Since the early fall my household has been watching David Attenborough's nature documentaries. We have watched Life in the Undergrowth, Life in Cold Blood, Planet Earth (British version), and are currently watching The Life of Mammals. The series are filmed beautifully and the information is stimulating. There are so many creatures that I have not seen before or had any idea about how they live and look. Attenborough is a very enthusiastic host and it seems he cares deeply about the creatures he is talking about. On the Life in Cold Blood DVDs there are bonus interviews with the scientists who study the different reptiles in depth, here too Attenborough is engaged and asks interesting questions.

I saw the Life of Birds series several years ago but am ready to watch them again. We are also on the look out for The Private Life of Plants, and Life in the Freezer.

I am not in Minnesota anymore but I am still excited for the Art Shanty Project which opened today. Happening on Medicine Lake in Plymouth, MN (15 minutes out of Minneapolis) the temporary shanty town is a festive winter destination.
If you happen to be in the neighborhood it is a really good time. There are performances, Karaoke, augers, puppets, and Retroactive Minnesotan Lessons given by the charming and informative Andy Sturdavant.

It is happening until February 14th, forget going south for the winter, go to the upper mid west!

The mission of the project is "an artist driven temporary community exploring the ways in which the relatively unregulated public space of the frozen lake can be used as a new and challenging artistic environment to expand notions of what art can be."

check out the schedule of events at
http://www.artshantyprojects.org/
Here you will also find links to the different shanties' blogs and web pages.


Here is the link to the snapshot shanty blog: http://thesnapshotshanty.blogspot.com/ (my pals Molly Roth and Emily Darnell and friends)

Here is the link to the Imperial TransAntarctic Expedition blog: http://antarcticshanty.blogspot.com/ (pals from Elsewhere Artists Collaborative)

(pictured above is medicine lake in the "soft lake shanty" from 2007 by Adam Collignon, Molly Roth, and Angela Zammarelli)
(yes the lake looks like a giant ghost fetus with a claw hand)

My friend Isa Gagarin made me this "crazy eye" paper necklace back in September. I am finally putting a picture of it up now. It is amazing. It was a total surprise. She is amazing, a real explorer. To me she seems really unafraid of experiencing life and making art that is apart of it.

Here is a link to her MNartist page http://www.mnartists.org/work.do?action=list&rid=114446

Fixtures & Foibles
Line Bruntse has work at the Stone Soup Gallery. The show is up until March 8, 2009. If you happen to be in the Western Mass area I highly recommend checking it out.

Pictured above are Bruntse's "Orphans". In the gallery the Orphans are lined up against a wall on the floor. Across from them in the center of the room, raised on low cement pedestals are the Orphans separated shadows. The fleshy Orphans are made of pink leather and are adorned with embroidery. The nubby little ones command a fair amount of space when you see them in person.

Stone Soup Gallery
221 Pine St. (Arts and Industry Building)
Suite 165
Florence, MA 01062

Line's website:
http://www.linebruntse.com/index.html

Stone Soup Gallery website:
http://www.stonesoupconcrete.com/art.php

Jane Lund playing accordian.

Jane is a local artist who does incredible pastel paintings and also these really weird paintings/assemblages. When I say weird I mean that in the most loving way, I mean I relate to them.
I met Jane when I was working at a frame shop in Northampton. I framed some work for her and she invited myself and co-workers to be in some small work shows. She is really supportive of young artists and older artists.

I admire her.

Tumble Cat Poof Poofy Poof aka Joshua Vrysen has a really nice interview in the Valley Advocate (western mass).

Behind the Beat: The Cat's Pajamas
Tumble Cat Poof Poofy Poof's boom box ensemble extraordinaire.

here is the link:
http://www.valleyadvocate.com/article.cfm?aid=9011

"I feel like when you're playing the same show over and over again, you're fighting against what you've already done," says Vrysen. "Where you're constantly repeating this thing that has already happened—you can go back to that moment, and you can do it again, but why would you do the same thing over again when you can try something different, or grow upon it? And even if it's falling apart, or decaying, that's more interesting to me than being this stagnant thing."



Also my housemates George and Dan had an interview in the same column last week about

Behind the Beat: For the Sake of the Songs
DJ duo Purity Supreme shares the love.

http://www.valleyadvocate.com/article.cfm?aid=8966