Yesterday I was feeling totally up and positive about the project. Today I feel down about it.
I called a bunch of hardware stores to ask for donations of electrical conduit pipe and got zero results. Crest Hardware said they were "all Haiti-ed Out" ACE Hardware said no without even hearing one peep from me about what I was looking for donations for. Home Depot = no Lowes = no
A company called me up to offer to fabricate the domes at 2 dollars a foot. At a discount from 3 bucks. Wow, that's big of you, db. Thanks Mitch for giving me the heat welder so we dont have to pay anyone to make the dome covers for us. I am glad I have a gas mask, that shit is toxic.
I priced the conduit pipe today. To build 10 domes the pipe would cost 1,750$ plus tax. That does not include tax or nuts and bolts.
I looked on waste match dot org today, no conduit pipe. Freecycle the same. Build it Green stopped accepting conduit pipe because no one buys it? There must be a vast untapped source for this shit somewhere in NYC!
I need space to use to fabricate the domes in. For about a month.
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About Lopi LaRoe
ReplyDeleteLopi LaRoe is a multi-disciplinary artist who lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. She was raised in upstate New York, where at the age of 12, her family moved to the woods to build an octagon shaped log cabin entirely by hand. She became acquainted somewhat unwillingly at the time with hard work, living without modern conveniences such as running water and a flushing toilet and pumping water by hand out of her family's well. She enthusiastically learned how to use a chain saw when she was 12 by cutting down what appeared to her to be a giant cherry tree. These early experiences shaped her love of nature and her devotion to sustainable living systems.
Lopi's experiences with facilitating community projects began when she founded the performance space called "What is Art?" in Santa Cruz, California in the early 1990's. Her efforts there transformed an ordinary retail space into a extraordinary venue replete with antique red velvet theater chairs, theater lighting and sound systems and an enthusiastic audience of artists and musicians. The venue served as a community hub providing many artists and musicians with the opportunity to perform, show their work and network and collaborate with other likeminded people. The venue was forced to shut down in 2000 as a result of eviction due to gentrification. Many people began their artistic careers on that small stage and to this day the alliances which were forged during What is Art's 6 year run still remain strong.
Lopi has supported herself independently for most of her adult life including the ten year period where she had her own clothing manufacturing company based out of Santa Cruz. She manufactured a line of hemp hats and pants that were wholesaled across the country and in Japan.
Lopi began working as an electrician and stage hand on the west coast with IATSE Local 611. She continues to work in the television and theatrical industry here in NYC working freelance for both union (IATSE local 1 and 4) and non-union organizations. She has worked in extreme conditions in the desert for Burningman, setting up lighting systems in dust storms. She has lived rustically on farms on the West Coast, Hawaii and Mexico. She has collaborated locally with Madagascar Institute, 3rd Ward, Band of Bicycles and House of Yes.
Her skill set is wide ranging from heavy equipment operator, seamstress, curator, producer, videographer, animator, vegetarian chef, electrician, builder, oil painting, printmaking, wood carving, stencil cutting, chainsaw wielding, direct action environmentalism, tree climbing, environmental education, puppet making, stage craft, juggling, performance art, choreography, contact improv, acting, gardening, composting, creative problem solving and hat making. She has a strong will to add disaster relief aid as one of her skills and the time, motivation and energy to devote to finding creative solutions for helping people affected by natural or manmade disasters to improve their living conditions.