RISD on the get down

first Days of New York

2007-12-18T10:44:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I went to the Guggenheim Museum. It was almost overwhelming, it was like being in a visual/sensory russian dolls. first of all to be in the city of New York with all of its stimulus, and then to be in the actual Guggenheim, my first time in a Frank Lloyd Wright designed building, and then to be looking at amazing old paintings by the likes of Vuillard and Kandinsky, and then at top of that to be taking in all of the brush strokes of the paintings.
It was difficult after a while to continue to take everything in, to try, during my 4-5 hours there, to keep noticing the building from its many levels and nooks and crannies and changes in light, as well as to take in all of the art.

The main attraction was Richard Prince. I got what he was doing with his work, his commentaries on consumerism, the american dream, its pulls and repulsion, but I didn't find it to be that layered of work, it got a bit tiresome after a while.

It was pretty intense, while going to the restroom, which were these intimate triangular rooms, to think, this space was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, and I felt very close to his artwork in those moments!

My friends Nikki and Anjali going for breakfast at a diner before they both headed back to Providence then to England.

Today I will spend the day in Brooklyn, tomorrow, to the Met, which takes up something like four blocks. wtf!

pulled a rabbit out of the hat...pressure is off!

2007-12-15T21:21:00.000-08:00

I'm here in New York with my two friends from Glasgow, I just arrived today at around 8pm. I was going to leave sooner, but found out the studios would be shutting down before I returned to Providence, so I had to go to my painting studio and take all of my canvases off their stretchers and then roll the canvases (about 8 of them) around a tube. Then I was out of there!

Actually, the day before, on Friday we had our final day of crits in painting (2 day crits - intense!). So the night before that on Thursday, I stayed all night in the studio, from the time our class ended at 6:30pm, until the time our class started the next day at 9am. I wasnt' the only one, there were about 4 of us all-nighters. And I finished up one painting, and started and finished two other paintings, plus added some colour bits to a large drawing! I had told my teacher I was only going to have one painting finished, but I felt really sick about that, I felt like I would probably get skewered in crit, so I thought I may as well attempt something. It was a good thing I had a concept in mind before I started painting. That's the hardest part usually, coming up with the idea.

So, the funny thing was that the paintings turned out well, and everybody liked them very much - Go figure! People were saying, when it was over, "keep painting what you're painting!" so it was really encouraging. The concensus was that my paintings showed a deadpan humour. It's weird because I don't ever try for that, for the paintings to be houmourous. I'll post the paintings as soon as I can figure out how to do it. Actually, I only took photos of two of the paintings, the others are rolled up, so it might be a while before they'll be posted. It was a raucous crit, everyone was exhausted and giddy, and it was actually a fun time. So last night I got home at 7:30 pm and slept until 10 am and I feel quite back to normal, it hasn't really sunk in that risd is over!!! Wow, it was quite the slog! Now that it's over, it's a bit like giving birth, I've already begun to forget the parts about the semester in which I was in excruciating hell (refer to previous post)!

My friends are leaving tomorrow, and then I will have a whole week in New York to do as I please, with no assignments to worry about, but it's funny, because as I was on the bus this afternoon, I kept thinking about what I'm going to paint next, and the whole process is starting over in my mind. New York!!!!

Still life with packaging (one of 4 paintings from final crit):

Is it over yet? or, procrastination central

2007-12-12T13:56:00.000-08:00

This is an illustration done by a student in the illustration dept, Morgan Blair, I think it's really good.

I finished my children's book class critique today. We were critiqued by 4 people in the publishing biz, they work at Houghton-Mifflin and Candlewick Press and others. It was positive, for sure, and the feedback was stupendously helpful and bang-on. I need to work on my colours, they said, also to resolve the ending a bit. Will do, I say! I wish that I could take a watercolour painting class, as I really don't know what I'm doing! Oh well. I'll try to work on it over the holidays. One young woman from our class, Kate Pfeiffer, got chosen today by one of the publishers to get her book, "Crying is for Babies", published. That is sooo great! Her book is a young reader chapter book, it has about 4 chapters. Her book genuinely cracks me up, she has a perfect ear for how kids talk/think. She is graduating next semester. She kind of struggled throughout the semester in working in the picture book format, she was always kind of forcing a sweet style, but the easy-reader format is so perfect for her. Wow.

I didn't get any sleep last night, working on putting my book dummy together. Now that I'm done that project I'm completely avoiding going to my painting studio. I told my teacher I wasn't going to finish all four paintings required for the final project, because I couldn't see it possible to do 3.5 paintings in one week, plus a kids book dummy, plus two finished illustrations for that class.

I am feeling completely BAD about this. I have never sloughed off an assignment before. My teacher said I wouldn't fail, but it would bring my mark down, and I'm really afraid people are going to totally nail me for it in my crit. I do not want to go to studio, but I have to. Please God, let the next two days (a two-day long crit, no less) go by painlessly then I can scurry away from here with my tail between my legs. O, the pressure! & shame! I wish I could take some drug to make it all go by in a blur of painlessness. Is this too dramatic?

it snowed/ femSex is over

2007-12-08T16:25:00.000-08:00

It snowed lightly yesterday. The sidewalks were long and narrow skating rinks.
Also, we had a femSex wrap-up party (the workshop I took at Brown). It was sooo much fun, and full of good vibrations, I only wanted to stay for a short time because I was so tired, but ended up being one of the last to leave, it made me energized with all of the lovely folks both from my unit and the two other classes. Here are some of the inspiring, beautiful and femsexy women (and one man!) from my class:

Watch out in Vancouver, I vowed to bring snapping back home with me - that is, snapping my fingers when I agree with what someone's saying.

ceramics show

2007-12-08T16:16:00.000-08:00

A piece by current risd & former ECI faculty Linda Sormin

Wow, wow wow. I was so inspired by the ceramics show they had here. It was a juried show from all levels of ceramics folks at risd - undergrad, grad and faculty. I loooove ceramics, I can't hide it! Why am I not a ceramics major? I love it!

What really got me excited were these "painted" ceramics pieces. I should have written down the artist's name, it's so bad of me not to know it. I believe she is in one of the other junior painting classes, like me. I've been having ideas to add images such as painted images to ceramics, but wasn't sure how it would look, I think she did it very beautifully.

The following pieces reminded me of Grayson Perry. I love the pop imagery mixed with the olde-worldy medium of ceramics.

These ones were delicate and underwatery/with a fabric like tecture and covered most of a wall:

good old hockey game

2007-12-07T10:56:00.001-08:00

Last night I went to the Boston Garden to watch the Montreal Canadiens vs. the Bruins. I never go to see a hockey game in Vancouver because it's really expensive, and I'm just not that into it, but it is funny how being away from Canada makes me miss it, that I went to the hockey game to be closer to Canada. And when I got into the arena, and I saw the white rounded rectangle of ice, it was so cozy and soothing. And then when they sang the Canadian national anthem, I sang along, quietly so no Boston fans could hear me, but I heard a lot of other people singing too. I think it's because one quarter of the fans were Montreal fans (I know, Montreal fans are so anoying at Canucks games, but I liked them in Boston because they were from home - even though I 've only ever been to Montreal for one weekend).

The Habs won, and it didn't matter, I was going for both teams and for a good game. Which it was, ending so quickly.

other programs at risd

2007-12-04T12:37:00.000-08:00

Sand Dune house by Katharina

risd has a lot of programs here that we don't have at ECI. The ones I can think of are:

architecture
glass blowing (glass)
jewelry and metalsmithing
apparel design
textiles
interior architecture
illustration

I went with a couple of exchange students who are in architecture, Annabel from New Zealand and Katharina from Germany, and went to check out their studios:

It was one huge room, as far as the eye could see, full of drafting tables.

I also went to check out textiles one day, they had rows of looms, and rooms full of colourful threads/yarns that looked like it would be very fun to create designs with. I saw this work in a classroom:

I wrangled myself an illustration studio, so now I have one on the top floor of the Illustration studies building, and one painting studio. It is interesting to see some of the paintings in the illustration department. They are helping me to understand painting as opposed to illustration. Illustration painting is a lot about straight up representation & rendering, whereas painting, well, I don't know what the hell it's about! (but that's another story!)Here is my illustration studio with someone's illustration painting seen in the foreground:

There was a talk by a former risd illustration student, David Weisner, last week. He won the most recent Caldecott Medal for children's picture book illustration for his book "Flotsam". He has won a total of 3 Caldecott medals. Our class and another class got to talk with him in a classroom, a pretty intimate setting. He talked a lot about how he struggles struggles struggles! to come up with story ideas, and even after he has received his advance payment from the publishing company, and it is done and spent, he said he still has no idea what to write about! Such pressure! It takes about one year to illustrate a book, once he has his story idea figured out. And he said that he is now in the position where he doesn't have deadlines, he takes as long as he needs to illustrate a book, because of his success. It was refreshing to hear that with all his success, he still struggles to come up with ideas. On the other hand, this was also daunting to hear: What, with all your success, it's still a grind of pressures?? Here is an image from his new book from his slideshow, He creates his images in many many many thin layers of watercolour on watercolour paper. it sounds like a very time consuming process:

previous painting

2007-12-04T12:26:00.000-08:00

Hello! I'll be super busy the next 2 weeks, so this is going to be a quick post! This is my painting from painting crit around 3 weeks ago (There is a painting sitting behind it, so it might be a little confusing). I don't like it so much, but I think I'm interested in the subject matter - the banal moments of everyday folk. Maybe. Don't know. My teacher suggested it could be time for a return to American regionalism/ social realism. I was inspired by the painter from that era Ben Schon. I don't even know if I like this painting, it's okay.

