Technical Drawings

I've never done any sort of technical drawing/drafting before and I know that in the near future I'm going to need to know how it's done.  I typically work best from example: so here goes...

Native American Portraits

Getting my next project in order and I'm needing some inspiration.

via Old Pictures

RAPP Limited Eyewear

Mel Rapp opened his optical boutique in Toronto 24 years ago and has since expanded to designing his own line of limited edition eyeglasses, called Rapp Eyewear.  Each design is produced in small runs of 20-30 and once those frames are sold, the design is laid in the archive, never to be manufactured again.  Using popular culture, art, literature, and music as the basis for their designs, Rapp Eyewear are through and through my kind of eyewear.  Pure love!

Rapp article by Midwest Lens

New Photos For Golden Arrow

On my day off I took some new photos for Golden Arrow Shop. I've been looking around on Etsy and it seems like having a white/neutral background is super popular--so I gave it a whirl, using my washer and dryer as a suitable white backdrop. I'm working on getting a new banner and business card in the works and am starting to sketch up a couple new ideas for the new spring collection...haha, if I can be so bold and call it that.

Holly Glasses By Mykita

So, I think these are the next glasses that I shall be getting, the Holly glasses by German company Mykita. Officially I think I'm in love with Mykita because first off, they are German and I simply love Germans. Secondly, because they make all of their glasses by hand-which, how amazing is that? One day I would love to do an internship with these folks. One day...I give myself 12 months to pull that one off.

Kathleen Rabe of Clay And Labor

A good friend of mine, Miss Kathleen Rabe of Clay And Labor, is a super talented ceramic artist and for a local Austin boutique, Finch, we had a chat about her work via email.

1. Tell us a little bit about yourself--where you're from, what you're up to, etc.

Hi Rachel, thanks so much your interest in my work! You guys at Finch are the greatest. Ok, so here goes (!). Two years ago I moved from Austin up to small town Alfred, NY to go back to school for ceramics. I still have a home base in Austin, and absolutely consider myself an Austinite, just taking a bit of an extended vacation. Currently I am working on my thesis show, which will be shown in Austin next December!

2. You used to use a lot of white in your ceramics, are you now employing a bit more color in your pieces? What motivated the change?

My most recent work was made this summer in my studio in Alfred. This was the first time I had ever experienced a real season change from spring to summer, and the flowers were amazing! I realized all that color made for a very good mood, and I wanted to bring that good energy into my studio.

3. Where do you get some of the ideas for your imagery?

Most of my imagery is found. I pull from old children's books or books on nature or animals or machines or really anything that catches my eye. I don't know there is a really clear common thread, but I think in general I like imagery that reminds me of things I have experienced and like to remind myself of; they almost act like photographs in that sense.
4. Why did you choose to pursue ceramics as opposed to anything else, non- art related?

There is a familiarity to the ceramic object that I find really powerful. It is non threatening and approachable. I find that people are more receptive to my ceramic work because they have a point of entry; we all have our individual histories with ceramic objects (like a family's holiday china). As for my ceramic table ware and functional objects, I really enjoy the idea of my work being used, and enhancing ones daily experiences. I love the ceramics I have collected over the years. When I eat from my Mud Australia bowls I feel indulgent and sophisticated, and when I take my perfume from my Diana Fayt plate I fell fanciful and nostalgic. I love that the objects we surround ourselves with can enhance our daily lives.

5. Are there any other artists that you admire? Or whom you get inspiration?

Right now I am really into Pueblo Wedding Vases, I love the idea of the heirloom and ceramics being central to cultural traditions. I have also been looking at Valeria Nascimento's work lately; she uses simple components to create complex installations, love! I look at blogs all the time too, Copenhagen Style Blog is one of my favorites!

