Gabby Schulz lives deep in the woods of Maine—it’s as far away from the city he can get. As one of 10 participants on the floating artist residency in my story, Ten artists, two canoes and ten days down The Penobscot River, Schultz’s particular brand of artwork struck me. I thought I’d see photographs, poems, and sculptures at the artists’ reception (and I did, all good) but I didn’t expect to see hand-drawn comics with a biting tone. Here’s an older comic, titled The only thing I know, that provides a window into Schultz’s mindset. “I drew that comic while I was a working stiff in Chicago for a couple years,” he said. “Chicago is a really big city with a truly antagonistic stance toward nature or beauty of any kind. Every weekend I'd go mushroom hunting, which meant I had to ride my bike five miles to the center of the Loop, then catch a commuter rail an hour out of town, as far out into the suburbs as I could get, then bike another half an hour to the nearest green area on the map. It was hilarious to me that it took this much effort just to see grass without Roundup on it, but it was the only joy I could find out of life there. After a couple years of this ritual I did some research, and I learned the reason this one natural area hadn't been built up like the rest of Illinois was because it was the (unmarked) dumping ground for the world's first nuclear reactor. I guess this story is supposed to illustrate how desperate I was during this time to get to a place with trees instead of buildings, or plants instead of people, and how that must mean it's pretty important for humans to be outside of cities. But also it’s so fascinating and sad how hard it is to describe something so essential in any meaningful or articulate way.” Part of his bio gives a clue into his rationale. “I've embraced ‘gallows humor,’ a lifelong friend of comics, as the only sane response to the forces hurrying our own kaleidoscopic collapse, and I see absurdity as one of our few remaining pathways to beauty and joy.” “At this point it seems pretty self-evident that the world as we know it is dying, fast, and this can make an artist a little philosophical about what concepts like ‘obligation’ or ‘engagement’ or ‘posterity’ might really mean anymore,” he explained. He applied for and secured a spot on the Village Canoe in August, an experience, he said that took him out of the woods and into a communal experiment with strangers, which is not always a comfortable prospect when one works alone. “Overall it was just what I expected—a lot of paddling, some good nature communion, a little chaos, and some wonderful bonding with strangers,” he said. “The communal experience was definitely the highlight of the trip, as the group was such a great combination of different people with different focuses and interests and personalities — and yet, no one was pretentious or overbearing or unavailable or boring. We all gelled really nicely, and from what I hear that's a bit rare with a bunch of artists. “I was very curious to find out how other artists might be processing our changing relationship with the natural world, but I'm not sure anyone knows what to do now. With the fresh awareness of the Sixth Extinction hanging over us, communing with nature suddenly feels fleeting, unreal. Any inspiration I can draw from wilderness now feels more like finding ways to say goodbye -- to the ocean, animals or plants soon to be altered forever by climate change. It makes one feel obligated to document this very special moment in our history — likely a final chapter, as I see it — but that's also a hell of a thankless job. You have to laugh to keep from crying, and luckily that's a talent cartoonists have honed for generations now.” Out of his 10-day paddling and camping experience, Schultz created three comics for the final artists’ show; one titled Biolumes, one titled Time Capsule and one, untitled featuring a hug. I guess the Biolumes one is pretty self-explanatory, but the Time Capsule comic was just a statement of despair on everything,” he said. “You have a wonderful trip camping on some islands, but really, how is it contributing to stemming the tide of doom? Even with our minimal impact, how can we hope to ally ourselves with the natural world instead of further poisoning it? Looking at our efforts with a wide lens, it all just feels so hopeless, and decades from now our consumptions and comforts will probably seem criminally dumb, and all our big plans to save the world is just so much comically impotent hubris. Ironically, I feel like if more people were willing to see ourselves in this way, maybe meaningful change could happen. But while holding my breath waiting for that to happen, maybe it's all I can do to at least try to make us laugh at ourselves a little.”
