Obsessive Consumption..

I just got Kate Bingaman-Burt's brand new book Obsessive Consumption in the mail yesterday from Princeton Architectural Press. I have to say that it is a GREAT book. I love everything about it. The look. The feel. The fact that it seems like someone's personal sketchbook that has been painstakingly categorized, that I've had the opportunity to flip through. But above all what I love is that I can relate to Kate's need and want to pay her debt down and her need and want to still purchase everyday items, necessities and treats for herself. Over the past three years, Kate has meticulously drawn an item a day that she has purchased and her monthly credit card statements, right down to the fine print at the bottom about the APR. Vowing to pay off her debt in the process, this book is a representation of that journey. It's an earnest, thoughtful process that she so candidly shares with us.

his very first state fair

You can do the state fair with a seven week old infant. I have proof.Ok, so you’ll have to take my word for it that’s where this picture was taken, because it was.There were many exciting sights and sounds to take in while doing the Minnesota State Fair with the newest O My Family member.In order to venture out on a six hour trip such as this, it required a stroller, a car seat and a diaper bag filled with an extra outfit, diapers and wipes, a burp rag, a nursing cover, a Moby Wrap, THE LIST COULD GO ON. Holy inconvenience: babies need a lot of crap.But somehow we made it from our front door to the Park and Ride station, crap in hand. OBaby’s first bus ride:O parenting on the go, the crazy things you make me do.For example, I breastfed outside the machinery tent. And the arcade barn. And also next to a stranger. And we changed OBaby’s poopy diaper on a park bench.No pictures of that. Sorry/you’re welcome.I think we forgot to read the parenting etiquette manual that came with OBaby. Either that or we’re flying by the seat of our pants here and we just go with what is proper works.Like carrying your newborn (when does he stop being one of those, by the way? Did that already happen and I missed it? O goodness gracious, time, SLOW DOWN) in one arm through crowds of thousands of people on the Midway because being in his car seat makes him cry.Or eating dinner, baby in one hand, foot long corn dog in the other.Now that is how the state fair is done with a newborn/infant/SLOW DOWN. Also, not DanO’s best angle, but he gave me permission to post it. So.O, and I’m not sure that it’s exactly acceptable behavior to hold your 7 week old up like he’s driving a tractor…But OBaby saw this nice riding mower (which, now that I say that, I realize that this isn’t actually a tractor) and told us he wanted to ride it. We obliged.He also told us he wanted to do the Marine pull-up challenge, but we drew the line there, so his uncle (in Christ) Nick did it in his honor.He definitely won a lanyard. So proud.The people movers overhead, you know, moving people.OBaby did a stellar job at the fair, even giving us a smile show as thanks for letting him experience his first riding mower.After a while, it was just about OBaby’s bed time so I strapped on the Moby and carried him, sleeping, into the night. We stayed out later than we had since I was 30 weeks pregnant and OBaby slept peacefully wrapped up against me through a trip to the GOP tent, a stroll around the HUGE semi-trucks section, and a spicy serving of ‘buffalo chips’. By the time we headed to our car it was, brace yourself, 11:20pm folks!Proof positive that you can do the state fair with a seven week old infant**That’s where we were in this picture, promise.

trace my face brings the color..

ohhh color. my body craves it in the dead of winter. it's like a much needed vitamin. luckily, on days when the wind chill factor is below 0 (no joke.) i can cruise the many channels of the wonderful world wide webby and look for sunny portals. well, look no futher. check out graphic designer traci edwards etsy shop tracemyface. she's got beautifully colored posters of shows she has done for a few of my favorite bands. not to mention, she does the cutest deer print ever.

Tracey Emin Draws the Royal Wedding..

Personally, I don't care about weddings nor did I watch the Royal Wedding. But I spotted Tracey Emin's drawing on Arrested Motion of Kate & Will's kiss and I had to share. Love it.

via arrestedmotion.com

Marco Zamora Derek Albeck at Fecal Face..

This is exactly the show to open April with, Marco Zamora and Derek Albeck's work together and separately have just enough color to ease the soul. I love the direction that color and rainbows are going lately. It's no longer straight forward (thank god). Zamora and Albeck mix it up individually. This looks like it's going to be a really tight, crisp show. Opening at Fecal Face Dot Gallery, April 1, 2010 at 6 pm. Be there with your happy pants on.

