Thrift Store Gallery - Closed.

The gallery was scheduled to be up for 1 month, with the possibility of becoming permanent. Due to numerous factors, the gallery has closed after only one week. The thrift store will be moving its whole store into half the space, starting on Dec 31. Due to my holiday schedule, and their upcoming move, we both decided to dissemble the art show early. After the new year we will discuss the possibility of bringing the gallery back. There was really good feedback from both the staff and patrons about the gallery space, but given the thrift store's limited amount on space the layout will have to be reconsidered.

Stay tuned to find out if the thrift store gallery returns.

Up and Coming!

The time has come. Our show is up on 18th Street's main page. Above is a screen shot. Make sure to check the website's calendar for upcoming events: http://18thstreet.org

Thrift Store Gallery - Open!

The event at the thrift store turned out really well. Time will tell if the establishment of the gallery space in the thrift store is beneficial for either the store or the clinic, but for the time being it looks great.

I talked with Carlos, one of the artists, and outreach coordinator for the clinic about the possibility of renting out the gallery space for artists, and to hold more art shows in the future. It seems like having this extra space could work out well for everyone.

I also started a contact list with email and phone info. for those who would be interested in receiving updates on upcoming gallery shows and to indicate if interested in volunteering at either the thrift store or the clinic. I think this smaller initiative could be really helpful in informing the community, and encouraging people to get involved.

The show is scheduled to be up for about 3 weeks. It will be interesting to see the effects, both long term and sooner.

Thrift Store Event to benefit Free Clinic

Tonight is the opening of the art show I've organized for the Thrift Store's 1st Annual Event.

Time: 6-10pm - Tonight Dec.11
Location: Berda Paradise Thrift Store - 3506 W Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026 - (323) 661-8246
Event - Music, Art Show, Big Sale - 50% off everything in store, and hot cider

If you are in the area, or can make it on short notice that would be great, otherwise I'll have pictures documenting the event.

Community Walk

Here is a pre-walk photo of me and the cart before the AIDS Posada. The walk was about one mile, and during that time I talked to numerous people of all ages and backgrounds.

AIDS Posada Tonight.

Tonight will be my first time out with the cart in the community. I practiced with tool shelf at school one day, but I haven't had my pretty little cart out there.

Here are the details if anyone wants to come:
Meet at the clinic to start walking at 6pm.
Address: 3324 West Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90026-2190
Details: Walk with be approximately one mile to the United Methodist Church in Echo Park.

If you are in the area tonight come and join us!

Staff Meeting

Friday's meeting provided me with some great feedback from the staff at the clinic. We discussed the ideas of the cart, the auction of medical services, revitalizing the thrift store through an art show, and the drawing of the insurance options.

I heard back from the Silverlake Art and Vintage Market, which is located across from the weekly market. They were interested, but said they were already too busy to allocate anytime into participating. However, they did say that it may be possible for them to contribute to an art show at the thrift store in February. So this is something to follow-up on. In the meantime, I'm working on gathering some artists from my neighborhood to contribute to an art show at the thrift store.

I realized that collaborating with the thrift store will actually be a more beneficial collaboration, due to the clinic's lack of time to participate. The store has asked me to paint their sign, as they are updating the store, and are more willing to participate in change. We have a meeting planned for Friday to discuss some options.

I am still waiting to hear back about the possibility of the clinic becoming a drop off center for weekly produce boxes. I'll be calling South Central Farmers this afternoon.

Calendar Up!

As a way to keep up on all of the events we are all planning for the exhibition at 18th Street Studios, we decided that a public calendar would be best. Here there will be numerous events that artists are arranging, including panel discussions, workshops and more.



Check back from time to time to see events, or follow the link here:
http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=6to352246sab6th9sr5kerl87k%40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=America/Los_Angeles

Week 5 Collaboration

This week is off to a good start. Today is Monday, and I've learned that is the best time to get in touch with people at the clinic. We have schedule a time on Friday that I am going in to talk to the staff about my projects, and hopefully get feedback. I'll also be going to the thrift store to talk with the store manager about the possibility of an art show at the store during their annual holiday event on December 11.

