Monthly Archives: June 2013

Endangered

Endangered, Sarah Kaizar, 3rd Street Gallery

Endangered, Sarah Kaizar, 3rd Street Gallery

This collection of drawings represents 66 of 72 clam and mussel species currently listed as endangered. Despite the tenacity of these creatures, long term changes in the health of our waterways have caused massive declines in colony populations. – Sarah Kaizar artist statement

Endangered, Sarah Kaizar, 3rd Street Gallery

EndangeredSarah Kaizar3rd Street Gallery

“I do these drawings on the train as a self discipline pleasure. It’s a solid hour, so, I get two hours a day to put into this work.”

What do the other passengers think?

“Most of them are sleeping.

Endangered, Sarah Kaizar, 3rd Street Gallery

EndangeredSarah Kaizar3rd Street Gallery

What is your source material?

“I work from photographs to ensure accuracy and I do contact the photographers to get their permission to use them. Which, well, they’re endangered species, so they have done a lot of leg work to photograph them. Because they’re so rare and this is a mutual respect. Like, you have to. “

Endangered, Sarah Kaizar, 3rd Street Gallery

EndangeredSarah Kaizar3rd Street Gallery

How long have you been working on the project?

“Since May of last year. I really, honestly, was just trying to make myself active everyday. I found this endangered species list. I don’t normally draw animals, I’m a painter. But this was a block of time I had and I wanted to be active and make myself do something.

So, I’m trying to work through the list. The project kind of emerged by accident because they really started to feel affective when you see them all together. It feels like a family. But I have an interest in Nature, things like foundations to conserve wildlife.”

Endangered, Sarah Kaizar, 3rd Street Gallery

EndangeredSarah Kaizar3rd Street Gallery

When you draw on the train, do you draw attention?

“In the beginning I sat in the quiet car so the people wouldn’t talk to me. (Giggles) But I don’t mind people watching, it’s just when people start to have a conversation with me I feel like I need to stop. I feel really rude if I’m like. ‘This is what I really want to be doing right now, please, don’t talk.’ But, people are generally respective, they ask a few questions. You know. It’s really not too bad.

It feels important. When you work with these environmental organizations who do these specific species campaigns and view the scope of the whole problem. It is overwhelming, like, these clams aren’t cool if you only see three of them. When you see all of them they actually start to feel like it swallows you up.”

Endangered, Sarah Kaizar, 3rd Street Gallery

EndangeredSarah Kaizar3rd Street Gallery through June 30th.

Sarah Kaizar lives in Richboro, Bucks County and works in Philadelphia as a web producer for WHYY. She holds a BFA from Tyler School of Art (2007), an Associates Degree in Marketing, and a Certificate in Web Design & Multimedia from Bucks County Community College (2009 & 2010). Sarah has been a full member of the 3rd Street Gallery in Old City, Philadelphia since February 2012.

Also, Natural Wonders, paintings by Yeoun Lee at 3rd Street Gallery

Written and photographed by DoN Brewer except where noted.

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Vestige: An Industrial Perspective

Jessica Barber, Twenty-Two Gallery

Jessica Barber, Vestige: An Industrial PerspectiveTwenty-Two GalleryDancer, mono-print, $1000.00

“My style is highly intuitive, drawing inspiration from a variety of subject matter. Most often, I gravitate toward capturing the essence of the human form in a loose, expressive manner, using color and texture as my primary focus. Combining monotype printmaking with painting and pastels is my favorite vehicle for creating these images . I utilize monotypes, lithographs or other prints as a textural base, then create subsequent layers in other media until I’ve achieved the desired result. My goal is not to render my subject exactly as it appears, but rather to interpret the spirit of the form and my internal perceptions related to it.” – Jessica Barber

Jessica Barber, Twenty-Two Gallery

Jessica BarberVestige: An Industrial PerspectiveTwenty-Two Gallery

Jessica Barber‘sVestige: An Industrial Perspective at Twenty-Two Gallery in Center City West includes a marvelous variety of mono-prints, lithographs and mixed media paintings all based on the wasting industrial infrastructure of Chester PA. Photographer Jeff Stroud and DoN visited the artist on a sultry Sunday afternoon to view her new work and learn more about the process of printmaking and her inspirations.

