A DRAFT TESTIMONIAL!!
Dear Friends,
Please read and enjoy this confessional sent by one David Barber of Brooklyn, NY. David's emotional, nay, spiritual journey through the process of contributing to the DRAFT archive will inspire the confused and morally ambiguous among you. And his message of inspiration serves as a cautionary tale as well... (note David's fear at the mere MENTION of exile in Virtual Canada!!)
March onward,
The DRAFT Board
"To the draft board...
Dear Sirs:
In all honesty I had considered draft dodging. I am not proud, but
the immense pressure and awesome responsibility of serving was almost
too much to bear. Sometimes I find I am weak when the call to action
demands all of our strength and fortitude.
However, my conscience had the better of me and I was ultimately
driven to respond...that and I cannot bear to be sent to Canada. I
have seen the real thing and I can only imagine the horrors that await
us in it's virtual cousin.
Here is my first submission. There might be more. Now that I have
survived boot camp, I feel I can conquer all...!
all my best from the front lines,
Private First Class Barber"
On with the WAR effort!!!
Hello again Friends,
We here at the DRAFT headquarters in beautiful downtown Greensboro, NC are just tickled to distraction by all the fabulous responses we have received so far from our DRAFT notices. We would like to send a special kudos to the following art citizens for their fine contributions to this ongoing WAR effort:
- Jennifer Schmidt!!
- Claire van der Plas!!
- and especially Tim Bush for his extra special contributions!!
And for being such troopers, all three of these fine artisans receive the distinction of starting a DRAFT Riot!
Question: Okay so what the hell are all of these new terms you're throwing about without explanation? DRAFT Riot? WAR? I mean, what the hell...
Answer: Well, I suppose a few definitions are in order to keep the peasants pacified. As the DRAFT idea (as blog, as future works on paper archive for Elsewhere) develops into a honest-to-God drawing system that real people out there in the world may want to be involved with, useful descriptive terminology is slowly bubbling to the surface. So here, laid out for your greater enlightenment is a brief glossary of such terms as they apply to DRAFT, and examples of how they may be put to future use:
1. DRAFT Riot: A DRAFT Riot happens whenever a particularly wonderful addition has been made to the DRAFT blog or physical archive. This may refer to the actual drawing or document itself (ex. "Did you see Tim's latest reworking of that digital photo! Check it out, it's a real DRAFT Riot!"). Or this may refer to a general sense of positive activity within the DRAFT community (ex. "Claire's installation of tantalizing objects is so inspiring to draw from... I think it's going to start a DRAFT Riot!")
2. WAR: WAR refers to a general time of drawing and creative activity within the collective DRAFT head-space. If you know several people who are all happily working away on DRAFT inspired projects, or are just being real artsy on their own, you may refer to this general activity as WAR. ("Golly, Jennifer stayed up til 3 am working on her latest DRAFT inspired art thing. Better check on CNN, 'cause it sounds like there's a WAR goin' on!") WAR may also be called by any participant in the Elsewhere universe when there is particular need for help in completing or installing a works on paper / drawing type project. (ex. "BillyBob is installing his new 8 feet drawing mural at the local gallery this afternoon and he needs our help! Put your shoes on and gird you loins folks, this is WAR!)
3. DRAFT Notice: This is a call to action to participate in the DRAFT project (like when you first received this delightful email.)
4. DRAFT Dodger: These are people who receive a DRAFT notice but fail to respond. This is no laughing matter, so stop snickering you there in the back! As a responsible art citizen, it is your solemn duty, nay, your patriotic birth right, to respond to the call for more drawing in times of national crisis! And for those who fail to respond to a DRAFT notice after repeated attempts, we here at Elsewhere will have no other choice but to send them directly to...
5. VIRTUAL CANADA!!!!!!!!!!!! : Oh yes, you should be very afraid children. If you think that the REAL country we call Canada is scary, wait until you get a hold of the virtual version. The icy chill, the awkward accents, the unchecked politeness and easy going attitude!! Check back again to the DRAFT blog soon, as the cold horrors of Virtual Canada are still under construction (and like all virtual things, they will ALWAYS be under construction, that's part of the general sense of horror of Virtual Canada!)
