I Want To Live Where Soul Meets Body.

Hey Beautyful Dreamin' Children!
So, this weekend my hetero-lifemate Tiffany and I went roadtrippin' to Kansas City to see our dear pretty friend Kaycee tie the knot with her fella Aaron. We had some photo booth fun while we were there!! [Tiffany is with me on the strip on the right. She was my date. We got some funny looks, but whatevs man - we were smokin' foxy! Kaycee, the blushing bride, is in the middle strip on the right. Along with the pretty Maid of Honor, Leslie on the left (I'm in the back with Claire). Then me and my favorite person ever Claire on the right strip. I'm surrounded by the best human beings I swear!]

While in Kansas City, Tiffany and I walked (because it was brilliant outside all weekend) to the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art - which were right behind our hotel. I mean of course we walked to the museums! Poor Tiffany, though, she was stuck there with me the "OH! Look at That!!!then disappears in a poof of cloud"Girl. Not to mention my art history nerdness coming out on her.....

Me: Look Tiffany, that piece is trying to emulate Rauschenberg's White Paintings. See how the images projected on the wall are more important to the viewer than the piece itself?

Tiffany: ...err....what? That's cool. Oh, Look in the other gallery...Peacocks.......

Haha. Poor gal. My friend Carl is the same way in the gallery. We once sat in front of Monet's Waterlilies (at the Nelson) for about 45 minutes. Without. Saying. A. Word. High Five for ArtNerds!

Anyways, tangent, here are some more pictures from our trip. Kaycee's wedding was so pretty and I was honored to be asked to read a poem during the ceremony (Khalil Gibran's On Marriage), not to mention that we were served Thanksgiving dinner food while listening to symphonic covers of 90's classics. It was great! Along with the wedding and going to the museums, we also got lost on the way back home, we missed a turn somewhereorother, and in order to get to the Osceola Cheese Factory (being a tradition and everything for my Kansas City Trips) we had to drive on MO HWY B for like an hour and a half. No Big Deal, Right? Did I mention that MO HWY B is gravely and windy and way out in the BFE middle of nowhere? Yep. I got to see the sights of the cities of Rockville and Roscoe - and if we would've backtracked any further I could've seen Appleton City, Missouri. Never heard of any of those places til Saturday. LOL. It was beautiful though. Love Missouri land. Oh, and did I mention that we made it back to HWY 13 and the Cheese Factory - I call it the "Cheese Festival" - with 5 minutes to spare before they closed? Yep. That's how we do it.

This is Roxy Paine's beautiful, steel tree sculpture. It measures 58 ft tall. Holy Shit! Beautiful. It's the newest piece in the Nelson-Atkins Sculpture park. Love it.

Some of Yinka Shonibare's work. He's wonderful.

Petah Coyne's beautiful installation at the Kemper. It took up a whole gallery space by itself. We looked at it for like half an hour if not longer. Lovvveeee. The walls were even painted peacock blue. I want to do installation work so much!!!!

And of course, one of Claes Oldenburg's famous Shuttlecock sculptures at the Nelson (I lovve Oldenburg) and the wonderfully weird spider-looking (with me!) sculpture in front of the Kemper. All in all, it was a beautiful weekend. Except for when we first got lost. We were almost out of gas and I swear I heard the Deliverance banjos. But when that got sorted out, it got better. Not to mention the fact that I bought a huge book on Kiki Smith at the gift shop at the Nelson. See post below for info on her. She's amazing. If I get brave enough, I'm going to email her and pick her brain a bit. Maybe she'll answer? Ralph Steadman answered my email, so you never know. Happy Rest of The Week, Everyone!

P.S. Started plastering my sculpture. It looks amazing! More to come on that soon. Stay tuned.XO.

Some day You Will Ache Like I Ache.....My Influences List:

As mentioned in my last post [Click to read if you're lazy and don't wanna scroll down.] I am going to list my artistic influences and music/writer/movie influences for your reading pleasure. Plus, if my sketchbook ever gets lost, combusts, etc., this will be recorded on here and I can come back and read as well:

ARTISTS: [And What I Like About Their Respective Work]

[Pages From My Sketchbook. Click to Enlarge.]

