i know i just blogge yesterday, but i had a good day at work today and i wanted to talk about it. i'll try and keep this short!
anyways, every month at Woman Made, there is a group gathering called Her Mark. it's for members only, i think. or maybe it's free for members and anyone else pays a small fee. i don't really know. but beate thought it would be a good idea for me and loren (the other intern on saturday) to go as well, sit and listen, see what they are about.
it was a small group- 9 counting loren and me. but it was good. we went around and talked about our art, what's new with it, struggles, some people brought samples of their work. one woman's was really cool. she hand makes hebrew marriage contracts. beautiful beautiful designs and writing. we laughed and discussed. it was uplifting, supportive, friendly, and inviting. it's a good place to talk about art and what is happening in your life related to art. a good point they brought up is that you can't discuss art with everyone. you need other people who understand art, people you can have intellectual conversations with. it was really good.
the group was mostly made up of middle aged women, a couple older, me and loren and one other younger woman. i can't remember everyone's names but they were so nice and supportive. i really liked one thing that Sue said, in relation to the changes and progress of style, reinvention, etc. "how often do we have to become butterflies? cause it's certain as soon as you do, you're a caterpillar again."
mostly i wanted to write about this because i love what the group is doing. building community between artists, supporting each other and giving feedback. i'd really like to have that kind of a group at northwestern. i know there used to be one, my freshman year. i was never a part of it, though, and i think after certain people graduated it stopped happening. but maybe some of us can bring something like it together again. i know most of my friends are artists and we are always doing that kind of thing when we see each other, but this could be bigger than one circle of friends. more perspectives, in a more organized setting. if anyone from nwc reads this and thinks it's a good idea, let me know! i'd love to hear feedback, and maybe i could happen for real.
that's all i wanted to say... i told you it'd be short. relatively. :s
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Saturday, September 27, 2008
lots of stuff
so, it's been a little while... what's happened since last week thursday...
on friday, we had a movie night at the boys' apartment. we watched a really interesting german movie called run, lola, run. i like it. also got entertained by some drunken misshaps of one of the guys trying to catch a bus home. that was funny. saturday was a progressive dinner, where 9 rooms provided parts of a meal (3 appetizers, 3 entrees, 3 desserts) and you go from room to room eating. it was so good. made me realize, though, how many chicago semester students i don't know, or don't see anymore. especially the student teachers. sunday i went back to improv olympic with a girl named heather to see a friend of hers perform. it was awesome! 3 hours for $5. doesn't get much better. and it was good to spend time with heather cause i rarely see her, even though she lives across the hall. she's a student teacher.
on thursday this week we went to see Disavowel, a david dorfman dance thing. it was supposed to be about john brown, a white civil rights activist/borderline terrorist who was hung for his actions. the dance visually was really good. very modern/post-modern and improv/freestyle. they had this one bit where each dancer had a bucket with a light in it. beautiful. actually, the lighting for a lot of it was good. lots of silhouettes and shadows. no color though... and i liked how the dancers came into the audience, tied people together with string, pulled people on stage. and when there was "dialogue," it was very poetic. that was all good. but it was also very very abstract. i like abstract things most of the time. (i.e.jackson pollock's paintings, or small change that i saw in london). but as a dance that was supposed to be telling us about this man's life, it left nothing for us to grab onto. there were themes that could be pulled out of it relating to the civil rights movement. but it was completely over the heads of most of the people there. i'm not sure i liked it. i can see the value of something like it. and i don't think they should have to force feed us meaning. but i just don't think a show that is supposed to be about a specific person should be so undecipherable. it does generate discussion. it does cause us to think. but it was frustrating to not know what was going on. i wish i knew what the concept was originally, what they were going for. did they feel like they succeeded?
yesterday, though, a group of us bought tickets to see mama mia! it was wonderful! the singing was beautiful, especially the woman who plays donna. the set was cool, rotating walls. and the lights! brilliant. very saturated colors and disco-y for dance scenes. loved it. and at the end, after the curtain calls, they basically had a mini-concert, as if we were actually seeing abba perform. it was really cool. we all stood up and sang along. it was a really happy, feel good musical.
tonight, some of us went out for chinese (in Chinatown, of course), and then to a jazz festival. awesome night! just a small group of six. talked a lot- about everything. especially waiting in line to get into the jazz thing. the place was packed! we had to wait for over an hour. but it was so worth it. great musicians. and then we went to baskin robins for ice cream. it was a good night.
work is going really good. i'm doing a lot of copy-paste work into excel files, scanning slides still, etc. but we are also starting to get a lot of pieces for the next show. so whenever the ups guy comes, it's like a birthday and we get to open up the packages and find the artwork inside! i've visited some really good galleries for work, seen a lot of good art. museum of contemporary photography is my fav so far. for anyone who remembers the central photo for the grapes of wrath design- that was a photo by dorothea lange, and she had a lot of work at mocp while i was there. although i was interrupted by the fire alarm going off. had flashbacks to the tate britain...
classes are pretty good. have to write a 5-7 page paper by wednesday. i haven't started. it's on frank lloyd wright. not terribly exciting. but we have really good discussions in my art class. i love it.
so for one of my classes, we have to keep a journal. this week's entries are based around our relationships... i'm gonna pick a few things out of those entries and put them on here as well. (can't put the whole entries up cause that would make this exceedinly long!)forgive me if i'm repeating things from past entries.
i really like the group of friends that i have accumulated here. we seem like such a random collection of people: nerds and socialites, business and arts, sporty jocks and quiet wallflowers. but somehow we all came together. three of them are actually from northwestern. i knew and liked one of them at school. i worked with her. the other two i didn't even know. we had completely different circles. and now we hang out at least once a week. it's great. movie nights, weekly meals, sometimes dancing or going to a bar. music festivals happen all the time.
