puppetsnbikes

Occupy the internet!

2011-10-23T06:48:00.001-07:00

To show my support for the occupy movements I just occupied part of my web space, along with my blog brother http://www.robireson.blogspot.com/ you can do to by checking out http://fffff.at/occupy-the-internet/ and copying and pasting the little bit of code there into your html if you can access it... hope fully soon I will be able to occupy some non virtual space.... viva la revolution .....

Puppets for Patrick (the snakey saint guy)

2011-04-27T16:08:00.000-07:00

Tangle theatre is reincarnated once more!!!!! after a last minute application me and co-collaborator Arran of Cork Circus were accepted for a commission for this years St.Patricks day parade... the theme was happyness and what more appropriate than aliens!?!?!? Well yeh perhaps you don't see the connection but aliens looking from another planet and seeing the world as it is, come here not to suck our brains but to show us how to have a good time!

Space ship puppet theatre and life size alien rod puppet

The Parade was great fun, we worked with a youth group from Mahon and a group of asylum seekers, mostly from the African continent, the group creation of the aliens worked really well, as in making an alien there's no rules really, because their aliens, and because no one can really say what and alien looks like, theres no mistakes, and no wrong way to do it, which can be very liberating when not so confident with your artistic skills, I used a stuffed bag technique to make the alien heads, where you make a rough shape with bags stuffed with newspaper, rubbish, anything really, tape it into place then build up layers of newspaper and brown paper stuck together with wallpaper paste, if you click on my 2008 posts you should see this technique, as i used it in La Cambalacha in Guatemala on my second vist to their fantastic place

The aliens having a great ol time in their converted paddling pools

Me and mr alien

details of control

jus chillin

detail of hand puppet potential

We used a kind of foam called profile foam for the tentacles, these were off cuts of foam and kindly donated by Vita Cortex a foam factory in Cork, the natural bubbiness of the foam looked very alien tentacle and all that was required was to cut, glue and paint them

flying saucers

alien controlled robot and flying saucer aliens

skeleton of alien rod puppet

The alien rod puppet was constructed from tent poles recycled from last years festivals, this skeleton was then covered in foam, using copydex to glue it, which needed to be heated with a hairdryer to make it stick effectively, foam and copydex is actually the same substance, copydex being latex and foam being latex with has had foaming agent added then cooked like bread, this fact only came to light when i researched how to create puppets from a mold... and i blew my mind...it did.

more skeleton

Once the foam was carved to the right shape, the whole thing was covered in copydex and muslin, then layers of copydex mixed with pigment.
The fun thing was when the copydex was at just the right stage of drying, you could actually shape and mould the features, the softer the foam the more effective this was

carving foam head

Demonstrated by copydex man, my little test piece i made, he was made from very soft foam and i had great fun shaping him by hand. and made quite a freaky little fellow

copydex man.....little test piece

foam body before latex and muslin applied

Puppet maker Lesley givin it some alien moves

asylum seeker workshop painting large paper mache head

more detail of painting

ALIENS!

Arran painting tentacle surrounded by flying saucers

internals of flying saucer

flying saucer packed down, neat ay

Assembling African alien, note red cross for mouth signifying lack of voice for asylum seekers

Arran an the Alien

Big Eye

found a few clips of the paddys parade on youtube, this is the whole parade

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D19pv-ZbDcI and we are at about 41.50

this clip is a bit better: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUHnDCk5kjM&feature=related and we are on at
about 12 mins in theres a good bit of Arrans alien robot on it

and some good flying saucer spin action on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAHK0t_e3cY&feature=related
at about 29 mins in.....

Puppet Chicken

2011-04-16T16:53:00.000-07:00

At the end of 2010, friend, clown and sometime collaborator Arran, commissioned me to construct a puppet chicken to be included in a performance him and three other clowns were doing as Clowns without Borders in Somalia. A chicken was selected as it was easily reconised, and it was built around a builders hat in order for it to be placed on the head.

The legs were contructed of wire and newspaper jointed with bolts, strung from behing to give realistisc chicken movement, the wings were made from truck inner tube bolted to the builders hat

The finish of the chicken was exposed newspaper paper mache, as the clown show was called 'Good News' utilising newspaper props, so the show didn't look too flashy, and keeping accessible to all audiences.

This was the first time in twenty years an international performance group were in Somalia as it is a country with no government to speak of and a chaotic situation for much of the inhabitants, who are mostly displaced within their own country.

I felt honoured to be involved in a small way in such an inspiring project, as bringing smiles and laughter to situations where hope and joy is in short supply has been an ambition of mine for a long time, ever since reading the circus to iraq blogs in 2004 (www.circus2iraq.org)

The puppet was constructed in my freezing workshop with the wood burner was on constantly, and the water would freeze as it came out of the tap into my kettle as i fed my need for constant cups of tea.

So it felt a little sureal that in those conditions it was then whisked to the 30-35 blinding sun to become part of a circus clown routine to entertain children who'd witnessed untold horrors in there short lives

A very inspiring project, and one i was very happy to have a small part in.