“All of the large pieces were printed at BYO Print in Kensington on Cecil B. Moore Avenue. The smaller prints were all done at The Plastic Club with the exception of my one etching which was done in Miami. Fulwood Press in Miami, actually I have piece in a show down in Miami. I was involved in a group show through Projects Gallery up here but they also have a branch there. So when I participated in that show a couple years ago I thought, ‘You know? I have family down in Miami. Why don’t I go join the piece that I sent down there and go for the closing reception.

It was really nice, very, very nice. My family from down there came to the closing reception with me. Right across the street from it was this print shop and I was like a kid in a candy store. Because they have this huge vertical press that comes down and you can set the exact pressure. So, I definitely put it on my list for the next time I go down there, if I have the time I’ll do a couple etchings there. I usually don’t have the time to do etchings while I’m up here.”

Jessica Barber, Twenty-Two Gallery

Jessica BarberVestige: An Industrial PerspectiveTwenty-Two Gallery

Why don’t you have the time here?

“The etching process you have to do a lot of experimenting with acid bath, knowing how long to keep the plates in the acid. And just that process in itself, as far as preparing the plate is rather lengthy.”

Etchings are different than lithographs?

“Yes. When I’m up here I stick to the more immediate processes for me which would be the monotypes, the prints and the lithographs on polyester plates. Because I can work around my two and one half jobs, I can go in at night and I can pull a bunch of prints in marathon sessions at The Plastic Club.”

Jessica Barber, Twenty-Two Gallery

Jessica BarberVestige: An Industrial PerspectiveTwenty-Two Gallery. Over Her Head, mono-print, $300.00

Why is your show called Vestige?

Vestige refers to things that just have gone beyond their useful purpose or there is an absence now because whatever they were there for is gone. A lot of the imagery I use would fit into that because the objects are there and they fit into peoples everyday environment. However the industriousness that went along with those objects and what they were used for is there no longer. It’s the vestige of the industrial past.

And some of the figures are inspired by that whole adaptation between that type of environment and the humans that are there that have to live with it. And they have to deal with that environment. I go to Chester a lot, that’s an area that if the right people would take care of it there could be a revitalization of that area. Just like what’s happening in Fishtown or when I went to Miami.

One of my pieces is inspired by Miami in the Wynwood Arts District, which is an area full of old warehouses that has become an area full of art galleries and coffee shops. But you can still see the vestiges of the industrial life from before.”

Jessica Barber, Twenty-Two Gallery

Jessica Barber, Gateway, mono-print, $850.00, Vestige: An Industrial PerspectiveTwenty-Two Gallery through July 7th, 2013.

“In this exhibit, Jessica Barber’s mixed media and fine art prints concentrate on symbols of our industrial past: what is left of structures no longer in use, now relics of an often forgotten period of prosperity.  She explores this reality through portraits of these structures, along with images depicting the perspectives of humans co-existing and adapting as their environments further disintegrate into decay or transition into renewed vitality.  Among pipelines and condemned homes, scrap yards, and rapidly revitalizing neighborhood corridors, she examines traces of the past, and hints of the evolution yet to come.” – Twenty-Two Gallery website.

Jessica Barber has an art gallery in Chester called Art on Avenue of the States which is part of the arts and cultural revitalization of the city. They are partnering with PPL Park and with Harrah’s Casino so that people who go to the waterfront in Chester and then get right on the highway and go straight home will discover the bridge the artists are building between the community and the gambling entertainment complex. Buy art – it will revitalize your life. You can’t lose.

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Written and photographed by DoN Brewer except where noted.

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PHOTOgraphy 2013

Philadelphia Sketch Club. PHOTOgraphy 2013

Philadelphia Sketch Club, PHOTOgraphy 2013

Delivery: Hand Delivery Friday and Saturday, June 28 and 29; 1-5 p.m. at the Club (see address below).

Entry Fees:

Active The Philadelphia Sketch Club members: $8 for each piece or $20 for three. All others: $10 for each piece or $25 for three.

Pickup:

Unaccepted work: Friday and Saturday, July 5 and 6; 1-5 p.m. at PSC Accepted work: Saturday July 20; 1 – 5pm at PSC.

Notification:

Available at www.sketchclub.org July 2nd

The Philadelphia Sketch Club

235 Camac Street (between 12th & 13th and Locust & Spruce) Philadelphia, PA 19107 Exhibition Chairs: Chair: Melvin Chappell: machappell@earthlink.net Co-Chair: Kenneth Weiner – note2kenweiner@verizon.net

Reception: Photographers and patrons are invited to the opening reception on Sunday, July 7; 2-4 p.m. Awards will be presented at 3 p.m.

