A Life's Work

Posted By David Licata on January 31, 2012

Here are some photos of my surroundings these days.

Hope you enjoy them.

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A fire destroyed most of the trees on this mountain several years ago.

The weather is variable.

Diablo, the point, not the studio.

On a trail.

Lake, drying.

Hiking.

Who doesn't like a reflection shot?

Snowy dock.

Snowy flower.

On the trail.

I feel like this plant should be underwater.

My muddy boot.

Category: Other Work | 2 Comments »
Tags: artist residencies, other obsessions, photography, playa, slideshows

Posted By David Licata on January 27, 2012

I’m very pleased to announce that a flash fiction piece I wrote, The Wolf Is in the Kitchen, was recently published in Sole Literary Journal.

When Sole notified me they were taking it, I decided to look back at how this piece transformed draft by draft. And since I’m wearing my writer hat at this residency, I thought I might share some writerly process stuff.

The Wolf Is in the Kitchen is based on an experience I had as a child. This event happened at the age when I was realizing that I was an individual. As an adult I recognize it as a key moment in my awareness of my identity as an Italian hyphen American.

How many drafts?

Twelve.

Drafts one (May 2, 2010) through five were written from the point of view of an adult remembering an event in his childhood. The narrator then recounts the different paths the two main characters traveled after the event. I worked on these drafts for 10 days that May. I thought I had completed it with draft five and sent it to a few places. No takers. I put it aside.

October 2010 I was visiting a friend in North Carolina and something about the change of scenery inspired me to revisit the story. After reading it, I decided to make a big change. I kept the first person narrator, but now the event is being told from the point of view of the nine-year-old boy. The story shifted its focus; it had become about knowledge gained and innocence lost. I sent it to a couple of places November 2010. No takers. I put it away. Honestly, at that time, I lost faith in it as a story.

I opened it again one day in October 2011. I liked the story this time. I recast a sentence and decided to send it out. On November 11, 2011 I sent it to Sole.

The first draft is 678 words, the final draft is 576 words. The longest draft was 859 words.
The first sentence changed seven times.
The last sentence changed eight times.
The two most significant edits: changing the narrator from adult to child and adding a semicolon in the final paragraph (draft 12).

When you get down to it, it’s all about making decisions, from start (is this event something I want to transform into a work of fiction) to finish (semicolon or no semicolon).

Directing a film is all about making decisions, too.

I suspect so too are writing and directing one’s life.

Category: Other Work | No Comments »
Tags: process, Sole Literary Journal, The Wolf Is in the Kitchen, writing

Posted By David Licata on January 24, 2012

I’m one of eight artists here—four poets, a playwright-poet, a composer, a visual artist, and me. They are all fine, smart, talented and kind people. I like them all.

We each have our own cabin with a studio, kitchen (you can cook in your cabin or in the main building), and living room. The cabins are given numbers, except for two. I’m in one of those two. My studio has a name. It’s Diablo. I was very excited when I first heard this. (It’s so named because it looks out at a mountain top, Diablo.) The two studios with names also have a loft sleeping space. I like this a lot.

And yes, there is a ping pong table. I was crushed by the composer three consecutive times. Our schedules have not afforded us the opportunity for a rematch. I believe he’s scared.

Here are some photos of Playa and my cabin-studio. Coming soon, photos of the surroundings.

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Nestled in the trees (lower right) Playa.

There's my cabin-studio, Diablo!

Diablo, a little closer. The bed is up top in the loft space.

This rests underneath my kitchen window. As if they knew about me and bikes.

Comfy chairs.

Where I cook. Most kitchens here have an oven, mine doesn't. :~(

Where I eat.

From downstairs, I can see other studios.

Studio.

Studio, different view.

Kitchen and stairs to the loft.

Where I sleep.

Easterly view from the loft.

Westerly view from the loft. Last night I could see a million stars.

Meow. How the loft railing is attached to the wall.

Category: The Film | 2 Comments »
Tags: artist residencies, Playa Summer Lake, slideshows

Posted By David Licata on January 20, 2012

It’s been extremely windy here at Playa Summer Lake. Apparently, not uncommonly windy for the area, but definitely uncommonly windy for me.

