new postcard series, “Global Postboxes (mostly), Red (usually)” for the postcards club members
Quick hits from last week or so – have a load of things *want* to do before end of the year (as always) but trying to prioritize gracefully and accept the days as they roll in.
What follows are reminders of various unrelated to “big creative projects ™” from last lil stretch, here to remind me (and future me) of all wrangled through during the ups and downs.
Father in law checks the steamers as neighbours pound mochi rice behind
Mochi making day in Tsuchida neighbourhood (at the little community center where their late grandfather Ichiro used to perform with his accordion… We still have the accordion but it needs some repairs). Steam rice, pound rice, each eat with sweet beans.
Took some snaps of the community agricultural processing sorta warehouse i’ll maybe curate eventually.
Besides the usual dishes, laundry, and tea… Finished epic Beat hero video & prepped some rather gorgeous “Postcards from Gravelly Beach” for some kindly (and lucky :-)) supporters/customers.
Note: On my list for next year is to think about how to step this project up (or not)… do i stay the course? add WP “coffee” button? add woocommerce? (finally) start etsy store? start shop!fy store? i dunno. want easy, low stress all the money is distributed to various charities and causes {+ paper, ink & stamps} – advice?
2021 correspondence scrapbook, cover
Also did a wee bit of scrapbooking… Specifically properly archiving all of this year’s general correspondence.
While doing a photo shoot for Ichiro’s 100 days at Homare Photo Atelier here in Okayama, the photographer Yoshihiro Matsushita-san and i rocked a fun mise en scéne with:
typewriter
sea trunk
Lomo sardine camera (with yellow tiny flash)
books, various
rocking horse (just ‘cause)
my ever-present been-all-around-this-world suitcase
~ in front of a battered green paper (shade of van Gogh’s pool table) and a red rug… to go with Ryoko’s stellar Fluevog shoes & 1964 vintage lace party dress (such details!) and my bespoke-in-Chiang Mai secret agent suit, Stetson fedora & Florsheim Imperial shoes (bartered). Ichiro rocked a sweet blue Japanese onesie – gift from my dude Kitazawa Takaya-san.
Time Traveler Family, v. 2
Anyhow… (with my foggy self) we worked quickly – imaging ourselves sitting still for a bellows camera before setting sail to steam around a cape or horn – maybe Taisho-era, maybe just back from Venus & teleporter time gauge malfunctioned. There was probably a daguerreotype and/or dirigible involved, if not a phone box at least.
Time Traveler Family, v. 3
What is displayed here are 7 of the best iterations which were then made into some special cards, ergo: the digital snaps were printed on laid textured paper, then attached to handmade washi paper with rough edges with olden photo corners, annotated with a fountain pen as was custom poetry written on reverse in English and Japanese, various appropriately cancelled postal stamp glued, usual inky stamps for sure (urgent! confidential! air mail – or a suitcase) – some got seal stickers, often slightly more dangerous metallic sealing wax which caused minor fire damage #smouldering!
Then finally some received our family hanko stamp, and Ichiro’s inked finger print – truly collectible. Then… (very) delicately scanned (at this point forgotten how many digital to analog conversions overall in the project) – Just barely in time to get the “pick of the litter” posted to wish greetings on January 1 to you lovelies around this spinning globe.
Steady On Time Travelers – reverse of art card with poem in English and Japanese (plus Ichiro’s fingerprint, family hanko and other details)
Regardless, we are all the time travelers and must hold steady, be adaptable, be where we are, find the ways to blend in (or gracefully exit) when finding one’s self in an unpredicted situation, eat healthy rations (whether known or not) and ease into comfortable shelter as possible.
Time Traveler Family, v. 5
While the world spins fast, let’s breathe backwards to slow it down. {noting after I wrote this poem – alluding world is spinning fast *emotionally* and thus causing pandemonium in many ways/souls – i learned physicists also suggest the planetary orbit speed has physically increased. I do not understand their methods but seems agree with their results – albeit primarily aesthetically.}
Time Traveler Family, v. 6
Finally: the final handmade creations / all slightly different in photo & embellishments went to various thoughtful directions, ergo, 1 to seitai sensei, 1 to forestry sensei in Noto, 1 to tea ceremony teacher, 1 to ephemera master in VicBC, 1 to writing professor (ret’d, Torrey, UT), 1 to artist Noriko Miyake – 2 for archives (for the inevitable retrospective exhibit of cards, letters, visual poetry and invitations).
Plotting paths of poets past, noting inter-disciplinarianism is key to creating context to encapsulate your content (as it were).
Write letters, fill sketch books, scrapbooks of ephemera, journals of nothings, tear sheets from magazines, pilfer coasters and brochures, collect the uncollectible, document the mundane. Fill a suitcase with ephemera.
