Of course, HA is moving to the East Coast at the beginning of August, but Welcome to the 21st century Children, we live in this fantastic world where we can transmit ourselves digitally and instantaneously across hundreds of miles.  Mahvelous!   “Skype” here I come!  This is part of the performance!   My last in person visit with Henry will be a nice relaxed social to wish him godspeed and give him a cd of traveling music for his drive out East.   I am hoping perhaps Krista can come along so that they might meet each other at least once, as Henry doesn’t know if he can be in town for the final performance…

Krista will be in town, but she is wonderfully busy as one of the Artists on the Verge http://northern.lights.mn/programs/aov/walsh/ and planning a public/performance piece for September http://gratitudeguerilla.webs.com/whatisit.htm among other things.  Check out the Northrop Plaza webcam piece she is putting together until late August http://www.vimeo.com/5453719 I will be making the Most of my Time with each of them.  In any case, they are both perfect(!) and I am pleased that I found them so quickly and they are interested in working with me.   They are both wonderfully fearless and honest.
[lights Snap off!]…

Then there is Mr. Patterson, who is an Architectural Artist of the Utmost.  He sketches well-known buildings in downtown Minneapolis and sells them to whoever will buy.   A very decent guy, Well worth sitting down and chatting with.  He will show you all he’s got.  Buy somethin’!  You got $20!

And last (for now) but not at all Least….Bri Dube.  An angel of a human being, with a voice that pours up the glass and metal canyon of Nicollet Mall, so that I can hear her from 2 blocks away…amazing and wonderful to hear–like some goddam river.  Like being called home.  Who else could make you miss the southeast and the southwest simultaneously?  Hmmm? Anyway, She is going to be at the Mapps Coffee shop on Riverside at Cedar (West Bank) for a fundraising event at 6pm on Friday the 13th, and then on Sunday, the 15th, She takes the stage at the 400 at 8pm.   I would not steer you wrong, my peoples.  Come see one or the other of these shows, eh?  You will Thank Me.  I Swear.
A link for the loveless:

http://www.myspace.com/theplanktonics

It was a dark and icy night, and yet 50 people (give or take) ventured forth to celebrate the work and person of Paulette Myers-Rich.   Paulette’s dedication to enriching the world through the book arts has finally caught up with her, and I am proud to say I have worked with her.  I woulda been proud to say that regardless of the award, of course.  But I’m just sayin’…

• Paulette’s impeccable book birthing skills
• Paulette’s intense and heartfelt photographic works
• Paulette’s international literary bridge building with Irish artists
• Paulette’s understanding of, and connection with Joseph Beuys

And then of course, she’s funny.

On February 26th, at the Appointed time, after a Proper Amount of schmoozing and noshing—excellent food, by the way–we filed into the auditorium and as a community, were treated to some good natured, humorous rivalry from Last Year’s Book Artist of the Year (Jody Williams–who also is funny as all-get-out), some Audience Participation, and a very gracious delivery from Ms. Myers-Rich herself.  The two most memorable statements I caught that evening were: that Paulette considers herself to be of the “Malcolm X” school of art…i.e. “By any means necessary.”  (Which completely explains why we worked together so well.)
And then, a weirdly ingenious analogy between in vitro fertilization and the electronic “book”.  I can’t stop thinking about it!  Ack!  Give me ink and paper, leather and glue, or give me death!  Which is to say that I quite applaud PMR’s efforts to sustain this Humbly Grand art form.   And I am quite happy that she has been so recognized by those who know better than me.    The official ceremony and award giving: “Myers-Rich will receive special recognition and an award at the 21st annual Minnesota Book Awards gala on April 25, 2009 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel – Saint Paul Riverfront.”

Anyway, the show is only up for another couple of days—through Sunday 3/15, so gitchass over to the Open Book Building at 1101 Washington Avenue, go upstairs and dig Paulette Myer-Rich’s work.  You will thank me.

How do we honorably inhabit this
space between yesterday and tomorrow?  How to
gracefully traverse this bridge
between where we’ve come from and where we are going
between what we know for certain and what we will never
figure out
as long as we live?  We are all being born
constantly, over and over every day,
and yet we die a little in every moment.
Very few of us are absolutely one thing
or the other
and yet we work hard at rejecting the gray areas
the middle ground.

How do we balance here then
within our left-rightness, our inward outerness, our upward downs
and our old newness?
Someone once said that it is
where two or more systems come together
that interesting and compelling things occur
Ah–new systems result!  How do we
integrate these paradoxes, reach
across these divides and unite these disparate
aspects of being human on earth?
How to embrace and honor the differences
while creating and welcoming new ones?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3eZvEIdmq4
Watching this caused me to laugh and cry simultaneously.  Kari Maxwell deserves the credit for turning me on to this, by the way.  Anyway, I responded to Amy’s call and am now an Ambassador of Lovely.  Because after the 18th thing was created, a plan was hatched to create a full length film full of lovely things created by people from all over the world.  And so, the adventure continues, and I invite you to be a part of it as well.  You don’t even have to make anything.  Just being appreciative is lovely in itself.  As a humble Ambassador, I have no idea what the whole plan is yet, but I am waiting to hear from my Ambassador of Ambassadors as to what my next assignment will be.

So far, I received in the mail some small cards with the youtube address on it with the assignment that I give these to people to heighten awareness of the project.  I have had some real fun with this, going to art events and observing the other people there, and giving a card to whoever I realized was also fun, especially observant, curious, or otherwise clearly receptive to loveliness.  Another approach I used was to run up to people (which usually surprised them!), hand them a card, and then run away as fast as I could (I am guessing this further surprised them, but I really don’t know, because I didn’t look back).  I need to make some more cards–I only have a few left.  I am also inspired to make some cards of my own.  I have not decided what to put on them yet, but it will most likely be something simple but memorable that hopefully makes them smile or laugh or think…

Some additional links, because I love to link you…

http://whoisamy.wordpress.com/

and the newest…

http://thebeckoningoflovely.wordpress.com/

And please…if you are in an area unaffected by light pollution, for ‘heavens’ sakes, get out there with your video camera and then post it for us city folks, eh?

http://l7artcollective.blogspot.com/