I’ve experienced high wind before. In fact, I think I live on one of the windiest blocks in all of Manhattan. But the wind here is different. It is relentless. It’s not a biting wind, it’s a punching wind. It doesn’t sound like any wind I’ve ever heard before, it sounds more like an unknown creature, a giant ferocious primal living thing.

Here’s 15 seconds of video I shot with my dinky little Canon PowerShot A460; it’s a lame attempt to capture the wind.

Category: The Film | No Comments »
Tags: Playa Summer Lake

Posted By David Licata on January 17, 2012

On Christmas Eve, a friend posted a Facebook status about her home’s plumbing catastrophe We had a little exchange about it, including what she had to pay the plumber to take care of the problem. I don’t know how long the plumber was there, but let’s just say he had a nice Christmas bonus.

“I should have taken my mother’s advice and become a plumber,” I commented.

Once, my mother did tell me I should become a plumber. It was a Sunday family dinner. I was in my early twenties. I may have been finishing up college, or I may have graduated already and been working a retail job, one of those jobs you take at that age to buy some time.

The conversation turned to my future. My mother dispensed her advice and her reasoning “They make good money.”

My father said, “He doesn’t want to become a plumber!” My father was right about that.

It’s not that my mother didn’t know I had artistic aspiration. She bought me my first 35mm still camera — pack rat that  I am, I still own it, though it doesn’t work; she had heard me practice guitar in my room for hours a day; she saw the stacks of paper that piled up on my desk near the Smith-Corona electric typewriter. She just wanted to make sure I could make a living. I think, too, she wanted to protect me from the disappointments she imagined awaited me if  decided to pursue a life in the arts.

This memory had me searching my file cabinets for an essay I saved from The New York Times Magazine, written by playwright and actor Sam Shepard in 2000. The theme of the issue was “My First Year in New York City.” (Shepard’s first year in NYC was 1963.) Rather than give a synopsis, I will mention two things: I brought a copy of the essay with me across the country to Playa and it is the first thing I put on the corkboard;

and here’s the last sentence, which will not spoil it.

“That’s the only thing that makes any sense.”

The essay is short, 500 words maybe, and well worth reading. If you do, let me know what you think.

Category: The Film | 6 Comments »
Tags: artist residencies, On the Corkboard, Sam Shepard

Posted By David Licata on January 11, 2012

Yes. January 16 I begin a two-month stint at Playa Summer Lake, in south central Oregon. I am grateful to whoever decided I was worthy enough for the gift of this fellowship.

So what will I be doing there? I’ll be spending most of my creative energy writing. I have a couple of other projects gestating, so I’ll be thinking about them. Though I’ll be taking a break from A Life’s Work, it’s never that far away: I will be thinking about the film, reviewing what I’ve done, taking notes, asking questions, trying to find answers.

I imagine I’ll also be playing a lot of guitar. If there’s a ping pong table, I’ll be mercilessly crushing all of my fellow residents.

Playa seems to have limited bandwidth, so I won’t be goofing around on the Internet much, but I’ll still be blogging, you can be sure of that. And there will be photos. Oh yes, there will be photos.

If you’re curious about the residency experience, you can read Why You Should Apply to Artist Residencies on the awesome blog Typecraft by the awesome Jenn Chen.

There’s more about residencies on this blog, too.

Category: The Film | 4 Comments »
Tags: artist residencies, Jennifer Chen, Playa Summer Lake

Posted By David Licata on January 6, 2012

In the spring of 2010, a Google Alert mentioned a documentary in production about Paolo Soleri that wasn’t A Life’s Work. I was curious and reached out to the filmmaker, Aimee Madsen. We’ve communicated since about each others’ work and supported each others’ efforts the way filmmakers do, or at least should. I’m thrilled that she agreed to answer a few questions about her film, Before Form.

Tell me about your documentary, Before Form.

