life-in-parallel

type projects

noreply@blogger.com (K and K) — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:59:00 +0000

Dear k,
Wanted to share some videos here.

My type video project:

"Dear Mom + Dad" and "Brother" are the first in a series of handmade video love letters, using type I find around my house or make with my own hands.

My most recent students' project:

Whatchoo workin' on these days?
k

love by hand

noreply@blogger.com (K and K) — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 20:25:00 +0000

K!
In the words of Margaret Kilgallen, we always talk about loving “things that show the evidence of the human hand." It seems this is a super trend in all things design right now, too. Post-perfectly-measured-machine-made type, culture embraced super expressionistic and individualistic type. From grungily-distressed to futuristically-retro typefaces, designers had too much to choose from in placing their context appropriate type, each font operating as an audience specific voice. Naturally, the next step is to move completely from the computer, away from that which limits textural quality and levels of imperfection. It's not an anti-technology maneuver. It's a simplification, an appreciation for raw talent and skill, a flip-flop of the process (emphasis on pre-production). Hand-made typefaces offer approachability, a one-of-a-kind quality, and an unavoidable cuteness. No wonder they have been so widely accepted (a few of years ago, I only noticed the then edgy layouts and illustrations of Nylon Magazine using them, now even Starbucks stickers hand-cut words on their windows). I love it! Even the irony of using handicraft digitally. Makes me wish I could go in to type design. Only, this may not last. Then, I wonder what's next? What will be the anti-handmade trend?

I ordered the above pictured book recently: Hand Job by Michael Perry. It's a collection of great handmade type from many different artists/designers. The images, drawings and crafty things are wonderful samples from the in-between---seriousness and play, slop and precision, raw gesture and perfected final product, art and design.

Thanks for inspiration ABCs!

k

Alphabet inspiration

noreply@blogger.com (K and K) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 20:08:00 +0000

Hey you,

Yes!! We are back on track! I've been inspired by many things lately - and this quick post is just to respond to your lovely text pieces (and C's amazing cross-stitch of your family). Obviously, we love the idea of letter writing, love notes, discarded texts. Makes me remember the first time I read Letters to a Young Poet or say, Sylvia Plath's Journals (in my slightly-angst youth)... and now, our letters back and forth. Also makes me think of the wonderful handmade qualities of Margaret Kilgallen.

Congrats on your new studio, love the wilty plants ;)

Will post this weekend on Art Basel Miami Beach and other art musings on the brain.

Love,

Ah! Waaaay Toooo Loooong

noreply@blogger.com (K and K) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 00:59:00 +0000

K!
You're install looks totally amazing!!! You are incredible! I'm so proud and excited for you! In honor of our "Hanksgiving" Feast (we listened to Hank Williams Sr., watched Tom Hanks in the Burbs, and played a little "all the famous hanks we could come up with" trivia), I'd like to say...Hanks for being such a great friend! I am indeed thankful to have you!

In fact, I'm working on a little project about it. I wrote 4 "thank you"/"love" notes: to my parents, my brother, you, and C. I'm making (or finding) all the text to illustrate the notes in video form. It's for a type show that I'm applying to. I thought it would be a fun assignment, similar to the one I do with my Intro class. Anyway, it's the first thing I've done in our new studio. I'll post the final when I finish. It feels good to have a space to play!
And this is what C has been doing in the studes. It's a X-mas gift for my Mom. Adorable!Work space, a holiday, first blog in 2 months...aaaaahhhhh, finally! Thanks for keeping the blog alive.
Love you!
k

Art in Storage

noreply@blogger.com (K and K) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:23:00 +0000

Dear K,

Hello! My busy week of two exhibits is over and I have the photos to prove it. 10x10 was a success and I was really happy with my installation. See the above photos for visuals of my piece, "Nesting". I was also featured in a promotional article on the show - exciting.

Walking around the storage center was a treat again this year - I continued to get lost in the sameness of the rows of storage units - a fun maze. The range of installations was fantastic - from sculptural pieces, to video, performance and an entire unit full of delicately placed zip ties!

How is your new studio coming?

Happy Thanksgiving - I'm so thankful for you.

