Figuring it out

Tavi Gevinson at a TedXTeen conference. Totally endearing and wise words from a sixteen year old. Reminds me of some of my students and gives me hope for future generations:)

Message to our folks

 A little familial plug for a really wonderful exhibition at the MCA that my sister curated. The artist is Rashid Johnson and the name of the exhibition is Message to Our Folks. Rashid lives in New York now but is from Chicago and went to school at Columbia College and SAIC. His work includes photography, sculpture, installation, and painting. I absolutely love the way he repeats certain symbols, materials, motifs, etc. The show is up until August 5th, 2012- Check it out!

Close up

I got a macro lens for my camera that I'm super excited to play around with. I know plants and eyes aren't very interesting but it was crummy weather when I shot these so I had to stay inside! I love cameras being able to show things that the naked eye can't see.

Birth of a book/ I'm back!

Wow, it's been a long time since I've posted anything. All sorts of family/life/work/springtime events have made me quite busy but I have a long list of things I want to share here so stay tuned for more consistent posts!
In the meantime, it's no secret I like books. I've posted many book-related things on here before. But I just saw this video and thought it was a lovely reminder of how exactly books are made. It's easy to forget how much work goes into making a single object (when it's made by hand).

School beyond school

One of my favorite things about being a teaching artist is that I'm constantly learning new things. Weather it's for a class I want to teach or a project I'm working on in the studio, I'm always considering something that intrigues me that I want to know more about. Not having the built-in support of college/grad school is tough though and sometimes I feel like I'm existing in a bubble and not pushing myself enough. So in an effort to get out there a goal of mine is to take more workshops/classes around town. First on the list is a Japanese bookbinding 1-day workshop at my friend Regin's art space, North Branch Projects, where you can find lovely art supplies organized beautifully like this:

Next I'm hoping to take an etching class at Spudnik Press that starts at the end of April!

At the ballet

For the past few years, I've gotten season tickets to the Joffrey Ballet with a group of girlfriends. It's 3 performances a season so not a huge commitment and it always feels like such a treat to go downtown and be inspired by something so outside of my normal day-to-day life. One of my friends couldn't to the last performance a few weeks ago so Matt came with us which was so fun! This was a perfect time for him to join us because this performance consisted of three pieces that were pretty modern. Below is a clip from After the Rain which we saw last year but still blew me away! The music is so beautiful and it's so romantic. This clip is from another company so not totally the same but you get the idea.  The second clip is from Infra with music by Max Richter, very contemporary and featuring art by Julian Opie.

Laura Letinsky- Chicago Works

With ordinary objects, artist Laura Letinsky instills - and questions - photographic desire from WBEZ on Vimeo.

Looking forward to seeing the next installment of the Chicago Works series.