I'm a bit astonished to tell y'all that I have been accepted into a workshop, "Cleaning the House," at the Marina Abramović Institute in Greece in October 2024. For those who know me, you know this is my number-one-bucket-list-item with my most important living artistic influence! I ran into Abramović's work in my twenties, and her philosophy has been an essential component to my trajectory: living in the moment, exploring relationships deeply, questioning taboos, creating experiences over objects, and an unrelenting commitment to life as art. If you don't know me, you might be curious about what all that means in practice. It means I've traveled a non-traditional road in the arts: I come from the streets instead of academia; I'm multi-displinary in my work; I concentrate on community building instead of career building; I prize nature over culture; my art is in the world not in the galleries. Mostly, anyway! In this process (and I've been a full-time artist for more than a few decades now), one does accrue some traditional resume items! One of my art books is in the permanent collection of the Nelson Atkins Museum in KCMO. I once won the Fermi Lab Particle Accellerator's Curators Award for best in show. My last visual arts show was a collaboration with my dear mentor, Hugh Merrill, at Leedy-Voulkos Gallery in KCMO. I attended Gullkistan Artist Residency in Iceland for January of 2024. I've been awarded Inspiration Grants from Arts KC for Pop Poetry, a venture which published 36 local poets over 3 years. I ran a poetry festival in KC, FountainVerse, for three years. One year, I was the Pitch's reader vote for Best Poet. I've published a dozen poetry books and one novel. Those things are cool, and there's more to list ... but! What I'm most proud of in my art life are the workshops and salons that are part and parcel to my work. Sharing, celebrating, cultivating, activation of inspiration in small groups in my total joy! And this is the very place that working directly with Marina Abramović is so important to. I offer workshops on creating art practices, writing, editing, divination, river kayaking, meditation, yoga-prayer, body movement, dream circles and storytelling. When I asked myself, should I ask for help in this venture? The answer was yes because I know I'll bring all this method, teaching pedagogy, and experience back to KC with me to inform my own workshop practice. And, as some of you know, my workshops are always free, or donation only. I believe strongly in accessible, sober, community-based, and non-monetized creative practice. So, here I am, asking for your help in this big opportunity to enhance and elevate my art practice by assisting financially to attend a 5 day workshop at the Marina Abramović Institute in Greece this October. The total price of the workshop is $3275. The flight costs $295 after my FF miles are deducted. That's $3570 that I'm asking for. This campaign will end August 10, one month from it's start. This will let me finalize the payment for the workshop in time and book the flight early. I genuinely thank you for your support and encouragement!
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