Corn Crib Performance

I dug hole in the center of the corn crib. I sat down in it. Audio speakers were installed on both sides of the crib with the recorded sound of farmers talking about farming, coyotes, corn cribs, technology, bins and silos. There was also recordings of corn being poured through the elevators out onto piles, the sound of huge combine machines in the fields, cows, poetry about farming the Nebraskan land, as well as a few of my own words about holes and corn. I sat in the hole for 45 minutes two times a day during the opening. While in the hole I would holler out to folks to grab a small bucket of corn on the outside, come in and help fill me up with corn to my neck while listening to the audio. Some folks were hestitant at first but everyone participated and eventually my hole was filled with corn to my neck.

Lying Down In Corn

I will be getting ready to leave Nebraska this week, please notice the address change in my profile, and I would still love to hear from you via snail mail anytime.

Mark and Hannah First Ones In Silo Collar

During the Art Farm Harvest Weekend, I had folks climb into the Silo that I painted bright colors. I took their portraits, and their e-mail addresses and will be sending them their picture. It was a lot of fun to see their heads pop up and out of the collar.

Raven, Ed, and I

Ed and I sit outside my studio at the end of the Art Harvest weekend. It was a very busy, succesful and fun weekend. We think at least three hundred people showed up. A lot of folks came for the first time and learned about the Art Farm Harvest event through the local Grand Island Paper. A full page report appeared in the Sunday paper with pictures of Aimee, Shawn and me.

Colorful Collar

She is finishing the last blue stripes on the silo top. During the opening, this weekend, she would like people to climb in, find the hole, poke their head out, and she will take their portraits.

Corn

The bins are full in Marquette. When they are full they just put the corn out on the ground. Oh, she tried so hard not to climb to the top and dig holes and roll around in it. Instead she just kneeled down, touched it and put a few kernels in her pocket before walking away.

Mel Russel's Court

This is where she met Mel Russel and his sweet dog, Lucky. She saw the basketball rim and could not resist just driving onto the private property and shooting a few. He came out of the house laughing at her, wondering why a woman would come to shoot hoop at his basket and photograph herself. They had such a wonderful conversation. He told her he has spent his whole life here in Marquette farming. She loved asking him questions about the corn, coyotes and tornadoes but in the end it was basketball and dogs that they liked talking about best.

Hoop in Marquette, Nebraska

Hoop Beside The Railroad Yard, Aurora

This is a special spot. While you shoot hoop you can watch the long trains filled with coal go by.

Soybeans

She stopped on her way back from swimming at the YMCA to climb up and speak with this man in charge of the lever that opens and closes the hatch for the flow of soybeans that fall into the trucks parked beneath. The soybeans in this bin were just sold to another distributer down the road. The harvest of soybeans and corn is like a cash. It is transferred between different bins. The bigger bins buy from the little bins, and when the economy is good and there is a high demand, the grain is sold locally for ethanol and feed for cows or shipped out of the country as feed for people. The bins allow you to have control of the market. The bigger the bin the more powerful you are.

3 feet 3 inches

She decided to dig a hole in the center, inside the corn cob building. She wants to stand inside the hole so that just her head will be sticking out. She is 5'11. She has over 2 feet of dirt left to dig out of the hole.

2006 Art Harvest

Corn Crib Cleared Out

Thats Ed, the director of ArtFarm on the tractor. The tractor fits perfectly. The building was built around 1905, and is a corn crib, used to store and dry corn. Corn Cribs were first used by Native Americans. The space in the middle is built with the exact dimensions for the tractor to fit in and to promote airflow. The space is now ready for her to work in.

Installation Space

She was wandering around the farm, and this building reached out to her, giving inspiration. The smell, the light shining through the holes in the roof, and especially, the length, height and width of the space seemed to resonate in her heart and with her own height and body. It is one of the original buildings on the property. Corn was stored up in the rafters on both sides of the building over sixty years ago. She chose the middle of the building to clean out and use as an installation space.

Drawing

It was twenty degrees last night. She had to stop drawing because her hands were suddenly numb. She was thinking about coyotes, they were close by last night, with high pitch howls, maybe three of them together, crying out into the night. Objects are starting to come out of her drawing. Most of her pieces evolve in this way.

Railroad Wk #1

Harvest

All of the fields around Art Farm are being harvested. There seems now to be even more sky, and a feeling of being exposed around Art Farm. I am sitting in a soybean field recently harvested.

Hitchhikin

Look at us!!! After eating at Wendys, the only thing open in Central City, it was time to go back to Art Farm. The temperature dropped dramatically, it was cold, and we were ready for a nice ride home. We hitched for a few minutes before a cop drove up and said it was illegal to hitchhike in the state of Nebraska. We walked back to the corner gas station, stood around, asked a few folks filling up if they were heading south. No luck, decided to try again out on the road, and sure enough, a white Cadillac pulls up and it's Ken, a man I had met in the post office in Marquette, just the other day. He drove us directly back to Art Farm. Yee haw.

Central City

Five hours later we walk into Central City. We are tired and hungry. And proceed to look for a place to eat in the small town.

No Tracks

The tracks are not there. Beautiful piles of rusty metal scrap appear every few miles. All of the rails have been pulled out, leaving us an easy path to walk on. Aimee throws rocks at the metal, creating different acoustic sounds. The sounds were so unique and made me laugh.

Walk To Central City

Aimee, Shawn and I set out on a walk to Central City via rail road tracks. It takes 12 miles to get there.

Road Work #4

Horse Ramp

I have not shown you much of what I have been making, but this little tailless horse appeared the other day to walk on the 15 foot ramp I built with old barn lath.

