Happy Leap Day!

It's 66 degrees out and we have all our windows open.

The cat loves it.

Recipe of the Week: Chorba (Moroccan Vegetable Soup)

Another post about food. 

I promise we do other things around here other than stuff our faces! 

Zach has been busy with setting up his new studio space downtown. He's also starting a new mural class tomorrow. Since the theme of the mural is art and music, we're looking to see if anyone in the area has old and unwanted instruments to donate. So far we've received a couple of guitars, a banjo, cymbals, some drums and drumsticks (thank you, Dave!) and would love to have some more brass and string instruments. Please get in touch with us if you have something we can use! 

As for me ... I am still working on my dissertation, pretending to be a history detective and struggling hard to stay motivated and excited even though the writing and researching has taken years and years. When I first started my research, Norman Lewis was still a relatively unknown painter and my task was to write him back into the history of American Abstract Expressionism, alongside the biggest names of the era (Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, etc.) Since then, similar projects have been written about by other scholars and I've had to re-investigate and re-think my direction. I love Lewis' work and I still want to do something with him. I just have to figure out what works best. I guess I'll write another post about my progress when I'm ready to share more. For now, here's the recipe of the week:

If you like vegetable soup, here's a recipe with an interesting and delicious twist ...

this week's recipe via EatingWell.com

Ingredients
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1lb beef stew meat (or lamb, if you prefer) trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 medium onion, diced
2 small turnips, peeled and diced
2 carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 large zucchini, peeled and diced
8 sprigs of cilantro
12 sprigs of flat leaf parsley
pinch of Saffron threads
6 cups beef broth or water
1 (14oz) can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup whole wheat orzo
2 tsp tumeric
salt and pepper



Directions
Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion and turmeric; stir to coat. 
Add meat and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is tender, 4 to 5 minutes. 

Add broth (or water), tomatoes and their juice, turnips, carrots, celery and saffron. 

Tie parsley and cilantro sprigs together with kitchen string and add to the pot. 
Bring soup to a boil. 
Cover and reduce to a simmer. Cook until the meat is tender, 45 to 50 minutes.

Stir in zucchini and cook, covered, until soft, 8 to 10 minutes. 
Add pasta and cook until soft, 4 to 10 minutes, depending on the type of pasta. 
Discard the parsley and cilantro sprigs. 
Season with salt (start with 1 tsp if using beef broth; add more if using water) and pepper. 
Serve sprinkled with parsley and/or cilantro leaves, if desired.

On a tangential note ...

Hey farmer farmer, put away that DDT now.
Give me spots on my apples but leave me the birds and the bees ...

{Food for Thought} ... the greatest thing since sliced bread

Did you know ... the phrase "the greatest thing since sliced bread" originated as an advertising slogan for Wonder Bread in the mid-1920s to market machine-made, pre-sliced bread and the promise of convenience?

These days, any brand name loaf of bread you purchase from the grocery store contains an average of 30 ingredients, most of which are unnecessary preservatives used to prolong shelf life. A basic homemade loaf only uses an average of 5 -- flour, yeast, water/milk, salt, sugar. 

If, like us, you don't fancy making your own bread, you might want to look for a Great Harvest Bread Company where you live. The honey whole wheat loaf we bought was freshly baked and used only the most basic of ingredients. Delicious.

crunch time arrives

crunch time arrives.  last week, we began moving into our new studio space.  we are now located at the old foam city building on 3rd street in downtown lafayette, indiana.  it's an old garage/warehouse-type building that the owner is partitioning into several different-sized affordable studio spaces for artists.

yesterday i built a wall of shelving, because you can never have enough shelving.  next, after i get the floor cleaned up a bit, we'll be moving in the tables and all the equipment, including the new kiln.  we have a lot of work still to do, and the building still has a lot of work to be done, but we are bubbling with excitement for what having a space downtown can afford us in opportunities to interact with the community.  because the space is still transitional and is not yet filled up, the front of the building provides a great, raw experimental space to create in.  hopefully this space will allow us to promote a more contemporary vision of art for the city.  lafayette has a ton of painters and potters and art makers, but it also has a lot of people who experiment with installation, space, video, sound and experimental media, and this space will allow for the public to take notice of some of these new visions for this city.

