The rest of July. On to August.

Well, the rest of July has been going.  I have been living off and on between home, the cabin, and Bemidji.  My poor car has still been constantly packed with my life since May now...   I like to think I am living the dream between enjoying the sun, freedom and visiting friends, but I suppose I should get a job here sometime soon.  Running out of money! Actually, I haven't had any for quite a while... just incurring more debt.

But oh well.  Better plans for the fall.  I have my senior show to start figuring out.  I feel like I was supposed to get a "Eureka!" on this trip but I just feel more confused than ever.  Trying to get my shit together so that I can start working on some more pieces and the presentation I need to give for this Internship.  Going to officially move up to Bemidji this coming weekend though since I cannot go to WeFest.  I am slightly devastated about this but I just can't swing it this year.  Damn.

Anyways, I leave you with a few last pictures from the trip.  I took a lot of pictures of art in the museums, but my favorite is of the battling squirrels at the University of Montana.  The one on the ground was definitely KIA, and his beloved comrade is fending off the enemies.  Poor little guy.  I probably looked like a weirdo taking pictures of the action.  Oh well.

Montana Love

Squirrel Love. Oh boy.

Toodlioo for now.  Keep you all updated on August.  Going to be a boring/busy month just trying to get my shit together.  Hope all is well.

Home.

We made it to Missoula on Friday afternoon, spent the evening and all day today here.  Did lots of fun artsy stuff and gave myself a lovely little self-guided tour of the University of Montana Missoula.  I actually really like it out here.  And even though Denny said that I have mentioned it everywhere we seem to go; I think I could live out here for awhile.

BUT! I know this is short and sweet for now, but we have an 17-18 hour drive HOME tomorrow. YAY!  I will add more pictures and info of the last week when I make it to the comforts of my home.  I can't wait. It is kind of bittersweet to be finally done and going home, but I wouldn't trade the trip for anything.  I can't say there are things I wouldn't do differently next time, but like everyone said; it was the trip of a lifetime.

Thanks all for following and there will be more soooooooon!  Love you all!

Glacier!

Hey! Quick update from the phone. Spent a nice quick little afternoon in Seattle on Sunday. Then w e camped a little ways out of town at a campground full of noisy brats but it was the holiday weekend. Then drove all day to get to glacier too late to get a campsite. Oh well. Our normal luck. But now heading back into the park to enjoy it for the rest of the week. The main road is closed so who knows exactly how long we will stay. Then home?! Love you. No update for a bit probably. Bye bye!

Recap. And Redwoods. Word.

Hey everybody! I just want you all to be proud that it has been less than a week since my last blog.  I may be improving... for now! Ha. Well, I am trying.

Lets see, I left off with a really terrible description of the Southwest. So I think I will go back and recap a little bit. We pulled into Santa Fe, New Mexico mid-afternoon on Saturday the 18th.  I was in a hurry because the Wheelwright Museum on Museum Hill was having two local Indian artists who created handmade jewelry visiting and talking.  I made it with a half hour to spare, got a sweet tour of the exhibit on the original Santa Domingo jewelry artists and then went downstairs and met both Mary Tafoya and Priscilla Augilar.

The original Santa Domingo jewelers made deceivingly beautiful and intricate pieces of jewelry.  Their pendants were wonderful thunderbird and other birds designs, with decorative beading strung all the way around the necklace.  What you don't see at first is the materials they were using were actually just old pieces of junk they could find. The backings for the small tiny design pieces were made of old battery cases or records.  And the small pieces used for things like the tail feathers were really just plastic fork tines or little chunks of plastic strainers or any other piece of junk.  That way they could get bright colors and even geometric shapes for their figures or designs.  The kids would go out and collect materials, while the parents would ride the train selling these pieces for a mere couple dollars.  They then would take their earnings and go trade witht he Navajo or other tribes for other materials as well.  Today these pieces are worth 10X what they sold them for and are really good indicators of the times and processes used back then. (in the 1900-1930's) I wasn't allowed to take pictures of the pieces in the exhibit but there were some downstairs that represented what was being made.

