on remembering gauvin 1961-2012
photo of gauvin by Cole Smothers
Late Fragment by Ray Carver
New Path to the Waterfall
And did you get what
you wanted from this life, even so?
I did.
And what did you want?
To call myself beloved,
to feel myself beloved on the earth.
If he was listening in with me on Sunday October 14, 2012 to the crowd of 200 at Ventura’s Bell Arts Factory, the late Warren Gauvin would certainly have felt himself beloved.
A who’s who of regional poets, painters, photographers and sculptors joined friends and family to tell stories to celebrate the life of the mixed media and performance artist who went gauvin (uncapitalized) and who died on Monday, October 8, 2012 of Hodgkins Disease, just a few weeks shy of his 51 birthday Nov. 26.
Friends covered the walls of the community room with his artwork to raise funds for expenses; the celebration featured video of his performances, slide shows of his artwork, singing by his brother, and remembrances. Read more…
gauvin: “i couldn’t see the bored”
I always loved this mixed media artwork of gauvin’s …the inventiveness of it and the message…
It was my favorite so you can imagine how pleased I was when he gave it to me as a thank you for believing in him… and for being his friend…and for all I had done for him.
that’s Eartha Kitt in the right corner sitting in for gauvin’s mom…and there’s a red rooster in the far right bottom…
My nearly nine year old son is fascinated by the mixed media–how he incorporates the pieces of toys and that he’s actually painting, screwing, and gluing the parts onto a chalkboard.
You can imagine my disappointment when he told me he wanted it back. I was afraid he’d try to sell it to get drugs. He finally told me he wanted to give to his mom…that’s her down there in the right corner at the house (probably sitting on the edge of the bed with her red bedspread).
We made an arrangement for mutual friends to ship it to his mom. But that didn’t happen before he died.
I so can relate to this piece that I selfishly still want it. I will offer it to his family on Sunday at the Memorial. If they want it, I will freely give it to them. If they don’t want it, I will offer to buy it back.
I spent much of yesterday afternoon researching this post–taking photographs of the piece, looking for the original of the Eartha Kitt image, listening and watching videos of gauvin, Earth Kitt and Chuck Willis to choose which to feature in this post. I also listened to hours of Nina Simone today: gauvin was a huge fan.
Here’s gauvin doing a piece about his mother:
And here’s Earth Kitt doing the St Louis Blues:
Finally, Chuck Willis “What’s Your Name”:
3150 Loma Vista Road, Ventura, CA 93003
Related articles
- r.i.p. mister warren gauvin b.11/26/61: celebration of life this sunday (artpredator.wordpress.com)
- renee zellweger & basquiat hit the road (artpredator.wordpress.com)
…now i didn’t know anything bout what had
become everything. all i did know is it was a big bad
and was behind me so i moved mighty fast forward.
i did not look back. that’s when i noticed my feet was wet.i didn’t knock nobody down, but i did push a few
forward, who by being in my way weren’t moving fast
enough and looked like they needed the only help i could
offer running for my life…a good push. yes i did jump
over a few but they was already down, didn’t look like
they were in a getting up way so i leapt over em. i
screamed to mattie may’s old man. the nice one never
did nothing to nobody. roll if you can’t run but get to coming…excerpt from “Damn Dam” by gauvin
gauvin
On Monday Oct 8, 2012 my friend gauvin passed away from Hodgkin’s Disease. He was nearly 51 years old.
I’m at a loss for words. Even posting this is difficult as it reinforces the truth that my friend is really gone for good: no more poems, no more paintings, no more performances, no more songs. We had been friends for nearly 20 years, and we were very very close friends for several of those years. We even traveled together to the Taos Poetry Circus where he lost the big slam due to a time penalty.
On Sunday October 14 at 11am, friends and family will gather for gauvin’s memorial and life celebration at the Bell Arts Factory 432 N. Ventura Ave. Ventura, CA 93001. The announcement read in part:
For gauvin, life and art were obviously one,
and all expression
was prayer.His performance art embodied his capacities for
improvisation, poetry and song.gauvin’s visual art is immediate,
dark, humorous, and powerful
in both its execution and impact.
