artist – Clownmommy

Guggenheim Installation; Conceptual Art is Theatre and Clown.

The famous circular rotunda of the Guggenheim art museum was completely empty. That’s not something I would normally pay to see, but I went to the Tino Sehgal exhibit with my mom hat on because one of the neighbor kids is in it. After I got there and walked through the experience I realized how many similarities there were between the artist selected set of people interacting with the museum-goers and the work I have done as a clown working meet-and-greet gigs.

I read the program: “a visitor is no longer only a passive spectator, but one who bears a responsibility in shaping and even contributing to the actual realization of the piece”. Yeah, and that can be also true of riding the subway or going to the park, basically of living in the city.

Off-hand I can think of half a dozen writers and directors I know from the under-publicized theater scene of the Seattle in the 1990’s who could have put together a far more powerful encounter between visitors and the space. I hesitate to sound like the old “my kid could paint that” dismissal.

As I spoke one by one with with representatives of the artist’s concept as we walked together up the spiral rotunda; first a child, then a teen, then a 20-something and finally an older adult of retirement age I thought about some of the work I have done interacting with audience members as part of site specific theatrical productions. Annex Theatre’s The Yellow Kid by Brian Faker and Bliss Kolb which began with audience members walking through a back alley and up dark stairs unable to avoid interacting with the kids who were there and Nikki Appino’s ambitious Djinn in an abandoned naval base warehouse come to mind. I wish I could see what they would have made if they had been given permission to play with their ideas and a bunch of performers the Guggenheim rotunda space.

I suppose everybody can say something like that.

Alternate Reality

This month as my mind wanders while I do laundry, and dishes and go to the gym and shuttle My Kid to Girl Scouts, soccer, and ballet and write my little mom blogs, I will imagine what it would be like to be clowning in Barcelona:

The 2nd one month “Clown Master Class and Comic Formulas” course will begin Monday, March 1st and conclude Sunday, March 28th. Registration is Sunday Feb. 28th at 16:00 at the Nouveau Clown Institute. Classes will be held 5 days each week from 10 am to 6 pm, Monday thru Friday, totaling 120 hours. On Saturdays students will be in the media rooms to attend special viewing assignments of films and videos. In addition, each student will receive a one on one session with a master teacher. At the end of each week, both Saturday and Sunday evenings, there will be performances presented by the students, faculty and invited guest artists. These performances will be open to the general public.

If you are interested in attending the Nouveau Clown institutes “Clown Master Class and Comic Formulas” March, 2010 session then visit our web site at www.clownfish.es/nci.htm . Here you will find detailed information and the official form to apply for acceptance to the N.C. I. Registration closes January 31st, 2010,

The master class instructors confirmed at the moment are as follows:
John Towsen, Pepa Plana, Alex Navarro, Pat Cashin, Greg de Santo, Mag Lari, Giovanna Bellina, Eric de Bont, Rick Parets, Jorge Pico, Loco Brusca, Grada Peskens, Jef Johnson, Jango Edwards, Monti, Tortell Poltrona, Christian Atanasiu, Jordi Purti…and more. The additional faculty members for the March session will be announced in the near future.
Also we suggest you do a little research about the artist who will be your instructors during the March session so you have a basic knowledge of their approach to the clown art. Those of you who have clown or comedy routines, stage acts or numbers that you would like to perform in the weekly “Cabaret Cabron” productions please bring those items required to present your act including music, props and costumes. A maximum of no more than 3 acts from your repertory is advised. We also recommend that you bring any audio/ video material of your work which can be viewed by us to assist us in directing you. In addition to the in class sessions you will receive selected data based materials .It is a mandatory request that you bring with you a pen drive or memory stick in which this data can be stored. This information will be a useful reference in the future once you have successfully completed the master class and graduated from “The Nouveau Clown Institute”…that is if you graduate!!!
Finally and most important of all it is the wish of the N.C.I. staff to make your visit as creative, productive and inspiring as possible. To achieve this we remind you that the “Nouveau Clown Institute” is an educational institution of the highest standards and if you come with open mind and open heart then we will open the door for you to a new future. The concept of this school is that it is a school for all professional clowns to learn, teach and exchange among each other and second that new actors who are interested can come and the opportunity to have direct contact with master instructors besides each day an exposure to assorted production, skills, technique and an understanding of the comic formulas that make comedy and clowning function in all environments. This school belongs to all members of the Nouveau Clown community. It is the desire of N.C.I. to function as a launching pad for actors to become familiar with the variety of clown artists and schools that specialize in comedy and the art of clown.
If you need additional help of have specific questions please contact us by: email at nouveauclown[at]gmail.com telephone: 00 34 699341100
To view the facilities of the “Nouveau Clown Institute” located in the Roca Umbert Fabrica de les Arts in Granollers, Spain www.rocaumbert.cat/ie6/home.php#
On behalf of the N.C.I.
Sincerely yours,
Jango Edwards