 

After that, I met the two Santa Domingo visiting artists Mary and Priscilla.  I didn't chat a whole lot with Mary but I got a bunch of pictures of her pieces.  She uses all natural stones for her inlay pieces and likes to find different natural shapes of stones to go with her designs. My favorite piece of hers she called her "water waves."  She told me that when she watches the waves on the shore there is always a rainbow of light going through them.  Hence the bright colors she inlays throughout her wave designs.  Her culture plays a really big part in her pieces, and she learned much of what she knows from helping her parents in their handmade work.  I really enjoyed the curving, pointed design that kind of reminded me of some of my pieces.

Her "Water Waves" piece.

Other intricate designs of all natural stone inlay.






I then got to speak with Priscilla, another native Santa Domingo jeweler, who works with sterling silver, natural stones like turquoise, lapis, and pipestone, and many different types of shells.  I enjoyed speaking with Priscilla because even though I didn't get many pictures of her work at all, she did explain her process of creating her handmade stone inlay shell pieces.  She starts with a large shell and begins by grinding all the spines and spikes until they have a smooth surface to attach the silver and stones too.  She then forms and solders her sterling silver bezel onto the shells, where she then attaches her hand-cut stones into the design she desires.  After, she explains that there is a ton of grinding on the stones to get to the finish that you see in the pieces.  These pieces are incredibly smooth and actually kind of heavy.  They are about the size of your palm, so quite large.  She also learned from her parents who used to make "thunderbird" pendants starting at the age of 10.

 

 

She also creates many other inlay jewelry pieces including an amazing set of "lightning bolt" earrings that I really wanted. Unfortunately I didn't have a spare $190 to spend otherwise they would have been all mine.

However, the lady at the museum who was organizing the event was incredibly helpful to me.  Even though she knew I was a poor college student she let me look at and handle and chatted all about tons of pieces in the shop.  I even touched an $18,000 dollar piece by Charles Loloma.  It was only about 3 inches long.  No big deal.







So anyways, after that museum I spent the whole next afternoon wandering what they call Canyon Road and the Plaza area.  There are literally more than 80 galleries alone in about 2 square miles.  I saw tons of work, chatted with some artists, lots of curators/directors and even had some offer to sell my work.  The work has generally moved towards contemporary and there were a ridiculous amount of contemporary paintings, sculpture and lots of silverwork.  By the end of the afternoon I was exhausted and saw more art than my eyes could handle.  I got quite a few pictures (when I was allowed) and hopefully some new ideas or inspiration.

I really did enjoy Santa Fe which everyone there claimed was the second largest art community next to New York.  The place had a very touristy feel, but as one girl told me, Santa Fe either embraces you or spits you out.  I'm not sure if I could ever move there but it was lovely, with good weather.  And only a few forest fires that kept us from camping.

After partying a little bit in Santa Fe with some sweet locals we met at their black curtain underground bar, we took off towards the Grand Canyon.  It really is one of the seven wonders of the world and no picture can do it justice.  We hit it at a pretty good time (the first day of summer so no admission fee woop woop) right around sunset so the view was more than amazing.  We didn't spend a whole lot of time there but it was good to actually see what all the hype is about.  Best way to describe it: HUGE.

After The Grand Canyon came Vegas.  Like I said before in a horribly cliche quote: What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.  But I will say it was really hot, really fun, full of crazy people (watching and the like) and we didn't get married or a random tattoo.  Success. 

I didn't take any pictures in LA with Megan but we had a nice relaxing recovery weekend just chillin, doing laundry, driving around a little bit and I got my first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean ever when her and I took a late night drive out to Malibu.   It was really marvelous to get a fun girls night with pizza and champagne with a wonderful friend I only get to see about once a year.  Special thanks to Megan again for letting us visit.  Miss you and your crazy humor already.  

Monday morning we got up bright and early at the crack of something like 11am and headed north to San Francisco.  It was all desert and grape/wine country all the way right up until about 20 minutes to San Fran.  Then the temp dropped and the fog was hanging about.  We missed the original route to the Golden Gate so we turned around and crossed it there and back.  It was covered in fog, but there were still tons of people biking across it and taking pictures.  Not great pics but true evidence we were there

Thats where our lovely North PAcific coast started.  We jumped on the Coastal Route of Hwy 1 and started looking for a campsite.  Ended up in Bodega Bay at Doran something something Park.  It was a tiny little strip of land jutting out into the ocean. Sounds lovely right? Except it rained all night, our campsite was a small pile of dirt right next to some crazy hobos, and we woke up completely floating on our air mattress.  My purse, phone, and camera were soaked, but luckily somehow salvaged.  My phone has been soaked twice now and the little brick is still chugging. Can't complain, but they do always say third times a charm.  Who knows.  