All are welcome to the Memorial; gauvin’s paintings will be on display and available for sale. Donations are being solicited to help the family raise the funds to assist with transportation, funeral and burial expenses. Ted Mayr Funeral Home in Ventura is handling arrangements and is willing to accept donations on the part of the family. Donations may be made directly to the Ted Mayr Funeral Home, 3150 Loma Vista Road, Ventura, CA 93003 or by calling (805) 643-9977.
I have three mixed media paintings by gauvin in my collection and I intend to post them here soon. I will try to write more then as well.
There’s a lot of life to live. And some weekends you need more than one life to live it!
This Saturday’s competing events in Ventura County and LA include LA Decompression (1pm to dawn), the Ventura Oysterfest at the Ventura State Beach (11-6pm), the Highland Games at Seaside Park (also Sunday), StoryFest (at the ESC from 9-3pm), Leo Kotke at Libbey Bowl in Ojai as well as the Ojai Studio Artists self guided tour (also Sunday)…and I am sure I am forgetting a few things!
Starting Thursday, Burners from SoCal have been setting up for Saturday Oct. 13’s 10th Official Los Angeles Burning Man Decompression Arts and Music Festival featuring a large art installation created by the burner community “Seraphim: The Spirit of Unification” with four angels guarding a vortex. The installation was supposed to burn but because of fire hazards, the burn was cancelled. Of course, then it rained like crazy in LA but the fire was already cancelled.
Even without the inaugural burn, the event has so much to offer there’s an app for it: LA Decompression 2012! Read more…
Next Monday, 10/15/12 is Blog Action Day: The theme this year is The Power of We! Get your posts written!
 Coming soon, to a blog near you–BLOG ACTION DAY! I’ve participated on several of my blogs over the years, and encouraged my students to register and write as well. This year, I hope you will participate too! It’s easy–the directions follow from an email I received from organizers: |
This time next week, thousands of bloggers from around the globe will come together on October 15 to talk about one topic – The Power of We.We would love to see your blog, once again be part of Blog Action Day as an official participant. All you need to do is:
|
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renee zellweger & basquiat hit the road
When he came out of the bathroom
at Macy’s Coffeehouse in Flagstaff
walking all strange and saying
we had to leave immediately,
right away, let’s go NOW in a hiss,
I could have killed him
when we got to my van
me juggling hot coffee and croissant
and unlocking the doors when
I watched him pull
a rolled up poster
out of his pants. Read more…
What’s hardest about being human for you?
Hard is it to be born a man;
hard is the life of mortals.
Hard is it to gain the opportunity
of hearing the Sublime Truth,
and hard to encounter
is the arising of the Buddhas.
Dhammapada 18201
Every Friday, Sally McNally teaches one of the best yoga classes in the county–and she does it for free. Any money collected at the class she donates to the An Lac Buddhist Temple located on the corner of Saticoy Avenue and Darling in east Ventura, California.
