road trip 2k10! (part three/bluefield)

This is the last installment of the road trip 2k10 series! I thought Bluefield should have its own post because it is home to an intensely awesome painting that not many folks have seen. The painting is in a janitor's closet at Bluefield College, and it was done about 35 years ago by Earl Frankenfield, Sr. 

The story goes that Mr. Frankenfield, who worked in the maintenance department at the school, would work on the painting during his lunch break and whenever he had some down time. It illustrates and narrates the old testament of the bible in jewel toned images and hand-drawn text boxes.

At some point, the mural was partially destroyed when the school needed to do some construction, but the part that remains is really incredible!

Here it is...

road trip 2k10! (part two)

There are too many pictures! My last post went through Austin, TX. Here's the return trip!

 

Mermaids after the jump!

road trip 2k10! (part one)

One nice thing about being a gardener is that you have a lot less work in the winter! One nice thing about having friends all over the country is that you get to visit them! Kristin, DeCarol and I organized a road trip that started December 8 and ended the 21st. The objectives: see lots of things, go lots of places, and get our friend Meg back east for the holidays. 

We ended up eating dinner by candlelight in the woods, talking hip hop with philosophers, staying with long lost high school friends, visiting a cathedral of junk, falling in love with New Orleans, being interviewed for a documentary about pie shops, breaking into my sister's house, spending a whole day at the Civil Rights Institute, seeing mermaids at the largest aquarium in the world, eating delicious food with friends and family, meeting a few farm animals, viewing an amazing painting in a janitor's closet, and arriving just in time to spend the holidays with family.

Here was our trip:

DEC 8:  Woodbridge VA --> Athens OH

DEC 9: Athens OH --> Nashville TN

DEC 10: Nashville TN --> Memphis TN --> Little Rock AR

DEC 11: Little Rock AR --> Austin TX

DEC 12: Austin TX

DEC 13: Austin TX --> New Orleans LA

DEC 14: New Orleans LA

DEC 15: New Orleans --> Greensboro AL --> Tuscaloosa AL

DEC 16: Tuscaloosa AL --> Birmingham AL --> Atlanta GA

DEC 17: Atlanta GA

DEC 18: Atlanta --> Charleston SC --> Darlington SC

DEC 19: Darlington SC --> Charlotte NC

DEC 20: Charlotte NC --> Bear Creek NC --> Chapel Hill NC --> Greensboro NC

DEC 21: Greensboro NC --> Bluefield WV --> Charlottesville VA --> Woodbridge VA

on the road!

Stay tuned for pictures and tales from WINTER TOUR 2K10!

zine workshop!

A couple of days ago I taught a zine making workshop for the Charlottesville Trade School! It was great fun! The premise is that people bring things to barter in order to take a class.  The classes are held at a variety of beloved spaces around town (random row, the bridge, the garage, etc.), and you sign up ahead of time on the web. 

For my zine class, I made a little zine about zines (how meta!) and we all made our own zines during the workshop. We also looked at a wide variety of zines and talked about the myriad of things a zine could be. After sharing our creations, everyone presented their barter items and they were all so thoughtful and awesome! I highly recommend getting involved with the trade school crew and teaching/attending a class. So rad!

 the about zines zines

a couple of the great barters

group pictures!

apple butter! screenprints! done!

So, about a year ago I saw an awesome post on Theo Ellsworth's blog where he canned a whole bunch of enchilada sauce and screenprinted really great little images for the lids. I finally got around to doing my own version! As you may have seen in previous posts, I recently made a million billion quarts of applesauce, cooked them down into some tasty apple butter, and canned 26 half pints of it. Today I finished the 6 color screenprint for the lids. I am so excited about this project! Just in time for the holidays!

apple butter progress!

the bevy tower

the peanut gallery

craft fairs!

As usual, this time of year just seems to get busier and busier! I have been applying for a couple different grants for big (potential) projects in 2011, we have almost wrapped up our first year with C'ville Foodscapes, and I have put some stuff in a couple of craft fairs that will happen during this holiday season.

I made a whole bunch of prints, some wooden flower vases, and will finish some t-shirts pretty soon.

For more information for where you can find my wares (and the wares of some really awesome folks from all over VA!), click on the links:

Great Gifts Holiday Shop in Charlottesville (@ the Bridge)

Bizarre Market in Richmond (@ Chop Suey Books)

c-ville interview!

Check out this week's C-ville Weekly for a nice little interview they did with me!  

Read it here

Robin Macklin took the photo for the interview and I like it because I look silly happy.  Like maybe I have a few screws loose...

fancy images!

I just wanted to post a few of the beautiful pictures that Charlottesville photographer (and awesome lady) Barrie Humphries took of CHEER ON.  I am only putting up a few of the shed, but she took a ton of awesome images of the whole installation.  Thanks Barrie!

art show in japan!

I am part of a group show in Tsuruga, Japan! The show is called Warmers and will be up for the month of December at Pinon Pinon! It will be up when Sharon Van Etten plays at the space on her Japan tour. More details soon!

Until then, here are the three pieces I sent over there:

starting on the holiday gifts!

Step one of a few: make applesauce!