Check out FIXATION. I wrote a review for the documentary. Enjoy!

A few photos of me were included in BODY, a book by Matthew Chase-Daniel, of Axle Contemporary fame. More information here: http://www.sfreporter.com/santafe/article-6529-the-body-undone.html.

Loops & Station Coffee Shop flier I’ve designed.

http://facebook.com/loopssantafe
http://stationcoffeehouse.com/

Once again, I’m pleased to design for Kaleidospoke. Please take a moment to look over their call for entry for 2012.

My dearest friend Marie-Michele Jasmin-Belisle created a loop for Nativo Lodge, an Albuquerque-based nightclub, which features music by Cloudface and an appearance by yours truly.

Oil on Canvas, Vanessa Wilde, 2010.

I created post cards to send to pen pals. If you’d like to be a recipient of one, please email your address to vanessa[at]deaddisko[dot]com

A new poster I designed for an Arizona Health Service - Helping Hands.

Hello World! This is Kaleidospoke!

As the project director of Kaleidospoke, I am happy to announce our participation in the After Hours Alliance Progressive Arts Fest. It was a great success! More photos here.

Score this design: “RIDE,” to help it get printed on Threadless!

I DJ at the Santa Fe Southern Railway’s Bar Car located in the #Railyard! August 18th! (Flier designed by me!)

Flier design for Les Artes Eclectic. Santa Fe, June 2011.

I designed an ad for the Pasa Tiempo (Santa Fe) for Kaleidospoke.

@thekaleidospoke is a bicycle art and film event I am planning. Check it out!

Also, donate if you can! http://kck.st/hcrUSJ

I am DJing a fashion show. Saturday, April 29, 2011. Red Runway at 405 Lounge in Albuquerque, NM.

I’ve designed the flier for Native Model Studio’s Gathering of Nations soiree… of which I will be DJing.

I recently modeled for http://bluefishclothing.com

My outfit for @MarieMichele851’s new Loop premiering this weekend in Albuquerque. #film

supersonicelectronic:

The tattoo sketches of Emily Rose Murray.

erinsmomma:

My Water Broke! Baby Shower Game;;

The my water broke Caucasian - baby shower game will sure break the ice at your upcoming baby shower celebration! Guests will be taken by surprise when you let them know about the little one in their favorite beverage! Prior to the shower, place a baby in each cube slot and make ice. During the shower, serve refreshments with the special ice. The guest that has their baby break free first is the winner! My water broke Caucasian - baby shower game will be the perfect icebreaker at your baby shower celebration!

usagov:

Saturn Radio Waves

Audio Description

In this audio clip, Saturn’s radio waves sound like music playing in a haunted house.

Sound clip from NASA

Yeeeeah my lady Sandra Fettingis just got some blog love! <3

Kaleidospoke is now accepting submissions!

For Kaleidospoke 2011, we were fortunate to screen Alex Trudeau Viriato’s FIXATION. Please take a moment to get more information about the documentary: www.fixationdocumentary.com.

View more photos of Kaleidospoke 2011.

Kaleidospoke 2012: Call for Entry

Kaleidospoke, a set on Flickr.

Pasa Tiempo Ad.

Presenting the 98th Tour de France at the Center for Contemporary Arts in the Moving Image Lab.

PDF at Google Docs

Kaleidospoke will screen Alex Trudeau Viriato’s Fixation!

Kaleidospoke is pleased to host Mellow Velo’s 2nd Annual Bicycle Beauty Pageant!

July 15, 2011. 5pm at the Center for Contemporary Arts. 1050 Old Pecos Trail, Santa Fe, NM. 87505.

KALEIDOSPOKE is thrilled to screen Lucas Brunelle’s Line of Sight!

Press Release for @thekaleidospoke

Kaleidospoke has been mentioned in this week’s Santa Fe Reporter. Check it out here!

MURALIST INTERVIEW

David Polka is an artist and designer based out of Albuquerque, NM. Check out his art and design, it’s pretty rad!

