A Summer for Art

On July, 11th we performed at The New Children's Museum.: in San Diego:

We have done programs for The J. Paul Getty Museum, in LA, as well as at the San Diego Museum of Art, and the La Habra Children's Museum, always striving to bring art to life for the audience. We have developed some interesting ways of working with art. It's always different everywhere we go, and we always learn something new. Here is what Patti and James have to say about their process and experience at The New Children's Museum.

We were asked to create a storytelling experience using an amazing large mural/interactive piece of art by Mark Mulroney entitled '“Don’t Put That in Your Mouth” and other good advice from my mother'. This piece is often referred to as The Shadow Puppet Theater by most visitors.

The installation is huge, Covering two walls, and a carpet on the floor. It is full of all kinds of strange, funny and wonderful images. Such as giant hands and shadow puppet-like figures, ladders, cats holding umbrellas, twisted tress, and window that could be showing us the contents of a giant’s tummy….our thought was “Okay, there has GOT to be some stories to be found there!” And we went to work, looking for the stories,.

First, as in any art piece, we looked at it, both in person, and in photos. Our brains started churning out ideas. We found, in our research, that the piece was inspired by thinking about strange things kids thought might live under the stairs. Hmmmm, okay. Lots of shadows, including a projection screen and a place that kids could create their own shadow puppets and then try them out in the light. Interesting! What about those cats? And the trees? Maybe the shadows are what is important. Or maybe the theme of being inside either the giant’s tummy or the cat’s tummy. Wow! A lot of different possible directions that we could go.

There are a couple of main ways to go with melding art and stories. One is to see what already written stories the piece reminds you of, and the other is to create something new, either with the audience or beforehand by ourselves. We thought we would try a combination. Definitely, we would spend some time helping the kids be “art detectives” and take a lot closer look at the piece than most children are apt to do. We often see kids look at a roomful of art in 10 seconds and then declare they are bored, and ready to move on. They need to learn how to slow down and really be with the art. We help them to to be 'Art Detectives', and soak the art in.

Then we began our search, and harvesting of already existing folktales or literally stories that might fit in here. The first one we thought of was about a contest between two artists. One artist works hard, and paints fantastic pictures on a wall, while the other naps. At the end, the napping artist, with his blank wall, uses a mirror to “copy” other other artists' work. Thus, fooling the judge. But the lazy artist learned his lesson. Next time, do the work. That story could work well with the great art, but a blank wall as well.

Next we thought of one of our favorite stories, about a princess who asked for all the cats in the kingdom for her birthday. Every kind of cat! She received thousands of cats, which eventually needed to be cleared out of the castle. This was done by inventing the “catapult” and sending the cats on an airborne trip out of the castle. The catapult sent the first batch flying, MEEEOOOW, and landed on their heads, BUMP. But the next ones figured out how to land on their feet. And that is how, even today, if a cat falls out of a tree, they land on all four feet. This fits in with our cat theme, and we would be able to use the shadow puppet project to show the catapult and cats flying through the art. Good!

Alright, what else? Oh, the Japanese folktale called 'The Boy Who Drew Cats', where a boy only loved drawing cats everywhere. He has several adventures , until he is finally sent to stay at a haunted temple with blank, white walls (there is that wall again) on which, he of course draws cats. He goes to sleep and then in the night hears a terrible ruckus, and when he comes out in the morning he is surprised to see blank walls, with no cats, a servant comes in saying he saw and giant rat running out of the temple, and down the road screaming. It had been chased away by hundreds of cats. The boy is a hero, the temple is saved and he is made the resident artist where he got to draw cats all day long.

Great, we have our stories (along with a bunch of appropriate props) and so headed off the the museum to see what we would create together with the children.

Thea art detective portion went very well, with one big surprise: these little nondescript blobby guys, which neither of us could figure out What in the world they were, we got an answer. One little boy looked at them and announced He’s the Hot Dog Boy. And all agreed yes, indeed he was. With him as the main character in place, we created the following group story using the art as our jumping off point and focus.

