A Blog about Samvega, Written by Katie Koscielak in/around January 2010
They are artists and lovers, and they talk about building co-operatives like the task chose them, and not the other way around. They live on a small portion of acres, gently tucked in an alcove of oak trees deep in the river plain of the Napa Valley. They live among flowing rows of vines and growing things. And there are many, but they started with four, (sometimes, there are five, like when they play music), who live like a family, and they are hot on creating. They are inspired by the idea that living with others can help them transcend ordinary boundaries and help them to make something great, so they share a collaborative space with their neighbors, their friends, and you're probably invited to join them too. They are traveling and searching to calmly expand the breath of their artwork into the lungs of anyone new, small, big or tall, but they seek to do so because they believe in sharing, not because they have any agenda about fame or notoriety. They seek to learn from you perhaps more than they seek for you to learn from them. They appear to have one condition, though I have reason to believe this condition is unconscious. They seem to surround themselves with beings who accept the power of music into their hearts and the power of curiosity into their lives. I find them addictive.
I met these gypsy folk about four years ago, at a time in my life when I didn’t know how electric the extraordinary could be. I was in search of life, as I still am, and I stumbled into their barn as I’m sure many have done before and after me, stunned by the jubilant chaos arising out the central nervous system of this group, this group of artists and poets. I must admit that my formal introduction to Samvega was a much slower and lollygagging triumph of understanding and conversation, the kind that comes with the formulation of deep friendship, but in the flash of my initial introduction, at my first Samvega event, I was taken up, dancing furiously through a shrieking collection of found art, summersaulting right by a taco truck lit by fire dancing fairies, and spinning through a community of people that I knew I would never again be without. I knew at once that they would live in my heart, inspiring me to be better and more dedicated, in whatever place I would ever find myself in again. They were light.
The four, Melissa (Mel), Mercedes (Merc), Pat, and Tip, have become my close friends since the time we first met. My sister was the one to bring these people into my life, and that is the highest compliment of gratitude I can pay in order to lay tribute to the remarkable character of my sister. I have found out many interesting things about them, and a few I will share here:
-Mel and Merc are sisters, the daughters of a veterinarian and a writer and they grew up in the Oakville hills. They say they were always making things, writing plays, doing performances, and drawing since they could ever remember. Like myself and many others I know who like to create in their adult lives, Mel and Merc grew up television-less and were forced to entertain themselves and anyone else around via their own hands and minds.
-Pat credits his passion for drumming to his mother, who, as a single parent, worked two jobs to provide him a method for feeling rhythm and for making it. We have discussed this and we agree that there is a certain intrinsic and awesome energy that lies within any parent who buys their kid a drum kit to hammer away on, day after day and hour after hour.
-The four met each other out in Wisconsin, where they attended the University and where they lived in an old hotel together. There, they tangled and weaved through a culture of art students and started their first art co-operative called Jambalaya in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, which is still thriving today, eleven years later.
-They became a band through no certain set of planned methods or contrived purposes; organically, they moved to CA, to a plot of soil that is currently coating my blue sneakers because it’s raining here and I had to slippingly scurry through the puddles of this farm to make it out to their studio. They came to CA and ended up together because together was the place they wanted to be. They began forming a community and together they have traveled, painting and living, from CA to Spain to Buenos Aires to New York and back again.
-In the first years of their time here on this property, they say it was a crazy place. They say it was filled with people who were searching; people who were on hard times, and people who felt attracted to a creative community. Since that time, a lot of characters and folk have drifted through and sifted out. Everyone has played a part, connecting these people to something else and back around, and each has been important. But, like a wave, this land has seen movement in a circle. In the last year, they have expanded their band to include another artist, an old friend of mine from High School, named Pablo Reyes, and so it is at this point in the story that we see mainly, five of them. Five members of Samvega, but a larger family of creepy crawley creators live amongst them, and the family is growing constantly, and breathing bigger and smaller all the time.
When they arrived in CA, there were two bands, two painters, sisters and brothers from other mothers, a mechanic, and a carpenter and many more twists and turns of relationships between friends. Pat tells about how they rolled ‘cross the states west, arriving in the driveway with a trailer packed with things, arranged all technical like a strategic game of tetras, and how their vehicle broke down at the very end, once they were finally on the soil they had been seeking.
I find their story to be extraordinary and I find their arrival in CA to be another extraordinary piece in this jigsaw of a puzzled design. What are the odds that a traveler will in fact cover the entire distance of their quest and then, upon arrival, face a mechanical breakdown, at which point they can go no further? Well, the odds are odd, at the very least. And perhaps the odds of such an occurance are slim to none, and meaningful in such an instance.
