Art Rat

It's Been Awhile..

2012-01-04T13:54:00.000-08:00

Well. It's been a while. I've been busy with my new job and trying to get rid of my house.

My art making has unfortunately been on hold. I keep thinking all the ideas are swarming around in my head and eventually they'll converge and explode in one brilliant series.

During my MFA Thesis defense - my professors said that both my strength and weakness was that I work chaotically in different media. I feel like my whole graduate career was me consolidating things and I am proud of where I ended up. But I still feel like things should be simplified more. That eventually it'll all be boiled down into work that is more cohesive.

With all that said, I had this idea for a series of portraits, but instead of faces - there would just be hair. I made a few digital sketches. Here is the most successful one:

You get the idea.

Anyhow, I planned to make these into paintings or drawings or hybrids.

Then. Today. I found this artist: Maia Flore

Check out these images from her "Big Head Poetry" series:

BLARG!!! That was my idea...kinda sorta...almost.

I think I'll still go with it, but I need to hone the idea down more.

Maia has made a hair head and added a bow or something for the mouth. I don't want my peeps to have mouths. I also would like the hair to be more ornate and frivolous looking.

I have this chart that I keep a list of all my art ideas on -I looked at it yesterday and I can't remember what half of them mean. :/ Hopefully this semester I'll get back to work!

Realistic Drawing + Gone with the Wind

2011-10-21T12:05:00.000-07:00

I decided to get out and about today, so I went to the Arkansas Arts Center. I haven't been in a while. My favorite part of the art center is always the contemporary work. They have a pretty good group of drawings. Today in the "contemporary" space there was a group of work that the center acquired in the 1980's. A few drawings I have seen before, but there was plenty of goodies that were new to me.

Here are some of my favorites. Sorry about the iffy quality, all I had was my phone.

"Descent", Douglas Safranek, Pastel and Acrylic on Paper

"Skeins III", Gerardo Pita, Pencil on Paper

"Melanie Across Chair II", Marcia Isaacson, Graphite on Paper

"Fumeur au Cigar", Felix de Recondo, Pencil on Paper

"Trading Heros for Ghosts", Jeri Metz, Graphite on Paper

"Untitled" (Detail), Bill Vuksanovich, Charcoal on Paper

"Untitled", Bill Vuksanovich, Charcoal on Paper

"Untitled", Stephen Hale, Graphite on Paper

There was a ton more, but I am always ALWAYS drawn to the realistic pencil/charcoal work. I love it. When I see things like these, I want to just make make make draw draw draw.

I need to get some LARGE paper!!!

I also popped into the Arkansas Historic Museum. I just love that place. They always have great art and great artifacts!

I didn't realize, but there was a whole show on Gone with the Wind that included a bunch of costumes, set sketches, advertisements, and props. There was even an interesting video of different actresses auditioning for the role of Scarlet O'Hara.

Here are a couple of items I found particularly interesting:

This is the dress the actress Cammie King wore when she played Scarlett and Rhett's daughter "Bonnie Blue Butler". The interesting thing about it is, specifically it was worn during the scene when she fell off the horse and died. Here is what the caption said:

"Young Cammie was not told that her character "Bonnie" was to die in the film. In the film Cammie was doubled by an adult male little person for her fatal ride. On the day "Bonnie" was to be fatally thrown from her horse, Cammie was visiting the set accompanied by her mother. Almost immediately , Cammie spotted her costume being worn by (what she thought was) another little girl and came breathlessly running back to her mother exclaiming "MOMMY! MOMMY! There's another girl over there wearing my dress ..and she's smoking a cigar!"

Here is the dress worn by Vivien Leigh in the"Attack of Shantytown" Scene.

Upstairs, they featured several visual artists. I really liked the work of James Volkert. He had a variety of things which were mostly oil paintings in interesting wooden and metal display contraptions. What really caught my eye was his mini installation of several Vincent Van Gogh Action Figures:

"16 Final Paintings, July 1890"

All the Vincents are slightly posed differently. The oil paintings are reproductions of van Gogh's work created by Volkert.

Pretty fun.

New Art +Art I've Been Seeing

2011-10-16T15:40:00.000-07:00

I've been up to some art lately.

New Theme? Teeth and Lips.

I have dreams about my teeth falling out quite often. I looked it up on dreammoods.com and it says that it has to do with perfectionism. Sounds about right.

Anyhow, one of my fairy tale dresses was about teeth. I thought I'd expand.

I made these to composite shots on a photo editor of mouths/lips:

I wanted to make paintings of them.

Here is the first painting. It is acrylic. 20 x 30 Inches

I'm not totally convinced of the gold color, but for now I'm done. I'm going to be participating in the Local Artist Showcase at the Russellville Arts Center in November and the Art Walk in December. I'm not sure which one this will show up at - or both. I want to paint the other image as well.

I see these as a series.

I'm happy with my painting, but I really like the juicy texture of the photographs, especially the top one. I'm tempted to just have them printed really large.

I've also been aching to make more soft sculpture. I began by dying some white linen I had around. I've been reading up on tea tying things and I thought, for a nice subtle base for drawing on, a tea dyed surface would be super duper.

Here I used some Raspberry Zinger tea for a nice pink color.

Here I used some Earl Grey Tea for a Tan Color.

Here are the final products. You can see the contrast to the white original color. I really like the tan, but I was a little sad that most of the red washed out.

I didn't really know what to do with my new fabric so I ended up with this:

Yes. It is a tooth. I had teeth on the brain. I'm not sure if I should make 35 More (Did you know we have 36 teeth? I didn't until this project) or If I should make it into something else.

I keep imagining a whole mouth full worth dangling from the air like they are falling like a Damian Ortega piece:

I don't know. I'll have to work on the idea. I wish I could have a room full of sexy lip paintings and then a really gross installation in the middle of broken teeth.

On a slightly different subject. I was reading up on Boom! the other day and found this Korean Artist Spunky Joe. I love LOVE her drawings. I love portraiture but I'm constantly struggling with how to make my portraits more interesting, narrative, and contemporary. How do I push them beyond mere representation???

Check them out:

NEEEATTT Huh?

Fire Juggling, Clubs, Conway Artsfest

2011-10-01T15:56:00.000-07:00

So I went out to Conway Artsfest this Friday and check it out - fire twirlers and a fire breather!

Fire and Baton Twirlers from Central Arkansas Baton Twirling. They are going to come do a demo for one of my classes in the next couple of weeks, I'm so excited!

This guy was crazy! He had burnt all his arm hair off by the end of the night.

Here he is licking the fire.

I should mention here, the main reason I set out for Artsfest was this band, Don't Stop Please.
There are several people in this band, as you can see, and they all seem to play 3+ instruments. I had intended to see them last weekend in Eureka, but I didn't make it. They were really great, and super entertaining to watch them switch instruments up. I look forward to seeing them again.

I heard there was some juggling supplies at Mr. Magic, a magic store - I'm sure you deducted that. Anyhow, they had a limited selection. I was hoping for a staff or poi, but they kept to mostly traditional supplies. I got some juggling clubs. I'm getting the hang of them! I can alread do 5-10 in a row before I knock myself in the face.

Imagine this, but in motion. I'm pretty pumped about it. They only had the training clubs- which as you can see come in the primary colors. Hopefully I'll work up to some plain white ones.

Bill Cosby, Cats, Pancake, and Snuggly Panda's

2011-09-28T05:26:00.001-07:00

Stuff I found on thedailywh.at. If you don't read it - start.
1. This guy hacked a machine knitter to create a sweater with Bill Cosby wearing a sweater with Bill Cosby wearing a.... you get the idea. Infinity.
Click here to see it in action and hear the dude talk about it.

2. Hungry? It is breakfast time...or at least while I'm typing this. Check out these pancake pillows by designer Todd von Bastiaans. They are 26 inches in diameter and are filled with 2 inches of tempurpedic- like foam. For a small price of $750 you can get one. No worries, buy 2 and get 10% off.

They are digitally printed both top and bottom.

They even have "specialty" ones like these - one with fur around it and one with flannel.

Buy them here.

3. Remember that movie "Message in a Bottle"? Here's a man who has thrown 4,800 of bottles with messages into the ocean over the past 20 years. Surprisingly, he's received more than 3,100 responses since he began. Click here to watch him talk about his bottles and the responses he's gotten.

4. Have a groovy cat? By him this awesome cat scratcher:

Buy here. Only 15.oo pounds ($23.50 US)

5. Lastly, here's some cute baby Pandas napping:
From The Telegraph : "A group of giant panda cubs nap at a nursery at the research base of the Giant Panda Breeding Centre in Chengdu, in southwest China's Sichuan province. China has launched its once-a-decade panda census, trying to determine how many of the endangered animals live in the wild amid efforts to boost numbers. The census - the fourth since it was first launched in the 1970s - is also expected to ascertain pandas' living conditions, ages and any change in habitat. According to the count a decade ago, there were 1,596 pandas left in the wild in China, with 1,206 of them living in Sichuan."

My New Obsession: Fire Juggling

2011-09-26T16:53:00.000-07:00

So, I've been juggling for a while - actually for 20 years now. Man that makes me feel old.

I taught myself in elementary school.

I count it as one of those "only kid" skills.

This weekend I discovered a whole new world: Fire Juggling.

I have heard of fire performance before, why didn't I put it together?!

I'm all about this. Pretty sure it's going to be my new thing. The next time you see me, I'll be a street performer with fire staffs, or balls, or poi.

Check it out, click here to see a video.

Here they art. The fire stays on the inside and your hands are safe. Spiffy Huh?
Then. I found out there is a fire staff: Video Here

Amazing right?

And then it occurred to me. This is a manly version of flagline!

Yes. Perhaps I should dig up my old flagline photos. It wouldn't be hard to find. Mom has both of them on the giant wall of Rachel above the dining room table. Yes. We have a wall of Rachel. There are other people on there, but..you know. Again, I was an only child.

Anyhow....They Even have LED STAFFS!!!!!

This would probably be my safer bet...

Though I'm afraid of attracting a troupe of ravers

With Glowsticks..

And techno music...

Is this a risk I'm willing to take... I'm not sure.

So Guess what did I do today?!?! As soon as I discovered the fire staff I found the first staff I could find - which happened to be an old curtain rod - and I went to the front yard to practice. Amazingly I still remember most of the moves. Exciting. Now...I just need to buy a fiery one. And some flame retardant clothing.

I also practiced my juggling, which after so many years of the PHS talent show - was not rusty at all.

For whatever reason, I feel juggling fire balls is not as exciting as the fire staff - what do you think?

Lastly, I discovered Poi. I had never heard of this before. I'll give you the definition from the Home of Poi, which by the way is your ultimate resource for all juggling needs.

" 'Poi' is the Maori word for 'ball' on a cord. Poi is a form of juggling where the balls are swung around the body"

So there you go. Video Here

Here are the fire poi

Dudes. Right?

And again - they have LED poi:

I hear the techno already....*Head bang Head bang

I gotta learn this. A guy from work said he knew a girl that he could get me in touch with that could possibly teach me. Yay!

I'm currently controlling my impulse to buy one of each. Luckily (or unluckily) they are all expensive enough to not impulse buy. Plus...what about all those other things I was going to learn...

Like the violin I have

or the Unicycle.

The unicycle could totally work with all this.

Excuse me while I air up the tires....

Halloween Decor and Baum Show Shots

2011-09-25T10:35:00.001-07:00

Halloween is my favorite holiday, and after Christian brought me a glowing green skull and hands, I figured it was time to decorate the house.

The whole thing has been a group effort. Everyone has been giving me spooky decorations.

The Table - with Mom's donated Runner and mat.

Lily is dressed and ready to party.

RIP. I had to purchase a headstone. It was the least I could do for him.

My neighbor gave me the huge pumpkin. I was so excited. I also picked up that hanging ghost - it flies back and forth on a cord.

Here's the whole thing - and Carl Posing for the pic. Who knows, perhaps I'll add more.

I went by the Baum this week to check out the show. Here are some images of my Birds installed at the Baum Gallery:

My friend and classmate Beth Post also is in the show with several of her illustrations.

Dog Painting+ Artist's Rat Tail

2011-09-23T17:00:00.000-07:00

So I was browsing Etsy.com because I'm thinking about creating a selling page.
Lo and behold what do I find? This little Gem from seller lacymccune :

Fidelity and a Rat Tail

Info from Artist:
"This is an oil painting of a dog named Hannah. She has a beard, which is represented with a chuck of hair. My hair, in fact. It isn't gross, rather, it's a dedicated rat tail that took me 2 years to grow. I made this sometime in 2008. This piece was chosen by PMCA (Pasadena Musuem of California Art) in January 2011 for a month long exhibition.
The size is 13" x 16". It's painted on canvas board."

Your OWN rat tail? Really?
But this is no regular gross rat tail, it's a work of dedicated care and labor that took you two years to grow.
Of course. Why not?
Were you growing specifically for this piece - to honor your deceased bearded dog?
That was nice of you.

And only $250. What a steal.
BTW did the Pasedena Museum know that was your rat tail?

Baum Gallery Flyer: Connections Show

2011-09-21T15:19:00.000-07:00

A Fond Farewell: Portraits

2011-09-18T06:57:00.000-07:00

Check Out Flickr Stream on Right for More.

The Fond Farewell

2011-09-16T05:25:00.001-07:00

So tomorrow my mother is having an epic garage sale. This garage sale, like none before, holds a lot of my childhood toys. I have boxes and boxes that have been in the attic for years.

Luckily I was able to save my giant shark from the selling tables:

Carl and Sharkie Napping

Long story, short. There has been a lot of nostalgia between mom and I as we discuss what should go and what we should keep. The conundrum is... I don't plan on having children. While I would like to adopt sometime, there really is no one to save these things for. As a 27 year old, I don't need - and don't have room for - an attic full of toys. It's time to let them go.

In all this, the Barbies have been gotten back out. While we have decided not to sell the Barbies quite yet, they still have been the focus of many a fond conversation -

Which one was my favorite? Where is that one with the long black hair? Where are their outfits? etc.

In the spirit of the garage sale and the passing of my old toys, I decided it would be appropriate to take a portrait of each Barbie as a document for when I do sell them. Here is the first, She was my test Subject.

