Hello faithfull listeners it's been a while.  Lots going on as the seasons turn.  Been on a steady work clip.  Rebuilt a roof which was a big project.  Working on my house too to get ready for winter.  

This hundred year old house needed a section of  it's rafters replaced.  We did the whole rest of the roof while we were at it.  We built a support wall to hold up the other side of the roof while we removed the damaged section, and built the new section to meet the existing.  We also had to contend with the exterior wall that had pitched away from the house 4 inches.  With the weight of the roof off we were able to pull the wall in with a winches.  The wall still had some curve to it so we custom fit each rafter- 20 foot 2x8 's.

No turning back- Joe starts it off

Sawing out sections of the 7 layer roof

Mike and Garrett enjoy the view

Almost there

The sky in the Midwest

Stay tuned for more.

What I've Been Building

Hello faithfull listeners.  With renovating 3 buildings simultaneously I have been building a lot lately.  Thought I would share some pics of that I've been working on

Finished these up a couple of months ago- never built anything like this before.  Killer colors Molly.  

Have been helping James fix- up his house.  Garrett caught us on the job with these pictures-

I have been working on my house too- here is the hammer truck getting loaded-up with another load of plaster.  

Have been working on the inside too.  This is in the kitchen

Signing off- Detroit Listening Post- 

Seed Show

Hello out there-  In April our art organization The Yes Farm had a very successful art show to raise money for permanent electricity.  We built a stage and had our first musical acts.  There was local art and talent, wonderfull food from friends and neighbors, a Tennessee Williams reading, and amazing support from the community   Here are a couple of pics-

the current incarnation of the front of the building

Bridgit and Faina-the unstoppable dance duo

My Brightest Diamond played an amazing show

Thanks to the Detroit fire department for their support, and helping us finish off that 2nd keg.  Couldn't have done it without you guys.

Living The Dream

new painting- "Bean Counters"

my new painting studio

Hello faithfull listeners.  Living the dream, gardened this morning, dropped off the recycling for the block, spent my first night in the painting studio I just started.  It was a great day  

With so many things going on here- farming, art, work, volunteering- is has been a dizzying few months.  I think we are all feeling the pinch of being caught in the details, and not putting our nose to the grindstone as artists.  I cleared out a room upstairs in The Yes Farm and turned it into a painting studio.  It has peeling paint and a hole in the roof in the next room, but it is a grand studio with high ceilings and beautiful dark wood trim, it is tattered but proud.  

It is a fine place to paint with lots of light and it has a bay window filled with fields and trees. I think it will be a wonderful studio, and I feel good about getting it set up.  I have really been enjoying painting lately.  As a housepainter for so many years I am crossing over many of my professional techniques to my artistic practice and am pleased with the results.  The biggest assett for me seems to be the ability to work fast and cover large areas.  This has been pushing my work into doing more murals and working large scale- it is exciting.

We may not have much money, or permanent electricity, or everything figured out about what we are trying to do, but we know who we are and we are doing it as best we can.  There is a great satisfaction in that.  Follow your dreams out there.  Until next time-...

Cranbrook Thesis Show

Went to the Cranbrook masters thesis art show today.  It is a school about 45 minutes north of the city which rich people who made a killing at GM, and GE and all the other big money places in Detroit built up really nicely to they could move out of the city and send their kids to- so they could do things like throw javelins and study art.  

It was very strange to be in an environment that was largely affluent white people.  I have been spending a lot of time in the neighborhood and have not left Detroit for a while, and forgot for a moment the scene where people wear little party dresses with matching shoes, and middle aged women have face lifts.  

It makes me think about the idea of me being part of gentrification in my neighborhood.  Am I part of the problem, am I a rich white guy coming into the neighborhood driving up home prices.  Being at Cranbrook reminds me that I don't fit into that world- although I could if I wanted to I guess.  It made me want to get back to Detroit, where in some ways I don't really fit into that world either.  So where am I supposed to be?  What community is where I am supposed to be- I am an artist- so among artists?  With the rich, the poor?  It's hard to say-

Seed $ Show

The art organization I am a founding member of, The Yes Farm, is having it's second art show.  In celebration of spring and the start of the planting season the show is seed themed.  There has been much to do as there will be two bands playing- Magic Shop and My Brightest Diamond.  Our friends Bridget and Fayna will also but on a dance routine- which is usually to music they created.  

theyesfarm.blogspot.com

This show is a benefit to raise funds to establish a permanent electrical system.  Right now we are running off two extension cords zip tied to a guide wire from a house 1 lot over.  Putting on a music show under these conditions is challenging to say the least.  We are testing things out this week to make sure we don't end-up with a building full of people sitting in the dark.

The show should be good though.  People seem to be excited about it.  It is an interesting experiment to be in the middle of bringing an art space to a community where there is not a lot of art going on.  There have been a lot of questions about how we are effecting the neighborhood.  Are we providing something worthwhile for people or our we just making a lot of noise and fucking-up a quiet block that people have been working on building-up for a long time.  

It's hard to answer a lot of these questions.  Especially when we are still in the building stage- as we don't exactly know how it will turn out, and because it seems to change as it evolves.  First it was just art, now farming is in the mix, and a community of people.  Things change, people change, there is uncertainty.  But as it unfolds the good thing is that it feels like the right place to be right now, and I am learning many things.  

I have been here a short time- about six months, but I am in deep.  I am renovating three buildings simultaneously, I bought a house, started an arts organization and volunteer at a school with a farm, and organize and work in my neighborhood.  Thank you Detroit and Farnsworth street- you have been generous to be and opened many opportunities.  The idea that there is no opportunity in Detroit is a myth.

Speaking of generosity today my land got cleared and graded by Paul on his tractor.  It is amazing what that machine can to.  We pulled privit bush which has tough deep roots, and Paul filled in a few low spots, dragged concrete and brush to the perimeter.  It looks amazing, so much work was done in one afternoon, which just happened because people saw me digging and came to help.  

Stepping off the back porch and seeing the field looks really amazing.  Part of me can't believe how nice it looks.  Envisioning it with trees and plants and the windows looking out into the yard with my house fixed-up makes makes me very excited.  One day at a time.

This concludes this installment of the Detroit Listening Post.  Thanks for listening, I will try to write more often.  My digital camera broke and I have been using it as an excuse not to post, but I'm going to try write.  Don't turn that dial- 

Timber!

Spring is creeping slowly upon us.  Everyone has been excited to get out in the fields and do work outside.  One of the first projects to do is to clear fields and get rid of dead trees like this pine, trees in bad locations and junk trees like alanthis.

Paul did most of the work on this one with his new chainsaw and I finished it off with a wedge.  Paul sliced it up into smaller sections and we spent the afternoon splitting the wood with axes.  This was the first large tree I've ever taken down.