art by mags!

Tag: art

  • almost april!

    well, last weekend was a busy one, between the friday night show at one eyed jack’s (toshi rocked the house, of course, with a surprise appearance by ani difranco!), the elysian fleas market on saturday (slow sales but a gorgeous day), and the road food fest on sunday. yes, fae and i decided to be tourists in our own town and ride the streetcar down to the quarter to partake in the road food fest, walk around a little, visit with our friend s’aint n.o. lady at her cute jewelry boutique filthy rich, and enjoy yet another picture-perfect spring day in new orleans.

    road food festival

    we ate and drank ourselves silly: hand-cut seasoned fries from que crawl (aka the purple truck), a meat pie, the most delicately-battered fried catfish and crawfish rice from dunbar’s, and a pulled pork w/purple cabbage po-boy from que crawl again. oh and a delightful turtle to top it all off. fae got a yummy daiquiri and i enjoyed a few tasty local beers. it was a good day.

    pulled pork po-boy

    this week, for me, has been all about listening to cds for my upcoming music column. i think i have it narrowed down to a handful, including new ones by sia, pieta brown, a greatest-hits collection from k.d. lang, and a few others. i’ve still got a ways to go, though, on the stack of discs on my desk. fae’s been on spring break, which is nice for her. usually we travel to louisville to see friends and family on her breaks from school, but we just didn’t have it in us this time; that 12-hour drive is intense and with fae having been so sick over the first part of the semester, we just decided it would be best for us to stay home, to allow her to rest, relax and get caught up on school. so far, i’d say it was a good choice. the weather has been perfect, we’ve done some spring cleaning, she’s done some gardening, and i’m hopefully going to turn my music column in relatively on time. yay!

    and now it’s almost april, which will be a crazy-busy month. i’ve got tons of markets/festivals scheduled, and of course jazz fest is almost here – my favorite time of year. here’s a brief overview of my schedule, for future reference:

    this coming saturday, the 3rd, i will be vending at the freret market, my regular monthly appearance. it’s my favorite regularly-occuring local market, with a good mix of flea, art, craft, and food vendors plus community organizations, free live music, kids activities, good beer (abita!) and just a great general vibe. lots of the new orleans craft mafia gals will be there, so come by and say hello if you are out and about.

    the following weekend is french quarter fest and i’m thinking about picking up a day vending at elysian fleas again, as it is well-situated close to the quarter.

    the third weekend in april is both the alternative media expo and crawfest at tulane; sadly, i had to make a choice about which one to vend at this year since they are both on the same day, but there was no way i could turn down the opportunity to be at crawfest. i had such a successful day there last year and it was a blast, so that’s where i will be. the craft mafia will, however, be well-represented at the alternative media expo: we are co-sponsors again this year and will be giving out the free swag bags loaded with goodies to the first 100 paid attendees (so get there early!), and several of our members will be there vending. if i could figure out a way to be in both places at the same time, i would.

    that friday night, the 16th, is also the opening party for my friend jen biniek’s annual jazz fest art show. this is the fifth year she’s opened up her living room to all her artist friends’ “funky lil art,” as she calls it – small-sized, affordable, eclectic folk art, photography, jewelry, crafts and all other kinds of stuff. i’ll post more details about the opening in a separate blog entry, but pencil it in on your calendar now or at least make a point of stopping by during the two weeks of jazz fest, because it’s quite a sight to behold.

    then on the 22nd, which happens to be earth day, the new orleans craft mafia is cooking up a fun event at whole foods on magazine street. we’re still ironing out the details, but it will be both a vending situation as well as a recycling demo, teaching folks how to turn old t-shirts into new funky reusable grocery bags. again, more details coming once everything is worked out.

    and then it’s jazz fest and hopefully i get to relax for a bit. i won’t be doing any markets during the two weekends of jazz fest (though my stuff will be up at jen’s) and freret market’s may market has been pushed back to the 8th, the weekend after jazz fest, so as not to conflict. so hopefully i will have made enough $ at all the april markets to be able to partake a bit in jazz fest revelry, if not inside the fairgrounds at least on jen and mary ann’s porch.

    i have, however, applied for a job with the census. i go to take the entrance test tomorrow and then find out more details. not sure if it will be a good fit for me or not, particularly since i have so much going on april on the weekends, but i guess i’ll see how it goes and if i can work it out schedule-wise. because goodness knows i could use the money.(i’m all ears for other job tips and offers if you know of anything.)

    so that’s what’s going on for me. i’m sure there will be intermittent updates throughout the month, but if you don’t hear quite as much from me, you’ll know why. i’m just busy, hustlin.