Studio

I have two studios. One, I use to sand, cut, and assemble my wood and messy projects. It feels cool, emiting the colors of blues and greys, with the neon lights and cement floor. In the other one, I draw, read, write, and paint in. It feels warm, glowing with the color yellow with its wooden floors and regular lights. Amazing how you can really feel the difference betwen cement and wood spaces.

Marquette, Nebraska

This small town is the closest town to me. It is walking distance from Artfarm, a long walk. There is a post office, and a fire department, residential buildings, railroad tracks, basketball hoops, abandoned lots, lots for sale and a grain factory. I'll tell you more as I will attempt some walking field trips there in the next few days, with of course, my baskteball. My sense of the place when driving through it, lonely.

Marquette Water Tower

Farm Chores

Racooned proofed, and sheet rocked attic section. From doing this project I got a lot of ideas for using lath in my art projects. In order to put this up I had to climb behind it, to install, and only leave a small opening for me to escape, I did not panic.

Road Work #3

Road Work #2

Evening Chores

This is what I am working on every evening, tearing off the shingles of this old barn so we can get to the wood underneath and reuse. Tomorrow, will be a different chore. Shawn, Ed and I will go take apart a 15 by 18 foot silo and bring it back to the farm. I love this work, I love Nebraska.

Art Farm Crew

Here we are.

Hands

He was thrilled to know that I was from California, he smiled huge. I bought a wisk broom for my truck from him. Look at his hands.

Elba

This is a proud mother of four cowboy sons. I met her in the small town of Elba. She had just purchased this house. When folks walked in to look through her stuff she said everything is for sale except the sleeping man, and there he was rolled up in an electric blanket with his shoes on, not for sale.

The Nebraska Junk Jaunt

This is a classic example of a typical yard sale along the scenic highway during the junk jaunt. The two-hundred and twenty miles of garage sales of junk and antiques was exciting, inspiring and wonderfully exhausting and I would do it again in a heart beat. What was so fascinating was meeting all of the people and going off the beaten track to see the places where they lived. I spent most of my time filming, asking questions and talking to folks. Most of the folks I met were endearing, generous and full of enthusism to share their stories and their homes with me. I admit though sometimes I did not feel that from people and would just look around, film, and then leave without saying anything.

Basketball Court #3

This was the last court I shot my basketball at.

Basketball Court #2

This court had a hoop and a net. Swoosh, and score. The wind was blowing, It felt dramatic, like I had to hurry up and shoot and get back in the car and keep driving to the next garage sale.

Basketball Court #1

This is court #1. There was no hoop. But I had to shoot the ball anyway. The court is located right outside of Grand Island next to the cornfield and the train tracks. I discovered it after my first garage sale on the Nebraska Junk Jaunt.

Basketball and Hoops

I have bought a basketball with me to Nebraska and I have not even bounced it once yet. There is no court here on Art Farm. So I decided that while I am on my weekend trip doing the Nebraska Junk Jaunt, I am also going to make a point of stopping at basketball courts that I see along the way and throw my ball into the hoop at least three times if not more before moving on. I realize that most of the courts I have seen so far in Nebraska are on private home lots, I hope they won't mind, or maybe there'll be someone home to play with me. I am looking forward to meeting some locals this way. Yes, there will be documentation involved and I will count how many courts I find.

Thanks to Aimee

If you look to the right, where it says "about me", you'll notice the address where I am living until the end of November. I want to thank Aimee the other artist here, because I noticed on her blog she had a similiar request, and she has been receiving lots of mail, lucky-dog. I am not sure how many folks read my blog, but this is your chance to get an art piece, found object, or a unique letter from me while at Art Farm. All I request is a self addressed stamped envelope, a howdy note, and I will return it with some art.

Nebraska Junk Jaunt

This is it folks, I am going to get to experience two-hundred and twenty miles of treasures in two days. This a very unique event in Nebraska. It was started by volunteers who love junk and history. The two-hundred and twenty miles is a loop on the Loup Rivers abd Sandhills Journey Scenic Highway. Apparently it is a very unique and beautiful landscape, and this trip will include junk, sold and traded out of folks homes, flea markets, and thrift stores. I will leave early morning on Saturday and return late on Sunday. I will be taking my time exploring all the little towns and hopefully meeting some of the other junk fanatics who attend this yearly event.

Milkweed

Eleven million pounds of milkweed were collected during World War II to use in life jackets. The fibers are wax coated and excellent for insulation. The fibers are superior to down feathers.

Road Work

Old Farm house

This is where I am living. I am sharing the space with Shawn and Jami, two other artists. Jami is a writer, she just published her first book which I am now reading, it is called, Instant Love. Shawn is a general contractor from Seattle. He makes sculpture, mixed media, and does some performance. Aimee is another artist with us, she lives in the house where the facade will go. She is from Chicago and does work with homemade paper making, the violin and performance. It is so amazing to be here and sharing the space with these folks, we have already shared such wonderful conversation about life, art, and food. Jami keeps baking us fresh cookies. Yes!

Work on ArtFarm

My project is to salvage all the wood off of the collapsed barn and use the wood to build a facade on the other amazing building that has been built with many other parts of barns. Where you see the green tar paper is where the facade will be placed.

Nebraska Sunset After Storm

Last night was my first experience through a Nebraska storm. It poured hail stones the size of three dimensional quarters. Lightening flashed right above and the wind blew from all directions threatening tornadoes to appear at any moment. Ed, the director of ArtFarm, explained to us very calmly, that we should keep a look out for small tornadoes forming, that they can sneak up on you in only 45 seconds, and you need to be ready to fly away, I mean find a low spot near a tree and hunker down tight and small. Luckily, no tornadoes showed up. The storm past, and the sun came out, and this is what it looked like as it settled into the horizon.