I donated this one to a charity auction for Friends of Animals that will be held at the October 2008 Chiller Theatre Toy, Model and Film Expo. You can find out more about the Expo at www.chillertheatre.com

Handmade, OOAK art doll. 8.5 inches tall.
Mixed media including fabric and Paperclay.
Copyright © 2008, Shain Erin. All rights reserved.

Skeleton Art Doll 2
Handmade art doll. 10.75 inches tall.
Mixed media including fabric and Paperclay.
Copyright © 2008, Shain Erin. All rights reserved.

This one is currently available at my Etsy Shop

Mummy Art Doll 12
Handmade, OOAK art doll. 7.5 inches tall.
Mixed media including fabric and Paperclay.
Copyright © 2008, Shain Erin. All rights reserved.

This guy is currently available at my Etsy Shop

Mummy Art Doll 9
Handmade, OOAK art doll. 6.25 inches tall.
Mixed media including fabric and Paperclay.
Copyright © 2008, Shain Erin. All rights reserved.

This is the first of the Mummy Dolls Series. You can see photos of all of the series on my website: www.shainerin.com
 

I should start with my garden, which has been trimmed, tidied, weeded, watered, pulled up, put away and generally gotten ready for winter; all that’s left on the grow is a flowering plant which I forget the name of and my squashes which have yet to do anything but produce flowers that eventually fall off – where is my FRUIT! ... of course, my final peas I’ve given up on – the plants were far too tempting to the slugs and snails of my garden world – despite my attempts to persuade them to munch on other things (what is wrong with all the weeds I leave in the garden? A bit of dandelion not good enough for them or something ?); oh, I also have my spinach beet which hasn’t really done anything more than put a few little leaves up; maybe I should just pick them and try them – see what I think – maybe I will in a couple of days time.

Oh, I did pull my spring onions – which for some reason didn’t really develop past the size of “chive-sizes” – i.e. skinny little stalks and not much more; still, they were pretty tasty all things considered; my one “little gem” lettuce that survived to adulthood was tasty – although, there I was, washing the leaves and picking off little slugs and snails that had decided “this is well tasty, we should eat it” and discarding the mostly munched leaves. Of course, as part of my garden tidy I took the disgruntled commuter’s advice [blog] and made a pile of sticks (well, with weeds and other bits of garden flotsam and jetsam) to hopefully attract hedgehogs to the garden who like to make a midnight snack of slugs and snails.

Televisually-wise, I’ve still been watching the family [C4]; I’m not sure if I’ll watch all 8 episodes – but we’ll see what happens there. A show I’ve really enjoyed these past couple of weeks is “What to eat now” – last week was things like onions and squashes (I loved the idea of doing pumpkin soup using the pumpkin as a bowl; I am a big fan of squashes (hence my attempts to grow them)... maybe I’ll get a chance to put some of his ideas to the test) – this week was fruit, seeing plumb crumble, a pear tart (or was that apple?) and an apple and pear chutney being made. Tasty looking stuff [BBC|iPlayer]. Last week saw me catching the second of Griff Rhys Jones’ shows looking at Anger [BBC] which was interesting; nothing particularly enlightening or groundbreakingly new; but a nice reminder of some of the better ways to deal with it.

DVD-wise has seen me putting on those horror DVDs again. Some really terrible films I have to say; the first two being directed by Jess Franco [IMDB|WIKI]; a man who I’ve seen described as “the Ed Wood [IMDB|WIKI] of horror” – the first of these being “Cannibals” [IMDB] – a film which proclaims “great gory eating close ups” but is really particularly terrible. The Cannibals, hidden deep within the South American Jungles are pretty pathetic. Rather than looking like scary natives, they look more like a bunch of pasty white Europeans prancing around with dodgy facepaint and loin cloths (under which, you can see many wear their tighty-whity underwear! Goodness! I Didn’t realise CK [WIKI] had a big jungle following!!)

The eating scenes; well, these natives seem to have quite the appetite for pale, white, big breasted women for some reason; why, they seem to get completely sidetracked when one crosses their path and can’t help but eat her – fortunately, pale white big-breasted women seem to be made up of minute steaks... so nothing too gross there (and I’m sure they just re-use the same eating footage both times).

This is the first Cannibal film I’ve seen – so I didn’t really know what to expect; fortunately it’s pretty much of a nothingness. Oh, I’m forgetting the plot (I have a feeling the director did too, so I’m not alone here); basically, for some reason a guy, his wife and his daughter are on a boat heading to some place deep in the jungle (I think to do research on something or other); during the journey, a bunch of these cannibals come on board; they kill a couple of people, eat the wife (alive), club the husband and drag him off into the jungle; the daughter hides under a table and is safe. I guess the boat then crashes onto rocks (with all the crew dead there is little hope a young girl could safely captain the boat to safely) Her father is carried into the cannibal camp on sticks, alive still.

While this is happening, the tribe’s leader finds the daughter washed up on the beach, alive; he gives a lot of “um gumbo mumbo jumbo” before crying out in perfect English “White Goddess” ... which is about the level of the dialogue for the natives; grunts and stereotypical savage tongue combined with inexplicable outbursts of English; the arrival of the “white goddess” at the tribe means that the father escapes with only his one arm being unconvincingly chopped off before running back to civilization. It’s never really explained why the cannibals rip women’s stomachs open and feast on the minute-steak innards but are content to chop bits off men – maybe the women are just tastier? (Colonel Saunders’ special secret blend of herbs and spices perhaps?)