I need to work out lighting. Luckily, they are all dressed. The last time I saw them, they were all naked. Now they are dressed. Looks like mom felt bad for them. Anyhow, Now they are ready for their photoshoots. I have at least 40 Barbies and 4 Ken Dolls, so this will be an adventure. I need to get some different backdrops and a good spotlight, or at least work with the one I used above and get it perfect. I have also thought about putting some clear acrylic on their eyes so they will have a wet reflective quality. I might try this with the "test" Barbie - seeing she was not one in the original pack.

I made the shirt she is wearing, by the way. I have some Ideas that involve small clothing so I've been sewing.

There are many many more to come...

Art I've Been Seeing

2011-09-14T16:00:00.000-07:00

"Processed Potatoes" by Daniel Eatock

In order to create this realistic potato sculpture, the artist Danial Eatock, chewed a whole bag of potato chips, spit the chew out, and formed it into this potato. Who knew that through eating, the chips time-traveled back to their potato state.

Just like the bag says - Nothing artificial.

More Pics and Info here.

"Island" by Yotaka Sone

This fantastically carved landscape of Manhattan is carved from Marble. I remember stone carving. This thing gives me hand cramps just looking at it.

More pics and info here.

Behold.

Lots of Shows Coming Up!

2011-09-12T10:54:00.000-07:00

Here is what's going on with my work!

1. The Arkansas League of Artist's Annual Juried Show opened this past Friday at the Cantrell Gallery in Little Rock. I won second place in the portrait/figure category for "Ashley" and the People's Choice Award for "Hannah." I was very excited to have the only two graphite drawings in the show. The Juror, Stephen Cefalo, was my first MFA Mentor. I enjoyed catching up with him at the opening.
I'm super thankful for all my friends and family that came out and voted for me for the People's Choice. Ya'll are the bestest!

"Hannah"

"Ashley"

You can see the whole show online here.
The show will be up until October 29th. You should go see it in person:)

Here are some pics from the opening:

"Ashley" with the Awesome Ribbons they gave out.

My friends came out to support! Christian, Me, Ryan, and Stephan

My Niece Hannah next to her portrait.

2. My Mentor Holly Laws chose me to show with her at the Baum Gallery of Art's show: The Fifteenth Year: Connections. She specifically requested my birds (The Flock) :) The show includes a professor from each medium in the art department, along with an Alumni (that's me) and a working artist in the medium.

The show will run at the Baum Gallery in Conway on the UCA campus from September 15th - October 27th.

"The Flock"

Opening reception: Thursday, Sept 15, 4-6pm

Artists’ Reception & 15th Anniversary Celebration: Friday, Oct 7, 4:30-7:30 pm

3. Lastly, I just found out I got into the Small Works on Paper Exhibition. This is a great exhibition which will tour the state during 2012 and go to at least 10 locations. I'm so excited to be a part of this. It is a great opportunity. I got a painting/collage in called "Walker." The opening reception is in January sometime at the William F. Laman Gallery in North Little Rock. I'll update this when I get the dates.

I have entered a few more shows. I hope this continues and I can keep showing regularly.

As for art-making. I have been working on more handkerchiefs. I also working with some ideas involving photography. My MFA buddy Jarrod has been helping me with the technicals seeing that I'm just at the point-and-click knowledge point.

Long story short, I'm trying to find my post-grad pace. I'm getting there :)

Art I've been Seeing

2011-09-05T06:16:00.000-07:00

This Looks Like That
The Collages of Ruth Van Beek look like Stephanie Metz Sculpture.

A long while ago I ran across the creepy zoomorphic sculptures of Stephanie Metz. These wonderfully veined felted and furred abstractions "attempt to distill the essence of a creature."

Amorphozoa #8, Felted Wool, Hair,air,, , Hair

Amorphozoa #5, Felted Wool, Hair,,

Amorphozoa #1, Felted Wool,

Lorica #5, Felted Wool, Aluminum Mesh

Pretty sure the last one is part of another series, but to me, it seemed like a bedazzled version, so I thought I'd include it.

Anyhow, I was reading Boooooom! Which you all should read, and found the collages of Ruth van Beek. These simple hibernators are created from simply folding creature pics, resulting in strange and friendly hairy animal blobs.

Untitled (Mocca), Collage, 2010

Untitled (Gold), Collage, 2011

And my favorite....Untitled (Red), Collage, 2011

Strangely similar right?
Anyway.

Two Views of Marriage: The Modern Woman

I also read about the Textile Arts Center's Artist in Residence exhibition in which an artist named Julia Ramsey created this lovely installation called "Engaged".

Here is the text about the installation on the site:

"ENGAGED is an installation that explores a modern woman’s ambiguity toward marriage. Two wedding gowns, two story lines, two slogans. IN THE AIR, a knitted dress of golden thread and tulle suspended above ground; TIED-UP, a crocheted gown bound in a web of ribbon and rope; two outlooks on the trappings of an age-old tradition…"

I love this idea. The above image is of course the TIED-UP portion. IN THE AIR is seen below.

I think TIED UP is right on the money, though I'm not totally convinced of IN THE AIR. I have been asking myself "What is the modern woman?" This commentary discusses the two views of marriage - the traditional view - IN THE AIR, and a new view some women have, that marriage is bondage. Most of my friends hold the IN THE AIR point of view...but through all the wedding planning, scrapbooks, and invitations that I've witnessed, this piece doesn't seem to sum it up. While yes, the idea of "wedding" and "marriage" is golden and is elevated, it seems like a contradiction that the "traditional" view is so stiff and ridged, while the "modern" view is so soft and feminine. Perhaps this is a purposeful juxtaposition by the artist. Perhaps this tells us the viewer how she thinks.

Regardless, I LOVE LOVE LOVE the tied up version. I've worked with similar ideas in my work and this is one of those occasions where I think - she did it, that is perfect.

UNFORTUNATE PHOTO OF THE DAY

Photographer Tyler Shields has been under recent scrutiny for his photo series "Even Barbie Bruises." Featuring Glee's Heather Morris, the photographs show issues of domesticity, abuse, bondage, and revenge. Overall, they just seem scattered and strange.

The photo causing the uproar is this portrait showing Heather with a lovely shiner. I think this is another case of bad titling. If the piece was titled anything else that didn't have to do with bruised Barbies, the sarcastic link to fallen beauty would not be so flaunted.
Sounds like a publicity stunt to me. And what was Heather thinking?

Here are a couple more pics from the series. Click here to see the whole set. You really need to see all of them to make a sound opinion.

A non-committed nod towards 1950's nostalgia, with a big pinch of playful bondage, throw in a tad of spousal abuse and revenge and voila - the series...

Commentary by blogger/critic Piper Wiess: "Isn't turning a young actress into a doll enough of a talker without also beating her up? At this point, it's not even worth a debate to add more fuel to the fire. What needs to happen is an internal snub from the fashion industry to assert that that kind of attention-baiting is unacceptable. It's become an industry-standard publicity measure, and one that wouldn't fly in any other field. Fashion thrives on controversy, but abuse against women isn't even controversial, it's just off limits."

Since the uproar, Shields has apologized and stated that 100% of the proceeds from the three photographs printed of the portrait will go to a domestic violence outreach.
Good save, kind of.

A Rose by any other name is still...Children's Lingerie?

2011-08-17T06:08:00.000-07:00

Alright, It has happened again. Another company has been slammed for creating lingerie for children. It's called "Loungerie" and it's created by the french company "Jours Apres Lunes."
See the whole collection here.

I'm thinking the problem is in the name - Loungerie. It's a little too close for comfort.
The actual product? Panties and tanks, also little bras. The bras are a problem too, the kids they are made for generally are too small for boobs.

They also have a problem with their promo shots. I don't see a problem with them. I was a little girl, I played dress up, I had ruffled panties. These don't disturb me. I can see where they are pushing the line a bit.

Long story short - I think if they just called these things "Underwear" and just had pics of the clothes and not the girls in the clothes - it would not be a problem.
This is not lingerie.
I do not see anything wrong with this.

Also, these little girls have their hair fixed a little, BUT they are not overly made up. I'm sure they are wearing a little makeup just for photography sake, but they do not look like little women or whores or whatever. Good for them

Compare to the recent controversial shoot of 10 year old model Thylane Blondeau for vogue:

This kid has all her clothes on and I have so much more of a problem with this shoot than I do the "Loungerie."

If you remember a while back "Oh la la Couture" was started by Noah Cyrus that supposedly was making kids lingerie and it was just tanks and tutu's. Since then, they have removed a lot of clothing pics from their website. If you want to see more, go to the site above and go to the "press" tab. There you can see stars and stars kids in tutu's.

ANOTHER SNOW WHITE MOVIE????

2011-08-05T07:49:00.001-07:00

And that makes 3....

Looks like Disney has been working on their own film - a far east warrior action film called "Order of the Seven":
"In this iteration, the seven are a 19th century-set disparate band of international warriors belonging to a centuries-old order who have lost their way. Their meeting with an Englishwoman being chased by an ancient evil is the catalyst for their redemption.

While the project is set in China, the warriors will be from locales near (the U.S.) and far (Russia), and each warrior will have a unique fighting style."

In case you've lost track at this point - You also have "Snow White and the Huntsman" by universal studios with Kristen Stewart and Charlize Theron.

And also an untitled film by Relativity with Lily Collins as Snow White and Julia Roberts as the Evil Queen.

Also don't forget the creepy Little Mermaid "The Little Mermaid, A Twist on a classic tale" by Sony.

And the Beastly movie that already came out based on Beauty and the Beast.

Also the two fairy-tale shows this fall on TV: "Grimm" and "Once Upon a Time"

I'm overwhelmed aren't you? Looks like fairytales are the thing right now.

"Fame" rated #1 Goal Amongst Tweens

2011-08-05T07:38:00.001-07:00

Ahh. The fame. yes.

A study by the Journal of Psychology Research on Cyberspace found that fame was ranked the #1 value in children aged 9 to 11. It was ranked #15 in 1994.
The study points to the shift from the "Leave it to Beaver" value-based shows to the shows like American Idol, Hannah Montana, America's Got Talent, where the point is to be known and achieve stardom. That's on top of the reality tv world we have, plus youtube that has launched several "rags to riches" type careers, such as Justin Bieber. One also can not forget the massive amount of computer/phone/ Media usage that these kids do everyday (this study quoted an average of 8 hrs/day for this age group). That's like a full time job.

See the whole article here on CNN.

This half surprises me and half doesn't. The half that is surprised, we'll ignore.
I know TV gets it's fair share of blame for these sorts of things, but right now as a culture we're taking a turn for that "Everyone has their 15 minutes".

As I'm writing this, I know I've written about it before, So I'll stop. Just read the article (if you want) it's interesting.

Fresh Start

2011-08-01T10:39:00.000-07:00

Well. I thought since #1. I'm not in Art School anymore and #2. "Art School Confidential" is also the title of a film, that I should change the title of my blog.

It will be called "Art Rat." Why? Cause I like art, and I like rats. In case you haven't spelled it out - my initials are RAT. Fun huh?
You can also spell ART and TAR. Unfortunately tar has nothing to do with this blog, so we'll only be using the first two scenarios.

Anyhow. The blog will still be about my art-making, plus other stuff I find interesting.

As you've perhaps noticed - a lot of my posts have been about fairy tales. I'll still be posting a bit about them, but I have several other avenues that I would like to explore with my art now too, so it will be an eclectic mix. Hopefully I'll get a professional looking site up for my work too.

With all that said - here's a disturbing illustration of Snow White entitled "Nose full of Snow White."

The Princess Tracker Project is a go!

2011-07-31T19:27:00.000-07:00

I've had several people ask me about my "Cinderella Project". Well I had planned to do this in May, but I got behind on the ole thesis and then I got really sick.
But now, after much ado, It's on.

I've decided for the maiden voyage of the piece, I will be Snow White, not Cinderella. If the project turns out worthwhile, I'll pursue other princess performances.

Here's a reminder of the piece:

Disney promises all girls through film and merchandise that they all can be princesses.

Is this a practical goal? What is it like to be a princess? What are the rewards? What are the drawbacks?

Beginning at the end of this week, I will dress as Snow White for one month and record my daily happenings. So friends and family, if you invite me to any events for the next month, be patient with my attire.

The Goal:

To document the daily experiences of being Snow White, while going about my normal routines.

Parameters

Wear the same dress/shoes everyday for one month.

I will not sleep in the gown.

Depending on activities (running/going to the gym) I will switch footwear if my shoes are not allowed.

Forseen Issues:

Wear and tear on the dress/shoes over time with daily use.

Problems with certain activities such as exercising, biking, hiking, etc.

Large crowds of small children at random.

Attending public functions such as work, church, my friend’s wedding (in May), going through airport security, etc

Recording the piece:

I have a separate blog, "Princess Tracker", attached to this one to record my own photos and daily experiences day-by-day.

I have a "Princess Tracker" Page on Facebook so that people who take my photograph or see me can post images/ text online. This can serve as a public forum/record of my activities and whereabouts.

The online address will be sewn in/written on my gown somehow so people can see it. I will also print several business cards with the Facebook and information on it to hand to people that I see taking images or asking questions.

I plan on sending out a news release to local papers describing the project and listing the online address so people can be aware that Snow White is in the area.

I also have a professional photographer that will follow me on and off throughout the duration of the project to record me. I plan to record myself with my own camera. I hope to have a large body of recordings from the public.

Morbid Curiousities

2011-07-30T12:31:00.000-07:00

If you know me, you know I'm quite morbid. Today I ran across a company Holy Smokes! that offers you a way to honor loved ones by turning their cremated remains into bullets. One pound of ash = 250 shells. And for only $1250.

This interesting article made me reminisce about all the other weird burial/cremation methods I've ran across over the years. So I thought I'd make a list for you.
You are welcome.

1. Have your ashes shot into space.
Yes you read that right. The company Celestis Inc. Starting at $999 going up to $12000, you have four space packages to choose from.
Package A - Your ashes orbit the earth and return, to be recovered for the family as a memento. Package B - Your ashes are put into a satellite and orbit the earth until they eventually fall down as a shooting star.
Package C - Your remains are shot onto the surface of the moon.
Package D - Your ashes are shot permanently into deep space.

2. Have your ashes made into a diamond.
For those relative who love the bling, Life Gem, transforms those dull ashes into brilliant, one of a kind diamonds. Through a mechanical process of purification, heat and pressure, carbon is extracted from the remains and purified into a diamond. You can choose the color (Blue, Red, Green, Yellow, or Colorless.) the clarity, cut, and carat.
Don't worry - this can also be done with pet ashes!