But I love my children's book illustration class! Sorry, no images from there! Only one more week until we show our work to some editors. Wow! Sooooo much to do between now and that time!!!

Brown Library - hey I want those books back!

2007-11-26T14:12:00.000-08:00

Last night I went to Brown's Rockefeller library for the first time because I needed some images of Newfoundland, so I ended up in the section of Canadian history on level 3. It was fascinating! It was sad! There were about 20 or so books on the history of BC, and many of them were from the 1890s. They were so old, when I opened them up, red dust from the jacket was left on my pants as they were disintegrating.

And most of these books haven't been checked out since the 1960s! I guess they got most of their history books on Canada in the 19th century and haven't felt the need to add much to their collection.

There was this beautiful book on the Rocky Mountains, with photos from the 1890s of the mountains and this one of the Banff Springs Hotel: If you open them to enlarge them, you can see the dust on my pants from the books disintegrating.

I seriously felt the urge to steal these books, to bring them to Canada, to repatriate them to the proper archives where somebody would give a damn about them, because obviously if they haven't been checked out in close to 50 years, they're not being used much. It made me wonder what other books about histories were languishing in other Ivy League schools, and who knows where else? It would be a cool project to somehow copy these books so that their information could be in Canadian archives.

The book on the history of BC told of how the First Nations could not cope with contact with a superior civilization (the whites) and intellect, and so they just turned to alcohol and started to die out! This book needs to be in BC archives!

I found this book on Newfoundland written in (if I can remember correctly) the 1930s by Joey Smallwood. The caption under these fish is "a good day's work".

The Canadian history section:

what I see when I walk home - it's usually at night

2007-11-26T14:00:00.000-08:00

Okay, before I leave I wanted to show what it looks like when I walk around here, so I can remember too! I usually walk home around anywhere from 10pm to 2am. Today in the Brown Herald I heard there was a mugging at gunpoint near where I live at 1:31am a few nights ago! So it's not all american flags and pillars around here, it's serious business. I love the exercise of walking home, but that freaks me out!

I have to walk through the Brown campus on my way home, and this is my favourite part, it feels so cozy to me, and classic Ivy League campus:

And then I walk another 15 minutes past the Brown campus. I like to walk down Power St. (the street I live on) because it has a lot of houses I feel I can run to in case of emergency, as opposed to dorms, or campus buildings that I can't get into or large brick-fenced lots full of empty blackness. These are some of the houses along Power:

This is the house on the corner on my block. It is somewhat spooky, and felt much spookier when no one was living in it a while back. For some reason, all houses of this style feel spooky to me:

And that's it, a bit of a walk through my neighbourhood (at around 10pm last night).

aahhh, thanksgiving

2007-11-25T15:48:00.000-08:00

Okay, even though I was a non-believer of this thanksgiving, I was giving thanks for having no classes for the past week and a bit! I was thankful because even though I was a non-believer, somehow the holidays just seemed to sweep over me, too, and I got all into holiday-mode! So what did I do? Marathon coffee sessions with myself and my sketchbook, I went for a walk with Shannon from Nova Scotia, and I partook in RISD's free turkey dinner for all of us who were left behind and didn't get to go home for thanksgiving.

It was so warm, we ate outside and I only wore a shirt! I ate two pieces of pie, and then they said, please, take some food home, we have too much! So I took home enough helpings for two dinners for myself later, plus much more for my roommate (he works at JCPenny, and says, after taxes, he makes about $6 per hour!), but I did eat one of his pieces of pie - so that made three pieces in total that day for me. And my pants are tight now! But I was pms-ing so I have since excused myself - but not totally.

And before the school shut down on Wednesday, I spent a few hours in the library's little video viewing room. They have these comfy bean bag chairs (actually, not too comfy on the neck) and I smuggled some food into that room and THOROUGHLY enjoyed myself watching Manhatten by Wood Allen and Blood Simple by the Coen Brothers (Fargo fame - they have a new movie, great reviews, can't wait!).

While I was watching the movies I fell asleep for about an hour or so, after a long week of late nights in the painting studio.

Because I have no tv or dvd player at home, and no computer at home, any time I can watch moving pictures is thoroughly enjoyable! This is the first time I've allowed myself to watch some movies at the library here, even though I do it practically every lunch time when I'm at ECI, watch bits of movies while I eat my lunch.

So I was thankful for the holiday, because this week I've been getting some much-needed sleep!

Oh, also, the previous weekend, I went with 3 friends to Vermont, and I was soo tired, I didn't even take photos, except for this one in the rest stop on the interstate as we were leaving Vermont, it was only about 6pm and so dark!

And then, just before I was going to bring the rental car back to Budget - a flipping fender-bender! It was my fault, I was backing out across two lanes, and did not see the guy behind me and I crunched into him! Not too serious, but will probably ending up costing me serious cash!

the big shutdown - aka thanksgiving

2007-11-21T14:14:00.000-08:00

The above is an image of some jewelry a fellow exchange student from Sweden made - Marta. She is so talented. She is in the department, Jewelry & Metalsmithing, something they don't offer at Emily Carr.

Anyhow, today is the day before thanksgiving here, and everything is shutting down for at least one day! The worst of which - my favourite coffee shop - the Coffee Exchange!
What the heck?!!

I never thought I'd say this, but thank goodness for Starbucks! I guess I'll be hunkering down there tomorrow. The school will be closed, and possibly the painting studios, so I'll just be working on my kids' book illustrations.

The Met, risd's main cafeteria is closed until Sunday! Yikes! It is the place where I get at least one meal per day, as I can get a full vegan/vegetarian meal for only $2.95! Sooo, I better scamper over to Whole Foods, and get me some provisions for the long day of closedness. Actually, I just read that the international house at risd will be having a thanksgiving dinner with all the fixings tomorrow, I am so there!

Most of the other exchange students went to New York City, but I wanted to save my trip until school was out, and make it a working week, as I will have in total 1.5 weeks without classes. I thought thanksgiving was not a big deal, but come to think of it, it's my first thanksgiving without my family - and yet, I feel like this isn't even my thanksgiving - I feel like I'm in an odd spot - I feel like a non-believer in a land of believers who is pissed that everything is just shutting down around me. Thanksgiving here is a Big Deal - everyone (for the most part, except some Californians and Idahoans) are going home, which always seemed funny to me observing this from Canada.

Happy Thanksgiving!

risd has pilates

2007-11-13T14:36:00.000-08:00

One perk at risd is that it has a gym and exercise rooms under the main cafeteria. So I signed up for pilates classes, ten classes for only $50! There are about six of us exchange students in the class, and about 20 in total.We have class every Tuesday at 7pm for one hour.

I've never done pilates before, but I really like it! It takes a lot of concentration and control, which I like and it gets to the stomach muscles like nothing else I've done, and I always feel more relaxed and refreshed afterwards. Ideally I would like to do it at least three times per week, but this is a good start, the exercises seem to be getting easier, so I think I might be getting stronger in my stomach area. This is something I really wish they could offer at Emily Carr, but the cheap price is because it is subsidized by the students activity fees that are added to their tuition.

They also offer yoga (vinyasa and bikrams), kickboxing, butts and guts, and I think a couple others which I can't recall. I can't say how nice the gym is, because I've never stepped foot inside, but it seems to have a lot of machines (I'm not a big fan of machines)!

what to do with a crazy landlady

2007-11-11T13:50:00.000-08:00

I just got off the phone with my landlady. I feel very upset about it. The first thing she said to me was, "take out the garbage, that place is a mess!" this is total b.s. We have no dirty dishes in the sink, my bed is made, the kitchen table is clear, and we clean the house once per week. Yes the garbage is full, but garbage day is tomorrow, what's it her business?

And then she also said, "You lied to me!" She has said this the past four times she has called. She says it because she says I never told her I was only staying for one semester. It is her word against mine, but I distinctly remember telling her. She said I lied because I crossed it out on the lease. I only crossed out something she had written previously on the lease because she re-uses the same lease and there's old writing on it. And then when I try to explain, she says, "I don't want to argue about it!"