Best,

to the delicate and beyond..

noreply@blogger.com (K and K) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 01:34:00 +0000

Dear K,

Fall is finally here... and with it brings a breath of fresh air in the art scene. South Florida is definitely seasonal - with a dramatic increase of arty events from November through April and a quiet stall through the sticky summer. I happen to like it.. the ebbing and flowing of energy, the ability to slow down and take dips in the ocean. I know you are getting busier too - with work, with your new marriage and new home. What a year!

The above photos are of a fantastic show at a unique venue. Whitebox, a new project of Whitespace - the private collection of Elayne and Marvin Mordes opened this weekend with its first show, "Beyond Delicate" - curated by Kara Walker Tome. (of Showtel). It featured local artists using "delicate" materials. I thought the space looked lovely and the work itself quietly approaching magnificent. Burned fabrics, sculptures made of sugar and podlike organisms swam through the air with muted tones of white, peach and grey. This is apparently my recently favorite color palette. I find my own work even being influenced. I particularly like the title of the exhibit - the idea of the materiality adding to the subject matter of the piece instead of being an afterthought of merely an aesthetically pleasing "happy accident". Being interesting in the exact materials that this show boosted - it was a refreshing exhibit to begin the season with.

See more press coverage here of Beyond Delicate.

What's happening in Chicago?

Love,

The power of the sharpie marker...

noreply@blogger.com (K and K) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 13:13:00 +0000

Dear K,

First - congrats, Mrs.!!!

Wouldn't you love this combination of wall drawings, sharpie markers as a faux wallpaper in your newly married apartment?? - I certainly would. And you could save so much money on furniture! See the artist's website for further images.

I'm clearly in a nesting phase, but still pondering my wallpaper piece that I did earlier this year. I'm thinking of transforming it into an installation for an upcoming show. The idea of combining a medium that has such a royal/regal history like wallpaper, with the casualness and low-brow nature of a sharpie is pretty genius. Opposites - let's talk about them.

High art vs. low art

Tiny drawings vs. wall drawings

Motion graphics vs. still images

Delicate vs. powerful

Quiet vs. loud.

This is where I'm at today - stuck in the middle, but enjoying the line quality.

Best,

House and Home

noreply@blogger.com (K and K) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 13:44:00 +0000

Dearest K,

Big steps... big steps this month. You are getting married and I just bought a house! (Yikes!) I am so in love with your "Happy Hitchin" postcard and cardboard ring.. you two are the cutest. Let's take a break from art posting for a quick second and post pics of all of these new

adventures! How could we not? We started this blog to document our parallel lives, and they are continuing. So.. I want to see your pretty red dress so I can start helping you search for the

2nd one!

Ok. Here are some pics of our adorable abode. We love it. It was built in 1934 - very old for Florida, very "old Florida". Complete with hardwood floors, arched doorway, built in cubbies and modernized kitchens. . . To comment on your "disaster" post - its been through many hurricanes, calming my fears a tad. We are planning on painting the upstairs bedroom, which will be my studio, this weekend! - Goodbye neon yellow, hello pale lavender. The yard is still a

small jungle, but I'm learning that I can only complete one project at a time - and it might take quite some time to get all the things done. Process is everything!

Sorry for all the photos.. I'm just excited. 10 years ago when we met, I never thought about all of these steps. . . so glad we are getting there. I will post pictures of the newly painted upstairs studio in a few days! Then ... its back to work. Many projects on the burners...

Miss you.

Love to you and C tomorrow,

let's get personal

noreply@blogger.com (K and K) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 02:15:00 +0000

K-
Okay, okay. Life is crazy for both of us! Sooooooo...let's share some pics + new realizations from our personal adventures. I wanna see the cutie house!

Love ya + miss,
k

Disaster

noreply@blogger.com (K and K) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 02:35:00 +0000

K,
I've always had a strange fascination with natural disasters. I remember getting very excited just before a big storm hit Florida: the smell of the air, the crazy wind made visible with the furiously twisting oak tress. Maybe it had something to do with the chance of danger, the romanticism of adventure, or just that something different was happening to break the routine. What ever the reason, when the lights went out in the neighborhood and my family had to break out the candles and flashlights, I was enthusiastically glued to the window, watching the action unfold outside, and feeling...special (silly, I know). Luckily, these storms never did much damage to our lives directly, aside from a few tree limbs falling on my dad's car, or perhaps my interest in them might have changed.

