I'm in a Documentary and I didn't even know it.....

So the other night I'm driving home with holly and i get a text message from Tara Ward that says, "did you know that you are on MTV right now?" Then i get another one from the manager at the green lake bar and grill that says the same thing. I call Tara back and ask her first, "why are you watching MTV? and second, what do you mean i'm on MTV?"

Turns out that it was an episode of True Life and they were showing a smaller version of a documentary that recently came out called "A Map For Saturday."

I met Brook in August of 2005 at a hostel in London and ended up hanging out with him and my friend Brian Ulrich for the day. He told us his story of quitting HBO and setting out to travel the world for a year... and documenting it the whole time.

well, lo and behold... it became a film.

enjoy

"i want to be indiana jones when i grow up."

this is exactly what i said when i was 8.
it's still true today. i'm stoked for this film!

orphans and art

african collaborative pieces from november 07

these are pictures of a series of collaborative paintings i did for a show at the urban artworks gallery in alpharetta, GA back in november of 07. the whole show was a benefit for heart for africa and the show was called "faces of hope."

my wife and i got to go to kenya with heart for africa in july of 07 and we headed up art education programs with the orphans. one of the things we wanted to do from this trip was to bring back some art from the children and be able to sell them at the show in order to raise more money for them.

now i've been in some conversations with worldvision and other organizations about selling art made by children. it's a good idea... i think it hits the heart... but i just don't think it works. why? well because i don't think people wanting to buy art are going to fork out a lot of money on something that looks similar to the work in their kids classroom. maybe i'm wrong... but i don't think i am.

so how do we solve this?

i was showing a bunch of other pieces at this show. these panels that these kids had painted on were just sitting around my studio as i was making other work for the show. in this process of just being there, i had this idea. if people were going to buy my work because they liked it (along with a number of other reasons), then what if i could add my purchasing momentum to their work? i was there. i had them make these pieces and i took their picture. i'm wrapped up in this story as it is.... so why not add my interpretation to these kids and their story?



so i matched up the paintings and their pictures, and i painted on them. an instant collaboration.... from over 10,000 miles apart.

and that's where these paintings came from.

we would like to do more of this someday. get more artists involved and do a giant collaborative show with the orphans. we'll see what transpires.....

Church Art

My dad, who is great but sends trying not to be lame forwards, sent me this article by Chuck Colson... which is a really great comment. Thanks Dad!

Made for Beauty | January 31, 2008
Art, Worship, and the Bible

The neighbors watched the new church building go up in just one month—and what a sight it was! The church was a squat, square building made of unrelieved concrete. On the inside was garish red carpeting. A massive parking lot surrounded the church.
Nothing could possibly have been uglier—and the fact that so many Christians build church structures like this reveals how far Christians have strayed from the place beauty and art are meant to have in our lives.
As the late Francis Schaeffer notes in his book, Art and the Bible, we evangelicals tend to relegate art to the fringes of life. Despite our talk about the lordship of God in every aspect of life, we have narrowed its scope to a very small part of reality. But the arts are also supposed to be under the lordship of Christ, Schaeffer reminds us. Christians ought to use the arts "as things of beauty to the praise of God."
This is exactly what God commanded regarding the building of His Tabernacle. As Schaeffer says, "God commanded Moses to fashion a tabernacle in a way [that] would involve almost every form of representational art that men have ever known." In Exodus 25, for example, God instructs Moses to make for the Holy of Holies "two cherubim of gold; of beaten work shalt thou make them."
In other words, God was commanding that works of art be made: a statuary representation of angels.
Outside the Holy of Holies, lampstands were to be placed—that is, candlesticks of pure gold, decorated with representations of nature: almond blossoms and flowers.
And then we have the descriptions of the priestly garments. Upon their skirts were to be designed pomegranates of blue, purple, and scarlet.
Does God value beauty for beauty's sake? It seems He does. Consider the two columns Solomon set up before the Temple. He decorated them with a hundred pomegranates fastened upon chains, as God commanded. These two free-standing columns supported no architectural weight and had no engineering significance, Schaeffer writes. "They were there only because God said they should be there as a thing of beauty."
And this brings us back to those ugly church buildings we often build. No wonder non-Christians often remark on the ugliness of our churches—an ugliness that is off-putting to anyone sensitive to beauty. We have forgotten that beauty is not achieved, as some argue, just to draw people into the church, but because it is a form of praise to the God who designed and created magnificent mountains, delicate flowers, and our beautiful children.
No doubt you have seen churches that have crossed the line from beautiful to garish, where opulence is more valued than true beauty. Indeed, historically, the Protestant reaction to opulent church furnishings was to seek beauty in simplicity. And that is fine too. But every congregation, no matter how small its budget, should ensure that its facilities, humble though they may be—and in some parts of the world, they are very, very primitive—nonetheless, are tasteful and reflect the beauty of the Creator.
The God we worship glories in beauty.