This is the story we, and the kids, made up:

Once upon a time there was a little Hot Dog Boy who was off walking in the scary woods. AS he walked along, it got scarier, and scarier. Suddenly, he was very surprised to look up and see a giant hand with a flying cat on it. He was so scared that he ran away as fast as he could Then, he saw in front of him, a ladder, and he thought, “Oh good, I can escape by the ladder”, but at the top of the ladder, he saw a giant ready to eat him. So he turned around and ran the other way there. There he was very surprised to see a cat holding an umbrella because it was raining so hard. The Hot Dog Boy asked the cat where he could hide, and the cat told him,”You can hide in my tummy”. After along time, the giant passed on by, and the cat sneezed the Hot Dog Boy out of his tummy and they all lived happily ever after.

In an alternative version, Hot Dog Boy was looking for his mother and found her in the cat’s tummy, where he rescued her by tickling the cat’s nose until he sneezed the mama out. She got flowers from the Hot Dog Boy and they both lived happily every after. (Do you detect a theme here?)

All in all, the folktale stories went well, and creating the Adventures of Hot Dog Boy was a great time for all. Several kids and parents remarked that they had a great time, and one boy told us that he was going to go look for stories in the other art at the museum.
We had a wonderful time, and, as always, are so pleased at what happens when you get an audience to slow down and look and listen, using their imagination, for the stories.

It seems to be a summer of art for us. We are just finishing our library Summer Reading program. Every year, the libraries have a different theme for the program. This year it was 'Be Creative'. So we developed a program we call 'Art to Life'. We traveled to libraries all over Southern California. The 'Art to Life' program is a lot like what we did for the New Children' Museum. Except, we got to bring along a bunch of art of our choosing. Paintings, sculptures, masks, and cloth art. Again, we helped kids create new stories from looking at the art, we tell them to be 'Art Detectives'. One of the pieces was a painting of a beach scene. When we ask the kids about what is going on in the picture, they always say there are sharks in the water. Kids are fascinated by sharks. They came up with some great ideas. Not surprising. Most of children's play is centered around creating stories. And, of course we told some classic tales that we thought of when we saw the art. Rapunzel (thanks Karen Dietz for that piece), The Man Who Lost his Shadow, and, How Maui Caught the Sun. We can hardly wait to hear what the theme for next year will be.

Just because the Library Summer Reading program is almost over, does not mean we are done working. Next month, each of us will be doing some storytelling in Canada. Patti telling tales around the campfire in, Whitehorse Yukon, on the west coast, And James, teaching, and telling in Montreal, near the east coast, for the Anticipation convention. It will be great fun, telling to international audiences.

Remember to keep an eye on our calendar. We are always adding new stuff. For example: The Story Lovers World radio show. Hosted by Storyteller Jackie Baldwin. All SLW programs are on Sundays, 5-6 p.m. Pacific time, KSVY 91.3 FM, Sonoma, CA
After adjusting for your time zone, go to
http://thmm.com/ksvy/
Click on Listen Now! in the upper banner
You should be switched immediately into the program in progress.

Storytelling Tip:
Stories aren't about what happened. But rather, who it happened to.

We've Been Jumpin'

The Patchwork Players' Summer is officially about to begin. Throughout June and July, we will be taking our 'Art To Life' program to libraries throughout SoCal. In this program, we teach the kids to see the relationship between stories, and art. We will tell them some stories with art, and help them to create new stories from art.

On July the 11^th we will be telling at the http://www.thinkplaycreate.org/, in San Diego. They have a special area where kids can make shadow, hand puppets. We will be telling some interesting stories, with lots of audience participation. Come on down, bring the family. This museum is a beautiful space to explore.

Later, Patti will be taking a much deserved trip to Alaska. She will be gone from the end of July, thru August. She will be traveling by car, so she will get to see a lot of beautiful country. We are sure she will be bringing back some True Tales from her adventures.

July 15^th & 29^th James will be at the South Coast Storytellers Guild's 'Yarning and Yakking' concerts. He will be MC & Teller at beautiful Heritage Hill Historical Park, 25151 Serrano, Lake Forest, CA 6:30 to 8:30. Admission is $5 per person. For directions log on www.ocparks.com/heritagehill . There will be some great tellers from around Orange County, and one or two of us from San Diego.