Hello Dear Friends and Welcome to our Elsewhere Artist Collaborative Residency Sketch Blog!
Perhaps you have been directed here because you received a DRAFT notice in your email mailbox. Perhaps you have heard about this site via word of mouth. Or perhaps you are just some hapless innocent skipping about the "Internet", looking for something titillating and landed in this sad space instead. At any rate, you're here now, damn it, and that means that you have been DRAFTed!
Question: What is DRAFT?
Answer: DRAFT stands for Drawing, Recycling, and Fluid Thinking and it is the sketch blog system / works on paper archive idea currently in development while we are here in beautiful downtown Greensboro, NC at the fabulous Elsewhere Artist Collaborative. Don't know much about the Elsewhere Artist Collaborative?? Why, just let your fingers do the walking through a self guided tour:
Question: What are you crazy kids doing at Elsewhere?
Answer: We are engaged in drawing, photographing, and playing around with all the amazing stuff that fills these hallowed halls of wonderment. And we want you to join us! Aren't you lucky! Take a moment to bask in the glorious fortune that Lady Luck has seen fit to smite you with.
Question: But how can I join you in this joyous task, as I am here in (fill in the blank) with (fill in the blank) busy as hell doing (fill in the blank)??
Answer: Well, friends that's where DRAFT comes in. The idea behind DRAFT is to expand the confines of our drawing practice while here at Elsewhere, both physically and conceptually. Now, while there is certainly no shortage of stimulating material to draw from here at the Elsewhere headquarters, and while we could happily stay busy for the rest of our squalid days just doing nothing but noodling away at this visual material with a warehouse full of sketchbooks and pencils, we would rather invite friends to come play in our sandbox and see what wonderous drawings result from the collaboration. Because, at the end of the day people, that's the name of the game here at Elsewhere, "COLLABORATION", and don't you forget it!
Question: Well golly, I'm sold! So how do I get started?
Answer: It's easy friends, just follow the steps below and start "collaborating" (there's that word again...)
Step #1: Get to a computer, go online, and find this webpage. (See how easy this is, you're already ready for Step #2! All our friends are smarter than most people).
Step #2: Look on the side bar to the left of your computer screen. Find the area for Photos and click there. This will take you to the Photos page where all of our digital drawings are stored.
Step #3: Once on the Photos page, take a look around. Here you will find altered digital photos of the Elsewhere space and objects, scanned-in drawings made by your's truly, and other "ephemera" (That's a big, artsy word for works on paper / fluxus type stuff. Feel free to use it to describe different things in your daily life as well. ex. "I really need to get it together and clean all of this 'ephemera' out the bottom of my purse.")
Step#4: When you find an image you like, click on it. This will give you a larger version of that image. Click on this image, and an even LARGER image will pop up in a window next. Now take any of these images and do a "copy/paste" or a simple "drag and drop" action, and you have a little slice of Elsewherian goodness right on your desktop!
Step #5: Play with your Elsewhere "emphemera". You can do this in any number of ways:
- alter the image digitally Take it into Photoshop or any other imaging program and play around to your hearts' content.
- alter the image manually Print this image out and attack it with pencils, crayons, markers, or mascara. Collage right on top of it, drive over it with your car, or rent a car and drive over it with someone else's car! (This portion of the DRAFT blog sponsored by Avis).
Step #6: After your altertion is all done and you have cleaned the glue off the kitchen table, send it back to us here at Elsewhere. You can do this by:
- emailing the digital images to us at this email address: jasonwatson55@hotmail.com
- if you have a scanner, scan your altered image and email it to us in the afore mentioned fashion.
- if you have a digital camera, take a photo of your altered "ephemera" and email that.
- go the Ray Johnson / mail art "Old School" route, stuff that mess in an envelope, make a field trip down to the post office (admit it, you really did need to get out for some fresh air) and send it to:
DRAFT
c/o Jason Watson
Elsewhere Artist Collaborative
606 South Elm Street
Greensboro, NC 27406
Step #7: Go back to step #1 and do it all over again!! And be sure to check back at the DRAFT Blog every single day for the next two weeks to see your "collaboration" posted with the rest of our ephemera, which will be picked over by the multitudes and altered ad infinitum....