new 5 Spot painting

I used to work at the 5 Spot restaurant on Queen Anne in Seattle. And even though I don't work there anymore, they still let me make paintings for their festivals. They have a new festival every 3 months, where they have a theme with special menu items and the whole restaurant gets redecorated. It's very cool and it keeps a awesome restaurant constantly awesomer.

This seasons theme is Route 66. I picked the skyview drive in as my painting subject. And above is what I came up with.

Now I know I have done a steve zissou before.... but i'm really not obsessed with the movie. i really like it, i think the characters are all really cool, and i think the film has a semi-cult following. that's my reason for making a movie poster for the skyview drive in.

so here it is for all to love! be sure to go to the actual restaurant to see it in person!

Carlsbad Marathon & Sometimes Arting is Awkward

This last weekend, i painted at the Carlsbad Marathon in Calrsbad, CA.  60 people were running for Heart for Africa, raising money to build a school in Swaziland for 200 orphans.  Heart for Africa ended up being one of the official non-profits for the marathon, which is huge.  I was invited to come down and paint at this event in hopes that the paintings i made would be auctioned off and most of the proceeds would be donated to the El Shaddai school.  

Everyone who was involved is great and holly and i had the best time down there.  my props to caroline mcgraw for putting all this together and all her tireless work for the children who have very little hope in africa.  she is doing all she can for them, and it is an inspiration to anyone to see the joy in choosing to do what God really said about taking care of orphans and widows. and to the mcgraw family, you guys rock!  thanks tom for letting me use you wetsuit and board for a great time in the water.  shaun and ian, "bien sur, je vous veux!" lauren and christen, you're my D O double G's.

Some thoughts:

I think with anyone who is an artist and especially if there is a performance aspect to your work, you are definitely going to come across moments that are awkward and embarrasing.  I like what i do, and i think the creating in public places is a very cool and engaging thing.  but it works better in certain situations than others.  it works well with musicians in a concert setting, with speakers, in churches or music halls... but at 730 in the morning in a parking lot during a marathon... it just felt a little out of place to me.  now understand, i might be one of the only people who feel this way.  many people expressed enjoyment, wonder, and thanks that i was there and that they loved my work.  in fact, the woman who puts on the 3rd largest marathon in the nation came up to me and said how much she enjoyed me there and i was invited to come back next year.  pretty cool.  but as i was painting african orphans on sunday morning, on bleachers in front of a stage with a cheesy cover band playing, while people are stretching out all around me, i couldn't help but feel a little out of place.

there was one point when all of our group was at the finish line cheering on the runners, and i was there by myself, that i particularly felt this way.  i was there and there was this thought like "what am i doing here? this is so wierd..."  but even though i was feeling this way, what could i do?  this is what i'm here for, and i have to do it.  

in most every painting i've ever done, there is a point at which i hate the painting and i want to quit.  it's actually a very normal part of painting.  in fact i think it's a very normal part of creating.  i even  think about marriage too... when there is this time that you want to give up and start over... but if you keep going, you can create something better than you ever imagined.  this happens with art, i've learned.  whenever you come to this spot, you have to keep going. if you don't you never know what will come out.  if was easy to get it out, everyone would be an artist.  the difficulty is to keep going to bring that creation out.  that's what makes great art... the perseverence to keep going.

anywho, i wanted nothing more than the permission to leave the steps.  but i knew i couldn't. so i just kept going.  the organizer came over to me.  the paintings were all made.  and then they will be sold and the money will go to orphans in africa. and who knows what else.....  

you only get to find out in completion.  

i never knew that being an artist would make me experience so many moments of vulnerability and awkwardness.  but through all that, it has opened doors of success and achievement.  it seems like these two go hand in hand often.  that's good to know as i keep going.....