3. Have your ashes sculpted into a glass paperweight
Don't we all wish to be paperweights? At Art from Ashes even the ugliest fellow can be recreated into a gorgeous piece of glass. By embedding the ashes into the glass, the company offers a variety of objects including walking sticks, vases, jewelry, and paperweights. This example is a seascape were the cremains are the ocean floor.

4. Glass not your thing? Have your remains put in a custom designed urn!
These are not your ordinary urns - from frogs, to sailboats, or to the Stanley Cup! Creative Cremains gives you several unique urn options. Below is the Elephant design and the Ruby Slipper design.

5. Speaking of pets, why not have your pet freeze dried?
Perpetual pet offers a unique service to freeze dry your pet into a "natural" alive looking position. Just make sure to freeze your pet in a plastic bag as soon as it dies and ship it to them right away.
See this beautiful cat? It's Cynthia. She's not sleeping, she's freeze dried? Convincing huh?

6. Have your body turned to plastic!
Heard of the Body Worlds exhibit? Most likely you have. You can donate your body to this and be preserved and sculpted and arranged into forever body art! Always wanted to be a model? Here's your chance. The bodies are stripped of their skin where the muscles and internal organs can be shown. The are posed and sliced and rearranged into body sculpture.

Ok. I get it - you want more nature friendly options. Well I've got plenty of those for you.

7. Have your body eaten by mushrooms.
Shrooms did you well in life, let them do you good in death. Artist Jae Rhim Lee has designed a burial suit made with a mixture of her special "Infinity Mushroom." The mushroom, seen in the woven design, will eat all of you completely leaving no harmful traces behind. She's even created a special make up made with spores so you can still look stylin' as you are going out.

8. Become a tree.
Bios Urns are created from all natural coconut shell and fertilizer. Inside? a seed. Simply add ashes and bury. If all goes well, a tree will eat you and grow up big and strong. I just hate to think what happens when someone else moves in and does know not to cut me down.

9. Green Burial Shrouds.
Green Burial products brings you a variety of eco friendly burial shrouds that can be used with or without a coffin. Elegantly designed in natural colors or patterns, these shrouds offer a traditional way to be buried.

10. Be a part of someone else
I wouldn't be a conscientious blogger if I didn't mention organ donation. Right now, over 111,000 people are waiting for an organ. Think of all the ones you have to give. Being a donor requires a little more than adding it to your drivers license. Go to http://organdonor.gov/default.asp to choose your states organ donation organization and register. Arkansas's is Arora.
What can be donated? Lots of major organs like the heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, pancreas, and the small intestine. Other tissues include the cornea or eye, bone, skin, cartilage, ligaments, veins and heart valves can be taken too. You didn't know you were a wealth of stuff did you??
One organ donor can save up to 8 lives. 8! That's a lot. So give it some consideration, and if you think it's a good idea - go and register!

I know you are all running to rewrite your wills right now. Remember - have that stuff notarized, or it doesn't count.

A New Snow White

2011-07-24T11:25:00.000-07:00

Well.. Looks like the Movies are all taking the Fairy Tales to the Darkside.
First Red Riding Hood, then news of a tragic little mermaid, now a new Snow White.

Snow White and the Huntsman is set to star Kristen Stewart as Snow White (I am not a fan, this is a big disappointment), Charlize Theron as the Evil Queen, Chris Hemsworth as the Huntsman, and Sam Claflin as the Prince.

No trailer is available yet but the promo website says this:

In the epic action-adventure Snow White and the Huntsman, Kristen Stewart plays the only person in the land fairer than the evil queen, Charlize Theron, who is out to destroy her. But what the wicked ruler never imagined is that the young woman threatening her reign has been training in the art of war with a huntsman, Chris Hemsworth, who was dispatched to kill her. Sam Claflin, joins the cast as the prince long enchanted by Snow White's beauty and power.

The breathtaking new vision of the legendary tale is from Joe Roth, the producer of Alice in Wonderland, producer Sam Mercer (the Sixth Sense) and acclaimed commercial director and state-of-the-art visualist Rupert Sanders.

By the looks of things it's gonna be a Joan of Arc meets Snow White with a similar line as "Ever After the 90's Drew Barrymore as Cinderella where she saves herself.
Woman Power!
I still wish they had picked a different Snow White, but Kristen Stewart guarantees every tween and teen every will see it. Money Maker.

Overwhelmingly Girly Video of the Day

2011-07-22T16:42:00.000-07:00

You must watch this must video. (Click the Pic)

Fame and the American Dream

2011-07-14T14:31:00.000-07:00

Fellow Arkansan and pageant superstar, 6 year old Eden Wood, is retiring from pageants.

You might have seen her scare the competition on TLC's Toddler's and Tiara's.

As of late, Eden and two past competitors have been touring the south with a variety show - "Eden Wood and the Glamor Girls". Coming to a mall near you, the three young girls dance, sing, and perform other talent acts.

Eden is pushing her second single which I don't remember the name of. Her first, "Cutie Patootie," she performed on the day time show "The Talk." Check out the clip here to watch "The Talk" women glare and snarl at her the. whole. time.

I had first heard of Eden Wood in the book Cinderella Ate My Daughter, and I noticed on the news, when they first blurbed her retirement around a month ago.

The reason that I am mentioning it now, is because I watched a clip from Good Morning America where Eden's Mother Micki talks about Eden's retirement.
At the end of the clip, Micki says "Why not see if we can’t have a Hollywood contract? A reality show? A spot on a Disney program? Why not? It’s the American Dream. It’s almost like her destiny.”

It's the American Dream.
Bam.
This hit me like a rock. The American Dream has changed.
Family? White fence? Dog?
Nope. Fame.

I began a project a while back called "The Fame Project" where I gathered all the lists of "how to be famous" from the internet, then sorted them, and put them into a few common steps. The plan was to follow the steps to a T and see where it took me.
While I still am interested in this project, after my recent graduation, it has been the last thing on my mind.

But now, it's here again.

Fame in the Age of Youtube. Perhaps that will be the name of my book.
We live in the special era where everybody can have their 15 minutes. Youtube's byline is "Broadcast yourself."
In a recent conversation with my father, he commented that the brief 15 minutes that one is offered now diminishes the opportunity for real talent.

I think this is a mixed bag. A lot of people we are seeing are truly talented - not all of them, but most of them are "discovered" and "go viral" because there is something different and spectacular about them. Blogs call it the "Susan Boyle" phenomenon - rags to riches story of great hidden talent finally getting it's due reward.

Coming back to Eden. The idea that kids these days are being raised in a youtube world. It creeps me out to be honest. Every day nearly at school a student would ask, "Ms. Trusty, have you seen the _____ video?" I did not. I do not sit around and watch youtube. They do. It's like a TV with infinite channels. A TV that you can be on yourself.
Weird.

One can not deny that what it means to be famous, and stay famous has changed. Fame is still the act of "being known" on an epic scale, but how one becomes famous and stays famous today is infinitely different.

The promise is - anyone can make it. Now is the age of opportunity. But everyone can not make it. If everyone was famous, then there would be no fame. Fame would lose it's meaning.

There has to be a cap on the number of famous people. Perhaps not a literal number, but "the famous" must always be a very rare few so there can be much larger, "plain", adoring masses.

With all this talk and thought on Youtube, it might be time to resurrect my idea.
My project was centered around being an artist, which meant navigating the art world.
The project failed (temporarily) because I ran into bumps with trying to promote myself in Arkansas.
Perhaps it's time to rewrite the process, but this time, in the digital world.
That, of course, is universal.

Most of my research did overlap articles about Youtube, Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, etc etc.

The main tips for Youtube? Most overlap other tips for fame, but other tips are more technical.

Like other fame avenues you must:
Have a gimmick of some sort in order to stand out. This could be a talent, but it could also be a quirk. What was that weird guys name? Fred. Who sped up all his videos so he talked in a fast annoying voice.
Also, have a common theme - broadcast about something you know about.

More Youtube specific tips are:
Update your site at least 3 times a week - 3 new videos a week - to keep your audience interested.
Be brief, broadcasts do not need to be longer than 10 minutes.
Use the embedding feature - as you talk/perform/ whatever - you can embed shortcuts on your video that peeps can click on. This helps you limit your spoken info.

Who knows. Perhaps I'll cook something new up.

Thoughts on Door to Door Witnessing

2011-07-09T10:35:00.000-07:00

This morning two girls about my age knocked on my door. The one in front has been here before.

I've lived in this town for 1 year and 9 months - not that I'm counting. And in that amount of time 5 different groups of people have come to my door witness to me on the doorstep.

I grew up in the church. As I child, I was a casual church goer- I went when mom made me, sometimes I enjoyed it. In junior high though, I found Jesus ... well let's just say .. I found religion and I became the queen of the evangelical youth.

I was in church three times a week, I went to all the religious conferences and revivals, I went on mission trips, and I went door to door witnessing.

I remember the feeling. They would prepare us before had with a script that usually coorellated with a tract of some sort. We'd start - knock knock - "Excuse me, may we talk to you for a minute, can you spare a few minutes of your time?" Then we would go into the tract and then if they were still with us, we'd go into our own testimony about Jesus, and finally, we would tell them how they could be saved and pray with them.

Then we'd go to the next door.
Supposedly people from the church would take the names we collected and go to "follow up." I hope they did, but I never heard about these people again.

I've probably knocked on 100 doors in my life.
And now I'm on the other end of it.

It's strange. I'm here, in this town I don't like. I don't know anyone. I'm lonely.
Here comes to my door - a girl my own age, clean, not on drugs, and not with a husband and children. Rare. I want to be friends.
I want nothing more than to say - hey - you wanna hang out sometime? Go to lunch, go to a movie - however people get to know each other.
But religion is in the way.
I remember how I used to feel about the people I witnessed too - I saw them separate from myself and I thought my position in their life was simply to bring them the truth and then talk with them about religion. It was not to be friends.

Trust me, I understand now that I had it all wrong, but I was like 15 and I was just following the rules. It's such a shame how the process belittles people - who they are, makes our interactions that are supposed to loving into mechanical type things - accept or reject situations.
Think of how many people I over looked in my life, how many people I ignored because the church taught me to believe they were "sinners", "worldly" or the best "pre-christians"

I wished life could be black and white. I wished I could just follow the rules and everything would be alright. But it's not. It's all grey. We're constantly in the grey.

This comes out in my art work - I'm intruged by the promises that are made to people - Do these simple things, these few steps and you will be transformed into something more desirable, something lovable. It's all so easy. 1 2 3, your done, your set. All the answers.

I'm glad I am where I am now. I left the church around the age of 20 and through my leaving I learned so much about what truth really is.
I'm not downing church or religion, I still believe in Jesus and the Bible.
Church kept me out of a lot of trouble as a kid, but it also confused the crap out of me and made me hurt a lot of people. I hurt a ton of people with my good intentions.

I'm tempted to see what her church is like, and the next time she comes to the door, invite her in and see if she wants to hang out. But I'm half convinced she'd do what I would have in the situation - "Thanks but no thanks" or even worse - say yes because I could be a project for her - a salvation project. That she would take me on as her personal mission to lead to Jesus.

Too bad. I feel like Christianity is meant to connect people, but more often that not, it separates and labels people.

Thomas Kinkade + Disney. It all makes Sense Now.

2011-07-07T16:38:00.000-07:00

So there I am, minding my own business in the needlecraft isle of Hobby Lobby, when low and behold - Disney cross stitch.

Not only that, but Thomas Kinkade Paintings of Disney characters turned into cross stitch.

Suddenly the whole world was at peace. Everything is right.
Like the two gods of sentimentality found each other finally and had a love child:
Her name is Kinkade Disney Cross Stitch.

After a little research, I discovered that the cross stitch patterns were based on a series of paintings done by Kinkade for Disney's 50th anniversary.
The series is poignantly titled "Disney Dreams Collection." Deep.

Here are some samples. You can see the whole mess here.

But really - can you top that???
The paintings are enough, BUT THEN to turn them into a do it yourself cross stitch. BRILLIANT. How cheesy can we make them?

Then I thought- something this awful HAS to have a video. YES IT DOES!!!
Watch Kinkade discuss his "Cinderella wishes Upon a Dream" here.\

Kinkade does mention something interesting. That Walt Disney's favorite moment from ALL of his films was the moment that Cinderella's Dress transforms into a gown. - Because this transformation represented empowerment.

Interesting.

Fairy Tale News

2011-07-06T08:33:00.000-07:00

First of all, many of you have sent me articles or pictures and asked me if I'm still interested in fairy tales. Yes! Thank you so much for the references you've sent and keep them coming!

So onto Fairy tales news. Over the past week I've found several references I want to pass along.

1.) I picked up a new summer read - "Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister" by Gregory Maguire. It's really not new, but it's new to me. I'll let you know how it is. It's the tale of Cinderella from the stepsisters point of view. The guy who wrote it also wrote "Wicked."

2.) Sent to me from Blog reader Bethany - Looks like Disney and Alfred Angelo are pairing up to make Disney Princess inspired wedding dresses. If you are familiar with the Disney Wedding collection - they already offer Disney Destination weddings which include dresses, decor, everything you can imagine. This is different. These dresses are designed specifically with each princess in mind.

Here are some samples:
You should really watch the video here too. It's...well, It explains everything.

Jasmine Gown

Belle Gown

Little Mermaid Gown

3. Fellow AIB student Mandy M. sent me this image of a interesting campaign in her hometown to educate young girls about teenage pregnancy. Effective? What do you think?

Well..I graduated

2011-06-29T05:06:00.000-07:00

Well, I graduated.
That was a fun, but very stressful Residency.

With the Show, the Art Talk, the Defense, then my little Graduation Speech, I had just enough events packed into 10 days to keep my consistantly on antacid.

But I survived and everything went great. It hasn't hit me all yet. I will miss my art friends so much. It is imperative that I jump into the art community here.

I start my UACCM class next week and I have a promising bite on my house, so regardless of what I decide to make art-wise this month, I'll be plenty busy.

I am super excited though. This is the moment I've been looking forward to for years. I'm done working in the high school, I'm done with grad school, and I'm moving into college teaching.
Now all I need to do is start getting set up in galleries and start selling art.
It seems like a monumental transition.

I need to make a plan, that'll help. Lists always calm me down.
Anyhow, Until then. Carl and I will be snuggled up on the couch writing lectures out.
Good times.

BTW,
I will be keeping my blog, I'll be transferring it over to more - art making/ art selling and life goings on. SO. It'll still go on. I'd love if you kept reading it.

