Beginning

_ Seeking Kali began as a response the eternal Facebook "What's on your mind?" query. I typed in my thought and soon Ria Vanden Eynde, with whom I've done several collaborations, responded with her thoughts. Susan Shulman immediately joined the thread and we were off. To Where? We had no idea as we tossed around comments on Time, goddess iconography, indigenous belief systems, western perceptions, travels and sources.
Busy with other projects our dance with Kali would take several months before the first manifestation appeared; a beautiful and poignant portrait piece by Ria.

© Ria Vanden Eynde _ Kali Ma

Shortly after this Susan shared her first image and I followed with my mine.  Looking back from where we started, which was the end of January, 2010, it had taken until June to get to that first piece.  Over this period we kept our conversation going on Facebook; using it as a virtual conference room to continue our thoughts.

© Susan Shulman _ Queen Sara Gypsy Kali #1

© William Evertson _ Wheel of Time

These conversations took on a practical tone at times as we made decisions as to how we would present our pieces. Our thought was to make an artist book of our images. Despite our commitment to begin the Seeking Kali blog to share our journey as well as showcase other talented artists, the production of an artist book remains a goal for the three of us.






The format we've settled on is loose folios within a portfolio case. Each of us will be printing on a sheet sixteen inches wide by ten tall. This sheet is then folded to make an 8 x 10 folio.  This format give each of us options on how to use the paper. Longer horizontal pieces can be accommodated or the additional pages created by the fold could be utilized for illuminated manuscript style writing. 




The image below is Susan's use of the folio format (bear in mind that the sheet is folded in half) Mine is the folio's backside; my main image is on the reverse side of this. Also pictured is one of Ria's folios that is designed  to showcase an invocation. (You can see the words in the poem tab of the blog)

Susan Shulman _ folio view

William Evertson _ folio (verso) view

Ria Vanden Eynde _folio view

Our intention is to produce four to five folios each, with versions available in both a hardcase and soft.
Now that we've launched the Seeking Kali blog and artist call in the midst of our own work, even more possibilities seem to be opening up. We hope that the work we're doing with our personal portfolio can act as a blueprint for us to produce collaborations with other artists contributing to Seeking Kali.

Stay tuned; we hope to have this first collaborative work finished in early 2011. 
William Evertson (for Seeking Kali)

Seeking Kali

After a brief break from blogging this summer I’m back at the keyboard with a new post and a new blog. Seeking Kali is up and running; or as Kali is wont to do, dancing.

©evertson_Kali Dance

The new Kali blog is an artist call for images of your works based on the Hindu goddess. Sometimes depicted with four or ten arms her manifestations are many. She is mother, she is goddess, she destroys time as a symbol of dissolution and destruction. Kali destroys ignorance born of our ego and restores order. While often misunderstood and misrepresented in the West her myth and archetype is potent material for artistic interpretation. Click here for details for the artist call, submission guidelines and future plans for the evolution of the project. Seeking Kali began last winter; born from comments from a Facebook thread between Ria Vanden Eynde, Susan Shulman and myself. The three of us became acquainted due to our participation in A Book About Death and its subsequent exhibits.  We all had interests in myth narrative and began to share our thoughts on Kali and the many symbolic ways she manifested. The conversation thread became a collaboration to put together a portfolio of our images of Kali manifestations. 

©shulman_Queen Sara Gypsy 2

This is still a work in progress but our portfolio should be ready in edition form early next year. Over the next several months I’ll share progress pictures of our work on this aspect of our Seeking Kali project.  When the three of us began posting some of our works in progress, in wonderful synchronicity, several other artists began to share their images. Because of the inspired responses to achieving a western understanding of Kali we expanded our horizons to begin this artist call. Our intent is larger still. We are currently researching a way to produce an additional portfolio from interested artists. Just like the many arms of Kali our thoughts are expanding to find ways to include video, multimedia, poets, dancers and artists of all mediums.

©Vanden Eynde_Kali Ma

We would love to keep you in the loop as we move forward. There will be information here as well as on Seeking Kali. You can also email us at seekingkali@yahoo.com.

Holding Out

_©evertson_New work for Abalcabal issue #3_"Holding Out"_

I was visiting friends over the past weekend and the topic of how we first came upon the brave new world of computers came up. My friend mentioned the punch cards we were issued when signing up for classes as college freshmen and how they got feed into a room sized machine which somehow spit out our first class schedules.  Today, most of my creative work is done on my laptop that is many times more powerful than those used in the first Apollo missions. 

Issue #3 of Abalcabal

I’m connected to the Internet with my iPhone and I create much of my work in Photoshop.  The Internet itself is a great organizing tool.  I send people interested in my work here to see what’s in progress, I learn about exhibition opportunities and find collaborators on projects.

