You'll never believe what just came in the mail...

A Pink Slip! Because of the crappy economy and my inability to find work, I decided to do what any smart business person would do--I laid myself off. This is the letter I just got from my formerly financially stable self. You can click on the image to get a closer look.

But seriously, the N.E.A.'s recent report, mentioned above in my pink slip letter, does paint an extraordinarily grim picture of what life is like for American artists during this recession. If you are an unemployed artist, like me, and have some extra time on your hands, become an advocate. Write a letter to your legislators encouraging them to support art programs. Tell them that the arts are an industry, like any other, and that when they allocate money to the the arts, they are creating jobs. Here is a link to Americans for the Arts. They have a great page that will give you all the information that you need to find your legislators and get started.

Also, if you are a teaching artist, performer, writer, or musician, then sign up for this University of Chicago research project. The researchers are studying how artists who are not employed full-time get by. The results will be used to advocate for better benefits and wages for this often overlooked and underpaid group of creative educators.

This was posted by Shawnee Barton, an artist who keeps a blog on other people’s blogs. If you have a little nook of cyberspace and are open to welcoming a guest poster, please email her at shawneebarton@gmail.com. She will be grateful. To see where she is headed next, check out shawneebarton.com.

From the Management: I could get used to this! Thank you Shawnee! Mel.....

Abe's Penny

I am still in over my head concerning day to day life but wanted to post on Abe's Penny. At the end of April I received an email from Anna Knoebel, Editor of Abe's Penny. She wrote:

"Collectible and temporal, Abe’s Penny is like a flash card – quick to experience – and taps into a pre-email love of receiving mail. Each volume contains four postcards that subscribers receive one by one, once per week, for one month. Each postcard features an image and a few lines of text. The full set of four postcards is a full story. Our idea is to keep it short and frequent."

and went on to say that if I would send my mailing address she would send me May's edition(s). Let me state right here and now that I CAN be bought. Let me further state the the concept and execution of this micro magazine is absolutely wonderful which is why I want to let others know about it (and subscribed to keep the stories/photos/poems coming). I am not even close to keeping up with this (or other) blog and email. I am beyond tired of bills and junk in the mail. Subscribing to Abe's Penny assures a tangible bright spot in the mail box once a week. I am taken with the serial approach to the images as well as the narrative text unfolding over a month's time. I think this is a brilliant, somewhat retro, approach to publishing.

You can view the first two editions here (1.1) and here (1.2).

P.S. I have a few more weeks of mayhem and then hope to get back to regular posting. Be well.

Niigata (Not Niigata), Japan

Andrew Phelps

"My way of working is a bit like making a poodle or a swan out of a shrub. Small bits of the mess are snipped away until some sort of form starts to take shape. The fine-tuning is thus the most difficult, and great plans often fall away to luck and circumstance. A bit of vision is required, but paying attention as I move along is infinitely more important. I stumble with a map, make a wrong turn and bump into someone who gives me a half hour of their time or points me in a new direction. In the end, if all goes well, I end up with something that may slightly resemble a poodle or a swan. But it’s definitely neither a poodle nor a swan, and it is certainly not Niigata."

Sado Island, February 2009


Andrew Phelps has made another beautiful book, Not Niigata, through a commission by the European Eyes on Japan festival. While the release is not set until fall you may now order a Special Edition which will include a print of any image of your choice from the book. I can tell you from experience that the only thing more lovely than his books are his prints, so this is a win/win proposition. I wouldn't put it off until late summer, the exchange rate may go up.

No crisis is too

Much for baseball. It's also an easy post to make from my phone.

Due to circumstances beyond

beyond my control I find I must put the blog on hold while I help out in a family crisis. Talk amongst yourselves, but not anything too interesting because my reading will be as limited as my writing.

Under I 95 debriefing

Zoe Strauss' Under I 95 event is unlike any other. On the first Sunday in May hundreds gathered in the rain to view, experience, buy, and pull down a collection of photographs which speak to humanity and inhumanity, community and individuality.

Culture, landscape and structure are all examined. I felt very familiar with the work having collected several prints as well as the book, America (not to mention having printed the 3 photographs censored by the printer), so was unprepared for the feeling of reverence which accompanies seeing these pieces in what I have to consider their natural setting.


White walls and bad wine are not the background for this work. The pillars supporting the cars carrying people, the noise of the interstate, the rain leaking through is the setting which allows her images to fully realize themselves.

Over breakfast Monday morning she told me the homeless man had asked her if she wanted him to leave. She told him "No, you live here." This was, in fact, his gallery.

At 4:00 PM, just like at a Phillies game, a wave started from Front Street rolling back two blocks with people taking down the prints, holding them delicately to protect them from the damp as well as due to the adhesive. Treasures with bits of paint adhered to the back.


The 2009 iteration of Under I 95 was finished. Zoe still had at least an hour's worth of signing, greeting and hugging to do. I am very grateful for the opportunity to be there. An "Art" event unlike any other. It deepened my understanding of her process and work. It deepened my understanding period.

It was my very good fortune to spend time with Mike Macfeat, Justin Reed, and the divine
Ms Strauss. I see that I missed meeting a whole lot more, much to my disappointment. The size of the space and crowd intervened. I am hoping to make the trip for the final Under I 95 next May.

I would get

Right on it. I will have a more complete post tomorrow when I get
home and don't have to do it from my phone.

(if this is confusing see previous posts)

You now have

364 days to plan to be at the 10th and final Under I 95...

No sign

Of Ms Strauss yet. Could she still be printing?

A day late

But better late than never

Somewhere over

Eastern Pennsylvania

Is this similar to...

W.C. Fields' quote, "Last week, I went to Philadelphia, but it was closed."?

Something about it raining there. We get to try again at dawn tomorrow, although I believe it is supposed to rain tomorrow too. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate the current state of travel?

Updates as they occur.