Playhouse

Discover where the children of oil executives and their playboy playmate turned blogger wives play. The structures described in the article are pretty amazing and also slightly disturbing at the same time. And as a bonus the article inspired me to start referring to my profession as an artist turned blogger since browsing the internet and posting the occasional thought seem to be about all the creative output I can muster at the moment.

Mormon in the City

I just read this article about Neylan McBaine's experience growing up and gaining a testimony in NYC. It reminded me of all the wonderful cultural experiences I had as a result of going to college near Boston and I am renewed in my determination to seek out as much as I can in Spokane to enrich my family. I am also filled with gratitude to my mother for taking me to museums, helping me take a trip to Europe as a junior high student when she had never been herself (the extreme generosity of this was shockingly only apparent to me in hindsight), and for encouraging me to dream big and helping me to go after those dreams (my Olympic bobsledding dreams notwithstanding).

Booked

And my amazon wish list of books continues to grow. It sure would be nice to fly to NYC and see the Alexander McQueen show at the Met for myself but alas 29$ on amazon for the exhibition catalogue will have to do.

The Night Out

Cameron and I had an early anniversary night out last week while my madre was in town. We saw the new Woody Allen movie and it was the perfect escapist entertainment. Every frazzled housewife and one time artist needs to imagine themselves in Paris in the 1920's now and then.

Magdelena's Weaving

I'm currently in the middle of reading Nicholas Weber's 'The Bauhaus Group: Six Masters of Modernism' (which apparently doesn't have the most attractive cover as my ob-gyn queried, "why would you want to read that?" when she found me flipping through it in the waiting room.) Well here's my answer, It's a really fascinating look inside the Bauhaus and the European art scene between the wars. I just finished up the chapter on Paul Klee, the painter who taught the intro weaving courses at the Bauhaus. This chapter got me thinking about the use of thread and fabric in my own work and I took a little trip down memory lane looking at the work of Magdelena Abacanowicz online last night. I feel such a kinship to her work, the material and subject matter she explores and now I'm thinking I might like to begin doing a little weaving myself if I can track down a good teacher in Spokane.

A Nice Place

I'm back from the dead, well actually I'm currently feeling like death with the onset of some sort of cold/flu, but I'm back from extended vacations and ready to blog again! I've been reading about five books at the same time and just started wrapping them up which should restore a little order to my bedside table and provide some fodder for the ol'blog. Anywho I loved Michael Pollan's 'A Place of My Own: The architecture of daydreams'. The book takes you through the design and construction of his writing cottage in the woods and also offers a random history of architecture. I've been thinking a lot about homes lately, not surprising since I seem to get out less and less these days. My next show is in January and I'm thinking of something to do with the duality of public and private spaces in suburban homes (my stomping ground). I'm not sure if this will end up being something photographic or sculptural so we'll see. If you live close and would be willing to let me come photograph your favorite public and private spaces in your home let me know!

Coffee Table Dreams

I love this coffee table made from the base of a fountain. It reminds me of my year working at the garden design center in Carpinteria. The slab of glass really transforms it into something way cooler than most of the faux classical and baroque fountains we sold to the wealthy Montecito folk.

Leviathan

Another reason to envy Parisians. Anish Kapoor's latest sculpture in the grand palais looks breathtaking and the interior also reminds me a bit of an episode of the magic school bus where they shrink down and explore the circulatory system.

Mo Moma

I just discovered that one of my favorite museums, the SFMOMA, is set to double in size over the next few years. I have such fond memories of traveling up to the museum from Santa Barbara during the grad school years to see the Olafur Eliasson and Matthew Barney shows. I can still remember turning to see Cameron snoring beside me during hour two of Barney's drawing restraint film. The Mario Botta designed building is one of my favorite spaces to walk around in the city so hopefully the new addition will only enhance the space.

The Toilet in Church

I randomly decided to attend a lecture at the Provo library last night with my good pal Amb-lou. Jared Doxey, the head of architecture and engineering for the LDS church spoke on green building design in church architecture. I thought it was pretty fascinating to hear the exact reasoning behind the width of the wall studs and bathroom tiles which are used in church construction and how energy efficiency (along with financial feasibility) is considered in almost every aspect of the design. Plus it wouldn't be a good town hall open forum if we didn't get to hear plenty of random and off topic questions and exclamations from the audience (gotta love the guy who decided to interrupt a lecture to share a detailed description of the solar panels on his house.)

