In progress collaborative drawing between Joshua and I. At this point we each have had two turns with it. He has it now.

Sketch 03/29/2010

Sketch 03/29/2010

Interior front left corner of cardboard structure 03/29/2010

Hoop dreams.

Joshua's Haircut

Sketch 03/22/2010

Joshua has come to visit this week.

Stuffing balloons 03/22/2010

Doll hospital circa 1926. The doctors pictured are Charles F. and Ada E. Turner. This image is from the Durham Museum's Camp Fire Girls exhibition.

Sketch 03/19/2010

The sun has come out!

I like to stand on this bridge and watch the trains. The bridge undulates as the trains pass underneath.





Here I am 03/17/2010


Mel Chin Artist Lecture: What Mattered THEN, Matters NOW: Part II Projects compelled by Crisis and Dreams Re-framed

Mel Chin is coming to the Bemis tomorrow. He will be giving an artist talk on Friday and leading a community workshop on Saturday. Chin is coming in conjunction with his Fundred Dollar Bill project and Operation Paydirt.

"The Fundred Dollar Bill Project is raising nationwide awareness of the environmental threat of lead poisoning by collecting the funds necessary for a model remediation effort in New Orleans. Students and community members across the country are currently creating Fundred Dollar Bills -- original, hand-drawn interpretations of $100 bills. Completed Fundred artworks are sent to regional Collection Centers -- that are securely holding the valuable drawings. The project will collect at least 3 million Fundreds, or the equivalent of $300 million, the estimated cost of making the soil in New Orleans lead-safe."

Omaha also has one of the largest residential Superfund sites in the country for lead contamination.

Superfund is the federal government's program to clean up the nation's uncontrolled hazardous waste sites.

It has been many days since the sun has come out here in Omaha. I think I am losing my mind a tad bit.


I didn't mean to look so serious, I was concerned about the camera timer.


A birthday party happened last night, I didn't go. However, I did hear that a pig was roasted. As it was being carried into the house where the party was happening it was dropped on the front steps and exploded. Pig flesh went everywhere and the people dressed as animals were grabbing at the meat and eating it with their hands. The theme of the party was petting zoo. The birthday boy was a pig he has turned 21 today. There were cages and fire eaters. A bare chested man covered in pig grease caught on fire (he is okay, by the by). There was hay in the house, the house did not catch on fire.

I instead stayed in the studio: inside my fort. I spent the night cutting up pictures watching Russel Brand, Eddie Izzard, and French and Saunders on youtube.

Maybe I like my experiences mediated?
Where is the danger? Where is the fun?
I was using and e-xacto knife, on edge?

Finishing the outside of the structure 03/06/2010


Starting to move in 03/08/2010


Yesterday Heather took Jia-Jen, Jessie, and myself to the Kruger Collection at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. The collection is of miniature furniture that belonged to the late Eloise Kruger. We received a tour from Dianna L Hemsath the curator of the collection. Dianna took us into the room that part of the collection is stored (the other storage site is off campus). The room was filled with cabinets containing furniture and tiny home goods. The cabinets were the ones used by Kruger in her home to store and display.

Eloise Kruger was an accountant who started collecting miniature furniture as a hobby in the late 1930's. It soon became a serious endeavor. As an aside, Kruger had a rough childhood and from a purely speculative place in the car ride home we talked about how interesting it was that she collected miniature domestic objects and would set up her dolls in scenarios and would write little stories about them.

Dianna was saying Eloise Kruger's collection was meticulously documented in regards to provenance probably because she was an accountant. The paper work in regards to the collection filled five large filling boxes. Dianna was saying that when Kruger's collection was donated to the school that also included was her collection of over 800 books covering topics of architecture, historical costume, furniture, construction, and textiles.

Here is a link to an audio slide show about Bill Robertson the person who was commissioned to make many of the pieces in Kruger's collection.

ps. Burns Maxey of Project Elements Easthampton wrote a very nice piece about my work this week that can be found here.

Under the train bridge, most of this has now melted.


Side of the Bemis Center that my studio is on.


Missing brick from a building's facade 02/26/2010


sketch 03/01/2010


Progress 03/03/2010

Tonight, Thursday, March 4th Jia-Jen Lin and I will be presenting our work for the Bemis Center's First Thursday Art Talk. If you happen to be in Omaha the presentations start at 7 PM. The Bemis is located at 12th street and Leavenworth street.

I am coming close to finishing the outside structure of my building (fort/nest). I am excited to start working on the inside.

The Cave - Sean Ward's A Pre-Conscious Space is an installation/performance venue located on the Bemis Center's campus. I just got to go in last week for the first time for a music show. I really love the space. I want to say it is comfortable like sitting in warm water. If you follow the link you can see pictures of it during construction and the finished space.

superstition
1. An irrational belief that an object, action, or circumstance not logically related to a course of events influences its outcome.

protect
–verb (used with object)
1.to defend or guard from attack, invasion, loss, annoyance, insult, etc.; cover or shield from injury or danger.
–verb (used without object)
4.to provide, or be capable of providing, protection: a floor wax that protects as well as shines.

(I looked these up on dictionary.com, I didn't bring my dictionary with me)

I have been watching Guy Madden's Careful at least twice a week for the past month. Sometimes I watch it back to back with the commentary on the second time through. My favorite scene right now is when Grigorss spills the candle wax on Count Knotkers' dead mother's face. It makes me so uncomfortable but I also think it is so funny.