"all you have to do is call"

This is my latest and greatest creation to come out of my photobook class this semester.  It's an accordian style pop-up book.  Each of the four scenes below is made up of 4 separate layers that I cut by hand.  There's also a stick figure couple that goes along with the book that you can play with in each season.  I took this pic while I was still working on it last night at about 3am in the studio; I won't have finished pictures of it with the figures and cover for a while.  Laurie chose it to be in the printmaking show next week!  I think for my final I'm going to continue this idea but I'm going to make more scenes and probably have them back to back.  The title of the piece is "all you have to do is call."  Get it? :P

AMY STEIN at MICA TOMORROW

For any of who that know me just a little bit, you know I'm a huge fan of Amy Stein and have been ever since I originally saw her work.  Well, tomorrow she's coming to MICA to give a talk!!!  Justin (you lucky asshole :P) is picking her up from the train station and then she's talking at 12:15 in the Brown Center.  Can't wait to meet her!!

Old

These are a few of the first digital images I ever took.  I was cleaning out my memory cards and stumbled across them.  Even though they're all very different, I feel like they belong together.  The colors a little off on them; they're usually much more saturated.  I dunno what that's all about but I hope you like them anyway :)

New

Changed my computer's background image today.  It was an image from Stephen Althouse's tool series which I've blogged about a few times before but I needed to mix it up so I chose one of Kim Manfredi's older paintings.  I feel this one makes sense for me lately; it just seems to represent my mood really well.  

CREEEEEEPY

The cell phones pop the popcorn..... I'm not kidding.  

Téléphone Portable + Maïs = Pop-corn - Vidéo buzz

so excited!

yay :D

Professional Practices; Residency Assignment

The Hambridge Artist Residency Program is located in Rabun Gap, Georgia. The facility sits on 600 secluded acres in the North Georgia Mountains. Located in these 600 acres are an over abundance of mammals, reptiles, fungi, fish, plants, and trees including over 400 species of these that cannot be found anywhere else on the planet. Residencies last for between 2 to 8 weeks, depending on what's been awarded, and take place from May to August, September to November, or February to April. The program has 9 artists max at any one time, including all fine art forms but also writers, musicians, and performers.

Each artist is provided with their own private cottage studio space which includes a bathroom and kitchen. The only provided meal is a vegetarian dinner served Tuesday through Friday.

Residents pay

$150 for every wee

k that they're there out of the $1250 a week cost. Scholarships are available but they are limited.

The application process includes completing the application form, a one page proposal, a one page summary of professional arts, a 300 word bio, and names and contacts for three references.

Also, 10 examples of word needs to be presented in CD or DVD form and 3 copies need to be provided. There is also a $30 application fee. The work is juried by a peer review panel and the applicant usually receives notification within 6 to 8 weeks.

What draws me most to this program is the strong connection and influence I would have from the surrounding nature but also the seclusion from the outside world. You are forced to have good, solid alone time with yourself and your work in this residency. That intimidates me to think about, however that intimidation also excites me because I know it's what I need and what will help me grow the most as an artist.

Yea so I've pretty much fallen in love with this residency.  Definitely going to be the first one I apply to as soon as Im ready.

I'm a sucker for cute jewelry

Oh Deer

Oreo

Organic Beads

Fork Bracelet

Birds Nest

Freshwater Pearls

Birds

The fork bracelet and pearl necklace are my favorites :)  This site is pretty spectacular- Etsy.com.  They have a ton of different products but the jewelry part was my fav.  

Rene Trevino

Rene Trevino is a MICA grad that currently has a residency at the Creative Alliance (amazing place btw).  In my last Professional Practices class, we went to the Creative Alliance and spent some time with him in his studio.  He has to be one of the most technically accomplished artists I've ever seen.  The details he gets in graphite and acrylic is ridiculous- check out his stuff below.

Saguaro Warriors, 2007

These are all life sized, full-detail portraits done in graphite on paper.  Only graphite on paper.  I've seen these things in person; they're insane.  He literally showed us the lead pencil he always uses- I cannot even fathom the dedication it took to get even one done and he did a whole series.  

Sitting Bull, 2007

Steve McNair, 2009

Now he's moved on to doing the same type of characters but he paints them with acrylic on mylar and they are about two feet high as opposed to life size.  Because of this, he's making many more than were in the last series.  They are just as equally detailed though.  

Stag Party, 2006

Acrylic on Mylar

Love this work- the humor in it just makes me happy.  Go to Rene's site to check out more of his stuff.  

Robert Frank in Person

ELSON LECTURE

The Elson Lecture Series features distinguished contemporary artists whose work is represented in the Gallery's permanent collection. The Honorable and Mrs. Edward E. Elson generously endowed this series in 1992.

