Lisa's Musings

- michael a. salter

that's how the text opens at the show....



here it is... my pile of robots on view at the san jose museum of art . they happen to be having a free event next tuesday in conjunction with the show. getting in for free is nice ....



i guess with this piece i'm talking about broken technology. all these robots just endlessly falling from the sky and ending up piling up. and then trying to make that more palatable, cuter. i guess i believe that you can make someone stop and notice by making them laugh and smile - there isn't necessarily a need to preach... i guess if i roll with the idea that they are stand ins for me as a self portrait this embodies how i feel sometimes. like i can't fly and things just end up piling up. i can only hope that the piles in my mind are this colorful. one of the docents said that lots of kids want to talk about my piece. they talk about recycling and waste and how colorful it is. that made me smile.



we had a pool going. like the jelly bean jar. how many robots are there on the wall. the curator of the show guessed the closest :) she said she was sure that the museum guards would end up counting them.

it was really fun building this piece. i would pick a color and then place a bunch of robots. in the beginning it was kind of hard and random. then the next color would come in. it became a puzzle of which direction and which color had to come next. i think i might be able to draw my version of the thunder robot in my sleep....



this is the ruscha i'm across from. sigh

slideshow of all the shots from the show here



these were the bots that people made during the workshop. that was really fun. if you want the pattern for the bot - it's here .... i made it so you cut one each of each piece since it's hard to fold over felt and cut... and the extra space is for embellishment. you can cut out legs too. i didn't put legs on the pattern since we only had 3 hours in the workshop....

by the way... i did re-do my portfolio .

happy wednesday!

Labels: art

there's no standard mom job description. sure there's snot and baths and dinner and laundry.... there's also all that intangible stuff - the looks, the stickers on your lunch bags, the staying with you until you fall asleep. every mom i know admits that sometimes its a thankless, completely overwhelming responsibility. but they all wouldn't trade it for the world. well i wouldn't trade my mom or my grandmother in for anything. thank you for everything you've done for me. every hug, every encouragement, every prejudiced praise... even though i can't be with you tomorrow know that i am thinking of you and love you very very much.

to • all• moms• in • blogland• who • share • with• us• and• inspire • us • thank• you

to the • new and• expecting moms... a special congratulations

and of course a big hug to all the pet moms .... i'm sorry i couldn't list every single mom out there - but give yourselves bit pats on the back!

hope everyone gets breakfasts in bed, lots of hugs, and special treats galore! i'll be back next week with some robot photos

Labels: life

i thought wearing silver shoes today would help.

i am obsessing over these yellow shoes . honestly i need more shoes like i need a hole in my head. maybe i need a hole in my head [or a whole new head]. perhaps what would come out of said hole would make me smarter, faster, better....

i'm also really into imperfect articles a store that has limited edition T's and stuffs by cool artists. I particularly want andrea loefke's shirt. have you seen her work? . she's amazing.

gotta run [at least i'll look better doing it in my silver shoes]
happy wed.

Labels: artists, links, ramblings

i'm super pleased to announce that jessica of the shiny squirrel has the above pairing as a print available on her website.

aurora and i thought it would be fun to do another print after the tiny showcase one.

the scoop:
these are SIGNED and numbered and in an edition of 50 - with 6AP's. the images are 6"x6" and the paper is 8"x8" [for easy framing]. you get both for $58.

find the print here .

if you are shopping for mother's day how bout a piece by alyson fox or the alice jacket , or this piece by lisa congdon

happy monday to everyone!

Labels: art, links

holy cow it's may?? 5 months into 2008?

yesterday i made my students meet at the asian art museum in SF. we went through the special exhibitions together.

the zhan wang show was really fun. i like that the museum is trying to infuse new life and contemporary art into their program. mr. wang created a mock up of the city of san francisco using shiny silver dinnerware [made in china of course]. it's clever and charming and of course perfectly shiny. he also recreated rocks out of stainless steel - a version of scholars rocks. i'm not sure the showing of those is so resolved. i don't really like the real rock with the steel rock side by side en masse on shelves and the ground as they were displayed. i conceptually get why you want them both in proximity, but something wasn't working for me.... i liked the ones outside of the exhibition best. the real was on one side of the entrance and the fake was on the other. they were close enough so you could discern the steel was a copy - but far enough away to actually see them both. the idea of a steel - not gold, not silver - light instead of heavy and perfectly shaped rock is intriguing. i thought stephanie might like them.

we also went through the ukiyo-e or floating world exhibition. time and time again i am absorbed by the overlay of pattern in traditional japanese art. the odd perspectives and the combining of textures feels very familiar to my own way of working. i also really really love the way gold clouds hover and cover scenes below. [note to self - bring back the clouds].

i then separated from my class and walked through the rest of the permanent collections. i always feel a bit strange wandering through rooms of artifacts from other cultures. 100's of buddhas away from their proper homes displayed in perfectly red, brown, teal rooms on little pedestals and tricky plexi double sided displays. the objects are still beautiful, but they are so far removed from their original purpose. it also makes me kind of sad....

but i did fall in love with this very small yellow cup. the heart fluttering kind of love. i went home and sketched it.....



oh how i want it !

anyway - i left the museum and found a farmer's market right by the BART station i needed to get home. so i purchased the above ranunculus. i couldn't resist. they were so charming. so i share them with you to wish you all a happy may day. i also got fava beans and strawberries. i was also thinking about how lovely it was to come upon a market. and how nice it is to notice how flowers can have delicate two tone edges.... [note to self: plant ranunculus someday]

tonight i am running a workshop at the san jose museum of art . we will make felt robots inspired by the amazing hillary of wee wonderfuls and the uber talented wendy . wish me luck!

tomorrow or saturday i will announce some news - good news for those of you that missed out on the tiny showcase print and wanted one.....

Labels: artists, ramblings

above is the piece i'm donating to southern exposure's auction - Optic Illusion - this year. their auctions are always really fun events to attend. happening tomorrow night from 6-10pm. i won't be there this year but it's a great great chance to scoop up work by great artists. more info here .

also jan / poppytalk posted a little q/a about my studio on design sponge the other day. it's here . thanks for asking me jan. it's been really fun to read and see all the studios on the guest blog .

have a great weekend. gardening is in my future.

Labels: art, blogland

this is a photo from my trip. which seems like it was 3 years ago not 3 weeks ago. i spend a lot of time just looking for/at things - 1/2 the time i'm not even sure what it is i'm looking for until i spot it. i know i'm not alone in this endeavor. in fact alicia and heather have started a whole blog on noticing . and they are looking for participants next week .

i've been thinking a lot lately about what we notice. what seeps in through all the various filters and barriers that exist. how we process the bombardment of thoughts, images, sounds in our daily lives. what is it that makes us stop for 1/2 a second. or makes us smile.

yesterday i participated in cca's first year final reviews. and here's what stopped me... the idea of PUNCTUATION in art. what constitutes an exclamation point, a period, a question mark - and how do you insert and utilize those to the benefit of you work?

also the idea of intervention and art. or just the idea of intervention in general. like my photo. someone painted those water/gas/electricity mains in rainbow colors. i'm not sure if it's a coding system, or just because, or.... but it intervenes in how i normally look at industrial necessities.

anyway - i also have a question to pose - if any of you are up for answering. it's high time i re-vamp the portfolio section of my website . and i have a lot of work to add to it. right now i just put newer pieces up as i make them - thinking more about making them look nice on the page as a group of 8. but i'm starting to think it might be wise to have categories - at least in the recent work.... something like : tank installations : doily installations : domestic scenes : doily drawings : etc. any opinions?

Labels: art, ramblings