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Archive for April, 2010


'I'll Carry You, You'll Carry Me'. ArtWalk in San Diego, Little Italy. 2005

Daydream, delusion, limousine, eyelash

Oh baby with your pretty face

Drop a tear in my wineglass

Look at those big eyes

See what you mean to me

Sweet-cakes and milkshakes

I’m a delusion angel

I’m a fantasy parade

I want you to know what I think

Don’t want you to guess anymore

You have no idea where I came from

We have no idea where we’re going

Lodged in life

Like branches in a river

Flowing downstream

Caught in the current

I’ll carry you

You’ll carry me

That’s how it could be

Don’t you know me?

Don’t you know me by now?

Street Poet from Before Sunrise


With San Diego , it is often all or nothing.

ArtWalk took place this weekend in Little Italia and some lucky folks got to witness the Chihuly Exhibit at the Salk Institute, which is San Diego’s strongest claim to architectural relevance..

Photos courtesy of Professor Joe Nicholson.

Here is The Sun lit up at night.

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UPDATE 06.04.2010: See no.5
1. You can build a cuff that becomes a coffee sleeve.
image via thedesignblog.org

image via thedesignblog.org

Made by Contexture from reclaimed architectural veneer offcuts….

can I just say W-o-W

2. You can make wooden rings and jewelry.

image via contexture

These here are bentwood rings,  wedge-shaped bands made with contrasting Benge and Maple layers. Also made with reclaimed architectural veneer offcuts glued cross grain for strength -from Contexture

image via coconut jewelry

Wood and Nautilus ring from Coco Loco Jewelry

Or you can have a beautiful parure of Koa Wood and Bone jewelry, shaped into plumerias, the flower of Hawai’i.

(I do have the three above-i with chord ties instead of clasps, which I think are more in harmony with the wood-…watercolor coming soon:))

3. You can take a hint from the Renassaince painters and make a painting made in wood.

Images from Renaissance: Brunelleschi to Michelangelo

Yyou can build a cuff that becomes a coffee sleeve.


4. You can use a barrel (!) and make furniture with it – give it up for local San Diego artists:)  Check out barrellymadeit.com, their store is located in my very own neighborhood of Hillcrest, Uptown San D.

The concept behind barellymadeit.com

all images via barellymadeit.com

4. You can create a unique Vespa!

Made in Portugal. Click on the image for the site of the artist + more photos.

Do you know of other interesting use of wood in architecture, art, furniture and industrial design?

Do share!  I will keep updating this post.

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The Art wall I assembled last night, right in front of Adam's Futo Coffee Cart. Sit, sip a chilled coffee and enjoy.

I spent the better part of last night ‘curating’ and putting up a small show of my students’ work.

Last quarter I promised my Neoclassic to Modern Art students I  would organize an exhibit of their art in the main foyer of our school and I am happy to announce that that’s one promise kept:)

My students had the choice to either write an essay or pick a painting of their choice, research its symbolical meaning and attempt to blow up a detail reproducing  it in the same media of the original.  It was a way I thought students of an art lecture course could get closer to the art.

You can see the results of their efforts here.  My objective was not to have a typical gallery show, but combine all the work as in a collage, interspersing the canvases with the prints of the full scale work the students provided. It was a challenge to combine different shapes, colors (art curating and gallery display being an artform of their own) and be true to some sort of grid. The wall is bursting with energy. This was an Art intervention/injection for our architecture school!

I especially loved the documentation of the process. One student wrote what looked like a blog entry, taking photos of his painting at different stages:

‘It is so strange, I found, once I started painting,

I could not put the brush down.’

Well, my work here is done.

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What you see here is a prime spot, the little urban ‘piazzetta’ we have for drinking coffee @Futo’s, hearing Adam playing guitar (or his always interesting music selection), talking, scheming etc…..

As my professor Francisco Sanin would say, this is a place for moments of urbanity.

It’s a  bit of a clandestine show, art that just shows up during the night….as I did not clear all the red tape forehand, but I am hoping we are going to be able to enjoy these for one or two weeks.

So here, to all the students that asked me in the hallway, or staircases, or doorfront : When is our show?

Here you go:)

Oh, I will be at the San Diego ArtWalk in Little Italy (where else) this weekend, with artists, musician, street performers. My kind of people.
Want to come along?