“Personal Archeology” project heads into the stretch run towards 50 on 16.8.20 / just shy of 200 posts of artifacts > From elementary school report cards to fake IDs, newspaper clippings to folk legends.
I’ll tell you a secret: there’s another 100+ in the “draft/pending“ folders that I didn’t quite finish up to get into the flow so maybe a bonus round in the autumn.
Also, I barely started the deep digging kura grain barn studio stash so really have enough to keep going another 50 years. #goal
Hope you found some interesting evidence of where our lives intersected and/or found some inspiration for digging into your own remarkable past and sharing your story in a unique way.
I’ve had a notion to do a little “musings & tactics for personal storytelling” video / Might get to it eventually but I’m pretty busy kissing a little baby’s head over and over again. If you have questions though, hit me up.
Yup, somehow, friends who I *assumed* were pleasantly checking out my little “personal archaeology” project have *no idea* about my endeavor, others are surprised to hear I have a website at all (really)…
Then again, others contact me and say “how’s things at h00tsweet these days?” (Whoa!) or “I’m heading to Lynn Valley, you want to meet up?“
I mean “yeah” but I’ve been gone gone gone so long and now live in Japan #ForeverHome
In other words, the cracks between the boards are some times bigger than the boards #BeYourOwnAlgorithm
Anyhow, just another artifact from #daveo50 daily pre-scheduled series of ephemera, oddities, evidence, miscellanea, media snippets, projects, identification (fake & otherwise)…
More of “the B-sides” rather than “greatest hits” you’ve likely seen.
You’re super smart so you found the goodness.
PS Especially enjoy hearing recollections from folks about when our lives intersected / tip: stick a search term (your name, a project, a place) into the site and see what pops up
#daveo50 Personal Archeology Project / June 26 ~ Aug. 16 (business cards, Vancouver years)
Gist: #daveo50 Personal Archeology Exhibit
With 50th birthday impending and a son on the way (update, born June 23rd!) and the assemblage and reclamation from storage lockers of many life artifacts (plus coupled with parent’s recent passing which resulted in more items) AND the grace of a 150+ year old “kura” grain barn now studio/atelier, whilst in the bath i figured i would do a special exhibit of sorts.
Noting most years i do something creative around my birthday (ex: flying high board game collage, F Varley essay series, Uncle Weed book, Forgotten Vancouver stories video…) and since b-day is in the middle of dog days of splendid summer, usually slips by largely unnoticed.
As such, the project is for my own amusement, for posterity, for curiosity seekers, for my kid(s) to get to know me, and to compile a “life of making” into a “made thing” of its own / as well as giving a modicum of respect to “past self” to spark “future self” to carry on making art every day.
Inspiration gleaned from many places of exhibits by Douglas Coupland and of Hergé artifacts are significant sparks (evidence of both in this archive).
Original plan: 1 year / 1 photo (id) / 1970-2020 = 51 photos
Actual result: 1 year, *several* photos PLUS various artifacts, collections, evidence, ephemera, media articles, publications, report cards, oddities, miscellany
Constraints: Rules are lousy for creativity however constraints can be most excellent.
“don’t think outside the box, think inside the circle” ^dvo
As such, to aim for “connected feeling” and not just a mish-mash of *everything* (especially in more recent years where candidates abound, i set forth the following:
just dave (with some exceptions)
accurate year (figured by cross-referencing glasses and haircuts)
prefer at least 1200 ~ 1800px (avoid low res/size)
resist urge to tell backstory (just too much!), just location and photographer if known
avoid snaps which have natural home in another post/project (i.e. various spiels/jobs/event…)
using various forms forms of photos i.e. instant, photo booths, meta, etc encouraged)
Priorities
Note: avoided group/party/2-fer/crowd unless no other options or special significance #anotherproject
studio/school portraits (early years)
passport/ID photos (ideal for assessing year)
photo booth (always fun!)
birthday/christmas (don’t over do it)
close square self snap’d (modern days)
other * which haven’t been used (or plan to use) in another obvious collection
Logistics: Starting June 26th 2020 (PST, UTC -8) posts are pre-scheduled (usually 2-4 per day, sometimes back-filled if not quite ready) at various times at https://daveostory.com (you are here) until Aug. 16th and auto-magically cross-posted to Twitter @uncleweed and FB Uncle Weed Story Maker page (not profile) with #daveo50 (may end up other places if convenience permits).
Monitoring and interaction minimal as i will be cuddling baby and starting his photo exhibit.
Thanks: to brother Andrew for curation assistance (pulling me out of the weeds / keeping on track)
#daveo50 Personal Archeology Project / June 26 ~ Aug. 16 (business cards, Olympia years)
