Summer Shin Dig

    To be back and making my own decisions. Some kookier than others (floral thrifted pants) and some sensible and mature (cerulean silk blouse).
    Last night I was complimented by friends on the trials and tribulations I had overcome in the past year. They said I was graceful and strong. They spoke of my young relationship with high regards. I glowed. People who's opinions that really matter. I hadn't even thought of this year as being a difficult one (though 2011 could never be mentioned again and that would be just fine). As we recounted our accomplishments and passed stories and credits around the room our report grew more and more animated and ridiculous finally ending in exhaustion.
    I was struck by the types of things they noticed about me. It is always that "own voice on the answering machine" when you see yourself reflected back in the eyes of your friends. The gap between the ideal and real self. That gap grew smaller and smaller, what they said made me proud of myself.

Hanley and Me

Rebeca and I, the next generation at SOU. Wanabe art moguls and all around hooligans. It has been so fun to have a peer of equal age, ideas, goals and enthusiasm. She is bright and driven. Totally silly and genuinely kind. 

At the CCACA 2012 conference a few weeks ago I engaged in a real young art community. It was so fun to show work within such a wide spectrum and see ourselves toward the top. To talk to other new artists about their work, answer challenging questions about your own. My undergrad fan girl status regarding the other artists in our show turned to reciprocal respect and friendship as the weekend progressed. It felt young and grown up and professional and fun all together. 

Infographic Mockinjay

    This pie chart was intended to critique the terrible writing from the untouchable Hunger Games, I used a pie chart specifically because I wanted to use the Mockingjay shape. The information was highlighted by the use of the Mockingjay emblem as the platform for the pie chart information. The font was based off of the title font for the book The Hunger Games. The dark grey background, yellow pin, and muted pie chart tones were also apparent in the book cover as well as thematic to the movie.
    The most challenging and least effective part was getting the opacity of the layers of the pie chart to be compatible enough to show distinctly different colors. The second most challenging part was putting up with the eye rolls from angry girls sitting behind me in lab wondering why I was critiquing their precious Hunger Games. Also as I uploaded it this morning I noticed that one pie slice is unlabeled.
    All together I think it is an excellent start. The colors and idea was well executed but the lack of distinction between the colors is not effective. The font type was also a decent match.

As You Wish

Meet Wesley, our new friend. He is a 35 pound miniature pot-bellied pig. He is leash trained, potty trained and responds to his own name. He is more obedient than our dog. He was previously owned by a family friend and needs more yard time, and we are happy to have him. Scratch his belly, he'll lay down. 

The Economy of the Gift

Felix Gonzalez-Torres, a new favorite.
The amazing thing about art is it's unique ability to induce empathetic/ understanding spaces. In my "Art Theory and Criticism: Postmodern Perspectives in Art" course last term, I struggled. The title alone was daunting. Reading about pieces and theories about marginalization of race, women, and the queer community I just couldn't relate. One day I asked my professor, a man I deeply respect a simple and totally naive question: "I am not a gay man in contact with the AIDS crisis, how am I supposed to understand this work? The answer was Felix Gonzalez-Torres. 

Two Perfect Lovers

Two generic clocks are set side by side set to the exact same time to run on the same brand of batteries. Naturally one battery begins to slow and the clocks lose synchronization. Eventually they both slow, one before the other  until one stops completely and leaves the other ticking on. 

If that doesn't pull your heart strings I dunno your species. 

So this is the artist I decided to engage in dialogue with my final. He did a series of paper stacks and candy spills each questioning the idea of the economy of the gift as posed by Nicholas Bourriaud, granddaddy of Alter-Modernism. This idea investigates the dialogue and exchange between audience and work as the actual art piece and actually more important than the piece itself. I reproduced this piece on campus. 

"What asshole wasted this paper?"

Phillistines. 

Getting a Woody

Life is full of misery, loneliness, and suffering – and it’s all over much too soon.

    Woody Allen  is one of my favorites. Neurosis and all he is poignant and a great critic of social "normalcy", particularly regarding relationships. I love watching his narcissistic characters spin themselves into stranger and stranger scenes. No writer has been able to capture people with such prolific absurdity and accuracy. 