(Be sure to check out Kaleidospoke’s other muralists, Broox Pulford & Chip Thomas.)

Describe yourself in five words.
Artist, graphic designer, cyclist, human.

When did you first realize you were an artist?
Age 4, summer ceramics class at NMSU.

What inspires you to keep going and how do you keep yourself motivated?
People doing cool things, by surrounding myself with talented individuals.

How does cycling fit into your life?
Transportation, fitness, enjoyment, self discipline, nerding out, fresh air, 

Name your favorite moment riding a bike?
3 am when the streets are all mine.

Lastly, any words of advice for aspiring designers/artists..?
Work your ass off. The quickest way to get better at what you do is to do it all the time.

Photo of David Polka by Ryan Garcia.

MURALIST INTERVIEW

In our last muralist interview, we showcased Denver artist Broox Pulford. This time around we interview Chip Thomas, a talented photographer, street artist, cyclist and Doctor based out of Shonto, AZ. KALEIDOSPOKE is pleased to have Chip contribute to the show. Enjoy!

Describe yourself in five words.
Inspired, relentless, thankful, patient, faithful

How did you fall into the lovely world of creativity?
I didn’t really fall into the world of creativity. It’s a force/awareness that has always been with me. I’ve constantly worked to acknowledge it in some way. Because words often fail me, the arts have been an area where I feel comfortable being Chip. I started drumming when I was 10; I’ve always danced and started shooting black + white film when I was 12. My mom was a primary school teacher. I remember being in the basement our home watching her make graphics for her class by using an overhead projector. This was in the 60s. (it was cool to see last summer that this is the same process my man chris stain uses today.) but my mom supported my early efforts in the visual arts.

What are your behaviors that inspire or motivate others?
From what I hear when people comment about my work, it’s the simple, unadulterated, no bullshit, to the point, empathetic perspective my photography speaks to. I really work to be present with the people I photograph, especially when it’s people of color. we’ve been maligned far too long.

What motivates/inspires your work?
I believe everybody has a story to tell if we’re willing to listen. I try to tell those stories and tell them in such a way that both the viewer and the person being photographed recognize that truth even if it’s not pretty and easily digested.

When did your love affair with cycling begin?
I attended an alternative, Quaker, boarding junior high school in the mountains of North Carolina from 1969 (the summer of love) to 1972. We did all sorts of outdoors activities there - like inner tubing on the south toe river near the school, hiking + camping in the Appalachian Mountains, climbing and rappelling with outward bound, canoe trips in the everglades and bike riding near Mount Mitchell (the tallest peak east of the mississippi). there were classmates of mine who attempted to ride their bikes along the blue ride parkway from North Carolina to New York and Connecticut after our 9th grade year. They didn’t make it but it instilled in me a desire to see Babylon by bike (which lead to me getting a Guinness World Record by cycling with 4 other guys 12,000 miles from the top of Africa to the bottom in 1992). 

What’s your opinion of cycling mixed with art?
Well, I haven’t given it a lot of thought. However, art can be used to inspire people to achieve things they never thought possible or considered doing. It can do so in a subtle manner without clobbering them on the head saying, “hey, cycling is the most energy efficient form of transportation for any species on the planet; it’s sustainable and nonpolluting.” Art gives you a chance to deliver that message without feeling like you’re preaching to the choir.

What type of bicycle do you own? Have you named your bike?
When I started medical school in 1979 I purchased a new Peugeot 10 speed. I rode that bike a mile to and from medical school every day for 4 years. A few years ago I had it converted to a fixie which i take on distance rides here on the rez (on paved roads). I try to ride at least every other day (but have to admit that during the spring when we have the big winds, I ride indoors. I’m a weenie.) I have the Cannondale rigid frame bike I cycled across Africa on. I’ve a hard tail kona mountain bike (with standard 26 inch wheels), an old school Dave Scott Centurion road bike; a Yokota tandem hard tail mountain bike and a vintage 1960s Schwinn tandem cruiser. A prototype 1986 Specialized Rock Hopper that I had converted into a fixie was stolen in 2007. That hurt. In it’s place I got a custom made IRO fixie which a girlfriend refused to give back to me when i broke up with her. Beyatch. That was in 2008. At least we’re talking again but I still haven’t gotten the bike back.

