back from Seattle!

So Seattle was great, it's one of those cities you feel like you know already since you've seen it on TV so many times. The trip had a bit of a slow start, we were flying stand-by and got bumped from a few flights and had to hang out in the airport . . but we knew that was going to happen so it's ok, i'd rather save the money and wait!

When we got in it was raining (how very cliche Seattle, haha) and we spent the night hanging out at our hotel, the Hotel Max was as great as it purported to be online. The rooms had modern art in them, the doors were all giant black and white photos. This was our door (notice the do not disturb tag). We did go next door to the adjoining sushi bar, Red Fin. We had some great food and I was blown away by how every song that played was like my favorite (arcade fire, yeah yeah yeahs, mgmt, etc). (me in the hotel hallway)
The next day we got Top Pot doughnuts we'd seen it on Food Network and it was just as delicious as promised. Then we met up with some friends from when Tom was in grad school, Margot and Lyle. We did the underground tour, it was very cool walking around under the city and I feel like I learned something too, lots of history! Then we ate at Ipanema, they surprisingly had lots of vegetarian options for being a Brazilian meat restaurant! We then headed over the Seattle Art Museum to check out the exhibits, the Alexander Calder exhibit was pretty cool. (in the lobby of the museum)

After spending a few hours there we decided to walk over to Shortys, a bar that everyone kept recommending. It was great, they had a veggie hot dog, very delicious, tons of pinball machines and circus-y hipsters. Another one of Tom's old friends, Jeff met us up there.(Margot & Lyle enjoying Shorty's dogs)

After the late night on Thursday we slept in on Friday awhile. When we finally got up we went to see the Troll under the bridge and then drove to Tacoma to stay with one of my high school friends Danielle and her husband Corey. They are so cute, with their little dog Gustav.We went and walked around the glass exhibits outside the Museum of glass. Then we had a little driving tour of Tacoma, I didn't know they had a rainforest there, it was awesome. That night we ate at Primo Grill and stayed in.

The next day we drove back to Seattle to do some sightseeing. We met up with another high school friend of Tom's, Angel and her husband Ian, at ate at Dick's burgers. I only had the fries but they were good! Then we walked down to the piers, browsed the Ye Old Curiosity Shoppe, Pike's Place Market, saw fish being thrown around, watched cheese being made, checked out a Polish Pottery shop that was cool but pricey, and many many more things I'm probably forgetting. When we finally settled down we had lunch at the Crab Pot, I needed me some clam chowder! After that we drove up the hill to get a good view of the city, by then it was pretty rainy and I was sooo glad I had brought my toe-warmers along for the day.
Then we checked out the GIGANTIC REI store, they have a giant climbing wall where you can test out the equipment, it was pretty cool but I didn't brave it in my dress! We then swung by to say hi to another of Tom's high school friends, Leah, before heading back to Tacoma for a chill night. That night we had some Thai food, watched Public Enemies and Saturday Night Live, very much a good evening.

The next day we amazingly got on a plane home (it was way busier than we had thought because of the holidays) after being in the airport forever!

let's pretend it's saturday

so let's just pretend i've finished my paper, since i'm not really working on it anyway . . .

i want to go out this weekend! anyone else? look at all these things to do

It's not the holidays without 80s TV specials

Being born in 1983 I was the perfect age for the years of the best holiday TV specials. My mom and dad would set the VCR to record and we treasured those tapes, watching the same holiday specials in the fall and winter every year.

For Halloween there was:

A Disney Halloween, Charlie Brown, and Garfield

For Thanksgiving:
Garfield's Thanksgiving, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving,

And last of all for Christmas there is: Charlie Brown, Garfield, The Chipmunks,

and Pee Wee!!!

I now have some of these on DVD and get to watch them, but I do sort of miss the funny commercials that were on those old tapes. And I'm not going to say this is a nerdy thing to love, because EVERYONE likes the Charlie Brown specials I think. We went to the Rob Zombie concert last month and he was playing Charlie Brown Halloween on the giant screen over the stage, it was great.