A Book About Death was one such Internet project.  That project lead me to my collaborators, Ria Vanden Eynde and Susan Shulman, on the Kali project mentioned in my last post.

_©evertson_contribution to Abalcabal #2_"Codes"_

Another great project I've been involved with is Abalcabal.  This is a zine made by and for those who collaborate by submitting work. Abalcabal was conceived by Jennifer Kosharek as a way for artists who had participated in ABAD to share work with one another. Other artists have found us on Facebook and have started to contribute as well.   I received our third issue recently and continue to be amazed by the creative spirit of the contributing artists.

#2 issue of Abalcabal

Jennifer has done an amazing job of organizing and curating this exchange opportunity as an off shoot of her mail art activity.  This second link for Jennifer has information concerning a mail art show she is organizing for September on the theme of UR Toy Story.

©evertson_contribution to Abalcabal #1_"Introductions"

Abalcabal continues to be only available to the contributors; although despite our "secretive" nature we are not above on occasion sharing some of our "sweet secret things".

First issue of Abalcabal

Abalcabal = A Book About Life + cabal (a group of people joined in a secret)    Shush!

New Work

_Kali Dance_ ©evertson2010_

I’m not sure what others think of artistic collaborations. I find them intriguing; at least when you find the right people for a project.  The piece above is one of the images I’m contributing to a book that I am working on with Susan Shulman of Canada and Ria Vanden Eynde of Belgium.  The Hindu goddess Kali is our topic for an artist book containing giclée prints. 

_Wheel of Time_©evertson2010

Our project began simply with an exchange on Facebook; a few innocuous statements that lead to the idea for doing “something”.  The first exchange began back at the end of January and continued for several months with sporadic chats on Kali, her historical references and our intersections with the mythology.  

_Queen Sara Gypsy Kali_©Susan Shulman2010_

Ultimately these discussions have coalesced around an artist book where we each contribute several images. At this stage we have settled upon loose folio sheets either in a drop spine or portfolio-style book case.  

_Untitled_©Susan Shulman2010_

We have no set deadlines but I thought that while we are in a preliminary but energetic state it is time to start showing off some of the imagery.  Neither do we have any idea how many images we ultimately will produce.  Presently we are working in a folio format in which a single sheet of archival quality paper is folded in half giving each artist several potential layouts for each of the individual folios.

_Kali Ma_©Ria Vanden Eynde2010_

On several occasions during our talks of collaboration we came full circle in our fascination with Kali's many manifestations; she creates and destroys, she is mother and she restores worlds out of balance.  

GREAT MAIL ART:

In the mail this week were several great pieces.  First to arrive was an original collage by Matthew Rose. For those unfamiliar with the particulars of mail art, Matthew's is a great example of trust and allowing for chance. The work consists of original collage on light board that is not wrapped in any way but simply stamped and left to the vicissitudes of the postal service.

collage by Matthew Rose©2010

It came through perfectly!  Now when I want art to make it through without damage...well, it never goes as planned.  Matthew Rose is an American artist that is based in Paris.  His largest collage project, "A Book About Death" continues to gain momentum as new artists step forward worldwide to curate and exhibit this project. Currently ABAD is in Omaha at the RGN Gallery and a fall exhibit is planned for the C.W. Post campus on Long Island. Matthew was recently interviewed on KHND radio.  He describes life in Paris, the story behind A Book About Death and life as a collage.

_detail of Matthew Rose designed artist stamp " Reubens Rounding Third"_
Note that it was cancelled by the postal service - their stamp of approval

I also received a full sheet of artist stamps and Encyclopedia Fluxanica #s 1-6 from Portland, Maine artist Reed Altemus.  Reed works across several media but always with an eye to Fluxus inspiration.  Well known for his copier art and fluxus performance work, these two works are a wonderful gift.  Some information on Reed's copier works are contained in the essay found here.

_Artist Stamps by Reed Altemus©2009_

Reed Altemus©2009

Speaking of collaboration... I don't think I've ever mentioned Abalcabal.  Next time perhaps because I work with some great artists on that project also and we specialize in sweet secret things.

Photo Finish

_My image contained in the data recorder for Space Shuttle launch STS-133_
_Fluxface in Space_

This has been a busy productive week in the studio and also a week of receiving some amazing art in the mail from several friends and collaborators.  The image above is part of the artist call from the Fluxmuseum for an exhibit of postcard sized images that ride into space on one of two final space shuttle missions this fall.  NASA's site allows the upload of pictures that are to be included in the data recorders aboard flights STS-134 and 134. After your upload, print a version and mail to the Fluxmuseum in Fort Worth, TX to be part of the land based exhibit.
I'm not sure how anyone else works but many times I wake up in the morning with my dream mind still engaged. So, that day begins with a thought like, "I should really do something with monkeys".  I don't know why; but I write those thoughts down and sometimes these random things find a way into the art.  So when I heard about this artist call, I thought about the first animal test flights I remembered from my childhood.  So, serendipity strikes and with monkeys on my mind already, I searched the files from NASA archives and found Albert.  Actually there were quite a few Alberts, a rhesus monkey, as well as chimps that were the first living mammals in space.  The ongoing blog of the contributions is called Fluxface in Space. I'm number 3!!