Above is the work of Marco Zamora and below Derek Albeck.

Sneak Peek Joshua Petker's We're Not As Colorful As We Think..

We're Not As Colorful As We Think We Are.

Here's a sneak peek of a few paintings and detail shots of Joshua Petker's work for his upcoming show, We're Not As Colorful As We Think at The Shooting Gallery. I have to say it was sooo hard to choose only a few images. All of the work is so lush and tantalizing. I am dying to see them on those black walls!

Untitled 1, detail.

Untitled 3. (This beauty has already sold.)

Don't Walk Away, detail.

jessica cannon website update..

jessica cannon recently updated her website with new work. her goache paintings are some of my absolute favorites. her new work is unexpected yet falls right in line next to my very favorite piece of her's: from a face in my head (which is below this paragraph). i wrote about jessica back in march as well. it's exciting to see the new direction she is moving in.

call me sham-wow

…because I hold water just about as well.Yesterday was an absolutely gorgeous spring day in Minnesota, with a high of 64¬∞. Dan and I decided to take our puppy and ourselves on a walk around the neighborhood, along with every other dog owner in a 3 mile radius, apparently. Pearl made many friends along the way. About halfway into the walk I realized that my shoes were hurting quite a bit, which is odd, because these flats definitely fall under the ‘pretty good for walking and shoppping’ category of shoes that I own. This is where some ask, ‘why would you own a category of shoes that isn’t good for walking?!‘ and to them I say: because ‘cute’ has absolutely no correlative relationship to ‘functional’. Continuing on the walk, I started to get pretty uncomfortable. Come to think of it, each entire foot hurt, not just the shoe-rubbing parts.We finally returned home where I gratefully de-shoed and found – to my horror- that my feet were absolutely, undeniably, elephantastically HUGE. Not just that, but my whole pedial region was HUGE. The best description I can give is that it looked like my calves just kept going straight down, then made a 90¬∞ turn at the floor, extended another 6 inches or so, and terminated in a few now-under-sized toes. It was ridiculous.All this swollen foot business had me thinking – how much longer will my engagement ring fit? ::tug on ring:: Ring doesn’t budge. ::tug on ring harder:: Nothing. This leads to that panicky pit-of-my-stomach feeling as my mind floods with the stories I heard just this weekend of women who had to get their rings cut off because they swelled up so rapidly (I told you they rattled off every pregnancy horror story they could think of). I run for the dish soap, hand ice bath, and butter. It takes a little while, but the ring is eventually freed from my formerly-size-4 finger, resulting in much relief and increased blood flow. My finger thanks me, and I scowl at it in contempt.Today I am porting a size 6.5 band on my left hand ring finger (that I used to wear on my middle finger) so as to not appear young, pregnant, and unmarried. I already have concerns that people see me and think I’m some sort of child bride; a woman on the retreat was in utter shock to discover that I am in fact 23 years old, not 18.The solution to the foot problem is a little less clear cut. I flipped an (empty) trashcan upside down under my desk and have my feet elevated to almost knee level for the day, which was fun to explain to the CEO of my company when he swung by my cubicle to say hello this morning. Also, I found that the swelling had not subsided enough this morning for most of my work shoes to fit comfortably, so flip-flops it was. Thankfully, I work in a casual office, but the rest of the building is not as casual, and I felt a little strange in the elevator this morning in my jeans and flip-flops with a man in a suit and tie – who wasn’t wearing a stitch of green, by the way, but I resisted the urge to pinch.

catherine campbell, beautiful line drawing..

i'm a big fan of catherine campbell's work. catherine just got some new pens and is giving them a test drive. she just posted this image on her blog, my folk lover and i absolutely love it. striped knee highs? adorable. big ol' creeky house? perfect. you can see more of catherine's work and read her daily musing here on her bloggy or check out her website.

