Event Coverage: Post-Calvinball Game in Richmond, VA

The April 12, 2009 game of Calvinball ended jovially with O'Brien and Barrow in the lead with 90 points and Pritchard following closely with 85 points. All players congratulated each other afterward and agreed that ultimately, the enjoyment of the game originates from the spontaneity and camaraderie amongst the players. Even when "alliances" are formed, it is all in the nature of the sport and, in the end, the most important aspect is the experience of the players and their appreciation of one another: the way they allow their imaginations to run rampant and play off of each others' ideas to create an enlivened and enjoyable atmosphere.

Event Coverage: Calvinball in Richmond, VA

For those who don't remember Bill Watterson's classic comic, Calvin and Hobbes, there was a recurring plot element involving the game Calvinball. Calvinball is, essentially, sports combined with anarchy. It is a game with no permanent rules or equipment; instead, the rules are made up at random throughout the game and can involve any sporting equipment (or anything that can be used as such). The following are the "Unofficial Official Calvinball Rules," obtained from bartel.org:

Permanent Rule: You may not play the Calvinball the same way twice.

Primary Rule: The following rules are subject to be changed, amended, or deleted by any player(s) involved. These rules are not required, nor necessary to play Calvinball.

1.0. The following words in these rules are mostly freely interchangeable, the Primary Rule applies:

§ Can

§ May

§ Must

§ Shall

§ Should

§ Will

§ Would

1.1. All players must wear a Calvinball mask (See Calvinball Equipment - 2.1). No one may question the masks (Figure 2.1).

1.2 Any player may declare a new rule at any point in the game (Figure 1.2). The player may do this audibly or silently depending on what zone (Refer to Rule 1.5) the player is in.

1.3. A player may use the Calvinball (See Calvinball Equipment - 2.2) in any way the player see fits, whether it be to incur injury upon other players or to gain benefits for himself.

1.4. Any penalty legislation may be in the form of pain, embarassment, or any degradation the rulee wishes to execute upon the other player.

1.5 The Calvinball Field (See Calvinball Equipment - 2.3) should consist of areas, or zones, which are governed by a set of rules declared by players. Zones may be appear and disappear as often and wherever the player decides. For example, a corollary zone would enable a player to make a corollary (sub-rule) to any rule already made. Or a pernicious poem place would require the intruder to do what the name implies. Or an opposite zone would enable a player to declare reverse playibility on the others. (Remember, the player would declare this zone oppositely by not declaring it.) (Figure 1.5a and 1.5b)

1.6 Flags (Calvinball Equipment 2.3) shall be named by players whom shall also assign the power and rules which shall govern that flag (Figure 1.6).

1.7 Songs are an integral part of Calvinball and verses must be sung spontaneously through the game when randomly assigned events occur.

1.8 Score may be kept or disregarded. In the event that score is kept, it shall have no bearing on the game nor shall it have any logical consistency to it. (Legal scores include 'Q to 12', 'BW-109 to YU-34, and 'Nosebleed to Pelvic Fracture'.)

Another incongruence of the game is when it is played, by whom, and with how many players. It has no season and the athletes vary from game to game. The number of participants can vary from the single digits to the hundreds. In Richmond, Virginia there is an interchanging group of young adults who gather for games of Calvinball whenever there are enough willing participants able to schedule a session. The tradition began in 2008 and the fields have ranged from Belle Isle (the preferred venue), Scuffletown, Oregon Hill, and parks and backyards throughout the fan.

Tonight's game, scheduled for 9pm at 412 W Marshall, consists of the following players: Jacob Riggs, Lindsey Pritchard, Brian Wysong, Kyler O'Brien, Colin Bailey, and a man known only as Snack Snackerson. At the onset, there are no teams, though alliances may band and disband as the game unfolds.

Final Images

Amy Hauft: Counter Re-Formation

On December 2, 2009, artist Amy Hauft presented her sculptural piece at the Anderson Gallery. The work expanded to fill almost the entire room, with a spiral staircase in the corner so that one could view the piece aerially, or as Hauft put it, "as a spacial experience of abstraction." She also described the staircase as a different experience depending on the body type of the viewer and that she liked the idea of "wearing the staircase."

