Monumental Compost Heap, a compost heap with a perimeter made of recycled pallets, the footprint of which recalls the Sam Houston equestrian statue at Hermann Park.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Call for Compost
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Marlo the Intern
At the beginning of January this year, I was faced with a tough challenge: finding an internship in one week that significantly relates to my future career goals. I am only a senior in high school, but I knew since age 4 or 5 what I wanted to be.
My grade depended on finding this internship, but I felt that finding an internship that was worthy of my time was a higher priority than my grade. Alas, I set out on my extensive search, not knowing nearly the vastness of opportunity I was getting myself into.
To put myself into context for you, I live in the suburbs, born and raised on the East edge of Katy—a spread of cookie-cutter neighborhoods that used to be nothing but a giant field less than 20 years ago. Sure, I figured I knew what Houston had to offer, I mean, my mailing address says I live in Houston; I had been downtown a time or two more than most people at my 2,000-student, windowless public school, but to say the least, my eyes had been sewn shut by my conservative residential life for the first seventeen years of my life. I chose to take this “Professional Advancement through Career Education” class through Miller Career Center because I knew it was time for me to be released.
Once I began looking for a gallery to intern at, I was utterly astounded at the magnitude of art and art-related organizations, galleries, societies, and businesses in Houston that I never knew existed. After blindly sending out about 80 emails to begin my task, I started making visits to this master list of galleries that I had compiled (this process is still ongoing; I hope to visit them all by the end of the year). DW caught my eye right away, & I arranged an interview with Tracey one weekend during a Craft Attack. I instantly fell in love with the people and the atmosphere there, and suddenly my great search didn’t seem so hard at all. I had liked other galleries I visited, but with DW, I felt a greater sense of belonging and everything just seemed to fall into place.
-Marlo Weekley 02/26/09
My grade depended on finding this internship, but I felt that finding an internship that was worthy of my time was a higher priority than my grade. Alas, I set out on my extensive search, not knowing nearly the vastness of opportunity I was getting myself into.
To put myself into context for you, I live in the suburbs, born and raised on the East edge of Katy—a spread of cookie-cutter neighborhoods that used to be nothing but a giant field less than 20 years ago. Sure, I figured I knew what Houston had to offer, I mean, my mailing address says I live in Houston; I had been downtown a time or two more than most people at my 2,000-student, windowless public school, but to say the least, my eyes had been sewn shut by my conservative residential life for the first seventeen years of my life. I chose to take this “Professional Advancement through Career Education” class through Miller Career Center because I knew it was time for me to be released.
Once I began looking for a gallery to intern at, I was utterly astounded at the magnitude of art and art-related organizations, galleries, societies, and businesses in Houston that I never knew existed. After blindly sending out about 80 emails to begin my task, I started making visits to this master list of galleries that I had compiled (this process is still ongoing; I hope to visit them all by the end of the year). DW caught my eye right away, & I arranged an interview with Tracey one weekend during a Craft Attack. I instantly fell in love with the people and the atmosphere there, and suddenly my great search didn’t seem so hard at all. I had liked other galleries I visited, but with DW, I felt a greater sense of belonging and everything just seemed to fall into place.
-Marlo Weekley 02/26/09
Friday, February 20, 2009
Scott Turner Schofield on House of Mind
Hey again y'all,
I write you from the couch in Pat Graney's House of Mind, which is also running here at DiverseWorks. I feel so at home...
If you haven't seen House of Mind, it is an arresting work of art. You walk in to (award winning choreographer) Pat Graney's mind, in the shape of a home constructed just for the space here at DiverseWorks. I call the piece "arresting" because every time I walk through its space on the way to the theater, I am stopped by the feeling of home that runs so thick through the place. It could be my home, but I know it is not my mind or my memories. I want to stay in the beautiful lighting, lounge on the comfy couch, listen to childhood memories and look up the skirts (remember going department store shopping with mom...?) I love how art finds the most basic sites of connection inside every viewer.
Pat Graney is also directly responsible for my show, Becoming a Man in 127 EASY Steps. I met Pat in 2005 at the National Performance Network Annual Meeting. She offered to mentor me for three years, to show me the ropes of being and becoming a professional artist with a lifelong career. I only hope to emulate Pat's process and success. The Pat Graney Company spearheaded the effort to commission Becoming a Man in 127 EASY Steps, bringing in Sixto from DiverseWorks and Melissa from 7 Stages to support it, too.