She actually came into my room when I wasn't there and searched through my stuff to get a copy of the lease! I told her I don't like her doing this, she said, "Oh, I didn't search through your stuff, it was right on the top of the pile, and you had two leases, you lied to me, you said you gave me the other copy!" This is total b.s.!!! She was supposed to come pick up the lease and didn't come. Shit, I just thought that maybe she took my only copy of the lease, or maybe I did have two, I didn't keep track. I have a feeling she is doing this so that she won't have to give me the security deposit back. She totally spins my head around, I can't take it.

I told her, "I don't like your accusations, I am not a liar." And I said, "My roommate's girlfriend is there 6 nights a week, so I only want to pay 1/3 of utilities." She said, "I can't believe you're complaining, I can't help it if his girlfriend is there. You have the whole place to yourself, and you're complaining? I can't believe it!" I don't have the whole place to myself, I use my room the kitchen and the bathroom and that's it. There is a suite empty downstairs, and two empty bedrooms upstairs. I can't help it if her rooms are empty!!! And then, she actually had the nerve to end the phone call by saying, "take care".

Oh man, I cannot take this much longer. It is people like this, and the accumulation of poor treatment, that is making me want to get the hell out of here. Small things like my painting studio neighbour not acknowledging me when I say hello, and other small rude behaviours by other people is turning me off!

These photos are from Halloween, but the eyes in the windows in the photo seem to represent my landlady well.

I guess I shouldn't complain too much, other people have been very kind, such as the instructors in my illustration class, and the students, too, in that class, a couple people in my painting class, and the british exchange students have been great to hang out with, but today, I'm sad/infuriated/frustrated/t.o.'d!

painting critiques - yikes!

2007-11-08T09:36:00.001-08:00

Here is a photo of my painting class watching slides in the critique room. The slide is of Damien Hirst's diamond encrusted skull. My painting critique classes freak me out, to be honest, they're pretty harsh compared to what I've been used to.

Here is one of my latest paintings from our last critique. I did it over two days. It's supposed to be a painting that has no conclusion, that goes no where, that was my intention. Also, I wanted to incorporate drawn figures into the painting, and just fill them in. Some of the comments from the critique about my paintings were:

A student: "I wish you would take a stand on something, anything! You just take what's cool and put it in your painting."

My teacher said I should stop looking at contemporary art magazines and look at older paintings. She also said I am very detached from my images, and not to go to the Picture Library anymore, We are not image collectors! Um, what else, oh yeah, she said I was giving them "just enough". Other students came to my defense, "I disagree", said my studio neighbour, "it's a painting that has no conclusion" other people liked some of the elements of the painting, like how I sculpted the faces, and how I painted the shirt on the guy on the right. I was really confused, because as I was making the painting I really liked it, and so felt quite unconfident about my painting choices after this. Also, I was a little freaked out while doing my last three paintings because I had to do them in something like four days, after being sick, and after my first attempt at a painting did not work out. So, now I can see, that yes, I was doing, "just enough". But I do like how I painted the horse and the waterfall pictures in the painting. I seriously hate how I've painted the guy on the left, plus other things about it, too. Oh well, I'm here to learn.

In the last couple days, I've been thinking, "wtf - it's only paint on a canvas, I'm not going to be so serious." And I'm also taking more time to do my next three paintings - 1 per week - quite the pace! I've already painted over the painting I've shown above.

New York + Jenn Jackson + Brooklyn + off-broadway= last saturday

2007-11-06T13:44:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday I took the risd bus on down to New York. It was for the day, but when you add in two 4 hour trips to get there and back, I was only left with 6 hours. So many plans had to be fit into 6 hours, and some were discarded! I was very hungry when I arrived, so I came across a little hole in the wall joint, and sat at the counter (that's all the seating there was) and thoroughly enjoyed listening to the New York banter between customers and the owner/cook, Johnny. "Hey John, how are you?" John: "Hey bro, what can I get for you," followed by fist-touch-hand-greetings. It was amazing to me to see how Johnny the cook put his whole body into making a sandwich, it was all happening right there in front of me, and I really appreciated my sandwich after I saw how much effort he put into it.

My first plan was to some theatre. So everyday I've been reading the New York times Arts sections and their reviews of plays. I came upon one that got excellent reviews, called "Speech and Debate". It is at a theatre that is a Broadway theatre I suppose, but downstairs is called the Roundabout Underground, and they are putting on plays by young playwrights, and the tickets are only $20. The playwright of Speech and Debate is only 26, and I learned that he went to Brown University, which is right beside RISD.

When I went to buy my ticket, I found out that the show was sold out for the rest of its run, unfortunately. But they said to come back 30 minutes before the show and there might be some cancellation tickets. So when I came back, they announced that there were only two cancellation tickets, but there were three people in front of me. Fortunately, the three were a group and they didn't want to split up, so I got the ticket, and same with the guy behind me (a dream boat of a man, really, whom I sat beside). The play was very funny, not completely moving or enlightening, which I love in a play, but very entertaining and well done. Here is the one photo I took, the stage is meant to look like a classroom. There was one very large dude in front of me who I always had to crane my neck to look around:

After the play, which was around 2 hours long, I was off to Brooklyn to see The Miss Jenn Jackson! It was sooo great to see her! It turns out that we are both having some tough times with some very critical teachers, and have both wanted to stop doing art all together, so it was great to connect and I felt like I wasn't so alone in this feeling.

As you can see, I was very excited, ha!

Unfortunately I had just over one hour to spend in Brooklyn with Jenn. We grabbed a pizza, went into some great shops and then went to a coffee shop. Brooklyn is amazing. I guess it's becoming known for being the place where all the hipsters live, and when I was looking around, everyone had the art school hipster look.

But it was all too short, and I had to get on the subway to head back downtown to catch the risd bus. I headed in the wrong direction and was 40 minutes late and everyone was waiting for me. Yikes! But at least I heard this duo in the subway, the guy had the most haunting of voices.

risd's nature lab

2007-11-01T17:19:00.000-07:00

One of the coolest things that risd has is the nature lab. It is full of taxidermy!

It has little blowfish that are dried up!

It has live chameleons, fish, turtles, rat-like creatures & crickets, and these frogs:

The nature lab started many years back, I think around the 1930s by a teacher, Edna Lawrence, so it is officially called the Edna Lawrence Nature Lab. She started to collect things from nature for her students to draw, and then it just kept on growing.

One great thing is that any item in the nature lab without a red dotted sticker can be taken out of the nature lab for a week! But none of the taxidermy heads can be taken out, but things like shells and pine cones and some butterflies in little clear boxes.

It's an excellent place to come and draw. When I had to make a character from an animal, I first drew the stuffed bear in the nature lab. It's really good to draw something that isn't two dimensional, off the internet or from a book, it's just easier to get a sense of the animal's certain characteristics, like how their paws bend and such.

It's the job of a few students to work in the nature lab, it seems to me like they always have around three students working at one time, as well as a manager or two. I think it would be a great student job, feeding the fish, bringing down the taxidermy when requested, etc. There are also several fake skeletons in the nature lab, and one real skeleton. There are skulls of various different animals and fetuses also. I think a lot of Foundation students come here to draw, I think it would be a great resource when just learning to draw.

This deer sits by the iguana who is kept warm by the red light.

leaf within a leaf

2007-10-30T15:11:00.000-07:00

I was walking to school, and I noticed these leaves on the sidewalk, they both had images of leaves within leaves on them. New England is famous for its colourful fall leaves, but I never knew this kind of leaf existed. I thought it was very beautiful and a creative thing for mother nature to do. is that a corny thing to say?

Cape Cod is not odd, it's not flawed or gnawed

2007-10-30T14:00:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been a week since I last posted! I think that is because I am parts exhausted/busy/defeated/and was sick last week. Sorry for the delay, dear readers. After some more tough critiques and a crazy work load, was I ever happy to get outta town last weekend. And so the brits and I (Rory, Niki and Anjali) all pitched in and rented a car to go to Cape Cod. I was the driver, and although we ordered an economy car, we got an SUV.

Cape Cod is something like 2 or 3 hours from Providence. The main town, Provincetown was begun in something like 1626, and the pilgrims stopped there on their way to Plymouth (very old place!). It was a windy place, but the town was very cute, a lot of old houses with grey weathered shingles. Also, Cape Cod is the gay-folks mecca, so there are rainbow flags and middle aged gay couples everywhere, the most I've ever seen in one place. Also, lobster is huge there. There are pictures of lobsters everywhere, but the funny thing was, even with all of the advertising, and saying we would love to eat some lobster so much, we didn't. I guess we forgot.

I did eat some salt water taffy, it was delish. I think that's another thing Cape Cod is famous for.

