MARVELLOUS

Published By The Artist

2012-01-09T08:07:00.000-08:00

Happy new year everyone!

I will be part of this benefit exhibition at the International Print Center of New York from January 19-21st. All works will be for sale priced at $300 or less and the proceeds will be shared equally by the artist and IPCNY. Lots of big names will be featured so you could come away with a real steal!

Closing party is on January 21st, 7-10pm.

Published By The Artist
International Print Center of New York
508 West 26th Street, 5th floor
11am - 6pm

Aussie Print Workshop Show

2011-09-17T19:25:00.000-07:00

Me and my friends are in this show at the Australian Print Workshop from 24th September - 12th November 2011. The party will be on October 8th, from 2-4pm.

I made a new piece especially for the show because I'm really grateful to the APW for the vital support they gave me while I was in Australia. They gave me a scholarship so I could use their studio for a year, an exhibition, and then helped me get an Ian Potter Cultural Trust grant so I could come to America! And some of the APW artists I met during my scholarship have become some of my dearest friends.

The piece is called 'Plant Medicine Dreaming'. It's a watercolour monotype with papercut collage.

Plant Medicine Dreaming, 2011
copyright Elaine Su-Hui Chew

The Australian Print Workshop is at 210 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy, Melbourne, Australia.
www.australianprintworkshop.com

The Transformazium

2011-08-19T05:30:00.000-07:00

This abandoned church in Braddock, Pennsylvania, was donated to Swoon and will become a cultural center called the Transformazium once renovations are complete.

Swoon mermaid papercut

The church has lost all it's stain glass windows, but Callie has replaced them with her own artwork.

Boarded up doorway filled with artwork

Boarded up windows decorated with Swoon papercuts

I came to Braddock to help Swoon print her new lino blocks for her installation at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston. Her friends were also there, helping her build a sculpture out of bamboo, cardboard and muslin. We used the Transformazium as our workspace. It wasn't easy. There wasn't much light and the air was thick with dust and mould - we couldn't work long hours without feeling achey and tired. We also didn't have running water. I was covered in etching ink for three days solid and when I caught the plane back to New York the security guards laughed at my blackened knees, hands, shoes, and toes.

Sculpture in progress.
This will be installed within a disused elevator shaft alongside a print mural at the ICA.

Scale model of the sculpture

My job in Braddock: to print this giant lino block (approx 11 x 15 feet!) for Swoon's ICA mural.
I was standing at the top of a ladder to get this shot of the block, all inked up and ready to print.

This cheeky, mischievous face belongs to one of Australia's most honourable painters, Mrs Bennett, or Nyurapayia Napitjinpa, whom Callie and I had the privilege to meet on our trip to the Northern Territory earlier this year.

Our printing set-up was on the church stage; the only floor space that was actually flat. I rolled out ink on an old sheet of plexi and we dried the prints from the mezzanine railing because they were so big.
Here Charlie is helping me clean the block.

The first print!
I printed 3 more of these before I left Braddock.

And here was the smaller block...

What a beautiful demon! She was a pleasure to print.
Callie ended up printing 50 more of these for the mural.

The interior view of the church from the stage.
Although the church needs some serious TLC, you can see it's potential for beauty. (I quite like the Biblical mural above the stage with a very authentic brown Jesus.)

A beautiful wall

The last of the stain glass windows

The empty lot across the road also belongs to the Transformazium.
These adobe huts are Callie's practice versions of the earthquake-proof homes which she later built in Haiti.

And this was the final mural installed in Boston!

Swoon's installation is called 'Anthropocene Extinction' and will be on show from September 3rd until December 30, 2012 at The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston.

For more information on the exhibition, follow this link: Swoon: Anthropocene Extinction

And for more information about the Transformazium, follow this link: TRANSFORMAZIUM!!!

My Cape Cod

2011-08-19T05:25:00.000-07:00

We stayed in the apartment above this printshop

A cold surf

Thinking of Edward Hopper

An artist and her easel

Beach shrines

Our treasures

Surfer girls

Another moon rise

House with guardian, Provincetown

A lovely porch, Provincetown

Pink buoys

Early morning swim

Fellows and Fights

2011-08-12T22:46:00.000-07:00

Making art is like having a tumultuous relationship. The beginning is always easy. I'm full of passion, intent and excitement, and all possibilities feel open to me. There is no struggle. The artwork develops in beautiful leaps and bounds and my ideas will feel natural, intuitive and close to the surface, even when the nuts and bolts are elusive. I can never sleep when I'm beginning something. An incredible energy bubbles up inside me and I'll work til 5 am and still feel like a million bux. And then... the first rock. Without fail, it's always there. Sitting in my way and blocking every angle. I push and push and search and search. What's wrong? What can I do? It will resist my petitioning, my appeals. I'll ignore it, give it space, act like I don't care and go to the beach or clean my room. But always I can feel the anxiety of the rock there. I'll look at what I've made and hate all of it. I'll want to throw it out the window. I'll fight and push it too far, wrecking the parts I once loved and start hating myself for being the shittest artist in the universe. It's very boring and ugly. And then, like all things, time passes. Emotions die down. I'll suddenly look at the work and see it for what it is, not for the thing that I expect it to be. I'll stop fighting it and start following it's lead, understanding what can be done. Suddenly we're back on. The work opens up. I fall in love with the new place I'm heading and I'm excited for the future and all it's possibilities. I love being an artist again and stop wishing I'd become a florist or hairdresser.

This summer I've been awarded an artist fellowship at the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop. It's incredible to be given the time, money, assistance, instruction, studio space and equipment to make my own work. I've loved every moment of it, despite the battles and bloodshed and regular WTF?!'s as I fight my way through my project. There's eight fellows and we'll have our exhibitions next summer. The other artists are way more impressive and established than me, but they're all super cool, humble, generous and funny, and we have quickly become friends. I am constantly in admiration and inspiration. Look at some of their amazing work!

Joseph Burwell
http://www.artnet.com/Galleries/Exhibitions.asp?gid=185275&cid=181394&source=2&type=2

Veronica Frenning

http://veronicafrenning.com/

Heather Hart

http://www.heather-hart.com/

Erik Hougen

http://erikhougen.com/

Naomi Reis

http://www.naomireis.com/

Beth Sutherland

http://www.bethsutherlandpaintings.com/

Brooklyn is Mine

2011-05-29T18:59:00.000-07:00

It's Sunday afternoon. Sini and Melissa have left for the week (they live part-time upstate) and Mark is out of town for the long weekend. Memorial Day marks the unofficial start of summer and the city is finally succumbing to that delicious tropical humidity which will dominate the upcoming months. Girls have their bare shoulders and hoochy shorts out on the street, guys are cat-calling and smiling, folks are sitting on their stoops, music is blaring, cafes are putting out sidewalk tables. Yup, summer is definitely brewing in BK. In a month or two people will grumble about being too hot but right now they're happy to pack away their woollens and feel that sun.

I woke up this morning with an eye infection that is making me move more quietly and soberly than my usual buzzy, hummingbird self. I look like someone's socked me a good one! My discomfort and vanity has prevented me from leaving the apartment today, even though the sun is gloriously strong and I was supposed to work this evening. Everyone needs a day of rest and I have been really struggling to make that happen in this frenetic (but happy) new life I've carved for myself. But today is that day! Although I'm operating with pirate vision it feels good to be at home, alone, doin my thing, contented.

Our apartment is a dream. Although we don't have any furniture yet, somehow it already feels super homely (or "homey" as they say in America. "Homely" actually means ugly here!) Not having a table or chairs is redeemed by the view of a church garden and ivy-covered brick wall through our kitchen windows. Mark and I have also started a collection of indoor plants which makes the emptiness of the apartment seem light, airy and peaceful. Most importantly, our kitchen is always full of snacks! (We always have chocolate biscuits!)

Leah just gave me a drafting table so this morning I christened it by sewing a bunch of hems and cutting up t-shirts. I made a salad for lunch and then woke up a skin tone darker after napping under the window. The afternoon light stretches deep and beautiful across my room, long into the evening. I can see downtown Brooklyn through the fire escape, the gilded dome clocktower marking the minutes to sunset which these days is well after 8pm.

In a month I will have survived my first year in New York City, which many say is the hardest one. It has been everything; both marvellous and treacherous. I got my US work visa and dream job, I fell in and out of love, I moved a hundred times, I started a studio internship, I went back to San Francisco, and then Canada, and even Australia!, and after a battle finally moved into my very own home. Wow. People ask me, "How can you live like this?" The fluctuations, the unknown curves and slopes, the uncertainty of the years ahead. Ain't that just the way to live? I feel intensely connected to every element of my life: every decision I make is fully my own, every consequence designed just for me. I appreciate the energy, tension and fervour of each week, the elevation of the senses, the awareness of time and how short it can be. Life is dynamic, passionate. I'm constantly finding windows to climb out of, and new ones to climb into. These days I take nothing for granted. I wake up at 7 each morning with great purpose and intent. I think of everyone I've met and wish upon them this same richness, this fullness. After all, what is more important than the occupation of living?

Dreaming in Prospect Park

2011-05-29T18:44:00.001-07:00

Silly Philly

2011-03-22T21:22:00.001-07:00

An artist's hands

Artist at work...

I couldn't help but stop to admire his coat.

I'm all ears...

... and all heart.

A moment in Philly!

Space Base, the Ooo-ey Piff and Printmaking

2011-03-22T20:49:00.001-07:00

I've recently retired from being a monitor at the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop and have now become a serious business studio intern! The internship requires more time and commitment but already I've learnt so much since starting a couple of weeks ago. Phil Sanders is the director and master printer of the studio and is basically mentoring and apprenticing us interns by feeding us with his vast experience and knowledge about all aspects of the artistic process and the professional printmaking world. We learn about the art market, the collaborative relationship between printer and artist, the development of craftsmanship, and everything involved with archiving, installing and packing works on paper.

Both Phil and the studio manager Justin have also been teaching me lots of new American slang and exposing me to the finer elements of American culture. On my first day I learnt about 'space base' (a blunt rolled with crack and angeldust - to which I replied, "Wow."), the phrase: "Toe up from the flo up make me wanna throw up!", and my new favourite American term: "the Ooo-ey Piff!!", which describes some serious business, stanky, purple weed!

Being an intern involves a lot of falling about laughing. The other day Justin played us Lady's song Yankin. The chorus is treacherously catchy. I only heard it once and still got in it my head. Justin almost spritzed water out his nose when I started singing it at lunch. I also like to sing Teach Me How To Dougie to him while he's painstakingly registering film positives. He fucked up the registration so many times because he couldn't stop laughing. Alex and I dance the dougie while we're calendering paper for lithography (flattening the paper through the press before printing). Alex is my co-intern. Her family is from the South so she's teaching me how to imitate a Southern accent and I'm teaching her how to imitate Australians. She puts me in stitches. Her impersonation of me is awful.

Professionally, we've also been learning how to prepare chine colle monotypes for Chakaia Booker, an amazing artist currently working at Blackburn who is known for her incredible sculptures made from car tyres. And we've also worked closely with Pete Williams from Print Market Project in Cardiff, Wales, who was developing a series of photolithographic prints during his Blackburn residency.

See www.chakaiabooker.com

Anyway, "printmaking meets urbandictionary.com" - that's exactly how I would describe interning at the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop! I highly recommend it!

RBPMW
Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts
323 W39th St, Level 2,
New York, NY
www.efanyc.org/printmaking

On the Home Front

2011-03-15T20:54:00.000-07:00

15 March. I'm climbing into Leah's bed, exhausted after another long studio day and yet another apartment let-down. I don't know where I'm gonna be sleeping tomorrow night, or the night after that. This is becoming normal life. In the cab ride home from work I sunk into my seat watching midnight unfold over Brooklyn. "Somewhere out here, is a home for me." I sighed. A sign in a window, Too blessed 2 be stressed! suddenly flashed past. Mel had emailed me a photo of that same sign, found in Berlin last summer. She had written: "Lainey, this reminds me of you!"
I really feel like New York is the Queen of endurance tests. She'll keep throwing things at you and because you're in her power, you accept it all. Whatever crap is goin on, I'm always saying, "Well at least I'm in New York!" But at what point does this stop being worth it?

