Eat'n'Learn Round I: Pysanky Party

This is the first of several "Eat'n'Learn" events I will be hosting to generate some extra income for my self-employment dreams.  Future offerings will cover basic sewing, home canning, quilting, and other things I know how to do that people have expressed an interest in learning.  Want to learn something you think I may know how to do?  Let me know what it is!

 
Pysanky, pronounced peh-san-keh, with the emphasis on the "peh", is the Eastern European technique of egg dying.  Tradition goes that during the weeks leading up to Easter, eggs would be dyed in secret and revealed to others only on Easter morning when brought to church in a basket for the traditional Catholic Easter table blessing.   I taught myself how to do this last year and found it so entertaining that I thought I would offer to teach others this time.

I will have an "Eat'n'Learn" on March 26 at my apartment in Brooklyn.  I will provide a basic entree for dinner, and all the materials for 2 eggs for each pysanky-er; you bring whatever you would like to contribute to a donation bin for a "class fee" and you own beverages for the evening.  The class fee is a suggested $10-$15 donation or something of equivalent worth; I am open to barters.  If you are so inclined, you are also welcome to contribute something to share for the dinner or a desert.

YOU MUST RSVP by 3/24/2010 so I know how much supplies I need to pick up.  Please spread the word and invite any friends you think might be interested in learning.  I will have to limit class size at a certian point, though, I don't anticipate maxing out.

Don't let any creative fears hold you back; pysanky can be as basic or complicated, as traditional or modern as you would like.  Last year my favorite egg had a picture of a beet  and marshmellow peeps on it.  And though it is traditionally considered a feminine art, I see no reason gender should stop anyone in this case.

Some of my non-traditional eggs from last year.

The Basics: Making the eggs is less complicated than it appears, though you do have to "think backwards" during the planning stages  (kind of like a riddle).   Patterns are created by marking lines with kistka (a little metal funnel on a stick) which is heated in a candle flame and then dipped in beeswax.  You draw on a raw egg with the beeswax, marking out what you want to be a particular color (white=marked the first round, yellow=the second,... black= never marked off).  At the end of the dying process, your egg is all black.  You let it dry, and then melt off the beeswax by holding it over a flame rubbing the shell with a soft cloth when it is shiny.  You are left with a colorful egg.  The more skill you have with the kistka, the more detailed your egg gets.

Introduction: Corey Hayes (photographer to the stars and church staff assistants)

As promised, a continued set of introductions...

True Stories
Sam Wedelich & Corey Hayes
Show Specs:
251 W 80 Street (Btwn B'way & West End; All Angels' Church), NY, NY 10024
Opens March 6: 6-7:30 Opening, 7:30-9 Coffee House Concert, 9-10 Reception & Second Viewing





Corey Hayes (photographer to the stars and church staff assistants)

 
Corey is a stunning portrait photographer.  For True Stories he is using a new body of work that I won't tell you much about because I don't know if I am supposed to.  I did just sneak into the prep area though, and let me assure you, the stun-factor is up there.  I will leak that the photos Corey is showing are all black and white, my fav.

Corey has an amazing ability to capture his subjects without all the extra detritus and props that some people use.  In fact, more often than not, Corey's got someone in front of a flat backdrop, which lately seems about as unpopular and day-glo and oil paints.  I find it refreshing and admire the challenge limitations bring to the photographer.  Within restriction, photographer and subject rise to the challenge of portraying personality with just body language and expression.

Personally, I also love Corey's photography because of my obsessive attraction to post-minimalism.  Striped down, but with very singular and pure intention.  Is my penchant toward the black and white becoming clearer?   Corey's sense of balance and composition always keep me on my toes (squealing with joy like a piglet that love delicious photography).


(The pictures here were all pilfered from his website, not the body of work in the show.)

Also, last year Corey worked with the ever indomitable Russell & Cheryl Sharmin on a book titled NightShift NYC.  The Sharmin's did the writin' and Corey did the photo-in'.  There are some great shots where Corey proved he can go beyond the portraits.  But really, why would you?  People are just so interesting!

Corey also took one of my favorite adult pictures of yours truly.  Here, indulge my ego.

Corey's links:
Corey Hayes Photography
NightShift NYC

Who'd You Miss:
Sam Wedelich

Still to come:


Catherine Hanna and Simnia Singer-Sayada
Melanie Penn
Alexa Wilkinson
Paul Johnson
Cory Cavin

Introduction: Sam Wedelich (a.k.a. DwellDeep)

There is a rad show opening this Friday in the flotsam/jetsam gallery I help run.  There are talented artists participating; and I am not just saying that.  There is a lot of crap out there to be seen, and I am unabashed in calling it out and avoiding seeing it; you will not see it this Saturday.  There is also a (free) rad singery-songwritery show combined with the gallery opening.  Over the next few days I will be introducing you to some very talented people worth you attention or link following for at least 10 minutes.