    I knew my new relationship was going to work when I showed him "Scoop" and he loved it. Allen is definitely an acquired taste and quite frankly a make or break in my book. A lot is at stake, introducing my sense of humor, what Jewish families look like, and all of the oddities within each relationship. 

    The truth of the matter is I'm in love, and for some reason Woody is my guiding light. After the ugly demise of my relationship last year, I though relationships to come would be difficult and cynical. Woody has it right; relationships are definitely difficult, but you have to take it all with good humor and a grain of salt.  Any other form and you would just go crazy. But that's the best way to go with life right? I'm having a blast with this new one. I love listening to him talk about things I know nothing about (punk music) and being silly. After he borrowed the "Scott Pilgrim" graphic novel series from me I suggested Hemingway and I have never had a funnier response. He wants to read it to see what I like, but I'm certain he doesn't like it. What a trooper. 

    John Cusack in "High Fidelity" says that it's the little shit that matters (in relationships), movies, books, music. It seems shallow but the simple things are important. While Cusack plays a total jackass in that movie, there's something to be said about the newness of learning about somebody. There is something precious to the process of learning about someone new and being surprised and delighted by the things they like and feeling honored in their genuine curiosity in you. 

Self Construction

This is an excerpt from Today's New Name May Be Tomorrow's Old by Sassafrass Lowrey

   "This was performance art. My body the only prop I needed, the streets and punk houses of Portland my stage. North Portland still haunts me. Killingsworth to Lombard, I walked those streets cloaked in darkness, a soundtrack of riot grrrl and folk recorded in Alberta basement studios. Making stages from propped up pallets, learning to silkscreen with weak Oregon sunshine, and stealing double sided copies. On the edge of genesis I created, loved, and fucked, as bodies shifted and savings accounts ebbed and flowed with the seasons. Surgery funds traded for rent, dinner out when food stamps were low. Art was everywhere. Walls and skin covered with layer upon layer of color, image and meaning bleeding together. My cuticles crusted with spray paint, glue, copy-toner and cum."

Everyone should experience, play with and own their self creation. If my transgender studies class has taught me anything it is that ultimately no matter our gender or sexual orientation as queer or as predictable as possible, we are all self made and should cherish that process and result. You and only you can dictate yourself. Of course cultural standards, family pressures blah blah yeah contribute but ultimately it is down to only you. You are fully responsible for your proudest and most fucked up moments. They are equally legitimate and equally yours. Own them, make them, love them all.

Midnight Art Building Adventure

   Late the other night I left my paint brushes in my painting locker in the art building and I needed them for homework. I grabbed Stephanie and Chelsea Garmon and made them come with me, little did we know it would be a little adventure. The art building is great with huge windows and filled with the strangest things. We went to the painting studio first.

My favorite shoes. If you haven't caught on by now, I'm real short. 

This is Chelsea. What a cool cat she is. See that pocket? She sewed it herself. 

Stephanie in her new Sherlock shirt. 

There's this weird new section in the art building which is a hallway painted with weird circus types. But we loved it. 

        Then I took them down to the print lab. Printmaking is my focus for my art major. I started this project a few weeks ago which has been a great experience. Printmaking is so much about the process, so many things are permanent or stubborn and everything takes a very long time. In this project though I had a very different sort of process all together which required me to work quickly but with great care. 

         I found a dead robin on campus (good thing the purse contents glamour shot wasn't that day). I knew it needed to be in a project. Initially I thought about giving it to a friend in the ceramics department to make a mold of it. But then looking at the feathers I knew I wanted to print off of it. Directly off of the carcass. So that night I took it to the print lab and tried it. 

       I would daub ink onto the body and then hand press it onto sekishu paper. It required me manipulating the body in a slightly forceful manner, daubing with pressure to apply enough ink, stretching wings, adjusting the head and neck, pressing firmly. I had to work quickly for the body would only stay flexible and (relatively) non smelly for a number of hours. It was a difficult process, I tried to be ginger with my actions but when I heard the first bones snap I stopped, teared up, and pressed on. After that I let bones and tendons snap with less mourning but was teary all the same. I would fold his wings over his body, under his body. Tilt the head at extreme angles, push hard on the skull to get the impressions of the eye socket. Pull the feet at full length to get solid linear shapes next to the ephemeral looking feathers.  By the end of the process his wings and head were sadly limp and mangled. Eventually his feathers were pulled out by ink and I could not use him any more. I wasn't sure If I was exploiting this body or if I did the best I could. But the thought of being responsible for the mangling of a body was not a good one. However the results were quite beautiful. So my morality and my art-hungry self battled that night. Ultimately I think the pieces are lovely. I buried the bird the next morning and felt right. 