Attending Michael Ruglio-Misurell's show, Project #12, at Gallery 400 Wednesday night, I was reminded of this childhood attraction. However, where I enjoyed being overwhelmed by the power of nature, Michael's obsession is composing an aftermath.It looked like Florida threw up 1985.

All the banal structural materials of back office theme parks, or bathroom stalls in Ft. Lauderdale's first gay club, were glamorously disheveled. Carefully arranged in total disorder, urinals, two-by-fours, sheets of metal, mock signage, palm fronds, socks, beer cans, and coffee cups framed peaks and valleys of environmental mess. I wondered how much garbage they made during install that they simply left around within the space. I wondered how aggressively satisfying it might have been to destroy all these things, to then build into something else. Upon entering the space in fact, it was immediately humorous imagining the making of this work, especially in its final stages---the final touches and clean-up before the opening. At what point in the destruction process do you stop and say, "Okay, now let's fix this up a little?"Formally, the installation is compelling---sensational in scale and with plenty of crannies and details to explore, which often result in an overall sense of amusement. Michael is surely challenging the space, completely altering the gallery, leaving only the front desk unharmed. It's materially complex; but thematically, a bit campy. The "Enter at your own risk" sign congers Disney's Blizzard Beach or Universal Studio's retired Earthquake ride. And as structurally intriguing as it may be, the sheer mass is indulgent and luxurious.

Gallery 400 gives the artist a small budget for the exhibition, which Michael undoubtedly spent on thrift store objects---chairs, tables, lighting, etc---to fill-out his piles of found stuff. Many of these things are manipulated, cut-up, reassembled, propped into place, thrown around with crumpled papers, wood paneling, and pieces of corporeal construction. Items with "use value" become art. The art, in this case, is a beautifully arranged pile of trash. At the close of the exhibit, this art will most likely be thrown into a "real" garbage heap somewhere (similar in form, only dislocated from the gallery context--rendered worthless). And this consequence seems ineffectual to most.

I have a feeling Michael is in part playing on the excess of human consumption, yet an ethical dilemma exists with making nothing out of something. But then, that is another elusive question of art + value I guess. The true disaster might be the waste of the aftermath of art. Ah!

Wishing you a safe hurricane season!
Love,
k

Images at top:
1. Still from the show (aftermath of surface)
2. REAL aftermath of hurricane in Florida (compositionally interesting, yes, but tragedy overrides the need for representation.)
3. Poster for Earthquake Ride at Universal Studios in Florida
(If Universal's Disaster blockbusters prove anything, we like destruction. Dramatic devastation is visually alluring, in fiction. Besides the formal qualities, though, what is the fascination?)

Staple yourself to school

noreply@blogger.com (K and K) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 15:45:00 +0000

Dear K,

It's the beginning of the fall semester here and I am reminded why I love teaching. . . I know that you not only feel the same way, but I feel the need to tell you again how proud I am that you got a full-time faculty gig! So exciting... and much deserved.

I just read this article from the Chronicle for Higher Education and thought of you, and me, and our many pedagogical talks and jitters. After years of doing this, I still get nervous and excited about the first day of school. I've been organizing, getting my files updated, images cropped and projects ready. Ready, set, go!

Also.. have been in love with Jane Mount's paintings of books lately. In addition to her awesomely designed, yet effective and efficient personal website. I desperately need to update mine and am considering hiring someone else to do this, but feeling guilty at the idea of not doing it myself. (Even though I fail to ever design one effectively) Do we have to do everything ourselves? Thoughts?

Here's to a fresh fall.

Love, K.

Permanent Collection

noreply@blogger.com (K and K) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 01:08:00 +0000

Dear K,

It's a circus around here! Plus, I just stumbled on these fantastic vintage Ringling Brothers circus posters. I would love to use these as examples in a typography class.

