Between Piety and Desire...

Everyday when I drive to the site I cross two streets: first it's Piety and the next is Desire. Guess which is the busier street.

Speaking of the project, it's going well except for some stressful moments regarding the demolition of the house. It seems that the house is listed under Section 1 on the list for demolition. The city and the corp are willing to put us on the bottom of the list, but the house is going to be destroyed sometime in the near future.

So we're ramping up production and working longer hours to get sections of the job done before our deadline. Many people stop by the site wondering what we're doing or have heard about the project and just wanted to check it out. A pretty famous international artist living in NYC came by last Saturday. He is also working on a project for the 9th Ward.

Cheese cloth, latex, brushes, scissors: these are my tools for casting the house. Takashi says that these techniques we're using are very similar to those in lacquer arts. He trained with a lacquer arts master in Tokyo and is often reminded of that experience while we're working. Both lacquer and latex are tree saps.

I helped pull the porch section of the casting on Monday. It's pretty incredible the detail that is copied on the latex mold, the cracks in the cement, the ring where someone left a can sitting on the porch, the rings in the wood beams. The cast is like a documentation of all these things, a memory of textures, choices and processes from a life that once existed here.

St. Bernard parish is right down the street from us. It was also hit hard by the hurricane. I went to the local grocery, Breaux Mart to find some lunch there. I saw large jars of pickeled pig lips, to-go containers of bread pudding and boxes of grits. On my way back to the site I saw an abandoned restaurant, Chicken Box: Just Like Ya Mamas.

People are slowly rebuilding. Everyone worries and hopes that the soul of this place doesn't become just a memory.

Super Sunday - By Any Means Necessary

Yesterday was Super Sunday here in New Orleans. (Thanks to Don Marshall for stopping by the site and telling us about it!! Don put on Jazz Fest 8 months after Hurricane Katrina. Makes organizing the Austin Children's Museum Luncheon seem like a walk in the park!!) A few blocks from my place in Treme the parade passed by on the corner of N. Claiborne and Esplanade. Super Sundays happen 3 times a year in different parts of the city. I was lucky to catch the first downtown Super Sunday since Hurricane Katrina. The theme for the parade was "By Any Means Necessary". Some of the tribal members are still displaced from the hurricane, so the remaining Indians decided to keep the tradition going in honor of those missing or who passed away. From what I understand about the Super Sunday tradition, Mardi Gras Indians pay respect to the history between slaves and Indians by parading their elaborate costumes, music and dance. The chiefs of each tribe, which are divided among the different sections of town, compete in a friendly rivalry seeing which chief's costume is bigger and better. Each 3D costume is handmade, beaded and feathered by the tribes - usually taking a year to complete. The themes of each costume vary. A story about this tradition was featured in the paper this morning.

A jazz band played at the front of the parade and hundreds of people second lined behind them. Only a few tourists were there to see it. Probably because the event started whenever the chiefs decided. ( I waited almost two hours to get these shots AND I was late! It was so worth it.) What keeps playing through my mind is the determination of the people of this city. Half of the city is still devastated. People are still living in FEMA trailers - even on Esplanade. The lower ninth ward, where we've been working, looks like a ghost town. Tour buses cruise the area in what some of the locals call the Misery Tour. But they're glad people want to see the other side of New Orleans because it means they care. Some locals I've talked to have mixed emotions about rebuilding in areas like the lower 9th. Services to these areas are scarce. Occasionally you'll see military police patrolling the site, but mostly you're on your own. Leave before dark they tell us - and we do. (Don't worry Mom...)

I get to see both sides everyday. The New Orleans that everyone knows about: French Quarter, parades, Cafe Du Monde, St. Charles Avenue, Magazine Street. To see just this side of New Orleans is to only see half of what this city is experiencing. And then I see the businesses that are still shut down, the X's on every house, the rows and rows of FEMA trailers where people live. Everyone I meet tells me their story; the addictions they picked up since the hurricane, what city they were taken to during the evacuation, missing neighbors who never came back. Time is split in two, "before Katrina" and "after Katrina".

People I meet keep telling me they are glad we're here. After the parade I was walking home and a friendly "camera man" asked me if if got some good shots. I noticed him during the parade. He was the only guy I saw with a professional looking camera - although it was old. His eyes were foggy and I wondered how well he could see. Apparently he sees just fine since he's the local "go to" guy in town for all the jazz funerals and parades. His name is Sylvester Francis (check out the Spike Lee documentary, When the Levee's Broke...) and he's Executive Director of the Backstreet Cultural Museum which just so happens to be around the corner from my place on St. Claude. He is also the "camera man" and historian for the Mardi Gras Indians. His museum houses some of the best costumes from years past. (!) When he opened the door to his collection I was stunned. It was a treasure chest of New Orleans Mardi Gras Indian history. He offered me a cold drink and we sat on the front porch waiting for the FiYiYi chief to drop off his costume.