friendly friday feed my starving children

Friends and readers? I want to do something good with you. Like, literally with you.Have you heard of Feed My Starving Children? Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) is a Christian nonprofit hunger relief organization that sends food into the poorest of areas across the globe. FMSC has several food packing locations in the US where volunteers can come, receive a quick training, and then work in an assembly line type environment to produce dried meals that can later be prepared and served.In 2010, more than 520,000 volunteers joined FMSC to package over 124 million meals for children around the world.During a single packing session, each volunteer packs an average of 1 box of food, which equals 216 meals—enough to feed 7 starving children for nearly a month. A month!What an amazing thing to be a part of, am I right? And I would love to be part of it with you.I want to do this. I want to help. I want you to help. I want to meet you. I want to serve with you. I want to laugh with you. I want to give with you.So let’s pack meals together this December.You don’t need to have a blog, a twitter account, be on pinterest, or even know what pinterest is in order to join us. You just need a few hours, two hands, and a big heart.O, and you need to look awesome in a hair net. Because, obviously.O My Friends Feed My Starving Children EventSaturday morning, December 31.To reserve your spot and get location and time details, send me an email at omyfamilyblog@gmail.com with FMSC somewhere in the subject.Can’t be there in person but want to come with us in spirit? Here’s how you can help:The cost to FMSC for 1 box of food is about $52. They do not receive the ingredients for free and need help to cover the cost of the meals that will be packed. You can learn how to donate here.I’m a tangible giver – as in I’d rather take the $10 I was going to donate, go buy $10 worth of something needed, and THEN donate it. Want to give a tangible gift to FMSC? I would be happy to purchase specific items for you and bring them to the packing location where we are headed. Here’s a wish list of their specific needs. If you’d like to take part in this way, shoot me an email and let’s chat (again, FMSC in the subject pretty pleasies).When we give our time and resources to FMSC, this food will go from our hands:To theirs:I can’t wait.{all above photos are from FMSC’s flickr photostream and are property of FMSC}:: :: :: :: :: ::Did you step out and do a friendly act this week? I would love to read about it. Please link up here. Only rules are 1) that you link to the post about your act of kindness, not just to your main blog url, that way if people are surfing through in the future, they’ll still find your post. Then, 2) within your post, link back to this post so that others can come join in the giving and the sharing and the love.(Any links that don’t follow the rulesies will be deleted. Capiche?)So? Go ahead! Warm fuzzies all around! Link up below:

andrew brandou..

Andrew Brandou's work reminds of illustrations from the The Little Golden books my Grandparents used to read to me as a kid. Some look as though they came straight form The Little Golden Libraryitself, which is what initially drew me to his work in the firstplace...there is a comfort and innocence in them. However some of Andrew's chipper, happy animals have a little twinkle of mischief in their eye or a total insane 1000 yard stare, depending on which piece you are looking at. And that is what kept me with Andrew's work, the reality and honesty brought to the cute little critters he portrays. Remember not all fairy tales were sweet and innocent as Disney sugars them up today. Fecal Face posted an interview with him back in February of 2006. It's an entertaining look into Andrew's proffesional and personal life.

O My Organization cloth diaper table work flow

This morning, between digging up hostas from one part of our yard and transplanting them to the front, running to the dollar store for garage sale signs and stickers, and sorting through a painful amount of before Mommy-body clothing to sell, I recorded this video run down of how we do our changing table with cloth diapers.(PS: A little secret, if you see my hair in the loose side braid, I either haven’t showered in a while or I just showered and didn’t have time to blow dry. I’ll let you guess which one is the case here.)*Misspeak: I mean to say that there are no disposable wipe fibers in the wash, not diaper fibers.

