Super Tuesday

4 years ago today, I became embarrassed to be an American. At a ripe 17, I worked as a election poll-worker because I was so eager to be part of the democratic process and I just missed being a voter by a few months. I worked from 5:30 am till 9pm, one hour after polls closed in California. When I got home and saw the results pouring in, I actually cried I was so upset and embarrassed to be an American. My motto with regards to the Bush Administration has always been "well, I did all I could, and I wasn't even voting age".

4 years later, here I am, halfway across the world, and for the first time in ages, I'm feel a sense of pride in being American. Anxiously waiting for the results, I keep reading stories of record turn outs. Lines of people excited for change, finally getting off their ass and voting. I feel like I am missing a monumental moment! When my absentee ballot came, my flat-mates all took turns leafing through the sample ballot. To think that so many take the ability to vote for granted! Not to mention the power that those we elect hold on a global level!

I'm sure we will do something soon that will renew my embarrassment by association. Perhaps another war and/or another stab at the global economy? But today, I'm proud to be a part of the big day.

Cold War Modern

I had yet to go to the V&A, so I decided to head over there today. I only got there in time to see one show, so I decided I'd see one called Cold War Modern.
So, I didn't really know much about the exhibit before I went to go see it. I knew the time range it was focusing on, and that was enough to interest me. So, walking up to the first chat wall, I was shocked to read that the exhibit explored the role of art and design in the "Battle of Images" between the Soviet Union and the USA. Yes, these ideas make total sense to me, but for some reason, I was caught completely off-guard as I entered an exhibit that looked at the advancements in art and design which arose from both the US and Soviet side. It was an interesting show, but badly laid-out. I got an audio guide, which I abandoned after I couldn't figure out the order it was set up in. I also just felt so uncomfortable, because I have clearly been taught a very bias account of the Cold War. However, the exhibit got better towards the end, as there were many cool posters, some of which were clearly used in Shepherd Fairey's stuff. Also, they had a few outfits, but two of them were Pierre Cardin, which is not so relevant to US or SU. I had to leave earlier than I would have liked, because the museum was closing. It seems that I spent too much of my time standing around confused in the first two rooms to really enjoy that last one. There were interesting questions raised, but I just didn't really have time to digest them nor did I see how the pieces chosen really helped to support the ideas.

Halloween

Stumped at school regarding work, I decided to try again for the Annie Lebowitz show at the National Portrait Gallery. Well, at least now I can check it off my must do list. The show was sort of disappointing. The show was attempting to show run the timelines for Lebowitz's professional and personal life next to one another distinguishing one from the other by photograph size. Al picture of the personal life were the normal 5x7 size and generally black and white. Her professional shots were at least 24x36, many bigger. The simply looked blurry! I was confused. Also, the flow of the exhibition was totally incoherent. If attempting to display the work in a timeline, why would they pick a non-linear way to display the work? It just seemed like there was not enough space. Also, there just generally was not enough information. With five rooms, there were only 4 chat boards ie, the little blurbs you see on the wall, and they were at most 5 sentences. MY favorite part of the exhibit was a room that had nothing but the pin-boards with all of her work organized chronologically, apparently something she did when first deciding to publish a retrospective book. One side of the room for personal life, the other for professional work. It was so much easier to follow that the actual exhibit and at least the professional work looked better because it had the luminosity that I love about her work. The enlarged versions in the main rooms were too blurry.
When traveling back to the Halls, I started to plan out a halloween costume using only things I already owned. I am going as a Rag Doll, mostly because I want to wear as many layers as possible because it is already freezing here. We will see how this goes.

Day at the Tate

Today, our classes were cancelled because the teacher was sick. So Saera and I got out to the Tate Modern. We both wanted to see this Rothko show that just came up. When buying tickets, we realized that a combination ticket that would also get us into the Cildo Meireles only cost 3 more pounds (Rothko alone was 10 lbs, so 3 seemed like nothing) so we ended up going to both shows.
Rothko was different than I thought it would be. Once we walked inside the gallery, the show was billed as "Rothko: The Late Years" which explained the lack of typical Rothkos in the show. Saera and I split an audio guide, as in we swapped out the cheap headset for a pair of iPod earbuds and each had one ear listening to the recording. We also carried around folding chairs, and just looked very studious in general. In general, I really enjoyed the show. It was well laid out and the audio guide gave helpful information. Apparently, Rothko was one of those painters who was very moved by music, so the audio guide had selections from certain music that you could listen to with different pieces. Lots of Mozart! Among the pieces in the exhibit, the ones that I found to be a new concept to me were a series he did of Black on Black that focused on very slight hue changes, ie. red-black vs. blue-black and also thinking about the quality of matte vs. glossy paint in terms of reflection and absorption of light. It was just something that you cannot grasp from a picture of one of the paintings from a book. It made me really happy that I was able to see them in person.
I really had no idea what to expect of Cildo Meireles. A few weeks ago, a one room gallery was built in the plaza at out school (due to it's proximity to another Tate building) with one of his "pieces", and I thought it was just confusing and didn't know what to make of it. Saera and I stopped for a coffee before going in and on the wall advertising the show, I saw a picture of this:

