What do you mean... at the studio?

I mean this. 

and.

Here are some of the creatures that are still in process. and crowding me. This is a sneak peek. 

Lucky.

This guy is actually really really tall, but he is resting his head here.

This guy is going to be choreographed...

and recently. because there is no internet connection there, I have been bringing DVDs.  

 I am spoiled with the sun, giant windows, tools, creatures, and 

here ~ Triplets of Belleville. 

Seriously. let's talk about beautifully drawn characters. and attention to tiny genius details. 

speaking of the French... 

Now here is the seeing eye dog as he is getting ready for his trip to NY. 

more pictures soon. because, I left my camera charger in Chicago. My 1 yr old nephew just mailed it back.  he is always keeping me on track. 

Thanks Jack. 

time out.

Happy Happy Easter.

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Today is so alive. 

And after watching 8 mini violinists at our church breakfast this morning, I was reminded how much I love everything. 

Good thing I woke up and tied as many beautiful things around my wrist as I could.

Cornbread and black eyed peas remind me how much I love living in the South. 

so does my giant loud family and a pitcher of sweet tea. 

But art things are looking North.

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On the project front- is a production in NY. 

Old Kent Road Theater will be at:

THE BUSHWHACK SERIES
Produced by The Bushwick Starr
Performing Thursday - Saturday, May 13th - 15th and May 20th - 22nd

207 Starr Street between Irving + Wyckoff in Brooklyn, NY

http://www.thebushwickstarr.org/

There may or may not be a seeing eye dog puppet.

 (I always wanted to make one. So, I just said the word and it was written into a show. thrilled about the idea of a puppet leading a puppeteer.) 

AND he may or may not be coming by way of an electric turkey carving knife. 

 Also- He is French.

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Other than this, I am reupholstering a chair. 

And I have no idea what I am doing. So it's going really well. 

Of course, it's my version of reupholstering. And, there is no telling what that will be like. 

I will say- there is a lot of hand stitching involved. 

And it is a Huge "collapse into it and read a book" sort of chair, so this will take a while.

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"Late at night my mind would come alive with voices and stories and friends as dear to me as any in the real world. I gave myself up to it, longing for transformation." ~ Jo March, Little Women

There are a lot of misconceptions about creativity. A lot of those misconceptions end up affecting opportunities for younger generations.



I will spare you my soapbox parade about my passion for public education. I will spare you my soapbox parade about my passion for the arts.


But read this article below. I think it makes a lot of strong points. and I am glad there are people writing these types of articles.


It makes me smile for the future.

I want arts in the schools.



But not to keep kids happy or entertain kids as much as to make them think. By encouraging a student to think- well- you get amazing problem solvers and go doers.



We need a lot of those. A lot more of those.


Read this.

http://www.veanea.org/vea-journal/1004/Apr10-StokeCreativity.html




Hopefully, even unrelated to this topic, you are moved by something to the point of doing something about it. Once I thought it was going really far to contact law makers and government officials. Now, I can't imagine being content as a spectator.




I'm lucky. My dad hauled us to local musicals way past our elementary school bedtimes. And my mom encouraged us to create bicycle towns in our back yard. But every child doesn't get that.








And every child should.

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*note re: bicycle towns--- this was a fully functioning city plan we constantly created and edited with leaves, rakes, sticks, and occasionally a shovel from the minute we got home until dark in the back yard. It was complete with working roadways and a food store - all mud products. We weren't told to stop touching the grass or stop tying things in trees etc. To other people, our backyard was gray and dirtcovered. to us... it was an intricately planned town. I support letting your kids go nuts... to an extent. of course. You should never let them go to college and come home with a giant Duck Sculpture for the front yard. or should you?

Create a mocumentary that runs in a 10k: CHECK.

My main project for the last couple of weeks has been
RVACURLING.COM

And, let me explain a tiny bit.  

I joined forces with enthusiastic creative people here in town- because when you yourself are crazy, you look for crazy.  

I found it. 

RVA Curling is a costume team. We wanted to make a costume that went the extra mile. In this case... one that went 6.2 miles.

We made a costume that would run a 10K.

This is what a costume explosion looks like. 

RVACURLING.COM

check out videos. bios. pictures. etc.

and it's not over... a wrap up video is coming.

On the site, you can meet our team:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDrwXTz1Vtk&feature=related


We love this city. So, we decided to celebrate it with a costume that turned into a mocumentary.

RVACurling.com is a group of 6 people that find it easy to go really far with an idea. Too far?  Yes. over board. and then some.

As an offshoot, we have sent true curling fans to a club that actually wants to see curling in the river city. Unique supporting Unique.

There is a lot of ambiguity in what we have done.




I will tell you this- I have curled.

Once.

and it was on pavement. with a giant oversized stone and nearly 40,000 runners whizzing by.

Hey- wait.. we passed some people. Talk about hard.


The guy(s) running as the stone. (switched at water stops) well- they never vomited. but we did lose a broom along the way. It was stolen when we got water. believe it.

Andddd I was pushed when the flag I carried for 2 of the miles took a man's hat off. He was angry. I didnt feel it. but the entire team saw. and said it was all kinds of awesome.

We shared the costume burdens and passed the target, flag, and stone. Changing out every two miles and jumping right back on the course.

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We went to the runners packet pick up the night before the race dressed in full uniform.  When we were recognized, I screamed. 

twitter is our best friend.

we also love any shout out we have gotten. ever.

most common comment was "oh!. currrlinggg" and a slight smile. as the person felt they solved the puzzle of: WHO ARE THOSE PEOPLE?!

Robin gets a massage at the expo.

We curled 6.2 miles down Monument Avenue.

Stone chases the target the whole way. One giant launch that we kept moving through  the crowds...