Thanks for the fantastic blogging. It's going to take me awhile to catch up with you.... Things have been crazy here, waiting impatiently for our house to close. In trying to stay sane, I have been imagining all of my previous spaces, my current space, and wondering how the Mr. and I will make this a home. In responding also to your "Intersecting the Personal, Part 2" - a classic great example of home-spun meets modern design. Plus, I LOVE the idea as showing your home as a "museum" - we do live in mini-museums, because we make them. We are sensitive to our space, and behave accordingly - elegantly displaying shells organize

d by shape and size the way others pick curtains to match the carpet.

I am distracting myself from banking mambo-jambo by telling myself that I will own a house where I can curate our life in. . . All these photos represent my favorite parts of our current apartment.

Also thinking of the great Kehren's idea of "The Permanent Collection, Collection". You are inherently in my "permanent collection." To quote the other K: "We are each other's permanent collection. Objects that we make as part of this idea are an homage to idea of permanence in an impermanent culture. What we keep, who keeps us; what we love, who loves us." I have K-drawings on cocktail napkins from 10 years ago, exhibit "cereal" postcards, digitally current photos and artwork. Think of all of the amazing artists we know.. we don't acknowledge it very often, but they are in our permanent collection. (If we were fancy private collectors, our semantics would surely be different about our "acquisitions")

Here's to acquiring more, collecting more, curating more - and all in a more permanent way. One last thought... Is this blog a more permanent or less permanent record of our collecting?

Miss you,

p.s. Will catch up on responses, promise!

"Stimulate on THIS"

noreply@blogger.com (K and K) — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 20:53:00 +0000

K,
As you can tell, I have a bit more time these days. So...I'm catching up with Flickr, FB, and all the other online time-suckers. Just read a delightfully hopeful article (at the NYT web) about the new chairman of the NEA. Read here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/08/arts/08rocco.html?_r=1&ref=arts.

I really like his arguements about artists being workers too, with families, mortgages, and medical bills, just like any other laborer in America. “Someone who works in the arts is every bit as gainfully employed as someone who works in an auto plant or a steel mill,” Mr. Landesman said. An artist's productivity is valuable, and good for the economy. After all, aren't we the ones that preceed gentrification patterns.

It's tough to shift such a longstanding generalized misconception about art and artists, though. In American politics generally, he added: “The arts are a little bit of a target. The subtext is that it is elitist, left wing, maybe even a little gay.” But thinking positively, maybe, just maybe we're leaving the "art is superfluous" attitude to die with the armadillos in Texas. Yes!

k

p.s. My title for this post was jokingly appropriated from a very serious realty ad on the Blue Line, depicting swank modern condos for sale at remarkably slashed prices. Funny huh? B went on to add, "Wanna see my stimulus package?"

"production journal" by Chris Lin

noreply@blogger.com (K and K) — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 19:43:00 +0000

Hey K! C is currently working on a project that has him questioning the strange power of a documentary editor. Mid-process, his views on the subject have changed, and an icky feeling of responsibility disrupts his work-flow. Notes from the editing table...

I’m editing a documentary entitled “Cabrini Gone Green” for visual artist Michele Stutts’ upcoming exhibition of the same title. The documentary concerns one of Chicago’s most notorious housing projects, which was first built in 1942 with several additions built in the surrounding area over the years. Cabrini Green is notorious partly because it is located less than a mile from one of the city’s most affluent neighborhood, and because of its location, it became a hotbed of racial and economical tension. Since 2006, the building began to come down, forcing the residents to move out to other Section 8 housing.

The city was building new mixed-used developments on the demolished sites of Cabrini Green, the new development mandates 10% of the new building will be rented out to Section 8 residents. In the meantime, the Section 8 holders find it increasingly difficult to maintain their status, and if they cannot keep the status, they will have to pay full rent for new apartments. This is the premise of the documentary.

As for my personal feelings, since it is my first formal documentary work, I’m finding it harder and harder to narrow down their voices to just one. Would I even want to? It would seem like a dictatorship.

Growing up, I loved watching feature-length documentary. Steve James’s “Hoop Dreams” (which is partially set in Cabrini), Michael Moore’s “Roger and Me”, and Ross McElwee’s “Sherman’s March.” All of those films have one thing in common: a unified voice. In other words, the filmmakers know what they want, and they can manipulate the footage to get it across.

