art by mags!

updates

  • dyke summer camp

    i didn’t take but a handful of pictures this summer at festival – the michigan womyn’s music festival, what many of us who attend/work there every summer refer to as “dyke summer camp.” i guess it’s not all that weird; many years, i go to fest and forget to take pictures. other years, i take hundreds, constantly. but it did strike me as a little odd this year, as i’ve been pretty attached to my camera and documenting everything around me. i certainly went with the intention of taking more pics.

    but once i was there, even though i carried the camera around with me almost daily in my messenger bag, i just didn’t think to take it out. maybe it was a good thing; maybe it was a subconscious thing, that i was trying to be more present, in the moment, rather than stepping outside myself or any given situation to be behind the camera, documenting. or maybe i just plain forgot. not sure.

    i did have one afternoon, during festival week, when i was working late… i was the last one left in my area, waiting on a workshop in the media tent to finish, and decided to relax in the hammock. every year i have been on the media crew (we show the movies, and attend to workshops that have need for media equipment, i.e. dvd, powerpoint, sound, etc.), we have had a lovely hammock we hang off a very old tree that sits in our “back yard,” our break area. this year, when we arrived, we noticed the limb we usually attach the hammock to was gone. we had to hunt for a new location, which ended up being between two smaller trees right next to the media tent. not exactly in our back yard anymore, but convenient for the media crew to lay in while babysitting media workshops.

    whilst laying there, i was gazing up at the leaves and limbs of the trees holding the hammock, swaying in the breeze… just appreciating nature and the great gift that it is every summer i am able to be there, in those woods in michigan, breathing in fresh air, doing very physical work, disconnected from cell phones and laptops and the 24-hour news cycle and all the stresses associated with the outside world. it really is the best self-care i give myself, a few weeks (usually three now but i used to do the five-week longer crew) away from the world to just be, to focus on just whatever is happening in my immediate vacinity. it’s like a recalibrating exercise, one that makes space in my brain to see the big picture by focusing on just my present experience… flushing out all the minutia, the facts, the headlines, the tweets, the status updates, the text messages. allowing my head and my heart (and sometimes my body) to talk to each other a little bit easier.

    anyways, that afternoon, as i was laying on the hammock, staring up at the trees, i got the urge to grab my camera and take a few shots. i took a bunch of the trees themselves, like the one below, and then also felt drawn to the rows and rows of colorful flags that were strung between some other trees between the media tent and the workshop tent. the flags had been made in a workshop, i think, and had varying sentiments on them, in the style of prayer flags. it’s interesting to me that i chose to zoom in on one particular flag – seen in the photo at the top of this post – that says “change focus.” i wasn’t really thinking much about it in the moment – it just caught my eye, being yellow and in the center of my field of vision, one of the few flags that was facing me – but now, i feel like it was my cleared and big-picture-thinking brain sending me a message to hopefully be discovered post-festival, when i am back in the world and losing grip on the clarity i always feel i have while i’m there.

    change focus. a simple thought, but so hard to do, really, particularly when caught up in the whirlwind of information and activity and deadlines and money and stress of the outside world. but yeah, i think it is time to change focus. and i think i’ve been knowing that for a while and slowly moving in that direction, sometimes without even realizing it.

    i still don’t exactly know what it is, what is coming, what is about to happen, what the new focus is. but it’s something. some kind of big change. a big change that i really need. i can’t keep doing things the way i’ve been doing them, cuz it’s not really working for me. i don’t want to keep feeling stuck. i’ve been there before and would prefer not to need some major catastrophe like 9-11 or katrina to happen in order for change to occur. it’d be nice if this time i was in control and made things happen, because i want it and need it and know it and will it.

    so yeah. change focus. my two-word summary of my dyke summer camp experience… or i guess what it is that i’m bringing home with me from my experience. oh there was lots of great music, amazing performances, beautiful and mindblowing women, a deeply satisfying and fairly smooth work experience, lots of delicious food, a gorgeous forest, great conversations, interesting movies, strengthening of bonds and community, lots of dirt in my shoes, sweat on my brow (and everywhere else!), the loveliest outdoor showers ever (!), some painful emotions, a good deal of crying, woo to the nth degree, breathtaking fireworks, lots of hugs, and brilliant stars in the sky. and so much more that i’m trying desperately to hang on to for as long as i can.

    but thank goddess i took my camera out that one afternoon while swinging in the hammock.