About 4 years ago, my Grandma was a docent for a show at LACMA called Beyond Geometry, which included this piece. With this slight bit of knowledge of the guy, we went into the show.
So Cildo Meireles is a Conceptual/ Installation Artist. Being a fairly traditional Museum patron, I was confused at first at the fact that people were touching, kicking, even breaking stuff and the guards were not the least bit concerned. But once I got over my initial reaction to not touch, it was amazing. One installation "Through" was a sort of maze, but all the walls were somewhat transparent, including several made of aquariums filled with translucent fish! The floor was several thicknesses of broken panes of glass. So just imagine walking through a maze while continually stepping in broken glass, even sometimes breaking the glass further. It sounds crazy, but it was really cool. There were 8 large installations along with a room of his earlier work. It was totally worth 3 pounds. When we were leaving, there was a que to get out the door, which was confusing until we were told there was a special last piece everyone was waiting for. The line halved in size as everyone was told the would have to take off their shoes and socks and dusk masks were handed out to those of us still remaining. Occasionally, we could see someone coming back out of the installation room and they were covered head to toe in dust. We considered not going because it seemed really messy, and no one would tell us what the dust was (the dust makes brought me back to the days of the dye lab) but then we figured it was a one in a lifetime experience, so we went for it. At this point, most other people had dropped out of the line. We headed into a holding cell, where we saw people leaving the installation brushing off excess dust. And then we went in. So imagine a room 30ft by 40ft filled to right below you knee with white powder. Once we fully stepped in, the door was shut behind us and the room nearly went pitch black except we could tell there was a light source off to one side, so we started walking towards it. Turning a corner, we realize it is a fake candle placed in the powder. The whole thing was so weird, and hard to fully describe the feeling, but it was so strange and wonderful. We later figured out he powder was talcum powder, which made my feet feel awesome for the rest of the day.

It was a really fun day, especially since we weren't expecting to have the time free. We later found out that the teacher had sent an e-mail out telling us all that our assignment for the week was to go out to a new show that challenges you to think about the modern approach to viewing art. Well, look at that, we did the homework before we even knew we HAD homework.

Chefs at Heart

Today was pretty boring, until Saera and I decided to prepare this fabulous meal:


Salmon, Asparagus, and Salad with homemade Orange Dressing

I Wanna See the Gold Kate Moss!

So, I have been telling people around here "I Wanna See the Gold Kate Moss" and today I finally did.
The British Museum has an exhibit up called Statuephilia that consists of five different "statues" created by contemporary British artists and installed throughout the museum. Of the 5, one is a full-size solid gold statue of Kate Moss. Why do I know this? Well, it's only been in every newspaper for the past week or so. So, of the 5 statues, there was only one that I had not seen a picture of, either online or in a newspaper, or read a good description of. Strangely enough, I found it the most fascinating. Of all of them, I found the Kate Moss one to be the least interesting. I had never seen a Damien Hirst piece, so I was excited he was one of the contributing artists. His piece intrigued me because it reacted well to the strange context it was given. Imagine 200 brightly splatter-painted skulls. Now imagine them all in a giant antique display cabinet (somewhat like those in the Nature Lab). I don't know how to explain it, but the context just seemed so important and wonderful.The piece that I found the most fascinating was this one. I've always been a sucker for an artist who uses a strange a material to strengthen their message. I also like the ploy of a slightly concealed meaning (in this case, the shadow) as it is something I tend to do in my own work. I don't know, it was just very different from the others, and seemed very humble in comparison.

So, the was another reason I went to the Museum. Today was the last day of the Conservation in Focus exhibition. Since I first got here, I've become increasingly interested in the realms of Curation and Conservation. Seeing as this exhibition was an easy way to ask conservationists questions, I figured I'd give it a shot. Too bad it was a Sunday, so the floor was constantly packed full of people. Well, I did get to ask one woman why she went into conservation and her answer was fairly encouraging. She said she liked problem solving, working with all kinds of modern materials to preserve the past. She was an Art History undergrad and went on to do a postgrad degree in conservation. I couldn't really ask much else as I knew that wasn't entirely the point of the exhibit, but the answers I did get all fall in the realm of my own interests.

Wishful Thinking - Part 2

Well, so our brilliant plan didn't quite pan-out the way we expected. I went to studio to work today to discover the studio power locked in the "off" position. So, apparently, our studio is open, but we are not allowed to use the machinery because the technicians are not around. Now if only I knew this before I dragged myself out of bed early this morning!
After pitter-pattering around for a few hours, I found myself in Trafalgar Square and I sought out the National Portrait Gallery, which actually does exist. However, tickets were sold out for today, so I left.
Maybe something more productive tomorrow?

Wishful Thinking

Saera and I had a brilliant plan. Since London gets crowded on the weekend, we took today off to do weekend-ish stuff planning to go into studio tomorrow.

Well, that was our plan yesterday. However, we both ended up sleeping in half the day! We were going to go to the National Portrait Gallery to see this new Annie Leibovitz exhibit. Saera didn't feel up to it, so I headed off for Trafalgar Square. I got all the way to the front door before I realized that I was at the National Gallery, not the National Portrait Gallery. Admitting defeat, I just decided to look around a bit and ended up reading for a while. I got a copy of Pride and Prejudice from a charity shop a few days ago, and so I really like reading it in museums where I can go to a room with a comfy chair that is surrounded by art from the appropriate period. I stayed until close to closing time, but really didn't explore the museum too much. Only after I got back to flat did I discover that the National Portrait Gallery is behind the National Gallery. Won't be forgetting that soon. Oh well, some other time.

Fabric (Finally)

Today, I found out we are FINALLY going into fabric with our work. I had a tutorial with my teacher where she named off some places to go, and then Saera and I simply could not resist going pretty much immediately afterwards.
So the school I go to recently (like 2 years ago) moved to a new location. Therefore, the places my teacher told us to go were deep in actual Chelsea. Saera and I took a bus to get there, and even though I was really tired, I stayed awake and looked out the window as we drove by Notting Hill and Knightsbridge, where Harrods is. Fabric shopping was fun, the selection was so hilarious. Generally, it was pretty good, and not to expensive, but the grand selection of flashy plastics that filled every store was just so London.

Eindhoven, Nightmares, and Democracy

Last night, I posted on how my project is going. Well here is an update on the some of my other London adventures:

1. Eindhoven! This weekend, I went to Eindhoven, well umm I was supposed to at least. I made it all the way to the airport (which requires a bus to a train station to catch a 45 min train-ride) only to stand in line and be denied checkin because I was 3 minutes under the 40 minute check in cut off. What made it worse was that one of the people in front of me in line had each of their 4 kids playing with a different check-in monitor, thus holding up the line for the rest of us. It was VERY frustrating and a very long train ride back to London during which I fell asleep as this all happened before 7am. I was upset about missing my flight, but I was also slightly relieved as all the people I had planned to go with had already backed out. Also, I had never missed a flight before. Oh well, at least it wasn't a whole lot of money lost.