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Requiem for my Lumix?

My. Oh. My.

It is already the middle of the month and what do I have to show for April? Only two posts! Argh.

And very little art.

Granted, my Hawai’i reportage took a bit of time to prepare–and I guess I was in Hawai’i to take a break–but I have, once again, succumbed to my usual Spring funk. While in parts of the world with actual seasons (not that I am complaining, absolument, non) Mother Nature wakes up from the winter torpor, I go through the slowest time of the year during the months of April, May and June. I do not know why (well, April, is, after all, the cruellest month) but every year, without fail, spring finds me off, with no energy:  my days are simply too much yin and not enough yang. Call them the Spring Blues.

School started again after my trip, and San Diego saw a lot of rain and days colder than average which resulted in me coming down with the nth something this year. And, excuse me, did I mention the earthquake?  Oh yes, now when I am up late I glance from time to time, with paranoia, at the chains/switches hanging from my chandelier/fan (not my choice) and check if they are doing the swing dance like the night of the aftershocks.
Oh yes. What a rolling good time that was.
I also broke my camera (yes the unbreakable one, I was soo good for 3 years) in a freak accident with a bathroom floor in the Hawai’i airport, as soon as I landed.  So, of course I am seeing beautiful things I cannot capture all the time now, please send me good vibes as I am getting the camera checked tomorrow.

I am trying to counteract the slump by making lists, decluttering and going back to the gym–but I must get back to doing art daily. There’s been some architorture and some writing these past couple of weeks, but my mechanical pencil is feeling neglected and giving me the eye.
Very excited to announce  I received a small painting commission, and I will post my progress in these pages 🙂

I must say this rocked my socks and moved me to write today. I know this map will def. motivate me…I had no idea I was read so far and wide (starry eyes). Um, hello random google search clicks from Australia;)

I have been working on a post on Wood and hope to publish it tomorrow, and get back into the swing of things, because when I get my art in daily everything else seem to run smoother. Do you still love and need me?

My little wonderings took me to Italian literary blogs, so forgive if there is no art in this here post, just my writing. I have been recently (finally) taking advantage of my Netflix subscription to watch cerebral movies (and get addicted to the show Weeds, and its quite incredible music …like how i feel right now). During Spring Break I very much enjoyed the Tudors (i know, total nonsequitur…I’m jussaying)
I am noticing and appreciating more good writing and well timed dialogues amongst all the visual candy I have indulged in. And they seem to all come from the Showtime shop. Mmm..

Well this is my daily dispatch from the fog zone, hopefully see you tomorrow.

Time to get back to the shop, this time with a decluttered home (loveyou flylady) and a clear(er) mind!


Happy Cruel April/Tax Day everyone 😉

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North Shores. O'ahu, Hawai'i. March 2010

Back in California, back from the aqua, verdant heaven-on-earth that is Hawai’i.

I learned about the Birthing Rocks, the most sacred site in O’ahu, the  mystical place where the Alii, the Kings and Queens of Hawaii, were born. At the spectacular Bishop Museum a storyteller sang and cried the story of the Hawaiian people and the forced annexation of a proud and sovereign nation. We learned the meaning of a ceremonial hula dance- which was once practiced underground- andthe symbolism of the dance movements.  The words in the Hawai’i language are an ode to the stewardship of the natural bounty of the Isles.


I also had delicious malasadas at Leonard’s.

Most of all I basked in the sun, played in the water, and saw all I could of the Island, by foot, vespa (in two-no helmet!) and PT Cruiser… I filled my eyes with these views–two things really, sea and water, the most amazing thing about the latter being its changing color depending on what side of Oahu we were.

It took me a few days after I got back to go through the circa 3000 photos from the trip  (the convenience of digital camera being both a blessing and a curse).  At last, here are few shots -raw- of pretty, pretty water…my postcards from paradise.

My  soundtrack to these images is the much beloved IZ Kamakawiwo’Ole’s rendition of ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’…and all his beautiful songs sung in Hawai’i.

I am excited about the slide feature that WordPress added, hope you enjoy these and fill your eyes with Beauty, everyday.

Sandy Beach, O'ahu, Hawai'i. March 2010

Sunset on the last North Shore, O'ahu, Hawai'i. March 2010

Driving around the eastern shore of O'ahu, we chanced upon this sight. March 2010

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