Project #22: Issue Magazine ($180)

JD Scott wrote," We are currently seeking funding for our first issue, “Home,” which we intend to publish this Spring. Here’s an excerpt from our mission statement:
“Issue Magazine is a collaborative, multidisciplinary publication that will explore social issues in St. Louis through the lens of architecture and design. This organization seeks to introduce social issues - and their existing and potential solutions - to students of Washington University and members of the St. Louis community.”
We intend to use unconventional journalistic methods and mediums—collage, photomontage, journal writing, mapping—to reveal views of the city that are both intimate and highly accessible.
A quote that I was referred to recently:
“Enough of Art. It’s Art that kills us. People no longer want to do a painting: they make Art. People want Art. And they are given it. But the less Art there is in painting, the more painting there is.”
—Pablo Picasso
Capital “A” Art and Architecture are distanced from context—from the community. They are inward-looking and often self-obsessed endeavors. The intent of the publication is to return to (lowercase) art and architecture, to highlight people, projects, and places far removed from galleries and coffee-table books; and, most importantly, to continually reinforce the idea that architects and designers must be advocates for social justice."

Whoa - Wow! So Fantastic! Thank you caravan-ing friends for making the trek out to Moonlight Farm last night. The moon was hiding behind the clouds - but we were all kept warm with blankets and a bonfire. There were two kinds of hand-churned butter, local local pears in the soup and the cider - and so much good conversation! So nice to see plenty of new faces as well as our returning Sloup friends. How many 'best Sloup ever's did you hear last night?

Next Month: Holiday Party December 18th at 7 pm at FOAM!

Let's take the month off together and hold tight to those proposals until 2012 friends-- we will keep you updated with more details!

Sloup #22: tomorrow

it's here! field trip time! Amanda and Alaric are ready for us, it's going to be a clear and chilly night, the soup and cider are going to rule, it's all systems go...

but, what we DO need is some more proposals to read and discuss by fire light.

PLEASE take some time today to get your thoughts out on paper if you have an upcoming art project, and we know you do. Send it our way, and no matter the outcome, you'll make some new fans who are thinking about what you do.

Sloup #22: Moonlight Farm Field Trip

Sloup is the same but different this month, and we can't wait. Let's get started a little early because we've got to take a little journey to our venue this time, and it'd be fun to catch the sunset over the fields.

Moonlight Farm is at 3470 Dutch Bottom Road in Arnold, MO. It's an easy shot down 55 for the most part, with a few twists and turns at the end.

So, for those of you who can head out at 4:15 or so, let's meet at The Mud House at 4 and get oriented and sardine-like and build a parade. Don't be shy about showing up car-less, lots of folks will have extra seats! And if you like driving, we'd love you to be one of those pals with extra seats.

For those of you who want to leave a little later or direct from home, here are the basics:
"(from Mud House) Cherokee St. to 55 S to 141 (about 14 miles), make a right on 141, make a left on Missouri State Rd (about 2 miles - it's the next street past Astra Way, there is no light at Missouri State), make a left at the stop sign, make a right on Dutch Bottom Rd, follow the road around a large curve, you will see an iron gated driveway on the left and go over a creek, the next gravel driveway you see on the left is our road! follow the road down to the barn!"

Those are direct from our hosts, Amanda and Alaric Geimer! That's right, they said "barn." Let's DO THIS.

They also say they'll be making a "fresh-off-zee-farm winter squash and pear soup and scrumptious hot pear cider for slurping." Yum-mee.

The whole Sloup thing will still go down smooth and easy: packet of fresh artist's proposals, informal chats about them all, $10 for a vote on your favorites, we post the winner in the mornin'... but THIS time, once you read 'em, they'll turn into kindling for our cozy bonfire.

Didya hear that?? Extra incentive to submit a proposal this month- your art-goal will become ashes that go up and up into the night, and that's way more powerful magic than your standard household birthday candles.

We'll head back to the city together by 7 o'clock or so. Plenty of time to head to the next thing STL has going on for you, or to catch a much-needed big bear nap.

PLANNING AHEAD:
December 18th: Sloup Holiday Party @ Foam
January 2012: Sloup Pulls Some Tricks Out Of Its Sleeves

Project #21: Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra

Heather Rice of Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra (winner of October's $230 grant!!) wrote:

"My band 'Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra' is a six piece ensemble who composes and performs original soundtracks to old silent films. We want to purchase our own screen and projector to allow us to play at more venues instead of being restricted to only places that have this technology. We feel that this would also enable us to plan a tour for this upcoming fall or spring.

