Pirate Jenny Tools:.
A Vanderful Life: Charting Ideas & Re-imagining Art, Earth and Community care
(Work in Progress, ``3/20)
“A Vanderful Life (AVL) is an interdisciplinary re-imagining of earth care, art and land stewardship. It uplifts themes of mobility and an Art as Life continuum/praxis; centering live and physical infrastructure, culture and community care. AVL is an not only an integration of acquired and ongoing land justice skills, but also an extension of my art/life practice as Pirate Jenny, also known as PJ - my time traveling pirate persona". - OA Cole
Final Project/Dream Summary
Farm School NYC 11/22
A Vanderful Life:
Possibilities of Art, Land, Mobility & Community Care
(Photos l: Drawings, OA Cole, 2021, (r) Crows Nest, Concept Drawings for A Vanderful Life, Rodrigo 2020 (l)
A Vanderful Life: The Paper Napkin Edition
“A Vanderful Life (AVL) is an interdisciplinary re-imagining of earth care, art and land stewardship. It uplifts themes of mobility and an Art as Life continuum/praxis; centering live and physical infrastructure, culture and community care”. AVL is an not only an integration of land justice skills acquired through FSNYC, but also an extension of my art/life practice as PIrate Jenny, also known as PJ - my time traveling pirate persona.
But First… Who is Cole?
I am a Black, Queer, Artist, Immigrant Lesbian; finally unpacking neurodivergent tones within gender non-conforming edges; often shamelessly signing off my email as:
“Performance & Teaching Artist/Time Traveler/animal lover/Youthfully Mature/Adult learner & Beginner/Skill Builder/Physically Creative Inquirist/Eternal Band Nerd/Land centered/Badly behaved Womxn Centered rager of a Sapio-Sexual; currently practicing low to no social media”.
As an immigrant, I’m now coming to terms with what I realize has been cultural displacement and assimilation. I was born in the UK’s London to Antiguan and Nigerian parents. My parents earlier years as immigrants understandably centered toxic indebtedness within capitalist survival to their sponsoring country - over parenting intuition, conversations and practices around culture, food, and other diasporic traditions. As a child of divorce, I moved to the Bronx (second biggest city in the West Indies) in the late 80’s and then to Connecticut, for my formative education. Yes, I am that Connecti-cutie.
I have adult learner pride and proudly albeit *finally* completed my undergraduate and graduate degrees in 2013 & 2015, also having recently earned key trades certifications. I’ve been unpacking colonial trauma as a classically trained pianist (started at age 6) and multi-instrumentalist, including violin, trombone, recorder, voice; naturally experimenting with writing and performing songs (after the typical messy lesbionic fissure). I relish movement, improv and culture, having trained in Capoeira, hip hop/house, Yoga, Acroyoga, Tango and percussive movement with immersions at EmergeNYC, Broadway & Jacobs Pillow.
I spent time touring nationally and internationally on Broadway after deciding to audition for a loud, clangy show with everyday objects that I loaded in years before as a student stage hand in college. That decision brought me to 48 states and 4 continents (except OK and WY). As a teaching artist, I incorporate a lot of movement exploration with my own designed and facilitated Body Vocality Movement Workshops; recently working with students at the Sadie Nash Leadership Project & School of the New York Times.
My experiences, identities and encounters from the service sector are expressed in a multidisciplinary performance art context as Pirate Jenny. Pirate Jenny (PJ) is a time traveling pirate embodying histories intersection of the Atlantic Slave Trade and the Golden Age
of Piracy with my personal navigation as a Queer, Black, Immigrant Lesbian. PJ travels via radio waves using tools fashioned of Bamboo & Reed and radio antennas; lately implementing iron for farming and combating narcissism. My work centers on the physical form
and society with pieces in progress such as ‘Hung’ and ‘Biographie of service’ exploring ideas of social perception & culture using handwashing of clothes, and the ‘othered’ body’ in capitalism - blending personal narrative, figure drawing and viewer engagement.