having a bit of a hard time with my roommate. we get along okay, but there are things that annoy me. (it's getting better since i originally wrote this in my journal!) it's a lot of little, petty things. like how much perfume she wears, the way she calls everyone scooter, laughing at her computer... there are bigger issues, too, like the fact that i am always more interested in her day than she is in mine. she talks forever about her day and rarely asks me about work. and we never really talk at all. most nights are spent in silence, each with our headphones on. i feel as if we will never be the kind of friends i see other roommates becoming. we have a lot in common, but very diferent personalities...
and the people i work with are wonderful! my boss, beate, is so funny, sweet, and strong. i really admire her for all she does. she is very motherly- making sure we eat, take breaks. she offers water and pop to the ups guy when he comes. walks us through step by step when we are learning something new. she does the same thing with artists, too. amy, my other boss, is great. very friendly and helpful. she gives me great assignments to work on, and really supports what i want to do with my internship. we talk a lot about art, school, politics. kristin is the other employee, a senior at DePaul. took some time to get a connection with here (we have different personalities), but she's pretty nice. always good for suggesting artists to look into, or events happening in chicago. there are also 3 more interns, who each only work 1 day a week. it's harder to get to know them, but they are all fun. i think i get along best with lindsay. not sure why... there are so many other people involved with the gallery- artists, jurors, volunteers, etc. i haven't met all of them. but the ones i have talked to are are great. quirky, inspiring, creative, polite, funny, sincere, interesting. i feel blessed to be able to meet just a few of them.
well, i don't think there's anything else...
love and miss you all!
on friday, we had a movie night at the boys' apartment. we watched a really interesting german movie called run, lola, run. i like it. also got entertained by some drunken misshaps of one of the guys trying to catch a bus home. that was funny. saturday was a progressive dinner, where 9 rooms provided parts of a meal (3 appetizers, 3 entrees, 3 desserts) and you go from room to room eating. it was so good. made me realize, though, how many chicago semester students i don't know, or don't see anymore. especially the student teachers. sunday i went back to improv olympic with a girl named heather to see a friend of hers perform. it was awesome! 3 hours for $5. doesn't get much better. and it was good to spend time with heather cause i rarely see her, even though she lives across the hall. she's a student teacher.
on thursday this week we went to see Disavowel, a david dorfman dance thing. it was supposed to be about john brown, a white civil rights activist/borderline terrorist who was hung for his actions. the dance visually was really good. very modern/post-modern and improv/freestyle. they had this one bit where each dancer had a bucket with a light in it. beautiful. actually, the lighting for a lot of it was good. lots of silhouettes and shadows. no color though... and i liked how the dancers came into the audience, tied people together with string, pulled people on stage. and when there was "dialogue," it was very poetic. that was all good. but it was also very very abstract. i like abstract things most of the time. (i.e.jackson pollock's paintings, or small change that i saw in london). but as a dance that was supposed to be telling us about this man's life, it left nothing for us to grab onto. there were themes that could be pulled out of it relating to the civil rights movement. but it was completely over the heads of most of the people there. i'm not sure i liked it. i can see the value of something like it. and i don't think they should have to force feed us meaning. but i just don't think a show that is supposed to be about a specific person should be so undecipherable. it does generate discussion. it does cause us to think. but it was frustrating to not know what was going on. i wish i knew what the concept was originally, what they were going for. did they feel like they succeeded?
yesterday, though, a group of us bought tickets to see mama mia! it was wonderful! the singing was beautiful, especially the woman who plays donna. the set was cool, rotating walls. and the lights! brilliant. very saturated colors and disco-y for dance scenes. loved it. and at the end, after the curtain calls, they basically had a mini-concert, as if we were actually seeing abba perform. it was really cool. we all stood up and sang along. it was a really happy, feel good musical.
tonight, some of us went out for chinese (in Chinatown, of course), and then to a jazz festival. awesome night! just a small group of six. talked a lot- about everything. especially waiting in line to get into the jazz thing. the place was packed! we had to wait for over an hour. but it was so worth it. great musicians. and then we went to baskin robins for ice cream. it was a good night.
work is going really good. i'm doing a lot of copy-paste work into excel files, scanning slides still, etc. but we are also starting to get a lot of pieces for the next show. so whenever the ups guy comes, it's like a birthday and we get to open up the packages and find the artwork inside! i've visited some really good galleries for work, seen a lot of good art. museum of contemporary photography is my fav so far. for anyone who remembers the central photo for the grapes of wrath design- that was a photo by dorothea lange, and she had a lot of work at mocp while i was there. although i was interrupted by the fire alarm going off. had flashbacks to the tate britain...
classes are pretty good. have to write a 5-7 page paper by wednesday. i haven't started. it's on frank lloyd wright. not terribly exciting. but we have really good discussions in my art class. i love it.
so for one of my classes, we have to keep a journal. this week's entries are based around our relationships... i'm gonna pick a few things out of those entries and put them on here as well. (can't put the whole entries up cause that would make this exceedinly long!)forgive me if i'm repeating things from past entries.
i really like the group of friends that i have accumulated here. we seem like such a random collection of people: nerds and socialites, business and arts, sporty jocks and quiet wallflowers. but somehow we all came together. three of them are actually from northwestern. i knew and liked one of them at school. i worked with her. the other two i didn't even know. we had completely different circles. and now we hang out at least once a week. it's great. movie nights, weekly meals, sometimes dancing or going to a bar. music festivals happen all the time.
having a bit of a hard time with my roommate. we get along okay, but there are things that annoy me. (it's getting better since i originally wrote this in my journal!) it's a lot of little, petty things. like how much perfume she wears, the way she calls everyone scooter, laughing at her computer... there are bigger issues, too, like the fact that i am always more interested in her day than she is in mine. she talks forever about her day and rarely asks me about work. and we never really talk at all. most nights are spent in silence, each with our headphones on. i feel as if we will never be the kind of friends i see other roommates becoming. we have a lot in common, but very diferent personalities...
