RAWards

Last night I presented and performed stone balance in the 2012 RAWards showcase for Boulder, CO. It is a preliminary contest for eligibility to proceed to the national RAWards showcase in Los Angeles. :D

I began the night as a nominee for best “performance artist” and finished the night with the most votes in my category and a certificate of achievement. :)  Every artist was required to set up a small booth to present their art for the judges and visitors; every attendee able to cast one vote per category.  For the “performance art” category we were each allotted a 10 minute spotlight to actually perform our art for Everyone!

I set up my booth as seen here in the pictures.. continuously balancing, and re-arranging the stones I brought with me. Luckily the loud music masked the LOUD crashes of rocks every once in awhile.. they collapsed surprisingly less than I anticipated.  The tripods I built worked precisely as I’d hoped. they were the key to my display as they showed the stones actually balanced, instead of just pictures..

There are 3 degrees of sharing this stone balance. As I tell many people, it is one thing to see pictures of seemingly impossible balances.. then it is another thing to see the balances in 3 dimensions. Then it is yet another degree of affection to actually witness the building process. Performing this art in person is a very special experience if you’re able to focus under pressure.

For my performance I decided to brave the pressure of completing an “advanced” balance in front of a crowd. I began by briefly introducing the art form, its global reach, and its meditative/timeless nature.  It was nerve-racking, to say the least, when I began balancing. I had one of my tripods out in the middle of the dance-floor with a few rocks.  The intensity of my nerves and focus was extreme. Failure; not an option. I knew it would work and all that defied realization was ME. All the practice, all the collapses, all the people and learning over the years.. EVERYTHING fed into my ability to balance under such pressure. Realizing the zero-point was such an amazing feeling! It felt so good to show everyone a skill that I’ve spent soooo much time fine-tuning. There was even time to conclude my performance with a brief explanation of the final balance.  An example of “advanced” stone balance. :)

So now there will be a national panel of RAW judges beginning to review each finalist’s RAW profile and portfolio to decide who they invite to contend in the national RAWards showcase for 2012 in Los Angeles, California. :D

Excellent opportunity!

Thanks to everyone who made the show happen (you know who you are!), Thanks to everyone in attendance.. And Thanks for everyone’s support over the years in reaching this point :)