Winter Youth, Portland OR

Along with all the festivities that go on during this time of year, for the third year in a row i was invited to be the artist in residence at the WinterYouth Conference down in Portland, or PDX as her friends know her. What does this mean? Basically, I paint with all the speakers, creating visual memorials of what is being discussed and helping us remember the journey we are on. and i'm just around to encourage all the would be artists who need encouraging.

it was an encouraging weekend. i did about 7 paintings in all... and had fantastic feedback from everyone. those conferences wipe me out though. by the second day i had bags under my eyes even though i was sleeping 7 hours a night. i guess i'm not as young as i use to be.

the best part of this conference was who i go to work with.

Rick
The speaker for the first two days was Rick McKinley. a great down to earth pastor who would make the lutheran pastors of my upbringing cringe.... because he's not the slick suit wearing guy we all imagine. he's short, stalky.. big guy with a huge chin gotee. He's very genuine and a delight to listen too. Rick is the pastor of Imago Dei church in Portland, where also his good friend Donald Miller hangs as well. I get the churches podcast as well. i think the things that they are saying are just awesome... and something that we really need to hear in this part of the world.

www.imagodeicommunity.com

http://www.imagodeicommunity.com/ricks-blog/

Chris
The other guy who spoke was Chris Seay, who i had never heard of, but turns out he is an awesome guy doing very creative work with poverty, changing the way we think about money, and helping us understand the Bible in new ways. He's all over the place so i'll just put down links to all the stuff he is doing.

http://www.hearthevoice.com/

http://www.2115taft.org/

http://www.xnil.org/

http://www.theworkofthepeople.com/index.php?ct=store.details&pid=V00463


Joel
and last but not least, was the music worship leader. Joel West is a great musician and an even better designer down in San Diego. He came into this whole conference doing nothing but hymns in a kind of decemberists/josh ritter style that was so right on. i think kids were a little not into at first, but by the end they had owned it. it was refreshing in a culture that can be fairly autonomous in all that it does.

www.joelpwest.com

so that's that. i had a great time and i hope to be around next year!

also
here is a video that the media guy made during the conference....

Cattle Drive

In June of this year, I went with 3 friends (Steve Shurtleff, David Knutsen, Shawn Ryan) to Idaho and went on a cattledrive at the 4-D ranch. It was one of the best things I have ever done in my life. Here's a little video to commemorate it.

art that has no power

i'm in philly right now visiting some friends for a week. jack the dog is chewing on a bone at my feet. holly and jenny are talking about soup.

holly and i went to the philadelphia art museum yesterday. went walked around til our legs hurt and had to sit down with weak coffee in the museum cafeteria. There are some really great pieces of art at this museum. really famous works that i saw all through my undergraduate degree on slides in classes that i usually had a ten minute nap in every day. if you come here, you should definately check it out.

a couple things struck me from that experience.

one

being a maker of art, it's weird to see a bunch of people pay money and in their leisure time, walk around and look at what people have created. i think what gets me about it is that art seems to be made in boring, lonely places where nobody is watching... namely your studio. it's not a glamorous process. it's just... well it is what it is. for me, it's just what i do. and that process is mixed up with all the doubt, triumphs, hopes of making a living and being profound... yadda yadda yadda.... it's just what i do. it's not an event. i don't think i'm making myself very clear. i guess one of the other things that i felt as well as that being an artist isn't necessarily your parents first wish at financial success for you. i remember talking to a co-worker of my mom's (a doctor) as i was doing my undergrad, and i told him that i was thinking about being an art major. he looked at me and said i should go into business. (nice.) but that's one opinion that i seem to come across a lot. being an artist isn't an easy road and there is not a lot of financial pay off... and along with all that there isn't a general audience urging you on. in fact it feels like a more general cheer is to get a real job and be responsible. so to see people pay and gawk at pieces of work that artists have created as a sort of entertainment... it was just a really wierd experience. i guess it made me wonder if all my hard work would have the same response later on in life.