So Happy Thanksgiving! This year I am not only thankful for old TV, but all the wonderful friends and family in my life.

what is your favorite artwork?

So for my BLE 220 class the teacher always sends around an attendance sheet that you write your name, and then also answer the question next to it. Sometimes the question is what is your favorite sport, hobby, movie, band, etc.

The question last night was "What is your favorite artwork?" Which you would think for an art major would be easy, but surprisingly it wasn't. The first thing that popped into my head was this sculpture: Nike of Samothrace ca. 240-190B.C.

I don't know why, I saw it once in an art history textbook and was enthralled. It's in the Louvre in Paris, so someday I'll have to go see it. Then I thought, No, I should have a photo and I thought of this: Nightsky by Lori Novak 1990.

After I had made some photos using a slide projector one of my teachers had shown me her work, I think I liked that I came to same idea as her, before ever seeing these photos the most. But then I couldn't decide. By then I was like "hurry up melissa, people will think you're weird worrying so much about this little question on the attendance sheet." So I ended up putting down this:Mayme Kratz, Knot 222 Resin and Weeds on Panel 12x12.

Not because it's my favorite work of all time, but my favorite thing I've seen recently. Kratz has a show at the Lisa Sette Gallery in Scottsdale running through January 2, 2010 and I went the other week and wanted to bust out my credit card to buy one, but I didn't. I like that they look like paintings from far away, but up close it's natural materials and resin, so more like sculpture. I'm loving the multi media and mixed media art that doesn't really seem to have a title of "painting" "sculpture" "photograph" anymore.

Anyways, to anyone reading this, what is your favorite artwork?

what i did this weekend

School
Paper on Shakespeare
ASU Art Museum opening of Zombies vs. Vampires
Sakebombers
The Rogue
Cadillac Ranch
San Felipes
TV
Met Alando Tucker from the Suns
Free Suns Tickets
Unloaded/loaded a Kiln
Gym
babysat cute baby (see picture below)Skateland for Janet's birthday
TV

whew . . .

Indie Chic on 10th Street

So ASU is having a new event, Indie Chic on 10th Street, their website says it best:

Indie Chic @ 10th Street is an alternative craft fair with a collection of art and crafts. The show features local vendors and handmade items ranging from clothing to jewelry to ceramics and wall art.

Shop handmade and local. Why? It helps the environment by reducing your carbon footprint, it keeps your hard-earned money in the community and it supports Phoenix’s handmade revolution!

Free parking is available just outside of the Ceramics Research Center on the NE corner of Mill Ave. and 10th Street, in museum-marked spaces. Metered parking is also available on the street.

It should be an awesome shopping for the holidays event! Tom is going to have a booth and I'll be working at it so it would be great if everyone would stop by.

When: Saturday 12/05/09 10am-5pm
Where: ASU art museum (click for maps page)
Cost: Free

And if you're an art lover that day you can get a two for one. The Tempe Festival of the Arts is going on right down the street and also has free admission!

Speaking of the ASU art museum . . .

On Friday night from 5-7pm is the opening for the Zombies vs. Vampires movie by Jillian McDonald. Me & Tom are going to go watch!

Hollywood Alley

Living in Arizona as long as I have I've been to concerts at a lot of venues . . . .

the nile, nita's hideaway, new nita's, the marquee, the clubhouse, the rythym room, the modified, the dodge theater, cricket/blockbuster/whatever it is pavillion, the web theater, the phix, the trunk space, four white walls, the big fish pub, bostons, the buddha lounge, etc (and i'm probably forgetting quite a few).

