wired nextfest

wired nextfest
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

after a relaxing visit with the yarn harlot at the LA library, i hurried down to the convention center to meet up with mike at wired nextfest to find out what visions of the future the industrious technophiles of our society had cooked up.

the entrance to the exhibit hall presented some fun, including some interactive, experiences. i'm a sucker for leds, so a video wall, was pretty entertaining. and then there was the cube, akin to what mike had envisioned for a project he worked on through sussman prezja. it was also something i was interested in for a 3d body image.

i thought the interactive music piece, in which interrupting lasers lined up pointing to the ground, produced changes in music would (did) make a great public installation. there was also the ferromagnetic sculpture. moving twisting liquid metal dancing, all with magnets. you have to see it to believe it.

along with the many interactive technologies, there were lots of robots of various shapes and sizes. i was freaked out by the ones that were human-like, especially those made in the likeness of albert einstein, skin and all. not sure if it was the age-old ethical implications of having a humanoid robot doing all the dirty work or acting as a surrogate child or play thing, but it was kind of weird. the dancing keepon robot or the robots that exhibited more approach response insect behaviour were more what interested me.

having arrived one hour before the close of the day, i wasn't able to spend too long at all the exhibits. plenty of nerdy inspiration...

yarn harlot in LA

yarn harlot in LA
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

it's sad how little booze i can handle these days. mike & i went to our friend james' wedding to gabby on friday. i practically nursed my malibu rum & pineapple juice drinks, and drank plenty of water, but was still tired and a little dehydrated when i went to see the yarn harlot at 2pm on saturday.

luckily, i didn't have to do a whole lot but sit, laugh and knit. i love the anecdotes and that she makes it a mission and a point to spread the power of knitting. there are quite a number of people who knit. considering the numbers in the online community, one would think it is pretty much mainstream, and there seems to be a renaissance of craft these days, perhaps in response to the commercialization of society, so it is with great surprise to see that what have been traditionally women's "arts" such as knitting, sewing, quilting are still devalued.

towards the end of the talk i happily discovered that i had made it to the heel of my monkey sock. this all went to shit, when i realized the next day that it had been a while since i had worked on the sock and did not correctly remember the pattern. doh! this is what happens when you knit tired, i guess. i think i spent twice the amount of time ripping out and unknitting what had been knit, but reknitting it the second time went by faster.

photos here...

photo of my late father, lights off

photo of my late father, lights off
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

this past week has been a mad rush to put together my portfolio and an artist statement for my gallery/portfolio class. mike, unarguably the best boyfriend ever, agreed to help with some 3d visualization of ongoing projects. they turned out great, which sets the bar for the actual piece, which i hope will look as good.

i can't say enough how this exercise in 3d visualization has not only motivated and inspired me to keep on keepin' on with the present work, but also with thoughts on lighting and photographing the work, which can be tricky when the work consists of light. i always have a vague image in my head of what the projects will look like, but to see a visualization of it matching with what is in my head is impressive, especially, when finished projects don't always match initial plans.

i also gave my artist statement a good working over. being a conglomeration of general statements of whys and descriptive project statements added on, it had become disjointed. editing produced a much stronger and improved version.

in the end (to mike's disappointment more than my own), i did not get to present and review it with the class due to the limited time. portfolio review will continue next week, so i will have to wait to get feedback. the extra time will allow me to get a proper portfolio box for the prints and additional edits to the statement.

habu trunk show at wild fiber

habu trunk show at wild fiber
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

after the extended weekend vacation in san francisco, and the great picture shindig, i almost forgot about the field trip to wild fiber for the habu textiles trunk show that had been planned by some fellow stich n'bitchers. my yarn crawl continueth...

i don't think i've had much exposure to habu yarn, lured more by the opportunity to check out an lys that i had not been to and the camaraderie. my brain started going off in all kinds of directions, thinking about the sculptural possibilities, when sandra showed me the silk & stainless steel blend yarn on the drive up. of course, i would have to think up some scaled down project rather than the usual (think 12,000 leds), since it would be ridiculously expensive...

right away, i noticed the yarn to be very different from what i have experienced in the way of yarn. there were the usual cashmere, wool, silk, but there were also the unusual materials, like linen paper and pineapple? most of the colors were earthy and organic. i kept returning to the things knit from habu yarn and patterns designed for the yarns. they were quite special, and i couldn't help but order a pattern and buy some yarn. we ended the day with lunch at swingers where i had the grilled cheese sandwich and onion rings (yum).

photologue here...

the great picture show

the great picture show
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

drago, aviva's boyfriend, drove us to pasadena early to help with any last minute installation of the show. the great picture felt at home in the large gallery space. limiting the work to the large print, the lightline--an led installation which spanned the length of the large print--and the positive print kept the focus on the great picture.

to those uninitiated into (and some familiar with) the experience of a pinhole image, the great picture may appear to be an abstracted, painterly image of what was a runway and the control tower at the el toro marine base. a lot of work and thought went into the making of this, and every time i stand in front of it, i notice some new detail. pretty amazing to think about this one shot photograph. imagine all the planning, and you have one chance to get a good exposure.

most of the installation was all ready to go, so there was not a whole lot that we had to do, but it was nice to be able to see it in full light before the evening, when the lights were dimmed to give the experience of making the great picture.

the show brought a good turnout, with people wandering into the exhibit before the opening out of curiosity.

photologue here

i hate to bring any negativity to the event, but during the day, i left my purse out with all my other things, thinking it would be safe, as most of the people there were people who volunteered or were hired to help with setting up the show. i was shock to discover in the afternoon that about $100 was stolen from my purse. i'm not 100% sure that it was from that day. the last time i went out and used my purse was on mon night when mike & i tried to go to a movie. there were hardly any people in the theater, so i don't think the money was taken then. tues, i stayed home, and wed, i was at work all day. it is disheartening to think that someone at the gallery on thursday would do such a thing.

aside from that weird incident, the show was great. aviva surprised myself, drago & a couple bartenders towards the end of the evening when she flashed us while posing for a photograph in front of the great picture. a great end! ha!

my heart in san francisco

bday in sf 07
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

mike & i flew virgin america (their second day in domestic service) to san francisco. i brought some knitting for the plane ride, but was so distracted with the decor and interactive screen and what with the flight being brief, i ended up playing mahjongg solitaire.

i'm not one for writing travelogues, but some highlights of our trip included:

- dinner at firecracker where i highly recommend the fujian rolls, pan seared tofu, red cooked eggplant & sauteed string beans
- yummy vegan fig cake made by nif
- yarn crawl to 2 knitting shops (spent too long in each to get in time for more)-- noe knit & imagiknit
- delicious & healthy lunch at samovar
- dinner at vegetarian japanese restaurant cha ya
- leisurely hike/walk in muir woods
- plenty of red wine
- dinner at dosa an indian restaurant
- brunch at herbivore on divisadero
- visit to the de young (have not been since the remodel)
- kicking ass in cranium

we had such a good time, neither mike nor myself looked too closely at our departure time, and ended up missing our flight and having to take an early morning flight on monday.

a picture's worth a thousand words, so best get the travelogue off flickr.

the only painful part of the trip was leaving. we hit a flock of geese or seagulls as we were taking off and had to land. we waited at the airport for several hours before we were able to leave in a new plane. i was hungover slightly from all the red wine and having gotten up at 4am to catch our plane. we came home to a dry sauna. our poor cats were alive but nearly melted.