Sew, a needle pulling thread ...

Brrrrrrr! It's only 16°F (about -9°C) out right now. My fingers have not felt warm all day so I put them to work, embroidering some simple and colorful designs on the block print ornaments Zach is making for the holiday season.

I like the little details. It makes each one of the ornaments a one of a kind. You'll have to wait and see the final product in a couple of days!

Recipe of the Week: Slow Cooker Harissa Chili with Garbanzo Beans

We call this chili with a twist. We substituted chili powder with harissa spice for an even fuller flavor, and switched out the kidney beans for chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans), which, if you can believe it, are just as awesome for you.

Ingredients
1 lb lean ground beef
1 medium onion, diced
5 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tbsp ginger juice
3 carrots, peeled and diced
1 bell pepper (any color but green), diced
1 (28oz) can of crushed tomatoes
1 (15oz) can of garbanzo beans, drained
2 cups of chicken broth
4 tbsp harissa spice
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp cumin
2 tsp paprika
salt, to taste

Directions
In a large pan, cook onions, bell pepper, and garlic until soft.
Add ground beef and spices, cook until the beef is no longer pink.
Transfer the mixture to slow cooker, then add crushed tomatoes, carrots, and beans. Stir to combine.
Cover and cook on low for 6 hours, or 4 hours on high.
Serve with a side of corn bread.

Small Spaces: 5 Questions with Alejandra Carrillo-Munoz

We are so happy to have Lafayette native, artist Alejandra Carrillo-Munoz a part of the Small Spaces project. Alejandra's piece is one of Zach's favorite, and you can see it on the back of the Haywood Printing building.

Here's Alejandra's answers to our "5 Questions,"

1. What is your background in art?

I began as a fine artist meaning drawing, painting, new media etc. However, my formal profession is as a fashion designer.  I began as a bridal designer but am a women’s ready-to-wear designer at heart.  

2. Where do you get your inspiration and style?

Culture is my biggest influence.  In many ways, my own Latin American identity has cultivated my pursuit for utilizing the arts as a way to convey concepts, struggles, and celebrations and share it through a visual language.  Additionally, I look to the study of other cultures across the globe as a significant source of inspiration.

3. What does being involved with Small Spaces mean to you?

It is significant in that I get to share my perception with my community and I get to do this in the voice I love most, art. It is an amazing opportunity and I am very grateful when I know that someone has identified with my piece!   

4. What are 5 words to describe the role an artist plays in society?

Activist, Communicator, Stimulator, Provocateur, Entertainer  

5. Where (online or otherwise) can we view more of your work?

Blog: http://mundodcolores.tumblr.com/

Fashion Portfolio: http://www.wix.com/acarrillomunoz/portfolio

Coming Soon, Personal Web site: http://alejandracarrillomunoz.weebly.com

Thank you for reading! If you like, here are the links for "5 Questions" with artists Mitch Austin, Cathryn English, Temre Stanchfield, Aaron Bumgarner,Lisa Wicka, Pete Brown, Christopher Robinette, Craig Tribble, Bethany Hohman, Carrie Wing, Joanne Titolo, and Aaron Molden!

"Local Histories Matter"

Since August, Zach and I have been sharing little glimpses on Instagram of this huge assemblage he put together for the Economic Development Office.

The title of the piece is Local Histories Matter, and some of the pieces, as you can see, are old historical materials Zach dug up from the basement of the Economic Development office.

Here's a look at the finished work:

Small Spaces: the news skews views

the other day, the rain brought in the cold.  it's here and it's not going anywhere.  so with that in mind and because i like the cold, i got out and put up two new pieces this afternoon.

the first is titled death of a revolutionary.  i'm appropriating jacques-louis david's death of marat.  the original painting carries a lot of metaphors and was a great propaganda painting of the french revolution.  my take uses marat, himself, as a metaphor for the small spaces project.  the J&C has snuck in to stab the project in the chest.  the letter reads: 'these pundits don't define me.'  and a spray can lies in marat's dead hand.  i feel like this was a revolutionary project for this city and the J&C has only done things to kill it and pander to an attitude that holds back new ideas.  but like the saying goes: 'you can kill a revolutionary, but you cannot kill the revolution.'  this art is here to stay.  the town can be buffed back to beige, but we'll keep coming back, because we live here too.

my other piece is a simple tag: the news skews views.  it sounds like truth to me.  something that J&C cannot distinguish from facts.

needless to say, i'm not super excited about the news coverage of small spaces: lafayette.  so these are both responses to their coverage.  their sensationalized and one-sided reporting of this project and this type of art was unfair.  they created fake controversy using loaded language from the get go.  our introduction to the community was 'graffiti warfare.'  what part of that title is not loaded spin language?  to bill this as graffiti is bullshit.  there is nothing illegal about what we are doing.  this is a publicly funded street art project.  every wall is sanctioned and signed off on by building owners and approved by the city, the economic development office, and the historic preservation commission (where necessary).  artists were invited or contacted me directly with interest (in which case, i met with all, went through portfolios, discussed concepts and took the time to communicate with each interested party individually).  the idea that this is some punk rebellion project is just ridiculous.  there are artists from all walks of life involved, from high school students to grandparents.  and i believe that the work celebrates the diversity of ideas represented within our community.

I wanted to make art a part of the lived experience of lafayette.  to make aesthetics an integral part of a thoughtful community.  but the newspaper pundits at the J&C have only continued to write sided arguments, which only seek to define art in terms of love or hate, rather than thought and discussion.   but have heart lafayette.  extend a hand.  have a thought.  enjoy it.  hate it.  express it.  feel something.  just stop getting your information from the J&C.  come downtown, look at the work, and make up your own mind.

Small Spaces: Aaron Bumgarner on WLFI

Local news station WLFI spoke to Aaron Bumgarner about his uplifting signs that are scattered all over downtown as a part of the Small Spaces project. We're sharing this because it is nice and refreshing to see the project painted in a positive light. Thanks Aaron! Thanks WLFI!

Small Spaces: Whistler's Mother Sewing Sol LeWitt's Quilt

today, after reading more shit punditry about our project from the local edition of the national enquirer, mindy and i decided we needed to forget that garbage and get some painting done.  it seemed that today was the only good weather day this week, and probably the last decent day in a while.  so we decided to get out and collab on the east side of Sylvia's Brick Oven.  

mindy had this vision of doing some color pattern work (using a technique she tried out while i was working on the Bauer mural over the summer) and lately i've been enamored with messing with classic paintings.  so our collab became Whistler's Mother Sewing Sol LeWitt's Quilt.  i think this is my favorite painting experience of this project.

mindy and i work together on most things, but this is the first time we have really combined our ideas into something like this.  it was so fun for me to get to take pictures of her painting, instead of the other way around.

we had a great day, chatting with people who stopped by, and getting some bold color up between the raw brick walls at sylvia's.