Master Artist Michael Bernard Stevenson Jr.

While living in Western New York I began to learn about whole foods from various sources including the farms from which they came. I developed a very close relationship with Jerry of Sunny Cove Farm, a local organic and raw dairy farm. Sometimes we would talk for hours about the precarious legality of the harmless and healthy product coming from his farm. I did a lot of promotion and product design for Sunny Cove Farm, but the one thing I couldn’t do much of was serve the raw milk. Due to state and federal law, in New York the sale of raw milk must be conducted on farm only. Furthermore, the milk could not travel across state lines or be used to create any product for consumption outside the home. In a brazen disregard for the laws, I began to prepare and share my homemade ice creams made using raw milk. Each event would occur with the knowledge that the product being served was illegal and therefore may be “unsafe” for consumption. Each iteration of this project was met with happy faces, delighted bellies and a rich discourse on food security and freedom. *No individuals were made sick by serving this illegal substance*

As guardian to Artist Matoska I have become increasingly interested in creating an environment and set of collaborative parameters that will allow my faithful companion to further explore their artistic interests and creative potential. To this end we’ve spoken with three animal parapsychologists to help develop my understanding of Artist Matoska’s voice.

This is the beginning stages to a longer and deeper collaborative relationship between myself and Artist Matoska.

Stay tuned for more! Keep up to date on Artist Matoska’s Instagram!

And don’t forget to pick up the first 2019 issue of the SoFa Journal which has a transcription of Artist Matoska’s interview with Deborah Erickson, PhD

Rock HOUNDing with Fred is a project centering Fred Tschida as an audience, and myself as a secondary audience. In the research for this project I was sent on a mission to go to various rock shops in Oregon and ask "What does only Oregon have?"

Leading with the inquiry given to me by Fred, I followed up with inquires regarding a favorite rock hounding story and what does only Oregon have in a non geological context.

Going from rock shop to rock shop I discovered that Oregon has various unique geological forms, including its own unique opal. Which, given that opal is my birthstone, I am on a personal mission to find and unearth my own specimen.

I met some interesting characters who had knowledge of various mineralogical phenomena. The research has been presented at the Portland Public Library with the intention continue our research indefinitely.

Once the weather permits, I will be scheduling rock hounding journeys with Fred, and Dusty Rocks! a rockhound from Washington I met at the Portland Convention Center Gem Faire.

The recorded interviews can be found here.

During the summer of 2018, I collaborated with Eric John Olsen and the Ethiopian Community in Seattle summer youth program to co-create Between Two Shores. Each week during the summer school program, we worked with the youth to develop interview skills and questions so that they could gather oral histories from community elders. At the end of the summer, we staged a daylong reenactment at Pritchard Island Beach of elders’ childhood stories. Other youth-led activities based on interviews included rock games, team handball, jump rope, an Ethiopian version of duck-duck-goose, swimming, barefoot soccer, and dancing. Members of the Ethiopian Community in Seattle cooked some of the elders’ favorite snacks, like dabo kolo, and we provided other snacks mentioned in the interviews, like organic fruits, candies, and mango juice. Youth illustrated the different snacks and activities uncovered during the oral histories, and Michael and I composed these drawings into large images that we installed in the park to commemorate the stories and re-enactments.

During past interviews with elders on projects address age-segregation in our communities, I learned that intergenerational exchanges are some of the experiences seniors value and miss the most. Between Two Shores responded to this need by using re-enactment as an way to value stories passed between generations, and a way to celebrate the wealth of elders’ lived experiences.

Between Two Shores was made possible with the generous support of Seattle Public Parks, the Office of Arts & Culture, and all the staff and community members at the Ethiopian Community in Seattle.

An artist project done in collaboration with Jane Orr and Torri Lynnn Ashford of Thick Air Studios during the Summer of 2018 at Artscape in Baltimore MD. The project consisted of hired community members helping to facilitate bicycle powered can crushing for festival goers. People would toss collected bottles and cans into the machine to be crushed and recycled.

The inspiration for The Department of Beauty and Maintenance was an ad campaign that preached a "new city game" -- tossing litter into a bin and keeping the streets clean. Back in 1974, when it began, the campaign won awards. People thought it was funny and cute. Neighborhoods even held “Trashball” tournaments. The magic of this project was people of all ages, especially very young people, were having fun cleaning up and being ecologically responsible.

On the last day of the the event we bundled up all the crushed cans and shared them with our number one fan!

Antisocial media is an ongoing project that involves writing personal letters to friends and love ones. Once I've written the letter I document it and send it off. I take the documentation of the physical letter and digitally redact all of the information.

This project is meant to critique our current cultural paradigm of over use and addiction to social media platforms.

I find that while everyone is "there," during my time using the software I find myself feeling increasingly alone. While I can voyeuristically view the happenings of my friends and loved ones, I don't feel closer, or together, with any of them.

Conversely when I am writing to people I find that they occupy my mind and time much more presently. And when they receive the letter they feel much closer to me and my life than they had prior.

This project has included hour+ long phone calls, and will eventually include an antisocial media tour where I visit people physically.

The intended format for the documentation of the project is a publication.

If you're seeing this and would like to receive a letter, please request it by phone 301 641 8004, or by letter written to:

Artist Michael Bernard Stevenson Jr.
2000 SW 5th Ave
Portland, OR 97201

In March 2017 I in Bismarck still recovering from my time at the front lines of the Dakota Access Pipeline Resistance Effort at Standing Rock North Dakota. During our time at the front line camp, Oceti Sakowin, my friend Bugz was subsisting off of eating mayonnaise and cheese due to dietary allergies. Once we had access to a kitchen and fresh produce, I made them a vegetable lasagna for their birthday.

In March 2018 I happened to notice Bugz had posted on Facebook that they had no where and no one to celebrate their 40th birthday with. I decided to get a plane ticket to Columbus Ohio where Kurt, a now mutual, friend who was willing to host the birthday festivities. During my time I gave Bugz a gentle haircut, we walked Mama, Artist Matoska’s mother, made Bugz another vegetable lasagna, Kurt a meat lasagna, and I left gifts for each of them.

After dinner I flew back to Portland.

My practice does a delicate dance with capitalism. I have no love for a capitalist society, and the cultures it creates, however we all must learn to navigate it as best we can.

My life and practice consist of highly considered decisions about what to do, why I’m doing it, and what that should cost. I have no conclusions on this matter to share other than that I am continuing to investigate this paradigm for myself and present that investigation to others in the form of an audit of my actions and what their economic and carbon foot prints are.

Work ongoing