Hauft explained that she always works in large architectural structures, always creating a landscape. She describes herself as an "eccentric magnet": certain things stick and other things fall off. For this piece, she looked at 16th and 17th century cook books and considered the use of sugar to imitate porcelain. The sculpture references an etching of a dessert table from the time of Louis XV, with small snow-drift like arrangements that structurally correspond with the edges. Hauft mentioned that she wanted their appearance to be versatile and could also be icebergs or sand dunes. They appear to be made of sugar, though the only element actually consisting of sugar is the spiral staircase at the center.

The piece gave me a somewhat nostalgic feeling of winter and snow, which was interesting because Hauft relayed that some of the basis of it was a memory of her father shoveling snow and walking through the "snow walls." Her work always strives to remake a physical experience she had outside, which she said is "completely futile, but there's something sweet about trying."

I very much enjoyed listening to Amy Hauft speak; she made her concept very clear (as well as interesting), yet still allowed room for the curiosity and imagination of the viewer, exuding the idea that the experience of viewing it would be unique to the individual.

Graduate School Application

Marymount University: English Department - Literature & Languages

Artist Lecture - Diego Sanchez

Diego Sanchez, a close colleague of Mary Scurlock, also presented his work at the Page Bond Gallery on Novemer 17. He explained how his work used to be political, but 10-12 years ago his eyes were opened to architecture, especially the Coliseum. He's been painting the Coliseum for a decade and plans to work with it until he "gets sick of it".

Some of the subject matter was of an every day item, such as a chair or a canoe. He relayed a story in which his friend was throwing out some chairs and asked Sanchez, "I wonder if you could paint these and give them the importance of the Coliseum?" He liked the idea and now has quite a few paintings of chairs with a variety of color palettes and textures.

Of the series at the gallery, I was most drawn to the last which he said he almost didn't include. It included "floaters", which he recently started adding to the final layer of his paintings, such as in the image below:
Sanchez described his work as a "representation of elements"; some of the pieces had a grid form and he mentioned that he uses a lot of sevens in his work. I found that especially interesting, since it is the biblical number of fulfillment and I often find myself doing things in sevens as well. He also said that he will paint over and over on one canvas, sanding away layers and coming back, and that he sees that as "recording history while making artwork", which I found to be an appropriate and succinct description.

His color palettes are very striking and immediately command the viewer's attention, regardless of subject matter. Though I wasn't as interested in the non-architectural paintings, I did appreciate his view of "taking something mundane and looking at it differently."

Artist Lecture - Mary Scurlock

Mary Scurlock presented her work at the Page Bond Gallery on November 17. Her series consisted of mixed media (including gesso, oil and wax) renderings of trees on wood panel. She explained that she had worked on paper for about 25 years and recently started working on panel. While she was dealing with a hip surgery, she began debating on whether to work on paper or panel; during one visit, her doctor mentioned that one leg felt like glass and the other like wood. She felt that was an apt metaphor and concreted her decision to work with panel.

She wanted the trees in this series to be intuitive like her past work, which is more abstract:

(Loll, mixed media on paper, 2007)

The trees were primarily leafless; she mentioned that she worried leaves would be too hokey and how those who visited her in her studio while she was creating these found it depressing. When there are leaves present, they are very subtle, which I think was a good decision. The coloring in each piece varies. She said there is no sequence to the series, though it was towards the end of working on them that she started using a darker palette. I was more drawn to those pieces and felt they held the most emotion. What I liked most in the imagery was her subtle use of text. Whenever I do mixed media work, I am hopelessly compelled to layer in print I've copied from various texts or blend my own writing somewhere into the piece. I have often been told not to do this, so it was refreshing to see it done well by Scurlock. It was included in every piece and I didn't even notice it until I spent more time looking at one in particular.

She says that in the future she would like to experiment with the medium more and possibly start working bigger. I would be interested to see how this work progresses and how it would look at a larger scale.