Ten years later the father comes back, finally getting funding from a bunch of rich idiots who seem to think he should be in a mental asylum. He has a “love interest” – big breasted – which of course means that (after the tribe kills most of the team with their poison darts) she is carted off and eaten alive; allowing the father (with one arm... jeez all these one-armed people running around doing inexplicable acts (take the fugitive [IMDB] for example) ... maybe being “'armless” is a misnomer ?)) and the sole remaining other man on the team to escape; only to come back, kidnap the daughter... At which point the tribe gives chase and in a stream the one-armed father and the daughter’s cannibal husband fight to the death; inexplicably, the one armed father wins and the pair of them escape.

Still, as stories go, it was easier to understand than the “Vampire Killer Barbys” (same director) [IMDB] where the band “Killer Barbys” somehow find themselves sleeping at a castle; which contains the countess who is some sort of vampire. I’m not really sure I got this at all. Basically everyone dies; only for it to end with it being revealed as some sort of dream sequence or “unreliable narrator” affair [WIKI]

Other movies? Well, I did get around to finally watching Superman IV The Quest for Peace [IMDB|WIKI]; and it is good to see Gene Hackman back as Lex Luthor in this one.... but, unfortunately, the whole thing doesn’t really excite in the same way that the first two films do. Basically, for those who have missed this; Superman donates one of his hairs to some museum – it’s super strength being able to hold up a pretty hefty weight; Lex steals this (with the aid of ... I think it was his young nephew?) and essentially uses it to create his own Super Villain. The Villain and Superman fight, Superman wins. Essentially that’s it; although the non-to-subtle back story is about nuclear disarmament; with Superman speaking to the UN and arranging to throw all nuclear weapons into the sun (from this the Super-Villain is created); of course, Superman realises at the end of it all that it’s not up to him to save the planet from itself and we’re all allowed to keep building our weapons of mass destruction. Oh well.

I also, finally, got to see Shaun of the dead [IMDB|WIKI]; other than the clip where you see them chucking records at the zombies [YT] I’d not seen any of it. And it was good, well worth a watch; most definitely. Especially interesting playing the “how many comedy actors and actresses can you spot” game (either in cameo or supporting roles). Not a bad take at all on the genre, and full of chuckles and guffaws (I loved the bit where they... no... I’ll not spoil it) a great film.

But back to the bad apples; Bagman [IMDB] is just terrible. Bunch of kids, chase a kid down because he’s ugly (scarred from his house burning down, killing his parents) and one of them slaps a bag on his head and drowns him (apparently) in a stream before urinating all over him. Of course, the “bagman” isn’t dead and 10 years(or something like that – I think I was yawning and missed it?) later he’s back and killing people. Of course, the idea isn’t that bad; but that’s why there’s been so many better movies made with this very same plot. But this one, it’s a stinker and is lacking in most areas; the gore... Well, there’s the chopping the hand off, and then mincing of, of one of the characters. An African-American as far as I could tell... except, in the hand chopping-off scene, his arm is mysteriously white (black hand though) and the whole get up almost falls apart during the slicing scene.

Although, this is the only person killed and disposed of in this way; it’s as if Mr Bagman thought better of going to so much trouble. Another character is killed by being gutted, another by having their eye poked out (looks suspiciously like a marshmallow to me) before having the stick/arrow/whatever plunged into their heart; another has a simple machete to the head (embedding the blade in the head... apparently) and the final has the machete to the chest, before being urinated on; revenge is... um... whatever. The final character, the only one to say “stop it, stop it, you’re killing him” (and who is secretly an FBI agent) is spared (nothing to do with the fact that she shares a surname with the person who wrote and did she produce the whole thing) and pleads for the bagman not to kill himself... but no, he goes into his shed, pours petrol everywhere and sets fire to it all. Oh well.

Enough of the films!!! (Although you should have realised by now there is a reason why most of these movies I watch have never played at your local cinemaplex)

Musically it’s been a right old mix. Over the last week and a bit Alanis Morissette [FM] has been spending a lot of time on my walkman phone; mostly listening to “The Collection” [FM] which is full of great songs, including a pretty good cover of Seal/Adamski’s Crazy – but one of my favourites on there is her cover of “Let’s do it (Let’s fall in love)” which I think is just brilliant. Art Brut [FM|MYSPACE] also snuck their way in, as did Mr Solo [FM|MYSPACE] (who, if you didn’t know is “the Vessel” from David Devant and his Spirit wife [FM|MYSPACE] – the band who I had a curry with and was all star struck a few years back when they played a gig in Birmingham); Emilie Autumn persists on my listening pleasure – the last couple of days listening to her Laced/Unlaced [FM] classical/neo-classical (no idea what that means, but I like the way it sounds) album which is great. Also, Ben Folds Five [FM] have jumped back on, and I’ve been catching up on some of the podcasts I subscribe to [BBC]

