... but our suitcases have apparently decided to go to Amsterdam. They are probably eating stroopwafels, admiring tulips and riding bikes around canals.
Damn baggage.
I'll put some pictures up of our journey when the fog of travel clears.
3.31.2009
we have made it home ...
3.29.2009
3.28.2009
3.27.2009
3.24.2009
I'm going on a trip
Guess where?
Perhaps I will stumble into a house party with ukulele music.
Back in a week or so.
3.23.2009
for getting through security
Bensimon sneaker flats.
I hate having to take my shoes off at the airport, so I try to console myself by wearing extra cool ones. I wish I could find these in my size.
3.22.2009
sunday tune: crosby, stills, nash + young, featuring joni mitchell - helpless
Today, I am posting a couple of songs that I can listen to twenty times in a row.
3.21.2009
3.20.2009
this weekend
I am going where the people are.
On the agenda:
- film festivities
- ballers
- poetry readings
- art and power
- guerilla swinging (I wish. Oh, how I wish.)
in my corner
Sweet Hila tagged me to play this game.
These are the rules:
1. respond and rework: answer the questions on your blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your own invention, add one more question of your own.
2. tag eight other un-tagged people
what are your current obsessions?
Maps, lost places, carving stamps, looking for work, David Foster Wallace, reading lists, quillwork + beading, Jenny Holzer, weaving, homemade ginger cookies, anoraks, Lanvin flats and daffodils.
what are you wearing now?
Print dress, brown wool sweater, navy tights, navy Troentorp clogs, glasses and my wedding ring.
do you nap a lot?
Um, yes. By any measure.
who was the last person you hugged?
Sean O'Hagan.
if you were a tree, what tree would you be?
Birch.
what's for dinner?
Homemade potato-leek soup.
what was the last thing you bought?
Staples for my staple plier. Staple pliers are just about the best thing ever.
what are you listening to right now?
Dirty Projectors.
what is your favorite weather?
Irish - gray skies and green grass.
what is on your bedside table?
I don't have an actual bedside table, just an extremely unstable, constantly changing stack of books by my bed, and an el cheapo digital alarm clock.
what is your favorite pair of shoes?
Rachel Comey Switch moccasin booties with geometric cutouts. I love them so.
what is your most challenging goal right now?
Sticking to the thorny path I have laid out for myself.
say something to the person who tagged you.
Hila - I wish we could meet for croissants and coffee in Paris to talk about random beautiful things.
if you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished anywhere in the world, where do you want it to be?
Right this instant, Montreal. But ask again next week and the answer will change.
favourite vacation spot?
The Amalfi Coast.
name the things you cannot live without.
Sean, my family, friends, dogs (specifically this one), words, good pens, art
what would you like to have in your hands right now?
Plane tickets, a cup of coffee and the handle of an overnight bag.
what would you like to get rid of?
Insecurity and my cell phone.
what was the last book you read?
Watchmen.
if you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?
Here.
Instead of tagging other people, here are some sites new(er) to me that I have been admiring: 1., 2., 3., 4.
The image above is what I would like my little corner of the world to look like someday, at least the kitchen portion. Via here.
3.19.2009
we use the country itself, as its own map
“What a useful thing a pocket-map is!” I remarked.
“That’s another thing we’ve learned from your Nation,” said Mein Herr, “map-making. But we’ve carried it much further than you. What do you consider the largest map that would be really useful?”
“About six inches to the mile.”
“Only six inches!” exclaimed Mein Herr. “We very soon got to six yards to the mile. Then we tried a hundred yards to the mile. And then came the grandest idea of all! We actually made a map of the country, on the scale of a mile to the mile!”
“Have you used it much?” I enquired.
“It has never been spread out, yet,” said Mein Herr: “the farmers objected: they said it would cover the whole country, and shut out the sunlight! So we now use the country itself, as its own map, and I assure you it does nearly as well ..."
Lewis Carroll, Sylvie and Bruno Concluded
the map is not the territory
If words are not things, or maps are not the actual territory, then, obviously, the only possible link between the objective world and the linguistic world is found in structure, and structure alone.
Alfred Korzybski
imaginary outfit: mapmaker
Today I feel like demarcating a geography, fixing locations. To map something is to break it down into defined boundaries, discrete parts locked into place, to create a specific order to the world. It's an action of sharing known quantities.
