Monday, June 28, 2010

I Present to You an Artist



Portugal weaving artist Magdalena Abakanowicz caught my eye today while I was reading "Thinking Through Craft," and I think she can be appreciated by everyone. Here fiber work transcends the language to knowledge about fiber. I recommend just looking at her resume (if you don't like her work)! This woman wasn't messing around with her career. Here is a teaser 9 (that is NINE) Biennials'! I am just going to sit in awe over her work for awhile and take it all in. I am left speechless, so I have no words at the moment relating her work directly. I hope my followers take a look at her and enjoy.
Click HERE for her website and HERE for her weavings.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

A discussion to help one leads me to help myself

I have spoken about my brother being a world traveler before and how he is taking photos and writing along his way. Now that he is back in the states he is having to edit what he wants to show on his up-coming website. I had the honor tonight to discuss with him about his work.

I can see how he struggles with editing his photos. For one he has many talents, so the way he lives his life is reflected in his photographs. As we were scrolling through many photos of all different people and places I realized that he is capturing the life, the moment, of a person or place that tells a story. I see much of my own work with in his. We both are stopping time interpreting it in our own ways.

It was a long run in a circle with him, as with talking with any artist, because he kept wanting to show me more and more pictures he had taken. (This I have come to find is because they know not how to speak about their work, because they don't know why they make what they do.) What we came up with was that he takes pictures that stress a story. Certain buildings stress a language with the ware-and-tare, certain faces have more of a story to tell (either a tourist or a working man), and the language of water against a surfboard.

It was awesome to see him hit the light bulb of yeah that's why I take the shots I do! It was worth the run around to be able to help him out so he can go in a direction with more meaning the next time he goes abroad. Helping him along with recent readings have lead me to ponder the thought of becoming a teacher of art.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

YaowZahhhhh!

Um I didn't realize the trip I am about to travel... Now that I have my license I am now driving up to Maine for my exciting summer course. What I didn't realize were the hours that I will be spending in a car... by myself...

I will give the low down.
The course ends on a Friday and MICA classes start up on the following Monday (or Tuesday... either way I have work on Monday in Baltimore, but need to be back ASAP to get my things out of storage). From Maine to Baltimore is 13 hours! I will be passing through 8 states in one day! Usually when this happens I am in the back seat sleeping. Now I know how my mother feels. OH! AND the car that I will be traveling in is a 1990 something Honda that only drives well on flat plains. So um yeah... that maybe my down fall?... knock on wood!

Now that I am thinking about the route I may just take my sweet time and stop in Boston. Seeing as I have never been. Maybe this will be more of a learning experience then what I have planed out? Who knows?

All I know for now is that I am going to start restoring my ipod for the trip with good music!... and maybe try out driving to Jersey most the way. You know test drive... it's only an 8 hour drive from North Carolina.

I Present to You a Website

Hehehe This website is great! I kinda want some prints from them. Hope you find it as entertaining as I did.
Click HERE to enjoy!

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Success in Travel

A trip to Florida presented itself a few happy moments.
Witnessing nature at its best I saw dolphin swim close to 20 feet away from the sail boat I was on and a yellow boxed puffer fish that I could have caught with my hands it was so close and very adorable! Also seeing sea anemones and a herring. All brought me great happiness to see them while on a daily trip. This will always be the one thing I miss about Florida.

While exploring the intercostal I hoped to find a pretty sea shell that I could take back with me, and after a great search I found a spot loaded with conk shells! I searched for one that wasn't housing anyone and finally came to a success! It was huge! Bigger then my hands. And perfect for inspiration! On top of the shell was moss growing on top of it, but once you peered into the shell you saw the lushish shinny pink of the shell. Just wonderful for the idea of decay of a body.

Other then nature, I was able to see friends of the family and succeeded in finally getting my licenses! All in all it was a good trip for getting important things done. Oh my mother and I picked up my brother from Florida as well. Now we can finally say he is home from Costa Rica! Welcome Home Bro!

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Newly Discovered


Hearing about the oldest shoe as I was drifting off I took note and looked up the information when I became more cognizant. Upon reading that the leather shoe began to harden when exposed to air I felt a connection to the story. As those who know my work know that decay is my main focus. This single show that was found was preserved for 5,500 years, and now that urban man has found it the shoe is rapidly starting to loose its "fresh" quality. The single shoe is being sent to either Switzerland or Germany where it will then be preserved and returned to Armenia to be displayed.

Upon reading the article I found out that it is NOT the oldest shoe, it is the oldest LEATHER shoe. The oldest shoe found was in a Missouri cave and the material is a woven plant fiber.

These were very interesting finds on a day I was feeling sick. I am glad that I over heard that, because earlier in the day I missed out on a weaving guild because I was sleeping. TISK TISK.
Anyway here are the sites to my findings.
Summery of the different types of shoes