But the one thing I didn't know is that Cape Cod is beautiful. We stopped our SUV at the side of the road where there were a bunch of cars parked, and made a small trek through a thin band of forest, and then the trail turned to sand!

And when we came out of the forest was the most bizarre landscape I've ever seen: mountains of sand, with dips and bowls and grasses growing out from the sand. I haven't seen anything like it and it felt like a moonscape or science fiction setting. It was really beautiful. I think most of Cape Cod is made up of sand.

It was a great day, and sooo nice just to get away, sometimes cars are so underrated. We all agreed that our car was freedom! All in all, it only cost $20 each to rent the car (we rented it for one day, but got it for Saturday and Sunday) and for gas, totally worth it.

One of risd's cafeterias, the Portfolio Cafe

2007-10-24T12:48:00.001-07:00

RISD has at least 4 of its own cafeterias/eateries that I know about. The Portfolio Cafe is located in the same building as RISD's library. Actually, I can't say I've ever eaten there, because I don't go to the library that often, because it's across the river, and a little out of my way.

It always has a salad bar, freshly baked pizzas, a daily special and other things like burgers and fries, a soft serve ice cream machine where you can add bits of cookies and m & ms also. And today, and it seems like often when I look, it has a grains bar:

I've never seen a grains bar before this, with buckwheat and spelt salads and such, but it looks really healthy, and I think it's a great idea, but I still haven't tried it.

Here is the overall view of the portfolio:

They also sell some groceries like milk and cereal, because also in this building are several floors of student apartments. I've never been in them, but as far as I can tell, they are pretty chichi. I think that is why the food in the portfolio is a little more expensive than at the main cafeteria, the Met, to serve the more chichi risd population, but that could be just my opinion, I really don't know why.

I was there at around 2pm, so that's why it's pretty empty, but it's usually much busier around lunch and dinner. But I just ate my packed lunch from home.

Providence Athenaeum Library

2007-10-23T12:36:00.001-07:00

The Providence Athenaeum Library was built in 1753! And it's just a regular library, in which my risd student id card will allow me to check out books. There's quite a large children's book section, which is good for doing research on kids books, and getting inspiration.

This library is older than Canada and so the fact that I could take books out of it was surprising! But after a couple visits, it just seems normal.

The athenaeum is right on the edge of the risd campus, and across the street from the supreme court. I took out the novel "Kalooki Nights" just this morning.

the shutters of providence

2007-10-22T14:09:00.000-07:00

When I first came to Providence, I was fascinated that the houses had real working shutters! The only shutters I had ever seen were like on this mobile home:

faux shutters screwed onto the side of a house's windows, emulating the look of the all-american home.

So when I came to Providence, I finally saw shutters that actually seemed to have a purpose, which actually worked at some point, that pivot and close when needed and weren't just ornament. But who knows, maybe even the working shutters are all about ornament, I still haven't seen any closed yet.

But I guess these houses in Providence are the original American homes that all other homes aspire to look like, down to the fact that people will attach things that look like shutters but have absolutely no use at all.

Illustrations so far

2007-10-20T09:54:00.000-07:00

I'm really enjoying my children's book writing and illustration class, it's called Picture and Word. Here are my illustrations for that class so far.
One of our first assignments was that we were given a name of an object, and then we had to create a character out of that object, write story based on that character, and create a finished illustration (all in one week!). My word was "wrench". I really liked how my story turned out, but I did my illustration in acrylic, and wasn't very happy with it:

An assignment two weeks ago was to write a story based on a childhood memory and then do a finished illustration for it. I couldn't think of any memories of my own that could add up to a story with a beginning middle and end, so I used my brother's memory that he told me one time, of how he followed the cat because he wanted to see where it went, and they ended up sleeping in a prickle bush. Also, we had to make our main character an animal. So I had to make my brother into a bear.

So much work went into creating that bear character! I had to do a lot of sketches based on images of real bears, and then the trick is, to simplify from the realistic, that's what my teacher said, and it really works! Here's the final illustration of that:

But the bear was a little too old (it should be the age of the kids reading the book), and my teachers felt a bear mixed with a cat was a strange combo, so I had to make it back into a boy. So then I did a sketch of that with tracing paper, but the boy was too old, so I had to enlarge his head to make him younger, so many things to think about!

Last week's assignment was to take one of three fairy tales and make it our own. Somehow, mine ended up being about Stanley the Lonely mosquito, which I somehow got to out of Litttle Red Riding Hood. I really enjoyed working with collage and watercolour for this one (it's a mosquito talking to an elephant):

This week we have to write a non-fiction story, and then do a finished illustration for it. It is definitely a lot of work! Plus I have two painting to start and finish by Thursday, yikes!

a Providence side alley

2007-10-15T09:44:00.000-07:00

Just a shot of what I see when I am walking around my neighbourhood. This is actually between my usual coffee shop and school.

only in america - soap box race

2007-10-14T15:17:00.000-07:00

Yesterday in Providence the Red Bull Soap Box Race was held. Teams of about five people each created a car that was run by gravity only. Each team performed a skit before they pushed their car, with driver, down the steep streets of college hill.

Some teams spent $1000 - $3000 on their cars. All of the participants wore costumes.
Here are some of the funnier costumes:

This road kill team came in 4th, I think.

The winning team was "the Good the Bad and the Nerdy". They had a calculator for a car. The judging was based on creativity, showmanship and speed. The Nerds were speedy and funny.

This was the Canadian entry, Canadian Beaver (hardy-har):

painting project #2

2007-10-10T13:47:00.001-07:00

My first painting assignment got pretty trashed in our first crit, so I wanted to redeem myself in my second assignment.

I re-did the project of making a painting that makes a statement. My idea was to make a painting of the banal moments that make up the destruction of the world. I was thinking that it's not really one crazed person wanting to destroy the world like Dr. Evil in Austin Powers, it's just people doing their jobs, going to meetings, determining how to maximize profit. So that's what this painting was about. As for the crit: they liked it, they really liked it. I really enjoyed painting it, too.

Detail (a little blurry):

It's oil on canvas, 40" x 46" (approx.)

It's a very tough schedule, for my painting class we have to paint one painting per week, and for my children's books class, we have to write one story & one illustration per week. It feels as hectic to me as foundation year at ECI.

Avon Cinema

2007-10-06T16:00:00.000-07:00

The Avon Cinema is Providence's other excellent independent cinema. So far I've seen about three or four movies there already. Last night I went to see Jane Austen Book Club. It was quite good, I liked it.

The best movie I've seen there, and right up there with the best of any movies I've seen, was called Live In Maid. You can watch the trailer here. It is an Argentinian film which somehow reflects world and Argentinian politics/economics solely through the depiction of two women - one is the live-in maid of the other woman.

I had never even heard of this movie, and so I think that's why the Avon cinema is great, because they show excellent movies that get little exposure.

Also, the decor is cool. It was built in 1943 say the people in the photo below.

safe ride safe walk

2007-10-05T11:20:00.000-07:00

They have this good thing here, called Safe Ride and Safe Walk. Safe Ride is a bunch of vans that drive around the campuses of Brown & RISD, after a certain time, and students can catch it, for free, and take it home. After midnight (until 4 am) they will drive you directly to your door without going on a circuitous route. Sweet! I used this on Wednesday night when I was at my painting studio until 2 am. Ahh, it was nice instead of walking 25 mins. home. alone. in the dark.

Here's the safeRide driver writing down in his book that he took me home:

But a lot of times I cannot coordinate with the RISD saferide for some reason, so I usually just end up walking home because it's faster than waiting. in the dark. alone. So this is when safewalk comes in handy. It's a job for Brown students. They work from midnight until 2am walking students home safely.

The other night while walking home at around 1am, I got a safewalk home with two Brown students, David from Ohio and (woops, forgot your name, sorry) from Pittsburgh. It's nice to be walked home so late and to not have to feel freaked out. Also, it's nice talking to some new people.

Oh yeah, the reason I was walking home so late on that night - Bloc Party concert! It was an excellent show!

breakfast club

2007-10-02T08:23:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, Anjali and Nickie (both from England) and I decided to meet for a mid-week breakfast, an informal breakfast club. Usually the exchange students will meet on weekends but it's good to connect during the week too.

We decided to try Louie's. I've found that most places around Providence as well as cafeterias on campus have vegan selections, which was a nice surprise to me. I'm not vegan, but I try to avoid greasy stuff. Louie's is a greasy spoon breakfast type of place open from 5am to 2pm everyday. I was happy to find a bowl of oatmeal with fruit on the menu as well as scrambled tofu, pretty good for a greasy-spoon type of place. My order came to $3.50.

