Palm Pots for Free Shop

Studio Objects

Gaga Cave
(I received a bunch of scrap satin from a wedding dress maker and  took each  thread out individually)

Gaga Cave Close-up

Boingy Bead Mass and Gaga Cave

T-pin Tree

(SOLD)

Self-Portrait

The Utopian Free Economy Project's latest socially interactive installation (aka free pile) is gearing up for the Mills MFA 2012 Exhibition at Mills College, 5000 MacArthur Blvd. Oakland, Ca.  

April 28-May 27, 2012.

Title of exhibition? "The Last Show On Earth"

Visit  freecoproject.com  for some photos of goodies that will be in the installation

The Utopian Free Economy Project now has its own page:

http://www.freecoproject.com/

Glee

Pins and beads...lots of beads, lots of sparkles
Size: 2 1/2 feet by 1 foot

Web - Sister to Austerity Measures

Polymer Webs
The sister project to the Austerity Measures Project where I try to balance my carbon footprint: since I'm using plastic I need to use less utilities.

http://jocelynmeggait.blogspot.com/2011/07/austerity-measures.html

Open Studios Visitor

Meringue

Thanks to Sam Jones and Michael Mersereau for the images

First Day Of Ceramics Class With Maestro Michael Swaine

The new semester has started and I have the privilege of being the assistant to our new ceramics instructor Michael Swaine who is an interdisciplinary and performing artist, a collaborator with the art collective Futurefarmers, and resident artist in many Bay Area residency programs including Headlands Center for the Arts, The Exploratorium, SF Center for The Book, and he has collaborated on many project exhibitions some included in The Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Berkeley Art Museum. We are so excited to have Michael join us and as you can see he has begun the much desired shift to contemporize clay at Mills.

Utopian Free Economy Project: Get Free, Give Free

Free Pile

If the Lord gives you a Mercedes-Benz, what do you give the Lord?

If the Lord gives you a color TV maybe you can settle the debt by paying it forward.

New Particulars on the Utopian Free Economy Project (August 2011)

Four parts/segments/ideas for Free Economy Project:

1 – “Free Pile” I get, pile, photograph then give away

2 - “Barter For Booty” I exchange a piece of my art, painting or ceramics and get whatever the people want to give me in return - sometimes these goodies are services (a fantastic, freeing haircut) sometimes stuff; sometimes I keep it and sometimes I add it to the "Free Pile".

3 – Manipulate – I get supplies/alternative materials for free, manipulate them into an art object then give it away, maybe, or maybe I will barter it, maybe for real money. Question – does it have more value now that it has been sanctioned an art object or less value because it has been rendered useless (Miss Havisham, the jewelry covered chair)

4 – Pay it Forward – Sometimes I keep what I get for free so then I give something away (A wiggly hose to the ceramics studio, a fridge to my art studio, a painting to my neighbour)

"The Greeks had two meaning for it (Utopia): 'eu-topos', meaning the good place, and 'u-topos' meaning the place that cannot be.” Madmen: Babylon

FREE PILE at KALA INSTITUTE in BERKELEY,CA

2pm

5:45 pm

day two

one week later

Thoughts on Utopia: it's expensive! Free costs a lot of money;

If you get something really cool, like the above patio set, even though you had to drive out to San Ramon to get it, does it seem fair to give back to the community, put out into the ether, something not as cool? Cool has value, so leaving clothes that are torn, ratty and ugly on the street for scavengers to pick up doesn't seem to fit the 'free economy' model, so the Free Economy only works if you give value for value;

Love/like/appreciation has value, so if you give some of your artwork, which nobody else is buying, and value is only based on what people will pay for it, what is the value of that artwork? basically nothing unless someone really loves it, then giving something someone loves and is excited about equals whatever you have gotten for free and were excited about;

There is always someone who wants to take it all;

There is always something that nobody wants, those are the sad things, so maybe sad has value.

Isn't it ironic that a gallery hosting a show on alternate economies would ask for a $25 entry fee?

In whatever this economy is now, this economy in which we live, we tend to give away stuff we no longer value, and probably has no re-sale value, like laser disc movies, but just because we don't value something somebody else might although is there a false comfort, a false sense that 'one person's trash is another's treasure'?

Is giving to a donation centre the same as Giving in a Free Economy? I don't think so - since the donation centre then sells the items, encouraging a monetary economy.

Lawnmower Love (San Jose and Oakland)

The Utopian Free Economy Project is about collecting, displaying, photographing then letting everyone take what they want from the display, leaving only the photograph as a document and the conversations as a memory. Items collected fit my personal aesthetic: a mix of mid-century/vintage cool to whatever-era whacky or melancholic.
A large map with tiny images of each treasure on their original location may also be part of the project, maybe, maybe not?


A book compiling the fun/ironic Craiglsist ads will also be present, a small example:

SF bay area craigslist > for sale / wanted > free stuff

1 gorgeous and 1 alright chicken (berkeley)

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Date: 2011-06-30, 3:14PM PDT
Reply to: sale-4ubfr-2471410609@craigslist.org ^{[Errors when replying to ads?]}

---

These chickens do not lay eggs and are highly skilled in the art of escape. we would also prefer if you didn't eat them or at least don't tell us your going to eat them if you decide you want them (meaning don't come dressed with a chef's hat on or with a knife hand etc etc.)

Austerity Measures

I am starting to work with a polymer and my guilt over using this material, essentially plastic, has led me to personal conservation measures that I hope will balance my carbon output:



I will only wash my hair every 4 days (water conservation)

I will hang my clothes to dry (electricity conservation)

I will wear slippers instead of turn on the furnace (gas conservation)











I will only flush for the heavy stuff (water conservation)


I will not wash the dishes before I put them in the dishwasher.

I will save the water that normally runs down the drain for the freshest water for my morning coffee.


I will remove the sod-like stuff from my front yard and plant water conscious plants (water and electricity conservation ...labour conservation)

Bum Halos

Blue Microfilm Squiggle Installation














images courtesy of David Johnson