the first project will be getting ready for the indiana artisan marketplace at the end of march.  the first public project, however, starts next week.  in association with tippecanoe arts federation and the after school arts program, i will be constructing and painting a mural for downtown lafayette with local high school students.  yesterday i received the panels, and on thursday, march 1st we begin with our brainstorming session.  i'm am very excited about this project, and because of its location, we will be using a theme of 'art and music.'  the kids will be developing the imagery and i will be constructing an assemblage to be installed on the wall.  because we will be installing on a 'historical building' we cannot paint directly on the wall, so this allows me to work on panels and to create a multi-dimensional assemblage.

first things first though.  i've got to get the place cleaned up.  time is short, but hopefully the energy will persist.

Update: "Tuba Atlantic," "The Fantastic Flying Books" and "Midnight in Paris" for the win!

The 84th Annual Academy Awards are tomorrow night!

Fingers crossed ...

                

       Tuba Atlantic

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

and

                

Midnight in Paris

for the win!

"Film lovers are sick people"

Francois Roland Truffaut, the influential French filmmaker, says "film lovers are sick people." If he is right, then Zach and I must be under the weather 24/7. We love film. Short films in particular. The kind where interesting stories are told creatively, beautifully, enthusiastically, and succinctly in less than an hour. The kind where big name movie stars, box office numbers, bling, hype, accompanying promotional merchandise, and special effects are optional.

Last year, we caught the Oscar Nominated Shorts (Animation and Live Action) when we were in NYC.

God of Love, by writer-director Luke Matheny, won the 2011 Best Live-Action Short Film

The Lost Thing, based on the book by Shaun Tan, won Best Animated Short Film

This year, instead of fighting the limited release of those films in Indiana, we downloaded them from iTunes and are going to have a viewing party right in the comfort of our living room! I can't wait!


p.s. You can view one of the nominees for Best Animated Short Film (2012), The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, here.

p.p.s. Midnight in Paris is one of the nine films nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards this year. In an ideal world, it would win. View trailer.

Recipe of the Week: Slow Cooker Madras Curry Chicken

Slow cooker Madras curry chicken tastes better than it looks. If you are having a bad case of spring fever, you'll be cured by the savory, sweet, mildly spicy and tangy taste from the mango chutney and granny smith apples.

Serve it with steaming hot rice or with naan ...

I followed this exact recipe from Food.com but tweaked the portions of some of the ingredients ...

Ingredients

2 small onions, finely diced so they will melt during cooking

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 jalapeno pepper, finely diced

1 tbsp ginger root, minced

1 tbsp tomato paste

2 tbsp Madras curry powder

3/4 cup mango chutney

1lb boneless skinless chicken thights

1 granny smith apple, diced

Directions

Lightly spray the interior of the crock pot with cooking spray for easier clean up later.

Cover the bottom of the pot with onions, garlic, and jalapeno pepper; top with chicken thighs. Place the diced apples on top of chicken.

Combine curry powder, chutney, tomato paste and ginger together and pour over chicken.

Cook for 4-5 hours on high until chicken is cooked and tender. Mix the sauce together so all the ingredients are blended well.

studio moving day one

studio moving day one:  the basement flood

we've been out of the clay studio in portland for a month or so now, however, we haven't moved anything to the new location yet.  last night we came back to begin packing up equipment and to finish out the last few custom orders from etsy and some student work from the previous semester.  what we found only created more work.

the basement flooded sometime in the middle of last week.  all the of the carboard boxes are soaked to the rim.  thankfully they are mostly packed with ceramics and not paintings, prints or the water-destructible like.  but the mats, the buckets, the clay, the plaster recycle pans, the tools, shelves, and tables are all sitting in water.  the sump pump died, just in time to flood my shit.

Food for Thought ...

Zach and I are self-professed foodies. We love to eat and have adventurous palettes that are always up for something new. We plan our weekly menus and try to shop for our food as conscientiously as we can. Lately, that has been a near-impossible task. When did it become unreasonable to ask for REAL food at the grocery store, something that is not a GMO or laden with poison?

