Lili made this Kuchi Kopi crochet doll for her sisters! It’s based on the creepy/cute little nightlight from the TV show “Bob’s Burgers.” This doll really seems to stare at you, in a way that is cute yet weirdly unsettling.
The doll’s scale is roughly the same as in the show (about hand-sized), and it sits really nicely. It’s hard to see in the photo, but Lili painted the eyes with a light shade of green to match the glow of Kuchi Kopi’s in-show appearance.
I recorded this song with my close friend Ram Dass for his album “The Alchemist’s Prayer.” I wrote and performed the guitar, bass, and mandolin parts, and created the song’s basic structure. Ram Dass wrote the vocal melody, keyboard, and other parts. The “monsoon” at the beginning of the track is built from field recordings I made of streams, thunder storms, and wind chimes while we were traveling together. Vocals were performed by Ram Dass and tabla player Manish Vyas.
Ram Dass and I did all the recording, mixing, and mastering work for the album, working through Ram Dass’s Siddha Sound studio. (At the time it was called Epiphany Studios.) We put great care into crafting layered arrangements for each song; if you listen multiple times you’ll hear lots of stuff within the background of strings, slide guitars, vocals, sound samples, and more.
You can find a YouTube playlist with every song on the album here.
The album was released by Spirit Voyage Records in 2011.
While I don’t agree with the religious beliefs espoused by Spirit Voyage Records, I can tell you that this album is really wonderful and I had a great time helping Ram Dass make it! You don’t need to believe in anything to appreciate good music.
Lili and I recently visited the home of our friend Q for an art-making, long-walk-taking afternoon. When we arrived, we discovered that Q (who prefers to remain anonymous) has been covering his room with a growing collection of calligraphic graffiti. I took a few quick photos, which give an idea of what it looks like.
Turning one’s space into an evolving work of art is fun. It can also stimulate a lot of growth, and helps build feelings of ownership and engagement. This can be especially important for people who typically feel invalidated, powerless, or dissociated.
We can apply this concept in many settings: schools, public spaces, homes, offices, prisons, and more. The key is that the people that actually live or work in a particular place are encouraged to alter the space in their own way, on an ongoing basis. If direct alteration isn’t allowed, covering surfaces with paper, wood, canvas, or dry-erase/chalk board can work as well.
Changes don’t have to be all-encompassing. Even small, well-marked areas designated for open alteration can make a big difference. In fact, it’s pretty easy to implement in a way that will work almost anywhere. In my experience, the hardest part is to get ourselves (and others) to relinquish a little bit of our perceived environmental control… which I think is a worthy endeavor and reward in itself. Continue reading Art: The Painted Doors
Lili made these storage units out of leftover cardboard packaging from an online purchase. Now we’ve got three pieces of sturdy, functional furniture to organize our stuff– at the price of one roll of duct tape. (Plus, we now have less trash to deal with.)
These things may look janky, but they actually support a lot of weight. They’re about as good as the cheaply-made plastic storage units from big-brand retailers, at a tiny fraction of the cost and customized to our own needs.
UPDATE: Three years later, we’re still using the 6-compartment storage bin shown above. We’ve also created several other storage units, with more elegant designs that use interlocking pieces instead of tape. We were able to seal and paint them like regular furniture.
Exploring the popular narrative that blindly giving money to nonprofit organizations is “better” than giving to human beings.
Today’s “Homeless Initiatives Newsletter” from the City of San Rafael, CA features Lynn Murphy, the SRPD’s Mental Health Outreach Liaison. I think Lynn is great, and my professional interactions with her during my own homeless outreach work were very positive.
In the article Lynn says, “…when you see someone panhandling, rather than give money to that person, consider donating to an organization which helps homeless people with services. Sometimes panhandlers don’t use money wisely.”
I would add: Sometimes nonprofits don’t use money wisely either.
“Three Worlds 1” by Narayan Khalsa (pen + digital).
Another older art project, created around the same time as “Chinnici’s Phoenix” and “Seedling.” For this piece I made a drawing by hand and scanned it to a computer. I then turned the scanned image into vector graphics, and finally added extra effects with free software.
(The title “Three Worlds 1” remains a mystery, as I’ve completely forgotten what I was thinking about when I made this piece.)
“Chinnici’s Phoenix” by Narayan Khalsa (pen, pencil, and pastel).
This is another older drawing from around the same period as “Seedling.” I made it in honor of Peter Chinnici, a mental health practitioner who gave me support at a critical time. Peter had a tattoo of a phoenix with Hebrew letters, which he explained as the symbolic foundation for his personal philosophy of service, growth, and rebirth. I took the basic elements of Peter’s tattoo and reinterpreted them in this piece.
“Seedling” by Narayan Khalsa (pen & pencil).
I made this drawing a few years ago with office pens and a yellow pencil. The corner piece began as a simple signature (“N”), but grew into a detailed picture of its own. Several elements here seem to show up in a lot of my artwork– curves, knots, patterns, and sharp edges.
“Holding” by Lili Lopez (acrylic paint on canvas).
Lili created this painting as a birthday gift for a friend. Says Lili: “It’s about being strong and vulnerable, and being grounded… holding and supporting the work that has to be done around you and inside you in times and places that are unknown.”
“The Unknown Symbols” by Lili Lopez (collage).
This colorful collage depicts “chaos, beauty, and the unknown.” The piece comes further alive with brilliant glitter accents that cannot be seen in the photo.