Home Stretch

2011-06-09T13:36:00.000-07:00

This Post seemed really boring, So I added my recent finds - Jeffery Thomas's "Twisted Princesses" They are below

Well. Here I am, up to my knees in paint and epoxy.

I had originally planned to ship my paintings today BUT I underestimated the amount of epoxy needed SO I got the chore of recovering 3/5 of them. This took extra days.

Tomorrow morning I ship. I'm going with Pak Mail. They are going to be a bit more expensive than Fex Ex but I've had really bad luck and some broken work with Fed Ex, so I want to take all precautions. After all, this is the BIG ONE!

After everything was said and done, I'm proud of how the paintings have turned out. Rob S. suggested the Evirotex Lite to coat them, and out of all my experiments, it definitely was the best choice. It gives a nice thick clear coat. Like a candy coating. Yum. Anyhow - if you go with it, just OVER estimate what you need. You will need more than the box suggests. It lies.

Other things have been going on.

Successes:

#1. I got into the Boston Young Contemporaries. Yay! They took 2 of my handkerchiefs.

#2. I was asked to participate in a retrospective show at the Baum Gallery. The gallery is part of UCA, the university I attended for undergrad. I'll be showing with two other mixed media artists, including my excellent mentor, Holly Laws. You can see her awesome stuff on artnet here.

#3. I got a job as Adjunct Faculty at Arkansas Tech University. The University is in my hometown. I will be teaching 3 or 4 courses - studio, lecture, and Art Education.

#4. I was entered into the Arkansas Artist Registry. I could have submitted a form a long time ago, BUT they sent me an invite along with a show announcement - so I sent my stuff in. You can see my snazzy site here.

#5. After five long years of teaching public school - I quit! HOORRAAAYY!! I won't say I'll never go back, heck, I could be back next year. BUT for now. I'm so excited for new things to come.

Crossing my Finger for:

I have entered my stuff into several things and I am waiting to hear back. You can cross your fingers with me.

#1. Along with the AR Artist Registry came an invite to participate in a Small Works on paper. This exhibition travels the state. I entered 3 drawings.

#2. I also applied for a fellowship with the AR arts council in the genre of "Sculpture/Installation". Seeing that I'm going to be a P/T Proff. , I could use that!

#3. I sent images in for STUFFED and Prims Magazines. These are two of my favorite mags! They feature soft sculpture and are both publications of Stampington. Anyhow - I sent images of my birds. It would be so neat to get them in a magazine!!!!

#4. I'm trying to sell my house. You should buy it. It's a great house (When It's not covered in artwork). BUY IT.

To sum it up. I've been a busy bee.

I'm all done with my artist talk, my thesis, my graduation speech, and after this last painting dries - my work. *Sigh of Relief*.

Now if I can just get some meds for the flight. I hate flying, I'd knock myself out if I didn't have to change planes. Deep breaths.

Seems like I'm forgetting something. Guess not. Oh well.

Like this one - It's like Mulan meets St Sebastian.

Disney Scenes on your...Eyelids?!

2011-05-31T18:49:00.000-07:00

Katie Alves is a make-up artist who specializes in Disney Scenes.

Article from the Today Show here.

Katie's Deviant Art Site here.

Everything is cool- as long as you don't open them. Then it smears.

You don't need to see.

New Fall TV includes Fairytale Dramas

2011-05-31T15:01:00.000-07:00

Looks like the fairytale fad has gone from the big screen to the small screen.

NBC will begin showing a new show called "Grimm" this fall Fridays at 8pm (central). The show centers around a detective who is the last of the "Grimms" a family who can see the true reality. What is this reality? That all the fairy tale stories are true and the monsters live among people.

See images and the trailer at the NBC website here.

I particularly like the bi-line that NBC is using:

"Remember the fairy tales your parents used to tell you before bedtime? Well, those weren't stories, they were warnings."

During all my research on fairytales, much of it centered on their ability and function to socialize children for right or wrong.

The second show, called "Once Upon a Time, will run on ABC Sunday's at 7pm.

I watched the trailer but still can't sum it up so here's what the website says:

"And they all lived happily ever after – or so everyone was led to believe. Emma Swan knows how to take care of herself. She's a 28-year-old bail bonds collector who's been on her own ever since she was abandoned as a baby. But when the son she gave up years ago finds her, everything starts to change. Henry is now 10 years old and in desperate need of Emma's help. He believes that Emma actually comes from an alternate world and is Snow White and Prince Charming's missing daughter. According to his book of fairytales, they sent her away to protect her from the Evil Queen's curse, which trapped the fairytale world forever, frozen in time, and brought them into our modern world. Of course Emma doesn't believe a word, but when she brings Henry back to Storybrooke, she finds herself drawn to this unusual boy and his strange New England town. Concerned for Henry, she decides to stay for a while, but she soon suspects that Storybrooke is more than it seems. It's a place where magic has been forgotten, but is still powerfully close… where fairytale characters are alive, even though they don't remember who they once were. The epic battle for the future of all worlds is beginning, but for good to win, Emma will have to accept her destiny and fight like hell. "

You can see images and the trailer at the ABC website here.

While we're on the same note, a new "Little Mermaid' film is coming out. This version is live action and is based on the book Mermaid: A Twist on the Classic Tale by Carolyn Turgeon. The movie is rumored to have a quite gruesome ending.

Dear Furture Employers...

2011-05-27T18:17:00.000-07:00

Dear Future Employers,
As I sit here waiting on you to hire me, I've had time to review my resume and have concluded that it may not fully represent my skill set. Beyond my obvious art talents, I am capable of a few things that will also better your corporation.

As you can see by the following list, I am more than qualified for any task.

I can:

Juggle
Read and write french (for the most part)
Make egg drop soup
Play the piano
Do the splits
Preform CPR
Change a Diaper
Say the alphabet in German
Make an origami swan
Program in QBasic and DOS
Change a tire
Tie a cherry stem in a knot with my tongue
Write poems
Over-water Plants

Now that you know my diverse skill set, I look forward to your upcoming call and large salary offer.

Your Welcome,
Rachel

Last but not Least

2011-05-17T14:10:00.000-07:00

Sleeping Beauty

Now all I need to do is clear coat them.

Got home today and my dog had buried eggrolls from the trash in my bed.
She says it was a snack, I say it was revenge.

Princess Progress

2011-05-15T16:15:00.000-07:00

Luckily, I was finally able to get to the ole Home Depot yesterday and stocked up on my last bit of paint.
My goal for the weekend was 1 painting, but I got 2 done! Woohoo!! Only one more to go.

Belle:

Snow White:

Happy Endings

2011-05-13T16:00:00.000-07:00

If you've been on the Facebook at all in the last week, you've probably run across this.
Brilliant huh? By the Way, the cartoon stills have been modified to fit the royal wedding.

After a crazy week, I got my thesis sent off. Success.

This leaves me with only 3 more paintings to paint. 1 Artist Talk. and 1 Graduation Speech of some sort.

I've been thinking over this Cinderella Project. I LOVE the idea, but I'm not sure it's going to happen this semester. It sounded great until everything converged on me.
On top of doing my last bit of graduate work, I'm going on job interviews and trying to sell my house.
I'm afraid one month long performance piece may just be too much.
We'll see.
This weekend - Relax, Paint.

You Won't Believe Your Eyes

2011-05-01T15:19:00.001-07:00

So. Julia sent me two links to sexy fairy tale characters. Wow. Now, I've seen my share of "sexy" Halloween princess costumes while looking for my Cinderella garb, but these pics are nuts. I'm especially interested in the ones of the princes, not because I have a think for cartoon characters, but because men are not sexualized very often.

Fairytales Gone Sexy: Women
These remind me of hypersexualized videogame characters like Lara Croft or Japanese anime women. Also of the work of Lisa Yuskavage. Pretty much, I feel like (unfortunately) the public is pretty familiar with this type of imagery associated with women.

Again, I feel like while these images above are gross and overstated, the actual imagery is very common. Below are some pics of women in "sexy" costume versions. Nothing like Halloween for everyone to get their sexy on.

I didn't think Ariel could show more skin. Guess I was wrong...

This is where things get interesting.
Fairy Tales Gone Sexy: Men

These freak me out a bit. For one, they are approached in a totally different art technique making them appear more like photographs from Playgirl than characterizations. Second, This is just weird.

Prince John - Cinderella

Hercules

Aladdin

Eric - The Little Mermaid

Creepy huh?
Why are they all wearing the same underpants?
If you look at all the pics, most of the fellows have their hands around their junk area. Gross.

Princesses and Friends

2011-05-01T11:32:00.000-07:00

Thanks to some friends with good eyes, I've got some more fun princess things to post.
Illustrator Creepy Miranda created these obese versions of the princesses:
Thanks Rob!!!
I think the best part is their strange boobs.

Lauren sent me this one.
I don't even know.
I'm assuming it's a Disney product cause they have the copyrights to "Belle."

This is very bad straw placement.

"Wedding Bells and Death Knells"

2011-04-30T10:20:00.000-07:00

CNN ran an a piece called "Wedding Bells and Death Knells" today. It is a summary of some of the comments online about the coverage of the Royal Wedding in lieu of the tornadoes down South.

Today is the first day I've felt a bit more on track after the storms ran through on Monday and Tuesday. I'm terrified of storms. Here in the ole Perryville, our closest call was Monday night, and I was alone. Trust me, I'm counting my blessings seeing what happened in Alabama, but being alone in the hallway with the stillness and then the roar, was enough to freak me out.

These storms have made me question some things. I sat in the hallway praying that God would help me out, and knowing that it didn't matter. I'm sure all all those people who were injured or died or had close calls prayed too. It doesn't matter. If you are going to die, you are going to die.
I wonder if anyone who prayed to God made him reconsider their life?

This doesn't make me believe in God any less, but it does just reaffirm the fragility of life, and that I'm going to try and not be alone during tornadic storms anymore. If I'm going down, I won't be alone.

Anyhow. The storms have been the biggest story for the US this week, and the Royal Wedding, the biggest overseas news. My only interest in the Wedding is it's tie to my research on our obsession with fairytale. With that said, I'd like to post a couple of quotes from the above article about people's take on the two stories:

barbie1311 : "There is absolutely nothing wrong with taking a few moments out of one's life to get lost in a fairy tale. It does not take away anything from the tragedies of the world. It's all about balance."

mr60233 : “this is an international event. Look at a map. Do you see those other pieces of land? They are called countries, and believe it or not, people that are not American live in them. I am sorry 300 people died. However, tornadoes happen all the time in the USA, and people die every day. This kind of event (the wedding) happens once every 30 years or so.”

I think barbie1311 sums up the whole thing. Why do we love fairy tales? Because life is not a fairy tale, but fairy tales offer a little hope of what parts of life might be.

mr60233 comments make me real upset. People do die every day and tornadoes are frequent, but not a death toll of 300+. This is the worst outbreak since 1925 and Tornado season officially begins in May. Two weeks early and already a record breaker. I don't know what will happen in the next month with weather, hopefully nothing, but with this start, we're already on edge. We can't take any more devastation.

The Cinderella Project

2011-04-26T10:16:00.001-07:00

The Cinderella Project

So as I’m winding down my thesis and my paintings, I have come up with one final idea that I would like to do. I feel this would round out my art making while I was at AIB.

The Cinderella Project would be a performance/identity piece similar to the Olivia Fondue project I had planned, but would be tied with my current research of fairy tales/princess culture.

Disney promises all girls through film and merchandise that they all can be princesses. Is this a practical goal? What would it be like to be a princess?

Using Disney’s quiz “Which Princess are you?” on Disney.go.com, I have been labeled as Cinderella. I took the quiz three times, each time the questions were slightly different, but all three times I was matched with Cinderella.

Based on this match, I will “be” i.e. dress as Cinderella for 1 month beginning May 20^th. This date is exactly 1 month before my artist talk, making the talk the last day of the performance piece.

I would love to have feedback on this idea and suggestions. Most of all, if you see me out somewhere, take a picture and post it online.

The Goals:

To document the daily experiences of being Cinderella, while going about my normal routines.

Parameters

Wear the same dress/shoes everyday for one month.

I will not sleep in the gown.

Depending on activities (running/going to the gym) I will switch footwear if my slippers are not allowed.

Forseen Issues:

Wear and tear on the dress/shoes over time with daily use.

Problems with certain activities such as exercising, biking, hiking, etc.

Large crowds of small children at random.

Attending public functions such as work, church, my friend’s wedding (in May), going through airport security, etc

Recording the piece:

I plan to have a separate “Cinderella blog” attached to this one to record my own photos and daily experiences day-by-day.

I also plan to set up a “Track Cinderella” Facebook online so that people who take my photograph or see me can post images/ text online. This can serve as a public forum/record of my activities and whereabouts.

The online address will be sewn in/written on my gown somehow so people can see it. I will also print several business type cards with the Facebook information on it to hand to people that I see taking images or asking questions.

I plan on sending out a news release to local papers describing the project and listing the online address so people can be aware that Cinderella is in the area.

A Historically Accurate Look at Princesses?

2011-04-18T13:48:00.000-07:00

I came across Deviantartist Claire Hummel today. Using historic costume/fashion as a base, she created digital reproductions of four popular princesses. I'll be keeping up with her profile, perhaps there will be more.
I have also included her commentary for each image.

Find her here.

"I can't explain it, but reinterpreting Disney princess outfits through a more historically accurate lens really, really appeals to me. Beauty and the Beast has always hovered hesitantly in the late 18th century (especially in the earlier concept art), so I redid Belle's gold dress to match 1770's French court fashion."

"Continuing my historically accurate Disney princesses! It makes me happy.

The Little Mermaid is hard to place from a time period standpoint- Grimsby's wearing a Georgian getup, Ariel's pink dress with the slashed sleeves subscribes to several eras from the Renaissance to the 1840's, Eric is... Eric.

I went with Ariel's wedding dress as a starting point since those gigantic leg-o-mutton sleeves (so embarrassingly popular in eighties wedding fashion) were a great starting point for an 1890's evening gown. It's also not unfeasible that Eric's cropped tailcoat could be from the same era, so I'm sticking with my choice. PLUS Ariel with Gibson girl hair? COME ON IT IS AWESOME.

I'm still not sure if I'd try to squeeze her pink dress in the same time period or if I'd just throw up my hands and draw it with a hoop skirt, but we'll see."

"Honestly? I just wanted to draw those damn slashed sleeves. I want them SO BAD.