  • catching up, and… what’s next?

    wow. it’s been a while since i posted here. i had such high hopes when i switched over to wordpress from blogger, that it would inspire me to write so much more cuz the page looked so much prettier. didn’t really happen, though. i got kinda caught up in the whirlwind of information about the oil disaster and mostly utilized my facebook page as a resource for reposting pertinent articles and my commentary on such. i only used the blog here to talk about design responses – mostly t-shirts – and got a little obsessed with that topic for a while. and then promptly lost interest when it seemed there were more t-shirts than barrels of oil in the gulf.

    and then i went on vacation to dyke summer camp for 3 weeks. i just got back on saturday night.

    i have a lot on my mind upon returning from the woods, not the least of which is what i will be doing for a job. the census gig is up now (it sure was sweet while it lasted!), and i’ve realized i really enjoyed having a regular paycheck and didn’t miss hauling all my arty-crafty stuff around every weekend and freaking out when i barely make my booth fee back at a market. i’m not saying i won’t continue art by mags!, but for now, i’m not particularly inspired (and also i’m flat broke, and thus don’t have start-up funds to get my inventory back up). so it seems to make sense to start the job hunt for some kind of regular work… and then hopefully when my finances even back out, i’ll feel less stressed and be more inspired to want to get back to the crafty life.

    i’m not exactly sure what that job will be, though. i don’t really know what i’m looking for. i’m basically open to what the universe throws at me, and pray she throws it quickly. i’d like it to be something i felt some level of passion about, cuz i’ve learned i don’t really do so well with things i’m not particularly interested in. (i get bored easily.) i have a LOT of varied skills, but not any super focused specialties. i’m really good at social media, but not school-trained, just intuited. same goes for basic web design, stuff like wordpress and blogger and even some rudimentary html (cuz i’ve used both to make my own websites for years). i’m diy baby all the way!

    i have a lot of strong left-leaning political views and can be really passionate about the environment, queer/women’s issues, racism, poverty, and many other social issues. i’ve been writing professionally since i was 22, so for more than 20 years, mostly about music but also film, politics, and general interest stuff. i edited my own magazine for 3 years too (again, music – DJs, nightlife, the club scene). and i’ve been a volunteer PR/publicity person for just about every grassroots/community/nonprofit group i’ve ever been involved with, ranging from the lgbtq film festival in nola to a variety of nola queer community groups to the roller derby league in louisville, ky (during my katrina displacement) and currently the new orleans craft mafia. oh yeah, and i was a club DJ, too, for almost 20 years. i also have managed the film tent and outdoor movies at dyke summer camp for 12 years (av club!). and then i worked for the census for three months and surprisingly LOVED it and was really good at it. (who knew?)

    i’ve done a lot of different things over the years. i’m not even going into all the grunt-like jobs i’ve done for $$ that i didn’t particularly like (landscaping, house cleaning, investigator for a law firm, etc.) but i feel like i’m at some kind of a crossroads right now. i’m 43. i’ve been self-employed or a contract worker for most of my adult life. i have no health insurance. i have no savings. i don’t own a house or a car. i need just a tiny little bit of financial stability, at least for a little while. or who knows – maybe i can find that dream job that uses my skills and background in a creative way and challenges me and taps into my passions and, well, pays me decently. i just don’t quite know what that dream job is right now. i’m waiting for it to make itself known to me. (i wish it would hurry up!)

    i know it’s hard to look for a job when you don’t really know what you are looking for, but i’m just trusting in the universe that if i put it out there enough, it will come to me. either i will figure out what i am looking for, or it will find me and let me know that’s what i’ve been looking for.

    so here’s me, putting it out there. i’m all ears. whatcha got for me?

  • how many t-shirts does it take to fix the oil disaster?

    i don’t know the answer to that question. i’m just asking.

    in the mean time, i will continue to bring you t-shirt designs i find interesting from designers/companies who are using their creative skills to raise some money for non-profits and other organizations responding to the oil disaster.

    the local t-shirt makers are still coming up with the best stuff, in my opinion. local silkscreeners saturn screenprinting have a couple sharp looking spoofs on the bp logo on vibrant green shirts (above) – one that says “spill baby spill” and the other the more direct “fu bp.” there are lots of shirts using the bp logo now, but these catch my eye as being similar enough so that you know it’s a bp logo without having to actually BE the bp logo -  i like that. all proceeds from the sales of these shirts will go to the gnof gulf coast oil spill fund. you can pick one up online for $20 including shipping, or stop by their central city location and get it in person for only $15.

    i was wondering how long it would take for fledgling t-shirt empire storyville to come up with their own fundraising shirt for the gulf, and lo and behold, they have. this is one of my favorite designs i’ve seen so far; i just really dig all the little drawings of fish, crabs, crawfish, shrimps, oysters and other local sealife that make up the shape of louisiana. (and the color palette is pleasing, too.) they too are donating to the gnof gulf coast oil spill fund, with $5 from each $23 t-shirt sale being donated. you can pick one up at their magazine street location or order online.