I’ve also had fun cooking when I have time; tonight as an example I’ve made some sort of stewy-casserole-y soupy mix; it is one of those things – making use of “left overs”. Recipe (or “how did I make it?”): take about 4 or 5 chicken pieces (legs, thighs, wings, whatever) dump them in a pan with a little olive oil; then add some boiling water (about half a pan or so). Add some herbs (I put some thyme (I never have enough time ha ha!) and let it boil for a while. I think I ended up leaving it about an hour. I then poured the stock through a sieve into another pan, added some potatoes (cut into very small chunks), some vegetables (I added a courgette that was going “eat me now or I’m going to turn to mush before you think of something to do with me”; sliced into 1/4” slices) and let it boil up; while that was going on, I stripped the chicken off the bones and added it to the vegetables and stock; also added the skin – which gives it great flavour (I think). I topped the stock up with some more boiling water (enough to cover it all), a little beef stock, a little salt; brought it all back to the boil before lowering the heat and letting it simmer for an indeterminate amount of time - somewhere between 30 minutes and an hour (I was washing up at the time and squeezing oranges); mostly, it was all left until the potatoes had gone a little soft. Took it off the heat; left it as long as I could stand; ladled out a good sized portion of everything into a bowl, ground some black and white pepper on top, and ate. And it was good; and filling (pats belly)

Game-wise, I’ve been doing the usual mix of footy and badminton (a good badminton this week, the most people we’ve had turn up in a long while (7 out of a max 8; one last minute cancellation)); on the fantasy football front I’m about 9th out of 11 – although there is almost nothing in it between us all; here’s hoping I’ll go up the league a bit the next few games... On the PS2 I’ve been playing a bit of “Gran Turismo 4 Prologue” [WIKI|MC] which is fun; this prologue a preview to the actual game (okay, it’s a couple of years old and only now I’m getting around to playing it, but I’m hardly ever “cutting edge”) If you don’t know anything about the GT series, you’ll be going “so what is it?” (Well, unless you clicked on the link already!) The GT series is all about driving, as its subtitle calls it, it is “the real driving simulator” A large part of “prologue” is the driving school. You learn to drive – the game works with all good steering wheels and pedals, and all the cars are modelled accurately on the real thing; in fact, as the “bonus dvd” shows, the designers and programmers actually put the real cars through the lessons you get to go through in real life (so they could test the physics); of course, I consider it a bonus that you have the English voiceover done by Vicki Butler-Henderson [WIKI] (obviously because I think she has a great voice; nothing at all to do with the fact she's a pretty lass who's into cars :) )

Well, that’s about it really. It’s amazing how I can make “not much of anything” into about 2,700 words (well, actually it’s almost precisely that as I’m writing this on my laptop; most of which was done on the train home tonight!!)

Have fun! Thank you for reading (or skimming) Hope I didn't bore you too much!

A Nemzeti Múzeumban OUTSIDER ART kiállitás nyilott!

Az OUTSIDER ART sehová sem besorolható audidakta művészeti forma. Pszichés betegek/elmebetegek,önjelölt alkotók,modern primitivek,naiv-féleségek,"vadak" alkotásai. Az én munkáim is ide sorolhatóak,merthogy sajátosak és nem köthetőek igazándiból egyik ismert "izmushoz"sem: hacsak nem a ZOÉIZMUSHOZ!Én sem végeztem művészeti iskolát,ám kisgyerek korom óta mániákusan és ösztönösen rajzolok.,az utóbbi időben,festek és objekteket is készitek....

Cikk itt van a kiállitásról:

http://borsa.hu/20080922/nyers_muveszet/mentalisan_serult_alkotok_muvei_a_nemzeti_galeriaban/?p=1

Stranded Pearl: Giant Sand
Beast: Vincent Vincent and the Villains
No you didn't No you don't: The Courteeners
My Little Brother: Art Brut
Dead: The Bookhouse Boys
Fractured Air (Tornado Watch): Calexico
Jungle Drum: Emiliana Torrini
This is Not a Test: Sons & Daughters
Lady's Bridge: Richard Hawley
Shimmering Dimmering Colored Ding: Belle Chase Hotel
Flowers and Football Tops: Glasvegas
Listening Man: The Bees
We Won't Have to be Lonesome: Micah P. Hinson

via Artbreak - Share and sell art online

Art Focus 5, 2008 will open today in Jerusalem and will attempt to continue the tradition of providing a rare encounter between contemporary art in Israel and abroad. once again Jerusalem will offer a unique kind of artistic and intellectual experience that will distinguish it from previous Art Focus events and the many biennales worldwide. The 5th Art Focus exhibition, will take place in the ‘Pavillion’ within  the Talpiot Beit Benit Congress Center still under construction in Jerusalem, from September 24^th to October 23^rd, 2008.

Built as an open and multifaceted event, Art Focus aims to demonstrate the liveliness and diversity of contemporary art, at the time of globalization, and to foreground the profusion of ideas and the many proposals it gives rise to. The curators of this new edition, Ami Barak and Bernard Blistène, have decided to solicit an answer from artists and creators from all walks of life around the question : Can art do more? Sixty six artists from 25 countries world wide responded to the proposal, among whom eighteen are Israeli.

Isragirl recommends this fantastic event to EVERY ONE!!! You don't have to be an art lover to enjoy this multi-cultural celebration of contemporary art set in the scenic and historical city - Jerusalem. Art Focus will be open for a month during the Jewish holiday season which is when many tourists are in the country anyways... Take advantage of this special opportunity to experience art from all over the world dealing with the provocative question - Can Art Do More?