22 March. I'm all over this city like a growing rash. Last night I slept in SoHo, Greenpoint before that, a spell in Harlem, and now tonight I'm back in Prospect Heights. I'm running out of couches. My stuff is spread out across Brooklyn and Manhattan and these days I never walk out the door without my toothbrush. Jolie just gave me an I-Ching reading and my future was 'The Wanderer'. "Your home is the open road." it said. "It bloody well is not!" I immediately replied. I'm doing everything I can to prove against this prophecy. I'm trawling through Craigslist every morning and night and throwing out emails like tickertape from a departing ship. I've seen so many apartments and have met so many prospective roommates -I've just read Malcolm Gladwell's 'Blink' and have been practicing my snap judgements with each of them. You have to have a really good sense for people, and a hyper-sensitive radar for crazies. They say finding an apartment is one of the hardest things in New York City. I am really feeling it.

26 March. Ellen says: "Finding the right apartment is like finding the right boyfriend. Don't settle for less than what you want and BE PATIENT. Eventually the right one will come along and make it all worthwhile." I burst out laughing and she replied, "You don't want a boyfriend without a window now, DO YOU?"

2 April. Each time someone asks if I've found a place yet, I have to quickly turn away so they can't see me on the verge of tears. Applying for housing here is worse than applying for a job. I reached a major low point last Sunday when another apartment fell through and I had to call someone I barely knew to ask if I could sleep on his couch. On the subway ride over I broke down and shed a few sorry tears. It was late, I was exhausted, and I was embarrassed to be asking strangers for help. Caleb had offered his place a few weeks earlier, when I was still naively positive and didn't think I'd actually need it. He has a beautiful home in Brooklyn Heights which is a stone's throw from one of the best-looking views of Manhattan. My tears dried up quicksmart when I found his handsome brownstone where I'd be staying for the next 4 days. Oh the rollercoaster ride which is NYC.

11 April. I'm moving to Greenpoint! I've found a place at last! My little room has its own private entrance, hardwood floors and two tall windows overlooking the street. We have a garden with a clothesline and sunflowers, and there's the most beautiful tree-filled park a block away. However, we have to pay a broker's fee and the apartment is tiny for what it's worth. And although my room has lots of light, the rest of the place is really dark. I'm nervous to be spending so much on something I don't completely love, but it's time I just lock down a place and nest for awhile. No place is perfect and you just have to start SOMEWHERE. I've been looking and waiting long enough and I know I can make any place cozy and nice. It will be so great to have all my things in one place at last! My future is finally about to begin.

21 April. BED BUGS. Our new apartment has bedbugs! It has been reported 4 times in the past year on the Bedbug Registry (a service I didn't even know existed until I happened to google our address!) and this morning I found one in my bed. Round, fat and drunk on my blood. According to NY State law the landlord or broker HAS to inform you if an apartment has had bedbugs in the past year. I'm furious we weren't told. There's NO WAY I would've moved into a high risk bedbug infested place. It's a major epidemic here, especially during the summers. Everyone I know that's had bedbugs describes it as "the worst time of my life". You have to throw furniture and mattresses out, wash everything else in hot water, bleach whatever you can, and get the fuck out. Relationships have ended over bedbugs. They are really hard to get rid of! Fumigating your apartment does not guarantee success. Bedbugs can hide in the tiniest of cracks and lay dormant for a year without feeding. And that's not even talking about their eggs! I'm moving out. My roommates want to stay. They think they can fight the problem and maybe they can. But I haven't moved all my things in yet, and I haven't bought any furniture. I don't want to risk it. I'm washing my suitcase of clothes tonight and I'm getting back on my homeless treadmill. I'd rather be homeless than have bedbugs!

23 April. Easter in New York. The weather is warm at last and everyone is smiling on the street. I'm safely housed in a friend of a friend's apartment in Boerum Hill and I'm feeling positive about the future. I saw a sweet, cheap room in Fort Greene today with 3 lovely, charming characters. It's not exactly what I'm after, although the price and location are undeniably good. I've learnt my lesson about settling for less than what I want. Leah has given me a lead to the apartment below hers and I'm checking it out this week. Its huge and full of light, in my perfect location, and in my price range! And my friends live upstairs! I'm a little nervous taking on the responsibility of a whole new apartment, but everything about it feels right.

1 May. What a whirlwind week!!! I signed the lease on that apartment yesterday morning and by the evening had found 3 charming new roommates (4 if you include the part time dog!). I LOVE MY NEW APARTMENT. It's strange to think about all those times I stayed in Leah's apartment upstairs, practically weeping about my housing situation and wondering if I would ever find something as special as theirs! Little did we know that one flight below the landlord was scraping back layers of pink and purple and green paint, polishing the hardwood floors, ripping out kitchen benches and installing new bathtubs. It was all about waiting for the right time.
I'm thinking of that little fat bedbug a week ago, wriggling it's legs in the palm of my hand and me thinking this city is one crazy bitch. (It's true. She is.) But if you can endure enough of her shit, in the end she'll give you exactly what you want. Sometimes more than what you could even imagine.

the kitchen & dining (before they put in a new oven and fridge!)

my new bedroom (with studio space!)

Swoon, in Australia

2011-03-06T19:50:00.000-08:00

Swoon, Thekla

Metro Gallery, Melbourne
February 2011

I had the privilege of going home to Australia for the first time in 2 years to work with Callie (aka Swoon) on her first solo exhibition down under. It was the perfect opportunity to escape the chilly and heartbroken blues of February; a chance to work really hard, be around my people, and get some sun. All of which I soaked up and relished.

'Alixa & Naima'

We powered through jetlag by working 10-12 hour days, creating an immersive installation out of cardboard, broken doors, elaborate papercuts and large linoleum block prints.

Beautiful install mess...

I learnt so much and felt very inspired. (If I could do my Fortune Garden installation again, it'd be so different.) Callie called the show Thekla, from Italo Calvino's book 'Invisible Cities'. Thekla is the imaginary city that is forever being built.

'Ben Wolf'

It was strange to be in Melbourne but somehow absent as well. Most of my time was absorbed by the install. I had to steal little moments with friends. I'd get back to Jase and Bec's apartment late at night and everyone would be asleep. So I took to waking up at 6am to hang out before work. Hot air balloons would float over the city as the sun came up, and we'd be cracking jokes and talking about deep, intellectual shit. The kettle was always on and I'd eat Arnotts biscuits for breakfast out on the back porch. I couldn't have been any happier.

We finished the install the day before the opening. I wanted to get my hair cut in Footscray at my favourite salon, and maybe get some Vietnamese coffee. Rollo, Texta and Caleb came with me and we did a tour of the markets and my favourite dollar stores. The chick at 888 remembered me. She used to do all my perms. "I came all the way from New York to get my haircut here!" I said. She expertly hacked away. "Oh. You left Footscray?" Nothing impresses that girl.

The opening of the exhibition was my final night in Melbourne. It poured with rain but the gallery was packed and spilled out onto the street. My friends were scolded for making out on what they thought was the Victorian Premier's car, but was in fact a police escort's. All the stuffy Armadale folks thought the whole installation was 'very cutting edge'. Callie smashed her wine glass on the lecturn making the Premier jump and the gallery director wince, and then we were done. We had pizzas, roo steaks, pastas and chips up the road, and I felt really sad to be packing my suitcase later that night.

'Monica'

Never For Ever

2011-03-05T06:44:00.000-08:00

29 January 2011... My relationship ended this morning. Spent the rest of my day licking my wounds while following Queen Esther and Douglas around IKEA.

At the ferry terminal I took some photos.

Little Dragon at the Bowery Ballroom

2011-03-05T06:39:00.000-08:00

Monday 24th January, 2011

Felting and Cording Hanji

2010-11-30T14:57:00.000-08:00

Corded hanji creates incredibly strong twine which you can then weave into solid and functional objects.

Decorative objects made from corded and dyed hanji

I took a class at The Center for Book Arts on Korean paper manipulation techniques. The teaching artist was Aimee Lee who was awarded a Fulbright grant to train in the traditional art of Hanji papermaking in Korea.

Hanji paper is made from mulberry trees. It's similar to Japanese Kozo (my favourite chine colle paper). These papers have really long fibres which make them extremely strong and flexible, despite appearing delicate and thin. They are beautifully sensitive for printing etchings, and can deal with being twisted, crumpled, felted, corded and unwound multiple times without breaking or tearing.

Aimee's paper sample books with beautiful hand dyed and felted hanji covers

Felted hanji sample

Corded hanji paper

Dyed paper samples (with recipes for dyes)

Cording hanji paper: Twisting and braiding two strips together with a bit of spit and a dexterous hand! (It's not as easy as it sounds...)

From Aimee's paper sample book: Strips of hanji are corded, and unwound.

See more of Aimee Lee's work at www.aimeelee.net

Soundtracks to Life

2010-11-26T14:04:00.000-08:00

My Dark Beautiful Twisted Fantasy

Listen Here: 'Runaway’

I’m walking around Vancouver’s beautiful snowy streets singing, “Let’s have a toast for the douchebags! Let's have a toast for the scumbags, every one of them that I know..."

I’ve just arrived from Oakland, California, where I was staying with Mo, Marcus & AJ. Kanye’s new song was on repeat in their house, and now I can’t get enough of his new album. The production is undeniably good, and it reminds me of Mo and makes me wistful for the way I lived in the Bay a year ago.

Now 6 months later I realize my life truly belongs to New York. I almost feel guilty moving on so fast. The Bay Area was like a really good boyfriend, someone who looked after me and made me so happy, and although I still appreciate and love that place and time, being back there has made me realize it’s truly over and I can never recreate it.

Porgy and Bess
Listen Here: 'Buzzard Song’

I’m staying in the same apartment as I did the last time I came to Vancouver. The funny, spirited Sara is no longer here (she’s moved to Mexico) but her dear friend Hari is subletting her home and with all the generosity of a true gentleman he is having me as his guest. Last time I was here the tails of summer were still lingering. The leaves were just starting to change colour and the rainy season was slowly elbowing its way in. Everything looked romantic to me. I had a giant crush on someone back in the Bay and it seemed like a new relationship would take off when I returned. However, when I did get back to Oakland the relationship immediately hit a rock, and everything I felt in Vancouver stayed in Vancouver.

Porgy and Bess is definitely not a swinging Miles album; instead it’s some heavy, emotional drama. The mood is raw and intense and when the opening track ‘Buzzard Song’ explodes with walls of horns, you can never look back.

Tell It Like It Is
Listen here: 'Peace of Mind'

I walk up and down Commercial Drive like it’s an old friend, wrapped up like a marshmallow in layers of woolley things. The snowy streets of East Van are turning black and slushy, but to me the city still looks beautiful and romantic. It’s been over a year and I have a new fella on my mind - someone back in New York. He's been supporting me during this whole tumultuous process of applying for a US work visa and while I've dealt with the rollercoaster ride of establishing my life in NYC.

Vancouver is such a dreamy city; a good place to miss people while you apply for visas, where you can feel both faraway and connected at the same time. It's something about the mountains against the city; the coffeeshops and delis and the streets full of gardens; the beautiful Trout Lake and its arrangement of lush and weepy trees; the flat sandy beaches lined with felled logs; and that rolling blue sea which goes all the way to Australia.

I’ve finally secured my US work permit and will fly back to New York in a week. Nina plays her piano and sings it like it is, and I can’t wait to see what’s gonna happen next.

Cousins and Autumn

2010-11-22T12:24:00.001-08:00

Sugar pumpkins!

Coral coloured cabbages

Eucalypts! The smell of my Australian childhood...

Rosehips

Fall flowers

Beauty...

And more beauty...

My cousins are in town and we went to the Union Square Markets. We had Irish soda bread and hot apple ciders and I bought a tiny painting of the ocean.

My cousins admiring the fruit pies...

Afterwards we went to Central Park and overdosed on New York's Autumn beauty. I really loved Summer in New York, but I think I love the Fall even more...

Halloween in NYC

2010-11-07T04:17:00.001-08:00

Our wonderful hostess of the evening, Leah as Lil Kim in THAT outfit...

FYI: I was supposed to be a corpse bride but everyone decided I'm more like the lady that sells flowers for the dead. (Slightly obscure Halloween costume this year, but I pulled this one out of my arse at the last minute...)

Happy Halloweeeeeeen! :)

Being an Artist in New York City

2010-10-30T10:35:00.000-07:00

I never grew up in a posh neighbourhood and my family are very simple people. My dad’s from a small country town in the northern tip of Borneo, and my mum’s from Penang, a little island off the Malaysian peninsular. They both moved to Australia on school scholarships and believe in being practical, hard-working, and living frugally so you can enjoy more for longer. All of these traits have become very useful for my career as an artist. Despite what people imagine, being an artist is 90% slogging and grinding, and only 10% being dreamy and inspired! (Which sounds exactly like something my dad would quote!)

