(un)seen and (un)heard

A bit back these two cool artists Ryan Feeney and Kimberly Hennessy who run the online gallery Soft Spot, asked me to participate in the current show "(un)seen and (un)heard".
I was really shocked when they told me that they had gathered writers from the Internet that they loved.  I really didn't know them and it was a moment for me to think that someone thought of me as a real writer. I got to know them a bit and gave them something for the show. It was cool as they selected work from visual artists and we responded to it. It is an honor to be with these folks.

writers:
Ryan MacDonald, Sara Majka, Melissa Broder, Mike Topp, Sommer Browning, Mark Leidner, Jordan Stempleman, Ben Estes, Ben Kopel, Matthew Suss, Rachel B. Glaser, and Emily Hunt

artists:
Yochai Matos, Laurie Kang, Brendan George Ko, Nathalie Chikhi, Francois Trezin, Jason Demarte, Jesse Hlebo, Fenk Zhang, Joel Whitaker, Christina Leung, William Green, and Juliao Sarmento.

Check it out if you can. xo


art: seen:  william green, untitled #4, 2008

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

seen:  jason demarte, cream filled, 2007

heard:  amy turn sharp

Our words like tiny knives

we throw bombs and bricks and butter bowls

all over the kitchen floor

and it's foggy with love disguised by anger

and when we hurt the people that we love with our shouting

or when they hurt us we can't stop the loop for a bit

Not for a while.

Replay.

It would be a very good thing to freeze time and have a storytelling voice-over

explain away a lovers quarrel by dissecting it and making it funny somehow.

Or silly.

Or necessary to plot.

It would make it easier to watch in replay. It would be Nicolas Cage and his voice would sing song away all of the pain as he told the story of an ordinary morning that went wonky. And later when you hold washcloths to your eyes because you feel like you can see underwater -you look into the mirror above the sink and you laugh right out loud. Not because everything is fine again, but because you think about all those babies in "Raising Arizona" crawling around and it just reminds you of the way Holly Hunter's voice could possibly be the most perfect sound in the world. And then you rub your face with a rough white towel and you know with certainty that the most perfect sound in the world is your own mouth opening up and telling that other person that you are sorry. It has a timbre that makes you arch your back. It has a cadence that comforts you both.

 

 

 

right before the at!

Pecha Kucha Columbus, Ohio 2/10/11

I am getting a bit nervous about my Pecha Kucha presentation. I turn the slides in today and will practice talking to the kiddos all weekend. I will line them up on the sofa and ask them to tell me the truth about how mommy talks. They will probably laugh and ask lots of questions. I hope my voice stays strong.
  I am excited to tell some stories and I hope to inspire someone to walk out into the cold dark night and feel some electricity. To feel some sort of pressing desire to make or create. I would love to be the spark for someone else. As much as I wanna be an artist I know I have always wanted to be a muse too.
I am talking about writing and being a writer and an artist.
I am talking about all the things that that I love.  Will you come? 

{I am glad to know that my adorable man will be in the audience. I will imagine he is the only one there and talk right to him. Do you also have tips for public speaking like that? Focusing on one person? Naked audience?}

Worthington Inn chats

The other night I had the pleasure of meeting a brand new resident of my village.
I got to have big girl drinks with some pals and Suzy Ultman.
Yep- We now have another famous and amazing artist to hang out with!
She is adorable (like eat with tiny spoon cute) and insanely talented.
It was funny because the next day I looked her up and realized I had seen her work on Holly's blog and loved her already.
Swoon!
I love it when people step outside of my computer and into my local pub. xo

Free rocks

I just wanted you to know you can get a head start on Holiday Gift Giving by checking out Little Alouette this long weekend!

FREE US AND INTERNATIONAL shipping on all teethers.
Please check us out!

Also- We have a new wee blog for Little Alouette.
It really would love some visitors!
(add us to yr reader?)

Thanks!


And this post is dedicated to Ramona at the post office. You are very eccentric and sometimes make me crazy- but you had a hard day today. There was no reason for that man to be so mean to you over a passport. It was difficult to watch and he was wretched to you. I am sending you good vibes. Be nice to yr postal workers.

oh yeah and how cute is the dress in the photo? Find it here.

