In the TV series Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001), Captain Katheryn Janeway and her Starfleet crew are stranded tens of thousands of light-years from home in unknown and, at times, hostile space. The show accounts the journey home for these scientific explorers and delves into the diplomatic, personal, and strategic hurdles faced along the way. Cpt Janeway has always been a huge inspiration for me and was the only role model suited to inspirit my new journey.
Project Janeway is the name of my next project expected to launch April 3, 2018 (holy crap that's really close) and consists of 3 components: the renovation of a 5'x10' utility trailer into a mobile camper studio; a 13,000 mile cross country trip spanning the entire United States and parts of Canada; and the culmination of my journey and all of its curiosities into a publication. The inspiration for this trip started in June 2017 after returning from a vacation to Tokyo. The trip left me hungry for a change. Not only was I feeling absolutely exhausted from running a landscape design/build firm single-handedly, but I yearned to see more of the world, to expand my habitat. At that point the plan was simple: get out of Austin, get a different job, go to New York. Simple, right? And although this plan relieved some of the anxiety building around the burden of my job; it didn't really satisfy the thirst to see more places. So, I put a pin in the New York plan and set my creative energy elsewhere. Given my resources, both time and financial, how could I escape the constriction that I was feeling once again?
That was when the idea of a camping trailer hit me.
A 5'x8' Utility Trailer that my grandparents had given me to help out with my business.
So quickly a plan set out to convert my utility trailer into a shelter in which I could camp around the country- maybe I could look for a job while I was at it; kill two birds with one stone. Over the next few months, the idea started to flesh itself out through drawings and ideas, and soon along came architectural plans. I wanted it to have an independent electrical system operated off of batteries and renewable energies. It needed to be a studio, a kitchen, and a place for me to sleep. It needed to have a soft strength; durable and comfortable.
Construction of the trailer has just now started and is still in the framing stage. This blog will serve to document not only the construction of my new home, but the adventures and work that I do along my trip. Expect to see regular updates from Austin and from the road (hopefully).
I have decided as well that I would like to make an effort to collect creative data along the way to culminate into a broad, graphic swath of my travels. Stories, photos, textures, drawings, tickets, receipts, sculptures, collections. I want to capture my travels richly and document them extensively, forming a great, colorful book. In this task of creating the "show" of my journey, I hope to discover and rediscover fresh takes and perspectives. I want to test my habitat and report back my findings. I want my spirit and my subconscious to communicate in ways that this blog cannot express.
In developing this idea, I came to the conclusion that I could wield it as a tool to combat the fundraising struggles that I have faced (not wanting to clean out my entire savings account). In having this book as a product produced by the trip itself, I could stay longer on the road, collect more stories, more photos, gather more creative data. I could offer people a new visual perspective of traveling North America, from my hands as an artist. So while construction is ongoing, now new energy has also been focused on clearly defining this new goal and creating a Kickstarter platform through which I can better describe and bring to life the intent and spirit of this publication.