A Vanderful Life Unfolding
AVL came from my creative problem solving for the housing and food crisis for queer artists of color, especially at the beginning
of the pandemic. While the QT/BIPOC & LGBTQIA2+ was at the nexus of this dilemma, I had also learned about FSNYC after my own health crises (stemming from what was later diagnosed as severe burnout, depression and anxiety) and it was suggested I look into working with land. After my own sketches, I had some concept sketches for the Crows Nest drawn up. It’s a utility truck, named after
the crows nest, or lookout of a ship. The residency initially made use of the side cavity’s and spaces to showcase artists work, or grow food and experiment with different mediums. There is also a stage and a sleeping,showering, working and cooking area.
From this mobile unit, I envision Artists/Earth workers and potentially cooks not only living on land or caring for plants and crops within and outside the unit - but also learning maintenance skills for the unit as well as land and crop growing skills; also informed by self care. Each resident is featured in a weekly pirate radio show, hosted by Pirate Jenny with topics centering QT/BIPOC & LGBTQIA2+ around queerness, art, radical land work and dialogue around care and best practices for physical and mental well being.
Models of this mobile residency would consider co-operatization around crops centering my background in the Afro-Caribbean diaspora, my health and to my interest in farming infrastructure. This would include fiber crops such as Bamboo, Hemp/Cannabis and other edibles such as Garlic and various herbs. This could also be supplemented with a practice around live infrastructure, vermicomposting, bokashi, making hives for honey and solitary bees and regenerative/indigenous irrigation practices. AVL could work with a network of farms who'd like to co-operatize and grow the crops listed and also host the artist. It could also be my farm with others crops being grown in a cooperative model. I’d also envision the residency eventually also hosting cooks to honor the farm and food to table continuum.
Another part of the pipe dream is having a group of these MDU’s and incorporating some of my high tunnel concepts I learned. In this case - there are high tunnels that are on tracks, thus creating subclimates. Crops are grown and cared for by the artists in residence
and the high tunnel is moved down to each MDU for care over that certain crop in that high tunnel.
A Vanderful Life:
An integrated, community based reimagining of farm justice;
An evolving extension of my own praxis within the art/life continuum.
A deeper approach and current working copy of this vision :
I have adult learner pride and proudly albeit *finally* completed my undergraduate and graduate degrees in 2013 & 2015, also having recently earned key trades certifications. I’ve been unpacking colonial trauma as a classically trained pianist (started at age 6) and multi-instrumentalist, including violin, trombone, recorder, voice; naturally experimenting with writing and performing songs (after the typical messy lesbionic fissure). I relish movement, improv and culture, having trained in Capoeira, hip hop/house, Yoga, Acroyoga, Tango and percussive movement with immersions at EmergeNYC, Broadway & Jacobs Pillow.
I spent time touring nationally and internationally on Broadway after deciding to audition for a loud, clangy show with everyday objects that I loaded in years before as a student stage hand in college. That decision brought me to 48 states and 4 continents (except OK and WY). As a teaching artist, I incorporate a lot of movement exploration with my own designed and facilitated Body Vocality Movement Workshops; recently working with students at the Sadie Nash Leadership Project & School of the New York Times.
My experiences, identities and encounters from the service sector are expressed in a multidisciplinary performance art context as Pirate Jenny. Pirate Jenny (PJ) is a time traveling pirate embodying histories intersection of the Atlantic Slave Trade and the Golden Age
of Piracy with my personal navigation as a Queer, Black, Immigrant Lesbian. PJ travels via radio waves using tools fashioned of Bamboo & Reed and radio antennas; lately implementing iron for farming and combating narcissism. My work centers on the physical form
and society with pieces in progress such as ‘Hung’ and ‘Biographie of service’ exploring ideas of social perception & culture using handwashing of clothes, and the ‘othered’ body’ in capitalism - blending personal narrative, figure drawing and viewer engagement.
