Here are all the instructions from the first playing of The Land of Parcheesopoly at Northern Spark in June of 2013, in the random order in which I remembered and gathered them from photos, with some fun links to photos and videos taken by me and others playing. It was interesting to see the difference between this board game co-creation in the middle of the night (which got a little baudy), vs. the much more family-friendly vibe that the daytime events received. The Northern Spark game stretched all the way down the full city block and looped back on itself, plus the additional shorter, sheltered route under the skyway, and we very nearly ran out of chalk. It started to rain at 2am and washed away most of it, but we had a great run of it before then!
Play a simultaneous badminton game with another player on the board Start a thumb war with someone Hug a stranger Hug a friend Kiss a stranger on the cheek Ask a stranger out, then change your mind Quote an anarchist thinker Name 3 opera stars Tweet to @NET_SVillaDMEO Tell someone in your group that you love them Say something that would make your mom happy Make someone smile Compliment a random stranger Shout (nicely) at a cyclist Pretend you are wearing a funny hat (morphed into “furry” hat later when it the chalk smeared) Groom yourself like a cat (Captured both here and here!) Pose like a squirrel Howl like a wolf Holler like Tarzen Do your best Schwartzenegger really loudly Sing the ABC’s as loud as you can Sing a song you hated as a child really loud Tell a joke to someone you don’t know (optional: wear jester hat while doing it) Call me! (with cell phone number) Fart Re-enact your last bowel movement Boobie shaped space (There were two of them. Really people? Pshhhh.) Recite a 7 word poem about honey badgers or zombies Make up a poem involving sausage Wiggle like green jello Make something! (with pipe cleaners) Bush Cheney 2016 Dance like a robot Move like a mime Next time you see someone you know, sing lyrics instead of talking to them. Keep trying to juggle until your next turn Make a snow angel standing up Jump! Jump high five! Five jumping jacks Do the worm Walk like an egyptian Change the snake eyes rule but go back to the beginning When you’re done, change the rule for rolling seven Flamingos attack! Stand on one leg so that they think you are one of them. Have a discussion about how the media controls your life Tell a secret Call or text your last cell phone contact with a secret Shout your favorite veggie (Me: Parsnip!!!) Forget you button guy (huh?) Ask a stranger to roll your die Treat yourself Make eye contact w/someone & say I <3 U Draw something Shout out “Happy Northern Spark!” Start a slow clap Compliment a stranger Recite a favorite recipe Sing a song from the Wizard of Oz Pat your head and rub your tummy Go forward 3. (At arrival point: Go back 3.) Win a staring contest with someone Dance a slow jigmaking new stuff, art a whirl recap, & fun news!
Made some new stuff this weekend. Also spent a lot of time lying in bed reading Judy Chicago’s book Women & Art: Contested Territory. Had dinner with my friend Jade, discussed art, relationships, and life choices. Feeling a little bit more clear-headed now after several days of feeling stressed and getting strange dizzy spells (I blame my stupid never-satisfied metabolism, grr!). Of course, staying up until midnight blogging again (why does the motivation always come at 11:30pm, huh?) instead of going to bed is probably going to set me back to ground zero when I get up for work tomorrow morning. The holiday pay will make up for feeling completely scatterbrained, right?
New on the table:
new puddles of paint
And I finished one of them:
Untitled (for now), Watercolor, 8" x 10"
Last weekend was Art-a-Whirl in NE Minneapolis. I did some studio crawling on Friday and Saturday, art swapped, chatted with lots of WARM artists (some of whom I hadn’t actually met in person before, yay!) and on Sunday I helped with the photo booth at Suzanne Shaff Photography in the California Building (Suzanne is fairly new to the area, & I’m helping her out w/web and social media stuff). We saw the tornado that hit North Minneapolis from the windows on the 6th floor, and promptly panicked and hid in the stairwell for a little while until the sirens stopped. Pretty freaky. Ooh and I met Amy Rice! Love her work 🙂
Also received the happy news this week that I am one of eleven artists selected as Placemaker Artists in Springboard’s Friendly Streets project with Jun-Li Wang! I don’t know a lot of details yet, but here’s the description they had in their call for artists which is a nice summary of what we’ll be working on:
Placemaking is people coming together and actively working to turn generic public spaces into community places where people can create connections with one another. By “activating” spaces with elements that encourage human interaction – from physical objects such as art, furniture and plantings, to activities such as parties and games, a generic space can be turned into a place where community gathers, happens and thrives. Springboard for the Arts believes artists play an instrumental role in creating place and creating community.
The setting is the Central Corridor Friendly Streets Initiative, a project addressing the design and use of the residential streets immediately north of University Avenue during construction and operation of light rail. The Initiative will host a series of block parties this summer to introduce residents to concepts and methods such as creative placemaking and traffic calming to make streets more user friendly.
I took a workshop on developing successful community projects with Jun-Li in November and am really excited to be working with her again & building on those skills. I am also really excited for the Northern Spark festival coming up next weekend! I am going on the Megalops at 11:00 with an assortment of friends, and who knows where the night will take me from there. It’s another one of those “so much going on that it’s completely overwhelming and impossible to see it all” type of events. Sometimes I wonder if our art community here, as loveable as it is, occasionally tries to do too much at once. Maybe I’m just being selfish because I don’t want to miss anything. How can one possibly choose between listening to sound art radio stuff on top of the foshay tower, playing laser tag at the soap factory, taking in the short film festival at the central library, watching the egg & sperm ride and video projections near St. Anthony Bridge, not to mention all the stuff going on at the Walker’s Nightshift? And that’s just a small portion of all the events going on. AAAHHHHHH…………………………………..
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