Day 26

Day 26 of 100 day project

Well, perhaps I should pause the 100 day project, and restart it at the end of July. The cave has been intense and wonderful and totally consuming. I added the acknowledgment painting finally, so that will be my new post for today. Other photos include some shots from recent music shows, and also some updated shots of the cave. I took some pictures for the Phoenix (we got a little mention in an article along side of Tufts and a MassArt show in July 8-15) which made me realize that I hadn't taken photos like that before.

Last note from recent events. One of my favorite visits was earlier this week. A family came into the cave, father, mother and 4-5 year old son. The dad says "This may be the coolest thing I've ever seen" and the kid says "This isn't a real cave!" hehe you caught me, kid. The conversation carried on with dad saying, "Well it looks, feels and tastes like cave..." So... the kid says, "It doesn't taste like a cave" and proceeded to walk up to the cave and lick it!!! Not just once, but 4 times. Hilarious.

Tour of the cave











Recent structural work

Cave from both sides now.




At night. Before the electro show



Extending the cave to the floor. This transition is most noticeable beneath the bbq where the bottom was pretty rough. I hope to finish the complete bottom edge soon.






Cave Concert Series

mtn (Making the Noise) and William Fields--Electro show 07.08.11


Getting ready for mtn show.


Stan Killian--Jazz show 07.16.11

Day 25

Day 25

The first part of today was really slow here at 263. But the rain slowed down and people are coming in now. I have to decide a date for the BYOP (bring your own paint) closing reception. So many people have come in and wanted to paint, so we should definitely do that. If you want to paint, check the website for the date and come join us!

I painted myself into Phil's bbq today, as a deer. When we were kids, Phil used to draw me as a deer, and himself as a bunny. I certainly wouldn't want to miss one of his bbq's. Hopefully she gets on with the others.

Day 23 & 24

Day 23 & 24 (of 100 day project)

I am a bit behind on my 100 day project. I have 7 days to make up. The cave still isn't finished, but full days of construction are thankfully behind me, so from now on its just the one project to keep track of.

I finally started some cave painting yesterday. I did one section from my cave frieze, which I think will take a while. I also did my first shadow painting. The premise behind the frieze is pretty straight forward, I am telling the story of the making. The shadow paintings are maybe less obvious. The late late nights by myself in the cave, the different objects cast some really beautiful shadows on the surface. It reminded me of minimalist sculpture (Judd) for some reason. Probably the clear divided lines. I started wanting to keep them there, as a record of the process and also just a closer look at the contours of the cave.

When I was painting it last night, I had another idea. Everyone keeps asking if this is inspired by the Herzog film. Well it's not. I didn't know about the film until days before construction. But I did see it immediately, and there's this one passage where a man repeatedly "painted" his palm print on a high wall surface. I keep thinking about that painting, and how the hand is the same level of importance as it was then, has the same meaning to press it on the wall now. Maybe I will climb up my invisible ladder and do some hand prints above.

Anyway, here are some pics of the paintings.

This is part of day 1 of construction. There are actually 2 paintings that will precede it but I started with this one.


Shadow painting. Not sure how many of these (if more) I will do. It was a lot harder than I expected to see the shadow. You can see it from 10 feet back but its really difficult to see it immediately in front of you.

Megan Keely and Cowgill play THE CAVE

So I'm here,finally getting my paint on, and needed a little break. We had an amazing music show last night, well worthy of including in the cave documentary, so here are some photos from that. Megan Keely is a singer songwriter from San Francisco, with an amazing voice and awesome jazzy-bluesy-folk rock kind of jams. She is on a tour for her new album with her dad, bro and friend from Chicago. Talented family. Cowgill started off the show, accompanied by Dan Weissman. These are a couple of folk rockers, hailing from Chicago and Milwaukee respectively, that have joined our city here. I hope to see more of them for sure.

Day 22 (day 18 of cave)

Day 22 (day 18 of the cave)

Day 18 (Sunday) was the opening reception. I came early to paint and clean and set up. I spent most of the time painting my artist statement. I also need to paint my acknowledgments for all the wonderful people who have supported the project in someway. Perhaps today.

I also attempted to start a painting, but 20 minutes doesn't really render the best results. I think that I will just start it over during the next couple of days. The concept behind the painting was the creation and evolution of the cave. I chose to work on the column, stalactite/stalagmite deal, sort of in the manner of a Roman frieze. In faith of showing the full process, I will include the photos of my current painting too.

The receptions was awesome! Thanks everyone for coming. I think at least 100 people passed through. It was really well received, and there should be a couple articles coming out in the coming weeks (which is so f###ing great). Here we go.

My brother made the trek from Western MA. He's lovely.


More of my family. Mom, dad, and aunt Betty.


As the night progressed, things got really dark. Only problem with that is that it makes non-flash photos difficult. I need to bring in a tripod. Katie is the only one sort of in focus here.



Dear Scott, thanks bud.


I took some photos today to better show how the space looks now.


My artist statement.


The column painting.

Day 21 (day 17 of the cave)

Day 21 (day 17 of the cave)

Today I worked on that back wall again, solidifying that section. The cave is still very much in progress, but this was the last important element for me that needed to be done for the reception. It is a little difficult to see in the second picture because the surface is wet, but that darker grey is now solid wall. After that I worked on extending the foot of the cave some more.

Katie came later in the afternoon. She had an accident with an avocado and a knife this past week, so is working single handed. Luckily she still has her painting hand at full strength. She decided to paint the group. Here she is painting, and here are the results. She plans to come back and work on it more, maybe add the other four members of the group. I still had not painted at this point. I thought that I could take a break at 9pm and come back, but the exhaustion finally caught up with me.

Day 20 (day 16 of the cave)

Day 20 (day 16 of cave)

Newbold came today, and kept banging away at the nook. It is amazing how many folks have worked back there. She then moved on to finishing up the front door, which looks great. They all go in there, and I worry about the interior these days.

So Friday I spent the day finishing up the back of the room, making the hole in the back look more organic, and then prepping that upper wall. Then solidifying the column. Finally just going around the room wherever it needed a bit more. Now that I am a couple days behind on my documenting, the actions are starting to blur together. We took a couple hour break in the evening for a rental in the cave. Then my friend Scott, my saving grace, came and worked with me into the wee morning hours. I started to extend the floating cave toward the ground, and he like the others worked around the nook. This time shaping up the interior. Anyway, here are the results from that day.