Manor of Art - Room 254
This August 99 artists + myself will completely take over an abandoned long-term care facility on NE 82nd to bring you what is known as The Manor of Art. The facility in question has been dubbed The Studios and is phase 2 in Milepost 5’s goal of creating a “community centered around creative individuals”. Scheduled for launch in 2010, The Studios will offer the community “up to 102 studio work-spaces and residential rentals”; and, as word-on-the-street has it, they they will be very affordable. Anyway, back to the show…
Here’s the gist of it:
Over 100 artists have been invited to turn the yet-to-be-renovated rooms of The Studios building into three floors of installations and exhibits. This 10-day festival will include live music by local bands, theater and performance art, artist round tables, and daily guided tours of the 100+ exhibits.
Milepost Five
What’s this place like?
I got a chance to check out the building last Monday while it was opened for artists to choose rooms and the place is eerie as hell. The third floor totally reminded me of one of those creepy dream sequences from A Nightmare on Elm Street.
How I got wrapped up in such a thing
I was asked by Chris Haberman a few months back to be a part of this and was reluctant at first as usual. I mean, large-scale art projects really aren’t my thing… the largest thing I’ve ever painted was under two feet square… What the hell am I gonna do?!?! I quit bitching when I realized that this was a pretty good opportunity to see what I could do on a larger scale. I get an entire room to do anything I please with…. anything.
What the hell am I gonna do?
I’m still trying to figure out what I’m going to do while not thinking about it too much. The backbone of my creative process relies solely upon not knowing the outcome beforehand, rather making something entirely new out of complete chaos. This will be challenged, I’m sure. I’ve already started taking notes and drawing pictures in a secret notebook. Basically doing things that I have never had to do before. I don’t know how much will actually make it up on the walls. Only time will tell…
Contents of the “secret notebook”
So far it’s just random thoughts + reflections on the concept of duality and how it’s presence can be felt through every aspect of the human existence. One strong image that comes to mind is that of the scale of justice and how it only has two baskets. This implies, to me, that even the most complex of situations are meant to be broken down to two parts and balanced… Just been thinking about things like this – there are about 30 or so things like this that i hope make it into the room…
To find out more about The Manor of Art, please visit Portland City Art.