6. What do you have going on for the future? Any projects you're excited about? Traveling plans?

Lately I have been working on a few lighting projects that have been really fun. Currently I am making pendent lights that are inspired by paper bag hot air balloons. This will lead right into my next project which is actually going to be done in Austin in December-January; I will be creating a lighting installation for the Gypsy Wagon Stages studio space, a craftsmen-style portable stage business started by Conner and Denny Finn. Super exciting!

All images via Clay And Labor.

Always seems to come back to music.

I was noticing that everything that I seem to do always comes back to music, or uses music as inspiration. Funny thing is that I have no inclination to learn an instrument for myself. I did have the usual childhood stint at the piano for one year and then violin for two years in middle school but that is it. The violin gig was rather painful for my parents and it left me with a huge weakness for skinny guys who can play the instrument rather well. See attached photo.

However, despite the lack of musical talent I am a large musical connoisseur. This too, took a couple years to fully embrace. In college I hung out with all these people who would trade off "did you hear this really obscure band?"--"oh yeah! they're great. but did you hear this really, really obscure group from New Guinea?". I eventually gave up on trying to stay current with my music knowledge and became a Madonna fan. But now I live in the self-proclaimed music capital of the world and well, now I'm hooked.

I want to do a project where Conner and I travel around the US for a year and study music of America. Actually, it was his idea but I climbed on the band-wagon. I have wanted to do a trip around the states for a while but I thought I would do it after I graduated from grad school, and since that doesn't seem to happening any time soon, I figure now is a perfect time to do it. I'm still in the super early stages of planning and narrowing the "plan". I've been reading a lot of books--like The Rest Is Noise and Struggling To Define A Nation-- and movies--1 Giant Leap, Touching The Sound, Heima, and Surfwise. If anyone has any suggestions they would be greatly appreciated. It's the first stage of weeding out ideas that is the most exciting in it's possibilities and terribly daunting.

Leaked Finery Photos

Ah Ha Ha! Here's the first photo from our Finery project! Looks amazing! Kat Rabe did the ceramic necklace, I made the clothes, and Christina Schaffel did the photography. Yay! We're going to have an art opening on the 17th. I'll post all the info once we get it more organized.

Ceramic/Silk has got a new name

Kat and I decided upon a new name for our Ceramic/Silk project - Finery. We had the photoshoot tonight at IF+D furniture store where Kat used to work and where the art opening will be on April 17th. We ended up making four different looks out of our original three and we're planning on printing them on poster sized paper and hanging them up around the store.
I think it turned out better than Kat, Christina, or I had hoped. It seems like the last two photoshoots we've done have been way more organized and we've all been much more prepared. This time round it seemed like we were halfway ready but just had to wing the rest of it because the opening is in two weeks and we just couldn't put it off any longer. And we didn't have all our models picked out. Luckily one of the girls who works at the coffee shop- the one that is a daily pit-stop for me on the way to work-volunteered and then Kat's roommate was roped into it as well. All four girls had pale skin and brown hair which I think will tie all of the outfits together really well.
All in all, it turned out amazing. Real photos should be coming soon!

Ceramic/Silk-sewing #1

I've been slowly working on this dress for the last week. I spent 5 hours on the bus just to get up to the big fabric store for this. Ugh. Sometimes I do terribly miss my car--especially when I need to do grocery shopping, laundry, or go to any of the big chain stores outside of town (like Joann's Fabrics). Took 2 hours up and 2 back and then I got on the wrong bus for 1 hour. But, it was a rainy day and I had a good turn-of-the-century murder mystery book so it wasn't unbearable.Kat's going to make a big art necklace out of clay that will kind of wrap around the model's head a bit. It's hard to explain but I'm envisioning a nod towards this.

Night of the Opening

I've learned my lesson--must designate someone to be the official opening photographer. My mom was the only it seems who took any photos, and even then they are not extensive. But this is what we have.