Nickie and Anjali both got pancakes, turns out pancakes are quite exotic for the European exchange students, a real American breakfast. As for reviews, the pancakes and bacon were pretty trashy but my food was not too bad for a greasy spoon. We met at 9:30am and already people there were drinking pitchers of beer. Wow!

cable car cinema

2007-10-01T11:22:00.000-07:00

Providence has two excellent independent cinemas, and at least one multiplex in the Providence Place mall downtown. So far I've seen movies at all three theatres. One of the independent ones is a cinema and coffee shop in one, called the Cable Car Cinema. When I went to get my coffee there, I could see the huge movie reel in the middle of the cafe. One night a few exchange students and I went to see a movie there. The movie itself was pretty good, not so great, "Becoming Jane", but the movie theatre was super. The coffee is pretty good too.

When you walk in, it just looks like a regular coffee shop with fun chachkas, but towards the back is a popcorn machine and doors that open to the cinema.

The seating is unlike any movie theatre I've been to: comfy loveseat-type sofas, perfect for two. Perfect for sitting in like you would when sitting in a couch watching a movie at home, which is pretty dangerous because I found my eyes trying to close a few times during the movie.

It is a great place to watch a movie, and I think more businesses ought to try running an independent cinema like this: part coffee shop, part theatre, I think it works out really well. Also, they have a wonky mirror (Annabel from New Zealand and myself).

my class at brown

2007-09-30T10:26:00.000-07:00

Wilson Building on Brown campus:

Brown is the University that basically shares the campus with RISD, well, they intermingle a little bit, but are actually side by side in the area of Providence called College Hill. It is an Ivy League college, and students from RISD can take classes at Brown and vice versa. Unfortunately, exchange students cannot sign up for classes at Brown.
But there was a seminar that takes place at Brown and was advertised around both campuses called FemSex. I applied by writing answering a few essay-style questions, and luckily, I got in! We meet Monday & Wednesday nights for two hours each night. There are about 20 people in the class. It is in the Wilson Building on the Brown campus. Here's what the building looks like inside:

So far we have met for two sessions, and it has been extremely positive and engaging. We've been discussing "What is woman?" and next will be body image. Our assignment is to make a body image collage.
With all of my interactions with Brown students, I've found them to be very open & welcoming, and people really participate in the class in a thoughtful way.
In FemSex, at first I thought it was strange that we were made to refer to people as Phe and not He or She. And the two facilitators snapped when they appreciated what people said. But actually Phe is becoming second nature, and creates a gender-neutral space, which is relieving for some reason, I'm not sure exactly why. And at first I was like, "I am NOT snapping, heck no" but I have found myself snapping along, and it's actually really supportive.
FemSex is a great anti-dote for me, in my painting class people seem reticent to engage in class discussion, people are too cool for school, and I feel like a nerd when I make comments in class, whereas FemSex is kind of more my style, people are interested in exploring topics and engaging in discussion readily and in a supportive manner, so it's been really nice to go to.

boston

2007-09-23T17:37:00.000-07:00

After a tough critique for my painting in painting class on Thursday, I was very eager to get outta town, to go to Boston, and not have to think about risd for a while.

A group of about 20 of us exchange students all took the train at 8:35 to Boston which is an hour north. We all agreed it was nice to get out of Providence because it is actually a pretty small city. Providence feels smaller to me than Victoria, just because a lot of where we go around Providence is a homogenous population of students and school life. It's kind of like living at your school on a permanent basis.

First thing we did was to go to Harvard:

On a Saturday morning, there were more tourists out and about Harvard than students. It was nice, but not too different than Brown, just more tourists. I actually liked the Brown campus better.

Next we went to Beacon Hill in Boston, the historical and nice part of Boston:

It's full of brick rowhouses and brick sidewalks.

Then we had a picnic in the park, I think it was the Boston Commons park. It was beautiful there. There were about a half dozen wedding parties having their pictures taken in the park. I've never seen so many brides and bridesmaids at once. I think brown is the current "in" colour for bridesmaids dresses, by the way.

One thing I noticed about walking through the downtown core in Boston on Saturday was that it felt deserted. I guess it does make a difference to have quite a bit of people living in condos downtown, as Vancouver does, it makes for a more alive city centre when all of the workers have left the office buildings.

All in all it was a nice day and Boston is a pretty city, but didn't have a "big city" feel, but we will probably go back as we only did see a small slice of it.

Doris & Delores

2007-09-21T11:40:00.001-07:00

On Wednesday I had my kids book writing and illustration class. We had to create a 6 page book with words, the layout of the book was to be roughly sketched out, and do one finished illustration from the book. I stayed up until around 2 am trying to finish the finished illustration. Here it is in progress:

It turns out that my instructors didn't like the finished version of the characters, they liked the simple roughed-out version of the characters much better, and I have to agree with them there. I was trying so hard with it, that I tried too hard, I was trying to be all "professional" like the other illustration students here. I was feeling like my rough version was so inadequate, everyone else's was so polished and full of professional technique. Here is the rougher version:

The good news was that everyone really loved the story, I was surprised at this actually, as I waited until I was almost the last person to read it because I just thought my illustrations were so bad. I just need to find an illustration style that works for me and that isn't pretending to be so professional. So I think my style will be to do simple collages for my illustrations. Here is another student's illustration that I really like, and which the instructors thought would be a good, simple style for my illustrations.
Or, I may just find, as my teacher said, that I will only be a writer, and let others do the illustrating. This was actually a relief to hear. But I think I can figure out a style that will work for me.

More simple styles of illustrations which I love (these are actual books):
George & Martha - I absolutely love the quirky stories and excellent illustrations with only 2 or 3 colours:

The mitten: such colours!

campus

2007-09-18T10:35:00.000-07:00

Looking at risd from across the river:

After walking around risd's campus for a couple weeks now, I was surprised to find out that risd has a population of approximately 1200 - 1500 undergrad students, plus 500 grad students. I think the undergrad population is very close to Emily Carr's size. But RISD has at least 20 buildings to ECI's 2 (+ 1 senior painting studio). RISD has 2 cafeterias, at least 3 coffee shops (that I know of), an art supplies store, apartments and dorms, work out facilities, a fleet of trucks, vans, and van/shuttles, and probably a bunch of other facilities I don't yet know of.

I was telling someone in my class today about the size of Emily Carr and she said, "Where do they fit everyone?" But I think ECI gets a lot of use out of its two buildings, it must cost a lot of money just for the overhead of RISD!

studio space

2007-09-18T08:05:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I worked in my painting studio for the first time. The night before last I asked another student if there was going to be a class in there in the morning, or anything like that. She seemed to think that was a bit of a funny question. I've been so used to not being able to paint at ECI during weekdays because there was always a class being held in our painting room. It's a little hard to wrap my head around the fact that this space is mine all mine, no strings attached.

I came in pretty early in the morning, so there was no one to ask if they could take my photo, so I took it myself. In front of a blank canva:

I hate the fact that I had to buy a pre-made canvas! For all of the facilities here at risd, there's only a small workshop with one table and one saw for making canvas stretchers. They don't seem to provide glue, and each student has their own canvas stretching pliers and stapler. There is also no tool crib for signing out these items. So I will have to buy them. It made me appreciate ECI's workshop.

Some people have already pimped out their studios:

But I prefer a more minimal look, mostly because I don't have any stuff:

Another great thing is that we have 24 hour access, although I've been going to sleep around 10 or 11, so I probably won't use it that late, but it's good to have in case of last minute painting.

miscellaneous houses of Providence

2007-09-16T15:48:00.001-07:00

For my kids book class, I took some photos of some houses to put in my upcoming illustration assignment, but I like all of them a lot, so I will add them here to show some various architecture around Providence. These are all located on "College Hill".

The house on the right is called New Empire style of architecture (I looked that up in a book today).

This home is unusual here because it's been left weathered as most homes here are painted and fixed up, although apparently a lot of the historical houses had fallen into disrepair at one point, but not anymore.

This is one of the oldest houses I've seen in Providence, it was built in the 1750s. I like how the trim and siding are all one colour. I was surprised to read that this is called the Greek Revival style, but the more I notice the faux-columns by the door, and the triangle above the door, it makes sense. It was moved from down the street. Many houses around Providence were moved at one point or another.

risd picture library

2007-09-14T11:22:00.000-07:00

Today was my second painting class in which our instructor, Carrie Moyer, a painter who lives in New York, gave us an interesting reading by David Levi Strauss about how capitalism hems in the free expression of artists. Then she showed a series of slides that were all painters that had political statements, from Otto Dix to Gerhardt Richter. Most of the images she showed were incendiary, especially one called Hitler in Hell. And then she gave an assignment to paint a painting that would cause people to join our cause, to believe in our strongly held beliefs. Yikes! I have beliefs but don't believe art necessarily must be about that. She said that art isn't all about your own expression, which I understand, but I was really looking forward to exploring some abstract paintings, some colours & compositions, no messages.