He's a hunk this one

Joe is amazing.
He just finished a beautiful wooden sign for his client and friend DesignSmith.
I can't wait to see it with patina and hung up on the wall.
Joe is so dreamy.
I may implode.

I wonder what having a highball at Hogan's bar was like back then?

I forgot my camera and wanted to cry- but I still want to tell you about this awesome show over at Stuart's Opera House in Nelsonville, Ohio. If yr local you must go check it out.
It was quite amazing. The room was packed with many generations of folks and the show was stunning.

Stuart’s Opera House, Nelsonville, Ohio Presents a photographic exhibition of Vern McClish “Appalachian Families and Faces, 1971-1975 May 29- July 17, 2009 Opening Reception for the public: Friday, May 29, 6-9PM Stuart’s Opera House in Nelsonville, Ohio is pleased to present Vern McClish’s documentary photographs of the people in the communities surrounding Nelsonville, Ohio. The exhibition, entitled “Appalachian Families and Faces, 1971-1975” continues from Friday, May 29 to July 17, 2009. There will be a reception open to the public Friday, May 29, 6-9PM. From 1971-1975, Vern McClish documented the people of the coal-mining region of Southern Ohio, particularly in and around the communities surrounding Nelsonville, Ohio. Intrigued by the fascinating people and area, McClish photographed there for four years, recording the daily lives of people living in this critically important historical part of America. Now he has returned after over 30 years to share what he saw then with a wish to reconnect and again record what he sees today. “After not being in the area after over thirty years, I decided to return and see if I could retrace my steps. As I drove from my home in Massachusetts, I wondered if I would be able to find familiar sites or if gentrification had changed the area so much that I would never recognize it. Boy, was I wrong, for time had not changed very much, though I did find that Hogan’s Bar, a favorite watering hole in Murray City, is now gone.”

Some of the photographs are here to view.

The images are so amazing in person and there is a particular little girl in a few shots that captivated me. She is gorgeous and to think she may be still living in the area and able to come look at her image shot so long ago is thrilling to me. Many of the photographs held mysteries. Eyes that looked back at you and you just knew they were long gone.
I am haunted by history always.
Some family members were there and saw old familiar faces.
It was truly cooler than cool.
Check it out if you can.
***And locals- The Randys are playing there in June!
Wanna go and drinks some beers on the square?
xo

States United

I spoke with Greg of beauchamping a few months back after our gorgeous friend Mary introduced us. Greg has such amazing art and he is starting to share it with the world.
It was a great phone conversations about art and indie business and the way the world works. He is such a brilliant artist and cool cat. He now has an etsy shop!
I am so happy to tell the world.
I love States United so much.
Don't you?
xo

"a quarter-pounder with cheese, those are good, the sky about ten minutes before it starts to rain, the moment where your laughter becomes a cackle"

That tea towel broke my heart years ago as I walked down the street and saw it in a gallery in the Short North.
I had to have it.
Today I stopped worrying about what I was going to do with it and let it out of it's paper prison.
It is perfect in Finnian's colorful room.




title post- Reality Bites 1994

"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it."

I was reading an article on the plane this week about WPA posters. Now honestly I did not know much about the WPA- only that when my cousin named her daughter with the initials of WPA her mother made a big deal about it and we were all like "What?"
I must have been applying lip gloss and writing in bubble letters on my folder during that history class session. It is actually kinda embarrassing that my British husband is constantly refreshing my knowledge of my own country. How can I memorize massive parts of Gertrude Stein's Tender Buttons but be unable to say much about Franklin Delano Roosevelt? My brain is not right.

Anyhoo, it is kinda cool shit. It was basically from what I gather that contemporary artists were paid to make gorgeous propaganda silkscreen, lithograph, and woodcut posters. They ranged from art to health education. The social messages mixed with amazing art has made me crazy.
I love these. Around 2,000 posters were created by artists working for the New Deal Era Works Progress Administration.
I would love to have one now.
I might have found something to collect after all these years.

title post- Ferris Bueller's Day Off 1986
photos from the Library of Congress

Get me delivered to yr email xo

She can take the dark out of the nighttime/And paint the daytime black

Get thee to a screening of this amazing documentary!
WHO DOES SHE THINK SHE IS?