1. Lee Bontecou

* organic shapes, autobiographical, the statements her work made about war, politics, being a woman in the 1960s, rhythm, autobiography, her drawings are as a free-spirited as her sculptures.

2. Barbara Hepworth [See this Month's Inspiration!]

* round organic shapes, simplicity, boldness as a woman in the art world.

3. Kiki Smith

* dealing with the figure, "what it's like to be a woman", organic shapes, boldness, use of plaster, use of material, rhythm of the figure.

4. Frida Kahlo

* colors used, autobiographical, deals with all issues in her life, bold, the theme of "womanhood", connected with her culture.

5. Judy Chicago

* ambiguity of shapes, "what it's like to be a woman", BOLD, different media used - not just painter; sculptor; installation, Feminism, autobiographical but also about all women in general.

MUSICIANS/WRITERS/MOVIES:

1. Ryan Adams

* his honesty, emotion, pain, autobiography.

2. Walt Whitman

* honest, autobiographical, true to himself as an artist, paints pictures with words.

3. Bob Dylan

* poetry, true to himself, autobiography, you can "hear the pain."

4. Wristcutters: A Love Story

* darkly funny, in your face about issues in life people don't want to talk about - mainly suicide, death, sadness, music, honest.

This is a movie based on the short-story by Etgar Keret [Kneller's Happy Campers], there is also a comic book adaptation. The score of the film is done by Bobby Johnston as well as including songs by famous suicides such as Del Shannon and Joy Divison (Ian Curtis). Plus music by Gogol Bordello. Plus Tom Waits is in it. I Love It. Watch This Scene.

5. A Cross Between Jeff Buckley, Allen Ginsberg, and the Counting Crows [Because I couldn't Decide]

* they were/are truthful about themselves and their art, went with their instincts even if that's not what people around them would expect them to produce or like. They inspire me daily.

[Ryan Adams]

"...I can smile in the face..of mankind..."

Interestingly enough all my art inspirations are women and all my musicmoviewriters are men. Food for thought.

People who almost made this list worth mentioning: Niki de Saint Phalle, Eva Hesse, Cindy Sherman, Sam Phillips (lady musician, not Sun Records), Miriam Schapiro, Faith Ringgold, and so so many more.

What Inspires You? XO.

Love Changes Everything.

....So in Fibers last week....WE MADE PAPER. Which I was informed, by my friend Jason, that usually 4th graders do that project. Well, we never did at my fascist school (...you know the one that recently banned but un-banned but still require parent permission for high schoolers to read? yeah, that one. if you want independent, intelligent children DON'T send them to Republic High School. Yeah, I said it. Be all you're told to be, Republic Highschoolers.), so I thought it was an awesome project!! And my paper looks like New Year's Eve threw up on it.

.......Somebody had the purple drink......



These are my two newest works:

Left, sewn cardboard. It is about 1.5 ft across and juts off the wall about 8 inches. My plan is to make another one. Bigger. WAY BIGGER. With some crocheted drapery hanging off the side......More to come on that.

Right, an old Hard Rock Cafe t-shirt I used to wear, when I was 15. It has a large bass and drum kit on the front. Whenever I used to wear it, my father would get really pissed and yell about how women can't play music and that hopefully when I were to grow up I would just marry a doctor and stay home and have babies. Did I mention that he was a peach? Yep. So I decided, first of all, fuck that noise about just being a stay at home wifemom (which is fine, just not for me. Unless you act like a martyr mother. That's annoying.) and secondly I am going to start making more autobiographical work. My 399 [that means "individual instruction"] teacher Sharon Harper [she's amazing. See For Yourself. Click.] gave us this great assignment last week. We had to list 5 artistic influences, and then 5 that were musicians, writers, and/or movies (my next post will be my list, i've decided). Then list what we liked about their work. After all of this, we were to draw the common threads between all of them. My main common thread? Autobiography. (Second place was Feminism, imagine that...) I never realized that I wanted to make work about my life. I thought I just wanted to make work. So the last few days I have been collecting old family photos to use as a source. My childhood was interesting to say the least. My mother was/is a saint, my father was a misogynistic Satan. Need I say more? Using these photos, I will make work (still out of cardboard and wire - I missed using cardboard so much!) describing my feelings during those times and during now. So, basically, on that Hard Rock t-shirt piece above I am en route to making a fucking giant vaginal shape popping right out of the center. Yeah, you read that right. Snap.

