Wreck This Journal Part V - Return of the Journal

Hello world! It's been a while. Three years to be exact. A lot has happened in the time that has passed, but most importantly my Wreck this Journal continues to decay more and more every day. Wreck this Journal was one of my blog's most popular subjects, and it continues to be one of my most favorite projects I've ever worked on. Over the years I have experimented with many ways to wreck my journal, but it never occurred to me that one element would continue to wreck it long after I got tired- Time itself.

I wanted to document how much has changed since the last time I updated. The change is especially noticeable if you go all the way back to my first post about WTJ those many years ago. Go ahead and catch up with my progress if you haven't yet....

My Journey With Keri Smith's Wreck This Journal 

1) The Beginning.....
2) WTJ Part Two
3) WTJ Part Three - Vengeance 
4) WTJ Part Four - The Reckoning

Wreck this Journal - The front cover's changes over time. Check out how wrinkly it gets and that doodle in pink paint pen that slowly fades away. 

So let's take a look at what I've been up to for the past 3 years..... *cracks open journal*

Wreck This Journal - The Title Page. This page is weird and kind of shrunken down because of all the times I've had to tape/glue/sew the binding back shut.  

Here is my Wreck this Journal table of contents page. I had to make my own, since it isn't provided with one to begin with. I think creating a table of contents is an excellent way to keep your journal more "organized." I can't tell you how many times I had an idea or an item to put in my journal but had to spend five minutes flipping through it to find that specific page... the table of contents is a total game changer in that sense. And besides, you already numbered the pages, it's just begging you to make a table of contents somewhere!

Also, check out how many crossed out pages there are... all the ones that I can say are 100% finished to my best ability! Almost every page has something on it already, but not all of them were followed through completely. More on that later, though. 

The instructions page, personally one of my favorite illustrations I've done in this book. The yellow is bleeding through from the next page, but I was pleasantly surprised by how well it worked with the drawing's composition already! I think that's one of Wreck this Journal's themes - unexpectedly beautiful results.

Materials and Add your Own Numbers pages. I took the materials page literally and found or used pretty much everything mentioned in the list. Except for combs, because they're evil and I hate them. Watch out for combs. 

Crack the Spine and Leave This Page Blank.... When my mom saw my doodle of the journal getting its spine broken, she thought it was a rooster. If you went to high school with me you will recognize the hideous creature on the right as a "Boobybutt" since it is made out of a butt and a pair of boobs at the same time :D

Stand here and wipe your feet - This page is kind of cute because I got my cousins to help me when they were still really little. Their tiny feet fit perfectly on the page! They aren't so little anymore now though... time flies.

Pour coffee on this page- The coffee doesn't appear to be faded at all.

Poke Holes in this page using a pencil - This is a classic Wreck this Journal page because it's one of the first tasks that Keri Smith asks you to accomplish and it really helps push you out of your comfort zone. I love seeing the many different interpretations of this page in particular. Most people finish this page in some way.

Eat your enemies - wait, that doesn't have anything do with wrecking my journal!

Gross... glad to see the dirty handprints page hasn't changed much at all, either.

Wreck This Journal - Color this entire page

Wreck This Journal- Throw something dipped in paint

Wreck this Journal - Press Flowers Here

Scratch using a sharp oject - I can't even remember what the object was. A safety pen I think. And then I scratched it with a fork, because why not?

Do rubbings with a pencil- I waited too long to do this page and as a result, no amount of coloring or pencil shading could make any rubbing outlines appear - the paper was too worn and soft by then. So, I pulled the artist's equivalent of an Ashlee Simpson on SNL and completely phoned it in by drawing a king skull and a big fat fly head over everything. 

Tear strips, rip it up / Tape or stable these pages together - This works out because I was able to keep the strips intact!

Fill this page with circles - I like making hinges on things. So I hinged together two beer coasters with tape.

I decided to document my (apparently evil) dessert instead of an entire meal. The guy wearing a hardhat and holding a microphone while standing on a cupcake is from a birthday card I made up for our office supervisor. He's short, works in construction, and likes to yell a lot - I can't believe I found the perfect clip art for that very specific description.

Chew On This - I think this page turned out pretty cool, if not a little bit gross. I'm just glad I did the chewing before I put all of that rotting food in my book (ice cream sandwiches, gushers, dirt, gum, mmmm tasty) 

Make a paper airplane - well it is on paper, does that count?