For more information click on http://clownswithoutborders.org/

Lecy Picy

2009-12-07T15:16:00.001-08:00

Here are pictures from the space I organised at the electric picnic, Non-Toxic Machines, it was based in the Green Crafts space, while technically not a green craft, making machines out of old bikes seemed to fit in quite well with the ethos of the whole thing, and I felt really welcomed, the organisers of the space Marie and Nic Piper were great, they did everything they could for us and trusted everyone to do their own work and do it well, creating a real community feel to the space, and it made me wonder why more organisers arn't as pleaseant and organised, having bad experiences working for the body and soul area, where ego's seem to rule the space, the organisers arn't at all organised and seem to think that people should be honoured to be part of the festival and generally treat people with contempt.... they know who they are.. anyway me and my friend Anna, fellow bike artist from Belfast, Paddy Bloomer, and his partner Joanna who also made dresses from old tents, (http://www.therainskirt.com) had a great time. Padddy made a bike soundsystem on a old sinclair C5, an i mostly tinkered with my bike powered virtual reality machine and people had much fun peddling and playing tunes on the pedal soundsystem

Hollies workshops

2009-12-07T14:53:00.000-08:00

ok, these were workshops me and my friend fergal ran at the hollies centre for practical sustainability (http://theholliesonline.com) in the summer. They went over two days and the first workshop was concerning making bike generators, this went ok considering there wern't to many people, we decided to make two kinds of bike trailer, the first kind was based around a fish box, the big heavy rubber/plastic boxes fishermen use, the wheels were taked apart and put on the axle of a peda;l, and then the pedal cranks bolted onto he box, this method worked well as it can be done without using electricty, which was handy as we didn't have any electricity on site, the problems started with the second kind of trailer, a metal frame one which used normal wheels but needed welding, so it was difficult to get people involved as i couldn't teach welding in such a short time, so i basically had to make it with other people watching, which i felt was a bit disempowering, and dificult, so we decided the following day which was about making bicycle powered machines, would be entirely electricity free, apart from what we generated with the machines, to be super low impact, but also using only hand tools made it a super accesable day, were anyone young and old could get involved, and after a breif talk about the technicalities possibilities of bike machines we went about making three bike generators, it was a bright sunny day, an there was a wonderful atmosphere of playfullness an invention amoung the participants who all went away very happy, i was buzzing after that day, and it inspired me to organise a non-toxic machines space in the green crafts field of the electric picnic.

Mushrooms, Metal and bikes

2009-12-07T14:15:00.001-08:00

Ok here are some more images, first off, some gratuitous action shots of me on the forge in me workshop, then a surprise, when the glen studio's semi-collective returned from our outing at the electric picnic (where non-toxic machines bike crew had there first event fotos soon_) we'd only been gone a week, but upon returning wehen i went to use my anvil, there where mushrooms growing from it!!, well actually from close ispection, they wern't growing from it, but from the beech stump i put it om months before, it must have had some fungus in it, at first i thought it was really cool, but then i looked them up, an i think they are destroying angel mushrooms, some of the deadliest around!, and when ever i pivcked them, the next day there would be more!, they've finally subsided but i expect they'll be back next year, a foto with bikes in it? oh yeh that was from a workshop, me and my friend fergal did in the hollies, a centre for perectical sustainability in west cork. more to follow

A long time since my last confession

2009-11-26T08:04:00.000-08:00

Its been a long time since my last blog, and alots happened since then, so i will not attempt to catch up all at once but i'll do it in installments, i spose one of the most exciting things for me was setting up the Glen Studios with friends Sean Og and Donal, its a studio space which primarily focus's on sustainable art forms, i've got a forge there and lots of tools to play with, its also significant in a life changing way, as to set it up i had to decide where i wanted to be for a good few years, which i've never consciously done, so I feel thats a big step forward, its in a place called kinsale, which is a little seaside town on the south coast of Ireland, there could be alot worse places to be. It was the first transition town, which means it aims to leave behind its dependancy on oil over time, more about this later. It also has a small college which teaches the only full time permaculture course in Europe, so this brings interesting people from all over the world, and alot of them settle here, making it culturally alot more exciting than many small towns in Ireland.. any way to the pictures.. The first one is Paddy Bloomers 'Skary-Go-Round' which he brought down to cork for the cycling festival there. I had the pleasure of working with Paddy at the electric picnic this year, in a bike recycling space i organised called Non-Toxic Machines.... photo's will follow.
The next picture is Sean Og, Donal and me around our burner in the studio's, then me on a bike generator at the entrance to the studio's at our first event, a performance and film screening.

Next is Brendan Power, pyrographer using a bike generator I designed and made, so he can pyrography without mains electricity. His website: www.brendanpowerart.com and the Glen Studios website (still in construction) http://glenstudios.org thanks for your attention and i will upload more images shortly. Thanx. Rob

berlin shadows and mayfield heads

2008-08-23T09:09:00.000-07:00

here was a shadow puppet showe that my friend james and me and his little girl kia made when i was in berlin

it was a very simple process, cut out silloettes to depict a modern day little red riding hood story,
them move them behind the screen, much fun, the small audience loved it

these pictures show a workshop i ran in mayfield for teenagers where we mad puppets from newspaper and tape, painted them then did a short show

puppet revolution

more guatema puppets

2008-08-23T09:01:00.000-07:00

So i returned to guatemala to work with lacambalcha, after a very depressing winter of being ill, i decided to spend all my savings and go on holiday as much as possible.

the sun and the quiet large lake to swim in every morning was a very healing time, and back to puppets: i made tis freaky yellow guy on a wandering around san marcos and found material, childs shoes and wire, he could stand by himself and when wobbled was very convincing and freaky, he was used as part of a reptile performance to experimantal pycadelic jazz, one night in this italian tapas bar. yeah. the rest of the images are from when me and abi decided to make alarge carnival puppets here you see the method; using garbage sacks as an armature and alternate layers of newspaper and brown paper glued with flour and water boilded up, seven or so layers later hey presto , big heads

guatemala puppets

2008-08-23T08:59:00.000-07:00

bull bikes

2008-08-23T08:47:00.000-07:00

here is a selection of some of the seven trikes, that were made for the festival of the bulls in blackpool, with myself and members of cork community bikes, this was basically a festival in a shopping centre which was very anoying, componded by having to deal with greedy buisnessmen, it was fun making these bikes and fun riding them, the aftereffect of the commision was a big argument between cork community bikes and blackpool shopping centre over the ownership of these creations, this misunderstanding was caused by goldifish promotions promoter, moray as he told both parties they owned these wonderfull machines, a lesson learnt that when dealing with anyone ascociated with buisness GET IT IN WRITING, as you can't trust any of these slimeball no matter how friendly they are.
one of the bikes was taken an made into a buikfiets for commmunity use so its not all bad.

