Circuit #4

DOT-TO-DOT HISTORY: Circuit #4
November 2000 Project

NOVEMBER 2000 Dot-to-Dot Artists

Jason Rogalski-born near the Mexico/America border, focused on social sculpture.

Brandie Maddalena-from Northern California, explores life-art concepts.

Oliver Pappas-from Big Sur. California, age 24 Sound artist and sculpter whos' focus is using art to re-connect people with the cycles of nature and divine guidance at a time when the human species is ravenged by ecological and spiritual irresponsiblity.

Kevin Paluzzi-a San Diego based recording artist and music teacher{guitar}. To hear his music or find out more about guitar instruction, email him at: PaluzziK@aol.com.

Edwardo Siu-"the work is an exploration of the fundamental elements concerned with the visual language. how to create Space, and the notions of Time in a 2-dimensional medium. the basics are as follows, line, composition, and contrast. these pivotal concepts in terms of the visual art are the catalyst for innovations such as computer languages, architecturally sound geometric structures, and the interconnectivity of the universe. Space, Time, and Movement= Line, Compostion, and Contrast..."

Jenn Boothby-from Baltimore, painter/installation/action artist.

Tom Chapman-from New York City, goes by the alias "Pleoavcee", film/video artist, "I get 80-99% of my food from dumpsters...everything is art"

Travis Cohn-male, from North Carolina, graphic artist with interdisciplinary tendencies.

We began at the San Francisco Art Institute in the late morning and headed south...

First Stop: L.A.

In Los Angles, we met with artists Eric Wong and Adrienne Reiter. They showed us around L.A., including Otis which is a well known art college where they study. They put us up at their apartment, where we had several heated discussions about art. One evening this erupted into a text based collaboration.

While in L.A., we were able to arrange an art connection at an elementary school for our next trip. Then we continued south...

We picked up Pulleavacy in San Diego and crossed the border into Mexico.

We made a camp at Alicitos KM58. Together, we all decided on the theme of outer space/astronomy for our childrens projects. In the night, we had a big fire and did a lot of collaborative sound art.

One of the best was the van piece. For the 'Van piece', Oliver stayed inside of Travis' van with a microphone. We all treated the van like a giant musical instrument. We surrounded it and tapped different parts of it with different things. Brandie sang 1 through 58 (because we were camped at K58) as a timer.
***click to listen***

In the same night, Pulleavaccy and Jason secretly did this 'tideline piece' . It was mostly made from seaweed and the middle was an oil drum. It was right in front of camp. They didn't tell anyone to see if people would even notice it.

The next morning, Oliver was drawn to the oil drum.

Inside of it...he did an intricate installation.

Travis did black & white photo experiments with it.

In the afternoon, we visited the Giorgio Santini Gallery.

It is just a bit south of Rosarito on the free road. There is always inspiring art work to be seen there. On this day, several local artists had interactive works installed...one utilized 3D glasses and a different one used a chess game.

Our first children's art connection was at Casa Hogar San Inocencio.

First, Ed gave a short talk about the importance of creativity in Spanish.

We talked about astronomy...planets, moons, asteroids and black holes.

Paper and drawing supplies were passed out to each kid.

We asked them to draw things from space.

Brandie set up a collaged mosaic project. Each kid got to do a small collage which would then be added as a piece to the mosaic.

The collaged images were of space.

The mosaic project allowed the kids to see thier work as part of a larger collaborative whole.
Meanwhile, Kevin set up and taught a guitar lesson. His project was a focused intensive for two kids. Before we left they were playing songs. Kevin donated two guitars for them to continue on.

...he played' "Stairway to Heaven"...

Travis and Oliver set up a drum circle out front; several kids used found objects. Jason worked similarly to Kevin, with an intensive painting lesson for two students. He left a painting kit of acrylic paints, canvases and brushes.

Jason told them he would return for their finished paintings to put in an summer exhibition. Towards the end of the evening, Brandie worked with several kids who wanted to try video. She had each of them do a short video segment which will all be put together as a whole. She said this stemmed from her moaic project.

...It was a "Video Mosaic".

That night we camped at K38.

The morning brought great surf.

Travis and Oliver did a series of experiments concerning water and this drum.

***click to listen***Here, the water fall played the drum and similtaneously filled it, thus constantly changing the pitch. Next, they submerged the drum in the tide pools at varying depths.

Pulleavacy did multitudes of these tiny strange drawings everywhere we went.

All day collaborative mural on fishing village shack.
Next, we donated a mural to the fishing village of Campito. We each brought several colors of house paint and Campito chose an unpainted front shack for us to paint.

