Molly Crabapple found that art classes utilizing nude models were boring and stuffy. She wanted to try a different approach, and thus Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School was born. The classes feature "beautiful burlesque dancers, the most bizarre circus freaks, and the most rippling hunks of man," as well as offbeat drawing contests. I love it when a person takes on something he or she views as standardized and shakes it up by trying something new and different AND sexy. I personally haven’t been to a class, but I have read about the project, and seen pictures on the Dr. Sketchy blog. Looks like lots of sexy drawing fun. And I should note there’s also a book — Dr. Sketchy’s Official Rainy Day Colouring Book.
Creativity
By far, the best gifty item I’ve come across as I’ve done my holiday shopping this year is this set of Stop Talking cards (created by Alison Riley of Set Editions). I found these cards at the excellent Rare Device in Park Slope, Brooklyn. I just love them. I even bought a set to give to my wife as a gift, knowing full well that I will be the one who she hands them too, probably at times when I won’t think it’s very funny.
Over this past year I’ve been working in the book industry. That was a huge goal of mine, to get back into books, because quite simply, I love books. I love the words, the process of writing those words — not just research and craft and what not, but the process of idea to word to paper to book, and the countless hours and vision and experience and voice that is embodied in the work that is a book. I like the commitment to the finality of the printed page.
And yet, it’s now a 9-to-whatever thing, you know, and that comes with baggage, because it’s a job. I’m just being honest here. I still love books, I love books more, to tell the truth, and yet, dare I admit it, I also get a little sick of books. That’s just the nature of an evolving relationship — it’s not all love, love, love, right? Commitment takes serious work. You’ve got to work through the issues, and when it really means something, that means it won’t be easy, precisely because it means something. It will be hard work.
I mention all this because sometimes it means I can get a little jaded about books-in-general, about authors, about the "new book." But the other day I witnessed a feat of feats in the office. I happened to notice a person in the conference room on my floor signing what was clearly unbound title pages of a book. That’s not that unusual, and usually, I don’t even notice — I just walk on by and get back to work. Authors are always in conference rooms doing something. But in this particular instance, there were some serious stacks of pages sitting on that conference room table, and it seemed that the author had been there for awhile. I got curious. How many pages is she signing? What book is it? What’s the book about? I finally went in, introduced myself, and asked some questions.
Now, you see that picture above? That is just a portion of ONE of the stacks. That isn’t even a full stack! Keep in mind, the author was signing individual sheets.
How many? Not a hundred, or hundreds, but THOUSANDS!
So now you are probably asking the same questions: Who is the author? How many did she sign? What book is it? What is the book about?
The author is Lauren Redniss. She signed over 7,000 pages! The book is Century Girl, a "visual biography" of Doris Eaton Travis, the last living star of the Ziegfeld Follies. The book is making its way out to stores now, and will be officially released on Oct. 24. I should note that the signed pages will be bound into a special, limited edition of the book.
So yes, the signing of the pages — that was most certainly a feat of feats. But the book, it truly matches the magnitude of Lauren’s page upon page (upon page) signing effort. It is a work of art that tells the story of a remarkable woman. It is visually stunning — the colors and art/photos/clippings and presentation make the cleverly inked biographical words LIVE on the page. And though longevity is one of the book’s hooks — "100 years in the life…" — it is really about LIVING life, really, truly living life.
Century Girl is one of those books, you know, one of those books that seems to make the "book" seem brand new.
Visit Lauren’s website — laurenredniss.com.
With projects that range from yarn to wood, from found objects to fabric, with contributors from all over the craft spectrum, Tsia Carson has put together a creative lightening bolt — a force of craft. I’m not at all surprised, really. I’ve been a fan of her dynamically charged SuperNaturale.com site for quite some time (and have been fortunate enough to contribute to its Glimmer blog, along with many others, for the last year or so). But the book, Craftivity, takes the whole crafty mission up a notch — it’s inventive, wondrously colorful and full of creative surprises, and I am not alone in singing its praises. I’m really happy and honored to present an interview with Tsia about her new book here at 52projects.com.
Craftivity — what a wonderful name for the book. What does that word mean to you?
