Saturday, March 17th, in association with Glasschord Magazine, Katherine Tzu-Ian Mann will present a production featuring performances by authors Claire Dickenson, Mary Lou Buschi and Jade Sanchez-Ventura in a mixed media performance incorporating her art work and that of other women artists featured in Glasschord Magazine at the A.I.R. Gallery at 111 Front St. in DUMBO, Brooklyn. This event takes place in in coordination with the opening of a new body of Mann’s work executed while in residence at A.I.R.

A Letter of Intent by Glasschord Director Greg MacAvoy

As we begin our second year of Glasschord Magazine we note the changes and fulfillments of our initial intentions and dreams. From the beginning it has been a special desire of mine to create a bridge between the esoteric art community and a hungry public. It has struck me that most people have this profound hunger for challenging ideas and what I refer to as “authentic expression”.

The majority of media consumed by the greater American public is, and I’m sure you will agree, dumbed-down cheap punchlines and suspense riddled by what my father would call a “crappy edge”. The source of inspiration for much of these endeavors is the hunger for capital gain. Given, these industries feed many and provide work for a great number of otherwise creative and energetic people, though I do believe they leave their audience hungry yet.

Too few times in my life have I seen this hunger of the masses satiated. I’ll elaborate on one of them here. It was in October of 2006 when over forty artists with the help of a dozen unpaid local craftsmen transformed a dilapidated barn in Ellenville, New York into a celebration of creative force.

Oh! sleepy Ellenville, a town like so many others in our country adrift the endless sea of post-industrial dilapidation, on the far side of the mountain from nowhere. For four months we toiled toward a three-day exhibit. There was no sponsorship, no grant funding, no rich patrons, only an excitement that was led by our own desire to cooperate, and a building that was left in our care to do what we would with it for the time we had been given.

What we all witnessed when the residents of that small town, and many from the surrounding towns, walked through that barn on opening day was a certain excitement and curiosity rarely seen.  Where once was cobwebs and debris was now monumental found-object sculpture, experimental interactive-sound sculpture, and unique pieces of work by artists from all over the northeastern seaboard. There was a lone cellist and hours of performance and poetry, and after each performance the applause was full and in earnest!

The town had come not for “Art” or “Culture”, but to fulfill their curiosity over what possibly could be happening inside that decaying structure so large and shabby that it had in its obscene immensity become invisible to the people who passed by it every day. The local folks came to see what those people had been doing for four months who they’d seen dirty and sweating at their lunch counters at mid-day and relaxing in their bars in the cool evenings.

From the hours of conversation, and a beautiful hand-bound book full of well wishes, testimonials and commentary, it was apparent that the people of Ellenville had been fed that weekend. And not only figuratively, as the mothers and wives of of the men and the children from the local communities brought delicious pots and plates and bottles of food and drink for all to enjoy. The young, the old, the black, the white, gays, straights, artists, cops, teachers, janitors, secretaries, politicians, businessmen all celebrated communally. And they talked. And they listened. And they were proud of us, who they did not know. And they were proud of themselves, who they knew a bit better now…maybe. I take no responsibility for any of this. For we found that there is a desire among people to be together, to share and interact and celebrate within a place adorned with the evidence of contemplation and exciting creativity.

All of the artwork in that barn was for sale. One painting sold for $13.50. But the donation box had been emptied three times into shopping bags! All in all it was a wash from a business perspective, but the gains made by the solidarity between the artists and craftsmen and community was worth that barn’s weight in salt.

So it is with this endeavor, the Glasschord Project, that we hope to unite artists, craftsmen and thinking people of the world to commune. And like the event in the old barn in Ellenville we do it only with our passion. We hope that you will share in this and be receptive of this quality that can only come when dollars take a back seat to design and intent.

In the coming year we will be hosting a handful of events that bring this correspondence from the E-format to the flesh. We will further our community and further the engagement of our readership by building a stronger literary section with more essays on the current state of our world that will hopefully inspire your thoughts and comments. And we will present more interviews with visual artists and musicians to inspire and evoke conversation.

It’s shaping up to be a good year. We hope you’ll let us know what you think.