ScrapHouse

you've probably seen this in this months Dwell mag, it was built entirely of salvaged materials collected from around san fran for for world environment day 2005. i'm thinking its more sorely needed thesis material =)

drawing

school has begun. its pretty empowering to know that this is my LAST year. besides burying myself in my thesis this quarter. i'm taking two exciting drawing classes in the arch dept. one is architectural illustration. and the other is drawing in the digital realm. the teacher is Anne Hayden Stevens check out her link, her work seems cool.

Hammocks for the homeless

something i saw by artist Linda Stern. This i saw in hotlanta via art papers this month. the blurb says: she wryly comments on gentrification and the accompanying displacement rapidly transforming freedom park. the orange hammocks waving in the breeze also echoed the years most famous public art installation: the gates...while framing her reflection on the role of public art more humbly.

school starts this week. so i guess i can no longer afford to keep slackin on my mackin. breaks over for bloggin too.

Hurricane Katrina and the Arts

courtesy of artnet magazine...via d.r.e.s.

Floating Datum Fixed Grid

congrats to perri lynch of velocity made good (and UW community environmental planning dept.) on her new installation on bainbridge island!

katrina clap

2 years ago when i mentioned to my coworker at a feminist social change oriented foundation, that i wanted to go to school for architecture, her response was, "i just don't get that...what does the world need with more architects". Though it always rubbed me the wrong way, because i knew that it was probably a popular opinion within the social change community it particularly sticks out in my mind as i look at the devastation in new orleans and literally having to rebuild an entire city, all i can think of is, on a purely practical level, what more of a critical need for architects is there? i got a message today forwarded from the president of NOMA discussing their efforts. also were responses from archinect and the aia and architecture for humanity.

on a not so practical level but a more mystic one. is anyone as freaked out about how similar this is to the reconstruction era? all these black people displaced? without having anything to call their own? what the hell? where did the last several hundred years go?

secondly not so related to rebuilding. but, i am beyond annoyed and outraged by middle and upper class people who don't know shiat about being poor blaming poor people for being poor. that's all i'll say about that...i'll have to start another blog for further ranting in that area.

another furniture finale

This is the piece i built this summer in furniture studio. its a butsudan (literally means buddha house) but it is a Buddhist shrine as it were, which most Buddhists (particularly the Japanese sects with which i am familiar) maintain in their own home.. i was raised buddhist, although i don't exactly practice anymore, i still have all of my religious para that i should have in its 'proper' place. my buddhist upbringing is still a profound aspect of my ethos/values or way of looking at life and the world. i may go back to practicing at some point. anyway, this is what a traditional butsudan of this size would look like:

it has outer and inner doors. inside the inner doors in this sect of buddhism, is a scroll called a gohonzon which you focus on during meditation or saying the mantra (Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo)...you may remember this from the tina turner movie?!? anyway, the butsudan usually sits on top of a table which is the altar. the altar would have candles, lemon leaves, incense etc. for mine, i wanted to remain true to the tradition of what a butsudan is and does but adjust its design for my lifestyle. instead of sitting on a table it is wall hung. i wanted something that was minimal but also quietly beautiful and discretely spiritual. for instance when the outer doors (steel) are open, the inner door doesn look like a door. it just looks like a recessed panel of very figured walnut with 2 walnuts trapped inside! where the tree cracked or had a branch. it doesn't scream..."religious object!" but it looks special. (to me) like a work of art.

then with a little interaction...the butsudan can turn into the altar. that little handle can be removed and the panel/door slides down. to reveal the gohonzon (not shown here) and 2 shelves one opens out (the top one) and has the incense burner, two candles and a water bowl.the bottom shelve has two testtube/mini vases for single stems of lemon leaves and enough space to hold the sutra (prayer) book. so if i decide to practice i can.

its small (not tiny though 3 feet long when closed), but fitting for my lifestyle and household...my mom called it a starter butsudan! because a lot of the buddhists we've known for 20yrs have more monumental style butsudans and altars that can take up a whole wall. that just didn't fit for me. anyway, these ARE NOT the professional pictures. i think those will be ready next week. i'm sure they will be better, less washed out and blurry, i'll replace these with those.

cybele tv

i ran across the website of cybele clark mendes who i knew only briefly and peripherally at CU in the fine arts department. congrats cybele on the site and recent work! it seems she is using artifice in addressing her challenges with the perception of her identity. kind of reminds me of some oldschoolcindy sherman stuff but maybe not as shocking. interesting.

new sarah sze piece at macaw hall seattle

i just love her.