At the beginning, Pat was a in a band called Forgotten Roots, and Merc did the sound for them sometimes. Pat and Merc got together at some point, and have remained together since then. Mel was in a band called Trade and eventually, after a break-up, was lulled by the pied pipings of Pat into a new band. Add Tip’s slapping bass, and a form began to take a growing, smokey shape. They funkified the existing barn on the property, (with the permission of the amazingly blessed parents who luckily and trustingly turned the land over to their daughters upon their return to California from Wisconsin.) During said funkification of the barn that would become their studio, Samvega turned trash into treasure around every corner. And this is one of the things I enjoy most about being with them, that they turn garbage into gold without even realizing the upcycled nature of their lifestyle. I would imagine that such sustainable re-use methodology began at first as a penny-pinching strategy, which grew and gained legs with Mel and Merc's artistic flare. Throughout the design of their studio, I can see the use of old wood, rusty, corrugated metal, aesthetically placed window panes, and one especially old, hand carved press coil from before Prohibition. I’ve been told that most of these relics came from this property and have been integrated as meaningful parts of this structure. These artists, they live like their life goes all around and back again, and they see the inter-connectedness of systems. They see value where others see moldy old wood, and they see opportunity where others see hours of head-ache inducing hard work. In essence, Samvega sees and seeks the warmth to be had by weaving together the fine silken strands of communication and teamwork. The warmth is worth the work.
It must be that my interest in the geographical nature of communities draws me to the collection of people surrounding Samvega. When asked what a co-operative is, Merc answers by saying that it is a group of people with a common goal. Pat adds that a co-operative should be comprised of a group who see what needs to be done and who do it. He says he thinks a co-op can always be made better, that cooperatives can always progress and change and that continued improvement is the key to a sustainable one. Mel says that a co-operative is made stronger when each individual contributes a specific set of qualities to a larger group. In regard to the co-operatives that have sprung from their own work, they all say they’ve been lucky and that it’s even neat to see some people that enter in quickly, contribute a small bite sized ounce of creativity and then bounce on out, back into an alternative reality.
On the topic of their inspiration, Pat explains he is interested in society and how people live. He studied psychology and philosophy in college, so his calm attitude of observance makes sense to me and makes me feel at curious ease. Mel gazes energetically around while speaking about how she draws heavily from those within her surroundings, from the inside rather than from the outside. I think what she means is that she is inspired by looking around herself, by starting at home and letting this exploration lead outward, rather than starting outward and winding her way in. As I follow her eyes around this space, I begin to understand that her large, abstract oil paintings, (they sell for upward of $3,000), which clutter the south side of this studio, are in a sense, colorful maps to the deepest crevaces of her turbulent mind. Her art differs significantly from the work of her sister, and I have seen the divide between their styles grow increasingly in the time I have known them. Both of the Baker sisters are incredibly successful, (both within the realm of art sales and within the realm of creative experimentation). I have watched how they continually paint, sculpt, and design, and they both seem to revel in constant reinvention.
All in this group agree that being near other high-quality producers helps them to feed off each other and survive. And on the topic of future goals, they want to work larger, to do bigger productions that join fine art, performance, and music into a fabric of creative understanding. Their work reminds me of my own; they seek to link different systems in order to understand the world from a holistic perspective. They want to dream, then to take that dream in their hands and mold it, spray paint it or brush on acrylic color, present it to the world, write about it afterword, and reflect on how to do it better next time. To me, this is sustainability. This is how we do it. This is the only way that makes sense.
I’m getting cold, so it’s almost time to close up this laptop of superficial light and to get into the natural light surrounding me in this studio. I think I’ll wander over toward Mel, pick up a paintbrush and scrawl out some message on a plank of plywood, or on some pad of paper, if I can find one. I can’t really explain the balance I feel here, but I want to play here, revel in the darkness, in the deep pain, in the lofty laughter, in the colorful existence that moves slowly and calmly around me. They told me this hasn’t been easy, that it never will be, and that they plan to spread around what they have to give. I’ve seen them do this, and I believe in them.
Samvega is a group of people that has become sustainable because they believe in their community, and they support the other members within it. The members of Samvega also believe in their ability to contribute positively to their own community and to other communities they collaborate with. Samvega moves within a crowd that isn’t afraid of changing progression. I can see here, in this studio, progression is the key to escaping a round, meaningless existence. And, as I learned from Pat during a brief, initial edit of this piece, the word "samvega" has, within itself, meaning. By definition, samvega is the desire to escape a meaningless existence. Samvega is the possession of clarity that will allow a person to achieve a goal without lapsing into despair.
This piece was written about a group of musicians and artists who currently live and work in St. Helena, CA. Visit http://www.samvega.com/ to track them down. Their myspace is located at http://www.myspace.com/musicsamvega.
Co-operatives are sustainable because they allow community members to relate to, interact with, and learn from different kinds of people, and they create mutually beneficial relationships. Participating in art and creative projects empowers and inspires individuals to push the boundaries of potential and to problem solve in innovative ways.
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