The problem is, I don’t know what I want to get across, or more accurately, the message I want to get across may not be the most flattering one. After reviewing 18 tapes that I didn’t shoot, I began to find that voice in two of the subjects. Mrs. Landry and Mrs. Wilson, both over 70 years old, talked about their memories of living in the projects. I liked hearing them reminisce from the time they moved in and how the area has changed over the years. They don’t want to move out, not because they couldn’t find a new home, but because they truly love the neighborhood.

Then there is Mr. Randolf, 40 years old, who was born in the projects and is now some sort of community leader. One moment recalls him talking about the fact that the new apartments cannot provide them with a 4-bedroom apartment. Understanding that Section 8 status holders pay somewhere around $500 a month for a 4-bedroom apartment, it is harder to sympathize. To make matters more muddled, many Section 8 holder’s children and relatives move in with them, taking advantage of the deals they’ve got. Those who moved in illegally may not be able to apply for the status for reasons including having criminal records.

Part of me wants to reveal all the contradictions and focus on all the hypocrisy, but part of me feels like it’s kicking someone when they’re down. I cannot change the reality: This is going to happen whether we make this documentary or not, but do I really have to paint unflattering pictures of the project residents? Since this is my first time in the editor’s seat, I’m overwhelmed by the moral responsibilities that come with the job. Kuleshov can make the viewer believe that a man is sad, hungry, or lustful just by placing different footage immediately following the face of the man. But when it concerns something as consequential as real people, how does one find a firm ground to stand on?

I don’t know.

~Chris Lin, two-time contributor, long-time follower of L.I.P.

What do you think, K? Have any thoughts from your own film production experience? I'll respond to your questions very soon.

k

intersecting the personal, part 2

noreply@blogger.com (K and K) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 21:20:00 +0000

Back again, K.
I wanted to devote an entire post to the other show I visited on Sunday. One which approaches your question about the balance between modern sleekness and the home-spun. I think we would both agree that the modernist box of galleries/museums offers good and bad perceptions of the art experience. It's void, full of potential (like your tabula rasa), yet separated, exclusionary. There exists an in-between, flexible and comfortable, inclusive while still challenging---the exact sort of vision I hold for "Good Stuff House."Home Gallery is in a sunny townhouse in Hyde Park. It houses minimal furniture much like your "Kitty Bowe" collection (clean, simple, the slightest bit 60's), and is literal home to Laura Shaeffer, Andrew Nord, and a couple of young-ins. In tandem to the various knick-knacks and accessories a lived in home collects, artworks dangle, perch, and peek out of every viewable space. Laura and Andrew have been inviting people in for about 9 shows now---several solo exhibits, some artist duos, and this recent curatorial experiment. Laura says that this gives her a lot of room (no pun inteneded) to explore her thoughts in art viewing and making, and has become an interesting connector of people, artists and other creative-minded folks.

The experience is warm and thought-provoking. Just as you interpret someone's personal space as an identifier of his/her character and interests (I've always thought of the home as a place where one "curates" their sense of the world), Home Gallery openly invites viewers to examine the objects on the walls, coffee tables, shelves, pillows, etc. And not only do they welcome you in, but they offer you brunch! (At least this was the case on Sunday.) So as you are sitting on the couch, snacking on grapes, and watching a video play from an old t.v. set on the bookshelf, you also begin noticing the situation. Is that little shoe on the floor also part of the exhibit? What about those drawings on the fridge? It's funny. The container becomes the art, too! And unlike the modernist belief, it is NOT distracting. It is all encompassing and organically contagious---I can't help but look for connections and juxtapositions.

The Diorama Show was particularly playing into those blurred boundaries (perfectly conceptualizing its host: "home" vs. "gallery"), much like I expressed about Gunnatowski's Territory project. Sets within a set everywhere---revealing the stage props of reality as well. The show collected a curious grouping of works, all variations on the diorama. Originally drawn to this exhibit because of my recent work with diorama-like forms, my satisfaction may have been biased, but here are a few images: This is a diorama-box containing a video of weather: "Tree Line," by Luftwerk.The above, called "Mono Lake," is by Jenny Buffington. She included several ice-mountain forms in the living spaces and outside.In the backyard, trees and bushes held up some kids' work, too. These marshmellow people where the cutest!

