street smART: Sidewalk-Banana Conspiracy

Sidewalk-Banana Conspiracy

I wiped out here, over five years ago.

The city was a ghost town.  Above-the-knee snow drifts. It was just me moseying around, getting treated like a queen at abandoned restaurants, dropping cash, getting tipsy... and wiping out... on this exact spot. 

The sidewalks never forget. 

street smART: all agog about HOTTEA

Last month I celebrity-sited HOTTEA (Eric Rieger) while at the MIA (Minneapolis Institute of Art). He was taking down his recent installation. I spotted him on the 3rd floor of the newest MIA wing, up on a scissor lift playing with string. I nearly freaked out. Nearly. Wasn't sure it was him at first.  I'm not ashamed to admit I did that "OMG, omg, omg, is that who I think it is?!"routine.

He not only started up a conversation while at the top of the lift, but also came down to earth on the first floor to continue the conversation. I was a bit agog... and HOTTEA is deserving of agogness. He showed me pics and some audio from a recent outdoor installation at a tennis court in a semi-neglected Minneapolis neighborhood. Though the installation is gone, the neglected tennis court is now on the radar of people who might be willing and able to return it to a usable space for the community. Keep on eye on his Flickr feed for more of that work.

I've been too busy and too far removed from internet access to pass on my recent agogging of HOTTEA, but then while out & about I came across a hidden piece that made my day, and is about to make yours.



I don't care what you think about art, street artists, artists who make it, artists who don't make it, pop art, etc., etc., etc....  HOTTEA has made me stop and look and notice and think and SEE since 200?, has made my transition from country girl to urban rat so much more enjoyable... that I hope that just a smidgen of my agogness will rub off on you. Maybe it is as simple as the softness of string surrounded by metal and concrete... or maybe it is the tropical colors surrounded by the lacking-of color. Definitely something to do with the temporary bit of street art. Here, then gone.

Don't know. Don't care. Just stop and look and notice and think and SEE for a minute. That's enough.

HOTTEA Yarn-bombs the Lower East Side (includes daytime video of Eric at work in Minneapolis)

Eric Rieger.HOTTEA: Letting Go (MIA installation)

My teandoranges stalking profile of HOTTEA:

street smART: HOTTEA string theories
street smART: worth the wait

(thank you, Eric)

street smART: Yarn Bomb Minneapolis, please & thank you

For You... a collection of the mini yarn bombs of Minneapolis.  It's been the mildest winter I can remember of an entire life of Minnesota winters.  All those itchy fingered Minnesota knitters and crocheters had to take out their frustration on something... and I thank them for sharing the fruits of their labor.   My annual intentions to start and finish at least one knitting project totally bombed this winter... which I blame on the lack of cold and snow... and lack of stress.

Life is good.

Tree scrunchy by Team Graffitii6

crocheted cupcake

crocheted urban Granny square

telephone pole crocheted fish

Not Just Another Pretty Zine ... but MANY Pretty, Pretty Zines: FLY AWAY ZINE MOBILE In Town NOW!

Before I started blogging in 2007, I seriously, seriously considered becoming a zinester.  I researched zines online... printed out pages and pages and pages of DIY advice for zinesters.  I experimented with elaborate covers and took copious notes on what I wanted my zine to contain.  I found myself on the hellish road to attempted zine perfectionism.

Blogs saved me from myself.  I allow myself to be lazy about how and when I write.  Nothing feels set in stone on a blog... and I love that.  But I still have good intentions of going back down the Zine-hell road. I won't rest peacefully until I do.

Lucky for We... the 8th Annual TwinCities Zinefest is about to inspire us Minnesotans again.  I browsed through my first ZineFest last year and this year I'll be woManning a table dedicated to the unique Zine Library Collection/Archives from the MCTC library where I work and am a student.  Having come late to the scene, zines still overwhelm me so I look forward to learning more from the people who stop by the booth than my own aborted attempts at being a perfectionist zinester.

Perfectionism and Zines don't belong in the same sentence.  Labor of Love and Frustration of Love and Love of Love and Zines do belong in the same sentence.

Fly Away Zine Mobile

Zine Love is no better demonstrated than by the Fly Away Zine Mobile!  Debbie will make another Minnesota stop at this Saturday's Twin Cities Zinefest in Powderhorn Park and if you haven't yet, you really, really gotta must see the Zine Mobile with your own eyes.  By appointment, Fly Away Zine Mobile and Debbie parked outside my library this past week.  I took pictures.  But you come visit and climb inside.  It's adorable and awesome.  Thank you Debbie for sharing with us... and thank you to all drivers, supporters and zine librarians who understand it isn't always about the money... but it is about the pretty, pretty pictures.