Unlike the aforementioned Little Mermaid, Snow White's time period is pretty easy to pinpoint in 16th century Germany. Not that the film is accurate, but the clues are there- I took a wide swath from about 1500-1530 to come up with something that still maintained the spirit of the original design."

"Okay, these are getting more and more complicated, but this one was fun.

Let's be frank- Aladdin is hardly an exercise in historical accuracy. Combine that with Claire knowing veeeery little about pre-Islamic Middle Eastern clothing before starting on Jasmine, and you've got yourself a few days of research before digging into this thing.

It took some effort to track down some midriff-baring outfits but BY GEORGE I DID, thank you Persian fashion plates. I now know what sirwal are called (besides Hammer pants), and that Persian women wore some pretty sweet little jackets that I wish I owned."

********
I must say. I like her idea and I feel there is something here, but at the same time, after Sunanda's class especially, seeing her portrayal of Jasmine is a bit jarring.
I am interested to know more about her research specifically and how she decided to match each princess with a time period. Did she use context clues from the films?

I would also really like to see these as photographs or oil paintings. Or even the gowns recreated in 3D. I feel like the cartoon-esque portrayal detracts from the purpose.

Celebs + Disney

2011-04-17T15:05:00.000-07:00

Cinderella

2011-04-17T13:11:00.000-07:00

Today I finished my Cinderella painting. I bought some frog tape, which is supposed to be excellent. It was great until today. It just stopped sticking. I had to revert back to the old blue painters tape. It works about 70% of the time.

Here it is in progress:

Here is the final product:

Here they are together: BFF's
I can't wait to put the clear coat on. I think it'll be the final touch.

Hot Sausage!

2011-04-06T16:50:00.001-07:00

There was a pretty fantastic write up about my art show today in the Atkins Chronicle. There was even a photo! I have arrived.
The article was a three parter. You can read the little bit about me below.

"Storm, Music, and Art" - Van A. Tyson
Atkins Chronicle, April 6 2011, Opinion Page

And art

The art was at the River Valley Arts Center, featuring the work of Rachel Trusty, a Russellville resident who teaches art at Perryville High School. She is a graduate of Russellville High School and UCA and is working on an MFA at Boston. She used an interesting variety of little stitched dolls, dyed and bleached shirts and children’s dresses and showed a book with text illustrated with collages. She used material from German and other folklore, which interested me. Several paintings were surreal, with objects as heads on people. An example is “Sweetie Pie,” which has a piece of apple pie a la mode as the head. The little sewn dolls were arranged like birds on the floor. (They had webbed feet and wings but crying baby faces), with different expressions on
their faces, showing different feelings. The show remains at the Arts Center. I highly recommend seeing it.

NNEAAATT!

I've been making great headway on my thesis. Finally! I feel like this draft will do it. I'll be happy for the chance for another rewrite between the April 15 Draft and the final May 13 Draft, BUT for the first time I am confident that I am on the right track.

I have been looking into shipping options and finally feel comfortable shipping my paintings. I have been imagining my art getting totally destroyed on the way to the show and they I'll have NOTHING! Worst Nightmare! I was very close to driving them up there myself.

I plan to complete the panels in May. I now know how long it takes to complete one, so I can allot the proper amount of time to make the rest.

So yes. Things are puttering along. Seeing that this draft is going better, I'm no longer feeling the pressure. I'm just going to ease into this last residency. I'll use up all the time I need to get it all done.

All Done

2011-03-27T13:27:00.000-07:00

Well. Here she is. I still plan to put an shiny clear coat on it, but looking at it now, I might wait till they are all done and decide then.
Overall I'm very happy with the outcome. I would like more contrasts with the lights and darks, but I'll get better as I continue on.

Smeared Ariel

2011-03-26T18:12:00.000-07:00

Well. Here's the first one...almost.

The digital sketch is to the right.

I've been having a bit of trouble with the red I got mixed. I'm thinking I will have to sand down the red part and get a new red mixed. The red I have is too thin and runny. I added a touch of white to thicken it, now it's not red enough. C'est la vie.

So far, I'm really pleased with the result. I've done this much in a few hours, so it's comforting to know - for time's sake - I can get one of these done a day.
I will apply a clear uber shiny coat after it's dry.

I ended up using a fine foam roller and added a little Floetrol to the paint. I honestly don't know if the Floetrol did anything or not besides making it bubble :( I ended up not using it in some colors.

My prototype had beveled edges and didn't look very good. This is flat masonite with a rectangle of 1 x 2's on the back middle. When hung, it will set out one inch from the wall. The backing will be black. The individual panels are 5 ft high x 1.5 ft wide. If I have 5 panels total the whole installation will be 7.5 ft wide.

I plan to make at least 5 panels but it could be up to 9. We'll see.

On a similar note, my AIB cohort Jarrod spotted these tasty treats in the grocery store:

If you eat them you will gain their power.

But really, this is a bit disturbing.

For now, I have been taking a brief thesis break. This week is parent-teacher conferences at school and I usually have very few visitors. I plan to dive in hardcore this week and next to make a great draft.

I have my first solo art show next Sunday. I've been sewing more birds for my flock. I will be finishing those as well. I plan to put my birds, my dresses, and my book in the show. I also plan to put a few paintings in it. We'll see how it goes, so far it sounds like I'll have a bunch of friendly support so that's awesome. I'm excited.

Things to do After Grad School

2011-03-20T13:33:00.000-07:00

It's that special moment in my life, when I'm looking forward to being done with graduate school. Getting my masters has definitely been one of the best things I've ever done, but it's a lot of work.
So I made a list of things I want to do after I get done.

Almost...there....

1. Move to a cool new place
2. Get a job (that I love!!!!) in the new place
3. Be in plays
4. Join a band
5. Learn to tattoo
6. Get some tattoos
7. Brush up on my French ( oh la la)
8. Travel
9. Learn how to play the violin
10. Show and Sell my art more
11. Make dolls
12. Join the Roller Derby (Until I loose teeth)

That's all I have for right now.

Speaking of dolls...
I really REALLY like Queen Anne dolls. I like their little jointed bodies that are part wood and part fabric. I would like to sculpt some.

While researching these dolls I ran across this book:

Why do I like this so much?
Let me tell you.
Because there is someone out there who took the time to collect these hideous dolls.
One is bad enough, but imagine- a whole room of them - staring.
Plus, they went through the trouble of giving them super creepy names.
I love it!!!

Buy your own copy here.

Here are some lookers' featured in the book:

Menstrual Embroidery

2011-03-15T14:22:00.000-07:00

I was surfing Etsy and I saw these embroideries by seller ThreadandGutter.
I did a double take - not a hot guy double take, a car accident double take.

Happily Ever After?

2011-03-13T16:02:00.000-07:00

A Russian couple opts for a more...non-traditional photo shoot. To see all click here.

These remind me of some of the previously posted fairy tale images.

Prototypes and Palm Reading

2011-03-07T16:56:00.000-08:00

Well. I had an exciting three day weekend (I took the day off because I had a Dr. Appt. this morning), I'll tell you about that later.

My dad and I made a wood prototype panel for my fairy tale paintings. It's smaller - about 2 ft high and has nice beveled edges. Once I got it home, I realized I needed to sand it a ton more, but that is not happening. I went on to begin painting in and realized:
# 1. The board is too thick to give the impression that I want.
#2. This is going to be tedious. In order to recreate the computer generated smeared princess, I'm going to have to work in layers of very geometric bands. This is going to require lots of measuring, painters tape, and layering. It'll work though.

I'm on the fence if I need to finish this prototype or not. I got some EnviroTex Lite, that was recommended by Rob (Thanks!). I would like to try it on this before I try it on a big painting for the first time. I'm strongly considering ditching the bevels. I'm thinking Masonite right flat on the wall. I would like to see how this stuff works with the bevel first.

Anyhow.
I've got to tell this. I've been on a massive job search as I've given my resignation for my teaching job. I would like to move on to something else, change things up. While Dad and I were beveling, I told him about an open position at a gallery in Eureka Springs, which is a small artist/tourist town in northern Arkansas, and also happens to be my favorite place in the whole world. Unfortunately, Eureka is not a convenient drive. It's about 2.5 hours up the curviest road you've ever seen. Pretty much - a huge day trip + anti-nausea medication.
The job is apply in person only.

So I mention this job, and I figure Dad is going to shoot it down. The parents are really traditional. Instead he goes - "Get your mother, let's go up there so you can apply." Dude. I'm still stunned. Where did that come from?!!? So we all pack up and go up there.
I have littered this post with pics. I didn't take them, I stole them. But I wanted you to see it. If you ever come to visit Arkansas, I will take you there. You will love it.

I gave the lady my resume and she said she'd call for an interview later. UG! That's alright. I'll use any excuse to get up there.

We commenced to walk around town when low and behold - palm reading. I've always wanted my palm read. Perfect time!

Bridget was my palm reader and she was spectacular! I loved it! She told me all about my life now and in the past and in the future. It was great fun. I'm totally going back this summer.

You know what I forgot to ask about? My Thesis! What was I thinking! We tried to contact the dead and everything and I forgot my thesis. I might just have to make another trip in early May if I'm still having trouble. I'm sure she'll be expecting me.

So today I went to the Dr.. I have something very gross to share. This may by TMI, but I doubt I'm going to have many readers that make it this far.
So - I have these nosebleeds every month that correlate to my period. It's been going on for over a year. I figured my BC pills were just making everything bleed. So the doctor said it was unusual and that most likely it was because of my horrid sinuses, BUT -get this - ...
There is a small chance that at birth some uterus cells got mixed up and ended up in my nose. Can you believe it? Uterus skin in my nose that bleeds monthly!? What the crap.

Awesomeness. That's one to tell the hypothetical kids.

So that was my weekend. Unfortunately I have to go back to work tomorrow. Bleh.
Bridget gave me great meditation tips to get my stress down. I'm going to be doing those from now until my last day, which according to my countdown calendar is

Thesis etc

2011-03-03T13:43:00.001-08:00

Well.. I wrote the first draft of my thesis based on my most recent work - the princess things. Then I read the actual thesis requirement sheet (which I had forgotten about) and realized I was not writing a long research paper, but about my own work.
ick. begin again.
Now I'm not sure what I'm doing. I've written draft after draft - my next plan? To write about myself as I was someone else. Whatever works.
I read the examples. They are very nice and poetically written. Mine is more like: blah blah blah art blah.
That's not going to work.

On a different note, I went to Lowes and Home Depot to scope out materials for my paintings.
I do believe I'm going to use masonite board as opposed to canvas. I would like to round the edges and I think it would be easier to do on wood, then to stretch my own canvas. I've only stretched canvas once, and it sagged.

I've also been playing around with the proportion of the images. I originally wanted to make them in the same proportion as a barcode 1:1.25, but then I thought it might be better to stack them or put them side by side. In an idealistic world, they would all be like 4 x 8 ft or something and have their own wall. But if I made them this proportion for show, I'd only get one or two in there. So I'd rather have the maiden voyage of these to be for this show, then I can expand when I become famous.

Here are some of the layouts I have:
(For these purposes, I'm only using the main 5 princesses)

Very tall and skinny side by side

Upside down/Rightside up with space between

All right side up with space

These are in Barcode proportion. I have no idea how they would be hung together.

Barcode proportion in a line with no space.

Tom Hanks spoofs Toddlers and Tiaras

2011-03-01T13:51:00.000-08:00

In case you missed Tom Hanks on Jimmy Kimmel, he proved himself to be the ultimate pageant dad and made a guest appearance on Toddlers and Tiara's.

Click on the pick to watch the clip.

Hairiest Girl in the World

2011-02-28T16:08:00.000-08:00

I've been posting several things about the expectations that contemporary culture has set out for girls. I came across this today and thought it was such an inspirational story.

"Supatra Sasuphan, an 11-year-old from Bangkok, has been named World’s Hairiest Girl by Guinness World Record — much to her delight.

“I’m very happy to be in the Guinness World Records! A lot of people have to do a lot to get in,” she is quoted as saying. “All I did was answer a few questions and then they gave it to me.”

Sasuphan says that, thanks to her new-found title, she is now extremely popular at school."

Check out her confidence! That's impressive.

"Supatra is one of just 50 known sufferers of Ambras Syndrome - caused by a faulty chromosome - to be documented since the Middle Ages. Before the disease was understood, sufferers were branded 'werewolves.'

She has thick hair growing over her face, ears, arms, legs and back. Even laser treatment has failed to stop the hair growth.

While most sufferers have been shunned, Supatra has gradually been embraced by her community, and became a popular and outgoing child."
Read more about her here.

Penny Arcade got it Right!

2011-02-28T15:39:00.000-08:00

Check out today's comic on Pennyarcade.com:
Click to view it bigger.

La Belle et la Bete...

2011-02-21T14:13:00.000-08:00

My boyfriend found this on Reddit this morning:

The discussion about it here.

"Stockholm Syndrome is a psychological shift that occurs in captives when they are threatened gravely, but are shown acts of kindness by their captors. Captives who exhibit the syndrome tend to sympathize with and think highly of their captors. When subjected to prolonged captivity, these captives can develop a strong bond with their captors, in some cases including a sexual interest."

Yup. Sounds about right.

Web comic "Basic Instructions" reaffirms:

While we're on the topic....

NNNNOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

2011-02-18T14:01:00.000-08:00

DARN YOU, CHARLOTTE RUSSE!
I just wanted to browse!

I must say, with all the reading I've been doing this slogan is quite spot on.
"Enchant your Prince Charming with looks fit for a princess!"
The Princesses do not do anything to be loved, they simply are beautiful. The prince hears of their beauty or sees them from afar and comes to rescue them. He doesn't hear about their intelligence or wit, just looks.

At least the slogan's right -
Just like a Princess, you can be seen from afar, and liked because of what you look like.

"The right fit is key to happily ever after - just ask Cinderella! We've updated our denim fit guide to help you online shop 'til you… find your fairy tale fit!"

Wait? Cinderella wore pants? That must have been when she was hand-scrubbing the floor. Those princesses, such good cleaners...

Umm...

2011-02-18T09:19:00.000-08:00

Another Film...

2011-02-17T11:13:00.000-08:00

Looks like there is another "Beauty and the Beast" film coming out....
Click the pic below to watch the trailer.

