Before the Orchard, Part 1
February 09 2010
The Native American tribe of Chumash people inhabited the land where our lemon and avocado trees live. Our northerly neighbor, Ojai, is a town with name with Chumash origins. Archealogical research shows that the Chumash have deep roots in the Santa Barbara Channel area and lived along the southern California Coast for millennia. A good sized group of people, it is guessed that the Chumash nation was around 15,000. Their population decreased when intermittent contacts with the crews of Spanish ships—including those of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo's expedition who wintered in the Santa Barbara Channel in AD 1542-43—brought disease and death. But the Chumash appear to have been thriving in the late 18th century when Spaniards first began actively colonizing the California coast. Whether the deaths began earlier with the contacts with ships' crew, or only later with the construction of several Spanish missions at Ventura, Santa Barbara, Lompoc, Santa Inez, and San Luis Obispo, the Chumash were eventually devastated by Old World diseases such as influenza and smallpox, to which they had no immunological resistance. By 1900, their numbers had declined to just 200.
They spoke a family of languages, known for their consonant harmony, a regressive sibilant harmony.
Chumash Glossary
All of the Chumashan languages are now extinct, although they are well documented in the unpublished fieldnotes of linguist John Peabody Harrington. Especially well documented are the Barbareño, Ineseño, and Ventureño dialects. The last speaker of a Chumashan language was Barbareño speaker Mary Yee, who died in 1965. Written Chumash language is almost wanting except for Christian prayers, which were translated for Native Americans by Franciscan priests.
Chumash Translation of Christian Prayer
Also documented is a Chumash song.
Jennifer Locke
January 14 2010
New conversation with Jennifer Locke is now up, read more here. Her website shows a range of her work, and two of her pieces can also be seen on the QNA archive.
"Black/White (Plaster)", at the Marina Abramovic Institute West, 2009
A Holiday Break…
January 06 2010
We took a break from the internet for the holidays, a gift of more time in "real life."
Jacob Hartman
December 22 2009
Found this charming, old drawing today. It reminded me of the beginning our conversation with Jacob, where he tells a story of his mother's pet dog. You can read it here.
Today will be lighter and longer than yesterday. Happy Winter Solstice!
Tony Labat on EAI
December 19 2009
Electronic Arts Intermix has a nice selection of pieces by Tony Labat, an artist visitor and friend to the Orchard Projects.
The EAI collection spans the mid-1960s to the present, and has one of the most comprehensive video art collections in the world, a site definitely worth searching through.
You can read our interview with Tony here, and read more about Tony's pieces here on EAI.
We will also be putting up Jennifer Locke's interview at the new year, whose work continues the conversation of Bay Area performance art.
Almost Thanksgiving…
November 23 2009
Please check back soon for conversations with Jacob Hartman and Jennifer Locke. To see their work, please visit jacobhartman.net and jenniferlocke.net.
Until our next post, reflect and ponder the poetic facts of our upcoming celebration and holiday, Thanksgiving.
Guinea Fowl, craneberries, and Nobel Peace prizes
A case of mistaken identity resulted in the American Turkey being named after the country. The Spanish first found the bird in the Americas more than 400 years ago, and brought it back to Europe. The English mistakenly thought it was a bird they called a "turkey" so they gave it the same name.
This other bird was actually from Africa, but came to England by way of the Turkey. The name stuck even with the realization that the birds weren't the same, adding to a history of facts based on mistakes.
The cranberry gets its name from early American settlers, who found resemblance in the fruit's blossom and the neck and bill of a crane. The name "craneberry" has been shortened to "cranberry."
A Thanksgiving creation, stuffing or dressing, has become easier to make at home thanks to Stove Top stuffing. It was developed by Kraft General Foods research team, comprised of three Nobel Prize winning scientists.
Update August 1st, 2009
August 01 2009
Jacob Hartman, Desired Effects, 2009, ink on paper, courtesy of the artist
Jacob Hartman is coming to visit sunny Southern California from rigid, barren Brooklyn!
Jacob works in a multitude of media including video, sculpture and photography, often culminating in large-scale installations pointing to their own modes of production and exploring the 'linear narrative' of art making. In this way Hartman navigates (or circumnavigates) what we perceive to be 'Natural,' or a progression of the 'Natural,' with the intent of subverting such a perception in on itself, allowing the viewer to renegotiate their relationship not only to the work on view but to the world at large. Basically, he gives the "real" the middle finger.
Jacob's recent solo exhibitions include _ _ _ _ _ Head at the Portland Institute of Contemporary Art, Oregon; This _ _ _ _ Will Last Forever, Drew College, New Jersey; and Psyche Wall, New Langton Arts, California. He has also been included in numerous group shows most recently at The Living Room, Art Basel Miami Beach, FL; CRG Gallery, Brooklyn, NY; Exit Art, New York, NY; Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA; and Four Walls, San Francisco, CA. Hartman received his BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1997 and his MFA from Bard College in 2004. He lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
You can check out Jacob's website at www.jacobhartman.net.
Recent conversations:
Tony Labat
Cheryl Meeker
Corrina Peipon, Part 1
Corrina Peipon, Part 2
Tony Labat at the Orchard, June 18, 2009
Update: Sarah McMenimen
June 15 2009
One of the most exciting aspects of this project for us is capturing an honest, varied and clearheaded cross-section of the creative forces driving, or learning to drive, California today. The great thing is, that spirit allows us to learn from just about anybody. The diverse lessons learned from simple observation can weave themselves together; creating a blanket of understanding you can snuggle under, build a fort with, or wipe your muddy shoes on. Whatever you damn well please.
That’s why we’ve asked a few artists to tell us what it’s like jumping through the fiery hoop that is “art school.” Corrina Peipon, who attended The San Francisco Art Institute in’94, told us she felt “lucky to meet really fucking smart, talented, funny and out-of-hand interesting people.” Sarah McMenimen graduated from California College of the Arts only two months ago. Over a batch of home-made doughnuts, she shared her concern over her school's lack of engagement with a living, breathing art world.
The idea here is that, given the nature of any curriculum attempting to teach a unique creative process, our frameworks and modes of thinking about ‘useful’ or ‘successful’ education is going to be upchucked more than a freshman’s pizza party swimming in 40 ounces of the champagne of beers. Many, many people have pointed this out. We know. But how many of them have actually bothered to ask an alumni if it was worth the fifty years of debt they incurred in the process? And with that steep fee that is ever increasing, has the product warranted such a price tag? There’s only one way to find out. Tell us! Send us an email at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) and give us a piece of your mind. We don’t care if you graduated in 1963 or if you’re sending us an email from your iPhone on your way to Figure Drawing II. We don’t care if you received a BFA in 3 years, an MFA in 2, and a doctorate in Art History (or, God forbid, Critical Theory). We don’t care if you’ve never even stepped foot on an art school’s Parliament Lights littered floor. We want to know your thoughts and experiences regarding the matter. We might even post ‘em (with your permission, of course)!
To get the gears rolling, check out our conversation with Sarah and Part II of Corrina’s. We look forward to reading your responses, (MLA format not necessary or necessarily encouraged).
READ OUR CONVERSATION WITH SARAH
READ PART ONE OF OUR CONVERSATION WITH CORRINA
Cheryl Meeker and Ishan Clemenco
Cheryl Meeker and Ishan Clemenco at The Orchard Projects, May 2, 2009
Aram Moshayedi and Jedediah Caesar
