More from Art CAmp!

I wanted to post our last drawings of the week. Self Portraits! This group is quite amazing! I get a new batch this week.

Handmade Nation coming this Tuesday!

This is your chance to see the amazing documentary film by Faythe Levine. I saw it in DC was so excited to see someone put this movement into such a moving statement! This begins our artscape events for the week and its free! See you there!

Economically Friendly Items for Sale!

We're into the Artscape countdown! Jennyjen42 will be at Artscape, July 17 - 19, in the Mt. Royal area of Baltimore with her BEST buddies. Look for us in the DIY section close to Mt. Royal Ave on Charles Street. I will be posting items for sale as well as other attractions associated with Artscape all this week on my blog and facebook. Today's features are my economically friendly items that are $20 or less! Look for these birdy bird products:

felt lined padded eyeglass cases for $15

Lined zipper pouches $15

iron on birdy bird patches $4

set of 4 coasters $20

My New Group of Awesome Artists!

I started to teach another group of kiddies for the Summer Enrichment Camp for Baltimore County . This group consists of students going into 9-12 grades. Most are working on portfolio's for future applications and AP tests. Most of this group are going into 9th grade and have been going to this camp since going into the third grade! I have truly loved watching these budding artists grow. I hung up the laundry for them to draw today...and see for yourself..some pretty remarkable drawings!

The Mystery of the Boumi Temple

I spent a wonderful 4th. of July with my family in Catonsville. We had a great time eating crabs, drinking beer, watching the parade, more food , naps then the fireworks. An awesome day! This is my second Catonsville parade in the past 5 years and I have noticed the shrinkage of the Boumi Temple floats and participants. This leads to my ever curious question..."Who are the Boumi Temple ?" The Arabian Knights were missing this year. The guys on the motorcycles were there, as well as in the dune buggy's (they replaced the beloved little cars which I really miss), the old cars, the hillbilly shriner, the band on the double decker bus, the band on the other float, the guys with the bag pipes, the Clown Shriners....but I notice the not only lack of women of course, but the decline of participation..no young recruits? Half of the Shriner's look like they're pretty lucky for making it to the parade this year...what will happen to our future of men;s clubs they are associated with mysterious missions, guidelines and temples?

Happy 4th. of July!

Happy 4th. Everyone! Hoping your day is full of fun and family and good friends! I'm heading off today to spend the day with my entire family! I'm quite excited about it. The past years have been spent on the West Coast in the Puget Sound with my father-in-law. Not a bad way to spend the 4th., but I have missed my family outings on the 4th. A day in Catonsville with crabs, the parade that consists of a ton of Boumi Temple floats, bands, little cars and Arabian knights! Then its back to more food off the grill and then the fireworks! My contribution is the pasta salad. OK, I have to admit this...I've never made pasta salad..hence my morning project...I think I did a pretty good job ...penne pasta,cucumbers, red pepper, cherry tomatoes, red onion, fresh basil from my potted plant and some Newman's Italian dressing.

lesson of the bicycle tire switch

Where do I begin. I guess I start with me waking up wanted or needing an activity schedule. I've been spending a lot of time alone at home and have been in panic mode than calm, then panic. I woke up refusing to be in panic mode. I visualized myself riding my bike today through town..like I used to do when I lived in the Copy Cat building. I used to ride all over the place. Since moving to where I am these days, I really haven't ventured beyond the lake loop. So today was going to be the day. I needed to first address the fact that I only have one functioning bike right now and its my mountain bike. Works great but it has those knobby tires that really give me more of a work out than I really want to have right now. So my morning idea...lets go buy slick tires and outfit my bike for city riding! Well 2 hours later,a patched tube, 2 trips to Performance bikes , no make that 3 trips to Performance, a ride to the lake with a discovered flat tire, a nice walk home , hence the 3rd. ride to Performance ! I am going to beat this thing! I am determined to ride my bike to the farmers Market tomorrow morning as well as ride to Laura's pool in Canton on Sunday! Wish me luck on the second changing of the tube!

So long YPS Class

I'v spent the past two weeks teaching a painting methods class at MICA for the Young Peoples Studio Program. My group was an ambitious group of 11 hard working high school kids. Many never painted with oil before, some were more advance and working towards their AP portfolio for next year. Here are some pic from the class...I wish them all well in their artistic futures!

