Back in the Saddle Again

I have been gone.

A lot has happend since I returned from New York. You may have notice my website has been down. I am in the process of updating it's layout with a new template from Word Press. It's going to look really nice and clean I think. I have been thinking about my work a lot, less working, more thinking-which is usually not the best for me. But it is what it is.

I haven't utilized my residency. I know, I suck. Life has been pretty interesting. I fought so hard for that stupid thing but moving to Little Rock has been a huge distraction. Though, I must admit, I have most definitely faired better emotionally not living in that cesspool of a city. It does have it's charms. Suffice-it-to-say I need to get my shit together.

The plan is this- I need to get all of my work photographed and printed. The large prints of Papa need to be printed and I need to build frames for them. Also, all of my old sculpture work needs to be photographed. I need to print all of the work from NY and previous BFA stuff so that I have a nice printed portfolio for grad school stuff when I apply next. Not sure about this fall yet. It is going to depend on our moving situation within the next few months. This is also why I must take advantage of the help in Memphis now.

On a productive note-
I have been publishing some small/quick advertisements for my mother's business in local Arkansas magazines: Arkansas Bride, Weddings in Arkansas, and Soiree.

Lots going on and lots to do.

Here's the big post I have been promising for a week now. As of today I have been in New York for 11 days and I am just now getting some idea of what I'm doing for my project. I'm not really sure what will manifest as the final project for the exhibition.

I have gone quite a lot as far as visitations. I took a free swing dance class down by the Hudson River and then there was a jazz band for dancing.

A couple laying in the grass at the Hudson.

The other night my two friends Maisie and Cemre made dinner together in Cemre's fabulous apartment she's staying in for the month. It was a wonderful dinner and great evening. Also Maisie and I have become friends with the RA on my floor, Chen Longo. He's a really interesting person and the three of us have had dinner together a few times. We went down to the river close to Gramercy Park and had some amazing Chinese food from a place down the street from our building it was beautiful. We jumped the railing and went down to sit on the large rocks in the water on the sand.

I've been taking some photos around town and some of my classmates. I've been using Velvia Slide Film and it's beautiful. For some reason my exposures are dark so I've had to do some post camera work.

If you look closely you will see a man rollerblading with three rats on his shoulders and head. Only in New York.

The New York Public Library (main building) It's absolutely gorgeous inside but none of my negatives were any good. 

The Chrysler Building from 6th Avenue  

A fish in the tank at Cemre's Apartment. I think it's related to the piranha. 

We visited a gallery in Chelsea the same day as PS1. This may look familiar because it's a Cindy Sherman Print. (yea that's right...be jealous) Below is a piece of sculpture outside on the balcony. The view was really nice.

Hopefully I will be able to update tomorrow. I'm not going with my class to Soho because I am going to a lecture about contemporary art and neuroscience that conflicts. But, I hope to get much work done and begin updating with some artwork.

Some Research

Self Portraits by Kimiko Yoshida 

I purchased a book called "Portraits of the Mind" and I'm thinking of doing something like with my own drawings of my mind.

Soon I will be updating with lots of pictures once I pick them up from processing today.

Brain Overload

So...
Today I visited MOMA Ps1. It was really a beautiful museum and the exhibits were really interesting. I took several pictures of my class today (with film of course once I develop them I will post some.) They are all truly extraordinary.

My god, I have to learn another language.

The exhibit I really enjoyed was Francia Alys' exhibit titled "A Story of Deception." Also, Laurel Nakadate "Only the Lonely" was interesting but I found most of it artificial and in many cases contradictory and gratuitous. Her interest in Britney Spears does make me happy though. Before we made it to Ps1 we visited the Flag Gallery which was totally boring. The selections relied far too much on the explanation of the curator which one of my friends pointed out.

You could cut the elitism with a knife.

I did like to see some of Roni Horn's work in person but it was very difficult to get over the self-indulgence of the artist in works such as this golden piece. Though, I do respect Horn's way of being able to not limit herself to one genre or discipline and that she works with many varying concepts within her work. I did like the pink glass piece; mostly because it was all round and glassy.  :)

After I went by the school to sign up for my one on one critique times I managed to take a 2 hour nap and then went to dinner with my friend Maisie, who is quite brilliant and lovely. We ate at a really nice Mediterranean place in the East Village and took a walk in the rain. My Tom's are completely soaked. Tomorrow the plan is to have breakfast at Tiffany's and then tour the NY Public Library. Then I need to do laundry and figure out what I want to shoot because I need to get materials for printing and I have a one on one with Seth Greenwald and I want to so him something new. Wish me luck!

