Gillian Lee Smith, Artist

Her site

Her Flickr

Her Etsy

Close Encounters of the Artistic Kind

Artworks I've seen lately...

Auguste Rodin, Eve

Charles Ray, Plank Piece 1 and 2

Erwin Wurm, One Minute Sculptures

Hannah Wilke, S.O.S. Starification Object Series
(chewed gum! can you believe it?)

Jackson Pollock, Easter and the Totem

Charles Burchfield, Gateway to September

Heat Waves in a Swamp at the Whitney was the most inspiring exhibition I've seen in a very long time. It was a clear view into the mind of the curator, to me; it was so well put together, so meticulously organized and downright interesting that I could clearly see the curator's passion for the work through the very presentation of it. To the new viewer, I think the show was meant to accentuate Burchfield's awe-inspiring style and the interconnectedness of his life with his work (I definitely got that). The inclusion of his journals in the exhibit made the artist exponentially more present, especially because to me it's almost impossible to separate the artist from the work, most of the time. The quotes accompanying many paintings added such a richness and vitality to the viewing process, though the paintings alone were often rich and vital enough.

Google images does not do justice to Burchfield.

B&W

Black and white photography is quickly becoming my new-found old love. I've always loved it, but it got a bit lost in the fray of technology and megapixels and lomography bright crazy photos, you know? This class is opening my eyes so much, even though I had no idea I was missing anything.

My professor is currently in possession of the majority of the photos I've made so far (16ish), so I'll scan them when I get them back. In the meantime, I really like this one. Reminds me of warm weather and joy. Some others are in my Flickr, also listed on the side bar to your right -->

[if you'd like to re-post any photo, just let me know that you're doing so - thank you!]

Aubin & Wills : Autumn 2010

I just noticed that I happened to choose, accidentally, the two photos on top where the model is standing a bit pigeon-toed and the two photos on the bottom where the left leg is stepped out a bit. I wonder if my subconscious organized that? Who knows...

by Aubin & Wills

via {frolic!}

What to do with toilet paper rolls and patience

by anastassia elias

via wiksten made

Vanessa Bruno does it again!

The film “ Day for Night ”  with Lou Doillon and Valentine Fillol Cordier.
http://www.vanessabruno.com

Films made to support fashion collections make me so happy.

Two Organic Jackets + Where I've Been

I know I've been lacking in posts. I was literally too busy studying prostitution in 19th century France to read blogs or post on my own. I find that I either need to stay in the world of academia for a week, or stay in the blog-craft world for a week. I can't do both very seriously at the same time. That will be my [ultimate] goal [besides blissful happiness] : to merge my worlds. (Besides, Baudelaire, Parent-Duchâtelet, and Emma Bovary would probably like blogging if they were around for it...)

I also went to sketch night at the Society of Illustrators, my new favorite place in the world. They offer low price ($7 student) figure drawing twice weekly! And I got a sketch card, so after I go to ten sketch nights, I can get in for free. Talk about incentive.

It's getting permanently chilly in New York. For about three hours during the day it's warm, but otherwise cold. These Loomstate jackets caught my eye, and I really like the idea of wearing them with white/ light gray pants.

And my scarves. I knit so much for other people or for my shop, but I've only made myself two scarves that I like (and I only really like one of them). I'm working on a very tedious tight-knit teal colored scarf now. I will probably update the shop next month.

I'm really hoping to get to Heat Waves in a Swamp and Hipsters, Hustlers, and Handball Players before they close this weekend. Upper East Side, here I come...

Art for your kitchen + how to cook an artichoke

My desire to cook full meals for myself comes and goes in waves usually, but lately I'm in the mood to cook much more than usual. The other night I made golden beet and sweet potato mash (basically cook equal parts of both, mash, and add a little-less-than-copious amount of butter) and a steamed artichoke the way my grandmother and her sisters used to make them.

You're probably asking yourself, How the hell do I cook an artichoke?

