Proposal:

Naming the Mountain: A People’s Memorial to the Mountains of Appalachia

Project Description: three parts

1-A gathering of musicians, performers, and visual artists in Whitesburg, Kentucky, dedicated to memorializing the mountains affected by Mountain Top Removal
2-A quilt, memorializing the mountains affected by Mountain Top Removal
3-A video, documenting the experience of the creation of these works

PART ONE: MOUNTAIN WAKE, July 10th, 2010

We would like to model this gathering off of a memorial, or wake. It will be about people coming together to acknowledge the irrevocable devastation of the environment and will be an opportunity for people to voice their personal relationship to the landscape. We are asking each artist to create a work that is dedicated to the name of a mountain or range of mountains that have been affected by Mountain Top Removal, and to perform it live, July 11th, at a vista site in Kentucky Whitesburg that displays the effects of Mountain Top Removal. A potential site for this gathering to occur would be Wiley’s Last Resort. We have spoken with Jim Webb about this potential, and he is open to our proposal.

Details:
We have been speaking with many musicians in Whitesburg and in the state of Kentucky, but current confirmed participants are:

The Breezy Holler Band, folk band (performers at the 5th National Mountain Top Removal Lobbying in Washington DC)
Eric Sutherland, Spoken Work Poet: Holler Poets, Lexington KY
Charlie Little Hall, folk musician, Whitesburg Kentucky
Stacie Sexton, singer, Lexington, Kentucky

Assistance Request:
We would like assistance in coordinating any musicians, poets, or performers of any kind who might be appropriate in participating in this part of the project.

PART TWO: APPALACHIAN MEMORIAL QUILT (continuing)

(We are currently looking for individuals from Appalachia who would be interested in participating in a collaborative quilting and performance project concerning the personal effects of mountain top removal.)

For the quilting project, each participant would create a patch for a crazy quilt that would be dedicated to a mountain or region in the area that has been affected by mountain top removal. The patches can be any size or shape, the only constraint is that the name of a mountain or range of mountains that the patch is dedicated to is embroidered or somehow noted on the fabric.

Serving not only as a response to a very timely issue, the creation of this quilt would also further traditional forms of art distinctive to Appalachia. The final product would serve as a mapped representation of people’s individualized relationship with the land that has been affected by strip mining.

Details:
Because quilting is a fairly labor intensive process, this part of the project would be longer term.  Ideally, the pieces would be ready to be put together on July 11th.  This would give participants four months to prepare their squares. Any of the quilters that were interested in attending the gathering could assist in piecing the squares together, in conjunction with the musical and spoken word performances. This act would enrich the lived experience of the gathering.  From a documentary perspective, this gathering would also be strengthened by the quilters’ participation, adding cohesion if the video and quilt were ever displayed alongside each other.

We would document this experience, and the edited video, along with the finished quilt will be exhibited in various venues, galleries, and community spaces, in order to educate people about the personal effects of this issue. Ultimately, we would like for the quilt to travel and be displayed in various areas both inside and outside of Kentucky.  It has been proposed that the quilt could be displayed at various chapters for Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, at the gallery space in University of Louisville,  Container Space, an art space at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. The Fine Arts Gallery at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, has already confirmed interest in representing this project.

Contacts currently involved have in assisting this project:

Octavias Sexton, artist Pat Jennings, Quilt artist,
Nel Fields, Director: Faith Moves Mountains
Vanessa Little Hall, Quilt artist and MTR activist
Dobree Williams, Quilt artist and MTR activist

Assistance Request:
Any assistance we could receive in arranging participants and venues to display the quilt would be very helpful.  We are hoping to get as many people involved in this project, it will take many hands. If interested in either participating in the quilting project or performing at the gathering, please e-mail us at: floatinglabcollective@googlegroups.com

PART THREE: VIDEO DOCUMENTATION

The performance and quilting projects will be documented and edited by Floating Lab Collective through video. It will be shared with direct participants and with people who have no direct relationship to the project.

Details:
The video can travel along with the quilt, and has the opportunity to be seen in many venues inside and outside of Kentucky.  There is a already a confirmed space at George Mason University, and we are currently pursuing other venues, including University of Louisville, National Geographic, and Provisions Library in Washington D.C. Ultimately, the video would be the vehicle that would help share this experience with as many audiences outside of the direct performance as possible. It could be shared in traditional gallery spaces, community spaces, public spaces, and online.

Assistance Request:
Assistance or suggestions for potential screening sites in Kentucky or other areas in Appalachia

drawing proposal by Kate Clark, including mountain names