While at the Zinefest, please show your love to a bookstore I love : Boneshaker Books. They will love you back.

Bike Zines

DIY zines

Librarians do it best :)

Zine Mobile Ukulele

Polar Bear Zine Mobile Rug

street smART: worth the wait

One of the best parts of biking, walking and walking the bike (Beatrice), is getting up close and personal with Minneapolis' street art. For those who haven't or can't leisurely tour the good stuff... Bea & I have collected these for you...

THANK YOU, HOTTEA! 

 And a new street artist... CURSER ? ... helping beautify chain linked construction sites and parking lots.  :)

Gem Zen

Baby Blue
Crystal Clear
Soft Pink
Berger Dandelion Fountain

Zen and the Art of Stacking Abandoned Pride Gems...

street smART: Which came first? PUM or the Egg?

My neighborhood has been bombed by PUM.  If you're notoriously clueless like me, maybe UrbanDictionary can come to your rescue. 

At first I was like, hmmm? Is that...?
And then I was like, duh! I have one of those! 

Kinda ballsy of PUM to plaster their work on federal property, dontcha think?

I wonder if PUM chose that tag, or if the tag chose PUM.  Just maybe, someone out there was blessed with the name Penelope Ursula Moon. 

Pure speculation - that's all we've got to work with... but you know what happens when you assume about PUM....

Summer 2011 : Reading the Good (Banned, Challenged & Censored) Stuff

A Spring semester project on censorship has inspired my 2011 summer reading agenda.  The books are listed in a variety of sources: ALA | Frequently Challenged Books; a MnCLU 1983 survey titled “A Report of a Survey On Censorship In Public Elementary And High School Libraries And Public Libraries In Minnesota.”; Focus on the Family (FOF) CitizenLink.com; an article on Censorship and Metaphors by Fenice Boyd and Nancy Bailey; The Music Man. 

With the majority of the books picked out, I began brainstorming how to blog about it.  Then a Minneapolis bookstore, Boneshaker Books*, launched a 30 Days of Reading challenge for June.  30 Days of Reading gave me an initiative to tap into my occasional Type A personality and create a formal plan of action.  Wha-lah - Summer 2011 Book Itinerary:

• Differences in Definition of Censorship, Challenged and Banned.  (June 1^st)

• First Book : In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak circa 1970

(Showed up on nearly every Challenged/Banned/Censored list  – almost every year.  I didn’t know it was a kid’s picture book until I went to the library to pick it up.)

• Second Book : Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume circa 1970

(Thanks to my Jesus background and FOF, I have yet to read a single Judy Blume book.  Seeing this book on the list of the 1983 survey, about the same time it was denied from my repertoire, inspired a semester-long search digging into censorship via FOF.)

• Third Book : The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier circa 1974

(A book I know nothing about other than it shows up on pretty much every banned, challenged book list out there.  I remember fellow English Ed majors discussing it back in the day – but I’m pretty clueless.)

• Fourth Book : Christine by Stephen King circa 1983

(So many Stephen King to choose from.  So little time.  Often lists just say “all books” by Stephen King – as they also do to Judy Blume.  I chose this one because…. Duh.)

• Fifth Book : Briar Rose by Jane Yolen circa 1992

(First heard about it in the article by Bailey and Boyd on Censorship Metaphors.  Was BURNED in a homophobic book burning back in the 1990s.  Whenever a book about the Holocaust is burned by the Christian Right – brownie points.  Yep – that was a really tasteless, multi-layered pun.  Something I just discovered?!  Yolen references Anne Sexton’s poem by the same title from Sexton’s Transformation collection – a book I kinda, sorta wrote about back in 2008.)

• Sixth Book : Animal Farm by George Orwell circa 1946

(This book is the only one actually censored by the government.  I’ve balked at reading this one for years.  I hope the timing is right.) 

• Seventh Book : The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam circa 11th Century and 19th Century (Edward FitzGerald's translation)

(My dad was a Music Man – and his favorite musical was – The Music Man.  This poem shows up throughout the movie as an example of trashy literature pushed by the town librarian.  If you’re lucky and live in the TC – I’m planning a Music Man viewing party with my Library Buds to top off the summer.)

• Poetry Alternative – Howl by Allen Ginsberg circa 1956

(A classic.  I normally avoid male beatnik writers.  Love the women.  I roll my eyes at most of the Beat men.  Maybe Ginsberg will turn that trend around. O – and it was seized by the government.)