James will be taking a trip as well. From August 5-10, James will be in Montreal for the annual World Science
Convention Convention: World Con; Anticipation. Longtime readers will remember that The Patchwork Players performed at the World Con when it was in Anaheim a few years ago. Then James was a Storyteller panelist at last years' World Con in Denver. This year he will be performing a concert, teaching a beginning storytelling workshop, and will appear on a few panels. Montreal, James is going international!

On Saturday, August 22^nd James will be producing a storytelling concert: 'Lessons Learned; It's never too late'. 6:30p-8:00pm James brings some of his storytelling friends from San Diego and Orange Counties.including some nationally known tellers; Laura Beasley, Dave Chittenden, Doris Hand, Marilyn McPhie, and Sarah Saulter. Be prepared for a a fun evening. Just a few days before school starts, they will be telling tales about lessons learned. Admission at the door will be $7 for Adults, and $5 for Kids. Such a deal!
firstlutheranvista.org
First Lutheran Church of Vista
1410 Foothill Dr
Vista, CA 92084
(760) 724-5440

Patti & James will be back together as The Patchwork Players again in September. We will also be looking forward to October. Always a busy month for us, what with spooky, and Not Too Scary Stories and all. Book us now and beat the rush.

So what have we been up to since we last blogged? A lot, that's what!

Everyone knows April 1^st is April Fools Day. But not everyone knows of The Fools Of Chem. Chelm is a town that is a part of the Eastern European Jewish storytelling tradition. Everyone in town is a fool. Their a multitude of Chelm stories. On April Fools day James shared some tales of these fools in one man concert, at the First Lutheran Church, in Vista, California.

The folks at Emeritus Senior heard James tell Mexican stories for Cinco de Mayo.

The annual Sam Hinton Folk Festival in Poway was on May the 9^th this year. There was lots of great music, and storytelling. James & Patti were there, along with Sam Diego tellers; Linda Whiteside, Fred Laskowski, Steve Gregory, Charles Johnson, Cynthia Griffin, Lynn Manning Ross, and Marilyn McPhie. We hope to see you there next year.

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On the 25^th Patti was off with her partner, Panchita
Acevedo. They told bi-lingual stories, for the Fallbrook Library. Patti tells in English, and Panchita tells the same story in Spanish. They put on a great show. Try to catch them sometime.

Meanwhile, James was at the 26^th annual Southern
California Story Swapping Festival, In Culver City. As one would imagine there were tellers, beginners as young
as 8 years old, and old pro's alike, from all over. There
were tellers to represent LA, Riverside, Orange Counuty, the Inland Empire, the High Dessert, San Diego, and st about anywhere else in SoCal you can think of. There are workshops, concerts, and fun. James told tales from
Norse Mythology to the crowd of his peers.

Sunday the 26^th, we entertained friends,and families of walkers at the Carlsbad Multiple Sclerosis Walk. It's important to set aside time, to give back to the community.

Wide, hooped, and ruffled skirts, soldiers from the North, and the South, Mountain Men, and even Abe Lincoln. It was Roosevelt Middle School's annual 1800's Day on May the 29th. Kids and staff alike came in some incredible costumes. There was a cotillion, other events, and James telling classic Tall Tales; Paul Bunyan, Pecos Bill, and John Henry.

The Quail Botanical Gardens is one of the most beautiful places in North San Diego County. On June the 13^th they had the grand opening of their new Children's ' Garden. The Patchwork Players were there to tell stories about plants and nature, for the eager crowds. We also had the chance to peruse the gardens. They were wonderful. A creek for the kids to splash in, a tree house to climb. And of course, lots of cool plants And they had food, musicians; like Martin Espino of Mexica, and lots of great stuff for the opening.