Treat yourself visually and intellectually - Come to Art Focus

• Travel Israel: Guide, Travel Tips, Photos and Videos
• Isragirl presents: Stuff!!!
• Fall foliage in New England
• Jerusalem Galleries
• Street food and food politics in Jerusalem
• Tel Aviv Galleries
• New Year's Eve Trance Festival

[audio http://www.box.net/shared/static/4smny19q2p.mp3]

Download

From: It's a Bit Complicated (Downtown Music, 2007)

Review: Metacritic | Pitchfork

Buy: Amazon | eMusic | iTunes | Insound

Learn: Wikipedia | AllMusic | Drowned In Sound

Visit: Home

Social: MySpace | Last.fm | MOG

Anyway.

They're now involved with Winchester Live Festival, a week long event in Winchester, Hampshire this October. Running from the 13th - 19th October it's yet another chance to catch some of the best talent in Winchester and the surrounding area. It's also going to involve some other brilliant acts such as Mumford & Sons, Peggy Sue, Art Brut and Emmy the Great. And you thought that festival season was ending...hah.

[All links lead to MySpace pages]

Monday 13th October:

The Vault (Winchester Uni): TBC (16+)

Tuesday 14th October:

The Tower: Emmy The Great, Peggy Sue, The Wellbeing + Phil King. (14+) £7 (advance)

Wednesday 15th October:

The Tower: Imperial Leisure, Django + TBC (14+) £7 (advance)

The Railway: When The Lights Go Out present TBC (16+) £5 (advance)

Thursday 16th October:

The Railway: Blissfields presents TBC (16+) £5 (advance)

Friday 17th October:

The Tower: SixNationState, The Foxes, Shit! Hot Llamas + The L.C.D. (16+) £7 (advance)

Saturday 18th October:

The Vault: Art Brut, Thomas Tantrum, Scarlet Soho, Subliminal Girls, Hijera + Fresh Legs (16+) £10 (advance)

The Tower: Mumford & Sons, Ryan O'Reilly, Jay Jay Pistolet, Derek Meins, Beans on Toast, Thos Henley + Cherbourg (formaly Davie Fiddle) (14+)

The Railway: Mine Host presents Shaped By Fate, Eta Carinae + Incarna(18+) £5 (advance)

Sunday 19th October:

The Tower: Bloody Awful Poetry presents, The Click Click, Rosie Odd & The Odd Squad + TBC (14+) £7 (advance)

The Railway: Die! Die! Die!, Nicotine Smile, Run Walk! + TBC (16+) £5 (advance)

I've already bought my ticket for Emmy on the 14th, I'm keeping an eye on the Thursday as I support anything and everything Blissfields-based and I'm torn about what to do on the Saturday, do I go to The Tower or The Vault?

If you happen to live in Hampshire or any of the neighbouring counties I can't recommend this enough.

You can buy tickets for any of the events here.

MP3 Emmy the Great - Absentee | Website / MySpace

MP3 Peggy Sue and the Pirates - Lipstick | Website / MySpace

(P.S I really do wish I had green shoes)

(P.P.S This event has plunged me into my overdraft before uni term has even begun)

(P.P.P.S Who's glad that The Tower hasn't been closed?! Meeeeeee!)

Avere dedicato a Giovanni Bosco la Mostra "U VIPARICCHIU", nella Via Marcantonio per tutti i giorni della manifestazione, ed una conferenza nella giornata di Venerdì alle ore 19,00 sempre nella via Marcantonio, su "Art Brut tra valorizzazione e riconoscimento" è pertanto a mio modesto avviso opera meritoria.

Nell'invitarvi a visitare la mostra e partecipare numerosi alla conferenza, ripropongo qui la recensione che pubblicai su "Castellammare Online Community", e non più online, in occasione della mostra dei lavori di Giovanni Bosco tenutasi dal 22 al 28 luglio 2004 nella Sala Polivalente di Corso Bernardo Mattarella (ex chiesa di Maria SS. degli Agonizzanti) di Castellammare del Golfo.
In quella occasione furono esposte circa cento opere di piccolo formato, (per la gran parte pastelli su carta, ma anche oli su tela grezza).
 
A seguire poi un interessante saggio di Andrea Mazzoleni, "Riflessioni sull'arte Brut".
 
"Chi è Giovanni Bosco e perchè è interessante questa mostra ?
A mio parere Giovanni Bosco è da inquadrare come un "espressionista contemporaneo".
E' stato detto che l'espressionismo, una tendenza sorta agli inizi del secolo scorso, a cui parteciparono artisti di diversi paesi, è tuttavia una costante dell'arte, che si rivela sostanzialmente alla stessa maniera, nell'arte preistorica, tra gli Incas, nella Grecia arcaica, nell'arte medievale o in quella del XVII secolo.

Nelle sue opere Giovanni Bosco racconta le fantasie della propria vita interiore, parla dei suoi sogni, lascia fluttuare l' immaginazione attraverso il piccolo limitato, ma tragico mondo conosciuto, in ciò che vede e ha visto.
Egli vede altre cose, e queste cose diverse da ciò che noi vediamo normalmente gli appaiono  sotto un aspetto fantastico, come un'altra realtà, una realtà che sostituisce la realtà e poco importa se tale realtà davvero esiste.