And the image at the top is a tiny piece by Laura and Andrew hiding in plain sight in their hallway. I might have missed it, if the show hadn't encouraged such detail-looking. (I made C stand next to it for scale.)

Hoping to one day own a home (like you) and a gallery!
k

intersecting the personal, part 1

noreply@blogger.com (K and K) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 20:24:00 +0000

K,
Cool pics of the wallpaper show! Wallpaper was so "out" in interior design for awhile, but its comeback is thankfully inventive--goodbye simulated stencil shapes, hello modern simplicity. I think abstraction has found its rightful home in paper pattern.

Thanks for responding to my questions. I too love Claes Oldenburg's plans and drawings, and find them much more entertaining than their realized forms. Maybe it has something to do with nostalgia, too. It's the ephemera that feels more personal, drawn directly from the artist (as opposed to being fabricated in a factory somewhere). The architect's blueprints vs. the actual building. The paper holds the rough visual idea. Those manageable articles---sketches, plans, notes, photos, documents---humanize the big work. They make approachable the seemingly complex. I can connect by my own jotting, sketching, list making habits.

Speaking of the ephemeral...I saw a beautiful show this weekend at the Smart Museum. Your Pal, Cliff: Selections from the H.C. Westermann Study Collection highlighted not just his work (well-crafted sculptures, prints, and drawings), but also his letters and gifts sent to family and friends, unfinished tinkerings and personal projects. I completely fell for Westermann through the artful documents of his life. Although I may just be a sucker for this at the moment, his love letters and gifts to his wife seemed so much more meaningful than his "polished" works intended for the art world. Westermann did manage to infuse his highly personal content, interests, and style into everything he made, which is very inspiring.

More in a minute.
k

With connections and in-conversations

noreply@blogger.com (K and K) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 17:48:00 +0000

Dear K,

Nice work on the last blog posts. The propaganda show looks interesting.. but before I comment about that, I want to address your questions about paper and architecture. It's funny, sometimes I think I should have been an architect, but then I think of the drafting involved and re-think. With you living in a city known for it's architecture wonders, and me living in a place with the juxtaposition of beautiful, beachy, Mediterranean blues and corals and suburban nightmare boxes - there is lots to talk about. I'm still marveling the design of the new Art Institute Modern Wing. I couldn't get over it's glassed goodness and birch floors. So sleek, yet completely welcoming. To me, this is the equation for a successful design. I am always drawn to modern architecture, but conversely crave the home-grown, home-spun plants and "textiles on every wall" feeling. How do we find a balance?

Another connection stems from blueprints . . and the space in which they create the ability to visualize. That possibility of greatness is so symbolic. For instance, I've always loved Claes Oldenb urg's drawings of his sculptures a little more than the sculpture itself. Always a sucker for mystery - blueprints, plans, sketches - give room for something so necessary in making . .. POSSIBILITY. It's like seeing a movie after you have already read the book. It's always better in my head for I can create the visuals, pick the wall color, construct the space.

The simplicity of paper allows this to be possible. The tabula rasa.

Paper - and all of it's simplicity - gets amplified with wallpaper. The act of covering the architecture of your walls with images negates the design of the space at the same time as it draws attention to it. I think this is what I love about wallpaper - its seams seem fluid, but the divide is fascinating. Before I go on and on again about wallpaper. Below are some installation shots of my show at the Florida Craftsman Gallery and a review here.

I have another post waiting-in-the-wings regarding small things, trinkets, fabric and twining, mending, etc. Look for it this weekend.

Question for you: What are you mending, tending to, trinket-collecting, wrapping, etc., lately? Why do we continue on this path? Does it have anything to do with the lack of tactility that modernization brings?

