Nice Expectations

Book Tribute: Zac Von Jo. Utilizing a print-on-demand website and Adobe Indesign, I was able to insert my friend as the protagonist of Dickens' novel Great Expectations. Zac replaces Pip. This is the second in an ongoing project of replacing protagonsists with "everyday" people. To see a similar project, go to my 1985 project. Read more!

Walkshop: Courtney Fink

A collaborative sculpture walk with visiting curator Courtney Fink. We had been talking about coincidence and wondering what we were going to do. She liked the plastic bags on the bikes, so she asked a couple near by to take the bags off the bikes and then replace them. It ended up that one of them, Nick, knew me through a friend of mine. Coincidence. For more Walkshops go here.
Read more!

Synthesizer Circle

Expanding the instrumental circle concepts, Chris Reylea and I invited everyone we knew to bring a synth or just play one at the local night club Dunes. It was fun but kinda overwhelming, then it became a magical jam at the end of the night.
Read more!

Society of the Spectacle English Overdub Screening

I screened an unofficial english overdub of the infamous situationist documentary The Society of the Spectacle (Guy Debord 1973) that I prepared myself using Ken Knabb's translation. It was free and open to the public. For more information on this film go here.

special thank you to Cyrus Smith and Jonathan Legare for use of their spaces, and to Beau McDaniel for last minute use of his video projector.

And here is the rest of it. Read more!

Viewfinder

As part of the TBA festival I roamed Portland taking pictures of peoples' houses and giving them to them as a way to realize a short story by Raymond Carver called Viewfinder. I had one request from someone who emailed me after reading my TBA project post. Her name was April. We took several portraits of her, which I documented with my digital camera before giving them to her. Thanks to Cyrus and Kennedy Smith and Harrell Fletcher for use of their cameras and creative encouragement. The rest of April's portraits are on view in video form at the Autzen Gallery at PSU. Read more!

Breakthrough

As part of the Time-Based Art festival in Portland, presented by the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, I organized this project. It involved asking volunteers to breakthrough the butcher-paper-covered door of a Portland cafe from 1-2pm on three consecutive days. Inspired by Sierra Norris and thanks to Jonathan Legare for letting us use his cafe. Sierra Norris had told me about someone she knew who did this for their child everyday so when they came out the door of their room, they experienced the dawning of another totally new day. I initially was asking Jonathan if I could do this with people coming out of the bathroom. It was soon discovered that would have been too akward so the natural choice became the main door.

Thanks to Jonathan Legare for use of his Cafe and to it's patrons for humoring the breakthrough process.
Read more!

Play Me, Don't Hurt Me

This was an installation of a synthesizer, a synthesizer manual, headphones, and a sign that read "play me, don't hurt me" at Legare's cafe for one day during the cafe's open hours (on August 7th). Johnathan Legare, the proprietor of the cafe, reported that many people played the keyboard, including children, and that one woman even played Debussy on it! This project was part of the Provflux arts festival in Rhode Island, in the form of a project by Jen Delos Reye that created Satellite festivals, one being in Portland. Read more!

Hafiz Knows How To Party

For the Worksound show, I walked around the gallery asking people on the street to read my favorite poet Hafiz in to the camera. The video ran about 15 minutes and included 7 people, one of whom read his own poem. To learn more about the show go here. Read more!

Karl Williams

I have been collaborating with Karl Williams, a local musician and composer. He uses primarily synthesizers, drum machines and midi technology to create beautiful sweeping soundtrack compositions. We are working on a new CD, live promotion, and new compositions with me as a support technician and band member.

go to his myspace page

Read more!

This I Believe

You have received This I Believe e-cards from Avalon Kalin.

To view your This I Believe e-cards, click on a link below.

I Believe in Interwoven Creativity
I Believe That Sadness
I Believe in Doing
I Believe in the Power of Relationship
I Believe the Cosmos

The This I Believe e-cards are part of a collaboration with Carol Joy Brendlinger and others at the Spiritual Life Center at PSU.

Thank you to those who shared their thoughts and feelings.

To find out more about the Spiritual Life Center go to here. Read more!

Bathroom Installation

I had a vision of a rainbow in my bathroom. I went ahead and fabricated it with felt where I remembered it to be (on the floor and wall near the door). I didn't have red or orange. **y G Biv. Read more!

