THE NIGHT SEA JOURNEY: stepping into the shadow realm, where spirits linger and monsters await | Week 7 of 12.

THEME BY | Elaine Weryshko, with thanks to CAMP.

ARTISTS | Mark Erickson, Monica Illa, Geneviève Paré & Kathryn Smith, Keith Rodger, Michael Ander Schok, Elaine Weryshko, Caitlind Brown & Wayne Garrett

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Our seventh week was full of people, performances, and surprises! Elaine Weryshko proposed the theme, illuminated lanterns in the yard, and guided us on an adventure of peep-boxes and treats.

Elaine’s peep-boxes hearkening to the journey of Odysseus through Hades. Viewers followed the voyage from kitchen, to sun porch, to basement, sampling delights along the way into the shadow realm.

Keith Rodger made a visceral bathroom performance with a voice over and plenty of bath wine. Titled “Party Monster,” the performance followed a recorded “Keith-io-lab” podcast, played on speakers for the audience.

The door opened to Keith waking up in the bathtub and beginning his morning routine: brushing his teeth, cleaning his ears, showering, etc. except each hygienic item (like toothpaste or mouthwash) was replaced with wine, booze, or cigarettes.

The recorded monologue queried playfully over possibilities of quitting substances, of regaining health, and other “cleansing” notions. Short, sweet, and visceral, we all felt it when Keith put cigarettes in his ears and rubbed them into his armpits.

Svea Ferguson added to her ongoing fridge illustration series.

Monica Ila guided a black-light contour drawing activity, treating us all to a black-light monster spectacular.

Using string, buttons, chalk, and hand-sewn eyes under intense ultraviolet light to draw fanciful and delightfully impermanent contour drawings, participant’s made brightly glowing compositions. At the end of the night, these drawings were swept away.

Geneviève Paré & Kathryn Smith invited viewers down into the basement for an otherworldly cabaret, using gibberish language, mask, and music.

We gathered in this domestic venue and considered where language comes from anyway, why it sounds so funny, and how it communicates, even without anything specific (or discernable) being said.

Gen & Kathryn’s masked creatures overlooked the performance silently, almost as if awaiting the perfect moment to whisper dusty words into the night.

Mark Erickson peeled and revealed cast objects and merged body-bits from last week, with help from many of the folks who originally participated.

Strange and a little off-putting, the resulting sculptures felt disembodied, tying nicely to monstery aspects of the week.

Michael-Ander Schok read us poetry in the dark. Bound by proximity and a faint glow off the falling snow outside, we sat together and listened to a tapestry of words about bodies, death, and Russian dash cams, culminating into a smooth and well-timed Uber.

Michael-Ander is new back in town, so y’all should check out more of his work at michaelanderschok.com.

Caitlind Brown & Wayne Garrett threaded a lamp with physical “rays” of light, made from string and ultraviolet light.

Radial and real, these stretched lengths of string create a playful inconvenience for anyone travelling through the surrounding yard.

Thanks to everyone who came on THE NIGHT SEA JOURNEY with us!