i heart hot chocolate.

Today I found out that you need to size your document to 23-point-something-something inches in order for the vinyl cutter to complete its task properly. NOT 24 inches.

Neat.

So after being in the studio until 4:15 this a.m. I have MORE vinyl to cut tonight. I'm so glad I gave up that NASTY habit of procrastinating. I would have been SOOO out of luck had today been Thursday what with reviews being on Friday and all. 

I get butterflies in my stomach every time I think about reviews. What are people going to say? What am I going to say? (I mean, besides "like.")  I hope it goes well. I'm eagerly anticipating the feedback. Especially if it's good. 

This idea of one way communication has been a curious journey so far. I've definitely had some horrible ideas, but I think in the long wrong it's important to work through those horrible ideas so that you can get to the good ones. Like eating all of your lima beans so that you may have dessert. I'm trying to explain this to my pal Sarah who hates her postcard idea even thought she's gotten good feedback about it, but... she's stubborn and just says "no." 

I like stubborn. It makes me laugh. 

I like to laugh. Makes the good stuff gooder, ya know?

Gotta go. Vinyl doesn't weed itself you know...

"like a luminous girl"

this is what I'm listening to right now on my ipod... at 1:30 in the morning... 

in the studio.

Saw you in the subway station
Shining with a strange light
Girl, you’re like a weird vacation
How am I gonna make you mine?
Make you mine.
And I
Fell out on the street to write a love song
Your face stared out at me from an ad
On the bus stop wall
And I know
That you’re fine
And that you’re right
And the moonlight shines
Like a luminous girl tonight
Saw you in the Shipwreck Disco
Ghostly drifting ‘cross the floor
Wondering just where could this go
And how to get you out the door
Out the door
Shining with the lights going strong.
Shining with the lights going strong.
Saw you in the morning sunshine
You sang Star Love in the Night
Fighting all the tears that came on
Squinting in the yellow light
The yellow light
And I met you at the station in Ronkonkoma
Sweetly resonating with the things you are
And I know
That you’re fine
And that you’re right
And the moonlight shines like a luminous girl tonight
Yeah, Jesus Christ’s like a luminous girl tonight

that song LITERALLY moves me. ahhhh...

Anyway.

I cut and weeded my own vinyl for the first time today. 

This is just round one... of like thirty.

"like"

touch me

I was walking to school today (checking out potential places for my overheard conversations) and I saw this in a window:

cool, right?

I'll just let that one sink in...

influential... like the cheese that has holes in it

Sooo.... our final project in contemporary design is basically wiiiiiide open for interpretation. The syllabus reads like this: 

The
point
of
this
class
is
to
help
you
discover
the
designers
and
artists
who
have
come
before

you
in
order
to
develop
your
design
canon.
Your
final
presentation
can
be
about
a
particular

artist,
designer,
architect,
scientist
that
is
inspirational
to
you
or
about
your
relationship
to

design
history.
You
need
to
produce
both
a
physical
document
of
your
project
and
a

presentation
about
it.
The
physical
document
could
be
a
mind
map,
a
diorama,
an
installation,

etc.




Normally I would be uncomfortable with this utter disregard for guidelines and direction, but to show which designers and artists that influence and inspires me will not be difficult. Besides, I don't even need guidelines. 

I'll make my own rules thank you very much!

Stay tuned... I'll have it posted relatively soon. 

Fall review is coming up. It is occupying most of my thoughts as of late and even though I'm trying very hard not to freak myself out... I know I'm going to. Freak out I mean. I gotta think that freaking out is just a part of my internal checks and balances. I'm pretty sure that if I wasn't freaking out it would mean that something was REALLY wrong. And who KNOWS what would happen then. 

(one shutters at the thought)

I'm anxious to see who all shows up. I know Colin has invited a variety of people. I guess we're supposed to be prepared to talk to people about our work for like an hour or something. Oh, man... I hope they're not mean. And I hope I don't say "like" like, a MILLION times. 

Mackenzie will say "um" because I know he's already concerned himself with trying NOT to. I think that's how those things work. You think to yourself, "don't say_______" and then the next thing that slips out of your betraying mouth is the very thing you didn't want to say. In fact, it's likely to be the last thing you wanted to say. 

I just realized how strange that expression is. I mean, to say that something is "the last thing I wanted to say" is kind of weird, right? Especially when you think that in many instances you might save "the best for last" the way you would want to at the end of a speech or something. No. When someone says "that's the last thing I wanted to say" they mean that they did not want to say it at all. And most likely they are red in the face and wanting to somehow be beamed out of whatever awkward situation they are now in. 

Communication is a tricky thing. 

stupid girl...

ever just suddenly realize that you've been a complete idiot?

play on, playa.

vinyl vernacular

yup.

It's gonna be vinyl. And it's going to be great. I've compiled.... oh I dunno- HUNDREDS of bits of conversations I've heard over the last few years. My intent was to try and sort of flip this notion of 'one way communication' back on itself and somehow put them back "out there."

My first thought was "book" but that doesn't really do it for me and I know I won't be satisfied with a mere compilation. If I could, I would put them back where I found them....  in hopes that they might affect someone/ inspire someone they way they've affected me. My 2nd thought, after realizing that "book" was the wrong way for me to go, was "t-shirt." I talked to a few people about that idea and got some pretty decent feedback. Admittedly though, the idea of printing quotes on t-shirts leaves me feeling a little... lacking. Guess the pressure is on the make them look AMAZING.

