Zines, mostly...

The Portland Zine Symposium was last weekend...the zine Olympics so to speak. Not that it's competitive, but it's big big big. I'll put up some pictures in a bit, meanwhile, these are the zines I came home with:

Do Stuff! Lethal Zine
i need a hug
A Creation Myth
The Composing Stick #1, #2, #3 and #4
Wants
Art Bureau #8, #10 and #11
how i spent my summer vacation
Your Pretty Face is Going Straight to Hell #5
Best Zine Ever #5
Action Bookbinding
Ozzy The Lazy-Ass Panda
Chicago Musical Sing-a-long
Pumpkin Patch Horror!
Giant Killer Ape on the Loose
Fight Boredom
An Alpine Adventure
White Male Neurosis
The Pee
Last Legs - The Diary Issue
Minutiae #1 - Rose City Summer
"Toilets" 1982-1983
Sinking Hearts
Kersax Must Be Destroyed #3
New York vs. Portland
Comic about Sarah's Life-a-Day
How to Make Minicomics the Brian Orser Way!
Cranky Buddha #4 & #5
Zine Making - an introduction

Nope, I haven't read them all yet. Lulu by lulu...

No Friday tomorrow.

Well, I can't cancel Friday, although given the forecast I wish I could. But I'm doing what I can and canceling the Third Friday Art Party. With a predicted high of 92-98 Room 206 will be no place to be tomorrow evening.

Darned thing is, we're getting a new range delivered tomorrow and it'll be way too hot to try it out. I've been dreaming about meat loaf, baked potatoes and a pie. Guess they'll have to wait. Or maybe I'll be cooking dinner at 2AM Saturday.

The studio will be open next Tuesday evening from 5 on, so consider dropping in then for an evening of experimental book alteration, otherwise known as cutting, ripping, gluing, painting and anesthesiology you can do to a book. Yes, we anesthetize the books first!

No, really...that was the spellchecker having a good time. But I thought it was kind of a hoot and left it. I meant to say "anything else" you can do it a book.

All materials provided or bring your own if you prefer.

Keep cool,
Liisa

Change of plans...

As it turns out I will not be participating in the Iron Artist event at the Tacoma Art Museum tomorrow (Friday) evening. If you were planning to come down for it, don't change your plans on my account--it's going to be a fun event! And take the time to visit the museum while you're there.

Some fun stuff did happen Tuesday after all. The smell came and went and wasn't as bad as I had expected. So the two of us that were there attacked (in a nice way, of course) some old hardcover books. We cut windows and niches, glued pages together, painted and tucked images and words here and there. An orgy of experimentation, it was.

Maybe you'd rather stay home tonight...

I've been up at the studio this morning, and not only is it going to be hot but the building just outside the windows (across the driveway) is having its roof resurfaced and the smell is pretty nasty. So, we can open the windows and breathe tar, or close the windows and suffocate. Sounds like fun, huh?

You're still welcome to come; I will be there working on my own stuff--out in the hall, maybe--but it won't be the pleasantest of evenings.

Fall is coming...
Liisa

First Tuesday again

Hey, that came around fast! I could post almost verbatim the previous message. Today's going to be a hot one. (And after a spell of cooler, almost autumnal weather--my favorite kind. Bummer!) So yes, Tuesday is happening--and yes, it will be warm in the studio. If y'all want to come later, after the sun has started to drop and I've opened the hall windows to get the cross draft that's fine. But you're still welcome at 5, and I'll be there until midnight at least.

And it won't be long before the view from Room 206 looks like this again:





That was just last April, remember? Actually that was pretty unusual, and we probably won't see it again. Not in April, anyway. But we can hope for January, right?? Can you tell I am not a hot-weather person?

See you.

Liisa

Furst Tuesday

I was going to post a warning to potential Tuesday-nighters that it has been very WARM in Room 206 lately...brick walls and west facing windows and all...but it appears that today will be cooler than yesterday so I expect it to be reasonably comfortable. I'll be there in any case, so come on over if you're up for it.

Sunday we went to a movie to get out of the heat...saw WALL-E at the Edmonds Theater. Star Wars meets Teletubbies...how fun is that? Lots. Be sure to stay for the credits.

Iron Artist...

Totally forgot to mention that I did make it into the Iron Artist Challenge at the Tacoma Art Museum! Come watch the fun on Friday, August 8, from 5-8 PM. It's part of the Midsummer Night’s Community Festival...music, dancing, art-making and "Shakespeare in the Parking Lot." Free to all, something for everyone...

Some Beads

Here are just a few of the paper beads I've been working on. The round ones are newspaper mash and PVA glue, painted with acrylic paint and finished with Future floor wax. The others are all rolled rectangles or triangles of various papers, with added paint and embossing powder. The very shiny smooth surfaces are layers (upon layers) of clear embossing. Messy, but effective don't you think?

It's been a busy month...

...and it isn't over yet. The good news is that the camera and the computer are speaking to each other again. No more going to Bartell's to download from the camera to a CD and then back home to save from the CD to the 'puter so I can use my photos. So I'll be able to show you some pretty nice paper beads later this evening.

Meanwhile go to the Tacoma Art Museum website and read about the Iron Artist event. I just sent in an application...keep your fingers crossed. See you later.

5 Yrs. old: Wonderment

Here's the cake that Lena, Berkeley and I made for the Tacoma Art Museum's Building Birthday Bash. It was constructed of packing tape, recycled plastic, ephemera, found objects, telephone wire, blister packaging from the Dollar Store, old Christmas tree garlands and some hot glue. Oh, and marbles. I've probably forgotten something. One of the found phrases on the bottom layer is "5 Yrs. old: Wonderment" so we chose that as the title of the piece.
Click for larger views and lots of detail. See the other cakes in the slide show to the right.

The bottom layer is cut out words and phrases about art and seeing, mostly from magazines and museum programs. The middle is paper dolls dancing around the art in the museum. Look close and you'll see art by Chuck Close, Renoir and Dale Chihuly - all currently on exhibit at TAM - inside the circle of dancers. The top layer shows the wonderful building itself and its place in Tacoma and the region, set into 12 blister pack windows. (Thank you , Lena!) The candles are paint brushes and the little telephone wire dog is a miniature Leroy, the giant cardboard dog sculpture that lives in the lobby of the museum. (Thank you, Berkeley!)

We had already decided to use the cutout dancers when we realized that the slogan for the museum is "Connecting People Through Art." How about that!