Seeing the Future (Part Two)

At a recent Board Meeting, Melody Hay took the time to voice her concern for the emotional health of our organization.  She brought to our attention the need to care not only for ourselves as individuals but for our community of artists as a whole.  If we personally fail to pay attention to our internal barometer we run the risk of burnout, the loss of vision and an overwhelming sense of overload.  It is no different for the community.

In the course of giving birth, there is a portion of time called the Transition.  According to the Birthing Naturally website, this is the period usually just prior to the birth of the baby that can be the most difficult for mothers.  They are most likely to give up during this time.  It can be accompanied by nausea and vomiting, chills and shivers and a strong need for emotional support.

Welcome to the Real World where our personal transitions can be a lot like giving birth.  We face a major hurdle and it seems much easier to give up.  We get sick thinking about all the options before us, the risk of change and the fear of failure.  Support from our tribe is crucial to a healthy perspective of our path.

As ArtLoveMagic enters into this next phase of its life, I’m eagerly anticipating what will transpire in our circles.  The potential for impact is tremendous.  The doors that are opening are beyond amazing and the trail we’re blazing is burning with creative hearts and minds ready to make Dallas a much healthier place to be an artist.

So, what will that look like?  Stay tuned.

Post by Justin Nygren

Is it October Already?

Wow.  Look how fast this year has flown.  By the end of it, we’ll have over 30 events under our belts and in the books of Dallas’ history.  We’ve had everything from office parties, kid’s workshops, coffee shop shows, gallery shows, girlShow (!), to chill time, prep time, talk time and hackey-sack time. This year has been amazing and WE ARE NOT EVEN DONE.

We still have two more Art and Coffee’s at Saxby’s.  On November 7th, we have our first public Artist’s Workshop, a work of art pulled together by David Rodriguez.  And, December 11th, Amanda Davis is heading up a new partnership with It’s A Grind in Deep Ellum for an end-of-the year Art and Coffee, Deep Ellum style.  Oh, and did I mention the Holiday Party for the ArtLoveMagic Family?  Muahaha!

It is amazing to see the response to what we’re doing and it continues to reinforce my belief that what we are doing (and more importantly who we are) is ready for the cresting wave.  These are beautiful days to be participating in.

I’m thankful to be part of something that brings beauty to this world.  I’m thankful to be a part of something that opens doors.  I’m thankful to be a part of something much bigger than me.  And I can’t wait to get a peek at 2010.

Posted by Justin Nygren

Seeing the Future (Part One)

A long time ago, on a blog far, far away, I posted a few insights into a time of transition on my life.  My wife and I were moving from roles and responsibilities that we had either outgrown or should never have been given and into places with wider horizons and unexplored territories.  While the future was one that was filled with seemingly endless possibilities, the days of the transition were filled with questions, doubts, soul searching and a general sense of frustration.  It is a beautiful thing to know that what is being left behind had its season and its purpose.  It is a wonderful day when dreams clarify, the future pours itself into your heart and you can be hopeful about things that are coming your way.  However, it is the transition that can bring you to your knees.

For those who do not know, one of Kelly’s deepest passions in life is helping mothers bring new lives from the womb and into the world with grace, strength and beauty.  She walks alongside these moms, gives them encouragement, helps communicate with the medical professionals, gives dads tips on how to help.  Her official title in this role is doula, and as a doula, as the greek roots imply, she is there to serve and tie herself to the mother and family to see that the transition of new life takes place the way it was intended.

All that leads me to one word: Transition.

(Part two coming soon…)

Posted by Justin Nygren

Arts Goggle – Review!

On Saturday, October 3rd ArtLoveMagic’s first infiltration of Fort Worth was unmistakably ArtLoveMagicy.  A photo collection of some of the night’s badasses:

Trayce Cochran

Elizabeth Trosper

Eddie Walker

Zach Scott Pohl

and of course, Riki Johnson

Riki Johnson, David & Nicole Rodriguez, and Keanna Pohl were the producers on this event, and they really kicked butt.  All the artists and musicians were happily creating and performing inside of a chill vibe and colorful atmosphere.  One of our newest volunteers, Sara Brown took the time to relate her experience to Keanna & me.  As one that has been involved with ArtLoveMagic for a couple of years now, I always find it refreshing when new folks come in and share their love with us.  Here were some of the cool things Sara experienced:

“The Goggle Event was my first real exposure to this type of creative outlet.  I love the honesty, caring and spontaneity of the artists.  Josh Dryk (right) was the highlight for me, as he showed us how painting with fire could be done.  I love the smell and feel of fire, as well as the visual effect!

I found this a healing experience for me, moving into this large city. It is so nice to know there is such angelic folks like you to make life feel so alive! It would benefit so many people that need to know they matter….”

Welcome, Sara.