more metal crab

2008-08-23T08:40:00.000-07:00

Ok these are some images of a metal crab me and another sculptor; Loret, made last september as part of the conemara roots festival, a reggae and trad festival on inishboffin island off conemmara, it was great fun making it as it was constructed out of pieces of broken down cars that littered the island, and in finding the owners of these recks to see if we could use their, doors bonnets and lights etc, we got to know most of the island, the finished piece is now in pride of place outside the local community centre, and i wait with anticipaciation to return this september and spend more time creating some exciting art from junk.

crab on da 'boff

2008-08-23T08:33:00.000-07:00

shadows and stencils

2008-08-23T08:24:00.000-07:00

Two totally different projects, very similar methods.
these two are images from an experimental shadow puppetry performance in the tig-fili arts centre, this was devised and performed as part of a 24 hour non-stop art event, very enjoyable, sureal and exahusting

The next few pictures are from a stencil graffiti project i did with a group of teenagers from mayfield, an estate in cork city, we decorated a libary bus using stencil of quotes, letters, shapes and even digitally manipulated images of the teenagers themselves, as you can see this worked to great effect.

Shadow Puppets

2007-02-26T13:31:00.000-08:00

Well here a few photos of a shadow puppet workshop that me and arran under the name 'Tangle Theatre' facilitated a group of adults with learning dificulties. enjoy.

Funarte

2007-01-17T06:27:00.000-08:00

Still full of christmas food, and warm from spending a luvley new year relaxing with good friends, I jump on a plane for Nicaragua, with 15 others youth workers and youth, we were each responsible for one youth, my first experience of being some sort of suedo parent, three flights in a row, taking off on the third flight of the day, I started to have a very bizzare feeling where time and space ceased to exist, straight outa Fight Club, or maybe it was just hunger, as id failed to book vegetarian meals and was surviving off mini packets of complementary nuts. 29 hours later we arrive at the hostel, we will be staying for the next ten days.

I wake hungary and we all flock to the canteen to big plates of Gallo Pinto, basically refried rice and beans, suprisingly tasty and filling, lucky since we have it every day for breakfast lunch and dinner.

It turns out this hostel is also a science park, as the owner explains, showing the group around, we see how the coffee around us is stripped of its flesh (coffee is acually the seed inside a red berry, grown on small trees, the berry is sweet) and how the flesh is saved for animal feed, and the juices are filtered throu a reed bed system to prevent it poisoning the land. I was very impresed when he showed us the bio digester, basically big pit of poo with a rubber sheet over it and a hole at the side to put in morepoo and a pipe to extract the gas, five pound of horse manure produced enough gas to cook fifty dishes of Gallo Pinto, and human poo can also be used if mixed with abit of ash, now thats recycling.

The next couple of days are basically familiarising ourselvses with funartes history and princibles, these were founded soon after the revolution, as a way of communitys telling their story's, when the Sandanistas lost the next election the following goverment preceded to paint out all the murals, giving an idea of their true power, as giving the communitys a voice and an identity. Funarte work with representante, youth electeced by thier peer group to train as mural artists, then to pass down this knowlage in massive workshops of 100 children located in the communal building of each barrio. Quite often Funarte run into conflict with the representantes parents, as their youth are perhaps too empowered for their liking, when this happens Funarte run mural painting workshops also with the parents.

The murals are devised through strories, often told by community leaders, a theme is decided, a story, a song, a dance, a poem some artistic endevour is performed around this theme, that is used as an inspiration for the mural, the mural artists work with the community drawing, over time a to scale sketch is made, it is transferred onto the wall by a grid system then is painted in.

I only really got a true picture of the work funarte did when we had a meeting with some of the community leaders , these were unpaid guardians of each barrios interests, if their were any problems they would help sort it out, for example if someone was ill and needed medication but couldnt afford it the leaders would gather money from the community and payfor it, they were ensuring that the peoples revolution twenty years ago was still fully funcioning in their barrios. We all had a chance to talk about our communitys Juanita talked of how women are getting more empowed in Guatemala, Lina talked how women are empowered in Columbia but ultimatly have no power, Wilma talked how in El Salvador thier community had a monthly fund to ensure people had their medical needs looked after and how they also kept thier own blood bank as in el salvador blood is very expensive, and if you cant afford to buy it when you need an operation, you die, so the people have their own supply. I talked about how women and men in ireland are fairly equal (though i later realised that on a buisness and political forum their not at all) and how the rapid influx of big amounts of cash is swiftly destroying the strong community of old, that it is now quite a seperatist, greedy place. Im not sure if this was accurate but i did have a feeling of spiritual poverty compared to these strong people, what is it about money that dopes you up so much you don't notice people around you.

Anyways these leaders work closely with funarte, who work closley with the children, producing murals which are not just pictures on walls but the product of community organisation, emowering people as they are produced, and maintaining these community links as they regulary maintain the murals. well enough talk heres some pictures

new year

2007-01-17T05:57:00.000-08:00

Another year, another blog, hello virtual world. well ill just briefly fill you in on what ive been up to since my last entry, well i was totally spun out by the general unfairness of being in california the richest state in north america, and seeing more poverty and desperation than anywhere in central america, but did reafirm my belief that community is the most important thing and at the end of the day makes you richer than any amount of cash. A nightmare three day trip back to mexico city (i thought it would only take a day and a half, and was tortured by very loud badly dubbed films particularly bad was Big Mommas House II, twice)

Back in england landed at the big green gathering, the best place to land wobbly from jet lag, to staight away start working in a cafe, which i was to later perform two sureal and shambolic puppet shows.

