San Francisco Open Studios: Our Two-Lady Show

(Our two-lady show for the weekend, in Jen's wonderful home.)

(The first wall: My letterpress prints, Jen's collages.)

(One reclaimed wall served as background: My bust, my book, Jen's photos.)

(Mostly Jen's collages & skateboard; My brown book & turquoise 5-part collage.)

(The wall of small squares: My photos, Jen's collage work.)

(The view as you entered their loft: Our work, their living, such love.)

(Jen's lovely spread for our guests, a wine and cheese of sorts.)

(So pretty, I just had to.)

Hi friends. This weekend I shared the lovely studio space of Jenifer Lake (Sprout Studio) and her dear mister. The Lakes were participating in SF Open Studios and Jenifer asked me to join her for a little impromptu two-person show. It was so wonderful! Her husband spent the week constructing gallery walls to transform their wonderful live/ work studio into a professional home-gallery. I love the DIY movement and think home poetry readings, home performances, home installations, and home galleries are incredibly innovative solutions to getting more artwork seen. (Click on those links for some amazing homestyle curatorial inspiration.)

We're going to push this collaboration a bit further and install a fully realized gallery show in their space in January 2010. Stay tuned! We've agreed to show photos (I think I'll be arranging another photo shoot, perhaps with ladies in vintage dresses; a further exploration of costume designer meets photographer meets installation) and we're also going to work collaboratively on a few mixed media prints on paper. I was just in the studio this morning finding letterpress offcuts to serve as my mixed-media starting points. Sigh. Sometimes making art just plain makes me happy: Simple and sweet.

In other news, thank you to those of you who have voted in my sidebar poll! It's open for one more week and I'd love to capture your vote if you haven't voted already. And for those of you who shy away from calling yourself an artist at all, I'd love to hear from you too! I often struggle with knowing where I fit as a multidisciplinary artist and this little poll is my experiment in knowing which box you choose. xoxo, k.

Polaroids, Housekeeping, and Reader's Thoughts Too

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My gosh, I love Polaroids. I think if I had one million dollars (Okay, after I was done giving a bunch of it to nonprofit organizations and buying my mister and I a house with 3 bedrooms and an outdoor studio) then I would invest in a bunch of studio equipment and on that list would be a few Polaroid cameras and lots of film.

Rumor has it that Polaroid film is not going to vanish from the planet all together, did you hear about the Impossible Project? Maybe our dear little "Save Polaroid" stickers all over the internet actually got some attention. Wonderful. I'm hoping the rumor is completely and totally true. Amen.

This little trio of photos is the end of my 2nd to last roll of Polaroid film. I have one more pack that I'm saving for Polaroid week over on Flickr--November 2-6--though now maybe we'll be able to buy it again in 2010. I like the range of colors in this trio and how the mood shifts from overcast to cozy to after-the-rain.

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And a bit of housekeeping: I've added a few new elements to my sidebar. I've joined the masses with the clever "Follow Me" tab as I love the idea of having faces attached to this little community of readers. One thing that keeps me coming back to my blog is the accountability to weekly studio updates and also the opportunity to engage with an international community. I love that second part the very most: You! And so I've added the tag, join if you like, I'd love to know you.

Lastly, I am hosting a little reader's poll about artistic identity. I know that categories are narrowing and inherently problematic and that identity is something that shifts and moves and changes. Yet given all this, I'd still love to know how you primarily identify as a creative person. It would help me with some bigger questions in my work as an arts program director and my work as a writer/ artist/ maker too. Feel free to leave any other thoughts in my comments section, I'm all ears. Take a peek and cast your vote. (Oh, please and thank you.)

Good Grief, My Dear October

*peek: a new print in process*

*and detail: thread, pencil, lino block continue*

(and the quieter parts of october...)

*back to the knits and yarn and needles clinking*

*tea to warm the fingers, too many cups to count them*

*new thrifted finds: color me fall with orange and wool*

*baked goods return to the cooled kitchen,
little miss stella thinks she's clever*

*canned goods stack the pantry:
homemade pickles, please*

*the princess of the house, cozy us in*

*press, french press, for the later afternoon hours*

*last of the roses from the local market
(enter an audible sigh)*

*considering my collections, and sunlight speckles and feathers*

*too pretty before split for baking*

Dear friends, Today I'm away from my sweet little studio and instead tucked into a crowded corner of a favorite cafe in San Francisco. As many of you know, I've set out to submit applications this month--a hefty combination of grant proposals and calls for submission. There's always a good dose of vulnerability in these things, so please keep your fingers crossed for me. (It helps to cheer me on just knowing that you are sending good wishes.) Like many of you, I wear several hats in the course of one week and so this week requires more time with my "proposal writer" hat. Well hello there, little cap, on you go then.

I'm not sure if it's my vantage point or if it's really the world around me picking up speed at a quickened pace in the arts world in the Bay Area. In other words, October is packed full of art happenings: Exhibitions, poetry readings, performances, grant deadlines, and open studios everywhere I turn. It's times like these that my daydreams for a quiet rural life full of open fields and forests and maybe even a few dozen sheep, slowly subside as I find my heartbeat quickened and my calendar pages filling with art activity. Good grief, dear October!

One last thing: It's the weather. I can't help myself from talking about it because it's absolutely dreamy and filling me completely with inspiration and good quivers of a quickened heart. Finally, it's time for tights and sweaters and scarves in the Bay Area. Our dear little garden has pushed out the final tomatoes and cucumbers and the vibrant greens of summer have turned to golden grasses and crinkled-up dehydrated leaves.

The New Yorker in me still turns cartwheels at the onset of fall. Autumn just makes me giddy with romance and inspiration and daydreams of twisting leaves, hefty fireplaces, and gallons of tea to keep warm. This weather makes me perfectly happy and also fills me with forlorn for the chilly New York weather. Wherever you are in the world, I hope your October is full of inspiration and a healthy dose of daydream or wanderlust. Now then, on with my cap and back to those proposals. xoxo, k.

Dresses/ Objects Project continues...

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Hello, friends. One million thanks to those of you who left feedback on the last post. I will incorporate many of your suggestions to my new website in the coming months. And Mia Nostalgia, you won the giveaway to my Etsy shop! (Please leave your email in the comments section so we can correspond about which piece you want me to package up and send your way.)

My husband and I did a mini fashion photo shoot this weekend and I'm so excited to finally have "fashion-ish" images of The Dresses/ Objects Project. It was a good challenge to act as a director of photography and keep reviewing the images until we created what I had in mind. These photos are a jumping off point for the grant I secured from The Puffin Foundation to produce a fashion photo shoot this fall. I'll be using these images on a handful of upcoming grant applications and gallery inquiries as I finish up phase two of this three-phase project. I'll also be scheduling a photo shoot with a few *very special* Bay Area art ladies soon. Eep! This photo shoot was just my sample to prepare for the bigger shoot this fall.

I'm currently making some steady progress on this project: Writing grants, completing the photo shoot, applying to gallery calls, and securing absolutely dreamy collaborators. I've been working on this project since fall 2006 and have secured over 15 collaborators so far along the way. Phew. It's been a big, long, wonderful experience but I'm thrilled to think of rounding the other side. Plenty to do between now and then but I'm so excited about the upcoming photo shoots! I'll be sure to post updates because I have a feeling you'll be thrilled by my collaborators too. xoxo, k.