which leads me to

two

out of all the art that i saw... there wasn't much that really blew my mind. now this could be to blame for my sore legs and possibly short attention span, but nothing really got me while i stood in the presence of it. not like music does at least. you go to a concert... it's a very emotional experience. i want the visual to be like that. i have had some experiences like that with viewing a visual piece. (and i will say that this was my own opinion on one day of my life... so it's not an a across the board statement of belief). and i have liked those pieces i've seen. in fact, the day before we came across the lineage gallery and saw a show by sam flores. very cool stuff. but i guess nothing that day really moved me. it made me think about something my friend jeremy said to me about painting and what to paint. he said that we should paint what we want to see hanging in a gallery. "when you walk into a gallery, what do you want to see?"

i guess this is my burden... task even as an artist. maybe not for others, but just for me.
i do think this will take me a greater part of my life though. this causes me to sigh, yes... but it makes me want to try as hard as i can to accomplish this.

what does art with power look like?

i'm dumb

here is a little meaningless video....

Rick Steves....

Last night.... i sold a painting to Rick Steves.

Not that Rick is a huge celebrity like Brad Pitt... or is he?
If you've traveled, you've most likely seen his book and maybe even have used it.
so in some regards, he is an international star... along the lines of Jared from subway (except way cooler).

I was painting at this even called the U2charist, a worship service to end global poverty, and Rick was there sharing his words about the world, traveling, and how he thought we as americans could be involved in global justice issues. For a travel guide, he had some serious opinions, and his talk wasn't easy for the casual listener. and even though i enjoyed all those opinions and words, i still found myself wanting him to give descriptions on early european architecture or the best place to get gelato in Rome. I have to admit that if i'm watching TV at 7pm on a weekday, i watch his travel show. it beats entertainment tonight for sure.

anywho, after all the hub bub and clean up, holly and i ran into him and his wife anne on the way out. we got to talking, shook hands.... he really liked what i did and thought that i had a gift to give the world (nice... hence journaling that moment in my blog). he inquired what was going to happen to the painting and i told him i was hoping someone would buy it so i could support my artist lifestyle. he asked home much i was hoping to get. i said i would be happy with a hundred bones.... and right there, he pulled out his wallet, took out a benjamin, and bought the painting. trinity lutheran turns out to be his church and he said he wanted to give it to the church as a memorial of this event.

i thanked him. he said he hoped we met again. we parted ways.

this meeting, in the scheme of things, was fairly insignificant. but it's hilarious to me. it's funny to me the people that i've gotten to meet by being a live painter. no one who makes magazine covers, but people who i think are interesting and affecting the world... in some kind of way. it's such weird and glorious job, and i just want to remember these fun moments and remind myself that i love what i'm doing.... and i want to keep doing it, even when it sucks at times.

but rick steves... he's my dogg.

Alpharetta Art Show

it's sunday night. my last night in georgia. i'm sitting in my friend mann's house typing out this blog entry as the final cap to a busy today.

i only arrived three days ago... and in those three days i've done an 3 assemblies at a school, a concert in atlanta, painted at an art show where i was the main artist showcasing work, signed posters, went to meet a greets, varnished a painting in someone's living room, went to the hospital to visit my friends new born (which when they picked me up from the airport callie was still pregnant), made t-shirts for africa, stayed in three different homes, stayed out til 3am on friday with an old friend from bible school who lives here now, and ate at chick fil-a two times.

it's been a very ecclectic weekend.

it's been cool to be here. very wierd though. weird in the sense as you see your life through your own eyes... and you get really used to it. the art work i do, the things i live through, it all becomes just the norm. i'm not ungrateful for it... it's just my life, you know? so i come out here for this art show, which was a fund raiser for Heart for Africa, and because i'm the main artist at this show, they have hyped me up a bunch and people no about me. at this school i went to, kids new my artwork and were asking me about my paintings. all very cool... but in my head i'm just like "ah... i'm very ordinary and not that big of a deal." and i'm not. i don't think i am. and i get there response. i get used to my work and my painting live. it's nothing new to me. but seen through new eyes, i forget it's impactful... that it brings people joy and i some ways it's inspirational to them. so when they express gratitude, i know what they mean, and i'm thankful for their words. it's just bizarre being in my skin because i think a lot of my life is lived in quiet monotonous places.