Juror Tony Ward is an Internationally renowned award winning photographer, educator, and the author of several books on photography. His work has been published in magazines like Men’s Health and Cosmopolitan. His fine art prints are widely collected, exhibited and syndicated around the world. Tony’s photographic imagery unites his primary love, erotic art, with his perennial passions for fashion, art and current events. He has taught a course on “Introduction to Photography” and “Photography and Fashion” at the University of Pennsylvania.

Prizes: The Jurors will select works for exhibition & award prizes for both traditional and digital work. Works Eligible: Up to 3 pieces utilizing any photographic process, traditional or digital, black & white or color. All submitted work must be offered for sale during the exhibition. No transparencies will be accepted. Maximum framed size 30”x40”. All work must be framed with glass or Plexiglas, wired and ready for hanging. No clip frames. Improperly framed pieces will be rejected

Liability: All submitted work will be handled with care; however, The Philadelphia Sketch Club assumes no liability for loss or damage.

Sales: The gallery will be open on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 1:00 – 5:00 p.m. for the duration of the exhibition. A sales attendant will be on duty. The Philadelphia Sketch Club will assess a 25% commission on all sales.

Get the prospectus:
PHOTO prospectus 2013

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LTextile

Laima Oržekauskienė, LTextile, Philadelphia Art Alliance

Laima Oržekauskienė, Daily Life Series, 2010, “Ritual Washing Feet“, digital print, synthetic fiber, LTextile, Philadelphia Art Alliance

LTextile is a collection of contemporary textiles created by local and international artists associated with the Vilnius Academy of Art in Lithuania. Lithuania borders Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, Poland to the south and the Baltic Sea is to the west.

The Vilnius Academy of Art (LithuanianVilniaus dailės akademija, previously State Art Institute of Lithuania) in VilniusLithuania, grants a variety of degrees in the arts. The academy was created as a separate entity in 1940; it had previously been part of Vilnius University. It was closed during the Nazi occupation of Lithuania, and re-opened in 1944. In 1951 it was organized into the following departments: painting (including frescos, mosaics, and theatrical design), graphics, sculpture, architecture, and ceramics and textiles. – Wikipedia

Lina Jonike, LTextile, Philadelphia Art Alliance

Lina Jonike, Flower Seller, 2008, digital print, embroidery, linen, silk, LTextilePhiladelphia Art Alliance

The LTextile art show mixes traditional fiber arts with high tech printing and weaving. Throughout the exhibition there is a wonderful exuberance, a liveness unrestrained yet with an underlying code like a secret message. Tapestry, weaving and crochet all rely on mathematical formulas to create a fabric and within the mathematics can be hidden a message like a secret code. DoN talked with Honorary Consul of the Republic of Lithuania to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Krista Bard about the mystery.

“So, when the Soviets took over after World War II, everything, all the schools, the businesses, was run by the State. Under very strict rules. You know? We talk about censure now but it’s almost incomprehensible to us in the U.S. culture because we have so much freedom, we’re not a perfect system yet, but, compared to the rest of the world our Democracy is fairly evolved. And we are moving in the right direction.

It’s only when you get into, when you see, an oppression, or you’ve lived through an oppressive situation, when you experience it, then you recognize it. When I went to Lithuania the first time in 1988 there was only one business that was privately owned, it was the first business that was privately owned. Everything else was run and dictated by the State.

In a sense, art survives. No matter what. And luckily the Soviets did not totally suppress art and culture but they put very strict rules in the subject matter. You were only allowed certain subject matter. But because of the symbolic nature of art itself, they found, Lithuanians and the other occupied countries, a way to express themselves none the less. And I think it actually strengthened their ability. Art, you can’t stop art. Anywhere. It’s not possible to do that. “

Severija Inčirauskaitė, LTextile, Philadelphia Art Alliance

Severija Inčirauskaitė, Installation: Autumn Collection “Ladle, cover, grater, milk-can, watering can”, Found metal objects, cotton, cross-stitch, drilling”, LTextilePhiladelphia Art Alliance

“So, they kept creating. And they just developed another set of skills. There is one work of art in the middle gallery where at one point the Soviets did try to stop the language and stop religion. So religion was forbidden. What they did anyway was they used the Russian alphabet but they still wrote in the Lithuanian language.

