This winter has been very mild, though it’s a bit chilly this morning as I sit on the couch bundled up with the Xugar the hairless dog and sip my coffee. looks like a perfect day to spend in the studio.

I plan to mix up a pallet of greys and layout the under painting on several new panels. I have eight new paintings in the works and one old one that I love but it’s not working. I might just sand off the half that’s not coming together and re-conceive it. I hate to do it , when you consider the time you’ve already put into it, but when you get stuck sometimes it’s best to tear down and start fresh.

I’ve been developing a big cardboard sculpture project. It may or may not be happening so I don’t want to say anymore  so as not to jinx it. I’ll know more in February. Keep your fingers crossed!

Photo by Rosanna Salonia

The Big Calaca

Brazed 18 ga. Steel Wire. White Cotton Fabric, Polyurethane, 12 V CF Lighting
14′ X 5.5′ X 4.5′

2012 was a rather painfull year, a dear friend passed away in the early part of the year. He was a rather remarkable person and in his honor I produced this huge lantern. It was featured in the All Souls Procession and built during numerous lantern making workshops I organized for the procession. The Big Calaca was mounted on a bike cart and powered with a twelve volt battery.

Thank You.

Myklwells

photo: Rosanna Salonia

In 2008 Michael Carroll, Don Spaulding and I developed a shadow theater for GLOW.  Michael was the brains of this adventure, I only provided a sculptural element and some advice. Don made many of the Mechanical elements. The end result was truly breathtaking. I have spent the last three years developing a more robust version of this that I would like to take to Burning Man and other night time festivals around the U.S. There is a lot that goes into an animatronic show like this. Controllers, DMX lighting, Power supply, Steel, Stepper and Servo motors, Speakers and wire. I estimate that this project will cost in the neighborhood of $5000. Since I don’t have the complete parts list I don’t know exactly. I could use some support in the form of Technical Assistance, materials and funding. If you are interested in getting involved in a project like this, please contact me.

Contact: info@myklwells.com or via Facebook

Held on the Dock at Dinnerware Artspace
Sunday October 9th, 16th, 23rd and 30th
From 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM each workshop.

In the Mexican tradition the Day of the Dead is a time of celebration. Unlike many other traditions that surround death and mourning, it is not a time of loss, but a time when we feel the presence of our loved ones and enjoy their company. So it is in that spirit of fun, remembrance, community and celebration that I am happy to announce this year’s All Souls Lantern Making Workshop.

If you have materials or some money to contribute to this year’s workshop, please consider doing so. We need big pieces of cardboard, white glue or something similar, paper, snap blade box cutters and extra blades, things like plastic flowers for decoration and poles; I use yucca stalks and bamboo, but even an old broom handle will suffice. If you can’t contribute in that way please come down anyway. We always manage to have enough. I’m available to pick up materials before the workshop or just bring them down. Any money donated will go to buying materials. If there’s any left over it will be donated to Many Mouths One Stomach, the organizing entity for the procession.

We will be making the cardboard lanterns that I designed and developed after Artist Paul Bagley’s 2006 lantern, in which he honored his family. Many of you are familiar with this design and have seen them in the Procession, at GLOW and also during Luminights. These are beautiful lanterns and photos can be inkjet printed and glued into the windows. They can be lit with LED lights available from dollar stores all over town, flashlights, Glow-wire, etc. This style of lantern takes a few hours to construct so get to the workshop early.

For those of you who would like to try their hand at something more challenging I have taken the basic principals of the basic lantern design and advanced it so that you can make much more complex forms. These take time so expect to contribute a couple of Sundays to crafting one of these.

Finally, I lost a very dear friend this year to cancer. In his honor I am making a large sculptural lantern which will be mounted on wheels and towed. This project is already underway. It’s a big project and time is short, so I can use all the help I can get.

My friend was a member of the LGBT community, or as he put it a “filthy old queen”. He was a real forerunner in the activist community, being a member of the Cockettes. He was one of the original 60′s Flower Children which, for those who aren’t familiar with the history, was originally a group of out gay and lesbian hippies who adopted flower names for themselves. Only later did the term become generalized to mean the rebellious young people of the time. Snapdragon was the moniker my friend adopted though we just knew him as Snappy. He spent his life in the company of artist and thinkers on the fringe. He told of dinner parties with John Waters and of knife wielding drag queens down in San Francisco’s Tenderloin in the early seventies. At the end of his life he lived with and cared for long time friend Bill Bowers, well know photographer and AIDS survivor. To me he was a dear friend and endless source of delight. Snappy was a lot of fun and he wouldn’t want us to be all sad and weepy, well maybe a little but then he’d want the party to begin. So it is my hope that this project not only honor Snapdragon Mukluk, but also any one who stands up defiantly and unapologetically as who they are.