Digital Dose

Man in Window - New York City 1962

I just discovered Yale's art museum has all of their collection online. It's a bit of a crap shoot looking through this many images without having something specific in mind, but my favorite random finds so far are the photographs by Lee Friedlander.

Exhaustion

I'm in a bit of a haze at the moment having spent yesterday driving from Washington to Utah and having spent the last six hours keeping my children from beating each other and my mothers house to a pulp. Ah the joys of vacations! Anywho as I was trying to reason with a tired toddler (a loosing battle) and feeling the blood rushing to my face, I took a moment to visit lds.org for a little dose of calm. I came across this quote:

"Kindness is the essence of greatness. It is a passport that opens doors and fashions friends. It softens hearts and molds relationships that can last lifetimes." - Joseph B. Wirthlin

I'll be praying for more kindness in the form of patience tonight! Wish me luck.

So true!

"A lock on the door, means the power to think for oneself."
-Virginia Woolf

When I read this quote I had to laugh as it pretty much sums up what it takes for me to give any thought to art making at the moment. Luckily I have a wonderful husband who for mothers day weekend acted as my human lock and kept the boys busy allowing me a few moments alone with my thoughts and sketchbook. To my great surprise when the noise of everyday life died down, I actually still had some thoughts left, so that was encouraging.

Pairings

Here's a look at some of the images in Todd Eberle's new book 'Empire of Space'. The pairing above is the bedroom aboard Air Force One and Eberle's grandparents guestroom in Houston. The presentation of images in this way looks like an intriguing format for a photography book and should it ever find it's way to the South Hill branch of the Spokane Public Library you can bet I'll snap it up (alas I won't be holding my breath).

Ole!

In honor of Cinco de Mayo, the first time I've ever honored it by the way, I'm making Marcela's great Nicaraguan Tres Leches. I'm not sure how Mexicans and Nicaraguans feel about one another's holidays but this dessert is so good as far as I'm concerned all of Central America can enjoy it together.
Cake:
1c. sugar
5 eggs yokes
5 egg whites
1 tbsp vanilla
1c. self rising flour
1/4c. milk
Topping: combine 1 can evap. milk and use this can for the rest of the milk measurements, 1 can condensed milk, 1 can whipping cream, 1 can whole milk (this does seem to be quattro leche, no?)
Whip egg whites, mix yokes, sugar, flour, vanilla and milk. Fold in whites and cook for 35mins at 350. Mix topping and pour on little by little until absorbed.

More Maya

I love this book. My copy had been sitting out in my garage (and sometimes studio) collecting dust until I loaned it out. It was returned yesterday and flipping through the pages was pure bliss. I love Maya Lin's writing and the way she is able to articulate so clearly and thoughtfully the ideas behind her work.

the nutty-dressers luncheon

I love the eccentric ladies who go their own way but do it with style. I've always wanted to be more of a daring dresser but reasoned that the wallet just wouldn't support such wacky expenditures. Recently though I've been picking up some necklaces inspired by Louise Nevelson (looking a little severe in the bottom photo admittedly) and so I'm taking my first steps towards drama. Who knows, in twenty years I may have some style.

Night Owl

Since the prospect of making art during the day seems like an impossibility for at least the next few years I'm inspired by this photography show at the Met to take up nocturnal art making as a work around.

Cool Pic

idyllic landscape + the big bang = one cool photo

Just Kids

I read a quote recently where someone mentioned that New York City used to be filled with artists and intellectuals and now it's for tourists and people with money, which seemed about right to me from what I remember of my visits to Cameron's place in upper Manhattan. I loved visiting but remember thinking that it would be a great place to live if you were completely loaded with money. Anywho the random source of the quote who I can't remember for the life of me, mentioned that Patti Smith's biography of her time in New York was a great reminder of what NYC was like in the 1970's. So when I saw 'Just Kids' at the library I picked it up and have really loved her honest, unpretentious style and narrative voice. It's great to read about artist's starving for their craft and I'm hoping I can get my own creative juices flowing again since I've been in a bit of an creative funk lately. It was also nice to get a more well rounded view of Robert Mapplethorpe who up to now I had simply known as the lightening rod in the culture wars of the 1980's, and was a bit disillusioned with after having his bullwhip photograph constantly assaulting at me in grad school lectures.

