6/13/2018
We are happy to welcome OHISO as Junes featured artist - showing his pop series on U.S. Presidents. Akira is an artist, writer and musician who gained popularity as an outspoken blogger and social media voice, and is now using social media to curate about green living, art and a philosophy of slowing down.
Specials night of Ballard Night Out! Get a buck off your beer when you come to support local art.
Meet Your Creek seeks to create a confluence.
By instigating walks, explorations, art making and education about the Creek, the project works to create connections among human and non-human inhabitants of the Longfellow Creek watershed.
Meet Your Creek invites professional artists from the community to design unique Postcards from the Creek relating to the Longfellow Creek watershed. Our first featured artist is Akira Ohiso. Learn more about the artist at www.ohiso.com
Akira Ohiso's postcards bring attention to the history of the river as a fertile fishery for the Duwamish Native tribe. The shallow banks of Longfellow Creek once supported smelt, but they slowly disappeared with the Industrial Revolution and the subsequent proliferation of chemicals and toxic waste. The smelt are depicted swimming upstream through steel pipes, which highlight recent environmental efforts to protect the Longfellow Creek and its habitat from future contamination. There is an irony in steel pipes as it was the steel industry that contributed to the contamination of the creek in the first place. The hope is that one day smelt will forge their way back to the Longfellow creek.
Last year Akira's work was featured in a public art project in Delridge called “Smelting” that was funded by the Office of Arts & Culture. Here is the description of the project:
Akira Ohiso's art installation brings attention to the history of the river as a fertile fishery for the Duwamish Native tribe. The shallow banks of Longfellow Creek once supported smelt, but they slowly disappeared with the Industrial Revolution and the subsequent proliferation of chemicals and toxic waste. Ohiso created drawings of native smelt - in red, yellow, black, and blue - that were then digitally printed onto white windsocks to create fish kites. In the artist's Japanese culture, fish kites (Koinobori) are flown on poles to celebrate an annual national Children's Day - symbolizing hope for a healthy and prosperous future for children. This year also marks the 75th anniversary of the Japanese-American internment camps, adding poignancy to the installation.
OHISO new solo show at Ghost Gallery at the historic Oddfellows Building in Capitol Hill was named The Top Nine Things to See at the May 2018 Capitol Hill Art Walk and a Critics' Pick.
Writer, blogger, and artist Ohiso will show mixed media works combining photography and illustration inspired by Seattle sights. The colors are lovely, and the examination of enduring neighborhood institutions and gentrification is bittersweet.
Akira Ohiso's lovely mixed-media works meditate on changes in the Seattle landscape.
The Delridge neighborhood has become an outdoor gallery, as part of the Art Interruptions program – offered through a collaboration of the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture and the Seattle Department of Transportation. One of the featured artists is Akira Ohiso. His piece “Smelting” features delicately drawn fish on white windsock kites.
Mon, 11/20/2017
By Lindsay Peyton
Art has blossomed in the Delridge neighborhood this fall – popping up on roadways, in parks and at homes.
Akira Ohiso’s piece “Smelting” features delicately drawn fish on white windsock kites, an homage to the smelt that once lived in Longfellow Creek before the Industrial Revolution.
Nestled among the bamboo forest in a home on 26th Ave SW is Shawn Park’s “Orange you glad for green? Yes, I pink so.” The artist creates colorful lines, drawing contrast to the nearby greenery.
Tia Matthies created a small herd of brightly painted goats for her “Goats of Many Colors” – and Maria Jost made a surreal undersea-scape for her “Sea Creature Scavenger Hunt.”
For his piece “Hinernacula: Batcall,” Ryan Burns placed a delicately carved bat box in a neighborhood park. Susan Brown created theatrical collage characters that were placed on poles throughout the neighborhood for “Wild and Creative Wonders.”
Jasmine Brown’s work “Black Teen Wearing Hoodie” was made to commemorate the fifth anniversary of Trayvon Martin’s death.
She created life-size decals of her son wearing a black hoodie and participating in his day-to-day activities, from reading a book to playing music.