and the award for longest labor that didnt actually result in a baby goes to

Tuesday, May 3:5:00pm: At the salon for a last-minute pre-baby highlight and trim, I went to the bathroom and had my bloody show (don’t worry – it’s a wiki link, not an image). Giggled to myself about the timing, then went and got my hairs did. Was having a few attention-grabbing contractions by the end of the appointment.8:00pm: At home, texted my doula to give her a little heads up, ate a good second dinner, noticed that the contractions were every 10min. Got in the bath.9:00pm: The bath really strengthened things, stronger contractions coming 5-8 minutes, but really still not stopping me in my tracks. I wondered to myself – was it really this easy last time? I know I didn’t have the ‘yelling curse words at my husband’ experience many claim to have, but were the contractions this manageable?10:30pm: Laying in bed, having made the hospital bags official (added tooth brushes and the everyday stuff), I noticed how much the contractions (still 8ish min apart) were radiating through my lower back. No fun. Could not get comfortable laying down for the life of me.Wednesday, May 4:12:00am: Got back in the bath. Helped my back pain some, but what I really wanted to do was sleep.2:00am: Was finally exhausted enough to fall asleep in bed. At this point Dan had been sleeping for nearly 4 hours.4:00am: Woken by contractions, still only medium strength and still 8min apart. Stayed in bed and relaxed.6:00am: Got up and ate breakfast. We decided that Dan should stay home from work.6:20am: Threw up breakfast.7:00am: Decided to try to get things moving. Sat on the birth ball, walked around the house, called Grandma to come babysit.8:00am: Grandma arrived. OBaby was still asleep but DanO and I went in, snuggled him and said goodbye before we left for hospital. Absolutely precious moments. It was a beautiful day to have a baby.8:30ish am: Arrived at the hospital. Was given a run around because of transferring care late in the pregnancy. Long story short, was told that I might be considered as officially having “no care provider” and would have my delivery attended by an OB/GYN I’d never met rather than the midwife, per hospital protocol.9:00am: Cried my ever loving eyes out to the midwife on call. Devastated beyond belief and in complete emotional turmoil. To make things worse, Gummybear, who had been determined to be posterior at this point, was moving around a LOT, probably trying to get in a better position for birth. Because he was moving so much, they were having a hard time (read: impossibly hard time) getting a solid 20 minute heart rate reading. (This hospital really is wonderful – they don’t assume fetal monitoring throughout the labor, they just want a good read when you check in and then you are cord-free).10:00am: With the stress of not being able to get Gummy’s heart rate (That feeling in the pit of your stomach? Scary freaking stuff.) and the shock of being told I might not be allowed to birth with whom I wanted… labor came to a screeching halt (not surprisingly).11:00am: My sweet midwife pulled some strings/worked some magic/played it smart and made it so that we could be officially under a Midwife’s care for the birth. Probably one of the biggest feelings of relief I have felt in recent memory. At this point though, labor wasn’t progressing, it was sunny out, I was hungry and tired, and I wanted to be home. So we got discharged and left.12:00pm: Chipotle burritos, all around.1:00pm: Went home to labor. Saw OBaby for a little bit after his nap, but then Nana took him to her house because the show was, for all intents and purposes, still on the road, it was just going to be a long road.1:30pm-4:00pm: DanO and I both rested/napped. My contractions were still there, mostly 10min apart, but still just not knocking the wind out of me.4:00pm: A friend whom I had met once (but chatted with regularly) who is a doula and a child birth educator came over to our house. She had offered to help work with me on back labor pain and to labor in some positions that would help baby be able to turn from posterior. It was great and much needed hands-on help. (Her name is Veronica, she is amazing, and you can follow her on twitter here.)(Please note how close we are to 24 hours after the incident in the salon bathroom. I believe in eternity BECAUSE I HAVE LIVED IT.)5:45pm: I threw up in front of Veronica. A bonding experience to say the least. We then continued to labor and work to open up my pelvis for baby to move, until she noticed that I was exhausted (true). She told us both to rest, gave me some amazing lavender lotion, and left as peacefully as she had come.6:30pm: Nana brought OBaby home for the night because we missed him and because things just really weren’t progressing. Since vomiting, my contractions had nearly stopped. It was family movie night, although I spent much of it in bed where I was more comfortable.8:00pm: 24 hours after contractions had started, they were overall no stronger and not significantly closer together. This is where I start to get mad. I may have said something on twitter about wanting to assault someone. I don’t really remember, and besides a woman is not accountable for what she does after 24 hours of labor/false labor/contractions/WHO KNOWS WHAAAAAAT.9:00-10:30pm: DanO and I made it our top priority to get me relaxed. It was time for this labor to poop or get off the pot. He gave me a lavender lotion back rub. I took a bath. He read out loud to me. I had some tea. I laid in bed and felt more peaceful than I had in a long time.11:00pm: Epic, searing heartburn that made it impossible to lay flat. I shook my fists at heaven, feeling perhaps a wee bit like I was being toyed with. DanO and I got up and watched The Princess Bride. A few minutes in, I threw up (3rd time’s the charm?). Almost immediately, heartburn was gone.Thursday, May 5: (Our 4th wedding anniversary)12:30am: Went to bed, went to sleep (praise God).6:00am: DanO’s alarm went off. It was the first time I had even stirred since midnight, which meant that the contractions were either dulled or gone. I sent him to work and fell back asleep easily.10:00am: OBaby was sound asleep still (must have had a long day, too). I woke up on my own to find zero contractions and zero baby in my arms.10:10am: Cried. Ate girl scout cookies for breakfast.THE END.

