Art/Life Project No. 1

Okay, are you sitting down?

Because I’m cutting and pasting again tonight but this one’s a biggie. Pages and pages. Your scroll finger is gonna get tired but it’ll be worth it, I promise. Of course, you don’t have to read all of it. But at least read the first half of my notes, because the first half details the important stuff.

One color, one filmmaker, one musical artist, one artist, one food, one food restriction. When I do the selection ceremony, I’ll post the results right away so you can see, along with me, the outline of my life in art in the next year.

Art/Life Project No. 1 begins June 1st. Monday.

Initial Notes
May 2009

Art/Life Project No. 1

For the purpose of exploration and transition into a new stage of life, I will embark on a vision quest/education of my own design.

My culture offers virtually nothing in the way of ritual or rite of passage; it is my duty as an artist, a thinker, and a person of substance in love with my existence to offer myself the opportunity to understand me and the world on a deeper level, via a series of challenges and tasks.

It is my sincere hope that this yearlong experiment/quest enriches me as an artist, a woman, a wife, a friend, a family member, and, most of all, a human being.

Prediction: I will learn to live more mindfully.
Prediction: I will suffer.
Prediction: I will have fun.

The ?€?I will have fun?€? part is crucial. This has to be fun and rewarding. Otherwise, it?€™s not a positive experiment. I?€™m not out to punish myself, though I know at times the limitations may feel like a punishment.  I?€™m very used to having whatever I want pretty much whenever I want it.

This project will mark my maiden voyage in blending art and life totally. Up till now, art and life have been separate for me, save for some activities in which I have engaged that always struck me as performances: waitressing, cooking, and traveling, for example.

Here are my rules:

I. I will wear one color only for each month of the year.

Red
Green
Blue
Orange
Tan (or Khaki)
Brown
Purple
White
Yellow
Black
Pink
Gray

The clothing colors are non-negotiable. Only Orange may be worn in the Orange Month, only White in the White Month, and so on. Research about the colors and their meanings will accompany my notes at a later time.

Exceptions to clothing: Yoga clothes, belts, shoes, and coats during winter months may not be the color prescribed by the month. It?€™s simply too expensive and part of the point of all this is reduction, economy, limitations. But nightclothes must be of the prescribed color and, whenever possible, those yoga clothes, shoes, and outerwear items need to correspond.

Just because I?€™m dressing monochromatically, that doesn?€™t mean I?€™m going to look like an idiot. Obviously, black will be easier than orange. But I?€™m not going to go around dressing in a green jumpsuit for a month. Probably.

II. I will incorporate a specific fruit or vegetable into my diet for the entire month.

I must eat this food at least once a day during the month in which it appears. All the corresponding fruits/vegetables have been chosen because I am not terribly familiar with them (e.g., pumpkin) and, in some cases, don?€™t really like them (e.g., kale). Still, they all hold interest for me. Juicing is an acceptable means of consumption and most will be incorporated into various recipes. I mean, I ain?€™t gonna eat fuckin?€™ raw kale all day, especially with no colon.

Rhubarb ?€“ Spring
Black-eyed peas - Spring
Artichoke - Spring
White nectarines - Summer
Lychee ?€“ Summer (July)
Guava ?€“ Summer
Parsnips - Fall
Plums ?€“ Early Fall
Fennel ?€“ Fall
Rutabaga - Winter
Kale - Winter
Persimmon ?€“ Early Winter

III. I will listen to one musical artist to the exclusion of all others every month.

The artists will include:

Elvis Presley
David Bowie
Aaron Copeland
Nina Simone
Dusty Springfield
Maria Callas
The Carter Family
George Gershwin
Robert Johnson
Afrika Bambaataa
Led Zepplin
Youssou N’Dour

All the artists fit criteria established by me:

- They all have a substantial body of work, with the exception of Robert Johnson.
- They all have eluded my CD collections and iTunes playlists over the years for one reason or another.
- They?€™re all people who made the bulk of their music in the 20th century.
- They all interest me, though some interest me more than others. But like, Sinatra ain?€™t on the list because I can?€™t make myself care. All these people/groups have been determined by me to be important, influential, and I know shamefully little about them or their body of work.
- I?€™ve taken care to select artists in all the various categories that represent a mix (as well as I could) of male and female, of genre, and of origin. My limited knowledge of these genres and people made it hard to seek them out in some cases, but help from friends was used to put the lists together and I tried to really reach beyond my limited music history knowledge. I had to cut out a lot of people that I thought would be great for the project, like Joan Armatrading, for the music section for example. She just didn?€™t make the final cut. I felt like Nina Simone was more fundamentally important when talking about women singer-songwriters and when it came down to Nina and Joan, I had to go with Joan, though I?€™m well aware there are and can be more than one non-white, female singer-songwriter in the world. It just didn?€™t work out for my project to have two. There?€™s only twelve choices, after all, and I wanted to represent all kinds of different music styles and people.