Wrap   Keep something on this page - I decided to keep a pocket full of random clutter. Except for the special tiny book I made out of scrap paper.

"Please never stop what you're doing!" OK, I won't! There are a few other cute messages I wrote in this book, but this one is my favorite.

Tongue Painting- This page is a mess. The little dancing women figures on the left page were drawn on transparency paper and made into overlapping stickers. There used to be a little bit of a blue popsicle stain in the tongue painting part, but it has long since faded away.

Write one word over and over / Tear out and crumple - Um, well, this page is what it is. There are a few "break up pages" in my book, embarrassingly enough, but I do have to find it funny my Wreck This Journal survived longer more than one long term relationship.  While that all feels like a lifetime ago, my journal serves as a constant.

I tried to press flowers on this page, too, but unfortunately I was too aggressive in my wrecking and now all that is left of those pretty flowers are the sticks. 

Wreck this Journal - Pick up the journal without using your (scissor) hands.

Do a really ugly drawing - Poop is so funny. 

I kind of find the lack of decay in the Aisle of Gushers kind of fascinating. They've been stewing in here for a good three years now and they're still as "gushy" as the day I put them in there. There must be a lot of preservatives in those things! And we put this stuff in our bodies, and we give it to our children as a fun snack. Gushers are delicious though so I'm likely not to change my ways regardless. I'm just lucky my journal just didn't randomly turn into a giant anthropomorphic watermelon after adding these in (does anyone get that reference?)

As the great philosopher Zoolander once said: "This is how you get ants!"

Wreck this Journal - Pretend you are doodling on the back of an envelope

Add fruit stickers here / Make paper chains 

Journal Golf - I don't think my journal could stand up on it's own like this anymore!

Wreck This Journal - Bring this book in the shower with you

Wreck This Journal - Rub here with dirt

Test page - This page actually ended up coming in super handy. I used it when I was cleaning out my marker bag. Many brave heroes were laid to rest that day.

When I last wrote about my WTJ, this page was the only one holding the two giant halves of my book together, by a little sliver of paper. It's weirdly appropriate that this was page I ended up having to sew through. 

Details of the stitches. I haven't had any trouble with my book since sewing it back together!

A place for your grocery Netflix list - Did you know that Netflix didn't add a "Watch Later" list to their service until 2013? Before that, you just had to remember what you wanted to watch.  Or, write it down in a WTJ for example. The list is way outdated now, and most of the stuff here isn't even in their library anymore! I continued to mark off items as I watched them, though. I'm actually kind of proud by how many I ended up watching. Sometimes by chance, sometimes because I actually referred back this list. Convenient! 

Add stamps here - I managed to acquire all sorts of weird stamps! Lots of Canadian ones and some from the UK. Even a few from prison. I had to edit this photo a little bit to protect people's privacy. 

Wreck this Journal- Cover this page with white things. I love how all these white things are discoloring at a different rate. Some turn gray, some turn yellow, and some haven't aged a day.

Wreck This Journal - Scribble Wildly Using Borrowed Pens

Make a mess and clean it up - For a while I used this page for a "bucket list" type list but after a while I just decided that the best way for me to clean up the "mess of my life" is to be satisfied with it just the way it is.

Doodle over top of this page- One of the more popular illustrations from my journal.  I swear, it's that rich blue color that draws everyone in. Fun fact! The blue pen I used to draw this was made out of  recycled waterbottles. 

Wreck This Journal - Page of Good Thoughts. Pro life tip: Always thank someone for compliments instead of trying to down play it. What are you doing, calling them a liar?

Wreck this Journal - Write Carelessly Now

Wreck This Journal - Glue Random Items Here
I liked Chewbacca before he was cool again.

Wreck this Journal - Cut through several layers

X-ACTO blade powers, activate!

Glue a page from a magazine - So, I got my hands on a magazine that was all about mushrooms. It's called Fungi Perfecti and they are the most adorably impassioned people in the world. They really love their mushrooms! Then I imagined what all the mushrooms would look like if they could emote and have faces. The results are pure perfecti. 

I think these doodles came out so cute that I may do a series of them in the future.

Here's a detail of what is behind the mini pages. Giant Scooby Doo burger shroom!

Wreck this Journal - Color outside of the lines

Wreck this Journal - Connect the dots from memory

Invite people to draw here - I wish I would have collected more interesting doodles from people. There's still time though! 

