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Loren Sears Gallery
Hippie Tribal Home Movies
Loren showed up one day with an offer of several of his videos for the
Digger Archives. This was serendipity—Loren's donation was in time for the 50th
anniversary of the Human Be-In that took place at the Polo Fields in Golden Gate Park on January 14,
1967, one of the foundational-formational events in the hippie
counterculture. Loren filmed the Be-In and then put out the call for
other filmmakers to contribute their footage. The result was a
collaborative collective effort to mark that moment when the
Haight-Ashbury announced itself to the world.
The other two videos were part of Loren's work documenting the
back-to-the-land movement in the Western U.S. during the early 1970s.
Many of the participants in these videos had come out of the Digger/Free
City movement that had reached its apex in 1968 before dispersing into
the countryside in search of sustainable lifestyles.
         
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Human Be-In (Jan. 14, 1967) by Loren Sears
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Tribal Home Movie #2 by Loren Sears (no sound)
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Note from Loren on the two videos (above): "These were
originally 16mm films made for large screen theater, optical projection.
Seeing them in small screen video diminishes their aesthetic value. On
BE IN, play sound loud. THM is silent."
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Pacific Lake (video postcards, Summer 1972) by Loren Sears
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Note on Pacific Lake: this video is a compilation of video
postcards that were created as part of the Tribal Vision Network during
the early 1970s. Loren traveled up and down the West Coast bringing
video messages from one communal group to the next. A timeline for this
video is included at the bottom of this page. Further information is
available on Loren's web for the
Tribal Vision Archives.
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Biographical info for Loren (from
his website):
Before becoming a filmmaker, Loren Sears earned a BA in Physics from
the University of Oregon with graduate study in physics and computer
science at Syracuse University and the University of Michigan. He was
employed as an instructor, programmer and researcher at the Syracuse
University Computing Center; the UM High Energy Physics Research Group;
and by IBM (SBC), Palo Alto. He currently lives in his hometown of
Eugene, Oregon, near his two grown children, where he practices
Buddhism, dancing and community building. He travels frequently to
Southwest France. He was born in Seneca, Nebraska on November 17.
In San Francisco, 1965, he began making avant-garde films and video;
became a founding member of Canyon Cinema Coop; and manager of Canyon
Cinematheque; produced numerous artistic/documentary films and videos of
alternative and Native American cultures; was an artist-in-residence
and guest director, KQED-TV. Taught filmmaking, San Francisco Art
Institute and University of California SF; video at Evergreen State
College, Olympia, WA.
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Timeline for Pacific Lake video
Recorded summer 1972 from Bolinas, CA to Blain, WA; edited Winter ’73
from the entire collection of Tribal Vision tapes. This is a poem edited
around four story lines which all climax near the end. It follows the
cyclic pattern of a day, morning to evening, with birth and awakening as
the outcome. It is about inventing new culture, West Coast, circa 1972.
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1:00:03 |
Prologue: Hopi Corn Song, written and sung by Doc
Dachtler, North San Juan, CA. (This tape is unstable at
beginning of Song. Some recording garbage exists after song,
before Pac Lake opens) |
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3:42 |
Opening: Canadian emigration at border. Reentry
past Peace Arch and US interrogation: “Got enough money?” |
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4:16 |
Martin MacClain (MM)—Marin Watershed Conference,
talking to Gil Bailey “Capital” |
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4:29 |
Black Bear (BB)—breakfast table talk “logging on
Know Nothing Creek.” |
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4:55 |
MM—“Wealth in terms of capital.” |
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5:17 |
Whidbey Island, WA. (WI)—fishing, piano by
Michael Tierra, morning clean up. |
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7:05 |
MM—“Natural state…exclude Zen Buddhists… not many
people here before us.” |
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7:37 |
Leonard, Charles Ranch garden, Sonoma Co. ”only
decent soil around here.” |
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7:59 |
Peter Warshal (Co-Evolution Quarterly) doing
herbal walk in yard, Bolinas, CA |
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9:09 |
BB—“Thunder’s coming on.” Marty watching clouds
come in. |
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9:25 |
Leonard Charles “We live here on 800 acres…self
sufficiency.” |
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10:20 |
BB—garden “I expect to see thunder any minute,
now.” |
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10:32 |
WI—Michael Tierra on piano by candle light. |
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11:04 |
MM—“to develop a market place ….Anthropologist’s
view ….Colonial View.” |
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12:46 |
West Marin zoning, camping hearing. Pt Reyes.
“Squatters” (13:12 health officials try to roust bus squatter;
13:50 “beef is with the tipi." |
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14:11 |
BB—Zoe jiggles in, Marty still watching clouds. |
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14:35 |
Buzzard on wing. Tom T. (Sonoma co.) plays steel
guitar riff. |
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14:55 |
BB—Rain finally falls on pond. (no thunder
though) |
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15:12 |
WI—Michael Tierra piano concert continues by
candle light |
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16:36 |
Jane Lapiner, Benbow, CA, dance/movement class
”have the image of the energy up and out" |
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16:44 |
Birth sequence photos, Patty & Sunshine @ Big
Foot, narrated by father. |
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18:08 |
WI—Shasta by candle light. M. Tierra concert
continues |
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19:42 |
MM—“system of distribution… free people … alert
to creature in him.” |
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21:04 |
black |
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