IV. I will read one or more books by a different author each month and supplement by reading articles, watching films or documentaries, etc. about their life and work.

Each month, on PaperGirl, I?€™ll turn in a kind of book report in which I explore the author and the book and my feelings on it.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Kurt Vonnegut
Flannery O?€™Connor
Chuck Palahniuk
James Baldwin
Phillip K. Dick
George Plimpton
Joan Didion
Annie Proulx
Katherine Mansfield
Evelyn Waugh
Camille Paglia

The author portion of the project isn?€™t 100% exclusive; it would be counterproductive for me to forgo reading any newspapers, magazines, etc., for an entire year. My project is a way for me to expand my horizons. While bringing the focus down to specific artists and genres focuses me in a new way, I?€™m not going to live in a bubble when it comes to print and media. Plus, I want to understand how my choices and my investigations color my perspective of the world. That?€™s part of my interest in the project.

V. I will watch the work of a sole filmmaker each month. 

John Waters
Jean-Luc Godard
Luis Bunuel
Ingmar Bergman
Hayao Miyazaki
Orson Welles
Frederico Fellini
Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Pedro Almodovar
Spike Lee
Kelly Reichardt
Akira Kurosawa

In addition to watching at least two movies by each of these filmmakers during the prescribed month, I?€™ll do auxiliary research on them via the Internet, etc.

VI. In addition to adding certain foods to my diet and incorporating music, restriction of other things is important. Life isn?€™t just about addition, it?€™s about subtraction, too.  The following foods will be eliminated for one month each, to be determined by the draw.

Chocolate
Eggs
Wheat
Dairy
Meat
Anything w/over 10 ingredients on the pkg.
Anything out of a bag
Anything frozen
Sugar (refined)
Caffeine
Soda
Anything out of a box

VII. Other modes of record and analysis:

—A studio shot once a month by a studio photographer would be so great…

—Video. Because I?€™d want raw footage of me in each stage of the project to be edited and produced later.

—My personal journal.

Reasoning

??ώ I?€™ll learn a lot.

??ώ The nature of the project interests me a great deal.

??ώ I?€™m turning 30.

??ώ I?€™m having another surgery.

??ώ My husband will be gone for a year.

??ώ I?€™m an obsessive person anyway?€”this will be fun for me.

??ώ I?€™m bored with the theater.

??ώ Why not?

??ώ It?€™ll be fodder for a one-woman show.

??ώ It?€™s art.

??ώ It?€™ll be a challenge.

??ώ No one I know has done anything like this.

??ώ It?€™ll be interesting to blog about.

??ώ Because I want to know what will happen to me when I?€™m living within these parameters. I?€™ll have thoughts I would likely never have had otherwise and that excites me.

??ώ Because what if I learn that I am always happy when I wear green or when I eat parsnips? What if I have boundless energy when I don?€™t eat chocolate? I can try all this out in my fairly controlled experiment.

??ώ Because I think people will get a kick out of it. Like, it?€™ll make people think and smile.

??ώ Because we have too many choices in my culture. Far too many?€”and it breeds dissatisfaction. Should I buy more clothes? Will that make me happy? Should I eat this or not? What else should I have to eat? The way I figure, if I don?€™t do this project, I?€™ll have another year of my life pass as the others have: typically. Now, my typical is a little better, I?€™d like to believe, than most, but still. I?€™ll buy more stuff I don?€™t really need. I?€™ll keep listening to roughly the same music I listen to already. I probably won?€™t embark on any of these explorations with nearly as much depth (i.e., exploring Elvis) as I would if I do complete the project.

Why Now?

The upcoming year involves several events that will make this project (possibly) more challenging, but definitely more intriguing:

a) On July 20th, I?€™ll have my takedown surgery.
b) In mid-September, I travel to New York to do TML for three weeks there.
c) The month of December will be spent in Washington D.C., doing TML at Woolly Mammoth.
d) I have a lot of college gigs lined up in the near future, which just means lots of travel.
e) I may or may not be enrolling in Bikram teacher training in April-May of ?€™10. It?€™s an exciting prospect, but we?€™ll have to see how I do with the second surgery.