Brown said her son is 14-years old – and a hoodie is part of his school uniform.
“I wonder how many of our white neighbors would be afraid if they saw him going to school wearing his hoodie?” she said. “Every time my son leaves the house, I worry. Does he have a target on his back?”
She said the piece is her way of making a strong statement. “What I use is my art, my camera, my paintbrush, my work as a way to protest and make a mark,” she said.
For Brown, the location of her work is also meaningful. The photos are installed across the street from the Cooper School Artist Lofts, where she first lived with her son after moving to Seattle.
“I still feel a connection to the neighborhood,” she said. “It was my entrance to Seattle. It’s cool to see my work on the landscape there.”
Artists featured in this outdoor exhibit participated in the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture Public Art Boot Camp.
“They explain how to seek big commissions, how to start out, how to adapt your work,” Brown said.
Marcia Iwasaki, project manager for Seattle Office of Arts & Culture Public Art Program, explained that the boot camp is intense. The free program is held each spring and offers insight into every aspect of public art -- from how to maintain outdoor work to the ins and outs of contracts.
Participating artists are encouraged to apply for the Art Interruptions program – offered through a collaboration of the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture and the Seattle Department of Transportation.
“Right away, they get their first opportunity,” Iwasaki said. “And they have enough background to understand what goes into it.”
Summer Jawson, senior civil engineer in project development for the Department of Transportation, explained that Art Interruptions follows on the heels of the department’s Neighborhood Greenway program.
When people think of Seattle, they often think of the well-established, household names in business, music, and art. Even after the creation of grunge some 20 years ago, Seattle is still kicking; the city has more to offer than Bill Gates, Kurt Cobain, and Chihuly. In a place that’s always looking forward, here are nine emerging contemporary artists.
Akira Ohiso is an artist, writer, and musician who is interested in exploring the “boundaries between digital and analog media.” His current sketches, created with his finger on his iPad with help from an app, are observations of the city of Seattle. Though he intends the art to be objective for the audience to interpret as they like, he does hope to specifically promote discussion on diversity, homelessness, gentrification, and green living.
Art Interruptions 2017: Delridge Greenway and Connector Trail
Temporary artwork in the Delridge Neighborhood Greenway and Connector Trail
August 3 – December 31, 2017
The Office of Arts & Culture, in partnership with the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT), commissioned seven emerging public artists to create temporary art installations within the Delridge Neighborhood Greenway and Delridge Connector Trail for Art Interruptions 2017. The artworks inhabit city sidewalks and parks and offer passers-by a brief interruption in their day, eliciting a moment of surprise, beauty, contemplation or humor. Art Interruptions is funded by the Seattle Department of Transportation 1% for Arts Funds.
Art Interruptions Walking Tour Saturday, October 7, 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. Explore the West Seattle neighborhood, experience Art Interruptions and meet the participated artists. Hosted by Feet First; visit www.feetfirst.org for detailed updates. All photos by Minh Carrico.
Smelting by Akira Ohiso
Akira Ohiso’s art installation brings attention to the history of the river as a fertile fishery for the Duwamish Native tribe. The shallow banks of Longfellow Creek once supported smelt, but they slowly disappeared with the Industrial Revolution and the subsequent proliferation of chemicals and toxic waste. Ohiso created drawings of native smelt – in red, yellow, black, and blue – that were then digitally printed onto white windsocks to create fish kites. In the artist’s Japanese culture, fish kites (Koinobori) are flown on poles to celebrate an annual national Children’s Day – symbolizing hope for a healthy and prosperous future for children. This year also marks the 75thanniversary of the Japanese-American internment camps, adding poignancy to the installation.
SeattleDrawn live on air with Seattle's 93.3 Carla Marie & Anthony show.
Our Instagram account featured on King 5 Evening's What's Trending.
REAL CHANGE
January 2017: Article on Akira Ohiso's Seattle Drawn Artwork
The January 11, 2017 issue of Real Change features Akira's latest work, Seattle Drawn, which is now on view atPopuluxe Brewing through Jan. 31st. Thank you to Real Change Homeless Empowerment Project and staff writer Lisa Edge for the feature.