Observation of the Day: Andy Freeberg

I was looking on Beautiful Decay this morning and discovered photographer Andy Freeberg and his his series “Guardians” in which we get a look at the female guards who watch over the art museums of Russia. Freeberg says, “When you look at the paintings and sculptures, the presence of the women becomes an inherent part of viewing the artwork itself. I found the guards as intriguing to observe as the pieces they watch over.” Indeed, the contrast between these women and the work they’re sitting next to can be quite captivating. I love the fact that these women are dressed in their own everyday work clothes, not the stand by uniform that we Americans have to deal with.

New Products from Jennyjen

In these economic times, it's time to be more innovative and create more economically friendly products. I've been sorting through my fabrics and small swatches that I've accumulating over the past couple of years and voila! coasters! Birdies are machines stitched onto these fleece padded 4" squares that will come into sets of 4! $20 a set! Washable and awesome gifts! They will be premiering at Artscape this year in the BEST both, July 17-19..B-more!

Another Birthday under my Belt

Well.another birthday done.today entailed a a trip to the farmers market, the BMA, brunch, to the mall to buy a birthday present for myself, time spent in the sweatshop sewing birdies while listening to the Bad Brains, TSOL and Minor Threat! Punk Rock birdies have grown...then off to an excellent night with my BEST buddies, cake and many wishes from friends on facebook and on the phone. Not a bad day. I will continue to celebrate throughout the week. Thanks Everybody for all your love !

Good bye 45 ..Hello 46

Today is leaving very soon and tomorrow will probably come before I finish this..but I have been writing this inside my head all day. ..my last day of being 45...….This year has been a quite a bumpy one of many highs and lows…I would say most of my highs have come on my professional side ( great kids this year in school andjennyjen42 made it out of the state and into many homes this year)...and the lows in my personal life. That’s not to say that all is down…many lessons have been learned this year and I wanted to reflect and write about them..to passed them on to the next person facing 46, or any age in the same state…here are my lessons…you can only control what makes you happy….not others around you..so focus on what you can control…keep in touch with your friends that you had many adventures with and that knew you as an independent being..you know the ones that you went to hang out with in the club house, the ones that charter a bus to New York to go see Gray March at CBGB’s and the ones you shared ground breaking experiences with….hang out with your friends whenever you have the chance..stop making excuses to simply stay at home and watch TV…get out there and experience life…when you’re really stressed out, close your eyes and try to remember as many happy times that you can…my favorite times are when I was a kid..I was blessed with an amazing childhood full of play and imagination, forts in the woods, stories read to me at night, a sister who is still my best friend and a wonderful loving family…. find what is meaningful and engaging to you…and hold it close to your heart…live life awake and stay away from numbing times of sleep. Turn off the TVs and put on some music…get a tattoo that makes you smile…Do yoga so that you can always touch your toes…flexibility of the body translate into flexibility of the mind, plus you feel better after you do it….visualize that happy little kid that you were and live a happy life for that kid…DO what makes you feel better and stronger for everything that drains you...I am happy to be the age that I am, happy for the past experiences that I have had, the great people in my life that have come and gone, especially happy for my dearest friends that I love dearly…I have had a great history of wonderful events and happy times….I am looking so forward to many more amazing times and happiness! …I am very happy for finding old friends again…here’s for finding that club house to go hang out in again!

Intro to the Jackson 5's cartoon show

another memory of Michael for all of us 60-70's kids!

art-o-matic = brain overload!

OK..so I continue in my realization of lamelessness in my awaken state, I finally make it to art-o-matic..this is lame for a working artist who is only a skip and jump away from DC, and not be involved..worst...never been until now to this awesome artistic event. My first impression..is damn, there is a crap load of people making art in the DC area alone! The National Endowment for the Arts has now clarified that There are now almost two million Americans who describe their primary occupation as artist. Representing 1.4 percent of the U.S. labor force, artists constitute one of the largest classes of workers in the nation—only slightly smaller than the total number of active-duty and reserve personnel in the U.S. military (2.2 million). That's f@*king amazing when you think about that. The Artist has grown from the stereotyped emotional freakazoid into one of the largest work forces in our country! And going to art-o-matic surely reinstates this fact..9 floors of art! If you are not familiar with Art-o-matic..check out their site here. You only have until July 5th..so hurry down. Its right next to the National's Stadium and there is an actual metro stop underneath the art-o-matic site! (the Green Line Navy Yard Metro Stop, West Entrance ).
I have to go back down so that I can catch the top 5 floors.Now I must warn you,since this show isn't juried..it is for all artists..you will go through many a bad piece...but just the amplitude of work and artists represented, you are very blown away by the amount of people making art...and how is that going to make a bad world if we, the artists are growing in forces! The way it works, is that each artist gets a wall, and each performer gets a time and stage to perform..I think there are stages on every floor! Each person represented has to volunteer time to man a job and guard the work. Its an amazing feet of organization that I have to say, those DC people are really getting A's in my book in that department.