I LOVE that the evil witch is played by one of the Olsen Twins. Bwhahaha
Also, What's with this poster?! "Love is never ugly" - Someone has never been in love.
I'm doubting this film will go down in film history.
Note the beast is beastly because he is bald with face tattoos - isn't that cool now?
Apparently Vanessa Hudgens thought it was hot because she recently got her own neck tattoo.
bleh.

Sketches

2011-02-15T19:35:00.000-08:00

Got my 1st draft off today - It's all on history and not on art - oops, I'll get there. I just got sidetracked by statistics!

Well. This is what I've been up to as preps for stuff I want to put in the show. The long and short of it is - the visual of these princesses (their race, age, class) equals beauty in the stories, beauty is rewarded by handsome prince and riches.

White +Upper Class+ Young +Suffering +Meek = Beauty = Love and Wealth.
Remembering the color studies of Undergrad, I thought it would be a pertinent to dissect the colors of the Disney Princesses. Disney has marketed and patented it's own line of colors. Each princess is created using specially designed and trademarked Disney colors.

Below are some "sketches" I've created on the computer of the princesses.
I do not know if I will use the gradients in the final pieces, but I do like the color order.
I plan to paint these using the Disney paint line. I would like them to be large - at least 3 feet - and be in the same proportion as a barcode: 1:1.25 ratio.
I plan to put a thick layer of enamel on the final piece so it has a shiny plastic-like surface.
I want these to be sweet and rich and appealing.

I have thought about limiting the paintings to just the skin tones and hair color of the princesses. Perhaps the colors of the dresses distract. I dunno - I'd love to hear opinions.

Snow White is a hard working lady

2011-02-10T13:10:00.001-08:00

Ok. So Fairy Tales are a favorite of Advertisers. Most like to play on the fact Snow White hung out and lived with seven men.

Here she is for Volvo's now seven passenger van. You cook and clean for those little dwarves and see what it gets you? This photo is rather dark. It reminds me of the other photography I've posted. I wonder who the artist was on this shoot?

Nivea Spray on tanner. Now no longer the fairest of them all. Is it just me, or does this look a little like Black Face to you? Racist much?

This one is nicknamed "Ho - White." It's an ad for Jamieson's Raspberry Ale and quite angered Disney. Wonder why? It was to promote their new fruity flavored beer that was "anything but sweet" After reprimands (and most likely law suits) from Disney they discontinued the ad. Article on the ad can be found here.

This is for Gleid Air freshener. The advertising agency is GIOVANNI FCB in Brazil. The text reads: "Every now and then your Prince Charming _____ goes in the bathroom." I can't read that one word. I'm assuming it's telling us that Prince Charming had Mexican for lunch and his gas is what blew Snow White and Sleeping Beauty away. Attractive.

Here she is for Amnesty International. There is another one featuring little red riding hood.

All Bran! Which one is the poisoned one? Wait, all bran is poisoned? What are they trying to say?!

MMS Recife, a Brazilian advertising agency has created quite possibly the most depressing ad campaign where cancer-stricken Disney characters are used to bring awareness to the Children’s Cancer Support Center.

Is that a condom in her MOUTH? Please God, No!

Axe... A man created this ad.

Smoking makes you Ugly. Don't smoke.

This one is for AIDS Awareness. There are more here.

Ok... so I've found so many I'm tired of posting.

Look HERE.
and Heereee.

Fairy Tales Everywhere! (Can't anyone make up some new stories?!?)

2011-02-10T12:35:00.000-08:00

While I've had princesses and fairy tales on the brain, I see them everywhere. It's the thing now.

Nicki Minaj came out with an album recently that portrays her as a dismembered doll.

What I found more interesting is her recent music video for "Moment 4 Life." In this video, she plays both the princess and the god-mother in a Cinderella-type story.Click either image below to watch the video via YouTuBe.

Have I already posted this video of Ke$ha? I dislike her. I find her a lot trashy. Anyhow, she recently came out with a video for the site "Funny or die" where she is Princess Ke$ha. WARNING the video is horridly awful, so if you don't want to want horrible awfulness, don't watch it. It's got bad language and bad taste.
I don't think I made it through the whole thing... ick.

On another note, Julia Roberts has signed on to play the evil queen in a new Snow White movie, which is set to begin filming in April. The dude who directed "the Cell" - Tarsem Singh - is in charge of it. From what I've read, the story is a modern take (go figure) with Snow White and the dwarves seeking revenge on the Queen, who has killed her father.

A new "Little Red Riding Hood" film is set to be released. It stars Amanda Seyfried. Looks like it's another werewolf flick. Woohoo. Interesting visuals though. Click the pic above to view the trailer.

Hipster Ariel

2011-02-10T12:22:00.001-08:00

Hahahaha. I would never trade my voice for a vagina.

Apparently there is a whole website dedicated to "Hipster Ariel" which I guess is derived from her emo glasses. Click the pic above to go to the site "F*ck Yeah, Hipster Ariel".
The above image is a drawing by Lee Crutchley. See his work here on flickr.

I'm on my second snow day (this week) and will have another off tomorrow. I'm way to spastic to do my thesis work. It's like I sit down and then my mind explodes. Bleh. I dislike the thought that I have a draft due next Tuesday. If I were at work, I'd be pounding it out seeing as that's how I distract myself from work.

Speaking of work. I've applied to several other places, so I'm hoping for someone to call me and give me another job so I can stop being depressed, sleeping 24 hours a day, and eating loaves of bread. :/

I appreciate the positive feedback on the previous post. I like when people say - do whatever you want! Darn right! I will, thanks. Laurel is my thesis adviser and she said the same thing - Follow my gut. Thanks. I appreciate that a lot.

In case you were wondering, Disney has now come out with a baby line. If dressing your toddlers head to toe in merch wasn't enough - worry now, fresh out of the womb they can be pink and perfect too. Check that out here.

What to do?

2011-02-09T18:10:00.000-08:00

So, after the residency, it seemed the consensus was that I needed to make a ton of Birdy Babies and install them in the downstairs room. While I really love the birds, I'm not sure if that's what I want to show for these reasons:
#1. My work has been focused specifically on girls and and the rules that govern proper behavior. The birds are androgynous, they tie into the themes about stories and how they shape childhood. They have nothing to do with girls. They do have to do with rules in the fact that they represent the child who has been transformed in a tale - as a punishment or as a lesson.
#2. I want the final show to be special and I really do not like that downstairs room. It's not a gallery space and people forget it is down there. My mentor suggested I direct people downstairs during the show, but I really don't want to do this. I want to enjoy my show. I want my work to be in a nice space.

One of the professors said "We've known all along you would do an installation, it's up to you now to figure out what you are going to do"

What if I didn't do an installation? Would they be disappointed in me?

What I have in mind is closer to traditional painting, but it would fit into my thesis and my train of thought more. I think it would be a good final statement.
Arg. Decisions.

Put on a diaper 'cause you are going to crap your pants!

2011-01-26T18:24:00.000-08:00

Stop Motion Video by Alex Heller.
Watch it.

Which Princess Am I?

2011-01-24T17:36:00.000-08:00

OMG. What a lucky break!
Looks like Disney is having princess tryouts over Spring Break - seems like a divine intervention.
Where will I be March 24th? Hopefully being crowned.

Fairy Tale Photography

2011-01-24T16:34:00.001-08:00

Apparently, Remaking Fairy Tales are the new "skinny jeans" in the photography world. Here's what I've come across:

I've posted the work of Eugenio Recuenco before, but it's AWESOME.

Bruno Vilela

Annie Leibovitz - "Dream Portrait Series" which is an advertisement campaign from Disney featuring celebrities as traditional Disney characters.

Scarlett Johansson

Whoopi Goldberg

Jessica Biel

Rachel Weisz

Deborah Mesa-Pelly - Thanks to Jarrod Staples!!! I found out about this artist.

Fiona Quinn's "Dark Tales" Series for Bullet Magazine:

To be continued....

Fairy Tales, Princesses, Racism, and Sexism

2011-01-23T17:30:00.000-08:00

Laurel suggested my thesis be over violence in fairy tales. I found this MUCH more interesting than what I originally planned, but the more I research, the more I find about how fairy tales are just another form of advertisement of the white-upper class.

Here are some of the more interesting bits from my research:

* Fairy Tales are aimed at children of a certain age that have vivid imaginations and by into both reality and fantasy
*It is important that children identify with the main characters of the story and see themselves as important roles. Currently the most popular fairy tales and stories in print and in film show mainly White, Upper-Middle Class, Beautiful/Handsome people.
* Fairy Tales are based on Beauty. There is a statistical link between how many times a main character is cited as "beautiful" or "handsome" and how many times the tale has been reproduced over time.
* Fairy Tales represent a very narrow view of the world - Women are often seen as passive "waiters." They are loved/saved at the moment the prince notices their beauty - before that they are waiting to be saved/ noticed. The princesses are loved only for their beauty. The climax of the tale is marriage. It is seen as a reward or gift to both parties - the ultimate happy ending.

With this research, I can not help to link the view of women in Fairy Tales with that presented in the Christian books "Wild at Heart" and "Captivating." These books tell men and women about their "true nature" - Men desire to have an adventure and to save a damsel in distress, Women want to be pursued and seen as beautiful. While I can not deny the truth to some of it, overall I feel it's super creepy how they books, which claim to be based on the word of God and Humankind's real nature, just repeat really old fairy tale logic :/

I have also found some interesting websites/ videos that discuss the Disney Princesses:

Dina Goldstein created an awesome photography series called "Fallen Princesses".
She states about the series
"These works place Fairy Tale characters in modern day scenarios. In all of the images the Princess is placed in an environment that articulates her conflict. The ‘…happily ever after’ is replaced with a realistic outcome and addresses current issues… Disney’s perfect Princesses [are] juxtaposed with real issues that were affecting women around me, such as illness, addiction and self-image issues."

I also discovered some pictures/charts/videos that highlight the extreme nature of the fairy tales:

These videos by comedy troupe Second City are entitled "Advice from a Cartoon Princess" I think they are utterly brilliant.
Snow White
Belle
Ariel

Speaking of blatant sexism and racism:

Here is a rejection letter supposedly addressed to a woman applying for job at Disney in the 1950's. Interesting stationary. Ironically I'm about an hour and a half from Searcy...perhaps I should do some research.

Text:

Miss Mary T. Ford
Searcy,
Arkansas

Dear Miss Ford,

Your letter of recent date has been received in the Inking and Painting Department for reply.

Women do not do any of the creative work in connection with preparing the cartoons for the screen, as that work is performed entirely by young men. For this reason girls are not considered for the training school.

The only work open to women consists of tracing the characters on clear celluloid sheets with India ink and filling in the tracings on the reverse side with paint according to the directions.

In order to apply for a position as “Inker” or “Painter” it is necessary that one appear at the Studio, bringing samples of pen and ink and water color work. It would not be advisable to come to Hollywood with the above specifically in view, as there are really very few openings in comparison with the number of girls who apply.

Yours very truly,

WALT DISNEY PRODUCTIONS, LTD.

And lastly, Remember "Fantasia"? Well here is an original scene that is quite Racist:
Original Fantasia Pastoral Symphony

OMG. I want one.

2010-11-24T06:36:00.000-08:00

So I have just discovered that there is a "Video Girl" Barbie doll that includes a camera in her necklace. (Whatever, it's in her body, she's a cyborg.)

Anyhow! I thought that this would be an excellent thing to use to create some videos for my projects. I thought it could add a little je n'a sais quoi to the whole process knowing that a Barbie doll shot the video. I'm going to stew on the idea for a while.

Then, in my research, I discovered this x-ray of the doll. I have been trying to figure out how to turn a doll inside out to no avail, then I discovered this and I thought - X-Ray them.
To be honest, I would BUT the cost would be major - beyond what I can afford. PLUS, I came across another artist - Tabitha Kyoko Moses who already does this.

And I also found these other interesting images online of x-ray'ed dolls:

Man! I love these. I wonder where I could get some dolls x-ray'ed for cheap....

Why didn't I think of that??

2010-11-18T17:05:00.000-08:00

Advice from a Cartoon Princess via Second City

Click on the pic above to see the video.

So Second City is an improv theater group who also has their own network and a plethora of other things.
They have come out with a series which currently features videos by three disney princesses : Belle, Ariel, and Snow White giving sage advice to young girls.
The Advice is quite messed up. Check it out.

So this all is right up my alley. What are the stories of our day really teaching little girls about being little girls. So far I have dismissed fairytales because they seem more random than lessons - but that's just it, despite what Snow White or Sleeping Beauty or Alladin etc. mean to be - they always says something.

I like these videos, but they seem to be like the bare bones of something great. Most everything is here, but only if it were put together in a different way - that'd be awesome...That's what I am for....

To see more videos check out Second City's Youtube Network.

Inside-Out Bears

2010-10-31T19:25:00.000-07:00

I don't know if you are familiar with the work of Kent Rogowski, but you should be.
He does work that is so beautifully simple, it makes you think - Why didn't I think of that first?!?!

Here is what he says on his site:
Bears, is a series of portraits of the most unusual sort: ordinary teddy bears that have been turned inside out and restuffed. Each animal's appearance is determined by the necessities of the manufacturing process. Simple patterns and devices never meant to be seen are now prominent physical characteristics, giving each one a distinctly quirky personality: their fasteners become eyes, their seams become scars, and their stuffing creeps out in the most unexpected places. Together these images form a topology of strange yet oddly familiar creatures. They are at once hideous yet cuddly, disturbing yet endearing, absurd yet adorable, while offering a metaphor for us all to consider. These bears, which have lived and loved and lost as much as their owners, have suffered and endured through it all. It is by virtue of revealing their inner core might we better understand our own.

I also really like his "Love=love" project in which he takes puzzles from the same company and mixes their images.

What do "Achy Breaky Heart" "Tainted Love" and My first dress have in common?

2010-10-27T18:49:00.000-07:00

They are all one hit wonders.
All 4 of my next dresses are not near as marvelous :/
Wasting my time kissing frogs - there's gotta be a prince somewhere.

What have I learned?
1. Bleach brings out good patterns
2. Colored pencils and dye are your friends
3. Bleaching, drawing/inking, then bleaching again = cool effects
4. Embroidery mixed in is good
5. Flat front dresses are best, pleats are no good.

Well. I'm working on two new dresses, but they are a bit more troublesome than the last.
The main problem is the front pleating. It makes it difficult to see the images on the front plainly.

I should either take the pleats out and resew them OR display them flat out and not on a hanger.

I really would like them consistent on hangers...so I'll have to work it out.