2. British Library = my new favorite place. I went a while back when I had to fill out a bunch of paperwork, was looking for a cafe to sit down at and noticed that a bus ran to the British Library. I went back yesterday because I wanted to go to the Treasures ongoing exhibit, which I knew had the Magna Carta. Little did I know what I was getting into! They had not one, but two 1st ed Shakespeare folios. In a case with about 8 books, one just happened to be a Gutenberg Bible. It got overwhelming at some point. Sadly, the Magna Carta was sort of a disappointment after coming across all the other stuff, simply because the copy currently on view is heavily damaged from a fire. They have another copy that will be out and about at the end of the month, so I'll be back.
They had an entire Beatles section. It was just little scraps of paper where they had jotted down the beginnings to songs. Of the selection, they had, the best was "A Hard Day's Night" which John Lennon had simply used the back of his son's birthday card as his scrap paper. It's always just so strange to see where things come from.

So you know how old documents always look so cool because the person's handwriting is so strangely different, as in we have clearly lost some of the art form of cursive writing to enable us to write short hand quicker. Well, I was in the Treasures gallery, looking at a wall of old documents, when over in the corner was an old paper that looked distinct in that it had cross outs and marginalia. It was clearly a first draft to something, but the handwriting just struck me as so modern-looking, and surprisingly like my own. Turns out it was, indeed, a first draft for a document written by none other than Elizabeth I.

The first time I came to London, I was very young. After seeing a portrait of Elizabeth I, my sister, Helen, told me that that was what I was going to look like when I grew up, since we had the same name. Clearly, that makes no sense, but I was gullible and she was older. Needless to say, I had nightmares about Elizabeth I for years. So when I saw that this piece of seemingly familiar writing was hers, it sent chills down my spine.

I went back to the Library again on Monday because I needed a quiet place to work away from my flat. Also, they have free wifi, that is faster than the internet in the halls. All in all, it's becoming a new favorite of mine.

3. Not really a London Adventure, but I voted today. My flat-mates were understandably confused that I got a ballot in the mail. Hooray! This is my first time voting for a President. Here's me, complete with bed head because I wanted to send the ballot back today:

New Directions

It's been a while since my last post. That's because I became pretty upset with my work (I know, what a typical artist) and didn't really want to talk about it.
After last Monday, I realized that my subject had strayed a bit too far from the brief for the semester. Tuesdays we have our theory class, which is the greatest as it is really inspirational and just generally my favorite class because it is about thinking about the context of works in history. Our teacher is an artist who focuses on synthetic fibers. Last Tuesday, we had a lecture introducing Man-made Fibers. It was really interesting and she focused on the idea that through synthetics, people were able to create things they only dreamed of. The idea that synthetics shined when they did not try to hide as a replacement for a natural fiber.
That all being said, I abandoned my idea of using fruits and vegetables to create synthetic representations. Everything about her lecture told me not to. Instead, I focused on the translation of properties from bubbles to bubble wrap, a somewhat strange instance of biomimicry. As some people know, I have worked with bubbles before, last semester I did a project on the now well known WaterCube, where the swimming events were held for the Beijing Olympics. So, I wanted to make sure to focus on different aspects of bubbles apart from their structural formations. I really liked the sudsy ripples of colors you get, so that became a new obsession.
So after gathering my new idea, I found some photos of my new subject, which were interesting, but as I needed a 3D object to draw from observation, I was still stuck. A kid in my class reminded me of an old children's toy. It's this sticky stuff you get in a tube and then using a straw, blow bubbles out of it, sort of the consistency of bubble gum. Anyways, I thought there was NO WAY they still sold this stuff, as it's definitely not a great toy for a kid (it's toxic, sticky, and somewhat temperamental) but sure enough, good ole Hamley's, basically London's bigger FAO Schwartz had some of this stuff. I ended up getting a set with a tube of blue, yellow,red, and green goo. I got back to studio and Saera and I spent a bit too long playing round with the stuff. Here is what the bubbles look like:


Anyways, after playing around with it for a while, we began mixing colors. I'm now pretty much an expert at this stuff. Hamley's should hire me to demonstrate it to little 5 year olds. I was really happy with them as my subject matter, but I had no clue how to capture them on paper. One other initially disappointing point about them is that they only last about a day before they deflate and the outside becomes brittle. However, coming back to studio the next morning, I saw my now slightly deflated balloon and realized it was actually a cooler specimen in that form. So I got to painting! The paintings take me a while, mostly because I am not too experienced/ haven't painted in a long time. Also, all I have is watercolor and a tube of white acrylic, so I have to wait for things to dry occasionally before continuing. It's been tedious, but I'm actually proud of the work I've been doing.
Here is my studio desk with my paintings and the balloon things:



Studio has actually been a lot better than I thought it would be. I thought I was going to be struggling to get everything done in time, when in fact, I actually just make better use of the hours when things are open. Life is a lot healthier here. My new found ability to time manage is something I plan to bring back with me. There are only two annoying things about studio. First, it is really cold and I have to roll up my sleeves so as to not drag them in my paints. I left earlier than I originally planned today because I was so cold. Second, my desk is right by the main door to our studio, which means a lot of opening and closing. While I've gotten over the constant distraction of people flowing in and out of the room, the gush of air from the door occasionally blows the balloon I'm drawing clear off the table.

