Doc interviews Mobile’s young artists with Ashelea Penquite and Sarah Parvardeh

Doc: Tell us what P2 will involve.
AsheleaP: P2 will involve a show at Satori Coffee on Old Shell Road on Saturday, September 26th. It starts at 7 pm and goes until about 10 pm. The cover is $5 and all proceeds from the door go to the Downtown Creative and Wellness Foundation. Sarah Parvardeh and I will be displaying photography in all shapes and forms, and its cumulative pieces from the last 4 years since our last photography show together, Word of South, also at Satori in 2005. These photos will be displayed through all types of mediums and framing, and will be extremely inexpensive as to stimulate a little economic growth in the art community. The show will be hanging for a week on display in the back room.  Musical guests are Adam Taylor, Zach DePolo, Trey Lane, and I, and it will be a conglomeration of acousto-electronic-violin-percussion oriented music, mostly all original and extremely unique but aesthetically pleasing and even lulling, to the ears at times. =)
SarahP: P Squared is a dual show of Ashelea Penquite and myself. It’s our follow-up photography show from 4 years ago, word of south. It isn’t just pictures on a wall and for the art collectors, everything will be affordable. That way everyone gets to take a piece of the show home with them. Music by Adam Taylor, Zach DePolo, Trey Lane, and Ashelea Penquite. Some of mobile’s finest. 

Doc: How/why did you come up with P2?
AshleaP: The idea for P2 came when Sarah and I were appointed Directors of Photography of the new space downtown, The Umbrella Seed. Zach DePolo and many other artists are involved in getting this space off the ground, and it’s an all inclusive art and creative center focusing on community events, education, green living, and artistic creation and expression. So P2 is Sarah’s and I’s subsidiary of fundraising as well as introducing ourselves to the community again before we open the space downtown. This is one of a series of events happening involving this space, and I’ll attach a press release I sent out to a few people last week involving more info about what is going on.Sarah and I both love Mobile so much, and I just moved back a few months ago. I hosted Vessel, and art show with 20 artists representing the androgynous self and creation within the confines of our emotional and internal chemically altered state of being. Sarah put together Redemption, held at Satori and Blind Mule about a year ago, which was also a group of artists with visions of changing the visual scene of what Mobile has been experiencing thus far.

 SarahP: The idea for the show itself was Ashelea’s suggestion. We are partners in an art space called the Umbrella Seed. Our department is called Black Velvet. Black Velvet will be a photography studio open to the public for darkroom usage and lessons on photography. Since it will be a nonprofit space, we are raising money by putting together several fundraiser shows. This show will be the first. The show’s name comes from Ashelea and I’s last names. I’m nicknamed sarahp and often called P. So we thought P squared would describe the show fully. This will be my first showing of photography in Mobile since our duo appearance in Word of South. 

CA.TV: What is your artistic (and personal) background?

SarahP: So far as my artistic background, I have no formal training on anything. I’ve been doing photography the longest. When i was about 13 years old, I fell in love with the camera. I started painting in 2004 and immediately started putting together shows within a year. My first involvement and PR experience was Word of South. It was such a success that we broke all of Satori Sound & Coffee’s records of attendance. After that I went on a rampage. I have shown photography in New York and Huntsville. Also I have shown paintings in Atlanta. I began putting together painting & music shows usually every other month at Satori Coffee until December of 2007. In August of 2008, I began planning a
“Bigger Than Life” show for January 2009. It received loads of press and we broke all records at the second location, The Blind Mule. It was an installation fashion artshow called Redemption. Since that time, all persons involved, music or art, have come together to create a space open to all artists and to those that are just interested in art. Mobile deserves a chance to blossom in their art community, we feel as a group that we help be a catalyst for that.  Again we hope that everyone gets a chance to come out this Saturday to Satori and enjoy music, art, and tons of fun.

AsheleaP:

I went to USA from 2003 to 2006 and majored in Photography. During my time there, I was a lab monitor of the darkroom for 2 years, and The President of the Photography Association for two semesters. Sarah joined me in 2005 to produce Word of South, the school’s photography show for the community. The show was wildly successful and broke all of the records for capacity and sales to that date, and spawned a fruitful production career for Sarah. I left after 2006 to open a tattoo shop in Birmingham, and after a year and a half, moved back to Jacksonville, FL, where I grew up. I spawned a really successful art and music career there, participating in huge community events and playing music three nights a week all over the city and in St. Augustine. I decided to make art and music my permanent place of residence in terms of a career, if you will, and I frequently had shows at Satori while I was living away. This city has always had a pull on me, the energy here is AMAZING, and the artists I have come to be close to over all of these years still inspire me on a daily basis. I paint, take pictures, wood burn, sculpt, book make, play guitar, drums, and write electronic music. I’m an Aquarius…lol…and this lends to my indecision on a path…why not do them all? I’m a member of Phonosutra Productions and I currently work at Ashland Midtown Pub, and curate the art there. We have 6 local artists with stuff hanging with sales made almost weekly it seems these past couple of weeks. I give guitar lessons, teach photography lessons, and have a serious addiction to coffee. I firmly believe art and music has the power to heal, and Sarah asked me to join her on the endeavors of the downtown space because we both come from the same place…CREATE TO SURVIVE.I cannot express to you how thankful I have been at the response to this underground art scene breaking through to the other side. I wake up every day with a newfound sense of hope at all of the amazing things unfolding, and to be a part of this city and its beauty and inspiration has been a blessing unlike any other. I get labeled a hippie or New Age a lot because of my beliefs in energy, but this city drew me back here for so many reasons, and I have found that trusting in positive thought and feelings brought me here. So in turn, my dedication is tenfold, and events such as P2 unfold with vigor and excitement.