Today's Small Miracle

The temperature climbed above freezing (by 2 degrees).

This According to My Algebra Teacher

Three things that you should never do:

-Tug on Superman's cape
-Spit into the wind
-Divide by zero

Outta Luck?

My Lucky Bamboo is dying... what does this mean?

Am I just a bad plant parent or is the universe trying to tell me something?

My Graphic Design Professor Reminds Me of Willy Wonka: in a good way

This is not to say that my professor is out of touch with reality in the way that Willy Wonka is (because she seems really grounded), but she really does remind me of Roald Dahl's character.

She wears very strange glasses, think owl-eyes with silver triangles by the ears. She wears brown boots with black pants and green sweater vests.

She does asides on herself. She is unabashedly honest and in your face about what she thinks. She is very smart and a genius at what she does. We'll be talking about a topic or a piece and she'll make a grandiose/philosophical comment that will take you aback, then the class will start talking/arguing about what she said for 45+ minutes... we won't get anything done but you'll look back on the class and know that it was really some of the most effective time that you've ever spent in a class room.

The Hands of the Artist

I've been thinking about this for a while... and a lot lately because my hands are killing me from carving the plaster.

Why do so many artists today seem hell-bent on removing the craft from art? It's like no body wants to get their hands dirty anymore... and in my opinion, that's the best part. You get to play with paint and clay and paper and glue. When did taking the time to use your hands become uncool?

I mean, jewelers have computer programs like CAD/CAM that do a lot of the design work... THEN, based on CAD/CAM images, there are machines (like lathes for wood) that will actually cut the mold out of jewelers' wax for casting... Human hands are not involved in the process at all except for the fingers that use the keyboard and mouse.

There are so many artist studios around the country where artists just take the time to make a sketch or mockette, then he or she hands the drawing/mockette over to an art director, design team, fabrication house, or apprentice for fabrication. I know that as part of the Post-Modernist movement, a lot of artists were working against the idea that you needed to have skill to create an impressive work of art... but come on, where's the fun in that?

I mean, you walk into any Kay's or Zales around the country and get a mass-produced bracelet or ring or pendant than any number or women or men can own... and those pieces aren't considered art. But that's my point. They aren't considered art because no one had to think very hard about the design (movement, flow, negative space, etc.) or how to fabricate them, they're basically a bunch of settings jammed together and set with as many gemstones as possible. These are things that machines created with the help of humans.

Without the hands, all art will eventually look the same... there will be no connection between the creation and the mind, no physical link at all. The computer can only show you so much before it all becomes a blur of grey, unsubstantiated and uncreative. A computer is a tool... but our minds are the greatest computers and our hands are our greatest tools. Take them out of the picture and what have we left? And if art is supposed to be a labor of love, then where's the love in that?

Sculpture: carving project

Right now, we're working on carvings in sculpture.

We made mockettes out of clay, then cast proportionally sized blocks of plaster for the final pieces.

Right now... my tools consist of a mallet and chisel. But later we'll be moving onto rasps and sand-paper.

And, I swear that somehow my sculpture will end up looking like my mockette. I don't know how yet... but somehow, somehow it will happen.

Dietrich's Canoe

Okay, so Dietrich is a sculpture professor at Edinboro... and he's building his own canoe. I was lucky to get some pictures of it because I was in the studio when he was working on it.

It isn't quite finished. If I can get a better picture of it, I'll post the new picture later.

Dietrich said that he was building a canoe to avoid working on his own sculpture. BUT, I mean, stick that thing in an art gallery and just tell me where to sign. I think it's gorgeous.

Sue Amendolara

Okay, since I've shown you my first jewelry fabrication piece, I thought I'd introduce you to my jewelry professor: Sue Amendolara (aw-men-doe-lar-a). There are two jewelry professors at Edinboro: Cappy (my advisor) is one and Sue is the other.

Okay, so honesty, Sue's aesthetic is a lot closer to my own than Cappy's, although I respect them both as artists very much.

The piece shown is entitled "Flower of Life" and is one of Sue's later pieces... her earlier work is much different from a materials standpoint (she used a lot of other materials besides metal: plexi-glass and ebony... and she used a lot more surface treatments, like texturing and Mokume Gane (marriage of metals)). Although what her earlier work has in common with her later work is an affinity for organic shapes and clean lines (but in my opinion, her later works are more successful solutions to these problems).

Anyways, she's a really nice lady and awesome teacher... during our critique on Thurs, she had a lot to say to students who thought their pieces hadn't turned out very well... telling them that it's never useful to put ourselves down because we're always changing and always learning. She said that metal is one of those mediums that takes time to get used to, gets familiar, but is always going to be challenging. She simply had a lot of positive things to say to everyone: I really appreciated her attitude, although I'm not sure if I'm getting it across here.

