Water Feature

that ball weighs 2000 pounds!

Kindy V-Day, short and sweet!

The kindergarten Valentine's Day party was the envy of all who passed by the door. Much to the glee of the kindergartners, older kids frequently poked their heads in to glimpse and wish outloud that they too could partake of the three different kinds of cookies, capri punch pouches, and mail boxes overflowing with Valentines. (Everyone must bring one for everyone!) My favorite part of the day was when we first arrived at school; all the kids were instructed to go around each table and put a Valentine into each kid's mailbox. First everyone assembled their Tinkerbell, Power Ranger, Transformers, and Barbie Princesses Valentines they had laboriously scrawled their names upon the night before. Next was the dispersement. Some kids quickly accomplished this task, while others were like ping-pong balls, bouncing from table to table, chatting with other meanderers. Oh yes, spiderman, well what I have got here is spongebob. Some kids suffice to just stick a handful here and there, and call it good. Others merely wander until their plastic baggy is empty. I counted atleast three from my son in one little boy's haul. Through out the day we continue to discover Valentine stashes that have yet to be doled out, wondering why it hadn't dawned on the owners that while this delivery process occurred they were milling around with nothing. Then upon opening thier cards, although just beginning to learn to read, the sentiment is not lost in the phrase "You are the coolest, Valentine." Or, "Have no fear, Batman is here, Valentine." One little girl went over to another and said how thoughtful her Valentine had been and they hugged. We also were all given Valentine friendship books in which you approach someone and ask if they will be your Valentine or friend and then they write their name in your book. The teacher gave me one, too, and surprisingly I ended up with quite a few pint-sized Valentines of my own! With the sugar nearly bursting each of their little hearts, the class party ended with a lovely rendition of Skid-a-ma-rink-a-dink-a-doo (if you want to learn, I can teach you) and then we discovered one more vilgilante stash of Valentine heart lollipops with cards that we inserted into their backpacks as they headed for the school bus. Unfortunately, I can not post pictures of my days at Kindergarten, as other people's kids' faces can not be displayed on the internet due to reasons of safety. But once the post office is up and running I can post pics of that.

GATHERING/EXHIBITION

I wanted to invite you all to this event happening at my house. If anyone is interested in exhibiting any of their work (objects or otherwise) or enacting any sort of group projects with those present, please let me know. There will be many great folks with few pretesions. We live about eleven miles north of downtown, so carpooling is always a good option.
Thanks, Nolan
nolan.calisch@gmail.com

Coincidence or Communication?

Today as I walked from Muddy Waters Café to Laurelhurst park I greeted a scruffy old crow who I think might have been the group elder balancing on a wire and keeping watch for her peoples. A block further just as I was about to cross the street and enter the main west entrance to Laurelhurst Park a crow landed in a tree right over my head and dropped something into the decaying leaves right in front of me. I picked it up and it was a peanut, raw and unsalted just like the ones out of which I made Legba's veve as a gift to the crow folk. Crows are smart birds, among the smartest. I don't think it was an accident. For all I know it might have been one of the peanuts I left for them in the Arboretum. It's a short flight from there to Laurelhurst as the crow flies so it could have been. That was wyrd. I guess I got a Valentine from the crows.

x-posted to UrBlog.

Nostalgia 3, socializing with the Random Gaming Club

Getting out of our classroom and getting out of our heads.

It's Wednesday afternoon. We head over to PSU Smith Memorial Center White Gallery to take in the (beautiful) documentation by MFA students in the Social Practice program;

(I remember) black and white photos of a neighborhood and it's people printed into a surround of text that propels you into the photo. For a moment, you're standing right next to... And a visual sea shelled-colored record of appreciation and wonderment for the life of a pet snail--a brilliant mixture of biology and interspecies love. www.manandmollusc.net/game_files/snail_draw.hmtl

(use this web address & learn to draw a snail; maybe you'll find snail love too)

We mill around and stare.

Then, Krystal gets us all down on the ground right there in the gallery to teach us how to do the Pigeon , a yoga posture to open the hips.

(so sorry I didn't get pictures of this but check out www.fitsugar.com/1615325 for a pic of the posture)

Next we wander upstairs to the 3rd floor in Smith. Someone notices flashing lights and some interesting sound effects coming out of a room on the north side of the hallway. It's the Random Select Gaming Club's afternoon of gaming. I mean, wow. We can't resist. The Club welcomes us in and shows us around. Some of us sit and game, some of us watch and dream, and then there are those who dance and sing and dance some more. This I got pictures of.

check out the Gamers and the club @

http://randomselect.groups.pdx.edu

Nostalgia 2, taking breaks

Our colleague Tasha took on the challenge to facilitate a body-centered break activity:  

Okay, take a deep breath and run as fast & far as you can while yelling on the top of your lungs. 

How to win? Yell the longest and run the fastest to get the furthest.  

Some ran so fast they were nothing but a blur.

There were those of us who didn't make it very far. But effort counts. (ah-hum, I took pics the whole time). .

And others whose determination was evident from the get-go.

And what about that yell? With everyone

cheering him on, Eric began and ended

loud and proud.   I was inspired.

                               

Nostalgia 1, where we started

 Do you remember these collaborators, these brave & willing teachers, our first (hesitant?) venture into the wild and woolly world of Social Practice art making?  

