Dec 4

Fall 2012

This semester has been really in-flux.

I am taking a full-load at SAIC, five classes and the first week of school was a little chaotic: my phone, washing machine, and car all broke down. That set everything into motion and then two weeks ago, at this time of day, I was hit by a car under the blazing afternoon, Fall, sun in the knee cap outside the Student Center.

So,

I am doing five papers in my Literature I Survey ( Beowulf, Milton, "The Green Knight" and Shakespeare)

I am working on several Artist Books with my academic advisor, Alatolo, including a documentary of my fall semester's highlights and events, pop culture moments, daily happenings in and out of Chicago, and "We found Love" a piece dedicated to my other-half. Then, my ultimate project for those two courses on Artists Book is an album dedicated to my wanna-be other half, Mr. Shawn Carter.

I am taking a Basic Sculpture course where I will be working on a final project of wooden, carved items. I'm thinking spoons, pipes and pipe holders, totems, and bookcovers. I got plenty of Birch plywood!

My other course is an Art History requirement that covers Asian American Art History which covers many controversial subjects from racism, political movements, oppression, class division, &

identity, and lack of identity (nothingness).

It's pretty intense but equally interesting.

I will post more later this month, this week is going to be real busy and hard to manage with the political climate and elevated stress in Chicago because of the turbulence of the 2012 election. Everyone stay safe Tuesday night, avoid McCormick place because of federal barricades.

Love!

Autumn Collage

Happy Fall !

Graphic Design

Happy Fried Day!

I hope everyone is having a lovely fall and Happy Halloween coming soon, so here's some cute juxtapositions I made on Adobe Illustrator.


Enjoy!

2009, INTRO TO COMPUTER GRAPHIC DESIGNS
instructor: Paul Mitchell
Adobe Illustrator / Freehand Drawings

Survivor Testimony

There is not an ocean I can not swim
or a fire I can not drench.

There is not an opening I can not squeeze through,
theres no door jam I can't wrench.

I don't run, push, or pull
I just sit on the cold Chicago bench and watch my surroundings
with the eyes of a Monk
and the mind of a Pepe LePuew, the world's ever, best skunk.

With a test- I'll build a mask
with a stench I'll buy a fresh pair of nails
and hammer through the madness with the tenacity of


Gwen Stefani.
Lambness.


Just a ramble about survivin' ...... enjoy

Monday/ First of the Month Update

October First- (9 A.M.)

My semester is off to a rockin start and I am very interested in my  Carving (sculpture) course because I haven't done anything like this in years (since H.S!)

So, it's interesting and intriguing to me how sculptor usually work in silence, or with loud/noisy banging in our studio. I'm always inspired by music so as our "Plaster Project (#2)" I decided to mold a heavy, plaster mp3 player to play on the idea of portableness and how music plays a role in life. it's in the works,

This is my first project with bar soap:

(First free form design) and side by side with #2 (Untitled) the one on the right is Ivory bath soap.

I am also really into collecting found art. You wouldn't believe what stuff you find laying around free when you are looking for it. I'm interesting in incorporating this into my bookmaking class, like an anonymous ekphrasis...hmmmm....

Investigating Form/ Formlessness still in my studies. new media forms, using found images and language, and general exploring. I love this article from the Red Eye a few weeks ago about Silence and restaurant ambiance:

One more example of found art:

-Bests,
A

Letter Writing

Missed Connection Epistle

To the cute girl with the pink-brown bare feet,

Where have you been?

Have you been practicing

your tantric rituals

too close to the Grand Canyon

like you used to,

 or,

playing your twelve-string guitar?

I imagine you learning funky, new sounds.

Crap, forgive my wild (and intelligible)

boomeranged-thoughts.

I lost faith in us.

Still, I built a nest in a Banyan tree,

the experience was so earth-ly.

It reminded me of

the way you retracted your words

and laid upon murky terrain. 

Love and Savida Sangria

The word "SAVIDA" means savor life. It's etymology goes back to Spain, where Sangria originated centuries ago.

Pouring samples of sangria for grocery shoppers is a fun experience because I like to encourage people to use their creativity and garnish the drinks with fresh herbs, chopped fruits, or frozen medleys straight from the freezer section. Sangria is year long as I am concerned; but best enjoyed on a sunny, warm days- quite like the ones that are dwindling away in Chicago right now.

"I found Love"

It's a romantic poem I'm working on, and an artists book. I am taking two Artists Books courses with the expert bookmaker, Sally Alatolo who is also my academic advisor.

So, I got lots of really fantastic projects coming up.

And I will officially be a volunteer for the American Indian Center's revitilization of the Ojibwe tribal language, starting next Thursday, September 27th. I can't wait to start learning the language and participating in teaching the kids the signs and orality. It is not a written language so I'm sure to learn a lot and have a real enriching experience.

*Stay Tuned*

Wine (I Don't know what the question is. But the Answer is Wine)

I think we need to update this photo with my smiling face, but I'm going to work on some artwork for my position as a wine salesperson and make an artist book with my Termination paperwork. Just some upcoming projects to look forward to. 

this is what I'm pouring today, best Sangria ever. Use frozen fruit instead of ice and enjoy! Perfect drink for this weather. 

Drawing Portfolio

Drawing portfolio- inspired by fashion, Old Hollywood, and women's beauty. I want to write poems for these girls in the future, or do something with the pieces.

Fired !

