WORK IN PROGRESS/MY NAME IS MEDEA - shared moments from a work in development.

Three showings: Friday/May 11, Saturday/May 12, & Sunday/May 13.
At 8 pm in the Dynamite Space inThornes Marketplace, downtown Northampton.

In this current offering from the Emerging Artists series of Serious Play! Theatre Ensemble, a small ensemble of theatre artists explores aspects of gender identity through a reimagining of the character Medea (from the Greek play Medea) and the Native American concept of Two-Spirited people.

Actors Eddy Avery, Alyssa Breguet, and Osmar Ramos-Caballero have worked with director Frank Borrelli to devise movement-based gestural work inspired by text from several translations and adaptations of Medea.

Tickets at the door; suggested donation $5. For audiences over age 14. For more information, email seriousplaytheatre@gmail.com.

The creators/editors include:  Taryn Amina, Jackie Dougherty (C3 Collective Member), Julia Handshuh, and Tanner Slick.

Contributers include: taryn amina, rob crowner, ramiro davos-comas, jackie dougherty, leah mae dyjak, larry ely, chelsea granger, julia handschuh, jeff havens, sita magnuson, alice posner, steve randall, tanner slick, tiny tenting task force, jill turner

Pick up a paper edition at Food for Thought Books or download one at Valley Art Share. 

INTRODUCTION

Hot Topic sells Che Guevara underwear. You can get a beaded curtain with Frida Khalo’s face on it at the mall. Again and again, when radicals get singled out as leaders, capitalism finds a way to suck them back into the fold, selling their dissent back to us.

Capitalist logic goes: if you can’t beat ‘em, turn ‘em into heroes.

American media is obsessed with cranking out heroes — super heroes, action heroes, war heroes, revolutionary heroes — because heroes are perfectly sellable. They can be individually wrapped and sold separately. They can be isolated and confined. They can be used to knock whole movements down, in that they come to represent the movement in society’s eyes — and an individual, no matter how glorious, is much easier to bring down than a mass of people working together. Heroes are tragic.

Unsurprisingly, the media has tried to make heroes out of Occupy. Local media in the valley hasn’t been an exception, with left-leaning publications such as the Advocate painting active local individuals in golden light one week, and assassinating their character the next. It is good to talk to individuals — to get their perspectives and gut reactions and questions, desires, fears. These make up a movement’s blood, and understanding them is critical. But equally critical is understanding them in plurality.

No one represents Occupy. And Occupy has no heroes. Occupy has a trillion heads! It has a trillion hearts and a trillion guts! Occupy is a trillion-tentacled octopus! An occupus! It is not a hero.

To that end, this zine presents you with some of the voices — plural — who the mainstream media thought they drowned out when they fired up the hero machine.

Occupy is not a hero, and will not go down like one.

—Taryn Amina

See info about the entire Pioneer Valley Zine Fest here: http://www.facebook.com/events/210900662334136/

Come celebrate Montview Neighborhood Farm, Northampton’s first CSA and public food forest, and participate in its transformation! Saturday, May 5th from 12-5pm in the Dynamite Space (basement of Thorne’s Market), Northampton, MA. 

<<Bring plants and seeds to swap>>
<<Share stories about what it has meant to you: the farm, the land, the plants, the food, the place>>
<<Take a piece of it home with you>>

Co-sponsored by C3 and Mobile Design Lab.

Join C3 collective member Carolyn Clayton for WITHIN RANGE
May 2nd-May13th
WHOO Space, 11 Market St. Northamptoon

Open Daily

Opening reception May 2nd 5-8pm

Community members of Northampton and the greater Pioneer Valley are encouraged to take part in this lighthearted and fun social experiment. Clayton presents handcrafted walkie-talkies. There are 50 pairs, each a unique combination of color, shape and style; each piece has a twin, reflecting the two-way nature of walkie-talkies.  The walkie-talkies are all individually priced at $20. Upon purchasing a piece, one agrees to participate in a platonic matchmaking project. Over the twelve-day duration of the show each walkie-talkie owner will be scheduled to rendezvous at the gallery with the owner of the matching walkie-talkie.  At this point they may retrieve their purchases while participating in a face-to-face conversation with their partner over free coffee, tea and pastries.  To purchase a walkie-talkie in advance and secure a spot in the project please visit www.withinrange.net.  Walkie-talkies may also be purchased on site.

In a world powered by technology- the Internet, Facebook, smart phones, video chatting, and online dating, WITHIN RANGE is an opportunity to have a pure human encounter with another person regardless of age, ethnicity, gender, social status or romantic intent.  The cast walkie-talkie, although non-functional, will act as a memorable symbol of each encounter, adding a personal and symbolic feature to owning a work of art.

