On the Scope front, we’ve been busy, putting out our Winter / Spring Line and getting ready for Summer / Fall. Our artists continue to make waves and dope music, putting out more projects and doing more shows than we can keep up with – but we try. Find the latest news, events and photos on the Scope Facebook Page or the blog at scopeurbanapparel.com. We have also been working on doing our own events, like Wake up the City on May 5th, which no one should miss, and the Conscious Styles and Conscious Kulturez shows to benefit the Occupy the Hood Boston Feed the Hood / Fill Your Fridge Programs we have been putting in to action.

Work-wise I have continued to take on more design jobs and clients, most recently working for Jane Doe Inc. on a range of materials for their White Ribbon Day Campaign and Advocacy Day, raising awareness about sexual and domestic violence against Women. Other projects include the latest print issue of the Blackstonian and info graphics, flyers etc about 3 Strikes, Stand Your Ground and Occupy the Hood etc., stuff for the show we are Bringing the Last Poets to Boston to do in June, stuff for Voices of Liberation, El Movimiento, YGB, Retrospek, MeTaL, Sweatshop, Anjuli Stars, Catch Wreck, O.T.O and too many more to remember now. I love it all tho… Find more of that stuff over at politicalpirates.com (Also in dire need of an update).

This year I also was blessed with the opportunity to teach a sophomore art elective twice a week my old high school, Fenway High. I was responsible for all instruction, lesson planning etc and it was really a great chance for me to test the waters. I had a blast, working on t-shirts, graphic design, basic drawing and painting and printing and using images to express ideas – much of the content of the class was detirmined by the students and I was impressed with how many took the initiave to come up with intersting projects for themselves. We never had art in any official capacity, even electives when I went to Fenway and one of my dreams has always been to come back and establish an art program so being able to do this was awesome. My students were amazing and I hope to come back next year.

So In short – life is good. Work, Projects, Side Jobs, Businesses – All keeping me busy. Family, Girlfriend, Friends – All keeping me happy and doing well in their own endeavors. Sometimes I wish I had a little more time to sit back and savor it all, but I never want for things to do or people to be with and there is a lot to be said for that.

I will try to update the portfolio next. For updates before another six months go by, check the sites I actually pay some attention to:

scopeurbanapparel.com
politicalpiatrates.com
grassrootsgrind.com
voicesofliberation.org
bsand3s.com
blackstonian.com
catchwreckmusic.com
originalretrospek.com
sweatshopband.com

Thanks for listening!

This has been a project, literally, months in the making. Back in August I started playing with a new theme – from there it was a long process of moving the content, getting the design together, taking new closeup photos of each product, doing and transcribing  inventory – just to get it to the same state of the old site. Next came new features and improvements, like the homepage, the sliders, the artist pages, the scopeeast page, forms, mailing lists, widgets, galleries and a lot more I am forgetting right now. We made changes and tweaks right up until (and after) the launch of the site which was a project in and of itself.

With the site basically ready to go I had enlisted the help of Rene Dongo, who owed me some video work for the web site I made for him, to produce a video for scope. This had long been the plan, but the web site launch gave us the need for a video (or at least an excuse). We already knew we wanted the video to feature and highlight the Scope Artists we promote and sponsor as a brand and also wanted it to serve as a lookbook for our products and the scope lifestyle.

Ever since I heard MBDTF the Samples I loved the surreal musical experience that is Mike Oldfield’s  ”In high Places.” I played the track for Rene and we agreed the way it built suspense and energy was perfect for the video but as Rene put it “we needed to bring it up to date” – this task we entrusted to CCR, Scope and Grassroots Gind fam EvillDewer who chopped a version for the video with his distinctive deft touch.

The filming was done during a marathon weekend shoot where we got with over 20 local artists and shot most of the material. Rene as always was fun but enigmatic to work with – leaving me wondering what it would look like even having watched the whole process and talked about concepts and music etc. Once again I was blown away by his ability to take a project and not only  execute it flawlessly but also put his own twist and take on it.

Shout out to everyone who helped throughout this long process – people who were in the video, helped debug the website or count inventory for endless hours. You know who you are. Scope would be nothing without you.

Check out some of the photos and videos of the Community Speakout on Friday and the 16th National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality on Saturday.

Stay tuned to blackstonian.com/occupythehood, twitter.com/othboston and facebook.com/occupythehoodboston for more information about upcoming actions and ongoing ways to become involved.

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Also WGBH gave me my first photo credit: http://www.wgbh.org/articles/Second-Occupy-Group-Presses-For-Police-Accountability-4619

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Coming soon: Post on Political Pirates about the OTHB media.

