Oh yeah...

I said I was going to post an ocean picture too...

Here is J with his Alaia that he made. He is working on a chambered paulownia surfboard this summer which will be super amazing. I am confident that J can build anything once he decides to. Constant radness.

J's new handmade shaping station with another alaia in progress.

In NC with the beach house longboard & a giant towel looking like the ocean wizard that he is.

The water was cold but crystal clear.

While we are on the topic of the ocean... even if you are far away and it doesn't effect your personal day-to-day, don't forget about this...

Its still gushing. :(

Hello Summer!

I cannot believe it is almost July! We have been enjoying summer, time off, art making, gardening, and the ocean. Just this week it finally feels like we can let our shoulders down and really relax and enjoy some time off at home together & it is awesome! I am posting some pics from our garden, the beach, and such! More can be seen on my flickr. More updates soon!

Our garden from L to R, sunflowers, flowers, pigment plants, soybeans, greenbeans, millet grass, lima beans, squash, strawberries, chocolate mint, eggplant, echinacea, collard greens, woad, weld, tomatoes, marigolds, various peppers, brussels, cucumbers, onions, chard, kale, fennel, rosemary, peppermint, and cilantro! 

Jeremy is a sweetie-pie! Look at this beautiful birdhouse he made me!

Jeremy and I donated drawings to a benefit for the Gulf Coast Oil Spill that Meighan from My love for you is a stampede of horses is organizing! Go check it out, get a great deal and support a very important cause very dear to J & I. 

http://www.myloveforyou.typepad.com/

More soon! Hope everyone is enjoying summer!

Happy Birthday Fricktoriabee

When I was 18 I adopted a tiny tiny kitten... very much against the wishes of my roommates. From the beginning Fricky was trouble, she bit, scratched, mewed, and tried to eat, everything! But man was she cute! I think it was, and still is, her main form of survival mechanism. She caused her share of relationship problems due to her antics, even caused a house fire (in hindsight I think she was wrongfully accused! :) )... but I loved her anyhow. I still do! And when I met Jeremy he loved her too, the way that I do, in spite of her obvious personality issues... which made me only love him even more. Because, basically, my cat is kind of an asshole... A really cute, affectionate Dr. Fricky & Mrs. Hyde. She is either a doll or a devil. She does have her charms though, if you are sick or upset she will sit with you and watch over you very quietly until you stop. She is very sweet and really just wants to hang out with us all of the time. And she is a pretty lady. Fricktoria turns 14 today! I can see signs of her aging now, she has arthritis, she sort of squeaks when you pick her up... but she still runs laps around the house in the middle of the night, climbs on our shoulders, plays with her superball, and begs to go outside. I love this cat, she has been one of my best friends these 14 years.

Sweet kitty needs a good home!

This little guy is a miracle! When we first met B.B. last fall, he just showed up in front of the garage one night. He was very friendly, but starved & bony as all get out. We started feeding him and he started hanging out with us in the garden every morning and evening. When we got hit with a huge blizzard in December, we brought B.B. in to our mudroom. (It took us a while to find him) He had frostbite on the tips of his ears and seemed pretty sick. We got him set up with a bed & heating pad, food, water, litterbox (which he used right away without problems, further proving our theory that he was an abandoned housecat, and not feral) and he stayed with us from x-mas to new years day. On new years day we realized he was really sick beyond our care, and probably contagious. (We have a 14year old cat of our own to worry about) so we brought him to the SPCA in Charlottesville, a no-kill shelter. At that point we called once a week or so to check on him. He received treatment for an upper respiratory infection, eye infection, ear mites, fleas, worms, the whole deal. In February, they called us to tell us we could come and adopt him if we would like, but Fricktoria, our cat, was not in good health, so we could not risk bringing him home. This was really sad! So we kept calling and checking on him until recently we saw him on the channel 12 news as the SPCA’s animal of the week. It broke our hearts that he had not been adopted yet! He was healthy and happy again! We decided to adopt him & get him out of the shelter. He came home much fatter, and happier than the last time we saw him. His ears completely recovered from the frostbite too! The only sign that he was ever sick is a few cloudy spots in his eyes (which the vet said will go away and have been disappearing in the last two weeks already)

So, now you are probably wondering why we are looking for a new home for him… Well. Our house is small (about 800 square feet) and to be blunt Fricktoria hates him and it is making her miserable. Its really adorable in a way because B.B. tries really hard to befriend her & play with her but she is SO not into it. Fricktoria is old, and in such a small place, this is too much for her.

