book was about the first show (in the Eucalyptus Grove...some copies are still available if you're interested), and this second book will be about the second show, The Tunnel Show.

I am now in the process of gathering photos of the show, so if you have any please email me please ! The photo above is by my dear friend Kevin Haas, who caught some good glimpses of that day.

I returned to the tunnel the other day and had a morning of tunnel singing and misty headlands wandering. . . it's as good as ever.

Kanoa Knows Gamelan

2010-08-07T11:32:00.000-07:00

Kanoa just passed on these photos from the Gamelan performance...it's an honor to have friends with such talents. If you didn't get a chance to see his photographs at Mollusk, check them out here. Under water dreams.

Grouper by Myleen Hollero

2010-08-05T19:44:00.001-07:00

Myleen! what an eye... I first met her after she shared some dreamy photos of her experience at the BARN SHOW back a year and a half ago. She caught some good light with Grouper...

GAMELAN SEKAR JAYA

2010-08-01T19:55:00.000-07:00

i just found these two photos on the net...anyone else have some photos of the gamelan performance last friday? send them along! ribbonspublications[at]gmail.com

more Grouper by kanoa and mariko

2010-08-01T19:48:00.000-07:00

Grouper...by Kanoa and Mariko

2010-07-30T08:36:00.000-07:00

my friends kanoa zimmerman and mariko reed came to the Grouper performance last week to lend their photo eyes to the affair...here's a first batch that is featured in a little article on the artcards blog

GATHERINGS part 3 pf 4.... GAMELAN

2010-07-27T22:08:00.000-07:00

join in for part 3 of Gatherings, it's going to be a wild one...

FRIDAY JULY 30
GAMELAN SEKAR JAYA
with a reel to reel recording of an a cappella mix of The Beach Boys' PET SOUNDS

BERKELEY ART MUSEUM
2626 bancroft way
berkeley ca
6pm, doors open and Pet Sounds begins
7:30pm, Gamelan performance begins
$5 please.

Gamelan Sekar Jaya performs traditional Balinese music and dance. The orchestra, led by I DEWA PUTU BERATA, consists of 20 musicians playing interlocking, pattern based parts on bronze, iron, wood, and bamboo percussive instruments. With each instrument tuned to just slight variations of notes, there is a mounting tonal vibration that is quite hypnotic.

Dancers will be led by a special guest teacher NI KETUT SRI LAKSMI.

For the first portion of the evening, we will enjoy a distinctly different expression of tonal meldings...Devin Woolf has helped unearth a rare recording of an a cappella mix of The BEACH BOYS album PET SOUNDS. Played on reel to reel, this tape will cast spells through the museum as the ultra-rich layers of vocal harmony ring out and disappear.

Come listen and find the larger order!

GATHERINGS part 2 pf 4.... GROUPER

2010-07-22T00:27:00.001-07:00

FRIDAY JULY 23
GROUPER
presenting SLEEP
with a harpsichord performance by EUGENE PETRUSHANSKY

BERKELEY ART MUSEUM

2626 bancroft way

berkeley ca
6pm-9pm (sharp!, don't be late!)
$5 please.

this is liz.
she is grouper.
she makes heavy tunes.

this is what they sound like:

this is eugene.
he built his harpsichord.
he also plays heavy tunes.

come on out to the museum for some heavy haunting holy tune time...

Terri Tells it Best... SUN CEREMONY!

2010-07-12T12:28:00.001-07:00

terri... ruler of the lens, again and again to infinity.
here's terri loewenthal's looks on the sun ceremony last friday at BAM. she made fully appropriate joke that these are photos of her joining a cult. which is totally on point, and especially funny to me, since I once joined her cult for her wedding day (check out the cult picks here). What's so culty about lots of people wearing all white with newest age space frocks, all drumming and singing together? I don't get it.

THE SUN CEREMONY

2010-07-11T11:02:00.000-07:00

GATHERINGS at Berkeley Art Museum

2010-06-29T22:02:00.000-07:00

I'm having an art show at the Berkeley Art Museum.
It's called Gatherings.
It's all about bringing things together.
And I'm very excited.

I'll be at the museum working on the installation all summer (til Aug 20), taking trips to round up things and feelings to bring back and build with, draw from, and think about. I'd love to have anyone join me on some journeys or with the installation growth. Just come to BAM any day during the week...I'll either be there...or I'll leave a message and a map as to where I am.

And if you're into excitements...there will be 4 gatherings at the museum as part of the show

JULY 9 SUN CEREMONY (group drumming and sound sharing..collaboration with Chris Duncan, with light projections and visual guidance by Jeffrey Manson and Misto Reef Light brigade, and a special performance by Meara O'Reilly) ... we're making a giant 8' sun to shine light upon and orchestrate our drum times. see photos below...