Once I finished painting for the day, I revised my photo wall and stuck my paintings up on it. Here is my now revised selection of photos and all my paintings from the new topic:

Weekends, Workspaces, and Riots

This Weekend, Ale, a risd friend on exchange in Barcelona came to visit. She arrived in the wee hours on Friday and had two full days of London that were unlike anything I had done so far. Saturday started with a trip to the Borough Market as Ale and I both love to cook, I thought it would be great to get something delicious and fresh for dinner. We ended up buying the infamous "Drunkin Cheese" which is quite literally cheese infused with wine. We had the compulsory Fish and Chips meal and scurried off to Oxford Circus to shop and meet up with other risd kids. Ale is an industrial design major at risd and as always, it was really interesting to hear her impressions of the city and the various stores we went to. While us textile majors flip over many of the Oxford clothing shops, Ale loved the Nike store, complete with it's 2 story ID studio in the centre. We bought stuff, met up with old friends, and cooked a fantastic meal for less than we each would have spent at a restaurant.
The next day, we headed to the Columbia Rd Flower Market and the Brick Lane area. The Flower Market was beautiful and hilariously hectic. Just imagine a very crowded street market, but then the person trying to walk next to you is carrying a 3 foot tree through the crowd! Brick Lane was fun too. I have never really liked vintage shops, however, the ones in this area were well run and the selection was amazing. We were all drooling over the clothes we saw, even as we entered store #8 or 9. It was a very different side of London than I had seen before.
There were tons of people there, but not many tourists. There were occasional street performers, including one guy who was doing something really quite amazing. He had an amp connected to a device with 7 pedals and a mic. He would step on any pedal, sing a bit, and then the device would play whatever he sang in a round. So the guy did everything from beat-boxing to singing a melody, then a harmony to himself. Once he had all 7 tracks running with one another, he would go back and replace one and change it up a bit. It was just amazing, and finally a street act that seemed original to me.
Anyways, the weekend wet way too fast. Ale is now back in Barcelona, where I'll go and visit her in November. Here is a picture of us at the Flower Market:



Then today I had studio. Here is a picture of my studio desk, and the painting I worked on today:



While I have been working on my drawings and observations, my ideas and research fell to the wayside, and it showed. My job for Wednesday is to solidify my ideas and to better address the brief we were given. I am attempting to use fruit to recreate the feeling of scanning electron microscope readouts (only with more color). I initially thought of microscopic items when reading the brief because in high-school I remember being blown away by the feeling of discovery when looking at even ordinary things under a microscope. To think that something seemingly so simple is really composed of many little parts is sort of humbling. However, I have to do a much better job of conveying this idea to my teacher, because I blanked when trying to explain my idea earlier today.


Taking a break from work this evening, I met my flat-mate this afternoon in Oxford Circus for some "Market Research", actually he REALLY did have homework to do, but we were also just procrastinating. Anyways, I took a bus from Chelsea's Campus to Oxford Circus and hopped up to the 2nd deck as it's one of the more scenic routes through London. As we were passing Parliament, I could see that something was different than usual.
To get to school in the morning, I take the tube to Westminster, walk the length of Parliament, and hop on a bus which whisks me off to campus. The guards at Parliament are rather nice, however the security there is very intense. The building itself is so wonderfully old, however it is surrounded by a very modern and serious blockade. Across from Parliament, there is a square where protesters are commonly staked, including some tents for people hard on protesting the war.
So riding by in the bus today, I saw just mass chaos. Traffic was stopped in several other directions, but not ours. Police vans peeled down the street and men in reflective vests came running from all directions. A crowd of people, clearly initially protesting in the square were pushing through the guards and blocking the streets. Just mass chaos. I wasn't really scared, as in I didn't think they were terrorists or anything, but the confusion, amount of Police response, and even the reactions from the other people on the bus made me super anxious.

Ever since getting here, I have felt so distant from the news. I don't watch tv, except for occasionally some random show. The only newspaper I read is the free London Paper, which spends more time talking about Britney, Kate Moss, and Posh & Becks. Occasionally, I see an article that talks about how screwed up the economy is, but not enough that I understand what is going on. When I saw this crazy riot today, I had no idea what terrible new problem had arisen under my nose. I've got to find a better way to stay on top of the news because there are some very strange and big changes going on in the world right now.

Friday Friday

Today I headed to school early to attend a meeting that was scheduled for a room that didn't exist. I was then ushered into what turned out to be the 1st year theory class, but I only figured this out after sitting in on it for about 10 minutes, and then I had to pull an awkward "I'm totally in the wrong place". I used my sudden free time to work up another quick-ish painting of mystery veg #2, which, as Mary again pointed out, is a red onion. Here is today's progress:




Later in the day, we had a screening of a moive called The Man in the White Suit for our Theory class. I thought it was a good, funny movie and suggest it to anyone out there.

Also, because London is expensive my fellow risdans and I occasionally resort to the pound pizza for dinner. At the local grocery store, you can get a fairly good cheese pizza for 1 pound. Then, we got to my apartment, and covered it with leftovers from a past group cooking adventure, sausage and cherry tomatoes. We are inventive and the food was delicious. Here is a picture of our creation:

Today's Victim

Today, I mostly took a break from school work. Then I felt guilty, so I attacked my next vegetable and "created" two very different studies of said veg. I just did a watercolor of one study as I don't feel like going to studio right now (they close in about an hour) and I left most of my supplies there, including my magnificent magnifying lamp. On the other hand, hacking at food is quite fun, so maybe I will prepare a few more studies today.

Guess what it is:

Many small things

As I am nearing the one month anniversary of my rendezvous with London, I thought I'd share something I have noticed as being slightly odd and different.

Bananas taste really good here! This comes to mind first as I am typing this over dinner, which includes a banana. Actually, I can't decided if they really taste better, or just are on par with the fresh California fruit I am used to, whereas almost all other fruit here is pretty disappointing. The best apples are local ones, which at least are cheap. They are tiny, maybe tennis ball size and are really handy because they fit in a bag. However, I am craving a Golden Delicious right about now, because the apples are pitiful in comparison. I guess the same is true in Rhode Island, except the bananas are better here. Also, if you remember back to my pictures of my flat-mates and I holding cards, with our name, country, and favorite animal, my favorite animal was a Monkey. I have pretty much been eating one banana a day, and they all find it really amusing.