I wanted to get across the idea that crafting is active, that it is an activity and that the practitioners are activist. They take agency over their lives by making beautiful stuff. Most of the happiest crafters I know craft in groups or have a community of people they engage with about their work. I think that this is at the heart of what makes it relevant interesting culture and not just more stuff to consume and own. But I have to give props to Holly Gressley and Aviva Michaelov for introducing me to this term.
How have you met all these crafters? How much did your website have to do with pulling together all the artists for your book?
Most of the makers I have met but not all of them. There are a few I can’t wait to meet! The website was instrumental in meeting and discovering contributors. It’s the best calling card in the world.
Tell the truth — what was the hardest project in the book to make happen?
Twist my arm! I think that knit hammock, while not the hardest project to do in terms of skill level, was the hardest to make happen. It took a really long time and knitting with the hemp twine was really hard because it has a mind of its own. Poor Annika (Annika Ginsberg made it)! She is a master knitter and it was driving her nuts. Every step of the way something went awry with that project. Even building the harness at the end was nuts. But I think I would know how to do that much better now.
If you had to pick a theme song for your book what would it be?
"One Nation Under a Groove" Funkadelic?
"Who’s Got the Crack?" the Moldy Peaches?
"One Divine Hammer" the Breeders?
Gosh, I don’t know.
How does your background in design flow into your personal crafting?
I don’t really separate these creative activities up. I am heavy on the concept, I think through things and have to be excited by the idea before I make anything. If anything, becoming a designer has made me more sensitive to detail and more particular.
How do you think the web has impacted the world of crafting?
The way it has opened up communities to like-minded individuals rather than geographic location has been phenomenal. It has really facilitated discourse and making in a way that would have been impossible. I think that it has fueled the scene so that people are not working in isolation.
Do you recall your very first craft project? What was it? Why did you make it?
I was such a craftive kid. My parents totally encouraged it. I think what comes to mind is that I made a whole zoo of cut-out paper animals and then photographed them against a dark window so you could see the backs as well in the photograph. I wanted you to be able to see the back and front at the same time. It was all about the image. I was a total OCD kid. My father is an artist and when I just learned how to write I signed my name on all his work. That was a good idea too. Also there was my "multimedia" JFK presentation in 2nd grade…
In terms of crafting, knowing you’re a partner in a design firm and have a baby — when do you get it done? How do you find the time?
I still haven’t put together almost any of my personal projects.
There’s a baby quilt, a lampshade and house painting. Honestly, I have started to outsource and have people help me. It’s funny — I do find time to do those activities I enjoy. For instance I hate to sew, so that is going to be outsourced to a friend. But I like to knit, so I made my daughter a red scarf just like her favorite book character — Jenny Linksy the cat.
How is your crafting different as a mother from how it was when you did not have a child?
What project will take an evening max is the major deciding factor.
What’s the one craft project you’ve always thought about creating but have yet to get started on?
I thought I would be really DIY’d out after this book but it has actually fueled my desire to make stuff. I am going to study permaculture over the winter and my husband and I are going to make our property into an edible forest garden. I would also like to implement a grey water system for the house to feed the water from the washing machine through a drip irrigation system for the garden. Even saying this stuff makes it clear why I haven’t had the time to do it yet.
Read an interview with Tsia at Craftzine.com.
Check out Christine Miller’s 52 Figments project — a weekly creative exercise for 2006. Each week, Christine — also known as Swirly Girl — posts a question, and you create your own personal answer in any form that you want (adhering to the specs on the downloadable PDF). Details on how to send in your "answer" — a photo, a drawing, a collage, however you decide to respond — are on the site. Be sure to check out the amazing gallery of submissions.
Excellent post over at the Kiddley.com (a wonderful, creative resource for parents): Finding time to do stuff with your kids.
Not Beth and Trina. That’s illustrator Wendi Koontz on the left, and author Julie Blattberg on the right.
First, I promised not to mention any details of the backstage "experiences" author Julie Blattberg may or may not have had with Vanilla Ice, David Lee Roth, Jon Bon Jovi, and Madonna.
