New Decor: DIY Art and a Bar

I just finished up these paintings the other day, after being a work in progress for about a month and a half! Sarah helped me create the painting on the left. We went to Michaels and got some crafty stuff (paint, canvases, etc.) when she was here in September. We faux 'woodblock' printed it inspired by a print of a real woodblock print we saw in the store. The other canvas we put 3 circles on.

Well, after putting everything away, I decided I didn't really like the canvas with just 3 circles, so finally, finally Brentan and I painted over it the other night.

I think they look really nice, if not a little small for the wall in the picture. It was way cheaper than buying 2 canvases with pre-made art on them too! And now our little house is just a little more personalized with Sarah, Brentan, and my fingerprints on it!

I also put together this little bar schene on the wall next to the TV where the kegerator is. Don't pay too much attention to the creepy hand, that's just the tap handle. I got the mirrored plate at an estate sale a few weeks ago and I LOVE it. So mid-century and really pretty, and exactly what I was looking to put here. The art above it is from an ad in an old 60's magazine (Holiday) that I also found at an estate sale and framed. It's for Seagrams, and I liked the color and thought since all my friends from Boston love gin and tonics it's a little dedication to them! :) Then I put together a little still life on the top of glasswear and alcohol bottles I already had.

I'm looking to make a little skirt with some wild pattern to cover the base of the kegerator. It just looks like an ugly mini-fridge so I thought it needs some interest. I still have to find some good fabric and measure it all out and find some time to do it though...

Volunteering at the ICA

Fortunately, soon after I found out about the new (non)job situation, I got an email responding to my volunteer application at the Institute of Contemporary Arts. So yesterday was my first real day of volunteering (I helped wrap presents at the gift shop a few weeks ago). It was the last day of the Tara Donovan exhibit there (which I unfortunately never got a chance to see), so it was really crowded, especially when coupled with the New Years holiday weekend.
So that's it. I like to volunteer.

Walking House

My brother is the MIT engineer mentioned in this short article in the New York Times this week. It profiles the house that moves that he worked to build last summer with a Danish art group, N55. How cool!

New York Trip

I went back to New York last weekend, this time to visit Emily, who just moved there month or so ago. We went to the New Museum, which had a cool exhibit on Elizabeth Peyton, who paints portraits of all kinds of pop icons, like Kurt Cobain, below.
(Zoe’s Kurt, 1995)

We also went to Macy's where Emily bought a dress for the Sol Lewitt art opening next weekend at the Mass MOCA. Macy's was all decked out in their holiday decor, and it was a little overkill. Like most things Christmas-y.
On Sunday, we had brunch at the CUTEST little bakery/cafe near Columbia called Kitchenette. I seriously want to open my own place just like this. It was super crowded, so I didn't get to take any cool pictures of the details, but I got a few candids of Lauren and Emily. And I had AMAZING almond-cherry waffles.

I just love it! and NYC

I just love the Cherry Blossom Girl's website. The photography is beautiful, like the picture of Antwerp above.

Oh, it just inspires me to be a photographer. Which is a little difficult right now since my camera is b-r-o-k-e-n. So I don't have any photos from last weekend in New York, and there were so many great opportunities. The only photos I have are from my co-workers, and from my friends, so I just have to mooch off theirs. Like the one below, taken at a very awesome rooftop bar in midtown. The decor was 'tropical', if you can see the palm tree in the background. Stuffed exotic animals decorated the place too, like a zebra and leopard.
I also went to the MoMA, which was amazing. (I heart modern art!) They were showing an exhibit on Dali, which was VERY crowded. I watched a few of the videos that they had- one was a clip from Hitchcock's Spellbound, in which Dali created the sets for a dream sequence. Also, Dali collaborated with the Disney studios and was working on a Fantasia-like animated sequence which was never finished. In 2003 they finished it, based on Dali's drawings and storyboards. It is exactly what you would think a video of a cross between surrealism and modern animation would look like. Very cool. And I saw a roomful of Picassos, including Demoiselles d'Avignon, one of my favorite Picasso pieces. Ah. I was in art heaven.

A poem

When I was younger (in high school) I valued poetry, art, beauty. What has happened? Where has my creativity gone? Why haven't I pursued the values of aesthetics? I homage to my younger years, I will write a stream-of-conscious poem.

A tight squeeze, a single drop of rain.
Embrace me, embrace me, embrace me,
Now and again.
The nutty brown flavor pattering around the rim, I sit next to him.
I sit in the cafe, next to him
But alone, outside, the pinch of salty water pummels to the pavement
The other side of the street shines more brightly than the dark side of the moon.
Embrace me. I should say so.
This circle goes around and around, like the friendship that doesn't end, like I hope to be, like I hope to have, and hope to hold it.
He does, and will, and the drop falls, and shatters the street into pieces that pierce the shop windows that reflected strangers' faces.