B.B. is 2 years old, he is good with other cats & dogs. He is super sweet, and playful. (As I am writing this he is laying next to me on the couch purring away!) As far as we have seen, he is not interested in scratching anything.(Fricktoria could learn from him on this one!) He is litter box trained, (you probably want to get a large covered litterbox for him… he  is not a small cat, we got him a small one and he barely fit into it) B.B. can go outside or be a completely indoor cat. Since he came from the SPCA & we took him in for a check up he is neutered and completely up to date on all vaccines until next year. 

LUMP: TEXT AS IMAGE 2010

Allyson and I will be in a show at Lump Gallery in Raleigh, NC called "Text as Image". Text as Image explores language, text, and words as an image making strategy. The exhibition will include drawing, painting, video, installation, printmaking, sculpture, and photography. Text as Image: Joshua Abelow (NY), Cary Leibowitz (NY), Barry McGee (CA), Ray Johnson (RIP), Bill Thelen (NC), Laura Sharp Wilson (UT), Kirsten Stoltmann (CA), Rich McIsaac (NC), Amy White (NC), Hope Hilton (GA), Leah Bailis (PA), Cammi Climaco (NY), Megan Sullivan & Rob Allen (NC), Harrison Haynes (NC), Jason Polan (NY), Michael Salter (OR), Richard C (IL), James Johnson (PA), Allyson Mellberg (VA), Jeremy Taylor (VA), Casey Cook (NC), Michael Klauke (NC). 

www.teamlump.org

BEACH

We are half way through the semester and we are itching for summer. We started digging in the garden and now have onions in the ground. We have some greens, cabbage, and pigments to plant this up coming week. Allyson and I are really stoked about the warm weather, future gardening plans, and getting to the beach as frequently as we can. Unfortunately this year our spring breaks did not line up. So in attempt to get away for a little while we went to the beach for a few days. The weather  predicted that it was going to rain the whole time, luckily we had a couple of days of sun and got to enjoy the beach. Only if we could stay here next to the ocean. We had planned to work on our book while we were here....but we both realized after an exhausting week of school we would get some r&r. We are working on some drawings for our new zine that is in colloration with Patrick Costello and other artists called the Olympic Drawing Club. Working on Vol. 2.  I have also been planing out building a chambered paulownia surfboard that I will be attempting to build in the next couple of weeks. Check out our pics of the beach and some drawings. Enjoy!

Needle In The Hay

Our long dry spell at the thrift store was happily ended by a sweet find last week. While looking for frames we spotted a cute little woodcut of a girl with some birds in a nice frame. It was not priced so when we went to inquire the lady said “Um, I don’t know, $1.50!”.  Around here when things are not priced they usually won’t sell it to you but Focus Flea is especially nice! She was not counting the art (which she obviously thought was junk) and just the frame. (plus I think she was just being nice because we were the only ones in there) So we bought it.  The back of the frame had a little piece of paper from the 60’s that told a bit about the artist and the print. Turns out our little print was by Kaoru Kawano, a very famous modern Japanese woodblock artist, and the print should have cost around a $250 (it is unsigned, but an actual impression from his block) The  monetary worth doesn’t really matter, since we love it, but it was exciting to find out about this really great Japanese artist  via a thrifting trip.  I also got a nice dress and a skirt. All of the profits from this thrift store benefit our local Focus women’s resource center. Score!

Kaoru Kawano was born in Otaru, Hokkaido in 1916, and studied at Kawabata art school in 1934. Because his earlier works showed such great promise, they were displayed at the Nihon Hanga Kyokai Exhibition (Japan Print Society) in 1944. He interrupted his print-making activities to join the army, but later was unfortunate to become a prisoner of war in Siberia. In 1949 he resumed exhibiting with Nihon Hanga Kyokai, and subsequently with Kokugakai in 1952. He moved to Tokyo in 1958, and participated in international competitions and solo exhibitions in New York, Seattle, Chicago, and elsewhere. His works are characterised by highly textured abstract representations of children.

biographical information taken from this collector's great website on Kawano: http://www.ohmigallery.com/Gallery/Kawano/Kawano.html