i am hoping to get a picture of most of the station art and sculptures for all times sake
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Here is a photo of the print that I bought while I was in New York (it's about 8 inches square and is a two-color woodblock print):
*L* I just noticed that the "Chihuly Toledo!" exhibit has been extended through February 3rd since the last time I'd checked the dates. We're still going today though. I have my heart set on a trip to the museum now. :)
]]>The challenges of the past few weeks are now history. Mia has a reservation for boarding, we're ready for our trip to Ireland, work is caught up for the first time since I took that job years ago, our sewer and water main will be replaced while we're away, and my sister and I managed to actually surprise my mom with a 60th birthday party at my house last night. Challenges are behind me, vacation is just ahead, and my house is squeaky clean. Today I finally feel like myself for the first time in many months. I can breathe ...and just sit, without guilt or anxiety or anything hanging over my head.
We're going to go to my house of worship today, the museum! There are four totally awesome exhibits there right now that I've been really wanting to see, but something has always seemed more pressing. By the time we get back from Ireland, the "Chihuly Toledo!" exhibit will have ended. As a glass artist, I -will not- miss this exhibit, so that's really the only thing on my plan for the day so far. We may or may not check out the other exhibits too. They're all free (love our museum!!!), but the other three will also be running for a bit longer, so we'll have time to catch them on future visits.
The party last night was a smashing success. My mom was genuinely surprised. :) My sister made a gorgeous and -delicious- cake. It had Baileys in it, lots of chocolate flowers and tons of buttercream frosting....unf. Everyone had a good time. Craig talked radio with the uncles. The kids were totally enchanted with the bunny, who, surprisingly, didn't seem to mind them too much. Uncle Mats thought our potrack was brilliant (thanks, Deb & Brian!) and since we still had the other one from the set in the garage, we we able to send them home with one. Everyone talked and talked and laughed and laughed. Good times.
Here is a link to my website for school. Some of the art work my kids have done astounds me. I am really enjoying teaching this year.
Last weekend I went to New York City as part of a printmaking field trip. I went to the EAB Fair on Friday and the IFPDA Print Fair on Saturday, as well as a bunch of smaller galleries and openings. The Print Fair was amazing! THere were prints there by all sorts of printmakers, both extremely well-known (everyone from Andy Warhol and Sol Lewitt to Childe Hassam and Giovanni Piranesi) and up-and-coming.
My favorite exhibitor was probably the Verne Collection, which specializes in Japanese artists and artists of other nationalities living in Japan. Here are some of my favorite works I saw there (note that they are MUCH better in person):
One more week for you to enter the Cracker Jacks surprise contest! The drawing will be held on next Thursday, right around midnight...
As I've been getting your surprises together, one has been on it's way to me. It arrived this week. Do you remember what it feels like to have a lovely something unexpectedly show up in your mailbox? I have a new doll from Lubov Nalogina, an excellent doll maker from Moscow, shown below.
I also came across a flash back from my childhood when I went to pick up an English workbook for one of the munchkins. Hello Kitty items were being clearanced at Learning Palace. This character is new to me, but just as sweet as Hello Kitty herself. Here are some more saccharine Japanese items, mostly dolls.
I sent off for a blank moleskin notebook from www.arthousecoop.com. They are collecting books from various artists to tour in their "library" of sketchbooks. I was given the theme " I keep forgetting to call you back". I feel like it's a little bit odd, but I'm working with it.
You simply can't go without a nibble before you leave today, so here's a tasty morsel. The photostream is from http://www.teeniecakes.com/ and she has many more yummy things on her own site as well.
Hey there again i am so sorry i left you all so long again,
Once again my life has been hectic and homework-filled! The one thing i have to say about this past week is that i have felt very creative and i still do. Just two minutes ago i would have been found googling everything artistic from "Most controversial art pieces" and "Most symbolic and meaningful art pieces" to "Damien Hirst" and "Alexander Mcqueen". I always look forward to art at school but more so now. We have been told to design and create a cuff for a young woman and it must be to runway standards. We have been through the whole investigating process and are now creating 3D samples. I really want mine to be different, unique and maybe even a bit strange. I have created maybe 5 samples. One of which contains the spaghetti cube i told you all about in a previous post. I have now started to blend and mix colours, create more tone and incorporate wire into my sample. I am extremely happy with my samples so far and hope to continue creating wonderful creative art pieces. As i create these samples i think of them as individual pieces of art and dont rush them or think of them as less important than the final cuff. I am hoping to finish creating samples soon then progress on to the final cuff though i want to create at least 3 more samples that i am happy with. I will take photos of the samples and post them along with a blong sometime soon. So watch this space....
Love from Me. xx
]]>You can RSVP here.
]]>My office recently moved to Downtown Culver City which means close to restaurants and the CuCi gallery district. I took a long stroll to the Corey Helford Gallery to see Andrew Brandou's new work, Mystic Garden. It's a bit of a departure from his last show, but still very colorful. The show closes next week.
What was your favorite class in high school? (And no, lunch doesn't count.)
Well, hey, I haven't answered one of these in a good long time.
My favorite class in high school would have to be Challenge. I loved Challenge because it allowed me to leave class when we weren't doing anything useful, and then I could either choose to be productive or do something stupid and entertaining. Plus, the Limbaugh was awesome.
If you don't want to count that as a class, I'll toss chamber choir in there, but only senior year. Junior year chamber choir was fraught with drama that all stemmed from ONE PERSON, and it was all quite stressful for me because of this. Senior year was awesome because we were good singers and that meant we could pretty much get away with anything; at least, the upperclassmen could. Plus, that was the year I was on the Madrigal court and I taught everyone how to do "Thriller" for the pop concert.
