2010 Storytelling Schedule

2010 is going to be busy year, full of major developments and transitions in my work as a storyteller/performance artist and visual artist. I have added a link to my schedule on the right side of this blog. I will strive to keep it as current as possible.

Performance Art?

What is performance art? How is it different from theater, opera, storytelling or any number of other art forms?

Performance Art is first and foremost, an evolving art form. Here is a current description:

What are the characteristics of Performance Art?

• Performance Art is live. (I am a live performer.)

Performance Art has no rules or guidelines. It is art because the artist says it is art. It is experimental. ( I am always experimenting & pushing the boundaries of traditional storytelling. In the last few years I have begun calling myself an improvisational storyteller, relying on basic story outlines and spontaneity to tell traditional tales, as well as other artforms like dance, visual aides, music and the drawing of actual pictures as I tell.)

• Performance Art is not for sale. It may, however, sell admission tickets and film rights. (This is storytelling, unless it is videotaped of course.)

• Performance Art may be comprised of painting or sculpture (or both), dialogue, poetry, music, dance, opera, film footage, turned on television sets, laser lights, live animals and fire. Or all of the above. There are as many variables as there are artists.

• Performance Art is a legitimate artistic movement. It has longevity (some performance artists, in fact, have rather large bodies of work) and is a degreed course of study in many post-secondary institutions.

• Dada, Futurism, the Bauhaus and the Black Mountain College all inspired and helped pave the way for Performance Art.

• Performance Art is closely related to Conceptual Art. Both Fluxus and Body Art are types of Performance Art. (I definitely define my visual artworks as conceptual - they rely on the active engagement & imagination of the viewer, much like my storytelling performances.)

• Performance Art may be entertaining, amusing, shocking or horrifying. No matter which adjective applies, it is meant to be memorable. (Well, I do strive to make my work memorable! In a positive way of course.)

Through research on the web and at the library, I discovered many top performance artists. I also discovered that I have A LOT in common with them and have been moving into their artistic territory for some time without realizing it. Here is a link to my current favorite who is serving as a huge inspiration for me, Laurie Anderson: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzYu88jIDYs

Using my new Casio keyboard and sound system, I've been experimenting with the idea of altering my voice and adding electronic sounds for future programs at the Dallas Museum of Art.

(This is something I'd already toyed with last November when I told a story using Jazz tunes recorded in the 1920's for background music & as the rhythm for two character voices. It was hugely fun and the audience seemed to really enjoy it too.)

Over a year ago I had the pleasure of meeting Janine Antoni - someone whose work I deeply admire and respond to. Janine's a performance artist - a very successful one. This meeting, listening to her talk about her current projects, our following emails, really had a profound effect on me. Here was a like-minded soul, someone who was expressing herself artistically using multiple artforms, as well as, her own physical body. It was like the parting of the Red Sea for me. At last, I could see a path that I could follow clearly ahead of me. All the past experimenting with painting, sculpture, sewing, music, weaving, acting, storytelling, music, dance...could be merged and integrated into something called "Performance Art". WOW! HOW AWESOME!

My rebellious inner artist rejoices at the liberation that the title "Performance Artist" provides. Performance artists can & do use folktlore and personal stories in their work, but they are freer to leave the confines of "traditional" storytelling to explore, expand and express their creative visions.

Yes indeed, that is very alluring to me. The question is, "Am I brave enough to be a pioneer, a risk taker, stretching the boundaries of traditional storytelling?"

Perhaps.

Happy New Year!!!

2010 is finally here! So where is all the cool sci-fi stuff I was expecting to see in our everyday lives? Where are our hovercrafts? The robotic maids like Rosie from "The Jetson's"? Space travel to far off planets? Sheesh...what happened?

Actually this 45 year old is really impressed with cell phones, DVD players, the Prius and other hybrid cars, digital cameras, Facebook, internet googling, and BLOGGING!

Not bad, not bad...so welcome 2010! I for one am glad to see you arrive!

Dec. 2009 Newman News

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all our friends and family! We hope past year was good for everyone. Our family has definitely had a blessed & busy 2009. Left picture: Lily and her Aunt Ruth, summer 2009.

Jeff’s mother moved to Texas in Nov. 2008 to live with us while she dealt with breast cancer. She responded well to daily chemo pills that shrunk her tumors and continues to keep their growth under control. Hooray! She sold her home in Panama City, FL and rented an apartment near us in June. A month later she adopted Miss Scarlett, a delightful, bouncy Shih-tzu puppy. She’s a real cutie-pie with a spunky and active disposition that makes us laugh all the time.

Jeff was offered a job last summer with a company called NEI and he jumped at the opportunity. He had worked with them when he was with Aculab and developed friendships with many of the people. The company is five minutes from our home (NO COMMUTING!), he often comes home to eat lunch with me, they have awesome employee benefits (incredible in these days), and he LOVES his work!

