Uhhh

I haven't made much work this summer. I haven't felt able to, for a number of reasons. I am slowly, SLOWLY marching my way towards something I MIGHT be able to show at the CAC in October for Fotofocus. We'll see.

But I have actually managed to paint something. It's weird, because I'm not really a painter. I like to draw, that is what I'm good at. Painting not so much.

Here are some shitty cell phone pics of what I'm working on. The bottom one I started today, the top one has been in progress on and off since late May.

Acrylic on canvas and acrylic on masonite (I think? It was in the "free stuff" pile) respectively.

 

 

I have comic ideas but no motivation to draw anything. And like I said, gif work is progressing at a snail's pace (it's not even gifs anymore, it's webcam performance).

This hasn't been an interesting update, sorry. Uh. I got nothing. My cat snores? 

THESIS, UPDATES, COMICS

IN THAT ORDER.

Hi. It's been a while. How have you been? I've been better myself, but at least I have my voice back. A nasty cold seems to have been making its rounds of the entire population of Cincinnati, it seems, and I am no exception.

So, first things first: THESIS. I just turned in my draft to my professors, and had my visual critique. I'm in the second round of the Dry Run show so I have a week to think about presentation and hanging the work... but I'll leave you with some images of my favorite pieces, and a link to the google doc of the draft if you feel inclined to read it.

UPDATES: I have been working on gifs in my photography class, and I think they're turning out pretty rad if I do say so myself. They're big, so I'll post one here (EDIT: I'm not sure why this one isn't animating but just go to my tumblr and look at them, guh).

Also, Cry-Baby and The Big Lebowski are coming up soon. Here's where you'll find more information on that.

COMICS: I've been working on the Order of the Golden Bear wordpress site, and while it's not quite up and running yet, I did put up all of Third Culture Kid. So go and read, and follow, and be on the lookout for more things! Also, Alison Bechdel will have a new book out soon and I've never been so excited.

Summer and my neighbors

insist on setting off firecrackers right when I'm engrossed in an episode of Spongebob.

Don't judge me.

We're getting the ball rolling on the show that will eventually be held at Prairie Gallery in Northside, starting to collect artists and whatnot--OSU apparently has an Art and Technology program, which I find very interesting.

I also start rehearsals for Cry-Baby tomorrow, my part is relatively small so it shouldn't take me long to get the blocking down, at least. The dancing is going to be tricky, it's really high-energy, with lots of jumping about and flailing.

Yeah, Johnny Depp is SO YOUNG in this movie, it's ridiculous.

I am continuously posting on my tumblr, I've been doing some more screenshots (this time with Mystery Science Theater 3000, a new obsession for me).

Some pencil sketches of the hosts of MST3K-- Joel Hodgson (bottom) and Mike Nelson (top).

Schooool's out!

Alice Cooper isn't quite right on this one, I've got a year left... but hey. Summer.

Things that will be happening this summer: I will continue making comics (albeit more sketchy, journal-y ones). I will maybe do some Japanese tutoring. My sister will be in a production of Rigoletto as a supernumerary actor. I will be co-curating a show with David Rosenthal of Prairie Gallery. I will be in a shadow cast for John Waters' Cry-Baby (I'm playing Dupree) in August.

DAAPworks this year was pretty spectacular. I'll just let you see for yourself. I tried to document as much as I could. (I'm so proud of the people who had comics, my friends Alex and David, as well as Dan--there have been comics as thesis projects in the past and these were by far the best I've seen).

Mike about to grope the comics display.

Carol Tyler (in the pink) organizing things.

Amanda reading our kramer's ergot pages.

Performance.

Work by Alex Hananel (in the black frames).

Work by Laura Fisher.

Laura Fisher's photo booth.

Work by Dan Wolff.

Work by David Miranda-Klein.

Work by Jacob Riddle.

Work by Michelle Ulmer.

Work by Caitlin Robinson.

Work by Chris Thompson.

And of course there was so much more. I just didn't get pictures of it all.

Collaboration

So on Thursday internet artist Chris Collins came to DAAP to lead a collaborative workshop and to give a lecture. I attended both. For the workshop we used google sketchup to create virtual sculptures (mine is the gigantic pink thing with the cat head in the back):

Which we then sent to Chris to insert into a program called Unity which is used to create virtual spaces within games. While he was doing that, we created two google draw documents: one for the floor, and one for the sky. And we recorded some audio. I'm not going to tell you what song we sang, I'll leave that to you to figure out. The result is a virtual sculpture garden, complete with setting and ambiance. The download is available here for both PC and Mac.