I feel that this collaboration is back on track, and has a chance at working. The mid-project review is in 2 weeks and there is lots to do.

Cart Update

Above are some pictures of the cart in process. I made some calculations errors and forgot to account for the 6" of the wheels and base, thus the cart is a little tall - kind of more like a desk. I've asked a few people what they think and everyone seems to say that it is fine, but I'm still considering cutting 5" down to mimic cart proportions more accurately. This would involve a lot of extra labor, and I'm trying to decide how quickly I want this piece out there. It would be great to take it out to the gallery walk on Thursday downtown, but there's always next month.

Diagram

On Saturday I attended a lecture about health insurance. This was especially exciting because I am in the works on developing a diagram of the California Health Insurance Structure. I initially wanted to create a diagram to depict the entire health care system, but soon realized how vast and complicated that structure must be, so I decided to start regional. This will also hopefully be a great tool for my organization, that I will be able to leave behind.

The image above is a possible diagram format that I am considering using. Its called a Network Diagram.

The different sources of health care I have identified are the following:

Employer Plan
--Cal Choice
--Unions
--Assembly Bill 1672

Cobra
CalCobra

Private Plan
--Individual Plan
--Family Plan

Government Plans (state and federal)
--Medicare
--Medicade/Medical
--Major Risk Medical Program

Association Plans / Indemnity plans
--Hospitalization Plans
--Accident Plans

Long Term Care

If you know of others that I have left out please list in comments below, or email me. Thank you.

Week 4 of Collaboration

Week four of collaboration didn't involve any active collaborating. I emailed, called and stopped by the office to try to reach the director with no success. I planing to stop by the clinic again on Monday, and if there is no resolution I will be talking to my professors, more seriously about this.

Week 3 of Collaboration

This afternoon's meeting with the staff has been canceled. The office is in the middle of an audit right now, which will hopefully be done by today. I'm sensing a bit of disconnect on this whole project from the both of us. We have yet to agree on any ideas, except the cart piece, which we have differences on how to use it.

It's hard to believe 3 weeks have gone by, and I'm starting to get worried about the time line. I'm going to write an email this afternoon to try to clarify, what I think might be the misunderstandings about this project. I think the bottom line is the clinic is too limited on time and resources to really deal with anything else, and I'm just new at this whole process.

The clinic is also holding a fundraiser tonight at a local restaurant. I'll be going to attend and show my support for the clinic, but strictly as a neighborhood and stake holder. I have to say that I do feel that the clinic may have wanted me to volunteer for this event, but I have to remember what my role in this project is an artist with my own specific projects.

Performance Sketch

On Thursday I performed a sketch of the "Health Care a'la Cart" performance during the Otis Health Care fair. I was outside for an hour, most of which was positioned in a fixed location next to other 'vendors'. I created a price list of items I was selling and talked to people about the project and the organization I was working with.

Here is the list I used:

Health Care A La Cart – Pricelist
All proceeds go to a local free health clinic. My political views expressed do not necessarily represent those of the health clinic I am partnering with.

Bandages------------------------------------------$1
Alcohol Wipes------------------------------------$1
Sprain Wrap--------------------------------------$3
Sm. First Aide Kit--------------------------------$3
Apples----------------------------------------------$1
Package of Emergen-C--------------------------$1
Wheat Grass Seeds------------------------------1bag/$1
Scalpel---------------------------------------------Out of Stock
Average Family Policy offered by employer--------$13,375/yr.
US Health Care (ranked 37th by WHO) --------------15.5% of GDP
France’s Health Care (ranked 1tst by WHO)-------------11% of GDP
Japan’s Health Care(ranked 10h by WHO) -----------8% of GDP
Germany’s Health Care(ranked 25h by WHO) -----10.5% of GDP
CEO of UnitedHealth salary----------------------$9,474,880
Local Representative’s Contact Info.------------Free

Production Studio - Class #8

Today in class class we decided that the fundaraising was not financially beneficial for the amount of time we were putting in. The fundraising event we held on Saturday at 18th Street Gallery was a success in terms of networking, but we didn't make much money. This lead to the outcome we voting on today: fundraising within our projects in more specific ways, and including this in the gallery exhibit.