Erin's photos
Me & the Boys

Chrissy & I

John & I

Joy & David

Erin, me, & Em

Em & Ossi

Ceramic Silk

Kat and I are going to begin working on a side project in which we'll create dresses and hair pieces out of ceramics, silk, and muslin. I'm excited because I've never made anything quite like that. It'll be interesting to see what we can come up with. But like everything, it's on a bit of a rushed schedule. Kat's leaving to go intern with Alex Marshall and then Ann Black in two months. So we'll have to plan it, execute it, photograph it, and have an art show within two months. However, that seems to be par for course lately (Don't Bring Me Down took about that amount of time). I'm excited about it!

I would love to make a quilted backdrop kind of like this to photograph our ladies up against. I think we're going to stick with a white, cream, pale rose, and pale peach color palette.

photo from Elena Garcia, Eco-Designer

It's All Done!

Oh my dear. Don't Bring Me Down is all done!

We got into the venue space a little later than we had anticipated (we were thinking 9ish, we made it there 12ish). Erin worked on the front space, putting up the cardboard tree, and all of the production stills. On the inside Dan, Mom, Chrissy, and I worked on putting up the staged photos. It looked really good!

We had been running around or setting up pretty much all day and by the time we were all done and ready for the show to begin, I was beat. We were having an afterparty as well and I just needed to go take a shower and sit on my ass for a minute to relax. However, we didn't even leave the Art Authority until around 7:30 and the show started at 8. So there wasn't much down time.

When Mom and I got back to the Art Authority there were a couple people milling about. People really started arriving by 8:30ish. There ended up being a lot of people! I didn't count and wouldn't even know how to guess a good number. But it felt like a lot and there were a lot of people that I had never seen before. Mom said she talked to a couple who found out about it on Glasstire and just came because it looked interesting. Yay! I just kept flitting around trying to talk to everyone--but I don't think I was terribly successful in talking to everyone. So sorry if I missed you!

Chrissy and I had to give a speech before we began the entertainment. I was so nervous. Ugh, I wish I was more comfortable speaking in front of a group. Chrissy hates it too, but she worked in radio in San Francisco and has a much smoother and confident voice. People were really sweet and got me a couple shots before I went up on stage. I don't think it had enough time to sooth my nerves and I meant to special thanks a couple people and I totally spaced out. I was just thinking, "just say something and get off! quick! do it quick!" After we got off, we played the films, then Hailey and the Finns played, and the Crooks played.

People are already talking about how we need to keep the momentum going and doing another multi-media project in another couple months--especially Chrissy : ) I'm all for it except I need to sit on my butt again for a week or so, in order to get my mojo all up and running again.


So, the project and the opening were really successful! Chrissy is working on getting a website up for the whole thing. I'll post about it when it's all said and done.

Updates DBMD

We are one of the Austinist's Editors Picks!

Glasstire has us right up there, too.

this is life in austin has a post about it

and we were interviewed by Austin Easvesdropper...

we also have a write up in today's Austin American Statesman, at a news stand near you!

~from The Visual Artisan

It's Official!

My friend, Mia, with whom I used to work at the video store just created the flyer for our event! I think she totally nailed it and it looks awesome. I'm printing them up now and then we'll start painting the town with them.

Yay! It's official!

Gallery Space to Work With

So, the gallery space that we have to work with in order to hang the show is different than I imagined. It's still totally workable--just way, way smaller than I had originally envisioned. However, this will simply be a challenge and teach me to scope out future spaces before I commit to one.

When you first walk in the door and turn to your left this is what you see. Emily Mitchell is my lovely scale model.

Another photo of the first room.

This is the backside of the first room from the photographs above. We have this whole wall to deal with too. It faces the main performance area with the stage over to the right-hand side.

Stage area with long inner wall to the left. You can see a little of it in this photo.
So, essentially we don't have a whole lot of room at all the work with. We'll have to plan out our show well and economize a lot.

Oh My Good Lord! Band Photo Shoot!

We had the photoshoot for our Hypothetical Band Project yesterday and I'm totally stoked with how it turned out!!!