Love,

pretty propaganda

noreply@blogger.com (K and K) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 04:04:00 +0000

Well, K. The diorama show is NEXT weekend, so I'll write about it then. But I did stop by a little pop-up gallery show in my neighborhood last Friday. "Run Blago Run" took over a closed beauty shop (formerly called Head Bang) for three days only. Graffiti and street-art style works were on display, all based around the subject of our delinquent ex-governor Rod Blagojevich. Graphic and pun-ny, the show offered good imagery, but remained surface in content. I liked the Blago stencils in situ much better. The gallery context sort of stunted the message.Seeing these suspicious figures lurking under bridges and in dark alleys all around Chicago just seems more appropriate for representations of Blago. What I found most interesting about the show, is that the guy responsible for the stencils, Ray Noland, is racking up the credit for these designs. (He also did several stencils of Obama speaking into microphones plugged in to "America" around election time.) Although at the same time, with all the media on him, he is carefully avoiding blame for actually stenciling Chicago property--as he would be confessing to multiple felonies. This elusive "graffiti fame" has me thinking a lot about "artist fame" in general and the inconvenience of ownership in the underground.

Anyway, to totally jump topics...My final class project was based on the idea of guerrilla propaganda. I had students screen print small cards with a message of their choice--a test in visual communication as well as print-making methods. They did an amazing job! Check it out:That's all for now. Miss ya!
k

more "home" talk

noreply@blogger.com (K and K) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 21:36:00 +0000

Oooo! K! Was that the book we saw in the MCA shop? Looks sooo good! Well...yep. Busy as always, but really wanting to get back into this. I can't believe our show is already over. On to the next thing, I guess.

When my parents were in town a couple of weeks ago, we did this little garden tour in Bucktown. In addition to the walking in and around cool outdoor spaces, it was great to see a variety of living scenarios---old homes, newly remodeled condos, mini-castles, and little quirky niches. I thought of you and your almost official house-buying, and felt very hopeful about mine and C's future options. I think we've always looked forward to crafting our own "homes" one day in a more permanent way, and I'm super envious of your incredible find. Gettin' it going, girl! I can't wait to see it in person.

Here are some pics from the walk:[The above place was my favorite spot---owned by an artist couple. The house was small, adorable, and creatively decorated (a hand-constructed swing in the living room, lime green and white checkered tile in the kitchen), and the backyard space was contemplative and magical including flowing water, succulents, a crazy wild onion plant and a vine heavy wooden porch perfect for morning coffee/sketchbook time.]

Although I took down our show last Saturday, I'm still thinking about it and want to start our discussions again about this topic. Maybe it could lead to new topics, new work, more shows, etc. And instead of writing a review, I want to ask some questions (and would love if you asked me some, too.) So...here goes:

What do you think is the connection between paper and architecture, besides your personal magnet towards these things?
Why is working with pieces, swatches, fabric, pattern, thread, wood and various other little things so pleasurable?

Well, I think our show was a success for several reasons! It got us back to enjoying the making of art, it forced to get over the hump of lethargic production, and proved our continuing collaboration---we ARE indeed "in conversation."

To keep this up, I'm giving myself an assignment (and promising on virtual paper to you). This weekend, I plan to visit the Home Gallery's "Diorama Show" and report back about the space and exhibit.

Til then, have a fantastic canoe and hope to talk again soon.

love,
k

Ok, Miss.... Architecture!

noreply@blogger.com (K and K) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 14:31:00 +0000

Hey K!

Your head must be swimming up in the clouds lately with all of your exciting news... so many big things are happening this summer. I'm still recovering from our lovely visit, 3 weeks of film production design and all of this mambo-jambo house-buying business. I know that you have things up your sleeve as well ;) (and I'm waiting for that phone call with so much love for you!!)

There are so many things that I have been wanting to blog about - our lecture with Anne Wilson, pics of my wallpaper exhibit, summertime canoe trips - but since I am still in house lust, I thought these absolutely beautiful folded paper creations by Simon Schubert would be appropriate (and would also give us the kick to start blogging again). These rubbings, along with my new purchase of Paper: Tear, Fold, Rip, Crease, Cut remind me how much I love the combination of architecture and paper. As if I forgot? ;)

Hope you are having a lovely week . . and congrats on full-time position! You deserve it!!

S and I are camping this weekend at a cold spring - the perfect remedy for hot, hot, hot Florida summer.