I really dug the fire art, too.  Conor Muldoon (below) throwing pottery live is always one of my favorite’s, and there were plenty of people who agreed with me.  I had the honor of performing the classic “Four Women” by Nina Simone with Kelly Nygren at my side, and the entire main stage was hosted by Fort Worth’s own Mike Guinn.  National Spoken Word champion Nnambdi Orakpo (below) was the feature poet of the evening and when he spit his piece, “Play Pretend” my eyes couldn’t help but leak and my soul couldn’t stop it’s speak…as Malcolm Jamal-Warner of the Cosby Show said, “Nnambdi is pure fire.”  I was the greatful recipient of his new book, Avant-God, Vintage Poetry Collection, which he was kind enough to sign for me. The Texas Red Legs rocked me to the last drop at the end of the night with their smash hit, “Black Sky Growl”, and so much more lie in between, you had to have been there.  I do hope that we continue to do shows with our friends at Arts 5th Avenue.  What nice people!  Art on, Fort Worth.  We’ll be seeing you.

photo of Josh Dryk fire painting by Jenice Johnson, photo of Nnambdi Orakpo by Sondra Beamon, all other photo’s by Amber Nix Matthew’s.

photo by Sondra Beamon

Open House

Open House – September 23^rd, 2009

These are some pictures from our most recent Open House at the Deep Ellum office.  As you can see, we really have a good time at these gatherings, enjoying both live music and a hands-on art project.  This time we even had the pleasure of watching local painter Ben Moss create live in front of our newly hung gallery.  Very cool.  The following is our new meeting/open house schedule until the end of the year.

ARTLOVEMAGIC peeps – take note: the weekly meeting has been transformed to one meeting per month on the first Wednesday of each month.  While we know you’ll miss working your butt off for us every week J we decided that once a month is more appropriate for the end of the year since there are so many holidays coming up, and since we seem to have been getting so much done recently thanks to ALL OF YOU!!!  The open houses will be the third Wednesday of each month for all to enjoy whether or not you come to the monthly meeting.

By the way, ANYONE can come to these meetings/open house parties!!!!  So bring it.

September 30^th – Meeting lead by Justin Nygren

October 7^th – Meeting lead by David Rodriguez

October 21^st – Open House Party

November 4^th – Meeting

November 18^th – Open House Party

December 2^nd – Meeting

December 16^th – Open House Party

MUSICIANS/LIVE ARTISTS: Please email deb@artlovemagic.com if you are interested in being some of our live music/art for the open house dates.  The music is typically “Shanty style” which means open jam.  Look forward to hearing from you!

Thanks,

Deborah Driscoll

photo’s by Nicole Rodriguez.

AnthonyMichaelLagocki & our new Blogs

 

photo by Hal Samples

ArtLoveMagic

AnthonyLagockiMichael

 

 Dear readers of this blog:

 As you know, Michael Anthony Lagocki, one of the three founders of ArtLoveMagic is taking a brief sabbatical from the organization to work on his own personal artistic endeavors.  As an organization that supports the arts, you can see how this was an easy decision to support. 

 

photo by Jenice Johnson

Since 2007, Mike has produced, volunteered for, slaved for, and through it all enjoyed EVERY single event up to the most recent Art & Coffee.  That’s over 50 successful, life-changing experiences offered to thousands.  From the entirety of the ArtLoveMagic family, THANK YOU MIKE, and WE LOVE YOU!!! 

From now till about January you will continue to see the blog updated at least bi-weekly by a variety of writers.  If any one in our family has something new they think should be added to our blog regarding arts happenings around the area, please email the articles directly to Deb@artlovemagic.com.  

 

     

 Additional photo’s by Nicole Rodriguez, Alexandra Harris and Josh Dryk.

As always, thanks for paying attention!

last few days…

post by Michael Lagocki

I have two more days in artlovemagic before taking an extended break (see: artlovesabbatical) and I’m filled with a lot of Love for this organization. The other night someone asked me if I was going to look at the website while I’m away. The question shocked me a bit. I hadn’t thought about that.

As I prepare to go, things look good. girlShow was our most successful event ever (was that only last month!?!!?) The DART event just went off well despite the most hardcore rainstorm I’ve ever seen an event like this go down in. ArtLoveMagic and weather have a long and strange history (ask Justin about it).

Ahead of us, the upcoming Fort Worth event looks crazy. That is an incredible lineup. You should make plans to go. Mike Guinn and Will Richey and The Texas Redlegs sharing a stage is no joke. That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Fire painting, live welding, live DJs, the visual artist list is bananas. Really, don’t miss it.

Also in the weeks before my break, it’s been clear the organization is growing fast and has more dedicated people then ever. Getting involved here means making a difference in the lives of creative people; all of us (musicians, artists, poets, actors, writers) working together to do something positive and impactful.