Back in Ireland and Tangle Theatre are back in action doing shadow puppet workshops with adults with special needs, which resulted in a very sucessfull christmas show, and simultaineously facilitated stencil workshops to paint a mobile libary with youth from Cork.
The community arts organisation I was working for managed to get funding for some people from La Cambalacha to go Nicaragua to train with Funarte; a youth mural painting organisation, using murals to build on community and address social issues.
There was also funding for me to go as a youth worker on this trip which i will talk about in my next entry.
I must also add that i suffered some sort of bizzare reverse culture shock, after about being back about a month, where nothing in the culture i was living in seemed to make any sense, and I longed to live in a small village, where everyone helped each other out, I still do really, which is whyI relish this opportunity to return an make some sence of it all.............

back to bikes

2006-08-02T09:08:00.000-07:00

O.k. its my last day in mexico, and probably my last entry to this blog, so as promised more bike stuff, America (well the United States actually, someone told me in Guatemala that calling the States America, is like calling Europe, France, good point really) anyway, the U.S. way fuct up and confusing but one of the things that made it worth it was that there were two bike festivals going on the weekend I was there, they were two very different fesival, I will endevour to put video on to show you, but at the moment you´ll have to do with photos, the first one was sponsered by Fat Tire beer, they have a wind powered brewery and seem keen to promote thier green image, this was a good event if pretty corporate, it was held in Golden Gate park, which is an amazing park, really old trees and lots of spaces left for nature to reclaim, lots of joggers, people with model boats, all kind of activities going on, there were family picnics galore, its says alot that how organised the family picnics were, the picnic tables were fully loaded with food (american like big portions) various ball games set up in each area, and barbecues roaring, and this was at ten am in the morning!, all the picnic tables were taken, the ones with no people were full of food covered in plastic, which makes me wonder how early they have to get here to claim their spot.... anyway back to the bikes, there was a little circuit set up with some amusing mutant bikes that their are photos of here, there was a stage set up with amuzing family orientated entertainment, and all was lovley, many family enjoying bikes, which cannot be bad, lots of folks as well with shiny super bikes, low rider bikes, old new bikes, new old bikes, trikes, tandems and all sorts, great to see so many people enjoying bikes in the sunshine, I did kindov feel that it was another part of consumerism, ad not something Í was really part of, but some people need to but shiny things to contribute to the world, and fair play to them, but I knew a festival far more fitting in with my princibles was going on at the other side of town, CycleCide bike rodeo and bike powered funfair!, (www.cyclecide.com) it took me a long time to get to the other side of town, ironicaly due to the lack of having a bike, this was the hottest day of the year in San Francisco, and it was HOT, so I arrive, and they give me a map of all the near off licences (nice), as they can´t sell beer, and I wonder round with mild sunstroke open jawed at all the veihicles, the photo above hear is of a super high high bike in action, that is about five bikes welded on top of each other, very dangerous looking, and various bike powered funfair rides, much fun in exhausting claustrophobic and fuct up U.S.A, I feel now i want to travel further south as its seems the further north I went things were more about money and less about community, so i wonder if i trave l south the opposite is true, well thats for another blog, so long and thanks for all the fish, much love, and thank you, Rob

butt fuck ohio

2006-07-27T20:41:00.000-07:00

Back in mexico after my fling with the american dream, walking over the border to mexico, I saw no police and no one even asked me my name, which was a strange contrast to the questions, queing and general hastle it was walking in the other direction. i'm glad I spent some time in the place that had so shaped my reality as youngster, from great tv shows such as the a~team and Mcqyver to great literature such as On The Road, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintainence, Even Cowgirls get the Blues, and the like yup it was enlightening indeed, on thing that struck me hard though was all the crazy people living on the street, I decided to sleep out for a couple of nites as california was undergoing an extreme heatwave and anywhere inside was too hot anyway, but the feeling of paranioa that takes over you when looking for a place to sleep almost sent me crazy, as its illegal to be outside you have to hide from the police, and as theres so many people already sleeping rough its an edgy situation indeed, luckilly i found a nice place hidden away next to the beach where i bedded down.

I spent a brief time trying to suss out the Oakland art scene, Oakland is a place just over the bay from San Francisco, alot of artists have moved into warehouses there , as san francisco is too expensive, and warehouses provide a cheap a spacious place to live and work, typically they are in a pretty run down area, so the police don't mind they are living in a warehouse. I rocked up in Oakland to see the punk circus act the_orkestra, the opening act for them were some young kids called 'shaky bones' they were kindov anti folk and totally rocked the place. the drummer had a little snare drum with two cymbles tacked on and a old beat up box he was sitting on, with these he managed to beat out brilliant rythems with an old spanner, as the charazmatic sing warbled out such great hits as 'buttfuck ohio' then it was 'one man banjo's turn to get the place jumping which he did, he was one man with a banjo, but that was definanly more exiting than it sounds. The_orkestra gave us a clown tragic comedy love story with small tall bikes and kidove gypsy music, they were very shabolic but funny, at this point i was drunk, and realised I needed somewhere to stay, so after some paniky asking around were I learned that shaky bones were homeless and living in there truck, oh to be a young homeless anti folk band, it all sounds so romantic, anyway, a luvley man called Rich came to my rescue and I ended up in a super plush warehouse which was divided into rooms were people lived, I slept in the biggest hammock i've ever been in, and I slept the sleep of kings and queens.