For more information about Schultz’s work visit: gabbysplayhouse.com and for more information about the project visit:villagecanoe.org
0 Comments
‘A drinking town with a fishing problem’BELFAST—Penobscot Falls is not a real town in Maine, but it is very much a real place in the latest 3-D artwork of artist Eric Green. It’s a train set town set in 1/48th scale surrounded by buildings, tiny people, rural settings and of course, electric trains. It was constructed in a converted-attic room on the third floor of Green’s house in Belfast. Measuring nearly 14 feet across and taking up half the room, the mill town meets the ocean. “The town motto is ‘A drinking town with a fishing problem,’ ” said Green. Sprawling under tracks, every single building and tiny figurine, every piece of landscape and water feature have been made by hand by Green, a process that has taken three years. “It’s only a quarter of the way done,” he said. His plans include lengthening the track and carving tunnels through the walls of the house so that the train can circumnavigate several rooms on the attic floor. So, it will never leave the confines of this house; if anything, it will morph into the bones of the house. Very few people will be lucky enough to see this train set in person. This isn’t just a train set; this is Green’s childhood world set in 1956, the year Green was born, on a day in October. The trees are all turning muted yellow and orange colors. Having grown up in a mill town in Maine, Green recreated in miniature the down-and-out the buildings, the depressive atmosphere of a working town which doesn’t know that the primary engine that runs it–the mills– will eventually die out. “This is the kind of world I grew up in, that I feel so comfortable in,” he said. “From about the late 1920s and the 1960s there was this beautiful train equipment,” said Green. “The steam engines were masterpieces.” In this town runs historically accurate Boston & Maine (B&M) trains, box cars, and passenger cars as they hum through tunnels and above water features on both two-foot gauge tracks which interchange with standard gauge tracks. I’ve always loved trains, but this place reminds me of my dad when we’d drive through the town underneath the tracks and get fresh bread from a tiny bakery, really early in the morning, when he was still sober,” said Green.While he admits his relationship with his father was scarred, this train set and town is a tribute to the good times they had together. A column he wrote for PenBay Pilot provides much more context to he and his father’s shared hobby of building models. “I started building train sets when I was seven years old,” he said. It has been a lifelong hobby that he still derives deep satisfaction from. “There are train nuts, people obsessed with trains and I think I know why,” he said. “When you’ve had a chaotic childhood, there is something calming to the relative levelness and predictability of those train tracks. I really feel good when I’m riding on railroad tracks in real life.” There is also something soothing to making a miniature train world piece by piece, tiny building by building. In Green’s Penobscot Falls, there is a wee diner that looks as though it’s open til 3 in the morning; an adult bookstore, a decrepit pool room, a biker bar with two choppers out front that Green had to painstakingly craft by hand. There are two train platforms, numerous brick mill building, a hangar, even a small spot down by the bay—Hobo Jungle—where Green’s miniature bums drink and tells stories over a trash fire.
“These people want to leave Penobscot Falls,” he said of his diminutive characters. Because he is also a writer, this town is populated with tons of back stories; each character, hand-forged by him, has a purpose and they all have a reason for being there. In the diner, for example, the cook is the bent over the hot grill and the one lone man sitting there (recalling the Edward Hopper painting) is based on a White Tower hamburger spot Green had once, while riding freights across the country, tried to patronize in Minneapolis when it closed at 1am. The trains, with one flick of a switch, come to life and the passenger cars reveal tiny people in various poses, reading, staring out the window, while the boxcars chug along through tunnels over bridges. “This has been an obsession,” he said. “It’s a world I want to live in and every time I go up there and spend some time on it, I’m right back in that world.” All photos courtesy and ©Eric Green. Rad Happenings Now we're into November with the clock rolling back this weekend and darkness descending. As one woman said, "I go straight from my work clothes to my flannel pajamas at 5:30 pm" But it doesn't have to be that way! Starting this Thursday you can go to Alexis Pastuhov's The Roaring 20s film and party at The Strand on Nov 4 at 7:30 pm--or--Roots & Tendrils' special evening of music with award winning songwriter Emilia Dahlin at the historical Colonial Theatre in downtown Belfast, also on Thursday Nov 4 at 7 pm. Friday kicks off The Island Institute's Sustainable Island Living Conference 2010 (Nov 5-7) including including "Building a Business: from Passion to Paycheck." Or you may want to hit the Arts In Rockland First Friday (Nov 5) Art walk before you go to Pecha Kucha (see more details below). There's also The Where Do I Go Now, Home-less Teen Awareness Project (Rock City Books and Coffee Saturday, Nov 6 at 6 pm) See lots to do! Don't let the dark keep you in your jammies! Rad HappeningsNew and updated! So many things to do!
