Dancing, body painting, art, music all inside a Pudding Factory
This is the photo documentation of my trip from Portland, Maine to Hoboken, New Jersey for a grand art show! It was my first time in New Jersey and this post is dedicated to Shandra Stark, for putting on the show.
3AM, I woke up. Groggy. And with some interesting bed hair. I had a 45 minute walk to the bus station so... I struck a pose
I struck this pose and rushed out the door with a suitcase filled with bearded bunnies.
I took two buses. It took 6 hours. I sat in some very interesting bus stations terminals and took two NYC subway rides. I wandered the streets of New York until finally finding the PATH subway and found my way to Hoboken, New Jersey.
The Pudding Factory was crammed into this business district. Auto shops on one side, band practice happening on the other side. From the outside you would never guess there was anything fun on the inside.
Just peeking up the steps, I knew I was going to like this place. I watched a group of people dismantle a giant indoor trampoline, trying to make room for the bands and a dance floor.
This is River Clark's mannequin. By this time, all the artists and musicians were flooding into the building. I was building the auction room and running errands. I met Ocean Clark, who I managed never to take a photo of somehow. His work is in the background of many of the following photos.
I set up a wall of bearded bunnies above this piano. You cannot really tell from here, but the white spots on the wall are vintage sheet music used as wall paper.
Herra Terra, the band, began setting up.
Artist William Springfield finished up his prints, as the VIP gathering began.
View from the ladder.
Then musician Lyle Divinski sat down and sang some really amazing songs
James McAndrew followed, with a great performance.
People started filling up the VIP section. This is 4 floors below where the bands were going to play.
The view from the street. It is funny to think behind this very unassuming garage door is the biggest green screen in New Jersey. Tonight, it also was home to a bomb art show.
I got to meet these 5 artists, from all across the country. Amazing artists, amazing guys.
Body painter, Kirk Dupuis, showed up to do some black light body painting on model Jessica Mellow.
Herra Terra rocked upstairs, and the glowing hoola hoops made an appearance. I think they broke by the end of the night, or at least were dismantled and spread around the building.
Kirk invited me to jump in and do some painting with him.
I decorated Jessica's back. This is what it looked like before the black light.
Super Volcano was the second band to play. While I missed most of Herra Terra's performance, I was dancing during Super Volcano's killer set.
I noticed the chalk art happening and quickly added a sketch to the ground.
I was in-between carrying artwork up four flights of stairs for the auction portion of the event, so I only had a minute to do anything with the chalk.
Jessica Mellow and the lead singer of SuperVolcano
His face kind of became the torch of Jessica's statue of liberty theme. Kirk, was painting some really interesting things. People took a million photos of these projects while they were happening.
Here is my contribution for the black light body painting. I worked around the peace logo.
Bianca also volunteered to be painted. She had mentioned to me being interested, and Kirk painted her while the bands were performing behind her.
It is always funny how a photo of dancing crowds can often look like a photo of motionless crowds. There was much movement here.
Mark Williams took these great photos, showcasing the finished work.
Again, Mark Williams photo, of Kirk Dupuis bodypainting, on Bianca, and Jessica Mellow
the next morning, slightly hung over, I stumbled back upstairs to find a deserted room. I take a quick photo and rushed out the door to catch my bus back to Portland, Maine. In the end, it felt like a one day dream. So many things happening all at once, sandwiched between 14 hours of busing and subways.
