Art Conspiracy: C'mon down!

Just a reminder for everyone that Art Conspiracy is coming up this weekend! Area artists, including myself, are creating pieces all day Friday, December 5th. Those same pieces will be up for auction on December 6th during a reception starting at 6:30 pm.

Here is the important information:

2 DJs
3 Bands
150 Artists
10 Bucks

3011 Gulden Lane
Dallas, TX 75212

Proceeds benefit Preservation Link.

http://www.artconspiracy.org

The Second Annual Art Chicas Unidas

An application, a resume, a portfolio, and a proposal was sent via snail mail to the lovely people of La Reunion TX about a month and a half ago. In fact, I was preparing all the information as I was sitting at the kitchen table in Lubbock the week I visited my boyfriend. It was raining outside and I was doing some mad-typing.

The mini-package was sent to participate in the event called Art Chicas Unidas, a chance to unite local artists with junior high and high school girls in artistic endeavors. La Reunion TX collaborated with the Dallas Art Dealers Association, the Deaf Action Center, and the Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas to make the event happen.

I was asked to be one of the artists involved. With a bit of trepidation and a lot of excitement, I gathered materials from the future site of LRTX and things around my house in the weeks before the event.

A day-long workshop was held with 3 other artists this past Saturday, each of us doing a different project. I had 9 girls in my group, of varying ages and varying backgrounds. We created sculptural assemblage after discussing the works of artists important to me: Eva Hesse, Anselm Kiefer, and Andy Goldsworthy, who was the inspiration for the project. The pieces were put on display and sold at an evening reception, with the money funding next year's Art Chicas Unidas, also giving the student artists an opportunity to talk about their work.

I have to say, despite the long day, the chance to work with amazing individuals, both peers and students, was fantastic.

As pictures surface from the event, I'll add them on.

Otherwise, for now, check out this link:

http://www.lareuniontx.org/

I've become a Red Raider by proxy

I have been to Lubbock three times this year thus far. This past weekend was perhaps my last (since working retail does not bode well for November/December vacations). However, not only did I dress up as Askadelia from the Tin Man series (with my partner in crime as the Tin Man himself), I became part of the football game called Texas Tech vs. Texas.

Scott and his brother live pretty much across the street from the stadium that was lined up with tailgaters beginning Thursday afternoon. By Friday, the smells of grilling meat, the shouts of glee, and the colors of scarlet and black, were becoming closer and closer to the apartment grounds until the big day.

The stadium was packed to capacity and alas, I did not have a ticket to see it live. However, with chicken wings, pizza, and beer in tow, five of us watched the game on TV. We occasionally paused to open the door and hear the shouts of the nearby stadium.

We were jumping up and down on the carpet, on the chairs, and even on each other with each tense moment. Until the last quarter, when it seemed damn near anything could have happened, Harrell's pass to Crabtree made the touchdown that made even Colt McCoy go "wha?". With one second on the clock and Tech fans already assuming the win by beginning to tear down the goal post, we waited with bated breath.

Fans cleared after two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties and a squib-kick was played. Texas Tech had won.

Ironically, I don't follow that much football. I'm not a big fan of Pro and while I do like college football, my alumni team of North Texas never did much to keep me glued to my TV or waiting for a ticket at the stadium. I've been keeping track of Tech this season since the first game when they played SMU. Somehow in the process, I became a fan.

It was an amazing moment, witnessing the defeat of the number one team and catapulting the underdog team into the possibility of the Bowl Championship Series.

For now, I say paint the town scarlet and black.

Apparently, this Mean Green has become a Red Raider.

Spontaneous Human Combustion

My family has a great number of interesting conversations at the dinner table. During a recent dinner, my mom brought up a show she had watched in the last day or so on spontaneous human combustion.

I had read articles about this phenomenon in the past and had always been startled by the comically gruesome photographs of remaining limbs of people who had just incinerated from the inside-out, leaving nearby articles of clothing and household items unburned.

As if living daily life wasn't filled enough with fears about accidents and being a general klutz (such as myself). Now we have to worry if our bodies are going through a nuclear chain reaction to reach an immediate heat level of 1600 degrees Fahrenheit (the heat of cremation) to just plain explode into flames.

On the other hand, it seems that SHC could almost be a psychological phenomena, even though this is actually disputed by scientists. It would seem like a simple metaphor to go through an instantaneous combustion, almost like the culmination of thoughts and ideas. And what of physicality?

There are so many things to ponder on this topic, such as the thought of lightning striking a forest, only for it to go a-blaze and cleanse the land.