IN THE MAIL

This first grouping is from Kathleen McHugh of Seattle.  This is a set of the cards (to date) of her contributions to the various A Book About Death projects.  First exhibited last fall in NYC at the Emily Harvey Gallery, the ABAD project has expanded internationally.  While some curators have chosen to include only the original  unbound book version containing some 480 images; other curators have extended the call and requested new works. This group contains Kathleen's contribution to the ongoing projects.

Kathleen McHugh for Emily Harvey, NYC

Kathleen McHugh for RNG Gallery, Omaha, NE

Kathleen McHugh for MuBE, Brazil

Kathleen McHugh for MuBE, Brazil

Kathleen McHugh for MoMA, Wales

The next piece is from Christine Tarantino of Massachusetts.  Christine maintains the Fluxus-USA/ New New Art blog where various international artists submit a variety of current and historical Fluxus material.  Fluxus, in its broadest definition consists of a blending of media, styles and disciplines that began in the 60's. I certainly have been influenced by many Fluxus artists and continue to contribute to shows containing fluxus work.  Grazie Christine!

Christine Tarantino

Several pieces showed up from Belgium this week from Ria Vanden Eynde with whom I love to work on collaborations.  This next piece is hers alone and is intended for the RNG Gallery of Omaha where another ABAD exhibit is in the process of being assembled.  There is still time to participate in this latest version of ABAD being curated by Louise Millmann and Robert Gilmer.

Ria Vanden Eynde: an ABAD image for RNG Gallery of Omaha, NE

The following is an ongoing work in progress collaboration between Ria and myself.  This particular one began with several ink drawings I sent to Belgium for Ria to add to or modify without restriction.  This is the second and it has just been returned for me to do the same. Either add and resend, call it done or some other undetermined action.  We both enjoy the possibility of accident, change and impermanence.  The piece I sent was an ink sketch of an Iris on paper about 12" x 21".  In this case Ria has attached a pressed flower (a forget me not) and a Japanese death poem written on the reverse.
Ria has also launched a new blog of special interest to women artists (and the men that love them). In Ria's words: "I’m interested to see how other women artists create as they are ‘touched' by life. I’m calling women artists for artworks about their body as it changes through different circumstances, the joyful and the sad. To name a few: aging, child birth, illness, accidents, psychological suffering, life changing events, ... Interested?" Please visit The Body - Nothing Else.

Work in progress by Ria Vanden Eynde and William Evertson

detail of poem

detail of flower

Logo Redesign

_BP logo ©evertson 2010 (for Greenpeace's Behind the Logo_

About the same time I was working on my submission for the A Book About Death exhibit in Omaha an opportunity came along to expand on that piece.  Greenpeace is sponsoring a contest for a logo redesign for British Petroleum.  While it doesn't solve any problems, it did feel good to vent a bit of rage over the lack of safety concerns that lead to the deaths of the rig workers and continues to spew crude oil and methane.  While we still need to vent at our own Mineral Management Services that simply rubber stamped out dated and fraudulent contingency plans, BP is a good starting place. The Greenpeace site has information for adding your own design as well as a link to see all the great new and improved logos. (entries through June 28th)

In the Mail!!      It's been a great week for things showing up in the mail from fellow artists.

©Branka Djordjević 

This piece arrived from Luxembourg from my friend Branka Djordević.  The piece is a four inch square painting on metal that is bonded to a canvas and stretcher, making it actually a rather substantial feeling piece.  The paint and surface has a glossy look that doesn't really come through in the photo giving it a very shimmering feel. These small paintings are part of Branka's series "A Painting a Day Keeps the Apple Away"

LuAnn Palazzo

 LuAnn Palazzo sent two nice works this week.  The one above is a collage made of thumbnail pictures of art by several of our mutual friends.  Very nice piece and luckily she provided a key to the artists included here on the back.

LuAnn's key to identifying the images in the collage

A great idea and if you have been following this blog for awhile you may recognize some of the included artists from their participation in either Mail Art or some of the ongoing ABAD exhibits.  LuAnn has a wonderful site where you can explore her design and photography.  LuAnn also included her postcard that was part of the ABAD Wales exhibit that recently closed.

©Palazzo for MoMA Wales

©Palazzo (back of card) MoMA Wales

Enjoy and have a great weekend!