To read the full article, you can pick up a copy at local vendor locations throughout the city.
"Real Change is a reader-supported low-barrier work opportunity that rewards effort from the first day forward. More than 300 active vendors sell our award-winning weekly newspaper each month, with about 800 vendors served annually."
More than a million dollars is earned annually for vendors by purchasing the paper on the street.
Learn more about this empowering program here.
August 28, 2016: Feature on Seattle Drawn
Akira and his wife hope the drawings can help spur conversation about diversity, homelessness, gentrification and other issues in Seattle.
WIOX Radio August 10, 2015: Interview by JN Urbanski with Ellie Ohiso on photography and feminism andPhotography For Girls, our collaboration with photographer Kelly Merchant
The following is the edited transcription of my interview with Ellie Ohiso that was broadcast on my radio show, The Economy Of, on August 10th on WIOX in Roxbury New York. Ellie Ohiso, the co-creator of Green Door Magazine, is designer and publisher of Photography For Girls, a Catskills magazine project that was feature here a few weeks ago.
On September 7th, I will interview the photographer on this project, Kelly Merchant on WIOX at 9am.
JN: It’s wonderful to have you and it’s wonderful to have this project in the Catskills. So what is Photography for Girls?
EO: It’s a very small print project, almost the size of a Playbill. It’s a concept of interviewing local women, in addition to photographing them, and allowing them have a large say in how they’re photographed. The photos are not retouched for their physicality, but there’s some color correction that we do. Other than that, we run the photo as it was taken. There’s no manipulation in that sense other than traditional lens manipulation. Then Akira, my husband, interviewed the subjects and then discussed with them the empowerment process of being photographed, how they feel women in general are represented and this greater discussion of feminism.
It’s a brilliant idea. Whose idea was it?
Kelly Merchant, who is a wonderful photographer, we had the pleasure of working with her many times when we used to do the magazine Green Door, which is a local Catskills and Hudson Valley arts publication. Kelly had this wonderful vision and she’s so easy to work with and she loved working with us. She always had this kernel of an idea to turn the subjects she had been working with over the years into some type of larger project of what it means to be a female photographer because she was experiencing that herself. For example, does it make a difference to the subject if it’s a male or female photographing them? Do they open up more? When she approached us with this concept, she asked how she could bring something like this to fruition. Akira and I – I think one of our strengths is to take this abstract concept and give it a little bit of form. Based on Akira’s background as a social worker, he can take intimidating subjects, that normally people wouldn’t feel comfortable talking about, and couching it in a very therapeutic way that makes it not intimidating. Then I have a design background and so I can take all these abstract concepts into this physical form, in this case, a printed piece. In the course of last fall and into the winter and through the spring, we’ve been working on bringing this idea into fruition.
How much effort does it take? How many man-hours to publish a brochure like this?
This is different than Green Door in that we were all giving our time for free, meaning Kelly was doing the photography out of a labor of love and Akira was doing the interviews out of a labor of love and I was doing the design. So this wasn’t a project that we were trying to make money with. It wasn’t a for-profit concept. The only hard costs for us, other than time, was printing it. I wasn’t thinking about it in terms of number of hours. I’d say at least seven months to bring it from concept to fruition. Countless hours just, you know, and photographing the subjects and making sure they were comfortable with how they were being photographed. There were specific requests and many women had very specific requests. Some did want make-up, some didn’t want make-up. Most of them are not wearing make-up in the book itself. So there was a lot of creative thought that had to go into it and time other than what you see that goes into the finished project.
But I think anyone who works on some large project knows there are countless hours that people don’t see when you work creatively. Even when you think of this community radio station, just the prep work that we did just to produce one show. It’s so large and the community doesn’t see it. That’s what makes art and creative thought and culture so special, because there are countless hours of work behind it.
I’m so glad you brought that up because it really is a huge endeavor to do any creative project and this does take a long time.
