Burden of Tomorrow

This summer my amigo Dylan visited me in beautiful breezy Canada.

I'm so lucky to have a gal like this in my life--someone who just chucks her shoes off, wears her hair messy, and agrees to do little video postcards, like the one below, with me.

I hope this transforms you back, if only for 3 minuets, to the simplicity and splendor that is sweet sweet summertime :]

Song: Burden of Tomorrow

By: The Tallest Man on Earth

Also the video is here on Vimeo for better quality?

Henna

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm constantly drawing henna on myself, and pretty much anyone who will let me get within 5 ft of them with my henna kit.

Its so relaxing to just draw endless patterns, and I love the feeling of peeling off the hardened paste and seeing how the design turned out (its kind of like the excitement of opening a present).

Here are a couple of resent self tats :)

Strawberry Pie & an Anthro Birthday Party

Last Sunday was baking day. I went to the store/farmers market and got all my strawberry summer pie ingredients.

It was one of my mentors birthdays on Monday so I basically ate one whole pie myself while watching the bachelorette and brought the other to work for a classic Anthropologie birthday party.

My 4th favorite thing about work behind getting paid to collage/draw prints/be creative, pet dogs (cause everyone brings their dogs to work),  and work in a fairy world, are the parties.

Every day it seems like some group of people is having a party with amazing food and even more amazing decor. Last week I was put on tassel/spinach & artichoke dip duty and cooked and made tassels for most of the morning, aka I love where I work.

Party mid set up

My mentor loves fancy drinks so everyone was told to bring a different beverage as a gift.

And of course I tasseled everything :)

Peonies & The Start of Something New

My mother has the most beautiful flower garden, and right before I left for Philadelphia she picked me this bouquet for my room. I wish I could have enjoyed it longer...fresh peonies are just...uhh too pretty!

I start my design internship job thing at Anthropologie tomorrow! I can't believe it! I really don't know what to expect but I think its going to be a fun & creative summer! Wish me luck at figuring out Philadelphia public transportation tomorrow :)

Locket

This locket originally belonged to my great grandmother on my Dad's mothers side, and has a photo of her two children: my grandmother and her brother on each side. I wore this locket a lot this year because of it's pretty silver engraving, bubbled shape, and special meaning.

My paternal grandmother, Rose Jean, for whom I was named (my middle name, Rose), but unfortunately never got to meet.

& her brother.

Ernesto Neto: Slow iis good

Last week I took a little exam break to go to Chelsea and gallery hop with my art history teacher. He announced the invitation to our entire class of around 30 students, but for some reason I was one of only 2 people who went.

This was definitely a semester highlight because

A. I love getting to know professors on a personal level,

B. there is nothing better than expanding your education beyond the classroom,

C. gallery hopping in Chelsea is fun and amazing and one of the reasons I love New York &

D. because I discovered Ernesto Neto, one of my new artistic heros.

Although I rarely share work thats not my own on Abstract Noun this exhibit was too inspiring to not be showcased. I didn't have my camera with me so these photos are from all over the web...

Meet the work of Ernesto Neto. Although he works with many different materials his giant crochet installations are in my opinion the most genius. I was sitting in this structure chillin' with my art history professor in utter awe. The only thing better I thought would be if this was in a tree.

This installation, and many like it are crocheted BY HAND out of polypropylene and polyester cord that hangs from the ceiling. The structures welcome the viewer inside to explore the tunnels, walking on a plastic ball floor that moves with every step. Neto offers the viewer a space in which we can slow down, breathe, and rest, hence the title 'slow iis good'. In the middle of exams this piece did exactly that, for which I am thankful.

The gallery description from the Tanya Bonakdar Gallery (on west 21st street) was really insightful so I thought I'd share a part of it:

The works are crocheted to resemble cells seen through a microscope, and a network of constellations unfurled across the sky. Here the inside and the outside universe are represented in the same form, demonstrating the interconnectivity of life. Not only do the works resemble and reference natural, organic matter, they also incorporate it: the installations often incorporate stones, plants, and spices that create a landscape for the main structure of the work. The installation fuses the boundary between artwork and viewer, inviting the visitor to step inside. It also draws no distinction between types of life--we are all part of the natural world.

UM. WOW.

I pretty much died when I was reading the gallery description because this is everything I want to incorporate in my fashion design: crochet, unification with the natural world, color, and an unexplainable ethereal quality.

 I created a conceptional collection that fuses basket weaving techniques and vintage looking hot air balloons a few weeks before seeing this installation that I'm excited to share soon; however, after discovering Ernesto Neto I'm excited to push my own work and 'knitted' aesthetic further.

More of his genius pieces....

I want to play and explore all of these.

Exams.

See you on the flip side. I have to pack up my dorm and survive my finals this week.

I can't wait to post everything I've been working on though..quilted hot air balloons, neons and neutrals, and tea girls with gold hair are consuming my so called life.

Blog Turns 2!

Yesterday AN turned 2. (even though I only started blogging semi regularly a little over a year ago). I can't believe I was still in high school, about to graduate, when I started this little space. I kind of miss that time in my life, but mostly the people in it.

Blogging has been/is so fun for me. Its my own creative journal where I can keep track of some of the people I meet, places I go, and things I make.

People, places, and things...thats why its an abstract noun :)

Small Things

Today I... woke up at 9:31 for my 9:30 class and managed to get there at 9:37, accidentally squirted black paint on this girls designer jeans and felt super bad about it, cooked mushroom risotto for lunch, stressed out about my finals, read vintage Vouges and Life Magazines in the library basement instead of working on my finals, marveled over how nice all the reference desk librarians are/freaked out for 5 min. wanting to be a librarian, listened to the below song on repeat for 100 hours, & then took some pictures of some nice things laying around my room.

'Beautiful Dawn' by the Wailin' Jennys...this song gets me every time.

From top to bottom (all photos are my own):

dried roses taped to my wall

adorable gardening tools gifted from a friend

bowl of crystals and turquoise beads from Israel that I'm waiting to make jewelry out of

white loafers that I've been wearing all year and still haven't gotten dirty

velvet fox mask

Yodie

Oh how I miss waking up to this yawn :)

As much as try to enjoy every day here at college (it will all be over before I know it eek), I'm really really really excited for summer to start/to go home and snuggle with my dogs. I mean common' now...HOW cute is Yodie?

5 little things

When I was a junior in high school, Shawn Achor gave THIS exact talk on positive psychology. Now whenever I have a no good very bad day or week I try to make a list of the good little things in my life to put everything in perspective...

So here it goes...5 little things....

1. Going for walks in my neighborhood, and seeing apartments with gargoyles. I'd loveeeee to live here and channel my inner Esmeralda every day.

2. When Pratt is all bloomy and beautiful and showcases student work in creative ways like the one above. The works are freshman 3D sculptures, that were hung from a bunch of trees to reflect light on the main lawn.

3. A little peak of what I've been working on in my studio class. Neon fringe=so much yay.

4. Wednesday I walked to and spent all day at the Brooklyn Botanical gardens. I got sunburnt and freckled drawing in the deserted grass. Ahh I love perfect sunny spring days.

5. When I look out my window at 6 in the morning at there are one trillion school busses outside...so bizarre and funny.

Have a good weekend everybody!