Update

Hello All,

Sorry to not update yesterday. I was exhausted when I got back to the GW. I met up with Nikkila in Brooklyn where we got the cheapest mani/pedi's ever. Nik is staying with her friend Yazmin who is also from Memphis but came to fashion school at Parsons. She's gorgeous and her closet is ridiculous. We had a lot of fun until we got lost while trying to find a specific restaurant (which we thought was on 10th ave but was actually on 10th st). We're dorks!

We had a fast dinner at a small diner that was closing. They were really nice to let us come in and have a bite. They had their A/C up so high. We were frozen. It was the first time since being in the city that I wanted to be outside.

Before I met up with Nikkila I spent the day getting turned around in Times Square. I had a caricature done of me by this really nice guy for 5 bucks. It was great. I will take a picture and post it soon. I initially went looking for the Sanrio Store but I had a hellashious time trying to find it amongst all of the craziness.

I was expecting a giant megastore which is probably why I passed it three times without noticing.

While getting lost on 42nd St, I walked underneath this first and didn't realize it was actually the real thing. How beautiful and amazing is this building?! I was suddenly reminded of the tacky representation of the cityscape in "Down With Love" which is one of my favorite New York movies next to "When Harry Met Sally" and "Breakfast at Tiffany's."

Having breakfast at Tiffany's is one of my dreams and I will definitely be doing that sometime within the next few days. After all of the walking I had to take a cab. This photo I took from the window.

So today, I officially began my residency. (Woot) The people I have met are amazing. The group is very diverse as far as background, nationality, and place within our careers. Just to name a "few" of the countries represented: France, UK, Spain, Turkey, India, U.S., and the South (me). lol. The faculty is amazing and I am so silly to have been nervous about the critique today. It went swimmingly, as it was basically a show and tell of our work and an introduction to each other. Everyone was really positive about my work and about everyone's really. I am the only one who works with self-portraiture which is a whole new world from me coming from the MCA department.

Tomorrow we have a lecture from Jerry Saltz (nominated for pulitzer in criticism three times) go ahead and pee yourself. :) lol. And then an intro to the digital lab in the photo building. By the way, the facilities I saw today blew me away. I am so jealous of the kids who do their undergraduate work here. But as a Memphian, I suppose, I can just say they're spoiled.

My lovely new friend Maisie and I went to the Whole Foods at Union Square and it was insanely busy (I'm sure what I expected from Union Sq? lol). We had a tasty dinner and then walked back to the GW. We had lovely conversation.

Sorry this is a short post for two days. I'm needing my sleep lately.

Caio (Eddie Izzard reference for those who know and love him, as I do)

Bright Lights, Big City

I decided to dedicate my website blog to my adventures in NYC this summer. I was accepted into an Artist Residency Program at the School of Visual Arts. I finally made it to the city after 15 hours of travel including an eight hour layover in Atlanta, GA. I made fast friends with my fellow passengers of flight 368 as we spent so much time together in the airport after our flight's cancellation. Shout out to my friends: Laticia from Chicago by way of Puerto Rico, Maya from Cally, and Anne from NYC. And a special shout out to my great friend from Florida by way of Brooklyn who's name I still do not know and Patricia, a beautiful Italian woman who didn't speak any English.

I speak for all of us when I say: F*** YOU AIRTRAN 

The plane rides were great though. I was able to upgrade to business class for $4.00 on the first flight, which was awesome! The two children in front of me were very entertaining. The boy must have been 4 or 5 years old. He had fun talking like he was on the intercom and making crashing plane noises. I'm pretty sure that the guy across the isle from me threw up his bloody mary in the lavatory sink. I went in to pee and couldn't wash my hands because the sink was full of tomato juice. I tried to turn on the water and I was spattered by the sink's contents. It was fabulous. On the second flight I had a window seat next to one of the guys from my original flight. He read X-Men comics on his Ipad the entire flight. He looked like Louis C.K. with a different shaped face and so I was disturbed to see his smart phone background was Hello Kitty.

Once I got to my building (The George Washington Hotel on Lexington Ave) I was exhausted but still felt like I needed to at least unpack to feel like I accomplished something. So I did. This morning I had a toasted croissant fromt the deli next door and took a trip to Walgreens. I had to unload a few items from my luggage yesterday morning because one of my bags was over the 50lb limit. So I had to take a trip to Walgreens this morning also, to pick up some shampoo and lotion.

In a few minutes I'm going with Tommy Kha to B&H photo supply and then to China Town for some dim-sum. I think I will probably visit the Sanrio store today in Times Square and a Bed, Bath, and Beyond for a bed cushion. I think the mattress I slept on last night must be 50 years old. I'll update later today with some real photos and more to tell.