_________________

I don’t expect to finish all of these before the end of June, but follow me through June for daily Tweets or blogs about what I’m reading – and what others are reading.  I find reviews pretty boring and often totally useless so I’m going to focus more on reviewing reviews of the books – especially from the vantage point of Focus on the Family.  Things might get personal – but I’ll try to keep it Jesus-Free.

FYI: With the exception of George Orwell (1984), I have not yet read any of the books or authors on the list. Yep - I'm a Judy Blume, Stephen King, & Maurice Sendak Virgin.

My biggest challenge?  Reading books I may not want to read.  I’ve quit forcing books on myself.  I highly discourage it.  Timing is everything when it comes to reading and love - so I may wander off the chosen path a bit – but I do intend on starting AND finishing the books listed above – before I’m back to reading required reading – on Censorship.  Yep – I'm taking a library class dedicated to Censorship next fall!!! 

Love and Thanks to Minneapolis Central Library! I couldn’t afford this Summer Reading List without you!  Seriously.

*I’m proud to volunteer at Boneshaker Books.  If you stumble across this blog series and don’t live close enough to the Minneapolis store to buy books there, you’re going to have to overlook my bias and drool from a distance.  If you’re from the TwinCities, get your bloomin’ arse in there and Buy A Book Already!

QUESTIONs :
1. What books are you planning to read, or avoid reading, this summer?
2. What books have you read that you know were at some point censored or banned from a library or your home?

LINKS
Twitter:
teandoranges (moi)
30 Days of Reading
Boneshaker Books

Zen Melts

Zen and the art of stacking marble-sized hailStones...

GOALS FOR 2010: toilet tags

This wall is now painted red. fuck the buff.

LEFT COLUMN
Goals for 2010:
1. Grow a vagina (scribbled out)
2. See what fits up there.
3. Blog (scratched out) TWEET (scratched out) friendster
4. ???
5. Profit!!!
(1) LOVE ONE ANOTHER!
4. UNDERPANTS!!
6. BREAK SOMEONE'S HEART
7. Chill. (A little.)
8. grow a pair and start school!
(Have they grown yet?)
17. KEY WEST OR BUST ... BABY.
#1? Nail Keba - she's so hot. No. Really. Keba is fucking smoking hot.
20. purge self of all narcissistic tendencies

RIGHT COLUMN
21. Dance like everyone is watching!
22. Get a life and stop
writing on bathroom walls <<---- HATER
23. Find a Lover
24. GAY'S number in Brazil
24. LOSE MY ANAL
VIRGINITY
26. fuck bad bitches
smoke big blunts
who am i to tell ya,
ya only live once!

POLE ART: a cat in its natural habitat

Am I the only one who looks at a telephone pole and visualizes the forest it once stood in, the birds of the air that nested and rested in its branches, the whistle of wind between needles?

Nope - finally came across telephone pole art that acknowledges that trees are for climbing and cats know it.

Stuff I'd Do This Weekend - If I Didn't Have to Whore Myself Out For Money

I plan to make a habit of this. A wish list. A Let's Riot, Minneapolis! List.

If I could, I would:

# 1. Avoid two of the Minneapolis Art Fairs which I can't avoid in Uptown and Loring Park. Instead, on Saturday I would go to.....

The Banquet Hall Backyard Art Sale & Flea Market "located between Loring & Powderhorn art fairs.: Music, grilling, jewelry, screenprints, photography, zines, paintings, pinatas & more!"

Where? 2904 3rd Ave South, Mpls 55408

When? TOMORROW! Saturday, August 7th - 11am - 6pm

For your own sanity and mine - stay off the beaten path this weekend.

# 2. Hang out at the Bedlam Theatre All Weekend Long! I have yet to eat/drink on their rooftop - and with countdown to closing time, I really, really need to. I've done a little volunteering there - love the space and the vibe and the ballziness of their performances. It is also the Fringe Festival this weekend - so I could kill two birds with one show. Which show?

ANIGA ADIGA - which will be performed near the Bedlam at the Mixed Blood Theater... but is a Bedlam production about "what it’s like to be young and East African in Minnesota." If I could - I would imbibe at the Bedlam - get played at the Mixed Blood - then go back to the Bedlam Social again - then hop on the train. Goddamn! I'm going to miss the current Bedlam location - unless it moves closer to me.

Better yet - DONATE YOUR TIME at the Bedlam this weekend or before they move. Email wemakeit@bedlamtheatre.org if you're interested in volunteering.

Break A Leg Fringe Thespians!!!