The next day I stumbled around the neighbourhood full of homeless folks with shopping trollys pilled high with belongings (this was to become a commen sight) strung out prostitutes and dodgy looking geezers, I took to be their pimps. After much wondering I found ABCO (www.abcoartspace.com) and was told the general set up, but that there was nothing going on right at this moment, but a luvlee lady came to my rescue and drove me to Lobot (www.lobotgallery.com) were there was an exhibition curated by six artists who curated six artists who curated six artists curating six artists to result in 1556 pieces of art being shown ( gettit expedetial growth) a contructed virus, I liked the idea you could make a cultural virus and let it spread into a community, it was intended to only affect oakland artist, who i came to realise there are quite alot of. But one woman decided to mutate the virus and apply it to non oakland non-artists, it was very interesting show, and I loved the idea that are can CREATE community, its something i've been thinking about for a long time as a different approach to community arts.
My favorette piece was a box on the wall which you could stand in and just look at the exhibition through a slot (pictured) this created a feeling of intence piece in an exhibition that quickly became extremley overwellming, you could view the exhibition through the slot, while inadvertantly becoming one of the exhibits yourself. The overwhelming feeling was the only weak point of the show even if you only concentrated on the lower pieces (there was a ladder or binoculars to view the higher up ones) its was so much and i only saw a fraction of the show after several hours, the high up pieces created a kind of pecking order i though, a obviosly the eye leval pieces would get the most attention. I don't know how these criticism would be resolved as there is only so much space I suppose. Criticisms asside it was great to see a show created by local artists in a space created by local artists, probably for local artists as i kind of feel these spaces are visted by a certain clique of society, but it was great and unlike anything i'd seen before, my overwelming feeling was inspiration and hope for creation outside corprate restrictions.
The photos here are kindov confused, as i havn't fully worked out how to edit html, when blogger has an error i just have to let it fly with it, as you can see by previous dodgy postings anyway they include some smartass graffiti from the mama buzz toilets, a cast baby head, some hitler eggs dripping wax, the view of the exhibition thru the 'hide in a box exhibit' and a picture of a bike at a warehouse in san fran, where i returned a few days later for a bike rodeo, which will be the subject of my next blog when i can get the photos out of it. I fixed my camera after the insides of it moved after too many drops, i used this brilliant stuff called plastico loko, where you mix two pastes together and make your own plastic, I was very pleased that I fixed this very cheap camera that was designed to break, and felt it was my small victory over a wasteful consumer society, it now is starting to produce pretty blured photos, but hey lifes not perfect, until next time, be brave, be afraid, live life, love vegetables and each other aiiii xxxxx

hey there

2006-07-21T11:49:00.000-07:00

ok heres some random pictures, soon, i will get back on the bike theme as i'm going to two different bike festivals in san francisco, recently i've been checking out the artists living and working in warehouses scene in oakloand, which i'll do a write up about shortly too.
So in no order; here is me riding in the back of a pickup hitching thru baja california, hot and desserty, me being sliced up by chucky on hollywood boulavard wierd and sureal, sum nice graffiti, yes those are 8 tracks this is california, am losing my mind what going on, why does everyone seem to be in a different time zone, oh yeah and some excellant d-i-y road markings at the end of the cycle path. Talk to you soon virtual world, dance thru the world and treat everyone with love, even if that guy over there IS smoking crack and has a gun, TV is a powerful thing, walk away from the computer, look the suns shining xxxxx

mayan cultcha

2006-06-30T15:12:00.000-07:00

well i´m in Mexico, finally left the lake and passed on my puppet duties to the next teacher, I think i´ll be back there. I had quite a few revalations working on that project, one of them that giving oportunity, hope and a view of a different way of life than that represented by the corporate media scum to the next generation, is a real and practical way to make a difference to the world by letting the future evolve and grow beyond the contraints of buisness interest. Another one, that by creating positive conections between different communities artound the world, connects people, creates understanding and tollerance and brings us closer to a world where war is ridiculasness to be condemed to history (his story?).
Also that by working with groups startying projects that can carry on and enrich thier lives long after their finished is exactly what I want to do, acting as a creative spark as it were. Working for the Cambalacha gave me an empowered me in a new way, twas great, twas.

yup so goodby to guatemala for now, hello San Cristobel, Zapatistas, small beatiful villages, slightly more comfortable pick up trucks and palencie, wow mayan ruins, swimming in rivers almost drowning, meditating under a waterfall, and thinking.

Thinking alot about my grandad Wilf who I found out recently died, he was a great man and an inspirtation for me my whole life, always full of beans all ways ready for a dance which he often won prizes for in his ´Wilf from Walsall´t-shirt, always busy making something, the last thing he said to me was to keep busy and keep smiling, i know he did, and i´m sure he´s dancing away somewhere, much love to him and Nelly my Nan who´s mourning is pulling me back home. But not before more puppet shows and a taste of america, the land of freedom. mmmm.. we´ll see.
love to all my friends and family, infact to everyone.

oh and a spiky tree and a mayan skull from palenckie thats it as my camera seems to have gone short sighted after i dropped it one to many times ooops

Father its been a long time since my last blog...

2006-06-05T12:12:00.000-07:00

O.k. hello virtual world, i'm not sure if anyones reading this but if feels good to get my thought out once in a while.
Well i'm still living in San Marcos, preparing a puppet show and making puppets with some kids training to be clowns at a local childrens project. Its funny living in such a transient place for a little while, you start to notice the little things that as a transient you don't get chance to, alot of people regard San Marcos as a place to go and meditate and little more, but theres actually an amazing local community, it does seem though a place of two worlds, this is effect is amplified by there being two time zones!, when the clocks where turned back for daylight saving the local population refused to change their routine, as this would mean taking their children to school and hour earlier, and that would then effect there work as the schools are set up in such a way so the kids go early and leave early so they can still do the neccesary work they need to do, for thier families, in shop, on the farm etc... so the result is two time zones, in the town everyone works on 'old time' and in the hippy village everyone works on 'official time' which obviously causes some confusion. In a nearby village they call old time hora el dios, (hour of god) and new time hora la diablo (hour of the devil).