2011 by the numbers

If you receive a Christmas card from us in the mail, spoiler alert.Merry Christmas! Love, O My Family

Studio Visit Q A Ben Venom.

Above image by Ryan Hendon.

I caught up with Ben Venom recently to check out his progress on his biggest quilt to date, The Mega Quilt, a 13' x15' quilt made from over 125 Heavy Metal band T-shirts. The quilt will be on display in Yerba Buena Center for the Arts upcoming show BAN6: Visual Arts Exhibition, which opens July 8th, 2011. We also got to chat about the quilt, how he fell into the craft and what's coming up for him. Enjoy! - meighan

Let's get down to brass tacks, quilting isn't a male heavy medium. Why quilting? What brought you to a craft/art medium that is traditionally women owned? And how long have you been quilting? 

In 2008 I was invited to be part of an exhibition in Berlin, Germany and wanted to make a really large piece for the show but not have to pay a lot of money to ship it. I had been sewing large flags and banners while in graduate school at the San Francisco Art Institute and recently saw the Gees Bend quilt show at the De Young. At the time I had a bunch of all Heavy Metal T-shirts hanging in my closet. So...I decided to combine the two: Metal and Quilts!

Are you self-taught?

Yes...I am self-taught. I made a couple of phone calls to my mother and bought a couple of beginner guides to quilting. Basically, I just started designing, cutting, and sewing and learned new tricks along the way.

In your current work you combine a traditionally feminine craft with a male dominated style of music; heavy metal. Tell us how those two come together in your work for you. Why juxtapose the two?

I see it as a high speed collision of polar opposites like Large Hadron Collider, particles are shot at each other at a extremely high rate of speed and scientists measure the resulting explosions. It is at this point when something new is born. In addition, quilts are traditionally made from soft fabric and Heavy Metal music refers to a load, aggressive, and heavy sound. Just in the definition of each you can see the complete opposite sides of the spectrum.

Heavy Metal has always had this over the top mentality with the 70's and 80's dominated by all these dudes wearing makeup and looking like strippers. Dee Synder, Alice Cooper, KISS, the list goes on and on. Even dressed up in some ridiculous clothing and makeup these dudes scored all the babes! So...I was thinking about that absolute contradiction, and thought by combining quilts with Metal I would be able to achieve a similar result.

Sometimes I like to ask artists who they are watching or inspired by as in terms of other artists -- but I'd like to keep this to strictly quilting. Can you tell us about who you've watched in the quilting and fiber world -- who has inspired you and/or influenced your work?

Since the Gees Bend quilt show at the De Young I have been constantly looking through the exhibition catalog and online for ideas. I bought The Architecture of the Quilts book from the exhibition which has some great images of the more colorful and abstract quilts. Also, some quilts made entirely from worn out levi jeans and other denim scraps. They're some really amazing pieces made by some amazing women.

More recently, the De Young exhibited a selection of Amish quilts from the collection of Faith and Stephen Brown. These quilts dealt more with faith and spirituality rather than the creators surrounding [the] enviroment. Both shows have been a great influence to my recent work and continue to give new ideas on how quilts can be constructed. Plus...I've recently been in email contact with Joe Cunningham who wrote the forward to the Amish quilt catalog.

I honestly do not know many fine art artists working with textiles that I admire or am influenced by. However, Erin Riley is someone I see that is definitely killing it right now. Her work takes textiles into the modern day...beer, bikinis, and drugs. Awesome!