         
(link to sign the petition is here)

It is hard to live in Indiana and have to see big corporations take over the farm lands. The beautiful dark soils are destroyed in the name of greed. Farmers are exploited in the name of profit. This behavior is a direct violation of the ethics of life. You either have to be ignorant or misinformed to be apathetic about the food you ingest.

Here are some links on the topic of food from around the web:

a new film in the works

a great resource about real food

a shopping guide

a scary list. You'll look at this and wonder what's left to eat ...

feed yourself!

facts

organic food recipes to try at home

be afraid. Be very afraid.

mission accomplished!

Zach accomplished the mission to print 20 wholly different shirts based on his new color palette. We've shared some in a previous post, and here are the rest!

I love that all of the shirts are one of a kind. The subject matter may repeat, but the colors and placements are new on each shirt. If you're interested in purchasing some or seeing these t-shirts in person, we'll be taking them to Artists' Own in the spring. 

Now that the t-shirts are done, we're packing up and getting ready to leave for Portland this evening. We'll be celebrating Matt's birthday on Sunday and then again on Monday! Hope you have a fun weekend!

(Update) Recipe of the Week: Italian Wedding Soup

Italian Wedding Soup, also known as Minestra Maritata, sounds romantic but all it actually is, is a combination of meat and vegetables in a clear broth. This soup is great for nights where you just want to whip up something cheap, healthy, and easy. Both Zach and I love this soup and we overload ours with kale. This is the version we make at home ...

Ingredients

For the meatballs: 

1/2 pound extra-lean ground beef

1 egg, lightly beaten

2 tablespoons dry bread crumbs

1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
4 tablespoons sundried tomatoes, chopped finely
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

4 tablespoons fresh Italian flat leaf parsley, minced
a pinch of nutmeg

a pinch of red pepper flakes

• For the broth:
• 5  cups chicken broth
• 2 bunches of kale, or escarole, or spinach
• 1/2 cup uncooked orzo pasta
• 1/3 carrot, finely chopped

1/3 cup celery, finely chopped

Directions

Mix the ingredients for the meatballs and form into 3/4inch-size balls. Arrange on a cookie sheet.

Bake meatballs in a preheated oven at 350F for 10-15 minutes for a nice brown finish.

In large saucepan, heat broth to boiling; stir in chopped carrots, and celery. 

Return to boil, then reduce heat to medium. 

When meatballs are ready, add them to the broth and bring back to a rolling boil.

Add orzo then lower heat, cook at slow boil for 10 minutes, or until pasta is al dente.

2 minutes before serving, add kale. 

Serve immediately.

color palette

designing t-shirts has made me consider something that has, at best, been simmering on the back burner: color palette.




























hirst and neon-pastels
in beginning a series of t-shirts, bags, dresses, and shoes, i must think about what i'm making in terms of a fashion INDUSTRY, which has a commercial palette.  and if i hope to sell a 'look' as much as an image, i need to have a defined idea of color palette.

these days it seems that damien hirst and his brightly colored dot paintings are the toast of the industry.  i call them neon pastels and they are everywhere.  they are all over the boutiques in soho and on 5th ave (some right across the street from galleries where hirst's dot paintings hang in the window).  they are on the runway.  they are in the malls and on their way to wal-mart and target.

these gridded, mechanized (assistant-made) paintings are created with commercial enamel paints.  but the white background is important to understanding how these colors effect the viewer.  it makes the colors very bright and cheery.  even the darker and more muted tones take on this 'neon' effect with the white background and space surrounding it.  many of these paintings have 'pharmaceutical' titles and one can certainly see the neon/plastic/spin-wash of drug commercials in these works.  the dots can even act as a metaphor for pills.  but beyond whatever sub-meanings these paintings do or do not have, the actual effect of these works is their assault on fashion and pop culture.

color/consumerism

where do our color choices in clothes/home decor come from?  i've been in the market for t-shirts lately and i can't help but see hirst's color palette all over the stores and streets.  few of us dye, print, and develop our own color palette in our clothing.  most of us buy our clothes off the rack.  and that being the case, one's choice in color and style is very limited.  and that limitation in turn defines the 'look' of pop culture.  

