Si Es Plau

I just got back from Barcelona! HB and I had a great time. I think I will do several posts... I will start with the iconic architect Gaudi.
park guell
La Sagrada Familia
detail from the Nativity Facade elevator
detail of the staircase in the Sagrada Famila... spiral... shell... nature's geometry
the roof of Casa Mila



Casa Batillo

We have several hundred photos of Gaudi. I just tried to edit...

Gaudi is hugely inspirational. I have owned a book called "Barcelona Tiles" for several years. I picked up after I saw a show about moderisme and Barcelona at the Met. I have incorporated some of the tiles into backgrounds of my paintings and prints. I love Gaudi's organic shapes, patterns, colors, and ambition.

stay tuned--- food and wine is next

Whaaaat?!? Wow

My goodness... found at craftzine.

quick trip south

Yum!

progress....

Brown Bag, Thursday, 3/4/10, noon

I will be speaking about my work- past and present at the University Museum in Oxford. I will be talking in the Speaker's Gallery. I hope you can make it!

walkin' in memphis

My friend Brian (from MacDowell) was in Memphis briefly this weekend. I picked him up and we headed over to the Pink Palace. I had never been. It was a crazy collection, but my favorite had to be the Miniature Circus. I love examples of obsessive creation. During the depression, Clyde Parke spent 60,000 hours creating a mini circus from memory. It is impressive.
cotton carnival dress from the 1960s.
famous shrunken head

We headed down Central and had lunch at Payne's Barbeque. They are famous for their pork sandwiches. It was fantastic!!! Payne's is no frill, but they do one thing (sandwich) really well. This is a sandwich worthy of the Chicken Bucket List.


We headed further south to the Mecca. Graceland. This was my 6th time and Brian's first. We toured the mansion. I went to Graceland for the first time in high school. It was extremely influencial for me- it is epitome of "too much." Needless to say, I had a great time!

slow times in the studio

School is almost to midterms. I can't believe it is almost March. I have been experimenting with Jell-0 and my massive fabric stash. The painting above is a small one- 24" x 36". I am thinking about calling it "Circle, circle, dot, dot".

introducing--- Unicorny

I think it is done.

40"x 50" acrylic on canvas

sugar 'n spice

Here is a link to the virtual card catalog for the "let's talk about love" show. You can hear an audio artist statement about the seminal "Sugar and Spice."

Let's Talk About Love, Baby!

My friend, Chido Johnson, invited me to participate in a group show, "Let's Talk About Love, Baby".

Here are the details (in case you are in the Detroit area)
EXHIBITION: The Art of the Artist’s Book DATES: January 8 –April 4, 2010 LOCATION: Oakland University Art Gallery, Department of Art and Art History, College of Arts and Sciences, 208 Wilson Hall, 2200 North Squirrel Road, Rochester, MI 48309-4401, (248) 370-3005, oakland.edu/ouag OTHER PROJECTS BY OTHER ARTISTS: Lynne Avadenka, Matthew Barney, IAIN BAXTER& ,Christian Boltanski, Susan Goethel Campbell, Sir Anthony Caro, Vija Celmins, Ed Fraga, Jane Hammond, Dennis Michael Jones, R. B. Kitaj, David Lambert, Ronald Allen Leax, Donald Lipski, Kathleen McShane, Eric Mesko, Sabrina Nelson, Matthew Shlian, Kiki Smith, Michael E. Smith, Jill Sylvia, Stella Waitzkin, Kara Walker, Peter Williams (WOW- this is a great list)
Here is a video from the exhibition.

This is my starting point. I found this at the DAV in memphis.

My cover...

The back
I read the book (it took about 45 minutes from start to finish). I used images of cakes and pies that pop out of the book and obscure the "interesting" parts.

Here is some press from the show...

oakland post
detroit news

slow and steady

Here is a progress shot. It is not going to take much longer.... I think I am going to title it "Central Perky" or "Unicorny" What do y'all think?

Here are some flowers I got for the opening from Kevin, my parents and grandmother. They are from Oxford Floral and I love them. So many interesting shapes, textures, and colors....

the event....

Here are some pictures from Tuesday's event. I had such a good time! Thanks to all of you who came out.

Oxford Town

I made the cover of the Oxford Town. It is a really nice article with lots of images. If you want to check it out, scroll down to the bottom of the Oxford Eagle's web page. Unfortunately, you have to download the whole pdf....

Truckee Truck!

Kevin and I loaded up some paintings for the show at the University Museum. Boy, it was cold this morning. My sweet husband is ingenious- I would've never tried moving them vertically. Luckily, we live about a mile from the museum and we went really slow.

Here is my banner in front of the museum on University Avenue. I love it!!!!

ahhhh... studio time

I am painting away! Painting shiny plastic is so much fun. I am kind of dreading the negative space.

This painting might as well be my ode to Jeff Koons. Jeff Koons is one of those artists that you really want to hate. However (like Andy Warhol) his work gets better the more you think about it. The questions he asks about contemporary culture, the nature of consumerism, and the role
of the artist are very interesting. I am going to make a contreversial prediction... in 100 years when historians are trying to visual represent the 1990s and 2000s- they are going to use Jeff Koons.