My 12x12 this year was based on a section of this photograph I took in 2010 on the grounds of Planet Bluegrass during the RockyGrass music festival.
Rock Wall II, acrylic on panel
6x6's (sold for $36) by the students of Escuela Del Sol
Two of my favorite pieces from the auction exhibition Prelude
John Garrett, Fall Song, paper, metal, wire, trinkets, beads on board
"Fall Song plays with the idea of translating marks in one system to marks in another system. In this case, the marks become objects which are held together in plied wires. It covers a range from the mundane to the poetic."
Reyes Padilla (one of my studio mates), Synesthetic #11, acrylic on canvas
"Synesthesia: a concomitant sensation; especially: a subjective sensation or image of a sense (as of color) other than the one (as of sound) being stimulated.
Using the synesthetic condition that allows me to see sound, my paintings are representations of the music I listen to while I paint."
I've been following Creative Mornings for years, watching inspiring talks online from creative thinkers all over the world and waiting for the day when I would either move to a city where the lecture series was already happening or hoping that someday it would come to Albuquerque. To my surprise the latter happened before the former. The first Creative Mornings ABQ talk I attended in person was Carlos Contreras reading poems surrounding September's theme of empathy. It was incredibly powerful.
My first summer music festival experience was the Telluride Bluegrass Festival sometime around age five. Since then I've gone to a festival almost every summer: The Silverton Jubilee, RockyGrass, and most recently the Four Corners Folk Festival which I've attended annually since 2010. I learned to hula hoop at these festivals and eventually got into making my own hoops and bringing them along to dance with. What I love about them is the intimacy and sense of community: as I wrote in a previous post, "There is something magical in the air during these three day events, whether it is being in the presence of so many talented musicians, dancing and hula hooping under the stars, or walking through the campground listening to late-night jam sessions." They aren't overwhelming like SXSW or Bonnaroo can be. It rained nearly all day for two of the three days we were there, but it didn't stop anyone from being outdoors and even dancing during the heaviest downpour on Saturday night. The headliner that evening invited everyone who was outside the tent to come up and sit on stage with them. Some of my favorite new discoveries from this year's festival: Eddie From Ohio, I'm With Her (Sara Watkins, Sarah Jarosz, Aoife O'Donovan), Ruth Moody Band, and The Novel Ideas.
A recent article in Print Magazine by James Victore made me think about the rigorous theory-based design program I went through at the Kansas City Art Institute and how it has shaped my perspective of the field as well as influenced my practice as a freelancer and an agency designer. The premise of the 2010 Graphic Design senior show was "Unusual Behavior." My classmates and I developed this theme based on the theories and practices drilled into us throughout our three years in the program:
"The human mind is prone to pre-determined linear thought. This kind of thinking is problematic in a designer's process to innovation and creative solutions. And so we have been taught otherwise, to push the limits of our notions about graphic design and how it works—to behave unusually."
Some highlights from Victore's article Dangerous Ideas About Design Education:
"Weird is good; it's an anomaly and it's unique. I teach on the simple premise that the things that made you weird as a kid make you great as an adult—but only if you pay attention to them." "Design is not math. This is what makes the work hard. There are no right answers and very few wrong answers." "Know that not all clients deserve your attention. Designers are not one-size-fits-all." "Have boundaries. Be able to say NO and to never learn the taste of shit." "Enjoy your work and the process. If you don't enjoy it, how can you expect anyone else to?"
Though I'm usually not one to boast, KCAI was recently named one of the 2015 Top Design Schools by Graphic Design USA.
"You must walk a tightrope between accident and discipline. Accident by itself... so what? Discipline by itself is boring. By walking a tightrope and putting down something on canvas coming from your guts, you have a chance of making marks that will live longer than you."
My first nephew, William, was born June 6th. A few months earlier my brother called and said he wanted to take the baby camping this summer. None of us thought the idea was anything out of the ordinary considering our parents had done the same thing the summer after my brother was born when he was about the same age (7 weeks), though they chose to camp in their vintage VW bus rather than a tent. So of course he was met with an enthusiastic "yes!" from all of us. We figured as long as Will was warm, dry, and fed, everything would be fine, and it was. My brother found an area in Central Oregon called Camp Sherman, along the Metolius River which is known for great fly fishing in the spring and fall.
To some of you, it may seem strange that the launch of a new line of shoes would be the inspiration for a blog post, and one about disability no less. But Nike has released a no-tie shoe, and for me as well as millions of others, this is a particularly notable achievement. I was born with right-sided hemiparesis as the result of an in utero stroke. Basically what that means is my right side is partially paralyzed. I can move my arm, but I can't really hold on to anything with my hand. My disability presented many challenges while I was growing up, one of which was finding shoes that would fit my ankle foot orthotics (known as AFOs, a hard plastic brace that fits inside the shoe) and learning how to tie those shoes. Throughout my childhood I either wore shoes with velcro or had someone else tie them for me, which was annoying when they came untied given my (still) sometimes stubborn unwillingness to ask for help. I was in 5th grade when I finally figured out how to do it myself, and though I've been tying my own shoes with two "hands" for the past 17 years, I still get frustrated sometimes. Different shoes have different laces; some are slippery, making it hard to wrap and secure the lace around my right forefinger, which serves as the "anchor." On the contrary, some are stiff, creating the same problem. The process takes longer, so if I'm in a hurry or I think someone is waiting on me, I'll tuck the laces underneath my feet and tie them later. With my hiking boots, where the support is critical, I can almost never get them tight enough so I have to enlist the help of someone stronger than me, especially if I'm going to be carrying a 20lb pack on my back (though this could also be used as a good excuse for a piggy-back ride due to the resulting blisters if my feet slide in my shoes).
I don't wear AFOs anymore and I know how to tie my shoes now, but I would buy these in a heartbeat if they were available for me. For now there's only a men's basketball high-top, though I think a running shoe is in development and hopefully one for women too.
Note: If you are learning about my disability this way for the first time, please don't hesitate to ask me more about it. I'm a big fan of letting people ask their own questions, but I've found that when someone doesn't know what to say, they don't say anything at all. A few years ago I read a blog post in which the author put it this way: "... I, and you, and everyone who lives in the United States (at least; I can’t comment on other countries), have been brought up to understand that disabilities and the people who live with them are strange, uncomfortable things and are not to be spoken of in public. How could I expect [someone] to react any differently when no one is ever taught how to act around or speak with those of us with disabilities? It is not a fault of one person, it is a fault of society." Figuring out how to talk about my disability is something that has bothered me for a long time, though I couldn't identify the problem or understand how to deal with the issue until recently. The answer is simple: communication and learning, but it's a two-way street.