why neon-pastels?  its not necessarily the return of the 80s, but a return to the washover.  the coverup.  the spin.  when shit looks shiny its smell is some how much less offensive.  and this is what commercial fashion tends toward.  dress happy.  dress fun.  dress colorful.  even if you can't pay your mortgage.  these colors look suitable for the office.  approachable with a good attitude and pleasant demeanor.  eventually these colors will go out of fashion and look cheap and kitchy, but for now this is the tacky gloss of cocaine commercialism coated in neon.

i most certainly hate damien hirst's color palette.  i feel like its cheap, shallow, and mechanically devoid of humanity, like commercialism itself (perhaps that's its intention and why it's so popular).  i aim to develop a stronger, more self-aware, hopeful, and honest palette.  and all i can do is hope that the next round of commercial colors will replace these tones with something richer.  grunge will come back.  or at least the muted colors of grunge will come back.  hopefully the flannels will stay in 1992.  

albers, psychological color, and my own color palette

Josef Albers' Homage to the Square series

josef albers is a huge influence on my color palette, not so much in the way he used color, but in the way he thought about color.  his scientific studies in paint taught me that color is, at least partly, defined by its surrounding colors.  and combinations of color are innately tied to emotional connections of place and identity (you'll have to ask mindy to delve further into the art history and philosophy here, she knows more of this than i).  however, with the idea that color is affecting in mind, i experiment with mixing, to create new colors, and combining colors, to create visual language that is indicative of the life i live in the place i live it.

i attempt to truthfully represent the midwest in my color palette and the muted colors of the place i live provide the background of the aesthetic i build.  the midwest has a deep, rich history.  it's written in the rusted tools and buildings, rivers and skies, barns and cities.  it would be shameful to make this place look gleaming in bright colors.  i try to develop a color palette as rich and deep, and as layered as the stories and the sediment in the flood plains.  here's a little poem about a midwestern palette:

                                            the midwest is painted
in muted tones of town heroes   

told in folktale stories

as deep as sediment

in the flood plains.

it is layered in

broken-down cars and barns

cul-de-sacs and city skylines

and quiet clouds

blowing dusted breezes

through hazy skies

a million miles wide.

putting it into practice

so in thinking through the colors and meanings, i tried to put the palette i made to work by trying to make something cute that's not princess slut pink or sparklingly annoying.  i printed this grey crinkle polyester dress we got for eleven bucks at old navy.  it's just a pillow sack dress, but dressing it up in these muted deeply rich tones gives it a lively vibrance.  it's fun and it's cute, and its color palette is not cheap commercial crap, even though the dress itself is.

Have a sweet Valentine's Day ...

Regardless of your current relationship status, here's a powerful, love-affirming true story and beautiful portrayal of marriage that will warm your heart, make you cry, and help renew your faith in love ...

new developments

soon we will be moving our studio out of the garage in west lafayette and basement in the house in portland and into a great new space in downtown lafayette...details to come in the next couple of weeks as we get moved in and set up and running...

...but because we are moving into a new space, i've had to go through a lot of old stuff and try to get rid of much of my collection of 'materials.'  so, the last couple of weeks, and the next couple of weeks will be spent prepping the new space and getting it ready-to-work in time to get new work made of the indiana artisan marketplace at the end of march.  

in cleaning out the garage this week i got rid of a lot of trash by putting together 9 new assemblage structures to paint, then started in on something new: T-shirts.

(also, some onesies for Russel and Leia):

i've been making my own t-shirts for a few years now, and have done workshops with kids, but recently i decided to make them to sell.  in the past i've used spray paint and stencils on shirts, but while enamel paint works, it's not the best material for jersey cotton shirts.  so i've been using heat-set silkscreen ink and linoblocks, which is a lot more permanent, and doesn't smell like enamel paint.  its always difficult to know what images are most popular and sellable, so i'm trying to be more graphic and 'designy' with the overall print.  sure the image is still the focus, but the layout of the shirts are becoming more deconstructed and blocked out rather than clean isolated landscapes.  i'm trying to use elements from the landscapes to create graphics on the t-shirts instead of printing a landscape.

ch-ch-ch-chia!