I ran into Salter a couple days ago and ended up talking to him for a little bit about the program, how it was going, and what ideas I had for my project. He liked the t-shirt idea, but then casually gave me the BRILLIANT suggestion of doing it it vinyl.  I had considered this as an option, but- and get this- I ACTUALLY thought "nah, vinyl isn't my thing..." as if VINYL had already been taken and I might be accused of stealing someone else's idea or something. How ridiculous is that? And what's even more ridiculous is that I didn't even question it.... Needless to say it sparked a look of concern from him and I almost instantly shut down. "what? I can DO that?" HA!!!!

So much for self awareness.

So vinyl it is. It makes perfect sense actually, considering my tendency towards those super perfect, clean, well defined images...

*sigh*

What I'd like to do is cut each quote out of vinyl and stick them all over the city- literally put them back where I found them (figuratively, anyway.)

Of course this gives me the opportunity to DOCUMENT the whole process and so I'd like to take photographs of the various locations that end up becoming home to my new vinyl friends. THESE are what I expect will end up in the bfa show. I am envisioning super large prints hanging  from the ceiling and kind of in your way. If you show up you will have to move AROUND these prints... I am, after all, still going to be trying to get your attention!!

I'll cover the wall with text as well. All of it. It could be from all the quotes, or maybe my own personal statement about my intentions and my process. I haven't figured it all out, but it looks GREAT in my head. I wish you could crawl in and take a sneak peek and tell me what you think. 

So I feel pretty good about this new idea as a goal. I'm excited for what comes next. I suppose this means I get to play with type! YES!! 

OOH!!! Speaking of type. Rebecca came in yesterday and informed me that the Independent Publishing Resource Center is having a membership drive and that $25 gets you a 3 month membership! "WHAT!?" I said.

"Yes!" she said. And I shared in her delight at what a fabulous deal that was... it's cheaper than tuition! So I think I'm going to head over there. I checked out the description for one of their workshops and it actually says:

"Learn to set movable lead type and print on a table-top handpress in the IPRC print shop. You'll learn the vocabulary of printing and typesetting while getting a feel for this beautiful and historical process. Leave class with a printed card and the satisfaction that comes with using 100 year old equipment! Come to class with small quotes or ideas for words to print." 

Are you kidding me? I'm THERE.

What else? I've spent nearly the whole day in the studio. Dom and I got to talking about his project for this year and we came up with some really awesome ideas for him. It was pretty great. We both got pretty excited about different things and had to start sketching stuff out on paper so we wouldn't lose the idea. Finally after going back and fourth and literally adding onto what the other was saying, this beautiful idea was there just staring us in the face. We looked at each other like. "woah... what just happened?" it was a pretty great feeling. 

high five.

I think THAT is the point of this year. He started off with an idea that was fine, but now???? It's essentially the same idea, but visually it's different. It's going to be GORGEOUS. You can't wait to see it, I promise.

Tomorrow is the last day of the 7th week. Yikes! I can't believe how fast this term has gone by. 

Sometimes I find myself frustrated, but for the most part I love it. Like most things, this too has its up and downs. 

Peaks and valleys.

yes, we can

finally.

bandwagon

...because I KNEW they'd want to come with me... who WOULDN'T?

crazy people... that's who.

"i <3 attention"

doing some writing today...
and I've known this all along, but to see it on paper somehow looks different. I've come to realize that my desire to express things with the perfect words, perfect imagery, etc... stems from really wanting to FEEL. I continue to find myself wrapped up in my emotions- happy to the happiest... proud to the proudest... angry to the angriest... sad to the saddest... sassy to the SASSIEST... modest to the modest-est (?) humble to the humblest...

I like to write. I pride myself on my ability to find the perfect words to illustrate fully what it is I'm feeling/ trying to express. I know I'm not the only one who does that, but I think I'm pretty good at it.
So I'm thinking about these quotes of mine.
The idea came to me to build pieces that are representative of their moments... incorporating some personal or background information... insight if you will.

I dunno.
Collage? I guess we'll see.
Rebecca mentioned a place here in town called The Independent Publishing Resource Center.
LETTERPRESS!!!! I'm so excited to check it out. I'd like to incorporate letterpress work in my project. Seems appropriate. I think. 

Last week Colin had us doing some free writes in class- always helpful for me. We were writing about our work- one piece in particular- from the perspective of an uninformed viewer. These are the things I pulled from the writing that I found useful:

(these are quotes from my fictitious viewer looking the piece pictured below)

"I can't tell what it is, but it looks like it's supposed to be something."

"That's an interesting way to view artwork- get away from it... and kind of don't look at it."

"This artist seems to be motivated by abstraction, deconstruction, organized nonsense, detail, and... attention- this artist wants you to stay and figure it out."

"attention" 

It's true. I love attention, but in some ways don't we all?

So maybe this is not as much of a revelation as I thought, but I think it's so interesting that it comes out in my art. I hadn't noticed that before, which is strange because now it seems so obvious. 

"i heart attention." 

That ought to be a SHIRT...