Guerilla Design Build

while flipping through an old archrecord2, i ran across this project and or organization Foundation for Art Architecture research and Making, dedicated to the cultivation of art, architecture, education and community. sounds like an interesting model worth replicating and or building on.

RIP Tombol

i mourn the tragic loss of a little brother. not my little brother but it easily could have been as sensless as this crime was. Tombol was the brother of a dear highschool friend Samil whom i deeply loved back then but was too immature to appreciate. i only knew Tombol as a little boy but i remember that he was a sweet as pie and too adorable for words. i always had tremendous respect and admiration for the Malik family...and i regret that our friendship disintegrated in my tumultuous college years. i learned of this tragedy several weeks ago but it keeps creeping into my mind and keep revisiting the blog in his memory, as if it somehow keeps him alive. today i read notes from his own brothers, samil and sati and wept for them and siblings and mothers in pain everywhere. in the midst of my random arty/archi/anti-archi musings, i just wanted to publicly acknowledge this terrible terrible loss.

update 9/29/05:
i debated removing this post to take care of all these*** unsolicited commenters*** from people unwilling to even identify themselves. after all my blog is not focused on this issue. for the most part i believe in free speech so you're free to have your opinion in my eyes...but make sure you're responding to the post please??!!? i didn't say who was right or wrong...i don't know. the point is whatever the case its still senseless for all involved and it is a loss. please be mature and have respect for my memory. i didn't place blame or speak negative on the other parties involved...b/c first off thats not me. and secondly I WASN'T THERE I DON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED. i'm speaking to my memory of a little boy that i never knew as an adult whatever the circumstances.

Space Hijackers

ever hear of "anarchitects"? see their their manifesto their mission sounds more compelling than the work actually manifests to me but interesting idea none the less.

what about OSA (office of subversive architecture). interesting kind of practice.

A place for remembering those who die homeless

a design competition sponsored by the AIA Seattle due 10.13.

GhostCycle.org

not architectural or anything, but an creative and interesting way to capture people's attention and speak out on an issue. in addition to the street installations, i like the interactive map on the website with people's narratives under the "see all ghostcycles" link.

"Mapping Blackness: Black to the Future"

my friend amanda is doing an art project involving using public participation in "mapping blackness". here is her call:

I need your help with an art project I'm currently working on for an exhibit entitled AFROFUTURISM.

My piece will be called " Mapping Blackness: Black to the Future"...

If you had to draw a map to where the AFROFUTURE is located what would that map look like?

If you feel so inclined, email me your rendition (scan, rendering),

or mail a paper copy to my studio (2323 magnolia st. #6, oakland, ca 94607)

If you're ambitious, try to use only email itself...lines, dots letters to 'draw'...

If you don't want to draw electronically or the old fashioned way, then please include written directions that other blacks could use to get to where you're talking about.

I need these as soon as possible by Aug. 5.

Feel free to pass this on to any others that may be willing to participate.

amanda williams
www.awgallery.com

AFROFUTURISM Art Exhibit
Opens September 10, 2005
at
THE SOAP FACTORY
Minneapolis, MN
visit: www.soapfactory.org for details

or obsidian arts
Afrofuturism - September 10 – October 23
Collaboration with No Name Exhibitions @ The Soap Factory. This exhibition explores the artistic side of black visual culture in the distant future. A national call for artists has resulted in artistic ideas that will cause people the reconsider the assumptions about black people in the future. A series of six informational workshops for the participating artists by black futurists will help inform their creations.

bachelor farmer

my studio prof michael culpepper from fall 2004 has made a film and is getting great reviews. congratulations mike! it'll be showing at the seattle queer film festival and a similar festival in washington D.C. in october so check it out! i plan to.

Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility

has a new website

Ladyfest

wish i didn't just find out about this today =(. looks fun!

blogger mania

more from my illustrious cohort =)

justin's taiwan blog

jeff's blog

also of note: i learned to weld! well on the mig anyway...courtesy of sir. curtis scott names! "Learning to weld is so empowering. It makes you want to stop washing yourself and spit a lot." that would be a quote from dave...hilarious. it is empowering though. i think i want to do some metal coursework...maybe i'll get a blacksmithing certificate or something at one of the community colleges.

visual resistance

visual resistance blog i'm trying to keep a running record of these things particularly ones that involve 3-D work.