Props to Mary for decoding my subject for the semester (see last post). Here is our brief we were given in class on Monday:

"New Scientific discoveries and technologies have inspired designers to vew the natural world from new perspectives. the 1950's post WWII era, new exciting visual patterns and contemporary advances in science technologies enabled exciting unseen images to emerge. Genetic decoding and engineering, dissection, viral mapping, nuclear particle physics and bio-mimicry, Google earth and space exploration similarly continue to inspire artists and designers in the 21st century."

Our teacher advised us to stay away from flat resources (ie, photos) and to instead work from observation. This is to encourage us to discover new, different, exciting, and fresh patterns rather than simply pulling one straight from an inherently patterned source. This is almost always my instinctual way of going about a project because I HATE to draw. Drawing requires much more thought for me than writing a paper, reading a book, or listening to a song. It requires me to think about the object I'm attempting to represent, think about it's shape and the values that construct that shape. As much as I hate to draw, I know that it will lead me to ideas that are far more interesting and in the end original and successful.

Using the brief, I became interested with the word dissection. After being briefed by our tutor, I ran to Tesco and in search of some interesting veggies to rip apart. I quickly picked up a cabbage and lettuce. I saw some pomegranates and picked them up as well. When I got back to my room, I literally went at the cabbage with a spoon, carving away to created an interesting texture inside. I also ripped open the pomegranate and was instantly excited at the prospects of what I saw to draw inside.

So my project so far is to treat the innards of fruits and vegetables as my scientific discovery. Taking them out of context as fruit innards, I'm using the shape, form, and color from these areas and eventually transforming them into a stitch piece. I have a fairly intense magnifying lamp that I have been studying these subjects with, which brings in a bit more of the new age scientific theme into my project.

Guessing Game

Points for whoever can figure out what exotic fruit I was drawing VERY upclose.




Zero points if I have already told you.

First Day of School

Well, today was interesting. Saera and I got to school just in time to allow for a bit of getting lost to find the room we were supposed to meet in. We met with all the Textiles 2nd years (equivalent to Juniors) and were given a timetable for our course and a brief for our semester project.
The department is broken into 5 sub-categories: CAD/Digital Print, Print/Print Plus, Knit, Weave, and Stitch. We are both happen to be doing Stitch. I am doing it because it is something risd does not even begin to tackle and is certainly a huge departure from my comfort zone. Having said that, I think much of what I will learn in this course will incorporate nicely in with other techniques I've learned at risd.
After getting a brief tour of the textile department facilities, which should make risd ashamed, we got further instruction from our Stitch Tutor and got work space in a studio shared between the Stitch and Knit concentrators. There are about 20 of us. Studio space consists of a small locker and half a table saw & door desk. It' pretty basic, but better than I'm used to for a Junior!
After the initial panic of thinking I had studio EVERY day, I was relieved to find out that our timetable simply suggested that each student come to the studio space every day. Our tutor comes in once a week and we sign up for meeting times with her and discuss our progress. Saera and I both agree that she seems very different from our department back home, in that she kept stressing a much more modern approach to our work. She also kept stressing the importance of the art world outside the school and immediately listed several new exhibits opening this week. She asked us who had gone to a show over the summer and out of over 20 kids, there were maybe 5 of us who had! WHA?
Our meeting ran much longer than I thought it would. By 3, Saera and I were ready to collapse while trying to find inspiration in the Library. I ran to Tesco to get some cheap veg for my project, but I'll go more into detail if I actually go through with it.

This kid is going places

Sparked by a Massive Sale by Ryan Air for many flights out of London, I've booked two trips:

1. Eindhoven! I was looking for design shows in the next few months, and there is a HUGE Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven in October. I'm super excited! Dutch design is brilliant and I've never been to the Netherlands before. It's gonna be a quick trip because the tickets were way cheaper that way. My flights rounded out to 20 dollars each way! Also, Alessi is the opening speaker! ID students, feel free to hate me now.

2. Barcelona! Another risd student has been there for the bulk of the summer and is on exchange this semester there. Even though I've been to Barcelona before, I am so excited to go and learn from someone who knows the ins and outs of the city. Also, she is fluent in Spanish, so I'm sure that will help to make the experience different!

What a week

It's been over a week since my last post. This is due to many action-packed days and nights that left me very little time to sit down and write.

The last time I wrote, the risd kids had just reunited and celebrated all finally safely getting to London. Since then we have been traveling around, exploring and trying to get through a good deal of the tourist check list. Here are some of the things we have done:

Liberty: We have had to take the store in waves. Once, I went with Kat and we only explored the first floor which is paper goods and leather books. Saera and I made it to the second floor and nearly died every time we turned to corner and saw another rack filled with the latest season of another famous designer. One knitwear designer that I had researched for spring semester, Louise Goldin, had her entire line for sale at Liberty and it was right next to one of several Alexander McQueen racks. There was also a vintage section which felt like a museum. Every piece had a tag placing it within it's time period and explaining the "look" each piece was intended for. So posh!

Piccadilly Circus: I go here on average once a day simply because of the Japan Centre, which sells REALLY well priced sushi. I have actually gotten to the point that the sales people recognize me. This one girl that works there cut her hair into an interesting bob and when I told her I liked her haircut, she said "Oh, you don't wear your glasses today!"

Oxford Circus: One word: TopShop. Actually, there is so much about Oxford Circus that is wonderful and worth visiting. M&S is quite an experience. Playing "count the H&Ms" is always fun.

Tower of London/ London Bridge: Well, we got to the out side of the Tower of London, and then the 14 pound entrance fee kept us from going inside (it was less than an hour before closing). Also, it was semi-raining and freezing so we just bought coffee/tea and traded ridiculous group pictures with other tourists.