So, I got let go of my Devon Seafood Grill job. Long, crazy story but basically the bar manager went wacky on Sunday (funday) and I got my job working more hours at Summit Wine still, so whatever. I gotta focus on real problems, and school. I got too many opportunities to get upset about a server job. Their loss.... more to come

-Anna

Visualness

Fall Semester, 2012

has just started!

I am so humble and happy to have been given the chance to finish my UG degree after having a Federal scare that I had maxed out on loans since I am going on my sixth year for this little degree....



But here I am ! I am trying to diversify my artist portfolio and create more visual images.

This is one of my collages from Painting the Dream studio.

It's beautiful. I hope you like it.

I'll upload more next week.

"An encounter with Shakira's 'She Wolf'"

Wearing two patches of mink-like pasties
over each breast, six packed abs, bright white
breath; Kryptonite stilettos with silver clasps
hanging on each side like scurvied sailors
over a pontoon boat of juju bees
and  yellow-jacket wasps. Her gaze like grass

clipped and crass: her eyes the color of stereo
speakers- pitch black and fast. 

REM like shivers, spider crack of a windshield,
teeth chattering, lips flattering, 

she smoked

a blade 
of gypsied-licorice. 

Link to my Poems

I have poems and a fiction peice called, "Swept" (rough copy) published in Windows Fine Arts Magazine from Lewis University, Spring 2010.

Here's the link!:
http://www.lewisu.edu/publications/windowsmagazines/2010%20windows%20magazine/pageflip.html

Vice Seer, A Cento this was uniquely created with a vision from Dr. Simone Muench (best poet) and basically, describes my life and experiences as I know it. My favorite poem written to date.

Wheaton, O Wheaton (60187) A poem about the town I consider my "hometown" it is where I spent most of my time growing up. It dabbles into some of the Dupage County Corruption. I submitted this to the Crab Orchard Review but was not accepted.

"A Synopsis of Elsa's Adolescence" is a rambling, lyrical poem about graduation.

The final poem of mine in the magazine, included in its special category "Memory and Dreams" is an imitation of W.H. Auden and one of my favorite of his poems, I performed this poem during a special symposium and got fabolous feedback and it was so fun to write. It's my revamping of Auden's "Stop all the clocks.." into a contemporary version. Enjoy reading :)


p.s. don't mind all the typos in the design of the magazine (and....ugh my poems thanks secretary of Lewis)..... apparently the entire English dept. doesn't proofread. How embarrassing.

Summer of 2012

2012 is half over and, well, it's been a wild one so far. Still survivin' :) The future is very hard to forecast, I just found out the only writing class I was enrolled in for next semester got cancelled so I have to make big decisions about how to proceed, to either keep studying Art History and/or studio practices like painting and drawing, or take some time off which might be mandatory due to my financial status. HOWEVER, Last semester (Spring '12) was awesome! Learning Ethnography, which is writing about culture, was really up my alley. I am still working on my final project which is a artist book about Chicago's Ojibwe tribe language revitalization. I passed Literature Survey 2 (wrote a final essay on Woolf's "A Room of One's Own" and its contemporary application), Literature of Latin America (final essay on hybridity, one of my new favorite academic subjects), Cabinet of Curiousities (writing portfolio)and I have been doing a lot of exploration of visual arts and the Chicago museums and Cultural Center. I am also still writing poetry, webpages, and got a job editing a manuscript and am collaborating on a book that is a crime-fiction, suspense/drama, page-turner. I am working as a sales rep for a wine company and a server at a local restaurant so making time is my biggest obstacle. But, girl's gotta eat!

Spring Update !

Official spring season starts next Tuesday, but it's close to 80 degrees outside in Chicago today and here is my Spring update:

Last semester was very busy, I took four courses at SAIC where I am working on my B.F.A.W. right now.

Form/Formlessness was a cross-listed course between Writing department and Sculpture with talented artist, Stephanie Brooks. It was a very worthwhile course; it expanded my knowledge and creativity away from the written page and typical narrative.

The Cut: Through Literature, Film, Music, & Art was a Topics course dealing with Art History that was a real challenge and addition to my education. I learned about modalities throughout history, politics, and art. Reading everything from Hal Foster, Lawrence Cahoone, Kuhn, Nietzsche, Venturi, Frederick Douglas, Sartre, & Edward Said - it was definitely a multi-cultural, widely ethnic, and diverse learning environment. Identity, Race, and Hybridity are topics that I have grown very interested in, thanks to immensely interesting Professor, PhD candidate at the University of Chicago, Romi Crawford.

Art History II Modern/Antimodern/Postmodern was a dynamic survey from year 1850- Contemporary Art being made today! Got a chance to see the Soviet war propaganda posters at the Block Museum at Northwestern & Eva Hessa's work at AIC.

Painting the Dream ended up being a subconscious-minded travel into collage-making where I made several collage based on my inner thoughts and dreams (maybe nightmares).

So, I dropped my one and only real writing class because the teacher was a yoga fanatic and lectured about running from assassins while making the students chase each other around the room on the first day but it turned out really well and this semester is going great so far.

My goals: Continue to work on bringing my work to new media forms. I want to scan in my collages and upload them, work on a professional website, continue building my portfolio while I have this amazing opportunity at "the most influential art & design school in America" :-) Currently working on a drawing portfolio, writing cabinet, analysis of Literature in two courses, and will be writing my first ethnography about Language Revitalization in American Indian culture in and beyond Chicago. I am def. looking forward to future work for that project.

p.s. someone hacked my blog last semester, so if the hacker is reading this please find something better to do. Thanks!