# 3. Go to North Dakota. There is a niece there I haven't met yet. Enough said.

RED HOT ART FESTIVAL: If You Can't Be Art - Buy Art ... & Vice Versa

I've bought thrift store and rummage sale junk art. I have pieces of my college roommate's - a studio art major - which I cherish and move everywhere with me. I compulsively photograph graffiti. I visit art museums and avoid galleries. I invested in soft pastels a few years back for my own sanity. I encourage friends who do or should be doing more art - for everyone's sanity. I prefer to bastardize the phrase BUY ART into BE ART - but today - I bought Art for the first time ever at Stevens Square's Red Hot Art Festival in Minneapolis.

I've never taken an Art History class but the artists in my life rubbed off on me and this is the girl who memorized the layout of the P World Book Encyclopedia - because P is for Painting. I like what I like and sometimes I can explain why - and other times not. For instance... would it be fair to ask me to explain why Dadaism makes me salivate but Warhol doesn't? It may be fair but you won't get the answer you're looking for. So ... just sit back and enjoy the pieces I bought. Or not.

And PLEASE! If you live in or around Minneapolis - support this Red Hot Art Festival - and others like it. It sure beats the crap out of next weekend's Uptown "art" Fair. If I have to explain myself there - then you're wasting your time here :)

Worm Killin' Dogs by Chuck U

I've seen his prints out and about in Minneapolis and actually remember writing about it when I should have been doing homework. It is a blast from the 70's - for me - and he mentioned Escher as an influence to the art fair-goers. And note to Chuck: David Macaulay is the artist I couldn't name on the spot.

Chuck gets a Grand Prize ribbon from me - because for whatever reason his was the official first art piece I've bought from an artist EVER! And because his work already inspired daydreams on paper. Tons of work and information on his website: Chuck U.

The Secret Oaks by Ben Boylan (2004)

Ben is moving to the East Coast - so he is selling everything half price. But half-off is not the reason I tracked back to his booth. I like it. A lot. I'm most excited to hang this on my wall. You can see more of his work on the MNartists site and he will eventually have an Etsy site under the name of Everyday Practice. I'll link asap.

Go Back by Mike Mason

Mike tells me I've got the ONLY one of the above ink drawing. :-p He talked of an argument/discussion with a professor that led to this new leaf. The prof dissed drawing from photos and Mike defended his work but also came to a compromise. Clothes from photos. Flesh from real life. There are more in this series and I also have my eye on the orgasmic women False Alarm woodcut print. Hunt it down in his online portfolio.

Why did I not buy from any women artists? I was very tempted to. Charlotte Mann's oceanic/shoreline paintings over architectural floor plans totally float my boat. O god. Sorry. That was a horrible pun. She doesn't have a website yet, but if I trek back over to the Art Fair tomorrow - it will be to buy one of her pieces. Charlotte - keep on keepin' on.

Otherwise - to be honest - some of the art by women was too girly for me - some of it not. I'm not about to go into a dissertation about the male to female ratio of art I bought today. Maybe another time.

Biggest Criticism: Beyond the stuff that is stuff that you can buy elsewhere that doesn't jump out at you... there were too many octopuses, birds, butterflies, human hearts galore (irony), nautical themed, steam-punked, inked and printed animals. I also prefer graffiti to be subversive and on the side of my apartment building... please! And thank you. That is as far as I'll take my lame-ass attempt at being an art critic. I'd hate to discourage anyone from doing more of what they are doing.

Ooops: forgot to mention Devin Johnson's accessories. I bought a pair of earrings for my burgeoning earring collection which have a steam-punk flavor to them - done really, really well - with a lot of thought and love and an eye for history: "The hammers from the chimes of a grandfather clock," he said. I'm going to wear them to work tonight and will pass on further reviews. **

This is far from a comprehensive collection of what is good at the Red Hot Art Festival. Go dig for your own treasures. If you're lucky you'll have background music provided by Tortuga! - a jazz-electro combo. Once that Hammond organ flavored group began it was like I was sitting in my childhood library, drooling over the P Encyclopedia with my dad playing in the background. I will go to see them play - and I encourage you to do so also.The best background noise a girl like me could wish for.

Thank you to DIM Media for reminding me of the festival. I'll write all y'all up in your very own blog post - eventually.

Gotta go before my Study Buddy gets bored with shredding Dostoevsky's Notes From the Underground and moves onto my new pretty pictures.

Product Placement Footnote: What Was I Drinking When I Wrote This? Canada Dry Green Tea - i love the colors on the can.



** UPDATE: EVERYONE at work asked about the earrings, loved them and wanted to know where they could buy them. If only all art could be worn.