The Next ABAD

_"Two BP Imports" _©evertson 2010_

Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends. Or it seems that way concerning the A Book About Death.  A new edition is in the works for the RNG Gallery of Omaha Nebraska and it opens July 31^st.  I love this community that has formed from the original project back at Emily Harvey Gallery. Many friends continue to submit new work as well as new faces (art) showing up to comment on the subject of death.  This particular exhibit is following the format of accepting new work to be exhibited along side the original.  A visit to the ABAD Omaha site will fill in details if you wish to join in.  The submission deadline is July 20^th. My piece (#40) for this exhibit  is based on a bit of free association concerning the tragedy in the Gulf.  Titled “Two BP Imports”; it collages Lord Baden Powell’s Boy Scout manual with the petroleum giant BP’s utter lack of preparedness.  Although, to be fair there is enough blame for many in this deadly scenario still playing out.  The original ABAD was conceived and curated by Matthew Rose.  The RNG Gallery exhibit is curated by Louise Millmann and Robert Gilmer.

Crude _ ©evertson2010 mixed media, hubcap, wire mesh, toys, acrylic

Last February I submitted a mixed media sculpture to the Landfill Arts project called “Crude”.  At the time I was concerned about our overdependence, the greed and the spills; but little did I imagine what was soon in store for our shores. You should be able to find this piece around page 11 of their gallery.

ELP - "Welcome back my friends to a show that never ends" Karn Evil 9 1st. Impression. Part 2 excerpt - live from '73 and my friends if I were to concentrate on corporate bad actors for subject matter I truly would have a show that never ended.

Pacts with the Devil

_Border detail from Haiti's Seed Money_

Today's post is art made for a specific date: namely today, June 4th, 2010, World Environment Day, the date when Haitian farmers threatened to burn the Monsanto Corporations 475 ton seed donation. This box is probably the most political of all the Ox and O boxes I’ve made so far.

_Open box showing contents_

It didn’t start out that way, but since the boxes are inspired by a thematic exploration on the topic of choice, I’m traveling paths that have political implications on occasion. In thinking of themes for boxes in this present series I first constructed Power Play, then Play Money and then Seed Money came to mind. Since I’ve also been bouncing around with opposites, reactions and consequences as a way to set up these tic tac toe boxes the word association play comes first then the ideas and imagery. 

_Cover to the small "instruction" book included in contents of box_

 So ‘seed money’ sent me backtracking an article I had seen in passing, concerning the Haitian earthquake and the continuing efforts at relief and rebuilding. From the Huffington Post I reread the brief outline of Monsanto's efforts to donate corn and vegetable seed that some farmers in Haiti view as the beginning of the end. Monsanto Corporation has caused controversy for decades (producer of Agent Orange during the Viet Nam war) and in many minds an ethically challenged entity with global reach. Although Haiti’s Ministry has rejected Monsanto’s GMO (genetically modified organism) seed varieties, the hybrids offered are treated with either the fungicide Maxim XO or thiram. The comment thread on that link reveals heated argument for both camps, ie Monsanto is acting altruistically vs Monsanto is capitalizing on disaster. 

_Pigment print collage on underside of lid_

On the other side of this equation are local producers such as Chavannes Jean-Baptiste of the Peasant Movement of Papay (MPP). "We need to establish seed banks and have silos where we can store our Creole seeds. Local, organic seeds are the basis of food sovereignty. It's urgent that Haitians buy local seeds. ... What's the danger we face today? It's that food aid from USAID and others is getting dumped in the country."

_Prose from 'instruction' book_

The other idea I added to the box concerns the claims of the televangelist Pat Robertson that the Haitians suffer as a result of making a pact with the devil in 1791. Supposedly, this legend has origins dating from the slave uprising against French colonialist rule. 

_Anonymous 17th century woodcut illustrating a pact with the devil_

 This box contains the same variety of elements (and a few specific to this box) from the others boxes in my Ox and O series; the book, the blank grids, pigment pads, seed corn, collages of pigment prints as well as the hand carved stamps.

_Detail of the corn carving on the bottom of one of the hands_

The images I created for the interior compartment refer to Haiti's past history of slavery. The bottom image is from a ship diagram showing the loading of a vessel to maximize the transport of slaves. The underside of the hinged compartment is a composite digital collage with a historical illustration of a muzzle restraint superimposed over a photo of myself burdened by a necklace of coins around the neck. This collage element is titled 'Accept our Gifts' and refers to the payments Haiti was forced to make to France in return for it's independence. (backed by high interest loans provided by the US among other nations)
One thing I've become painfully aware of in researching imagery, political and philosophical thought in the information age is the overwhelming amount of propaganda masquerading as fact on every side of controversial issues. Choices and consequences. 


So, while I didn't start out to make an in your face political statement, it appears that is what I've accomplished. A special consideration for one day June 4th, 2004.

_Closed box_