In Giovanni Bosco i pastelli e la carta divengono un mezzo di espressione, nessun tentativo di imitazione della natura.
Le forme acquisiscono un aspetto violento, totalmente libero, totalmente libero ed indipendente dalle costrizioni del mondo esterno e anche da qualsiasi problema di rappresentazione.
In lui scopriamo un colorista straordinario, i colori si distendono sulle superfici indipendentemente dagli oggetti che colorano, un colore senza sfumati, imprevisto e sorprendente.
Nell'insieme le sue opere si presentano quasi come reazione al nostro ordinario "ordine" di derivazione razionalista proprio del mondo occidentale, in una ricerca (cosciente ? e quanto ?) di restaurazione di un suo proprio "ordine" primigenio.

Quella di Giovanni Bosco non è arte popolare, non è "naifs" per intenderci, pur nella mancanza di conoscenza di regole artistiche o d'un tirocinio, pur essendo in alcune opere una visione semplice, immediata, poetica, della realtà in grado di compensare la mancanza di maturità intellettuale comunemente intesa, piuttosto potrebbe essere da qualcuno assimilata all'arte degli alienati mentali, così comune nei grandi artisti tra il XIX e il XX secolo, di coloro che guardano la realtà con spavento, di coloro per i quali la ragione sparisce e si spezzano i ponti dell'intendere, ma tuttavia in lui non appaiono dominanti lo strazio o l'angoscia, ne terribili rivelazioni, ma "normale" (?) visione schizoide della realta.

Credo che per Giovanni Bosco si può senz'altro dire con Henri Matisse (1869 - 1954) "Non è necessario che il pittore si occupi di particolari insignificanti; per questo c'è la fotografia, che lo fa molto meglio e più rapidamente. Non è più funzione della pittura il rappresentare fatti storici; s' incontrano nei libri. Noi abbiamo un'opinione più alta della pittura: essa serve all'artista a esprimere le sue visioni interiori.", ma per Giovanni Bosco vale anche quanto detto da Emil H. Nolde (1867 - 1955) "Le grida d'angoscia e di terrore degli animali perseguitavano l' udito del pittore, e molto presto si realizzavano in colori, in un giallo stridulo il grido, in scuri toni  violetti l' ululare dei gufi. I colori sono vibrazioni  come di campane d'argento e suoni di bronzo; annunciano  felicità, passione e amore, anima, sangue e morte."

Riflessioni sull'Art Brut

di Andrea Mazzoleni

Art Brut è un concetto introdotto dal pittore Jean Dubuffet alla fine della Seconda Guerra mondiale per identificare le opere d’arte create senza intenzione artistica o estetica, ma obbedendo piuttosto a un bisogno, a una pulsione creatrice o espressiva. Il pittore ideatore di questa corrente collezionò i disegni e i graffiti di bambini e di malati di mente e questa collezione oggi fa parte del museo dell’Art brut a Losanna, Svizzera.

L’art brut è piena di emozioni e racconta storie di vita, sempre forti e talvolta sconvolgenti: storie di dolore ed isolamento, dove l’arte è un’attività necessaria e quotidiana, e spesso una chiave di sopravvivenza alla reclusione e all’emarginazione. Come scrive Vojislav Jakic, a margine delle sue tele enormi «questo non è un disegno o una pittura: è una sedimentazione del dolore». Le biografie proposte dall’art brut sono inquietanti perché racconti in presa diretta dalle istituzioni totali, quelle che sequestrano le persone contro la loro volontà per una depressione o un accesso mistico, perché silenziose o troppo agitate.

Spesso e volentieri le mostre di Art Brut rappresentano la testimonianza diretta di persone che hanno attraversato il deserto della sofferenza umana e della solitudine sociale. Il processo creativo è anche però "situazione" che si basa sulla possibilità che ciascuno ha, in particolari condizioni ambientali "interne" ed "esterne", di lasciare emergere contenuti ed immagini, di dare forma a materiale indefinito. Le osservazioni di E. Kris, la riflessione di J. Chasseguet-Smirgel sulla finalità riparatrice dell’attività creativa e, soprattutto, in un’ottica relazionale, il pensiero di D. Winnicott, con le nozioni di "oggetto transizionale" e di "spazio intermedio", rappresentano utili punti di vista sul costituirsi del processo creativo e sulla potenzialità terapeutica dell’arte.

Tra le varie possibilità di utilizzo degli oggetti mediatori quelli rappresentati dalle attività artistiche espressive hanno senza dubbio un’importanza centrale tanto che da più parti viene sottolineato come l’arte, nelle sue varie espressioni, stimola la relazione, crea un clima positivo, favorisce la ricerca personale. Attraverso il processo di mediazione rappresentato dall’attività espressiva si definisce infatti uno spazio personale per l’espressione di contenuti emotivi. Questo itinerario, unito alla riacquisizione di abilità che rappresentano un contatto con la realtà, all’inserimento nella realtà sociale e all’importante momento di risocializzazione tramite il gruppo, fa sì che l’uso di tecniche espressive in ambito psichiatrico rappresenti oggi un’insostituibile supporto per la presa a carico della relativa utenza.

L’utilizzo di attività quali il disegno, la pittura, la ceramica ecc. in psichiatria, dopo un primo periodo in cui venivano considerate divertimento ed evasione, si e sviluppato in modo strutturato con valenze terapeutiche a partire dagli anni ’40.