W anew

I currently have a free subscription to W magazine which I've been meaning to get around to canceling for a few months now, ever since I opened my mailbox to discover a naked picture of Kim Kardsian on the cover (I'm still embarrassed about what the mailman must think of me). The last few months I've just flipped through it quickly before tossing it, however this months design issue actually took me by surprise and had a lot of great articles on architecture and industrial design and nary a naked celebrity in sight.

Take a Seat

I loved reading about this chair designed by Asif Khan. The architect created the chair by using flowers collected throughout the city and made structural by the removal of all water molecules and replacing them with a polymer. He also has a great variety of projects on his website ranging from invitations which can be made into confetti to beautiful canopies strung up to create outdoor spaces in Recife, Brazil.

The House that Frank Built

I'm not a mom that's super into scoping out toys for my kiddos, they seem to be happiest playing with rocks and sticks which is fine by me and fits perfectly into our budget. However the other day I stumbled upon this lego set that I bookmarked in my hope of actually owning it some day. Like any good architecture student I'm a big fan of FLW. My good buddy Sarita and I took a memorable detour to visit Falling Water on our cross country drive back to school senior year. Actually being in the space (with original furniture to boot!) was worth every penny of the exorbitant entry fee.

Playdate with the kiddos

I'm a big fan of the Mailbox activity book I picked up a few months ago and just recently reread for some new activity ideas for my boys. Many of the projects are fairly basic however my creative juices just don't naturally flow in the direction of making necklaces out of cereal and so any ideas and suggestions are welcomed by me. Today Mac, Hamilton and I took a few stuffed animals to the doctor courtesy of a flashlight, some vitamin C drops, a thermometer and two ace bandages. A pretty straight forward idea but Mac was completely enthralled and continued to provide excellent care to his teddy bear long after the dr.'s visit had ended, good times!

More or Less

My design sensibilities are a bit bipolar at the moment. I love austere Japanese minimalism or completely neo-baroque and over the top, nothing in the middle will do.

Ah Paris

Tonight I watched the movie Sabrina and was reminded of my teenage love of the fountains at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. I went to Paris at age 12 for a week with my French class and I loved this modern art museum above all. It was a magical trip but I do regret having gone at such a young age when I knew so little of the place. I remain hopeful that I'll be back to visit the fountains again at some point though and until then repeated viewings of movies set in Paris will have to suffice. Anyone have any good suggestions?

Ronny

Ah, Ron Swanson how do I love thee, let me count the ways....

The hair, the libertarianism, the woodworking, the love of breakfast meats, your photo ablum of past meals eatten at your favorite steak house, what's not to love!

Met Fever

I just finished up the book on the Met and loved it more and more with each interview I read. This led to about two hours on google getting more info on the various people interviewed and reading this really interesting article on the new head of the Asian Art Department at the Met. Maxwell K. Hearn is a Salt Lake City native randomly enough who just happened to stumble upon Asian art during a break from school visiting family in Missouri of all places his junior year of college. I love to hear stories of people taking random paths to their chosen profession.

The Met

My senior year of college I took a museum studies course taught by the wonderful Davis Museum director David Mickenberg. We traveled around the East Coast looking at various museums and had a particularly memorable trip to NYC where I fell in love with the Neue Gallery and really loved the playfulness of the Brooklyn Museum of Art. We made the obligatory visit to the Met which was certainly awe inspiring in terms of the size and collection of works, but the chaotic Saturday crowds were a little off putting and aside from the Frank Lloyd Wright living room, which totally blew me away, I don't remember much from my visit to the Met. So flash forward six years and I'm in a city which is currently in the process of having its only notable museum closed because of state budget cuts, wah! In an effort to fuel my slowly dying love of museum visits, I checked out Museum: Behind the Scenes and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I was a surprised by the format of 35 interviews which read as first person essays by various members of the museum staff (I was expecting an insiders history of the museum). The author interviews everyone from the cleaning and floral staff to curators and the director himself. I'm only four interviews in but I'm loving the random and inspiring stories of how these various people made their way to the Met. I love that the head of museum security with a PhD in criminal justice spent a year in college wandering around the Museums of Europe and can still describe visiting a specific tomb in Florence.

Good Eats

This cookbook is gold! My friend had recommended the test kitchen cookbooks to me so when I saw this at the library I decided to give it a whirl. My counter is stuffed full of cookbooks that are just too time intensive to be realistic at this point. Basically I've got about 20 minutes while the boys watch silly symphonies on Youtube to throw everything together for dinner. I must have cooked about 12 recipes in the two weeks I had the book and as the ultimate barometer of greatness I even managed to make some decent granola from their recipe and I am a notorious granola burner. Huzzah for healthy meals that can be made in a half hour!