Jontsok is a traditional Norwegian Summer celebration. The Vista Son's of Norway Norge Lodge, and the Fish Club Odin (James is a member, and resident storyteller) threw a joint celebration on Saturday, the 20th. There were more than 150 people gathered to throw axes, toss spears, watch live fight demonstrations, and to eat. There was also some fine music from Highland Way, among others, and pageantry. James was on hand to tell how how the Norse God Odin gained his wisdom.

We love the Girl Scouts, and we love telling stories for them. So on the 24^th the Patchwork Players did some heavy lifting for them. We went to a Girl Scout Day Camp in Anaheim, were the theme of the week was Pirates. We told pirate stories for more than 500 scouts, plus volunteers, and a few brothers who got dragged along. Since this was the Girl Scouts, we talked about true life women pirates, and told a great story called 'The Pirate Girl', surprise, she has a pirate mom as well. The girls (and boys) loved the show.

At the end of the month, James went to the San Diego Highland games to celebrate his Scottish roots, and listen to two of his favorite bands, The Wicked Tinkers, and Highland Way. Well, it happens that their storyteller, Steve Gregory, had a dickens of a time finding a parking spot. The event is huge. So, until the teller arrived, James jumped in, and told Tale of a Tail, Rory the Fox, The Man with no Story, and the Legend of Red O'Halloran. At last Steve was able to situate himself, and took the stage. No rest for the weary.

Along with all that, we continue our regular gig at Rady Childeren's Hospital. We are there every week to tell stories, and do a magic trick or two. We are also lucky to do a little show with musician Sundiata Kata, also on staff in the Healing Arts department. We have drumming, a plethora of other musical instruments, and storytelling. It is a very healing time.

See our Facebook pages under facebook.com/james.nelsonlucas & Patti Christensen.

As always; check out our calendar for our schedule.

Don't forget this regular event:

Story Swap; The Fourth Wednesday of every month at the Barnes & Noble. 10775 Westview Parkway, San Diego, California 92129. Storytellers of all levels share stories. If you are new to storytelling, this is a great place to be. Hosted bu Marilyn McPhie; 858-484-1325, mcphie@cts.com


Storytelling Tip: Folk Tales, Fairy Tales & Legends;

Everyone knows a Folk Tale, Fairy Tale, or Legend. As we mentioned last time; these are stories that you know, not that you memorized. This time we will talk about how to really put your own stamp on a story. James follows a process that works quite well for, and may work for you as well: Most every story you know, or about to learn, has many versions. Variations from different regions. Spins by individual tellers, and writers. We suggest that you get your hands on several versions of the story you want to tell. Go to the library, search the net. Here are some great sites; courtesy of Vicky Reed, She teaches storytelling at USD. Then read, and digest them all. Think about the elements that speak to you, run through the story in your mind. Then write your own version, one that incorporates all your favorite elements. Practice that version. Now, you still don't have to memorize. But now you have a deeper understanding of the story. And have personal ownership of your version. That will stick in your mind, and come from your heart, more than someone else's version. Now go wow your audience.

Spring '09 is here

Top of the Morning...and Happy Spring to You

March is always a favorite time for telling Irish Tales....as well as Patti having her birthday on St. Patrick's Day. We had a marvelous show at one of our favorite venues: The Dove Library in Carlsbad CA. We got some great press coverage including a couple of news articles. Take a look at one of them here. We brought out a new (for us) story about the dangers in building a house in a “fairy circle” of stones. As an audience participation piece, we had children standing and stomping and clapping chanting “We will, we will rock you” a la Queen. Got some smiles from the parents on that one.

Here's a place to find some great Irish stories if you want to read some for yourself. http://oaks.nvg.org/irish-tales.html

James also had a couple of fun solo shows, including stories and magic for the Order of the Eastern Star women. He traveled from table, to table, astounding attendees with his feats of legerdemain (a fancy way of saying; doing magic tricks). He went on to entertain the audience with folk tales from around the world.

James also told a tale of Norse mythology for the Fish Club Odin. A lively group where James is the resident storyteller. Everyone comes dressed as Vikings, eats cod, and does Scandinavian stuff. What can be more fun than that? Join the Viking Blade Yahoo group to learn more.