But one place I'd never been was Hollywood Alley, and I don't know why! Last Tuesday me, Kat and Dareena all went to celebrate our friend Alice's early birthday and went to see Girl in a Coma. As soon as I walked in I loved the place, the big booths and records everywhere. So I'd like to say more good shows should be there! Or it should just be my new hang out. On Friday 11/20 they have a movie/concert/fashion show/spy thing happening, me & Tom might have to check it out . . .

halloweeeeeen

i love halloween. did everyone know that already or what? i love dressing up, i love an excuse to stay out late, i *used* to love candy (this year i did not have one piece and was pretty darn proud of myself). Because Tom and I love dressing up so much we had two different costumes each. One was PG rated so we could wear them to our Saturday morning classes where we teach little kids ceramics. Tom printed a free Chewbacca mask that I thought was pretty cool. I was going to be martian girl from planet v (aquabats fans will get it) but then i got lazy and didn't paint my skin green. But I did write in martian language: Later that night, we transformed into the living dead and headed out into the darkness. We found other zombies (Daryl and Shawna) and feasted together. Then we moved on to the zombie prom at the rogue bar. My favorite costume i saw that night was this dancing bear. something about a dancing bear made me quite happy.

"RUNNING."

that's my friend Spencer from high school, intense right? Just a little something to get excited for Halloween!

tomorrow night we will heading a few places looking like the living dead, one of them being the Zombie Prom for the Finale party of Shake at the Rogue.

Let there be light . . . and books

Those are me & Tom's new bedside lamps (on top of our new Ikea Malm bedside tables :). We made them and I've been meaning to post (and brag a little) about our crafty-ness. My favorite magazine, Bust, has a DIY (do-it-yourself) section every month that I usually tear out and put in a folder of crafts to try. A few weeks ago we were having a "recession weekend" (staying in and trying not to spend too much money) and started these. The first set of books were took from the library in our house, but we couldn't find 4 more we were willing to destroy so we went to Goodwill for the other set. The hardest part about it was actually finding the lampshades, most lampshades these days don't use the harp and we had bought a kit from Home Depot that needed a harp! I finally found these at Big Lots.

Shows you should apply to (because I am!)

Spraygraphic (a clothing brand and artists online community) is having two different calls for artists. I like the Spraygraphic shows (I was in the mini mini show before) because they showcase a lot of good work, they try to include everyone that submits and really create an excitement for the arts in the community. To find out how to apply to the vinyl record show go here. The deadline is 12/01/09.To apply to the Black and White photo show check out the requirements here. This one is due 12/10/2009. (Plus the opening is at Green, my FAVORITE vegetarian restaurant).

Cerama-rama

First of all I have to give props to my husband Tom. Last week his piece, Melting Pot, won first place in the "History in the Making IV" show at the Genesee Center for the Arts and Education in Rochester, NY.

Last week we also saw artist Kathy Butterly speak at ASU. A lot of the work she makes is using the same mold for a cup or mug and then she will alter it and fire up to 20 or 30 times to get all of the different effects in the glazing. It was pretty amazing to think about how many hours must be put into each one of those small objects. Tom and I talked about spending that much time on an artwork on our way home, I rarely spend that much time on something, but it's obviously worth the effort.

Kathy Butterly-FlashKathy Butterly-Pillow

Conspire 2nd Anniversary Saturday!!

Fashion, Live Art, Potluck, Open Mic, Treasure Hunt, Shanty Town, Smash Booth, Shopping, and Concert all rolled into one. Conspire is celebrating their 2 year anniversary with a bang! Me & Tom will be there that evening, make sure to check out Tom's ceramics for sale inside while you're there!

GhOsT hUnTiNg CaMeRa

So I found this kitschy little treasure at Big Lots the other day for 4 bucks and had to buy it, a Ghost Hunting Camera! Since the camera promised a ghost in every frame I tried to guess the placement and only a few worked, haha. The film quality is crappy, i'm wondering if these cameras were from last halloween . . .

I did a photographic series a while back where I projected images onto my house, it's funny how similar it is. Here are two of mine, "Fireplace" and "Lake"