my friend vanessa velez asked if i would be into doing and interview with her about this project. she was looking to potentially get our story out and some local publicity. she ended up writing an article based on this interview , some other questions that came up randomly and her personal experiences with me. i thought this interview would be a great way to begin shedding light on the "WHY'S"... i will post her finished article later. hope you enjoy it, though it kind of feels like i am putting myself out there.
1. Explain in detail why and how you came up with the idea for Mission:Remission. For example: What was your personal experience that lead you to develop this concept?
The short of it is my mother and her battle with ovarian cancer. But like everything there is a much longer story and it all goes back a long while to be honest. At least several years before my mother was diagnosed with her ovarian cancer. In recent years there has been an increase in public displays of awareness for breast cancer charitable contribution from individuals and corporations, i.e. pink bats on mothers day weekend in baseball, cereal boxes emblazoned with pink ribbons, famous actors publicly raising money for the race for a cure…ect ect ect. At some point I made a comment or two to my mother that I should (for charity of course) make T-shirt that read “I SUPPORT TITS’ in pink lettering with a huge pink ribbon. She would be out and about and see something new and report back to me with the likes of “did you see the new I support tits lunch box?” Or “I really wanted to get you the I support tits grapefruit juice!” It wasn’t ever mockery and I hope it doesn’t come off as such. My mom has walked in the race for the cure and I have pledged several times in support of walkers.
Fast forward to a recent dinner my wife and I had with my parents in celebration of our recent birthdays and anniversary. I mentioned to my mom how that jersey city has a vibrant art culture going and that few weeks before this dinner they had their annual artists studio tour (
http://www.proartsjc.org/) and the downtown 4th street art and music fest (
myspace.com/4thstreetart ) and how impressed I had been with it and how diverse and awesome downtown/grove street jersey city has become. (She attended nursing school in the Jersey City heights at Christ hospital in the late 70’s and hadn’t been warned by the school to stay out of the “HOLE” as they called it which was downtown/grove st.). My moms suggested that I set up some photo shoots and try to capture several different applications of “THE RIBBON” and to contribute to one of the shows and if I was able to sell the prints donate my proceeds to a cancer research foundation. The idea rolled around in my head for several days and I really don’t think my work as a photographer is anything special and I had no idea how to get it shown anywhere, no idea where to begin....
I decided to take the silent auction idea a couple of friends of mine had used several months earlier and to co-opt it and make it into something I could use for this. I put out the feelers, contacted friends involved with the arts and the artist community to see if anyone had an interest in contributing work or to help point me in the directions in needed to head this sort of thing in. I got such an initially overwhelming response, that it left me very nervous. I sat down with my mom and talked it over, let her know that many great artists had sign on as contributors already and many more friends old and new where eager to pitch in and help out in any way possible. I had questioned my ability in organizing an event like this but my mother assured me that she had the utmost confidence in me and was very happy and warmed by the support my idea had gotten. This was the only reassurance I needed. A really great dude Mark (aka Alfonse aka cooter) really helped me out a ton and put me in contact with someone associated with the 4th st. Art and music festival and it really started talk a life of its own. I started an email account
mission.remission@gmail.com (should have googled the name first, there are apparently several other blogs and websites with very similar names) and a blog
http://mission-remission.blogspot.com/ acquired names and emails for all the contributors big and small.
Though nothing in set in stone, I would like this event to be tied in with the 4th st arts and music festival. This should be the 1st weekend of October 2009. The collective that works on the planning of it doesn’t start meeting for another couple weeks but from the initial response I had gotten from the party involved was very positive and they seem to think it will work out nicely for both parties.
2. What does the project entail?
I set out looking for artists who may or may not have ever shown there work that may have some personal investment in a project like this. I want this to be an outlet for both artist and collectors. Those willing to contribute time and energy in creating their art and those willing to come out and bid on these pieces can both leave feeling like that they have invested in raising awareness and capital for cancer research. I have decided to cap artist contributions to 60 single hang-able pieces. I am looking to have 3 speakers and 3 musicians the day of the event as well. I needed to have a game plan before getting to deep and that was probably the best advice I have gotten so far about this. I initial thought about asking artists for subject specific contributions but shortly realized I didn’t want to be limiting and restricting anyone’s ability to contribute to this. So I am leaving it in the hands of the artist as two what and how they want to contribute. It really is as much for them as it is for me and coming from the d.i.y. punk sort mindset I always feel that there is strength in numbers and strength in diversity. There is going to be an “event only” CD that will have track recorded from some very awesome local bands and Patrick F. Dunn is compiling a ZINE that is written word submissions and an outlet for anyone who doesn’t count themselves among the artistically inclined. We are going to be raising some funds in the upcoming months to make the “I SUPPORT TITS” T-shirts, pins, magnets and postcards. There will be a paypal account set up for anyone who would like to contribute financially if they feel there is no other possible outlet.
3. Who and What is involved? You briefly mentioned to me something about the 4th street art project or something like that. Explain them. If you had any basic info or links for them that would also be helpful.
