Friday, August 22, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Urban Craft Challenge
The past couple of weeks have presented me with truly a rare opportunity of working at The Urban Craft Center in Santa Monica. http://theucc.blogspot.com/
In preparation for interviewing with them, we were asked to create something we've never done before. I started thinking about an essential skill that I've never learned and sewing immediately came to mind. The only thing I've sewn is a button on pants, and I think it has since fallen off.
My cousin let me use her sewing machine and I decided to first sew a canvas bag. The dimensions were a bit tricky for me, but I eventually created a reversible bag using fabric from Champ's work. The white side of the bag became my blank canvas and I moved onto figuring out how to hand sew. I got a basic sewing book and figured out how to do some stitches and Champ came home with a big bag full of fabric scraps.
Reversed side of bag:
On one side of the bag I used heat 'n bond adhesive to create a collage on one side, printed out some of Champ's artwork onto transfer paper and applied those images to the fabric.
On the other side, I hand sewed all of the cut out pieces. I really love to make collages and found that the thread could be used to draw patterns around the fabric pieces as well. To add some dimension to the image, I stuffed some of the pieces with cotton balls before I sewed them closed. Right now the embroidered piece is safety pinned to the bag so that I can work on it more, but safety pins are the shit cause I'm able to change what is displayed on the front.
I'll post some directions of how I sewed the bag with the sewing machine. It took about 4 hours to do my first one, but considering I've never touched a sewing machine, it wasn't that difficult.
I found out I got the job working there yesterday, along with my friend Ixchel who inspires me to create and write and who has worked with me at the Women's Center at CSUN. She posted her amazing craft on her blog. Ixchel screenprinted wallpaper and gives a step by step how to in her explanation.
http://www.pollydanger.com/blog/2008/08/20/diy-wallpaper/
JUST TAKE A LOOK AT THIS!!!!
In preparation for interviewing with them, we were asked to create something we've never done before. I started thinking about an essential skill that I've never learned and sewing immediately came to mind. The only thing I've sewn is a button on pants, and I think it has since fallen off.
My cousin let me use her sewing machine and I decided to first sew a canvas bag. The dimensions were a bit tricky for me, but I eventually created a reversible bag using fabric from Champ's work. The white side of the bag became my blank canvas and I moved onto figuring out how to hand sew. I got a basic sewing book and figured out how to do some stitches and Champ came home with a big bag full of fabric scraps.
Reversed side of bag:
On one side of the bag I used heat 'n bond adhesive to create a collage on one side, printed out some of Champ's artwork onto transfer paper and applied those images to the fabric.
On the other side, I hand sewed all of the cut out pieces. I really love to make collages and found that the thread could be used to draw patterns around the fabric pieces as well. To add some dimension to the image, I stuffed some of the pieces with cotton balls before I sewed them closed. Right now the embroidered piece is safety pinned to the bag so that I can work on it more, but safety pins are the shit cause I'm able to change what is displayed on the front.
I'll post some directions of how I sewed the bag with the sewing machine. It took about 4 hours to do my first one, but considering I've never touched a sewing machine, it wasn't that difficult.
I found out I got the job working there yesterday, along with my friend Ixchel who inspires me to create and write and who has worked with me at the Women's Center at CSUN. She posted her amazing craft on her blog. Ixchel screenprinted wallpaper and gives a step by step how to in her explanation.
http://www.pollydanger.com/blog/2008/08/20/diy-wallpaper/
JUST TAKE A LOOK AT THIS!!!!
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Pilobolus
This is a dance company that has recently started using shadows as the center of their performance.
I thought I'd share what they have written on their myspace page.
WHAT IS PILOBOLUS?
Pilobolus (crystallinus) is a phototropic zygomycete - a sun-loving fungus that grows in barnyards and pastures. It grows on a stalk as a small bladder, pressurized by cell sap and topped with a tiny black cap filled with spores. When time and Pilobolus are ripe, this entire sporangium is blasted off with incredible force and the little spore bags can shoot over a cow like clowns out of a cannon. It's reported that the acceleration - from 0-45 mph in the first mm of flight - is the second fastest in nature.
Pilobolus, the arts organism, germinated in the fertile soil of a Dartmouth College dance class in 1971. What emerged was a collaborative choreographic process and a unique weight-sharing approach to partnering that gave the young company a non-traditional but powerful new set of skills with which to make dances. The group was immediately acclaimed for its startling mix of humor and invention and Pilobolus soon became a self-sufficient organization, its members choreographing, dancing, managing, and publicizing their own programs.
Pilobolus has developed from this ad hoc dance collective into a unique American arts organization with four major branches of activity: Pilobolus Dance Theatre, our 7-person touring company; The Pilobolus Institute, an umbrella for all our educational programming; Pilobolus TOO, our duet company, touring both independently and in coordination with Institute programming; and Pilobolus Creative Services, an administrative structure allowing us to coordinate creative activity with both commercial and artistic organizations outside our own company.
Today Pilobolus is recognized as a major American dance company of international influence. It has not, however, forsaken its original impetus. The company remains a deeply collaborative effort with an executive director, three artistic directors, an artistic associate and seven dancers contributing to one of the most popular and varied repertoires in the field. Its many decades of consistent artistic activity now stand as a testament to the group's remarkable fruitfulness and longevity.
I've visited music and comedy myspace pages but have only recently began to look at dance company pages. You can really share your madness no matter what you do!
It's really amazing! Take a look!
I thought I'd share what they have written on their myspace page.
WHAT IS PILOBOLUS?
Pilobolus (crystallinus) is a phototropic zygomycete - a sun-loving fungus that grows in barnyards and pastures. It grows on a stalk as a small bladder, pressurized by cell sap and topped with a tiny black cap filled with spores. When time and Pilobolus are ripe, this entire sporangium is blasted off with incredible force and the little spore bags can shoot over a cow like clowns out of a cannon. It's reported that the acceleration - from 0-45 mph in the first mm of flight - is the second fastest in nature.
Pilobolus, the arts organism, germinated in the fertile soil of a Dartmouth College dance class in 1971. What emerged was a collaborative choreographic process and a unique weight-sharing approach to partnering that gave the young company a non-traditional but powerful new set of skills with which to make dances. The group was immediately acclaimed for its startling mix of humor and invention and Pilobolus soon became a self-sufficient organization, its members choreographing, dancing, managing, and publicizing their own programs.
Pilobolus has developed from this ad hoc dance collective into a unique American arts organization with four major branches of activity: Pilobolus Dance Theatre, our 7-person touring company; The Pilobolus Institute, an umbrella for all our educational programming; Pilobolus TOO, our duet company, touring both independently and in coordination with Institute programming; and Pilobolus Creative Services, an administrative structure allowing us to coordinate creative activity with both commercial and artistic organizations outside our own company.
Today Pilobolus is recognized as a major American dance company of international influence. It has not, however, forsaken its original impetus. The company remains a deeply collaborative effort with an executive director, three artistic directors, an artistic associate and seven dancers contributing to one of the most popular and varied repertoires in the field. Its many decades of consistent artistic activity now stand as a testament to the group's remarkable fruitfulness and longevity.
I've visited music and comedy myspace pages but have only recently began to look at dance company pages. You can really share your madness no matter what you do!
It's really amazing! Take a look!
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