site migration

Alas, the time has come to move on.   About half a year ago I changed the format of this blog and haven't been able to return to the original format.  Feedback I received from people who checked out "yo mama" said they were frustrated not being able to find images consolidated in one place and found the site to be cumbersome.  I've been able to resolve some of these issues on Wordpress and hope you'll find me there.  The new site is under construction but should be fully functional soon.  Unlike "yo mama" the new site will also have images and stories from The Painted Desert Project (which promises to have another eventful season starting in a few weeks).

"Yo mama" has served me well since 2009 in that it documents my journey with paste and pictures.  Those stories will remain on this site.  The new stories can be found at www.jetsonorama.net.

Thanks for the love + support!

Peace.

"manna"

photo by edwin carungay

i got to present at the 35th annual yuma art symposium this past weekend and to get this piece up.  it was a blast.  who knew?

letting go

I first pasted this image of Stephanie 3 years ago in December of 2010.  It was at the beginning of a period I refer to as "The Time of Great Suffering."  My fellow physicians were starting to leave and administratively, work was becoming less than satisfying.  Three years later work remains challenging.  Pasting this picture that winter gave me great joy and has served as a symbol of hope.  It went on to become the iconographic image for The Painted Desert Project.

Over the years I've pasted it 3 times on J R's house.  Roa painted 2 sleeping foxes and a sleeping rabbit in August of 2012.  I was saddened about a year ago when I noticed that one of the doors to the house had been opened (as the house remained solidly boarded up for years).  I talked with the owner (J R), who said thieves had broken in and stole household items he'd stored inside.  I apologized feeling that art on the house attracted the thieves to it.  He dismissed the thievery saying it was okay.  He didn't think the theft occurred because his house was painted.

Then a couple months ago I noticed panels were being removed from the house.  My first thought was that the art was being rejected by the community.  I called J R and once again apologized for the destruction of his house and offered to make to a donation to help him recover some of his losses from the theft and the wood that was being removed.  I was relieved to learn that he'd sold the house and the new owner decided to rebuild.  The art wasn't being rejected out of malice.  Still, I sent him a thank you check for letting me use the space to post work.

My dad was fond of saying "...Nothing stays the same forever.  Things either get better or they get worse but it doesn't stay the same."  This house provided me with much happiness over the past 3 years and in it's transformation it's reminding me on an ongoing lesson of this project - try to create beauty with good intention and then let go.

lola!

i met lola this past november in milwaukee.  she stole my heart immediately.  lola belongs to the family of artist, author, activist, academician, anarchist, archivist, animal lover nicolas lampert (who has probably been called worse + who just published "a people's art history of the united states:  250 years of activist art and activists working in social justice movements."  this recently released book is available through the printmaking collective just seeds.)

meanwhile, back to lola!...

she was all over me and her family with the unbridled energy of a puppy possessed.  the image of her pasted in cow springs is the one moment in the week i spent with her that she stood still.

ode to mary jane

lola!

horse play

solidarity

solidarity works on many levels.  in the animal kingdom we have this...

(richard's winter squash for sale in tuba city)

and then there's my experience with solidarity...

sacred sites not for sale

delores wilson-aguirre whose family comes from the area of the confluence of the little colorado river with the colorado river where the navajo nation is proposing to build a resort. fight like a woman.