New urban camping episodes now playing!

Two more fantastic episodes of Artopium's Guide to Urban Camping have been released! Come check them out. Watch them here or on the official Art Troupe video blog channel at youtube.com/stealthcamping.

Artopium Art Troupe Charter to be released soon!

Where to even begin with this blog. I would like to introduce to you a new face in the Artopium journey, and you may know him as Kami. Kami came to me in the most random series of meetings and encounters and ended with He and I sharing a common idea: to put forth all art/music and to travel the world doing it. We have both collaborated to write up an official charter to lay down the rules of initiation and duties to the Artopium Art Troupe. Once the charter is written we will only need one more of the three founders necessary to set the charter into effect. We hope to find that person soon.

Episode II is now playing!

I just released the second episode of Artopium's "Guide to Guerrilla Urban Camping" and it's now playing on my YouTube channel.

Artopium's Guide to Urban Camping Episode I

I finally managed to put a full episode together, thanks to the new laptop I was able to aquire by working my ass off selling my handcrafted jewelry on Hawthorne. You can buy my jewelry online at artopium.com/mikesjewelry so check it out. The only money I use to aquire the equipment needed comes from my jewelry sales, and this will be used to help other artists sell their works, so it all goes to a good place.

This and the following episodes were all taken using nothing more than the camera built into my cell phone. It has a limit of 15 seconds per take and the resolution is less then that of a television, let alone a computer monitor.

In this episode I show you how I go in to the urban jungle, that which is known as Washington Park, and show you how to set up the perfect, long-term, guerrilla urban camp. From my semi-permanent shelter in the city park, I venture back into the city to sell jewelry and to network and meet the people who are going to help me throw the next festival.

Eventually I will find partners in both the business and in the Artopium Art Troupe. I've already received a lot of attention from my friends, family and Internet public, but I'm still waiting for the point of critical mass. Does no one have the guts to join me? This is a question I have to battle with daily. But I go on looking for other troupe members...


Artopium's Guide to Urban Camping Episode I (full version)

Artopium's Roving Festival | MySpace Video

Also be sure to check out my YouTube page. It has a lot more videos and playlists to check out! YouTube.com/StealthCamping

A new laptop

I'm very happy to announce tat my Internet hiatus is over! I got a rather small, meek and humble Eee PC, with the least amount of features, but it does the job and will even help me to the video editing for my upcoming series: "Artopium's Guide to Guerrilla Urban Camping". Look forward to some great improvements to the website as well.

It's been a while

I know I haven't been faithful to blogging as much as I promised, but who reads this anyway? I mean, if I really had readers there would be comments. Well, I guess I did get one comment for the boycott roco's pizza post, but that was a bit unrelated to the true intentions of this blog.

I have been taking a little bit of a hiatus, but that isn't to say that I haven't been planning the next move for Artopium. Although the festivals have taken a back burner, I have been diligently working on a somewhat smaller project; but one that potentially packs a more powerful punch.

Since my laptop was hacked and is no longer functional I've been relegated to using the library facilities, which have also made it difficult to post blogs, work on the site, or do much of anything else for that matter. Artopium.com is still up and running, however, and sales continue. There have actually been many new artist sign ups lately, which is very surprising.

Anyway, I will soon be a solitary festival in my own right as I am currently working on becoming a roving art booth, participating in the many festivals Portland, OR has to offer. From my booth I will sell my personal handmade jewelry as well as any other art, music, fashion, film or book from any other artist(s) that wish to join me.

I am still living a guerilla urban camping lifestyle and I am still working to put this on film, but I have one hurdle left to overcome: I need a camera man. I almost found one until he drunkenly admitted to me that he hates all electronic music (my personal preference) and while that wouldn't normally be enough for me to let someone go, he insisted that he could not be a part of any project that endorsed this type of music. Since Artopium endorsed ALL types of music, well, you get the picture.

I am enrolling into PCM, which stands for Portland Community Media and is the cable television public access channel which allows the public to use camera and editing equipment to produce shows to be aired on TV. The required classes don't start until June, but once I'm a member I hope to find more diligent crew members, or I may attempt to do the entire project on my own.

So, look forward to seeing more from me in the future, and if there are any readers out there, thanks for waiting so long for this post. Hope you all are doing well! Loving you brothers and sisters!