This dress is about a kid who refused to eat their soup and starved to death.
The bowl is sewed on the right side. There is a teeth theme because dreams about teeth are tied to your anxieties and thoughts about your appearance. In the original story, the child was being defiant. But I thought it would be more interesting to tie it to the eating disorders. Hence the teeth.

This one is about a little girl who plays with matches and gets burned up. What cheerful stories they are right?
Anyhow. I thought I'd embroider the matches in her hand. I also thought I could burn a little bit of the dress.

Growing Flock

2010-10-24T15:48:00.001-07:00

I've been sicker than a dead dog this past week which put me behind. I have planned to have 10 birds and 5 more dresses by the time I met with Holly, my mentor, this past Tuesday. I didn't even make the meeting because I didn't make it to work. UG. I'm almost better.

Anyhow. I did get to finish my birds. I still have 10 to go, but I'm saving those for later, after a break.

Looks like my meeting will be on Nov. 1, next Monday.
So I need to do the 5 dresses this week.
Mom sewed 3 dresses for me that I should try to do as well.
After that, I'm onto some new projects. I gotta spice things up. I can't sew and dye all the time.

My growing little flock

2010-10-13T20:17:00.000-07:00

I am currently up to 5. The end goal is 20, but the goal for by the 19th is 10. I have all the parts for the other five except the faces drawn...so Almost there.

Chicken Baby guts.

2010-10-12T17:52:00.000-07:00

Designer Due "The Blonds" have created a special Barbie Collection.
Seen here on the Blonds 2011 Spring Runway.
Interesting enough, celebrities have been spotted wearing the life-sized version of the doll outfits.
I had this crazy idea last semester to create a line of children's lingerie. The idea was inspired by last years controversy over the rumor that Miley Cyrus's (Hannah Montana actress) little sister was coming out with her own child's lingerie line. Truth of the matter was, that then 9 year old Noah's clothing line "Oh la la Couture" is more a collection of tutu-tank top combos and accessories.

How disappointing. All that fuss and these aren't that bad. To be honest, I'm surprised some perv hasn't created little girl lingerie yet in the disguise of regular old panties-gone-wrong. Children's clothing has taken a turn for the adult the last couple of decades. Children used to have their own specific clothing. It is not that way now. What comes in fashion with adults, is in fashion for the kids. I see it all the time with my niece. When those culottes (Coo-lots??) came in fashion for women, my then 8 year old niece had a matching pair to her mom. She dresses quite mature (not in an icky) way for her age. Alot of her clothes are just mini adult clothing.

Another bizarre turn has been the dolls lately. Anyone seen those Bratz dolls?

They make me wanna barf. They are so wrong. You wanna know why? They have baby faces on adult bodies. Sick Sick Sick.

In my research about the recent child-adult phenomenon, I came across the "Kinderwhore" style which was popularized by Courtney Love in her day's of Hole. The style of adult women dressing like little girls, but little girls who have been dragged through back alley's. I would definitely say this is a sister to the whole "Catholic School Girl" fetish.

Luckily enough for me, writer Jade Genesis from Mookychick.com wrote a How-to list for me to master the fashion:

As stated on the website:

Kinderwhore goes back to the mid to late 1990's and was a style used by female grunge and punk bands. Loud grrl bands like L7, Jack off Jill, 7 Year Bitch and Babes In Toyland were pigeonholed as "kinderwhore" bands, a media term for the babydoll dress fashion popularized by Kat Bjelland from Babes in Toyland and Courtney Love from Hole. Who actually takes credit for the kinderwhore look is up for grabs. Some believe Courtney Love started the whole thing. Others believe Kat Bjelland started it and Courtney made it popular. Whatever you choose to believe is completely up to you.

Kinderwhore fashion basics

Kinderwhore is basically just as it sounds: A sick twist on childlike clothing. It's usually characterized by babydoll dresses, torn stockings, heavy makeup, mary jane shoes or heavy boots. Oftentimes the clothing is torn to give a grungy feel. This image is easy to achieve and won't cost much. What, you thought that the female punk bands who came up with kinderwhore were going to spend what little money they had on clothing?

1. Go to your local charity shop / thrift store and search for dresses. Babydoll dresses are usually short (above the knee is most accurate). Any style is usually okay; just do what you feel comfortable with. The key is to look childish, so be sure the dresses you choose have a kiddish feel to them. Perhaps look for a-line smocks with bows or lace or big round collars.

2. Stockings, tights and socks are easy to come by and even easier to rip and tear holes in. Getting a friend to do it is also fun! Black is a good base colour - also consider grey, or white. White tights and stockings look great with a red babydoll dress. If you want to go with childish patterns like stripes and polka dots, knock yourself out. Layering tights, such as having torn fishnet tights over a plain base pair of tights, is also a good idea, especially in warmer weather. I've actually worn leggings under tights because the winter was too much. If you layer your tights, you'll most likely get an air of street urchin about you.

3. As far as makeup is concerned you should be a bit careful how far you take things. If you know anything about little girls playing in makeup you'll discover their tendency to muck things up. Even though your goal is to be childish, this is where the maturity comes into play.

4. Mary Jane shoes are the classic example of childishness. Basically any shoe with a T-bar strap is acceptable. Heels are usually non-existent or are very low and chunky. Heavy leather boots in a biker style are also common. Any colour you choose is up to you, black goes with anything, so does pink and white. If you're more daring you can do bright red or other rainbow colours.

Pretty much. Dress like a small child and they do awful awful things.

They say that America is obsessed with being young, well. I do believe this is correct to a horrid degree. My latest work has been about stories and traditions passed between women in a family or tight community. It is also about fairytales/nightmarish stories that are passed around and the disillusionment of childhood.
The project of Children's lingerie now fits in quite nicely.
Back to the Blond's collection above. A new idea would to be to create Barbie clothes on a life-sized scale.
Some interesting questions that occur:
Would the larger clothing be different then other current fashions?
If so, What are the differences?
How are the styles functional and how are they unfunctional?

Self-Dyeing Dress

2010-10-12T17:16:00.000-07:00

Dutch designer Anouk Wipprecht has created a techno-dress hybrid dress and dyes itself while you wear it thus promising a one-of-a-kind print. While I really think the artist is onto something in the design, it seems to lack something. The mechanics of this dress make it totally not functional to the everyday wearer. What is intriguing is the idea of a dress that somehow dyes or stains itself over the duration of its wear. Or perhaps that is stained or dyed from its environment. I've been using dresses as my canvas, what I have not thought about is tampering with the dress materials where they would become more sensitive to the environments around them. The dresses would then become records of the days, weeks, etc they were worn.

Perhaps using Photo/light sensitive emulsion on fabric, as the day progresses, light and shadows develop the dress.
Coating the fabric with chemicals that would make it rust, mold, or tarnish over time.
Using Thermochromatic dye or fabric - Temperature sensitive fabric/dye that would record touch. For example, if two people hugged, the garment would show the remnant of where the bodies touched.

Example of fabric:

Long story short, I really like parts of this idea, but not the final outcome. The artist meant the dress to be somewhat functional because it is demonstrated being worn. I have a feeling there is a way to do this and it be totally functional. While the idea would probably be overall kitschy to the average consumer - Imagine your mom wearing a dress that changed color over the day. It would be suitable for children/teens.
The idea as an art object is a good one. Garment as document - Record of wear, a unique pattern.

It would also be interesting to see this design in various sizes for different body types. In the video below we see several "finished" dresses hanging up. They are all the same size and shape. Different sized women with different body shapes would certainly create interesting designs. I would like to see how the dye moves on different women. I would also see the ink squirters or whatever you call them in different places. I understand gravity is at work here, but what if the designer figured out a way to put ink inside the dress in small pockets. As the wearer moved or bumped into things, the ink would be released into the fabric.
Anyhow..those are my thoughts on the matter...

Description of Dress From Wired.com:

A dress by Dutch designer brings together fashion and technology in an unusual way. The dress includes valves that are controlleed to pump ink slowly when the piece is worn, creating interesting patterns and a one-of-a-kind outfit for every wearer.

The dress called ‘Pseudomorph’ has been created by designer Anouk Wipprecht. The neck piece works with pneumatic valves and a system that allows the ink to be flow through the fabric. The electronic circuits that control the valve are powered by a 9-volt battery.

The dress was shown at Vienna Fashion Week late last month.

Increasingly, many designers are trying to meld fashion and technology with the intent of developing new ideas in wearable computing. We have seen a dress made of recycled wires, OLED displays and circuit boards.

The Pseudomorph dress has two parts. The bodice is a white dress made of thick felt, while the neck brace is the electronic accessory made from repurposed medical equipment, says Fashioning Tech. The two are linked together so when the ink trickles down the dress, it creates a unique pattern.

See a Video of the dress in action Here.

Martha Strikes Again...

2010-10-12T14:08:00.000-07:00

Someone's been reading "A Modest Proposal" by Jonathan Swift.
I was planning on making babies on Halloween...wait.
I mean for Halloween dinner.

On a lighter note.. I've been sewing more and more of my little birdy babies. I'm a night of work's away from having 10. So..crossing my fingers, hopefully I'll be done tonight.
My next goal is to finish 5 more of the black dresses by Tuesday. I have a meeting with my mentor, Holly in the afternoon.

After that - I'm taking a break from Birds! The goal is for 20, but I'll make the other 10 later.
I'm going to work on 5 bone-colored dresses my mother sewed for me and 1 white dress I bought. It'll be my test subject. After that, I'm going to help my artist friend, Olivia make some videos. She's been pulling an Ernest Hemingway in the Carribbean and is ready to come out and begin working again. Rumor has it, she has plans for her own Youtube channel.

So Where Have I been?

2010-10-03T19:40:00.000-07:00

Um. Well. This semester has been AWFUL!
My mentor Holly is great. I'm just stressed.
I worked this summer so I was behind a full month in the get go. I got a warning on my last report due to my horrible papers last semester, so not only did I start out slow, I started out with pressure to perform.
When I finally got started, All my stuff failed. I honestly thought about taking a semester off, and I'm still considering it.
It's not just school, It's work. I'm ready to not be doing what I'm doing. Even though logic and my parents constantly remind me of what a good position I have etc etc, my heart is very sad and I feel quite empty inside. My job makes me feel invisible. To be honest - I'm waiting for someone to walk up and give me permission to just quit. I need to just quit.
Enough with that.

Fortunately, the last few attempts at art are good and I feel like I'm making for the final show now. I still have NO clue what my thesis will be over BUT I feel my papers are better than last time so I will be able to use them when I get down to business.

I began this semester trying to make dresses on the ole sewing machine and then draw on them. Problem is - I haven't used a sewing machine since 7th grade. I suck. So, the drawings I made were successes but the dresses the drawings were on were awful.
I then switched to buying dresses and then dyeing, bleaching, drawing on,and embroidering them.
I'm also making some small soft sculptures in my free time (hahahahahaha) to balance the dresses out.
Did I mention I'm a prom sponsor this year? That stinks - on top of dresses and work, I'm helping with floats and working games. Totally uncool dude.

My dresses are inspired from German Fairytales mom told me when I was growing up. Some are quite sinister. If you are not familiar with Struwwelpeter - you should be.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Struwwelpeter
Example: Timmy sucked his thumbs so the tailor came and cut them off
Sally played with matches so she burned to death
Peter didn't eat his dinner so he starved to death

It includes some very awesome illustrations too. :)

There are other not-so-horrid stories I'm looking at too, like the Golden Goose Girl.
The overall them is both the fantasy and horror of childhood. It also includes the ideas of stories and traditions that mothers pass to daughters. Everything is female-focused. I will stick with dresses. My mother is making me some to work on. I have bought several more.
Anyhow. Here are some Pics.

This was the first one. It was an attempt to dress in a dress... I thought when displayed it could be hung by a hanger with a little hanger and a littlest hanger.
Unfortunately, It's not well made.

Attempt: Dress within Dress#2
Better. It was store bought. I attempted a spray stencil because the fabric had a puckered gingham texture.

This one is the story about thumb-sucking. It lacks embroidery. I'll get to it. It's a combo of drawing and bleaching and redying.

(Text goes in the hole on the Right)

Here's the awesome one. Bleached and then Charcoal in the spot. Text with Embroidery Machine.
The front has text from the German Goose Girl story. The back has an excerpt Yeat's Leda and the Swan. Both have to do with the Blonde beauty and swans, Lost Youth etc.

I feel that one is the most successful so I plan to continue working more realistically with the drawing in negative spaces of the bleaching.

Here are my "Baby Bird Babies." The idea is hungry baby birds...but they have human heads.

My mentor suggests I make at least 20 of these. I agree. I'm on #4 right now...

Sex Robot

2010-10-03T19:21:00.000-07:00

Artists - Need Money?! I've got a job for you! Sculpting Sex Robots!

So the other night I watched part of the Discovery Health Program "Sex Robot."
Then, last night, I was hangin' with some pals and guess what was on? - You guessed it - Sex Robot. Sometimes God does something I like to think of as "Repetition for Emphasis." Not only is this an effective art tool, but a divine intervention.
It wasn't until my second round of Sex Robot did I realize that these poor scientists needed major artistic help.

Let me back up. Sex Robot follows both Robot Enthusiasts - Men who want to have sex with Robots because they are submissive and compliant, and Robot creators - some of which care about the Adult Robot industry, others who just want funding for their cure for cancer and know where the $$ is... Anyhow. It's nasty, or it's kinky - I guess depending on which side of the line you tow - no judgement.

Long story short. These folks are spending the big money to make these complicated thrusting machines with 5 inch life-like tongues and the robots all look like drag queens.
Why!? What an artistic tragedy! I saw better face casting in Undergraduate art.

The worst thing about all this is how bad the sculpting is. Shameful.
Below are pics of prototype Roxxxy (yes. I know)

Her mouth is so disgusting. This is disgusting. Gross. (Barf Barf Barf)
After you get passed all that - try to see her as a sculpture.. then you'll truly cry.

If you are interested in viewing "Sex Robot" tune into The discover health channel. Make sure and take your anti-nausea meds first and keep a barf can close by or you are short on cash. Google "Sex Robot," filter through all the nasty stuff, and contact one of these pervs. You'll do great.

Martha Stewart does Damian Hirst

2010-10-03T19:02:00.000-07:00

It wasn't until I typed the title that I realized how juicy this post is.
I haven't been posting because of stress and stress, BUT this compelled me to begin again.