Is Spontaneous Human Combustion related to natural phenomena seen in nature? Is it a manifestation of body and mind? Is it merely a freakish scientific accident?

Will it ever be resolved?

Metalhead

I flew to Lubbock this weekend on a whim after I found out not 4 days before that Texas Tech was holding a symposium on concept in metalsmithing. If you know me well, you could see that I could not be denied this chance; especially for a place reasonably close to where I live.

I ended up flying since the drive out either late at night or early in the morning terrified me because 1) there are too many deer crossing signs for comfort, 2) my night vision is not so good (years of looking at an open flame while working in metal is beginning to take its toll, I suspect or genetics is the culprit), and 3) flying would maximize my time in Lubbock.

The symposium was quite interesting and well worth it: four lectures by internationally known metalsmiths, a tour of the new art building just for the 3-D arts, and an opening reception for a metals/jewelry show in the old art building.

I was also able to see The Full Monty, the play put on by Tech's theatre department, which was both entertaining and hilarious. This included seeing my boyfriend's brother and his theatre friends in various states of undress, even some red thongs by the end (oh dear).

However, the best moment of the weekend: post-reception, Scott and I explored the campus, trying to find all the sculptures and site-specific art as the sun was setting. Absolutely stunning autumn sunset and evening.

I've decided some spontaneity is highly rewarding :)

Noki

Noki is the cat that I adopted earlier this year. She was a cat that traipsed around the art building up at UNT found by my co-workers sister. I happened to be living in Denton at the time and decided to adopt the feline after my co-workers sister could not suffer from cat allergies any longer. I named her "Noki" which means "soot" in Finnish. This is entirely appropriate since she is an all-black cat.

Noki is perhaps the silliest creature I have ever come across.

She plays fetch with rubber balls that she drops at my feet anytime of the day and retrieves them like a puppy.
She grunts like Marge Simpson in response to almost anything, rather than full-out meowing (which she also does on occasion)
She can hear paper being wadded up from a mile away and will race from whatever she is doing to stare at you vulture-like until you finally drop it on the floor for her to bat around.
She loves to be loved (but not too much).

She makes so much mischief that I caught her red-handed in the photo below of her tossing my shoes out of my closet.

Noki meet world. World meet Noki.

C'mon everybody! Let's get in our Sunday best and be grownups!

As of Saturday, I have been to three weddings this year. Of course, weddings are beautiful and emotional and enjoyable. Each time I go to these events, I'm reminded of the fact that this is only the beginning of the windfall of weddings. The wedding this weekend was for my boyfriend's best friend since childhood. She was marrying someone she had known in high school, even though they weren't high school sweethearts. It was a bit of a high school reunion for Scott because of all the guests there.

The hilarity of the situation comes from the following:

Scott introducing me to the people he knows:
"Oh, (insert name here), this is my girlfriend Diana"

The differing dialogues that followed:
"Nice to meet you, this is (insert name here), we're getting married next week"
"What a lovely dress, this is (insert name here), we just got engaged!"
"Hi, I'm (insert name here), this is my husband/wife"

I am not kidding. What was slightly more paralyzing was the realization that this amount of people our age had become adults. Here are people that have real jobs and make real money or are pursuing higher education. They have dogs and cats in houses they have bought. They might be having kids soon or have some already.

At each statement, Scott and I make side glances to each other spelling out: "when did everyone our age become grownups?"

We left the wedding after goodbyes to the bride and groom, not waiting for the cutting of the cake or the tossing of the bouquet. We decided to find a bar and made our way to The Londoner, where it was crowded with dressed-down people. We sat at the bar in our Sunday best and had a couple of beers each and talked about the future: about the adventures that we'd go on, the places we'd see, and the imaginations that we refused to crush in the other.

And I realized, what could possibly be more adult than that?

Manic Pixie Dream Girl

I just read an article about Manic Pixie Dream Girls on NPR. The term was coined by film critic Nathan Rabin to describe Kirsten Dunst's character in Elizabethtown a couple of years ago. Essentially the Manic Pixie Dream Girl is the joyful girl, with amazing quirks and sensibilities, that changes the men she meets into better people. Now, this is all supposed to happening in the realm of cinema. Think Natalie Portman in Garden State.

It has occurred to me that the MPDG (yes, it has an abbreviation that sounds like a disorder) has become so commonplace that I wonder if 1) girls want to become MPDGs and 2) people want to have MPDGs in their lives, especially in a relationship. However, anyone who truly observes the MPDGs in movies realizes that these girls are perfectly imperfect. They have vaguely interesting quirks and irrelevant pasts that never, ever seem to come up.

