GET INSPIRED
MICHAEL K. LEASE and BRAD WALKER worked together on a daily project in which they each took a photograph, at 7:15 p.m. exactly, in their respective cities, and shared the results side-by-side online for an entire year …
What was the impetus for SAMETIME 7:15?
Michael: We wanted to work collaboratively, but we were interested in taking it a step beyond a one-off project. I was interested in how the factor of committing for an entire year would affect the work made and was looking for a degree of intensity from the project.
Brad: We decided it would be interesting if we took our pictures at the exact same time because our thinking was that the choreographed shooting would be a way to spend time together while seeing pictures that showed how clearly different our lives were (Brad being in Baltimore, Michael being in Richmond).
Had you tried making a yearlong project before?
Michael: In 1997, I drew daily self-portraits for (nearly) a year with ink on blank postcards, and sent them to a friend in New York City. I got really close to completing the project, but didn’t make it.
Brad: I have done it every year since we finished that first year. The initial experience was perhaps the most interesting, since it was a fresh concept to me. Seeing the project age might be more invigorating than the initial snapping of daily photographs. This is why I continue to take daily photographs—the significance of the memories grows with time.
What did you expect to get from this experience?
Michael: I expected to learn what it was to work closely with another person on a creative project, while relishing the mundane, celebrating the workaday, and using the Internet as an art space. My expectations were met, and then some.
Brad: I expected to have a unique dialogue with my friend and colleague, to remind myself how aesthetically pleasing daily life can be, and to be part of a discipline requiring me to take more photographs which is healthy for me. These expectations were surpassed, not surprisingly.
In what ways did doing a yearlong project transform your life?
Michael: It made me realize that despite all of the ups and downs, headaches, and major pains in the ass that happen on a daily and weekly basis, a year is a very small unit of time.
Brad: Having the discipline of doing what I love is great in the fact that I feel more of a reason to take images. Since I’m on my fourth year (and have no plans of stopping), I actually am a bit upset that I couldn’t have done this from an earlier point in life.
Any advice for people considering starting their own yearlong project?
Michael: I think it’s a good way to spend your time. It slows you down a bit and helps you concentrate on what’s at hand. In the world we live in, working on something (or thinking about something) for a year is anachronistic. I think that’s a good enough reason to do it.
Brad: Don’t hesitate!
May 22, 2007. B: “Auto repair waiting station.” M: “In the land of barbeque, there are many images of hogs. S&S Caterers is directly across from where I work.”
May 24, 2007. B: “A good old-fashioned nap.” M: “This is on the façade of a restaurant on Bellevue Avenue—not far from where we live. When I see this word, all I can think to do is add ‘Anna’ to the front of it.” Courtesy of the artists
Michael Lease is an artist and occasional adjunct professor in the photo/film department at Virginia Commonwealth University. On a regular basis, he is the exhibitions manager at the university’s Museum of the Arts, the Anderson Gallery. Michael’s solo and collaborative work has been shown at the Agni Gallery in New York City, at the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center, as a part of Site Projects DC, and the Flashpoint gallery in Washington, D.C.
Brad Walker is a graphic designer living in Baltimore, Maryland. He records music under the name Curtain Rod Character, has a zine called Majuscule, and is continuing his daily photography with five other photographers. All of this can be seen at www.bradwalker.org.
Make a good luck charm. Bonus: Make it wearable and wear it all day!
Use duct tape or packaging tape to make something three-dimensional.
Put pen to paper and draw for at least thirty minutes without stopping. If you get stuck, just doodle until an idea comes to you. For an even greater challenge, don’t lift the pen from the page until the time is up. Extra credit: Increase the time to sixty minutes, ninety minutes, or … ?
Create an artificial window and install it in your home or somewhere in public. What can be seen on the other side?
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Start something, then have someone else complete it today.
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Make your own unique chess set. If you don’t like chess, how about checkers?
Work only with Legos or other building blocks today. If you don’t have any on hand, rather than buying them, why not borrow some from a friend with a child? Bonus: Try collaborating with a kid on this one.
Make a unique miniature golf hole in your home or outside and get someone to play it. You can even make the golf club and ball yourself if you don’t have any on hand. Extra credit: Find seventeen other people to make holes as well and create an entire course!
Work with just corrugated cardboard or cardboard boxes today.
Recreate a famous work of art using the material and technique of your choice. If there are people shown, why not recruit your friends to participate?
Get sandy! Use sand as your medium or inspiration today. You or a friend can collect sand for free at the beach or from a sandbox, or you can just work at one of those locations. Craft stores also usually sell colored sand.
Make a pie chart, flow chart, Venn diagram, or other business graphic in an unexpected way. Perhaps it’s made out of an odd material, or it diagrams something that’s not at all business related.
Work with ice cubes today. Bonus: Document the piece while it melts.
Add a door where one wouldn’t normally exist. Extra credit: Make it functional!
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Work with, or be inspired by, a tin can or soda can. You can decorate on it, shape it with tin snips, or punch holes in it with nails—just be careful with the sharp edges. Try adding a light for an added effect.
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Use your pocket change to make something worth more than what you could buy with it.
Flip through an almanac or spin a globe and put your finger on a random location. Then research the place and make something based on it.
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Create something inspired by a piece of spam e-mail you (or someone you know) has recently received.
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Imagine you are an animal and work as that animal would today (using four legs and a tail, with flippers, underwater, etc.).
Use a toothbrush and/or toothpaste as the central component of, or inspiration for, what you do today.
Make something that makes a sound on its own. Bonus: Record it and make something with the recording!
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Work with disposable plastic utensils you (or someone you know) have been given recently.
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