Dear readers and friends,
I am excited to share a few updates for Beautiful Eccentrics and The Studio for Education as Art.
Regarding Beautiful Eccentrics: we are nearing an important milestone: 200 dispatches since I launched this weekly column in January 2021. Looking back, I find it hard to believe that I have written close to 400,000 words —granted, not of any literary quality, but I have done it earnestly with the hope to connect with my community, and I have been inspired to continue because of your continued readership and support. So, to thank you and to mark this moment, are thrilled to celebrate it with a special, free event at The Francis Kite Club in New York: The First Beautiful Eccentrics Conclave, on May 17th at 6pm.
The Francis Kite Club is a bar and cultural forum in the East Village of Manhattan founded by the indefatigable curator and author Laura Raicovich, along with friends and co-conspirators. The Kite hosts a range of activities, including live music, art, performance, workshops, and other special convenings.
https://www.franciskiteclub.com/#/events/103922
The event will feature special guests as well as a performance of stories and songs connected to past Beautiful Eccentrics columns, on genres as varied as Bossa Nova, Opera, Broadway Musicals and even Cumbia. I will be joined by the members of my group El Club de Protesta: Sebastián Cruz and Alejandro Florez. We hope you can join us. The event is free but RSVP is required as capacity is limited.
To celebrate this anniversary, and fundraise for the continuation of this column, I am making available a special limited edition in the form of an engraved commemorative plaque, of an artoon:
Silver Aluminum engraved plate, 4.5”(w) x 6”(h).
Edition of 25, signed by the author
Cost: $250
Please contact us via this email if interested.
Last but not least, concering TSEA: I am happy to announce that, by popular demand, we have opened a third section for the introductory class of The Educator as Artist/ The Artist as Educator. Participants from past sections were able to meet a group of like-minded artists and makers and consider various approaches for art as education projects. I have been gratified and inspired by the many works that have emerged from the workshops. As an example, artist Mai Ryuno took Yoko Ono’s Grapefruit to consider her own expanded exploration of instruction art, now in a group of Youtube videos.
The link for our next class is here:
Thank you and I wish you a pleasant weekend from the Asbury Park boardwalk on the Jersey shore.
Pablo