Hi {name}, 

Welcome to our 100th MUSEletter Missive. 

Do you remember those first few? You can check them out in our MUSEletter Archive, see how they've evolved. We've grown a bit since we started, from those first 90 I'd asked to subscribe for my B-day to nearly eight-times! Thanks! 🥂 for being a part of that. In our time together we've published 2 graphic novels, 1 easy-reader and a traditional comic book. We've also done work in 4 anthologies, 2 graphic-novel/record-album hybrid collaborations, 3 record album covers, 2 tea labels, a half-dozen more movie reviews and other articles, plus podcast episodes for Tiger Talk and The Comics Fu Show. Then there was maybe a score of guest appearances and a few workshops! THANKS! 🍻 for being a part of all of that too. And here I was going to write about rejections in this letter, I still do, sort of… But first a new episode of GO DOGGO →

• Go Doggo: POV
• Mind-Bending May
• Rejections
• Cool Stuff Dept. 

Let us luxuriate in how The Milo sniffs with his whole body.

I devoted May to one major objective, applying for an Artist's Fellowship with the Kala Art Institute right here in Berkeley California. Their headquarters is located in Huichin, the home territory of the Ohlone people, a community that is not federally recognized and has no land base. They've been politically and economically marginalized; it's a complicated history. The building Kala repurposed is historic, it was originally a Heinz Ketchup factory.

[FLASHBACK] When I first landed in San Francisco's East Bay I lived right around the corner from it, I'd walk my dog past it every day on my way to the park (different dog, we're talking the Mid-90's here). It's changed hands a few times, at times it was an organic farm and a chocolate factory, truly. Sometime amidst that, it was vacant and a useful venue for a massive collaborative interactive art event I helped produce, there was music, Yoga, Qigong, talks, performances & presentations. It also featured the second in a series of art installations I'd facilitate over the next 15 years - Interactive Art Mandalas I'd titled I'mandala.

Thanks to recent ARTroom reorganizing I've been able to access archival photos like these.

But what about that Art Fellowship?  I've mentioned it to some... Trying to describe the winding path of my artistic pursuits as a unified narrative: hard. It's part of what got me working through archival photos and the evidence of artistic endeavors from before easy digital media. Kismet that it all coincided with recent Art Room reorganizing.

I considered sharing the write-ups I've been working on. A series of 250 word essays outlining such considerations as –

• Artist Statement
• Creative Vision
• Impact
• Aesthetic Excellence
• Community Engagement

Instead I'll simply share my opening statement –

Patrick Lugo is a Puerto Rican artist whose interdisciplinary work with lineage bearers transforms diasporic traditions into accessible storytelling for BiPOC youth and broader audiences. Combining lived experiences with community collaboration, he preserves oral traditions that resist cliché and foster intergenerational cultural learning through art, published works and hybrid media.

My application, supporting documents and eight pieces (can you imagine distilling your artistic career down to eight pieces*) have been submitted. The review panel will be examining these submissions over June & July. A final decision is expected in August. If the stars align and the magic works, we can hope to pick this subject back up in September. Until then 🤞🏽

*About those rejections; it's no easy thing to distill one's body of work to Eight Best. I ended up with a Top 12 and spent much of the month rearranging their order, digging through archives to find other suitable examples, then rearranging those 12 until a final 8 was determined. I'm including a few of the pieces which I really thought would make the final cut...

About Peak Accomplishments...

I was talking to fellow creator, writer Michael Barron, he's got a peak accomplishment of his own. His new comic The Secret Lives of Demon Hunters, it launches on Kickstarter next week, June 16th. We were talking about surmounting large hurdles and I was reminded that Mike once shared a photo of his mountain-climbing vacation –

Åndalsnes, Norway; Romsdalsalpane (Norwegian) / Romsdal Alps (English)

I asked if I could share it here as it reminded me of an IMPERFEComic

 where I mused on such things. It was titled On Gaining Ground and I couldn't stop thinking about how much his photo reminded me of this comic panel –

And so I asked if Micheal could share some insights about what it's like to get to a mountain top. This is what he had to say...

“Finishing a creative project is like reaching the top of a mountain. You don’t just have to learn the skills of the art itself—which can be both challenging and rewarding—you also need to learn a whole host of skills involving publishing and promotion. However, while we very often feel as though we are walking the narrow paths and scaling the craggy cliffs solo, there are almost always other people there beside us. There are friends and family, of course, but there are also fellow creators, co-workers and people we haven’t seen in over a decade. Looking back, I’m amazed how many people have happily provided feedback, offered their skills and connections and shown me emotional support, helping me climb that mountain to release my comic out into the world.””

The Secret Lives of Demon Hunters follows a couple who are themselves facing a very steep challenge. Ashley and Jordie are a married team of demon hunters who encounter an entity connected with Ashley's past and over the course of one evening begin to question not just their war against the forces of evil but their relationship with each other. The Kickstarter Campaign for The Secret Lives of Demon Hunters goes live on June 16. If you're fascinated by the premise you should check out the preview art. And if you found that his comments resonated, then do Micheal the favor of Clicking Over and hitting that NOTIFY ME ON LAUNCH button. That doesn't mean you have to commit to buying his book, but as I've mentioned before, the simple act of boosting that follower count (it's at 36, can we get it to 40? 50?) goes a long way towards helping another cool project reach its audience.

Thanks for reading, This one turned out longer than I expected. I've also added some new blog posts over on PLUGOarts.com - In case you didn't get enough of my writing. Check it out, there's my review of The Madalorian movie and some new videos. 

ciao for now!
PLUGO