The impetus for “The Tsosido” came out of a conversation with my uncle Walt about my father who I never really knew.  The following is a short version of that conversation.

W:  You know your dad and I, and all us kids had nicknames

                       growing up.

       

S:  What was his?

       

W:  Tsosido

S:   Is that Laguna or Navajo?  It sounds more Navajo...

W:  Not sure what it means...  Everyone just called him that.


Tsosido functions as a point of reference for exploration into personal mythologies with multiple meanings, concepts and symbols.  The objective of Tsosido is that it should be experienced, seen, believed or disregarded as an end unto itself.  The meaning of Tsosido is dependent upon constantly shifting contexts, geographies and temporal-spatial perspectives of the evolving narrative. Ultimately the work created throughout the process will define Tsosido as it has no centralized meaning

1. The Voice, The Song, The Harmony

2. “Nest”   chair, tables, rugs, framed photo, guitar, lino print, video, sound, dvd player

3.”Inherent Beast”   multiple guitars, video, sound, dvd player, spray paint, pencil drawings

4. “To See Light”   painted guitars, video, sound, dvd players    

5. “Edifice Ecks”   28 small guitars

Two videos play in the joined guitars.  The video below plays in the left side of “To See Light”

Manipulated song birds play through guitar

the video below plays inside the “Nest” guitar

the video below plays inside the ”Inherent Beast”guitar

Tsosido is an evolution from “Born Again” series.  The "Born Again" series began from the idea of life after death.  In the first versions, all the guitars I used were damaged and unplayable for various reasons.  Each guitar was fixed and sanded down to the raw wood surface and linocut prints were made for the face of each guitar.  Videos of birds that frequent my backyard were played on portable DVD Players inside the guitars.  This arrangement of the guitar and the video working together, allowed the viewer to see and hear an everyday experience of birds through the body of the guitar,  creating a new life for something dismissed and broken. 


Tsosido in this introductory installation is the ironic perpetual outsider, the beautiful song of nature and the violent inherent beast. Tsosido is where we live and take shelter. Tsosido is the destruction and the transformation.  Tsosido is a migration.  It is a symbol of negation as well as affirmation.  Tsosido is a personal monolith seeking to find continuity.          

The Tsosido  Boehm Gallery, Palomar College, San Marcos, Caliofornia

the video below plays inside the ”Nest”guitar

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