To me, she seems like one of those people who takes art as a philosophy as well as a life style and life choice... but that's not to say that she takes herself too seriously. She just seems very level-headed and knowledgeable. I hope that I can be as helpful to budding artists some day if I ever get to where I'm going.

To learn more about Sue and her artwork, visit www.sueamendolara.com

Today's Small Miracle

I got a 100% on my first college level Algebra exam.

Amendment to My List of Favorite Birthday Gifts

-Matt sent me a copy of Ivanhoe AND the cutest birthday card ever.
-Andrew sent me Imogen Heap :)

Jewelry Fabrication: cold connection piece

Here it is, kids! My first ever assignment as a metalsmith in training!

This first picture is of my sketch book, and the second picture is of the finished project... from my brain to you :) Our critique was today, and I turned it in today.

It was made with bronze (the "gold" metal), copper (the "pink" metal), and a little bit of sterling for the flowers and petals. Also, the tree trunk and Japanese lantern are of copper as well. The tree trunk has a hammered texture and is patina-ed with Liver of Sulfur, and the lantern is engraved and patina-ed with ammonia fumes. And the way I got the path onto the bronze was through sandblasting; I covered the sky and the path with masking tape and then sandblasted the grass, and that's how I got that effect.

Now, the whole point of this assignment was cold connecting, i.e. connecting the pieces without using any heat, which means no soldering or melting, etc. So, what we did was create our own rivets using wire (you can kind of see the rivets in the flowers, and those little "gold" dots on the lantern are rivets). First, you take the two pieces that you want to rivet together, then you tape them together so that they don't move while you're drilling them. You drill holes through both pieces for the rivets to go through (making sure that the drill bit you're using corresponds to the size of wire you're going to use to make the rivet, meaning that the bit and the wire have the same diameter). The you thread the wire through both pieces, snip the wire to the appropriate length, and file both sides of the wire flat (so that you get a nice round rivet). Then, and lastly, you hammer both sides of the rivet to flatten it out and make both ends larger than the hole you drilled. TaDa! You're pieces stay together.

And that's that... this piece was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun. AND, I only broke one saw blade the entire time :) Go me :)

I'm so proud of it. I hope that you are too.

Mostly Because I Thought My Blog Needed a Picture of My Dog

Today's Small Miracle

My internet is moving way too quickly. It's freaking me out... but I hope it lasts.

The Art of Gary Spinosa

Gary Spinosa is a sculpture professor at Edinboro, and he had an art opening on Wed., the 31st at Edinboro's Bruce Gallery.

Now, as far as I can tell, there are two gallery spaces at Edinboro... the Bruce Gallery which is a university run space that hosts professor showings as well as artists' work from around the country, etc... AND the Bates Gallery which is a student run gallery, students submit portfolios and are juried into the space by their peers for shows that occur a week at a time, meaning that there is a different student exhibit every week during the semester.

So, anyway... I went to the Bruce Gallery opening Wed. night. I loved his artwork so much that I bought myself the show catalogue as a birthday present.



His pieces ranged in scale from pocket objects to slightly monumental (one piece standing at about 10 feet high)... and there were also a few paintings and drawings. BUT, the point is that all of his pieces felt old, felt precious, like mysterious, devotional objects that were meant to be prayed to and touched.

His imagery revolved around ancient iconographies (at least from my point of view)... I felt like if you walked into an ancient Egyptian or Incan (etc.) temple, you might find pieces very similar to the ones that Spinosa created (except for 3 portrait busts of Christ... interesting, but by far my least favorite part of the show).

Also, a lot of his work felt funerary... or guardian like, maybe both at once. But the point is, all of his work feels peaceful, in a very deep-seeded and stirring way... it all goes back to the idea of devotional objects for me. The pieces are like meditations in and of themselves, layered with images, but so simple in and of themselves... and that was they're most seductive quality: they're simplicity. My favorite piece of the show (or at least the piece that I was drawn most strongly to) was entitled "The Dog of Sorrow," and it is, as the name implies, simply a dog sitting on its haunches... but the look on its face, like someone in mourning. I can't really describe it but to say that it made me feel, just feel... and I think that's what art is really about.

To learn more about the exhibit or see more images from the show, visit The Philosopher's Stone webpage on the Bruce Gallery website (where I found the images shown above).

My First Post as a 24 Year Old

a list of my favorite birthday presents:

-i got to talk annie AND dabney on the phone on the same day!
-both jackie AND andrew wrote on my facebook wall on the same day... my favorite gifts are the ones that say, 'i'm thinking about you'
-my mutti called and sang happy birthday to me (okay, so actually, she sang happy birthday to my voice mail... BUT, that's almost better because I saved it and now I can listen to it any time i want :)
-uncle bob's they'll-kill-you-they're-so-good-brownies
-the day after my birthday was a reading day so i got to sleep way in and then sit around
-rosencrunch & guildenpop, if you don't know what i'm talking about, i hope that you can one day find out. it's like cracker-jack on speed.
-the fact that mutti bought me two birthday cakes, even though we only ate one
-the complete metalsmith awesome! a bench guide for all serious jewelers :) we all know that i'm very serious
-thundercats, ho!

