DETAILS: Box Project Exhibition and Listening Party

JOHN COMMON, ABECARDIAN GALLERY AND 65 ARTISTS FROM ACROSS THE COUNTRY COLLABORATE IN “THE COMMON BOX PROJECT”

June 22, 2009, Denver, CO – Abecedarian Gallery director Alicia Bailey and Denver-based independent recording artist John Common (www.johncommon.com) share a belief that art forms benefit from overlap, and that collaborative efforts usually have rewarding and exciting outcome. That belief is the basis for the Common Box Project.

Here’s the general idea: Invite 60+ artists from across North America, send them each a simple wooden box, along with the nuts and bolts of a new record by an indie songwriter and then mix it all together in a beautiful collaboration called the Common Box Project -- a mixed media collaboration with artists of all types to create unique pieces of assemblage box art that are inspired and/or informed by the new record by John Common & Blinding Flashes of Light – due to be released this fall.

Each box, measuring about 7x7x5, has a recessed area in the back that will hold a copy of John’s new record. Buying a box will be the only way to get an early copy of John’s new record as regular distribution won’t start until later this year. A limited number of copies will also be available with purchase of a work on paper in support of the Abecedarian Student Scholarship Fund.

The exhibition opens Thursday, July 9 at 1pm and continues through the close of the CD Listening Party July 18 at 10pm.

Learn more about the project at: http://commonboxproject.blogspot.com
EXHIBITION DETAILS

Exhibition: The Common Box Project
Exhibit Dates: July 9 - July 18, 2009
Exhibit Events:
July 14: Abecedarian Gallery hosts Action Figures (formerly Self-Made) with guest John Common, 7-9pm
July 17: Exhibit open during Arts District on Santa Fe’s Preview Night, til 8pm
>>>July 18: Listening Party - New recordings by John Common & Blinding Flashes of Light, 7-10pm
Gallery Location: 910 Santa Fe, #101, Denver, CO 80204 (at the north end of the 910 Arts building)
Gallery Hours: Thursday, Friday, Saturday 1-5. 1st & 3rd Fridays 1-8
Contact: Alicia Bailey - alicia@abecedariangallery.com, 303.340.2110 or 720.282.4052
John Common - letters@johncommon.com, 303-520-4842
BOX ARTISTS

Some of the notable Common Boxers with national reputations include Tennessee sculptor Dolph Smith, paper artists Betsy Dollar (Minneapolis) and Helen Hiebert (Portland, OR), and painters Kelly Kievet and Kimberly MacArthur-Graham. Although there are boxes coming in from all over the United States (and two from Canada), many regional favorites (Dave Seiler, Penney Bidwell, Maura Grimzinski, Annalee Schorr, Kathleen Sherman, Joan MacDonald, Claudia Roulier and Rik Sargent) are part of the project. Alicia Bailey has a national reputation as book artist and curator so a heavy emphasis on book artists is inevitable. In addition to Alicia, book artists contributing to the project include Mia Semingson, Amy Leepard, Rutherford Witthus, Suzanne Vilmain, Mary Powers Torrey, MaryAnne Riker, Jana Brubaker, Gail Smuda and Jill Berry. It seems particularly fitting that luthier (maker of stringed instruments) Randy Arnold, is also participating.

The full list of artists can be found at the project blog: http://commonboxproject.blogspot.com

stupid poem

following poets

I fell in love to brautigan.
I fell in love to frost.
even chuck bukowski
and thought nothing of the cost.

I fell in love to whitman
creeley, cohen and nin.
I fell in love to rumi;
he nearly did me in.

now I'm more suspicious.
see, poets love their pain.
if you follow their example
you'll start to really hate poetry.

Blog panel this Monday, 8PM at Forest Room 5 in Denver

Blog as Self-Portrait, brought to you by the Mizel Museum.

Date:	Monday, June 29, 2009
Time:	8:00pm - 10:00pm
Location:	Forest Room 5 Bar and Restaurant
Street:	2532 15th St
City/Town:	Denver, CO

Cost: $5

More info:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/event.php?eid=115843811627&ref=nf

I think it's funny and great and mildly embarrassing that I was asked to be a part of this. Oh... not mildly embarrassing... It's just that I tend to write these little bloggety blog things in a total vacuum. So it's always discomforting to find that someone is reading. And that's the truth.

It'll be fun though. A bunch of really smart, funny, sharp people are on the panel. Come!

Halfway There

I bought a juicer recently... a Breville Juice Fountain. I call her Breville. (pronounced "breh-VEE-luh") That is her name.

Here she is. There are many like her, but this one is mine:


This purchase was part of my new "John, Stop using the 'I'm making a record right now, and that's why I've completely fallen off the health wagon' excuse, and start taking better care of yourself" campaign. So far, it's going pretty well.

And yet... I'm finding this get-back-in-shape thing is a process. And here is an example:

Yesterday after a sweaty hour and a half bike ride, I stood in my kitchen and proudly juiced up a cucumber, celery and ginger concoction. I poured the gorgeously fresh, bright emerald elixir over several ice cubes in a tall glass. I took a sip and thought to myself "Wow. This would be amazing with vodka... and a cigarette."

I need to go for a run or something.



...

JOHN'S JUICER ADVERTISEMENT: Ever made your own vegetable juice? It's pretty frickin' great. I mean... significantly better than I thought it would be. Frankly, I just expected that all of those carrots and cucumbers and celery and ginger and etc. would taste like carrots, cucumbers, celery, ginger and etc. And they do. But something semi-magical happens somewhere between the refrigerator the cup. Some magical happens when all of those vegetables get utterly obliterated by those spinning blades. Turns out that cucumber juice tastes... different from a cucumber. I'm still trying to understand this; it's odd.

Common Box Project In Other Towns?

There seems to be interest... and frankly, I think it would be so cool to collaborate and get to know more artists.

http://commonboxproject.blogspot.com/2009/06/wanna-do-box-project-in-your-town.html

What do you think?

kung fu

My older brother used to watch the T.V, show, Kung Fu, and try to understand its deepest meanings. I think he even tried walking across rice paper without tearing it, once. It was butcher paper and much more resilient. See ya around, David Carradine.