Fairyland: A Happening for Healing.
Today is the Full Buck Moon in Capricorn. The last time we had a full moon was on the Summer Solstice, the day when the Fairyland happening took place at Penn and Fletcher. It then seems appropriate to ponder on that fruitful afternoon and evening.
Joel Handorff, Honey McMoney, Gerardo Vizmanos, Ty Douglas and I met at Penn & Fletcher in mid May to come up with ideas for a follow-up to the "Boys in the Sand” happening, which had taken place at Joel’s studio in Penn & Fletcher in late March.
During that meeting, Joel suggested a title for the next happening—“Fairyland.” Serendipitously, I had been reading a passage from an old Raggedy Ann and Andy children's book at Scooter’s a few nights before that featured an extraordinary passage describing the arrival at a place also called Fairyland. I took this is as a good sign.
We talked animatedly, had pizza and shared in camaraderie. The date for Fairyland had been set for Monday, June 20th, right on the summer solstice.
Little did we know what would transpire in the coming months, which would give this happening additional layers of purpose and context.
I was thinking about the idea faeries don’t like when plants are trimmed with metal instruments—preferring the task be done by hand. Seven colors for intention-setting paraded through my mind, and so I worked on the text for the performance I would present at the happening.
Joel and I duly set the intention for preparing the next installment of illustrated poetry booklets we've been preparing for the happenings.
Gerardo took new photos of Joel posing nude within his gossamer work, his body serving as canvas for Ty’s paintbrush. The resulting images effectively meshed the work of art with the artist and served as metaphor for the collaborative spirit.
Throughout June and July, Scooter, Van and I stopped by Joel’s apartment for dinner—as we often do. Spontaneously the evenings would turn into drawing sessions. Sometimes I would write poetry on the margins of the sketches. These evenings served as experiments that would mark their influence on Joel’s work for the event.
One night after dinner, Joel pulled out a treasure chest of costume jewelry and poured its contents on the kitchen table. Within the mountain of metallics, stones and sparkles, my eyes darted towards a 60s school safety pin, smaller than an inch in diameter, depicting an owl with the legend “LOOK WHEN YOU WALK.”
I was immediately drawn to the pin—Scooter and I admired it while Van tried on plastic earrings. Scooter said we should make a silkscreen out of it to incorporate into new designs. I was thrilled and said I would blow it up in the Xerox machine the next day, so the image could go true to size to the silkscreen manufacturer.
The screen was ready a few days later, and Scooter printed a tee for Bubi as his birthday was coming up. The screen worked like a charm, the resulting image on the fabric was bold and nuanced.
I thought the owl print would be perfect for the context of the performance, depicting our beloved spirit animal and harbinger of clarity.
Scooter often asks if I will be wearing an old house dress I bought at Capri, my favorite dime store in Puerto Rico, to nighttime trips to Duane Reade, and we had often talked about customizing it.
The dress, which sports a faux Liberty print and the distress of years of wear and tear, I thought would be perfect with the owl pin print all over it. I also remembered an apron Scooter had gifted me, one he had found with Charlie at a Goodwill, and the outfit started coming together. I also decided I would wear one of Koos’ Toms espadrilles for the show.
I also went to visit Idan at his studio and asked if he would perform with me, explaining he would be a visitor who would plant flowers as they were introduced with intention-setting poems. We talked about the mise en scène of the performance, discussed clothes and movement and I also showed him the text.
Scooter and I went to a favorite dime store in Chinatown, where he suggested we could get the plastic flowers in seven colors for the show. They had a fantastic selection and we got our shopping done in no time.
Two Sundays before the solstice, as I was working on one of my photo galleries in Ocean Grove, I got a text from Michael telling me the news about the massacre at Pulse in Orlando.
It was hard to imagine the extent of the carnage, and did my best to remain calm and continued working, knowing that embodying peace would be the best medicine for the moment. I checked in with Joel, and he decided the show would go on.
The Thursday before the performance, I went with Scooter and Van to Joel’s and asked them to make crayon drawings of the flowers mentioned in the poems. The heartwarming evening yielded lovely, direct renderings in accord with the spirit of the writing.
On solstice weekend, I was in Ocean Grove once more and completed the outfit for the performance with one of Van’s straw hats. I also finished edits to the poems and wrote by hand on the mock up for the xeroxed book.. Scooter arrived Saturday afternoon on the train as a surprise and together with Van, Kelly and Henry, we all went for walks through the sleepy streets at night, taking in the salt air and coolness.
Van prepared a care package for me with terra cotta pots that would hold the flowers during the performance.
I took the red eye on that Sunday back to the city and xeroxed the books. I slept for a couple of hours and went to work in the morning, getting out at 3 p.m. to go to Penn & Fletcher. I ran into Idan at the elevator as I was going up—perfect timing.
We figured out where to do the performance, made ourselves comfortable, and we started greeting the guests.
Henry, Kelly and Van had been stuck in traffic, but they made it just in time. Honey was greeting guests in the elevator with his meditative performance, handing the guests mugwort branches which he had freshly gathered. Mugwort clears the air of negativity, and the shamanic tone of the evening was therefore set from the beginning.
So many dear friends arrived. Sara chatted with Bubi, he was showing her images of our book for Pupa Press. Scooter visited with Walt and Idan. Benjamin came with Steven, who would be having a birthday the next day. Dietmar walked in and gave me a big hug. Anado McLaughlin and Richard Schultz were in from Mexico with Jamie Leo. Lee Harper arrived wearing one of her amazing outfits. Rick Herron and I chatted about clothes, as I was initially was wearing a black owl tee Bubi had given me and Adidas exercise shorts, before changing into my performance gear. You can see pictures of all by clicking HERE.
Joel said some introductory remarks, exalting the importance of making art especially in the face of the Orlando tragedy. Idan and I started performing immediately after, cued by selections from Art of Noise’s compilation album And What Have You Done With My Body, God?. Things have a way of coming together, and ever since AON released their Into Battle EP I had dreamt of using their music for a performance, and now with this compilation that includes previously unreleased fragments of their work I was able to do so.
The performance happened as planned, feeling the energy in me radiate outward. Idan had distributed the booklets before starting, giving a feeling of a church service. He planted the flowers as I read and set intentions, color by color.
Afterwards, we went to the projection room to see a slide show of Gerardo’s photos featuring Joel, his work, and Ty’s body paint. Joel and Gerardo talked about the process of achieving the images.
Joel announced an interactive segment where people could do their own drawings to hang next to his work. Individual pieces were cut from a larger piece, "Fire Island”, with the idea that the remaining work (uncut pieces) could grow into a newer work by simple sewing/painting...showing an organic quality to the whole experiment. The guests contributed anonymously for the cut pieces and these funds were sent to the Pulse nightclub for its benefit.
Elated from the evening, we all lingered for a while and visited. Honey, Scooter, Joel and I took a cab back to the East Village, where we helped Joel carry things back to his apartment and said our good nights. A few hours later, Walt published a review of the evening in words and images on Facebook, which was a delight to read and see.
Photos: 1. Bubi. 2. Gerardo Vizmanos. 3-6, 8, 9. Lillan Munch. 7. Jorge Clar. 10. Gerard Dalmon.