Draw with glue - I was "stuck" on this page for a while *rimshot* mainly because glue is kind of hard to get to show up on white paper as a design. So I just colored over it with a bunch of crayons, and then drew some hipster diamonds all over everything else.

Wreck this Journal - Trace Your Hand

Wreck this Journal - Create a drawing using a piece of your dog hair.

This is another "guest page" inspired by a person who I am no longer dating. They drew the weird creature on the left and I colored and over worked everything like I usually do. The little eyes are actually tabs that flip up and have rude blurbs underneath them.

Wreck This Journal - Page for four letter words

Document Time Passing - I can still remember how relieved I was to get home from that road trip. I documented the last 30 minutes of it and I felt every minute in its entirety. 

Wreck This Journal - Scrub this Page. With a steel wool so it comes out spic and span! 

Hide a secret message somewhere - There are actually many different secret messages written in this book. So many I couldn't even tell you what they are or where in the book they are!

Write a list of more ways to wreck this journal - This page is a weird scribbly mess! I tried my best to complete these tasks... "letting it go" will be a hard thing to do though. 

Wreck This Journal - Sleep with the journal

Stain log? More like "PAIN LOG!" I'm going to add that in one day.

Doodle over top of this page and in the margins - I made a little robot with metallic paint chips! 

Funny story about this page. One day I'm driving in my car and I start noticing all these sugar ants. Not a huge amount but enough for me to take note. Anyways I could NOT find where they were coming from, but luckily they eventually receded instead of infesting my entire car. A few weeks later I uncovered my Wreck this Journal from my car (IDK sometimes I take it with me) and I suddenly found out where those sugar ants were coming from. Apparently I had spilled a Wendy's frosty all over this page.... it was still kind of sticky, and peppered with sugar ants. Poor little guys didn't stand a chance. Anyways  I just smooshed the effected area back down and pretended it never happened. The Frosty kind of works as glue now.  

We've finally made it to the back cover of my Wreck This Journal *closes book shut... sort of*

So there it is.. my Wreck this Journal in all its glory. I think I'm down to about 14 pages that are incomplete but I have to admit they've been a pill to finish. There are a few reasons that they're holding me back, but I'm going to write another post on those stubborn pages later. I just wanted to do an update on this subject since it's been such a long time. Expect more posts soon, I have lots to still discuss.

Update 11/28/16:
After thinking on it for a long time, I've decided that I'm not going to finish those last pages after all. The journal is as finished as it will ever be, and that's okay. I think that those final pages are a testament to how difficult it is to "completely finish" a Wreck This Journal. It's an important lesson for me as well, that the journal will never be "perfect," like our lives that are forever works in progress. I think it's time for me to let go of this particular book. I thank everyone for keeping up with me over the years with my journal and taking this creative journey with me. And it has been quite the journey.

Expect one more thing about Wreck this Journal very soon. A special surprise as a thank you to all the readers. Stay tuned. - Edit: Here it is!

Feel free to share your journey with Keri Smith's Wreck this Journal below in the comments. I'd love to hear what you think about my interpretations of the pages.

Flowertown Players and Artists wiith Conviction Coalition presents- The Science of Art

The Science of Art- "Einstein" by Robert Frank

 As a part of The Flowertown Players' "Science of Art" Gala Fundraiser, the new art group I started called 'The Artists with Conviction Coalition' got to put together a free outdoor art show. I was honored to have the opportunity to organize this show on Coaltion's behalf in tandem with our new allies at the Flowertown. They were so kind, accommodating and helpful- they gave us a chance and we tried our best to earn our keep! I was going to make a point not to let them down.

It wasn't hard to get a handful of extremely talented artists from the group together to participate in this event. We are lucky that the Coalition has a lot of talent on hand. I am proud to say that by the end of the art deadline we had over 60 pieces to show in all! I couldn't believe the quality of work that poured in for this exhibit.

Here's an over all view of the walls of artwork created by the Artists with Conviction Coalition.

Painted by Heather Pallay and Erika Filipiak.

You may have noticed that the screens are painted with a delightful meadow & forest design. Once again, I'd have to give credit to Flowertown Players for that addition. They helped us build screens to hang art by recycling old sets of performances past. The particular show they recycled these screens from was their uber successful rendition of Wizard of Oz. I was told that these slats of wood were "The Last of the Oz Set." I like the fact that we are using the last brackground from something so successful as the first background of something so brand new. I feel like that gives the Coalition extra positive energy to go forward with in the future.

