CSP Mystery Ball – 2011 15 comments
As mentioned in my last post, for the past month, I’ve busy working on several art pieces destined for an installation at the Mystery Ball fundraiser for the Central School Project (Bisbee’s community center for the arts). The event was held on Saturday, February 5th, and has been declared a great success. Over 20 regional artists created visual, audio, multimedia and performance art installations on three levels of the CSP’s unique and historic building located in the center of old Bisbee.
All of the installations were wonderfully creative. One interesting aspect of almost every installation was that they were made from found objects and recycled materials. Although I can only feature a few of the works here, please visit the online gallery which I’ve created to display some of the photos that I and a couple of friends shot during the evening. Just click on any image to see its larger view, and the same goes for the photos in this blog post. I spent a good three hours wandering around all levels of the building, studying and photographing installations, and watching the multimedia and performance art productions. All were fascinating or entertaining in some way.
One of my favourites of the evening was Logan Phillips’ multimedia performance installation, NoVOGRAFIAS: poembirth. It was visually intense and kept many watchers spellbound, standing crowded together peering through the doorway into a small room. I sat on some nearby theater seats and slipped over to shoot photos and a couple of video clips when there was a brief gap in the watchers. Here is a short video clip of the performance which went on almost non-stop for three hours (the clip is in .mp4 format). The other multimedia piece that held my attention for quite some time was the Digital Puppets Brought to Life by Natural Interactions – by the Circus of Tiny Invisibility. The installation featured a digital puppet theater consisting of a cloth projection sheet. Passersby could stand within a certain area in front of the screen and move about in ways which would cause clowns, acrobats and other digitally created puppets to move on the projection sheet. All of this is best seen rather than described, so I’ve put up a short video clip of one mystery ball attendee acting out in front of the screen while a clown figure responds on the screen. Of course, each person who came along had his or her own ideas about how they would like the puppet to behave, making for some rather hilarious innovations.
My hat is off to all of the artists, and the many volunteers who were responsible for putting together a terrific evening of art and entertainment, and also to Melissa Holden, executive director of the CSP, who did such an able job of coordinating the event. Everything seemed to run so smoothly.
For my part, I enjoyed contributing as one of the installation artists (see below for a photo of attendees viewing some of the pieces and see the main photo gallery for more images). I realize that others may not realize the significance of my participation in this event, but I feel the need to take note. Since my husband, Don’s death, I have not had much interest in creating art. In fact, it has been almost impossible for me to produce much of anything, in spite of lugging a well-stocked sack of art supplies, brushes, pens and canvases, back and forth across North America through several crossings over the past two and a half years. However, something about putting together this installation finally motivated me to be creative and productive, at least for awhile. Here’s hoping that the momentum will continue.
Note: Here is a link to a gallery of images of my own Life’s Little Mysteries installation.
15 Responses to 'CSP Mystery Ball – 2011'
Subscribe to comments with RSS or TrackBack to 'CSP Mystery Ball – 2011'.
-
That was very inspiring. I loved it. Thanks for bringing it to the blog world. How wonderful to be in such a creative environment- kudos to your part in that.
-
what a delightful festival! I love seeing your pieces on the wall, what fun 🙂
-
Bev, I loved seeing this and am so glad you participated this year. This community where you winter seems to be an extraordinary gathering of people. Art is such a joyous and uniting force and can be so much fun to examine and explore.
We received a new piece of Raku yesterday, one done by an artist whose work we love. My heart is happy each time I take it in, and I feast on the colors and textures for a few moments . It is remarkable how art can change our mood, open us, feed us, and reproduce the beauty it holds. Last night I listened to Gato Barbieri playing his sax, and the same thing happened. My spirit was lifted; I became accutely aware of life, open and alive, satiated with joy.
I am always glad to visit here.
-
This is great! And I loved the video clip.
-
This is so exciting, Bev! It’s so heartening to see you participating in this amazing event – both socially and artistically! Of course a major reason for doing any art is to tell a story, to make a statement – and for that one must be conscious of a viewership. The viewership was given, and you gave – such wonderful little mysteries! I love the mask, and also the peeks through the doors of all your clever boxes. I particularly like the one with the millipede!
I’m still grinning!
-
The poor little girl in the yellow dress seemed to be having a tough time looking into life’s little mysteries, but she’s obviously determined to explore them!
-
Thanks, everyone! The event was a lot of fun, and it was great being able to participate. This is a wonderful community to be part of, even if only on a seasonal basis, as there are so many creative people doing interesting things. It’s really quite a unique place and definitely helps to inspire me to create.
-
Such wonderful, beautiful art works! I love seeing the people looking into Life’s Little Mysteries, especially knowing what wonderful creatures they are about to see.
-
Bev,
What a marvelous place you’ve landed in :0)
I’ll be tiptoeing through your gallery again – to enjoy your joy. -
I love the pizza box owl!
-
robin – I was especially pleased to see that people took the time to look!
–
Cathy – Agree. Bisbee is a very unique and neat town.
–
Laura – Thanks! (-: -
Hello, Bev! I hope you haven’t forgotten me. I’ve been silent for quite some time, but I have been following your words and photos and keeping a warm place in my heart for you. A deep loss in my own life has left me struggling for awhile to connect with the world… but, I’m trying to push myself back out there and hoping for something wonderful. I’m sure many of your readers will concur that you have been an unparalleled inspiration when it comes to boldly facing a future of unknowns and finding the joy that still exists there.
I am ever so pleased to see that you have begun creating art again — especially INSECT art! What a marvelous way to showcase your stunning photos. This show does seem like an important step and one which has obviously been a delight for you and those you were able to share it with. The pizza box owl is my all-time favorite — made me smile from ear-to-ear! The whole event looked like loads of fun… Had I been able to attend, I’m sure I would have enjoyed dressing up and (like the guy in the video) it would have been hard to drag me away from the Circus of Tiny Invisibility’s installation. *grin*
-
Harsi – Hello! No, I haven’t forgotten you. I’m glad that you’ve continued to follow my blog. I’m sorry to read that you have had to deal with loss too. It does leave us having a difficult time dealing with life in general. I know that every person has his or her own way of trying to make sense of the world after a loss, but it does seem that trying to find ways to remain creative or to look for beauty in nature or elsewhere, is very helpful and therapeutic.
Creating the art for the mystery ball was very good for me. When I began creating the first couple of pieces, I never thought I would take it all so far and make a total of nine pieces. However, once I got going on the project, it seemed to fun and helped me to feel better, so I kept on going until the last minute. Now, I’m working on a painting to put up at my new house. In fact, if possible, I will try to finish 3 or 4 more paintings after this one. We’ll see!
The Circus of Invisibility was terrific. It travels around quite a bit, so I hope everyone who has the chance, will check it out if it comes to their area.
-
It looks as though it was great fun, and I would have liked to be there. I particularly enjoyed your own entry, Bev.
Wonderful-What fun that must have been–your installation got a lot of attention by the looks of it! So glad you were movitated and shared with your AZ community!