A Vanderful Life Unfolding
AVL came from my creative problem solving for the housing and food crisis for queer artists of color, especially at the beginning
of the pandemic. While the QT/BIPOC & LGBTQIA2+ was at the nexus of this dilemma, I had also learned about FSNYC after my own health crises (stemming from what was later diagnosed as severe burnout, depression and anxiety) and it was suggested I look into working with land. After my own sketches, I had some concept sketches for the Crows Nest drawn up. It’s a utility truck, named after
the crows nest, or lookout of a ship. The residency initially made use of the side cavity’s and spaces to showcase artists work, or grow food and experiment with different mediums. There is also a stage and a sleeping,showering, working and cooking area.
From this mobile unit, I envision Artists/Earth workers and potentially cooks not only living on land or caring for plants and crops within and outside the unit - but also learning maintenance skills for the unit as well as land and crop growing skills; also informed by self care. Each resident is featured in a weekly pirate radio show, hosted by Pirate Jenny with topics centering QT/BIPOC & LGBTQIA2+ around queerness, art, radical land work and dialogue around care and best practices for physical and mental well being.
Models of this mobile residency would consider co-operatization around crops centering my background in the Afro-Caribbean diaspora, my health and to my interest in farming infrastructure. This would include fiber crops such as Bamboo, Hemp/Cannabis and other edibles such as Garlic and various herbs. This could also be supplemented with a practice around live infrastructure, vermicomposting, bokashi, making hives for honey and solitary bees and regenerative/indigenous irrigation practices. AVL could work with a network of farms who'd like to co-operatize and grow the crops listed and also host the artist. It could also be my farm with others crops being grown in a cooperative model. I’d also envision the residency eventually also hosting cooks to honor the farm and food to table continuum.
Another part of the pipe dream is having a group of these MDU’s and incorporating some of my high tunnel concepts I learned. In this case - there are high tunnels that are on tracks, thus creating subclimates. Crops are grown and cared for by the artists in residence
and the high tunnel is moved down to each MDU for care over that certain crop in that high tunnel.
A Vanderful Life:
An integrated, community based reimagining of farm justice;
An evolving extension of my own praxis within the art/life continuum.
A deeper approach and current working copy of this vision :
“An Interdisciplinary model reapproaching farming, earth stewardship and art making within a praxis of restorative & land justice. AVL opens my personal & ongoing journey in the Art as Life Continuum; seeking to uplift queerness, art and mobility, while centering the QT/BIPOC & LGBTQIA2+ realm. Inclusive practices center art, regenerative & ancestral farming and irrigation and live & physical infrastructure maintenance within models of multicultural, intergenerational & inclusive community care.” - OA Cole
I reflect on my year of learning about farming justice and building community despite so many social and personal challenges.
There’s my deepened interest in composting and earth/indigenous centered irrigation practices. It’s radical the spaciousness within rigor in which our cohort exercised during such a charged time across social justice and public health. Despite my own recent health interventions, I proudly, albeit unexpectedly complete Farm School in full circle with a vision for AVL evolving from my initial application.
My year at FSNYC has helped me (and PJ) to consider the creative, yet vital ‘tools’ needed to build community in a system that helps me to heal, grow and thrive. The larger system I was selflessly operating in literally made me sick. A Vanderful Life critically engages my art practice as Pirate Jenny, integrates key skills I have within and beyond my community at Farm School; thus posing a process-informed, multi-sectored and restorative call for care within justice across food, art and QT/BIPOC & LGBTQIA2+ farming.
#lovePJ
#placesofprogressnotproduction
There’s my deepened interest in composting and earth/indigenous centered irrigation practices. It’s radical the spaciousness within rigor in which our cohort exercised during such a charged time across social justice and public health. Despite my own recent health interventions, I proudly, albeit unexpectedly complete Farm School in full circle with a vision for AVL evolving from my initial application.
My year at FSNYC has helped me (and PJ) to consider the creative, yet vital ‘tools’ needed to build community in a system that helps me to heal, grow and thrive. The larger system I was selflessly operating in literally made me sick. A Vanderful Life critically engages my art practice as Pirate Jenny, integrates key skills I have within and beyond my community at Farm School; thus posing a process-informed, multi-sectored and restorative call for care within justice across food, art and QT/BIPOC & LGBTQIA2+ farming.
#lovePJ
#placesofprogressnotproduction
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