Anyhow, I was quite disappointed by that. So I wasn't really sure what to do, and I was really resisting this assignment. So I went to find out about RISD's picture library just to avoid sitting in the studio trying to figure out what to do until classtime was done. The picture library has many many file folders on hundreds of topics. Inside each folder is a wad of laminated images relating to the topic. There are also folders on images of work by different artists.

The topic I wanted to check out was Canada! There were two folders on Canada, and one on the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Most of the images were older and showing the natural beauty and splendour of Canada. Within the folder I happened upon an image which struck me which I'll use for the "change the world" painting assignment, so that makes me feel more at ease about the assignment, and I am now very interested in it. The painting is due Thursday, so I'll document it and put it on this blog.

All in all, I think this RISD picture library is a really great resource for artists, and just looking through the images sparked a lot of ideas.

first day of classes

2007-09-12T14:00:00.000-07:00

Wow, I have been here for ten days now, and classes finally have started today. It feels good to be here for a purpose! I was automatically signed up for a six-credit painting class because I am a painting major here, but for any other classes it was up to me to wait for the day of the class and ask permission of the instructors.

The class I really wanted to get into was a combination writing and illustrating class for children's picture books. Luckily, I was able to get in, and since it's a six credit class as well, I now have a full schedule. Today in the class we drew a story without words, with six pages. It was really good for learning about pacing. One of the instructors works for Houghton Mifflin, the publishing company (not sure in what capacity really as I missed her introduction). At the end of the semester some editors of publishing houses will be coming to critique our final book projects. This is exciting. Our instructor showed us some books of students who were once students in this class, so it is good to know that this class seems to be quite a good preparation for getting books published.

The illustration department has its own building, it is the brick building on the right:

I found out some interesting disctinctions between painting in the painting department and painting for illustration at RISD by talking to some students this morning. The painting department is all about experimentation and doing abstracts and whatever you want, whereas the painting in the Illustration department is about being trained to paint, gaining skill, and I suppose really learning how to paint figures and objects. This distinction is not made at Emily Carr, but might be good, as I know some people, including myself, just want to gain some skill sometimes. But I also love the experimentation and free expression side of painting, so I am really happy to be in the painting department here.

Last night a group of exchange students and I went to the welcoming party for grad students. There are about 500 grad students here. There was dj and food and wine and such. I went into the small gallery and checked out some of the grad student work. This is a painting, about 6' x 6', oil on canvas. Its done by David Baf, MFA 2008. I liked it, overall I thought it was pretty good, although I can't say I'm a big fan of the lips, it's like the painter wanted to ensure that the viewer knew he had some skill.

convocation

2007-09-10T12:55:00.000-07:00

Last night the some of the exchange students and I went to the Freshman BBQ, which was supposed to be held on RISD's property on the beach, but it was supposed to rain, so we stayed in risd's cafeteria. It seems as though both risd and Brown are really into acquiring property and adding to their endowments. All of us exchange students were again really impressed by the great food, there were roasted veggies like asparagus and nice mushrooms, tomato and bocconcini salad, other rice salads, chicken, beef and even grilled tofu. Also, there were heaping bowls of local peaches and apples, cookies and trays of peach cobbler.

We all couldn't believe the quality of food and that there weren't students milling around trying to stuff free food in their backpacks and such, as would probably happen at our own schools. A woman told us that all the food that was put out and not eaten would be thrown out, so of course we exchange students felt it was our duty to save the poor food from the garbage, and give it a nice home in our fridges. I was able to get 11 peaches and apples, and the guys at the table filled their backpacks with cookies.

Today there was a convocation ceremony, filled with speeches from the president and provost (which I suppose is like the head dean). Someone in the audience commented that it looked like Hogwart's school with all of the robes.

I found the final speech by the provost to be quite didactic, speaking about global warming a lot and how it was our duty as artists to change the world. Which was way too preachy in my opinion. Sure, if you want to save the world, all power to you, but I don't feel it's my duty as an artist. So I was disappointed about that. It will be interesting to see if they have this kind of attitude in individual departments like painting & photo. I hope not!

The magic card

2007-09-09T11:12:00.000-07:00

Our student id cards give us free bus rides on Rhode Island transit. Anywhere in RI you want to go, it's free so we've nicknamed our id cards the magic cards because of all the access to activities we are discovering come with that card. A small group of exchange students and I took a one hour bus trip south of Providence to Newport, which is on an island.

from left to right: Anjali from England, myself, Amaury from France, and Katharina from Germany.

Newport is a lot like Providence with its old homes, but windy with the ocean wind. The tourist info guy said that during the Revolutionary war, the British blockaded Newport, if they had not, Newport would have been as big as New York. But it isn't.

USA's oldest pub is in Newport:

But one thing that is different from Providence is that Newport is quite tourist-y. It's the home of former "summer homes" of the likes of the Vanderbilts and Astors. These mansions are so huge no one can afford to live in them so they're just museums people pay to tour inside. They looked menacing and over the top to me.

I saw some photos of the interiors and they look like faux-Versailles Donald Trump style.

So we did a lot of walking that day and then were invited to a house party that night, which had a lot of positive vibrations, the mostly Brown students were super friendly.

Last night our id cards gave us access to a free concert on the Brown campus with free pizza, curry, ice cream and coffee, and then a midnight showing of This is Spinal Tap where popcorn was provided. There are so many activities around college hill, it's almost like a summer camp. As exchange students we're benifiting from the high tuition these kids pay, and we're constantly surprised at the little privileges that come with this magic card.

painting studios

2007-09-06T11:17:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went to the painting department to register for my painting class. At first I went to the old painting building headquarters:

The painting department was all the way up on the 5th floor, and while being really nice, it felt so hot and stuffy and claustrophobic to me. And while looking airy and light, it actually felt cramped:

So I was happy to hear that the painting department headquarters had moved to newer offices, and that the studios for third year students were in a different building all together. They are in the "What Cheer" building (the What what?), and each studio space will be allocated with a lottery. The class is called Painting III and it's a 6 credit class but it happens over two days - Thursdays from 1pm - 6pm and Fridays 9am - 1pm. That's a lot of class time.

Third year or "junior" classes will be more self directed, but with a lot of critique. There are two other Painting III classes being held on different days.
I'm not sure where I'll go with painting this year, probably continue with abstract mixing together with figurative.

Junior painting studios:

At any rate, it's comforting to know that these painting studios also double as a fall out shelter.

carded

2007-09-05T08:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I finally got legitimized when I received my RISD id card, which literally opens doors (at least to the library anyway).

It turns out the old fashioned technology of knocking on doors leads to some fun times. Not having a computer or phone, in order to connect with people, I will just say, for example, to Amaury, "see you tomorrow", and having no idea when or how, we usually connect. Yesterday I just "popped in" to his apartment, and it led to an impromptu dinner party with Amaury and his Wisconsin roommate (oops, forgot his name) who is attending Illustration at RISD. It was his first time cooking he said (Wisconsin roommate), not his first time ever, but his first time in which if he didn't cook, he'd go hungry. It was spaghetti. I almost never just pop in on people, it's something my Mom used to do with her neighbours, but watch out, I just might try it in Vancouver! Here is a photo right after leaving Amaury's:

a little blurry

I don't feel quite as at home in my own apartment for some reason, I usually just leave in the morning at around 8 or 9, and come back around 8 or 9 in the evening, and eat the lunch that I pack. But the weather is so nice, I just leave the house wearing a t-shirt and come home in the same shirt, and it's completely warm! Here is the temperature a few minutes ago. 78 degrees. I've lost my farenheit/celsius translation skills - maybe 25 celsius?

Today I'm going to the painting department to check out the studios and sign up for my class, hopefully buy a phone - but maybe I shouldn't, this semester could be an experiment in non-phone, no-computer-owning living. I'll think about it. And will meet up with a German exchange student who is sounds like she is feeling as isolated as I did/do.

Brown campus:

looking up a hill:

ivy league tourist

2007-09-04T10:33:00.000-07:00

Hello! This is my first blog post from Providence.

I've been here for 3 days already, the first two days were very lonesome, as it was a long weekend and I didn't know anybody, I don't have a phone or a computer, and it seemed like the 9 days until class starts would be an eternity of lonesomeness. My first day I just walked around all day on "College Hill" in Providence, mostly around Brown University. Brown and RISD buildings are clustered together, but Brown classes start today, so there was a lot of activity, whereas RISD starts in one week, so it's very quiet around there. There were a lot of parents saying goodbye to their kids:

Just as my parents had done the day before at the Vancouver airport, which seems like a different stratosphere of socio-economics realities:

But yesterday, I was able to meet with Amaury Poudray, another exchange student from France. Since I have no phone or email, I could only connect with him through the old technology of door-knocking. We walked around a lot, since I was here one day earlier than him I had so much more wisdom to impart such as where the best coffee shop is and where the interesting streets are. It was nice to connect with someone, I didn't feel so lonely. Amaury taking a photo on Thayer Street:

The houses here are really old Americana, lots of brick, clapboard siding & real working shutters. I learned from a house owner named Peter who was watering his flowers near the sidewalk that these old houses are the Federal style, most of the houses I have seen are built in the early 1800s.