and the people i work with are wonderful! my boss, beate, is so funny, sweet, and strong. i really admire her for all she does. she is very motherly- making sure we eat, take breaks. she offers water and pop to the ups guy when he comes. walks us through step by step when we are learning something new. she does the same thing with artists, too. amy, my other boss, is great. very friendly and helpful. she gives me great assignments to work on, and really supports what i want to do with my internship. we talk a lot about art, school, politics. kristin is the other employee, a senior at DePaul. took some time to get a connection with here (we have different personalities), but she's pretty nice. always good for suggesting artists to look into, or events happening in chicago. there are also 3 more interns, who each only work 1 day a week. it's harder to get to know them, but they are all fun. i think i get along best with lindsay. not sure why... there are so many other people involved with the gallery- artists, jurors, volunteers, etc. i haven't met all of them. but the ones i have talked to are are great. quirky, inspiring, creative, polite, funny, sincere, interesting. i feel blessed to be able to meet just a few of them.
well, i don't think there's anything else...
love and miss you all!
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Amadeus
so, the past few days have been wonderful! lots of fun and good times. let's see...
on monday i wandered up and down michegan avenue by myself, taking lots and lots of pictures. it was awesome to get out and see the public art, to spend time on my own downtown.
on tuesday, i went to a couple of small galleries as part of my work assignments. one was crafts and the other was photography. i really liked the photography one. really good exhibit.
on wednesday, we had a surprise party for a friend's, kim, birthday. zulfiya, kim's roommate, came to our apartment to bake the cake and make all the plans. she is so funny! she freaks out about the littlest things and is so excitable, i can't help but smile when i'm around her. then at the party, we played the most competetive, most epic game of musical chairs i've ever been involved with. cheating, pushing, anger, and the longest last round ever! it was hilarious.
and then work today was great. it was a slow morning so me and beate had a long lunch break (cheese and crackers and hummus and pound cake!) and just talked. about family, religion/faith, school, etc. she asks so many questions, tells so many stories, and gets off an explanatory tangents that it's hard to get a word in myself, but it was good. i like her a lot. she's a strong woman. the afternoon was a bit busier- for her at least. she had a lot of meetings. so i got to train another new intern! her name is lindsay and she's pretty cool.
and then tonight, our weekly fine arts event was seeing Amadeus. it's a show about Antonio Salieri and his rivalry with Mozart. it was a great show, and beautiful space. small, thrust stage theatre. we were so close we could see the spit fly. and there was a lot of spit! the actors for bot mozart and salieri perform on broadway, so they were incredible! the rest of this is what i wrote as a reflection for the class. so i don't have to say it all again...
i loved the show. it was beautifully done, beautifully designed. the raked stage with the painting on the floor (michelangelo style), and the mirror above it, was stunning. i loved the way they used lighting to set the mood- the strong contast of light and dark during salieri's dark moments of anguish was breathtaking. and the costumes! salieri's coat in the second act- the green and gold paisleyish one- was my favorite. i would wear that coat. i really like period costumes. the wig designer did a great job, too, although mozart's pink horned one was iffy... but i really liked the way they paralleled mozart's grey figure and salieri's shroud during the 'present' scenes. i hope that was intentional. because it was perfect.
and the acting! mozart was positively rioutous! so flamboyant, childish, crude, and lovable. i wanted to hate him at times, seeing all of his personality flaws. but he was too playful and fun in the beginning, and too pitiable and desperate at the end. i was close enough to the stage that i could see the tears running down his face during his death scene, and i cried with him. the actor did an amazing job. but salieri was absolutely incredible. anger, delight, anguish, sadness, deviousness, stoicness, feigned graciousness- it was all there. the power of his voice was captivating, the little inflections in the soliloquies making it almost a conversation with the audience. the emotion of his pain, the depth of his hatred pulled at my heart.
but even with such serious themes, it was humorous. i didn't expect it to be that much of a comedy. but it was, even in salieri's attempted suicide. i loved it. like mozart, a lot of it was crude, low brow, humor. but it was good.
one thing i found intriguing, and unfortunate, was the fact that all salieri wanted was fame, and if he couldn't have that he'd settle for infamy. in the play, that, too got taken away. but that juxtaposes the fact that we are sitting in a theatre watching a play that's all about him! he has his immortality! unfortunately, we find humor in his very real pain. even his failed attempt at death. it makes me feel really sad for the real salieri. because, really, he's not that well known now, either. how many elementary/junior high students have heard of mozart? almost all of them. how many have heard of salieri? i know i didn't know anything substantial about him until college. i know i just said that he has his immortality, on stage and in history, but he is still outshined by mozart. he can't escape it.
i really appreciated getting to meet some of the actors afterwards. it makes a show feel over better that way, especially after hearing david lively talk in class. we got to see three sides of him that way. before a show, on stage, and right after a show. when we can see the people underneath the makeup and wigs, it makes the actors more real, separate from their characters. that's important, knowing that they are real people.
i guess that's it... bye for now
on monday i wandered up and down michegan avenue by myself, taking lots and lots of pictures. it was awesome to get out and see the public art, to spend time on my own downtown.
on tuesday, i went to a couple of small galleries as part of my work assignments. one was crafts and the other was photography. i really liked the photography one. really good exhibit.
on wednesday, we had a surprise party for a friend's, kim, birthday. zulfiya, kim's roommate, came to our apartment to bake the cake and make all the plans. she is so funny! she freaks out about the littlest things and is so excitable, i can't help but smile when i'm around her. then at the party, we played the most competetive, most epic game of musical chairs i've ever been involved with. cheating, pushing, anger, and the longest last round ever! it was hilarious.