We also just were part of the 8^th Annual

Multicultural Festival in Irvine CA, filled with fun,

food, stories, music, dancers, and entertainment from cultures from around the world. We love dipping into stories that have traveled the world round, and enjoy sharing them. It was so much

fun to see different families in that school community cooking and sharing some of their VERY delicious specialties with the rest of us. There was food from Korea, Africa, India, Iran, England, the USA, Armenia, Spain, Italy, Japan,Viet Nam, and Belgium. And it was fun to tell stories and see nod's of recognition when we told a story that someone recognized from their heritage. Celebrating eating and telling stories together, goes a long ways towards creating a world where people get along.

And we still very much enjoy our weekly days at Rady Children's Hospital. The kids, families, and staff there are a joy to work with. Good news; the administration has decided to fund the Healing Arts department , for another three years. Our department consists of four storytellers, two harpists, a musician and his signing language using wife, and a visual artist. This is a great way to bring arts, and entertainment to kids in need.

Storytelling Tip:

Are you afraid to tell stories because you're not able to remember the whole thing? Not to worry! Forgetting a bit here is no big deal. The audience does not know the story, so they won't know what is missing. If you remember a bit later in the story you can always bring it back in: 'But what you don't know is...”. And whatever you do, Do Not Apologize. That just alerts the listeners to your mistake, when they otherwise would not have known. So, pluck up you're courage, go out there, and tell someone a tale.

As always, remember to check out our calendar at http://www.my.calendars.net/patchworkplayers , for more Patchwork Players, and other, storytelling events.

Into the New Year!

Happy New Year....who would have thought we would so soon be in 2000? It seems as though we just had 1984 and "The Millennium".

For the sixth year, we ended the old year at First Night Escondido. A family friend, alcohol-free event in North San Diego County. For a reasonable entrance fee there is truly fun for little kids, teens and adults and everything form hat making, to Tex-Mex, classical, country music...and don't forget storytelling.

We were so happy to see so many old friends and make some new ones. We enjoyed having our own dressing room (a perk that storytellers don't often get) and also had a fun experience. We were scheduled to tell stories until 9:10. At 9:00, a mother stood up and said, "You guys were really great storytellers. We so enjoyed your show, but we have to leave to go see the fireworks!" And then a few of the audience got up and left. Our sound tech told us, though, that when one dad leaned over to ask his kids if they wanted to go see the fireworks, they replied, "No, we want to hear the last story!" So, it's official, The Patchwork Players are better than fireworks!

We hope this year is one filled with lots of fireworks, fun, and great stories for all!

Patti and James

Happy Holidays 2008

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

The Patchwork Players in the News

One of our Fall activities has been going through our file of press clippings. Here are some of our favorite print articles from the past couple of years.

One of our all time favorite performances was when we were commissioned by the J. Paul Getty Museum. We were the second storytellers in an on-going project where storytellers created a performance piece based on a work of art in the Getty collection. We chose a 19th century French chandelier in the shape of a hot air balloon. Our story was a heroes journey, with a girl facing her fears and rescuing her uncle the eccentric inventor. The entire process was very exciting, and the story was very well-received. We got to perform it multiple times a Sunday for several months in a row. And then we were brought back for an additional encore performance. We LOVE bringing art to life.























Scary stories are an October favorite all over. We always are telling stories like crazy around Halloween time. Here is a nice review of our work on VERY scary urban legends at the Oceanside Public Library, Oceanside CA. We also do a lot of Not TOO Scary Stories programs, but this one was no holding back scary.











Street Buskers are a long time tradition all around the world. Seaport Village in San Diego decided to orchestrate local performers in a buskers festival. Buskers is an old-fashioned phrase for street performers who pass the hat for their pay. James and Patti enjoyed performing along with jugglers, musicians, dancers, and performers who defied category. Storytelling isn't as flashy as some of these, but the chance to personalize stories to passers by was a delight for all.


Patti did a lot of work with Literacy for several years. Here is an article that focuses on one of the concepts she teaches.


