Werner Herzog's "Cave of Forgotten Dreams" reminds us how powerful and fresh art can be tens, hundreds, or even thousands of years after its creation. The advanced technique and almost cubist style of some of the ancient cave paintings illustrate how wrong it is to assume art simply develops and improves along a single, uninterrupted evolutionary path. In the case of these ancient works of art, luck and plate tectonics preserved them by sealing off the cave to air, mold, and decay. In the present day, one of the best ways to preserve the similarly advanced art of silent film is through keeping it alive with fresh music and showing it to as many people in as many places as possible."

Congratulations R & P - job well done. And thank you everyone for attending yesterday evening to eat, vote, carve, and dunk.

Galen, you are the host with the most, such a cozy time. Will - your punch packed a punch, please come back again with your fantastic recipes. I'm feeling punny today so I should wrap this up. Not a drop of soup left last night - surely the sign of success. Stay tuned for updates folks for Sloup #22 - this one involves a ROAD TRIP so watch the blog and the Face for maps and other various directives. Think brave. Think car pool.

SLOUP #21: GONDOWEEN

Come to Fort Gondo Compound for the Arts this October 30th at 6 p.m. and get festive with Galen Gondolfi! Pumpkin Ale Soup by Amanda Phillips. Tiki Drink by Will Fischer of UnderWARES (BYOlittleextrasumthin.). Decorations by YOU (wear them! at least get out the orange shirt.).

$10 gets you soup and a vote toward your favorite proposal. (Send us a proposal and your favorite can be your own!!)

This is going to be the funnest. We can feel it.

Project #20: BLUEPRINTstl

Nat Zorach plans to make "cool things happen in abandoned buildings. Think of it as a hybrid of a collaborative arts project, a community engagement exercise, and a marketing campaign for vacant and city-owned real estate. Architectural charette mixed with real estate venture mixed with dance party. It is about using abandoned buildings as a forum for dialogue and cultural engagement. And figuring out how to renovate those buildings.

BLUEPRINTstl develops a figurative road map as well as physical, architectural drawings to essentially market underappreciated buildings and show how dope they could be with a little love. We are not a real estate developer but we aim to encourage development.

We have the blessing of the SLDC and the LRA, whom we met with earlier this year about this (after the Open/Closed vacant property summit) and who own about 3,000 buildings and think it would be really cool to get some of them moving. Plus those folks, there are thousands more privately owned homes with owners waiting for the right moment to do something cool with the spaces. We’ve got the organizational/building part of it, now we just need some creative minds who want some serious license. Who’s in?

WHO: Me and a couple of architect-designer-carpenter-artist-musician-St. Louis enthusiast friends. Any and all residents who want to join in. Oh, and you. Hit me up.

WHAT THE MONEY WILL BE USED FOR: A small marketing and events programming budget, starting with our kickoff event, hosted in a semi-finished space to assemble some preliminary ideas about the project. We want to inspire and to be inspired, engaging new ideas and energy from community members and creative minds. This is about integrating integrating individual creative product with a collaborative, community endeavor. Our first event will outline some specific goals and sketch out some potential first projects, and the building arts part of the project will detail some renovation plans being worked on by our collaborators."

To get in touch with Nat with questions or thoughts about his project, you can email him at nathaniel.zorach@gmail.com. Also, please check out our proposal archive to see who else proposed this month and feel free to send ideas and energy their way too! (The archive suffers from a huge-ish gap, which we plan to remedy soon soon.)

This was our smallest Sloup ever!! 10 folks, 100 dollars. After recalibrating, we could feel the hugeness of 10. And it felt cozy to hang out with John Perkins in a gorgeous space (Thanks CAM!) while eating many bowls of the smoothest most warmingest tomato soup imaginable. We like making the most $$$ we can for the brave folks who propose, but we also like learning from the unique character of each event. And since we're starting to strategize for making Sloup in 2012 stronger and stranger, shoot your ideas to sloup2122@gmail.com. We're also going to be putting out a big time call for collaboration in the next month or so, please keep checking back.

NEXT SLOUPS (mark yr calendars plzzz, these soups will be steamy):
October 30: Halloween Sloup at Fort Gondo Compound for the Arts (wanna make the soup?)
November 27: Caravan to Moonlight Farm in Arnold, MO for a Farm Sloup (pear cider!)

RIGHT NOW.

Sloup number twenty is going to happen at the Contemporary this afternoon. This very two o'clock. It is so so sunny on their patio, and the little silver chairs and tables are positioned for maximum sun on your sweet soft face. John Perkins just whipped the richest butter into the last tomato soup of summer. He'll drive it over here in a few minutes. I bet his windows will be rolled down. There are three artist's proposals in a cozy packet for you to read and love, and they are all so well written. They are all such charmers. We are all so charmed. So charmed we're a little sleepy. Come on over. It's nice out.