We are all familiar with Damien Hirst's diamond skull,
but low and behold - who would have thought Martha Stewart would have come up with her own version. There I was, leisurely browsing her online crafts for my next masters project when I discovered the "Glitter Skulls" in the Halloween Craft Section.

Girlfriend, YOU CAN'T TELL ME YOU DIDN'T KNOW.
Damien is famous for his appropriation, look who's making an art-funny now?
Secretly buried as number 2osomething in a list of 70 Halloween Crafts, even though Martha's version is green - we know what she's up to...

What a statement of authorship, appropriation, and consumerism. This even spills into discussion about the internet and everyone having 15 seconds of fame nowadays. Duudee...

Housewives around the nation are ignorantly recreating a $100 million dollar work.
Martha - you so sneaky girl.
What's next? Koon's inspired clear vacuum holder?

We know what you are up to.
Now, excuse me while I go purchase some glitter.

2010-07-13T19:12:00.001-07:00

shoes.
yes.

shoes..

more to come.

I'm in Boston!!

2010-06-22T13:06:00.000-07:00

I'm here!!!!

2010-06-10T19:04:00.000-07:00

I'm already thinking about my art for next semester.
This semester I made several wearable works. Now, as I look forward to entering some shows to beef up my resume, I realize the difficulty of properly showing wearable pieces.
My art is perpetually unshowable.

It is slowing becoming more object oriented, which is good, because you can show objects.

Here are my goals for the next semester(s)

- Create more wearable pieces

- Create more concise, sculptural pieces -they are created with the same materials and subject matter as the others, but are more simple and to the point. AND they are smaller and sculptures. This would make them easier to ship from place to place and display.

- Add humor back in. While humor is still a little there, it needs to be more there.

- Quit talking about weddings! OK, I'm tired of it. I focused a lot on wedding themes this semester because of the Bible verses addressing "The Wife". I do believe I'm kicking a dead horse. I don't want people to think I'm dwelling over lost loves and failed marriages. I really don't care. What do I care about? The expectations and rules in society, specifically toward women. What is a woman?... I think the viewer gets it, but they also get a lot of man hate.

The other day, a friend came to visit who I hadn't seen in a while. I showed him my art and he left. I think he was afraid I was going to cut off his man parts. I really don't hate men. I promise.

Perhaps I should discuss the expectations WOMEN have of WOMEN. This is better.

-Be Positive - I realized half way through the semester that my art was a big bummer. It's depressing. I don't want to make depressing hateful art anymore.

-Community Piece? - So for my thesis project in undergrad I did this huge community piece for a local homeless shelter. I taught printmaking to groups in the community and we constructed an installation/process piece on the courthouse lawn. I really like community pieces.
I think it would be neat to work with women in the community to create a project. We could gather important fabrics, we could sew, etc

(While I really like this piece, my mentor is against it. She says that this is a time for me to focus on my own work. Which I agree..but I love LOVE community stuff!!)

So I'm just going to list some crap here for me to remember:

Drowning dresses (Canvas)
Hair felting

Holy Stromboli, I'm done!

2010-06-06T17:16:00.000-07:00

All I need to do now is ship. That's tomorrow.

What have I been doin?

"Wedding Pillory"
This is based on the medieval torture device - the barrel Pillory. The prisoner was forced to wear a barrel around town while they were led around by a leash. The Barrel had carvings on it which depicted the persons crimes. I created a wedding dress pillory with embroidered domestic scenes.

My friend Beth Whitlow modeled

Veil

Doll Dress

I made 239487193408 more of those dolls and sewed them onto my wedding dress. Some have verses on their ribbons, other have embroidered verses on their lace.

2010-05-12T16:58:00.000-07:00

I have not been very diligent in writing this semester. I've been distracted I guess.
I have two projects going on simultaneously. I his a rut and then was idol for some time. Now, the ideas have hit me just in time for all the end of the school year rush etc. But that is ok. I feel they are good ideas and I'm going to do my best to get some of them done before I come back.

My only true worry is shipping. Last time I had huge shipping bills because I didn't meet the time requirement to ship ground - I had to ship air. I'm trying my best to get some larger things done - We'll see. I wish I could just drive, but it'd be a three day journey.

Ok Idea 1: Dresses/Wedding apparel which constrains or distorts the body.

Right now I'm working on two things
A. I'm looking at an old torture device called the "Barrel Pillory". Wearers were forced to be led around outside. Use of the arms was restricted. The outside of the barrel showed pictures of their misdeeds. I'm making a wedding-dress type thing in a similar shape. The outside has embroidered pictures of saintly women doing handitasks. These are to represent the deed which led them to marriage. Again, the arms would be restricted. I'm also adding a large collar to restrict sight.

B. Wedding Veil. I have made a long veil which I'm going to add Bible verses too. The Bible verses are from Proverbs 31 which describes the perfect woman. I found in research that wedding veils were traditionally saved and used as the woman's burial shroud. After the veil is emboidered I'm going to shape it around a figure form and put stiffner on it. When displayed it will lay on the floor in the form of a body.

2. Deflated Cakes
When Liz, my mentor, and I were discussing my themes, it seemed like several things are linked with disappointment - mainly the disappointment of falling short. I was trying to thing of a visual example of disappointment - so I thought of a small child getting a horrible deflated cake for their birthday. Now that's disappointing. So I'm making some deflated cakes from acrylic and canvas. So far they are looking great. I need to get some acrylic thickener for the icing.

3. Dolls.
Liz told me to consider a way to present the dolls. I made some more, but have yet to embroider the new ones. Walmart discontinued both the hankies and lace I was using. Bleh. Anyhow. We talked about making the dolls into a dress or veil or something. I've been trying. Nothing works too well. When I made them, I considered them to be individual objects and did not embroider them in a way that the words could be seen without flipping the dolls over. So now, If the dolls are stuck to something, part of the text would be hidden. :S bleh. I agree they need something, but I don't know what.

4. The olivia project.
Well - I'm still working on this. I called the galleries and Olivia was rejected by ALL of them because she wasn't from Arkansas. I had a whole plan, but it was detoured by this. So Olivia is moving here I guess?? Ick. To be honest, I'm focusing on the other stuff right now...So, I'll get back to it - sometime.

2010-05-02T07:45:00.001-07:00

I met with Liz last week. It was one of those "I'm having a meltdown!!!!" Meetings. I love Liz, she is so great and so helpful. The meeting was very encouraging as usual.

Before I get into the meltdown part. We had a good revelation during the meeting. The idea came up to create clothing articles that restricts a woman's body or would contort her body. I love the idea. These beautiful white, wedding-like dresses and accessories, that when worn, confine a woman. I like it. I would continue to use my text etc on the outsides.

Meltdown Part

Liz told me to figure out what the common thread in my artwork was. We agreed that each piece had to do with identity and a cultural expectation that is irrational and unable to be met. The pieces were not strongly tied together though.

I went home and thought for no ore that 1 or 2 minutes and knew. Even though I know that the expectations are crazy, I still am disappointed in myself for not meeting them. So my drive to make fun of or scold culture, often comes from a place of anger at myself. Once I realized this, I just stopped. I don't want to make art from that place. That place is stupid.

Anyhow, Liz and I discussed it and I feel much better about what I've been doing. I feel like the coin has two faces and my work is a good show of my current thoughts and questions. So there.

2010-04-05T15:02:00.000-07:00

This is my new project:

http://fatherdatabase.blogspot.com/

My father died when I was 12. I put what few memories I have of him on there. It shows one memory at a time. To see more, press "older posts"

2nd Mentor Meeting

2010-03-17T13:45:00.000-07:00

I met with my mentor last week. It went really well. I can't say how encouraged and excited I am about having Liz as my mentor. It's wonderful.
Here's what she said:

Dolls

She liked my monochromatic doll better than the ones with handwriting on them. I am making more of those dolls and will bring both collections with me to AIB. She did suggest I use a different colored embroidery thread so that the words would stand out. Christian, my main man, chose an off-white color. It works well. It definitely stands out more.

Knitted Tampons

Liz liked the finished piece, but she said I needed to work on a stand of some sort. We discussed different options. The main decision I need to make is how much of the piece do I want the stand to be? Is it just going to be a stand? Or is it going to be an extension of the piece?
I like the idea of a more simple stand. I will ask the welding teacher at my work if he will help me weld a simple metal something together for it.

Culture Jamming with Verses

I used the "submit" verse with remotes. Liz suggested I be more specific about where I put the verses and really consider my audience. Is it men or women? Most of my work is women-centered so I need to consider other womens items for them.

For this month....

We met half-way through so I feel at a little time crunch. Goals for this month are:
#1. Make 6 monochromatic dolls
**I already have 4 made..I have 3 more verses to do..
So I do not know if it will be a series of 6 or 7. Both are very important Bible numbers

#2. Work on Olivia's work
I should be all done with a body of work for Olivia this month. We looked at the maxipads I painted and she said the "landscape" was lost in the painting. We discussed other options. Paint-by-number came up. She suggested I use paint-by-number and apply it to the maxipads.
Liz asked me "What if the gallery owner doesn't like your work."
That is a tricky one...I'm all for making your work for you. BUT Olivia is striving to be famous so she is a bit of a butt kisser. I don't know. I don't know if I even want to include the maxipads anymore. I don't really know how I came upon that Idea. It would be extreme and eccentric. So many artists make art to shock. I'm still thinking about it

#3. Promote Olivia's work
Hopefully I can knock out the 10-20 pieces over spring break which leaves the following week for me to photograph them, get them online, and create a powerpoint of them for galleries.

#4. Dresses
If there is time I can embroider my bridesmaids dresses...if there is time.

A little Culture Jamming on the weekend

2010-03-06T14:04:00.000-08:00

I channeled Barbara Kruger a bit today. One last idea I had with these verses was to put them onto products.
I took the "Wives submit to your husbands.." verse and printed it on tiny labels.
I then took the labels and put them on Remote Controls in Walmart. I figured the old stereotype of men and women fighting over the remote was good enough. I have some other verses to plant.

I fixed my dolls

2010-03-06T14:00:00.001-08:00

They were so serious with their Bible verses. I thought the smile helped.

Speaking of "Tangible" work

2010-03-05T20:50:00.000-08:00

I still think about drawing often. It is my first love.
I ran across another graphite artist working in realism today - Eric Yahnker.
He works with humor.

I don't know. There is something about his work that i find ineffective. He juxtaposes contemporary images, sometimes including text. I feel like the work is technically strong but the ideas could be conveyed with collage or digital media. I don't think the ideas need to be worked in graphite. The medium seems too tedious for the subject matter. It is not a good match.

I do not want to dis Eric though. He seems successful. I found his work through the NY Arts Magazine website. His personal website seems pretty tight.

I feel like his work hits the heart of my own dilemma. I love working in graphite, but my ideas work better in a more direct medium.
I want to draw. I do. There is nothing more satisfying to making a drawing, minus a chicken basket and some fries.
But my ideas do not come in drawing form. I tried to do that last semester. It didn't work. I was very encouraged by the feedback from last residency - that my different mediums could exist in the same world. That's great - drawings can live with my other stuff....but..what should I draw?!?! ug.
Hopefully I'll get there.
In the mean time:

Dear Eric,
Make a collage from photographs.
See how you feel afterward.
If you need to wash your hands and draw to feel better it is ok.
If you never draw again, it is ok.
I recommend the glue sticks that start purple then turn clear. They work really well for collages.
Best of luck my friend.
Rachel

Check more of his work out at...
NY Mag. Article
Eric's Tight Webpage

P.S. This post is in italics because the "i" button is stuck.
It is kinda poetic though, like I'm writing with a quill pen..

2010-03-05T20:25:00.000-08:00

I would like to show my work. The problem is, so of my projects do not involve physical work. The fame project, for example, has documentation.

I love working with process, performance, installation...etc.. but newer mediums often lack the fine art object - they are more visceral. The piece may be great but it sure doesn't work well when you have to move it or show it.

The works that were accepted into my final show for my bachelors were a process piece, and installation piece, and a bronze piece.
The process piece exists now only through documentation - newspaper articles, photographs, emails, charts, receipts....
The installation consisted of a living room set..so, I could take a photo to document it, but I'm not shipping a living room set to somewhere for display...
The bronze piece was traditional - it's the only one I could legitimately still show - but I'm not really into bronze-casting these days....

I looked up Barbara Bloom to check out her work. I found some, but it was a bit ambiguous because it was out of context. She creates installations and photographs of the final set up were limited. What I learned about Mrs. Bloom, I liked, but I found it difficult to truly understand her work. I have a feeling I'm would have to buy a book or see it in person.

Several successful artists work like this. There are several performance artists and that is very temporal. This is fine.
I do miss the object though. Sometimes I feel like I lack as an artist because I do not have a more traditional made object to show.

A friend emailed me today and suggested I try and show in his hometown, which is in a different part of the state. This sounds great, but I'm thinking - what would I show?!

Ug. I do have several embroidered pieces. True.
But there seems to be so much more that is not as tangible.
:(

Tip of the Day

2010-03-02T18:20:00.000-08:00

Know the key to making a bad idea work? Do a series.
I mean. You can have a real crap piece, but somehow when there are like 100 of them -they aren't so bad. The novelty of 100 of anything makes it good. To see 100 of the same crap thing on the same wall - I like it.

So yeah - have a bad piece of art? Make 99 more. Present them creatively in the gallery. People will LOVE it!

2010-03-02T16:25:00.000-08:00

Month #1 has closed. This months goal was to work on using Women Centered Bible verses.
I made 7 dolls.
I added text to 6 pages from an illustrated Bible.
I created 1 "fashionable" Scarlet Letter.

I took another turn and created some PMS artwork - landscape designs on maxipads and knitted tampons.

Overall. I worked hard, bu I don't feel like the Bible Verse idea came out "perfect" yet. I never found the best combination. The closest was the printing on the Bible pages.

I thought it'd be cool to use a Bible and create an awesome braid out of the pages... I got a Bible and experimented. I'm thinking the paper art is a bit over my head. I dunno. I'll try more later.
I also bought some labels. I thought I could print the verses on them and then sneak them onto products in walmart. Seems like blah too.
My motivation has kinda died on this one. Bleh...

SO. This month's plan was the landscapes for Olivia. I've been thinking on this.
I stopped the fame project for a while to rethink...I need to rework my strategy. I'm glad that this month is the month for that. I'm also doing better about focusing on one thing per month.

I feel my ideas this time around are a bit stifled. Where did you go ideas?!?!?!
I need to generate some ideas - some good ideas.