Brain's a thinkin' over here

So I am a little stumped by the spiritual dwelling place...not sure why - there is just some block that's keeping me from "getting it".

SO any thoughts, suggestions,etc would be welcome.

On the other hand I have had another idea on the brain....I am curious about all the different ways you can make the audience use their imagination. This is a new thought so bare with me....

But the intriguing idea right now is being a grafitti artist or a sidewalk portrait artist...and working furiously and intricately the whole time but in the end something completely different or unexpected is revealed. I.e. they never see the end result, or they do and it's a stick figure cat or maybe a paint by numbers?

This also goes along with the creating living things out of trash and other items....

Follow Up to Living Things

A post in response to Becky's.... I found this group while doing research a year or so ago about a concept for a production of Puff the Magic Dragon. (not-so-long story)

Lunatique Fantastique: http://www.lunfan.com/

If you click the title of this post, it should take you there as well.

Pochinko's Philosophy Page Got Me

So...here's my bigger sharing moment of the process. I considered not sharing it but then I read the philosophy page on the Pochinko page Wyck sent and I got all misty.

I don't know why but the deeper I dig into this clown stuff I am coming up with tears. Trying to figure out why this is coming and knowing that I couldn't be working on anything better than this at this time in my life.

So I don't have answers and maybe never will but the passages that struck me on the page are below. Wyck, is this something that is a universal "definiton of the clown" meaning close to something you have heard/read before? It's new to me - but then, I am learning a lot of things as I explore.

In any case this is what stood out, to me, at this moment:

"We look at the clown and see ourselves - our hopes, dreams, fears, and virtues, our flaws and our process."

"Clowning isn't something we need to learn so much as something we become aware of in ourselves. Any time that we are curious, playful, or creative, we are in clown mode. When we are in a state of wonder or awe, surprise or amazement, we are in clown. Whenever we have hunches, act on impulse, or digress - we are in clown. Whenever we have strong emotions, we are in clown. The clown lives in the place of laughing and crying at the same time."

"the innocent who sees things as they really are and not as convention decrees"

"willing and able to save the world if necessary"

"Clowning is about the freedom that comes from a state of total, unconditional acceptance of our most authentic selves, warts and all. It offers us respite from our self doubts and fears, and opens the door to joy."

Okay...I could have just copied the whole thing.

I wonder if we might include this "definiton" somewhere for the audience? Or parts of it? I think there is something in it or something like about reminding us of play and questioning and allowing ourselves to be who we are. Maybe parts of it are our graffiti? Or a poster of a new band that's pasted up?

Funny, what I am thinking of now is that when I went to the circus or when I am around a "fool" and I am given the freedom to join them in play, to be a kid...I have felt that release of societal standards and obligations. I would love to of course make the entire show a release but if we can create just one moment then I think we've done our job.

Maybe they can add to my garden? :)

Pochinko

This is Wyckham: So as I try to create my spiritual dwelling place for my clown I can't help but think about the Pochinko clowning method...what's that you ask? Well, I don't know a ton so I've been reading a bunch more and it's fascinating. It is a predominately Canadian tradition. (This is the method Mump and Smoot were trained in. http://www.mumpandsmoot.com/) So this guy Richard Pochinko, a definite 60s kinda guy played with Ouija boards and was prone to psychedelic dreams and channelling, after getting kicked out of Lecoq and returning to Canada developed this clowning method with a very spiritual center. Really looking at the native american roots of clown as both trickster and shaman. He said, "What we need, is a clown for our time. A clown that gives us a larger sense of God in each of us, that celebrates our humanness, our animalness, and the times that we can touch each other in a moment of laughter."

His method is often referred to as clown through mask. in a nutshell, the performer creates 6 masks corresponding to the 4 points of the compass (north, south, east and west...duh) and heaven and earth. The performer plays in all of those masks and then ends in the 7th--the clown nose. That character is allowed to travel to all of those previous points. OK, I don't know who much of that makes any sense. So here's some links....they don't make much sense either...but if you are interested, check it out. http://www.richardpochinko.com/index.html and the Wiki page is pretty wacky too. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Pochinko

Living things

Becky Here:

So what's been coming up in my journal a lot lately is the idea of creating living things out the inanimate objects found in the metro. And giving them life just because they are seen differently - at least by the creator.

In particular, my first thought was a garden completely made out of trash. And the tending of to said garden can make it grow. Who knows maybe it actually produces something...

Or maybe we don't what's being created until the end?

Maybe there's a puppy out of a sweater that can move and speak...

not sure where it's headed but really being drawn to it.

Okay just googled and came across these websites which have made me really excited about this whole trash to something else thing...am I getting off track?

LOVE the idea behind these outfits...look! Rachael! I found your clown!

Blog about trash and it's man uses: http://everydaytrash.com/ Some great links to links...spent way to much or just enough time here

More to come...love thoughts..

Clown pictures

Easier to just put the pictures into my website and link from there. It is a blind page, meaning no links from anywhere else on my site. Enjoy!

-Andy

a little inspiration

Neil McFadden just posted this video on Facebook, and I had to share.

Love that Laurel and Hardy!

Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KL3mHPmNKRE

catching up

This is Wyckham: I'm trying to go back and find links we emailed to each other and put them here. Please feel free to do the same! I don't remember if I sent the fairy clown photo out, but it's worth posting here.

Clown Couple article from HannaH Jean