Sewn Leather LP

This is the Sewn Leather LP "I Live Like This Cuz I Like It". It is a very realness oriented record that is both dark and energizing. I had it pressed and printed as the first release for my record label, (Y)ours Records. The record was printed in the Czeck Republic by the San Francisco company recordpressing.com. 500 copies, available for $13.00 postage paid at yoursrecords.com. Jacket printed in San Francisco also by recordpressing.com. I'm proud of the two "imprints" on the record. They are specal impressions on the vinyl at the end of the record. They say "Transpersonal Affirmation" and "Ethereal Concentration" Read more!

Yours Records Website Launch

The Did-It-Myself record label I've created now has a website. I'm still working out the bugs. The page pictured shows the poster I had printed in Shelton Washington by the people at the Shelton Mason-County Journal. I'm quite proud of it. Read more!

Stranger Moments

After a few rehearsals, a group of volunteer actors and I had a series of re-enactments from the Enterbeing stories I had gathered during my residency. They took place in the neighborhood around Enterbeing (ne 17th and Alberta) It went well. Scenes were both scripted and improvised. Actors and collaborators included:

Will Palumbo

Tess Yinger

James Nielson

Alan A. Hakimoglu

Sandy Sampson

Avalon Kalin

Benjamin Gilliam

People who gathered at Enterbeing

Special thanks to neighbors who let us perform in their yard, Jason Burns and his roomates for letting us use their porch, and to Scott Brazieal and everyone at Enterbeing for welcoming us into their stories. Read more!

ARH: Re-enactments of Contemporary Art Works

I met with Julie Perini and Chris Hudson to discuss re-enacting the t.h.a.n.k.s. project by Markuz Wernli Saitô and Mike Reandeau. We found that our concerns and schedules prevented us from completing the project in time for my university requirement. However, much was gained from our discussions. Thank you Markuz for sharing your thoughts with Julie and I. Read more!

ARH: Re-enactments of Contemporary Art Works

I re-enacted Mads Lynnerup's Bus piece, in which the artist gets on and off a bus each time running to catch it as it goes from stop to stop. Thank you Arman Bohn for coming along to document. Also thank you to the Mads for the advice to not wear converse. Read more!

ARH: Re-enactments of Contemporary Art Works

I re-enacted Joshua Greene's Iced Tea piece, which involved inviting people to share Iced Tea with the artist. It was interesting. Thank you to Amir and the people at Broadway Coffee and to the artist Joshua Greene for his thoughts on his work. Read more!

Collaboration with D Yellow Swans

We performed for Vision + Hearing, a audio/video themed collaboration that for this event featured work dealing with Portland landmarks. We chose the Joan D'arc statue in South East. As I made a video of the statue, I walked around and slowly zoomed in until the rhythm of my walking made the stature appear to be galloping through a spiritual forest. I performed with DYS by using a flashlight to project a live "lens burst" onto the projected image, giving Joan a halo as she rode. Thank you Marc Fischer (of Portland) for your facilitating this event and our collaboration. Read more!

Book Tribute: Eric Steen

Utilizing a print on demand website and the find & replace feature in Adobe Indesign, I was able to fulfill my longtime dream of rewriting books by placing my friends names in the place of famous protagonists. In this, the first in a series, Winston Smith of 1984 has been replaced by Eric Steen (a classmate). The title has been changed to 1985. Others in the series will include Nice Expectations and Fiona in Wonderland Read more!

Free Box Book

I finally printed each photo from the Free Box Free Jazz event and had it bound with "comb" binding. 524 pages. Read more!

Starting a Record Label

I've started a record label to release musical and art related projects by people who might not have a chance otherwise. Website soon... Read more!

Proposal for the David Lynch Foundation

I've sent a proposal to the David Lynch Foundation in hopes that they will consider giving scholarships to friends and acquaintances of mine who have shown a strong interest in learning the Transcendental Meditation technique, but who cannot afford it. We're crossing our fingers. Read more!

Enterbeing: Third Night

For my third night sitting in at Enterbeing, a man named Jed told his story of changing or growing faith. A theme of his story was the difference between a separate divinity away from life and planet earth versus a present divinity or "God direct" right here in our earth, bodies, and spirits. I asked the people present to think of images or pictures or themes from his story and to assign me the task of creating them based on their descriptions. That's the next phase. Read more!