Thats not to say theres not alot of intergration between the locals and vistors, there is much, one amazing example is this german woman who's working with youngsters in schools educating about rubbish, making things from rubbish, as rubbish is a major problem here, many families just throw it out into the wilderness as they have for generations, but of course unlike generations ago, plastic now exists, and continues to exist for a long time, this is a problem, one solution which is being tried, initiated by this womon and working with local people is to rebuild houses that were destroyed during last years hurracane, with plastic and plastic bottles as the main building material, brilliant! I will be performing a puppet show this coming saturday at a fiesta para los ninos, to celebrate the finishing of the rebuilding the houses after the huricane, heres a photo of one of the houses

and heres a photo of the amazing local community moving rocks as they rebuild the school, it seems that the women do all the carrying of things around and the men dig things, its funny you never see a man carrying anything on their heads

Last week I visted the local grave yard, (top photo on its side) it was definatly different from the usual graveyard i've seen, the first thing I noticed was all the tree's, for when ever anyone is buried a tree is planted on top of them, giving new life, and an immediate visual indication of how long they've been dead, I was talking with a friend about the day of the dead also, a day when everyone goes to the graveyard to hang out with their dead ones, have great feasts and parties, to celebrate death the same as life, as there no point in getting upset about death because it is there, as real and beautiful as life, part of the whole big movie we're in. Set me thinking about my death, how i'd like to have a big party and have little oak planted on me. But enough about death, back to puppets.

Also last week I made the heads of the marionettes with the clown kids, we spent one session getting to know each other making paper mache and the next moulding the paper mache around plastic bottles on bamboo sticks to make the head, they came up with some great charactors, and seemed to really enjoy it, it one one of the best workshops i've done.

until next time over and out

very long bloooog

2006-05-22T13:59:00.000-07:00

It was hard to leave Maya Pedal, such a brilliant, empowering project, but my spanish was cripeling me, so I made the decision to travel to
Monterico where I heard there was a really good spanish school, few distractions and warm sea to swim in. The journey down on the ever musical and chaotic chicken buses was great fun, as I travelled down the country I got hotter and hotter, until reaching my final destination, I collapsed in one of the many hammocks by my hostel and sweated, I contined to sweat, I walked down the beach, I got chased by a pack of stray dogs, I narrowly escaped attack by jumping a wall and running through someones garden, Hot and full of adrenaline I swung in my hammock drinking beer thinking about my next move, but I couldn´t think, the heat was unbearable, O.K. I thought i´ll go swimming, So I jumped off the hammock and ran across the black sand, which burnt my feet and jumped in the water, it was warm, but you couldn´t swim you just kind of got thrown around in the massive waves, back to the hammock, I can´t learn spanish in this heat, I can´t do anythink in this heat, so thats exactly what I did for the day, nothing but drink and swing, which was grand, but I had to leave, as Hunter S Thomson said in Rum Diary which i was reading at the time: "There was no reason to feel pressure, but I felt it anyway- the pressure of hot air and passing time, an idle tension that builds up in place where men sweat twenty four hours a day." and that what it was like twenty four hours a day of sweat and idle tension.

I had many thoughts about animals while I was there, its seems generally in Guatamala animals are let to roam freely, in Monterico pigs of all sizes walked around town cleaning up any organic waste and looking fairly healthy and happy, almost everywhere chickens peck around undisturbed, all the animals seemed fairly happy, except the dogs, who make it dangerous to walk around at night and necessary to wear earplugs to block out their insesant barking, I suppose a lazy way of looking after animals works well for the pigs, who are smart, friendly and can eat practically anything, and probably are living the closest a domestic animal can live to that ever elusive and often fought about equality. o.k. at some point they are killed to be eaten, but after a full and happy life, (which it seemed from observation) from a permacultutre perspective it would be seen as wasteful to bury them, I guess thats where permaculture and animal rights clash, in a society where food and resources are sparce it makes it harder over simplify the debate which in the past I perhaps have. Lazy dog care just dosn´t work, the dogs here look painfully undernourised and basically need humans to help them out, the guatemalen goverments solution is to sporadically put down dog poison, and if your dog, stray or not is out on that day, he´s not coming back. Nuetering and food are the obvious solution, but this isn´t happening as its pretty low down on peoples agenda and it sounds like a problem for the whole of latin america, and theres no money or intent to solve it.

The next day I arrived at "Earth Lodge" in the mountains outside Atigua, as I walked down the path many signs greeted me in different languages saying welcome to Earth, I had a nausious feeling that I was heading for some kind of rainbow establishment and was about to be surrounded by lost souls with spirals in their eyes or generally ignored for not having reached the correct leval of enlightenment, but no, I was happily surprised, It was run by a really sound canadian couple, they kept goats for milk and a had the whole place covered with advacado trees, which I learn´t give fruit after as little as one and a half years of growth, the place was surrounded by trees, I could think, I could breath!, I could have a sauna and practice spanish with a really good teacher, yup i spent a really happy few days here, I would recommend the place to anyone, when I´ve sorted out my links, I will put their website down. This was the cabin I was living in, right next to the sauna, which was just about perfect fot me

So I´m back in San Marcos, struggling to speak spanish while surrounded by english speakers, and trying to organise a puppetmaking workshop with youngsters at a childrens project here.