It feels so very right to give my show its Texas premier here among Pat's things. I hope you will come through Pat's House of Mind to my Fort of Gender this Friday and Saturday. All you need to bring is yourself, Pat and I will do the rest.
Hope to see you!
Scott Turner Schofield
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Scott Turner Schofield
www.undergroundtransit.com
A Message from Scott Turner Schofield
I'm having such a great time here in Houston!! Thanks to DiverseWorks' former intern Julia, I have been speaking over at the University of Houston every day.
Tuesday I spoke to the Arts majors about being a professional artist, and we did a workshop on making performance for social change. They inspired me with their sculpture and their visual approach to telling stories...I'm just so wordy. The coolest part about it was sharing my process: I educated them about the difference between sex, gender, and sexual orientation (and they educated me with the many unique words Houston has for those concepts...!), but the connection between the raw materials of my work (theory & experience) and theirs (materials) and how they all come together as art was clear and easy.
Wednesday I had the privilege of speaking to the first LGBT Studies class in Texas! Even cooler, two other professors brought their students to pack the classroom. I love teaching Trans 101 at colleges: students are so interested to learn about new concepts, especially when it's a real person and a real, everyday experience that they may have never encountered before. I guess that's what college is for.
Tonight I will be speaking with GLOBAL, U of H's LGBT and Allies student group. More on that to come.
Sixto and I talked last night about how my work has so much education in it, but still manages to be good art. I don't want you to think that you're going to hear a lecture at my show...far from it. There's better lighting and nudity...oh, and aerial acrobatics. The greatest accolades I have heard about this show from its audiences have been 1) that they feel connected to a transgender story through their own experience of being a man or a woman; and 2) that they could listen to the stories all night. Sorry, there are 127 stories, but you only get 8 or 10 in a night. Of course, you can come back a second time to hear even more....
I hope to see y'all very soon!
Scott Turner Schofield
http://www.undergroundtransit.com/
Friday, February 13, 2009
House of Mind. House of Mind.
House of Mind. House of Mind.
Memories: What are they really? a collection of passed experiences or the very elements of the soul? How do we process this "stuff"? What happens when these flickers of existence begin to fade? Would we even know or feel the lack? And most importantly, what happens when you make large scale, multi-media performance out of the idea of memory loss at Houston's coolest art space?
Answer: I get busy...
This feels like the biggest thing we have ever done, and if you are familiar with DIVERSEWORKS you know what a bold statement this is (everything w/ do is ambitious.). We have broken our own rules this time. The Pat Garney's Company has taken over the entire building, using the gallery as a stage and the theatre as a gallery (sort of...) Here is a basic breakdown:
2 tons of sand
10,000 books
1,000,000 buttons (well, maybe not that many.) 100's of miniatures 1000 ft of cable A bunch of state of the art stuff that I couldn't begin to understand.
An arsenal of glue guns, drills, and saws And the best crew that I've ever had the privilege of working with!
Anyway. YOU SHOULD come check this out!!
- Jon Read
Memories: What are they really? a collection of passed experiences or the very elements of the soul? How do we process this "stuff"? What happens when these flickers of existence begin to fade? Would we even know or feel the lack? And most importantly, what happens when you make large scale, multi-media performance out of the idea of memory loss at Houston's coolest art space?
Answer: I get busy...
This feels like the biggest thing we have ever done, and if you are familiar with DIVERSEWORKS you know what a bold statement this is (everything w/ do is ambitious.). We have broken our own rules this time. The Pat Garney's Company has taken over the entire building, using the gallery as a stage and the theatre as a gallery (sort of...) Here is a basic breakdown:
2 tons of sand
10,000 books
1,000,000 buttons (well, maybe not that many.) 100's of miniatures 1000 ft of cable A bunch of state of the art stuff that I couldn't begin to understand.
An arsenal of glue guns, drills, and saws And the best crew that I've ever had the privilege of working with!
Anyway. YOU SHOULD come check this out!!
- Jon Read
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