Flora and Fauna show at aka gallery
Detail of Ode to Okra #5, a quilt by Elia Woods. Click any image to see it full-size.
This past weekend, the Flora & Fauna show, curated by Jennifer Barron, opened at aka gallery in OKC's Paseo District. Read more about the show here.
Gallery view of paintings and sculptures in Flora & Fauna.
Wood and fiber works by Bob Hawks, Jan Hawks, and Carl Shortt.
Paintings by JT DeShong, with Julia Kirt gallery-sitting.
Gallery view of works by Elia Woods and Debby Kaspari.
Books I Consumed, Which In Turn Consumed Me
Day 106 - I am a librarian by Flickr user cindiann. Click image to view on Flickr.
A chronological list.
1987 | Under Plum Lake by Lionel Davidson
1987 | The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster, illustrated by Jules Feiffer
1988 | Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
1988 | The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
1989 | From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg
1989 | The Mysterious Disappearance of Leon (I Mean Noel) by Ellen Raskin (I loved those typographic illustrations.)
1989 | The BFG by Roald Dahl, illustrated by Quentin Blake
1992 | Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
1993 | The Alanna Quartet by Tamora Pierce
Genetics Exhibit, San Jose Tech by Flickr user Thomas Hawk. Click image to view on Flickr.
1994 | Xanadu volumes I and III edited by Jane Yolen (Why are these book impossible to find? Volume II has apparently never even been published. It's the best short fantasy I have ever read. Somebody help.)
1995 | Nebula and Hugo Awards winners
1996 | Girl With Curious Hair by David Foster Wallace
1997 | Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (This is the best cover design I've seen for this book.)
1998 | Sexing the Cherry by Jeanette Winterson
1998 | Everything I could find by Margaret Atwood, Toni Morrison, and Alice Walker. Thank you, Zimmerman Library.
2000 | Geek Love by Katherine Dunn
2001 | Cryptonomicon, Snow Crash, and The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson 2004-06 | The Baroque Cycle (Quicksilver, The Confusion and The System of The World) by Neal Stephenson
Right Now: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling, read by Jim Dale
What books consume you?
This post is part of NaBloPoMo for July 2009.
Tools I Use: My Favorite Pens
The Pen Drawer.
Oh, pens, how I love each and every one of you. Below are some of my favorites.
The Old Standby: Sharpie Ultra-Fine Point. Pros: Long-lasting as long as they stay capped between uses. Writes on a variety of porous and non-porous surfaces. Inexpensive and easy to find in bulk. Very durable tip, will stand up to quite a bit of abuse. Decent color selection. Cons: Smelly. Bleeds on paper. They will write on top of acrylic paint, but as the ink is solvent-based, the acrylic will dissolve and clog the pen tip. This solvent will also make paper turn yellow after a few weeks, sooner if the drawing is exposed to air and sun.
My water-based friends: Pilot Razor Point and the Papermate Flair black felt tip pens.
Pros: Very durable. Both deliver black lines with reliably uniform thickness. Easy to find at office supply stores. Good for ink wash drawings (this one was made with the aid of a Niji Waterbrush). I also use them to write down loud thoughts. Cons: They only write on porous surfaces, not good for mixed-media work. Limited range of colors available.
Not So Much: the Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pen and Staedtler Pigment Liner. I tried these while in search of alternatives to the Pigma Micron (why, I can't remember). Pros: Archival ink. Durable tips. Waterproof, writes on a variety of surfaces. The Faber-Castell pens come in Sepia, which is not bad, but the ink is almost indistinguishable from black. Cons: Both pens are fairly expensive for felt tips. I find the tips, for all their durability, are not flexible enough to produce satisfying lines, especially with the larger sizes.
The Champs: Pigma Micron 01 and Bic Round Stic Grip Fine.
Micron pros: Microns have a flexible tip that will produce strong lines and fine detail if treated gently. They come in many sizes, though I stick to the 005, 01, and sometimes the 02. Multiple colors available. Will write on porous and non-porous surfaces. Waterproof when dry. The ink does not bleed on most papers. Microns have a strong fan base: check out this Flickr group, for instance. Micron cons: Expensive if you buy them one at a time. I buy them in boxes of twelve from Dick Blick. The tips wear out fairly quickly, and can be ruined easily by dropping the pen or leaving the cap off. The ink takes a few minutes to dry, and when wet, will smear on surfaces like acrylic.
Bic Stic pros: Oh my goodness, I love drawing with this pen. Incredible tonal range. Stands up to plenty of abuse, including leaving the cap off indefinitely, storing them in my hot or cold car, dropping them, shoving them through my ponytail for safe-keeping, etc. Long-lasting. The ink is gel-based but not entirely waterproof. Bic Stic cons: Very non-archival. I get around this problem by turning my drawings into acrylic gel transfers. The Medium-point Bic Stic is prone to clumping and smearing (arg!), and unfortunately, the Fine-point is not easy to find in office-supply stores. I order them by the dozen.
For more pen reviews, browse the links below. Happy drawing.
The Pen Addict The Tools Artists Use Doodlers Anonymous Flickr group Doodlers Anonymous website Karo: The Quest for the Perfect Pen
This post is part of NaBloPoMo for July 2009.
Found on Flickr: Belize Larval Fish
From the Flickr Commons: This delightful set of fish specimen photographs from the (deep breath) Division of Fishes of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. The one pictured here is the Gramma loreto, Adult (Royal Gramma).
Not only are these fish wonderful to look at, they have excellent names as well. There's the Puddingwife Wrasse, the Puffcheek Blenny, the Threeline Basslet, and the Schoolmaster Snapper, to name a few.
Click here to visit the Smithsonian Institution on Flickr.
Related: Previously in Found on Flickr Piscatorial, a set on Flickr Blog posts in the Piscatorial category
This post is part of NaBloPoMo for July 2009.
Make Contemporary Art a Part of Your Routine
Collage maquette by Sarah Atlee
No matter where you live, you live near an artist. We are everywhere! Visiting gallery shows, poetry readings, theatre, live music shows, and other art events is a great way to support your local arts community, and enjoy yourself to boot.
If you're in the Oklahoma City area, it's easy to stay in the loop for local arts events. The Weekly Gazette arts calendar is fairly comprehensive. You can also read about local arts in ArtBeat, the Daily Oklahoman, and the Norman Transcript.
If handling paper isn't your thing, visit the OVAC and Plaza District blogs, and sign up for the Untitled Artspace E-newsletter.
To find out about art events in the Tulsa area, Holly Wall's blog is a great place to start. Also, feel free to explore the Oklahoma Artists section of my Links page. Many of those artists have their own blogs, Facebook pages, and Twitter streams.
Never been to a gallery show before? Everyone is welcome, and artists are always happy to answer questions about their work. Dip your toes into the monthly First Friday Art Walk in OKC's historic Paseo District, this coming Friday from 6 to 10 pm. Highlights for July include the Flora & Fauna show at aka gallery, 3001 Paseo. As always, there will be food, art, music, and plenty of atmosphere.
Get'cherself some cultcha, yeah? Your neighborhood artists will thank you.
This post is part of NaBloPoMo for July 2009.