Plus, the exhibit has such a fresh and happy look to it, dont you think?
It's the springtime for the Coaliton!

View of the Flowertown/Coalition Gala festivities from afar.

 I guess I should explain what this event was all about in the first place. It was a fundraiser for Flowertown Players Theater to help them produce future shows and promote their newest performance, Picasso at the Lapine Agile (OCT 18th -NOV 1st). It is a play written by Steve Martin that answers a question that nobody thought to ask- "What would happen if Einstein and Picasso met in a bar?" Intelligent highbrow hilarity ensues! Needless to say, our "artsyness" fit in perfectly with the theme of this Gala.

The center of the exhibit featuring the grand piece "Bob Marley" by Christopher LeBeau.

Anyways, a lot of good and creative things came out of the woodwork. I was particularly proud to show pieces by artist Chris LeBeau, who is totally blowing up right now! In addition to this show he is going to be featured in at least 2 more this month, and for one of which he is a headlining artist. For our exhibit, he also brought some very cool Star Wars pieces to the table which got lots of attention from the Sci Fi fans.

Also featured was Nino Tria, a very old friend of mine from High School who is incredibly talented as well. (Make sure to check out his Tumblr for a bunch of his work and other things.) He heard of the event "late in the game" but still managed to finish up a brand new piece just in time for the show. His submissions are the colorful portraits of his siblings, situated directly below Bob Marley. I just love how they bring a little bit of extra poppy-ness and color to the display.

The right wall of our Flowertown Gala "Science of Art" Coalition exhibit featuring work from Candice Bizzell, Alexandra Roberts, Trina Lyn,  Lora Marsh, Heather Pallay, and Angela Hiott Morgane.

I can't possibly describe how cool every artwork was, all I can say is that these artists brought it. Almost all of the photography contributions came from either Candice Bizzell or Yoshika Johnson. Candice runs the Visual Arts Association for Trident Tech, so I was thrilled to get the chance to combine forces with yet another artsy group. I think it's great that all these different alliances can work together without feeling like we all need to compete with each other. We are all chasing after the same goals, so we might as well team up when we can.

Speaking of groups, check our our awesome Artists with Conviction Coalition flyer. I think it gets the point across! (Thanks HPallay for bailing me out when I forgot to print these, btw :-* Life saver. )

Another shot of the Artists with Conviction Coalition exhibit with work from Crystal King, Alexandra Roberts, Robert Frank, Angela Morgane and Alizey Khan.

 As my first time actually curating an event, I tried my best to organize the artworks by themes or colors. For example, the middle panel is dedicated to enlightenment and growth. I tried to organize all the "plant material" together in one general area. There was also a loose "cosmos" theme going on thanks to beautiful work by Angela Hiott Morgane and others.

Work by Alizey Khan, Yoshika Johnson, Chris Lebeau, Alexandra Roberts, and Robert Frank.

Another awesome wall of artwork- this one featuring more work by Chris Lebeau as well as another superstar in our midst, Alizey Khan. We became acquainted after the Coalition heard about the now famous incident of her work being stolen from the Charleston Library. It was awesome that she trusted us enough to allow us to show a couple of her incredibly intricate resin cosmo pieces.

Work by Christopher Lebeau, Christa Elrod, Lora Marsh, Trina Lyn, Heather Pallay and Crystal King.

 For the farthest side of the set up, I enjoyed making this quaint little "macabre corner" of artwork.  Lora Marsh's "Another Supper" piece, featured lower middle, got lots of attention from patrons. I also really dig Crystal King's expressive portrait contributions featured lower right. For some reason I thought they flowed well with the other creepy creations on this wall. You may also notice my ol' faithful Sugar Skull- it is foreshadowing of the next show I'm going to be participating in, Phil Hyman's Day of the Dead.  But more on that later!

The live science exhibit at the Flowertown Science of Art gala
with our resident scientists Edward Barnes & Michael Truxel.

Me and Robert competing in the Abstract "Draw Off."
We both won, of course :P

I can't forget to mention all the other cool things that were going on at the Science of Art gala. There was a live demonstration of science experiments including an experiment with surface tension and Science Sweet Tea! Also a free "Draw Off" booth courtesy of Summerville's own Bottles and Brushes. You had to draw a friend's portrait and whoever did the better one wins candy! On a side note- I have always had an admiration for Bottles and Brushes. They make art fun for people who didn't think they could be creative! If you're in the area, it's definitely worth signing up for one of their classes.