Sally often jokes how hard it is to
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90 Days to 2013 & a 2012 3:15 Experiment Poem
August 1, 2012 3:15am Ventura CA
I can’t believe it’s 3:15am August 1 2012
Another year has passed
And it’s a birthday of sorts
A birth day birth way
writing is a birth way of sorts
A fast pen is the fast car
the get away from here to there
taking you from the expected to the
unexpected if you’re lucky
the pen will drive you to find out
what you actually believe in
what’s real at 3:15
may not ever be real again (vertical going up the page)
The harvest moon is gorgeous and full and it’s actually Monday, October 1, not August 1. ‘m celebrating that I got my summer field paper in for my PhD at Pacifica Graduate Institute in community, liberation and ecopsychology. The paper is 28 pages long–cover, abstract, 2 pages of references, and 24 pages of text (including two of my own 3:15 experiment poems on how to write at 3:15am and another on the topic that I call “the dodo.” )
Curious? Here’s the title and the abstract:
Spell of the numinous, search for the synchronous:
A Depth Psychological Approach to The 3:15 Experiment
and To Producing a Social Dreaming Matrix at a Feminist Art Exhibition
Abstract
Using the tools of writing in altered states of consciousness, social dreaming, and active imagination as described by Mary Watkins, Steve Aiszenstat, and others, along with the depth psychological approach of James Hillman of “seeing through,” I prepared to produce a social dreaming matrix that will culminate in dream theater; I facilitated the 2012 3:15 Experiment and invited participants to record dreams; I reviewed past 3:15 Experiment poetry looking for convergences, divergences, and synchronicities; and I began the selection of 3:15 poems for a 2oth anniversary anthology. Preliminary research indicated the timing, scope, and scale proved greater than the timeframe; however, results suggested pathways for discovering ways to bring aesthetic experiences to daily life, to heal the disease of the absence of Aphrodite (Hillman, 1998, p. 63). The production of the anthology may lead to more insights about synchronicities in the 3:15 Experiment.
Photo by David Pu’u
Related articles
- 3:15 Experiment Celebrates 20 years of writing in altered states of consciousness (artpredator.wordpress.com)
- 12 Ideas On How To Do Social Dreaming (compassionaterebel.wordpress.com)
- “Experiences in Social Dreaming” (compassionaterebel.wordpress.com)
- Social Dream Matrix (whitecranes.wordpress.com)
- Art Making after a Social Dream Matrix (whitecranes.wordpress.com)
- Synchronicities ~ Messages From The Invisible Universe ! (ascendingstarseed.wordpress.com)
WTFU: 2 Funny Pro-Obama Videos Use Profanity to Get Attention
I’m not sure which one I like better, Samuel Jackson’s riff on the Dr Seuss book “WTFU” that came out yesterday or Sarah Silverman‘s video, which came 
out a week ago where she encourages would be voters to get gun licenses because if you have a gun license you can use that as ID to vote.
Both of these hilarious recent videos produced and released by the Jewish Council for Education and Research use profanity to get viewers attention and I really had second thoughts about publishing them here but my husband encouraged me so here goes. Remember: DON’T Be OFFENDED! If you have sensitive ears, don’t watch them!
And if you’re an Obama hater, these videos will really punish your sensitivity!
Enjoy.
And yeah, even though it looks like Obama has the election, if we don’t go vote, or if we do go and we can’t vote because we don’t have proper ID, Romney will win. And while you may not be a big Obama fan, I am sure you are NOT going to like living in Romney’s country.
Oh, and one more thing: just in case you were in doubt, Barack Obama is not a Muslim. But if he was, I would still vote for him. Very few Muslims are terrorists just like very few white male Christians shoot guns at co-workers, teachers and students, random people in movie theaters, etc. etc.
Related articles
- Jewish Council for Education and Research: WTFU (creativity-online.com)
- Akin’s Sexist Remark, Samuel L. Jackson’s ‘WTFU’ Obama Ad, and More (truthdig.com)
Happy Harvest Moon!
“When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.”
~ Audre Lorde in The Cancer Journals, Special Edition, Aunt Lute Books, San Francisco, CA, 1997, p. 13.
AUTUMN!
Monarch butterflies float in the barranca,
grapes harvested and crushed for wine,
pumpkins getting bigger on the vine,
sun, lower on the horizon,
pours light into my living room by day;
by night I watch the harvest moon grow large.
Celebrate this time
of change by joining the MID-AUTUMN FESTIVAL “Moon Festival of Children” SATURDAY (9/29/2012) at the An Lac Mission 901 S. Saticoy at Darling Road in east Ventura, CA 93004.
From 2-pm, enjoy lion dances, music by The Together Band, a magic show, and vegetarian Vietnamese food including tofu pancakes, fresh banana cakes, sugarcane juice, and fried…
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art predator 