Our daughter Lily is 19 and attends college full time. After receiving a scholarship for the academic year, she quit her coffee shop job to take more classes in hope of graduating by spring of 2011 with an Associate’s Degree in Game Arts and Animation. Lily is adding several extra art classes and it’s been exciting to watch her develop her creative gifts by learning new skills. She created the little bunny silk screen image to the left. Lily has a new boyfriend, a delightful young man by the name of Andrew Lindwall. He attends UTD where he is working on a degree in Criminal Justice. He and Lily share lots of common interests and get along really well.

My sister Ruth lived in San Antonio, TX for much of the year, the closest she has lived near me since she was 9 years old! We were able to enjoy long visits, go sight-seeing, and just hang out. It was awesome! I adore my little sister and felt so fortunate to have the opportunity to bond and create memories with her of our time together in Texas. Now she is in Boise, Idaho where our brother Eric lives. She is considering buying a home in the Boise area. Eric plans to attend the University of Idaho in January where he will work towards his Master’s in Biology. Our Mom is doing well in Riverton, Wyoming. Mom & I are good friends who enjoy daily talks on the phone with each other. I do plan to get up to see her in the coming year.

Me? Well I’m still the Storyteller in Residence for the Dallas Museum of Art, where I also teach several workshops & camps for both adults and children, and act as a creative consultant for their Community Outreach Education Dept. In March, I‘ll be their Artist of the Month. During this time, I’ll develop projects that merge storytelling with multimedia to create performance art works that involve the interaction & cooperation of the public. I am SUPER excited about this opportunity!

May the New Year bring you & yours many blessings and joy. ~ Jeff , Ann & Lily

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

Sculpture Mania!

My camp "Sculpture Mania!" at the Dallas Museum of Art in August was a BLAST to facilitate! I had wonderful kids, a perfect environment and accomplished my main goals. Here are a few of the kids in front of the plaster hands they had painted. What made these plaster hands unique is that they were created by pouring plaster into rubber gloves, sealing them and having them firm up. Kids were able to see how liquid plaster can take the form of a mold (rubber gloves) and become a solid shape. The kids were able to feel the plaster harden through the plastic gloves without all the mess too.

My favorite project was creating a three-dimensional work of art inspired by Jackson Pollock's two-dimensional painting titled, Cathedral. Here we are creating squiggly lines with art wire and "floating" them on thin fishing line woven within an open-sided box.

What made this project so much more meaningful and educational was having the real deal, Jackson's Cathedral right there with us in the gallery for inspiration!

The more lines that were added the better it got. The piece now sits in my dining room. I have some ideas on how to recreate a similar yet more stable, reuseable frame that can have light added as an option for added effect.

More Photos of Sculpture Mania!

This photo is from the first day. We discussed classical sculptures like the marble Roman woman in the backbround and compared it to this plaster Henry Moore piece, "Reclining Mother and Child". It's surface LOOKED like marble, but it wasn't and the mother & her baby's features were much less defined & obvious.

I try to fill every moment with opportunities for learning. Here we are riding one of the museum's huge elevators while also discussing a creative project.

Moving 4-5 year old children through a large museum without mishap can sometimes be a challenge, but with this particulr class it was always a breeze. They were a truly wonderful group of kids, real sweethearts!

Look at us we are living sculptures!

Discovering tinfoil's sculpture making qualities.

I ALWAYS feel so alive and in harmony with the universe when I am exploring the creative worlds of visual art, storytelling and performance art with children AND adults. It is my definition of bliss.

Recent Explorations in Art

I used an old album, newspaper print and phonebook pages with this work I call "Static". It's ugly, but by golly, it's unique! It was inspired by Mark Grotjahn's works like his Big, Big, Big, Big Nose on view at the Dallas Museum of Art's, Private Universes Exhibit.

This is "Transformation...It's Time". The flowers were painted on canvas, cut out and put on this canvas. I have a real clock piece inserted on the hands. This piece is all about allowing oneself to be transformed through the use of one's inner creativity and then bringing that transformation out into the world. My inspiration was from my own creative need to continue to grow and explore my life through the art I make.

Hidden in the depths of this painting are $500.00 bills of play money. If you look closely you can see the money peeking through. I have happy face stickers popping out over them. Traced with a fine pen and requiring the viewer to come in close to read are the words, "Then I'll Be Happy". This work is inspired by Richard Price's Check Painting on view now at the Dallas Museum of Art.

Tell Me A Story is inspired by Christopher Wool and his works where he breaks up words sporadically on huge canvases. I have this one hanging by my desk now. It was fun to make.

I had trouble photographing some of my work. I keep getting a glare. This image is not flattering to the real piece. I collected old bottle caps for the leaves, used copper strips to create the trunk and have old book pages for the background. The frame I picked up at a yard sale for $5!!! It is over one hundred years old and in gorgeous condition. I named this work Discarded Life for it's made from things once valued, if even for a few moments, in a person's life. I love using bottle caps and have several more ideas for their use in future artwork. Now, all I need is time to MAKE it. >sigh<