It was a surprising outcome that I became an artist because I wasn’t really exposed to anything artistic growing up. The creative highlights of my childhood were the annual Salvation Army Christmas production and the occasional Enid Blyton play at the local teacher’s college theatre. I used to dream about knowing ‘cultured’ people when I was a teenager: writers, musicians, artists, or just people who lived in Paddington or Glebe who had ethnic rugs and drank cappuccinos in cafes. And even though I’ve come a long way since then, and have mixed my way through all different worlds, it’s still essentially hard for me to relate to some of the shit that goes on in the NY art world. Sometimes I walk around Chelsea and I see people who I could never imagine knowing or having anything to do with. I can’t help but stare at them and feel like a primitive, suburban hillbilly. But then I think about my own people, and know that they have their culture too, which is just as valid and in some ways cooler and more real.

I called my grandfather in Malaysia the other day. I had been stressing out about how I was going to make things work out for me here, with my work visa, employment, and art practice. My grandfather is the coolest and wisest person I know. He asked me about New York. “I love it here but it’s very stressful. Sometimes there’s not enough work and life is very expensive. People here pay over $1000 a month for rent! Can you imagine that?” My grandfather lives in a housing project beside a giant cemetery on Penang Island. He laughed at me. “Ohhh, $1000! Oh, very expensive! Very much cheaper here!" I sighed. "I know! I wish I was in Penang. Food is so cheap and good there, and everything is so relaxing.” He thought this was even funnier. “You live very expensive, and you very stressed. But now you are in New York, and you wishing you are in Penang! Hahahahaha! Penang food very good! Very cheap! Hahaha! Hahahahahaha!” He laughed and laughed and laughed. And so did I.

My grandfather

Laughing Buddha, on top of my grandfather's TV

Illusions and Meditations

2010-10-26T05:44:00.000-07:00

Suzanne Song is a painter of illusions. I met her while I was sitting the Robert Blackburn gallery during the EFA open studios weekend. Her art studio was just next door so after my shift I poked my head in and made friends. She works in meditative, monochromatic tones and likes to use the surface of whatever she's painting on as a visible layer in her work. She recently worked with Forth Estate (a NYC-based print publishing company specializing in limited edition works) and created an edition of two-colour screenprints on cherrywood veneer, which integrates the wood grain beautifully into a geometric, 3 dimensional illusion.

See her work at www.suzannesong.com

A downtown sunset, W 14th St, Manhattan

2010-10-24T15:43:00.000-07:00

Back on the horse

2010-10-24T14:24:00.000-07:00

I've been without a studio since April. Boo hoo hoo to me. Yeah, not the worst thing in the world, but I have definitely started to suffer printmaking withdrawals. When I left Kala I had a bunch of unresolved plates which I've been carting around each time I move house (which, for the record, is 9x in 6 months!). That poor sodden box of plates and proofs has now been officially labelled "unfinished business". Each time I lug it up and down a flight of stairs its like a grubby, annoying kid going "haha sucked in!", just to remind me that I haven't been doing any printing. And its not exactly a small box either.

Anyway, good news has come around again. I have started doing a work exchange program with the very marvellous Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop in Manhattan. For every hour that I work, I get two hours of studio time! YES! Bien Bien Bien. Its perfect, because affording and renting a studio right now is just not possible, plus I get to learn the in's and out's of maintaining a professional print workshop. Yeah okay, some days I just do mopping and sweeping, but at least I'm in a studio surrounded by amazing artists. So it's glorified mopping and sweeping which, in my experience, is much better.

"Bob"

Lino-cut by Justin Sanz

Bob Blackburn was a well-known and well-loved artist and master printer through the 40s and 50s. He passed away in 2003 but people still often refer to him and talk about him fondly. He opened up this co-operative workshop in 1971. Back then it had an emphasis on Third World and minority artists, but these days it's just an all-round diverse and cool open access studio for professional artists and printmakers. I really love it. Its not as big as Kala, but its way cleaner and more closely monitored. They supply tarlatan, inks and newsprint, and they also have a tank for steel facing! I was very happy to have a demonstration of this strange, alchemical process which allows you to coat your copper plates with a molecular iron surface. This keeps your aquatints and drypoint burrs from degrading, and also keeps your colours clean from copper oxidization. Dorky but very effin COOL!

The workshop is housed by the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts which itself is a brilliant, multi-disciplinary art venue with five floors of artists' studios, workspaces and galleries. There are constant programs and events being conducted throughout the building. Its a very friendly, publicly-engaging community. Not at all snooty. I've already met so many artists from working here in the last three weeks, and pretty much everyone is heaps funny, friendly and cool. There's always a good laugh going on in there, and it feels great to be getting back on my printmaking horse.

A Day Alone

2010-10-02T20:23:00.000-07:00

I'm home alone watching The Hawaiians with Charlton Heston and Tina Chen. I just made dinner and now I'm having dessert - jam on toast. I've had the nicest day to myself; drawing, cooking, reading art books, napping in the sun under the window, having tea and watching old flicks in the background. It's been good having the privacy and time to think. Autumn is here and it's a noisy Saturday night in Williamsburg (my current neighbourhood).

New York is so overwhelming it can almost be paralyzing at times. It's not unusual for me to go, "What the hell am I doing here?". It's easy to get confused and forget. It's a real rollercoaster. Anything can happen (or not happen) in the space of a week. You could meet someone, or have an idea, or hear a clue which changes everything. The opportunities are vast but you can't cling to any single thing. You have to constantly make plans and then re-calibrate those plans as you go. You can't let setbacks actually set you back. You just gotta keep moving - onto the next one, onto the next one, onto the next one. Everything is like water flowing around you, and you can either keep swimming, or get out. New York is not for everyone.

Sometimes I worry that this city isn't for me. But I'm happy here and I can't imagine being anywhere else right now. Sometimes I feel like I've gotten on a speeding train, and even though I'm not always confident that I know where its going, to hesitate and stop in the middle of nowhere would feel wasteful. Like Queen Esther says, "You don't want to have lived in New York and have nothing to show for it!". It's a test of resilience and endurance. And self-faith. When I've collected enough experiences to feel my time here was worth it, then I might be ready to go.

Harlem in Lights

2010-08-06T05:23:00.000-07:00

Met up with Queen Esther for breakfast yesterday morning. I had tears rolling down my eyes when she told me about Tracy Moffatt describing her idea for the Sydney Olympics over black ink squid pasta one evening: photographing all the people who came fourth, and photographing them all from the TV in her apartment on 10th St! I was DYING. What an idea!!! Queen Esther believes ideas are more important than technique. She says anyone can learn a technique, but only certain people have the gift of original IDEAS. Queen gave me this look that said, You have It. I insisted that it was important in the development of ideas to have your technicals down too. I take pride in the amount of energy and time I spend developing my craftsmanship. She said "Fine. As an artist there's a lot of waiting around time. Work on your technique in that inbetween time, between projects or whatever. But do not be fooled, at the end of the day it is your IDEA that will set you apart and mean something." As we left the cafe she jumped up and down, grabbed my arm and looked me deep in the eye. "Elaine. Knowing you is like being given the keys to the city." I laughed with the honour, and the other morning coffee drinkers around us smiled. "We are going to have so much FUN!"

I worked for Swoon in the afternoon, and by evening I was rolling back uptown to West Harlem to Queen Esther's apartment. She made me an iced tea with lemonade and then we hailed a cab over to Marcus Garvey Park for a free Gil Scott-Heron show. What a lovely park! The dusky sky glowed overhead, people lounged along rocks and benches, and children gleefully ran through the water fountains. It was a beautiful concert. We met up with some of Queen's girlfriends and left before the encore, to escape the slow, humid crawl of people leaving en masse. We took a walk over to Frederick Douglass Blvd to a smart little bar without a sign and dark windows. Not quite a speakeasy, but with that vibe. We drank cocktails made with vodka, chamomile tea and flowers, and ate homemade sweet potato chips. Ideas churned.

At midnight Queen Esther walked me to the A train and there was a huge community church dinner on the street with smartly dressed families in red, white and grey outfits. They were celebrating 82 years of their church being open. The children were well behaved, handsome and gorgeous in their neat get-ups. The food looked incredible. We promised to come back over the weekend, as they will be celebrating every night for the next 3 nights with food and baptisms! I looked at Queen Esther. We HAVE to come back. She gave me the same look in return.

Fall 2010 Emerging Artists Exhibition

2010-08-04T21:42:00.000-07:00

I have just been accepted into my first exhibition in New York! I am very excited and pleased to be showing my work here. This exhibition features a juried selection of emerging artists and opens Thursday September 2nd at Rabbitholestudios, in the Dumbo arts district of Brooklyn . It will be showcased for Dumbo's First Thursdays (the first Thursday of every month when all the galleries are open late) and also for the Dumbo Arts Festival.

I will have three prints in the exhibition. If you're in New York, please come to the opening and have a glass of wine with me!

FALL 2010 EMERGING ARTIST SHOW
Opens: September 2nd, 2010, 5-9pm

RABBITHOLESTUDIO is excited to present these 12 artists culled from our bi-annual open call.

On display is a collection of vibrant works that eschew the formless, faceless trends of brutal conceptualism in favor of a new lyrical mode, a new perspective both imaginative and strange. From the dense thicket of sculptural rigidity we celebrate a return to painting and present variations in drawing, photography, lithography, video and interactive mediums. We offer works that can be approached without requisite literature, that can be seen as they are, and that exist as shifting prisms through which to view their creators.

The Fall 2010 Emerging Artist Show will open on Thursday, September 2nd and will be on view during the Dumbo Art Under The Bridge Festival.

Featuring:
Tamara Bogolasky
Elaine Su-Hui Chew
Mary Corman
Robert Doherty
June Glasson
Kendrick Mar
Visakh Menon
Rachel Ostrow
Nu Ryu
Sylvia Sewell
Bryan Solarski
Phillip Stearns

Show Runs thru Sep 30th
Gallery Hours: Tues - Sat 12-5pm

=======================
RABBITHOLESTUDIO
// 33 WASHINGTON STREET
// BROOKLYN, NY 11201
// TEL 718 852 1500
www.rabbitholestudio.com
=======================

Baby got Bed-Stuy

2010-08-01T11:06:00.000-07:00

Last night my girlfriend from the Bay helped me move into my new apartment in Bed-Stuy. This is my 3rd move in 2 months. We dropped off all my plastic bags of treasures and walked up to Flatbush Ave for some ridunculous Caribbean makkan. (ie. American-Malay lingo for "hella good Caribbean food"!) I had a Trini roti that was was a serious holiday in my mouth, and Lisie ordered the red snapper fried in plantains with callaloo. Like I said, RIDUNCULOUS.

After dinner we headed to Bembe in Williamsburg, which 5 years ago was a jumpin lil dive bar that Lisie used to party at. Now its got a rep for being the place white girls go to pick up black guys (and vice versa). It was an interesting cultural experience. The crowd was almost jock-ish. Lisie reckons Yelp killed Bembe by bringing all the whiteys to a spot that was originally full of people of colour. Nonetheless, the music was good and we split our guts laughing as only single girls know how. We danced til 4am and I woke up with dirty feet and a swaying tree outside my new window.

BK Home Studio

2010-07-25T17:39:00.000-07:00

I am subletting a room in Gowanus (below Park Slope) which is crammed with books and stuff. It has been an interesting tango trying to forge a workspace in this little cozy room.

I never have an excuse to not make work. Where there is a bed and a wall, there is an instant home studio. And if there is floor space, OMG! I can practically make a whole world. (Unfortunately I don't have enough floor space in my current sublet.)

I always have a postcard and image collection going which I prop up around me wherever I am. Since I'm always moving and traveling so much, this helps me stay focused on the images and ideas I have swimming around my head. Above are my current inspirations... Gloria Petyarre, Kiki Smith, a Chinese installation "The Moon Sheds Light Over One Thousand Rivers", an exhibition currently showing here in NY called "Irrelevant: Asian Artists Who Don't Make Work About Being Asian", Chris Ofili, Pipilotti Rist, Richard Tuttle,David Lynch's "Mullholland Drive", Tibetan woodblock prints and Chinese ink paintings. (On the left you can see a landscape etching I'm re-working with watercolour and collage.)

A Lady and Her Scissors

2010-07-13T11:17:00.000-07:00

I'm back into making papercuts again. Working for Swoon has inspired me. Plus not having a studio means getting back to low-tech processes. Whatever I can make from my bed or couch (while watching True Blood or Seinfield) is perfect. I've been having a love/hate relationship with my recent drawings, so papercuts offer a good rest from that conflict. I've been chopping up monotypes I made last year (of constellations) and plan to collage them onto some watercolours. Its very satisfying transforming dead prints into a new life forms.