    i noticed storyville also just added this one too, which spells it out loud and clear. this one is on one of those trendy burnout shirts in a color scheme that resembles dirty water; it’s a cool effect. these are $30 and some portion of each sale will go to the same charity, the gnof gulf coast oil spill fund, though it is unclear how much. again, available in their shop on magazine or online.

    i first saw this design on skip n’ whistle‘s facebook page; they were saying it was the only design they carry in the shop at this point that is not their own. so i wondered who had made it. i’d seen others posting about it, saying they’d seen it on cnn and local tv news, so i did some googling and found that it belongs to nola tee, and is benefiting the st. bernard project, to help commercial fishermen affected by the oil disaster. it appears it comes in different colors and in both men’s and women’s sizes. click the picture above to go to their site for ordering, or call or stop by skip n’ whistle to see if they still have any in stock.

    speaking of skip n’ whistle, they continue to come up with more of their own original designs in response to the oil disaster. i’ve featured two of their other designs in previous posts, but this is their most recent one, time is running out for bp. they continue to donate a portion of their sales of these bp response shirts – $10/shirt on this design – to the humane society of louisiana, who are helping with wildlife rescue in the oil affected region.

    of course, locals aren’t the only ones making fundraising t-shirts in response to the oilpocalypse, but i think i’ll leave that to a separate post, as this one is already getting long. if you know of other oil spill/bp related t-shirt designs that i haven’t covered that you think are cool, feel free to post them in a comment here.

    stay tuned for more.

  • oilpocalypse day 64

    64 days after the deepwater horizon rig blew up in the gulf of mexico, the oil continues to gush. people all over the world, and especially in southern louisiana, continue to feel helpless, and even those who are doing their best to fight the good fight feel like they are in a losing battle.

    let’s revisit that oil spill ticker i posted early on in this crisis:

    divide that number of gallons by 42 and you get the number of barrels per day that have leaked into our beautiful gulf. and that’s just an average of all the best-guesses of how much is leaking out every day. i find this beyond comprehension.

    i personally continue to feel like there is little i can do, save for spend a few hours every day posting articles and photographs and reports from grassroots groups on the ground to my facebook profile in a desperate attempt to keep others far and wide in my social circle informed and enraged. i have a few-day break from the census (the phase i was hired for is now over, but the next phase that i’m getting rehired for starts next week), but have to condense everything i’ve been wanting to do for the past two months into a few days. plus i have to get ready for the craft mafia’s 5th year anniversary party on thursday. and fae leaves for michfest work in a week, so we have to get all our ducks in a row for my eventual departure later in july as well.

    it’s all a whirlwind to me.

    so i guess i’ll just continue to do what i’ve been doing here on the blog, which is highlight some of the visual creativity that’s come out of this horrendous nightmare, in an attempt to both vent our collective anger and/or also help raise funds for some of the grassroots groups and first responders to the situation.

    today, i’d like to point your attention to sticker robot, a silkscreen sticker company out in california. some of you may remember back when i was stenciling-for-obama, sticker robot kindly donated a huge whack of stickers of my obama stencil design for me to give out, to help the campaign. zoltron and sticker robot are good people, and here they go again, donating their brilliant work to the cause:

    click the picture to get all the details. basically, you just have to send them a self-addressed, stamped LEGAL-SIZED envelope and they will send you a free sticker. i personally think this is one of the best graphics i’ve seen come out of the creative community in response to the disaster, and i can’t wait to get one onto my car. (maybe i’ll get lucky and get 2 in the mail so i can put one on the scooter too!)

    a fresh batch of oil disaster response t-shirts coming soon. stay tuned.

  • oilpocalypse graffiti

    if you’ve been following my blog, then you know i’ve been posting a lot of t-shirt designs from mostly local designers in response to the bp gulf oil disaster. i started doing so originally because i was trying to come up with my own design, and was inspired by the work of some of my peers and also thought it was a great way to raise funds for various grassroots organizations involved in the response. (i only feature designers who are donating a portion of the proceeds to some responding organization.)

    well i still haven’t managed to come up with a design i’m happy with (though i did make a rudimentary stencil for the back of my sierra club “clean it up” t-shirt so i could wear it to the protest in the french quarter two weekends ago, which you can view here), but other folks continue to churn out the t-shirts… and i will get back to featuring some more of them in a bit.

    i’d like to switch gears just a little, while remaining on the design continuum, and feature some of the excellent and interesting graffiti that’s been sprouting up in response to the disaster. of course i’ve noticed some locally here in new orleans, but thanks to flickr, i’ve seen pieces from all over the gulf south and around the country.