Numerosi studi ed osservazioni hanno permesso di identificare una serie di processi favoriti dall’utilizzazione di queste tecniche che possiamo raggruppare nel seguente elenco:

* lotta contro l’apragmatismo offrendo un’occupazione; * apporto di soddisfazioni narcisistiche che possono permettere di scoprire eventuali vocazioni artistiche; * sviluppo di modalità supplementari di espressione e comunicazione; * espressione di conflitti difficili da verbalizzare; * sviluppo di attitudini sociali mediate dal lavoro di gruppo; * realizzazione di alleanze terapeutiche; * accesso a simbolizzazioni attraverso i processi creativi.

In questa ottica occorre un atteggiamento degli operatori che sappia porsi come mediazione fra gli stimoli dell’ambiente e le realizzazioni tecnico-espressive, e d’altro lato sia in grado di creare i presupposti e stimolare l’interesse per un’attività con cui spesso i nostri utenti non hanno l’abitudine del quotidiano.

L’evoluzione dell’assistenza socio-psichiatrica e, in particolare, l’utilizzazione di strutture intermedie ha portato alla realizzazione di relazioni meno stereotipate con ruoli formali più "giocati" che "agiti" fra operatori ed utenti.

Per realizzare questa tipologia d’intervento è fondamentale per gli operatori agire, oltre che nell’attivazione delle abilità dell’utente, anche sulla variabile società individuando gli strumenti e gli itinerari più adatti a renderla il più possibile accogliente. Infatti e abbastanza facile, lavorando nel territorio, imbattersi nel rischio che, pur rimanendo all’interno del suo gruppo di appartenenza, non più materialmente espulso, il paziente psichiatrico rimanga ancora una volta isolato dal vivo dei rapporti interpersonali.

Importante diventa quindi utilizzare tutte le attività che, a partire dal contesto psichiatrico, tendono a favorire le relazioni e le comunicazioni con chi sta intorno e con la società, che, in generale, possono essere considerate come appartenenti al campo d’azione della socioterapia. La tecnica specifica ad ogni singola attività diviene così l’oggetto mediatore della relazione superando in questo modo le barriere create dal disagio psichico e dalle "regole istituzionali".

Concludendo va però sottolineato che le tecniche socioterapeutiche sono però anche realizzate a partire dalle piccole cose quotidiane ed iniziano proprio da queste, stare vicino ad un paziente, aiutarlo nella cura di se, nelle attività di ogni giorno, e portarlo un poco alla volta verso competenze sempre più mature e socializzanti per rendergli il senso di persona viva e partecipe sono i migliori metodi operativi per la trasformazione del disagio relazionale espresso dagli utenti.

da AGORA VOX

“On a cold winters' morning in 1976, at the age of seventy-eight, Helen Martins took her own life by swallowing caustic soda.” (From the biography of Helen Martins on the official Owl House Foundation site http://www.owlhouse.co.za/)

So ended the tragic yet somehow beautiful life of a colourful character whose artistic vision and psychological depth went mostly unnoticed by her neighbours in the dusty, out-of-the-way Great Karoo village of Nieu Bethesda.

Helen Martins, who went on to create the fantastical sculptures and decorations of the Owl House, was born in 1897, the youngest of six children born to “Oom” (Uncle) Piet Martins and his wife.

Nieu Bethesda is a small village in the Great Karoo, founded by the Rev. Andrew Murray, in a valley of the Sneeuberge (Snow Mountains), in1875. It lies in the shadow of the Compassberg, which, at 2 540 metres, is the highest mountain in the Eastern Cape.

My wife Joan and I visited there in October 1999 and were entranced, as are so many others, by the Owl House. The spirit of Helen Martins is almost palpable in the house and its fantastical garden.

The small house is full of colour and shimmer from the ground-glass wall covering and the large panes of coloured glass in the windows. The interior was where Miss Helen, as she was known, started the transformation of her modest home back in the late 40s or early 50s. For this stage of the transformation of the house she used two local workmen to enlarge windows and help with the painting and installation of the ground glass wall coverings.

The garden is crowded with camels and owls and people of all kinds, many with skirts of coloured glass bottles, most of them facing East.

According to the official website of the Owl House Museum the number of visitors to this fascinating place has reached more than 15 000 annually. This begs the question, Why? What is it that people look for there? What draws them to this rather strange place in a very out-of-the-way corner of South Africa, far from the beaten track, far from any glitz or glitter?

The house itself is small and architecturally nondescript. And yet more than 1000 people visit it each month on average. Though I must admit the day we were there we were the only visitors, so I’m not sure when these 1000 people visit. Maybe in holiday seasons. We visited in a very low season.

Nieu Bethesda itself is a really beautiful place, calm and peaceful to the point of somnolence. And like so many such places full of stories and legends.

One of the most potent of these is the story of Miss Helen and her Owl House. Is the house the beginning or the end of her “Road to Mecca”? Is her garden of wonders and delights a happy or a sad place?

For the people of Nieu-Bethesda it was in her lifetime a place of mystery and fear, a place which loudly disturbed the Calvinist calm and quiet of their town with its Christian symbols facing the Muslim Mecca, with its brooding sexual questioning. Even her relationship with the workman Koos Malgas became an affront to the burghers’ sensitivities in the depth of apartheid South Africa.