I don't remember how I came across her, probably in one of my long escapades through the internet, but I wanted to show you the work of a lovely papercutterist called Alexis Anne Mackenzie.

Youthless

Born in 1979 in Michigan, she now lives and works in San Francisco. Her work (and her name) makes me imagine a surrealist Victorian lady, sitting upright with gloves, hat and small brass scissors, deftly snipping through botanical illlustrations and creating peculiar and beautiful collages from them.

Don't Fight It

"My general intent, throughout all my work, is to portray the world as a flawed thing of beauty - a place that shines brightly, but has a dark side to match." Alexis Anne Mackenzie

You can follow her blog here: Cocoon Balloon

Swooning in NYC

2010-07-13T09:34:00.000-07:00

I have a new job! I am working as a studio assistant for an artist called Callie Currie, AKA Swoon. She makes giant linocuts and prints them with her feet in socks! She then turns them into large papercuts which she collages into her murals. I have been working in her studio for 2 weeks now, but only just met her recently. She is sunny and big-hearted. You can't help but like her a lot.

She is known for crashing the Venice Biennale on these incredible rafts she and her friends made out of junk, and also for her life sized papercut figures, wheatpasted up across Brooklyn since the 90s. She collages patterns, architectural structures and recycled debris to create her murals and installations. She is very talented, has a good eye, and is skilled in making that DIY aesthetic dramatic and impressive.

So far I have been working on papercutting a huge, detailed temple which will be used for an upcoming exhibition. I've also been asked to do some screenprinting and help set up a screenprinting facility in the studio. There will probably be some general maintenance work too. I like doing all of those things. I feel so crazy lucky to have found the exact job I wanted here in New York. Everyone says they can't believe I did it so fast! I had only been here for 2 weeks! It was very fortuitous. The studio is only a 10 block walk away from my new apartment and everyone I've met there is really nice. We listen to podcasts of 'This American Life' for hours on end, and laugh out loud at all the jokes. The work isn't hard but it requires a lot of concentration and strength. I am always exhausted and sore when I leave, but I find it very motivating. I am very, very grateful to be working there.

BK Days BK Nites

2010-07-02T08:06:00.000-07:00

I've been staying in a big warehouse full of "artist types". My main buddy is Henry. He is a fashion designer and hair stylist from San Antonio, Texas. He and his friends are flamboyant and expressive and have that warm Mexican openess which I love. They address everyone as "Girrrl!" and flirt, laugh and gossip generously. His sweet friend Josiah often comes over, full of compliments and youthful enthusiasm. He's also from San Antonio. He sends me text messages like, "Don't be a stranger, ever!" or, "I need some girl time with you!". When I'm feeling doubtful and frustrated about finding a job, he encourages me and tells me “Never give up!”. I make Henry and Josiah cups of Lipton tea, and they appreciate it like its the poshest, most divine thing in the world. They are royal sweethearts.

My new friend Bayete came by the other evening. We went for a late walk up to Fort Greene Park, to escape the oppressiveness of my non air-conditioned apartment. We sat on the hill under the Prison Ship Martyrs' monument and we could have been on a tropical island. The trees were full around us. There were fireflies with little bright green flashing butts! Time slid past like a silent river. All of a sudden the birds were waking up and the sun began to climb, turning the sky a deep velvet blue. Another day was beginning and I wasn't even tired.

These are the new rules: sleep, food or water are not necessary. In my subterranean BK universe I am surviving on air, laughter and friendship alone!

My New York

2010-06-29T10:51:00.000-07:00

The Manhattan Bridge is eggshell blue

The John T. Brush staircase once led crowds to New York Giants' games

An Uptown sunrise

Sunrise over the projects

TQ loves ginger beer

Seriously, no parking

A Chelsea Park sunset

"That's the Bronx"

Portrait on Myrtle St

Girl on phone on skateboard

Washington Heights after hours

Flushing Ave birdcages

Soccer in Central Park

Self portrait in Leah's room

New York Sojourn

2010-06-28T19:31:00.000-07:00

I am in love. I have been in New York for two weeks and every day has been an adventure. Its Summer; the days are golden, the nights balmy and warm. There is music everywhere and the parks are full of dogs and people.

I left Toronto by bus early on a Monday morning. At the border the whole bus had to wait for me for almost an hour but I was given another 4 months in America! I was so happy to clear that first hurdle. I ate a whole box of rice crackers, listened to Phoenix and took a deep breath as New York State rolled out in front of me. "Love Like A Sunset" peaked just as Manhattan swung into view, with a radiating gold and pink evening sky to match. I took another deep breath.

On my first day I sat in Fort Greene Park and had a bad moment. I felt like I had made a terrible mistake. What the hell was I doing in New York City?! I didn't have anyone I could seriously rely on, I barely knew anybody, and I had no job, savings or appropriate papers. I wanted to kick myself in the head for being so foolish. I went for a walk instead, promptly got lost, then stumbled upon the Brooklyn Museum where they happened to be showing a Kiki Smith exhibition, 'Sojourn '. It was $10 but I snuck up the staff elevator. There were lots of large crinkley, glittery etchings on Nepalese paper, some sculptures I hadn't seen before, and an inspiring video of Kiki preparing work. "When you're making art you have to learn to let your expectations go. The inital idea will only take you so far, and then at some point you've gotta just let it all go and live in the present." (K.S.) The Museum closed and I was ushered out. A new energy began to bubble inside me. I felt calm and alive all at once. (Thanks Kiki.)

The sense of possibility in this city is the most compelling drug, fueling each day here with intense adrenaline and motivation. These days I am up at 6am and sleep well after midnight. Ideas churn. Everybody here is chasing something. Everybody is on a rollercoaster. The competition is fierce, the grind is harrrrrd. You don't know what's gonna happen. You go by your feelings and your dreams alone. The fear of failure constantly lurks. But just when you're feeling so stressed and overwhelmed, something beautiful will open its hand and make it all worthwhile.

Early this morning I went for a run through Prospect Park and took a quiet path by one of the lakes. I came across a whole family of swans, including a whole crew of ducklings, preening and relaxing beside the water's edge. I knelt metres away from them. No one was there but me. In the middle of a big city, there was this gracious, private beauty. New York is full of moments like that. Intensity and peace.

Ikumi Nakada

2010-06-17T20:33:00.000-07:00

"I am curious about boys or girls at the onset of puberty and I vividly remember my feeling of being that age. I want to describe the feeling more simply and softly."

Here is another illustrator I like. Her name is Ikumi Nakada. She was born in 1982. Her website is called Abuku Book. It opens with a little girl with a plait moustache. She reminds me of me! Snooty and grumpy! Enjoy her work: Abuku Book (english version)

Yunmee Kyong

2010-06-17T20:03:00.000-07:00

God's Barbershop

I'm really enjoying the work of Yunmee Kyong. She is an illustrator but also makes funny, adorable paper mache sculptures. I especially like her illustrations of different gods, chilling out in a bath or walking around. Yunmee studied in London and New York and is currently an artist-in-residence at the Lower Eastside Printshop.

See her website here! It will make you smile. www.yunmee.com

Sunny Jain

2010-06-07T08:59:00.000-07:00

South Asian jazz composer Sunny Jain has released a new album. Listen here!
(Skip the first track - Ye Mera Khuda is my favourite....)

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://sunnyjain.bandcamp.com/album/taboo"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Jack and Jill by Sunny Jain&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

"This project started through a desire and a sense of obligation to use my music as a platform to address social justice issues permeating the world, and that specifically speak to the South Asian community, where these matters are often considered taboo: sexual orientation, inequality and violence upon women, and the juxtaposition of religions. The artistic inspiration was derived from ghazals, love poems that have its origins in the Arabian Peninsula and eventually made its way to India in the 12th century. Ultimately, I wasn’t looking to create compositions based around love poems, but rather utilize the writings of modern day poets and lyricists in addressing the said issues.

Each composition draws upon one Indian raga in order to present a mood specific to each work. While the music in its entirety is influenced by the Indian and African diasporas, the players bring their own unique musical personalities and collectively, we aim to blur the lines of genre. At the end, I hope this music reflects the creativity of humans, connects to your heart, and inspires you to greater heights of goodness towards all living beings."
Sunny Jain

The Motherland

2010-05-24T09:34:00.000-07:00

Monday 10th May. I've been in Shanghai for the past week for my brother's wedding. Its my first time to China. I am amazed at the diversity of the Chinese people. As I walk around I see so many different types of faces and syles and builds. Shanghai has an even bigger population than NYC, in just as small a space. It is 3x the size of Australia's whole population in one city! Architecturally, Shanghai looks like a 1999 vision of the Future. Cheap materials and pollution haze make the sci-fi buildings look even older than they are. Skyscrapers dominate the city, and pockets of old storefronts are slowly being squashed out. Dad and I have been walking my brother's dogs through these old streets where people still run noodle businesses and repair shops, and pull carts of recycling the size of small cars. Through dark narrow corridors you can see their homes out the back. Chickens and happy children linger in doorways, as people wash laundry from buckets and hang sheets and clothes across telegraph poles.

Tuesday 18th May. We've now left Shanghai. I'm now with my family at the bottom of a mountain near Jiuzhaigou (along the edge of the Tibetan Plateau). Prayer flags flutter everywhere. Outside there is a big gold prayer wheel which has my name painted all over it: "Hui" = Wisdom. This afternoon mum was napping and my grandma visited her dream - the first time since she passed away a year ago. She was younger and healthier and I was there too, making Ah Ma laugh. We believe that when someone who's deceased appears in your dreams young and healthy, they have arrived at a good afterlife and are letting you know. My family is happy!

Friday 21st May. Went up a very high mountain yesterday (4km above sea level). I got altitude sickness. It started with being short of breath, then an imploding migraine, then a lingering nausea that dominated as it grew. I managed to hold it together for our 2 hour walk down the mountain in the pouring rain, but when we reached the car I was feeling overly fragile. I had amazingly beautiful hallucinations (inbetween throwing up all my noodles). I kept seeing our car flying off grassy slopes and gliding over the valleys and villages. Beautiful coloured glass beads came pouring down and little rosy cheeked Tibetan girls smiled at me with shining auras radiating from their heads. A man raised his head and a giant spray of tropical feathers fanned open over his crown. Colours and lights and patterns emerged out of darkness and sped towards me whenever I closed my eyes. When I opened them I'd look outside where in real life we were driving down rocky, bumpy, narrow, winding mountain roads. Snow spattered the windows through clouds of grey. I'd look out at the coldness and reach for a plastic bag, then close my eyes and go back into my comforting dream world.

Portals out of T Dot

2010-05-04T12:27:00.001-07:00

New studio!

Work in progress - Portal drawing #2

I'm now living in Toronto (aka T Dot). My visa ended for the USA and I came here (where I'm allowed to legally work). I've felt pretty floaty since being here. Not wanting to put down roots, yet trying to fall in love with this understated city. The April rain and cold made it difficult for a sun-drenched creature like me. But I stayed positive and motivated, and spent my first weeks planning out my goals and researching which printmaking studios I could apply for and which grants would fund me. I went on long walks all over the city. The streets are long and all look similar. The neighbourhoods lie down in squares across the city. People glance away politely when you catch their eye. Culturally its very diverse, but expressively it felt subdued. I have to admit, sometimes I found it tedious. I lived in my head a lot. I focused on music and reading, and worked late into the nights and early into the mornings on a new series of drawings. I felt more inspired in my bedroom (studio) than walking around the city.

My studio/office/bedroom/portal into another world...

It was a bit unfair on Toronto, since I had just come from SF Bay via NYC, and was full of the energy and vitality of those cities. It was hard not to compare. Toronto is a city which reveals itself slowly. It's like a very polite, intelligent and kindly person who you could never say a bad word about, but who doesn't necessarily fill the room with personality when you first meet. The type of person who doesn't say much, but given time could become your most loyal friend. Now that I've lived here a month, I can really appreciate the gradual opening up of Toronto. I enjoy the bike filled streets, the skies full of trees, the comfort of walking around at all hours and feeling private and safe. No one hollerin at you, no big freeways, parks everywhere. People here are ridiculously kind-hearted, generous and gentle. I could really settle down here.

However, despite my newfound affection for this city, it is to be a short-lived fling. I am currently applying for jobs in New York city. I just can't shake that city out of me. Plus there are so many more job opportunities for artists there. And I'm just not ready to settle down! Once I secure a job I can return to America on a new visa and will be allowed to work legally for up to 2 years. A huge relief. And a major fulfillment of a long term dream...