The actual shooting started about three years ago, with Paolo’s now senior apprentice Roger Tomalty (Associate Producer on this film) literally grabbing me to come document  with a borrowed video camera, Paolo carving the silt panels for his first commissioned bridge in Scottsdale, AZ.  Since then I’ve shot … well I’ve really lost count, over 200 hours, just from one camera, a total of four different cameras were used.  We only have a few pick-up shots to do and maybe a few more intimate interviews. Other then that, we are ready to edit – put the puzzle pieces together.

In a nutshell, this film presents a fresh look at the legendary and multi-talented man Paolo Soleri, known as an artist, craftsman, architect, urban theorist, and finally a visionary, a term he’s not so fond of.  Although the philosophy behind Paolo’s work seem to be the driving force in his life, it will focus instead on Soleri as the form giver, rather than Soleri, the idea giver — hence the working title Before Form.

How did you become interested in Paolo Soleri and where did the idea for this documentary originate?

I visited Arcosanti in 1989.  It was very mysterious to me back then and I had a strange sense of the possibilities for it becoming something even more amazing.  Then in 2007 I had completed my third short film and was out of money.  I applied at Cosanti and discovered the connection right away.  Through the years working there, I’ve seen many people enter his spaces for the first time and they physically go through a transformation, you can see it.  They slow down, not only because they’re in awe but feel connected to something remarkable.  It started then, with wanting to know why this happens and I was determined to film it in such a way that would explain this phenomenon that we take for granted.

The idea of the film really took hold when I was filming Paolo carving again, which was a rare opportunity, because this hasn’t happened for many, many years, Paolo being 90 at the time, now almost 93.  Seeing Paolo and Roger after five years of not working together, suddenly find themselves side by side again.  At first they had to find their rhythm, but after awhile they were smiling and flowing, Paolo was finally doing what he is a master at, carving silt.  It was really magical seeing this through the lens and what they accomplished together, it was like a dance.  Here, probably for the first time, it was their chance, to tell their story instead of a filmmaker from the outside looking in.  They basically could “grab” me anytime they wanted, because I was there on site at Cosanti, most of the time.

 I read somewhere that there are a few Soleri-related documentaries currently in various stages of production. Was this a concern before you embarked on the project?

Well, any kind of positive exposure has been good for them over the years, they have always welcomed this.  But as a filmmaker, not really before we embarked, but once we started to see how important this was becoming, it started to be a real concern.  With the plethora of material out there that has already been created and sometimes regurgitated, the pressure for coming up with something new was felt.  It could tend to drive one crazy if you only looked at it this way, when in fact it’s not really the reality at all.  Because everyone sees differently, lending their own take on things and there are many ways to tell the story of Paolo Soleri.  For example in your film, A Life’s Work, I know you’re taking a completely different approach; it will look different, feel different and most likely have a different targeted audience – and I suspect this will be the case with the other projects currently in production.  Basically filmmakers don’t want to copy other filmmakers material, overlapping due to this high profile subject may happen by accident, but not by design.  So I have to be very focused on what I want to say and try to say it in a unique way, at the same time I feel compelled to pay attention to what is out there if I can, and be respectful of that.  I’ve been watching a lot of documentaries in general and I’m confident that Before Form will lend a fresh look.  The big difference being that this is the first in-house documentary, presenting a more candid, intimate look into Soleri and the people that have surrounded him for years and how it’s still relevant today.

What do you hope to do with the finished film?

The DVD’s created will be available for purchase in the Arcosanti and Cosanti galleries in Arizona.  I already have one festival interested, so yes it will go through the festival circuit.   We will also have an evening screening with Paolo Soleri at Cosanti and TV broadcast is a possibility also.

 Before Form is a Kickstarter project. How’s that going?

I wanted to pull the plug the day after I launched it . . . the anxiety was unexpected and very powerful – it’s as if you are running for political office, you feel very vulnerable.  But it didn’t last.  Now it’s so amazing to me, how generous people can be.  How a stranger (for the most part) puts their trust in you and believes in the project.  It’s absolutely an incredible high.  The down side, yes, there is that “all or nothing” aspect to it.  And when it’s dead and there is no activity, your heart sinks.  It’s a lot of work to stay on top of it, so you don’t sink.  Overall I’m really impressed with Kickstarter, it’s slick, professional and it’s a brilliant idea and seems to really work for so many indie projects that otherwise may not have the opportunity to get funded.