Right. I think that also, we live in an area where there is a large farming community. I feel like artists and farmers and very different in a lot of ways and very similar. A farmer has to take a lot of baby steps to produce one item and sometimes, when you’re seeing them do the work, it either doesn’t make sense or you can’t appreciate the amount of time that went into it. I think that art’s a lot like farming in the sense that there’s a final product, whether it’s a fruit or a painting or a radio station; I think that sometimes you have to take a look at that and say, what went into this?
So what inspired you to publish this project as a magazine?
Just based on our background. I’m a Gen-X-er and maybe if I were a millennial, this would totally have been a website, but I love the power of print. I think people pay attention to it more. They’re less likely to dismiss it. So there is something about sitting down with this tiny book, half the size of a letter paper, and the way it was printed we wanted it to look like it wasn’t something that was super powerful at first glance. But, maybe if you gave it a second chance, it’s talking about something pretty hefty. So I think, you know, we live in a world today where, online, there is just so much content to sift through and I think where we are heading is content that’s meaningful, and having an impact. I think sometimes in print it’s easier to have a greater impact than online, because it’s something tangible, you know?
And I don’t have to sit and wait for it to load. I can just open it up. I spend so much time waiting for websites to load. Website content is reliant on you having a really fast internet connection.
Exactly, and part of what Akira was thinking when he was doing these interviews is that the book can be some kind of educational tool to hand to a young girl eventually to read and perhaps be inspired and see herself there.
How do you pick subjects? Is anyone able to be photographed? It’s an ongoing project, right?
Correct. We call this Book One because we’d ideally like to expand it into a larger concept. Most of the subjects in the first issue are women whom Kelly has had the pleasure of getting to know over the years because she worked with them on some other photography project outside the scope of this one. So she felt like approaching them for this project – as something we couldn’t show them what it was going to be – they were more likely to say yes than some random local women who wouldn’t know us or be as trustworthy as doing something good with the first. Sometimes you have to prove yourself first. We have a website where people can get in touch with us if they want to be a subject and what the finished product would look like. We’ve given the women a lot of creative control. We ran the images that the women were comfortable with and there’s power in that.
Yes, in women’s magazines, I’m pretty sure that the model doesn’t get to edit anything.
Correct, and even from working with Green Door, photographers would give me an edited stack from the shoot for the day and I was the one who was making those photographic and editorial choices along with Akira. We were the bosses in that case. I didn’t ask the photographer if it was OK to run that image and that’s what a magazine does. It’s about which image fits the vision of the magazine, but we weren’t retouching things in Green Door. We’ve had women in the covers of issues that we didn’t retouch. Green Door was not a photoshopped magazine. In a lot of magazines, the model sees the ad in the issue and it has either been retouched or not. There have been instances like Kate Winslett who spoke out against her overly retouched image. Some of the images in Photography For Girls were taken with Polaroids, not digital cameras and you can tell with some of the imagery. There was mild color retouching, but no photoshopping.
That’s such a revolution in this world where women’s magazines are heavily airbrushed. Let’s get to the hard-hitting subject. The effect of women’s magazines on young girls in today’s world: is it detrimental?
Oh yes, and I realize what an effect a publication can have on an area, just even in a microcosm. Had I been sending negative messages in a microcosm, I think about the ripple effect it would have had. I do subscribe to certain women’s magazines. I’m a print gal. I like seeing what these magazines are up to, even if it’s something like In Style, even though it’s usually some type of materialistic message. I subscribe to those magazines because I like to see what’s going on out there.
I can wholeheartedly say as a teenager I was profoundly affected by those images because I was a short, Jewish girl with curly hair from Long Island who had a big chest and hips. I didn’t look like the women in those pages. And now as an adult, I have a multiracial family. Akira is half-Japanese, so my children are a quarter Japanese, so what kind of world are they going to grow in? Is my daughter going to see someone like her on the cover of a magazine that realistically looks like her?
I think perhaps social media plays a part in some of the instantaneous feedback that some of these publications receive. When they do run an image they can get instant feedback from their readership saying this is not right, or this is not fair. But I think the majority of the time, women let those issues slide just because we’ve been beaten down into submission, you know?
