Ingredients: olive oil, coconut oil, sea water, wild harvested central coast sea salt
Sediment IV
Ingredients: olive oil, coconut oil, oak moss tea, mango steen, red clay y ground oak moss
Sediment III
Ingredients: olive oil, coconut oil, usnea tea, ground jasmine rice, tanaka powder
Sediment II
Ingredients: olive oil, coconut oil, ground tree moss (usnea), y sea kelp powder
Sediment I
Ingredients: olive oil, coconut oil, sea water, kefir lime leaf tea, ground kefir lime leaves y aged citrus, palmful of compost soil
Sediments: A Response to Vernacular Songs
Utilizing clays, sea water, plant infusions, and ground earth, these soaps are created in response to Vernacular Songs, a photographic series by Estelle Srivijittakar that documents Community Forestry efforts and the ways of a resident village in Thailand. I created this limited edition series of soap using a combination of land-based ingredients from Thailand, as well as from the California coastline.
Water connects regions that are distanced by entire ocean basins through an active and never-ending water cycle. Water is an essential ingredient in all of my soaps. With soap, water is momentarily paused in stillness until one bathes or washes one's hands. My use of water serves as evidence of a temporal experience of our interconnectivity. Materials from terrestrial, forested, and spiritually protected lands where we live make connection with our bodies. The process changes us, but we also changes its form. In hopes expressed through this project, we co-evolve and manage our connections respectfully.
This series of photographs conjures for me the primacy of perception and recovers a universal memory of a connection to the natural world. When I spend time with the imagery, a sense of atmosphere, color, scent, taste, and texture arise. I am documenting my somatic impression of Vernacular Songs with these small batches of hand-made soap. This soap, for me, holds space for a tactile connection to these stories.
Estelle Srivijittakar's Series Vernacular Songs
Estelle Srivijittakar's Series Vernacular Songs
Artist and human-land observer Estelle Srivijittakar has documented the interplay of cultural and ecological processes of several villages in Thailand. Her photographic works, called Vernacular Songs, will be featured at Concord Gallery in Los Angeles this coming Friday at 8pm.
Artist Kenneth Srivijittakar will be installing a Shrine/ Spirit House that he constructed. In Thailand, Shrines and Spirit Houses are placed on the land. These Spirit Houses are said to be home to ancestral spirits that look over and protect the land.
In response to Vernacular Songs, I have created a series of sediments. These sediments are made from natural materials from Thailand, as well as from the California Coast. More on these soon.
Come experience this Archaeology of Place!
Winter Solstice Art Market
Hi folks! This coming Friday, December 21st, I will be participating in an Art Market with a handful of wonderful artists from Santa Cruz and the nearby Bay Area. Everyone will be selling their respective high-quality, hand-made goods.
The event will be taking place at the Museum of Art and History from 5-9pm. We will be celebrating the transition from darkness to more light. Come on by!
Here is a link for more information: http://www.santacruzmah.org/event/3rd-friday-december-holiday-art-market/
Art Market (Summer)
Revisiting the past. The flyer for this event was made by artist and illustrator Kenneth Srivijittakar. Some of his other work can be viewed at www.kennyfightsdirty.com
>> Josh Muir at Cafe Delmarette
For a while now, I have been a "curator" at the delightful Cafe Delmarette. The Delmarette is a lovely place wherein the people get down with the daily rhythms and make good food. All produce is bought from the local farmer's market. Pastries are baked every morning using organic butter, sugar, and flour-- with seasonal fruits in the fold. The food and folk are inspiration enough. Within the space are humble-scaled buttery yellow walls. These walls hold the work of a local artist for the duration of the calendar month. Each month we host an opening during the First Friday Art Walk, usually from 7-9pm.
For the month of August, the work of Josh Muir will be up. Josh is an artist, bike-frame builder, awl-maker, musician, and strong critical thinker & mover.
With an active vision for the community, he started the volunteer-sustained Bike Church, a non-profit where folks can come by to educate themselves on every manner related to bicycles and their ride-sustaining functionality. >>http://bikechurch.santacruzhub.org/
Josh Muir, with the help of artist Ann Altstatt, installed old drafts of his hand-drawn plans for his hand-built bicycle frames. Hung from eyelets in the ceiling is a stunning hand-built frame. If you're around, come enjoy a cup of coffee and a house made delight. If you're further away for the time being, look here >> http://www.francescycles.com
