Prisms & Paragraphs

I bought a small glass prism recently. The only place where I get strong directional sunlight in my apartment (or studio) is from a small south facing window directly above my bed. It actually arrived slightly chipped, so the company I bought it from are going to send me another. From now on when I sleep in I will wake to a mini rainbow wonderland.

I only recently realised that the actor Steve Martin also writes, collects art and writes about collecting art. Apparently, Shopgirl, a film he stars in, is a screen adaption of another he wrote. I enjoyed Shopgirl so I thought I give An Object of Beauty a go given the novel's setting in the art world, and given that it was available for free in my local library. I enjoyed the book, however, I felt it was missing a little something at the end. According to the city library catalogue they have Shopgirl too, but its missing which seems to be the case a little too often. In a "you shouldn't judge a book by its cover" but with a "a good looking book is much appreciated" point of view the other version of the book cover is much more visually appealing.

Pencilling It In

I have been teaching a class in the Glucksman the last few weeks, called Pencil It In, that looks at different types of drawing. It is a great class and I am always surprised when people's drawing seems to suddenly improve, I tend to forget that it is just a skill that improves with practice. I really like teaching, although I it can be tiring. Each class is only an hour long but it is full on interaction with the students as I want the to get the most from the the hour. I actually think it would be less work if it were a full time course.

Below is the class which is featured on the U.C.C. homepage.

Art I Like: Karla Black

I am quite fond of Turner Prize nominee Karla Black's work. Well some of it. Somethings I find myself being slightly disguisted by it. It all definitely interests and excites me. Too often I am [under]whelmed, my doctor told be recently that I had ever so slightly low blood pressure. Which caused me to imagine my heart being too apathetic to pump my blood with vigor.  I do entirely like her interest in the physicality of materials. I imagine when I think Black's work my blood pressure might revert to normal.

Back to the Studio

I seem to be having awful difficulty in the studio lately. I tried getting vinyl cut for this piece for a sign makers which resulting in a terribly stressful experience. When I asked for a vinyl cutting and specified the size, the assistant literally cut a piece of vinyl off the roll and handed it to me. When I explained that I wanted a sign cut and gave them my memory stick, they told me that it had a virus. (I really must take a more sexual health attitude with my usb drives and be more careful of whose port i stick these things into.) Neither of the three staff could independently serve me. One was giving me prices, another was relaying file types to me from somebody else in the back. It was so stressful I ended up leaving.

So I tried using spray paint. It worked, but I foolishly tried to touch it up in a spot or two and then proceded to try and fix what I had just fixed. It ended up being a bit of a "Fr Ted dent in the car" sort of a thing.

Something I Saw

I saw these PanAm posters and thought they were quite nice. They are part of a redesign, that was apparently never launched. They are considered o be ahead of their time, with the use of graphic designers favourite font Helvetica.

Something to See

Days On End Performance

A quick photograph from the Days on End sonic art festival.

Art I Like: Jim Hodges

Jim Hodges Rocks!
Images courtesy of Gladstone Gallery.

Days On End

I went to the Days on End 24hr sound art event ON today (and will again tommorrow). All week artist Irene Murphy was resident in TACTIC, during ON visitors could interact with her installation/studio. When I arrived people were really going at it running around the place, having a go. Irene sometimes performs sound art and what I always found interesting about Cork sound artists are their tools and noise making pieces that would be laid out on their table. Irene's residency was like an opportunity to play with those interesting things.

There was delicious food too!

Tasty Paint

I think I may stay in my studio for too long at times, paint that has dripped to the floor begins to look like drizzled chocolate!