Here is a shot of a house built in the 1790s - really nice wide plank flooring (Don't forget to click on the images to enlarge them) -

My room is okay, pretty dirty though! A lot of dirt on the window sills and the bathroom floor is crunchy with dirt - I felt so envious of Amaury's place all clean and furnished. I still need to find a bed, this is one from the apartment for guests to sleep on. I woke up the other night thinking I had a kidney disease, but it was only the futon frame sticking into my back.

My roommate Thomas letting me in the apartment for the first time. I still don't have keys though, so annoying.

Well, that's a lot of photos, but it's been three days, so there is a lot to show. I'll probably be posting something new everyday. I'm looking forward to the farmer's market tomorrow in a quad at Brown - I'll have to figure out where that is. Now that my camera is empty of photos, I can start filling it up again for tomorrow's post!

Summer of the Brother

2007-07-31T06:07:00.000-07:00

This summer I've been working full time with my brother, Rick, painting houses. We have been spending a LOT of time together, sometimes 16 hour days, as we would drive down to Victoria and back together also. Spending that much time with anyone can test the best of friendships. Luckily, with a brother, you can say, "Shut up" and "Leave me alone" and it's not a big deal. And since he's my boss, I can say things like that when we get on each other's nerves, and I won't get fired, but it helps to clear the air.
When I go with my brother I usually end up places I would have probably never experienced without him. I have great memories of running together through the mountains in Invermere, up mountains around Duncan, and even beautiful canyon trails in the forest near Seattle. A lot of beautiful spots in nature that I've seen in my life, I wouldn't have seen if it weren't for my brother.
Here are some photos from one of our lunchtime jogs while working in Victoria:
This is the skinny trail that goes along the cliff's edge by the ocean. Normally I would have stopped at the beach, but with my brother, we kept going, we ran up and down these rocky outcroppings, over driftwood logs, and through these skinny trails that lead to a point at the edge of the ocean.

We ran back from the rocky point into a beautiful forest of Gary Oak trees. Running through there feels really special, the trees are gnarly and look ancient, the grasses are dry and there are lots of crows, and it feels like we're in Africa or somewhere. And I know for sure, if it weren't for my brother taking me, I would have never seen this place in my life.

found palettes

2007-07-02T21:35:00.000-07:00

I saw these flowers in my neighbours' yard a few weeks ago.I thought the colour combo was so intense! I tried to recreate it in a painting but heck if I just could not mix that orange. It's like a flourescent orange. Dang.

And then, I was going by the cafe in Victoria where my brother and I always go for coffee at lunch and I saw these tiles and I loved the colours, especially the red, it just makes the colours all pop. The palette looked so fresh I thought it was new tiles, but they're from a modern building built probably in the sixties. Fresh! That's what our Painting 200 teacher, Elizabeth McIntosh would always say.
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And then, my mom brought home these eggs a couple days ago and they were so dang purdy. Kind of Martha Stewart. Definitely what would be called a low intensity palette, which I like a lot.

It would be fun to do one painting with each of these found palettes, it would save having to think up colours for yourself.

new painting

2007-07-01T06:18:00.000-07:00

This painting was just finished yesterday, it is panel #2. and 4 out of 9 in the series.
I haven't been posting to the blog as often because of being so busy at work, so I'll probably just post once a week now. Thanks for looking

flames

2007-06-23T17:54:00.000-07:00

I asked the driver if I could take a photo of his car, and he was all, "Surrre." and "I'd sure like to have a photo of you" and "where do you live?". And I was all disgusted but put up with it so I could take the photo, but then I was kind of wishing the guy's sparks from his cigarette would fall into the engine and maybe the car would go up in flames for real. No, I didn't really think that, but gees, sometimes these old dudes can be such pervs.

Duncan Mall

2007-06-19T20:31:00.000-07:00

The Duncan Mall makes the Kingsgate Mall in Vancouver seem glamourous. Two Saturdays ago I was in there to buy an iPod at Radio Shack (now called the Source, but I prefer Radio Shack). I was feeling quite dejected and lost that day, and I found myself in the Duncan Mall and I realized that the Duncan Mall was like a perfect reflection of how I was feeling inside, all brown tiles and closed down shops. The main tenant of the mall is WalMart which is building a brand new store across town, and I was wondering what will become of the Duncan Mall without WalMart? Will it become a ghost town mall? Will the Dollar Store and the shoe store and the Ivy Green Restaurant leave with it? Well, luckily I took these photos just in case, to document the mall before WalMart left and after WalMart left.

What will become of Baron's Jewellers where I bought that special crystal deer for my mom one Christmas and that store San Francisco that was all the rage when I was eleven and has a whole naughty section with mugs with butts and penises and such and jokes written on them? Oh yeah and Orange Julius which was my first job as a fourteen year old juicing oranges and burning my wrists on the hot dog twirling special oven thinger.

But one thing can be said about the mall, they know how to maintain law and order. Especially when it comes to sitting on the planters.

old mannequins of Ladysmith

2007-06-13T21:29:00.000-07:00

she is just ecstatic for rugs

pink pegboard is her background

broken fingers She worked her fingers to the bone

Dreaming of escape options and scenarios

it's bertha!

2007-06-10T08:49:00.000-07:00

24" x 24" oil on panel
I don't know this lady's name, and neither does my mom, but she kind of looks like a Bertha. She is panel #4 out of 9. Norma on the bottom right is #9, and Roxanne on the top left is #1 position, so the order is starting to come together. Holy Jeepers, only 6 more panels to go. Good lord! The next panel is of the exact same woman but at a slightly different scale. good lord. But it's fun. I think I need to fix her glasses.

Actually, when I first started this painting, I found it very interesting as a line drawing, and I could see so many possibilities for adding an abstract pattern in the background, and doing her face out of different colours. I still think it's a little more interesting than the completed one. But I'm kind of a slave to my 9 panel project now, and to doing pretty straight-up representations. But I think when all nine panels are complete, it'll have an abstracted quality to it- I hope! We'll see. Also, the clothing is being painted pretty flatly, so it will have an abstract quality, I think.

French Fry Nostalgia

2007-06-08T19:30:00.000-07:00

Do you remember the good and terrible old days of high school at lunch time, when you would walk into Downtown Duncan with those girls Allison and Jennifer Cucksey and all you could afford to buy was either french fries and gravy at the Arbutus Cafe or a cinnamon bun at the Greenhaven Restaurant? And you would buy the french fries at the Arbutus, and they would bring out those paper table setting thingies that go underneath your plate. And then they would give you crayons to colour on the place mats [oh yeah, that's the name of those thingies]? I remember. And do you remember colouring on the place mats, and then the fries and gravy would come, you would add ketchup and salt, and then when you were finished your crayon paper placemat drawing had grease and ketchup and gravy and salt and a water-cup ring on it? I do remember.

And so the other day I saw those two girls at the Arb eating french fries and they looked older than high school, but maybe not much richer than high school because the one girl has only the french fries. And then came the french fry nostalgia. And so I asked if I could take their photo and they seemed happy. And I knew just how they felt sitting out there on the Arb patio eating those fries on top of a coloured-on placemat.

Woodlawn Restuarant

2007-06-05T19:06:00.001-07:00

Duncan has a lot of Chinese food restaurants per capita. I think it has 5. This is one of them. It used to be called Peaches and Cream and it had a peach and white coloured decor. I've seen people eating here before, but today, nobody, maybe 2pm is their slow time. Sorry Woodlawn Restaurant.

electric (that's the name of it)

2007-06-03T22:36:00.001-07:00

Did you know that you can click on the image to get a larger view.
This is my painting I completed last weekend. I've been working on it since before May. It's oil on canvas approximately 17" x 15". I made the canvas from left over pieces of wood from the school year, that's why it's so small.
Here is a detail of the corner. In this photo the red lines look red but really they are flourescent pink, but I couldn't get a good photo of it.

It's Roxanne!

2007-05-31T18:07:00.001-07:00

Oil on Panel 24" x 24" - sorry for the crappy photo doc. Here's panel #1 out of 9 panels of my summer painting project. Panel #9 can be seen in a previous post called "it's Norma". I wonder if the light blue patch on her nose between her eyes is too light?
Oh, and I've added the photo below of Norma, too.
Roxanne was my mom's friend, and now that I think of it, I don't remember her at all, but I do remember her name. I used to think about it a lot. I thought it was "Rocks Sand" and I always thought it was cool how she could turn it around and be called "Sand Rocks" too.

weekend booty

2007-05-28T19:03:00.000-07:00

and much loot was gotten around and about Duncan! This weekend was super for garage sale finds and thrift store deals. I can only imagine it will get better as Garage Sale Season will only intensify with warmer weather, and can foresee my pile of loot growing into a large stack. with what will I do with it all, who knows? If you send me your address and requests I can start a gift giving correspondence type of deal.