During Bob's lecture in class, he discussed how unique his LACMAlab project was, specifically because it was at a non-contemporary museum. He also curated the show to include all ages, which came out of the idea that kids learn best when engaged with their parents. He discussed several shows he curated like this, showing examples.

One main point out of his lecture, was the following question:
Can our projects motivate people, which is different from just informing?

Week 2 of Collaboration - Politics

Today I had my first run in with maintaining autonomy as artist. While I am aware of what that means to me, I found myself in a conversation with the director of my CBO saying "...and as a volunteer .... I'll have check with my lawyer about our political position on that." And that's when I knew I must have miss communicated something about this partnership. I now need to figure out how to better explain the partnership I am creating between organization and artist.

I'm feeling a little pressured to begin the projects and get things rolling (only 9 weeks left); however, I think it will take at least another week or two of conversations to get to a common goal secured. I am hoping to arrange a meeting with the whole staff, as they will be my community, and as to have feed back from more people. I look forward to hearing the needs of the doctors and staff, and sharing my ideas with them.

First Funding Efforts

On a Friday night we gathered together as a class to make sugar skulls at the 18th Street Studio. These skulls will be sold at a gallery event at 18th Street studio.

Production Studio - Class #6

Production Studio was really helpful today, as we got to talk about a lot of issues concerning us, and me with our community project development. The deadline is real though, and I need to finalize an organization / project topic by this Friday. Yikes. I realized that this process of choosing an organization has been particularly hard for me, because I have really been trying to not chose a random, needy population to do a project with, but instead work with issues and larger groups of people. In some ways I feel inarticulate to try to push for what I am really wanting (or maybe just not really knowing) to get out of this project, but I am slowly finding my words. I have to remember that this is only the first of many projects I will work on and not be overly careful about my choice.

I do indeed have a lot of brainstorming and logistical work to do on this project this week. And where ever I'm at with it on Friday is how I will progress with it. I'm struggling with the role of authorship and creative integrity right now. In collaborating I've discovered that I must comprise, perhaps not working with the organizations I wanted to, but could still work with the issues of interest. Decisions, decisions.

Production Studio - Class #5 - Guest Speaker

Tonight we had a guest lecture from John Quigley, who is an activist, artist and organizer. He has taken over 100 aerial photographs of people on the ground working for environmental causes. We had the pleasure of participating in an experiment of his, and being photographed by him. We were asked to create an image for the organization 350.org, specifically using the number '350.' This was to be done in 3 ways: with objects, with a sign and with our bodies as a group. I found personally that using my body to be part of the message was the most powerful, and I believe this was because it meant I couldn't just be a by-stander. I was actually physically involved. The next most powerful was the arranging of objects, because we were thrown into a physical task. And the least effective for me was the sign. I wondered what it would have been like to be asked to bring an object, perhaps for a larger cause, to be incorporated into the photo.

To further elaborate on the process of using my body as part of the message, I was also participating without having to make too many choices. By being present and using my body it was easy to be involved. In arranging the objects there was an obligation to interact, that could be good, depending on the intended outcome. If I was coming to support a cause in a big group I would rather use my body than be thrown into the paradox of choice with others. I did enjoy the problem solving that went along with the arrangement of objects, but it was also a little caotic.

Hearing John speak about his work was really inspiring. He had a lot of really good tips and advise to offer, such as:

* recognizing the political structure your working within, and possiblly reframing your way of working with an organization - offfer project as means of support
* Recognizing a real "no" and a false "no"
* Working from a Code of Ethics
* Using art as a tool of coalition building - sometimes getting 2 parties to talk that otherwise would of never communicated before the possiblity of being apart of something bigger.

Posted by Jamie at 9:34 PM 0 comments
Labels: community project first-year art