I read Akira’s foreword and I found it very moving. He’s a great writer and he talked about his daughter feeling like it might be better to be a boy. Do you think a lot of young girls are growing up like that?
Yes, my daughter Cy who is turning four this week. Akira and I are progressive parents and we have personally given her no messaging saying it’s better to be a boy than a girl and yet, still, the stuff she hears and sees… Akira had a conversation with her wherein he said you could be president one day. She said, a girl president? And he said, no a president. So where was she getting that message? It wasn’t us, but it’s stuff she’s seeing and feeling and hearing. I think I didn’t realize the power of having a daughter and it’s kind of like… how do I not do to her what society did to me?
Do you think women feel pressure to be everything and how can we change that?
I think women do feel pressure to be everything and that’s something that Kelly addressed in her foreword of the book. I do feel like we’re in this straddle period in which we’re straddling this 1950s housewife with the CEO and three months’ maternity kind of generation. I’m hoping it will be a little different for my daughter Cy’s generation and maybe some of the millennials, some of which we do feature in the book. You’ll notice that the millennials: they vary from this positive thing where they don’t feel like being a woman has affected them, which is actually wonderful. My follow up question is, is that because they are young and naive, or is that because it’s really true – that their generation doesn’t feel it the same way that ours does? And then there’s another millennial interviewed in the issue who is very aware of the lie that women receive and has been aware of it since aged 12. I don’t think I had that awareness at aged 12, so I think there is something very wonderful happening for 20 and under. I feel very positive about it, particularly our generation because we’re about the same age. We are of this bridge generation, we’re dealing with our aging parents and we’re dealing with our children at the same time. Past generations didn’t have to do that. So we’re in this no-woman’s land. Can I do it all? Is it possible? I feel that all the time.
I do think that a lot of women are defined by their relationship to an external force, like motherhood, or being a wife. So we have to work a little bit on defining our roles based on ourselves at the central point.
How would Ohiso design a better or more appropriate women’s magazine? I would love to see a women’s mag designed just like Photography For Girls.
I’ll answer that question in just a tick – just kind of take a step forward before I go back to that. There is a woman’s national magazine that launched about a year ago. I think it’s called Verily. It’s a very typical women’s magazine except that they do not Photoshop the women’s faces or bodies. It think that’s progress. If I were doing a women’s magazine today, I think it would be so alternative that it would have to be kind of a niche publication. I’m wary of wanting print on a national scale at the moment. We are seeing kind of an uptick in print, but I think that it’s much easier to have an impact on a local level, which is usually where I focus my efforts. Could I see myself doing something like that? I could. I would go past the “does not retouch” and representing real women, even just the content. I think that’s the greatest success: it’s the content not just the imagery of women’s magazines. I don’t need another article on the ten ways you can look for signs that your boyfriend’s going to leave you. Magazines need to appeal to that kind of sensationalism, which is why they’re stuck in that space, so I don’t want to knock them. I know how hard it is to do that and get someone to pick something up. But I think we live in a time where shock value sometimes is authenticity, you know? Everything’s so inauthentic now that I think authenticity goes a long way to having an impact.
Review of Photography For Girls, our collaboration with photographer Kelly Merchant
Chronogram Daily Dose July 28, 2015: Review of Photography For Girls, our collaboration with photographer Kelly Merchant
The Catskills is crawling with ‘em, so I fit in pretty well these days. Oddballs, loners and folks who march to the beat of their own drum (as my mother was fond of saying) are holding their heads up high, as well they should. Showcasing unique music, art and entertainment has long been a tradition in the Upper Delaware River region, and now that warmer weather is upon us, it’s easier to chauffeur the Wonder Dog around town to check it all out.
Long before it was de rigueur, I was labeled a geek, mostly based on outward appearance. Thick glasses and sporting a yarmulke didn’t win me any popularity contests, so I was forced to develop a (debatable) personality and study less than my bookworm sister, who wore the report-card crown in my family. Early on, I made a decision to pursue my dream of entertaining schoolmates as a way of making friends and influencing enemies, mostly to avoid being beaten up (for being different) on the playground. I’m reminded of an old song from “A Chorus Line” (www.broadwaymusicalhome.com) that states that “different is nice, but it sure isn’t pretty—pretty is what it’s about,” but I beg to differ. From my vantage point, different is the new pretty, and I had the opportunity to explore that concept a few times over the last week.
