NAP Church at Little Woodrow's, Sunday, January 23, 2011

For Immediate Release-- HOUSTON (January 19, 2011)—NAP Church, arranged by Napping Affects Performance and Emily Sloan to take place at Little Woodrow’s, 4235 Bellaire Boulevard, Houston, Texas 77025, on Sunday, January 23, 2011 from 1pm to 4pm. This event is in conjunction with artist June Woest’s RoadsignUSA project including a nearby billboard designed by artist Mari Omori inspired by “Napping Affects Performance.” The sign was unveiled on August 26, 2010 and will be removed shortly after Sunday’s service.

A prayer meditation tailored to each participant will be available for individuals throughout the period. "Drop-ins" are welcome anytime between 1 and 4pm. Eye coverings, ear plugs, and a limited number of cots will be provided. Yoga mats and sleeping bags are also welcome. This event is free and open to the public and all faiths.

“I am looking forward to sharing a time of uplifting napping at Little Woodrow’s Ice House, especially as it is playoff season” said Emily Sloan, napping minister and naptician from Napping Affects Performance. “This is the perfect time to put aside the burdens we daily carry around and just rest. It is also a great opportunity to share with people about the upcoming Southern Naptist Convention to be held in Houston on Sunday, March 13, 2011."



About Napping Affects Performance: Napping Affects Performance (NAP) is a performance and participation project providing community naps in collaboration with various performances, including (but not limited to) collaborations with sound, word, touch, and the delivery of naps to various sites and/or contexts. In May and June of 2010, Napping Affects Performance operated out of Art League Houston with 6 weeks of continuous performances taking place during Art League’s regular hours of operation. Collaborators with the project include: Mari Omori, Kisa Parker, Beth Secor, Julia Claire Wallace, June Woest, Ruby “Lips” Woodward, Art League Houston, El Rincon Social, the Heart of Texas in Nacogdoches, Lawndale Art Center during The BIG Show, Little Woodrow’s, NOTSUOH, and St. Rose College in Albany, New York.

For more information or to book a naptism or mobile nap, please call 713-582-1198 or email: nappingaffectsperformance@gmail.com or visit: www.nappingaffectsperformance.blogspot.com

For more information about RoadsignUSA, please visit: www.junewoest.com

About Little Woodrow’s: The original Little Woodrow's “by the railroad tracks.” The first location is a little smaller and also a little quieter than the others. Inside you’ll find a big long bar full of regulars enjoying the company of one of our long time bartenders. This place has pool tables, dart boards, trivia, Golden Tee Live, and an on-call naptician! For more information, visit: www.littlewoodrows.com

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

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.

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.