Clayton graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in 2009 and has since completed a residency at Vermont Studio Center in 2010.  She has exhibited her work in Easthampton, Pittsburgh and New York City. She currently lives in Northampton and maintains a studio in the Eastworks building in Easthampton MA.  She is also a C3 collective member.

RESERVE YOUR FAVORITE WALKIE-TALKIE NOW AT:  www.withinrange.net

As an artist, Krista explores the complexities and contradictions of the human condition, using on whatever resources she has at her disposal and her vast range of interests and skills.  She is currently working on Edith and Me (working title), a new solo performance that draws on the life and work of Edith Piaf to explore the joys and struggles of being human. DeNio performed an excerpt of Edith and Me at the Performance Mix Festival in New York City (March 2012) and she will be performing the next version of this piece at Spring WIDE OPEN at the Tree Studio in Holyoke, MA (May 25-26 & June 1-2).

DeNio is devoted to making work that engages communities large and small about issues of social justice. Since 2011, she has been developing CONTACT, an interactive performance with a mixed ensemble of veterans of war & civilians. The first version of this performance premiered in September 2011 in Holyoke, MA. The project will be in development throughout 2012 and the next version of the performance will premiere in New York City in 2013. http://www.kristadenio.com/

Sally: M.I.A. (ensemble) CounterPULSE Artist Residency San Francisco 2007 Photo by Ian Winters

1) What are you trying to communicate or explore in your work?

It depends what I’m working on.  On one hand it’s always different: military vs. civilian life; automated technology & its interface with the human; human nature, instincts, nature vs. nurture; capitalism vs. the human being, through micro & macro lenses; fairytale versions of the apocalypse.  On the other hand, it’s always the same: the tragedy & absurdity of the human condition, with a simultaneous acknowledgement of the beauty &  gigantic humor of it all—which leads to, when examined, the essence: the core of being human is basically good AND bad, ugly AND wonderful.

My work is driven from an emotional center – the emotional body, if you will. But then, maybe it’s more accurate to say that the work is ignited from a repetitive, emotional response to something that I am witnessing on a macro level and experiencing on a personal level (i.e. my emotional response to the experience of technology taking over my body).  Once I’ve clocked this repetitive, emotional response, I begin to investigate and research the content surrounding the state of things that are creating a certain condition/situation/circumstance that we’re all navigating together, as humans.  The format or style of the work and the approach to the process varies with every piece, depending on the content, my current interests in how to present work, the actual spaces available to contextualize the work within, and how inter-related the space is with the actual process itself.

Sally: M.I.A. (solo) soloNOVA festival, P.S. 122, NYC 2008 Photo by Jill Steinberg

2) Where were you when you created (made) one of your favorite works?

In a warehouse space in San Francisco’s Mission District: CELLspace.  We transformed the entire space into an airport: the airport lobby, a corridor under construction, a waiting area, the airplane cabin (where the audience sat), and then took them on a crazy flight…music coming live from inside an actual plane…the captain sitting at and standing on an actual cockpit of a plane….a photo installation with rice & beans & suitcases spilling out of the tail of a plane. The way that we transformed the space, through set, lights, action, sound, and the integration of media, while maintaining the integrity of a strong, scripted  dance-theater piece was phenomenally exciting to me.  An audience entering into an entire, interactive experience, is ultimately the most engaged and engaging way to deliver theater, for me. Also, backing a  large UHAUL into the workshop/garage space and unloading various pieces of airplanes with my crazy set designer—and me sporting my badass shaved head boot wearin’, mid-20’s, can-do-anything attitude, while being filmed by a documentary crew,  was pretty fun too.

Flight W-2: Emergency Exodus CELLspace San Francisco 2000

3) How do you see your art in relation to cultivating community, and how does community effect the work you make?

I see it as the essence of the interaction, ultimately.  If we don’t know who we’re making work with or for, then it can’t possibly be as alive, engaged.  In the end, whether I have an idea that stems from my immediate surroundings and socio-political experience, or one that originates from a more historical, theoretical or personal/ emotional location—it all gets grounded in the reality of who I’m making the work with and who I’m sharing the work with.  Still, whether I’m aiming to serve or work with a specific community or communities, verses a more general/global audience, it’s all toward the same end, and that is: social justice and communication amongst ourselves (all of ourselves) about the human experience, with all of its dilemmas, ugliness and grace.

Under the Leaves Shuberta’s Fall 2003, New College of California, San Francisco Photo by Louise Bertelsen

4) What is your spirit animal?