Today's Small Miracle

The sun came out. And with all the snow all over the place, it was like walking on a floor of mirrors. It was so bright that I had walk with my eyes closed.

The Art of Michael Parkes

I cannot tell you how long I have been waiting for this book. Years.

It all started with the first Michael Parkes monograph, The World of Michael Parkes, which was published in 1998 and went out of print almost immediately. It was published in a limited run, so by the time I discovered Michael Parkes' art around 2000-2001 there were no copies of The World of Michael Parkes to be found. I searched around for it on Amazon and Ebay every once in a while. The cheapest that I ever saw it was in the ball park of $200.

So, I told myself to be patient. If Michael Parkes was really so popular, it was only a matter of time before the publishers put together another monograph. AND, low and behold, The Art of Michael Parkes was published in 2006. I was visiting the website of a gallery in California which sells Parkes' work online, and I discovered that the book had been published. I get all my Michael Parkes news from the Avalon Gallery website because not only do they have pictures of current and previous Michael Parkes lithographs and paintings, but it has artist bios and news from other wonderful artists, like two of my other favorites, Danial Merriam and Juan Kelly. If you have a moment, you should visit the website and see what I'm talking about.


But anyway, I digress. I discovered the book had been published, so immediately, I started hunting around for it. However, I only discovered that this book was published during winter break, almost 2007, as in almost a year after the book was published. This book was also published in a limited run: a run of only 5000, which in the publishing world is a very limited run. So, as I hunted around, I started to run into the same problem: copies on Ebay for over $100, etc. BUT, I found my copy new from the Amazon Market Place for the publisher's price. LUCKY.

And I'm so happy with it, I love leafing through the pages and looking at Parkes' surrealist, fantasical art: right up my alley.

So, anyway, when we get right down to it, this book was well worth the wait. Everything I wanted.

*Both of the images above can be found at the Avalon Gallery webpage.

Movie Review: Pan's Labyrinth

Ye of weak constitutions, turn back; this movie is violent with a capital 'V.' The only other word I can think to describe it is "gore." And I think the only other movies that come close are Tarantino movies. Except where Tarantino's violence (I'm thinking of Kill Bill in this instance) is ultra-stylized and choreographed, the violence of this movie is ultra-realistic. It was as if writer/director Guillermo del Toro tried to portray as many different kinds of violence as possible as realistically as possible: battle, murder, torture, amputation, payback... even childbirth in this movie is incredibly violent and deadly.

Since the movie was touted as a fairytale for adults, I think the violence has a lot to do with the original versions of Grimms' Fairy tales... but still, I had to cover my eyes numerous times, and not because what I was seeing was frightening... it was terrifying and grotesque... and I'm sure things like those portrayed have happened in real life. Scary.

Also, the movie was subtitled. I didn't mind; I was just surprised. I saw HBO's First Look of Pan's Labyrinth, and nothing in the first look led me to believe the movie was subtitled or even foreign. Weird.

Other than those two things, the movie was really interesting, beautiful, and well told. All the actor's were amazing. All the special effects were amazing. Pan was awesome. The villain is viscous and colder than even Lewis' White Witch of Narnia, and you are totally endeared and worried for the characters throughout the entire movie. It was a good flick, if not a little left of center and jarring.

So, in short, I liked the movie... I'm just not sure that I ever want to see it again.

Frosty Should Move to Edinboro

Okay, so I came back to campus on January 15th... January 16th, it started snowing here, and it has not stopped since then. It has snowed here EVERY DAY since I got back to campus. I mean, maybe not inches everyday but at least some sort of snowy precipitation every day I've been back at Edinboro.

I don't' mind the snow, when it comes down to it, I'd rather have snow than rain... but I really don't like walking in it. It wouldn't be so bad except I don't think that the Edinboro ground crew has heard of this stuff that I like to call "salt." I mean, there have been a couple days where the snow fall has been really light, and I thought to myself, "Oh good, maybe they'll get this place cleaned up before it starts snowing cats and dogs again." But no, the sidewalks have pretty much remained slushy and snow covered. I honestly don't know how the disabled students get around, it doesn't seem possible to me.

We have about a foot-and-a-half on the ground right now, and at the rate it's going, we'll have at least 2 feet by tomorrow. Yikes.

On the up side, I have been enjoying lots of nice, hot beverages lately... hot chocolate with caramel and green tea flavored with Mandarin oranges, etc.

The picture I included is the view from my window of the back of a house on Darrow Rd. Please note how some of the icicles almost touch the ground.

Don't Lie to Yourself, You're Jealous

A humidifier that looks like a cow AND the mist comes out of its ears :) Awesome!