and then work today was great. it was a slow morning so me and beate had a long lunch break (cheese and crackers and hummus and pound cake!) and just talked. about family, religion/faith, school, etc. she asks so many questions, tells so many stories, and gets off an explanatory tangents that it's hard to get a word in myself, but it was good. i like her a lot. she's a strong woman. the afternoon was a bit busier- for her at least. she had a lot of meetings. so i got to train another new intern! her name is lindsay and she's pretty cool.
and then tonight, our weekly fine arts event was seeing Amadeus. it's a show about Antonio Salieri and his rivalry with Mozart. it was a great show, and beautiful space. small, thrust stage theatre. we were so close we could see the spit fly. and there was a lot of spit! the actors for bot mozart and salieri perform on broadway, so they were incredible! the rest of this is what i wrote as a reflection for the class. so i don't have to say it all again...
i loved the show. it was beautifully done, beautifully designed. the raked stage with the painting on the floor (michelangelo style), and the mirror above it, was stunning. i loved the way they used lighting to set the mood- the strong contast of light and dark during salieri's dark moments of anguish was breathtaking. and the costumes! salieri's coat in the second act- the green and gold paisleyish one- was my favorite. i would wear that coat. i really like period costumes. the wig designer did a great job, too, although mozart's pink horned one was iffy... but i really liked the way they paralleled mozart's grey figure and salieri's shroud during the 'present' scenes. i hope that was intentional. because it was perfect.
and the acting! mozart was positively rioutous! so flamboyant, childish, crude, and lovable. i wanted to hate him at times, seeing all of his personality flaws. but he was too playful and fun in the beginning, and too pitiable and desperate at the end. i was close enough to the stage that i could see the tears running down his face during his death scene, and i cried with him. the actor did an amazing job. but salieri was absolutely incredible. anger, delight, anguish, sadness, deviousness, stoicness, feigned graciousness- it was all there. the power of his voice was captivating, the little inflections in the soliloquies making it almost a conversation with the audience. the emotion of his pain, the depth of his hatred pulled at my heart.
but even with such serious themes, it was humorous. i didn't expect it to be that much of a comedy. but it was, even in salieri's attempted suicide. i loved it. like mozart, a lot of it was crude, low brow, humor. but it was good.
one thing i found intriguing, and unfortunate, was the fact that all salieri wanted was fame, and if he couldn't have that he'd settle for infamy. in the play, that, too got taken away. but that juxtaposes the fact that we are sitting in a theatre watching a play that's all about him! he has his immortality! unfortunately, we find humor in his very real pain. even his failed attempt at death. it makes me feel really sad for the real salieri. because, really, he's not that well known now, either. how many elementary/junior high students have heard of mozart? almost all of them. how many have heard of salieri? i know i didn't know anything substantial about him until college. i know i just said that he has his immortality, on stage and in history, but he is still outshined by mozart. he can't escape it.
i really appreciated getting to meet some of the actors afterwards. it makes a show feel over better that way, especially after hearing david lively talk in class. we got to see three sides of him that way. before a show, on stage, and right after a show. when we can see the people underneath the makeup and wigs, it makes the actors more real, separate from their characters. that's important, knowing that they are real people.
i guess that's it... bye for now
Sunday, September 14, 2008
quickie
what a dreary, soggy weekend! not a lot happened thanks to the rain. i wanted to get to the celtic fest and an arts fair this weekend, but with the rain i didn't feel like going anywhere. oh well. it wasn't a bad weekend. we still had fun. and work is going good.
let's see... new tasks at work... more filing, adding necklaces to the artisan gallery, i learned how to scan slides. that's actually a semester long project- scanning all the slides from past shows way back when, and putting them in archives on the computer. got two new interns now as well. one, clarissa, only works saturdays. she's really cool, junior art history major. the other girl, loren, was supposed to work today; but apparently she was so completely soaked when she got to work that Beate told her to go home and take a nice bath! so i haven't met her yet.
saturday was supposed to be the MAAC (Milwaukee Ave Arts Corridor) Gallery Walk, where we lead community people through the 3 non-profit galleries in the area. beate asked me to lead it! so i had to brush up on info on the 3 galleries. but saturday came with downpouring rain, so we figured no one would show up. but me and clarissa, the new girl, went anyway. we start at a snack bar called Love's. wait for anyone to show up. no one did. then we walk to ARC Gallery, Woman Made, and Inuit. since we work at Woman Made, we bypassed it and went from ARC to Intuit, and ended with Woman Made. it was good to see the galleries, good for her to know how to get to them. they are both really interesting and you should look them up. i especially like Intuit's current show. but i think we have an arts event there in a couple weeks, so i'll wait til then to talk about it.
and today was the monthly poetry reading. that was pretty cool. so work was mostly setting up for that and listening to poetry for an hour and a half. they were pretty good. mostly environmental (to fit the theme of our current exhibit), but there were other themes woven in that. i didn't talk to any of the poets afterwards, but i did talk to a man who came to support a poet. he was sweet- puerto rican i think. got to talk to Kristin (one of the main volunteers) a lot today, too, so that was really nice. ate a lot of cheese and fruit.
so that's work (even if it doesn't sound like it). for fun, we had a saturday night live party last night. that was pretty cool. afterwards, mike pulled out a Trapped in a Closet. R Kelly's rap soap opera thing. it's hilarious to watch, especially cause it's not supposed to be a comedy. it's absolutely rediculous. i hope it's on youtube.and then today we had our weekly get together/supper thing. breakfast for supper. it was so good. played games afterwards.
and that's really about it. not so much a quickie, but still shorter than most blogs i write!