This is all outside the fact that throughout the year, I obviously have all kinds of regular, important and not-so-important stuff going on. But this coming year does have a few significant events.

Questions

Q: Do I have to use the music I?€™m listening to in the art I make?
A: No, but I can?€™t use any other music. Like, I can?€™t be in the Afrika Bambaataa month and use Madonna in a play. It?€™s supposed to be hard. (But when I?€™ve got Afrika Bambaataa to use, do I think I?€™ll be lacking for inspiration? Probably not. That?€™s sort of the point: new inspiration.)

Q: What happens if you don?€™t get through the book each month?
A: I will make every effort to do so. I mean, that?€™s the point. I hope my sister will join me in the book aspect of it and can help me with pacing.

Q: Is there a budget?
A: No. I am allowing myself to spend the money necessary to do this but I don?€™t think it?€™s gonna cost that much. I ought to have thought of it a year ago and gotten myself a grant. But that?€™s not how it worked out. With the clothes, I can get what I need/want, but I certainly can?€™t buy a new wardrobe each month?€”this means I?€™ll be thrift store shopping a fair amount, but moreover, I?€™ll not have very many clothes from which to choose. This is a big part of the point of the project, of course. The limitation is interesting to me and attractive to me. I?€™ll also sort through the clothes I have currently and separate them into the various colors so that there?€™s something to start with.

Q: What about seasonability of the food?
A: Yeah, I know. I?€™ll figure out the seasonability and then separate those into piles for each season and draw from that so it makes sense, availability-wise.

Q: What art will come out of this?
A: It?€™s all art! That?€™s part of the point. It?€™s just art without an audience, most of the time. Sort of. And I anticipate a one-woman show might come from this, maybe, and a book. And a movie.

Q: Is this just some way for you to exert control over your life in a time of uncertainty and change?
A: Probably. Definitely.

Q: Are you trying to manufacture an education? Inspiration?
A: That?€™s kind of a negative way to put it, but I guess so. It?€™s my own little year of school, my own little year of diverting my attention past the stuff that I usually do or listen to or eat or wear and pushing myself into territory that is unfamiliar and foreign. I don?€™t happen to think that just because something is foreign it?€™s good, but I do think that people can become myopic. I think I can become myopic. I want to make sure that I?€™m not missing anything, but I do know that George Harrison said, ?€?The further you get from home, the less you know.?€? I mean, I hear that. But I refuse to sleepwalk through my life and I?€™m so excited when I make art. I want to make the best art I can, so that means I need to do ?€?scales?€? as an artist. I need to practice, I need to use my body, I need to take risks, I need to do the work, I need to feed my brain. This is a way to feed my brain. I don?€™t have plans to head off to some Parisian art school right now, so this is a way to take an adventure within the confines of my own experience.

Q: Is just wearing a different color each month and immersing yourself in some filmmaker?€™s work enough? Will this actually be challenging?
A: I hope so. I think so. I mean, consider this hypothetical possibility: In the month of April, I?€™ll be wearing blue, not eating meat, listening only to Led Zeppelin, reading Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and watching Godard films. That won?€™t be easy, I don?€™t think.

Q: When you put it like that, hell, will it even be possible?
A: Well, you have to remember that I read a lot. If I make sure that what I read is this specific thing or that specific thing, I think it?€™s very possible. And the directors I?€™m going to explore, that?€™s just a few films a month. Right now, I definitely Netflix at least two films a month, but probably three or four. So that?€™s doable. I believe wearing one color will actually be very freeing. I won?€™t spend any time wondering what to wear. I won?€™t have many choices. And I listen to music quite a bit, too. My iPod is always with me. So I?€™ll be riding my bike, listening to Zeppelin instead of riding my bike, listening to Madonna. And that scares me because I love Madonna, I love riding my bike to Madonna. But that?€™s what Free Days are for?€”so I don?€™t go nuts and give me space to truly appreciate the stuff that I?€™m naturally, ?€?organically?€? drawn to.

Q: What else is this about?
A: Focus. The more I think about it, the more that?€™s what it?€™s about. People are talking a lot these days about how Americans in particular?€”but really anyone in the developed world?€”are just rotting away from a lack of focus. Our brains are soft as our bodies, our attention to detail is nearly nonexistent and our ability to concentrate on anything for any significant amount of time is nil.