At most events I am the designated photgarapher – which means I spend more time looking for fun than finding it. This time E-roc was on the scene with his camera – getting some great shots of the gallery  (find the rest in his JP OS Virtual Tour album on Facebook) so I got to acually kick back, enjoy myself – and, when asked, talk about the work.

One of my favorite things to do is watch people’s reaction. For much of the weekend, folks had no idea the artists were in the room when they first walked in – and for me, showing a lot of heavy – scary – dark images, it was a blast to watch people react to portrayals of police brutality or xenophobic discrimination. I try to make work about things I think people should be thinking about or discussing and its dope when they do.

In preparation for selling these pieces I have been photographing and scanning them so expect an appearance in my portfolio sooner or later.

RSVP to the Facebook Event.

For the same weekend, right around the corner at Haymarket Peoples Fund, I will also have 4 or so sereis of monotypes I did about various toics, from Police brutality to the occupation of Palestine to the struggle of undocumented youth for acess to higher education. I am also honored to be sharing the space with Ernesto “Eroc” Arroyo who will be showing his photography work and with Paul Goodnight‘s “In Arms Reach.”

RSVP to the Facebook Event.

So, those in the Boston area, please come thru and check it out. JP Open studios is a neighborhood wide art event, so there’s always interesting stuff to go see.

I am not, nor have I ever been, an editor so I said we could do a 1 take video using my camera but that was about it. We ended up getting a little ahead of ourselves, finding out 1 take was out of the question and some degree of editing would have to happen. We then spent the better part of a night fighting with editing software and trying to sync up the lips with the lyrics. The resulting video is now making its rounds on youtube:

For me this was a really fun project – it was a chance to use my new old lenses, – a 50mm manual prime I can’t make focus except by moving myself and a 70mm – 210mm Kiron manual zoomer / macro, both of which I picked out of the trash a few years ago and let sit in a box until I realized they fit my D3100. I think the old manual lenses give the video a different kind of look and are a lot of fun, if a bit frustrating, to work with. I am still no editor but I am liking video more and more. As always, if my people come to me with a project that is interesting I am ready to sacrifice sleep and sanity to make it happen. Also I think this is a great way for Rey Leon to return to music after his tour in Afghanistan.

Then with the actual album art – I tried to bite that uniform, antiseptic videogame box design – while still clearly maiking a CD. The rating pending in place of the explicit content just helped bridge the two languages – since it had the same placement and meaning in both. This project was a lot of fun and as always – it amazes me how many talented people make their way into my life and my work. Check out Illy Sav and download your free copy of 1 Vs. 100.

Now the rock band Catch is a part of, Sweatshop, has now done their own version. With the album art for the original single, I tried to match the video, taking a shot of my trusty transit tray which made a color-changing appearence in the video. For the Sweatshop version we used MRI scans of Catch’s noggin to create a somewhat psychadelic looking cover. And just to keep the tradition spinning, we have a video idea based off of the process of creating the cover.

Download Here.

I am so glad to annoucne that the Rob Stull “Revisited” Scope Collabo Tees are on sale now at scopeurbanapparel.com/store. This project has been months in the making and the pieces themselves have their roots in work Rob originally did in 1990. We have set the bar high for ourselves and I hope Scope’s future collaborations build on this foundation.

Music has a power to profoundly move people, bring them together, turn them into single collectively conscious bodies and is just overall a soothing essential part of life. Visual art on the other hand is a lot more contemplative. I mean there is the same gut reaction of “I like this” or “that’s horrid” as there is with music but the abstractness of the reasoning is often much more… abstract.

But the other edge of the sword is that music requires people. To be enjoyed to its best at least. It takes collaboration to make it, put it out. Listening to music and surely dancing are always better with more people and while thats fun when it works, its frustrating when it doesn’t even to someone on the outside.

Visual art on the other hand lends itself, at least on the artist angle to selfish creation and utter individualism. There are many examples where this is not the case, from the synergy between pencilers, inkers, colorists and letters in comics or artist and master printers in fine art printmaking to the collaborative process of a big mural or huge media campaign. But most of us visual artists here in the modern western world enjoy a certain amount of independence and indulgence with our own work.

Musicians, at least rappers, or people who need a beat or a band or vocalist or songwriter or an accompanying instrument are reliant on whoever else they make the music with. And while that is tremendously inviting when you find yourself alone in a room staring down a blank page, it can make you find refuge in that independence when you realize how much work it can be for others to see their work come to life for the world to see.