Athol Fugard’s moving play “The Road to Mecca” is about this confrontation between the repression of convention, symbolised by the character Marius Beyleveldt, and the defiance of the visionary, embodied by Miss Helen.

It is tempting to see in Miss Helen’s outpouring of creations, her obsessive covering of the walls of her house, evidence of sickness, of a diseased mind, as in what has become known as “outsider art” or , in Jean Dubuffet’s term, “Art Brut”. This kind of art has become well known and widely studied and certainly there are similarities with Miss Helen’s creations.

Dubuffet wrote about Art Brut that it was created without reference to “worries of competition, acclaim and social promotion” and was largely self-taught. Miss Helen certainly created from what Dubuffet called “solitude and from pure and authentic creative impulses”, but she was at the same time, perhaps paradoxically, concerned for the preservation of her creations, and was concerned to some extent about their acceptance by others. She wanted, according to the Owl House Museum website, to be recognised as an artist.

One of the most famous “outsider” artists is the Swiss asylum inmate Adolf Wofli, who also wanted to be recognised as an artist. His output of drawings shows he had what is termed a “horror vacui”, a fear of empty spaces, and so his many drawings are obsessively covered with no white spaces left. Was there a similar fear at work in Miss Helen? I would suspect so, though I would not imagine her to be mad, as Wolfli undoubtedly was.

Composer Graeme Revell has written of Wolfli's art what I believe could be said also about Miss Helen's: "Therefore, instead of its being a supposed expression/symptom/result of an illness, art such as Wolfli's must be accepted as 'art', and that is all."

What Miss Helen undoubtedly was, was a sign of contradiction in an era and place of conformity. Graeme Revell, who has studied the music that Wofli composed, has written that Wolfli’s music brings us to “The realisation also that our aesthetic sensibility is constrained by our limited perceptual ability.” In other words, what we see (or hear) is limited by what we are able, as culturally determined, to see (or hear).

Which brings us back to the question of what people come to the Owl House wanting or expecting to see? Is it a morbid fascination with or expectations of seeing symptoms of a sick mind? Is it the attraction of the merely picaresque? Or is there some sense of coming into contact with something deeper. Some deep connection with the origins of human creativity, perhaps?

Dubuffet on outsider art again: “After a certain familiarity with these flourishing of an exalted feverishness, lived so fully and so intensely by their authors, we cannot avoid the feeling that in relation to these works, cultural art in its entirety appears to be the game of a futile society, a fallacious parade."

However I would not characterise the Owl House as “outsider art” but rather as a “visionary environment” as in the following definition: “Visionary environments ("fantasy worlds") are extensive/large-scale artistic installations (buildings, sculpture parks, etc) intended to capture intense subjective/personal experiences (dreams, fantasies, obsessions, etc) of their creators. The subjective/personal nature of these projects often implies a marginal status for the artists involved, and there is a strong association between visionary environments and outsider art.” (Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visionary_environments - accessed 140808).

Revell wrote of Wolfli's Musique Brut that it was "neither an illness nor merely an aesthetic, but a challenge to the human condition, like any great ouvre. It is process rather than product (a process of documentation); production rather than expression; creativity rather than than communication, though of course it communicates a diemnsion beyond mere semantics."

What l was left with at the end of our visit was a somewhat wistful feeling, a feeling that Miss Helen haad been trying to communicate something very deep, very powerful to anyone who would visit her house, but somehow that something was at once so fleeting and so obscure that to grasp it might destroy it, that in the looking at it too deeply its meaning might be lost.

The feeling was something like what Wolfli wrote towards the end of his life: “Some day again – in the dark wind – sweet childlike innocence will come.”

Perhaps that is what the owl house provokes, a sense of childlike wonder and curiosity, something will-o-the-wispish, playful yet sad, fleeting and profound, that evokes in people a nostalgia for what can never be. A paradoxical coming together of darkness and innocence, symbolised by the ethereal quality of the constructions in the Camel Yard, made of such earthly and commonplace materials yet pointing to something far other.

The quotations from Graeme Revell come from his notes in the booklet accompanying the CD called "Musique Brut", which contains Revell's interpretations of some of Wolfli's compositions.

(All photos above, except that of Adolf Wolfli, by Tony McGregor)

This week, after a buddy of mine relocated to Los Angeles, I've really started to think about it. (He's been filling my head with how awesome LA is, cheaper and friendlier with lots more going on. Really.) Perhaps LA is where it's at these days. Perhaps the grass is greener on the other coast. And now this Art Brut song is stuck in my head:

A big reason for my friend's departure, in his words, was that he found it much harder to make new friends in New York than he has anywhere else. People in LA are much more open to meeting people, he said. Is that really true? My friend in Portland (who's lived there for about a year) said her main complaint about her new city was how hard it is to make friends there. She left a ton of friends behind in NYC. So which coast is really friendlier? Obviously Portland is very different from LA, and New York is its own planet altogether. I've always thought the difficulty I encountered meeting people in New York had more to do with the post-college reality that everyone experiences (we're not all living in a big happy dormitory anymore) than the vibe of the city itself. But maybe I'm wrong?

