Location: Kingston NY

Partners Scott Chasse + Kenley Darling, working under the name “Signature Unknown” propose to design an original mural for the O+ Festival. They utilize geometric “quilt patterns” in much of their mural work, with their original take on this classic folk art form. Many of their designs already incorporate “X” patterns within the overall composition. They will create a new, original design with the “X” as a prominent geometric form as part of a repetitive series of “tiles” that connect to form the mural.

A primary theme in thier  work is connectivity. The quilt-like patterns they create are meant to evoke feelings of community, tradition, and unity. Just as quilts have been created and passed down for generations, often without any credit to their individual creators, they aim to recreate this tradition in a new form. Their moniker “Signature Unknown” is an ode to anonymous folk art predecessors.

www.scottchasse.com

www.signatureunknown.com

Robert will work with community members of Kingston to create a community mosaic mural, theme to be determined by the group.

Robert Markey is an artist who has worked in many media over the years including painting, sculpture, installation, video and mosaics. He has done public art projects in cities around the country including New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Houston and Minneapolis. His first video was aired on PBS, and he received national media coverage for his public performance work on domestic violence. He has done mosaic murals in Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Israel, India, Afghanistan and the U.S., and for the past several years he has traveled to Asia and Brazil to work with youth in vulnerable situations to do mosaic murals. He currently works out of his studio in Ashfield, Massachusetts and teaches at the Springfield Museum School.

robertmarkey.com

X – it’s the point where you cross with yourself. The place where you stop and look at yourself, and care. Poison ivy makes you stop, you’re at a crossroad, you can choose friend or foe, love or fear. Love can be another life lesson. Fear can be the closest friend delivering you a love letter. And this performance is the collaboration between Plants X Wisdom |  Love X Fear | I X U | I X Me

Aki Goto is a multimedia artist. Her ongoing conceptual project “NOW” explores the relationships with her past, present, and future (with particular emphasis on the present) through the use of a variety of mediums including drawing, painting, video, clothing, installation, sound, performance, and also herbalism since she moved upstate NY from the city. Her latest show, one of her ongoing projects “Shirotento Orchestra” had the 3rd performance at Old Dutch Church in April 2019, to celebrate Genderqueer’s Day – this is her performance series which always includes audiences as players and keeps changing its theme and structure depending on the present moments she and the world holds.

Meg will be presenting 10 short pieces of non illusory personal storytelling performed in a random order chosen by the audience. Throughout the piece, X factors will be randomly added that change the rules of performance and challenge the performer creating an unknown and experimental outcome.   Non illusory theater contains no fourth wall and no pretense. The actions on stage are really happening. The stories are true. The moment of performance is the setting. The pieces consist of monologue, dance, games, and engagement with the audience that tackles current issues through the lens of comedy and personal honesty.  My work is feminist and intersectional, it does not rely on XX chromosomes to define the feminine. It simply relies on one that all humans share.

Meg is a writer, performer, and producer. She is an ensemble member at-large with the New York Neo-Futurists, known for their popular weekly show The Infinite Wrench. She has toured productions of the New York Neo-Futurists’ previous late night show Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, The Providence Improv Festival and headlined the Out of Bounds Comedy Festival in Austin. After 10 active years with the New York Company, She moved to an at large position to focus more on writing and solo work. She plays the role of “Deb” and “Proverb Lady” on the hit podcast Welcome to Night Vale. She is the Emcee and Tour Manager of the Welcome to Night Vale live show and has brought the live show to 17 countries and almost all of the 50 States. Meg is the producer and co-host of the comedy podcast “Good Morning Night Vale”. She is based in Los Angles and the Hudson River Valley.

www.megbash.com

www.nynf.org

X is a placeholder for nothing. It means eXed out, eXtinguished, eXtinct. It is the absence of something that was once present. But X is also a crossroads, a coming together, a meeting point. It is two lines inseparably intertwined. It is a junction made stronger because it eXists. This meaning of X can be seen in construction, city planning, and craft — especially cross-stitch. This proposed mural is a cross-stitch sampler, done in a massive scale, and representing a selection of the most critically endangered species in New York. The x’s in the cross-stitch pattern are a reminder both of the impending disappearance of these species, and also of the deep interconnectedness of all things. There is a pattern underlying all of creation that binds life, events, and eventualities together. The proposed piece would be a call to action for all viewers to remember our connection with nature, and work together to find a solution to the man-made eXtinction events we have caused.