  • elysian fleas this weekend

    the elysian fleas market is back after a bit of a hiatus. in this time, however, they’ve reorganized, hired a full-time market manager, and have decided to make the market a both-days-of-the-weekend, every-weekend kinda market. that’s right – 8 markets a month! and while i have my own personal curiosity about whether the community will support the increase in frequency of this market (i hope they do!), elysian fleas is well situated in the marigny, right outside the french quarter on elysian fields on the corner of chartres, to catch a lot of foot traffic between the touristy french quarter/marigny triangle area and the hipster/cultural epicenter of the bywater. so it might just work.

    regardless, the emptiness of my wallet has led me to decide to, at the last minute, request a booth for saturday at the “soft launch” of the new-and-improved elysian fleas market. i’ll have all my usual crafty/folk art wares, plus maybe some flea type things like cds and whatever else i can scrounge up around here. and it being an off-weekend for BERG practice means fae can actually join me. the weather is predicted to be beautiful – 0% chance of rain right now and sunny all day with warm temps – and the vibe is always pretty laid back and fun at this market.

    so. i know there’s a lot going on this weekend, and the gorgeous spring weather has folks itching to get out and enjoy the day. but while you are out and about, stop by and check out the eclectic offerings at elysian fleas and come say hello. there’ll be food and cocktails and music, so why not?

    full press release from elysian fleas is below:

    Elysian Fleas
    Saturday, March 27th
    Sunday, March 28th
    11 am to 5 pm
    527 Elysian Fields
    corner of Chartres St.

    Elysian Fleas Springs Back to Life as a Weekly Market!

    After a short hiatus to prepare for our big relaunch, we’re coming back as a weekly market every Saturday and Sunday 8 ,days a month! Gates open to the public with our soft opening on March 27-28 heralding the Grand Opening on Easter Weekend April 3-4. Hours are 11 am to 5 pm.

    “We are going weekly to more fully enjoy the spring,” says James Michalopoulos, who hosts Elysian Fleas in the shady, tree-lined courtyard next to Michalopoulos Studio at 527 Elysian Fields on the corner of Chartres St. “This is a test to see how much fun we can have and how well it will work.”

    Launched as a monthly market, Elysian Fleas quickly became a vital part of the neighborhood.

    “The Faubourg Marigny and Bywater community so embraced Elysian Fleas,” says Reese Johanson of Artist Inc., which produces the market with the sponsorship of Old New Orleans Rum. “We realized New Orleans would support a regular weekly market like the village markets in Europe. People know they can come and get their cheese from farmer Jacques, and that Claudette emptied her attic and will be selling everything this weekend. It’s not only a place to shop and meet your friends for a drink or lunch. It’s also a community-building experience.”

    To take Elysian Fleas to next level, the market hired Prachi Vij as full time manager. A local Marigny gal, Prachi was looking to bring her corporate event planning skills to grassroots community endeavors. “It’s a great match!” says Johanson. “We are so happy to have found her!”

    Every Saturday and Sunday, beginning March 27-28, Elysian Fleas will feature a spicy New Orleans mix of flea market trash and treasures; creative art, jewelry & crafts; and delicious food & drink from some of New Orleans’ best al fresco vendors.

    Longtime shoppers will recognize old favorites like Sally’s Gourmet Country Foods, Beaucoup Nola (fresh-squeezed juices, snowballs & salads), Straight From the Hipster Used Books, Cree’s Cheap Chic, Righteous Fur nutria-teeth jewelry and Susie’s Vintage Hats. New vendors range from Upper Ninth Herbal Skin Care Products to Le Divina Gelateria gelato to Fang & Feather swamp jewelry and Bridget Callais’ gulf shrimp from down the bayou.

    “In the future, we’re looking to add produce, more flea market and garage sale people, perhaps a florist and a wine seller,” says Johanson. “We will have a certain percentage of vendors you can count on, but most of the vendors will rotate so there will always be a variety of fare.”

    Always on the menu: Old New Orleans Rum cocktails, Abita beer and a lively grab-bag of street entertainers, from wandering minstrels to jugglers, magicians and fire-eaters. As Johanson puts it: “Expect the unexpected.”