I'm excited for this project/research to start. More to come on that later....I'll keep you posted.......

In other news, Monday, I dressed like "Rock & Roll Harry Potter" [someone else's words] to school. I'm pretty cute, I just have to say:

Oh, I got new glasses by the way. I can actually see now without headaches! Who knew? Haha.

....Here's some method for your mischief:

What was that about women not being musical? Oh yeah, it was bullshit.

She loves art history as much as I do.
XO.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Silver Wings Shining In The Sunlight...

My newest sculpture. It is about 2ft tall and 3.5 ft wide. I have just a bit more sewing to do on it, then Hatch (the sculpture teacher) and myself are going to turn it upside down and fill it to the brim with plaster. Then i'm either going to gesso the outside and paint it OR just stain it with some wood stain. We'll cross that bridge when we get there!

Anyways, a lot of you ask me how I get my ideas - so, here is the page from my sketchbook [click to enlarge] to the final piece. I tend to work off the cuff so it's a rarity that I have a sketchbook page about it. I am working on that though. An artist isn't nearly as efficient without their book of ideas. We can't remember everything!!

In other news, I just ordered some super cute new (nerdy) glasses and they have yet to come. It has been 5 to 10 business days dangit!!! They better get here soon. Anyways they are black with a bit of a stripy pattern up the side (i believe it's red, blue, and orange). If i like them, I am so going to order another pair from the same website. ZenniOptical. Really good deals. I am so going to get a pair of cat-eye glasses!!

Hopefully in the near future (hah!), I will go see this at the Moxie [our local indie film venue]:

Oh, my goodness, Miranda July is so beautiful!!! And honest. I hope I'm influential and totally remain myself just like her in the art world someday. You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one......

Anyways, I'll stop swooning like a school girl.

Here's some pep for your step, well, actually not too peppy at all:

Ok, this is a Merle Haggard cover. I love me some Merle, but I have been listening to this version lately. Yes, it comes from the movie Country Strong. Don't judge me. I just like the music. Enjoy. And ladies, you're welcome. He's foxy.
Pixies cover. This version can be seen in the film, "It's Kind of A Funny Story." Pretty good (the film). Lighter take on mental illness. I listen to this song on a daily basis. And if I ever get married [that's a big IF because A) he'd have to be quite persuasive and B) I'm holding true to my pact on not getting married until EVERYONE can legally) I would have this song play as I walk down the aisle. Yep. Beautiful. Plus whoever made this video did a great job with the old film matching up to the song.

I'll end by showing you a gift my friend Ashley gave me recently. She made it. And i LOVE it.

I'll probably go see The Future with Ashley and her manfriend Andy. They make amazing ice cream. Hope you all have a great rest of the week!!
XO.

Outside, Outside The World....Out There You Don't Hear The Echoes & Calls....

Hey, Beautiful Friends!!

So it's September!! Yay! I am so excited for fall. I am writing this right now with all the windows in my house open. Lloovee.

