Okay, while clearly not about painting, this is a project I’ve been working on for some time, which is now finished! So, I thought I’d mention it here. More info can be found at alphamulemusic.com
In January, Eric Stoner and I recorded an album of original songs at WaveLab Studio in Tucson, AZ under the band name Alpha Mule.
Eric and I have been playing music together since 2013, and we’ve each been playing music for decades.
We were fortunate enough to record with some amazing musicians, including Calexico’s Joey Burns and Jacob Valenzuela, who played upright bass and trumpet, respectively.
Joe Forkan 
Eric Stoner 
Joey Burns
Jacob Valenzuela 
Craig Schumacher 
Fen Ikner
Chris Schultz recorded the sessions, and WaveLab owner Craig Schumacher mixed the record and played on many tracks, as well.
The music might best be called Americana or alt-country, and is primarily played on acoustic instruments – guitars, banjo, upright bass, drums, trumpet, harmonica, along with some electric guitar, pedal steel, Hammond organ, and Mellotron.
There’s more info at alphamulemusic.com, and the CD, titled Peripheral Vision, is finished, and now available there to stream, purchase or download. It’s also on itunes, amazon, and bandcamp (download), cd baby (CDs & download), and spotify (streaming).
The record will also be available on Vinyl in December (a slower production process, especially given the welcome resurgence of vinyl).
Chris Schultz 
Connor Gallaher 
Joey Burns & Fen Ikner
Eric Stoner 
Joe, Craig & Leo 
Steff Koeppen
The player below contains the 10 tracks on the Vinyl record, but not the bonus tracks on the CD. It works on all platforms but iPhone, apparently, but the whole album streams here.
ALPHA MULE:
Joe Forkan – guitar and vocals
Eric Stoner – banjo and guitar
ADDITIONAL MUSICIANS:
Joey Burns – upright bass and electric bass
Fen Ikner – drums
Craig Schumacher – hammond B3 , harmonicas, mellotron, phono harp
Connor Gallaher – pedal steel guitar
Jacob Valenzuela – trumpet
Steff Koeppen – backing vocals
JOEY BURNS AND JACOB VALENZUELA APPEAR COURTESY OF ANTI- RECORDS
©2016 Giant Meteor Records. All Rights Reserved.
All songs published by Alpha Mule Music (ASCAP).
Unauthorized duplication is a violation of applicable laws.
The University of Arizona Museum of Art in Tucson, Arizona is hosting an exhibition of The Lebowski Cycle in the museum’s Main Gallery from May 28th through September 25th, 2016.
The exhibition will include all 15 of the large-scale oil paintings from the cycle.
An opening reception will be held on June 2nd from 5-7 pm at the museum.
Supper at Emmaus (After Caravaggio) • Joe Forkan 2006-2009 oil on linen 96?x 38?
I am particularly looking forward to this show, as I largely grew up in Tucson, and received my BFA in Studio Art from the University of Arizona. The UA Museum of Art was also the first art museum I went to when I was young, and it will be great to have my work shown there.
Spurgeon Shadow • Joe Forkan 2004, oil on panel, 51″ x 50″
My painting Spurgeon Shadow from the permanent collection at Tucson Museum of Art is currently included in Shadow Play, on view now until 06/15/2015.
Shadow Play is “an exhibition of paintings, photography, and works on paper that expresses the interplay between the material object and the immaterial qualities of light and shadow. Shadows serve as powerful visual devices that heighten the overall aesthetic effects in art and spark the imagination with their abstract qualities rooted in realism”.