About Aimee: Aimee Madsen is an award-winning editorial photographer whose carefully crafted images have appeared in Arizona Highways, Phoenix Magazine, Native Peoples, Sunset and Outdoor Photographer, to name a few. Areas of study and concentration have been in Photojournalism and Wildlife Photography. In 1999, the prize money Aimee received from Transition Abroad Magazine for her photographs of the Ecuadorian Andes, financed a working adventure in remote areas of Guatemala. Over the years, her work has also taken her on an exploration of the French Pyrenees and a near-death experience in Canyon del Diablo, Mexico.

 After studying Cinematography in Arizona, she made the transition into filmmaking in 2005 and formed her independent company Eye Am Films. Since then she has created shorts films, commercials, promo trailers, numerous video vignettes and screenplays. You can support Before Form via Kickstarter.

[crossposted on Extra Criticum]

Category: Arcosanti | No Comments »
Tags: Aimee Madsen, Before Form, Cosanti, documentary, Interviews, Kickstarter, other films, Paolo Soleri

Posted By David Licata on January 3, 2012

There I was, sitting on the downtown D train, completely transfixed by Steve Reich’s “Electric Guitar Phase,”  when a man walked toward me handing out fliers. I caught a glimpse of one and had to take one.

This may look familiar if you happened to read a post in July 2011, Why Is This Pinned to My Corkboard, Part 5.

I found this on the seat of a subway car many, many, MANY years ago. To coin a phrase, “It spoke to me.”

The messages here, delivered more than ten years, apart, are identical, except for the names and addresses! I like to think Teresa is following in  Rev. John’s footsteps, tapping the same mysterious source — after all, this speaks to the film’s theme — and not a plagiarist.

I missed my stop, by the way.

Category: The Film | 2 Comments »
Tags: music, On the Corkboard

Posted By David Licata on December 29, 2011

Which A Life’s Work’s posts were the most visited in 2011, you ask? Of the 100 or so posts written this year, here are the top 15:

1. Los Straitjackets and Yasujiro Ozu
2. Homage
3. Ask the Filmmaker: The Ecstasy and the Agony
4. SETI – An Act of Imagination: A Clip
5. What’s the Filmmaker Reading?
6. Endings, Happy and Otherwise
7. Discovering Your Passion: Bob Marovich and Gospel Music
8. Jill Tarter and Sputnik: A Clip
9. Paolo Soleri Retires: New Leadership at Cosanti Foundation
10. Happy Record Store Day: A Clip
11. Ommmmm…..
12. Lost Gospel Music Clip – Process
13. What Makes Me Happy? Positive Interaction
14. Why Is So Much Black Gospel Music Lost? A Clip
15. What’s Up?

No. 1 was a runaway winner, thanks to Los Straitjackets who linked to the post from their website and mentioned it on their Facebook page.

What other information can be gleaned from this list? Clips are popular, so are posts with  questions in the titles.

You seem to enjoy posts about books (What’s the Filmmaker Reading?) and films besides A Life’s Work (Endings, Happy and Otherwise and Ommm…). Timely posts are big (Paolo Soleri Retires and Happy Record Store Day), and it was nice to see a mini-interview in the top ten (Discovering Your Passion).

In 2012, you’ll see more of the same. But tell me, what do you like most about the blog? I’d really like to hear from you.

Which reminds me of my favorite lame joke. A cowboy and a horse are around a campfire after a long day on the prairie.

“Well,” the cowboy says, “You’re a good horse. You’re loyal and smart. Sometimes you’re stubborn and you can be a little slow to get going–”

“Feedbag,” the horse says, “not feedback!”

I’ll bet you don’t want more jokes in 2012.

Category: The Film | No Comments »
Tags: blogging

Posted By David Licata on December 23, 2011

Happy holidays from A Life’s Work to you and yours!

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Me playing Erik Satie’s Gymnopiede No. 1. This is just my old, cheap guitar, recorded in my home.

I own a coat very much like the one Erik is wearing.

More classical guitar music here, here, and here.

Category: The Film | 3 Comments »
Tags: classical guitar, Erik Satie, music