All the "band members"/models, hair, make-up, wardrobe, and film people met up at Corey's house (the hair maven) at 8am and began getting ready. I've never been in theater or anything and so, I've never been a part of the behind the scenes bustle. Each room seemed to be dedicated to a specific department and people would rotate rooms all with constant glasses of mimosas. Christina and I had gotten a case of shitty Andre champagne for the occaision. (Note to everyone: a case of Andre only costs $38...for alchol in a pinch).

We all trickled down to the photo shoot site where Christina and some other production people were already setting up. The wind was a bit much and in order to get the 10'x12' theater set to stay up they had to put several stakes down and tether it to a car. Apparently the whole thing fell at one point and broke a bit, but they were able to fix it and make it work.

We were there until 4pm, shooting, goofing around, drinking lots of champagne, and getting sunburnt. It was awesome! So much fun and the pictures turned out just, just beautiful. Christina is working on the rest of them. I totally wish her the best because while my work is mostly done, hers has only just begun.

Photo above: Alaina. First of the individual "band member" shots.

We have a date!

I spoke with the venue manager this morning about our band art opening. It's all set. We have a date for Friday, February 27th! Yay!

Now that we have a definitive completion date, I think it'll be easy to make deadlines and such, along the way.

And something to leave you with...Thank You For Throwing Your Shoe.
(By way of the Fabulist)

"Muntadar al-Zaidi is the Iraqi journalist who was arrested for throwing his shoes at President Bush. This is a photo project devoted to letting al-Zaidi know that people from all over the world share in his outrage over the war in Iraq. We do not condone shoe-throwing, but we prefer it to war."

People from all over the world are taking photos to shwo solidarity with al-Zaidi...they're great. Chrissy, we need to do this!

Waraw, IN

Vancouver, Canada

Band Updates

This week is my self-proclaimed week of excile. My grad school application needs to be sent off by next monday, so this week I've been trying desperately to get everything finished. Although, the whole process is very much like being a Visual Merchandiser--it's a bunch of minute tweaks that you never really finish until you are just totally sick of it all and send it away. I'm aiming to be done with my portfolio this evening so that I can send it off by tomorrow and get it printed that day. Hopefully I will be able to send the whole package off by Monday so that it will without a doubt be in Amsterdam by the 31st of January.

And then there is the matter of the Hypothetical Band. At some point we're going to need to brainstorm and come up with a good name for the project. Right now it's just self-explanatory without any pizazz. I met with this photographer last night who gave me some pointers on how to best capture the look we're going for--which is kind of like this.

He gave a couple tips, mainly about shooting on a cloudy day. Mostly it was just encouragement.

I also emailed this band who I really hope plays at the opening, as well as Conner's band. Chrissy and I have become slight groupies to Wino Vino. In addition to getting people dancing, I also think their music would go along with the whole vibe of the project. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they say yes.

I'm just scanning in a couple drawings in at the UT library (I love living in the same town as a big wealthy university. They have all these awesome toys to play with for free, like this kick-ass scanner.) Then I'm off to put the nose to the grindstone yet again.

Brainstorming the Photos

Met with Chrissy and our newly appointed set designer, Travis, this evening to brainstorm. I think we came up with some really good stuff. We're going to go for more of a themed photo shoot; stories and such. And we're going to return to the decrepit barn and the open field of the last shoot. We're going to go in the direction of the Tim Burton/Helena Bonham Carter shoot where they have a themed shoot "staged" in an open field but where you fully aware of the surrounding landscape that looks very mundane and wholly ordinary (contrasted with the whimsical shoot, does that make sense?).
We're going to have one rather stiff Victorian portrait photo. At the location there is this really cool fallen branch that I think we can place the "band" in and around and make it look interesting. The painting, Mr. & Ms. Andrews, by English artist, Thomas Gainsborough, sprang to mind.