i was thinking about all the artwork at that show. it was all made in my studio... which is cool, but it's just me there. i'm painting away, listening to music or books or talks online... just doing my thing. but then take all that work and put it all together in a show and invite a lot of people to it... it then becomes an impactful experience. and people want to shake your hand and tell you their appreciation for it..... it's a great experience, but all very wierd. i don't know if i'm explaining this quite right. thanks for bearing with me.

it's just that i think making great work or doing anything of importence usually starts in boring unexciting environments. with creating, it's usually the quiet trying times that the work is produced in. no one is there but you. it's a very simple place.

but when it comes to an audience, it becomes this thing that moves people and starts something.....
it's a very interesting experience.

well, i hope that made sense in some way to you the reader.

thanks to all who helped with the show, who took care of me by giving me food and a place to sleep, and all those who encouraged me with the words and hugs. i had a great time in alpharetta.
can't wait for my next show there....

Give Me Jesus

i'm stuck here at Sea-Tac airport cause i forgot to bring my paper tickets to the airport as i'm going to Atlanta today. i haven't used paper tickets in years.... and i dumbly blanked last night as i was packing everything. so here i am, waiting for holly to bring me them later on. not only is it a 5 hour flight there... but now i get to wait 5 more hours in the airport as well.

sorry to be a downer.... i'm kind of gruppy.

anywho, yesterday i made a video. it's just a photo montage to a song by fernando ortega called "give me jesus". it's a fairly simple song, but i love it. i've been collecting pictures for it for the last month and i finally just put it all together.



i've written and erased some thoughts on this video about 5 times now. so i'll just leave it as is....

tour over

saturday morning... sitting at the franklins house for breakfast. jason walks into the room with puffy wet eyes. "my father-in-law died this morning.... i need to get back to georgia... today."

we changed tickets for him and he got a flight out of san francisco intstead of LA. we drove from fresno all the while jason took calls from family and friends either making plans or talking through the mornings scenario.

we spent the day in frisco doing touristy things. we went to in n out burger. drove across the golden gate bridge. drove down lombard street. went to china town. all this to just pass the time until we took him to the airport. they were fun events. it's just hard when you want to go somewhere, but you can't get there immediately... it's hard to just wait and do nothing.

jonathan is coming with me to seattle... to help with the long drive.
we've been debriefing each other and trying to work out all of our feelings about the tour ending.

this, for us, isn't just some thing we decided to do because we didn't have anything else going on. it was a planned artistic performance we have been dreaming up for awhile. it's been a rocky start as well. small audiences. learning to work together. fine tuning our set. not a lot of money. these first four shows were like the lame shows of the set. and we were stoked for the last five. good audiences. set payment. close proximity to one another...

and now that's all ended. just like that. jason goes home to grief and loss, and we drive back to seattle maybe breaking even.

it's hard to not feel like we failed. not that we did. events that are bigger than any of our artistic endeavors came around and changed our plans. so we have to roll with it.

i'm not sure what to make of it. i need to shower and get driving. maybe in another blog i'll make sense of it all.

worst show ever

www.lessismoretour.com | Fresno, CA


we walked into the "venue" yesterday and immediately began laughing. we were skeptical of the place already, since we found out it was in room 101 of the industrial technology building on the campus of fresno state university. the room was an older lecture hall... off white walls, stadium seating, flourescent lighting.....
all the no no's of creating an intimate concert/conversational setting.

we don't know a lot of people in fresno anyway, so we were relying on the social contacts of the people who were hosting us. it turns out that this friday night was the worst possible night to do a show in fresno... for three artist who don't have very much draw and aren't famous at all. there was a huge high school football game, college sports, college groups retreats for the few people we know... etc etc.

you get the picture.

but we did the show anyway. with ten people scattered throughout the lecture hall. with a mike taped to a metal pole we found in the closet. with flourescent lighting in all it's glory. we did it.