I had the pleasure of attending a a screening for this documentary last night and I left the building feeling as if I could speak louder and I could breath deeper. I felt a part of my artist self climb out of my body and join the other women on the screen and in the room to dance and be joyful in the fact that motherhood and the artist life can coexist.

I let go of what others expect of me for a bit longer than usual last evening and felt a powerful connection to other women/mother/artists who really do get the short end of the stick. Why can't art in general be more sacred and why can't mothers be more than mothers? Why can't it be validated that I want a room of my own and two or three hours a day to be in that space? Why?


All I know is director Pamela T. Bolls has got a gem on her hands, she has got a documentary that speaks to women and all artists and art lovers. She has to get this out there for more folks to see. Go to the website and find a screening or act locally!
Wexner are you listening?

Drexel are you listening?
I will help you organize it with my big mouth!


*** I also has the pleasure of meeting Janis Mars Wunderlich!

She is a fabulous LOCAL artist in the film.
I loved her. Her art is amazing and she has FIVE children. I think she has figured out a lot of the right ways to live the artist life. She choose the right supportive partner, has a strong faith in something, and makes art a daily part of her life! She was so inspiring! Check her out!

Get me delivered to yr email xo

Is that you baby or just a brilliant disguise

the Sansom window project:

Those brilliant folks from Something's Hiding in here. (Love them) have been working with Urban Outfitters to host a wicked cool installation in Philadelphia, Pa.

From the website:
inspired by industrial letter signs, multi colored text, and everyday sayings... we made our own marquee sign out of wood. now the fun part begins, we want to collect your messages to post on the sign. we're not looking for insightful proverbs, but rather ordinary, simple sentiments.

So send in yr messages/yr whispers/yr screams.
How freaking cool is this?
I sent one.
Go here and be inspired by art
it really is freaking everywhere...
and if yr near you can go and check it out...
directions here


found via candancetodd.blogspot.com
merci.

Get me delivered to yr email xo

The world was moving and she was right there with it (and she was)

> photo via Oh Happy Day>

I was smitten with her before I met her in real life.
She is delicious and darling and now she has went and made me swoon over her little baby Moses and his closet room with this amazing photograph that I stared at and then looked up and then went wild wondering why I was so artdumb and did not know of this man before.

I heart Jordan and now I heart Robert ParkeHarrison.
Thanks gal- I love finding all the new in the world. Kiss Kiss.

Get me delivered to yr email xo

I'll make you a believer

A trip to the art museum today was filled with much inspiration. Tony Mendoza's "stories" took my breath away and I fell into a little dazy haze of a split second daydream where I come to the museum everyday with a crisp brown paper bag that holds an apple and a bottle of water and I sit and stare for 30 uninterrupted minutes at his art.

Finn and his friend Parker loved the Surrealist Room. I loved the slow motion of the day and the quiet stillness and the way the docent followed us around as you would with bulls in china shops.

Get me delivered to yr email xo

Id like to be a gallery/Put you all inside my show

It must have been around 1994. Me and my gals from college decided to road trip it to The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. (I am the blond in the upper corner with Drew Barrymore circa 1994 eyebrows and I recall that day so well. I wore my black sunglasses that had light blue lenses and I thought my self bewitching.) We drove from Athens, Ohio to the museum and it was one of those marked moments in my art history education. Much like the moment I walked into the Louvre or stood under the Sistine Chapel two years prior, I began to understand a bit beyond the Campbell soup can.

I stood in the pillow room for a long time. I can remember thinking with a small quiet inside mind voice that this was so kick ass. I think it might have been the real moment I knew art was the way to go in a life. I had no clue what my art was yet, but I knew that I never wanted to do anything but art.


In the basement of the museum was a old school B&W photo booth. We all crammed in that booth and snapped a stream of photographs. We were young and overflowing with vision and ideas for manifestos and world domination. We were actually quite cultural considering most of our friends were probably back home hitting the bong and watching Dazed and Confused.