• Buy one that's closed tight - they're fresher than the ones that are starting to open up. 
• Cut off the big stem on the bottom. Rinse well.
• Lay your palm on the top of the artichoke where all of the leaves meet and push down hard a few times to open it up. 
• Slice three cloves of garlic and stick the them in the grooves of the leaves.
• Take out a pot and fill it with about 1.5 inches of water. 
• Place the artichoke in the middle of the pot. 
• Add salt and a very generous amount of cracked black pepper (and some red pepper flakes if you like them). 
• Try to get the seasoning in the grooves too, not just on the outside. 
• Drizzle with amble olive oil, I'd say at least a 1/4 cup. 
• Steam the thing for about 1.5-2 hours. 
• Occasionally add more olive oil or scoop some of the juices on the bottom onto the artichoke so it doesn't dry out. 
• You know it's done when you can smoothly pull a leaf out of the middle and scrape the meat off with the your bottom row of teeth.

How does this relate to art for your kitchen? Weeeelllll, this morning Design*Sponge wrote about these great art prints by John Holcomb which feature foods that come from certain states in the U.S. I saw the one for California and consequently sang Joni Mitchell for the rest of the day...



Oh, and the website that sells these prints is called Fine Artichoke. So clever!

200th post, Daytrotter, and why I like it under my bed

My first true print for my photography class this semester. I rather like it! Many more will be coming in the following weeks...

I was just checking up on Daytrotter, as I do weekly (and you should too), only to be struck by one of the recent articles written by Sean Moeller, who I believe writes the majority of the articles, if not all of them. The article accompanies Dark Dark Dark's session. The opening lines really caught my attention...

"It really is kind of amazing how goddamn cunning the human heart is - not the organ, mind you - but the fictitious concept of the heart as a thinking and acting object, capable of rampant destruction and the sorts of nose-bleed, giggle fest highs that are impossible to find elsewhere. Oh, it's very cunning. It's really amazing that there is never any gain involved with the perspective of getting down to brass tacks with it, of feeling like there is any headway being made in its study. But it's just where we tend to leave ourselves, staggering and mumbling to ourselves - still without a stitch of sureness, with a wandering echo inside that we take as the beat of that lovely pump. It's a beat, and often a hollow one, that we convince ourselves is a necessity, a mark of still being alive, as the Tin Man noted, finally knowing that he had a heart for he could feel it breaking under the strain of sadness."

BAM. So insightful! I don't know why that hit me so hard, but I really like it. He writes again about the Clare and the Reasons session...

"She seems - in her soft breezes of spring singing - to believe in the power of positive thinking and in good friends, a good night's rest, a full belly, something wonderful to drink and a clear sky. She might believe that nothing else matters, for the love and the comfort will surely follow if those basic needs are met on a regular basis. In her songs, we get rocked, like a child - held as it were, as if we were in her arms and she was trying to wipe some wet tears from the corners of our eyes and just tell us over and over that everything was going to be just fine so no more crying. Just look around, she would say. Things aren't so bad. We can, after all, just choose to be happier. We really can. There are still those fascinations with needing loving and seeing it take all kinds of peculiar shapes and guises..."

The links to these articles and music are here and here, respectively.

Is everyone aware that October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month? If you see all of your friends updating their status on facebook to say something like, "I like it on the kitchen table," they're talking about their purses / bags / backpacks / etc. The game is to think of the place where you put your purse the minute you arrive at home. (Personally, I like it under my bed.) The previous game was to post the color of your bra, if you remember. OH, and the point of it all is to raise awareness for Breast Cancer research. Maybe if we start talking about it, we will start doing something about it. One can hope.

Just a tester...

 

more to come!

cars and telephones

this song resonates like no other.

I can just picture myself sitting in Paris, missing home, singing,
And if I had any notion of how I'm gonna drive my car across the Atlantic Ocean, 
I'd be fuckin' set.

Also, I hum songs from The Suburbs in my sleep. It never leaves my head these days.

gnack gnack gnack

via kissssing