OK...enough..lets look at art...here are some of my favorites..The Document , Matty Burns., Chris Bishop, Bip and Jen Dixon...Dixon and Bishop purely for their names..

Ben - Michael Jackson

The Michael that made my heart go pitter patter...even though I was only 8 or 9. We'll miss you Michael!

the Euphoria Project

ok ok..I'm really been lame on the blog department and also getting out there experiencing the parts of life I've been neglecting. I've know Lee Boot for a pretty long time, I've even worked with him on a segment of some sort of performance video in which I played Mary had a little lamb on my violin while Lee drew on an overhead projector that was being projected on me. That very short rant in performance art that I had ( and yes I've have had a number of strange performances myself..Serve Limited Gods where I shaved my legs while my friends performed numerous acts..... Dancing in plastic with Plaster Milly...let's keep those memories to the few that saw them) Aww..those were the 80's.
Anyway, I finally got to see Lee's masterpiece The Euphoria Project at the Wind up space on Wednesday night. It is an absolute must see and I'm looking forward to using this film, along with the study guide with my students. So, check it out....get your Liberian to purchase a copy for your library...all written, filmed and experience here is good old charm city! My favorite quote of the film " When did your parents ever tell you to build a life around what is most meaningful and engaging for you!" Our mission of happiness...or emotional survival is the taken on by a neurological and artistic viewpoint! The film stars some Baltimore star...Kelly Bell and the Running man who runs 20 miles a day!

Pile of Craft Tommorow!

Don't forget to stop by St. Johns Church tomorrow for their annual Pile of Craft! This year's addition of Youthlife Photography project will let you purchase items with a mission. Many vendors are contribution portions of their sales to this wonderful group. I am going to donate $5 for every handbag and pillow sale! SO please stop by and say hello!

William Kentridge - Felix in Exile (1994)

I've been working on a narrative silk screen unit and William Kentridge is one of Exemplars...yes I know these are not silk screens....but I like to show his work to illustrate expressive figure in terms of poses, environment...sounds..texture..and effect. Not the most uplifting in content..but the drawings are wonderful.

Pile of Craft This Saturday!

One of my favorite shows is coming up this Saturday: The Charm City Craft Mafia's Pile of Craft. Last year was my first year doing their shows and I was so happy that I've gotten accepted since then to do their shows! I have a wonderful little fan base of sweet and dear ladies who love to visit and critique my sewing techniques as well as give me ideas for future products. This is my main motivation for coming up with nerw products every year. The pleated bags have been a hit this year...unfortunaelty they are my highest priced item, but I am some how selling them even in this economy. But enought about me...come to this year's pile of vraft..I love the addition of youthlight photography project as well as some really great give a ways. The back room will not be used this year...so the amount of vendors are smaller than past years...but still the large room will be packed with wonderful goodness....its inside so you can escape the rain...

Saturday, June 20th, 2009

10am - 5pm

@ Saint Paul Street, Baltimore, MD 21218

(Inside St John’s Church)

Educating the Masses

Well the BEST crew decided to try something new and broaden our horizons..or better yet, we were trying the broaden the horizons of the wine fest participant. I am still amazed by the amount of people who cannot believe that human beings can actually produce high crafted items. That they can only believe machines and people of foreign countries miraculously produce such items for chump change ( perhaps my pictures explain a lot about this concept). We didn't sell much, but I do think we amazed many , and many people took our cards...so I felt it worth the try. The weekend challenged our attention spans as we had to compete with the Spa booth next door that actually had a functioning spray tan booth and an audience of shared bikini gals and a wide array of men who sported rolled upped Bermuda shorts to their skippies! I of course had to get out the camera to document this event.