M
july 2008:
 
Altars - Offerings - Totems & Tip Jars


Richard Bohn, Linda Southwell, Diane Stovall

July 3 - 26, 2008

Opening Reception July 5, 6pm-12pm
with after-hours performances

performnces also planned for Saturdays, July 12, 19 and 26


Richard Bohn, Artist Statement
As a performing artist/musician I knew I performed for the art of it and not the money. Artists will still write, sing, paint and perform their art no matter what, but sustaining the effort is still based on economics, economics of the venue, economics of the sponsored product, the economics of the production of the event and other factors. While some artists are elevated to god like status, others play only for loose change.

The self esteem of the artist/performer has now been directly related to the "quality" of the tipping apparatus . . . Jar, Bag, Pedestal, Case, Cool Receptical Gadget or whatever it might be. The catch basin of the patrons gratuity must be worthy of the task, be it fine finished wood or metal . . . polished glass or plastic, gold leaf or a spiffy found object. In our present society the "tip jar/pedestal", with it's newly elevated importance, must not only hold and retain the "take" but must also beckon, entertain, attract . . . and work as it has never worked before. Out of pure necessity the Tip Jar has been up-graded to fine art.

All live performers must be aware of this new status and take steps to implement the upgrade. Go ahead! Throw a five spot into the Tip Concepts little robotic hand. Mega phone announcements to the audience combined with a note played on the keyboard simulating a nuclear warning device, will let them know that the tip jar has been "activated". Please approach with caution, but please approach. Take good aim with that wadded up twenty dollar bill and make a bell ringing basket. Now, performers can enhance intimacy with the audience and optimize tipping efficiency by utilizing high tech solutions such as voice activation, motion sensing, kinetics and servo motors and remote control lighting . . .etc., transforming the audience from mere observer into cultural participant and risk taker.

Cast your vote for the survival of live music and performance, performed by live musicians in real time in real space, not on flat screen of "reality" tv. The "tip jar/pedestal/concept" must earn it's keep as a member of the band. It must be light weight and totally portable, as well as colorful, practical and "profitable". A newly created interest in the social/economic phenomenon of "Tipping" has developed.

 

Linda Southwell, Artist Statement
There is a long, deep history of images and forms created to honor our human connections to the rhythms of nature.We make offerings of tribute and thanks. Create altars to remember. Raise totems that tell stories, mark places, and are dense with symbolic meaning.

In clay and stone, the work in this exhibition will include sculptures shaped by my own narrative and biography and inspired by indigenous people of the Northwest Coast, the Southwest, Central Mexico and Central America.

Brief Bio
Linda Southwell teaches at multiple community colleges in Orange County, California. She is an adopted member of the Tlingit Kiks.adi (Raven-Frog) clan, in Southeast Alaska. A recipient of two international National Endowment for the Humanities fellowships, she most recently studied Maya culture and art in Central America. She has an MFA in Sculpture from the University of Oregon, where she also received a Distinguished Teaching award and the Jan Zach Award for her sculpture.

 

Diane Stoval, Statement of Artistic Intention.
I am compelled to collect found objects such as driftwood and various materials from the beach, also found and acquired objects. I then transform them into compositions or assemblages. My interest in these objects is their inherent history with people and nature and their relationship to us and the environment. These materials both human-made and natural have been cleansed and sculpted by the elements of time and the ocean. I then reintroduce them, giving them a completely new identity as art. Finding them on the sand, cast out, abandoned or lost and overlooked by people because they posses no intrinsic value, purpose or meaning - gives them a mystique of nothingness. I like making something meaningfull from nothing. These compositions are abstract landscapes that express the mystery of spirituality in regards to humanity, nature and life.

 

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