True Stories
Sam Wedelich & Corey Hayes
Show Specs:
251 W 80 Street (Btwn B'way & West End; All Angels' Church), NY, NY 10024
Opens March 6: 6-7:30 Opening, 7:30-9 Coffee House Concert, 9-10 Reception & Second Viewing





Sam Wedelich (a.k.a. Dwell Deep)

Sam is a full time artist/illustrator/poet.  That's ballsy.  Most of her material is autobiographical, but in that universal way, not a I-have-a-peanut-allergy-and-can-you-believe-they-put-peanuts-in-my-waffle! sort of autobiographical.  Sam does a great job blogging and tweeting updated illustrations and notifications about new Etsy items, and when you're lucky, a poem or two.  Also, she might rebuke me for mentioning it, but Sam and her husband, Russ, have also recently formed a band with another set of my favorite spousal musicians, the Paul-Shores.  You WILL hear about it when they leak me more info.



Here is an exhaustive list of Sam/DwellDeep's links.
Homepage: www.dwelldeep.com
Blog: www.dwelldeep.com/blog
Twitter: twitter.com/dwelldeep

Etsy: www.etsy.com/shop/dwelldeep


[AN ASIDE: Please follow, subscribe, and visit them all.  In this social media driven culture, small businesses can grow based on viral media, but that requires foot traffic.  Even of you never read what she posts or says or buy anything from Etsy, please consider adding the links to feeds, readers, etc. and just letting them sit there.  What's one little placeholder?  When it comes down to getting featured on art blogs and press, a lot writers will judge an artist's, crafter's, blogger's professionalism based on their popularity (subscribers and hit counts).  It's not necessarily fair, but it is the way things work.  Help out a small business, subscribe to their blogs, twitters, et. all.]


Still to come:

Corey Hayes
Catherine Hanna and Simnia Singer-Sayada
Melanie Penn
Alexa Wilkinson
Paul Johnson
Cory Cavin

Rocker or Posers? CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE!

Upcoming show:



Brooklyn Artists Gym presents
Rockers & Posers
BAG Gallery
May 22 - June 5
Opening Reception: May 31, 6:00-9:00pm

The Rockers & Posers show features contemporary artists focusing their talent on portraits. Media represented in this group show include video, photography, illustration, painting, sculpture, ceramics, printmaking and alternative media.

Brooklyn Artists Gym
168 7th Street, 3rd floor
(between 2nd and 3rd Avenue)
F to 4th Avenue, or the R to the 9th Street
718.858.9069
Brooklyn, NY 11215

http://www.brooklynartistsgym.com/showRockersPosers2008.html



And just for those keeping track, here is a list of things I currently want but cannot have: sewing machine, mac mighty mouse, dark crystal dvd, pastries, my momma, summer haircut I love, kitchenaid mixer, more books, someone to mount my photos for me, time to bike, outdoor sleeping space, and antique music box.

Check back later.

Hello, Kitty.

I have been feeling terribly desperate lately, in the whole range of areas to feel desperate in. From jobs, to work, to men. It’s just really no good. So here’s today’s hope: To drink deeply from the cup, and not grasp wildly at straws.

I went for a walk in the sun today to photograph widows and orphans. Here’s one of my favorites:

Writing Samplings

The performance went great, thanks to all those who came out. The videos and images are making their way online slowly but surely in the new stuff section here. I've been have a rough few weeks since quitting my job with no backup plan. I keep getting "leads" which go no where, and interviews that make me hate life. Plus its Feb., which means pleanty of grey and no sun. I am solar powered.

So, in my tired and frustrations I have been doing a little bit of writing between checking NYFA and my email. Here's a few samplings, don't be too harsh.



I am petite middleclass, and I think that mist be a force of gentrification in this apparent “urban blight”.  I find safety in the fact that someone once told me that I walk like a lesbian, which I took as a commentary on my solid, heavy, unmovable steps.  My feet don’t move unless I say so.  It makes me feel that despite my short stature and feminine curves, I might seem like less of a victim in my neighborhood of strangers.   I am “Miss” and “Ma’am”, when “Hello, I am selling candy for my basketball team at school.  It is only a dollar.”  But otherwise I am, “Hey baby; hey sexy thang; I want some of your sweet white chocolate vanilla.”  I want to exist on a level of mutual respect with my neighbors, but who is my neighbor, player or basketball player?  Lately, I have just taken to walking with one shoelace undone because when I once did it mistakenly, all anyone said was “better tie that.”  There’s something to be said for consistency’s power to greatly reduce confusion.  It’s just easier.
            Who is my neighbor? Who is my brother’s keeper?  Who is my keeper?  I am sure the residents of the apartment below me are not as reassured of their safety by their by my pounding stomp of a walk, but if I can’t have a dog, I might as well have the protective sounds of a 300lb man.-

When I go to art museums, it’s kind of like the zoo.  Not that it’s crowded or loud or smelly.  It just that I have to see Cornell just like going to see the monkeys; I have to see the Klien, like visiting the Reptile House.  It is like dropping in on an old friend.  But, good old Joey never changes like real people do. -

I had this dream, where I had finally written a beautiful song.  And I had one of those conscious dreaming moments where I thought, “I actually did write it because this is my dream and all these thoughts are mine.”  So I tried really hard to remember it, but when I woke up, the only thing I could remember was the following line,
“If Dusty and Lonely
Got to cuddle the whole way,
I hope home’s not too far to go.”
Ain’t it awful to find out something you thought was beautiful is crap.-