I feel that life is truly short, and I am too young and too full of energy to stay somewhere quiet.

Work in progress - Portal drawing #1

Gotta Dot Com

2010-04-16T09:18:00.000-07:00

I've been pluggin this everywhere, but it must be done. I have a new website! Please check it out and send me your thoughts. And feel free to share it to Facebook/Twitter/etc, or your friends! ;)

www.elainesuhui.com
or
www.elainechew.com

I will be updating it regularly with new work, upcoming and current exhibitions, and news of projects, works-in-progress and artists I want to support. So after your first visit, please keep checking back. No gossip! If you wanna hear all that, stay tuned to Marvellous... ;)

Thanks for your support, can't do it without you... XOX

Drawing Love / Love Drawing

2010-04-15T13:05:00.000-07:00

“Certain natural environments have figured prominently in humanity’s dreams of the ideal world: they are the forest, the seashore, the valley and the island.”
(Tuan, 1990: 247).

I am drawing islands again. And what now looks like an exploding cliff! Or the ground opening into a portal... It was supposed to be a floating love mountain, but the energy took it somewhere else. Love explodes sometimes...

In the Beginning There was the End...

2010-04-01T09:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was feeling sad, packing my things and shipping stuff off to Toronto. The lady at the Fruitvale post office commented on my boxes. "You're mailing these to yourself?" I said I was moving to Toronto. Had she been there? Her face brightened. "No, but its gotta be better than here!"

In half an hour we'll be landing. I'm arriving in New York under a big moon! Last night I dreamt I gave birth to a killer whale. Song stayed over after dinner and this morning Maria brought pastries and baked things for breakfast. I was still scurrying around packing bits and pieces when Jesus brought me two beautiful screenprints that I'd had my eye on for ages. Mo and Marcus came shortly after and picked me up to go to the airport. As I hugged Favi goodbye my makeup ran down my face. The sun shone across a glaring blue sky and I said farewell to my year in the Bay Area.

Goodbye Bay Area

2010-04-01T09:28:00.000-07:00

My last night in the Bay. Wow, another beautiful meal with some of my dearest and closest friends. Well Oakland, its been a blast... Thankyou for the super love, the mad fun, and the brilliant light that makes the Bay sparkle under the sun and moon!

Now I got a ticket outta town... Can I get a window seat?

Last days

2010-03-30T09:28:00.000-07:00

Its Tuesday morning, a day away from my departure. My time here is ending! I'm starting to feel sad! I will miss everyone dreadfully!

On the weekend my beautiful friends Monique and Marcus threw a sunny BBQ for me at their house. People trickled by at all hours until the late evening. We ate and drank delicious things and I gave out hugs and farewells. The next day I packed up my studio and Jean and Thandiwe came to help. I was exhausted and had been anxious at what a huge task it would be. With their lightness and company, it ended up being quite fun. We drove a small box of things out to Jean's grandparents' home in Vallejo, where I'll store some copper plates and books while I'm gone. On the way back I was trying to suggest we go eat Cambodian for dinner, because as much as I wanted to cook for them, there was no ingredients left in the house. They were vaguely insistent that we should just go back to mine. I was tired and hungry and unconvinced, but Thandiwe said he'd come up with something. I had organized a final farewell drinks later that night at a favourite bar downtown and really just wanted to nap first. We arrived home with arms full of boxes and studio supplies, and as I fished around for my keys Favi opened the door and gave me a big hug. She'd just gotten back from the East Coast. I turned and saw our friend Martin from Germany standing by the door and I was so happy because I hadn't seen him in 8 months. Suddenly from behind me I heard a huge "SURPRISE!!!" and our WHOLE kitchen was full of people! There was a giant spread of food across the table. I was completely stunned. Within seconds my coat came off, our boxes and bags were taken from us, and I went around to hug everyone. All these special people who I had connected with at different points throughout the year, in many different capacities and ways. I couldn't stop smiling! After dinner we took the party with us to Somar. The folks at the bar had reserved a table for me and gifted a bottle of champagne. More friends came, a million photos were taken, and we started the dancefloor. Oakland sparkled under the new Spring night and everyone said I was glowing from the inside out.

Dia de los Muertos in Fruitvale

2010-03-09T02:41:00.000-08:00

Papel picado shrine

Sugar skulls

Balloons

Corn vendors

Skulls

Skeleton sale

Aztec warrior procession

Aztec dancer

Aztec youth, in procession

Lucky charms

Teenagers

Balloons

Baby's shrine

Baby's shrine

Marigolds

St Liz's church

Friday Night

2010-03-06T02:30:00.000-08:00

Its Friday night and I'm baking cookies and working on my new website. I have 3 weeks left of this life in Oakland. Its been almost a full year since I arrived. I've learnt so much. My printmaking skills have improved and refined. My consciousness of what I want to do as an artist and within the community has become clearer and more confident. I have become a better cook, learnt yoga and pilates, and became a professional housecleaner. I've assisted artists with murals, mosaics, installations, graphics, framing, hanging shows, printing and editioning, and learnt about new ways of making money from an arts practice.

I saw Erykah Badu, Me'Shell Ndgeocello, Nneka, John Legend, and watched many brilliant local musicians and dancers perform. I've learnt about jazz, and developed a deep, intense appreciation for it. I also got into house music!! and went out dancing nearly every weekend the whole summer.

I brushed shoulders with Black Panthers, including making the acquaintance of the ever lovely and humble artist Emory Douglas. I saw the sunrise over the Bay from Alcatraz Island on Thanksgiving Day with the original Native American occupiers, and had the honour of meeting Asian American activist Yuri Kochiyama on New Years Day.

I have survived a year in East Oakland without a car, walking around at night and not being scared. I've made HEAPS of friends, and learnt some more about relationships.

I'm about to head to Toronto and Montreal for a few months to hopefully earn some better money (I have a work visa for Canada thanks to the British Commonwealth). When it becomes unbearably cold up there I plan to return to California. Eastside Cultural Center has offered me a part time position as the printmaking studio manager which I would love to undertake. However I have to weigh up whether it will be enough money, compared to the work opportunities I'd have in Canada. We'll see what happens when I get up there. There's a great print atelier in Montreal I want to work in, and I'm looking forward to connecting with some East Coast printmakers and artists. Even though I've loved my time in Oakland, I think the change will be good. And I know when I come back I'll have a whole community here to return to.

The future is open!

Local Bizness

2010-02-09T18:25:00.001-08:00

I've been reading all of Favi's motivational books on increasing productivity and all I wanna do is watch movies and eat toast in bed. The business side of being an artist is extremely tedious but it is the nature of the beast and I know, realistically, that if I don't get up on my game, I won't get very far with my art practice.

Living in America for the past year, I have come away inspired by many talented local artists. Below is a small handful I have come across...

Jenny Robinson is an artist and printmaker who makes large scale monotypes and etchings of industrial and urban landscapes which are visually rich and atmospheric.

Jenny Robinson 'Bryant Street Billboard'

Crystal Morey is a Bay area ceramic sculptor and illustrator who makes beautiful sorrowful and quirky figures.

Crystal Morey 'Seraph 4'

Melanie Cervantes & Jesus Barraza are a husband and wife printmaking duo who make political screeprints and posters about Indigenous and grassroots resistance within the Americas and internationally.

Dignidad Rebelde posters

Emmanuel Montoya is a Bay Area printmaker and muralist who has been making artwork for almost 30 years. His work is both technically and visually amazing.

Emmanuel Montoya 'Homenage A Eugenio Abrego, La Calvera Norteña'

S. Ingraham is an artist/illustrator who's interest lies in magic, wonder and the extraordinary.

And there are many more I will continue to share with you in future blogposts...

Amiri Baraka on Duke Ellington

2009-12-19T13:09:00.000-08:00

"Duke's music is the evocative human experience of its Being, Origins, Destiny. In its multiple forms, vectors, rays, halos, crowns, its function as generator and what has been generated.

Ellington's Blues is his breathing life inside the works. The Blues is always a presence, form, content, spiritual essence and reach.

But Blues for Ellington is a life and life force - from the "favorite color" it was in West Africa stretched twisted tortured. Soaked with a deadly abstraction of invisibility soaked in Blood. Therefore across the whole spectrum of color, sounds, speed, direction, Ultra Violet (invisible as it emerges from Blackness, Indigo as it appears as the twilight diameter of touching worlds, history now memory now Mood.

Duke's Harmonic conception is Western Blue, the depth, Blue Black Deep, inferring a natural 'unison' use of the whole fabric of sound, as color and drama, mood and emotion.

Dramatic as sensuous ideation, containing narrative, call & response. Tales of passion or revelation, pain and uproarious joy."

Amiri Baraka, Duke Ellington: The Music's "Great Spirit"
From his new book 'Digging: The Afro-American Soul of American Classical Music'.

Amiri Baraka (formerly LeRoi Jones) is an award-winning writer and critic, the poet laureate of New Jersey, and Professor Emeritus of the State University of New York, Stony Brook. His many books include jazz criticism - Blues People, Black Music, and The Music - as well as poetry, plays, fiction, and memoirs.

Weekend

2009-12-14T00:32:00.000-08:00

Last night Wren and Monique came over for dinner. I had bought these beautiful Japanese emperor mushrooms which were so handsome and elegant and was looking forward to cooking them. I had spent the whole day in my pyjamas, reading and drawing while it poured steadily with rain outside. By the time the girls came over my mind was super murky. They didn't seem to notice.

Today I yakked on the phone all day. I finally got through to my grandfather in Malaysia which I'd been trying to do for months and left handfuls of voicemails on friends' phones in Australia. The dogs went crazy barking at ghosts outside and I tried not to jump.

I sold about 10 prints on Friday night at the Eastside holiday art sale. I was super pleased. Yvette and Sandy came from Frisco in the pouring rain at the last minute, and we went for bowls of steaming chicken pho after. I felt like I could've been in Footscray with my homegirls. On our way home 34th Ave was banging with flowers, lights and vendors selling tacos, tamales, pupusas and churros for the Lady of Guadalupe festival. We took a walk in the rain. Yvette cried, "This reminds me of the Phillippines!" Food steamed off hotplates and plastic awnings dripped with rainwater. Every few metres someone was selling bunches of flowers wrapped in cellophane. St Liz's church was packed and they had a mariachi band playing hymns. We walked home for hot jasmine teas and laughed so hard there was not a sound in the room.

For Friendship

2009-12-10T18:48:00.001-08:00

For Friendship 2009

Hard ground etching with spitbite, aquatint & collage.
Printed on Hahnemuhle white with Kozo digital paper.
Image size: 6 x 6 inches
Paper size: 10.5 x 11 inches (approx.)
Edition: 10

Stings and Strings

2009-12-09T21:34:00.001-08:00

Every time a relationship ends, no matter how small, two things always happen to me. I break out in zits, and within the month I'll get a flat bike tyre. The zit thing makes sense at least. Being sad is kinda stressful. But the bike thing always puzzles me. What the hell? Maybe I become more careless about all the sharp objects in my path, because I'm rushing around trying to distract myself. I asked the guy at the bike shop. "How could it be possible to get a flat tyre so frequently?" He said it was jus bad luck.

There's a type of lino block printing which we call Reduction Linocut in Oz and they call Kamikaze Prints here in America. Basically, using one block, you gradually carve away each layer of colour as its printed, until there's nothing left on your block. Once you start you have to finish, and if you make a mistake there's no going back. I sometimes feel like I live like this. I throw myself into relationships where the ending feels more certain than the beginning. Which is fine if you take the 'no strings' approach. But for each colour and layer carved out, the deeper into it I quickly get. And when all of a sudden there's nothing left I'm always shocked by the tears that well up.

From Under Our Feet 2005

Reduction Linocut print

Jumping off rocks

2009-12-02T22:52:00.001-08:00

Australia is pushing herself into my head. Sudden flashes keep jumping up on me, surprising me. I swear I'm not homesick but I am thinking of all the changes in my life that have brought me here to Oakland.

The sun nicks off around 5.30pm these days, and I know exactly where its headed...