While we were waiting I met some of my new neighbors. I forgot their names, but they were all very sweet and welcomed me to the neighborhood. I want to talk with them more and just listen to their history. When the lady in pink found out I was from San Antonio, she got excited because that's where she was evacuated. She told me they took her to the Air Force base, then Montgomery Ward. Everyone was friendly she said. Sylvester invited me back to the Museum and when I asked for his phone number, he laughed and said, "you don't need to call, just walk around the corner ". With all the technology I use to stay connected (cell phone, instant messaging, email, blogging) it's nice to know I can just walk around the corner and have a cold drink on a new friend's front porch. Super Sunday, indeed.

PS: I went to mass at St. Augustine's on Sunday. It's the oldest African American Catholic church in the country. Sylvester and a few friends were planning the route (second line route) for a big celebration the church is having next Sunday. The priest invited me to attend. I can't wait!

This morning

We're meeting a little later at the site so I took advantage of some down time and ventured out to the French Quarter this morning for some tea. The colors in this place are amazing. Another similarity to San Antonio.

Another thing...Catholic churches everywhere. Those silly Spaniards. I can't get over the rich history of this city. Maybe I'll go to mass on Sunday.

Speaking of my place, here it is. I'm staying in the little house. The owner, Penny, lives next door. Right now I'm the only one in the house but I think someone is coming on Friday.

Yesterday a storm caused an electrical outage for most of the day. So I sat outside on the porch right before dark and talked with my dear friend Nathan (he's in Austin). A garden in front of the porch is blooming. The scent after the rain was unforgettable.

My bedroom.

Caffin, Vito Acconci and Peabo Bryson

My first day on the site was yesterday. It was a bit frustrating locating the place for a couple of reasons 1) mapquest sucks 2)signs are missing. Once I found it I was greeted by Takashi and two volunteers. The house is old. We were noticing the framing and how little the slats were. Two trees frame the entrance of the house, a pecan and cypress. The cypress is quite large.

Our tasks for the day were cleaning up, picking up glass and then actually painting latex on the walls. We found a lot of beer bottles, a dog toy that still blinked with a red light when we bounced it and some cassette tapes in an old box including: Roberta Flack with Peabo Bryson.

Later I met James and Becca, two students from Loyola who are assisting with the project. Takashi's connection with Loyola goes back to his first 3 years in the US. He graduated with his bachelors and continues to stay active in the department. Most recently, helping secure visiting artist Vito Acconci for the university. I missed this lecture by only a few weeks!!! So i had to live through the stories from James and Takashi.

The first day was good. The second day was met with heavy rain. I was pretty much drenched the whole time. We were expecting a group of art student from Chicago to assist today, but they might show up on Saturday instead. We called it a day. Tomorrow I'll continue to add a second layer of cheesecloth on the house. This part I really like. I saw a section of the casting that was peeled yesterday. It looked awesome.

504, baby...

I made it to New Orleans! Today I rest and tomorrow I begin working at the site. Taking pics so I'll post them later this week or maybe sooner depending on our work schedule.

Last week, the newspaper ran this article about the project:

http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-8/117929638433610.xml&coll=1

1 Week Left

This time next week I should, hopefully, be in New Orleans. I just received the site location from Takashi. He's there and managing a crisis with the house he secured for the project. The City appropriated the property and is scheduled to demolish it - eminent domain. News crews are covering the story and he's had to bump up his production schedule just in case he can't delay the demolition. I wish I was there to help.

Oh Treme...

I found a place to stay in New Orleans in one of the oldest parts of the city, Treme. Some say that the neighborhood was the birthplace of jazz. Congo Square and Louis Armstrong Park are a few blocks away, but it's also pretty dangerous after dark. I've seen 6 foot tall hookers walking around the park near the Funky Butt (and if they're 6ft, pues...tu sabes.) I love this city. The French Quarter is 3 blocks away and Frenchman is nearby too (the street with some kickin' live music). The place I'm staying at is an old shotgun duplex converted to a bed and breakfast. Yes, I get breakfast!! The only thing i didn't verify is whether or not they have wifi.

Now, i'm looking for a place to say in New York for 3 weeks. Any suggestions are welcome!!!

The Adventure Begins

This summer I will be travelling to New Orleans and New York to assist sculptor Takashi Horisaki with a public art project titled, Social Dress - New Orleans 730 days after...

"I have tried to learn as much as I could about the successes and failures of the governmental financial charitable and community organizations in the aftermath of Katrina. As an artist whose work addresses social and cultural interactions and as a former resident who considers New Orleans to be his adopted home I feel compelled to respond to this state of affairs." - Takashi Horisaki

The project includes finding a condemned shotgun house in New Orleans and creating a replica of the surface with liquid latex. The replica of the house will be displaced in New York's Socrates Sculpture Park.

After applying and sending my portfolio to Takashi, I was excited to get a call from the artist inviting me to join him in New Orleans and New York. This project combines everything I'm interested in pursuing as an artist: social issue, public art and place.

While in New Orleans I'll be creating my own work as well. My plans include a series of public projections in the city and perhaps on people. I have specific ideas, but I'll hold off posting those until I'm actually in the city and can evalute the scope of Takashi's project and the logistics of my series.

Two weeks and counting until I arrive in NOLA!!

PUES, Quien sabe....