laterz
let's see... new tasks at work... more filing, adding necklaces to the artisan gallery, i learned how to scan slides. that's actually a semester long project- scanning all the slides from past shows way back when, and putting them in archives on the computer. got two new interns now as well. one, clarissa, only works saturdays. she's really cool, junior art history major. the other girl, loren, was supposed to work today; but apparently she was so completely soaked when she got to work that Beate told her to go home and take a nice bath! so i haven't met her yet.
saturday was supposed to be the MAAC (Milwaukee Ave Arts Corridor) Gallery Walk, where we lead community people through the 3 non-profit galleries in the area. beate asked me to lead it! so i had to brush up on info on the 3 galleries. but saturday came with downpouring rain, so we figured no one would show up. but me and clarissa, the new girl, went anyway. we start at a snack bar called Love's. wait for anyone to show up. no one did. then we walk to ARC Gallery, Woman Made, and Inuit. since we work at Woman Made, we bypassed it and went from ARC to Intuit, and ended with Woman Made. it was good to see the galleries, good for her to know how to get to them. they are both really interesting and you should look them up. i especially like Intuit's current show. but i think we have an arts event there in a couple weeks, so i'll wait til then to talk about it.
and today was the monthly poetry reading. that was pretty cool. so work was mostly setting up for that and listening to poetry for an hour and a half. they were pretty good. mostly environmental (to fit the theme of our current exhibit), but there were other themes woven in that. i didn't talk to any of the poets afterwards, but i did talk to a man who came to support a poet. he was sweet- puerto rican i think. got to talk to Kristin (one of the main volunteers) a lot today, too, so that was really nice. ate a lot of cheese and fruit.
so that's work (even if it doesn't sound like it). for fun, we had a saturday night live party last night. that was pretty cool. afterwards, mike pulled out a Trapped in a Closet. R Kelly's rap soap opera thing. it's hilarious to watch, especially cause it's not supposed to be a comedy. it's absolutely rediculous. i hope it's on youtube.and then today we had our weekly get together/supper thing. breakfast for supper. it was so good. played games afterwards.
and that's really about it. not so much a quickie, but still shorter than most blogs i write!
laterz
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
art galleries and stuff
so peeps...how's it going? it's hard to believe that life continues without me back in Iowa. just imagining all the stuff i'm missing on campus, new friends people are making, new classes. whenever i think of that i wonder why i feel so at home here in chicago. but i do. i've figured out a bus route to work, as well as the train route. i know where a lot of stuff is downtown, and i plan on going there for picture taking eventually. i really need to get to millenium park!
although i am feeling at home, i also feel like i'm being changed. i knew that was going to happen. i expected to grow. but the change i'm feeling is more like i have to be someone i'm not. i have to dress up for work. not too much, it's pretty casual. but i can't wear just anything. and i'm wearing makeup and jewelry on a regular basis. and not the funky eclectic way that i like. i have to look respectable. plus, i had to buy an umbrella. if you read my last blog, you know how well that turned out. but i love the rain. i love walking in it. but because of the way i have to dress and appear, i have to stay dry.
whenever i'm on a bus or train dressed for work, i see people in casual clothes, clothes they like wearing and are comfortable in. and i wish i could do that. i wish i could just be me in every way. i find little things, like my key ring earrings, or a scarfy bandana, to feel like myself. but the way i dress changes the way i act. and i don't want to become someone who gets dressed up and fusses about their hair and owns more shoes than some countries have. if i come back next semester like that, someone please slap me! i don't want to be that much of a grown up. not now, not ever!
so yeah. art galleries. went to museum of contemporary art yesterday. i was there for a few hours. it was awesome! made me miss london a little bit. okay, a lot a bit. there was a jeff koons exhibit, alexander calder, bruce nauman (one of my favs!), kara walker, and lots of other good stuff. i enjoyed the first couple hours on my own, then went back through with other people. we had good discussion about some "graphic" pieces...
plus i had a strange experience of walking through a room of kara walker's pieces with a friend who happens to be an african woman. if you don't know anything about kara walker, look her up. it's really good, really intense on civil rights movement, blacks in the south, etc. my friend, michellee, was really affected by it. it was interesting to see her shocked reactions to what was on the walls. she understands a lot more than i do what that is about. she is not an american (she's from ghana) but she knows what african americans went through during that time period. i think it was hard for her to look at those images, but she couldn't look away until she had seen them all.
the rest of the gallery was a happier experience. loved the nauman works. jeff koons is outrageous as always. william kentridge had a stop action video/drawing piece. you can look up his work on youtube, i think. i love it. it was a good day.
today in class, we went to the art institute. just as good a gallery, but a less good experience. this time we had a tour guide. i don't like tour guides, especially for art. every time she asked a question, it took me out of the painting. which sucked, because they had a lot of great stuff! and we didn't get to look at hardly anything. although we did spend a lot of time with some abstract expressionists. de kooning, joan mitchell, jackson pollock. especially jackson pollock. some of you may know about my obsession with jp, so that was happiness. but we skipped over degas and picasso and john constable and i don't even know what else. we didn't even look at american gothic! got to see sunday on la grand jatte, though, by seurat. more patronizing questions that try to get us to engage a piece, but only take me out of it. i like looking at a piece, experiencing it on my own, and talking about it later. i'll just have to go back and experience it more in depth, on my own.
classes are pretty good, other than that. i like my practicum group, for the most part. a couple people are too high maintenance for my taste. i tried not to judge them on first impressions, but second and third impressions haven't changed them much at all. for one especially; she's only gotten worse. maybe she's having a hard time, maybe she's a great person. maybe she'll end up my best friend. i don't know. but right now she seems to have an attitude problem and an "i'm too cool for this" expression all the time. but everyone else is really awesome.
so, i just went on this long rant about how much i hate my computer...and it kicked me off internet for the 3rd time tonight. HATE!!!! need a new one. *coughchristmascough* i can't stand this one anymore. slower than death, can't multitask, keyboard rediculously messed up, not enough space. i seriously want to throw it out the window right now.