They wouldn’t let themselves not find ways around it. There was a whole underground movement. Imagine? It was like Fahrenheit 451. Imagine if you were not allowed to speak English anymore. And all your books had to be hidden.

They wanted to suppress the language. Lithuanian and Latvian are the only remaining Baltic languages where we don’t understand each other. We’re talking about censoring the whole language. It was like, ‘OK. Now everything is going to be written in Russian. Or Chinese. That’s our official language.’ And suddenly you’re not allowed to speak your language anymore. There is no way you can suppress a language.”

Žydrė Ridulytė, LTextile, Philadelphia Art Alliance

Žydrė Ridulytė, Copper Cloth, 2009, weaving, semi-wool, wool, cotton, wire, LTextilePhiladelphia Art Alliance

“The denial. You know? There’s a term that says, ‘What you resist persists.’ You can’t suppress people. It doesn’t work. It actually tended to make people more patriotic and make them stronger in their desire to preserve their culture. And more clever about it.

The other thing the Soviets did is they relocated people. It is true that most people do not realize that the Soviets are considered to be as brutal as the Nazis were. They transported, Lithuania is three million people, they deported 300,000 people out of Lithuania. They were re-populating, sending people to work camps. And even if you didn’t go to a work camp all during the Soviet era they were physically moving people. We had no choice.

You and I could move to another city and go get a job somewhere else. But they would tell you where to go and they consciously wanted people to move to other places so they could systematically destroy the culture. And now in Lithuania there is a large population of Belarussians, of Poles, of Russians.

I was there when they sand-bagged the Parliament. It’s interesting the Lithuanian President was a musical historian. He’s a musician. He’s not a politician. It”s just people doing the right thing.”

Laura Pavilonytė, LTextile, Philadelphia Art Alliance

Egle Ganda BagdonieneLTextilePhiladelphia Art Alliance

DoN asked Krista Bard how the Lithuanians overcame Soviet oppression? Was there other pressures going on?

“You can analyze it, historians do a far better job than I. My sense is it was a moment in history where forces came together. There’s only so far and so long that you can subjugate people. Now, of course, hindsight shows me that, but, at that time I never thought it would be possible. Things are constantly changing, there are opportunities. It’s very inspiring. It reminds me as I go through my days – what are the tunes that I’m not singing? What possibilities are there that I’m not seeing? What do I take for granted as it’s just the way it is? Well, that’s not true of anything. Everything can change. Soon Lithuania assumes the Presidency of the European Union. It’s an extraordinary moment. It really is.

Here in America we have such a vast country where we all speak the same language. And it’s all the same rules. We’re not forced like other countries to learn other languages or know our geography in quite the same way. In Lithuania a comparable thing would be like driving from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh and if you cross over into Ohio you’re in a totally different country that speaks another language. We would have to learn. But that’s what it’s like there.”

Laura Pavilonytė, LTextile, Philadelphia Art Alliance

Egle Ganda BagdonieneLTextilePhiladelphia Art Alliance

Fiber arts are a major element of the Philadelphia art scene from Philadelphia University’s heritage of textile and science to the yarn bomber tags to fashion design and fine art. Fiber arts is taught in most of Philadelphia’s art schools. Philadelphians love finding one of Kathryn Pannepacker’s fence weavings creating a pop of art in unlikely locales. DoN wondered what the social life of young artists is like now in Lithuania? Is it like the university town vibe of Philly? Krista Bard said,

“Yes. It’s similar and there’s a strong emphasis on the whole center. The old town of Vilnius is an international historic site. Much like a good part of Philadelphia is historic and is on the national register. It’s unusual. There are a lot of comparisons: the emphasis on history, the emphasis on design. I think we think that we’re the only people in the world where X, Y & X are happening and yet the whole world is coming along together.

The internet has made communication and idea sharing very available. I will say this, though. I look at what’s happened in Lithuania, since I’ve been going there since 1988, seeing how quickly they adapted and adopted to a free market system. And to democracy. And even if you look at the art, all of the new ideas that are there, it’s like they were hungry for innovation. And they embraced it. There is an energy around. Even in the Soviet system there was still a high respect for art and culture.

Even Evaldas Stankevicius, Cultural Attaché to Lithuania, he’s in Washington and helped with this exhibition, had to serve in the Soviet armed forced. But because he had gone to art school he was given art duties. During his service he drew thirty-seven picture of Lenin.”