Hmmmm

I was thinking of the comments from an actor who came to the show last night. He also does some stage clown work. He’s youngish white male from a traditional background. He was blown away by the female energy he felt coming from the stage. The thing that is surprising to me is that it is a surprise to anyone. It’s a small stage, a small audience a dozen performers and a lot of different images. Except for the point at which I was completely filled with anxiety over the higher stakes of promoting this production and trying to take the troupe to the next level, it is not a particularly ambitious production. This is not the first time we have filled the stage with women in red noses riffing off cultural images. Yet, the actor was surprised that he fell “a little bit in love” with all of the clowns even though they were all very different. None of them presented herself as a proper ingenue or leading lady. Hmmm.

This morning I googled a bit looking for artist moms and I found some websites and some blogs by and about women who are combining visual art with parenting. One essay about a documentary film about artist moms described how their art was just as good as the work of male artists in Soho galleries or at the MoMa where less than 5% of the permanent collection is art made by women. Apparently these women-artist-moms could combine making art and having children, but the aggressive self-promotion of the male art world was the aspect of a prominent art career that these women may have let slide (or they promoted themselves and nobody cared so they stopped wasting their limited energy, or they made compromises by being choosing to raise a family far away from the centers of art and criticism. Hmmm.

During this Clown Axioms rehearsal process, it was the marketing aspects of the production that threatened to put me over the edge. Hmmm.

And so I make peace with being unknown because self-promotion is not always worth the stress.

Is that why so many of the successful artists are men while the majority of practitioners are women?

Hmmmm…

After rehearsal

After rehearsal today I talked to some friends on the way to pick up my kid.

I was remembering a particular workshop when we were improvising from songs and the song I was assigned was; “At Seventeen” and I had felt like such a failure because I didn’t have any impulses for movement or vocalization. I just had a very strong image of a very sad teenaged girl in her room alone listening to the radio. It seemed an inauspicious place from which to begin to create some clown magic.

When I got home tonight, I looked up the song on youtube and found out the artist was Janis Ian and she is a fascinating person who still has a career. I watched about six youtube videos of the song by various artists and they all just stood there and sang as simply as possible holding their bodies almost still (if they weren’t playing a guitar) with eyes downcast part of the time because the music and lyrics are so powerful. So I was overriding my impulses that night I thought I was failing at improvisation. The impulse really was to do nothing but just to be still and to be sad. I fought that impulse and choked. I thought I had to move and sing gibberish. The text is strong. I just wanted to listen to the text and then I wanted to continue the original text, and the image of a sad teenaged girl alone in her room was so strong. It seemed wrong as a starting point for clown. I can see using that music and having a piece work. I love the pathetic clown. And yet…

What can I say…

…I choked…

It was just an exercise…

Just an improv…

Nothing anyone did from the improvisations that grew out of that song made it into the final show…

Just sayin…

remount

So Jef is coming back into town and he wants to remount “Clownical Trials”.

The other day, I went to the Guggenheim with my daughters entire 3rd grade.

Last time it was during the first incarnation of “Clownical Trials” at Theatrelab and I thought. This exhibit is weird. Jef’s show is weird. These are my people!

This last time–albeit with almost 90 third graders and no chance to look at the pieces I liked…

I found myself thinking things like; “Well this artist is really arrogant.” and “What made that artist think this was a good idea?”

a flier from my daughters school:

As part of the

Learning Through Art Program of the

Guggenheim Museum

Third Graders

asked

What is the ideal environment in which we can

grow and thrive?

We looked at environments we knew well: home, school, playground. We looked at the ways in which Native Americans who lived here 400 years ago valued and used the environment. We looked at the things our planet needs to be a good home for us. We thought about what we need to grow and thrive.

Then we created a mini ideal environment starting with a box which we transformed in our own ways and symbolic objects which we sculpted out of clay and painted.

And then we listened to what our artwork said. Be sure to read our writing.

Guggenheim Teaching Artist: Jenny Bevill

Classroom Teachers:

Ms. Browning, Ms. Hayes, Ms. Jerry, Ms. Tollhurst and Mr. Jansen

Artist’s Assistant: Chelsea Bahr.

The Yellow Kid of my youth

Last night out in cyberspace I came across video of the 1995 Annex Theatre production of The Yellow Kid. Seeing it again… an amazing production–so ambitious in scope for a Seattle fringe theatre company– has me revisiting what is important in my life and how I respect or disrespect my own art.

