I've been to a lot of weddings. We all have. But yesterday, I went to a wedding that changed the lens through which I'll experience all future weddings. Watch this video and you'll see what I mean...

You know you live in a cool neighborhood when you get invited to a wedding at a bike shop, especially one called Velo Cult. This video only captures about 2 hours of the entire weekend's worth of activity, starting with picnics in Bird Park with Miho Gastrotruck serving food, drinks at El Take it Easy, then what you see in this video (Velo Cult and The Station), and finishing with a party at Jay and Katie's house.

By the way, the music in the video is The Silent Comedy. Maybe you've seen them at the Casbah or the NPMT. If you haven't, do yourself a favor and see them live! They're doing a free acoustic set at the W this Thursday, August 26th at 7pm.

So I hope you're noticing now that the video is time lapse. Back in March, CNN published an article about time lapse photography and ever since I've been fascinated with it. Most cameras can be rigged to take photos on a regular basis, say every 60 seconds, but I ended up buying the Go Pro which has that feature built in. It has the advantages also of being super small and made for sports so you can knock it around all you want, or mount it to the top of your electric motorcycle helmet!

Creating the video is easy on a Mac with the software you already have.

The beauty of time lapse is that you can compress time and see things in a way that you wouldn't ordinarily be able to. This wedding time lapse helps you feel the 2 hour event overall without being distracted by every detail. Or a time lapse of the stars helps you see their path when it would normally happen too slow to perceive. Different ways of looking at life help us see things we never saw before, even if they seem obvious after the fact. We've all been guilty, at one time or another, of not seeing the reality right in front of our faces.

The other evening, I went to the North Park Planning Commission meeting to learn about the remodel that Jack In The Box is planning for their 30th and Upas location. So I met Jerry Thiebolt there. Turns out he's my neighbor. He's also an artist, a teacher, and business man.

Gerry walked me through the Clay Associates studio the next day. He looked confident, content, and proud while telling me about how he and eight other artists founded a non-profit in the early 80s after the previous studio owner retired. The non-profit then bought a house on Adams and converted it to studio space. Funding came from the income from classes they taught, money from the semi-annual sales, and private loans from supporters.

Financially, and for the associate artists, this is a fascinating arrangement. The artists get studio space, access to shared equipment and supplies, and to be part of the creative community that the studio provides. Four of the members teach and earn some income and they are also responsible for day to day operations of the studio. The other members contribute specific work to the studio each month to keep the studio maintained. The members who do not teach have jobs outside the field.

The association makes it possible for two of the members to earn a living and two others an income supplement in their field through teaching, and also helps them gain exposure for outside artistic work or sales of what they produce. If they become famous artists, that's great. But if they don't, in the meantime they don't have to get regular jobs if they don't want to.

The associates do not own the assets of the non-profit. If the house were ever sold and the non-profit ended, the funds would have to be donated to another non-profit. This prevents the associates from changing the character of the organization to something more commercial.

They have semi-annual fundraising sales which begin on the first Friday in December (3 weeks long) and the first Friday in June (1 week long). On those evenings, they have a display of work from their members throughout our studio space. The next day, they also display student work and more work from members.

They also have a fundraiser peculiar to the world of ceramics. Anyone who donates $150 or more to their building fund each year gets an invitation to a Kiln Opening the third Sunday in March. The members make things and the kilns are all fired before the event, but not opened until the donors arrive. Then associates open the kilns and unload them and the donors deliver the pieces up to the tables for display. Everyone gets a chance to look at the pieces to see which ones they would like to have. Then, numbers are drawn so each person gets to choose a piece to keep as our gift to them for their support. The donors love it and the associates love it because it forms a personal bond between the studio and the community it serves.

Jerry has been commissioned by a couple churches in San Diego to build sculptures providing an outside source of income. One of the pieces is pictured above.

It was great getting to know Jerry and meet some of the people at the studio. We support what they do and hope to collaborate with them in the future!

Clay Associates are Eric Woods, Gerald Thiebolt, Warren Bakley, Evelyn Goldman, Moni Blom, Shaun Craig, Ava Bhavsar, Ashley Kim, and Jaci Springfield.

David Krimmel has a fig tree.

A gnarly, big, old, gigantic fig tree.

So we've been getting some beautiful Brown Turkey figs from him for the restaurant. These figs are green, but don't let that fool you. They are sweet as high fructose corn syrup... $2 on our tapas menu with goat cheese and drizzled with honey. Don't miss 'em. (We're also getting black mission figs from other people in the neighborhood.)

But David K is not just about figs. He has also created a community art event called Wheat Harvest that will be taking place on September 11th from 5-10pm. This event is interesting because, not only will there be a Dance Flash Mob with Eveoke Dance Theatre, but David also gives you the opportunity to grind your own wheat and see wheat in it's different stages of growth. Any way to really get into your food is something I appreciate. Another thing that makes this event rock is that it's taking place at Art Produce Gallery. If you know anything about what Lynn has been doing with that space, especially the back garden area, you know what I mean.

You may remember that we joined the fun at the New Roots Farm Kick Off. Now Misha (farm manager) and Britta (peas keeper & community liaison) are organizing a photography and recipe contest for their First Fall Harvest event coming up in October. It's called the art of agriculture and they're taking submissions on their website now. The focus is on local, seasonal food as it relates to art, culture, and farming. Prizes will be from local farms and restaurants. We're excited too because we'll get to display some of the winning work at Sea Rocket.

Just to give you a source of inspiration, the photo of above is from the Farm 255 restaurant website. They're in Athens, Georgia and take some of the best food and farm photos around. Click around their website to see what I mean. Guess I'm a sucker for a narrow depth of focus!

I've been hearing about The Moxie Theatre for a while now...that it's cutting edge, focuses on the role of women, involves critically acclaimed performers and directors, and puts on kick-ass plays! I saw Eurydice at the Moxie a couple of weeks ago and all these rumors were confirmed. We had a few glasses of wine at their after-party and got to talking, so we'll be donating 20% of your check to the Moxie on Thursday evenings. All you have to do is go to a play this month and bring in a flier from the theater.