Best advice anyone has given to you concerning cycling? Has it proven useful? Any advice you can give?
Cycling for me isn’t about being a hammer head or being the first person to get from point A to point B. When we did the bike trip across Africa we’d joke that a journey of 12,000 miles begins with the first revolution of the pedals. That’s what it’s about for me - taking in the scenery, chilling with people and moving forward one revolution at a time. One other thing. One of my biggest influences in cycling is Major Taylor who at the turn of the century (1899 - 1900), was considered the fastest human on earth. As a person of color excelling in a sport in which blacks were systematically excluded by economics and access, he defied the odds.

Submission fees for spoke card designs and short films have been waived!!  Now you have no excuse!  ;)  Hope to see your creative awesomeness in our mailbox soon.  

Many thanks!

http://www.thekaleidospoke.com/callforentry

KALEIDOSPOKE will be helping with Santa Fe’s Bike to Work Week, May 15-20.

Come make spoke cards at our booth on Friday, May 20 in the Railyard starting at 4!

All spoke cards made that day will be hung in the art installation.

More info at santafenm.gov

Trial and Error

Gets you from square one and back again

Today I discovered that no matter how much you want life to go your way

you might as well shot yourself in the foot

to get it over with.

Bang Bang.

No matter how bad you think you’ve got it

don’t ever feel as if life isn’t worth livin’.

It is in those darkest hours that you

appreciate the god damn ground you walk on

and the dirty city air in your lungs

and the booze that makes you feel like shit.

No matter how bad you’ve got it,

it can turn around at any moment.

So shut the fuck up,

enjoy the ride.

bryemye:

In the black.
In the black void.
In the black void find me
under a bootsole
‘till you’ve encompassed all.
The void. Myself. The boot. The sole.

In the red
ideas hang like moments or
snowflakes found timeless suspended
in a black sky.
At times they’ll be poked. Others grasped.
Others…

we are always asked 
to understand the other person’s 
viewpoint 
no matter how 
out-dated 
foolish or 
obnoxious. 

one is asked 
to view 
their total error 
their life-waste 
with 
kindliness, 
especially if they are 
aged. 

but age is the total of 
our doing. 
they have aged 
badly 
because they have 
lived 
out of focus, 
they have refused to 
see. 

not their fault? 

whose fault? 
mine? 

I am asked to hide 
my viewpoint 
from them 
for fear of their 
fear. 

age is no crime 

but the shame 
of a deliberately 
wasted 
life 

among so many 
deliberately 
wasted 
lives 

is. 
 
Charles Bukowski

little dark girl with 
kind eyes 
when it comes time to 
use the knife 
I won’t flinch and 
I won’t blame 
you, 
as I drive along the shore alone 
as the palms wave, 
the ugly heavy palms, 
as the living does not arrive 
as the dead do not leave, 
I won’t blame you, 
instead 
I will remember the kisses 
our lips raw with love 
and how you gave me 
everything you had 
and how I 
offered you what was left of 
me, 
and I will remember your small room 
the feel of you 
the light in the window 
your records 
your books
our morning coffee 
our noons our nights 
our bodies spilled together 
sleeping 
the tiny flowing currents 
immediate and forever 
your leg my leg 
your arm my arm 
your smile and the warmth 
of you 
who made me laugh 
again. 
little dark girl with kind eyes 
you have no 
knife. the knife is 
mine and I won’t use it 
yet. 

- Charles Bukowski

…a playground set out to wander every imaginable path,

as your action is set to decide which path to take.

Your mind never stopping, choosing whether to be or not to be.