Did I mention they had a very competitive silent auction? Items up for auction included awesome gift baskets full of decadent goodies as well as gift certificates to local parks. People were going crazy over that stuff!

We were also treated with a live preview of the Flowertown Players of Summerville's production of "Picasso at the Lapine Agile." This is right before Picasso and Einstein have a Draw Off of their own. I guess if you want to find out who wins, you'll have to see the performance yourself! This is going to be a great play!

Heather Pallay getting her portrait drawn by yours truly.

Trina Lyn- Live Portrait Artist for Hire!

Oh, and check it out- Flowertown hired me to draw portraits of the patrons! I was thrilled to have a chance to share my art with everyone in this way. If anything, being able to draw people from life is an awesome party trick. 
My medium for the portraits was soft pastel- I had to brush up on my pastel skills before the show to make sure I could do a good job! It was worth the extra time though, pastels turned out to be a great medium for portrait drawing.

The Junior Service League of Summerville

The Science of Art Planning Committee- Hey, there's me...

This is the part where I just have to gush about all the other amazing volunteers that came out and helped put the show together...

Heather Pallay's "Wave #4" - a series about self growth

Firstly, there was Heather Pallay, the Theatre Administrator of Flowertown Players, who approached me with the idea of having a Coalition exhibit at their event in the first place. Everything she did for us after that just blows my mind... getting us screens, promoting the art group, even having the crazy idea of bringing all of the exhibit under a tent so that it wouldn't possibly get rained on- and it eventually did rain that day. This girl even bought me a mocha frappe after one of our committee meetings. If there could possibly be an award for "most helpful person for no reason" it would go to Heather Pallay. She is also a very creative artist that was gracious enough to contribute a few pieces to our Coalition show as well.

Me hangin' out with Bob Frank after drawing
each other at the Bottles and Brushes station :P

  I also have to give my pal Robert Frank and fellow Coalition Moderator a lot of kudos for helping get the pieces put up before the show. He was a huge part of making sure everything got hung up on our recycled screens. Without him, the installation wouldn't have happened at all! He also was an incredible help when it came to getting the artists organized and delivering their artwork on time. (I don't know how he did that! witchcraft! ) Over all, I'm really glad that he decided to volunteer and help organize this event.

Crystal King working on some new artwork as she helps out at the
Artists with Conviction Coalition Volunteer booth.

Speaking of volunteers, another shining star at this event was artist Crystal King. Some may remember her from a blog post I wrote a while ago when I met and showed artwork with Crystal at Phil Hyman's "Outsiders" art show. I was so relieved when she decided to come help the group out on our big day! She is such a mature and kind young lady, great company for one's first art show.

Tim and Tori Walters of "Mystic Ghazala" also helped a bunch by coming out and taking free pictures of the event!

The Ice House in Summerville- Image by Post and Courier.

Of course last but not least on my list of people to thank would be those at The Ice House in Summerville who allowed everyone to set up at their beautiful restaurant in the first place. They have such a nice property which gave us lots of room to do our thang. Can you believe they also fed us delicious gourmet treats? I got to eat my first Cordon Bleu- and it was good. I also remember having this crazy fluffy good pastry puff. It was such a nice relief from all the hustling and bustling I had been doing that day. (They also gave me one complimentary "special punch" drink which made me fly around the room! LOL) I can't wait to come back to their place during regular business hours so I can sample some more of their awesome Summerville Cuisine.

An adorably atmospheric center piece to send you off.

Man, have things changed over such a short period of time. Just a few months ago I was scraping together art events through craigslist and other random outlets. Now I'm helping curate a show where other artists are approaching me! So fancy. This is just the start of something really great.

I am very grateful that I had the opportunity to try such a project like this. The amount of experience I gained and the doors that opened for everyone involved was completely priceless. I look forward to next year, which promises more art and even more opportunities!

Thanks again to everyone that helped make it happen!




Photography by Heather Pallay and Mystic Ghazala.

The Sea Shell Wind Chime

AKA "The Bone Chime"

I am excited to finally reveal a brand new wind chime! I created this one out of sea shells and drift wood that I found at a recent trip to Charleston's own Folly Beach this summer. I call it my "Bone Chime" because the sound of the shells kind of sounds like bones clanging up against each other... not like I would know what that sounds like or anything.

