A Feast of Fools

"A Feast of Fools" special edition T-shirt, 1996    

"A Feast of Fools" was developed for Bumbershoot, Seattle's Arts Festival, in 1996, in collaboration with Susy Schneider and Gene Gentry McMahon.  Susy developed her idea in response to a much more mundane one put forth by One Reel (Bumbershoot's producer).  Susy based her vision on the medieval festival Feast of Fools, an imitation of the Roman Saturnalia, "in which power, dignity and impunity is briefly conferred on those in a subordinate position." (-Wikipedia)  This inversion of power was played out doubly in our feast, in that a model of the set was created first, and 13 performing groups, selected by Susy, were invited to create work responding to the set.  Our bawdy theater played to delighted crowds on a rotating schedule throughout the festival. 

The Snoqualmie Room transformed into a medieval "cathedral"    

The Snoqualmie Room before (and after) "A Feast of Fools" 

Heaven and Paradise

The Temporal Plane, backdrops by Gene Gentry McMahon    

The Maw of Hell

Umo performs a musical number in the Maw of Hell

The Maw of Hell from the back of the Feast of Fools T-shirt

Dream House, The Fourth Amendment

This piece was created for an auction benefitting the Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts.

It is inspired by the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Dream House, Artworks for AIDS

This piece was created for the Northwest AIDS Foundation benefit, Artwork for AIDS.

Dream Houses, Mia Gallery, 1993

My second show at the Mia Gallery was held in 1993 and featured a group of papier maché sculptures that I called "Dream Houses."  I created the last group of these for a group show at the Mia Gallery in 1997, shortly before the gallery closed.  

On Sight: A Cultural Plan for Tacoma

On Sight, A Cultural Plan for Tacoma, was a large magazine format  with a color glossy cover.

In 1992, I was asked by graphic designer Julia Field to create illustrations for the Cultural Plan for Tacoma.  This was a unique project in that Julia and I attended planning meetings for the plan and over the course of several months the illustrations and look for the document were developed along with the writing.  It was an excellent process, and the resulting publication was quite impressive.

This piece was done for the section on individual artists.

This is an illustration for the Arts and Cultural Section.

An illustration of a cultural map for the section on Neighborhood and Cultural Identity

Flying tickets for the Marketing and Cultural Tourism section

"Artistic risks can be taken with the support of a financial safety net,"  from the section on Cultural Organizations.

From the section on Neighborhood and Cultural Identity.

From the section Arts and Cultural Education.

A "live/work space" for the section on Individual Artists.

Illustrations for Guitar World

Eric Clapton in 1992

As graphic designers who had worked in the creative freedom of The Rocket moved on in the quest for greener pastures in publishing, they often brought along their illustrator contacts.  Jesse Reyes took over at Guitar World and featured a number of Seattle illustrators including myself.  Here are a few of the pieces that I did.

Eric Clapton in 1994

Robert Cray

Thrash metal

Yard Art

Little Freeway

The day that I was scheduled to be on an artist designed garden tour, I was unexpectedly detained on the Strange Bedfellows float in the pride parade, but my little garden was on the tour.  Thankfully, Rose, my downstairs neighbor, was also on the tour.   My home studio was next to the long term I-90/Rainier Avenue South overpass construction site and there was a concrete pumping company at the end of the block, so I created a miniature freeway traffic jam.  Sculptures from the Eden II installation and my collection of river rock embellished my little parking strip garden.