Paper Built

Here's a great interview with one of my favorite architects Shigeru Ban. He discusses his involvement with designing disaster relief shelters out of paper tubes and the architecture of basic necessities. I love his seemingly simplistic ideology for creating spaces yet he achieves such beauty with basic geometries and forms.

Imprint

Tonight as I was browsing through the NYTimes art section I thought about the people who have had a significant impact on my artwork and my willingness to pursue art making as a career of some sort. The first person who really helped me to develop my art into a more thoughtful and meaningful pursuit was my printmaking Professor Phyllis McGibbon. I remember halfway through my intro to printmaking semester I realized the satisfaction that comes from communicating some part of yourself through the work you create. And I've continued to be motivated by the A- she gave me in the class, with the instructions that I could do a little more. Art making can be such an arbitrary and open-ended process, one in which I often err on the side of brevity, that I've tried to evaluate my work in terms of her admonition to take it one step further.

Mamasita

My mother has always been my biggest supporter and source of inspiration. Her eternal optimism and sense of humor always lift me up and renew me. Having her help with my kidos is wonderful but mainly I love having her here to talk to and watch a good British drama with.

Hair Today Gone Tomorrow

My mom's been in town for the past week keeping me company, hence the lack of posting, and last night I took advantage of the budget-friendly-free-hair-cut courtesy of my madre. We decided to play it safe with a shoulder length look in the event that a post cut trip to Dollar Cuts was necessary I wouldn't be forced into a Mia Farrow Rosemary's Baby cut. Anywho my new length has filled me with images of 90's nostalgia, basically a combo of Winona Ryder in Mermaids and Hillary Clinton during Bill's first term. After finding this image of Hillary I may take that trip to Dollar Cuts after all or simply embrace a conservative political wife hair cut for a while.

Crossing to Safety

After Jane Eyre, this book is my favorite of my book club reads. The story follows the friendship of two couples, from the birth of their first children through death. There's a nice banal realism to the characters, who are simply dealing with the day to day struggles of marriage, family, career, etc. and yet the author embeds these struggles with dignity and hope.

A Tree House

My magazine of choice for inspiration these days is Dwell. Oh how I long to be one of the former hedge fund managers, dotcom CEO's, architecture dept. chairs, etc. who display their beautiful, modern, unique, never ostentatious homes. I also love the kid friendly vibe that seeps through most of the homes they showcase. My current must have for a future dream home is a house suspend in, cantilevered into, or jutting up against the trees. I love the idea of living in a tree house and the childlike possibilities that it allows for, a swing in the house or a fire pole leading the back yard, why not!

A Good Laugh

Tonight I'm feeling inspired by the joy of watching and making fun of lame movies with my other half, El Camerono. If we find a movie lacking we always feel free to talk throughout the whole thing (in the privacy of our home viewings mind you, I know my proper movie theatre etiquette) which usually ends up making the film quite an enjoyable watch. Ah, the small pleasures of life!

Art Matters

I'm happy to report that my inspiration for today is derived from an actual discussion I participated in versus my norm of just reading a quick online article. Tonight I attended a panel discussion about critical dialogue (and the lack thereof) in the Spokane arts community. It was held at the Saranac Art Projects, a non-profit artists co-op which I just became a member of last year. It was helpful for me to get some insight into the local press and their constraints in covering the arts in any meaningful way (essentially people who read the paper aren't interested in an in depth art discussion which is fair enough). What I took away from the discussion was a desire to set up a network of peers who can give me their honest opinions of projects that I'm working on, and it's encouraging to know that these peers do actually exist in Spokane if I just spend the time to weed them out and actually put forth the invitation.

Moolah

Let me start by prefacing that I'm not planning on getting a divorce, lest one of the two people I think actually read this blog become distressed (hi mom!), nor am I sufficiently out of debt to the point where I'm actually investing my money, but with that said, this article on salon.com got me thinking about my present apathy toward my personal finances. Every so often Cameron and I sit down and go over our finances and budget, and this usually ends with me feeling dazed with a slight knot in my stomach. Basically there are so many moving parts that it's easier for me to just zone out through most of it. This article acted as a nice wake up call for me to concentrate a bit harder next time and unlike the woman writing the article at least I can say that I do actually know that passwords to all our accounts, so that's a place to start.