Now that that’s out of the way, I can let you know about Julie’s very cool new book, Backstage with Beth and Trina (illustrated by Wendi Koontz). It’s a colorful, sexy adventure story about two rocker chicks who are determined to get backstage and, well, party with the band. But this book goes beyond the visual and ventures into the realm of scents. How does it transcend the normal confines of the picture book? By reaching back to the tomes of our youth. That’s right: Backstage with Beth and Trina is a scratch-and-sniff adventure. But the scents in this book go way beyond strawberry and banana — we’re talking beer, cigarettes, leather and latex. Beth and Trina are rocker chicks, after all. I interviewed Julie about the new book. What follows are her on-the-record responses.
How did you come up with this idea? When did the scratch-and-sniff element come into play?
I’d been working for a publisher of children’s books for a few years, and it occurred to me how unfair it was that kids have all of these different books with fun formats — scratch-and-sniff, lift-the-flap, glow-in-the-dark, and so on. I thought about existing formats and wondered what could be done for grown-ups. Around the same time, I was photographing a lot of rock bands and concerts, and thought I could do something cool with music. The brainstorming led to the characters, which led to the rock club setting, and the rest, as they say, is history. Rock shows are full of…interesting smells…
How much testing was done to get the smells just right? Any misfires that didn’t make it into print (and scent)?
My favorite part of the process of having this book published was a meeting requested by my editor: "Can you come downtown this week? The swatches are in." The two of us sat in her office scratching and sniffing scent samples, suppressing giggles when staff walking by overheard phrases like, "This doesn’t really smell enough like vomit," and "I know what we can use for the condom!"
The one aroma that we couldn’t quite get was Jack Daniel’s. But everyone knows what that smells like anyway, right?
Are you Beth, or Trina?
What do you think?
How old were you when you first tried to get backstage?
My first success story: High school. INXS. Jones Beach, NY. A friend of mine was infatuated with Michael Hutchence (R.I.P.) and HAD to get backstage. Despite our best efforts to sweet-talk security, it was time to give up hope…until an angry guy stormed out of the backstage door, due to a "situation" we overheard. He saw three forlorn-looking girls on the sidelines and did the right thing: He gave us the backstage passes that he and his friends could no longer use. We got backstage, had underage drinks with the band, and talked about mundane things like popular movies and restaurants in Manhattan.
Any tips to getting backstage?
Get a job in the music business. Or (and I hate to say this), if you’re a girl: get a boob-job, wear lots of makeup and little clothing; crying works, too.
What’s the soundtrack for this book?
The soundtrack is the self-published debut album of a hard rock / heavy metal band of undetermined origin. There are so many talented singers, writers, and musicians out there, trying to make it in the highly competitive and somewhat shady music business. The headlining act in BACKSTAGE WITH BETH AND TRINA is not one of those bands. Instead, imagine a cross between Whitesnake, Cinderella, and Def Leppard; take away half of the hair product — and half of the charisma; and turn the amplifier up to 11.
Will there be further adventures for Beth and Trina? I’m pushing for a catfight…
Further adventures are in the works. And rest assured — there will be guitars and there will be long hair involved. Now what do you suppose a catfight would smell like, Jeff?
Visit BethandTrina.com | Check out their myspace page | Buy Backstage with Beth and Trina
If you’re in NYC, be sure to check out Glowlab’s Conflux 2006 — the annual festival for contemporary psychogeography — Sept. 14 through Sept. 17. Lots of creative events and projects to check out and experience.
From now until October 1 in the Lower East Side in NYC, there’s a very cool public art exhibition going on: Art in Odd Places. Visual art, installations, and performances will be taking place in unexpected spaces in the public domain. Of course there’s always this kind of thing going on in NYC, but this exhibition serves as a way to call attention to and celebrate the purposefully placed every day art that’s here, there, how did they pull that off up so high, and I can’t believe they’re doing that right there in front of everyone. There are over 25 projects in the Art in Odd Places exhibition. Especially interesting is Gretchen Vitamvas’ "Subwear" — outfits designed to blend-in with subway car-interiors. Though it might be easy to miss, look for the artist (or volunteers) wearing the Subwear on the F train.
Better Non Sequitur’s latest book, See You Next Tuesday: "Sex, 50 stories, 1000 words each, written by 50 authors from all around the globe."
Rachel Kramer Bussel’s latest column for the Village Voice: "Keeping Married Sex Hot."
SMITH’s Citizen K: The 10 Best Blogs By, From and About New Orleans — One Year After Katrina.
Clamor Magazine’s stories on American Apparel.