I think this project is a study in focus. And it?€™s funny, because it?€™s actually still really fractured; doing one thing for one month isn?€™t a very long time. Linda Montano did exercises that lasted years. But this is my maiden voyage, so I can do it how I think it?€™s going to be most effective at this time. I think that cutting myself off from my infinite playlist, limiting myself when it comes to dressing in the morning, giving myself these boundaries will only increase my ability to make positive choices in life. Creative choices. Informed choices. Valued choices. I was reading Bikram?€™s book and there?€™s an old Indian saying, ?€?Comfort destroys ease.?€? Meaning that the more comfortable you are, the more options you have, the more you?€™ve got all the world at your fingertips, the less ease with which you can navigate the world. You?€™ve got one bowl, one pair of pants, one record to listen to? Okay, so now what? Maybe we?€™ve got more time to think about other, more productive shit or create better art because we?€™re not wasting time changing pants six times before we leave the house.

And I quote Bjork when I say, ?€?The less room you give me, the more space I?€™ve got.?€? Shit. I?€™m really going to miss Bjork.

Q: In preparation for this experiment, you?€™ve found yourself several times in a position where you wanted to buy something (i.e., a cute dress at Target, a book at the bookstore) but didn?€™t. Is this because you knew you wouldn?€™t be able to use it soon?
A: Absolutely. I didn?€™t buy the dress because I knew that I might not be wearing it for months. Or maybe when I could wear it, it would be winter and it was a summer dress. Already, this project is showing its face. And I love it.

Q: So when you go to Washington D.C. in December, that?€™ll be, like, the Pink Month or something.
A: Yeah.

Q: How are you going to get all your reading material?
A: I plan to start using my library card more regularly for both the books and music. And I order used books off Amazon all the time. It?€™s a cheap way to read. And I have a Kindle, so I can download from wherever I am, which will come in handy as I?€™ll be traveling so much this year. 

Q: Will you talk about the project at upcoming gigs?
A: Yes, I think so. The project may generate some new pieces, so maybe I?€™ll do those. But I think just talking about the project will interest some of the students at the colleges where I?€™ll be performing in the coming months.

Q: So what if someone asks you out to a movie or a concert?
A: It?€™s going to be a case-by-case basis, but for the most part, I?€™ll decline and make other social plans with that person. I don?€™t want to be a hermit and I don?€™t want to be perceived as a freak who?€™s no fun; that said, I?€™m committing to listening only to one artist per month, so going to a concert is kind of against the rules, really. It?€™s sad because Tori Amos will be touring this summer and I?€™d like to see the concert. I suppose I could plan my free day for that day?€¦ It?€™ll be tough, but I can always suggest to someone who wants to see a movie that we should go see some art instead or go on a hike or do something else. It?€™s a big world out there.

The Selection Process

I plan to write each of the artists, foods, colors, etc. on little slips of paper. Each category will get put into a little fishbowl or just a bowl. I’ll draw from each pile, so the selections are totally randomized.

I plan to do the drawing/selection of the elements alone. It?€™s going to be a ritualistic act in that I?€™m going to treat it with reverence and honor. Lighting candles and incense will be important. But I?€™m not going to film it. I?€™m not going to talk much about it beforehand. I?€™m just going to do it.

I?€™ll do it in a special place. I?€™ll write everything down in a special book. I?€™ll publish the results on PaperGirl as soon as I?€™m finished. Because though this project is a self-made, self-realized one that explores the difference between art on a stage and art in daily life, I don?€™t live in a vacuum. I also want to do this project because I think it?€™s going to be inspiring to people. I want them to know about it. So I plan to publish the selection results immediately. 

Other People

I believe other people will read about what I?€™m doing on the blog or see a play in TML about it or hear about it from a friend and they?€™ll be intrigued. I think I?€™ll get some emails before the year is out. I hope I do. I think the blog will get some traffic because of this because I think regular readers might send out a link to the blog to a friend and say, ?€?Hey, this blog I read is getting really interesting/weird/cool?€? or whatever.

I thought about inviting other people to take on this project with me, but then rejected that. It?€™s not the point. The point is my experience.

At the time of this writing, I?€™m still not sure how other people will play into this project.

?€?Free Days”

If I were embarking on this project at age 23, I wouldn?€™t think of giving myself a day off. But I?€™m almost 30 and I?€™ve learned a few things. My inclination is to go hard, go fast with no stopping, no breaks. While I admire that quality in myself at times and know it can be used for good and not evil, I?€™m interested in success here and I think it?€™s wise to build in a ?€?free day?€? for myself for many reasons.

One day a month, I can wear what I like, I can eat whatever I?€™m restricting, I can listen to all the Madonna my heart desires, I can go see a movie in a theater that isn?€™t by one of my directors. 

I?€™m interested in experiencing the break from the routine within the routine.

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