Dowsing at Reed College

For the Reed Arts Week, Laurel Kurtz and I invited professional dowser Mike Doney to lecture about his life and work. Then we invited him to lead a dowsing workshop/performance where the celestial music of the campus landscape was dowsed for certain tones in the chromatic scale. Once these tones were located and marked, vocalist Becky Miller sang them. Read more!

2 Strangers from the Life of Falken Forshaw

I re-enacted two moments from the life of my father involving strangers with Laurel Kurtz for my group critique. One is pictured above. Thanks Laurel. Read more!

Music Town: Midi Chain

I'm exploring music culture in Portland for creative projects. One experiment has been to ask people to bring midi devices like drum machines to plug into each other so they are in sync. We jam for about an hour every week or so. Collaborators have included Claire, John, Chris, Joey, and Robert. This usually happens at a night club called Dunes. Read more!

Enterbeing: Second Night

I told part of my life story to a group of about 20 people. Then I asked them to describe an interaction they have had with a stranger and write these down on postcard sized pieces of paper. We went around and read each other's descriptions. It was inspiring. Read more!

My Unexpected Visitor

About a week after I sent out my booklet of all the places I've lived in in Portland, I had an unexpected visit from a man who lived in my house in 1959 and whose family lived in the neighborhood for years around that time. I made another booklet based on the notes I took from the interaction. I also presented this story during my group critique as a slide show.

Download the pdf version Read more!

Enterbeing: First Night

I had my first night as resident artist at the spiritual story telling group Enterbeing last Wednesday. It was great. We started of the collaboration by making a interfaith prayer banner of drawings and ideas inspired by the story told by Mittens from her spiritual journey in the last few years. I will be working with Enterbeing for the next month or so. Read more!

Hand Dances

A collaboration with choreographer Janet Pants. I basically invited Jane to do this choreography within certain parameters. She did all the work. With Dancers Tamar and Kaetlin. We performed impromtu at Legares' Cafe, New Seasons Grocery, and Urban Blend Cafe. Then Jane taught everyone the dances at Cyrus Smith's 24hr Residency!
Read more!

Walkshop: Sarah Roach, Luke Forsyth, & Cyrus Smith

For my 24hr residency with fellow student Cyrus Smith we did a Walkshop with Sarah Roach, and Luke Forsyth. We made many things together including performances. One hightlight was a band reenactment at a busy intersection. There's more of this collaboration here.
Read more!

Preliminary Dowsing at Reed College

Professional Dowser Mike Doney did a preliminary dowsing at Reed campus in preparation for Reed Arts Week with Laurel and I. We dowsed the auras of a large sculpture, the musical vibrations of Bflat in a small area as well as the water line and energy near a through a tree. The flags represent auras and or tonal vibrations present. Read more!

Walkshop: Joel Garcia & Laurel Kurtz

Laurel and Joel and I walked to a bar after our interview for Pat's class. We did a sculptural project on the way by each creating a frame of the environment around us with our hands. Check the others here. Read more!

Walkshop: Kate Pocrass

Visiting artist Kate Pocrass talked with me about my art. We were able to fit in a sculptural collaboration during a walk near campus. We put two arrows near things we found interesting to point at them: Some spray-painted ivy and some plastic and nests in some trees. More here. Read more!

Walkshop: Laurel Kurtz

Laurel and I walked my sister's dog Patches around and made some temporal sculpture. She made the face and I made the mohawk, then she made the eyes, I made the eyebrows, mouth and posed. More here. Read more!

Walkshop: John Root

My friend John and I walked my sister's dog patches up to mount tabor park, collecting twigs and objects on the way. When we got there, we made an temporary installation on a large branch on one of the trails. afterwards, we through away the trash and left the twigs. Read more!

On the Table: Dances for Sitting

Jane has choreographed dance pieces for hands and sitting. We had our first rehearsal with dancers Tamar, Avalon, Kaetlin, and Jane leading. We are planning to perform in cafes and at formal settings as well, such as academic seminars and a formal meal in February. Read more!

Message My Ride

I liked Laurel's list of possible platforms for creative projects. I thought of my car. I've also enjoyed people's posters in cars for a while now. I'm asking people to "message my ride." Megan gave me my first message: "Listen to the River." Read more!