Sunday, September 30, 2007

Taliesin migration

In the place of work and life of Taliesin (shining brow), the house and estate of Frank Lloyd Wright in Wisconsin, I'm helping those who study and work here to pack up and move to Taliesin West. Christian will be staying on for 2 more weeks in order to finish up a project, but almost everyone else who is part of the FLLW School of Architecture is leaving tomorrow for the beginning of their trip to Arizona.

My partner, the architecture student:



and if you'd like to check out the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture and Taliesin, go to www.taliesin.edu. There you can see more pictures and students, etc.

Off to do the migration thing.

Friday, September 28, 2007

recognize



Starting off the morning with some yum espresso and work on a literary publication that my dear friend Jesslyn compiles and edits: Plankton. I'm lucky enough to be doing graphics for the journal and I also get to read all the lovely stories and poems that are submitted and chosen. This morning, I'm formatting the above image into a page layout. It's a learning process for me and I realize often how far behind the curve I feel with computer graphics when I do this kind of work. But the good news is, it's never too late to figure stuff out. And there are plenty of people along all points on the curve.

Something funny this morning:

While waiting to get an espresso at the Mermaid, I was looking at the bulletin board and saw a poem written by Monona Wonders (must be a seudonym!). I am quite certain that the poem is about me as the precise scenario happened in my life 2 weeks ago. Here's the poem:

Grounds

September

Girl on Skateboard Balances White Bucket

Garden Compost.

**
Truly, I did that, and then dumped the coffee grounds into my compost bin.
This has truly been a week of recognition.

By the way, I'm showing my work at Lazy Jane's Cafe (I always do, but this is different) for Madison Gallery Night. A one night event on Oct. 5 from 5-9pm with many galleries, etc. throughout the city participating and organized by Madison Museum of Contemporary Art. Be there or be square. Seriously.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Work = Worth it



Here you see me working.

I'd like to point out that I work at a cafe in Madison, WI called the Mermaid Cafe on Winnebago Street (East side). I proudly assert that this cafe serves only fairtrade coffe and espresso in partnership with Just Coffee, which you can view here: justcoffee.coop and learn about what the heck that is. To be brief, fairly traded (not to mention organic and shade grown) coffees directly support the growers (where ever they are located on the globe) for their work and their product by paying them a fair price according to their country's living standards. Just Coffee is an organization that does more than just fair trade... so read on! Or, just check it out for a second. Our cafe is pictured as part of a list of cafes and restaurants who serve and sell beans from Just Coffee. See more pictures.

I am so very impressed with the coffee and espresso beverages that the Mermaid serves! ...and I had that thought before I began to work there! It is noteworthy as well that the Mermaid Cafe no longer uses products containing High Fructose Corn syrup. We make our own Chai (slightly sweetened with honey, spicy spicy!). And the food is delicious and good for you too!

Uh... Advertisement?

This is all to say that working is worth it when we know that our work does a world of good. Good for me. Good for customers' bodies and minds. Good for local businesses (food and coffee distributors). Good for the neighborhood. Good for the global economy. Good Good Good.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

I would like to welcome myself...



Right, so here I am.
This is my blog.
I have one now.

The purpose of this blog is, to set a tentative goal, to have a journal-like collection of my work and ideas and thoughts related to my artwork. Topics might include art, literature, travel, psychology, and just the general thought process that occurs in art making (my own and in general). I'd like to think that this can be an open door to conversation about these topics too.

yes, and this photograph is an obvious example of how I feel silly while having pictures taken.