Can you tell us about how you educate yourself around the craft?

I have recently made some contacts within the quilt world and have learned a whole bunch of new techniques and shortcuts from a couple of nice ladies. Old ladies love me! Everytime I go to a sewing/fabric store I ask a ton of questions and go home and try out what I learned. I am considering taking a sewing class or two at the Sewing Machine Shop in Walnut Creek cause I was recently asked to teach a quilting workshop at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and at Workshop SF. So...I need to get my learn on.

Tell us about the quilt you are currently working on.

The Mega quilt! It measures 160" x 180" and has over 120 different Heavy Metal band T-shirts sewn into a Medusa Skull design. I had to buy a new sewing machine (Juki F-600) cause my previous one is too small for all this fabric. Think bitchin Camaro compared to a shitty Honda Accord...that is one hell of an UPGRADE!

This quilt will be the largest I have made thus far and also the most expensive. I have been using the floor space at Guerrero Gallery to lay it out and position all the pieces together. Andres (owner of Guerrero Gallery) has been very helpful in allowing me unlimited access to the gallery in the evenings. Many thanks to Andres Guerrero (the Janitor)!!!

The quilt consists of a detailed Medusa Skull surrounded by a sun shield and smaller stars. Heavy Metal band T-shirts form the Medusa head and surrounding star shapes. At least 3 different quilting patterns are used to accentuate the design and add another level to the piece. This design combines the interest of Metal music with Mythology and the Occult while simultaneously attempting to represent the B movie Horror film style. By addressing the softer side of Heavy Metal this piece plays with the idea of tension between the grandiosity of Metal music and the more domestic nature of craft.

You have also worked with embroidery -- are there other traditional crafts you have utilized in your work, or that you would like to work in?

I've been thinking about learning to crochet or knit some pieces to wear. However, in the near future I plan to make a couple more embroidered pieces influenced by Metal and Occult culture. I like to watch football while I embroider...the new season starts in August. Time to get to work!

What is coming up for you, both professionally and personally?

Three of my Heavy Metal quilts will be on view at Wolverhampton Gallery in Birmingham, England June 18 for Home of Metal: You Should Be Living. This show is in conjunction with a couple of other events put on by the Home of Metal organization. The Mega quilt and two other new pieces will be on view July 8 for Bay Area Now 6 at Yerba Buena Center for Arts. I have been working on these pieces for the last 5 months and am looking forward to the exhibition...should be a good one. As part of my work in the exhibition, I am hosting a Heavy Metal concert September 22 at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Black Cobra, Hightower, and Walken will be playing in the gallery in front of my quilt with Glass Coat Photo Booth on site offering FREE polaroid pictures to attendees. Its gonna make your head EXPLODE!

Aside from the art exhibitions...I just returned from Atlanta, GA where I taught a 2 day printing intensive class at the Atlanta Printmakers Studio and gave a lecture sponsored by the online magazine Burnaway based in Atlanta. This summer I will be teaching Screenprinting to High School students at the San Francisco Art Institute and to adults at the Kala Art Institution in late August. Somewhere in between I may be assisting a  3 hour quilting class at Workshop SF. Thats all for now. 

One last thing, will you make me a quilt for my birthday next month?

HA! One jamming Bday quilt coming up!

Out About Hugh Leeman JR's Inside Out Project.

A few weeks ago I met up with Hugh Leeman and friends in the Tenderloin section of San Francisco. Leeman took part in JR's project Inside Out -- "a large-scale participatory art project that transforms messages of personal identity into pieces of artistic work" -- JR hopes this will become the world's largest public participatory art project.

Leeman has worked often with homeless men in his work here in San Francisco, creating their likeness on paste ups, paintings and t-shirts among other things. (The latter's proceeds he donates to the individuals who inspired the work). Inside Out it is a perfect avenue for Leeman's work: giving disposable cameras to men who live on the streets or in shelters to take pictures of their friends and 'neighbors'. The wall is a result of these photos. It was a beautiful Sunday -- and lots of people were there to help with the project, including the men who inspired it.

Be sure you watch the video below, it is the first in a series of vids about the project. Very moving.