Heres one of the stained glass creations, at an artelier here, where i´ll hopefully be contructing some puppets, the really interesting thing about all the stained glass is, that its using waste glass and instead of lead joints he use´s paper mache mixed with wood glue then covered in wax, very sustainable.

I met a really interesting russian american who was travelling around in his vegi oil bus while making a documentory about it, how in costa rica he had trouble with the authorites who said they needed a permit to collect the oil from fast food places, so he went to the mayor who thought what they was doing was great and wrote them a letter saying they could do whatever they wanted, It was great to see a vegi oil van that worked so well, heres a picture of the system; basically theres two tanks; a diesel one and a vegi oil one, the vegi oil comes straight from the chipper, though one filter into the tank, though another filter then through these two marine engine filters, which are wrapped in this copper tubing coming from the engine, this heats the vegi oil, and after about ten minutes of running the engine on ordinary diesel the oil is heated sufficiently to make it runny enough to combust the same as diesel the flow from the diesel tank is stopped as the vegi oil is let do its stuff, the marine engine filters can be taken appart and cleaned in about one minute when required, cool, seemed like a really interesting way to make a connection with the local people, most of whom where facinated by the whole project, and theres a film being made about it so watch this space. The only problem was when once they didn´t flush the engine out with diesel when they stopped to go swimming one day, and when they tried to start the engine again the oil had cooled and clogged the engine up so two days was spent taking the engine apart and cleaning it out, I suppose you learn alot from these experiences though.

After all this talk of unheathy and agressive dogs heres a couple of picture of some very heathy and happy ones that I met on my travels, ok for some reason blogger won´t let me download them so you´ll have to imagine them.

more random pics

2006-05-14T09:57:00.000-07:00

Ok i'll take advantage of this 'free' internet in this overpriced hostel in antigua, its a bit of a shock to the system to be surrounded by white americans taking about all the groovy things theyve done, after the relative calm and reality of san andreas izapta, well best grin and bear it, soon i jump on another chicken bus, destination Monterico, it sounds very posh, but apparently its very cheap, run down and this time of year practically deserted which suits me fine for figuruing out puppet shows in spanish and getting myself together, theres turtles nesting there too. The most exciting thing that happened last night was a massive thunder and lightening storm, whenever lightening struck all the electricity went off for a few seconds then back on again, I took shelter in a nearby chinese greasy spoon had a masive plate of mushrooms, and tried to figure out my next move. Funny thing about Guatamala is its really hard to get good coffee, I suppose all the good stuff is exported overseas and were left with the crappy stuff, that says alot about the politics of capitalism. mmm yeh. The thing with posting photos on a blog, I'm begining to realise is that it takes a really long time for them to load up, so i might develop my describing gene, and keep photo to essentials in future, well anyway here are some photos; Firstly of the bikibomba the bicycle powered water pump, which seems amazingly usefully, basically its a bicycle with the drive going to the front wheel; which is a contrete disk to act as a flywheel, with two car tire rims attached to it, to act as a pully, around this is wrapped a cord with large wooden beads knotted at intervals, when the bike is pedaled the cord goes up to a small bike wheel pully mounted at the top of the systyem, round and down a pvc tube that goes deep into the well, back up another tube, carrying a column of water trapped between the beads, up to a large water container to store the water, then round the pully and back down the other tube to collect more water, apperently this has the potential to pump, between 5 to 10 gallens of water per minute!. The next photo is some bikes made out of bamboo (!), then details of the prototype bicycle powered washing machine (bicilavadora de ropa) which is basically a rotating plastic drum with holes in, and tubes with holes in fixed inside that, this is rotating within a fixed metal drum, with pedal equiptment fixed at one end, and a half open door at the other end, to throw in fresh hot or colds water at intervals, and theres a exit valve at the base of the metal drum to let out the dirty water, very simple, but no-one knows if it works yet as it was still being built as i took these photo's. The next photo is a totally unneccesary sunrise at san marcos shot. peace out, love n trees Rob

bikes bikes bikes

2006-05-13T16:34:00.000-07:00

Well, phew i just spent a week working for Maya Pedal mostly fixing up donated old bicycles to be sold cheaply to create funds to sell the machines they make, very cheap so rural familys can afford them, its a wonderful project. Arriving in San Andreas Izapa on a super crowded chicken bus, something trikes me straight away after being around lake Atililan for two weeks, no gringos!, I sit at the nearby cafe to catch my breath and the women asks me if i'm here for Maya Pedal, yup were the only white folks in town, but are so welcomed by everyone in the village, and it seems everyone has a great deal of respect for what Maya Pedal do, I guess that because they work very closley with the Mayan women who keep the project running, maya pedal make everything from pedal powered water pumps to washing machines, it seems their most popular model is the pedal powered corn extractor and grinder, as most of the mayan diet consists of corn meal tortilas and beans, they soak the corn in lime which breaks down the protien and makes it more easily absorbed, which is how people have and mostly still do, survive on a diet of torlilas and beans.
It seems life here is very simple, most people even children carry a machette for chopping wood, and everyday horses pass my door loaded up with wood to be stored before the rainy season kicks in proper. Its nice and refreshing, its simple and it works, the kids here are amazing, from first arriving they asked me my name now whenever I pass they repeat Roberto over and over again, and fling themselves at me like i'm a human fairground ride, which i supose I am.
I was sharing my basic quarters with 3 americans; Sam, Laura and Sara, all very nice if abit loud, I learnt to play hot dice, which is a great game
Yeh It was fairly hard to leave Maya Pedal, but my bad spanish wasn't improving and i spent the week fixing up bikes, which i was glad to do as Maya Pedal is a great project, but I felt if i stayed longer I might start to resent it as it looked like there was no bike machine making for quite a while, so i learnt what i could from studying the ones already there and made my plans, tommorow i go to monterico, to plan puppet shows, workshops, relax(!) and learn more spanish

Oh here are some photos too, the Maya Pedal sign, which was made with much drama while
I was there as there was much debate whether to glue of weld the chain lettering to the sign, a picture of Carlos in full flow, a typical view from our door, the famous bicycle corn extractor, the bicimolino, and a dog on the street.