I want to take some photographs in that booth again. I found out recently that my dreams are coming true. Columbus, Ohio beat out all the big boys and are getting Other Voices, Other Rooms? -a massive Warhol exhibit that is only making one North American stop. Here. The Wexner is pretty amazing though. I can see that it stands out. But Holy Hell...we get this ground breaking multi media exhibit? Yes, we do. It opens on September 13th and you can be sure that Finn and Blaise will be standing in the pillow room. You can be sure that I will cram us in that photo booth and share.

Get me delivered to yr email xo

We fell through the ice when we tried not to slip

jules verne 1, originally uploaded by sparerobot.

I found this amazing young designer on flickr.
Her name is Aidan Vitti and she is so cool. Finn could rock her Steampunk/Jules Verne frocks! This is the kind of artist that I wish I had tons of money and could throw it at her and say, "Here sister- go and create"!!!

I wish everyone a Happy Holiday Weekend! I will post a bit over the weekend to fulfill my blog365.

xo

(pics via aidan site & flickr)

And sometimes it takes more than a lifetime to know

Thank you rattlesnake charmer for introducing me to this gem of a singer. I love his folk heart. How lovely are these words he sings? How wise?
If you have a broken heart or a battered soul
Find something to hold on to or to let go
To help you through the hard nights like a flask filled with hope
Darlin' do not fear what you don't really know
Cause it won't last - your worries will pass
All your troubles they don't stand a chance
And it always hurts the worst when it's the ones we love the most
Darlin' do not fear what you don't really know

I am so glad to be back home and back to the business that I do best- (kiddos and mom hanging out minus stress!) It was a great weekend and it filled me with a spirit of kindness and community again and I met many cool folks and learned a lot! My wood products were the hit and what I will focus on next year. I am beat down tired, but Mondays can often feel like this even when you don't live on the street for three days right? So I am sure Tuesday will be a fresher day. I missed my computer and all the lovely people that live in it...

Get me delivered to yr email xo

On the side of a hill in the deep forest green

I think there are definitely a breed of folks who are suited to festival living. I was falling right in the middle of the continuum yesterday as I felt old and tired some parts of the day, but would then be energized and refreshed randomly by a lovely person (or funnel cake) a few moments later. I am happy that the response has been positive and folks seem to like our stuff! Yay! I also had the treat of meeting her and her and her and also getting to see her again (God I love her and never get to see her!) It is really cool to meet some local bloggers that I read and I enjoyed putting the face to the blog. They were lovely! Finn and Blaise has a blast with all the people and sights and sounds. They danced all day! (The porta potties were a bit much for Finn though!)
I type quickly this morning as I have to pack a cooler, chug java, pop Tylenol, and motor. I got festival soul to develop.

Get me delivered to yr email xo

I Can Go for Miles if You Know What I Mean

Today is the first day of the festival where Little Alouette will have a booth. I am excited and terrified. I hope the energy is wonderful and I hope the folks like our wares. I will pretty much suck at posting until Monday, but after some rest on Monday I will be back with full force! Yahoo!


1. DSC04778, 2. Comfest 07, 3. Comfest says bike, dont drive, 4. Comfest-ers, 5. DSC07143_2, 6. Comfest 2007 Pride Parade

Get me delivered to yr email xo

Go to him now, he calls you/ you can't refuse

Walking at the farmers market Finn hears him from a block away.
Bob Dylan is here mom!!!!
Of course my camera ran out of juice and I only got a snippet, but I got that first snippet of Finn giving to the arts. Finn has pocket money for the market each week and he normally and wisely buys a sweet treat from the bakery, but today he wanted to give his money to Dylan. (He really thought it was Dylan and no amount of reasoning would fly)

I told him sure. Go for it, it will feel good.
Joe and I used to buy art even when we were poor bc we knew that it would always make us feel rich. I also like to give money to those brave artist who sing out loud for us all. I have tossed coinage all over the world in guitar boxes and I hope that Finn continues to do so. I hope he becomes a missionary of artistic evangelism and I feel so lucky that I was there for that first toss- that moment that welled up in a small boys soul.

Get me delivered to yr email xo