Finding myself in Livingston Manor, I ducked in to CAS (www.catskillartsociety.org) to check out the newest Elevator Gallery art exhibit, dubbed “Exquisite Corpse of the Catskills,” which (I discovered) is based on an old parlor game designed to “help artists break from reason.” Co-curators Akira and Ellie Ohiso (www.ohiso.com) brought this concept to CAS, and 30 local geeks (I mean artists) joined them in creating multiple conjoined works of art that “Corpse” rules dictate. The reception, touted as the big “reveal,” featured many of the artists themselves unveiling the collaborative pieces to which each had contributed, but had yet to see the final result. Each artist was given a “panel” on which to draw portions of a body with each having access to only an inch of the other’s work from which to continue the piece. The result is a fascinating peek into the individual artist’s imagination, and each completed triptych is wildly interesting and a great example of what is defined (by the exercise) as “happenstance art.” I can’t draw but admire those who can, and “Corpse” (on display through August 2) is fun, captivating and different. So be sure to check it out.
Crossing “geeks” off my list, I set out in search of “freaks,” and having heard that the circus (I mean Cooper Boone) was in town, I put a bow (oy) in Dharma’s hair and followed her lead to Boone’s “Sideshow,” which had made its way to Sullivan County (www.forestburghtavern.com) following the show’s acclaimed debut in New York City. Being greeted at the door by a bearded lady was just the tip of the freaky iceberg that awaited guests inside the tavern, which had been transformed into Boone’s vision of the inner workings of his disturbed, demented, and (IMHO) wildly talented mind. Serving as a launch for his new CD of the same name, “Sideshow” is a three-ring extravaganza, giving Boone an opportunity to explore his multi-faceted ability to entertain the audience with powerhouse vocals and innovative style, which serves as a showcase for his ability to engage.
Far beyond a simple concert, Boone’s show (www.cooperboone.com) takes the audience on a journey of self-discovery laced with beautiful harmonies, gorgeous arrangements, stunning visuals and true originality that sets him far apart from the rest of the madding crowd. Supported by a talented cast and band, Boone manages to sweep the casual observer into his dizzying world, while performing future hits off the album like, “Other Side of Crazy,” “You Make the Ugly Go down Easy,” and the memorable “Typical Saturday Night.” As the sideshow itself paraded through the venue, Boone plumbed the depth of varied emotions and his new spin on the Village Peoples’ anthem, “YMCA,” was a surprising, moving interpretation of what has heretofore been labeled as a camp classic.
Boone’s talent for storytelling shone as the evening progressed and as “Sideshow” performer Lady Teak Wonders (Mark Silverstone) sat in the spotlight literally removing her layers of illusion, a hush fell over the crowd as Boone sang the plaintive “Circus”—which, combined with Silverstone’s moving performance, caused more than one tear to fall in the tavern. Three years in the making, Boone describes “Sideshow” as “throwing caution to the wind” and “trusting his instincts to grow as an artist,” and the prowess he displays is exemplified with every nuance, every gesture and every crystal clear note that soars. With several local appearances upcoming, check out his schedule so that you, too, can be dazzled. Freaks? Geeks? Vive la difference!
A Surrealist art project: Exquisite Corpse of the Catskills
"We spoke with the Ohisos about the game, and about life as creative instigators in the Catskills."
Calling all Catskills artists: You’re invited to come play a Surrealist parlor game this spring.
Exquisite Corpse was an early 20th century favorite pastime for the likes of André Breton, Marcel Duchamp, Yves Tanguy, Joan Miro and Man Ray. It’s the visual equivalent of a freestyle jam session: A folded piece of paper passed between participants, each of whom adds their own contribution. When the paper is unfolded, a hodgepodge of “happenstance art” is revealed.
