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!

Rainbow Gathering 2009

I never thought I would say this, but this year's Rainbow Gathering, held near Cuba New Mexico, was truly a sorry state of affairs. This year I decided to go early for seed camp and to help set up. A friend drove me to Redding California where I met up with a very cool girl named Jess Blue who owns a ranch for wayward animals. There I fell in love with a Pit / Lab mix puppy that I adopted and named Siris (myspace.com/doggyhoudini) and Jess drove me the rest of the way to the Gathering. Once I arrived I immediately plugged in to my favorite kitchen; Milliways. Setting up and building the kitchen was a lot of fun and for the most part seed camp was great. It was when the gathering went into full swing, around 2 or 3 days before the 1st of July, that all the madness started to happen. Normally money and alcohol are highly discouraged as they represent the "Babylon" that everyone is trying to get away from when One goes to a gathering. However alcohol was very prevalent at this year's gathering, and some girl actually tried to write me a check for Siris at "Trade Circle." Someone got stabbed and died this year due to alcohol (I heard the fight ensued over a nearly finished bottle of vodka). There was a war of the kitchens in which several kitchens slashed and hacked main supply tent (where all the food is stored) due to internal political conflict. On the 4th it rained all day so there was no Ohm for peace and instead there was a mad dance in the mud (still pretty fun). And at the end, there were numerous fist fights almost all of them related to alcohol (a very good reason it's usually discouraged). Some random guy actually tried to punch me while drunk and when I left that scene for quieter ground I came across two other guys in a fist fight at a kitchen called "Peace Village." One thing that did maintain my faith was the numerous "triple" rainbows that appeared after rainstorms in the main meadow. So beautiful. Maybe the Universe was trying to tell everyone something. After this I decided it was time to leave Rainbow and as I got all my belongings to the parking lot I came across a group of about 15 or so gutter punk kids drinking vodka and cheap beer. That night I awoke to someone screaming at the top of their lungs "Who stole my vodka? Who stole my vodka?" What a mess. So much for the Rainbow of peace and living light. The "Vision Council" decided that the gathering would be best held in Tennessee next year. I don't think I'll be going. Really, if I had to make a guess, I would say that the reason that so much alcohol and violence were present is mostly because main meadow was rather close to the parking lot. It was rather easy for people to leave the Gathering and go back into town for more alcohol. Last year in Wyoming, it was literally a 4 or 5 mile hike to get from the parking lot to the main meadow and once you were in you were staying until you left. Hopefully the "elders" learn something about planning water, food and main meadow setup from this years mistakes. Hopefully. Then again we are talking about the largest "un-organization" in the world.

Seeking Artist Guerilla Urban Campers

Want to join the Artopium Art Troupe? Want to travel around the world, throwing art and music festivals? Tired of your usual, boring life and want to do something exciting and different? Do you enjoy camping; ever want to do long distance and long term camping? Do you have an artistic craft that you would like to sell? Want to become a gypsy? Want to do something so unorthodox that your Mom will worry about you, your friends will think you've lost your mind (but secredtly admire you), and ultimately feel the satisfaction of doing something worthwhile? Contact me. Let's talk.

Visit RovingFestival.com for more info!

Back in Portland

Well, I've arrived back in portland about a week ago and already an amazing plethora of excitment has already unfolded before me. After being greeted by my friends at the train station, I was whisked away for pizza and beer at rocco's (somewhat of a tradition now) then lead on an adventure to the zoo and then to karaoke at a bar called "Gypsy" (how appropriate).

I've made a new guerilla urban camp in Washington Park, and it's definitely one of my better camps. There is plenty of head room, and the hammock keeps me off the wet ground. It's been raining a lot here in Portland, but I've actually found myself wishing it would rain harder so I can see my camp taken to its limits. There's no better feeling of satisfaction then to build your own temporary home then kick back inside it and watch it protect you from the elements.

I've also made quite a bit of head-way getting the Artopium Art Troupe up and running. I now have keen brochures that explain the function of the Troupe and I will be setting up meetings for the Troupe soon. There are already a few contenders for troupe positions, and it looks like I may be able to have a decent groupe together, at least for booth vending around the city, within a few weeks.

New Festival in the Works

OK Folks, the next festival you've all been waiting for is now in the beginning stages. I've definitely decided that it will be in Portland (bet you didn't see that one coming). I have a few ideas about the location, but I won't say exactly where at this stage in the planning. Let's just say I'm shooting for downtown somewhere.

And this one's going to be big! No joke. I've got a great theme in mind and I hope to bring in a lot of different, very cool organizations to help put on something truly grand. If space and funding are available there will be two stages, and a very large area for booths. I'm currently writing up the budget for all of this, so if you, or anyone you know, can give me good estimates for stage, sound and lighting, as well as promotional ad space, it would be appreciated.

It would be nice to think that I can put together the festival I see in my mind by the end of this summer, but for the next Artopium Roving Festival to really be on the next level I'm thinking I may go ahead and set the date for 2010. I know this is really far ahead for most artists to book, so I'm going to wait a little while longer before opening the festival sign up.

As always, the festival is for Artopium.com Artist Members, so if you want to participate in the next festival be sure to sign up and create your Artopium profile page. It's free to join and it's easy to use! To get booked just add your Artopium profie URL to your message when you contact us.

In any case, I'll be heading back to Portland within a month or so and once there I'll begin talking with the city council and various departments to wee what is possible. Once I get the green light We'll all have a lot of work to do, but it's going to be fun! If you are interested in volunteering to help or even to join the Artopium Art Troupe, we are always looking to increase our forces. Just check out RovingFestival.com for more info.