JULY 23 GROUPER (Liz Harris joins us from Portland to share a new composition of layering and spiraling tape collage called SLEEP. Her sounds will be sent throughout the museum and this will debut a new scultpure that is a mirrored cascade. This performance will open with a harpsichord performance by Eugene Petrushansky, playing early music on the harpsichord he hand built.)

JULY 30 GAMELAN SEKAR JAYA (25 person Gamelan ensemble share traditional balinese music and dance. This evening will begin with a rare listening experience to a reel to reel recording of an a cappella mix of The Beach Boys album Pet Sounds. As many players form one unified sound in the Gamelan ensemble, the layering of voice and richness of production forms one voice.)

AUGUST 13 JAMIE STEWART (XIU XIU) and FILM PROGRAM by MAX GOLDBERG (Xiu Xiu front man Jamie Stewart takes the opportunity to step back from his song craft and debut a new composition in field recording inspired by the night, animal calls, and quietness. Local film critic Max Goldberg responds with a selection of short 16mm films from Canyon Cinema archive that “materialize the call of the wild and give ecstatic form to the way of nature.”)

THE SUN CEREMONY
JULY 9

Camp Ukiah, a la Sam

2010-06-20T18:32:00.000-07:00

My dear friend Sam Fleischner came from all the ways away in new york city to take part in the Ukiah residency. He's been focusing hard on filmaking for the past few years (his film Wah Do Dem, has just been released theatrically after racking up scores of film festival accolades. it's a reggae movie. and how.)...BUT I've known him in many roles and is truly an across the board creative force. And he likes adventure, which is probably how we became so close...check out this story and photos of an adventure we once took that nearly landed us in the slammer.

He came out with an open mind, took his time assisting and adding to the group efforts, all the while cultivating some deep solo moments that revealed themselves only to those who paid close attention. He built a minimal and elegant seat that gave you the perfect perch to look down the long view provided by a sweeping cut of powerline lineage. This set of photos speaks to his wanders and fine tuned eye. Here's a bunch, but it's completely worth seeing the whole batch up on his website.

Camp Ukiah, a la Michelle

2010-06-12T16:28:00.000-07:00

here's some photos from the retreat that Michelle Blade took. Michelle created a circular sleeping bag, large enough for many. The joke was that it was going to be a make out sculpture...
have you been to sight school, michelle's space yet? i think you should.

Camp Ukiah, a la Drew

2010-06-10T21:38:00.000-07:00

here's a look at drew bennett's looks on the residency and retreat up in ukiah. he built a very large tipi out of 25 foot long bamboo poles that we retrieved from treasure island, strapped to the roof of a 16 foot moving truck, drove all the way up to ukiah, and then carried up and down some big hills. it made it special. (at one point, right after our hour of loading and figuring out how to strap these big boys down, as I was merging this large truck onto the bay bridge from treasure island, a lady in a neighboring car was frantically waving me down, which I could only assume meant, "you have huge poles strapped to the top of your truck and they are about to fall," but what I quickly found out was that what she truly wanted to tell me was that I was driving on the highway with the back of the truck wide open...with our deep focus on bamboo security, and our deep need to get to a bakesale betty fried chicken sandwich, we took off, back door wide open for business and for danger. luckily we caused no accidents, just had some laughs and some sandwiches. click the drew link for some more photos of this experience, and see below for the photo lucas took of me cruising in the truck with my blue tooth, just moments before our frantic lady friend overtook us...all business).

Family Reunion

2010-06-08T10:04:00.000-07:00

I just got back from a group residency/retreat. It was a small affair with everyone working together on projects about being together. It was a quiet, powerful thing. I'll share some photos here since it's a good place to share them. This last supper (first supper) photo was shot by Paul Clipson, a true bay area treasure.

(*i still don't have a computer..the robbers got it good, and I'm using hannah's for the moment until I can save up and get a new one. or someone just gives me one. one of the two options*)

Morning Mountains

2010-06-07T11:36:00.000-07:00

SNOWBLINK!

2010-05-04T11:19:00.000-07:00

Daniela (Snowblink) is returning to the bay area for her first show since her last show (two years ago!). We played music together here for two years, and I miss her, and I feel like lots others do too. Above are two pictures from our last show all together at the Fillmore...here's some more pictures!

It's at the Independent tomorrow (Wednesday) with Owen Pallette (Final Fantasy), and it's going to be off the chain. There's going to be a mini boy back up reunion so that's fun to.

[in other news...my house got broken into and I no longer have a computer...so attending the blog is an interesting challenge to navigate at the moment...and also, my ribbons dance music jukebox/archive is no longer! i have to reassemble it. bummers.)

