S.H.M--->Al & Skinny Chip's Escape from the Christians!

Al had run away before but was busted hopping freight trains at the station in Eugene. The priests from the Catholic boarding school in Beaverton came and got him, returning him to the school destined to Kill the Indian and save the Man. Shortly after he was forced back between the cold institutional walls he choose to run again, this time he was determined to make it all the way home to his mom and grandma. Just while he was getting ready to run again another Klamath kid, Skinny Chip's came over to his cot. “Al” he spoke in a meek voice, whose whisper of strength came purely from his overwhelming desire to flee, “can I go with you? Back home? I want to go home to my mom…” Now, Skinny Chip's was a really fat kid and that’s why everyone called him Skinny Chip’s, but he was from Modoc Point as well, he lived just down the road from Al. Al didn't think this was a good idea and had doubts that Skinny Chip's could even get his fat self up on the train! He felt bad for him though and didn't want to leave him behind, alone in the dread of the cruel, Christian school. This place breathed a subversive terror, where they were beaten until they spoke English, taught to fear a strange God and forced to forget their families and voices. “Alright Skinny Chip’s! But you better hustle! I don’t want you holding me up, believe me I will leave you in that train yard, you hear me?” Al’s stern voice commanded fear and attention in Skinny Chips, but he was ready to flee with all his might. So Al decided to take Skinny Chip's with him. That night they ran from the brick squares and slapping Nun's, headed for the creaking cacophony of the train yard. Just as Al had predicted, Skinny Chip's couldn’t get on the train, he reached down to pull him up, but the train started to move, jarring his attempt. He reached out again, this time grabbing hold of Skinny Chip's thick arm, he was so heavy, but Al pulled him aboard and they were off! He thought, "I should of never brought Skinny Chip's, I knew he was gonna hold me up!" But inside he was glad he let him come along, he had a friend to be with, who went through the same journey and now their paths were heading home. No priests found them in Eugene this time and their escape was successful. Traveling towards their mom's, towards the marshy lake full of wocas (lily pad seeds) and c’wam (sucker fish), towards their ancestral homelands, they were only nine years old.

Studio Thoughts---> Painting Second Hand Memories (S.H.M.)

What Are Second Hand Memories? -Remembering memories (personal, told, read) while painting. Recalling my own sensory experience of places (spirit of place), remembering my memories of hearing stories told, oral histories that have become apart of my history, etc. during the formative painting (thinking) process. -Describing these 'second hand memories' with intuitive color and found systems of explorative painting methods i.e. (no representational images used to formulate compositions, except from memory). -Painting as a way to depict and communicate as an analogy of the incomprehensible (idea from Richter); examples---> conveying and retelling lost nostalgia's, remembering epic indigenous resistance using knowledge of the land and spirit of place as protection, embodying romantic ancestral memories of pre-colonialism.

Coyote Canyon MFA Trip!

I have been chosen as 1 in 10 MFA candidates from around the nation to participate in the first Wide Open Studios trip to Coyote Canyon in Southern California this Spring Break! "Coyote Canyon is our first trip offered through the Signal Fire Residency program based out of Portland, OR. It is specifically designed for emerging professional artists. Part workshop, part experimental residency, students will camp together on public land for the duration of the week, making new work in response to the landscape. The instructors will demonstrate the basics skills of desert camping and backcountry safety and travel, and will provide readings and discussions designed to spur an exploration of our creative practices. This trip will take place in California’s Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, an arid land of beguiling beauty and startling extremes. Cactus and wildflowers will be in bloom in a land naturalist Susan Zwinger describes as “the secret passage into a Southern California of a century ago.” Here, at the western edge of the Sonoran desert, we’ll convene a group of graduate students to explore the potential for making remote work in response to a stunning and dramatic landscape." I am very excited for this trip!!!