Brooklyn Blizzard 2010

top: 47 seedlings buried in 3 feet on snow
middle: Burr Oak seedling/pre-bonsai
bottom: Sycamore Seedling/pre-bonsai

Happy Holidays

Bristlecone Pine

Bristlecone Pine in inverted Pedestal 12x12x12" variable 2010 (Seen Outside Backyard Studio)
There has been some questioning if Bristlecone Pine makes good Bonsai. This one is in the studio which hovers between freezing and the 50's through the winter. I have had it since the late summer, so am not familiar with seasonal care.
Neglect is the name of the game in taking care of them. I treat it like a cactus water once every two weeks or much less in the winter. Let the sandy soil dry out completely. Last one died from over-watering. I shifted it out of the center of the box so far growth has been extremely slow. Although with the shift I found that the roots were really spreading out so I hope in the spring for a little spurt.

Taking it outside

Bonsai Brooklyn Style (Mac)

Studio

Bonsai Brooklyn Style (part 3)

Bonsai Brooklyn Style (part 2)

Bonsai Brooklyn style (part 1)

Ghost Ship

Top to bot.: "Ghost Ship" dead Pin Oak seedlings, dead Bristle cone Pine seedling, beaver wood, and red crossover wire and ikea shelf 33x24x12" 2010

"Stack" Spruce, pit fired clay, red crossover wire, dead Pin Oak seedling, driftwood, Sycamore,
drawer, and acrylic 42x17x10" 2010

"Mountain Maple Inlaw" transplanted Mountain Maple approx. 7 feet, showing beginning of fall colors. 2008-2010

"Reservoir Hemlock" New addition replacing the first Hemlock cut down over the summer this one was taken from Simsbury Ct. Reservoir measuring in at a whopping 2" tall, planted in spruce log. 2010

Killed Sycamore

A couple of weeks ago I planted a sycamore seedling in on the park on north 12th street in Brooklyn, today I found the tree tube and bamboo by the garbage the seedling gone. how it looked after 6 months of nurture in the studio.

Dug up Boxwood

Boxwood like the hedge on BI is tenacious and hard to kill. These bushes provided ambush for many an hider.

Dump Truck

Pin Oak in Dump Truck

outside front back

London Plane seedling 10" tall in tube (north)
(south)
(east)
(west)
London Plane seedling backyard with cat proofing, replaced with conventional tree tube, the wind was blowing the leaves into the wire mesh and cutting them up.
(east) London Plane 14"
Burr Oak 11" self germinated on guernsey st. greenpoint in front of Fishman/ Resheff residence
(note): tree of heaven(above) will not give up.
Compost: of the 2,000 worms only 197 survived this summer with record high temperatures in the backyard in Williamsburg.

Cement / Sound of Art

Naming this one Oliver Michaels in a 3 gallon plastic bucket with grey oil floor paint, Sycamore (London Plane) 18"

14 days left to "sound of art" artfagcity- I have a some sound from back in 2005
she is making an album help support her. 20$ gets you the vinyl.

About this project

For the past five years I've been looking at art and writing about what I see. But I've also been listening. Does art have a distinctive sound? Sometimes I think I could be in a remote cabin in Maine, and still instantly recognize the sound of an art video or a performance piece. Yet the things I hear in galleries and performance spaces don't seem to share any formal qualities – they run the gamut from noise to melody, recitation to wordless grunts.

I want to produce an album full of the sounds art makes in order to document and investigate this range, but I also want to take such sounds and set them free in the world, to be remixed and reused – sampled, mashed up, Auto-tuned, chopped and screwed.

More people than ever are engaged in this kind of cultural recycling, though they rarely draw their sources from the field of fine art. Frankly, the art world doesn’t make it easy – it's a profession invested in its own scarcity.

More than anything, I want to make a record of the Sound of Art because I want to see what people will do with it. It's a project guided by Jasper Johns’ description of the art-making process: "Do something, do something to that, and then do something to that."

WHAT IS IT?
The Sound of Art is a limited edition vinyl LP composed of sounds heard in New York galleries, museums, and project spaces over the last five years. Inspired by classic DJ battle records, it features forty tracks of diverse sounds culled from art video, performance footage, and kinetic sculptures. This is not an easy listening record. It's an audio document and a tool to create new sounds and new work.

WHAT WILL BE ON IT?
Work by artists well-known and not-so-well-known. Difficult electronics. Sounds of stampeding animals, Hebrew prayer, a transformer fire, a children's carousel. One hundred carpenters pounding 10,000 nails. Field recordings of recordings by guitar genius John Fahey, and archival sound pieces by the pioneering conceptualist Lawrence Weiner. An iPod drum circle and thoughts on nostalgia. Also, yes, a toy monkey with cymbals.

Sounds have been donated by a large spectrum of artists and venues throughout New York City – everywhere from big fancy museums to odd little project spaces. We've also introduced Internet artists, as "wild cards" on this album.

Keep checking this page and our kickstarter blog for upcoming teasers and other audio-visual treats. We'll be profiling various artist work as the campaign progresses.

WHO'S INVOLVED?
This is a collaborative project, with dozens of people donating their work and their services. Project Manager Michelle Halabura has been working from Art Fag City headquarters since last spring to make Sound of Art a reality.

Fundraising Consultant Sarah Landreth and BAM visual art curator David Harper have donated their time and skills advising on the campaign.

