Welcome to Eulipion Outpost

My First Newsletter on Substack

Hi, there.

As of today I’m switching my newsletter over to Substack. Changed the title, too--from “Twig Tea” to “Eulipion Outpost.” See my About page for more on that change, or go to jeanvengua.com for my bio.

Quick background: I’ve been blogging about writing and art since about 2000 when I learned HTML to write blogposts on GeoCities. It helped keep me sane when I was taking care of my mother during her last days on earth.

I’m thankful to have gone through the period when blogging felt like joining a community (for me it was experimental writers and artists)—when writing online could actually lead to interesting or challenging discussions, and even meetings and readings in the meatworld.

Social media changed all that; around 2006 or so, everyone’s “attention” shifted (got dragged?) over to that arena (me, too: I’m on Instagram & Twitter). Yet I never stopped blogging, even while mostly blogging to myself. I guess I just developed this need to write, to document my art/writing processes, and curate cool stuff I saw online.

BTW, I’m not here to hand out advice. I want to report on what piques my curiosity: processes, projects, and approaches (including mine) to art making and writing that I encounter.

So here I am. Got through the pandemic hell year of 2020; this year, 2021, is looking hopeful—but I’m not kidding myself; it’ll still be rough going for awhile. The artist Georg Grosz always comes to mind when I think of the last 4 years:

Let’s get on with it then:

First, here’s some hope from poet Eileen R. Tabios: "Hope: First 2021 Poem," an Hay(na)ku poem by Eileen R. Tabios in Moss Trill | Poetry Blog/Journal (wordpress.com). And a belated Happy New Year to all…

There are some incredible Filipinx American, APIA, and BIPOC artists & writers out there, so expect to see me posting work from them (us) here.

This book, by Jenny Odell: How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy, is actually more of a philosophy book (and sometimes a manifesto, than an instruction). I got to the end of it realizing she had offered no concrete solution—but plenty of food for thought. I was fine with that. I’m on my second read.

Last year, I switched from acrylics to mostly graphite and colored pencil. The tiny rental house that I and my partner can afford (not a whole studio), simply doesn’t have room for large, messy works. In the process, I found a closer connection to line, paper, and media -- the utter simplicity of drawing, often without a plan.

Recently, I found this article describing the turn to colored pencils as a “trend,” noting that some artists these days have to “make do with more accessible materials lately”:  Trends to Watch in 2021: Colored Pencil Revival - For Sale on Artsy

Slow Down the Mega-Galleries, Empower Black Collectors, and 13 Other Changes Art-World Insiders Hope to See in 2021 (artnet.com) By (various authors) Artnet News

I started a PWYW (pay what you want) page on my website. My reasons for that are explained on that page (it’s also related to the Artist Support Pledge project). Here’s an older piece from 2017 that’s available, with about a dozen other works, there: “Forecast,“ 22 x 24 in., ink and acrylics on paper:

Project Row Houses  is an inspiring community arts project. Thanks to the pandemic, though, they’re going through a rough patch right now and could use some help. I’m interested in projects like this because I co-chair a nonprofit, Asian Cultural Experience (ACE), located in Salinas Chinatown – a neighborhood founded by multiple immigrant groups. After a period of destructive “urban redevelopment” in the 1970s, Chinatown became challenged with problems like homelessness and drug addiction. Recently a lot of welcome affordable housing has been built, and we’re now looking to develop arts policies and projects for the growing neighborhood--and working to purchase and renovate two buildings to turn into a cultural center and museum.

Finally, here’s “Theme for the Eulipions” by Rashaan Roland Kirk.

That’s it for this week…