Reportback from Kielbasy #2

Better late than never... Here is a report from our second Kielbasy resident, Meredith Arena.

While at Kielbasy I dreamt in abundance--buttery dreams that slid through one another. I walked around exploring the awkward boredom of Wilkes-Barre, PA and lingered in the rooms of 234 and 238 Scott Street.

I photographed cracks in ceilings, cracks in walls, broken statues, a headless gargoyle, an upturned swimming pool, signs at the nursing-home, the owner of a wig shop, curtains, fences, a ballerina sculpture, the manager of a rock venue, a couple with their baby, the Susquehanna, a guy in a Superman costume, ivy on aluminum siding, teenagers, peeling wallpaper, staircases, porches, reflections of decay in shiny glass, signs, old houses with triangle roof tops under dramatic skies, a guy on his porch, metal, parking lots, stuff in piles, the children next door, Alexis, Cynthia, myself, mirrors, train-tracks and doorways.

When it was raining I wrote about my uncomfortable memories: Richard, Tiffany’s debut album: Tiffany, Mr. Blain, Mrs. Levitsky, the male neighbors, Raimond, Lauren, the Puerto Rican girls, Richie, my virginity, the schoolyard at PS23, Egbert IS2, LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts and 101 8th Street. The rain was especially loud in the studio. Cynthia lent me a Russian hat that I didn’t take off until I went to bed at night.

The light in the Wyoming valley is enchanted. On the last day, the sun came out followed by the kids. I let them in on Lex’s secret about importing acorns into the backyard for the squirrels. They anxiously posed for pictures and threw acorns. I told them I would visit in the spring. We drove out in a blazing autumnal sunset.

(Freddy's report arrived by mail and will be posted once someone types it up.)
(Meredith, could you share a link in the comments to the Miraculously Mundane album?)

OPEN STUDIO / RECEPTION SATURDAY OCT 17

Kielbasy 2 is coming to a close this weekend.
We invite you to an Open Studio / Reception with this week's guest artists

at
Kielbasy
234 Scott Street
Wilkes-Barre, PA

4-7pm
Saturday, October 17th


RESIDENTS AND PROJECTS



Meredith Arena is an artist, teacher, writer and sometimes performer. She has curated group exhibitions and regularly facilitates art projects with children. She has exhibited work in New York, California and Mexico. She currently works with children and families in Bushwick, Brooklyn and facilitates the monthly writers group at The Interdependence Project.

In Wilkes-Barre she is making pictures of decay in everyday life and portraits of willing locals.


Alexis Bhagat is an artist and writer. He is the Paul and Margie's grandson, and is the organizer of the Kielbasy Residency Program.

This week he is producing a new version of "Lecture on Democracy" and a wall text based on "Rather Talk About It"


Freddy Sylvain is a writer and teacher based in Putnamville, Vermont.

This week he has been transcribing interviews, and formatting them into the style of Alexis Bhagat's "Rather Talk About It"

(All photos this page, except Freddy's silhouette, by Meredith Arena.)

Is there any interest in Northeast PA for this?

I just got an email from Red 76 about their "Surplus Seminars" - which they describe as

a series of gatherings and activities which look into the analogous nature of surplus goods and the seemingly trivial ideas within and around us throughout the course of our lives. Rather than cast off our wayward thoughts, or ignore the endless data we encounter each day, how might we re-use, or recycle, this knowledge for our benefit, as well as the benefit of the whole?

It seems like Northeast PA is a great place to hold a surplus seminar. (What do you do with a surplus town!?)

Here's a video about the surplus seminars:

Red76 Surplus Seminar from Sam Gould on Vimeo.

(PS: And, not to jump the gun, but how can we have dialogues like this while networked with folks in Western PA, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee?)

NEXT KIELBASY RESIDENCY! OCT 9 - OCT 18

The next Kielbasy residency will take place from October 9 - October 18th.
The first confirmed resident will be the photographer - Meredith Arena.
Alexis will be working on the remix of "Lecture on Democracy" for the "Conversation Pieces" exhibition at CEPA in Buffalo.
We still have room for one more resident. Please drop a line if interested.

The Open Studio reception for this residency will be held on Saturday, October 17th.

BOTTLE S AND CONCRETE

KIELBASY II

WORKSHOP: BOTTLES AND CONCRETE
July 17-18-19 (WEATHER PERMITTING)

This will be a workshop, not an open-studio, focusing on wine-bottle masonry.

SCHEDULE:
Friday - Building forms. Assembling materials. Digging trenches for garden walls.
Saturday - Casting wine bottle side-walk, casting concrete garden wall.
Sunday - Barbecue, driving back to NYC (for those who need a ride.)

This workshop is open for 2-4 participants. There is room for two resident-participants, and two local participants. Please register via email before July 12. It is a work-exchange, free of charge.

THIS WORKSHOP MAY BE CANCELLED IF THERE IS HEAVY RAIN FORECAST.

INVITATION FOR KIELBASY II OPEN STUDIO
Kielbasy is inviting one resident to work at Kielbasy studio during the week of July 11-July 17.
You must take part in the "Bottles and Concrete" workshop.
If interested, please submit a description of the sort of work you would be executing during the week.
Transportation from NYC on July 10 or July 11 would be provided.

KIELBASY 1 REPORTBACK

Kielbasy Residency #1 took place from May 23 until June 1, 2009.

Due to an emergency, Nader Hasan could not attend and remained, with a glowing heart, in Montreal. Thankfully, Adam Bobette did join us for the adventure.


He has this report to provide.

As I learned, you can make the cheapest kinds of Vodka good by running them through a Brita filter. I would drink it often, sometimes with food sometimes without. There are mountainous piles of mining rubble around Wilkes-Barre that you might confuse with unique geological events, there are also many cars and mini-malls. Some stores will only sell cases of beer not individual bottles. On a Tuesday night at dusk people let off fireworks for a good hour and a half, the kids next door delighted in screaming at every pop and crackle. Most days were spent drawing the peculiar topography of the folded Appalachians which then diverged into drawing Army ammunition magazines, some of them the size of small cities. The back yard is full of birds who come to visit Lex's grandmother's ghost and the one room up on the second floor where I worked would swell with yellow at sunset. I delighted in eating pizza and French fries because they are America, the family made sausage and sauerkraut was also excellent.

Messrs. Bobbette and Bhagat are submitting the outcome of Kielbasy 1 to On Site Review for their War & Architecture issue. (The deadline is July 1, so you still have two weeks to send them your proposal.)


ponad i poza