It was an all day endeavor!

Just before dusk, we packed up and headed south.

We lost touch with the van...half our crew was missing!

We decided to camp at Shipwrecks.

At Shipwrecks, Jenn did one of her "Note in a Bottle" pieces. She put a note in the bottle, corked it well and threw it into the ocean.

She did this at several sites along the trip.

We continued south across the desert...

Art connection at Bahia de los Angeles elementary school.
At Bahia de los Angeles, the town elementary school allowed us to take over a class for the day.

First, we taught facts about astronomy.

We talked alot...and asked them to draw as we spoke. The talk turned into action. A drawing of a star was ran around the room to convey a 'shooting star'. While talking about black holes, we ripped a hole in our drawing of a black sun.

As they drew, Jason walked about with a star map. He asked each to choose 'their' star.

This map would be used in a project after Brandie's project.

Next, Brandie asked everyone to come out front and line up into two teams.

She handed out two pieces of rope (of varying lengths) to each person.
She showed that they could draw with the rope.

She explained that the contest was to see which group could make the most beautiful drawing with their strings...the fastest.

The contest began...
After the contest, she explained that it was a tie...that they were both equally beautiful.

And next, she gave each student two more ropes and asked them to connect the drawings. But, it translated into them making new drawings using parts of the old drawings.

They came out great. As they worked, she talked about how art can be made from anything; paint, rope, trash or whatever you choose.

While Brandie was actualizing her project, Jason was on the playground. He took the chosen stars from the star map and blew up the map 50 feet across. He used colored sidewalk chalks to write their names on the appropriate patch of cement...and left the chalk next to each name. After Brandie's project, he asked them to find their name and use the chalk to draw themself as their star.

They drew themselves as stars!

Jason introduced himself as El Sol (The Sun). Brandie was La Tierra (The Earth) and Jenn was La Luna (The Moon). He asked that when they heard the 'sun yell', they should spin around and around on their star. When they hear the second 'sun yell' they should stop and try to stay on their star.
The sun began to play the drum...as he did, the earth sang as she walked around him and simultaneously, the moon ran circles around her jangling her bells. The kids watched as the earth did one full orbit around the sun.

Then, Jason howled the sun yell and the children began to spin.

The music continued...

As the earth finished her second orbit, a second sun yell was called out and the kids stoped spinning.

The dizzy stars watched as the earth completed a third final orbit.

We camped a few miles from town.
As we camped in the Mexican Desert, we did many collaborations.

One day we all climbed a small mountain and worked at the top. Brandie built this structure over a huge growth of quartz.

We used whatever was there to make music.

Later, back at camp...we talked about the function of art...

...and if it has a function

The above sand pieces were used as 'scores' to play music. Travis did all the black and white photagraghy on this trip.

As night fell, Jenn built this amazing installation from found objects and candles.

The next day, Oliver did a series of sound pieces in which he played the cactus.

He was not badly injured...

Out in the middle of nowhere, in a tiny village, we found our lost friends with the black van!

Our next childrens' art connection was at the Hogar Infantil of La Gloria.

Edwardo gave a talk about the importance of creativity.

He asked them to draw things from outer space & we passed out crayons and paper.

Brandie set up a collage project that utilized photos of outer space.

Travis and Ed taught drawing techniques.

Meanwhile...Oliver directed a star sculpting project...it was used later in a performance. They made the star dance...Jenn documented it on video.

Jason, Brandie, Jenn and many volunteers enacted the orbit performance. It went simular to Bahia de los Angeles.

But here, all the stars eventually gravitated to the central sun drum. Everybody played the drum together!

By this time, Travis had set up his project...Asphalt Night. He presented a long roll of tar paper (for roofing). They used chalks to draw meteors, moons, planets and more. This project prompted kids to crawl onto the drawing...into the drawing. Travis had them make the sounds of the things they were drawing pictures of...this became a sort of 'action drawing'.

Towards the end of our stay, Jason worked with a small group. Together,they did a piece called, "Art Speak". Since the kids spoke only spanish and Jason only spoke english...they made up a third middle language: art speak. They would point to a tree and make a sound...the others would repeat it and write it on their paper. Soon, the group was able to communicate through strange whistles, clicks and abstract words. The art piece became their common language.

What happens when collaborating artists speak different languages?

The art becomes thier language.

Then it was time to head back to San Francisco. This November Trip yeilded many great things. Special thanks gos out to the Samas family for their financial support and to Eric and Adrianne in L.A. and to all the others who helped make this project possible.