What specifically I want to map, I don't know. Maybe this impulse towards control results from the muffling blanket of uncertainty covering the world right now. Almost every person in my family has been buffeted by these bad winds that are blowing. I don't know where they will land. Maybe this is all just an gesture towards fixing them again in a safe and bounded world.
I like the idea of being a mapmaker.
carte du tendre
The Map Of Tenderness from Madeleine de Scudéry's Clélie, published in the 17th century.
Strange Maps has a good post explaining the territory, including the River of Inclination which flows past Submission and Attentiveness into the Dangerous Sea that surrounds Unknown Lands.
soles
I draw in the lines of your foot. I paint in the lines of your mouth. I make watercolors in your hand. I sew images in your ear. I draw a map in your navel…
I was very impressed by the Carte du Tendre [Map of Tenderness] invented by a woman writer of 17th century France, Mlle de Scudery. For some time, I conceived of gardens of “tendre” which mix writing and photography with real spaces: the path of reconciliation, the tree of shame, the herbs of confidences, the turtle of longevity, the spider of scandal, the route of chance, the maple of dispute, the copse of indiscretion, the timber trees of hope, the oak of kisses, the poppies of confession, the rabbit of fortune, the branches of forgetfulness, the junction of uncertainties, the forest of hesitations, the lake of temptation, the plains of fatigue, the lime tree of rest, the mountain of assiduousness, the passageway of pain, the intersection of ambition, the ramble of emotion, the slope of forgetfulness, the mound of despair…
Annette Messager, quoted in an interview with Bernard Marcade in BOMB, Issue 26, Winter 1989.
In the interview, she calls herself 'a trainer of paper spiders'. I like that.
Mes Trophees, 1986–88, mixed media with photograph, two panels, 205×170cm.
3.18.2009
lunar mapping
I love Nancy Graves' lithographs of the moon's surface. She used actual astronomical maps as the basis of the design, but there are no keys, no scales, no indication of direction. To me, it is a kind of reclamation of the moon from the claws of science and precision and the world of known quantities back to a place of dream and imagination.
Nancy Graves, VI. Maskelyne DA Region of the Moon. 1972. From Lithographs Based on Geologic Maps of Lunar Orbiter and Apollo Landing Sites (series of ten).
Lithograph on Arches Cover white and amime paper with chine colle, 22 1/2 x 30". Signed, dated, numbered in pencil. Image © 2008 Carl Solway Gallery.
(I want to go to Cincinnati this spring for three reasons: to see this Charlie Harper mural, to visit the museum Zaha Hadid designed, and to go to this gallery. They have amazing things - like this.)
cartography
S4 by Emma McNally.
Johnny at Drawn! posted her work yesterday and I can't pull my eyes away. Her pieces remind me of the paths of the planets and the chaotic grid of a city ariel view. I wish I could have one (or several) for my wall.
The obsession and intensity in any form of mapping, physical or emotional, fascinates me.
3.17.2009
patterns
Using dressmaking patterns stained with tea and coffee, Stockwell has pieced together a fragile map which alludes to Britain's colonial legacy. It shows the ways in which the trade in commodities - tea, coffee, textiles, human labour - has helped to shape the political and economic realities of today's world. It also makes a witty reference to the ongoing debate between the Mercator and Peters' projections of the world map - the piece of pattern tissue at the tip of Africa is printed with the instruction 'Shorten or lengthen here'.
Detail:
Susan Stockwell, Pattern of the World. 2000. Dressmaking patterns, coffee, tea, pins. 4' x 7'. Collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
pins and thread
Debbie Smyth's 'Pins and Threads'. The construction on this knocks me out.
Details:
All images © designboom. For more on the artist, try this.
3.16.2009
colorwork
... what I do isn’t about being a ‘woman artist.’ Men historically did most of the major woven and embroidered pieces. When I started out, in the sixties, we, my peers and I, hated everything that looked like art. Chuck Close purged brushes. Richard Serra was throwing lead. I was looking for a different medium to make marks with ...
Elaine Reichek
Above:
Sampler (Andy Warhol)
1997
embroidery on linen
10.25 x 30.75 inches
Below:
Swatches, Albers 1-3
2007
digital embroidery on linen
12 x 35 inches
Works from Reichek's 'Pattern Recognition' show found here. She's one of my favorite artists.
color chart
The Periodic Table of the Artist's Colors by Stephen Beal.
Each color listed is associated with a specific personal memory. It got me thinking about why certain colors mean certain things to me.
