Collaborations

Sometimes I like to zone-out and work all by myself, but my most rewarding and best work happens when I reach out and collaborate with others. There is a scale of project, a size of an idea, that is just too big for one person to accomplish alone.
I love to help others with their big ideas and have certainly received a little help from my friends at times. Brian Goggin (www.metaphorm.org) has invited me to work on a couple great projects with him --- a big honor!

Haideen Anderson

My ultimate collaboration is with Haideen Anderson; we tied the knot on July 28, 2007 in a lovely ceremony in her parents Connecticut back yard. These images give you a small taste of Haideen and the vivacious get it done approach that she brings to her work. The last four art cars that I have built are all a couple knotches above my previous work and the credit should go to Haideen for this. A dude like me could not dream of a better partner and collaborator. She is my lucky charm!

Desire for the Other with Brian Goggin & Al Honig

In late 2003, Brian Goggin invited Al Honig and I to collaborate with him on this project for a show titled Domestic Odessy at the San Jose Art Museum. Brian couldnt pay much, but shared the ownership of the sculpture with team members based on how what percentage of the total hours we contributed toward the finished piece. Luckily for myself, the museum bought Desire for the Other for its permanent collection, which gave me the resources to begin living in San Francisco.

Another Brian Goggin Project: Traffic of Ideas

The Books were initially formed in San Francisco by Brian, Dana Albany and Al Honig, and then traveled to Thailand to be cast. I got to do a chunk of the ensuing tig welding, helping Brian to compose the books and make the jigs that allowed us to bend the pages and make them look like they are blowing in the wind. Haideen and I also got to assist with the final installation on University Avenue in Seattle. My part of the work spanned both 2005 and 2006. I am ready to help on your next project Brian!

Bicycles to Bosnia Project

In the mid-1990's, I began to have visions of taking Ripper the Friendly Shark to Bosnia-Herzegovina to have a "peace for a day" parade. This idea mutated into the Bicycles to Bosnia project, which involved collecting and shipping donated bikes to a youth center called Mladi Most (Young Bridge) in the city of Mostar, where we worked with children to decorate their bikes and have a parade. The parade took place in August 1997. This was an extensive collaboration with many people helping to bring the vision into reality. Shelley Buschur, Jim Skinner and Louis Perrin went with me to Bosnia. It was a humbling experience to pull this off....and over 70 kids got new bikes!

FANATICS rock band

Many already know the difficulty of keeping a band together, and my third rock band the Fanatics was no exception. We did do it well for almost three years. Songwriter/bass player Arthur Elder had seen me perform in a musical experiment at the 1994 Tribal Honk and let me listen to some 4-track recordings he had made. We agreed to form a band to bring the songs to life. I wanted to call us the Fin Addicts, a play on words relating to my car fin obsession, but we settled on the Fanatics.
We started with Bill Patridge on guitar and Bill Day on drums and were later joined by Mike Zamora on guitar, Natali Leduc on guitar/keyboard, and a dude named Cazz on drums. When Mike Zamora left the band during the American Road Trip in 1998, the band broke up for a few months and reformed when guitar player Dennis O'Docharty joined the band. We then went on to play in parades and clubs around Houston for a couple years. Here are four songs you can download!

Laffing Sal Replica & Famous Grouse Collective

In 2005, Haideen and I were invited by Dana Albany and Flash Hopkins to help them build a 2X lifesize replica of the beloved Laffing Sal figure to adorn the funhouse/maze entrance at the base of the Burning Man. We received additional help from Machiko Saito, Anna Bradley and CybersAM Frangiamore. This project was the birth of the Famous Grouse Collective, a name for our group (thought up by Flash) so that credit for the work could be more evenly shared. Look for more great work from this group that got its name from a whisky bottle.

The Whale

Built for 2002 Burning Man Festival, Black Rock Desert in collaboration with Flash Hophins and Dana Albany. The Whale appeared for a second time in 2003, courtesy of Simon Cheffins and the Extra Action Marching Band. Dana designed the belly (interior), and was assisted by Jen Lum and Julia Ellingson. Welding, sound and lighting help from Darrick Servis. Electrical backbone by Mike Tackaberry. Tail Flapping by Cazz and Patrick Dailey. Much other help by Tony Campanale, Victoria, Linda Kim and Roseanna S. and many others. Thanks to Larry Harvey, David Best, Lady Bee and crew for the art grant. The Whale is currently stored on Flash's ranch and one day will be resurrected. We will always remember our playa jousts with the La Contessa!

Art Car Museum - Houston, Texas

I list this in the collaboration area, but basically I was hired by Ann and Jim Harithas' Ineri Foundation to be David Best's primary assistant on the job of decorating the exterior of Houston's Art Car Museum. For a week, we drove all over town collecting silvery shiny things, and then for three weeks we busted butt putting it all together. This was my second big project assisting David, the first was on his art car titled "Faith." Everything went well, on the final week I clocked over 80 hours of work time. Now those were long days!