luckily, blogger saved most of what i wrote. not all of it. i'll paraphrase the rest. i had mentioned another class going on a bus tour seeing architecture and public art. tour speech blah blah blah didn't listen. drove through greek town and china town, almost went to obama's house but couldn't find it. and then i think i started my computer rant, which i trimmed down to the few sentences above.
anyway... internship is going good, still. having a lot of fun working, and just living in chicago. also, a couple of people have asked me to design stuff for them, so i have extra projects to work on! and i'm still trying to keep up with my art. senior show next semester!!!
well, before my pain-in-the-ass computer blows up, i'm gonna finish. until next time, y'all-
love and kisses
although i am feeling at home, i also feel like i'm being changed. i knew that was going to happen. i expected to grow. but the change i'm feeling is more like i have to be someone i'm not. i have to dress up for work. not too much, it's pretty casual. but i can't wear just anything. and i'm wearing makeup and jewelry on a regular basis. and not the funky eclectic way that i like. i have to look respectable. plus, i had to buy an umbrella. if you read my last blog, you know how well that turned out. but i love the rain. i love walking in it. but because of the way i have to dress and appear, i have to stay dry.
whenever i'm on a bus or train dressed for work, i see people in casual clothes, clothes they like wearing and are comfortable in. and i wish i could do that. i wish i could just be me in every way. i find little things, like my key ring earrings, or a scarfy bandana, to feel like myself. but the way i dress changes the way i act. and i don't want to become someone who gets dressed up and fusses about their hair and owns more shoes than some countries have. if i come back next semester like that, someone please slap me! i don't want to be that much of a grown up. not now, not ever!
so yeah. art galleries. went to museum of contemporary art yesterday. i was there for a few hours. it was awesome! made me miss london a little bit. okay, a lot a bit. there was a jeff koons exhibit, alexander calder, bruce nauman (one of my favs!), kara walker, and lots of other good stuff. i enjoyed the first couple hours on my own, then went back through with other people. we had good discussion about some "graphic" pieces...
plus i had a strange experience of walking through a room of kara walker's pieces with a friend who happens to be an african woman. if you don't know anything about kara walker, look her up. it's really good, really intense on civil rights movement, blacks in the south, etc. my friend, michellee, was really affected by it. it was interesting to see her shocked reactions to what was on the walls. she understands a lot more than i do what that is about. she is not an american (she's from ghana) but she knows what african americans went through during that time period. i think it was hard for her to look at those images, but she couldn't look away until she had seen them all.
the rest of the gallery was a happier experience. loved the nauman works. jeff koons is outrageous as always. william kentridge had a stop action video/drawing piece. you can look up his work on youtube, i think. i love it. it was a good day.
today in class, we went to the art institute. just as good a gallery, but a less good experience. this time we had a tour guide. i don't like tour guides, especially for art. every time she asked a question, it took me out of the painting. which sucked, because they had a lot of great stuff! and we didn't get to look at hardly anything. although we did spend a lot of time with some abstract expressionists. de kooning, joan mitchell, jackson pollock. especially jackson pollock. some of you may know about my obsession with jp, so that was happiness. but we skipped over degas and picasso and john constable and i don't even know what else. we didn't even look at american gothic! got to see sunday on la grand jatte, though, by seurat. more patronizing questions that try to get us to engage a piece, but only take me out of it. i like looking at a piece, experiencing it on my own, and talking about it later. i'll just have to go back and experience it more in depth, on my own.
classes are pretty good, other than that. i like my practicum group, for the most part. a couple people are too high maintenance for my taste. i tried not to judge them on first impressions, but second and third impressions haven't changed them much at all. for one especially; she's only gotten worse. maybe she's having a hard time, maybe she's a great person. maybe she'll end up my best friend. i don't know. but right now she seems to have an attitude problem and an "i'm too cool for this" expression all the time. but everyone else is really awesome.
so, i just went on this long rant about how much i hate my computer...and it kicked me off internet for the 3rd time tonight. HATE!!!! need a new one. *coughchristmascough* i can't stand this one anymore. slower than death, can't multitask, keyboard rediculously messed up, not enough space. i seriously want to throw it out the window right now.
luckily, blogger saved most of what i wrote. not all of it. i'll paraphrase the rest. i had mentioned another class going on a bus tour seeing architecture and public art. tour speech blah blah blah didn't listen. drove through greek town and china town, almost went to obama's house but couldn't find it. and then i think i started my computer rant, which i trimmed down to the few sentences above.
anyway... internship is going good, still. having a lot of fun working, and just living in chicago. also, a couple of people have asked me to design stuff for them, so i have extra projects to work on! and i'm still trying to keep up with my art. senior show next semester!!!
well, before my pain-in-the-ass computer blows up, i'm gonna finish. until next time, y'all-
love and kisses
Saturday, September 6, 2008
first few days of work, plus some fun
well, i've been broken in to the gallery now. worked 3 days. thursday was the first. it was good. kinda busy b/c of the new show (which opened yesterday). lot of cleaning, straightening, putting up labels. cleaned walls. got the mail. rearranged/organized the gift shop (Beate said i have a good eye for that!). lot of simple (some might say boring) things but i enjoyed it because i enjoy being at the gallery. finally got to meet amy this day, and she's really nice.
day two was more cleaning, putting up galler titles (on large sheets of contact paper that has to be perfectly level at the right height for Beate to be happy). met Kristin, a volunteer, and Sarah, another intern. they were both really nice; both artists as well. unfortunately it was sarah's last day before going back to school. we toasted her with champaigne before the opening. the opening was really fun. met a few artists, talked to them a bit. mostly just greeted people and ate cookies. looked after the artisan gallery- helped people if they wanted to try on any of the jewelry. the show is really good- you can check it out on the website (link in last blog).