** dorky post alert **

I got 2lbs of chia seeds yesterday and they are the most fascinating things to look at!

You can get chia seeds in black or white, or a mix of both. Put them in water (or any drink) and see them grow to 9 times their size as they form a gel-like exterior! So cool!

The web is all abuzz with these wondrous chia seeds. Since we've only just gotten some we can't attest to their health benefits/effectiveness. For now, I can only say how entertaining these chia seeds have been! :)

Have a happy and restful weekend!

why do you make art?

We had a wonderful time at the closing reception for county fair yesterday. The good-sized crowd of students and faculty were welcoming and generous with their thoughts and comments on the show. Zach gave a little talk, fielded some questions from the audience, and got stumped when a woman asked him why he made the piece! So profound, this Socratic "why." How do you explain to someone that you made a particular work because you were compelled to?!! Making art, for Zach, is simply an affair of living ... I think. He observes, he reflects, he brainstorms, and he makes. It is not a cathartic process, but rather, an experiential concept that includes an involvement of the mind and the spirit of creativity.

We are bringing county fair back to Portland tonight. If the weather is nice next week, we'll set it up in the parking lot by the furniture store and just wait to see what happens! We think the work will be at its best in a non-gallery setting. No intimidating white walls and watchful eyes. Perhaps people will be more inclined to really interact and play with the piece!

Thank you Rachel Ray for giving us this opportunity to show the work in Elizabethtown! :)


p.s. a news article regarding the show can be read here.

Recipe of the Week: Spicy Sausage Stew

Last night I made a delicious stew that would make my brother, Leon, cringe. Growing up, we were always the exact opposites, right down to our tastes in food. Leon loves pork. I hate pork. I love shellfish. Leon hates shellfish. Leon hates desserts, I live for sweets. You get the idea. Suffice to say, our fussy eating habits trained our mom to become a patient and creative cook!

Actually, the stew with the spicy Italian turkey sausage alone would have suited Leon's taste. It's the whole pound of mushrooms I added. He hates mushrooms. So, of course, I love mushrooms! Zach is indifferent about mushrooms but he loved the stew ...

Ingredients
2 small onions, thinly sliced
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1lb spicy turkey Italian sausages, remove casings
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped celery
1lb of 2 different varieties of mushrooms
1 bay leaf
1 tsp fennel seeds
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1/2 cup uncooked pearl barley
3 cups chicken broth
2 tbsp brandy
salt and pepper
parsley for garnish

Directions
Cook onion and garlic in a Dutch oven over medium heat until golden.
Add sausage to pan and cooked until brown and crumbled.
Add celery, carrots, mushrooms, fennel seeds, crushed red pepper, and bay leaf; cook 10 minutes or until mushrooms release moisture.
Stir in barley, chicken broth, brandy, salt and pepper.
Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 1 hour or until barley is tender.

Serve immediately.

trash treasure trove

fly over, 2010

it's snowing in indiana today...just a bit only though.  it has been a very mild winter thus far and we're getting down into february.  hopefully more snow will hold off until the weekend when we've returned from the closing reception for county fair in kentucky.

yesterday i decided to venture into cleaning up the garage/print studio/woodshop and instead of making headway packing up tools and toys, i decided i'd try to get rid of some 'trash' by creating some assemblage frames to paint.  i got 4 layed out and 3 put together yesterday, i hope to equal that today.  i haven't painted one of these structures in a couple of years, but constructing the form is at least as challenging as putting paint on the canvas.  i like to reuse materials when i can.  i paint over canvases and rework sculpture.  i use as much of my scraps and trash as is possible.  i even picked up some guy's table base from off the curb last night when mindy and i went for our walk.

untitled, 2010

these paintings have been wildly popular for me.  they look quite interesting as they are, even with out paint on them, and that can make me a bit timid to paint them, but once i get the gesso whitewashing all the surfaces, the shapes really pop out.  then i can manipulate the way the colors and images play.  the way they are put together, combined with the color palette i gravitate towards, and the 'print' imagery create an incredible cobbled-together-from-collected-shit aesthetic that is quite definitive of the environment i come from.  keep an eye out for where this next series will show up.

crows in the corn, 2010

city of wind, 2010

we'll keep you posted! :)

closing reception for 'County Fair' ...