3.15.2009
3.14.2009
happy pi day
Nine ways to celebrate (via transmissions from a satellite heart).
I'll probably do a lot of number eight.
3.13.2009
this weekend
Found this in a cookie last night.
Things to do:
- the boys from county hell
- steak frites
- bike party
- 4U
- Japanese Summer: Double Suicide
- pancake breakfasts + fish fries
- around the world in Detroit-Shoreway
submerged
Graun, Italy. The town was submerged when a dam was built nearby and now all that is left is the 14th century bell tower rising out of the lake.
This photograph looks like something from a Chris Van Allsberg story.
Photo by Rich 007.
elevated
Terunobu Fujimori's Takasugi-an: a tea house built on two chestnut trees, accessible only by freestanding ladders.
Inside:
Image Credits: Edmund Sumner. Via SpaceInvading.
3.12.2009
imaginary outfit: riding away
I really need to get a bike. I miss that little kid feeling of pedaling hard and feeling the wind. I'm stuck inside dealing with a pile of cardboard and my old friend the box-cutter, and I know it's bitter cold outside, but I am still wishing I could go for a ride this afternoon.
click bored
Click Bored: a soothing and strangely addictive web game.
Designed by Gerard Ferrandez (and found via Very Short List. I love their emails.)
signs of the times
Signs of the Times: designed by Pentagram's DJ Stout from photographs of Joe Ely's collection of homeless signs. It's part of a fundraiser in Austin to help the homeless.
Great concept, don't you think?
3.11.2009
3.10.2009
having your cake and eating it, too
Yesterday, I made a cake. When it was filled and frosted, it was kind of like a giant homemade Hostess cupcake, only 12 times more delicious (I hoped).
I was pretty pleased with it. So was Sean.
The song was sung. Candles were blown out.
A disarming smile:
I thought he was joking around:
He wasn't:
Stealth cake attack! (I nearly dropped the camera.)
Well, you only turn 30 once. You might as well eat your birthday cake face-first if you want to.
Happy birthday, redhead. xo.
for getting around the city (part 2)
Arrow bikes.
I love the standing platforms you can attach so a friend can ride along.
copters
In my neighborhood, there is an underpass with flags of the world painted on the support columns. I noticed these helicopters on the US flag.
3.09.2009
change, inside out
Seen at Materialicious: R B W Core House by Nonya Grenader & Danny Samuels:
With the insertion of a new core (bath, kitchen, and mechanical elements), modern conveniences were delivered to an existing 500 sq. ft. house at Project Row Houses in Houston’s Third Ward. The renovation was seen not only as a single solution for this particular house (to be used by an artist in residence), but also as a prototype --- exploring the newly inserted core as a strategy for updating the many typical shotgun-style houses in the neighborhood.
These kinds of projects inspire me. If I had capital, I would buy dead houses in my neighborhood and remake them like this and sell them for cheap. Then you could all move here and be my neighbors.
a vast, enormous canvas where anything imaginable can be accomplished
Anecdotes like this make me hopeful.
despite everything
In the words of Mr. Rogers: it's a good feeling to know you're alive.
Image: Julie Blackmon via Paper Schmaper.
3.08.2009
repossessed
Anthony Suau's photograph of a Cleveland police officer securing a house after an eviction was named the World Press Photo of the Year last month.
His series of Cleveland photos is here. They were taken last March for Time, but most, including this one, were published online only, and never made it into the magazine.
subprime
The word subprime does not yet exist in dictionaries of the English language. It will—soon. But how will it be defined? Attached to the adjective subprime we have an entire lexicon of modifieds: mortgages, lenders, borrowers, markets, foreclosures; and, or course, the crisis itself. Which one is the real subprime? In its unfamiliarity the word has acted as a catalyst, crystallizing out of their cultural solution a disparate set of people, places, concepts, and institutions that we are not normally encouraged to examine together. The home, after all, is America's emblem of the individual, the domestic, and the private. Suddenly a network of apparently disparate actors and forces are revealed as a single object of culture that, like a complex molecule releasing the energy of its bonds, has exploded in a catastrophic and unanticipated chain reaction.
Charlotte Whalen
Image: Backyards, Stump Road, Kendall Park, New Jersey. C-print, 2008.
abandoned houses
Kevin Bauman's 100 Abandoned Houses.
I found these yesterday. Even though they were taken in Detroit, they remind me of here.