today (yes i work weekends) was a short day. almost as soon as i got there, an artist walked in and i chatted with her for a bit. mostly about her ceramics studio and how i should visit it when i have time and possibly take a class there. it would be really cool, but i think it clashes with a cs class. got to visit ARC Gallery, just around the corner from Woman Made. it's another woman run gallery; they had some good stuff, too. sent out a few emails. did some filing. took some notes on a piece that got broke by kids running around during the opening yesteday. then i got to go home. early, even.
btw, here's my schedule:
thurs/fri= 12-7
sat/sun= 12-4
mon/tues= 5 hours each anytime between 9 and 5 at the CS offices. or whenever i feel like it if i am visiting other galleries. as long as i get 5 hours each day. this is basically my weekend.
wed= classes 10:30-5
so that was work stuff. what else have i done? well, on thurs i went to the circus. it was our first Fine Arts Event. Zoppe Family Circus, a small one ring show run by the same family of Italians for 6 generations. very quality, old time style circus. funny and impressive for being so small. saw a father who juggles his kids with his feet. basically, one child sits on his feet (he's on his back) and he flips them and catches them on his feet again. but they do twists and land perfectly. sometimes the littler kids stood on his feet and did perfect flips. it was good to really get into it and feel like a kid again. hadn't been to a circus in a long time, and i loved it. it was great! .....
other than the fact that it was freezing! raining and windy. all day. bought an umbrella that morning that broke as i was walking to the circus. and then it started raining harder. i was on my own, coming straight from work (still in work clothes). followed the directions we were given and figured out pretty quickly that those directions were wrong. turned around, missed the street i was looking for because my glasses were rain spattered and foggy. thought i was gonna be late, soaked all the way through, stepping in puddles, in a strange neighborhood. asked for directions and kept walking. (btw the directions we were originally given made it sound easy and quick to get to. they lied) when i finally got there (an hour and a half after i left work), i was greeted by 3 soggy figures that turned out to be our professors. they surprised my by telling me i was the first one there! i couldn't believe it. but soon the rest of the class wandered in, in varying states of wetness. a few actually got there late, after the show had started. of course, Nino the clown made fun of them for it! but we all survived. and the professors shuttled us to the train stations afterwards. while waiting for a ride, a bunch of us crowded under a roof/shell of umbrellas, trying to keep dry and warm. it would have made a good pic, but no one had a camera.
so those are the events so far. tues we go to museum of contemporary art!!!!
I am starting to feel at home here in chicago. took my first solo bus ride to work and back and i survived. getting my bearings directionwise. the people are friendly enough (except for the bus/cab drivers). we're going dancing tonight. the apartment is...well, it is. that's about it. we hear every delivery truck, every garbage truck in the mornings. every fire truck, police car, and ambulance in the middle of the night, and a few drunks in the evening. i set off the smoke alarm making pizza rolls last night. that was fun.
been doing reading for class, plus finished 2 pleasure reading books already. got a lot of travel time to read. so far, chicago has generally been good to me. but i miss my friends still! need to hear from people. call me! *coughtuckercough*
well, i think this is long enough. love you all!
day two was more cleaning, putting up galler titles (on large sheets of contact paper that has to be perfectly level at the right height for Beate to be happy). met Kristin, a volunteer, and Sarah, another intern. they were both really nice; both artists as well. unfortunately it was sarah's last day before going back to school. we toasted her with champaigne before the opening. the opening was really fun. met a few artists, talked to them a bit. mostly just greeted people and ate cookies. looked after the artisan gallery- helped people if they wanted to try on any of the jewelry. the show is really good- you can check it out on the website (link in last blog).
today (yes i work weekends) was a short day. almost as soon as i got there, an artist walked in and i chatted with her for a bit. mostly about her ceramics studio and how i should visit it when i have time and possibly take a class there. it would be really cool, but i think it clashes with a cs class. got to visit ARC Gallery, just around the corner from Woman Made. it's another woman run gallery; they had some good stuff, too. sent out a few emails. did some filing. took some notes on a piece that got broke by kids running around during the opening yesteday. then i got to go home. early, even.
btw, here's my schedule:
thurs/fri= 12-7
sat/sun= 12-4
mon/tues= 5 hours each anytime between 9 and 5 at the CS offices. or whenever i feel like it if i am visiting other galleries. as long as i get 5 hours each day. this is basically my weekend.
wed= classes 10:30-5
so that was work stuff. what else have i done? well, on thurs i went to the circus. it was our first Fine Arts Event. Zoppe Family Circus, a small one ring show run by the same family of Italians for 6 generations. very quality, old time style circus. funny and impressive for being so small. saw a father who juggles his kids with his feet. basically, one child sits on his feet (he's on his back) and he flips them and catches them on his feet again. but they do twists and land perfectly. sometimes the littler kids stood on his feet and did perfect flips. it was good to really get into it and feel like a kid again. hadn't been to a circus in a long time, and i loved it. it was great! .....
other than the fact that it was freezing! raining and windy. all day. bought an umbrella that morning that broke as i was walking to the circus. and then it started raining harder. i was on my own, coming straight from work (still in work clothes). followed the directions we were given and figured out pretty quickly that those directions were wrong. turned around, missed the street i was looking for because my glasses were rain spattered and foggy. thought i was gonna be late, soaked all the way through, stepping in puddles, in a strange neighborhood. asked for directions and kept walking. (btw the directions we were originally given made it sound easy and quick to get to. they lied) when i finally got there (an hour and a half after i left work), i was greeted by 3 soggy figures that turned out to be our professors. they surprised my by telling me i was the first one there! i couldn't believe it. but soon the rest of the class wandered in, in varying states of wetness. a few actually got there late, after the show had started. of course, Nino the clown made fun of them for it! but we all survived. and the professors shuttled us to the train stations afterwards. while waiting for a ride, a bunch of us crowded under a roof/shell of umbrellas, trying to keep dry and warm. it would have made a good pic, but no one had a camera.
so those are the events so far. tues we go to museum of contemporary art!!!!