In a September 21, 1995 Seattle Times interview, Brian Faker told Misha Berson:

“The thrust of our play is the decisions an artist makes – what do you do just for the bucks, and what do you do for your heart’s inspiration? In the end Outcault actually murders the Kid, symbolically destroying something in himself.”

Low-budget production

The struggle to earn a living while maintaining one’s artistic integrity is one that Faker, 35, a versatile stage actor with credits in many Seattle theaters, knows intimately. Currently living on unemployment benefits, he scrambled together $1,100 to finance this shoestring fringe production.

“We’re doing `Miss Saigon’ at the Annex,” he laughs. “We’ve got 27 actors, a cat, a goat, two dogs, 200 slide projections, film, rolling scenery. It’s just a monster.

“We’re funding this completely out of pocket – and out of favors. My wife (actress Peggy Poage) is probably our biggest contributor. And a lot of other people just decided to go insane with me on this.”

I was in that production and The Husband was in the booth as stage manager. We began dating during the run. A framed poster from the production hangs in our living room, next to photos of My Kid as a toddler in long yellow shirt.

*&%$#@ Standardized Test!

My kid brought home a test today 20/24, 84%. Can I just say my kid is 7. Can I just say she only missed 4 questions.

OK. Next year, third grade is a big deal test in New York City.

We are supposed to go over with our child the questions that they missed.

First question:

3. Charles Blondin was a brave man.

In 1859, He crossed Niagra Falls of a tightrope. Then he put on a blindfold and crossed the rushing water again. But, that wasn’t all he did. He walked the rope with stilts. As his last trick, he walked halfway across the tightrope. There he stopped for breakfast! He cooked some eggs and ate them. Then he made his way to the other side.

From this story you can tell: A. Blondin was a poor swimmer. B. Blondin was comfortable on the tightrope. C. Blondin was not afraid of water.

My kid chose C. which MUST BE TRUE but NOT AS TRUE as B.

The next question my kid missed:

1. Yin-May was was driving on the road. She saw an airplane over her car. It was a warm day and her windows were rolled down. Yin-May heard the plane’s engine go off and then on. This happened many times. The plane turned and came in low over the road. The plane turned again. Yin-May pulled off the road.

Which of these sentences is probably true? A. Yin-May was waiting for her mother. B. The plane had problems and needed to land. C. The pilot was counting the cars on the road.

My kid picked A. Misreading waiting for wanting. OF COURSE SHE WANTED HER MOTHER. SHE WAS A KID DRIVING DOWN THE HIGHWAY AND A PLANE WAS GOING TO LAND ON HER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Next Question:

In the 1800’s , a man from France wanted people all over the world to know that America stood for freedom. He asked an artist friend to help him. First the artist drew a picture of a woman wearing a long robe. He showed the woman holding a torch and wearing a crown. The statue was finished in 1886. Now it stands on Liberty Island. It has greeted many people who have come to America.

Which of these sentences is probably true? A. The man’s statue was never finished. B. The statue is the Statue of Liberty. C. The statue stands for all artists.

OK so My Kid visited the Statue of Liberty just a couple of months ago when her cousins were in town. FYI, on the island, at the museum of the Statue of Liberty MUCH IS MADE OF the delay, of the completed statue not making it to the US by the 1876 Centennial Celebration and of Joseph Pulitzers penny campaign for school children to help fund the pedestal for the statue because they didn’t have one ready when the statue arrived and they needed to complete the unfinished project, of the statue being in storage…

SO MY KID, WHO SEE’S THE STATUE OF LIBERTY FROM THE BROOKLYN PROMENADE ON A REGULAR BASIS, (and therefore knows it was completed) –because of all the delays she learned about… Plus, the Twin Towers that went down when she was 14 months old–the “Freedom Tower” is an unfinished project she’s heard about for as long as she can remember (freedom – liberty…What’s the difference?) My Kid chose A.

And finally:

3. Even though she didn’t speak, I knew Mom was mad. Her face was red. Her arms were crossed. She was standing in the doorway tapping her foot. I was late again. I tried to run to my room fast.

Which of these sentences is probably true?

A. Mom was pleased with me. B. People can say things without using words. C. Mom shouted, and I knew she was mad.

OK My Kid picked A which must mean she doesn’t pay any attention to anything I say or do, which according to the other mommies on the playground is what the other 7 and 8-year-olds are doing as well. (As in What part of; “Pick up your backpack we’re leaving now!” don’t you understand???)

I don’t know what to think of this except to think that “teaching to the test is teaching a child to STOP THINKING!”

I would like my child to know how to think.

Enough said.