So, I’m sending out a special request. If you are a member of the LGBT community or if your life has been touched by by someone special like Snappy, for whom the cutting edge is but a fleeting glow in their rear-view mirror, then come down and make a lantern, contribute some of your time to honor our rebels and renegades, and remember those who mean the most.

Thanks

P.S. A SUPER SPECIAL THANKS TO DAVID AGUIRRE for letting us use the dock at Dinnerware Artspace this year.

ALL OTHER SCHEDULED WORKSHOPS ARE STILL ON!

workshops will be held on the 23rd and 30th of October from 11 AM-4 PM at Dinnerware Artspace 119 E. Toole.

I am trying to get an extra workshop squeezed in before the procession. If I succeed  I will announce it here, on facebook and twitter.

My Sincerest apologies.
Mykl Wells

WordPress is a personal publishing system. It allows you to manage the content of your website without costly software. WordPress is blessed with an active user and developer community. It is open source software and free to use and modify.

Themes influence the look, feel and function of a WordPress website. WPFolio is a theme for WordPress. It was specifically designed for visual artists and takes full advantage of the powerful communication tools built into WordPress.

This is an introductory 2 day workshop for visual artists. We will be using WordPress and the WPFolio theme to build an online portfolio. The workshop will give an introduction to WordPress. Participants will follow along on their personal laptops as we build a basic portfolio website. This workshop is geared towards visual artists. Writers, musicians and performers are welcome to take this workshop but it will not address the special needs associated with those practices.

Registration

This workshop is limited to 10 people. Slots will be filled on a first come first serve basis. There is a $20 non-refundable deposit required at the time of registration. Deposits go towards tuition. To Register send an email to register@myklwells.com. You will then receive confirmation that there is an open slot and further instructions within 48 hours.

Deadline for registration is November, 4, 2011 11PM

Tuition

The Workshop is $180.00 and includes one years free web hosting ($80.00 a year there after) and WordPress with the WPFolio Theme pre-installed. Participants must provide their own domain name. Participants may use their own webhosting but I can not offer any breaks on the tuition.

Dates and Times:

November 19th and 20th 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM (with a one hour break for lunch).

Location:

Dinnerware Artspace 109 E. Toole

Workshop Preparation:

Participants need to bring the following to the workshop.
• A Wifi enabled laptop (Mac or PC) with image editing software such as photoshop or GIMP installed.

• At least 12 digital images of your work. Images should be at least 900 pixels wide or larger.

• Have a domain name, Hosting with WordPress already installed and WPFolio in the theme folder. If you don’t know what that means or are unsure I am available to help you by appointment. Participants not taking advantage of the free webhosting package are responsible to make sure the webhost they use provides the necessary functionality (PHP 5 or higher and MySQL). I will still install WordPress on your host whether i’m hosting it or not. It’s very important that we all start on the same page.

• If you go with your own webhosting I recommend Dreamhost.I have used them for over ten years with little or no trouble.

The free webhosting included in the package is also on a Dreamhost server. I rent a server from Dreamhost and resell space on it to cover it’s operating costs. I am able to offer yearly hosting for less than Dreamhost and I manage all the technicalities for you. I will be happy to discuss this setup with you and what it includes but it is far too much too include here. Suffice it to say that the hosting is more than adequate and if you have a hosting problem you can call me, a real live person and I will take care of it.

IS THIS WORKSHOP RIGHT FOR YOU?

If you are a visual artist and do not have an online portfolio,or have a website that you can not manage yourself,or are paying someone else to upload images to, or would like to move your website to a content management system -Then YES!
This workshop is a hands on workshop so if you don’t have a wifi enabled laptop there is no point taking it. Most of the work we will be doing will be online.

HOW MUCH WEB EXPERIENCE DO YOU NEED?

Not much. A basic understanding of how to work a computer and some internet skills. if you can operate a word processor you can use WordPress.
Some familiarity with what WordPress or other CMS’s are will really help. Even Better if you are familiar with WordPress, Drupal, Movable Type, Blogger, Tumblr or similar.
Familiarity with image editing software like photoshop. You should understand Terms like “DPI”, “Screen Resolution” and “Pixels”.

IF YOU ALREADY USE WORDPRESS AND WPFOLIO…

This is probably not the workshop for you. If you’ve taken any of my previous workshops then this is not the workshop for you. This is a starting from zero ground up introductory workshop. This is not for advance technical support or advice for people already using/familliar with WordPress. If you are not sure you can always ask me and we can determine if this is right for you. I do plan to offer more adanced workshops in the future and they will be geared to users who are ready to move on to the next stage.

Questions? Call ME!

Or dial 520 955-9019