Definitely the unicorn (if you mean my mythical spirit animal), or some version of the impala – aepyceros melampus – (if you mean my earthly spirit animal). One of the most common antelope of sub-Saharan Africa, the impala is an evolutionary success story and is capable of living in many different conditions. They are one of the few animals in Africa that have increased their numbers and range over the past century despite human encroachment and threat. They are very handsome antelope and their meat is tender and not gamy. (My impala is definitely a male.  They have the pretty horns, and when it comes down to it—I have some fairly masculine attributes: strong, stubborn, endurance based, dominant & submissive, adaptable to environment, I can be a strong and also a gentle leader).

5) What spaces in Northampton are you most curious to see inside of, or to (make) work in?

I hope to make work at A.P.E. one day sooner than later, as I love working theatrically in gallery spaces, and I think that one has some interesting potential that I haven’t yet seen tapped (in my short time here, thus far).  I’m mostly interested in old buildings with interesting spaces, and architecture that we don’t get to live inside of so often in contemporary life.  For this reason, I really enjoyed producing CONTACT at the Canal Gallery in Holyoke (former paper mill) on the Canal.  The building, inside & out is fascinating; the history is compelling and working with and against the sense of abandonment | quiet | isolation down there is profound.

From rehearsals for: CONTACT, an interactive performance installation Created & performed by a mixed ensemble of veterans of war & civilians In collaboration with Matt Mitchell’s 100facesofwareexperience.org Conceived & directed by Krista DeNio Canal Gallery, Holyoke (now called ‘The Guilded Brick’)

6) What are some strategies you use to sustain your art (creative) practice (while living in Northampton)?

Being completely engaged with my job at Earthdance (www.earthdance.net), and many incredible artists who come through there, creates ground for ongoing creative exchange; rehearsing at Wild Life Sanctuary (where I feel super inspired); producing work here in the Pioneer Valley, and travelling it to NYC, SF and other locations; working with a group of artists who I find inspiring and to be good humans/ attempting to create a collective with them; practicing a specific improvisational structure, called the Underscore, developed by Nancy Stark Smith, with Nancy and a group of seasoned improvisational dance practitioners, on an (ideally) weekly basis.

7) What 5 items do you always carry with you?

Bag (containing: wallet, keys, journal, pens, i-phone, lipstick, make-up bag,), water bottle, a patch of camouflage (in my car), knee pads (alternately in car or in bag), a cup of coffee or chicken/protein (depending on time of day).

Burns Maxey is an inter-media artist specializing in the study of place and narrative through the combination of new and old technologies. Maxey will preview excerpts from Project Elements Easthampton: Air, including interviews of motorcyclists and a sound/video and edible installation that follows the lost story of a child laborer who later became a candy store owner in Easthampton at the turn of the 20th century. In addition, Maxey premieres her new performance work Heaped at 7:00pm.

See our artist interview here: http://c3northampton.org/?p=466

Sara Smith is an interdisciplinary artist, choreographer and archivist interested in the poetics and politics of embodied research. Her contribution to 4Walls includes video documentation of When last we saw our heroines…, a choreographic work about two suffrage and labor activists in 1905 who ponder the meaning of their activism and their place in history as they travel through a time warp. Smith will also exhibit slide show presentations from her ongoing project, Tell Me a Story from Someone Else’s Life, in which she invites people to imagine new narratives based on found family slide collections.

participate in the creation of Tell Me a Story from Someone Else’s Life here: https://sites.google.com/site/astoryfromsomeoneelseslife/

experience more of Sara Smith’s work here: www.sarasmithprojects.com

This month’s 4walls installation series, curated by C3 core collective members Kathy Couch and Jacqueline Dougherty, uses a set of moveable gallery walls to spark creative dialogue between artists and audience, broadening ideas about visual art.

C3 friends and local Northampton artists exhibit their work in Proof at the Northampton Center for the Arts.  Come celebrate three local artists and three eclectic drawing practices!

Proof is an exhibition of materially responsive drawings by the artists Jenni Sussman, Lena Schmid, and Matthew Samolewicz.  The proof is in the drawings and the drawings are the proof.  Their work finds its foundation in the practice of drawing, using intuitive mark making to understand and communicate the inner self.  This process exposes truths that would otherwise remain inaccessible.

Ok Team,

The time has come for Northampton Arts Council’s Spring round of ArtsEZ grants!

This is a great opportunity to find more funding for that sweet project you’ve been cooking up. The application isn’t tough and can be well worth your time. Do it!!!!!!!

To download revised ArtsEz 2012 guidelines and an application–click here.

The deadline is Wednesday, May 2, 2012. Projects may start no earlier than July 1, 2012, and must be completed by June 30, 2013.

Check out the Northampton Arts Council website for more information.

Now go get ‘em, tiger!