Aleksas Gailieša, LTextile, Philadelphia Art Alliance

Egle Ganda BagdonieneLTextilePhiladelphia Art Alliance

DoN commented on the feminist aspect of the embroidered papers strewn across an embroidered table cloth. Pages of text embroidered with traditional images like flowers are lined up along the wall. Some of the text is even embroidered.

“What this is is from her dissertation. It was the bureaucracy, it was her way – she was over-burdoned by the bureaucracy – and how could she possibly make something beautiful into this? Is there any way that any of this could make any sense? She did. This is not hand done embroidery, it’s embroidered on a machine. She said, ‘These documents mean nothing to me. There has be something, some beauty, on them.’ She calls it Red Tape. Because this is the red tape she had to go through in her life. So her life is all woven up. Along with the coat and the bag. Your identity is wrapped up and she just wouldn’t tolerate having it be left alone. This was her statement to turn it into something pretty.” – Krista Bard

Aleksas Gailieša, LTextile, Philadelphia Art Alliance

Egle Ganda BagdonieneLTextilePhiladelphia Art Alliance

Vladas Daškevičius, LTextile, Philadelphia Art Alliance

Vladas DaškevičiusLTextilePhiladelphia Art Alliance

Philadelphia Art Alliance curator, Sarah Archer joined the conversation with some salient points.

“You know, Philadelphia Art Alliance is small and any time we get a chance to do something international we feel it’s a wonderful thing to bring to Center City and make it accessible to so many people. And also share that this is the tip of the ice-burg, it alerts people to media, design and contemporary craft and art that is not heavily on the radar.

Even walking through the show with the curators, the co-curators from Lithuania are in their forties and early fifties, I think, and they really ran to their embroidery because it’s something from their cultural archive. It’s something that their grandmothers did and that kind of happens all the time with artists. Ranging from Chile with Sheila Hicks who had a show at the ICA, to people like Sabrina Gschwandtner’s film quilts downstairs. Those are the kind of things that use feminist craft history and documents to creat non-comfortable, non-cozy artworks.”

Jurga Šarapova, LTextile, Philadelphia Art Alliance

Jurga Šarapova, Yellow Green Red, 2012, set of three bigger mugs, LTextilePhiladelphia Art Alliance

Sarah Archer continued, “There are lots of artists using these forms as almost an anonymous heritage that as women in the 21st Century, none of us were brought up to sew or we just do it for fun like knitting, time to unwind because we all work. So, it’s not the equivalent of being taught to sew as a child in 1910. Where your destiny is to be a Mom and darn socks. That’s totally different.

I still have all my grandmothers sewing and knitting things. My Mom was sort of a hipster in the 70s with embroidered jeans and I sort of love that line of activity, that sort of is keeping it alive in a way. But with a contemporary twist. Because it has, in our day and age, a totally different context. It means something else to embroider today. Duchamp wasn’t embroidering in 1911, there was not an art world equivalent to fiber art in that context.

This is a wonderful way to show people that it’s international. And every part of the world has textiles. We can’t live without them. We are sheathed in fiber. There’s a woman named Sonya Clark who said at a lecture, ‘If you think about it there are fibers touching you right now in places where it would be inappropriate to touch yourself in public.”

Discover the secret codes hidden in LTextile for yourself at the Philadelphia Art Alliance through August 18th, 2013.

LTextile is organized by Egle Ganda Bagdoniene, Vice-Rector at the Academy of Arts in Vilnius and Philadelphia Art Alliance Curator Sarah Archer.

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Faveladelphia

Faveladelphia, Favela Painting, 161 West Gallery

Faveladelphia, Favela Painting, Praça Cantão, Communidade Da Santa Marta, Rio De Janeiro161 West Gallery

161 West Gallery hosted a fundraising event to promote the social practice artists called Favela Painting, Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn. The space was darkened a bit so the large light boxes could glow to best effect, the DJ played upbeat grooves and special Brazilian beer and cocktails lightened the hot, sultry night. The pop art punch of color from the glowing photographs and high art festivities accentuated the sociological impact of art in the world community. And not just any communities. Edge cities.

DoN recognized the image of the cheery housing complex from a seminar called Design for the Other 90% presented at the University of the Arts by Smithsonian Cooper Hewitt, National Design Museum. The information packed presentation was about designing for the 90% of the world’s population who live in places like the favelas of Brazil, the barrios of Mexico, and the famous slums of the world.