Art class was also pretty fun. OH, LOOK HOW RIGHT-BRAINED I AM.
]]>The other night at my independent film theatre I saw the movie 'Seraphina'. It really was wonderful. This actress was amazing and the story was amazing, as well.
this is a really old blog that just came to my attention. The author discusses a method for writers (‘Writing Down the Bones’ by Natalie Goldberg) to free their creativity by journaling without editing - stream of conscious. Now an artist (painting blog of Nancy Reyner) has suggested it is applicable for painters.
"First get a pile of inexpensive painting surfaces that don't feel precious to you"
That is a hard stop for me. I wash plastic wrap. I am certain everything can be reused and feel it must be reused in the most effective manner. It is not enough to recycle the recipient must use the material. I am holding on to construction paper from my late twenties children and we know that construction paper is not archival in fact it is so ephemeral that it practically eats itself alive. But I have to find the right place to give it to!
"Make a commitment to acting out your very first thought. Now here is the key. Your first thought is the inner voice. Your second thought is the ‘parent’. We are so accustomed to paying attention to the second voice that the first is sometimes faint and barely there. This exercise will strengthen that first voice, sometimes called the ‘inner child’. I like using the phrase ‘first voice’ better or I feel like I am in therapy.”"
Hmmmmm ---- turning off or tuning down the parent is probably just what I need!
Jumsoft today releases Keynote Backgrounds FX 4.0, a collection of 35 skillfully crafted motion backgrounds for Apples presentation software. Devised to enhance presentations and set a desirable mood, Keynote Backgrounds subjects vary from futuristic imagery and lab utensils to flashes of lights and splashes of color. Keynote Backgrounds FX movies are prepared for looping to allow infinite playback for all backgrounds.
]]>I don't believe in regrets. I'm so very happy with my life as it is now, with all the experiences I've had and all the fabulous people I'm privileged to have known. Every once in a while I do let a "what if" wander through my brain though. There's only really one I'm at all interested in, and sometimes I just wonder how things might be different if I'd made a different choice.
The biggest "what if" in my life to date is, "What if I'd studied art instead of engineering?" I honestly don't remember why I made the choice I did. I remember my elders and mentors praising me for even considering engineering, telling me it would provide a secure future. I know science has always excited me, and I remember being eager to learn the answers to a whole bunch of why/how questions in my studies. But I don't remember what that extra bit of motivation was that made me choose the difficult and exciting road of science over my passion, the one thing I was always thoroughly content doing, art.
I don't regret my choice, even though I hated most of my classes, quickly realized I did NOT want to work as an engineer EVER, and quit just shy of qualifying for graduation when the money and my stamina ran out. That path lead me to some of the happiest memories and opportunities of my life, and even some extremely difficult moments that are still precious to me for their lessons. It was a most excellent adventure.
But, ...what if? What if I had chosen what I knew, what I felt was me to my core? It seemed like the easy path then because I knew I loved art with every fiber of my being. Did I pass it over because it seemed too easy? Would it have been fulfilling and natural to me? Surely there would've been just as many challenges down this road. That's just how life works, right? I just couldn't see them around the corners. I didn't get that cliff-diving adrenaline rush thinking about doing what I know and love. I was probably craving the excitement of the unknown over comfortable familiarity. But what would life have been like down that path? I honestly wonder.
Yesterday, while cleaning out an old box of memories I haven't touched in ten years or more, I found a letter from an art professor at the university I attended. I would've been a junior in high school when I got this. The important part reads:
Congratulations on the acceptance of your art work in the 31st Downtown Art Exhibition.
I would be happy to meet with you and show you around the studios of the University Art Department at the Museum. [contact info]
Once again, congratulations on your success.
I don't remember this letter at all. It was already haunting my dreams last night though, just hours after finding it. I can't imagine that it wouldn't have made my heart skip a beat with excitement, that it didn't make me second guess the whole engineering thing. It chokes me up a little now. It's always been a dream of mine to make my living by making art, even when I was being romanced by science and engineering. Why didn't I at least go take a look? ...I probably didn't have any faith in my own work. I can kind of remember thinking there was no way I was talented enough to follow that path. Engineering must've seemed so much more promising. Heh. I've never worked as an engineer though, and I'm still pining for an artist's life. Live and learn.
Well, the beautiful thing about life is that it's never too late to chase your dreams. University was a grand adventure, and engineering really was a delightful bitch of a challenge. I learned so much, and made such good friends and priceless memories. Maybe everyone has to spend some time in life doing something you don't want to do, and I was lucky to get that out of the way early and move on. Now I just need to keep doing my best to forge a new path between the road I took and the one I could have taken. I will get there somehow, dragging everything I found on that first road with me.
I realised that if there was ever a time for me to update the shop, just before Christmas would be it.
I have new prints in a range of sizes and prices. Soon I will have Christmas cards and copies of Meow Magazine for sale as well. Watch this space. :)
]]>not been since 03, rather psyched.
mainly just going to hang out while a friend webcasts
there is certainly no shortage of things to do:
closes saturday: cory arcangel
also to check - mr andre obama posse
starts tuesday: binalle
misc:
science center
life & space trip ;)
dutch rap, rave it up, chill out, hip hop, a lil h1n1
bird jazz
l8r 80s
eddie izzard and the carnival of guilt
chinese america in holland
that's all possile this weekend.
wow.
Can you tell I'm a Londoner?
These are for the new issue of the zine the students on my course produce (Meow Magazine). This month's theme is I Love London so this was what I did. I'm also on the editing team this year and we have big plans for it.
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