This is For You

I made a collage for my niece-to-be (any day now). I found an adorable rabbit that I absolutely had to use right away. I constructed an entire forest scene around this one stuffed bunny image. This is by far my favorite.


I just finished this yesterday for my grandmother. I combined everything for this one; the background I painted mixing ink and water, used my ink pen for the swirly leaf stems, drew the rose with a charcoal pencil, and added the cut-out images. I hope she likes it.

"It's like porn for book nerds"

Never have I reached such squealing potential until Candida Hofer's LIBRARIES was laid into my hands.


Incredible photographs of some of the most beautifully constructed libraries in the world.


And the books! Have you seen the books!?
Seriously drooling here.

"That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain - "

Hamlet is showing at the State Theatre!? Of course I went.

But I was skeptical to learn the performance was actually a broadcast from London, and then my eyes widened as the players emerged on screen... in business suits.

A lavish executive office amidst the mansion walls, and there's Claudius... loosening his tie as he props his sleek dress shoes atop his desk pouring himself a brandy: "Time be thine, And thy best graces spend it at thy will. - "

A modern setting with every classic line intact, and to my own surprise it worked! But, I mean you can't go wrong with an ingenious plot like Hamlet.

Ah yes, Hamlet. Never could I have dreamed of seeing young Prince Hamlet with a receding hairline. Yet there he is - lacing up his Puma's and pausing amidst a mesmeric soliloquy to take a drag of his cigarette.

And Ophelia, your girl-next-door teenager, lounges on a couch in leggings and a sweatshirt in an off-the-shoulder '80's look next to a stuffed Babar the elephant. Then her bad ass brother Laertes bursts into the scene with his semi-automatic looking as if he stepped right out of a cover of GQ.

It all seems so wrong, but I became so engaged with the characters I nearly forgot it was a tragedy after Laertes challenges Hamlet to a duel in - that's right ladies and gentlemen - fencing.

Although lame and kind of a ripoff to watch a filmed play, I can't help but give it two thumbs up. Hamlet is just that damn good.

Bravo!

Atelier 17

Twenty degrees? Snowstorm? Add some skin piercing wind and I couldn't think of a better way to turn a quarter of a century old.

Gallivanting downtown, I crossed the street to campus for a return visit to the Palmer Museum of Art. I was the only guest aside from the khaki pants wearing, student-age security guards pacing shuffled circles through the gallery with obvious boredom.

But one exhibition was worth seeing, featuring work from the printmaking studio known as Atelier 17.

Squid under Pier

Much of the work portrayed similar features and techniques; harsh markings, bold forms, and crazy lines spiraling out from the abstracted subject within.

Practicing engraving and intaglio, some of the artists used a method to block the color in certain sections of their design, revealing the very fibers of the paper beneath which causes a great contrast in color, light and shadow, as well as a play on depth in the final image.

To sum up with one word: Brilliant.