Fort 4 x 5

2010-04-19T13:04:00.000-07:00

i've had the privilege of borrowing a 4 x 5 camera from a generous friend....i spent some time with it out at the fort recently, and these are my first printed results. very exciting.

Dunes come Down

2010-04-16T11:56:00.001-07:00

hey friends, my show at mollusk is about to come down...later next week i believe. but it's around this weekend if you'd like take a peak!

here's an older dune from a cape cod family hang two years ago...these are my life's first dunes.

DANCE feeling

2010-04-06T22:36:00.000-07:00

the dance! photos care of kevin haas...
lights! care of jeffrey manson and misto reef lights....

'Eucalyptus Grove' book 1 of ribbons box set

2010-03-31T10:35:00.000-07:00

so, the first book about the first show has been made, with the powerful help of power collaborators Terri Loewenthal, Joseph Childress, Mariee Sioux, Kevin Haas, and Jamie Dutcher. it's an edition of 125, and there's still some left after the big dance party

if you'd like a copy, here's a link!

what's in the book?
a recording of a recent morning spent in the eucalyptus grove talking and playing songs with mariee and joseph...photographs by terri, kevin, and ryan junell....a letter about the show...a second edition of the original invitation...directions how to find the grove...a series of drawings of different moments spent in the grove...
behold...

Eucalyptus Grove, Sept 21 2006, by Ryan Junell

2010-03-30T10:35:00.000-07:00

here's some photos from the eucalyptus grove show back in 2006, dredged up from the depths of ryan junell's flickr page....

DANCE FEVER

2010-03-22T22:01:00.000-07:00

the jukebox is growing. I'm feeling very inspired by these picks, very inspired. can't wait for funkiest friday ever.

hannah's pick:

andrew's picks:

colter's picks:

chris's picks:

daniela's pick:

ADDENDUM
max's picks:

katie's pick:

arianna's pick:

Eucalyptus Grove

2010-03-20T14:18:00.000-07:00

I've been spending a good deal of time up at the Eucalyptus Grove in the berkeley hills, revisiting the site of the first Ribbons show back in September 2006 as a way to get in the zone for this first book of the Ribbons Box Set. The book features the photographs of Kevin Haas from the event, the photographs of Terri Loewenthal from now, my drawings from the course of my relationship with the place, and a recording session from a recent morning spent in the grove with Joseph Childress and Mariee Sioux who performed that night.

The book is in production at the moment, and it will be released next Friday MARCH 26 at a DANCE hosted by Joyce Grimm from Triple Base, over at 2211 Mission St APT C (at 18th St). come dance, buy a book, support future ribbons adventures! Soon I'll post more about the book and a way to get it off the world wide web.
"snowblink, eucalyptus grove, sept 2006," Kevin Haas

I've also taken the occasion to create some new moments with the place...learning how to take 4x5 photographs from my friend John McNeil..

learning how to make etchings from my friend Tamar Beja...

and drawing like always...
in the book is a set of directions to get there if you want to visit (and for a little while see this new stick pile...).

More Dance Gems

2010-03-03T11:14:00.001-08:00

these hot trax just in...a dance occasion is taking shape for the end of march, so start stretching now. thank you again for sharing.

sara's pick:

jess's pick:

jamie's picks:

emily's picks:

kevin's pick:

everyone's pick:

Dance Gems

2010-02-24T18:14:00.000-08:00

the jam gems are steadily being reported, thanks for sharing! continue the sharing!
joyce's pick:

adam's pick:

adam's pick:

myleen's pick:

troy's pick:

troy's pick:

my pick:

sam's pick:

ruth's pick:

we all feel the beat in our ways.

The Great Beach and Father Sky

2010-02-21T12:44:00.000-08:00

The Great Beach and Father Sky opened last saturday, so you can go to Mollusk anytime between now and April 14 and have a look at my new batch of drawings. I'm very pleased.

here's a peek at the gallery:

Also...

I made a book!

It's called SHELLS: Vol.1
The "Shells" part refers to the fact that it's a catalogue of my collection of shell drawings of my collection of shells. I spent the Fall drawing hundreds and hundreds of shells from my archives with a sumi ink brush, the same ones over and over, and then I went back, looked at them all, and cut out the little drawings that I felt had the right touch. Before I framed these 31 shells (seen above), I made this book.

The "Vol. 1" part refers to the fact that I will forever continue to draw shells and plan on making more of these book catalogues.

*so, hannah truly was my dream come true girl in this book project... I was in the thick of some framing madness with those little shell buds, and she took the reigns, sorting, folding, collating, poking holes, sewing, and finally, at 4:30am, right as I myself was pulling into the driveway from my late night mollusk installation sesh, pressing this batch of 60 book babies. labor and love.