In collaboration with the Catskill Art Society, Ellie and Akira Ohiso are putting together a round of Exquisite Corpse that will feature Catskills artists. The Ohisos, the duo behind the recently folded (and much missed) Green Door Magazine, are inviting artists to enter a free public lottery to be among the teams working on the art project.
Twenty-one artists, to be paired in seven groups of three, will be chosen randomly at the lottery at the CAS Arts Center on Saturday April 18, 2015 at 2 p.m. Then the teams will work together on their portions of the exhibit, completing the work of other artists.
The Ohisos explain in a press release:
Selected artists will then be paired into their respective groups of three, and the first seven artists will leave with two pieces of paper: one paper to be completed in its entirety, and the second paper to be started slightly and left to be completed by the next set of artists. The second set of artists will pick up the started work. They will be required to complete the previous artist’s work and start a third paper, which the last set of artists will complete, finishing the triptych.
On June 5, the resulting artworks will be unveiled at the Catskill Art Society’s Elevator Gallery, where they will hang through July 24. The contributing artists will split sales three ways.
To get in on the fun, artists from Sullivan, Ulster, Orange and Delaware Counties in New York and Wayne and Pike Counties in Pennsylvania are invited to submit their names via email to info@ohiso.com by April 15, 2015. For more information, visit ohiso.com.
We spoke with the Ohisos about the game, and about life as creative instigators in the Catskills.
Watershed Post: Is the Exquisite Corpse game widely known in the art world?
Ellie Ohiso: We both learned it in art school. It became part of our general unconscious art education. You’re not the first to ask us this question, and perhaps this type of creative experiment is not more widely known.
Q: How exactly did the idea of bringing it to Catskills artists germinate and bloom? Has anyone involved ever "played" it before, or is it a matter of reviving the corpse after decades?
Ellie: Over the early winter, we started doing our own art again. Something we hadn’t done in a while. Working alongside Akira, seeing him collage what I would never have the guts to do, or even conceive of, had me thinking. You produce art differently if you’re creating with another artist. The collaboration, inspiration, whatever actually changes the artistic process. What if we did something like this on a grander scale, without taking ourselves too seriously? Exquisite Corpse, as conceived by the Surrealists, was played outside the institutional art world. It was an exercise in relaxing.
Akira Ohiso: We had to create an Exquisite Corpse for the press release (see above). When I tried the Exquisite Corpse exercise all my reflexive artist choices kicked up, yet didn't work with the constraint of using just an ink pen and having to complete the work of another artist. There was also the pressure of having one chance to create my part, until I just decided to draw and not think about it. Then I created something I wasn't sure I liked or disliked but it was different than what I would usually do with my go-to medium.
Q: You say the method “pulls artists out of their comfort zone.” That sounds potent.
Ellie: We’re intimately familiar with the Catskills and Hudson Valley art community. I can walk into a show and immediately recognize an artist’s style and work. The aesthetic is what makes the artist powerful. But, as artists, we know what it’s like to actually produce the art. It’s a challenge, at times. Putting an artist in a box of constraints can sometimes help you break free, in a weird way. To say “You must finish this other artist’s work on paper with ink only.” There’s something totally terrifying and liberating at the same time. Is it going to be a challenge? Hell yeah! Can I use it after the winter we’ve had? Hell yeah.
Akira: Constraints and working with others is an exercise in compromise.
Q: Do you find the arts community in the region cohesive? Scattered? Mixed?
Ellie: I think it’s really hard being a working artist in general, and more specifically in the Catskills. And the rub is that the Catskills is fodder for all this really great artistic inspiration. So while it’s harder up here, it’s also more possible. For about three to four months in the winter, we can theoretically be producing much of our work in isolation. But we’re all producing in the same place. And we know what it’s like to be producing art in these conditions. And so, yes, there is a unity in that.
Akira: I guess the question would be what does it mean to be an artist in the Catskills? Sometimes it feels like there are these pockets of artists in small Catskills towns doing great work, but with little dialogue between each other. Not that it always has to be a Kumbaya moment, but if young people are getting the message that they need to leave in order to be recognized or appreciated as artists then something needs to be addressed. I also feel a real disconnect between local residents and transplants. I would like to see the arts do a bit more to bridge this gap and create more understanding.
