I'm seeing pups

It's been too long my fellow readers! By fellow readers I mean Mom, Dad, and my cat (yeah, he can read).
Summer has been so much fun, almost too much fun. I haven't had a lot of time to just sit down and work. I have, however, been doing a little bit of work.
I recently did a library card titled "Dogs."
This turned out so cute! It was originally going paint a single-headed corgi, but that idea did not correlate with with the plural title. I also added a bindi to both of the corgis' foreheads.

This is something you have to look at in person. A lot of the detail of the fur and line quality was lost when I scanned it. I didn't really know what to do for the background. I usually leave my subject matter in open space, but what if i were to put them in a setting? Would it change the meaning of the picture entirely? I could place this cute little pooch in a cage, which would stereotype it into an animal and/or religious rights category. OR I could place it in a temple, thus making the corgis a sacred animal of worship. Who knows.



I also made two other library cards back in early June. These two were also based on the feminist series I wrote about not too long ago. Both of these are collages.

I really want to start painting and collage more. Maybe on a bigger scale verses a three by five library card.

Times are tough & they only get tougher

  

You in or out?

Femme Fatale

Lately, I've been sorting through my library cards. I happen to have a lot of library cards that deal with women rights.
I wouldn't call myself a hard-core feminist. Actually, I think most would not consider me a feminist at all. But that doesn't mean I'm not interested in it!

The first time I "got into feminist things" was when I read a chapter from the book, Listen up: Voices From the Next Feminist Generation by Barbara Findlen. I discovered my math and theory of knowledge teach wrote a chapter for it, titled Bloodlove. After reading her chapter, I became very curious about the riot grrrl and feminist culture. I started listen to bands like Le Tigre, Bikini Kill, X, X-Ray Spex, The Slits, ect. The whole idea of d.i.y style and playing rough like the boys seems very liberating. But I realized that I could never really write a chapter in a book about my "liberating" life. I couldn't say I hate boys. I couldn't talk about how society was putting me down and that I was the underdog. 
That's why I find it very hard to take feminist, that my age, seriously.  My teacher lived through the third-wave feminist movement. She had something to shout about, and I am glad she did. What wave of feminism are we living in now? One where we listen to Teagan and Sarah and sew on our hand made patches? In my opinion, this generation of feminism is only a repeat of the riot grrrl scene back in nineties.

    Surprisingly, my mom was (or what was considered to be) a feminist during the early eighties. Her and six other friends started a group called TKALS which stood for Tennesseans Keeping Abortion Legal and Safe. This program was a branch off of the National Group NARAL.
They would put on a benefit concerts every year called Nashville Women Sing for Choice. I still have a few t-shirt and pin from this event.
     Even my grandmother had "feminist qualities". In the eighties, my grandmother wrote a letter to the president stating why abortion should be legal in the United States. I am not sure of the exact year my grandmother wrote the letter; so she either wrote it to Ronald Reagan or George H. W. Bush.My grandmother never told anyone if he wrote back or not.

So the whole being pro-choice makes you a feminist right? Well, who is says so? I'm sure there are a handful of pro-life feminist out there.


I made three pieces that have a feminist theme.  The first one I made back in May. The last two I made tonight. All three are collage pieces, and the last two I added paint to them. There is correlation between the subject matter and title of the library card.

New York Escapades

I'm still in New York sitting in my hotel room. I leave tomorrow around eleven o'clock. I am very very to be home and rested up for the new week. 

Here are a few highlights of my fabulous time in the Big ole Apple...

1. Sitting in West Central Park at Strawberry Fields. This location is rumored to be one of the places Yoko Ono scattered John Lennon's ashes. Seeing the memorial for John Lennon was a little over whelming. Yes, that does sound a bit cliche, but John Lennon was such an extraordinary guy! In my opinion he was, without question, the most mischievous Beatle; but he knew what was going on. 

It's a simple but beautiful memorial.

We also walked up to The Dakota Apartment, where John Lennon was shot.


2.  Sitting at a bar in downtown Manhattan watching the 2010 FIFA World Cup U.S vs England soccer match. The bar tenders name was Edgar and was quit the fellow! I also met a lovely teacher from Washington who gave me wonderful advice for my future as a young artist.

3.  The Museum of Modern Art, oh my goodness! I saw so many of my favorite paintings and photographs. They had the coolest exhibit titled Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Modern Century.

Mr. Henri Cartier-Bresson is a prime example of a photojournalist. He took many photos in France (his home land), China, The United States, The Soviet Union, etc.
You should really check him out! His photographs seem to have a narrative feel to them. They are filled with interesting people with unknown backgrounds; but that's what I find so appealing about them.
Fun Fact: Henri Cartier-Bresson was the first United States citizen to enter into the Soviet Union after Stalin's death. Woah!
You can learn more about him here or here.


Along with this exhibit, I saw another traveling exhibit og Pablo Picasso's prints. For my birthday, I got a book all about the exhibit in Paris. I never thought the exhibit would be in New York the same time as I. It was amazing!
I will post pictures of the MoMA soon.

4. The 2010 Scholastic Student Art and Writing Awards exhibit. This was the reason I traveled to New York. Back in January, I won a National Scholastic Gold Key for my piece "Almost a Woman." I also won a National Silver Key for my Art Portfolio, and two National Silver Keys for individual art pieces (both in printmaking). The ceremony was held at Carnegie Hall and was very lovely.  The exhibit of the students work is at the World Financial Building. Although my piece was pushed to the back in a corner...next to the janitors closet...it was fun seeing all of the artwork. Beggars can't be choosers!

 5. The New York street side ice cream. Yum

New York New York

Forget Bonnaroo, I'm on my way to the big apple this weekend! I'm going for the National Scholastic Art & Writing Awards Ceremony at Carnegie Hall!
My piece "Almost a Woman" is going to be exhibited at The World Financial Center Courtyard Gallery. The exhibit is open to the public June 9th to June 25th, Tuesdays through Saturdays, 12 noon - 4pm.

This is my first time traveling up to New York and I am very excited! I'm hitting up the record shops hard.
I would love to hit up a show if there are any good ones going down.

Later gator!

I woke up this morning

I think I might have taken a tumble or two last night...did I?

Apple Jam

So I really would like to have another tattoo before I leave for school next year. And I've been thinking for quite a long time about what it would be.

An Apple! But not just any apple,

 

 

 

 

If you are not familiar with these very special apples, they are the logo for Apple Corps Ltd. is a multi-armed multimedia corporation founded in January 1968 by The Bealtes. 

The Apple Jam record is from the Album All Things Must Pass by George Harrison. It's one of my favorites, you should check it out of you haven't already. 

I'm going to London, Paris, Normandy, and the Loire Valley in July; so my plan was to get half of my tattoo there at the rest of it back home. Sounds really dumb right?

WELL, I think it would be pretty awesome If I got "Ceci n'est pas un pomme" tattooed in Paris, and then one of those apples back in America. Although it would be pretty awesome if I could get the apple done in London. 

However I've unofficially promised someone I would get that tattoo with them, plus money will be tight whilst I travel. And while I'm sitting in some tattoo parlor, I could be exploring the city of Paris!

I guess we will see what happens.

Let Me See Ur Tats

I recently had a conversation with a friend about replicating art into tattoos. So I made a little list of some of my favorite paintings that I would (consider) getting as a tattoo.

René Magritte,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vincent van Gogh,

 Edward Gorey,

Walter Anderson,

Oh wait....

You can also check out this link for other inspiring art tattoos.