    Contact Prachi Vig at prachi.elysianfleas@gmail.com

  • beer fests are fun!

    on saturday, i – along with several other members of the new orleans craft mafia – participated in the inaugural top of the hops beer festival on the northshore, at fontainebleau state park. being a big lover of beer myself, i was really looking forward to it, not just as a vending opportunity, but as a beer-drinking experience.

    can you tell they were the sponsors of the fest?

    the weather had been predicted to be sunny and 0 % chance of rain. unfortunately, that didn’t really work out. it was mostly cloudy, VERY windy (gusty, even, resulting in greenKangaroo’s tent blowing over during set-up and making us all nervous throughout the day) and threatened rain all afternoon. luckily, only a few drizzly drops made their way to the ground late in the afternoon, though it was sprinkling consistently while we broke down at the end of the day. but no major catastrophe ensued, and the sun did peek out a few times, enough to keep everyone warm and add to the enjoyment of the day.

    some of my little beer folk art hanging in my booth

    i somehow didn’t really remember to take many photos – must have been all those 2oz samples of beer i chugged down in the first hour or two! i knew i had to sober up by the time i left, so i could drive home safely, so i tried to do most of my beer drinking early on. it’s a strange event, having scores of beer vendors lined up in a row, pouring endless 2oz samples. it’s not enough beer for you to fill your tiny mug and walk away to enjoy it; just long enough to take a few swallows, try to savor each particular beer as best you can, and move on to the next one. after a while, it becomes hard to distinguish each beer.

    i do remember particularly enjoying a few beers that i’d never tried before. i checked out all of heiner brau‘s beers, as i’d previously only had (and love) their amber. but they were out of their strawberry beer before i got there, sadly. many folks were talking about that one, so i’ll have to see if i can check that out another time. i tried lots of beers i’d heard of before but never tried – chimay, hoegaarden, several flavors of flying dog and sam adams i’d never tried, some of zea’s flavors i’d never had before, covington brewhouse, some of the lazy magnolia‘s, and nola brewing‘s new hurricane saison (very nice!) – and many new beers, most of which i can’t remember, that i hadn’t ever heard of before. i came home with several keychain bottle openers from budweiser (you can’t ever have enough of them, even if it does say budweiser) and a new green coozy from bayou teche brewing, for their LA31 beer, which is new to the new orleans market. (i liked it!) i drank a lot of beer.

    mc auslan's st. ambroise apricot wheat

    i can’t say there were many beers i didn’t like (though i don’t ever have to have dixie’s blackened voodoo ever again), but i can say there was a new favorite from everything i tasted today: mc auslan’s st. ambroise apricot wheat ale. i think i could actually drink a whole six pack of that stuff. often, i like the taste of a beer in small doses, but can’t manage to maintain my interest in it for an entire six pack. but this one, i think i can. the smell alone was just amazing. and i don’t even usually like fruity beers! (like, i hate abita’s strawberry beer.)

    so yeah, it was a really fun day. fun hanging out with my nocm homies (including mallory of miss malaprop, who helped staff my booth, and her bf dave, who is a filmmaker and took some b-roll video footage of us for future use). i saw a few friends i had no idea would be there, and i got to not only meet kirk coco, president and co-founder of nola brewing company, but he bought my one-of-a-kind “craft beer drunk here” mixed media stencil clock! i’m gonna have to make it over to tchoupitoulas street to take a brewery tour soon, cuz i love their beer and love supporting the local microbrewery.

    some of my bottlecap signs

    oh, and i was smart enough before i started drinking beer to ask some of the beer vendors to hang on to their bottlecaps for me, so by the end of the day, i had a HUGE grocery bag full of a wide variety of craft/microbrew beer bottlecaps for future folk art/crafts. i don’t know why i’m so obsessed with bottlecaps, but like much advertising and product design, i find them to be tiny little metal pieces of artwork all on their own, that are awesome embellishments and/or materials for signs, folk art, clocks, mixed media pieces, cufflinks, etc. and, well, it’s recycling, too. so now i’m well-stocked for a while. yay!

    i look forward to participating in the top of the hops fest again in the future. hopefully they will add more food and crafts vendors, and maybe offer slightly longer hours to partake of all those beers. but otherwise, i’d say it was pretty well done. if this sounds like fun to you, they’ve got another one coming up soon in lafayette, and have plans for greenville, south carolina and i think even louisville, kentucky later in the year. it’s a great idea; wish it had been mine! what a fun job it would be producing these beef fests all over america!

