The Frequency Festival at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art History (MAH):
The Crystal Note Grove
This exhibit was created by a Director of the Liminal Space Collective, Wendy Frances. She had members of her collective and volunteers pour their souls into this project.
Members of the Trading Rack assisted with costume design and interactive elements for the space.
The Crystal Note Grove, a 'portal' in the MAH, consists of three main parts:
The Mother Tree, Lumin, and a Mycelium Icosahedron.
1. The Mother Tree connects us together through her intentions, as her mycelium creates a broader network in this world. She weeps crystals. At the end of these crystals, hang little notecards that humanoids (the audience) can write on.
2. Lumin, one of Wendy's paintings turned into an enormous and purple sculpture, finds crystals for the Mother Tree. Crystals represent resilience, strength, and stability. Lumin carries a codex (huge book) around that explains the lore beyond the MAH.
3. The Mycelium Icosahedron functions as a portal to connect this world to other's as it feeds on our collective energy.
This exhibit functions to ask questions surrounding the parallels of impermanence of life and how we can come together in solidarity as humans to help each other and grow together.
In this world, everything in interconnected.
Deep Dive Here: Outline of Lore
The Liminal Void
These pictures are edited to reflect the dimensionality of the superconsciousness.
Behind the Scenes
Over the summer of 2023, the exhibit was created in a space called the "Idea Fab Labs," a wood shop in a huge warehouse in the Westside of Santa Cruz.
I brought in members from the Trading Rack to assist during this process. Special thanks to: Annice, Sam, Haze, Sid, Ina, Vi, and Amahli.
For this project, I helped paint/sculpt the surrounding set, design costumes, and perform during the live festival.
The Festival of Lights
5-10pm, September 21st-24th at the Santa Cruz MAH
While the exhibit was live, the fellow LARPers and I interacted with the audiences and attempted to stay in character.
***I am not an actor OR a costume designer, and this is probably the most "Santa Cruz thing" I have ever done.
The exhibit was a wonderful success, and it was so fun to be a part of.
During
"The Crown," Wire, spray paint, and ribbon.
The Fit
I created a headpiece out of driftwood and gems that correlate with the weeping aspects of the Note Grove Tree (the gems are linked by malleable wire that also holds the notes that people wrote on during the actual live exhibit). I wrapped fabric around the base of the headpiece so that it would fit more comfortably on my head. I felt like an intergalactical angler fish.
Annice, an artist and organizer of the Trading Rack, dyed tulle purple and sewed it around the bottom hem of my blazer to create a trail. I wore huge, six inch platform Demonia boots, long white eyelashes, and freshly shaved my head to top off the outfit.
Thank you to Wendy and Weston, Willow and Bijan, Toney, Mary, Shani, Rose, Rosebud, and Josue for being so open and awesome artists!
This section of the portfolio documents a majority of how I contributed to this space because this project was enormous and in no way mine.
There were so many people a part of this, and I wish I could document every bit along the way.
In the future, I hope this website functions deeper into the mind's of creators with interviews, highlight pages for artists, and a more detailled description of the process behind this work.