Soft old beds, pale evening lights, piles of dishes, laundry on clotheslines, dark brown skin, shorts and singlets and bare feet. Backyard dinners. Crazy midnight heatwaves. Sea salty hair. Big, lush afternoon skies. Heavy yellow wattles, perfumed jasmine bushes. BMX bikes. Bondi night swims. Chinatown ais-kacang and banana paddlepops. Couches on porches. Pots of afternoon tea, packets of bikkies, corrugated iron sheds and strings of Christmas lights. Park picnics and beach BBQs. Jacarandas and eucalypts. The cool shade beneath a Moreton Bay fig. Cockatoos, kookaburras and currawongs. Crazy relationships. Devoted friendships. The ocean. Bluebottles. Rips. Jumping off rocks.

The wind from the desert blowing right into the heart of the city.

Life and youth.

the old dayz...

Thankyou to Andras for the pics & the memories... xo

Eat the Music

2009-12-01T01:32:00.000-08:00

Awhile ago I listed my Top 10 albums for editioning and printing. Obviously all art making requires plenty of music, but when it comes to editioning you gotta have it just right or weird manky things can happen to your prints and you won't have a clue why.

Editioning is the process of printing the same plate over and over again until you have an identical set of images which make up your final edition. Since each one is hand printed there will always be unique discrepancies, but a print with significant differences will usually be excluded from an edition. Patience and devotion to your image is the key. Rhythm is important. Like mosaic tile work, if you get the flow right the repetition can become very meditative.

I often think of 'The Ten Thousand Buddhas', a print from the late Tang dynasty made from small, individually carved woodblocks and fired clay seals. The stylized symbol of the Buddha is essentially the same on each block, and yet each carving and impression is unique to itself. When viewed as a whole, the repetition of the Buddha symbol becomes a pattern vibrating across the print. When viewed individually, each Buddha symbol carries its own exclusive inflections, impossible to reproduce in exactness. Like a fingerprint.

Anyway, I've got a new set of soundtracks to edition to. Nina Simone is still my Number One - I always have something of Nina's in my head which makes me listen to her at least once a day. But since bein in America, I've been brought to an incredible new level of jazz consciousness. Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington, Thelonious, Dizzy Gillespie, Sun Ra, Coltrane, etc, yep, all the main homies. Crazy ass pianos, drums, sax and horns and all that. Its wild. PERFECT for editioning. Especially when your mind is full of other things, like printing difficulties, technicalities, or emotions, or real life. Or when songs with lyrics are jus too much.

Thandiwe introduced me to The Dave Brubeck Quartet, a San Francisco jazz quartet from the 50s & 60s made up of piano, sax, double bass and drums. Apparently they still tour today. I listened to their album Time Out on repeat, all the way from Vancouver to SF to Oakland. The Bay was silver and glistening as the plane landed and the concrete glare of Oakland across the water never looked so live.

Have a listen here: Dave Brubeck 'Blue Rondo A La Turk'

T also gave me Duke Ellington's irresistable The Far East Suite, music inspired by Ellington's travels through Lebanon, India, Sri Lanka and the Middle East in the 60s. I can only imagine what that tour would've been like. This LP had a big impact on the Asian American jazz movement and there's a recording by Anthony Brown using both Eastern and standard jazz instruments which I'd love to get my hands on.

Have a listen here: Duke Ellington 'Isfahan'

Although her last album was a little too angsty for me and her guitar solos are a bit OTT, Meshell Ndegeocello's new album is somethin else... I've also been listening to her live recording in New York, Nov 18, 1999, which is very, very beautiful.

Have a listen here: Meshell Ndegeocello 'Bright Shiny Morning'

And Brit lady, Alice Russell's My Favourite Letters and Under the Munka Moon...

Have a listen here: Alice Russell 'Hurry On Home'

Mmm, Delicious! Give me more! ;)

'Afterlife' Photogravure

2009-12-01T00:04:00.000-08:00

Afterlife 2009

Photogravure printed in one colour from one copper plate on Hahnemuhle paper.

Final supper

2009-11-30T22:51:00.000-08:00

I've just had my final supper with my homie. He's being sent back to Zimbabwe tomorrow after 8 years of living, working and establishing himself here in the USA. We got so mad and worked up when his green card application was denied a month ago. It was stressful and sad and overwhelming. But now that he's decided to make the most of it and approach the situation as positively as possible, it feels a lot better. Opportunities sometimes disguise themselves in losses, didn't some wise bastard once say?

Here's to you SirTaku... Here's to many nights of dancing and laughing and playing tourist and eating bad American diner food and over-analytical phone conversations and lunches beside Lake Merritt and Sierra Nevadas and reggae parties and house music and a wicked summer in Oakland, California 2009!!! Live it up bro! May the future bring all the best things in the world for you. :)

Art, Craftsmanship & Andrea Dezsö

2009-11-26T13:41:00.000-08:00

Born in Transylvania, Romania, of Hungarian ethnicity, Andrea Dezsö is a visual artist and writer currently living and working in New York.

Dezsö creates deeply personal narratives across a broad range of media including drawing, artist's books, cut paper, embroidery, sculpture, installation, animation and large-scale murals.

There are dark currents in her images, all of which are elaborate and beautifully executed. I am particularly drawn to her painted journals, tunnel books and of course her major mosaic mural Community Garden, which was commissioned by the MTA Arts for Transit and installed at the Lehman College stop of the 4 train in New York.

I've been following Andrea Dezsö on Facebook. Her updates often mention beautiful food, atmosphere, and labour intensive, process driven art making. Dedication and attention to craftsmanship is something I hold in high regard amongst artists. I am always inspired to cook something delicious and then draw for hours afterwards. ;) Life and Art... As it should be!

http://a.parsons.edu/~dezsoa/index.html

Take Me to the Top of the City

2009-11-15T10:31:00.000-08:00

I Gotchu

2009-11-10T07:13:00.000-08:00

One of my favourite Americanisms is: "I gotchu". It means, I've got your back, or, I understand you. I'm looking out for you. "You need a ride home? I gotchu." Etc. Its very endearing.

I've been learning about the nature of relationships in the Bay Area. People here love new people. They are easily excited and can become easily attached - friendships can sprout up in a second. However, I don't know if this is a Bay Area thing or a Californian thing, or maybe its just American culture in general, but people here also have very short attention spans. (Maybe its the amount of weed everyone smokes. No, really.) The population is so large and diverse and there are so many options for relationships, its hard to hold your focus on one person for long. There are a lot of single people, many flings, many dates, much falling in and out of love. Relationships are described as 'long' if they make it past a year.

My friends who are foreigners struggle with this. I am constantly hearing (and seeing) how it is not uncommon to have someone show unmistakable interest in you, and in the space of one night express that same genuine interest for another in front of you. With little regard for how it might appear, let alone how it might make you feel. This is seen in both men and women. My friends from other cultures always say, "THAT is America for you!" It is a culture of beautiful, slippery creatures.

The thing I'm learning and enjoying most right now is slowing down and investing in friendships first. And after living here for 6 months I'm looking around at who my real homies are. Who's really looking out for me? Who's really got my back? I'm lucky to know enough good people to be happy.

Birthday Love

2009-11-10T07:12:00.000-08:00

Nikita love!

Dearest Monique

Mo, Jose, Jesus, Melanie, Margarita & Favi

My homie Taku

La familia... My sis Favi & her mum Margarita

My favourite twisty trees at Lake Merritt

Lake Merritt beauty

Mosaic Mural - Chinese Tiger - work in progress

2009-11-05T14:08:00.000-08:00

This mosaic mural will be installed across the front of Eastside Cultural Center, 2277 International Blvd, Oakland. I've been assisting the artists Susanne Takehara & Xochitl Guerrero in some tile cutting and setting.

Susanne asked me to find a strong Chinese symbol to include in the mural and I found these twin Chinese tigers from a book of woodblock prints. We have just begun to translate the image to tile...

A lil piece of Breath, waiting for some mirror pieces to be filled in...
And the curl of the tiger's tail...

Some Earth-Yellow Sky blend (with some stalks of rice)...
And the spine of the Tiger...

More Earth-Yellow Sky blend (my specialty) & the tip of the tiger's tail

The beginning of one of our Tiger's faces...
Our two tigers will flank the entrance of the cultural center,
for protection and good luck for all who enter!

The diagram for the centre column of the building.

Halloween in America

2009-10-30T10:39:00.001-07:00

Meditation

2009-10-30T10:28:00.000-07:00

"Clearing the mind, dissolving preoccupations, purifying thought, forgetting feelings, minimizing self, lessening desire, seeing the basic, embracing the fundamental - this is meditation of the Transformative Way. When the mind is clear and freed of preoccupations, it is possible to fathom the design of reality; when thoughts are ended and feelings forgotten, it is possible to fathom the essence of reality. When selfishness and desire disappear, it is possible to arrive at the Tao; when one is plain and simple, pure and whole, it is possible to know the celestial."

From The Taoist Classsics, translated by Thomas Cleary.

Talisman

2009-10-20T20:43:00.000-07:00

Talisman 2009

Hard ground etching with aquatint & digital chine colle.
Printed on Hahnemuhle & Kozo papers from one copper plate.
Image Size (approx): 15 x 15 cm
Paper Size (approx): 24 x 24 cm
Edition: 10

Recent Snaps (Oakland & Vancouver)

2009-10-14T21:53:00.000-07:00

October in America

(My first real Halloween)

Romantic & dreamy at Trout Lake

In love with mountains at Trout Lake

Sara & her city

On the freeway exit out of Fruitvale

Ji Young at Kala

Beautiful Coro (T's dog)

Mood Indigo

2009-10-14T19:18:00.000-07:00

I got the blues...

Yesterday it poured non-stop, Californian Winter styles. I worked all day at Kala in soggy clothes and made extra funny jokes to laugh it off. Ji Young called the rain 'romantic'. I laughed even harder. We had soup and muffins for lunch and I began a new linocut. I skipped every sad song on my ipod and could not have felt any shittier.

As Nina says, it just be's that way sometimes...

I Went Up A Mountain

2009-10-02T10:24:00.001-07:00

Home Life

2009-09-30T17:45:00.000-07:00

Another week has passed in Vancouver. The cold has begun to set up shop across the city. I'm eating a lot and coughing a lot. A whole roll of toilet paper has gone on my nose alone. I feel tired almost all the time. I am ready to go back to Oakland.

Yesterday I went to Richmond on the advice of my recently acquainted cousins. Its an Asian neighbourhood full of cheap shops and I'd assumed it would have some grouse vibes. I fell asleep on the train standing up, literally banging my head on the window when I awoke. It was the end of the line. It was the STIX. There was a mall, some crappy Chinese restaurants, a couple of carparks. It could have been Maribyrnong, but before Highpoint got renovated. I was out of there within 20 minutes.

Today I walked down to Trout Lake again. The mountains were swamped with fat, low clouds and looked like minor hills. The lake seemed thin and the park was mostly empty. I did some drawing until my pencil lead snapped and then came home to read Cloudstreet. Its kind've boring but he's got that Western Australian summer vibe down and I'm digging all the Aussie slang. It takes me out of the world of iceblock paws for a good minute or two.

We're in the basement apartment of a big three storey house. The ceiling is so low I can touch it when on my tippy toes. I often hear the other residents thumping around and I kinda like it. There is a small window which faces the front street and catches whatever's going of the afternoon sun. I know that in a week I'll be back in the bustle and noise of my Oakland life and I should savour all this while I can. I've done a pretty good job making the most of it. I've met some cool folks and seen some cool things. Meeting my cousin and her fam for the first time was particularly cool. They live even further out in the Vancouver stix, in a predominantly East Indian neighbourhood where you can get your eyebrows threaded for $2.50. Our other cousin is a hair stylist so I got a home perm and new colour while gobbling curry puffs and hand made dumplings. It was pretty sweet. I'm lucky to have a large extended family, spread out across the globe. There's nothing like getting a fix of home life when you're away.

East Van

2009-09-30T17:40:00.000-07:00

"I Feel Like That" - Nathan Oliveira

2009-09-25T12:33:00.000-07:00

"Given all the technology that we're in the middle of, I would be so pleased if someone would look at one of these prints and say, 'You know, I feel like that.'"

Nathan Oliveira

Oliveira is a Bay Area Figurative artist who works in painting and printmaking. His work is emotionally charged, often exploring the relationship between people and animals, as well as painting figures and landscapes that have magical or shamanistic overtones. He studied with Max Beckman, and admired Edvard Munch, Alberto Giacometti and Francis Bacon.

His work is sensual, emotional, sensitive and feminine.