I touched on this a little above, but this year was the 5th annual 4TH street art and music festival. To me personally it was amazing. I spent my day surrounded by local artists, vendors, partiers, musicians, skaters & friends. There was a vaudeville style fashion show? An eclectic ensemble of musicians from the loud and furious to the more progressive to the garage rock revivalists. Art and food and music and swag and graffiti and it was a lot to take in to the uninitiated. It was a beautiful and inspiring day for me. Good vibes and great times. It just so happens that a friend of a friend helps organize this and he very much liked the basic ideas that I had floating around and was nice enough to invite me to sit down and talk over the finer points of tying what I would like to do in with what they already have going on. Again they don’t start the planning for another couple weeks, but the blog readers and email listers will be updated as soon as anything is set in stone and I am sure I will be flyering and promoting this to the Nth degree.
4. What do you hope will be the outcome of the project?
I think about this a lot. What am I looking to get from this? It’s a positive outlet for me. Something I can do and feel productive while working on it and I can focus my own feelings and emotions about my mother’s illness. As I said before I would love for both the artists and the collectors to both feel the joy of contributing to it and I think it can be rewarding for both and dually rewarding for the charities. Also I seem to be friends with a lot of artists and musicians who I would love to help expose and bring some recognition to. Again comings from the sort of grass roots do it your self punk scene, it’s always been about friends helping friends helping friends, where ever and when ever. Judging by the responses I have gotten, a lot of my friends still hold these sort ideals near and dear to their hearts. This has put me in touch with some people I hadn’t talked to or seen in several years, which is a pleasant reward to be honest and I am really glad to have such a great support system of truly humane people that I can genuinely care for in return.
5. When is the main event going to take place?
Nothing has been set in stone but I really would like this to be during the 1st weekend of October. I love the fall I feel like it’s the perfect time of the year for this sort of event. There is something about the cool nights and warm days that has always just done it for me. It’s also breast cancer awareness month and seeing as that my mother kind of got this ball rolling with that idea, I think it has to be during October.
6. What outstanding effort is going to be put forth to ensure that the project follows through?
I am not really sure how to answer this. But at 31 years old, with a job I have held for almost 6 years in a company I have been with for 9 years. I think it’s safe to say that when I dedicate myself to doing something I do it and there’s no question about it. It’s always been about that initial burst of inspiration and getting the ball rolling. I had my chance to drop the ball already and my mother really just said the right things to me and got me in the right frame of mind. Organizing and orchestrating an event like this is something that is going to take over my life I am sure as it gets closer to the date. I do work a job that takes up an extraordinary amount of time and energy at times, but I am hoping that I can balance my schedule and manage to not over-extend myself. I do also have several very capable volunteers who have said they would help with any and everything so there might be some time when I do need to make a call and have them take the reigns. But this is what I am currently, for the foreseeable future, doing with my time.
7. What charities are you hoping to donate to?
I have yet to really get into this. I want to have a date and location secured before I start making any concrete decisions as to where and who our proceeds are going to. My mother attends Gilda’s club (
http://www.gildasclubnnj.org/ ) regularly and I am hoping she and several other members will sit down and talk about which charities or foundations they would like to see me donate too. I realize people might be reluctant to contribute to this until I commit to who we are going to donate to, but we will hopefully have a clearer picture in the next couple weeks. I will say that I would really like to donate to an array of charities or a cancer research organization that is not focused on just one type of cancer. I really like the idea of “A CURE IS A FUCKING CURE” as profane as it is, it really stresses with some weight my point, short and simple.
8. Do you have any future plans for this project besides the event?
Myself, I would like to do something on a mothers day weekend in the upcoming years, that is focused on mother inspired and referenced art. Again a simple charity auction and fund raiser.
9. What do you hope people take home from this project? What do you hope people can learn from this?
I was just contacted by an artist from Kansas City who wants to do a similar event around, if not at the same exact time. Which is really inspiring to me and I am glad that this can be used as a launching pad and used as an inspiration. The only thing that I hope anyone takes from this is that anyone can do it, you can contribute, not just paintings, not just photos or videos or songs or words or abstractions or financially. You can be there. You can show up, add a weight and to the volume of our collective voice.
10. Is there an opportunity for others to participate? If so, how can they participate?
Artist can contribute ONE single hang-able piece (though several small hang-able pieces totaling no larger then 2’x2’ will be accepted), musicians can contribute preferably lo-fi recordings for the event only CD, writings can be submitted to Patrick F Dunn @
patrickfdunn@gmail.com for his zine, if you want to perform spoken word or as a singer/song writer the day of you can get in touch, if you would like to bare your breasts (confidential faceless breast photo’s only showing from shoulder to upper abdomen) my wife Steph (
shear.mania@gmail.com ) is eager to hear from you and last but not least is you can contribute financially to a paypal account that will be set up the 1st week of the new year. As always people can email me at
mission.remission@gmail.com with any questions and I will do my best to respond promptly with as much info as possible.
We would like to have the hang-able art no later then September 15th 2009.
Musical submissions should be in by September 1st 2009.
I am pretty sure Patrick F Dunn would like your written submissions before the beginning of July. Thus allowing him time to layout and print up copies of the zine.
Steph would love to shoot you before the end of July as well allowing time for prints and postcards to me made.
We will stop taking financial donations 2 weeks after the silent auction and all proceeds will go to the charities that have been designated.
