Weekend!

I need to start keeping a better record of my weekends. Last weekend, I attended an incredible citrus-themed dinner (photo by Emily Heller) at 18 Reasons, had drinks under the waterfall at Smuggler's Cove, had a fantastic brunch with one of my oldest friends and our mothers at Flora, another great dinner with friends at Doña Tomas, and saw Evan Dando perform (he's still great, btw!) at Cafe du Nord (where I'd seen Harlem- my high school penpal's band!- play just 4 nights before).


This weekend promises to be even more eventful! Tomorrow night is the annual Monster Drawing Rally, hosted by Southern Exposure and featuring about 100 local artists including my friend Marina Luz (above). And let's not forget the Oakland Art Murmur! I am hoping to make it to both.


On Saturday morning, I may or may not be motivated enough to go to the Ferry Building for tamales with my friends Erik and Dan. I say maybe because I will then be meeting my friend Myles for lunch at the always incredible (and always filling and nap-inducing) Val's.



Saturday night is the opening of Temporal Surfaces, a joint show featuring my friend and fellow RISD alum, Jess Hess (above, top) and the amazing Kevin Cyr (above, bottom) at White Walls gallery. You can read an interview with Jess here (and see her studio here, on MLFY).


After I stop by White Walls, I will be heading over to the Exit Theater to see the final (sold out) performance of Stallion's Celestial Science. It's been three years since Stallion's last show and I have been eagerly anticipating his return to the stage so I can witness the spectacle that I've heard will change my life forever.

Saturday night is also the ForageSF Underground Farmer's Market, but I don't think I'm going to be able to attend this time. If you haven't been, it's a really great way to connect with small-scale local producers selling homemade goods and foraged produce.


Sunday morning (assuming it's not raining), I will be up bright and early (or perhaps I will not have slept, given Stallion's reputed awesomeness) for Alameda Point, followed by brunch at the restaurant I would marry if I could, Camino. Seriously- if you know of any gentlemen between the ages of 30-36 who resemble Camino, send them my way. The picture above is of their gin Bloody Mary, my personal brunchtime favorite (served with their home-pickled vegetables, of course).

After that I will most definitely need a nap. Which reminds me- I better get to bed early tonight to prepare myself for all this excitement!

Pettibone

I'm completely in love with these new paintings by another one of my RISD classmates, David Pettibone. They are so lush...

Ginger

My friend and fellow RISD alum Kelsey Robinson made these amazing gingerbread houses. I love all the different styles! She rolled all the gingerbread by hand and made all the royal icing from scratch.

It's Official...

... Everyone I went to RISD with is amazing, and here is another example! My friend Sara Vanderbeek was just featured in Korean Vogue Girl with her beautiful paintings. Go Sara!

Science Is Real

Check out this awesome video my friend Andy* directed and animated for They Might Be Giants!!!



*another RISD classmate!

More RISD Love!

The Nature Lab, one of the most amazing resources RISD had to offer, was featured on Etsy!

Alma Matters

Posting about Jessica Hess' work yesterday, Karla Wozniak's last month, and Alex Lukas' (above) in March has made me think about how amazingly far some of my fellow alumni have come in just a few short years. I am so proud to be part of such a creative and talented group, and I thought it would be fun to put together a post featuring a some of my RISD contemporaries that I have been hearing about lately.


I am a huge fan of Woody Shepherd's paintings. I would love to own one someday, when I can get one through my door (they are quite large!).


Jen Corace and I just missed each other at RISD but became friends when I started selling her work in my short-lived retail store a few years ago. Her illustrations and fine art have been getting a lot of press lately, and she is my fiercest Boggle competitor.


It was really fun to see Wyeth Hansen and Ryan Dunn's company, Labor, honored by the Art Director's Club in their Designing Minds series. Both these guys played a big part in designing our yearbook when we were at RISD, which was incredibly cool, and now they're making music videos for Mobius Band, titles for Vh1 documentaries, identities for AIGA... you name it!


When Allison Cole isn't writing and illustrating comics, or designing surface patterns, or selling her handmade goods, she also makes these intricate cut paper pieces of art that I think are wonderful.


The design world has been crazy for Julia Rothman's surface design and illustration work for a while now, and for good reason. Julia also does web work with fellow RISD alumni Matt Lamothe and Jenny Volvovski for Also. You can see her in another Designing Minds episode here, and in the D*S produced series Design By the Book, starting here.


