Thursday, December 23, 2010

Funeral Party for the Living to take place January 1, 2011 at 5pm

"Funeral Party for the Living" will take place on New Year's Day at 5pm at 14 Pews. The event will include visitation and drinking, eulogy writing assistance, a funeral service open to the public to speak, sing, etc., a funeral sound procession created by the audience along with whatever instruments/sound makers they'd like to bring, a funeral pyre for burning symbolic items contributed by the public, and a funeral food pot luck and recipe swap, so bring a dish!

Funeral attire is encouraged.

This event is free and open to the public. Observers are welcome.

Contact info.: emily@emilysloan.com, 713-582-1198

For more info. visit: www.thelivingwake.blogspot.com

Please feel free to re-post and share this event!




Organizer/host: Internationally unknown artist, Emily Sloan was born on April 1, 1983 outside of Beulah, Texas to John Bartholomew Sloan and Sue Nan Hoya Sloan. She presently survives and practices art inspired by healing and mourning rituals, longings, and social contexts. Outcomes include object making, performance, social involvement and spaces, and curating for unique venues including a contemporary art salon, The Kenmore: an exhibition object, and a secret gallery hidden behind a bookcase. In 2010, Sloan has had a solo show at Redbud Gallery in Houston, Texas; Napping Affects Performance (NAP), a participation and performance project at Art League Houston which is ongoing in Houston, east Texas, and upstate New York; Wash, a public, all day performance hosted by Gallery 1724 (Houston); organized a Salon des Refusés; and founded the Universal Nap Church.

About 14 Pews: Located at 800 Aurora St., Houston, Texas 77009, this Houston landmark is the oldest white wooden church in the Heights. Built in 1924, it has housed the Sunset Heights Church of Christ, Aurora Picture Show, and is now home to 14 Pews. 14 Pews is a non-profit microcinema providing regular screenings of independent documentaries and feature films, along with 4 annual film festivals and several affordable film/video educational classes. For more information, please visit: www.14pews.org

Monday, December 6, 2010

Funeral Party

Performance: Entwined

Entwined is a performance of hair giving. It was performed on November 19 (the Friday before Thanksgiving) with a group I have worked with as a Healing Artist for approximately a year and a half. To bound our relationship even tighter, I offered everyone in the group a lock of hair they could cut off and keep as a memento of me and a passing on of power.


Above: We are discussing Victorian traditions of hair saving, exchanging and hair work. In some cultures and stories the sharing of hair is a sharing of power. Hair is also significant as a part of the body which will not rot.


Reading 19th century sayings such as "when this lock of hair you do see, think of me."




Above: A selection is made from the nape of the neck.




Above: A participant gives me a lock of their hair.

Photography courtesy of Crystal Owens.

Rebirth Ritual

"Rebirth" is a ritual event that took place at El Rincon Social on Sunday, November 14. A truck bed filled with blessed fluid was utilized for participants to be buried/submerged in and then reborn as part of a ritual of beginning anew.

The rebirthing process...












Photos courtesy of Michael Brims and Emily Sloan. More photos to come.

Water Break

Water Break: pick-up truck, tarp, water, release
Action took place following a performance of "rebirth" at El Rincon Social in Houston, Texas on Sunday, November 14.

Truck before:


Unidentified woman near water hose/umbilical cord as the truck is being filled with water.



Water Break:


(Above photo courtesy of Heili Geistert)

Red Sheet placenta was released as well.





Friday, December 3, 2010

Feather Break

Feather Break: pillow feathers, fans, birdblock

Feather Break is by nature a work-in-progress currently set-up at Box 13 ArtSpace. During the November 13 opening, it was on and off due to power surges. By the following weekend for ArtCrawl, it ran steadily.

Set-up:









Interior view...


Photos by Emily Sloan or Merilee Minshew.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Performance: Rebirth / Breaking of the Water


"Rebirth" is a ritual event to take place at El Rincon Social on Sunday, November 14 from 5pm to 10pm. A truck bed filled with blessed fluid will be on hand into which participants may be buried/submerged and reborn as part of a ritual of beginning anew.

The evening will end with "The Breaking of the Water" from the truck onto the earth.

These performances are dedicated to Houston performance artist and Performance Art Houston event organizer Julia Claire Wallace and are part of an evening, called “heyBABY” celebrating her soon to be born daughter.

This event is open to participants and observers.

Nacho Mama's Fridge!!!

“Nacho Mama’s Fridge” is a group show of art-for-sale-at-irresistibly-affordable-prices celebrating both generosity and democracy in art with most art priced under $20 at The Kenmore, Box 13 ArtSpace, November 13- December 31, 2010. The opening reception is Saturday, November 13 from 7pm to 9:30pm.

Bonnie Blue, known for her “Women Who Rock” series encompassing portraits on rocks, shoes, bras, and an art car, Cody Ledvina, artist and co-founder of “The Joanna Gallery” in Houston, Texas, Veronica Jackson, Houston-based poet and painter, Merilee Minshew, artist and jewelry designer, Jarrod “Toonzi!” Perez, cartoonist, comic artist and creator of “Screwed-Up Comics”, Keith Reynolds, artist and founder of “The Houston Entertainicle”, Madeline Robinson, capturer of personalities, Lindsey Simard, painter of watercolor hipsters, and Kristi Wilson, current resident at The Houston Center for Contemporary Craft present work at The Kenmore at Box 13 Artspace this Saturday. The exhibition is curated by Emily Sloan.

The majority of the artists in this show sell their works at extremely affordable prices on a regular basis in an attempt to share it with more people and provide themselves with a quick turnaround in their invested materials and time so they can keep creations flowing. Several other artists interested in this idea and approach have joined in creating “irresistibly affordable” art especially for this show. Unlike the refrigerator art a proud parent may exhibit, all of the works are for sale! Additionally, nachos will be served during the opening.


Image: Sweet Meats, earrings by Merilee Minshew

Location:
The Kenmore
Box 13 Artspace
6700 Harrisburg
Houston, Texas 77011

Contact The Kenmore at 713-582-1198 or thekenmore@gmail.com

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Performance: Turning the Pages of The World's Largest Book!

Bhutan: A Visual Odyssey Across the Last Himalayan Kingdom, the world's largest book, is 5 feet by 7 feet and weighs nearly 150 pounds. MIT's Michael Hawley is the book's creator. On Friday, September 24, I turned the pages of this book for approximately 3 hours.

This book is in the collection of the Museum of Printing History in Houston, Texas.

Performed by Emily Sloan.
Photos courtesy of mitch samuels grystar.






A special thanks to the Museum of Printing History, Amanda, Charles and Anne.