Funeral Party 2013

Funeral Party is interactive performance project comprised of the exploration of healing and death rituals to encourage participants towards realizations of the brevity of life and to aid in connecting to the present.

Funeral Party will take place on New Year's Day, Tuesday, January 1, 2013 at 14 Pews. There will be a eulogy writing service at 6pm with the Funeral Party to begin at 7pm. Those needing help with or wanting to explore their eulogies with others prior to the public presentation, please arrive at 6pm. Admission is a $5-$10 offering to offset funeral expenses.

“The last funeral was so enriching and powerful, it really blew me away,” states organizer/curator Emily Sloan. “For at least a year after the first funeral party, people I met for the first time at the event were contacting me and sharing how it affected them. I am appreciative to be invited by 14 Pews to make this journey again.”

The event will include visitation and drinking, eulogy writing assistance, a funeral service open to the public to speak, sing, share, etc., a funeral sound procession created by the audience along with whatever instruments they'd like to bring, and a funeral pyre for burning symbolic items contributed by the public.

Funeral attire is encouraged.Observers are welcome.

A potluck will follow the event.

ABOUT EMILY SLOAN:
Internationally unknown artist Emily Sloan was born outside of Diboll, Texas to John Bartholomew Sloan and Nancy de Norma H. Sloan. She presently survives and practices art in Houston, Texas. She is the founding reverend of the controversial Southern Naptist Convention (not to be confused with the activities to take place at the Funeral Party), chief curator of The Kenmore exhibition object and organizes Hair Washes for fundraising. One of her greatest accomplishments has been learning to dance despite an upbringing in which it was against her family’s religion. For more information, please visit: www.emilysloanblog.blogspot.com

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

GENERAL INFORMATION:
Location:
14 Pews
800 Aurora St.
Houston, TX 77009

Contact/Questions:
Emily Sloan
emily@emilysloan.com
713-582-1198

Fit to be Tied! (My BIG Fat Group Wedding)

14 Pews artist-in-residence Emily Sloan will host Fit to be Tied!, My BIG Fat Group Wedding this Saturday, June 13 at 14 Pews. The event will begin at 1pm with a meeting of those relishing life marriage-free, followed by vow writing, contracts and interviews from 2-4pm. The main event, a group ceremony will take place at 4pm with a reception of cake and wedding photographs following at 5pm.

“There are so many facets to marriage including desire, avoidance, struggles for rights, and struggles involving individuality and property,” said artist Emily Sloan. “I am looking forward to the experience of the sharing of unique views through interviews, vows, and pseudo-contracts. The ceremony itself will then be the icing on the cake where the audience can vocalize and share their interpretations with a group.”

Organizer/Host/Blessed Reverend: Internationally unknown artist, Emily Sloan has projects including Napping Affects Performance (NAP), a participation and performance project hosted live for six weeks at Art League Houston and ongoing in Houston, east Texas, and upstate New York; Wash and Hair Wash (a benefit for Japan), public, all day performances hosted by Gallery 1724 (Houston); Salon des Refusés: artwork rejected from Lawndale Art Center's The BIG Show (2010-2011); Funeral Party, a life and death experience performed at 14 Pews, January 1, 2011 (upcoming again in 2012); TX BI 2011; a public art project for Art League Houston to be unveiled later this summer, and is the artist-in-residence at 14 Pews where the Southern Naptist Convention was recently hosted.

In her free time she enjoys impersonating and experiencing life as investigative reporter Marvin Zindler through her alter ego, investigative performer Zarvin Mindler. http://www.emilysloanblog.blogspot.com/

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: http://www.14pews.org/

Special thanks to our patron saint, Saint Arnold, for sponsoring the event with beer.

Southern Naptist Convention, Where Two or More Gather to Nap!

The Southern Naptist Convention is congregating Sunday, June 12 at 1pm at 14 Pews. Please join us for napping, naptisms, and preparing for the upcoming NAPTURE!

This is a very busy weekend as the Southern Baptist Convention is also taking place!

The Southern Naptist Convention is open to all faiths!