  • lots going on.

    it was a busy weekend.

    first things first: can i just say how relieved and happy i am that susan guidry won the city council district a race against jay batt? i am THRILLED! makes me proud to live in a district that has some common sense. (yes, i know only 13,000 of them voted, but thank god those that did chose guidry almost 2-1.) now if we can just get rid of david vitter….

    yeah you right!
    one of my newest stencil signs

    saturday was of course the freret market and also one of the most gorgeous spring days ever. the market was very busy and i got to see lots of friends and acquaintances i haven’t seen for weeks or months. i felt like i had finally come out of winter hibernation. sales weren’t all that great – though i did sell a ton of $5 clearance t-shirts, so that was good – but i had a lovely time hanging out with my friend rachelle and just generally enjoyed being outdoors in such beautiful weather.

    also, my friend kerry had organized free cholesterol/glucose/blood pressure screenings for all the vendors by touro, in memory of regular freret market vendor rudy rowell, who so tragically died on his way home from the december freret market in a car accident after suffering a heart attack. i’d never had my cholesterol checked, and i’m relieved to report that all my readings were within the acceptable levels. some were close, so i shouldn’t be too cavalier, but i was expecting worse. my blood glucose, also good. my blood pressure, however, was high, which is strange for me, as my entire life i’ve always had low blood pressure. but it could have just been because i waited to get mine checked until i was done setting up and i had been physically exerting myself. and also, i don’t like the sight of blood, which they had to take for the glucose and cholesterol readings. so i’ll keep tabs on it. but it was a really awesome service for the vendors, many of whom are artists who don’t have health insurance, like me, and don’t have regular access to health care. i’m really grateful.

    after the market and a quick trip home to unload my stuff, i went to the big easy rollergirls season opening doubleheader. wow, was it crowded out there at uno! i’ve never seen the parking lot so overflowing. i hear they sold out (1200+), which is a helluva way to start the season! both bouts were really riveting, too. BERG’s b-team, the crescent wenches, beat huntsville handily, but the a-team/travel team lost to northwest arkansas. they were neck and neck at halftime and pretty much halfway through the 2nd period, but then they lost steam and the killbillies pulled ahead. it was still really fun to watch, though, and the pussyfooters, rolling elvii and 610 stompers kept everyone entertained in between the action. i love the roller derby!

    last night’s oscar’s also deserve a brief mention, namely that kathryn bigelow and “the hurt locker” won for not only best picture, but more remarkably, for best director. it’s the first time a woman has won that category in the 82-year history of the awards, and only the fourth time a woman had been nominated for it. what a great way to celebrate international women’s day today, right? (i was not amused, however, that the oscar’s orchestra played helen reddy’s “i am woman” after she accepted the award – seemed a bit cheesy if not downright condescending.)

    today i will work on my next music column, which is already late (again) – there was no way last week to get any writing done with fae sick as a dog and neither of us sleeping properly. and cross your fingers for me, will ya, that i get a focus group gig i’m trying for. it’d be nice to be able to pay my bills this month without so much stress.

    more later when i take a break.

  • ah, springtime…

    yes, i know it’s 46 degrees & blustery out today. mother nature certainly is fucking with us this year. but i can tell it’s almost springtime because things are starting to get really busy, and my calendar is filling up with markets and other fun events for the next several months.

    spring!

    (i also saw this on my walk yesterday, proof that it is indeed almost spring – or at least the flowers think so!)

    yesterday was a busy day. not only did i start my day by resuming my daily walking routine, but i also: got a nice little etsy order in from one of my favorite customers (thanks van!); i donated a scooter clock to the big easy weekender scooter rally, therefore becoming a sponsor of the event (hopefully this year i can actually partake of some of it, now that our scooter is up and running again); and i finally got a fabric order in so i can make some new scarves. (look for some of my scarf designs and clocks to be carried by miss malaprop in her new online store that will debut soon.)

    oh, and i registered for the top of the hops beer festival in mandeville on march 20th, which looks to be a wonderful new festival themed around craft beer. have i mentioned how much i like beer? especially craft beer. lately, heiner brau has become my new favorite, brewed right across the lake in covington. they will be there. as will abita, my other favorite beer. and, well, 100+ other breweries, from microbrews to big names. and so far, my new orleans craft mafia mates greenKangaroo, sweet olive soap works, kristina renee jewelry and also friends defend new orleans are some of the other vendors. i think it’s gonna be a blast. i can’t wait.