Follow his link to Crown Point Press: Nathan Oliveira

Rocker, 2007
Color sugar lift and spit bite aquatints with hard ground etching
Image Size: 45 x 36"
Paper Size: 52 x 41"
Edition 35
Printer: Ianne Kjorlie
Publisher: Crown Point Press

Mornas

2009-09-23T00:24:00.000-07:00

Cesaria Evora is the Queen of mornas, traditional songs of sorrow and yearning from the island country of Cape Verde. I am listening to her tonight while I sip organic peppermint tea and wait for sleep to knock me out. I miss the Bay Area. I miss Favi and the dogs, I miss Susanne and the mosaic, I miss Eastside, I miss Kala, I miss Taku and Kev and Song and Niki and Thandiwe. And Coro (T's dog)! I miss Berks, and of course I miss Oaks... and I really miss my bed! Ahh, SUCH IS LIFE!

I'm working on my first 'graphic novel'. Ji Young threw the challenge at me before I left; to come up with a story during my stay in Vancouver. Its my little project. I'm really bad at it. But I'm drawing everyday, and I value that time. Yesterday I walked down to Trout Lake and stayed for 3 hours straight. I listened to Nina, sketched some scenes in my diary, and thought hard about my future. All this time on my hands is killing me. Its making me doubt my choices in life. What the hell am I doing in Oakland anyway? Where do I think it's gonna take my career? I felt worried and left the lake in a hurry, only to get lost and end up in the same spot twice. It was very disorientating. When I finally got home I made some tea and got to work on my story. I've decided to make it dreamy and romantic. I can't think of the right words yet, so I'm letting the images come first. The things I've left unsaid are becoming bigger everyday.

Vancity

2009-09-19T09:54:00.000-07:00

10am Saturday morning. Its been raining steadily all night but a piece of the sky has just opened up and the Northern sun is catching on all the wet trees. It is just BEAUTIFUL.

I'm in Vancouver. It is everything they told me it would be. The city is set beneath a backdrop of magnificent mountains which flank the edge of the ocean. As you walk around the streets, mountains and water will casually spring into view and everyone acts like its nothing. Its pretty irresistable.

I am staying in East Vancouver near the corner of Broadway and Commercial Drive. I have to constantly remind myself that this is the inner city. It definitely has a small town vibe. The streets are organized in a wide grid and trees fill the skies above you. The houses are well kept and homely, painted in pretty colours and surrounded by flourishing gardens full of vegetables, flowers and lush grass. Kids cruise around the streets by themselves and women walk alone late at night. Its a really diverse neighbourhood. Heaps of Asians and Europeans everywhere, and a noticable African, Latino and First Nations community. Its not like Oakland where the communities are distinct and seperate, East Van is much more of a melting pot.

When I arrived a couple of days ago the sky was dark and rainy, just as its prone to be here. I was feeling melancholy and pathetic about leaving the Bay Area, not wanting to leave all my projects and friends behind for 3 weeks in order to renew my visa. I was also tired and cold. After finding my way to Sara's place and dumping my bags, I went for a walk up the Drive to find food and get my bearings. People were sunny and chatty despite the rain, readily smiling as they enjoyed their coffees and bought groceries. My mood lifted. I browsed a junky, wooden 2nd hand bookshop, looking for a new read. He had lots of good things in there but I surprisingly walked out with daggy old Tim Winton's Cloudstreet ("The Modern Australian Classic."). I thought, 'O Gawd I'm a loser!' But it cheered me up.

Yesterday Sara took the day off to hang out with me. We had a slow, lazy breakfast of toasted spelt bread and tea and I started reading my new book in her rocking chair. The sun streamed in through the window. An hour later we rolled out the door. Sara knew everyone on the Drive. We got coffees, bread, cheese and grapes and sat in the park. "Yeah Bread! Yeah Sun! Yeah Weird People Playing Bike Polo!" I laughed at her, but it was true. I was FEELING this city. We spent the day walking all over her neighbourhood, getting to know each other, meeting her friends, talking shit and laughing. She's a riot.

The sun sets all peachy and pale over here. I feel like I'm overdosing on trees and mountains and good air. We dropped in on Sara's friends, Tia and Curtis, on our way home. Tia's dad is Maori and her mum Aussie, and Curtis is First Nations. They have 6 young, charismatic kids between them. I was tripping on their Kiwi accents and Tia was buggin off mine. Its been awhile since I heard a kid go, "Get here you little bugger!" or "He's in the loo!" I was a bit in love with them. I cuddled their new baby Onainai and they invited us to stay for dinner; a whole baked salmon stuffed with rosemary and lemon. I've never felt so warm and comforted in a stranger's house before. The kids were intelligent and caring and Tia and I laughed at Aussie and Kiwi jokes. It was like entering a strange parallel world where the distant lands of the North and South Pacific become one.

Oh Nina....

2009-09-11T01:07:00.001-07:00

Here are my Top 10 albums for those long hours of editioning and printing...

10. Bob Marley - Legend
9. Fleetwood Mac - The Very Best Of Fleetwood Mac
8. Michael Jackson - Thriller
7. Marvin Gaye - What's Going On
6. Estelle - Shine
5. Sade - Lovers Rock
4. Erykah Badu - Live
3. New Order - Technique
2. Stevie Wonder - Innervisions
1. Nina Simone - (insert your choice here)

Nina can bring tears to my eyes over the hotplate, make me smile as I dry my rag paper, and send shivers up my spine as I mix my inks. Oh Nina...

What's your Number 1?

Fever Dreams & Konstantin Kalynovych

2009-09-09T18:13:00.000-07:00

I'm lying in bed with my throat throbbing and my stomach bloated from having too much ginger in my tea. Its supposed to be an auspicious day today: 9/9/09. I was hoping some luck might come my way, and maybe it has. It just must be in a form I don't recognize.

With my fever today, strange flashes of places and past times come to my mind. Its 6.30pm and the sun is still out over Oakland. The neighbours are fixing things and speaking Spanish. I feel huge warmth and nostalgia for this place, but I never grew up here. There is music in the distance. It must be a movie, or an old dream. But right now its comforting.

I just came across this Russian artist's work, Konstantin Kalynovych. His watercolours are lovely, but it is his prints which I am drawn to. They are lush and intricate like Durer's, but with a surrealism that sends me deep into my dreams and my memories. They make me wanna work on my etching plates for longer, and multi-process them the way I used to. When I see the quality of his work, I realise how much more I must learn and master.

http://www.kalynovych.com/

More dreams to come.... The sun has sunk.

More Asian Please

2009-09-01T23:07:00.000-07:00

I'm laughing. For the longest time my dear parents have asked me why I don't make artworks which are "more Asian". I guess all my diamonds, amulets, kites and strange dream-catcher symbols are a bit too trippy for them. I always reply, "Whatever I do IS Asian." (Kids always think they're smarter than their parents.)
My poor mum and dad have never had much exposure to the arts in their lives, and hold many anxious fears for my future "as an artist". For them the words 'artist' and 'career' are not things to be said together in a sentence. At least, not seriously. However, they have accepted my uncertain and financially sorry choice, and even though I still get emails from my mum about how wonderful life would be as a teacher (all those holidays!) they have tried to be as supportive as they can, in their own way. Dad will enthusiastically report back about an article he read in the Sydney Morning Herald regarding the amount of money and fame artists from China seem to be getting; inevitably leading to suggestions that I should use more Chinese characters or Asian designs in my prints. Mum will cut out things from magazines about any artist she comes across and save them for me when I come visit. She surprised me once by emailing photos of Ron Mueck's sculptures, even though they were too creepy for her. Although she's not as big on advice-giving as my dad, she too has told me that people appreciate "floral designs" more than all my superstitious symbols with titles about death. (Chinese will never hang up anything with the word "death" in it. Tellingly, for superstitious reasons.)

Over the weekend I worked on 2 large monotypes for a reception at Jack London Gateway Senior Housing Project in Oakland. The residents of the housing unit are predominantly Asian (mostly Chinese) and African American, so for the first time ever I made something as 'Asian' as I possibly could. The housing board intends to purchase several works from the reception to permanently hang in the lobby for the residents to enjoy, so I thought of my dear mama and papa the whole time, trying to inspire something that they would like. As well as all my Aunties and Uncles. It was kind've fun. I thought of meaningful Asian flowers (marigolds, lotuses, etc), I thought of "bright and colourful" (another Dad suggestion), and of course I thought of red and gold and the idea of good luck. Strangely it wasn't too conceptually different from my 'usual' work anyway. (Funny that. I told you everything I did was fully Asian! Lolz.)

I had a good ol laugh once I framed and titled them. Below are the hung works - excuse the shonky photography, the glass was too reflective and you can't quite see the gold, but you get the idea.

For Luck 2009

Monotype on Arches paper using Charbonell inks.
Edition: Unique State
Size: 19 x 23.5 inches (approx.), unframed

Marigold Song 2009

Monotype on Hahnemuhle paper using Charbonell inks.
Edition: Unique State
Size: 18 x 23.5 inches (approx.), unframed

August night

2009-08-27T20:48:00.001-07:00

Warm Summer night in Oakland. Ropes of lights are glowing above the market. The sky is dark indigo and very tall. The moon is half. I am riding my bike home through Fruitvale. Mexican music is blaring from the corner store and I can smell sweet baked things as I ride down the street. And I smell fresh laundry. Folks are out on their front porches and steps, windows and doors wide open. Kids scream while they play and I'm hearing languages that I don't understand. Things feel good. I feel at home.

The dogs are yelling and hungry when I get in. Favi has left chocolate chip cookies from Maui on the table. I eat one for dinner and a cheese tortilla later. The dogs stop barking long enough to scoff their food but soon start up again until I yell "ENOUGH! GO. TO. BED." (my 'serious business' voice). Minerva drops her head in shame and backs away from me slowly. Shoyu curls up quietly on the tiles with a green lemon from the tree outside. Now all I hear is distant trains and traffic and glass bottles clinking. There is no one to bother me. In a six person house this is something to savour and suck up. I am nodding at every moment.

If this was Australia I would go for a walk tonight. I would spy on people lit up in their houses and imagine being friends. I would enjoy the stars and the lush night sky, and feel romantic and peaceful. I would admire the backdrop of curvy hills and not think about getting robbed, shot or assaulted. I would pay no attention to the distressed and howling sirens. I would think about my future and feel full and whole. I would think about my family and my closest and oldest friends. I would walk for a good hour or more and appreciate every good thing in my life. I would be alone but feel very loved.

Wishing all the best things of this world on you ...

Love, from me
XOXOXOOXXOXOX

Mosaic Mural - work in progress

2009-08-26T20:56:00.000-07:00

I've been assisting artists Susanne and Xochitl by cutting and setting tiles for their mosaic mural. This will eventually be installed across the front of Eastside Cultural Center, 2277 International Blvd, Oakland. They have designed the mosaic to reflect the diverse cultures of the local neighbourhood, as well as imparting themes of creativity, energy, spirituality, ritual and unity. It is a monumental effort, but will be SO BEAUTIFUL once completed. I feel very lucky and privileged to be able to assist with this project.

I've never had an appreciation for mosaics (other than Gaudi's) until now. There is a strange calm place you must enter in your mind when working on a mosaic. It sounds odd but the process will resist you if you try and control it too much. The tiles will not fit, the sets will not flow, the tools will not cut and break pieces the way you wish. Sometimes it all falls into place without any thought or effort. Posture is important. The order and rhythym of your work is important. Music is important. You must think of triangles, gaps, grout, puzzles, glazes, colours, textures, scale, continuity and perspective, while not thinking of one any more than the other. You have to just bang it out, and it will not resist you. Its very meditative and hypnotic. Afterwards I always feel sore. But I love it.

Xochitl's Mural at Garfield Elementary School

2009-08-12T18:06:00.001-07:00

School vegie garden

Xochitl and Roberto - the artists.

Xochitl worked with the school kids to design the mural. She wanted it to look like their drawings so she kept telling Roberto not to make it so detailed, but neither of them could help themselves ;-)

Scraper bike

The kids around here thread tape through their spokes and spraypaint them with fluro, gold or silver patterns. They call them 'scraper bikes'. This is purely a Bay Area thing (in fact, I think its originally an Oakland thing -can anyone clarify?). I started turning Xochitl's bicycle into a scraper and then Roberto did a way better job of it. Now its perfect!

"What do you want to do when you grow up?"

Xochitl asked the kids, "What do you want to do when you grow up?" They replied, "Work with animals! Be a vet! Go to college! Be a photographer! Work with computers!" She put it into the mural. The boy under the peace sign with the cap was supposed to have a laptop but as we were painting we ran out of space. Oops...

Traditional Aztec warrior symbol

Roberto explaining how in the original Aztec symbol the warrior wears furs, not green leaves. That's Xochitl's creative licence ;-) She also put a cell phone in his hand. "We try to keep up with the times." he said.