Dre Urhahn said, “Yeah, this has been in the New York Times, all over the place. This is like our piece de resistance artwork. We made that into the Times and we were so proud, it was – The United Nations put it up on their headquarters!”

Faveladelphia, Favela Painting, 161 West Gallery

FaveladelphiaFavela PaintingPraça Cantão, Communidade Da Santa Marta, Rio De Janeiro161 West Gallery

“The United Nations invited us in and there was this huge banner of this project, so that was something we were really proud of. This is called Praça Cantão, all the information is on our website.

Our dream is to create this (pointing to an illustration of a rainbow hued hillside town) an endless continuation of painting up the hills. And where we painted thirty-four houses, which is our largest project in Brazil, we painted more than fifty storefronts here in Philadelphia. But our dream is to paint hundreds of houses and that’s what we’re fund-raising for. We’re fund-raising to go back to Brazil and fulfill the dream that began almost seven years ago.”

Faveladelphia, Favela Painting, 161 West Gallery

FaveladelphiaFavela Painting161 West Gallery

“The interesting thing is the topography of the favelas is that they’re scattered about the city. Because there’s these beautiful hills and mountains but the rich people live at the base, so when the poor people came, often they work for the rich people as servants in the service industry. They live close to the rich people and they just scattered through all the free space and built their own things on it.” 

Faveladelphia, Favela Painting, 161 West Gallery

FaveladelphiaFavela Painting161 West Gallery

“When I was there I didn’t see people care a lot for these neighborhoods. We’re doing a big Kickstarter campaign to raise money to go back to Brazil, train people, employ people, it’s really like one big job opportunity project with a combination of education and we hire everybody. So everybody, even the boys you can see up there painting, were making more than McDonald’s wage while they’re painting. Some of them were in the drug gangs before and we offer them an opportunity and that’s something for us that’s always been really important.

And that’s also why we’re working will El Sawyer who works with the re-entry system in Philadelphia. He’s made a film about them called Pull of Gravity. For people when they come out of jail because they don’t have any place to go or people to hire them. So it’s really hard to reestablish your validity as a citizen, you know?”

Faveladelphia, Favela Painting, 161 West Gallery

FaveladelphiaFavela Painting161 West Gallery

“They work together with The Guild. The Guild workers worked with us on our project on Germantown Avenue as well. So we have people coming out who really have a tough time to come back into the community again. Through these art projects they actually get a chance to not just be out there, but, to be appreciated as well. You know? It’s great when you come out of jail instead of just hearing a lot of ‘no’ to hear a ‘yes’ here and there. Or even maybe a,’Hey! That’s great.’ Or a, ‘Wow. I’m proud of you!’ That’s something that can do a lot.

I think that where people are sometime a little bit critical that it’s art, it’s paint, what are you really helping? But, deep on the inside, I think, that it does do a lot. It does do a lot of change for people especially on the mental level. It’s important.” – Dre Urhahn

Faveladelphia, Favela Painting, 161 West Gallery

FaveladelphiaFavela Painting161 West Gallery

DoN remembers walking home from the Design for the Other 90% lecture feeling super lucky to have the luxury of space and privacy of home. The map of the world showing edge city hot spots didn’t highlight Philly even though there is a tent city just across the river in Camden. But Germantown Avenue? As it turns out Philadelphia is an edge city for many disenfranchised citizens – Faveladelphia.

El Sawyer, Director of Pull of Gravity said, “The name, the title came out of when you see people get pulled back into the streets. People that do time get home and get pulled back into the streets. The movie follows three people over a year’s period of time and basically from the time they came home: one guy was home three days after doing three years, myself – I’ve been home for ten years after doing eight years and another guy who has been home six years after being in and out for the past twenty-five years. It has a variety of guys and shows their experiences.

The movie has sparked so much attention nationally, I mean people from Minnesota, all over, places you wouldn’t regularly think of. Smaller places like Minneapolis. We were thinking our market might be New York, Detroit, Chicago but smaller place like Kansas City, Pensacola, places like that are really being drawn to the movie. There’s a lot of work being done in those places and and as far as us? I didn’t know there is as much work being done as there is. This movie has been polarizing, bringing together a lot of resources and people doing the same kind of work. – El Sawyer

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