I will spare you all the "spooktacular" puns. Enough already! Let's just cut to the chase. This year the Midcoast is busting out with things to do for Halloween. Boo-ya! (Reneged on my no-pun promise. Sorry.) So here's your rundown: October 22 to October 30 Fright at The Fort Prospect, ME Visitors are led through the dark passageways of Fort Knox where indescribable things lurk in the shadows, creating screams of fright. Location: 711 Fort Knox Road. Time: Fridays and Saturdays, 5:30 p.m. - 9 p.m. Cost: $5. Information: 207-469-6553 or visit www.fortknox.maineguide.com Thursday, October 28 Rockland Library 6:30 PM A Halloween Screening of SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes will be screened. This turn-of-the-century story is about a mysterious carnival that literally blows into a small town to prey upon the vanities, delusions, and regrets of the townspeople by granting their secret desires at the expense of their souls. Friday, October 29 Halloween Dance Party with "Thriller" Workshop Swing & Sway Dancing, 143 Maverick Street, Rockland 6:00 - 7:00 pm Join professional hip hop instructor Kea Tesseyman for a Halloween workshop in which you will learn to dance the classic Michael Jackson "Thriller" dance in a group setting. Then show off your new moves at the dance party from 7 - 9. Costumes are encouraged. Time: 6 - 9 p.m. Cost: Thriller lesson, $5; dance party, $10. Information: 207-594-0940 or visit www.swingandsway.com October 29 to October 31 Halloween Murder Mystery Weekend Norumbega Inn, Camden, ME This is more for the tourists or people who can afford the cost, but worth a mention. The Norumbega Inn, Maine's legendary castle by the sea in Camden, hosts a Halloween Murder Mystery Weekend to die for; the weekend offers guests an unusual opportunity to perform alongside professional actors while sleuthing to determine "whodunit." Wine and cheese receptions, two elegant seated dinners, and two gourmet breakfasts are included. Location: Norumbega Inn, 63 High Street. Cost: $225 per person for two-night program. Information: 207-236-4646 or visit www.norumbegainn.com Saturday, October 30 Midcoast Zombie Walk Starting at Camden Amphitheatre 2:00- 8:30 pm Be prepared for the onslaught dressed in your zombie worst and make your way towards the center of Camden with the rest of the undead. Parts of the walk will be filmed and used in a short, locally made zombie movie. To attend, click here. Saturday, October 30 Halloween Season Opener The Underground Lounge Hosted by Hot Pink Flannel 8:00 pm -1:00 am Costume contest with cash prize, Live Music, Hot Damn DJs, Freak Show, Dance music and the coolest people you know. $5 cover. FMI: click here Saturday October 30 All Aboard Trolley Haunted Trolley Ride 5:00 pm A Haunted Trolley Ride is starting at 5:00 pm for one group already. If there is enough interest, they will run a second trolley. $30 per person includes trolley ride, tip, pizza and Express Ticket to Fort Knox (separate line)"The Trolley of Freaks"will pick your group up, take you to Fort Knox's Fright Night fort tour (one of the spookiest around), stopping at the Witches Foot graveyard on the way, get you take-out pizzas then drop you off in downtown Rockland for pub crawling by 9 or 9:30. Thx to Stephanie McMahan Herrick for doing a lot of the research on this! FMI: contact All Aboard Trolley Saturday, October 30 8:00- 1:00 pm Three Tides & Marshall Wharf Brewing Company, Belfast A black light Halloween dance party with NYC DJ Captain Mo and Portland based DJ Ian Hammond. $5 cover 21 + w/ID 17 Marshall Wharf beers on tap. Bring out your dead! Saturday, October 30 Thompson Community Center's BYOB Halloween