GOODNIGHT!!

My time in room 170 has offered me so many things: friendship, community, expression, and entertainment. Its given me a venue to produce art outside the guidelines and restrictions of an assigned project. It has left me with bits and pieces of sincere wisdom from a man that has experienced so many places and human beings.  

But the most important idea that this class has taught me is that to fully understand myself, I must  understand from where I came and where I’ve been. Places shape the inhabitants within them whether it's their attitude, personality, or creativity. Every song and every era of music we’ve covered has taken us to a new destination where the society, geography, and way of life influences the artists and the music they create. Like the delta is to Muddy Waters or Oceanside is to Tony, I can fully understand how my home (Topanga) and experiences within it has molded me into the individual you all have encountered this semester.

As I am shaped by the places I've been I know I will forever be affected by my time in room 170, sitting around the campfire, singing songs of places far away, yet feeling close to home...

The Whale and The Ship

Before listening to Greenland Whale Fishery I understood the relationship between the whaler and the whale to appear obvious: The whaler is hunting the whale for its oil and thusly for a pay day. But these songs reveal a multi faceted relationship that labels/objectifies the whale as an enemy, a prize, and prey. Its as if these men are blinded by a somewhat savage desire that overcomes all monetary needs and satisfies a unquenchable primal instinct. These men are willing to risk life and limb to capture and conquer an animal of such size and power and while blinded by these desires label the whale an enemy when really it is the victim.  

The songs also speak to a brotherhood and an almost overwhelming feeling of optimism among the sailors that can only be achieved when stranded on a ship for an indeterminate amount of time. But this deeply complex and troubled relationship with the whale overshadows all else.

I wanted to reconcile this relationship and try to equate and draw similarities between the whale and the whaler (specifically the whaler’s vessel). Cutting a section through the whale and the ship brings to light the complexities hidden underneath their surfaces and places the whale and the vessel on an even playing field. Both are large entities comprised of smaller moving parts and this similarity is the first step towards bridging the gap between these adversaries.

City Blues:Chicago

The migration of artists like Muddy Waters and Howlin Wolf to the City of Chicago brought about a new style of blues framed by large skyscrapers, an evolving industry, and a longing for home. I wanted to represent these artist and their ambitions to “make it big” in the context of a growing city, rising with skyscrapers and flooding with activity.

The rectangular cuts represent the Chicago cityscape which frame rambunctiously painted colors and strokes that speak to the hustle and bustle of the Chicago music scene.

Country Blues: The Delta

Skip James, Son House and Muddy Waters encapsulate what I think of country blues. These artist’s lyrics are laden with emotional turmoil, struggle, and baggage that is tied to the hardships of the Delta. These artists forever carry this emotional baggage weighing heavily on their souls and with a guitar and a voice can cathartically reconcile their inner demons.

Lead Belly - Blind Melon

The song Blind Lemon by Lead Belly focuses on his friend and fellow musician Blind Lemon Jefferson with whom he played for 18 years around Dallas, Texas. The songs speak to their relationship, travels, and conversations.

I instantly knew I wanted to use the image of the eye to fuel my design, and one night,  when my roommate and friend of four years brought home an irregular piece of ceiling tile that he’d punched loose in a drunken beligerance from a casino somewhere in the Lake Tahoe area I knew I had to use it. My piece speaks to Lemon’s disability as a tether that tied these individuals together for so many years and the inherent bond that developed between the two. By incorporating the tile, a piece of my personal bond reinforces the strength of the subject.

PS: My roommate refers to the piece as the eye of the casino, forever watching him and passing judgment on his actions.

Mississippi John Hurt

His image along with his music brings to mind a sort of humble beauty that cuts through any lies myths or falsities and heads right toward the truth. I embodied this philosophy by using household items and objects in hopes to transform these seemingly ordinary items into something beautiful.

Across The Sea

                                                                                               

American folk music speaks to a rugged, gritty, yet still melodic way of living that references the life of a pioneer navigating unfamiliar territory. 

                                                                                                               

British ballads are smooth, melodic and highly organized. They are representative of a developed society in which class systems, government, and industry are firmly established.

Banks of the Ohio

Love             Marriage         Death            Eternity

Mary Don't You Weep

Moses stood on the RED SEA SHORE

SMOTIN' THE WATER with a TWO BY FOUR

The Lord told Moses what to do

To lead those Hebrew children thru

God gave Noah the RAINBOW SIGN

No more WATER but FIRE next time

Mary wore three LINKS OF CHAIN

Every link was in Freedoms name

When I get to HEAVEN, gonna sing & shout

Nobody up there to put me out!

One of these MORNINGS, it won't be long

You're gonna call my name, but i'll be gone

One of these days 'bout 12 o'clock

This OLD WORLDS gonna reel & rock

One of these days in the middle of the NIGHT

People gonna rise & set things right

 

 

The vibrant imagery and dark undertones of Mary Don't You Weep inspired me to create something equally as vibrant and dark. Colors flew through my conscious upon reading this tale of death, perseverance, and miracle. I wanted to layer, join, and meld this imagery and their corresponding colors into something new that elicits the same emotions that these words so gracefully achieve.

Blood Stained Banders

 

 

 

If you want to go to heaven
Just over on the other shore,
Keep out the way of the blood-strained banders
O good Shepherd, feedin' my sheep.

            

                                                     -Jimmie Strothers

 

Heaven here can be reached in two ways

Either fall to the weapons of the banders

or make it to the promise land

Down in the Valley

In an attempt to decipher the song "Down in the Valley" I created this pencil drawing that was intended to represent the bottom of a hole. As I read the lyrics and listened to the songs a few times over I began to understand exactly where each protagonist is located geographically and what each location is meant to emote. I believe the speaker is a woman who is longing for her lover (a man). She is inside a jail and the jail is inside a valley. The man is living "freely" and possibly happily at a higher elevation so that if a castle were to be built 40 ft high, within the valley then she would see him as he rode by on a horse. I believe the valley to represent a dark place or state of mind. It calls out to anybody who longs for something. The negative space in the drawing is for the viewer to place whatever he or she longs for.

Love Me Tender

Location: Kauai, Hawaii
Song: "Love Me Tender" by Elvis Presley
Singer: Elvis Impersonator
Subject: Family