I love that at this moment we’re seeing many of the artists we work closely with us enjoying growth in their careers and lives. Last night I watched the Texas Redlegs perform an amazing set and win the second round of the Shiner Rising Stars Competition. They’re on to the finals where they’ll compete for a record contract and tour. This week I purchased work by photographer Jenice Johnson at Paperie & Co. in Mockingbird Station. Will Richey’s company is growing. Hal Samples has landed some incredible assignments. Samax made the cover fo the Dallas Quick. I’ve gotten lucky enough to do several gigs with the Dallas Museum of Art, something I really enjoy. Many of us have been blessed.

That’s why finding ways we can collaborate together, doing shows, community engagement, friendship- it all just makes sense. I talked to Tom and Paul of Nomad Arts a few nights ago, another group with a similar mission to ArtLoveMagic. We agreed, the pool of creative talent in this city is nearly unlimited. We talked about how the city could benefit from more organizations like us, and that rather than feel competitive, we should find ways to do cool things together. I hope to put together a joint show with them some day.

I’ve spent the last week hanging out with a lot of ArtLoveMagic people. I will miss them terribly over the next season. I kid that I’m going “off-planet”. I’m thinking more and more about renting a car and picking a direction and doing a long time on the road. I’m open to whatever comes at me.

I believe my time away will be good for this organization and healing to myself.

Please support this artlovedream any way you can while I’m gone.

-ML

…

photo credits:
Sarah and Michael in Art Park photographed by Nicole Rodriguez, Michael’s rainsoaked drawing from the DART event was photographed by Amanda Davis, the Arts Goggle ad was designed by David Rodriguez with art by Riki Johnson, the awesome Gummy Bear card was created by Jenice Johnson

Amazed and Humbled

In less than two weeks, a dream will come true for tons of people in Dallas. For some it will be the dream of their first public show of their art. For some it will be the dream of helping a movement in its motion. The dreams are as numerous and as deep as each heart involved.

art by girlShow producer Melody Hay

For me, the dream boils down to this: seeing people that I have personally impacted take control of a project and make it shine brighter than I could have ever conceived. You see, since her conception, ArtLoveMagic shows have been primarily produced by me, Mike Lagocki and Dave Rodriguez. We’ve rounded up the artists, called and organized the volunteers, secured the venues, led the pre-meetings… You get the idea.

But with girlShow, we have been able to let go of the reigns. Melody Hay, Deb Driscoll, Nicole Rodriguez and my beautiful wife, along with a host of others, have come to the forefront of the movement and created an extremely beautiful show for the world to see.

As a producer, there are very few things that can bring me more joy than to see others learn the art of production and create scenarios of beauty and creativity that change the cultural landscape of a city. Part of our mission is to help artists find their identity and grow into their roles of society, not to create an organization that babysits and hands people things on a silver plate. And, to see people take control of a story and make a new chapter is an incredible gift.

So, I’d like to give mad props to my Sisters in Production and tell you, the reader, that your face is about to be rawked off.
Go get your tickets now.

post by Justin Nygren

ArtLoveMagic.com

What does the board do again?

The artlovemagic board met for a marathon session yesterday to answer some outstanding questions for the pursuit of our national 501c3 application. We recently accomplished the first step, getting our Texas not-for-profit registration.

Our board is made up of Justin Nygren, Michael Lagocki, Melody Hay, Cathy Huchison, and Chris Kutach (not pictured). Also pictured above is Mario Cauley who handles finance and business ops for us.

The board’s role is to set and work toward the overall strategic vision of the organization. That means looking at it from 50,000 feet (rather than the 5 feet you have to look at it from to produce an event). We meet monthly to determine artlovemagic’s big BIG goals, and what needs to be done to make them happen. Throw us a blessing if you got it. This is big stuff we’re trying to tackle.

ArtLoveMagic Opens their House

Article by Deb Driscoll
photo by Michael Lagocki

Did you know that we were cool enough in the eyes of the Deep Ellum Association to have an office donated for us to use for the greater good of the arts?  Well, we are.  And Wednesday night we opened the doors to our collective artist family for a hang out and mingle session.  It was tightly packed and rightly so since there were live performances from Serena Wills, Kelly Nygren, Spencer Garland (and friends), Matt Barron, pizza, drinks, and Eddie Walker even let us fiddle with his Air Brush contraption.

Sounds pretty cool, huh?  Yeah, we thought so, too.  Thanks to all who came out and made the night so much fun!

If you liked how it went, or feel slightly jealous about missing out then I cordially invite you to come out again NEXT Wednesday night at 7pm for our weekly management meeting.  That’s where all the magic happens, the events are planned, ideas are exchanged and yeah we totally kick it every week.  Now you know.  We don’t occupy the office all the time.  We have art to do.

The address to the office is:

2630 Commerce Street
Dallas, TX 75226

Much Love!