Party Laura's band "Rave On" is playing a Halloween party- danceable classic rock. $10 fee but bring your booze. Prizes for best costume and they run a snack bar all night. FMI: click here Saturday, October 30 Merry Masquerade to Benefit Merryspring 7:00 - 10:30 PM Merryspring Nature Center will present a Merry Masquerade at High Mountain Hall in Camden on Saturday from . A costume ball to benefit Merryspring, the Merry Masquerade will feature music by the Vistas, dancing, specialty hors d'oeuvres, door prizes and a cash wine/beer bar. Tickets, $25, are available at the door or in advance at Merryspring.Call 236-2239 or visit www.merryspring.org. Saturday October 30 Amore Restaurant and Lounge Celebrate the night with the girls! Drag show with Pandora Boxx and the Divas. FMI: click here. Saturday, October 30 Damnationland Horror Short Films Colonial Theatre, Belfast 9 PM "Damnationland: The Way Life Should Bleed," is a touring show featuring seven short films by Maine filmmakers, writers, actors and musicians. According to The Portland Press Herald, "The horror anthology film is a first in Maine movie history with seven professional local filmmakers and seven new original short films combined to create one very scary-looking, completely original horror flick." Check out the (NSFW) trailer at www.damnationland.com. Cost: $7. Not appropriate for younger than 17. Damnation, why does there have to be so many competing fun things to do on one night? Sunday, October 31 NEED EXTRAS! Filming Halloween Party Scene! 4:00pm - 10:00pm Looking for friends to come to Jason's place to help be extras in his first ever short film, RAPTURE. We have had to reschedule the original film shoot planned, and now there will be an actual Halloween party while we film. BYOB and snacks, etc., there will be a dj in the house! Also, if you have lights, blacklights or decorative party lights you could bring, that would be fabulous!FMI: click here Pub Creepy Crawl Rockland Friday, October 29 Mc-Hale's, 8 Lindsey St Come join our halloween party on Oct 29, prizes, dance contest, best costume, or come as you are, DJ Heath playing dance music all night. 7:00pm - 11:30pm Saturday, October 30 Black Bull Live music by Bill Cameron. No cover, but no "official" costume party hosted either. People will be there in costume likely because of the crawl though. Saturday, October 30 Halloween Costume Dance Party w/DJ Andy. $100 cash prize for best costume. No cover Camden Friday, October 29 Smokestack Grill is having a Halloween party--possibly all weekend long! But they're kicking it off Friday night (10 pm) with drink specials, contests, prizes for best costume and music with DJ Andy. Saturday, October 30 Karaoke Halloween costume party at Cuzzy's. Saturday, October 30 Simonton Corner is having a public Halloween party I'm told. This is mostly word of mouth as they don't advertise anything online. If anyone has more details they can post them on The Killer Convo's Facebook page and I'll update this list! Rad HappeningsYou live here in the Midcoast. It's not like the city, where mind-blowing, creative shindigs are happening all the time...on a Tuesday. We're lucky when we get anyone to pay attention to us up in the north forty. Rad Happenings are the kind of events or scenes that are developing here that you will probably want to be hip to. If you are blind and need to see this bigger, click here.
|
The Killer ConvoThis blog is a is a killer roundup of all arts, entertainment, brewery & distillery, food trucks, happy hour happenings in the Midcoast Maine. Feel free to email me anything about Midcoast arts, entertainment & the creative economy. Archives
June 2021
Categories
All
|