Annabelle's Aspirin

First Few Days

2008-07-23T20:54:00.007-05:00

Obviously my plan to post daily didn't work out. Between working long days, excellent conversations over meals, and the mandatory minimum of two beers per night at a bar, I just never got around to finding the time. So here you go- I'm back in Richmond and will dole these out over the next couple of days...

On Sunday we were let in to the Sheldon at noon and began planning... this is one of three galleries and would be the "studio" portion of the show.

This is the innermost gallery and was used for sculptures and video. When we arrived two walls had been built in the space. There were 115 crates and boxes for us to unpack...

This is the outermost gallery and is entered from the Great Hall (as Johnson named it). It would contain sculptures and photographs.

On Monday we had our bearings and began installing work in earnest-- here Liz and Alison work on The Sizes of Things in the Mind's Eye.

Here they are in the outermost gallery working on Pupil. Each sculpture's pose changes from show to show.

Here Liz works on lighting for an untitled sculpture. Many of the pieces are lit from with in by fiber optic cables but still require quite a bit of treatment from other lights.

Day Five

2008-07-10T21:06:00.011-05:00

And again from Nebraska, this time writing from a coffee shop in the Haymarket district called The Mill. All the youngsters in Lincoln are so clean and good looking. So far I've only spotted one hair cut heavily influenced by Conor Oberst. I'm sure there are others but I wouldn't know as I haven't seen a picture of him in awhile.

The installation of Liz's show is going well. We're working long days and I'll eventually post some images from the gallery but for tonight here's a very abbreviated walk around a small part of town.

Neihardt Hall, the dorm we're staying in (supposedly the most sought after b/c of it's governing council and proximity to Love Library) has a sun room.

The city, which is relatively small and tidy is full of buildings that were retrofitted w/ international style (?) facades. Lots of pieces of buildings that look like they are made out of marshmallow or covered in flaked coconut. Also lots of public sculpture that looks communist. I'll post more of this soon, it's no small thing.

It's not just the outside of the buildings that are cool. This is a gyro place that we ducked into for water (well, I got water).

The University of Nebraska Lincoln has an impressive sculpture collection scattered throughout a bucolic campus (Warren Buffet and Johnny Carson are alums). This stone Michael Heizer piece is really long and kind of canoe shaped. Lots of bird poo on the top ledge of it.

A "small" Richard Serra piece. That's Alison and Sean.

A really cool Roxy Paine piece (it's made of stainless steel). Its better than the one Kim and I saw in Seattle-- lots of broken limbs and even some fungus. Very tough to photograph-- especially when you don't try that hard.

There's also a lot of civic sculpture throughout the city commemorating all there is to commemorate. This low relief was made of cast brick and is down by the train depot and the tracks (which we've affectionately dubbed the river b/c it feels like there should be water where the train tracks are but there's not).

I really like the lights on the campus. Most are askew and look like giant map pins dotting the landscape.

A Little Something

2008-07-10T06:45:00.002-05:00

We've been working 12 hour days and it's not too easy to find time to post, but here's a view from a parking garage I took last night at 9:45pm.

Live from Lincoln

2008-07-06T09:53:00.003-05:00

I'm in Nebraska for two weeks helping install Liz King's retrospective at the Sheldon Museum of Art in Lincoln. I'm staying in a small dorm room with Liz's assistant Sean. Allison, a student at RISD and a family friend of Liz's is up on the third floor. Liz is staying at the Holiday Inn a few blocks away.

So far so good. Without the students around Lincoln appears to be a sleepy town. Then again, this may be an unfair assessment as it's the weekend, we're in the states Capitol and a couple of days ago was a holiday.

The Sheldon was designed by Philip Johnson (and slightly resembles Lincoln Center) , the state Capitol building is the second tallest in the nation (after Louisiana's), and there are lots of catalpas and Chinese rain trees. Pretty good so far.

Of Course You Have Better Things To Do!

2008-06-29T17:17:00.005-05:00

Year two of SAMETIME 7:15 is six months awesome.

Kim and I were thinking about moving to the f-a-n so she would be closer to V-C-U when school starts in the f-a-l-l (she's going for a museum studies p-r-o-g-r-a-m). After much hemming and hawing, and oh-so mature thinkings about our finances (or lack thereof) we've decided against it. So, in order to feel like there has been some kind of change we rearranged our rooms (we are proud separate roomers). It's exciting and we've both made out like bandits (although we have pretty different ideas of what this looks like).

I say all of this because my change involved an aparatus that came with these instructions. Based of this strange and beautiful instruction sheet can you guess what this aparatus is?

The first reader to guess will get a SAMETIME 7:15 button mailed to the location of their choosing. People who email Kim on a daily basis, or talked to me from their apartment in Philadelphia this afternoon are restricted from participating in this thrilling competition (and probably already have a button).