Born and raised in Tucson, Arizona, Jana moved to Brooklyn in 2009 after bouncing around Washington State, Scotland, and Southern India for several years. She’s always made art, and always been deeply influenced by the natural world. Her paintings and sculptures celebrate nature, love, and interconnectivity.

http://www.janaliptak.com

Part I: HomeBuoy:  The site specific installation is a reflection on perspectives. The “X” represents the crossing of paths, allowing one site to have many different views. The HomeBuoy space creates physical and visual divisions depending on where one stands. Viewers will be able to immerse themselves in the colorfully transformative environment, it is an opportunity to lounge and dream while experiencing the object filled installation. 

Part II: X-tra Ordinaries Port:  A mobile sculpture that begins its journey at HomeBuoy (@Ferrovia Studios) and reappears in various locations around Kingston over the festival weekend (uptown, midtown and Rondout). As the Port travels visitors can interactive with it creating new relationships. The Port arrives in Kingston like an immigrant without a purpose or place, intrigued by its potential with human contact. The Port is on an adventure in Kingston, guided by its interactions with the community.

ArtPod is an internationally focused gUG-Gemeinnützige Unternehmergesellschaft (German nonprofit) organization, co-founded by Laurie De Chiara, promotes accessible, direct and unconventional interaction between contemporary art and a wide range of audiences. Often a team of artists, and/or cultural thinkers come together to exchange ideas and develop an artwork, for example, HomeBuoy and X-tra Ordinaries Port was conceived in this way. By producing group exhibitions, programming and consultancy with upcoming and established artists, ArtPod seeks to engage visitors in a supportive, relaxed environment that fosters open-ended dialogue, imaginative exploration, and hands-on play. By reigniting the relationship between education and the art experience, ArtPod aims to support and develop the visitor’s creative voice.

www.artpod.org

SHARE your CHAIR is an artistic exchange project created by Stefan Saffer (www.stefansaffer.com– www.artpod.org)  to built temporary public islands for seating and hanging out in Kingston’s public sphere.

Stefan Saffer will collect donated chairs from neighbors and the people living in Kingston plus surrounding areas to create and arrange for public seating spaces in multiple locations located in Uptown, Midtown and the Rondout district of Kingston.

Sharing a seat is a gesture of generosity towards people and spaces. Sitting at places one cannot normally sit at, can cause a discussion about how we all can make our public space more accessible and comfortable to suit our needs.

This project tries to explore the private and public usage of space beyond just functional thoughts and urban planning.

Explore and find your seat and your space at SHARE your CHAIR and get inspired for your very own space.

IF YOU WANT TO DONATE A CHAIR contact safferstefan@gmail.com

Photo: Stefan Saffer meeting a neighbor at a temporary public furniture in Linz, Austria ©stefansaffer & publicworks, London

An invisible connect-the-dots trail, The Kingston Clue Maze will be a very mysterious, completely hidden route through the city that makes ten (X) specific stops at a variety of outdoor, public spaces. Players will begin at a designated starting location with a starting clue. By considering the clue and exploring the location, players will determine the next location. In this way, players will traverse all over Kingston. Scour each spot and solve each puzzling clue until you reach the end! X marks the spot!

Roy is a writer,  songwriter, and maze-maker. He works as a teacher and after-school mentor in Kingston. He holds master’s degrees in English and Adolescent Education from SUNY New Paltz. His birthday is on Halloween.

Kingston artist, Lynn Herring, just graduated this spring with honors from SUNY New Paltz with an MFA in Sculpture. Her thesis work is about helping to heal cultural divisions by bringing adults together through play. Her undergrad work was done at SVA where she graduated with honors in 2008 and earned a BFA in sculpture. He work has been shown from New York to Istanbul, Turkey. Most recently, Lynn has reengineered Tic Tac Toe to help “Make America Relate Again”. The game she created is called XOX! Share the Love®. XOX! Share the Love is a thoughtfully designed and skillfully crafted work of art that utilizes ubiquitous iconic symbols, playful shapes and forms, and vibrant colors to attract and to stimulate viewer interaction. With familiar elements of the universally recognized TIC TAC TOE game, XOX! Share the Love is a reimagined strategic game that reminds adults of the pleasures of their childhood. By design, it encourages engagement and connection over division, joy and resilience over aggression and defensiveness. It is a project that transcends the boundaries of any one discipline with research rooted in social psychology related to play, visual communications including principles of advertising and graphic design, game development, digital fabrication, sculptural skills and hand finishing, public art, social practice art and community engagement. This work originated from my interest in the question: How can an artwork bring people together?

lynn@lynnherringartist.com