I am starting to feel at home here in chicago. took my first solo bus ride to work and back and i survived. getting my bearings directionwise. the people are friendly enough (except for the bus/cab drivers). we're going dancing tonight. the apartment is...well, it is. that's about it. we hear every delivery truck, every garbage truck in the mornings. every fire truck, police car, and ambulance in the middle of the night, and a few drunks in the evening. i set off the smoke alarm making pizza rolls last night. that was fun.
been doing reading for class, plus finished 2 pleasure reading books already. got a lot of travel time to read. so far, chicago has generally been good to me. but i miss my friends still! need to hear from people. call me! *coughtuckercough*
well, i think this is long enough. love you all!
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
*sigh* Internet at last!
okay all, so... i've been in chicago since last week monday (aug 25th) and i can finally sit down with my computer and write about the last week and a half. i'm at The Corner Bakery where they have free wirless and really good oatmeal. i'm gonna be here a lot.
any. for those who don't know, i'm doing Chicago Semester this fall; i'm interning and taking classes until the first week of december. orientation started last monday. kav (stepdad) dropped me off at the hotel the CSers stay at during orientation, and i was on my own. super nice hotel, nice rooms, very modern lobby decor, wine tasting every night. had to wear business casual whenever we were outside our rooms. kind of annoying but ya get used to it.
anyway, we had meeting after meeting, some getting to know you games, how to get around chicago sessions, interviewing tips, safety reminders, and all that stuff on monday and tuesday. everyone was really nice and helpful, but we were all still a bit nervous. the map of chicago they gave us is literally the size of my bed. daunting, but i think pretty simple once you get your bearings.
on tues, we found out our list of interview sites. i'd already had two phone interviews over the summer, so i only had to go to one real interview that week, plus visiting one of the others. wed through friday most people had interviews. wed i interviewed at Intuit: Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art. http://www.art.org/ very cool, and the interview went really well.. Wed i visited Woman Made Gallery, the internship i really wanted and eventually got. i didn't ever get to visit the other place i had a phone interview with b/c they were at a convention or something all last week. that one was DuSable Museum of African American History. it sounded like a cool gallery but the work i would have been doing wasn't at all what i wanted. it would have been a lot of organizing and filing, cataloguing and things like that.
at woman made, i get to do everything from washing windows to setting up galleries and interacting with the artists. i get to go to other galleries and compare them, do research, update the websites, etc. i get hours for galley openings and stuff that is more fun that work! i'm really excited, and the people i work for are great.
i should probably say something about woman made: it's a small, non profit gallery that supports and raises awareness for female artists. they have some really good art up right now, but i think they are putting in a new show soon. check out the website, though. http://womanmade.org/index.html
wednesday of orientation week we also got apartments set up. (we just moved in sat. morning). small, $500/month each for a two bed studio. but they are a couple blocks from the beach and there are a lot of bars/restaurants/cafes nearby, plus a barnes and noble, walgreens, grocery stores, and a cta station. i'm living with whitney powell from dordt. met her on our london trip this summer but didn't really get to know her that well. we like a lot of the same things so we decided to room together. we live on the second floor which is nice for going up and down, but there's no view. :( oh well. lots of other CSers live in the same building so there's always someone to talk to/go to the beach with.
on sat, dad and grandma came up with the rest of my stuff. we went to navy pier- took a short cruise around the lake, then went to sears tower. lots of waiting in line, lots of people. but the view at night is gorgeous. sunday and monday were chillaxing days. beach, grocery shopping, unpacking, buying forgotten items, more beach. Zulfiya, Michelle, and I had a drawing party at the beach on monday (yesterday). sunday night we went downtown to grant (?) park for the jazz festival. awesome. stood in line for free organic delicious dark chocolate. then listened to great jazz music. after that we played in a cool fountain and went out for ice cream. last night a bunch of us went to another CSers apartment and had a pasta dinner, everyone bringing a little something. it was fun. the other students are pretty cool. i haven't met everyone (there's 60 of us), but i recognize most faces.
all the leaders are really nice. especially cynthia. she's kind of my go-to person. i was in her group for the interview process and she made my internship possible. (there were complications with hours). and she is going to be my practicum group leader. our practicum groups are the small groups we have for discussing our semester each week. they happen on wednesdays along with classes. speaking of classes: i'm in the arts in the city seminar, where we go to a different event each week and discuss it, write about it, reflect, and we have a final project at the end of the semester. the other class is metropolitan: public art, where we discuss and look at architecture, sculpture, etc and it's impact on the city and city life.
so yeah.... what haven't i talked about yet? the cta trains are pretty simple, even if they don't go all the places i'd like them to. buses are intimidating but i think i can figure them out. good places to eat- had thai once during orientation, and went out to a pub once for supper. mostly we've gone to cheap places though, and now we can buy our own groceries. i've only been out to a bar once with a big group of people. some people have been out a lot. it's just too expensive!
oh! and i "discovered" a great place for tea: Argo Tea. it's like starbucks, but tea instead of coffee. delicious. great atmoshpere, friendly. and we found where wicked is playing, and jersey boys too. oh, and we saw an improv shakespeare show. BEST EVER! i don't even know if i can explain it properly. it's too much awesome. http://chicago.ioimprov.com/io/shows/14
well, for now, i think that's it. sorry it's long- i had to make up for the time lapse.
enjoy some pics- wherever they show up! love and miss you all!
p.s. my address is 1220 N. State Parkway (not street, sorry if i already told you it was street)
Chicago, IL 60610. and if you don't have my phone number yet, shame on you. 712-210-1179
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