A group of us went to lunch afterwards, and getting to sit around, eat sushi, and hear Chris describe his resume to Jordan Tate (who was to introduce him at the lecture later) was pretty sweet.

At the lecture Chris went through his work, all of which can be found here. I think I like this one best:

Just for the sheer ridiculousness. The Lion King one is pretty fantastic, too.

Click on all the links I've provided, each one leads to something amazing, I promise.

Storms and other impediments to my productivity

Things I am working on for the end of the quarter:

-my alternative processes photography books (hand-bound little things I'm still working on individual pages for)
-a paper on relational aesthetics, comics, and whether comics can be considered as such (I think they can) for visual arts concepts
-an ergot for comics
-a two-page color comic about a veteran I interviewed last week (also for comics)
-a statement of intent/ artist's statement for a show I might tentatively have at Semantics in the fall sometime (involving my YouTube stills that I am still slowly collecting and that can be viewed here)

It is once again pouring rain and it is distracting me from comic layouts. Mom called me earlier to tell me a big old front is moving in (again) and it's been spawning tornadoes (again).

Also I keep wanting to get up and dance to the music I'm listening to. Maybe I'm using the wrong playlist?

Here, have a tampon ad from the 70s or something. This is what my best friend Christina and I look like when we're biking around in a park. All the time. Forever.

Updates all round!

Here's the information on Van Dyke Brown processing: click!

And here's a comic I recently read, by Sarah Glidden. Click!

And eventually REALLY GOOD SCANS/ PHOTOS will make their way on here, I promise. It's nearing the end of the quarter now so after finals I'll have a little more time.

Selling a piece and other shenanigans

So someone (a friend, but still) asked to buy one of my instax photos. This one, to be exact:

Now I have no problems selling this (after I get a better scan of it from the big DAAP scanners, not my little HP)... but I have no idea what to price it. Especially between friends. Suggestions? It is a VERY small photo, about the size of a credit card.

In other news, I finally got around to scanning some of the daily comics I've been doing, so they're all available on my tumblr. (Also on my tumblr, continuing work on my YouTube photography.)

Check them out! (Click!)

Comics progress

Thought I would show you some of the prints I'm working on for comics. These will serve as backgrounds/ elements of collage comic panels in the final product.

I was going to show you the actual plates, but in the video they just look like blank, sad zinc since I hadn't inked them at that point. So that will have to wait. In the meantime, proofs!

 Most of these were scrap plates I found in the print studio, so two already had some aquatint going on. I just etched on top of whatever was there, I don't mind plate tone.

Guess what I'm doing again

If you guessed intaglio (etching), then huzzah! You get a virtual biscuit.

For Carol Tyler's comics class, I am starting to work on a collage comic that will involve etching, sewing, and (hopefully) black-and-white photos. I'm drawing inspiration from this, amongst other things (this is only one page of it, click the link for more):

 As for photography with Janie Stevens, I am actually going to work on something very similar, but less sequential and more conceptual in nature. And I will utilize the Van Dyke process, as it is an alternative processes class. I'll be doing these, but in a more photographic form.

Writing

I have recently begun writing again, surprisingly. Maybe it's the change in weather. Anyway, I thought I'd share a poem. Not my best but it's a start.

It is morning and the sun takes a hesitant step out
Over the edge of the world

It is morning and the sun gets lost on a cloudy mountaintop

It is morning and my fingers are cold around the smooth metal
Of the oatmeal spoon
Where it bathes in diminishing milk and is arrested
By its own vague reflection
Stretched out beside it in the bowl

It is morning and my neighbors roll out, car by car
Wreathed in smoky exhalations
Yawning in time to talk radio

It is morning and the news is grim
The world breaking out in angry red rashes
Whole countries battling exema of ideals

It is morning and a robin cocks his head on the lawn
Waiting for the sounds of earthworms thrumming in the thawing ground

It is hardly morning anymore and the sun is dug out of a snowbank
Weak and hardly breathing but alive

 Spring is coming to Ohio, slowly.

Comics class with Carol Tyler

Definitely promises to be amazing this quarter. Our projects are: collage/ sculptural comics, "out there" comics (installations), an ergot (a giant one-pager in full color), and the veterans' project. The veterans' project is definitely the biggest one, we team up with a veteran and create a two-pager about his/ her experiences and stories.

I sat down and drew/ inked a proper comic yesterday, just for the heck of it. It's not fancy, just a daily what-I-did-today comic... but it felt good to get out my dip pens and sable brushes and to lay out my panels with a ruler (though apparently I can't count and managed to mess up the sizes, oops).

(Click to view full-size!)