In my "Life Outside Transart World", my partner (David Linton - audio/visual artist) and I run an art space - The Mission For Temporal Art - in the very sleepy rural little town of Marshall NC, about twenty miles North of Asheville (the art mecca of Western NC!)
http://themissionfortemporalart.blogspot.com
This past week, we were also part of a Butoh dance production in Asheville - "UWABE" - an outdoor extravaganza sponsored by Asheville Area Arts Council, Asheville Art in the Park and the Black Mountain College Museum + Art Center. It was presented by two local collaborating Butoh companies Anemone Dance Theater and Legacy Butoh.
David was the TD for this event and I was the MC. I developed a character who embodied the essence of Butoh in a way that would help it become accessible to a general audience.
http://www.ashevillebutoh.com/
BUT NOW .... back to Transart World!
I had a little bit of a set-back in regards to my workshop series with Asheville Contemporary Dance Theater company.
Originally, they had generously agreed to be my "guinea-pig" students during their Sunday rehearsal time going up to mid-November. However, after three workshops they decided to cancel the remaining sessions due to needing the time for a heavier rehearsal schedule than they had anticipated.
Unfortunately we were in the middle of a process with individual assignments - so it's very disappointing not to be able to follow those through to completion.
Never-the-less, I did gain quite a rich source of feedback from most of my "experiments" with them, so I have some valuable material to continue with.
The good news is ... that the Butoh dancers I was working with over the past week are interested in my MFA project and have expressed a desire to help me continue the process. So we are now making arrangements for some workshop sessions at their studio space (which is in an old school building in Alexander NC - half way between Asheville and Marshall).
I'm very much looking forward to this, as I know that they are deeply process oriented and unafraid of the abyss of exploration!
Besides the workshop groups, I continue to amass my Solo Sketches on the PHYSICAL EXERCISES page. I have been completing one per week. It is a collection of exercises I have been developing with the intention of transforming the "self" into a medium for art.
My vision is one of the self becoming something raw, pliable, alert, ready to transform into anything. In the same way an artist needs their material (be it clay, paint, wood, fabric, sound, words) to be available for use in creating whatever their vision might be - the performer IS medium. The artist is also aware of the inherent traits of each medium and chooses accordingly what best serves their purpose. The performer is required to be a versatile medium.
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