AND AND AND, since we're sharing, here's the Dance Mix that I made as part of the Ribbons 'get pumped for dancing in 2010' campaign.

you can download the mix: http://www.mediafire.com/?mzydnuym5mz

TRACK LIST
1- 'swingtown' .............................Steve Miller Band
2-'jumpin jack flash'....................Ananda Shankar
3- 'nobody but me' ......................Human Beinz
4- 'take your time do it right' ......S.O.S. Band
5- 'i'm gonna get you'...................Delroy Wilson and Nappy Brown
6-'going to a go-go'.......................Smokey Robinson and the Miracles
7- 'get connected'..........................Stereo MCs
8-'we pop'......................................RZA
9- 'don't bring me down'..............Electric Light Orchestra
10- 'you're my best friend'............Queen
11- 'yer so bad'...............................Tom Petty
12- 'call me'....................................Blondie
13- 'when the going gets tough'.....Billy Ocean
14- 'holiday road'............................Lindsey Buckingham
15- 'whenever i call you friend'.......Kenny Loggins (with Stevie Nicks)
16- 'one'...........................................Yeasayer
17- 'tryouts for the human race'......Sparks
18- 'givers'.......................................Lucky Dragons
19- 'cecilia'.......................................Simon and Garfunkel
20- 'awal september'.......................Group Inerane
21- 'roots train number one'...........Junior Murvin
22- 'rubies remix'............................The Studio
23- 'young hearts run free'..............Candi Station
24- 'janine'.......................................Arthur Russell
25- 'camel'.......................................Flying Lotus
26-...........PERFECTION......................................

and, as we look forward with dance valor in our eyes, I ask that perhaps you share some of the songs that get you rightly riled so that when the next time comes to join in on the dance floor, everyone's where they need to be. email me your picks.

Ocean Again

2010-02-08T18:41:00.000-08:00

i'm a framing machine right now getting ready for this opening on saturday....making 31 tiny frames for a collection of tiny shell drawings and 23 other frames too. good gracious.

Fort Transmission

2010-02-02T10:38:00.000-08:00

sir jay james just passed along this picture from the fort...so good, thanks jay.

i am mid muchness getting all the things done for this mollusk show and for ye ribbons newletter. If anyone is looking for me tonight, I'll be the crazy guy after hours at my elementary school doing things to the photocopy machine that maybe shouldn't be done...um actually that sounds totally creepy and weird, whoa. I'm just trying to send old faded papers and and things through the photocopier and sometimes it makes it jam, that's all. whoa.

if i don't have your mailing address, send it to me soon so i can mail you my mail.

sky time

2010-01-29T14:22:00.001-08:00

mollusk horizon

2010-01-21T17:15:00.000-08:00

I'm in the home stretch, getting ready for an art show at Mollusk out by Ocean Beach. I've been spending a lot of time out there in the dunes, and it's the best. I love Mollusk, I love dunes, I love to draw. boo ya.

There's lots of exciting things to announce soon! oh man.

worlds of wonder

2010-01-09T20:37:00.001-08:00

science is beautiful.

Blue Moon

2009-12-31T08:58:00.000-08:00

Tonight is the second full moon inside the walls of December, making it the Blue Moon. The last Blue Moon to fall on new years eve was in 1990, and that was a long time ago. Above are some photos from last nights nearly blue moon.
On December 1st i woke up from a feverish flu sleep with the idea to paint the moon each night until the new year in an effort to gain some traction on what always proves to be a landslide of a month. I did not realize at the time the special blue surprise waiting at the end, but now it feels like a perfect punctuation of our time with this first intense decade of the still new millenium. enjoy the moon!

this is the watercolor set i've been using to paint the moon...kind of looks like a galaxy just on its own.

i love this recording. talk about a barely there back track. amazing. one of my favorite snowblink shows was at the hotel utah when we each sang a piece of this song karaoke style.

happy new year!

last fort visit of 2009

2009-12-23T20:13:00.000-08:00

just before heading to the east coast i went out to ye olde fort for one last visit before the new year became the now year. things were dark and green and mossy and mushroomy. california winter....a bit different from things here on the east coast where it's 5 degrees. i was just outside doing some watercolors and the paint actually froze on the page before it could be spread. when i brought the picture inside it thawed and started to run. winter wild.

somehow this little dude found her way out through the woods and now seems to stand as the resident fort guru...ask her your deepest questions in your softest voice.

drum circle

2009-12-23T19:55:00.000-08:00

deep bro chris duncan has begun a residency over at KALA in berkeley...it primarily includes getting people together to play drums and let it out. pretty much the best thing ever. here's some photos of the first drum sesh.

frank, taking a key from felix, showing a little tail.