"The Bone Chime"

I was fascinated by the variety of sea shells available at Folly Beach this summer. There were so many of them to choose from, in all sorts of different shapes and sizes. At the time, I wasn't quite sure what project I was going to do with them, but I was particularly attracted to the shells with holes in them. It was like these shells were created especially for artists- all ready for neatly stringing through wire for jewelry making. Or perhaps, like in my case, even making a wind chime.

I wanted to find out how these "magical" holes turned up in those shells in the first place. I figured they were formed by being worn down by the ocean or as a natural process for their species. Boy, how naive I was.

Other shells had their inhabitants plucked out by birds-
these shells had jagged chunks missing instead
of the perfect and uniform bores of the moon snails.

After doing a little research, I find it kind of ironic that something beautiful can be made out of something so brutal.

Here's a brief explanation by M. Paul Monfils-

"Such holes are caused by predatory snails, usually in the family Naticidae (commonly called "moon snails")... They use their radula, a sort of tongue covered with tiny toothlike projections, to rasp a hole in the [shell,] allowing them to insert their proboscis and feed on the soft parts..."

I read on to discover that this process is also painfully slow-

"A shell two millimeters thick (approximately the distance across the top of the letter w) can take eight hours to penetrate..."

According to these facts, not only were the shells eaten alive, but they were practically tortured by the moon snails in the long, drawn out process of being devoured.

Knowing this morbid fact about the shells made me feel somewhat remorseful for using them in such a whimsical way. But at the same time, I felt it had given these poor creatures some sort of extra purpose besides being a small snack for a snail. 

In a way, this truly is a bone wind chime because it is made from the "bones" of the unfortunate mollusks that didn't get to continue living their little clammy lives.

Unconventional drift wood was used for the base of this wind chime.

On a more positive note, I also found this beautiful piece of "drift wood" at Folly as well. I guess technically it's drift wood- the beach didn't have much to offer when it came to traditional pieces of wood. This is actually a shard of palmetto leaf, which are plentiful around the Lowcountry.  When I found it, I thought it was a piece of a wooden dock that had some how washed up on the beach. The surface of the branch's pale white color looks like it has been hand painted. I find it kind of beautiful how nature finds ways to mimic the artistic process, even if it's sort of harsh about it some times.

The shell bone wind chime posing outdoors with an unfortunate duo... a pair of snails.

AWCC POST: First Coalition Meet Up - The Improvables at Flowertown

Awesome event poster hand painted by the Coalition's very own Robert Frank.

This is the page where you can buy your group ticket to sit with the rest of the Artists with Conviction Coalition on Saturday, August 24th for the show at Flowertown. We are not able to reserve seats or pick the section we will specifically sit in, so our only option for sitting together is to buy all the tickets we need at once.

Brian Carter, The Head Improvable, says that all this week they will be promoting the show and seats will be going Fast. For that reason, it is impertinent that all tickets have been purchased by the end of the week. I will be purchasing the tickets this Saturday the 17th, so please don't procrastinate in getting your seat. Ideally we will be sitting near the front of the stage, but as you know, those seats go fast. The quicker we can get everyone's ticket bought, the better seating we'll have!

I made this Pay Pal button so that I can buy all the tickets together at once. We will meet up outside the theatre before the show where I'll give you your ticket. When you purchase, please make sure you tell me your name so that I know exactly who to give the ticket to.

 P.S- the 66 cents extra comes from the fees charged by Pay Pal.
I calculated it by using this website.

Comment below if you have any questions at all!

This Coalition event has expired! See you guys at the next one.

The Artists With Conviction Coalition

I have some big news!
I am proud to announce that I've started a new local art group on Facebook called..

"THE ARTISTS WITH CONVICTION COALITION!"

Hehe, I like it because it kind of rhymes.

The Backstory

I noticed that there wasn't really a well organized community for the underground art scene here in Charleston yet. Everyone's kind of sporadic- good creative work is happening, but in isolated bubbles, and it's mostly a fend for yourself type attitude. As a fledgling artist trying to make a living from scratch, it's been nearly impossible to get my foot in the door around here... I just can't find enough opportunities in time to actually benefit from them. And if there are jobs or venues available, the same few people quickly snatch them up before the rest of us even have a chance. This isn't because those particular artists are greedy or better than anyone else, it's just a matter of having the connections you need to get good gigs. This shouldn't have to be so hard.