Matt Madly Azzarto at Think Tank Studio will be producing the record.

Phillip Niemeyer of Double Triple is designing the album cover, and is offering a limited edition offset lithograph to 10 lucky funders at the $200 level. Edition of 60, see the print HERE.

Celebrated performance and video artist Michael Smith will create a limited edition screen print of 50 in response to the sounds on the album, available to funders at the $250 level. See his bio HERE.

Artist Ben Coonley of Valentine for Perfect Stranger and NYUFF Dr. Zizmor Trailor fame will produce our promotional videos.

Men-about-town AndrewAndrew will host the record release party and Sound of Art DJ Battle, to be held at the ever-cool Santos Party House. (More about that soon!)

WHAT DO WE NEED?
We’ve come up with a plan, brought together a group of fantastic artists and sounds, and have enlisted some of city’s greatest creative minds to donate their talent to this project. Now we need to make it happen. We can do it for $10,000. That covers only the direct costs of this project ¬– the pressing and shipping of a limited edition album, 500 in total, the promotion of the release party, and its launch. Additionally, 50 special edition LPs will be available, including the Michael Smith screen print. For every 50 dollars donated, United Record Pressing will offer a free test pressing, which will be given to each participating artist and gallery. Any funds we receive beyond that level will be directed to archiving and distributing the remixed music produced from this album.

COMPLETE LIST OF ARTISTS

MANHATTAN
Petra Cortright (Internet), Jennie C. Jones, (Sikemma Jenkins) Moyra Davey, (Orchard47) Elias Hansen (Maccarone), Ted Riederer (Marianne Boesky), Cliff Evans (Luxe Gallery), LoVid, (LMCC), Marcin Ramocki (MOMA), Shannon Plumb (Sarah Melzer Gallery), Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller, (Luhring Augustine), John Fahey (AVA), Miriam Stern (Yeshivah University), Jennifer Schmidt (Elizabeth Foundation Project Space), Carolina A. Miranda (Armory show), Tyler Jacobsen and Chris Anderson (Canada), Tom Thayor (White Columns), Luke Murphy (Canada), Joel Holmberg (New Museum), Lawrence Weiner (Whitney Museum), Laura Parnes, (Participant Inc), Brainstormers (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Center).

BROOKLYN
Andre Avelas (Abrons Art Center), Aron Namenwirth (artMovingProjects), Damien Catera (Hogar Collection), Andy Graydon (LMAK Projects), Sonny Smith (Cinders Gallery), Paul Slocum (artMovingProjects), Heidi Neubauer-Winterburn (Louis V. E.S.P.), Eric Laska (Diapason), Elena Wen (AIR Gallery), Joe McKay (Vertexlist), Heather Dewey (Issue Project Room), Peter Dobell (English Kills), Douglas Henderson (Pierogi), Robert McNeill (MonkeyTown), Erick Zuenskes (Real Fine Arts), Wayne Hodge (Fivemyles), Ranjit Bhatnagar and Nick Yulman (Coney Island Museum), Lara Kohl (PS.1), Mike Koller and MTAA (McCarren Park).

Project location: Brooklyn, NY

More Growth

Some new trees

As noted earlier I am going to name all the trees after people I am fond of.
Top: A boxwood that I dug up this summer on Block Island in painted pine box, named Marcin Ramocki.
Middle: Bristle cone Pine the oldest living thing on the earth we will call her Magda Sowan.
Bottom: The Coast Redwood, the tallest tree, we will name her Jane Hall.
That brings the total number of trees in the studio to 53.
Three more than I want, so I plan to give 3 Sycamores (London Plane trees) away.
Anyone in the New York City area who is invested in the arts will be considered. These trees get really big!! Need to be kept outside or really cold in the winter. Please contact me through comments.

One million dead trees

Dead Sweetgum tree



3 Pin oaks a very resilient tree but if it keeps getting nailed with no watering not going to be so green soon. This is a small sampling of damage too depressing to put up more but you get the idea.
Tulip tree

Linden tree- here it has been damaged over and over all the way around, this one is a goner.


3 dead cherry trees


White oak north 12th near bedford ave. this survived the first hit but this time does not look good.

I have been watching the new trees that have been planted around the city, Mccaron park in particular as I walk my dog there regularly and am sorry to report that 75% are dying. This is very sad for the tax payer, as a tree costs the city 300-500$ each. This is throwing valuable money away. The problem is 2 fold the lawn mowing tractors are hitting the trunks at the base which is like cutting a straw no nourishment. The weedwackers finish off the job. Further once a young tree is planted it needs care for a couple of years till its roots become established. This care is not happening. No watering for example. Here is a perfect example of green waste. Never mind all the paper posters and flyers Bloomberg used to advertise his million trees, that was probably a lot of pulp :0( .

white pine

White Pine with candles. This is not a good bonsai as it does not back grow well, getting another Bristle cone Pine seedling as the first died. Also, ordered from http://www.giant-sequoia.com/homepage/ a Coast Redwood seedling to add to the conifer section of the installation as with winter coming it would be nice to continue the green.

acorns, chestnuts, and osage orange

Top: Burr and white oak acorns with a couple of red horse chestnuts
Bottom: Osage Orange was planted as a fence marking the line of properties with its thorns.
Can't have too many oaks.
Check out http://kenstrees.com/