Either way, your mind, is your grandest masterpiece never to be

mimicked.

Bukowski gave the best advice.

To always reinvent yourself And to continually do so.

Just as those words sting clear My decisions and choices follow.

To keep on the path of constant evolution, To become the reinvented version of perfection.

I saw a black cat yesterday With moon-like eyes Gazing at me through feline sight. Being a quarter-century My self awaited for the beast To walk past my path Just to test the superstition.

So far, so good.

Selfishly pursuing my happiness.

I can only give back when I am able to.

Once my heart is in a good place,

will I be able to tend to others.

Soon.

very, very soon.

For now,

call

me

selfish.

I close my eyes on the dancefloor 
I forget about you
I lose myself in flashing colors
Ive gotta see it through

you’re too much,
i take it that we’re over
should we even care at all?
too much, too much
lets shake hands and say goodbye

Your love is out 
believing despite the loss
Give me your hand 
lets face this night and see it through

Right by my feet, lay broken glasses 
you skeleton boy
swept from the walls, drips on my shoulder
I gotta see it through

- Friendly Fires

I want to say I hate you, but I know it’s not true

Telling lies to myself will not heal this heart of mine.

You said you weren’t ready for a relationship,

nor was I.

It was only a few months after I lost my fiance

and his brother.

It was only a few months that I had to try to center myself.

It was only a few months before you came into the picture.

You were there and helped me,

or at least I thought you did.

Perhaps you used my weakened state to your advantage

to win me over to your side.

Perhaps you just wanted to fill a void in your heart,

as there was in mine.

Perhaps you’re just a wolf in sheep’s clothing leading all women on.

Perhaps you’re just a coward to admit you love me and

are afraid.

I was broken then, you tried your best to put me back together.

I still feel broken, but my soul’s resiliency is keeping me afloat.

Perhaps I should just forget about you, you’re not worth my love.

I met him by the railroad tracks in a snug moutain town.

I met him through bikes and Boston.

Inevitably, the mixture of the two has put my heart’s resiliency to the test.

I cried when he left. Packing his things then walking out the front door of our house.

I cried when he left. Reading the pixels that formed words through electronic mail.

He left because his brother had just died and he lost a part of him self ultimately leaving him unable to be a good boyfriend.

He left because he said he wasn’t ready, that it was him and not me.

He said he loved me. He told his mom that I was his fiancé.

He said he loved me. He told me he’d never leave me.

He promised me many things. To explore, wine & dine, to laugh.

He promised me many things. To love, cherish, to never hurt or to leave. 

Both never lived up to them

I won’t start a pity party now, there’s no use.

It takes two to tango and perhaps I may have two left feet. Or my dancing partner doesn’t know how to dance.

After losing Richard to an addiction,

We almost lost Danny as well.

Today marks a momentous day.

Danny is off probation.

Take it from me kids:

Lay off the smack,

don’t steal,

don’t play with guns.

But overall, love your family and your friends,

even if it puts you in trouble with the law.

Simple energy

running throughout

my body,

each current

brings me closer

to the

understanding

of

reality.

How can this be real?

electromagnetic waves

mixed with electrical

currents

are meant

to be deciphered

by my mind

so I can be

fooled

into 

believing

this

is

life.

The atmosphere is filled with the beats,

leading us into the future at 80 BPMs;

with every brushstroke

I breathe.

Thousands of

miles may

separate us,

but

you are closer than

ever before as

my thoughts

dance about

you

and my heart

rejoices, 

just knowing

that the

feeling

is

mutual.

Sippin’ on a mate,

as the smell of cigarettes

burn around me.

Music plays to the

beat of time,

a rhythmic dance of sound

waves; unseen

but heard. 

Dirty, grungy

urban hippies

hang out

revolting

against this

American Dream

that we all

long for.

This IS the

American Dream,

to choose to be

free. 

Step, step, walk

let my feet lead

me forward

into the future

with adventure as

my guide.