Q: How have things been since Green Door Magazine closed? How's life around your part of the Catskills these days? Are there any future dreams in the works you care to drop a hint about?
Ellie: It’s a blessing and a curse to have an opportunity to reinvent myself after our success with Green Door. After shuttering the magazine, someone told us that Green Door was a three-year public art experiment in what was possible for our area. What I’ve missed the most is the opportunity to attempt grassroots change through constant experimentation. It took me three years to learn that an idea deemed not feasible can likely be done. The Catskills have been getting a lot of mainstream media attention of late, and I’d like to see some of the spotlight shining on Sullivan County in particular. Exacting positive change here can still feel very pioneering, and it’s a daunting prospect, but there’s a sense of infinite possibility too. Whenever we come up with an idea for a community-driven project, there’s a moment in time where I think ‘Why am I doing this?’ but usually the ‘Why not?!’ ends up canceling that out. I’d like 2015 to contain more unconventional positive projects like Exquisite Corpse of the Catskills.
Akira: Whenever you end an artistic project it is natural to feel a bit lost. Transitions are always difficult, especially during a long cold winter. But that is part of the creative process, to say goodbye to one thing in order to discover the next. I live in Sullivan County where there is long-standing poverty and myriad social issues which continue to create suffering for many residents. "Art for art's sake" does not always work when there are these kinds of issues in plain sight. Any future projects are keeping this in mind.
The River Reporter March 25, 2015 Exquisite Corpse of the Catskills
Surrealist parlor game for Catskills artists; Join in, have your work displayed
Hickster mention
Hipster to Hickster: The Future of Art Is Rural
Artists are being priced out of New York City and other large urban centers. Some are moving to Detroit where houses go for a dollar; others are finding refuge in the suburbs.
The problems surrounding gentrification are larger than the fate of artists, such as families and economically disadvantaged populations being pushed out of Brooklyn, for example.
But urban renewal was led in large part by artists who moved into abandoned factories to set up studios, theatres, galleries, and apartments. Few could have predicted that loft living would become all the rage when cities were vacated for the suburbs, but that's what happened.
Whether artists will once again set demographic trends is an open question, but that artists struggle to cope with current real estate prices will certainly affect how the American culture, as created by the Artist, is portrayed.
Sharon Zukin, CUNY professor of sociology, argues that despite occasional, but somewhat specious, counter-culture movements, New York is rapidly becoming home to an exclusively wealthy population and endless rows of bland chain stores, both of which are destroying the city's "soul."
To promote the march, event organizers ran a month-long advertising campaign throughout New York City’s subway system. One of the two posters selected from hundreds of entries to represent the campaign depicts the Statue of Liberty submerged up to her armpits in water. Along the horizon, where an ominous ocean meets an overcast sky, big white letters declare: “The Next One Won’t Be Biblical.” The poster is bleak, a clear allusion to the flood in Genesis that only Noah, his family, and several pairs of lucky animals survived, while the unrighteous perished.
“We wanted to make something that was powerful enough and scary enough to get people to look at it,” says Akira Ohiso, who, together with his wife and design partner, Ellie, created the apocalyptic graphic.
“When I share the image on social media, I’ve had cousins of mine who are still quite religious say things like, ‘Oh, please, that’s such hyperbole,'” Ellie says. “And then I’m like, ‘OK, yes, it’s hyperbole. So let’s talk about exactly how high the water has to get on Lady Liberty before you start having a discussion about what’s really happening.'”
The organizers of what may become the largest climate-change march in history have just announced the winners of a poster design contestto promote the event in one of New York City’s most visible locations.
The two winning designs, which were chosen by a panel of judges including Shepard Fairey, Barbara Kruger and Moby, will appear on one out of every 10 train cars on the New York City subway from August 25 until the People's Climate March on September 21.
“The design plays against popular catastrophe film stereotypes to bring fantasy into possible reality. The commercialized design is meant to target a larger audience that likely wouldn't be interested in traditional eco-messaging,” Ellie Ohiso said.