I stumbled upon Jordon Wolfson's work in the Whitney Biennial a few years ago. His conceptual pieces are always very interesting. This one was part of the Biennial and I thought it was great.


Amy Voloshin (nee Eldon) runs the Philadelphia-based textile company Printfresh with her husband Leo, and also sells great screenprinted t-shirts through Moonblood. Amy's wedding was featured in Martha Stewart Weddings last year- gorgeous!


My friend Jane Kim makes the most amazing paintings and installations using recycled construction material. She was selected for the prestigious San Francisco Dump residency this year, and I love all the work that came out of it.


Chika Eustace is probably the first person I met at RISD- she was my R.A.- and I ran into her last weekend at Renegade. She makes really wonderful wallets, t-shirts, and other accessories under the brand Chikabird.


If you read any of the major design blogs, you will recognize David Wiseman's incredible ceramic, metal, and glasswork, such as this gorgeous fireplace. David was also selected to be part of the Cooper Hewitt museum's Triennial exhibition in 2006, and has been featured in numerous home magazines.


Rob Dobi designs t-shirts that I see everywhere I go. His distinctive, bold graphics are always clever, but what I really love are his photographs of abandoned buildings- he really captures something in these places that is both eerie and beautiful. Dobi has also done illustrations for quite a few publications and bands (notably Fallout Boy) over the years.


Katie Vida's paintings are full of the flat colors I love so much. She's shown her work in a number of galleries and is currently in the graduate program at Yale.


I was thrilled to see Matt Fairbank's furniture featured on Design Sponge recently. His unexpected combinatinos of materials and beautifully clean lines are no surprise based on the work he did while we were in school.


Susie Ghahremani has always been industrious, selling buttons, shirts, wallets, stationery, and art, as well as recording music under the name Snoozer. Her work has been featured in galleries all over the country, and I'm never surprised to see one of her illustrations pop up. She currently has work at Giant Robot in Los Angeles and New York.


Jenine Bressner was one of the artists featured in the much-talked about documentary Handmade Nation. Her lamp-worked glass jewelery is really stunning.


Marissa Nadler has become a very successful singer. I was sad to miss her show in San Francisco a couple of months ago (it was during Passover, unfortunately).


You might have seen Katherine Gerdes on Project Runway a couple seasons ago. I thought she was kicked off way too soon; her clothing has always been very fresh, wearable and beautifully cut. I love the button detail on this dress.

Of course there are thousands of very successful RISD alumni out there (and I am sure I am also missing a bunch of my friends here) who weren't my contemporaries, notably Dale Chihuly, Shepherd Fairey, Nicole Miller, Seth McFarlane, Gus Van Sant, The Talking Heads, David Macauly, Francesca Woodman, etc.. You can always find alumni work for sale at RISD/works.

Jess Hess

Jessica Hess is another artist I went to RISD with, whose work just blows me away. She has an exhibition opening at Fourth Wall Project in Boston on August 7. If you live in the area, you should stop by. Here is a sampling of her varied, and always beautiful work.

HRS + RISD Love

I was so excited to see my fellow high school and RISD alum, Karla Wozniak, featured on Poppytalk today that I had to share. Andrea from Hulaseventy has a new (ish) weekly feature on PHM, and this week's subject was Karla! It's great to see how lovely her work is these days- it seems like just yesterday I was going to prom with her brother!

Another Man's Treasure

Check out this great video from the Weather Channel, featuring my friend Jane Kim and her recycled artwork!

*Update: the video is no longer available! Sorry...

Rise and Shine

Tonight I got to see my friend Alex'sshow, "And Another Shall Rise to Take Her Place" at White Walls gallery in SF. Alex has always made amazing zines and posters under the imprint Cantab Publishing, as well as some incredible street art. His current drawings are really beautiful, combining silkscreen, airbrush, and more traditional drawing techniques. If you have the chance you should check them out- the show is up until April 3.

Craftland!

For those of you in and around Providence, RI, Craftland will be opening this Friday, December 5! As usual, my cards will be there, along with work by dozens of talented artists and craft people. The store will be open 11-6 until December 24, so you have plenty of time to get there.