It's worth clicking through the entire series. It's a cliche to say we don't build houses like that anymore, but we don't.
a lost cause
'As government data revealed that 651,000 more jobs disappeared in February, a sense took hold that growing joblessness may reflect a wrenching restructuring of the American economy. The unemployment rate surged to 8.1 percent, from 7.6 percent in January, its highest level in a quarter-century. In key industries — manufacturing, financial services and retail — layoffs have accelerated so quickly in recent months as to suggest that many companies are abandoning whole areas of business.
...
The grim scorecard of contraction in the American workplace released by the Labor Department on Friday largely destroyed what hopes remained for an economic recovery in the first half of this year, and it added to a growing sense that 2009 is probably a lost cause.'
Peter S. Goodman and Jack Healy, NYT 3.6.09.
If it's a lost cause, I guess the rest of it is ours to do with what we will.
sunday tune: yeasayer - 2080/tightrope
Two for one today.
First line of 2080: 'I can't sleep when I think about times we're living in ...'
3.07.2009
3.06.2009
this weekend
If that dude is supposed to embody awesome, there is no hope for me.
On to brass tacks. The agenda for this weekend:
- Friedlander
- Tes One
- trout club banquet
- Dent May and his Magnificent Ukulele
- ballerinas and masked avengers
(or maybe not) - naps
Image from Ffffound. See you later.
3.05.2009
you could always spend the evening building a paper robot
Giant Paper Robot Fight: stop-motion video created to kick off a contest to design your own paper robot. The winning designer gets a trip the the LA Paper Art Show in April, $500, and a chance to met Shin Tanaka. Deadline: March 26. Details here.
I may need to do this.
other entertainment options
Free screening of Eames movies tonight at Bela Dubby. Part of Cleveland Design City's 1/3 Movie Night. They show some great stuff, and I have never managed to go. Thursdays just get that way.
Maybe I will try and fit it in before the show.
(This is a good discussion of the Eames' film work, if you are interested.)
3.04.2009
listening
Have you gotten your hands on this yet?
I can't stop listening to it. I have about fifteen favorite tracks.
And I can't wait to see the Vincent Moon footage of this house party.
work shirt
Gilded Age Clanton Western shirt, available at Lark.
(I think I want one of everything in that store.)
3.03.2009
random ice sculptures
You never know what you will see from the window of your car when you drive around the Cleve.
For example: random ice sculptures.
Three spotted in Slavic Village this week - the bird on wing. A swan:
And this one was my favorite:
Sean's too:
Apparently, they were left after the Slavic Village Snow + Ice Festival last Saturday, but we didn't know that at the time, and coming across them unexpectedly was a strange and wonderful thing.
working on: strings and buttons
Lately, I have been playing around the idea of braiding. I untwine bits of embroidery floss then braid the individual strands, sticking in random shiny things along the way - old buttons, broken chains, washers, etc.
I've made a few variations, but this one is my favorite. I am thinking of ordering one of these to attach it to, but for now, it's tied to a small brass safety pin.
imaginary outfit: cloud watcher
Despite my best efforts, it's happened. I am pining for spring and change, with at least four to six weeks of probable winter weather to go.
I'm tired of my cold bleak city, with its dingy houses and crumbling pavements. I'm tired of the sullen mud where nothing is growing and sullen faces waiting out the winter dregs. Cleveland is never the most beautiful place, and without a softening glaze of snow or green, it is abrading my soul bit by bit.
Today, I'd rather be somewhere where the raw in the air is leavened with some immediate promise, somewhere with a wide sky, watching clouds. I imagine sitting on the hood of a car, looking up, getting good and lost for a while - lost out of myself and lost out of the confines of routine things and narrow places and dirt and brown and March. Once I felt free and clear, I would hop back into my car and drive wherever the wind blowed, chasing clouds to the horizon.
i'm not only a member, i am also the president
William Edmonds' The Cloud Appreciation Society.
Seen here then here.
3.02.2009
for use on days with uninteresting skies
Kim Laughton's Box of Clouds: a keychain photo viewer modified to use natural light to reveal images of clouds.
I love this from the very bottom of my heart. Seen at MAKE.
blue peeking through
Filip Tyden's Sky Stickers: dye cut stickers shaped as the forms found in between clouds. Stick to any white or grey surface and instantly transform that nothingness into a sky.
Blue sky makes me happy. Seen at hunter<>gather.
3.01.2009
sunday tune: simon + garfunkel - cloudy
My favorite part is when Simon + Garfunkel APPEAR IN THE CLOUDS.
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