Here's what I got and for how much: (I'll go in clockwise fashion from the bag on the left)

-this bag is a nice emerald green which the photo doesn't give justice - $1 (garage sale)
-2 pieces of luggage (also green) great for RISD trip, or so I thought but as my mom and I started walking around the neighbourhood garage sale, I was carrying this luggage I just bought, and thought, good lord, it's so heavy and there's nothing in it yet! [not pictured-too big] - $2 (same garage sale as above)
-R2D2 and C3PO puzzle - $1 - garage sale
-Electric yet dark blue (my new favourite colour) terry cloth tube top dress (but not that tight) - 99 cents - Sassy Lion Thrift Store
-Horse Dish - will be my new soap dish - 10 cents - garage sale
-Lassie Dog Cup - came free with luggage
-White cardigan - 99 cents - Sassy Lion Thrift Store
-phone - 50 cents - garage sale - important to have an analogue phone if the power goes out!

Grand total of $6.48. It feels like a time warp alternate universe of anti-inflation, it's fun!

my favourite bakery of anywhere

2007-05-27T09:53:00.000-07:00

Cowichan Bay is a little fishing village about 10-15 minutes by car to Duncan. We used to live in Cowichan Bay when I was in Junior High, from age 13-15. I loved Junior High-hated High School! Anyhow, I used to walk down the hill from our place every morning to come into the village to catch the school bus. I remember even in Jr. High thinking how beautiful it was in the morning when the bay would be socked in with white poofy clouds which I could see below me as I walked down the steep hill. Clouds below you are always beautiful, I think. But I don't remember being too aware of "beauty" in Jr. High, so to be impressed by Cow Bay's beauty at that time, it must have been quite beautiful. Cow Bay also really stunk?Stank?Stinked? of fish in those days, but doesn't anymore. Now it smells like bread.

True Grain Bakery bakes great bread every morning, and people come from far and wide to buy it. My family buys their bread exclusively from here - a spelt loaf about twice a week, and a spelt baguette once in a while. They also have oatmeal and cream of spelt cereal, and I buy flour and wheat and spelt bran from there. So every weekend we come and have coffee and buy bread. And it's a great place for people watching, which is refreshing because Duncan can be so slow, it's nice to be surrounded by the hustle and bustle of people! It's great to see a little bakery so busy and thriving, and I believe it's the best of what the Cowichan Valley has to offer. There are a few great places like the bakery around the valley serving natural foods and people here really appreciate it. People just stream into that little bakery all day long, it's always busy, and I'm so happy for them.

The bakery is great because it gets all its wheat & kamut from the Canadian prairies, and gets spelt from BC when it's available and it's all organic grains. They don't use commercial yeast leavening. And then they have a little flour mill right on the premises, and they grind everything there, and bake with it. It's fresh and you know where the ingredients are coming from. They also use organic Avalon bakery milk, and other things like that. And they make a nice Americano. I really wish they had a place like this in Vancouver. They were hiring a baker's apprentice a few months ago and I seriously considered taking the position, learning how to do it, and then open up a place like it in Vancouver. But I don't think I'm that much of a baker at heart to dedicate my life to it like that, I'll just have to appreciate True Grain Bakery every time I come back to the Island.

VIP Beauty School-Be a master of your own life

2007-05-23T07:35:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was off work due to a pulled muscle, so I went to the VIP Beauty School in downtown Duncan to ask if I could take some photos there. The bosses were out so I have to go back and ask again when I have another day off, possibly at the beginning of June. But I did take this shot with my digital camera. It totally interests me how it's like a fresh start is promised if you take your courses there. I would absolutely love to do a photo shoot there. Also, I was thinking of doing a series on home based businesses, like around here you'll see people with little signs for a hair dresser's shop, and it's in their basement. I think both of these ideas are about the promise of beauty and how they're packaged, and also it's "women's work", so it has a feminist sensibility too.

my morning commute - four eyes

2007-05-20T23:09:00.000-07:00

My morning commute is special. It's like my own personal tour de france, as I ride my bike up hills, hills and more hills, fly down hills, pass the farm called "Flying Bird Farm" and feel exhilarated as little birds fly out in front of me and my bike and I also feel like I'm flying with them. It's hard work but I'm enjoying the scenery.

These photos were from my Friday morning commute. It's at Flying Bird Farm. The cows were all "Mooove along now." Because they're protective of the babies, of which there are about six, but I didn't really even count. Duncan is pretty purdy.

Flogging carpets is not as glamourous as it sounds

2007-05-18T23:54:00.000-07:00

This dear lady was spotted in Ladysmith. I think she has grown weary of her profession - no one is buying. Please notice the gash on her head (click image for a closer look-see). Poor lady, when will you ever come out of there?

I will show more of her friends/coworkers in the next coupla days.

self serve

2007-05-16T06:07:00.000-07:00

This photo looks photoshoped, but it's not, it's just that my camera shaded the reflection on the window. The building reflected in the window has a swastika pattern. Most definitely built before World War II.

it's Norma!

2007-05-14T07:48:00.000-07:00

24" x 24" oil on panel.
Norma is my grandma's friend. She's married to Don Levers who has no front teeth. I really fell in love with Norma while painting her! she's so cool. I haven't seen her for several years.
I wanted to take the idea of Process painting we did in Elizabeth's class (letting chance choose composition, colours, etc) except apply it to a representational painting as opposed to an abstract image. So I took my mom's bowling team photo from 1975, put a grid on it, and drew cards to see which square on the grid I would paint, and then drew another card for the scale. So this is actually #9 out of 9. Eight more to go! It'll be good practice for representational painting skills, anyhow. Sorry for the crappy photo doc. Any critiques are welcome!
Oh you can actually see the original photo on the top left of the blog.

Wigwam Cafe - Ladysmith

2007-05-13T13:51:00.000-07:00

I like this cafe because it's called the Wigwam which is like a First Nations shelter from Manitoba, they serve the Chinese food buffet and they call it a Smorgasbord.

I totally need to do a photo project to document all of these restaurants like this one, because I think they'll be going extinct soon. There's still quite a lot in all the towns up and down the island. Must get a tripod!

it's Bob!

2007-05-11T21:44:00.000-07:00

After having glazed over eyes due to Duncanitis, it was great to hang out with Amy Zion and Jenn Jackson in Vancouver on Wednesday before they went to Edmonton for the summer.

Amy and I walked through the ECI undergrad show and we both agreed that the stronger pieces were the ones in which some theory was considered, or was informing the work. But like Amy was saying, purely theoretical work is crap and so is decorative work. She said there must be a happy medium.

But how do you come to that medium? I find it's really important to engage with theory, and then forget about it. I love how Agnes Martin waits for inspiration and then paints the image that pops into her head, fully formed. This is not rational and is completely appealing to me. I think you just have to do what compels you, without fully knowing why it's compelling, and meaning unfolds from it or not. This is how I want to work. Being too conscious of the motivation behind the work could make it didactic or contrived.

What would Bob say?

new studio space

2007-05-09T22:16:00.000-07:00

Finally, my own painting space! I set it up in my parent's sunroom, so there's lots of light, but it's pretty dark when the sun goes down. It's so nice to not have to clean up like at school and carry all my painting supplies down the stairs, over to the other building, up the stairs and put it in my locker, of which by the end of the semester I got too lazy for anyway and just started stashing stuff in the cubby holes in our painting room. I set this up yesterday and painted quite a bit, it was nice!

I'm going crazy out there at the lake

2007-05-07T22:07:00.000-07:00

Can you name the movie that line is from? Anyhow, it's only been one week in Dunkie, and I'm already feeling a little cabin fever, it's so slow and low and a little depressing. So, as an anti-dote to that, I'll add some photos on a regular basis of life on the streets of good old Duncan.

This is the Totem Restaurant

the email that started a blog

2007-05-07T21:23:00.000-07:00

The email I got from the RISD exchange coordinator Katherine saying I got into the exchange program. This was really exciting to hear after waiting and waiting and wondering and trying not to get my hopes up.

The email said classes start Sept. 12, and that I should come a week before to get settled. Katherine also said she talked to the painting instructor who said she would allow me to get into the third year studio class, which is great news, because by the time exchange students get to register (in September) all the classes are full and it's up to the exchange students to talk the instructors into letting them in (but they're usually pretty good about it). I'll also try to get into the Photo III class as well.

There's going to be an exchange breakfast on Sept. 10, so I'll take pictures of that and post them here.

My ceramics teacher, Jeremy, just left to go teach at RISD this summer, I'll have to get in touch with him, maybe I'll take over his apartment or something like that.