I have been lucky to meet a lot of frustrated "refugee artists" just like me through my sublime experience in working in the Phillip Hyman shows. These guys have the fire and talent it takes to be a working artist, but simply lack the connections to get their work out there more. There has always been a yearning for more venues, but never quite enough to go around despite everyone's enthusiasm. It was becoming glaringly clear that this was a problem that needed to be remedied.

By Heather Pallay

So I thought, what would happen if we banded all of this raw artistic energy together into one concise group?

Imagine if all the visual artists, musicians, actors, comedians, and all the other creatives in the area combined their forces into one. With all that talent in once place, we wouldn't have to scrape for opportunities anymore. We would be able to create our own.

Mission Statement

(Our group's description on Facebook)

The purpose of this group is to get artists organized.. it's for artists (and art admirers!) of any kind that want to be a part of a movement that's going to breathe art back into the Lowcountry's coast and beyond.

By Two Found Treasures

We intend to achieve this by-

• Openly sharing information on upcoming art shows,
• Fairly promoting local artists,
• Interacting with our peers and networking with others,
• Getting together to organize original events of our own. 

 The only way we can help ourselves is to help each other- and we are powerful in numbers. Join us today to get involved with this growing family of "Equal Opportunity Artists" that believes that their passion needs be openly celebrated with the masses. It's time that we say NO to exclusive cliques and YES to expanding our community. We are in it for the long haul... We are the Artists with Conviction Coalition!

The Coalition's Plan of Attack

 Phase 1-Recruitment

• The first thing that the coalition needs to do is get a good core of dedicated members. There are tons of "mover and shaker" types out there, we just have to find them. These are the people that are going to make the magic happen- the ones that are committed to being involved in this cause.

• Networking is crucial, especially in the art world. It's all about who you know. Combining all of our resources together will give us more options to choose from- a plethora of talented artists, increasingly better venues, and more creative ideas for us to explore.

• Variety is also important. This group should fairly represent all of the "creative tribes," not just visual arts. We all have our own strengths and weaknesses, but together we can cover all of the bases pretty equally. For example, Performers have access to venues where visual artists could possibly display their work. In return, the Visuals will bring more attention to the gig than would've come if they hadn't been showing their work. With more people attending the shows, everybody wins!

Chris Freeman's first curated show, featuring many artists!

I suspect that we will always be in a recruitment phase of some kind, because there are constantly new artists popping up that will want in on all the fun. And to them I say, "The More The Merrier."

That's the beauty of being equal opportunity- leaving your preconceived judgements at the door because you never know what someone's going to bring to the table. And knowing artists, they're probably bringing some really weirdly shaped sculpture... lol ;P




Phase 2-Taking Action

• Once the group has it's share of gung-ho members, it's time to talk turkey. This is where the networking will come into play as we try to find venues to share our work. At first, it will probably start off as a small operation... However, as the coalition's popularity grows, so will our turn-outs.

• If we have to approach businesses about being an "ally," artists will probably have to contribute to a sample portfolio so that we will have a variety of work to show them as examples. One artist by themselves is unlikely to convince an establishment that their work is worthy of being featured there. However, the more good work we provide, the more interest we could bring to their business, the more valuable we look. The goal is to make an irresistible offer to these places- Assure them that they would not regret allowing original artwork to pass through their doors.

By Alicia Sevilla

• I think it's important to note that not all of our gatherings will be about making profit. I hope that we will able to do a few "team building" activities as well. A lot of artists would appreciate hearing feedback about their work from peers, so we definitely will organize group critiques and work shops. For example, imagine a work shop that helps artists take better photographs of their work... all for free if they're in the coalition.

Phase 3- The Future


From just the few weeks this group has already been opened, I have already had tons of positive feed back from all sorts of creative types who are excited to finally have a group like this to be a part of. It's encouraging because we will only build more momentum over time, leading to more prosperity and good fortune for everyone involved.

I can't really say where this group is going to end up. I can only hope that there are people out there as passionate about their work as I am. I suspect that our future is bright- if we can bring even just a few artists together out of this heavily divided community, I'll take that as a victory. We really could learn a lot from each other if given the chance.

We are in charge of our own destiny, and it's time to act like it.

By Alizey Khan

In conclusion, I have to ask one simple question- what are you waiting for, Charleston? Join the Coalition today and get on this train before it roars on out of the station.

 I'm excited to see what we're going to be capable of!


Additional Artwork by the Coalition

(More work by Coalition artists coming soon... If you want to feature your artwork on this page, let me know!)