Sink or Swim

Upon opening my closet recently, a friend exclaimed "So many neutrals". She's right. I haven't decided if I should expand my wardrobe to include the occasional focal color. To me a risky sweater would be say teal blue instead of navy. Not terribly striking. However I have come to love my land of neutrals, maybe it's a manifestation of Oregonian overcast but hey. I went for all black today, sitting on the ground writing on my blog Stephanie says "Look at you little beat-nick you". 

Had a great "duty date night" with my friend Sam. Watched "He Died with a Felafel in his Hand" (unsure of opinion of it), then "Zach Galifanakis: Live at the Purple Onion" and video chatted with my younger sister for nearly an hour. We explained to her that tape wars are appropriate and only expected on a slow evening in college. Shenanigans and hilarity all around. 

While I admittedly indulge in hipster items (clothing, reading, home decor and entere life) my favorite hipster item is this Toronto cup from Goodwill. I've never been to Toronto but for $.99 who can say no?

Reading on a Jet Plane

As one can imagine, traveling 30 hours each way to and from India I had plenty of time to catch up on reading. Here are a few recent favorites I'd love to pass on:

Haround and the Sea of Stories
Salman Rushdie
  A very charming story about Haroun and his Father the Sha of Blah and their efforts to maintain the art of story telling via adventure.The Sea of Stories is being poisoned and Haroun and his friends must save it. Whimsical and special.
Thanks of Sam Niver

Barrel Fever
David Sedaris
  My first Sedaris read, his first book is absolutely hilarious. His stories are less like writings and more like acting on a page. Sedaris creates entire tangible characters in a matter of paragraphs adapting speach patterns and mannerisms that are brutally dysfunctional. A great pick but be warned that it is grim... in all the right ways.
Thanks to Jensen Blaine

The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Milan Kundera
  An instant favorite. This book poses a question that has become a theme in discussion for me of what is happiness and how do we define lightness (happiness) and darkness (burden). Is life worth living despite it's hardships? Are those hardships worth engaging in in order to create a more layered/adult/full life? A phenomenal read. Dense, a little slow sometimes but absolutely incredible.
Thanks to Raffi Mercuri

The Sun Also Rises
Ernest Hemingway
  I picked up a collection of Hemingway short stories last year and loved it, this is my first full novel of his. His writing is slow but enchanting, absolutely masculine and true. This story teaches of social dysfunction and living your life to the fullest.
Thanks to Brandi Stepp

Man's Search for Meaning
Viktor E. Frankl
   A heartbreaking read about life in a concentration camp. As Frankl explains though it is not an emotional account of internment life but rather a psychological observation and report of how survivors found meaning in their lives despite the atrocities they encounted. An inspiring book.
Thanks to Evan Ream

So yes the theme of my reading over all was "how are you going to live your life?" which very well may be the theme to my year so far. It's a great theme for college in general. Among these "look yourself in the mirror" types of course there must be humor. These folks also share shelf space with Scott Pilgrim 1-6 by Bryan Lee O'Malley, Bossypants by Tina Fey, Moonwalking with Einstein by Josh Foer, Several Shell Silverstein books, as well as all of my art collections.Balance of course.

Inauguration

Greetings Readers,
  Wildish is a space dedicated to my work, travels, crafts and occasionally outfits. For the initial post, let me introduce myself. My name is Eden, I am an art student in Oregon. I decided to do a blog honestly because I admire so many others. I really enjoy how charasmatic a blog persona can be. Each blogger I follow seems really engaged in their world be it through outfits or projects. Along with being very active, they like to share their activities and opinions in great, creative ways. I am more motivated now more than ever to really live. Call it an overzealous approach to the new year if you will, but  I think that after a very difficult 2011 its about time to recharge, be light, and share what I love. So I hope you enjoy it as much as I hope to.
 Always,
  Eden