A few weeks ago, I was interviewed on the Nash Holos radio program by Paulette “Pawlina” Demchuk MacQuarrie. Based in Canada but broadcast internationally, Nash Holos is British Columbia’s longest-running Ukrainian radio show.
If you’d like to listen to my interview, it’s about 2/3 of the way into the program, the last feature before the end. Click on the link below.
Nash Holos Radio Program (Interview is 2/3 of the way in)
You’ve heard it haven’t you? The sigh under your bed just as you lie down. The scratching on the window that stirs you from sleep?
Come closer to the computer. Lower your voice and look over your shoulder.
You know those bumps in the night? Those creaks on the stairs when you’re in bed with the dog and no one else is home? Those misplaced keys and glasses, or randomly spilled milk on the counter? The flash in the shadows that looks like cat eyes, but you don’t have a cat? Something brushes against your foot when you step down onto the rug to get a drink of water in the middle of the night. Something tugs at your sweater when you sit down to watch the television.
You wonder for a moment, then shake it off to dreams that linger, or spicy food before bed, or dust in your eyes, or maybe the wind.
But that’s not it, and you secretly know that there’s more to life and to your home than what you see.
You have a house spirit, and he or she wants your attention.
You can choose to ignore the signs, but they seldom stop. In fact, they get louder, stronger, and more persistent.
So, what can you do?
The house spirit, like a neglected friend, wants a little communication, a little whimsy, a little sacrifice.
Of course, there are traditional ways: leaving out a small offering of milk, meade, or vodka (depending on your ancestry), singing folksongs, keeping a clean kitchen, leaving a special broom beside the hearth, sharing books for All Hallow’s Read. But be forewarned, modern house spirits can be more demanding.
Lucky for you, the kind folks at the Night Garden have provided you with a way to do all three!
They have created the October Challenge to encourage you to create Art inspired by a house spirit. This can be a drawing, a doll, a story, a poem, a recipe, a blanket, any creative response that you can imagine! (Need more ideas, see this blog entry.)
And the sacrifice? Well, you can definitely submit Art without making any donation, but perhaps you can spare a little money to help the Bengals? This special breed is often adopted by overzealous owners, then given up when they realize that you get a lot of cat and quite a bit of tiger-attitude in these darlings. Have I mentioned that house spirits LOVE Bengals? They do.
Complete details about the challenge are here: http://www.thenightgarden.net/?q=node/114
To recap, participate in the Night Garden challenge and you:
1. VERY LIKELY APPEASE YOUR HOUSE SPIRIT
2.) Become a part of an online community of awesome artists
3.) Get published online, on thenightgarden.net site, alongside professional writers and artists like Christopher Lincoln and Nathalie Boisard-Beudin! That’s some mighty fine company.
4.) Help Bengals: a breed of cat formed by the cross of a domestic feline and an Asian Leopard Cat. These cats are often adopted by overzealous owners, then given up when they realize that you get a lot of cat and quite a bit of tiger-attitude in these darlings.
5.) Maybe get published in a limited edition hardcover version of a new comic about a house spirit! That’s right, some lucky submissions will be included in a special section at the end of Sticks and Bones: Home Is Where the Hearth Is (due out Summer 2012)
6.) Have a chance to win a cameo inside the comic!
6.) Have a chance to win a signed, limited edition poster of the Night Garden Challenge created by Madeline and me!
No one really needs a reason to make Art, but those are some pretty great reasons. Only a few days left!
On October 31st, when the veil between the worlds thins and entities seeking to make contact have more power than before, do you want your house spirits to be happy or discontent?
What does it mean to be a working artist in the 21st century?
The Artist Zoo is an exploration of working artists and their day jobs: a diverse sampling of artists actively engaged in making Art, a collection of artists at various stages in their creative careers. When they devote the vast majority of their time and energy to jobs separate from their Art, how do they find their way back?
1.99 million Americans describe their primary occupation as artist. This number excludes an estimated 300,000 people with secondary employment as artists. That’s a lot of people making Art.
Think about how your life has been changed by a work of Art, a movement, or an artist. Think about what 2 million people can create.
Art changes lives, and together we make ripples that can stretch across miles, across borders, across time.
The Artist Zoo is more than just a book. It is a celebration of artists and a commentary on the challenges of being an artist in this day and age.
Join us. Together we are the Artist Zoo.
In Chicago this weekend?
The Artist Zoo will be shooting a video this Saturday, October 22, 3pm-6pm, outside of Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago (more specifically near the arched Nature Boardwalk by the South Pond).
We need two kinds of people:
1.) Artists, with the tools of their trade;
2.) People in vintage clothing (circa 1920’s-40’s, also Victorian Safari-esque works too).
The idea is a black-and-white, grainy, somewhat cheesy silent movie feel, depicting a zoo filled with artists, as well as some artists who have escaped into the wild. The vintage clothing types will be gawkers, exclaiming over these exotic creatures. It will be a ton of fun.
If you’d like to participate, please rsvp at our Facebook invite or send me a note on the contact page.
https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=293598827323670
We’ve learned with other projects just how important the promotional video is, and we’d like to get a great turnout of artists for this shoot.
Hope to see you there! And please spread the word!
Thank you.