we decided in albany (also a weakly attended show) that no matter how many people came, no matter what the circumstances, we would put on the best show we could. this is a hard thing to do mind you. it's a very vulnerable thing to perform. jason put it this way: it's like growing up in front of an audience. it can be awkward and very personal... but you still have to put it out there. it helps when the venue is fantastic, there is a large crowd with a lot of buzz... these things add to the overall concert experience and being vulnerable on stage is not so bad then. but to be in bad lighting, no audience, horrible sound and setting.... it's just plain old awkward.

this sounds so cliche.... but integrity is not what you do in front of everyone, but what you do in front of no one. integrity is who you are in front of yourself, and how well you live in those circumstances. in this situation, i think anyone would be empathetic to our situation and would not be down on us if we just wanted to bag the whole thing and go hang out with our fresno friends. seriously, it was a poorly planned event. but we decided to do it. and there is something to that.

i know that i will fight feelings of entitlement my whole life. i am a product of my culture. i expect things to be a way and when they are not i am pissed about it and just want to give up and go be comfortable. and i'll admit while performing in a lecture hall, with hardly an audience, and a doubtful monetary payoff for the whole thing, i wanted to just walk off stage and vent to someone about the whole thing.

but i shut my mouth and just did it.

mind you, this action doesn't deserve any recognition or pat on the back. for me it was just another way to keep my ego in check. to keep me humble and realize that what i have isn't the greatest thing in the world. to position me in a stance that says to serve is better than to be served. and that if no one sees this inward struggle, and if there is no pay off... my Lord sees this, and in fact, takes delight in the response to these situations. when it really comes down to it, living the artist life really matters to an audience of One. i could try to judge it against the eyes of men... but his opinions fluctuate constantly to the next big thing and that rat race seems like a dead end street. for me, i believe who i am as an artist and what i do really matter in the eyes of one who never changes.

he gave me this gift. and it's not hard to imagine that at the end of my life, he might want to know how i used it for the good of others. i think these little instances of character matter in the greater scheme of my life. if i can't be responsible in small things, how could i be responsible in the big things i hope to experience and accomplish in my life?

ok... i'll stop be so philosophical.

we had a good laugh at the whole thing.

you can probably see a video on www.lessismoretour.com

so that's that...

how do you make new work?

I went to my friend kristen's art opening last night. it was a multi artist show just up the street at the phinney neighborhood center. She had three paintings up, which i really liked... but i always like her stuff. she was getting ready to leave when i arrived, and i had only 10 minutes to look around, so we walked out chatting together.

kristen is an artist i really respect. she moved from figurtive work to abstract about four years and has made some fantastic paintings. she's thinking about grad school as well... but deliberating over the 60 G fee.

as soon as we walked outside kristen exclaimed, "Scott, what are we doing with our lives!" this is mostly in reference to being painters. i said i felt like i was just on auto pilot getting work done for shows. she said she might have to punch me to wake me up. (fight club moment? maybe...) i asked her what she meant.

she said she felt like she wanted to make new work, but she didn't even know what that looked like and she didn't know how to do it. she said she could still just make abstract work and she would definitely make new stuff... but she wanted to evolve, to do something new....

i told her that i wanted the exact same thing.

i felt like the work i have been creating for months is exactly the same... and it bores me. i need to evolve, to go to the next plateau.... but how? how do you make new work? maybe this is wierd for some of you who are not artists. so let me explain it a bit. every artist has their style... some people call in your "significance." this is basically what makes your work recognizable. when you see a van gogh, you know it's him. or a warhol. or a rothko.... they all have a look. they have all found their significance. even though you can see growth in their work, they have found their thing.

kristen and i don't really feel like we have found our significance. i definately think we are on that road, but no where near the end. so how does one get their significance? here's the funny thing... you can't consciously choose it. it comes with just creating all the time for years. you basically stumble upon it more than decide what you want it to be. so the only way to get to it is to keep creating all the time. then one day, you have it.

this is a frustrating journey... yet grand at the same time. i think kristen and i are in one of the many obstacles to being great artists.... the obstactle of not giving up.

i want to evolve. i want to grow. i want to make new work that i think is great.
but where do i start? so many options.

kristen and i vowed to keep going. so we will. and it's good to have a friend to keep journeying with. i feel like i have many artists to do that with. and that makes me blessed.