Love and miss ya,

Review It!

noreply@blogger.com (K and K) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:48:00 +0000

Dear K,

Now that I'm back home, I'm feeling even better about HomePage. . . Lucky for us, so does New City. What an excellent and eloquently worded review!

I'm proud of us. Are we going to have some blog guest reviewers?

I'm been on film sets for 3 days. Lots of rain, standing around and production design. Pretty great. When I was younger I remember the moment when I found out there was a job title of "colorist" - what could be better? Production design feels like this... pure aesthetics.

Looking forward to more reviews!

Love,

HomePage

noreply@blogger.com (K and K) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:35:00 +0000

Dear K,

WE DID IT... A collaborative show after years of talking about it. Whoo! Everything is on the walls, technology - both new and archaic - is working, lights are set... action. For those few who read this, the opening is on Friday, June 26 from 6 - 9 p.m. at the ARC Gallery in Chicago. See more info here: ARC Gallery. And in Time Out Chicago.

Despite our ridiculously crazy week.. I think everything looks great. I'm not sure how we have managed to have parallel lives for almost 10 years - but am so happy that we are still working around and within the same ideas. After seeing "HomePage" on the walls, I am proud at how interdisciplinary we still are. - Showing collages, handmade books, animations, drawings, slide projections, etc.. It was nice to feel like we could play again.. . Who knew that getting back to the idea that art was fun to make would be such a journey. I'm grateful we have done it on parallel paths..

Above are some pictures.. although I'm sure we will post more.

Love,

p.s. Thanks for letting me camp out on your couch and invade for the hottest week of the summer!

cute collections

noreply@blogger.com (K and K) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 02:58:00 +0000

Geez, K. We're really slackin' off here. Welp, I have a couple of links to share. Maybe it'll get us back into it.

The first, a blog collection of sweet photographs: small rocks hand-picked, grouped, positioned, cradled---even crafted. LoveLea sent me the link over facebook (I'll have to research the connection). Individually and as a community the images are beautiful, simple, curious, and infused with child-like wonder. View all the entries: http://everyoneneedsarock.wordpress.com/
C and I made our own response in the form of an animated GIF (at top).

The second collection, was a tip from C---www.sleeveface.com. Not only are we getting a glimpse of participants' record collections, it's a quick look into their homes, lives, closets, and (best of all) cornball threshold. I love it! You can even browse by artist. Here is Barbara:
And here is our entry as "Funny Face" + "Phil Ochs":Any other blog/virtual/communal collections to share?
Can't wait to see you soon!
k

Rugged up and left hanging out to dry...

noreply@blogger.com (K and K) — Wed, 13 May 2009 18:02:00 +0000

Dear K,

After weeks of thoughts of wallpaper, I'm continuing down the textile train to rugs - artist designed rugs. I've always been interested in textiles, but since moving to south Florida, have been able to embrace design a little bit more. Particularly in Miami, design in extremely important and exhibited all over the city. The last time I went down to Miami, I was saddened to see one of my favorite "living rooms" (image below) has been drowned in graffiti. . . The Design District is always a visual overload of beautifully designed objects de arte. Most are too expensive for my tight pockets, but a girl can dream.

While researching the judge of the wallpaper exhibit that I am in through the Florida Craftsmen organization that starts in 2 weeks, I came upon Home Miami Magazine. The article on designers Doug and Gene Meyer in the July 2008 online issue re-sparked my love of the nubby, well-designed, large scaled rugs seen above. A tad more design/space/slick than we normally post about - I'm interested in how these woven threads can so drastically change not only the architecture of the room, but the objects within it.

All of this talk of Miami and rugs made me think of an artist I have run into a few times, Michelle Weinberg. An impressive, multi-disciplinary artist, I love how she translates the same visual aesthetic with her paintings to her surface designs.

Can we start our own wallpaper and rug line (You know, in our spare time - ha!) Thoughts towards the future of the repeated pattern....

Love,

Tangled Alphabets

noreply@blogger.com (K and K) — Mon, 04 May 2009 19:30:00 +0000

Dear K,

You absolutely have to visit this website:

http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2009/tangledalphabets/

for a beautiful, delicate and witty interpretation of fonts, language and pencil drawings. This made me think of your recent playful assignment with handmade fonts.

Love,