Every year in Orange County California, there is a wonderful festival entitled The Imagination Celebration....a great festival celebrating all of the arts. Patti and James joined storytelling friends Linda King-Pruitt and Adrienne McMillian in a even sponsored by Th Orange Curtain. Fun was had by all.












So, thanks for looking through our scrap back with us. And watch for us at a venue near you.

August 2008

August has been quite an interesting month thus far. On a personal level, it has been a sad time as we have both lost close family members: Patti, her father-in-law, and James, a cousin- in-law. There has been much mourning. But the services were beautiful.

Professionally James has had an eventful time. He wrote an article for the International Brotherhood of Magicians; the worlds largest organization for the magical arts. It was an article aimed at teaching magicians more about the art of storytelling and how to use it. This month, the first half of the article was published in The Linking Ring. This is the official magazine of the Brotherhood. We will post the article in its entirety next month, after both halves have been published.

James also traveled to Denver to be a part of the annual World Science Fiction Convention: Denvention 3. It was a gathering of about 5000 lovers and readers of science fiction fans from all over the world. James was there, not only as a fan, but also in the official capacity as a professional storyteller. As such he participated in two panels. The first panel was titled “Classic Movies We'd Like to See Remade”. All the panelists agreed that “The Day the Earth Stood Still” should not be remade and are not looking forward to Keanu Reeves upcoming release of same. James chose for remake the Twilight Zone episode “To Serve Man”. James loves this story and has written a script based on the original “To Serve Man” story called “The Translator” that he and Patti tell as a tandem tale. His other choice was the classic, schlock film, “The Monolith Monsters”. If you thought a slow-shambling Mummy was scary...just try a giant growing rock. He would love to see action director Michael Bay tackle that one. The second panel was “Storytelling: The Oral Tradition”. The panelists were James, Uncle River, Patrick Rothfuss, Washington DC area Master Storyteller Bill Mayhew, and Rev. Randy Smith. The first question from the audience was if we would each tell a tale. Bill and Rev. Randy both told story length jokes, James told his classic “The Story of Sally”. Uncle River and Patrick are not storytellers per se, so they related personal stories about storytellers they knew. The discussion was lively. It ranged from the use of stories as a tool of cultural inculcation; to how stories help children in the areas of language acquisition, math, music and the sciences; and to where tellers find their tales. After the panel, James was approached by another producer and asked to bring his storytelling to a San Diego convention. More on that later.

Meanwhile Patti has been on a cross-country odyssey. She flew to Ohio to be together with her husband’s family around her father-in-law’s surgery. It was very powerful experience to be together with friends and family of this extraordinary man. He decided to go through with a surgery at age 95 saying that either he would get well and go back to work or else it had been a great 95 years. We lost him several days post-surgery, but it was all very beautiful as he lived strongly and in service to the very end.

After all the things that needed to happen following the death, Patti and her husband Dick were ready for some travels back across the country heading for home. They decided to take ten days to drive, visiting friends along the way as well as having the chance to see some amazing sites. They visited many ancient Native American sites including The Coronado State Monument in Albuquerque with ancient kivas and murals; The Taos Pueblo where Indian people have lived continuously for over a thousand years; Mesa Verde National Park, and site that the Ancestral Puebleans (the new preferred name for the Anansasi people); Aztec Ruins National Monument, incorrectly named, but an ancient site in NM where they have rebuilt a great kiva so the public might experience this amazing spiritual space; The Navajo National Monument, AZ more astounding ancient pueblos from 900 years ago; and then had a quick stop at

The North Rim of the Grand Canyon. AND, Patti got to achieve a lifetime dream of standing at Four Corners, where four states come together....how cool is that? And during their travels, all the time, looking for and listening to stories. Stories were very important to the Pueblo people. They also saw many different version of the Pueblo Storyteller pottery sculptures; relatively modern versions of human figures, that have been created since 1964 in honor of the traditions of storytelling. All in all, a very full time, and rich with food for thought that will grow into stories down the road

James has one more trip in the works up to Washington State, and then fall will be upon us. But it was a special and interesting summer.