    this was the first i saw posted, and it’s by an artist named priest. he is often confused with – and obviously inspired by – banksy. priest is from alabama. i really like this one a lot. it expresses the anger we are all feeling down here, and is well-executed. take a look at that link to priest’s flickr and you’ll see he has a few others on the oil disaster theme… and i’m sure there are more to come.

    this one just really hits the mark, by an artist called BonusSaves from kalamazoo, michigan. it’s quite brilliant – a northern gannett coated in oil. i love the concept.

    this one, too, is very effective… and a really beautiful depiction of a sea turtle, swimming amidst the oil. this one is from key west, florida, and the photo is dated may 25th. i have no idea who the artist is. but it’s a gorgeous piece. props to the unknown artist. (and thanks to todd sanders for snapping the great pic!)

    another one from florida, the wynwood art district in miami. again, don’t know who the artist is, but a nice piece. thanks to photographer justin helmick for snapping the shot on this very effective image.

    this one is from down on grand isle larose, louisiana. it was painted before one of president obama’s visits down to grand isle recently. again, don’t know the artist but the artists are tattoo artists eric guidry and bobby pitre. this picture definitely speaks a multitude of words. this shot was not found on flickr but instead via the mainstream news online.

    there are so many more, and i’m sure lots more coming as this disaster rages on with no end in sight. check out this gallery i made on flickr that includes many of the above plus others. and definitely leave me a message here if you’ve seen/snapped others wherever you are.

  • oilpocalypse t-shirt response pt. 3

    as the oilpocalypse rages on, i continue to be overwhelmed with anger, heartbreak, sadness and a feeling of helplessness as to what to do. i spend a considerable amount of time every day reading and reposting many online articles and first-hand accounts to my facebook and twitter streams, and i keep trying to hash out some designs for an eventual t-shirt or protest poster or something. but my census job keeps me so busy i don’t really have time to do much else.

    tomorrow i will attend my first actual protest at 1pm in jackson square in the french quarter, which i hope will gather thousands to voice our collective outrage and sorrow. (i thought there was supposed to be one on thursday, but i scooted downtown at noon to find nothing going on anywhere – so i guess that one got canceled or something. sunday’s protest has been getting a lot of play in the media, though, so i think it will be big.)

    since i still haven’t managed to come up with my own design that i like enough to want to print onto t-shirts, i’ll continue to spotlight those from my new orleans peers, particularly those who are donating a portion or all of the proceeds to organizations working on the response to the oil disaster.

    (if you missed the first two posts, you can read them here and here.)

    first, i can’t believe i forgot to mention this one earlier, from defend new orleans. the design pre-dates the oil disaster and was always intended to raise awareness of our diminishing wetlands, but now takes on a much more urgent message in regards to the oil disaster. 100% of the proceeds goes to the coalition to restore coastal louisiana and the gulf restoration network, two grassroots organizations that have been very effective and dedicated to preserving the coast and wetlands.

    this second one is another design from my pal chris over at skip n’ whistle. their website is currently getting an overhaul, so no online ordering, but he says you can call the shop and order on the phone (504-862-5909) or just stop on in to 8123 Oak Street. i’m not sure where the proceeds are going for this one, but his other anti-bp shirt was benefiting the humane society, so perhaps it’s the same for this one.

    this one is from my friend phillip whitmore of inexplicable confetti. according to his etsy shop, $5 from each sale goes to benefit the audubon society and their efforts to save the coast.

    i’ve seen a LOT of these around town lately, and it took me a while to figure out who was making them. apparently it’s po-boy apparel. i don’t know anything about these folks, but this shirt sure is popular! according to their website, $2 of each shirt sold will go the “save the coast” coastal sustainablility program of the lake pontchartrain basin foundation (saveourlake.org).

    and lastly, for now, from the good folks over at save nola, comes this “save our coast” design. according to their site, net proceeds from the purchase of this item will go to the coalition for coastal restoration. the design comes on this army green colored shirt as well as white t’s, in both men’s and women’s styles. i’ve seen a few of these around town already, too, and i’ve always appreciated that save nola was founded by locals to help out local organizations working to better new orleans and the region.

    oh, and just as an update concerning fleurty girl’s rescue me t’s i mentioned in an earlier post, she recently tweeted the following: “so far raised $14,892 for @audubonzoo‘s louisiana marine mammal & sea turtle rescue program with our rescue me shirts!” that’s pretty fucking amazing! apparently she’s now offering some other accessories with the design on it too, so stop into her retail shop on oak street to get you some.

    ok, i think that’s it for now. i know there are more – i keep seeing new ones all the time – and i’ll keep sharing them as i find them. i’m sure there will be some interesting ones at the protest tomorrow. now to get back to thinking about my own design…