What do you all think? I'm sure the east coast vs. west coast debate can go on forever. New York can be exhausting and exhilarating all at once... and as a book person, I never thought I'd live anywhere else. But California... seems so awesome. Perhaps I've gotten sick of crowds -- even really fun crowds. Or maybe I'm sick of all the hipster-bashing and general snark about my neighborhood (case in point: the comments on the NYTimes McCarren Pool article today).

Or maybe I'm just ready to flee...

The view from the tent in the morning was ominous at best.

The first band on the mainstage were The Divebomb Revolution, winners of a local battle of the bands competition whose prize was to wake up all the other festival goers who hadn't quite crawled out of their tents yet. The trouble was, I'm not too sure bombastic prog rock in the style of Dream Theatre can really be fully appreciated at such a tender time. Although showing a great deal of promise, the band really seemed to lack the ideas and talent to follow in the footsteps of their blatant idols, and came across as more style than substance.

So we headed over to the Leaf Lounge, 2000 Trees' intimate tent that was hosting all of the acoustic acts of the weekend. And when I say intimate, I mean it. As we arrived the tent was pretty packed out, with listeners sitting as close as possible on the ground in front of the stage, as young starlet Natalie Ross walked out to perform her set. If I thought that The Divebomb Revolution were over the top, then Ross was about to show a whole new realm of overbounding enthusiasm. Constantly chattering about how unique she was, her seemingly desperate need to be accepted as a kooky individual fell apart as she pleaded for her audience to appreciate her 'angle' at the music industry. Furthermore, once she had eventually stopped talking, her songs were sung with a smug croon that didn't settle too well on my ears, and just came across as a bland attempt at being 'different'. I certainly wasn't a fan, and left pretty early into the set, as she continued to talk about an alcoholic boyfriend or something.

Natalie Ross embodied everything that is wrong with the kooky indie scene.

Returning to the main arena to grab something to eat from the fantastic Pie Minister, purveyors of one of the greatest festival pies I've ever eaten, A Silent Film were entertaining the audience with an engrossing, ethereal sound that sounded akin to the likes of Editors and Coldplay, although that description really doesn't do them justice. It was wonderful music to just sit back and relax to, pint in hand. They certainly have the talent to breakthrough to a bigger audience, and were very enjoyable.

After this it was back to the Leaf Lounge to get an early spot for the late announcement Chris T-T. As we arrived local boy Dan Heaver was playing up to the crowd with a catchy collection of vocal melody driven songs, that had the audience chanting along. Considering I'd never heard of him before I was really impressed by how he had them eating out of his hands, even warranting an extra song as the organisers frantically tried to hunt down the now missing Chris T-T.

Despite his late appearance, Chris T-T did a stellar job of wowing the crowd.

Eventually he was found, and had no problem in enthralling the crammed tent with his overtly political lyrics, reciting his brilliant poem midway through the set to a silently enraptured audience. Despite a set cut short, he didn't lose any of his power, and his themes of deforestation and anti-war struck a chord with the predominately tree hugging crowd.

Later on in the day and The Anomalies took to the stage, a loud and brash band featuring turntables, rappers and riffs. I was under the impression nu-metal was well and truly dead to the world, but given the hyperactive antics of the two MC's, whose livewire freestyling took to the ears like a rusty cheesegrater.
Things did not overwhelmingly improve with the follow up act, Imperial Leisure. Given my distaste for ska music in general, I was not likely to enjoy their forcefully upbeat horns, but even I couldn't help but get a wry smile out of one of the vocalists looking completely out of place, his white shirt and gold watch standing out a mile from the ragged clothes of his counterparts.

Imperial Leisure were...well, certainly nothing akin to what their name suggests.

Given how 2000 Trees has handed a lot of its bragging rights to Frank Turner's endorsement and appearances at the festival, there's no surprise that there is a remarkable amount of expectation from the main stage's largest crowd yet. Unfortunately the miserable weather only added to what seemed to be a rather uninspired performance, a shame considering how much I have enjoyed his shows in the past.

Just like the weather, Frank Turner was a bit of a disappointment.

However, my personal indulgence this weekend was to be Future of the Left. Having been waiting to see them since getting a hold of their fantastic debut, the whole weekend had been building up to this moment. It was just as well then that their performance did not disappoint. Falkous' screaming tore the sun out of the clouds, and bassist Kelson Mattias put on a brazenly riveting performance, teasing and toying with the disappointingly empty crowd. After this onslaught, I could only just about manage to hang around for a few of These New Puritans' tracks. Given the gradually rising furore being made over these guys I was expecting a lot more than the staid and painful techno infused noise, and the repetitious vocals only grated.

Future of the Left were fucking awesome. End of.

It was up to headliners Art Brut to close off the weekend's frivolities, and despite technical problems that saw their set cut ludicrously short, frontman Eddie Argos kept the show going with an impromptu juggling performance, and once the music started a highly enjoyable set that dashed through some of their more popular hits (I gather the band have quite a following in Germany, and certainly deserve a few more admirers on their own shores).

And therein did the weekend end. A hectic ride home and a brief shower and all I'm left to say is that 2000 Trees was a fantastic example of how to go about making a festival about the music. The weather was diabolical, some of the food was questionable, and getting there was an upheaval, but I can honestly say that the charming atmosphere and great fresh talent made it more than worthwhile. I just hope that next year things remain 2000 Trees, and we don't begin to see another passionate event ruined by greed which could see it turn into 4000 Trees or more.