A Conversation with Robert Frank

March 26 at 3:30

East Building Concourse, Auditorium

Robert Frank, photographer, in conversation with Sarah Greenough, senior curator and head of the department of photographs, National Gallery of Art.

For more than fifty years Robert Frank has exerted a profound influence on contemporary photography, film, and art. His seminal book The Americans, first published in 1958 and 1959, changed the course of twentieth-century photography. In eighty-three photographs, he looked beneath the surface of American life to reveal not only social, economic, and political tensions, but also new areas of beauty in simple, overlooked corners of American life. His subject matter—cars, jukeboxes, even the road itself—was as innovative as his seemingly intuitive, off-kilter, and brilliantly incisive style. Yet the book’s soaring reputation never sat comfortably on Frank’s shoulders. Since the late 1950s he has restlessly continued to push his art in new ways, making both films and photographs that question the relationship between art and life and between the obvious symbolic meaning of a photograph and its personal significance to him

In anticipation of high attendance, this program will be simulcast in the East Building Small Auditorium and the West Building Lecture Hall. The program will also be recorded and a screening of the recording will be shown on Tuesday, March 31, at noon in the East Building Auditorium.

.....And I'm going.  With Justin.  Hopefully.  You should be a little jealous :P

This is home

Over spring break, Craig's band threw their rhythm guitarist a surprise birthday party.  Just a small get together, but a hell of a time none the less.  Here are a few pics that I caught while enjoying the night.

Mishka Colombo on Me

For our Professional Practices for the Visual Artist class this week we were partnered up and had to visit one another's studios and then write about our partners work as well as their studios on the class blog.  My partner was Mishka Colombo, a junior painting major.  Her work was spectacular- very imaginative as well as well accomplished technically.  Below is what she wrote about me, which blew me away to say the least.  It is technically my first written review; its written so well that it's almost like she knows more about my work than I do.  It makes me very happy to not only receive such a well written and thoughtful review but also to know that my work really is achieving what I want it to be.  Definitely sending a thank-you note at least to this girl :)

Jess Kemp
Photography Junior



Jess Kemp is a photography junior from Pennsylvania. She tends to lean toward film rather than digital.

Jess showed me several series of work in her studio/home. The pieces were professionally displayed and well organized.
The first prints we looked at were small, intimate colour close-ups of the backs of individual's heads. While the back of the head isn't the first place you might think of as a recognizable aspect of someone's body, Jess's portrait display the distinctiveness and vibrance of each sitter as clearly as if she'd documented their faces.

The next collection was more close-ups of the human form, but focusing on where the skin met textile: either the hem of an undergarment or the surface of a sheet/blanket. There was a clear emphasis on the richness of texture that both the skin and the fabrics held. The pieces felt very quiet and appreciative of simple beauty.

We moved onto some very haunting pieces which came with excellent supplemental stories. They photos examined two abandoned sites: one a town forced into evacuation because of a domineering powerplant, and the other of a stretch of land uninhabited because of an unseen and perpetually burning coal fire below the surface. My favourite of this series was a jarring photo of where an asphalt road had been buckled and ruptured open, with smoke snaking out of the fissures.

The last series we saw was a personal exploration into the culture of racecar driving in Jess's home town. Jess said she wishes to represent the familial aspect of racing: the close knit bonds of the community and the actual families of the drivers.

Overall Jess seems to treasure and gravitate toward people. Even in the architectural photos, the absence of human beings (but evidence of their presence in the past) was what made pieces so powerful. She skillfully understands simplicity and abstraction. Her work is honest and personal, and it was wonderful to get a one-on-one tour through the evolution of her work.

SUCK UK

This is the best site of products I've ever seen- everything, and I mean everything, is just fantastic. I'm gonna get the tank for Stella- she'd love it. A few of my other favorites from the site include the Teddy Bear Lamp,

the Mix Tape USB Stick, 

Smoking Mittens, 

Postcard Aeroplane, 

and My Cuppa Tea.

Go to SUCK UK to see the rest of the projects- its totally worth your time.  

Carol Hummel

I came across this artist, Carol Hummel, while I was looking at the cozies on The Microwave.  She works in many fields: her website shows sculpture as well as prints and photographs, however I find myself most drawn to her sculpture work, especially her recent stuff.  

Grow Lights, 2004

Abandoned Barracks, Wendover Air Force Base, 2007

Tree Cozy, 2005

Down Under(s) 2, 2006

Check out her site- she does a great job explaining each project and provides a lot of pictures for each.

Cozies

Proof that cozies make everything adorable :)  Found all of these on The Microwave Project, which just happens to be an overall cool blog.