The Velvet Pelican Art Challenge #1 and More of the Blue Box...

Greeting all! For this installment I have decided to host the first Velvet Pelican Art Challenge. Perhaps more like a treasure hunt. I have taken a set of flags from "The Buddha Never Meets the Dragon" series and break them up. As the total length is more then thirty feet I have decided to have a bit of different fun with it. It is in the idea of Velvet Pelican Projects to put work out in the public and let people have it. I do enjoy this as there is a distinct possibility that these will spark some ideas or fir up some one's imagination. Even more so just to, perhaps bring a sense of solitude in these crazy times we dwell in.

I know... color correction! Above is one of the six at this neat location. Please feel free to hunt it down in our fair city of Beverly. Hint: it is on the waterfront. I have been considering expanding a bit. But the more I walk around Beverly the more places I find to install these things. I am moving more towards places that are perhaps underused. I like the idea of having people investigate their locality more closely. You know what they say... think globally, act locally.

Above is a test drive of this particular set earlier last week. Regardless to say it no longer looks like this. This scene is behind the Blue Think Box in our newly made garden.

Speaking of the Blue Box we had our first public opening this past Saturday. And boy did it rain! All the well though. We planted and the gARTen pARTy which was coordinated by our new inmate Ginger. She did a fine job. We must have had 60 plus in attendance. Many thanks to all who dropped in. I suppose next time we should pay attention to our rain date. In October we will be hosting our next thingee... details to come.

A couple of pics from installing. I'll post some of the finished ones sometime soon. That is all.

Nuclear Facts Bag and The Blue Box Update....

Greetings folks. In this episode I bring you a bit of a different project: A nuclear waste facts bag on one side and the new Velvet Pelican logo on the other. I have been looking at ways to bring a bit more politics and issues to the fold. I was very tempted to merge them with the nobori but that seemed at adds. Kind of like putting chocolate on a hot dog. A bit of separation is needed in this case. There is time and place in making art when it is necessary to produce in different avenues. From the complicated to the simple. Well these bags definitely fall into the simple and quick.

Most often one looks at their art and really wants to push it far to validate it. The lesson I have learned here is that sometimes the end result requires a more direct approach. So what is the goal here. Education for the most part. Of course the visual appeal is necessary but the info provided in this manner of art is as important. The means is to use the art to convey the information. In this case I have done much research on nuclear waste. Referencing many sources and checking facts to present accurate research. From the Nuclear regulatory Commission, The Sierra Club and the International Atomic Energy Association these facts were pulled.

The above photo gives you the idea. Yup, a little self promotion on the other side of the bag as well. Never hurts I suppose. The more the viewers, the more the reading goes around. I have this idea of someone taking them to the grocery store and the baggage person reading these nifty little facts.... or perhaps some light beach reading. The tone is neither angry nor light hearted. I tend to prefer not to be on a soap box when putting out this kind of work. I merely wish for people to think a bit and let them come to their own conclusions based on actual facts of the matter. A bit of activism I suppose you would say.

And as you can see there are many of them. I figure about 100 of them. It was kind of fun just doing the whole mass production things with the printing. I will have these available first at the Blue Think Box, next week July 28. We are at 29 Cabot Street and hosting the gARTen pARTy from 6 to 10. Come on by and take part. Art in the back garden we just cleared out for this temporary show. See inside and marvel at all of the goodies being made inside.

See this link for more: http://www.facebook.com/mobileprotection#!/events/378510408870492/

Well, all in all a good summer in the nice ocean side town of Beverly. Enjoy!

The Buddha and the Dragon Never Find Each Other

Hello on this toasty fine July morning. This is some work from a new set. It is most certainly not finished yet but I am very excited about them. So I decided to post a few of them anyhow. This set is called, "The Bhudda and the Dragon Never Find Each Other."

This set is going to end up with thirty eight flags. Above is a sample of them down at the Blue Box. Currently I am hovering around 21. Not all of them are yet finished but I am really enjoying this one. Perhaps it is the down time between scheduled projects or just the inordinate amount of sun my brain is cooking in.

The above pic is one of my current favorites. It is funny how these favorites change. This set is a bit different in that I started with a title. I know that it is not really proper to go this way but... oh well. The title makes me giggle. And the thought that poor Buddha is chasing a dragon through a bamboo forest kind of cracks me up. I guess the humor is not really apparent which is good. This keeps the project from becoming a one liner.

There is our fine dragon in a not yet finished piece. The real source for this piece is based on Ryoanji Temple in Kyoto. Perhaps my favorite. Anyhow, on the temple ground the Buddha statue is just outside of the main temple. The main hall is seperated by dividers taht have some wonderful dragons in sumi ink. I do suggest you read up on them. The dragon in these pieces are from the main hall. Years ago I would have sneered at placing a dragon or a Buddha in my work. HA! how time can get you to see differently. How ethics change. And you know, at times, I wish I were braver back then to have pulled that off.

There is another view of the set. It is my plan to get these out into the fair town of Beverly by the end of the week. They will not be installed like the past few projects as nobori. I am considering a tree or perhaps a nice alley and stringing them up high. I have babbled enough now and should go work on some other stuff. Pics of the final install next week.

OH YEAH..... JULY 28.... COME BY THE BLUE BOX! wE WILL BE HAVING OUR FIRST "EXHIBIT." 29 cABOT STREET. tHE BLUE tHINK bOX.

bye.