Different websites cite some MPDGs over the years: Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany's, Penny Lane in Almost Famous, Annie Hall in Annie Hall, Judy Maxwell in What's Up Doc?, and Susan Vance in Bringing Up Baby.

The startling thing to me is that I love these movies and especially the characters listed above. It appears to be a true question of reality versus cinema. I know these are merely characters and if girls were anything like the people above, they wouldn't be multi-faceted individuals. Is there an unresolved inclination to be these girls in society?

Any thoughts?

Here is the article for reference, which has all the appropriate and interesting links:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95507953&ft=1&f=1008

Dr. Sketchy's Anti-Art School

On Saturday, I participated in Dr. Sketchy's Anti-Art School. We had the lovely Ginger Valentine, from the local burlesque group The Velvet Kittens, model for us while we did art school-like figure drawings. With newsprint, drawing paper, and some drawing media with me, I got the following drawings completed in the longer poses.

Enjoy.







Here's some more information for those who might be interested:
http://www.myspace.com/dallassketchy

New computer = more mischief

My iBook G4 had provided me with the tools to maintain my life for the last 3+ years. Hell, it was my life. Sadly, the hard drive was injured and it appeared time to invest (I think that's the more polite term for going even more broke) in a new laptop. My new computer is a lovely silver MacBook Pro 15 inch. It will maintain my life (hopefully) for many years to come.

It sure is purdy.

Neko Case

I was taken to see Neko Case on Saturday at The Granada.  I was already in love with her music, but the show made me a believer once more.  The experience, to say the least, was transcendent.  Her voice was more ethereal and clear in person than even on her albums.  The audience was in utter awe and silent at times, and at other times dancing and clapping along.

Neko, your songs are lullabies to me.

I don't know, but that's ok...

This is a blog for all the people who have told me the following about my art:

"you should do it"
"you should totally do it"
"you should freakin' do it already!"

I am thankful to say that you all are in the majority.

I think it's easy to believe you are alone in the process. When I work on art, my mind closes off to the outside world. It's like meditating and those moments when you are most aware and also at the most peace. It's a difficult feeling to place and create, but once it's there, you cannot help but want to sustain it.

I work too hard to give myself even more of a hard time. I do not want to be the world's most well-known artist or a wealthy one. I want to express the ideas I have. It's like I've spun a magic wand and all the things I see and acknowledge and want to incorporate into my art all start flying towards me.

My head hurts often. A certain someone has told me that I think too much; I think that person is right (most of the time). I've been a bit afraid to express what I actually think and feel. Perhaps it is too difficult to visualize or vocalize. Maybe it's because I'm afraid of failure. I have to keep reminding myself, though, that ideas are evolving.

Conclusion:  I'm going to freakin' do it already.

Whiteboard + dry erase markers = crazy art space

I was given some space and time to work on art ideas whilst in Lubbock.  Here are my drawings that might soon become reality...

Chrysanthemum

Today, I sawed out a chrysanthemum out of brass that is approximately 3" x 4".  It will probably be part of a jewelry sale I'm doing this autumn, as well as future production pieces. My neck aches from leaning over it for over 2 hours. However, I think it's beautiful...

It's all useless pomp and circumstance...

I drove over 5 hours to reach the city of Lubbock earlier this week.

It's been sweater weather and rainy here.

I've been reading books, doing defensive driving online (oh the fun of it), working on jewelry and metal stuff.  I saw the metalsmithing studio at Tech and it was amazingly new and beautiful.

I skipped town not only to visit my boyfriend, but also to isolate myself from my home.  The idea of home is so ambiguous though.  This city reminds me of Lancaster, CA, which I could concede made up some important years of my youth.  

It's weird to be smacked in the face with such nostalgia.  But it's a breathing opportunity for me.  A way to reflect.  Sometimes I feel like I'm abandoning the people I love the most when I go on these little excursions.   And I'm always at a loss for explanation.  This is just how I am, I suppose.  

Maybe a humorous metaphor could be that I'm covered with starfish that represent all the things I have to do and I feel claustrophobic and deem it necessary to peel them off one by one.  And then I run like the wind.

All the number of decisions I'm trying to make have become greater exponentially.  I have to constantly fight my own head and internal indecisiveness: I could do that, but I could do that instead...

I'm grateful for all the chances that come my way, but sometimes I hope a door closes somewhere to help me out.  Maybe then I'll be able to focus.

After all this re-evaluation, perhaps I will return to a place where I make a bit more sense and I'm more informed.  

In the meantime, I'll be dancing around my room listening to music.