#artistsurvivalshack

[adamstennett]

aaronverse

Aaron, a remarkable 12 year old boy with cerebral palsy, posted about my Artist Survival Shack Project on his blog http://aaronverse.tumblr.com/. I am so glad he did because it led me to learn about what he is doing. Please spend some time reading back through his blog and you will be as blown away as I was. What an amazing young man! He is educating the public about the needs and abilities of children with disabilities like cerebral palsy. Just because they are in wheelchairs doesn't mean they aren't intelligent and capable. He is inspiring, driven and a problem solver! He is also a talented artist! Way to go Aaron!

[artistsurvivalshack]

journal

Monday, August 19, 2013

It was a strange day. I felt restless and a bit crazy. After coffee I grabbed my camera and walked the perimeter of the field taking photos of all the things I had not seen yet; large rocks, artifacts, unusual plants. At the far end of the field I found a wild turkey feather.

When I returned to the shack I decided to scale the embankment and explore the woods a bit too. The underbrush was thick and wild but I did find some old bottles half buried in the ground. I wondered how long they had been there.

By the time I started painting in the late afternoon I felt like something in my head had changed. The painting was beginning to turn the corner and I could see where it needed to go.

[artistsurvivalshack]

journal

Sunday, August 18, 2013

I woke up early, made coffee, straightened up the shack and prepared to work on the next painting. After about an hour looking at the image and thinking about the best approach I took a quick outdoor shower and got dressed. Today was the second Sunday of scheduled visits to the shack.

Around 11am Julia Lee, Jess Frost’s assistant from the gallery, came over the hill with Veronika Vogler from Bomb Magazine. A few minutes later my friends Karen Boyer and Anne Booth Dayton joined us followed soon after by artist Hiroyuki Hamada and his two sons Cosmo and Rock.

Karen has an art advisory firm called Elements in Play and Anne specializes in Asian Art at Christie’s. They have both been enthusiastic supporters of the project and were very helpful as I was writing proposals to different possible locations. Veronika and Hiroyuki I met more recently at ARTmrkt Hamptons when I was doing the 96-hour test run of the shack.

I took them through the various systems of the shack and we talked about some of the new work I was making. Today I also talked more thoroughly about the origins of the project, escaping fear, distilling things down to only what is necessary and the allure of self-sufficiency especially for an artist.

It rained a little bit in the afternoon and I spent rest of the day finding ways into the new painting. I feel like there is often a getting acquainted period in the beginning before things begin to get more intuitive. Once it got dark out things started working.

[artistsurvivalshack]

journal

Friday, August 16, 2013

It was a busy day of visitors to the artist survival shack. Jennifer Landes, a writer for the East Hampton Star, came by in the morning. In the afternoon the gallery sent over my friend Kristin Becker and her two kids Bohdi and Bea. Both were fun visits. We discussed the ideas behind the shack and the various self-sufficient and alternative systems. As has become visit protocol, we finished up by shooting some zen arrows.

I settled back into painting and around 5pm three architects from Roger Ferris + Partners came over the hill and down the trail. They had heard about the project and came to check it out. We talked for a while. It was interesting to see how they reacted and it was cool to see them engage with some of the repurposing of materials and problem solving that had gone into developing the shack. It was a great wildcard visit.

Painted the rest of the evening until about midnight and made some good progress.

[artistsurvivalshack]

journal

Thursday, August 15, 2013

It was sunny but a bit cool this morning. Made coffee and strolled up to the top of the hill with my camera in one hand and my coffee in the other. The shack is shaded by the woods until about 11:30 am and on cool mornings it's nice to stand with my coffee on the hill where the sun hits first. There is a road within sight of the top of the hill and sometimes I wave to cars driving by and they wave back.

I have been noticing all of the wild flowers and different plants in the field around me and thought it would be interesting to start documenting them with my camera. Maybe I will end up making some art with it.

After shooting for about fifteen minutes a three-tone muscle car pulled to the side of the road and the driver motioned to me and got out. It was artist Richard Prince. He had caught wind of the artist survival shack project. I asked him if he wanted to come over the hill to check it out and he agreed.

We talked about the project and I showed him some of the different systems. Very cool guy. He said he wanted to bring his daughter and niece back to see the shack that are very into sustainable living.

Jess Frost, director of Glenn Horowitz Bookseller (my co-conspirator in this project) stopped by a little bit later to pick up some images on a thumb drive. We had an enjoyable and productive chat as usual.

Painted the rest of the day and made good progress on the second layer of the blackouts painting.

[artistsurvivalshack]

journal

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Today is day 14 of the artist survival shack self-sufficient endurance project. It was a beautiful day and I was able to hang my sheets and wool blankets out in the sun to get rid of some of the dampness from all the rain yesterday. I took the opportunity to give them a spray with some organic tick repellent.

Around 11am I had a visit from artist and friend Peter Dayton. He was wearing one of my mk-ultra t-shirts from the last show I did at Glenn Horowitz Bookseller in 2008. It was cool to show him what I had been working on since I feel like we operate on similar wavelengths.

Spent the rest of the afternoon and evening painting. Finished the civil disturbances switchblade painting and moved on to a painting involving a civil defense manual relating to blackouts. Insanely appropriate timing, as today is the 10th anniversary of the big NYC blackout that shut down the city in 2003.

Went a little wild with dinner and broke into a sardine-like tin of octopus. Made a little octopus salad with basil and spinach from the compact garden and bit of onion I had stashed. Mixed the whole thing up in my cast iron skillet and scooped it up with saltine crackers.

A big day of painting ahead tomorrow- I want to make some real progress on the blackouts painting.

[artistsurvivalshack]

journal

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Woke up to crazy rain again. By midday my 55 gallon barrel was overflowing with water funneled from the roof. I scrambled to gather some of my other empty water containers and by 4pm all of those were full as well. I guess I don’t have to worry about running out of water. The water collection system has proven to be more than adequate.

No major leaks in the shack other than the ones I have known to watch out for. My compact garden has had a good drenching the past two days. Have noticed it seems to experience an immediate growth spurt after rain- much more than after regular watering. Could be due to chemicals in the tap water I started with.

Tomorrow will be two weeks into the project. That also means I have a little over two weeks left to finish the paintings and other works for the show. It will be a big push to get everything finished that I want to finish but that is usually the way things work before a show. I feel like everything is coming together.

[artistsurvivalshack]

journal

Monday, August 12, 2013

Rained all morning. After the first big downpour I ran back behind the shack and draped a black plastic trash bag over the worm trays so they didn’t get too wet. I noticed some of the worms were poking their heads out from the seam of the bottom tray and pushing some worm castings out along that edge. It may be time to rotate the trays. I’ll have to take a look tomorrow.

Spent the whole day going through the photos documenting the project. Have to send some images off this evening for Gary Wiseman’s interview. I have my laptop (powered by solar) to process the photos but my iphone is my only link for emergencies and art related tasks like sending images and updating the project journal.

Didn’t eat much all day as I was focused on the photos. Realized this at about sundown and boiled some water for couscous. Really need to be better about eating on a normal schedule. I have some nutritional supplement weight gain cans of chocolate milk just in case I start getting skeletal.

I am starting to realize that I am running out of certain things. It is becoming apparent I will have less and less choices of things to eat as the month goes on. Could get pretty basic. Hopefully my garden kicks into another gear and I get a bumper crop in the last week. String beans should be edible soon.