Borough Market: So maybe a tad off the tourist checklist, it's basically a really amazing farmer's market. There is no room for tacky random clothing vendors at this place. It sort of reminded me of the Fish Market in Seattle. We got there right as it closed, so I am determined to go again (and maybe again after that).

Amongst all the tourist moments, we have also been doing some stuff regarding school. Saera and I went to enroll, which we later found out had nothing to do with picking classes or finding out our schedule. Instead, we filled out tons of paperwork and left with only with the confidence that at least we were not completely forgotten by the Uni. On Monday, we start our week of induction, which means we will get our final class list, and timetable. Well it's about bloody time!

Also, here is a picture of Saera and I in Piccadilly Circus.

Island in the Sun

So in the past few days, I have been reacquainted with these lovely faces from risd:





Kat and Stephanie just came to London after traveling from Milan (where Stephanie is spending her semester abroad) to Munich for Oktoberfest to Berlin to Amsterdam to London via a BUS. Needless to say, it was good to see that they made it here alive. As Stephanie is only visiting for a few days, her and Kat went to the Tate Modern. Saera strolled around and the Thames and hung out outside because it was very crowded and it was beautiful today. My iPod was on Shuffle and it magically started playing Island in the Sun by Weezer, which was totally where we were today on the Island in the sun.

Flat mates

We were all hanging out and taking pictures of each other, so I decided to do semi-mug shots of my flat mates. We are each holding sheets saying our names, where we are from, and our favorite animal. Sorry but you are going to have to click on the pictures to actually read the text.







There are two other people that live in my flat, but one is on holiday, and the other does not really hang out with us at all. He is chinese and between the tension with the taiwanese and his very bad english, he doesn't find our group particularly great to hang out with. They have all started courses so I am the last one to begin a long ways away from now.

100% Design

A couple of days ago, I got an e-mail with my badge ID number for 100% design. I then remembered the 100% design, a huge design trade show, was going on this weekend and I whisked out today to go and look through the show. It was pretty fun, and really inspirational to see all of the stuff that is developing. By far my favorite part was a section they called 100% Materials. They had small samples of tons of different materials, some which I was familiar with, but tons that I had never heard of before. Here are some wonderful pictures:

From 100% Design

Also, tonight, I FINALLY met the majority of my flat-mates. There are 7 of us total, 2 Taiwanese girls, one Thai girl, one Welsh boy, one English boy, one Chinese boy (who I have not met), and me. Most of tonight involves us talking about how the Taiwanese girls may not be on speaking terms with the Chinese, and a good old English spar between me and and English chap. Several of them are starting school tomorrow, and so I have been put in charge of throwing them a "hooray for the weekend" party on Friday. The theme, as requested by the Englishman, will be High School Musical/ American Football.

Also, I learned a very important thing today. It's not that an English person "can't be asked" it's that they "can't be arsed!"

Strange Encounters

Today, I got an e-mail from my friend Emily from risd. Emily lived in London when she was a wee one for a few years and demanded that I eat fish and chips at some point at some place right near her old flat. I was in a fish and chips kind of mood, so I headed over. Turns out, it ain't open on Saturday! Damn Brittish! Oh well, Fish and Chips extravaganza for another day.

Instead I went to what is fast becoming my favorite store, the Japan Centre. I've been really good about not blowing my money on meals. I've been cooking and packing a lunch most days, but today, I hurried out the door without doing so. Amongst selling tons of random things imported from a 99 cent store in Japan, this store also has pretty cheap, but still good sushi.

The store is right off of Piccadilly Circus, so I got some grub, and then headed out to find somewhere to eat it. I ended up sitting next to an English family with two kids under 12. They were both fascinated by my sushi. The younger boy began whispering in his sister's ear about my food, and how funny it looked. Then he ran over to his Grandma, and began to tell her about it. Basically, the kids had never seen sushi before. Or what there Grandma stated most eloquently, they have never seen anyone like you eat it (aka, only asians eat sushi?). It was just such a strange experience, but then I realized it's the weekend. The hicks of England come out to London on the weekend. Thinking about it later, they definitely had a more country accent, so it's not as strange as it was in the moment.

Late tonight, I watched tv for the first time in a while. Not anything I cared about, but I sat downstairs and entertained a few Brits with my American ways. I was laughing uncontrollably a few times at them too, so I think it was a fair trade.

Also, several people have asked me if I am part CUBAN? I'm confused.

Visiting Mecca

Yesterday, I got a 3 month Travelcard/oyster card, allowing me to use any form of public transport in zones 1 & 2. Today, I ventured away from the tube stations and took the bus about 5 times. It was so much fun. I, of course didn't bring my camera, so I'll have to do it again. The UK double decker bus is such a smart design. I just hung around on the upper level and it was seriously an amazing view of the city. Also, those bus drivers can really maneuver those huge buses like it were a smart car. Other than the occasional tree branch, we only hopped one curb the whole day.

Anyways, the oyster card came in a holster sponsored by IKEA! On the back, it has a list of all the London IKEAs and the nearest station for each location:



So today, I went to my Mecca: IKEA! It was pretty exciting because there were actually lots of differences from an american IKEA. For instance:


It's basically a savings card. But they also sell bath products and business clothing! I didn't think IKEA could be more fun. I mostly went to get small stuff, like cheapo lamps because my room is fairly dark and some kitchen stuff. Obviously, I ended up with more than I went for (as is the way with IKEA) and had a fun time getting it back to the dorm.

Also, about going to France. I found out yesterday that the other risd girl whose passport was being held by the UK visa office is FINALLY getting her passport back and is flying over early next week. Therefore, I'm going to stay in town to help her settle in and celebrate her arrival. Maybe another time France. I'm really excited that Saera, that's her name, is finally coming over, so I'm not so bummed about sticking around.

It didn't rain today, except on me

So, do to a bit of a mix up, I have even more free time on my hands. I thought classes were to begin on September 29th with a week of orientation fanfare beforehand. Turn out, Orientation week starts on the 29th and classes don't begin till October 6th!