So, tonight was my first night to work as a lab monitor in Brick City. It was great! I mean tonight I was all alone for about 3 hours (slightly creeped out since I just watched Insidious the other night on FatNight with my hetero-lifemate Tiffany), then my teacher Duat came and put me to work. I moved furniture, dusted, the works. Every Sunday from 2 to 8 PM, I will be at Brick City sitting, dusting, cleaning, and working on my own artwork. "Keeping watch over the City" if you will. My brother brought me chinese food tonight (that's my fortune above. It made me smile) and then we had an Art Party. It was so much fun! When we were kids, Jason was always the most amazing artist; he would draw Civil War soldiers and Wildlife - he's the realist and I'm the abstract one. But tonight, to my surprise, I gave him some drawing lessons! I think after he got the hang of "the rules" he enjoyed himself. He hasn't really drawn in awhile, and I'm really glad he got a chance to express himself. We just stood around and drew and sang along with the Counting Crows. Talk about refreshing. I think we both needed it.

At first he was just drawing out of his head and I was sewing on my latest sculpture, then we both decided to draw a plaster-casted model of a man with an orange electrical cord around his neck. Here's my finished piece. I got really into it at the end, so I decided to add some paint to it. I haven't painted in ages. It was fun!

The last two Thursdays in a row I have stayed up all night with Miss Tiffany watching creepy movies. We pretty much live like every day is Halloween! Last Thursday we were watching movies and doing her laundry because she was leaving the next day to go visit her aunts in St. Louis. We put the clothes in to wash at her apartment's community machine and then put on a creepy movie. When we went to put them in the dryer - the dryer had been turned off for the night!! Of course it was 3:20 AM, but Tiffany told me that the machines usually stay on all night. So we walked to the next complex and tried to use their dryers only to find the same thing had happened!! Apparently, the all-night dryer policy has been thrown out. So, we hung up all her laundry in her bathroom, on the kitchen table, on chairs, back of the couch, pretty much everywhere. Did I mention she hadn't done laundry in like 3 weeks? Haha!! So anyways, here are some pictures of us doing that. I thought they were funny. I'm very proud of the sock mountain I made on her kitchen table.....


She's pretty much my favorite person sometimes! I gotta stop staying up that late on nights before school though (one night I didn't go to sleep til 8 AM with class at 10:45....) or create another day where I can just sleep. Haha I'll try to work on both.

Alright, I'm off to read the book Carl just let me borrow. It's about Zen Buddhism and inner insecurity vs security. It should be suupperr interesting. And, I'd just like to say that I really really really love Carl and his wife, Kathleen. The last 4 weekends in a row (that's a month, people) they have made me dinner and entertained me. They're kind of like parents. Haha which is funny since they are both younger than me by a year. Either way, we've had Art Parties, School Parties (Kathleen teaches the 1st grade) and movie nights. Not to mention "Fort Night"......

(Carl is at the bottom on the left, and Kathleen is the one taking the picture. The other people in the picture are some of my artfriends Ashley [to the right of me], her manfriend Andy [top left] and the every hilarious Christopher [bottom right].) We are hoping the have another Fort Night in about a Fortnight. Hah!!

Here's some drugs fo yo brain:

This is Jeff's version of a Porter Wagoner song. Holyshititssobeautiful. I just rediscovered it this last weekend. You're welcome.

Off to cleanse my spirit. Or just read. Either way, Love You Guys. My Cat Is Beautiful.

XO.

Oh, I Can't Control Myself...

So, Mischief.

Last week I mentioned I was (as usual) up to no good. It was because my prettyful friend Amy had been out of town for about a week. I decided to (and, she told me later that she expected it. I guess I semi-spilled the beans one night after too much vodka. Dangit! Next. Time.) fill her room to the brim with balloons taped from the ceiling and have a pinata (in the form of a green monster) in the corner filled with gum and toothpaste. Although expecting it, she loved it just the same. I had a good time setting it up, except for almost passing out haha! 30 balloons in an hour! Whew!

Here is the latest sculpture. I hung it up one way, then flipped it the other way - just testing my options. From this sculpture I've learned that I LOVVEEEE yarn as a covering for the wire. It shows the "skeleton" way better than any other fabric I've ever tried. The only thing about this particular sculpture is that I Hate the yarn I used. I just had a lot of it. So my advisor, Sean, and I talked about it and I am going to try and use yarn of such colors that will show off the different planes and make it even more 3-dimensional than it already is. My teacher Sharon thinks I should go to the YARN STORE (I had no idea we had one, I think I just went down an old lady status) and scope out what kind of yarn I should use. She also wants to teach me and/or have me learn how to make my own yarn, dye it, and basket weave. HOLY SHIT. It's like i'm going to college in the 1970s. YES.