Mexican, Native American & African symbols

Xochitl is painting a Mexican cosmic symbol which represents yin and yang. The turtle below is a Native American symbol for the Earth. The pink flower design on the shell is an Indigenous Mexican lotus. The symbol down the bottom is African and represents the elements: Water, Earth, Fire and Air.

Garfield (reading a book about cat food)

Centre piece

The girl with the braids was one of the main designers. All the kids helped paint - hence the helmet hair on the boy with the apple! I originally painted him as an Asian, but either Xochitl or Roberto went over him and turned him Black! Oh well... Ya can't win em all...

The stars, the sky

2009-08-10T00:41:00.001-07:00

The stars, the sky 2009

Monotype with chine colle.
Printed on Arches paper and Kozo Japanese rice paper using Charbonell inks.
Image size approx. 25.5 x 28cm.
Paper size approx. 35.5 x 38cm.

'Protection' series

2009-08-10T00:20:00.000-07:00

Protection 2009

Hard ground etchings printed from two copper plates in Charbonell silver ink.
Printed on Arches paper with collaged digital prints on Kozo Japanese rice paper.
Image size approx. 15 x 15cm.
Paper size approx. 24 x 24cm.

Photogravure... Second Print

2009-08-09T23:48:00.000-07:00

My first photogravure without my wonderful tutor Ellie by my side. It was a struggle. It took me about a month to get it right. I wanted it to be dark and mysterious, but I think I over-etched my blacks a little and the shadows became too strong. Luckily you can pull a few tricks while printing so I managed to draw out more of the image by mixing a transparent medium into my inks.

The image is approx. 20.5cm wide and 13cm high.
Printed on Hahnemuhle paper using Gamblin and Charbonell inks.

Stuff

2009-07-20T21:24:00.000-07:00

I woke up with my first hangover today. Yes I'm 30 years old and that was my first hangover. I never was a drinker until the last year or so (getting royally dumped will do that to you) so its taken me longer than usual to experience it. A good thing no doubt. Being a mini Asian of course it only takes 2 beers and I'm drunk as. Not to mention the endearing but prawny-looking Asian glow/Asian flush in the cheeks (which my brothers and sisters would all know about! LOL) That sux. But I'm definitely cheap to take out! YEA! There's a plus to everything, right?

I went to 3 parties last night. Hence the hangover. I made some new friends and of course LMAO most of the night, even before they started buying me drinks. I guess I'm easily amused by life. (Another good thing, right?!) I've decided that no matter how many times people tell me I have a cute accent here, I officially hate it, and I also hate the sound of my voice. I just listened to an interview I did and it made me cringe to the core. The Australian accent is DUMB AS. Ugh. Just before I left Oz I was telling a friend how quickly I would adopt the American accent, being the natural assimilator that I am. He was an idiot and told me that I should hang onto mine because it was "the one thing that would set me apart". EXCUSE ME? Obviously he wasn't my friend because all my friends know what a STELLAR personality I have, which of course makes me memorable and unique to all who have the pleasure of my company. (!!!)

So I missed out on yoga tonight. I've started taking the free classes offered at Eastside (for POCs only! So cool!) so I can get all hot-looking and flexible and shit. But as usual I was running on Island Time and left Kala waaaay too late. I don't know what I was thinking, tryna get from Berkeley to East Oakland in 30 mins on BART and with no bike. I was lunchin man! (New slang I learnt from DC for trippen!)

Today at Kala I made up some new Potassium Dichromate solution. (I just wanted to say that to sound all tech and scientific and impressive. All it is is mixing hot water and powder, but y'know.) It sounds good. I bought a respirator for 30 bux so I could look the part - a true professional. Its nice to have all the accoutrements. I want a new apron too. Mine is about 100 years old and is so disgusting I swear I'm making myself more dirty just by putting it on. (This is so fascinating I know...)

The crushes I've had for the past month are officially boring and over. I'm considering new applicants as we speak. Everyone who I was remotely interested in have turned out to be: married, retarded, players, boring (ie. predictable), moronic (is that the same as retarded? I guess so but worth emphasizing), conservative, unattractive, or too young and dumb. Or all of the above at the same time. (Yes its possible.) Normally I give people the benefit of the doubt but America is the land of plenty, the land of dreams, and I don't have the same level of tolerance for dickheads that I did in Oz. Too many fish, too many seas, too many eggs, too many baskets, etc etc. Besides, I'm definitely not looking for a boyfriend right now. I've done my time with relationships for a good minute (which means ages here in Oakland), and am not even interested in walking NEAR any relationshipy aisles. The single life is hella relaxing. No dramas, no stress.

Peace out homies, until next time xoxoxoxoxoxo

Mural

2009-07-17T18:44:00.000-07:00

Today I helped Xochitl paint this mural at Garfield Elementary School, here in East Oakland. The kids helped design and paint the piece, and I helped colour in! Fun! We'll finish it off next week and I'll show you the beautiful result.

The Life of an Artist

2009-07-16T23:13:00.000-07:00

I have a new Japanese room mate. His name is Yasu and he makes crazy installations and sculptures out of plastic sheeting, fans and lights. They are very beautiful. At the moment he is working with hot glue and string, creating these delicate floating mountains and lakes which are suspended from above. Take a look... http://onys.net/ ...Yes, Oh my gawwwwd!!!!!! He is excellent!

I am slowly making my way through my first solo photogravure. It is not easy. Everyday there are various setbacks. For instance, at the moment I'm trying to order Potassium Dichromate, a rather corrosive and unpleasant chemical required to sensitize the gelatin tissue. Purchasing hazardous substances over the internet requires an approval form and photo ID, which must be sent separately from your order and payment. This will take about a week. I've already waited for the gelatin, for weighing scales, for things to set and expose and thaw and dry. Such is the game of photogravure. Patience is the hugest learning curve.

I am putting the call out for artists who might need an assistant or printmakers who may need any editioning done. If so... CALL ME! I'm still willing to do housecleaning to take the edge off my money sitch, but I'm really pushing for some other options. My lack of income has become a daily source of dread. Its starting to get scary. It doesn't help that I bought a pair of high heels for $100 last week. Or that I took all my friends out for a fancy meal shortly after. Both the shoes and the meal were beautiful things though, and I don't regret either for a second. But all this poncing about requires me to crack down on my finances. Which is just everyday life really.

Tomorrow I'm going to help paint a mural at Garfield Elementary School here in East Oakland. Friday night will be spent in the studio working on a new linocut. My residency finishes in 8 weeks so I'm feeling the pressure of all the things I want to complete. There is a LOT of work to do. But lately I've learnt to accept that things take their own time. The idea of productivity and efficiency does not accurately apply to the artist's work. We are not machines. Mistakes and setbacks inform our practice. Experimentation, exploration and play are central to our craft. We are business people and yet cannot be driven by profit alone. There can be no competition between us.

The biggest thing I've learnt from my residency so far is strangely, patience. It is easy to pump out prints all day, but unless I spend time developing, researching, practicing, fucking it up royally and then bringing it all back together, the quality isn't there. Its just machinery and action and steam and productivity and efficiency, but there is no depth. No real substance. No real art. Its taken me awhile to accept this. But now everyday I walk out of the studio with a sense of peacefulness and fulfillment, even if I have nothing tangible to show. Something for everyday life really.

Berzerkely

2009-07-06T23:06:00.000-07:00

My friend Damon has gone to Europe for a couple of weeks and has asked me to housesit while he's away. He lives in Berkeley. Its only a 10 minute bike ride to my studio from here, through tree-filled avenues and streets bursting with gardens. Its hella pretty. Tonight as I rode home all the houses were lit up and I could spy chandeliers, bookshelves and flickering television screens. I could smell casseroles on the stove and folks were playing baseball and basketball in the park. I was smiling. How lovely! How awfully nice! (Said in my best British accent...)

Yesterday I was in a lousy mood. I had heard some negative news from home and was letting it weigh me down, despite the brilliant sky and this pretty neighbourhood. I had the whole studio to myself when I arrived, Sunday usually being everyone's day off. I blasted KMEL radio and started a new drawing. Kev rang to see if I was okay. I felt better. Then Taku met me on San Pablo. He had a new haircut. We walked to West Berkeley Bowl and he entertained me while I bought some groceries. Bread, bananas, blueberries, beans, all that. On the way home my paper bag broke apart, just as Taku predicted. A local dear who was weeding her nasturtiums gave me a plastic bag. She had every type of plant in her garden and every single one was in maximum full bloom. Incredible. While she helped me arrange my groceries other passerbys also stopped to admire her handywork.

This morning as I was watering Damon's garden a hummingbird came right up to me, hovering near the spray of the hose. I had never seen one before in real life. They are small, whirring, buzzy birds, able to disappear and reappear very suddenly. The neighbour told me that it was unusual for one to come so close, as they are usually incredibly shy. I crouched down very still and let it take buzzy little sips of water as it looked me straight in the eye.

Tonight is a full moon. Ren is snoring on the couch. My star sign predicts that my dreams tonight will hold important messages for my current life situation. I am being advised to take notes for a powerful and beneficial interpretation in the morning. Very interesting. Whuteva. Truth is, I'm cool. I know that I've got all the best people backing me, 100 percent, all the way, no matter what. So what else do I need in life? I'm all GOOD thank you very much. All good.

Dohee Lee's "deepSea" - Puri 4

2009-06-07T18:13:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago I saw an incredible performance by Korean artist Dohee Lee. Dohee is currently working on a series of performance projects titled Puri, a Korean word which refers to "the relieving and releasing of suppressed or suffering spirits."

deepSea is the 4th work-in-progress performance from the Puri series. Based on the ancient writings of The Budoji and The Chunbukyung, deepSea comes from Dohee's connection to the ocean, ocean songs and ocean sounds.

"I was born on a small, beautiful island where many women are pearl divers and songs about the ocean comfort us. On Jeju Island (off South Korea) shamanistic tradition is very strong and connected to the ocean."

Dressed in brightly coloured Korean costumes, Dohee dances as though channeling the spirits. Her live band play discordant, traditional musical arrangements and she sings along in trance-like wails and calls. Her whole body shakes and tosses with a brilliant energy. I had trouble digesting the music at times but there was something hypnotic about her delivery that made me feel like I was witnessing an intimate ceremony.

Then the second act. A musical component featuring the Purirak Ensemble who combine Korean traditional instruments with Western saxophone, cello and drums. Dohee sang. The songs were no longer abstract or ritualistic. They were beautiful and lyrical and they made you sway. Everyone in the room had their eyes open wide, their faces lit up. And just when I thought it couldn't get any better, out came all the drums and percussionists. Dohee led the group, drumming with skill, emotion and power. They were DEADLY. It was crazy loud, it was music you wanted to dance to. It was impossible to sit still. It was pure, pure energy and afterwards I actually felt high. It was like meditation.

www.doheelee.com

Meet Me At The Center of the Earth

2009-06-07T17:40:00.001-07:00

Ron Brown thanking his dancers.

Dancing up the stairs to outrageous applause.

This performance was at the Yerba Buena Arts Centre in San Francisco. A collaboration between visual artist Nick Cave (who created the costumes) and dance choreographer Ron Brown. The dancers moved around the gallery through each available space, and the crowd followed. Everyone was in awe. The suits make the most lush swishing sounds and became the only music as the dancers moved into the lobby and up the stairs.

I will never forget it. It was true joie de vivre, the joy of life.

Oakland

2009-06-07T17:09:00.000-07:00

Downtown Oaktown

Sunset freeways

Favi's lil cuz

Grand Lake Theater, Lake Merritt

Shoyu

Minerva

Freeway to SF

Fruitvale Ave

Malcolm X Jazz Festival

2009-06-07T15:56:00.001-07:00

Brilliant Congo dancer

Killer jazz band - the guy on sax was deadly!

This little cutie was beggin me to photograph him.

Kev on the mic!

Banging dancefloor

The most beautiful singer, Jennifer Johns.
She's an Oakland darling with vocals like Jill Scott.

Check out the sweetheart wearing a Brown Berets t-shirt!

Brilliant Congo dancers

This lil cutie up front sure knew how to shake her booty

Enter the dancers from the Congo,
the centre of the world and where human life first began...

Panama hat

RIP Richard Aoki
(Asian member of the BPP who recently passed away)

Tommy, Favi & Greg

Young drummer

Biggest turnout for the Festival so far

Colour coordinates with rhymes

Grace & our book kiosk!

Dioramas at the Academy of Sciences

2009-05-31T22:04:00.000-07:00