This is the picture in the newspaper. mad happiness that we got in this formation in 9 seconds. we died.

Oh p.s. This was a pre race pasta load. AND when racing we got 2 shout outs of people that saw us at the restaurant and made the connection-  YOU GUYS ATE AT ARIANNA'S LAST NIGHT!! YEAHHHHH.

heck yes we did.

Some of how it happened:

quilted the flag. Champion team work.

behind the scenes filming the video:

best sign ever.

real city. real team.

real effort.

Want to see more of how over the top happens?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0L235KtiowY&feature=player_embedded

Late nights. Early mornings. and commitment to a dream.

Hilarious.

We invented something from nothing.

Curling provided the Avenue to send crazy down... in blue checked pants and red headbands. and jackets we sewed and ironed into team uniforms. with running sculptures and a quilted flag.

This is a parading performance piece. 

That celebrates the artistic creativity working in our backyards... and running through our streets.

Go team.

Proud of you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

When you go overboard. it is always the best idea.

The Monument Avenue 10K has a costume competition. Start there. then explode. and you get THIS. This is what happens when a group commits to a piece. This is what one giant art performance piece looks like:

RVA CURLING TEAM <---website link

Go to the site above. click on it. watch the videos. read the bios.

And if you are in town and going to the Monument Avenue 10K SATURDAY March 27th-  come support the RVA Curling Team. Wear Red. make signs. We will be running. and curling. and acing it.

Believe it.


We do.

golden sweaters and golden lollipops

Support comes from unlikely places. Thank goodness.

Rushing from the office to the studio, I stopped by the bank.  But, I stopped by my old location and not the one I frequent now...

At my old bank stop there was this one teller who always got a kick out of what I was up to.

She mostly thought my name was interesting. because she's naturally cool. and, we were friends because she changes her hair pretty drastically on a regular basis. and I support that kind of artistic boldness.


she always liked that I could tell. even though she'd brush her hand through her hair and say... "eh. we'll see. tryin somethin new." small smile on the outside. large grin on the inside.

and there are times I love being called "honey" or "sweetheart"... because sometimes you need to hear it.  and it is completely appropriate coming from the Southern bank teller with a kind expression and a magenta blouse. 

so- before I realized it, I heard a familiar- "Well look who it is!! why haven't I seen you around here sweet girl?!!"

She was thrilled I swung into her lane. I was happy too. Because she wanted to know what I was working on. 

and she is magical- because without any incentive other than being smart and clever. she told me she had

a yellow lollipop that I needed. 

to go with my yellow sweater. 

..........

MINDS WIDE OPEN: Virginia Celebrates Women in the Arts

psssssttt....

MINDS WIDE OPEN: Virginia Celebrates Women in the Arts



is the first statewide celebration of its kind. Between March and June of 2010, thousands of special events will occur to honor contributions by women to arts and culture. Any individual or group can participate by presenting at least one public program focused on women.

The University of Mary Washington Galleries bought one of my paintings in 2005. So, it is part of their permanent collection and will be included in this exhibit.


Neat. <----Click here.


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oh joy

How legit is it to comment on how many people are looking at your blog or following you?... because I am about to do it.

 I had a mini dance party on the inside when I saw I have 9 followers. what?... if you made reservations for 9 that would be a large party.. not a small one. that would be a large book club.. and you'd even have to take 2 cars if you were going somewhere. If someone had 9 kids you would say. woah. thats a lot of kids. John and Kate only had 8.

This blog is new. I feel the same way about it that I felt in 6th grade when I wore my first "fitted t shirt." If you aren't a girl, you don't realize that taking the step from the normal t-shirt to fitted shirt was a big deal. It opens doors. At least that was true when I was in 6th grade. And maybe it is true if you have only big brothers and no one has paved the fashion road for you at all....bc you are wearing Hulk PJs still.

The fitted t-shirt had a silver Batman logo made of glitter. and I thought--- " I am going out on a limb here. " I was super confident and felt really good about my decision.. but also a little nervous. and sometimes a lot nervous. mostly just taking a leap. and in 6th grade I felt like I aced it. 

By the end of the day, my visitor count will be over 300. which is teeeeny tiny but to me is a giant victory. and in celebration... I will... keep doing what I am doing.  

And, in other exciting news- I have received some fabulous feedback too. including this amazing cartoon that MARTIN WILSON sent me. thank you Martin. I love it. It relates all too closely to my life. ~ these types of conversations take place at every wedding, baby shower, bridesmaids luncheon, Christmas party....

and I am the opposite of bitter about it. I think it is that link that bonds artists. It is part of being an artist. 

Answering these sort of questions. so -  Own it.

Success Story by Billy Burg

and don't get me wrong I'm still nervous a lot of the time. like right now- Im sporting one of those poofs on the top of my head. and I only had one bobby pin on the floor of my truck. so it's abnormally high and comes to a direct point. I am acting like it is on purpose and staying cool ....wonder who sees through me?...probably no one.  

main point- you can be nervous and brave at the same time ... bc my dad always said-  being brave is not being unafraid... it's doing it anyway. because you are afraid... and you still do it. 

that's being brave. 

___________________________

2009, painting the set floor for Old Kent Road Theater's I Stand for Nothing

general plan: 

in one night?... mother of...

let's do it.

Stage started completely black.  

Threw down some color. with help from my brother and some friends...the plan was to make it look like wood with a drawing over top.

friends left. brother napped in the elevated risers of the theater... and I painted through the night...

in the morning we left. locked the theater at dawn. 

Manhattan mornings are peaceful and quiet.

There it is.

P.S.

My nephew is learning this. The tub seems huge compared to the sink. But he is so brave.