So, right now I am sitting on my bed making 5 wire miniatures of the above sculpture (it's about 3 ft long by 2 ft) so I can test different yarn on it. Tomorrow among my not working, I am going to go have an Art Party with my best painter friend, Carl. I am so excited! He usually knows exactly what advice to give me, so a lot of work should get done.

In my Sculpture II class, I've decided that I'm going to make a wire sculpture (like the above one, basically it's my main shape that I've been making/working on the past year) but use muslin and plaster. Then I was thinking if all goes as planned (I am so excited - I love Plaster!) I will stain it with something. More to come on that later.

Here's some jam for your brain:

ok, call me a nerd but HERE is the same song played on Gilmore Girls (which I have been watching on DVD recently like a madwoman) by Lane's band (Hep Alien). I really love the vocals and how they picked up the beat. Oh, music nerd.

Alright, off to make more sculptures I go. My hands are going to look gnarly when I'm 90.

XO.

P.S. The First week of school went great!! I think I'm going to love Fibers class.

Famous Eyes.

Ok Ok I know it's been, as the kid from the Sandlot would say, FOR-EV-VERRRRR - but i've been busy kids. First of all, I've been celebratin' the 42nd anniversary of Woodstock (today is day #2, actually according to the time - it's day #3 of that anniversary). God, I love it. I don't care how much it makes me a dork, I lovvvee it. The music, the people, the solidarity. Long Live Woodstock Nation. I've been celebrating all week - listening to music from the festival, wearing flowers in my hair, and doing other things of that nature that might connect me with my hippie brethren..cough cough....

Secondly, I got and started a new poetry notebook. My first writing in it? A eulogy dedicated to my old notebook. Check the title of the new notebook [click to enlarge, this blog doesn't do justice for some pictures - always click to enlarge]:

I told ya'll I'd name it that. And I did.

In good news, i've been writing in it quite a bit. Need to even more though. I will probably take it to school with me - WHICH STARTS NEXT WEEK!!!!!!

EXCITEEEMMEENNTTTT.

I would say i'm giddy "like a school girl" but shit man i AM a school girl :)

Only 3 more semesters to go bitches!

In even greater news, Ryan Adams just released news that he will be dropping a new album in mid-October. Did I mention I'm giddy like a school girl?! Yeessss. I once got accused of only listening to "the same music" all the time by my friend Maddox, well when it comes to Ryan Adams that is totally true. And will remain true because he's my fuckin' hero. Keep on singing, DRA. We love you.

On this last Monday, it would have been my grandmother's 90th birthday if she hadn't left us 2 summers ago. Miss you, Grammar. Here's a photo of her and her eldest brother, Woodrow. She was a beautiful lady. She's also one of my heroes.

Beyond all of that, Today I learned that I can blow up 30 balloons in under an hour. I can't tell you how I know that yet because I caused some mischief and I don't want to ruin the surprise....but here's a small peek:

Hopefully nobody can recognize that room....just yet....bahahahaha. I will be able to explain tomorrow. Man, blowing up balloons really chaps your lips let me just tell you. I felt so light-headed when I came home it was almost like I participated in more activities that would connect me to my hippie brethren [insert bong bubble sounds]....

Here's the RA song I've had on repeat most of the day (except for when I was Woodstock-ing out). From the album Love Is Hell, one of his best ones. Love it.

"Strung out like some Christmas lights/Out there in the Chelsea night...."

Definitely felt that way before...

Alright, probably need to go to bed. Got up early today because I was being responsible and got the tags on my car changed. They were only a month late this year. Haha. Sleepy.

Night. Love you.

XO.