Marcela

I'm inspired by my Dad's wife Marcela. Not only has she raised two great kids but she is an accomplished jewelry designer. When we visited Texas last year she showed me around her amazing garage studio which was decked out with some great equipment that she has purchased over the years by selling her work. She also set me straight by noting that the sketchbook I was toting around every day was pretty much empty and suggesting that perhaps I do something to remedy that. After seeing all that she has accomplished and the beautiful work that she was making I finally got my act together somewhat and started engaging in the Spokane Art Community and finding time to make some work here and there. It's always nice to be reminded that it can be done!

Benji

Ugh, my brain is definitely feeling depleted of any shred of inspiration as I just watched one painful hour of television know as 'Shedding for the Wedding'. My morbid curiosity got the better of (as well as my shameful secret interest in bizarre reality tv shows) but uh, that is one hour of my life I will continue to regret having given away to the CW.

Anywho let me think back to better times, earlier in the day when I was thinking more clearly and actually chose to crack open a book. I'm reading Walter Isaacson's bio of Benjamin Franklin which I'm loving so far. The quote of the day was some advice given to Franklin courtesy of one Salem witch hunting Cotton Mather.

He warned, "Let this be a caution to you not always to hold your head so high. Stoop young man, stoop - as you go through this world - and you'll miss many hard thumps."

This quote hit home as I always look back at moments when I've allowed myself to become prideful and realize that first of all I usually sounded like a complete fool and end up feeling like a big jerk, and rightly so. However should you ever find me needing a good dose of humility please remind me of the fact that I voluntarily watched 'Shedding for the Wedding' and that should bring me back down to earth :)

Ladies Night (or Day)

Today is international women's day, who knew? Celebrate with me by viewing this gallery of three thousand years of warrior women, which has yet again caused me to regret not playing powder puff football in high school.

the ultimate lazy-girl

I love plopping into our large (imitation) lovesac at the end of a long day, but alas after a few minutes it requires constant shifting to avoid a neck cramp. Enter the mythical liquid expanded polyurethane-fill in this great Shadow armchair. It looks like the perfect end of the day chair and with neck support to boot! Also I love the honesty in the design of the chair, there's no pretension to dignity, it's the complete embrace of laziness and comfort.

A New Look

Perhaps it's the long cold winter drawing to a close (hopefully!) but I'm feeling the need for change, starting with the old tresses. I'm remembering a hair appointment I had in college where the stylist told me, "Now your friends won't tell you this but your hair is really damaged and you need to cut at least four inches off." Well unfortunately once again my friends aren't telling me but I have a sneaking suspicion that I need a drastic cut so I'm thinking short wavy bob with some old school styling a la coco or this ysl ad.

Eve Arnold

Today I took a trip down to our local independent bookstore Auntie's and was sad to discover a rather pitiful selection of art and photography books. But much to my relief I found a diamond in the rough as I stumbled upon Eve Arnold: In Retrospect. I'd never heard of Arnold before but I knew it was a must buy when I saw this photo of Silvana Mangano at MOMA in 1956.

Something's Fishy

Today my inspiration came from the humble canned anchovy (now no longer relegated by me to a pizza topping for ninja turtles). I had never cooked with the fish before, but tonight I sauteed it with some garlic and white wine and drizzled it over roasted cauliflower and my eyes have been opened to a whole new world of tastiness. The sauce even won over the hardened food critics know as two toddler boys who are quite particular about eating veggies as seldom as possible. I plan on doing an epicurious recipe search for anchovies and incorporating more of the goodness into my life in the near future.

Good Read

I would file this article under fascinating rather than inspirational but it was definitely a good read. Here's a link to the NYTimes Magazine's profile of Lori Berenson, one time MIT student from New York who was imprisoned in Peru in the late 90's for her involvement in a revolutionary movements terrorist plot. She was just released and is raising an 18 month old son in a country where she is pretty much universally despised.

Triple Threat

In Katharina Grosse's show at MASSMOCA she combines painting, sculpture and architecture to create a new hybrid medium, just my cup of tea.

London Street Photography

I love this slide show of images from a show up at the Museum of London. In fact I loved these images so much that in my mommy haze I believe I sent the same friend a link to the slide show in two separate emails, definitely a must see. My favorite image is the photo of two women in coats and cloche hats, very stylish.