orange county fair

some friends introduced us to the orange county fair last weekend: the crowds and the ferris wheel, joe's fried frog legs which tasted like a mixture between chicken and fish, a food booth color scheme and matching garbage can, and finally, pig races (photo lifted from the internet).

building a couch

Tina and I decided to build our own couch. I drew some sketches and was inspired by the simple construction and design of mid century plywood furniture and the unfinished/exposed look of Restoration Hardware's Deconstructed Furniture Line. These qualities seemed simple enough to replicate because  the way real furniture is built and upholstered seemed like a lot of work and skill. I used salvaged plywood leftover from some sculptures I made. I ended up with a sort of plywood bench/love seat. Tina chose raw silk as the upholstery and she mixed several samples of dye, we decided on a bright warm blue.

flags and art

a view from our 4th of July spent with friends, BBQ, & some outdoor music, an installation of Tina's on view all week at as part of a fiber exhibition showcasing student and faculty work from cal state long beach fiber art department (find the exhibition details on Facebook here or on tina's blog here)

oh nancy collaboration show opens tonite 6-9pm

my fourth collaborative effort with painter Annelie McKenzie opens tonight from 6-9 pm at the Torrance Art Museum (3320 Civic Center Drive). The show is also open on Tuesday July 5th from 11-5. 

Learn more about the Oh Nancy collaboration concept here, the venue here, and my collaboration partner here. 

The show was mentioned on Argot & Ochre. Read the full blog post here.

Hope you can see the show!!

a food post

it had to happen sooner or later, another food post: homemade tortillas!!!, baked tomatoes, squash and potatoes, turkey sandwiches and an eggplant salad with chickpeas and feta, when the grapes were all gone, shrimp and roasted brussel sprouts (our favorite roasted veggie)

Fiber field trip: overview post

the csulb fiber department (plus some adopted fiber students from sculpture and metals) went on a road trip to start the summer, doing some serious exploring in the american southwest. Our small rental car was packed with 4 girls, 10 pairs of shoes, a crockpot, rice cooker and three large brim hats, among other necessities. We drove an average of 6+ hours a day, exploring the hopi and navajo lands of new mexico, textiles wherever we could find them, and sleeping 4 to a room to keep our costs as cheap as possible. This overview post highlights a few themes that emerged over the trip looking over the resulting photos: the car landscape photo (since we did more driving than stopping), the timer group shot, if possible, including the camera strap (this particular example from gas station restroom stop just outside of Hopi land in New Mexico), the landscape (here a view of the Petrified Forest of Arizona), the charm of the american southwest (here the skull chairs at ghost ranch where Georgia O'Keefe was known to have painted and owned a home), road trip music, sculpture grad student Dawn took a lot of photos so i have a nice collection of her as photographer.

MR MFA