I was THIS close to David Sedaris

I got to go to a reading by David Sedaris last night...for free.

Enough. Said.

Actually not really I could say a lot more but my memory does not permit me to relay stories in a coherent way that would make sense to anyone else so you will just have to be jealous.

Ok, maybe I'll try.

He did a reading from a cd he has coming out very soon which I will most certainly buy and encourage everyone else to as well [just so you can hear him talk in nicaraguan french]. He also discussed his obsession with catching animals as a small child and keeping them until they either died or escaped which included sea turtles, luna moths, and a friend with a flying squirrel among many others. The readings from his diary were incredibly hilarious, especially his thoughts on the depictions of Jesus on the cross and how he would like to see him portrayed so ugly and so fat that they needed a second cross to support his gargantuan weight, with fat hairy man titties and back acne, and where men would reminisce of jesus' canker sores and how they would burst and drip into his beard, a combover jesus. These are the two I can remember clearly at the moment...but it really was an hour? of a mixture of cringing/laughing/crying hysterically.

Then he read from Our Dumb World, the almanac from The Onion, because he likes to recommend a book he's enjoyed when he is on tour. I think just watching him crack up over reading 'Ethiopia-the distended and swollen belly of Africa home to a total of 615 lbs of people' was one of the best things about the show. He also recommended Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned by Wells Towers about modern day vikings not entirely enthused about raping and pillaging.

I was in line to get Naked signed but because I automatically assume that people need to keep a schedule I left the line hoping I could make it back to the shuttle in time before it left. But of course we had to wait for everyone in line to get their books signed before we could leave and thinking I had time to go back and get my book signed I tried to get back into the building where I was immediately yelled at and literally shoved out of the door by an angry old man. Needless to say I was incredibly fucking pissed and got to think about how upset I was for almost an hour while we waited for people to come back to the shuttle. I felt bad for the girl who was with me because she really wanted to talk with him. I'm still a little bitter.

I guess this is the part where I thank CCA for letting me go for free and thank the donors who probably didn't pay enough to cover even one person's semester tuition...but I think I'll just thank David Sedaris for being one of the funniest men with one of the best voices for story telling.

Threaded

For my book making class we are required to hand in 5 'cards' per class. These 3 were basically what inspired my midterm project [which I will gladly post as soon as it is handed back for me to re-photograph]. The first two are samples of what keeps me busy during my critical studies lectures [which I should be studying for since my midterm is in oh...30 minutes]. I then began to play with sewing through paper; 'drawing' with the thread by sewing lines [yellow] and then by punching holes and creating a sort of constellation out of the randomness [black]. These then led me to infuse thread inside of handmade paper [which I will post as soon as I can find the stack] and eventually to making paper out of thread [midterm]. It's obsessive. I like it.

Something to Drool Over

American Craft.
I can see your face. It's the same as mine. It's all scrunched up in an 'ew' sort of way. I only make crafts as 'art' and yet the word and all of its derogatory connotations still makes me cringe. I want to know why. Craft, in its definition, is described as a skilled activity and/or creating objects by hand. Its origin comes from kraft or 'strength'. As an art form it usually encompasses metals, glass, ceramics, textiles, and paper art.
So when did it get to be so ugly? For now, without going into detail, I'd like to blame it on the hippies, cat ladies, and your grandmother. And feminists because...well...they should be blamed for a lot of things.
But what I really want to talk about is the American Craft. It's a magazine. It's amazing. If you've never read it before or heard of it then from what was stated above you're still probably grossed out especially because the name of the magazine isn't really helping. But when you have a picture like this as your cover...



'craft' just kind of goes out the window.
I had never heard of it before but I kind of literally ran into the magazine rack at blick's and made a tiny noise that if it had been intelligible would have gone like 'OMGIWANTTHATCANIHAVEITCANIMAKEIT!DIDITHURTWHATELSEISTHEREISITSOLIDIWANTONE'. And the inside...I don't know basically it's my new favorite thing. What I was trying to articulate about craft at the beginning of this post is better stated in an article about the DIY movement [which from what I learned from a lecture last year should not be called a 'movement' any longer...phenomenon?] Anyway there are some amazing artists featured and blurbed about such as Hongtao Zhou, Lauren Kalman [featured on the cover], Dan Funderburgh, Diem Chau, Solos Glass, Toots Zynsky etc etc. along with a shitload of ads for other artists and galleries.
I will probably do a whole bunch of stuff just based out of this issue because I am now obsessed...
If you'd like to check this out further instead of waiting for me to gush about certain artists I'd recommend downloading the internet version of the magazine [though I prefer something tangible and that kills trees] at
www.americancraftmag.org

I've also decided that I craft in the deceitful sense of the word.

Unfold The Fire Diver

Here's an accordian... actually I think it is called something else but it's similar, just folded over itself again...sort of. Anyway my teacher brought in her whole stamp collection and let us go at it for a couple hours. It was so much fun. This book is actually a lot longer than these pictures and printed on both sides of the folds; these were just my favorite sections. But now I want to have my own stamp collection...

The Masked Raid at the Masquerade

So I knitted a gas mask for my fiber sculpture project but it was something I had been wanting to do for awhile...not necessarily knitting, but refashioning gas masks so I'm glad this project came up [it was called 'caught or protected' and we had to figure out how to make something pertaining to those words/ideas]...though the crit for this specific one is over, I'm making different styles in different shades? hues? of white. For only learning to knit last spring and knitting only 4 'scarves' over the summer and never even knitting a pattern let alone designing one before...I have to say I did pretty damn well. I think I did over stuff it though because the eyeholes became a bit wonky as did the 'filter' because it was so bottom heavy. I also chose the garter stitch because it is more appealing and I needed the pieces not to curl. I had a lot of fun...now I'm hooked...or needled...ha.

More Bunnies

Found this half of a book at the Depot a while ago. I think the drawings/prints are beautifully intricate but incredibly creepy. I don't exactly remember the story of Peter Cottontail, I don't even remember reading it when I was little but I feel like I saw a cartoon of some sort illustrating the story...This bunny theme might bring me to read Watership Down again...maybe it wasn't as horrible as I thought it was when I was younger...

Prelinger

So this is old news but I got to hear Rick and Megan of the Prelinger archives [http://www.archive.org/details/prelinger] speak on Oct. 22nd at CCA for the Individualized Majors. If you haven't used their site before, go now. They have a collection of the most amazing movies that you can download for free and use anyway you want, basically. I probably would have never looked beyond the collection of movies if they hadn't come to speak. The digital text library is amazing. From Project Gutenberg I found the, I guess, 'original' story of Alice and Wonderland with Lewis Caroll's original drawings. This is depicting the mock turtle and the gryphon doing the lobster dance...I have to reread this book. Also I found out that they have an actual library in San Francisco with books ordered according to similarity in subject or reference. I can't wait to go and get lost.

Artist Statement

The best artist statement ever written courtesy of Lizz Hamilton 2009.