PS - My friend Robert turned me onto Teddy & Marge. They are fantastic-- from Austin (maybe that place hasn't gone the way of the Gap?), lots of organ (sounds like an actual church organ), cello, and accordion. They play wacky versions of 30's and 40's standards and don't try to sing like Mariah Carey (or somebody else who can sing too well).

what a stupid face you have here mklease!

2008-06-17T08:27:00.004-05:00

I've been getting these emails in my junk mail lately. Funny and awfully tempting...

How it Went

2008-06-04T08:45:00.005-05:00

I'm a part of the show Multiplicitocracy at American University's Museum at the Katzen Arts Center in DC. Super person Kendall Ladd curated me into the show that was organized by students of AU's Arts Management program.

The show will be up through July 27, hope you get a chance to see it.

Older Michael Writes About Younger Michael

2008-05-21T19:38:00.004-05:00

The puff balls of the few cottonwood trees in Richmond are blowing around and reminding of my years living in Fort Collins, Colorado. I had never lived near a river before and loved the Cache La Poudre river which runs through the north part of town and through Lee Martinez Park. During the summer months a young Annabelle (and a younger Michael) would walk, run, jump, and lay around the park. She would run in the long grasses that were alongside the trail, occasionally popping her head up above the tops of the blades to make sure that I was still close by.

A sweet one, that dog.

AND HERE'S ANOTHER...

2008-05-14T08:52:00.000-05:00

Has anyone assembled a list of all the people* doing year long web projects? Here are the three I pay attention to and a shameless plug of my own:

Skull-A-Day

Skull-A-Day is the work of Noah Scalin, a fellow Richmonder, designer and seemingly all around conscious and fascinating guy. I started paying attention to him a few years ago when he and Christopher Humes began another year based project called Swords into Plowshares. We met last summer at the Art-O-Mat ten year anniversary. He's a busy fellow, follow the links and you'll find Another Limited Rebellion, his "socially conscious graphic design firm". They also maintain a great blog.

will.love.logic

will.love.logic is the blog of New York artist Elin Waterson. I also met Elin at the Art-O-Mat event last summer and she has committed to making a block print everyday for all of 2008. She's had some time to focus on different themes and is currently making prints of mythical beings. All of her prints are really pretty amazing... you can go here to see a post where she grouped them by months to see a bunch at once. I don't know Elin well, but by the looks of it she can do most things very well and may be the biggest Old 97's fan to have ever existed.

Aesthetic to Ascetic

This project is brand new and by Kristin Kaskey, a fashion designer, prof at VCU and artist who also lives in Richmond. From her first blog post: starting on may 12th i will wear each item currently in my possession once before any garment can be re-worn... my preliminary count looks like i can make it 306 days without repeating a dress, sweater, top or fitted jacket. skirts and pants will be worn once then will be allowed to re-enter the rotation since i have considerably fewer of these items... each day i will post a photo of the look of the day. at the end of each day garments will be tagged and stored for exhibition, re-fashioning and sale/giveaway.

SAMETIME 7:15

I'll keep the shameless plug to a minimum but I am happy to report that SAMETIME 7:15 will be included in the exhibit Multiplicitocracy which opens at the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center in DC May 31.

More to come about that in a few days...

Happy May Day

2008-05-01T16:34:00.002-05:00

I'm pretending that I wasn't the only one out there that didn't work today and that all of you spent the day in the sun, talking, eating good food, playing music, and letting the ways of Spring have its way with you and her, and him, and them...

SATURDAY WORKSLOP

2008-04-20T22:07:00.015-05:00

I taught a silhouette-wheatpaste workshop Saturday to a bunch of kids who are a part of VACR's Young Artist Society. This is the same group I taught a little over a year ago.

We wrote a bunch of exquisite corpse poems and then set about illustrating them, making silhouettes, and pasting them onto the side of Paradise Garage on Main Street in Richmond.

It was a great day and if I was a super blogger (and teacher) I would have made sure I knew the poems they illustrated and would have put them under each picture BUT THAT'S JUST A LITTLE TOO MUCH WORK.

2008-04-16T22:08:00.001-05:00

Question

2008-04-07T11:29:00.003-05:00

Kim and I are back from our whirlwind Raleigh NC - Brooklyn NY tour and I'll post pictures soon. But for now, look at this short article from the Washington Post about an April Fool's joke:

Wednesday, April 2, 2008; Page B03

An "in memoriam" ad about a former U.S. ambassador that was placed as an April Fools' Day joke backfired yesterday.

A photo of Edward M. Gabriel, a very much alive international business consultant who was the U.S. ambassador to Morocco from 1997 to 2001, topped an ad on Page B8 in yesterday's Washington Post.

In language reminiscent of the movie "Brokeback Mountain," the $322.20 ad said, "Though I no longer have you as my partner, this day will always be OUR anniversary. . . . I could never quit you."

The ad was taken out by J. Peter Segall, a public relations executive and lawyer. Segall is paying for a retraction in today's Post. Segall said last night that he is a mature man who made an immature mistake.