For more information, please contact Emily Sloan at 713-582-1198 or emily@emilysloan.com or visit: www.nappingaffectsperformance.blogspot.com

About Napping Affects Performance: Napping Affects Performance (NAP) and NAP Church are interactive performance projects by 14 Pews artist-in-residence Emily Sloan 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, NAP operated out of Art League Houston with six weeks of continuous performances taking place during Art League’s regular hours of operation. Since then, followers and napophiles began meeting once a month for a Sunday naps and naptisms during NAP Church services.

Napping Affects Performance, Universal NAP Church, and the Southern Naptist Convention are organizing the "NAPTURE: Don't be Left Awake!" event to be held in Houston, October 21, 2011 at 14 Pews. For more information, please visit: www.nappingaffectsperformance.blogspot.com

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

Save the Date: Fit to Be Tied!!!---at 14 Pews, Saturday, June 18, 2011

Schedule of Events:

1:00-2:00pm---"To Tie the Knot or Knot?": A meeting of those relishing life MARRIAGE FREE! Includes: group discussion, single ceremony, interviews

2:00-4:00pm---"Knot-tying Prep, Negotiations, and Interviews": vow writing, contract negotiations, and interviews.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

4:00---Group Wedding Ceremony, Hand fastings--Hear others profess their do's, don'ts, won'ts, can'ts...join in or watch

5:00-7:00pm---Reception: cake, wedding photos and dancing!



Organizer/Host/Blessed Reverend: Internationally unknown artist, Emily Sloan has projects including Napping Affects Performance (NAP), a participation and performance project hosted live for six weeks at Art League Houston and ongoing in Houston, east Texas, and upstate New York; Wash and Hair Wash (a benefit for Japan), public, all day performances hosted by Gallery 1724 (Houston); Salon des Refusés: artwork rejected from Lawndale Art Center's The BIG Show; Funeral Party, a life and death experience performed at 14 Pews, January 1, 2011; curating the TX BI 2011; and is the artist-in-residence at 14 Pews. In her free time she enjoys impersonating and experiencing life as investigative reporter Marvin Zindler through her alter ego, investigative performer Zarvin Mindler.

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

Southern Naptist Convention, Call for Proposals from Committed Naptist Brothers and Sisters

The Southern Naptist Convention is seeking proposals, papers and artworks related to napping and conducive to sleep. The 2011 Convention will take place beginning at 1pm on Sunday, June 12 at 14 Pews, 800 Aurora St., Houston, TX 77009. If this call appeals to your heart of hearts, please submit a proposal to Rev. Emily for consideration. Proposals and questions received at emily(at)emilysloan(dot)com or 713-582-1198. The deadline for proposals is May 31, 2010. This call is open to all faiths.

(Pictured above: Ruby "Lips" Woodward, Napping Affects Performance, 2010)

About Napping Affects Performance: Napping Affects Performance (NAP) and NAP Church are performance and participation projects by Emily Sloan 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, NAP operated out of Art League Houston with six weeks of continuous performances taking place during Art League’s regular hours of operation. Since then, followers and napophiles began meeting once a month for a Sunday naps and naptisms during NAP Church services. NAP and NAP Church are organizing the Southern Naptist Convention to be held in Houston, June 12, 2011 at 14 Pews. For more information, please visit: Napping Affects Performance.

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 for the Living

Funeral Party for the Living took place on January 1, 2011. It is one of several ritual projects I utilize in my art practice as an ongoing exercise to explore healing and death rituals. The audience participates in actions encouraging realizations of the brevity of life and aiding in connecting to the present.

Front of the 14 Pews church with mourning wreaths on the doors.

View from behind the desk of the "Eulogy Writing Deaconesses." During the visitation before the funeral, a eulogy writing service was available for attendees needing assistance or last minute advice.

The fashionably mournful.

A "Eulogy for Art" was read.

A brass band lead by Nick Cooper.


The back yard funeral pyre where participants said good-bye to such things as addictions, jobs, bras, lovers, and hemeroids, among other things.


The funeral food potluck included foods such as ambrosia salad, funeral pie, severed arm cake, cooper coins for the afterlife, and sweet funeral wine.

All images courtesy of 14 Pews.

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