All the hot showers in Guatamala have an electric element perched on the end of the shower head, which to me looks dangerous, but who am I to question these things, but yesterday while taking a shower I put my had closer to the head, only to get little shocks though the water if i put my hand too close!!, only by the time the water hits my head the electricity has disipated enough not to have an effect, this revalation shocked (hehe) and amused me and gave a who new meaning to the phase electric shower, i'm glad we only have 110 volts here.

chill week

2006-05-08T09:26:00.000-07:00

A week spent in San Marcos, VERY relaxed place, except for last tuesday, a week after the last fiesta, they have a mini fiesta to celerate the end of the last one, this involves blasting out marimba music, very loud all over the village all day and all night, theres no excaping the marimba, or so i thought, as curiosity got the best of me, and with two hippies zonked out on mushrooms i wander towards the marimba, only to find a techno party in full throw, funny no ´gringos´ but all locals in full traditional dress getting down to cheezy techno, all ages too, nice to see, thats one thing that really strikes me about guatemala, is the strong family ties, they do everything together, like i was sitting i a field the other day reviewing my bad spanish, and in the field next to me a family had just harvested a crop of onions and were sorting and bundeling them, but the whole family was there from little babies to grandparents all helping each other, you can´t help but think thats the way it always should be.
Ahem anyway enough of me family values rant, so a week spent in san marcos, well i was staying with fellow marionetista, arancha in a nice but very noisy house, surrounded by dogs and cockrells who have no sence of time and crow at any time of the day of night, i guess 24hr marimba music must throw them off too, there are pictures here of my neighbours the cockrell and some great kids, over 50% of the population here is under 16, which is why projects like cambalacha exist (see links) a creativity emowerment project for local youth, which I will be doing puppet making workshops for in the near future.
Also here are photos of an impromptu puppet show in the back garden and a detail of a typical wall here, most of the buildings here are built out of bricks from cob, that is mud and straw, often stuck in a framework of concrete and steel, now studying permaculture for the past two year, I´ve learnt that cob is good and sustainable, and concrete is bad and unsustainable and to mix the two jarred slightly with me, but still i thought it was good that as standard cob was used, untill i talked to a local about it and he said that its not good, its only done for cheapness, and with the flooding last year, alot of the buildings just got washed away, Well i suppose travel is all about challenging your perceptions, ok time for me to leave now to Maya Pedal ....... oh yeah i forgot to mention the two days of sleeping from tropical fever, and VERY strange dreams, well i´m not going to mention everything

puppet show

2006-05-03T13:11:00.000-07:00

So, thrown in at the deep end i have to do the show myself, i worked out a little rountine and wrote some vocabulary in espania, tried to memorise it, and did a little show for 25 ninos n la taberna in san pedro, muy gusta, los ninos mucho feliz, heres some pictures, Skretec malovat on holiday, in his box, painting a little girl, and los ninos.....

marionetista revolution

schools out for summer

2006-04-29T10:44:00.000-07:00

my school, with one to one spanish lessons under traditional guatamalian huts, and my day bunking off in nearby san marcos, very good day MUCH SWIMMING, hanging with me muchus buena amigo del irelana, janet, and meet with fellow marionetista and plotted to perform puppet show in this little bar, para los ninos, domingo, marionetista resistencia aiiii

2006-04-25T19:18:00.000-07:00

No puppets or bikes for a while, just chillin by a big lake in guatamala, learning spanish, i 'm working ona puppet show for da ñinos here, and i might do a show in this spanish bar for free beer, if i get together, here some pictures, enjoy. . . hasta luego roberto

more bikes

2006-04-24T09:58:00.000-07:00

ok these bikes are all over mexico and there brilliant, really simple, people use them to transport water, sell icecream, have portable grocery stores, move house, everything, there not just a bike but a livleyhood, the only disadvantage i could see is you have to get off and push to go uphill, but that large bar on the front of the box is good to lean on, The one just above me is a bike collecting a broken bike, closser up details of bikes are bellow, i dont know what there called yet but there everywhere in mexico, it seems like every market holder has one, also just for the random fACtor ive thrown in a picture of an electricity box in chiapas and an old battered buick which i thought was really sexy for some reasom, its funny you see all this stuff in films and then its here in reality, is it real??¿¿??¿

getting there

2006-04-20T16:50:00.000-07:00

Ok this was a cool geezer just spinning around the main square, in mexico city, there was a massive spanish flag in the centre, and i¨d just got blessed by some tribesman, i think it was something to do with aztec culture, but my spanish is still terrible, he beat me with some green plant then asked me to rub it and stamp on it while he doused me all over in smoke, sage and frankinsence i think, then gave me four stones for four different things i didnt understand, and sprayed me with something, i felt pretty good afterwards, but anyway non of thats about bikes

ooh technology

2006-04-20T16:12:00.000-07:00

well this is my blog about travelling round central america, my main obsesions at the moment art puppets and bikes, hence the name of this blog, i just arrived on mexico city and have been documenting bikes on me camera, im gowna hava go at showing them but this is all new to me so bear wiv me......

the first image here is one of the adapted bikes that is used to speed melting ice around the city, the second on is a view underneath the streets of mexico city, whats that all about ay