    but first on the agenda is this weekend’s freret market. it’s my first market back since the christmas holidays – if you don’t count the nocm’s mardi gras market which was indoors on magazine street – and is my favorite of all the monthly neighborhood art/flea markets around town. the weather report looks like it will be a gorgeous, sunny and not-so-cold day, thank goddess. i’m happy to be getting back into the swing of things. (and directly after the market, the big easy rollergirls host their season opener out at uno, a doubleheader taking on teams from huntsville, alabama and fayetteville, arkansas. and then sunday is the oscar’s! see what i mean about things stacking up?)

    i know i’ve not been terribly consistent blogging for the past two months, but i suspect things will pick up at least for the next few months. so check back often, or use one of the buttons in the upper right of my homepage to subscribe to this blog either by email or a feed reader. stay tuned!

  • paint the town black & gold

    since the whole who dat controversy got resolved (whew! and, oh yeah, f dat, nfl!) earlier this week, saints mania in new orleans has been simmering on, say, a medium flame. not that it ever went away or anything – there’s still been nothing but saints coverage on the tv and radio channels, and most folks i know have carefully planned their wardrobe to sport different black and gold outfits every day of the week – but ya know, it’s been the beginning of the work week and folks are trying to get stuff done before giving in to all the madness this weekend. so it’s been a bit of the calm before the storm.

    but today i think we hit that magical point of no return – the saints-in-the-superbowl frenzy has started its climb to absolute fever pitch, which, i imagine, will be reached somewhere between saturday night and sunday evening when the game starts. until, of course, after the game, when we win. then the lid gets completely blown off this sucker!

    i generally gauge these things by my online orders, which stepped up again today after a little lull. the day after the saints won the nfc championship (and for a few days after), i sold more than usual of my black and gold items in my etsy shop. and today, it started up again. several orders this morning, and a few others pending. good thing i made four more who dat signs earlier in the week when the weather was good, and printed up some more skull de lis shirts today. and add to that the fact that i’ve been in three football-saints-superbowl related etsy treasuries in the past two days. (i hardly ever make it into any treasuries.)

    so yeah. turning up the flame, indeed. which makes sense, since it’s thursday and almost the weekend. i hope the sales continue, cuz this little spurt couldn’t come at a better time for me, financially.

    i’ve had a busy work week. my big project was turning four salvaged-out-of-the-trash vintage ice cream parlor chairs (above) into cute gold-with-black-fleur-de-lis chairs, perfect for someone’s superbowl party somewhere. (or wouldn’t these look great in some cute boutique or restaurant?) it was a lot of work, as they had been spray painted flat black by their previous owner (not a good choice for all metal chairs that are probably destined to be outdoor furniture), and painting the twisted metal chair backs and legs of these things was a fun challenge. but i think they turned out beautifully after a few coats of lacquer. they are currently listed on craigslist, so hopefully they will find a new owner soon. please feel free to pass the craigslist link around to your friends or anyone you think might be interested.

    meanwhile, we are having a mayoral election on saturday, lest it be forgotten amidst all the football craziness. still being broke, i have sadly not been able to make any contributions to my candidate’s campaign, but if you are less financially strapped and care one iota about the future of this city – even if you don’t live here – please consider making a donation to him in this homestretch time. he could really use it. all i’ve managed to accomplish on his behalf is a lot of tweeting and posting on facebook, and this homemade yard sign:

    figured i’d stick with the black and gold theme, instead of traditional campaign blue and white, cuz really, who’s gonna read anything but black and gold on a sign this week? i figured it was the best chance of having anyone notice it. wish i would have gotten around to making more of them, but i never could find a good supply of illegal business signs to appropriate. so yeah, don’t forget to VOTE on saturday if you are registered in orleans parish.

    tonight is the last televised mayoral debate. tomorrow, the mardi gras parades begin. fae is in a parade on the west bank on saturday morning (with the big easy rollergirls). a good friend from college will be in town saturday afternoon through monday, and i’d like to get a chance to hang out with him. there’s a saints superbowl second line and pep rally going on in the french market on saturday afternoon. and then there’s all the pre-game hysteria on sunday. i fully imagine there will be people tailgating downtown, even though the game isn’t being played here. i kinda want to ride around and see the sights sunday morning/early afternoon. and then my tribe starts to assemble over at ponce de leon stadium around 3pm. it’s non-stop from here on out, people.

    so just enjoy it all. savor these moments, cuz it surely is a magical time here. i still can’t believe it – the saints are in the superbowl!

    stay tuned for more reports from the black and gold city.

    who dat!!!