So I've been planning a trip for a while, in my head of course. It involves Mont St-Michel, Bayeux Tapestry, and Ferry rides. Seeing as it will only be getting colder, I'm seeing this as my opportunity to take the trip before it becomes too cold to think of a Ferry ride as entertaining. But more on that when I've really committed to anything (ie bought tickets).

Other stuff I did today included applying for membership to the International Student House which looks cool. Also, my dorm had a Hall Meeting, which was a bit of a bust. Everyone in my dorm is a first year and so they have the attitude of a first year. We were given a presentation during which pretty much everyone was talking, many were rolling cigarettes, and it was just generally angsty. As soon as the meeting broke and the "social hour" was set to begin, nearly everyone walked outside for a cigarette break. I hung around with the few left in the room and gave up after I found their accents really hard to understand. Real country kids have this accent that I just haven't heard before and so I really have no idea what they are saying. Also, the few times I have understood a conversation, I'm totally at a loss at what to say. I was briefly involved in a conversation with three kids from various parts of countryside, UK who had NEVER been to London! They live at max 5 hours away! I just don't know what I could ever talk about with these kids. I know things might change, but it was just way discouraging I guess.

Also, just before going to the International Student House, I sat at a bench to eat my Lunch. It was pretty brisk outside, but all the sudden, it felt really cold, and there was some guy SCREAMING at a car load of gardeners. Turns out they had splashed me with what must have been a bucket load of water. My whole back side was wet including my hair and the street behind me! Well, good thing Mr. Passerby was there to properly chew out the scum who did it, because he gave them a good thrashing.

Case of the Mondays?

I clearly haven't figured out my alarm clock on my phone as it failed to go off today and instead of waking up at 9:45, I woke up at 1:30 pm. I currently feel like I feel after spending a few days in New York, totally beat. Today consisted of wondering around looking at shops. I took the tube to Baker Street, walked down to Selfridges and eventually found my way to an H&M. Kat called and we decided to meet up. This of course took a while as we found out there were 4 H&Ms between Selfridges and Oxford Circus. Eventually, we went to Topshop.

So, I really didn't want to like Topshop, but I kind of love it. We were like kids in a candy shop, running around tugging at sweaters trying to figure out how they were made. Our knitting teacher once told us that exploring in a shop can sort of seem like looking at pieces in a Museum once you are able to comprehend the design effort behind each piece. However, the best part about looking around in store is that you can touch everything. If you really like it, you can try it on and buy it too. One of our favorites was this one:



Not something I would ever wear, but it was just so cool so see a technique we had learned actually in use. Anyways, we were in Topshop for a good while. When we got out, it was dark!

Kat and I have been talking about how great the knits are in this city. Even just looking around in the tube, you are bound to find somebody wearing something technically interesting. It's really fascinating to try and figure out how something's made, but sometimes you have to think about what others think you are doing. I found myself totally obsessed with this little boy's sweater, but I thought it would be way too creepy for me to stare at him the whole tube ride so I switched cars.

Also, continuing with the them of weird London products, I bring you this package of Toilet Paper:



Yeah, I bought it a few days ago because the options were Puppies or Pink Puppies. Strange

Parsnip Crisps

Today, I went to the Cy Twombly exhibit at the Tate Modern. Today was the last day of the exhibit and luckily, I got tickets online the day before. It was a really interesting show, I hadn't seen much of his work other than one or two chalkboard scribbly ones. My favorite ones were a series called Nini’s Paintings, dedicated to the wife of Twombly's gallerist who had died suddenly. They were so spot on in achieving their goal of "absence impossible to articulate". The mark making was really beautiful and not at all something I thought I would enjoy walking into the exhibition.

After the exhibition, I stepped out onto a balcony that overlooked the river:



So one of the things I love about London's Museums is that they are free. Therefore, I didn't feel bad that I skipped out on the rest of the Tate Modern this time, I'll be back. Maybe next time for one gallery, maybe for longer.

So you can't see it in the picture, but at the opposite end of the bridge, I could see a parade, so obviously I had to check it out. Turns out it was a Fallen Firefighters Memorial parade? I'm still not sure. I got there at the end, and people were standing around getting their picture taken with the firemen. I happened to be wearing a orangish-red sweater and so, I got m picture taken with them, and thy were laughing saying I understood their dresscode. Unfortunately, whoever took the picture, didn't actually TAKE a picture. Oh well.

Other than that, a TON of walking today. Like 4-5 miles of walking. My legs are begging me to buy better shoes than my converse to walk in. I somehow ended up at the British Museum and popped in for a quick look. They have an on right now, like many big museums where you can watch the conservationists working on Museum pieces. The thing that made this exhibition different was that you could talk to the conservationists, and if fact, they encouraged you to do so. Today, there were three stations with marble sculptures that were being cleaned. I had a nice chat with one woman behind the counter who was not at all sad to be working on a weekend, as her department was now on exhibition. The different conservation departments are rotating through the space so in two weeks, textiles will be in there. I can't wait.

I went to other parts of the British Museum, but it was really crowded, probably the only downside to free admission. It didn't help that it was a weekend and still sort of tourist season. The number of people sitting on or putting their arms around sculptures to get a funny photo made me nervous so I left. I'll be back of course.

Oh, also, I've become obsessed with these:


I got them accidentally once, but they are strangely delicious.

Day 3

Today was much more encouraging than the days before. First, I met up with Kat, another risd kid going to Central Saint Martins for the semester. It was very good to see a familiar face. This is Kat's first time in London and she somehow managed to come to without a map so we spent most of the day finding her a map that included enough of London to show both of our dorms. I showed her an A to Z, but we both agreed it was very hard to read, but eventually we found something. We had gone to Oxford Circus to go to Marks and Spencer to get her some room stuff, and the whole experience was just really funny.

