We were planning on heading to Austin this weekend but my parent's house is too full for the fourth of July of party. So we head for New Orleans instead! I have only been once before to visit a friend. I lost all my photos from that first trip which was rather disheartening.
I didn't expect them but there they were. Flowers being handed to me by the Heights Floral Shop. Surprised I glanced at the card to make sure. It read "Kelly Burns" As a girl that rarely received flowers and I'm not one that assumes women should have flowers. BUT flowers are such beautiful objects-wouldn't you say? He meant them to be all sunflowers-one of the best breeds of flower. Instead they were a wonderful surprise of chrysanthemums, sunflowers, little english roses and other things I do not know the names of.
Perfect.
I drew them not as a celebration of receiving these delicate objects-but more so a memory of what they mean.
Either way I wanted to share them with you and to Thank Peter for them. Thank You+share!
Doodle by Takashi Murakami which is on GOOGLE today and it's presenting the First Day of Summer (June 21st). He's a Japanese artist and creator of Kaikai kiki factory, which houses several other Japanese artists:
Last year I dug through boxes and boxes of my parents photos and pulled out the ones I considered special to me. Here is the selection I came up with for Father's Day:
Memories are floating and without something to attach a moment to-they remain forever lost.
This past Saturday I went to TedxHouston which is a independently organized event from tedtalks. The day started out getting a tote full of swag-which seems to be automatic with conferences (just like sxsw in Austin). The totes seem like the most exciting part--we did get a $5 giftcard to amazon and a book on Houston's biodiversity. But you know what-those things are neat but I never expected anything. As I walked to the door I was more excited by the speakers I would hear than the free things. I brought my own water bottle as other accepted the plastic water bottles offered. We forget that sometimes it's better to say "no" instead of just accept things because they are FREE.
But beyond my rant about swag-which is very kind of the conferences to supply the attendees because some make quite a trek--in the end it makes us feel good/special to the Conference.
Anyhow, there were some great speakers and some not so great. I'll focus like I did with the Ottawa Festival on what I think is the "Best of."
Best of TedxHouston from my perspective. Chris Seay who is a pastor at Ecclesia in Houston. Although I would consider myself spiritual, I would never say I'm religious. Which is a strange place to be when many people want you define where you sit specifically in spirituality. The point is he didn't make me feel uncomfortable for my indecision but told us a story. The one thing I remember about going to church when I was little was the stories-that is what humans need most-something they can make tangible in their own lives to build a moral understanding between each-other. Not look down on eachother because they are predominantly of a specific faith. He also talked about imitation. And how we must understand ourselves through the people "who shape us" so we can look at how we(humans of all sorts) "share a common story." This isn't what he spoke of but it's a good view of his work:
talked about poor communities and how we cannot expect someone to change by saying all the negatives about a community. But rather see the positives and asking the right questions, "what are your skills?" rather than "What is wrong with your community?"
"You Cannot Build on Broken"
She talked about her own family and how she was lucky because her "parents could see beyond that." They could see what was good in their lives, not what was broken. "Embrace people on their own strenghts"...and..."stand next to them rather than in front of them."
Music video for Blockhead "It is an animated mindmelt that transforms into a post human New York where TV and animals discover each other, an event that leads to places neither of them could have ever expected."
Sinna Mann (Angry Man) by Anita Killi, Norway, 2010, 20 mins.
Although quite a lengthy film it does get a good point across. I appreciated the use of "the king" and the dog in the animation as helpers of the boy to find his voice. "Sinna Mann (Angry Man) is a film about secrets that shouldn’t be secret."
Yesterday we went to the Big Range Dance Festival, Program B One of our friends, Ashley Horn, is in the Festival and choreographed one of the dances. We have see her work prior at ARTeryHouston where she captivated me by the piece, "Verdigris". There is a playfulness in the way her work is displayed that draws you nearer.
The playfulness that I'm speaking of isn't childish but sensual and creates a basic understanding of humanistic qualities. In the sense that we are all strange entities balancing our emotions off one another.
We tried A lovely veggie eatery, Pepper Tree Veggie Cuisine. Probably the best veg place I've been to in Houston.
We went to the Menil Collection to see the new-ish exhibitions: Ancestors of the Lake: Art of Lake Sentani and Humboldt Bay, New Guinea and Upside Down : Arctic Realities Be ready to put on little white booties to walk around the white room.. the wooden chains and masks were a definite highlight.
Lawndale Art Center My favourite was Marc Bell's work from the Walpurgis Afternoon exhibition curated by Robert Boyd.
Contemporary Art Museum, Houston We saw avideo/audio installationwhich was video installation art-which is something don't quite understand. Just as a video installation artist might be disinterested in my works on paper. What excites us is the familiar?
Museum of fine Arts, Houston for the Titian exhibition. More classical art from the MFAH and the NGA. We also joined MFAH so we will get to attend the member's parties and given early previews of the touring exhibitions--pretty exciting to become a member of a museum. yay!
That's the gist of our art day this past Saturday.
It Arrived! You know what "it" is, right? It's one of my favourite journals imprinted with one of my favourite characters from literature, the Little Prince. I remember the first time I read the story in 2007 I teared up at the poetry lingering inbetween the lines of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry story.
This was a lovely gift from Peter and I became all bouncy when it arrived. Moleskine recently has started to do special editions located at Moleskine Asia
Regional Texas Burn. This was my second burn and the theme was Bad Idea. I'm unsure of what the theme really means but I'm unsure if the theme really dictates anything that happens at these happenings.
1.in bed exhausted from setting up 2.Silos beyond the corn fields 3.colourful teepee 4.where is the banana and where is the bicycles? 5. flower boosh canon