If you live in the area ...

... we hope to see you there (Thursday, 9th Feb)!

Super Sprawl Sunday

i finally finished up the section of sprawl to go to mudfire studios in atlanta for an upcoming show.  the piece is 42 houses arranged into cul-de-sacs on a 24"x24" panel.  this smaller version of sprawl was a struggle to make.  the hundreds of houses all grouped and stacked together look, well, sprawling, but even packed full with houses the panel looked small and undefined.  pointless.  so i marked the footprint of each house on the panel to make it easier to re-assemble, then taped off where the road portion of the cul-de-sac would be and sprayed a white outline for the curb.  i re-assembled all the houses back on the panel.  and this is the original image that i submitted for the show.  however, the work still didn't have the aesthetic that i was seeking.  it still needed upgrades.  i started thinking about how i could make a fence around the houses that wouldn't obstruct the view of the houses around the outside of the panel.  instead of making a fence i decided that power lines could also play that role.  so i cut and assembled 4 poles and strung wire between them.  still it was lacking.  naturally, the power lines needed birds.  so, i added some 2 sided block-printed paper birds that i glued to the wires.  i was surprised at the effect of power lines acting as a 'ceiling' frame around the work.  it gave the work a sense of space by defining where the sky begins.

the show at mudfire is multiple clay interpretations of 'home' and 'house' and what those words mean.  this was my definition.  this, of course, is one of those wonderful bits of finite math that comes with a matrix of answers.  some people will make a house, some will make what's going on inside the house, some will deconstruct it, some will reconstruct it, some will fantasize it, some will realize it.  all will be different.  mine is less about those words and more about the mass production of living in the suburbs.  the repetition of the block printed houses allows me to repeat forms easily, like there are model homes you can choose from and slight variations in the construction to make it your own.  it isn't weird to see housing editions pop up in a summer in the suburbs.  it is common, you barely notice the missing fields.  what is interesting to me is how quickly they go up.  and how shitty they are built.  yards of hydro-seeded mud, black plastic mail boxes, and cheap tiny trees.  the insides are no different, with plastic mouldings, and prefab particle board everything.  this is what "from the 150s" gets you.  as a kid, when my own 'old' neighborhood grew a new cul-de-sac edition, it was like the neighborhood got commercial plastic wash-over.  there was no character in many of those houses.  they felt 'modeled' and homogenized and had an bit of blank distance when i ran through the neighborhoods.  i imagined they all watched the same tvs, drove the same black/grey/beige car/van/suv, and worked in the same blank office building.  there is a loss in the wildness of living a manufactured life with every resource at your beckon call.  in this sense my piece is a reflection of the domestication of humanity.

From the print studio ...

From the print studio (also known as the garage), emerged these new and awesome linocut collages ...

The fog of the writer's block seems to have lifted. Now that these prints are done, I still hear Zach out in the garage sawing, hammering, spray painting, and working hard to put the finishing touches on his piece Sprawl ... stay tuned ... Zach will be sharing more about that project in his next blog post.

When he's done in the garage, we'll spend the rest of today prepping for our mini Super Bowl party! We're marinating 2 different flavors of chicken wings, making pico de gallo salsa and guacamole. Tomorrow we'll broil the wings, make nachos, blue jello, and parsnip truffle fries. Major yum. If you're searching for healthy Super Bowl recipes, I really like this site!

Whatever your plans are for the weekend, we wish you much joy!

Recipe of the Week: Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice

What's better than red beans and rice? Slow cooker red beans and rice! You throw all the ingredients in the crock pot and your steaming hot meal is ready in a couple of hours ...

I combined two recipes from myrecipes.com and ended up with this list of ingredients:

1lb dried red beans 

3/4lb smoked turkey sausage, thinly sliced

1 red pepper, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

1 sweet onion, chopped

3 celery ribs, chopped

garlic, minced

1 tbsp Creole seasoning

2 bay leaves

1 tsp dried thyme

hot sauce (optional)

Combine all the ingredients with 6 cups of water and cook on high for 6-7 hours. 

Serve over rice.