"As I said in a correction that I hope is published [today], I engaged in a very stupid and ultimately cruel April Fools' joke against a man that has been my best friend for 30 years, and I deeply, deeply regret it," Segall said. (The retraction appears on Page B7.)

Gabriel said he fielded calls all day from friends who thought he had died. One woman told him she spent two hours crying after seeing the ad.

"He's an old friend who plays jokes on me every year, and some are hilarious, but they've been private," Gabriel said. "He's a good friend who went a little too far. He's apologized profusely, and I've accepted it, but not without being a little hurt. I think -- I know -- he had no ill intent."

It's the first time in 20 years that a spoof ad is known to have run in The Post, said a company spokesman. There is no formal process for checking the truth of the ads, he said. Unlike death notices or news obituaries, which are fact-checked, families often take out "in memoriam" ads to remember a deceased relative months or years after the person's death.

-- Patricia Sullivan

So, as some of you may know on April 10, 2005 I printed the following In Memoriam in the Washington Post:

In doing this I was wanting to have some tangible proof, to show the way I think photographic images and the words (often) alongside/under them function. To me, this pairing makes a package too tidy, and effortlessly undermines most of the complicated, messy, and beautiful history of the photographed. As you can imagine, not everyone who saw the Post that day was clued-in to why I was in the paper, and it caused a few headaches and a few people were pretty angry with me.

My question is, do I let the post know that this fake In Memoriam of Edward M. Gabriel in fact isn't the first fake obit in the past 20 years?

I Got Gustinitis

2008-03-30T20:30:00.003-05:00

Correction and a Banana

2008-03-26T09:36:00.003-05:00

Langdon wrote to let me know that I need to add one small correction to my previous post: The space where the Langdon is showing is "actually the Kantor/Feuer window, which is not a direct extension of Zach Feuer's solo project gallery (even though he's the boss of all of it)."

I have no idea who these Kantor/Feuer people are and if I were them I'd want to be associated w/ Ms. Graves but hey-- what do I know? Gee real estate in NY must be pretty expensive...

The Langdon did send along some pics of her window:

In other news, I went to a great lecture by the Guerrilla Girls last night at Longwood. Despite founding member Frida Kahlo saying "bitch" a million times and scaring some of my unbelievably pure students, I think a good time was had by all and we definitely learned a few things.

2008-03-20T19:54:00.003-05:00

Kate MacDonnell, Migrating (2006)

I'd be remiss to not mention, brag or announce that two very good people, friends and artists have openings this weekend. First up, Kate MacDonnell, fellow SAMETIME7:15-er, neighborhood high-school friend, incredibly thoughtful, astute, talented, and compassionate human being is having an opening at Civilian Art Projects in Washington, DC tomorrow night. Kim and I will be there, hope you are too.

Civilian Art Projects
406 7th Street NW Washington, DC 20004-2260
March 21-April 26

The amazing, enviable, and recent SAMETIME7:15 star Langdon Graves' opening is actually happening as I write this so this won't do much to get you to the opening but you can go check out her work 24 hours a day for the next month. She's showing in the window space at Zach Feurer Gallery. I don't know about Langdon but I love my work to be able to be seen as people are driving by...

259 10th Ave. Btwn W25 and 26 Sts
March 20-April 22

2008-03-20T06:58:00.003-05:00

My mom's maiden name is Sturniolo which is a name akin to the word Starling in Italian. Indeed they/we are a chatty bunch...

Happy Birthday Donna!

2008-03-03T21:42:00.002-05:00

Explain-O-Rama!

2008-02-19T12:59:00.008-05:00

Since she was kind enough to care to ask, some pics for Paula to illustrate what One Scoop is Two Balls is/was...

It was an art show...

At an ice cream parlor in Hollywood called Scoops...

(I think) this is Paul Evans, the guy that organized the show and came up with the name...

Here's what I have in the show...

Hope this does the trick!

One Scoop is Two Balls

2008-02-16T11:54:00.004-05:00

Art and Ice Cream! Opening tonight in L.A. Curated by Paul Evans.

CBF is TCB

2008-02-13T21:09:00.003-05:00

What more do you want?

Gush! Gush!

2008-02-07T20:08:00.000-05:00

And the winner of one of the 2008 VMFA Professional Fellowships is Kimberly S. Wolfe!!

My lady friend is much much more than awesome... this is only the tip of the iceberg.

Two for One Clicking Here

2008-02-03T07:26:00.000-05:00

Langdon Graves.

(and so on...)

Last of the Words (or Mute From Here on Out)

2008-01-30T20:59:00.000-05:00

That's right. These are pretty much, almost certainly, the last of the words. I have just one thing to tells those who don't know: I quit my job and I'm teaching an intro. photo class at Longwood University while I bide my time freelancing and planning to...

Let us develop a kind of dangerous unselfishness...

2008-01-21T15:36:00.001-05:00

Here's a hero!
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