It was really funny to hear her first impressions of London. Kat is from California, but spent this summer in New York City. I met her today in the Underground Station near my dorm, and she was so excited about how small the subway here is. She said she understood why it is called the tube. It's true, compared to the NY Subway, the cars are small and the doors curve in at about 5ft so the top of the train cars are domes. I never really thought about it, but it is definitely small compared to New York. It's also ridiculously clean, not only of rubbish, but it just doesn't have the gross NY Subway feel that I don't know how to describe. Also, when we were walking around, Kat was like "Where are all the tall buildings? I thought there would be tall buildings like in New York." It's true, in general, the skyline is much shorter and there are rows of much older buildings. I was trying to explain how there are some taller buildings across the river like the Gherkin, which I now realize is not across the river, but it was just another thing I hadn't really noticed.

I went and got groceries at a local Sainsbury's which was fun. My dorm has a really great kitchen setup. The kitchen is down the hall from my room and I only share it with 6 other kids. We each have a locked section of a pantry and there are 2 full-size sinks, 2 stoves with 4 burners, and 2 ovens. Considering food and eating out a lot is expensive, I know I'll be making food here. Also, there just isn't anywhere around here that I would want to get breakfast at. Anyways, the stuff at the supermarket made me laugh. Mostly, the selection was more interesting than what I would normally find at a store of it's size (think 1/2 the CVS on Thayer) but I found the cereals to be slightly hilarious. They had about 5 different brands of shredded wheat, each with multiple flavors. Oh, and one box of Coco Puffs. Anyways, I found enough stuff to make dinner tonight.

Also, I found out today that my Grandparents are off on another adventure in October, to Uganda this time. The best part is, they are going to visit me for a couple of days on their way over.

Day 1.5

Today, I wanted to try and get an oyster card. Basically, to travel on the underground, you can either pay for a paper ticket, or you can use an oyster card which allows you to pay which money you have stored on the card. For some reason, the charges on oyster cars are ridiculously cheaper than paper tickets. You can also use an oyster card to store monthly passes, which I also want to do, especially since they have student discounts for those. So that was my main goal today.

I eventually found out that student discounted passes are only available at the University you attend. However, I only found this out after running around town. In the process of trying to find the right office who deals with this stuff, I went to the University of the Arts Student Union. I didn't spend a whole lot of time there, but it was still interesting. There was a gallery space, bar, snack shop, general lounge space. Basically, a lot of things risd lacks. I didn't even walk through the whole thing, but I plan to go back there when I don't feel like such a visitor. There was a student services office, that had a "JobShop" center inside. I didn't go in, but it just sounded funny. They told me to go to my specific school to get an oyster card.

So I headed off to Chelsea. The school isn't actually in Chelsea. It's just about 5 long blocks south of Parliament. The group of buildings it encompasses is really nice looking. I found another little snack shop and an information desk with a guard, but no offices or anything. I asked about the international office, since that is literally the only one I know that exists because the woman I have communicated with works in that office. Turns out, I was supposed to get an international student information packet, which would have explained to me how to apply for an oyster card amongst other things. They were out of said packets, but the woman told me that I should just come to orientation and all my questions would be answered there. When I asked her where and when orientation was, she looked at me like I was crazy. What? Didn't you get an e-mail about orientation? Nope.

So, good thing I hunted these people down because I was missing a whole lot of information. The only downside is that I have absolutely nothing to do until September 22nd, which I just found out is orientation day. Hopefully then, I'll be filled in on what classes I'm taking and how to get an oyster card.

So, for now, I am just trying to adjust for the time difference, get rid of my cold, and not die of boredom. Tomorrow, I'll do some really touristy things and maybe go and see this Cy Twombly exhibit that is closing in a few days at the Tate Modern.

Also, I just found out about an hour ago that Saera, the other risd girl who is doing a semester abroad here in London, couldn't fly yesterday. Basically, the UK visa office screwed up her application appointment, and pushed it back a month so her passport has not been returned to her. I really hope the whole thing gets solved soon, because this place is lonely with no friends.

I'm here

I made it! I'm in England!

The flight over was fine. Virgin Atlantic is still awesome. Within minutes of sitting down, the girl sitting next to me started talking. She was an English/American dual-citizen who had found work for the summer in the US and was just returning home for a bit before going off to school. We talked about the difference between the American and English schooling system, like how in England, once you are 16, you can get your qualifications in the main subjects and then choose only one or two areas to focus on for years 17-18. Apparently, she had done just that and had decided to do just that and took Textiles courses for those years. She is now a Fashion Merchandising major in college in Manchester. Anyways, it was really nice to meet her because she was just coming back from a 3 month journey herself.

Once I got off the plane and through the tube to my apartment, I immediately took a shower and took a power nap. More about my apartment when I upload the pictures I took of it. I was so excited on the plane that I didn't really sleep a lot. Then, in order to stay awake, I just started walking around London looking for a supermarket or department store to pick up a few things I needed. I didn't really have a planned route, more like I pointed myself towards the river (my dorm is just south of the Thames) and went from there.

I ended up walking well over 2 miles and on the way hit a Pret a Manger for something to eat, a gigantic Sainsbury, which is a grocery store, and my favorite Marks and Spencer, which is like everything you would ever need in one gigantic store. I told myself that I would just keep walking until it looked like it was beginning to get dark outside, and then I would take the Underground back to the dorm. The thing is, it was overcast all day and I had no idea what time it was, so I kept thinking it was 6pm and I should start heading back. Eventually I did head back and I pretty much collapsed when I got back to my room.

Now, its a bit after 3 am and I have woken up because my stomach is pissed off at the lack of food I have had the past day. I ate half a sandwich and a banana at Pret, but otherwise, I hadn't eaten anything that day. Good thing I had bought a bar of Cadbury chocolate to break a 20 note for Underground money. Yum.

Pre-Flight Plan

I can't really believe it, but I am leaving for England today. I have packed and re packed and found tons of extra things that I need. I finally found a sub-letter for my apartment the day before I left. She is an incoming exchange student for risd from India and her reactions are making me just that much more excited to go away myself.