PICTURES OF THE WEEK

This one one of my favorite art pieces I saw: Art Is -  During a parade in Harlem, an artist had a float, and gave dancers gold frames, and they took photos with the audience.

NorthWest Arkansas, a creative mecca?!?

Or, what I learned hanging out with a bunch of clowns and a lifesize mousetrap.

Maybe I should call this one “What a fortnight!” Sorry for not writing last week. It’s first week that I skipped since I started, but I spent most of a week away from a laptop. I went to Bentonville, Arkansas with the Lifesize Mousetrap to help with their show at the Scott Family Amazeum. Actually, Northwest Arkansas seems to be its own bubble (Like Austin or Atlanta) and there are a bunch of great galleries and museums.

Huh, what? I guess you are asking. Let me explain: Walmart’s headquarters is in Bentonville. This has brought in a ton of folks from other metropolitan areas across the country. Also, the Walton family are billionaires with a combined wealth of $145 billion. Alice Walton, who has $48.1 billion of the fortune,  founded Crystal Bridges, a world class art museum with a $1.2 billion dollar endowment.

Phase 2 of that project will be called Momentary, a 63,000 sq/ft former Kraft Foods cheese plant turned into a space for the visual and performing arts, and for housing the museum’s artist-in-residency program. “The Momentary will push boundaries of creativity, blur urban and rural lines, and provide access to arts-based experiences in a comfortable and well-designed social space. This is a truly exciting project not just for the region but for arts communities at large.” says the person leading the project...

That’s not the only art. 21c Museum Hotels have an outpost there.

I really thought all of the art was great, and a lot more challenging than I expected: Soul of a Nation was at Crystal Bridges and Labor and Materials was at 21C.  

But, why I was there was for the gala for the Amazeum.  It’s like the Exploratorium, and even has imported staff from there. It was great to meet all of the folks there - what a smart, professional group who really knows how to treat their guests well.

Mark and Rose and the rest of the hard working crew of the Mousetrap are lovely human beings and amazing fungineers. It’s great to do projects with folks who are an efficiently set up, have a bunch of fun making the machines work for the crowds, and then are down for exploring the place where we are during the time off.

Really, going strange places to  do strange projects is one of my favorite things to do.  Got any ideas? Need another hand your crew? Let me know.

CALENDAR

Wanna come build puppets?!?!

Contact noonaco@gmail.com for details.

Build is from 5 PM to 9 PM on these dates:

Mon 5/7

Wed 5/9

Tue 5/15

Thu 5/17

Mon 5/21

Wed 5/23

Tue 5/29

Thu 5/31

Tue - May 8,  8-10 PM - Wanna come and play instruments and sing in a public park with me and some other folks?

It’s a test for a bigger event.

Let me know!

Urban Trails San Francisco

I decided to make an impulse purchase, and bought this guidebook of urban hikes in San Francisco, and now have the idea of going on all of them! One of my favorite parts of the hikes is that they come with paper maps and written instructions. In the age of near perfect GPS, there is something really fun about the fear that sets in when you are lost on unfamiliar streets. (And you can easily save yourself by getting our your phone…)

Vintage Cassettes

My Honda has a tape player, and the vinyl stores on Valencia have started selling cassettes. I went in and when I saw they had a Primus tape I got it! And then I got a Sugarcubes cassette! The first thing that surprised me was how rich and clear they sounded. After mostly listening to MP3’s mostly, I was surprised how much richer all the old analog recording are. Or maybe that car and that tape all we’re contemporaneous and we’re made for each other. I also like how easy it is: not cords or syncing - you just put a slab in!

African talking drums

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talking_drum

I took a Lyft to the airport, and the driver had on some great jazz, the sort of jazz that makes you think the person who selected it is probably  a musician. And, yep, he was a drummer. He told me his mom was a drummer, and that he plays a lot at his church. He also was telling me about African drumming and how the drumming was a language. Literally.  He told me how the language and the drumming sound very similar. He then told a story about how he proved the point once by calling someone’s name with a drum and asked him where he was going, and the person asked turned around,  laughed and called back his destination. I’m looking forward to learning more about it!

FROM:

MarkKrawczuk.com

KrawczukIndustries.com

3041 Mission St, #116

San Francisco, CA 94110

TO:

Friends of M.K.