 

Tad, named after an All My Childen soap opera character. True story. He had gizmos in his pocket to play and make games on:  some more legal than others. A wizard. 

 

 The memory guy (I can't remember his name, yikes).  We threw out 10 words and with his memory-images in mind, he tagged each word to an image and presto! The guy was good.  Camille got it down first try.

And frisbee golf. He taught us about the best (drive) throw and where to get it done. Who knew Portland had courses all over the place.  Turns out Flossie is a golfer too.

This teacher knew his stuff:  all about sustainability and water and evaporation. Drawings and a calm manner.  He deserved a teachers evaluation form. 

And last but definitely not least. The flute player. He played a sweet tune and then stuck around to learn from others, from us and even put in his 2-cents during our 'class' discussion. 

Pleasant Thoughts of You

Sweet Nothings


Join in on some righteous Valentine’s Day card making
The old fashioned way, glitter, glue and love….
Don’t have a valentine? We will give it to an unsuspecting stranger.

Meet Fireside at the Native American Student and Community Center
Corner of SW Broadway and Jackson Street

Thursday, February 12, 2009
1 P.M.

Ghost of Duchamp Invades Portland

Snapped in motion without stopping cause I thought I was late to class. The context makes it public sculpture. Really it's a pretty elegant shape so why not? Porcelain is pretty high tech if you consider it in the context of human history. The pigeon in duct tape (?) adds a punk rock vibe. You can see this masterpiece (if it hasn't been removed yet) somewhere between 48th and 20th ave on Lincoln street.

Reschedule of BE CONNECTED

Sorry everyone but I had to reschedule the Be Connected photo outing because the news predicts it's going to rain and snow. I changed it to this Thursday (2/12) same time at 11am. I have the flyer hangin' on the Free Geek thrift store board...at least the flyer will get more exposure!

Bardo

Go here:

http://public.me.com/wandering_yeti

username is "Public"
password is eyed!sko



Bardo is done and stuffed into the Bardo in WAV folder. Download at will. I'll bring a few CD's to class tomorrow but I don't have many. Click the entry title to see the cover. I forgot how to layer multiple images in photoshop so it's only in iWeb for now. Happy fool moon eclipse.

Another tea party

I had another tea party on Saturday. The weather was beautiful and it made for some good times.

Here are some pictures of the event. At first I read aloud for a little while waiting for the tea to warm up and then we played scrabble and ate some cookies. The scrabble game started out in a mature manner but at one point we threw out the rules and threw all the tiles together trying as a team to fit all the tiles on the board. I laughed until my stomach started hurting.

I am noticing that the people that walk by all seem to smile. If anything I hope that these gatherings will brighten the day of those who saw us. A video of a dance that took place during the tea party. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Pictures from Rozzell's Workshop @ PSU

Also I made a Flickr set for the things that Ben & I learned during Rozzell's OMG DIY FYI workshop at Public Social University:
http://flickr.com/photos/58661292@N00/sets/72157613453303455/

Residency Documentation

Here is some documentation from my visit to my residency today:
http://flickr.com/photos/58661292@N00/sets/72157613452391403/

My Residency is taking place at the bus stop that I use to come to school, it's on 182nd Ave & Powell Blvd in Gresham and is serviced by the 9 Powell bus headed west towards Portland.

Stop Motion Animation!

Good Job Team!

Wood and Water

I've been posting like mad in my UrBlog linked to the headline. Yes, there's meandering. It's the salt water in my blood reminded of the ocean every time the Willamette changes direction with the tides and all the time I spend in Portland's woody spaces I guess. Did you know there's rivers under the streets here? Underground water pulsing with the ocean. It's all coming out like this cause my old word patterns can't hold my new thoughts. Patience and oyster mushrooms, cosmos in motion, finding a safe path through the bardo. See the UrBlog for more.

Bike Farm Basic Maintenance Class

Public Social University - Feb 2

The third installment of Public Social University was launched earlier this week. We had three workshops:

The first was called "Let Yourself Express An Inner Monologue." Cara Deffilipi created a modern dance routine that we learned and embellished a little on. We were dancing to a Tom Waits song. 2 days later and my legs are still sore.







Here's a video of us trying to dance. Looks like we aren't so bad for beginners right? If you can see the video, click here.

For the next session, The Theory of Sandwich Making, Camilleo gave us the 411 on how to craft a sandwhich that does what its supposed to do: stay together, look good, and taste good. Did you know there's a science to this? It's true. From now on, my sandwiches will be twice as good as they were before.

For the third portion, titled OMG DIY FYI, Rozzell Medina asked people to pair up and then to talk about what sorts of things we might want to learn with our partner. We then went outside and learned them, came back to the library and shared with each other. Some people learned some interesting things. For example some learned about this young kid who plays drums on plastic buckets in order to raise money for college. Someone else tried to learn how to do kartwheels. Other people learned about hiccups, what causes them and how to get rid of them. We had a fun time.

time to rock out!

i have started a blog about my residency with the psu geology department. you can see it here.

Anna and Amphone doing handstands

Sorry for the late pictures. I uploaded my camera pics and found these. I think they are funny. If any of you forgot it was when we were all taught how to do headstands but the floor was too hard so we ended up doing handstands.

Anna has the perfect handstand!