It was still raining when we packed up and took the winding coastal route all the way to the Eureka, California.  I would highly recommend the route, but plan on taking your time.  It was incredibly beautiful and I am glad we took it even though it was raining.  It was what I always imagined California, much more than LA and the palm trees.  

The next stop was the Redwoods National Forest.  We spent a couple days here camping and driving around trying to see everything.  I don't really know how to describe them or the forest, but its like the best fantasy combo of the coast and forest.  When you walk around in them you feel incredibly small, and I thought it reminded me of Ferngully.  Denny has no idea what I am talking about, but I could live in the movie Ferngully.  By far one of the best places to visit along with Maine.  

Can you see Denny? 

Can you find Denny in this one??

This is Trillium Falls in the Redwood National Forest.  Straight out of Ferngully for sure.  

I have lots more pictures of the forest of course but it was one of both of our favorite spots.  After that we drove up the interstate to Portland where we are relaxing and wandering for some of the holiday weekend? I think we are going up to Seattle tomorrow to check out some more interesting stuff and hopefully some local art hotspots.  Probably camp.

So thats it for this update.  Happy 4th of July weekend!  Hope everyone is safe and lovely and enjoying the holiday.  See you all soon!  Love and miss you all!  I leave you with a California sunset.

Bad at Blogging

So, I know I have not blogged in over a week.  We are still alive. We made it to Santa Fe, spent a couple of days there and then went and camped at the Grand Canyon. (Mon-Tues. ps. I saw a bunch of cool art here and met some awesome artists. tell you about it later...)

The next day we made it and checked in to Vegas.  I would love to describe our stay in Vegas, but its Vegas. You have to come out there and see it for yourself.  It was lots of fun and we survived. We didn't win a ton of money.  Oh darn. (Wed-Sat)


We then headed down to Los Angeles, CA where we met up with my lovely friend Megan.  We stayed here over the weekend just relaxing and recovering.  (Sat-Mon)










I know this was a terrible update. They may get worse from here on out.  We are on week 4, moving into week 5 and its going to be a ton of camping from here as we head north towards Washington.  Not sure exact destinations, but Redwoods are for sure on our list.  After that, who knows.








Well, off we go.  Miss you all.  Sorry this update sucked.  Like I said, they may get worse.

Better Update: Amarillo, Texas

So, I am currently sitting in a Motel 6 in Amarillo, Texas. It's not exactly like all the country songs but its hot and desert-like with all the wonderful accents. Yesterday/last night we drove from our campsite in Radford, Virginia all the way through Tennessee (and a wicked 50 mph thunderstorm equipped with hail and green skys to boot), Arkansas, and Oklahoma to arrive here in Amarillo around 7:30am. Long night, but got our hotel, and oil change and have been resting for the day since the forecasted highs were 108 degrees for the next three days. Hence the nix on the camping sites.

I need to go back through and cover all the highlights of the week, but I think I will start with some museum pictures from NYC last thursday. Remember my camera died halfway through so there are only a few but the MoMA was pretty amazing in itself.

 This one is Jennifer Bartlett, named "Rhapsody" who was an American minimalist artist of the 70's.  As you view the small panels from left to right they tell a story of seven different themes using color and shape.  We studied her in Contemporary so she caught my eye.

 This is a close up of another of her pieces using color and line to create patterns and a narrative.

 This one was done by Bruce Nauman called "Punch and Judy II Birth & Life & Sex & Death."  He was obviously a slightly more controversial american artist of the 80's displaying his strong viewpoints on homosexuality and the AIDS movement.

 This piece was done by the Guerilla Girls who made art displaying their viewpoints on feminism in the art world.  They wanted to get the message out there that females in the art world were under-represented and under-appreciated.  The pieces are pretty identifiable and quite straight forward.

 This piece is by Alexander Calder, an American artist called "Lobster Trap and Fish Tail." I am always fascinated with sculpture and although the picture doesn't do it justice it is quite large hanging over one of the museum staircases.

Shanna, this one is for you.  I saw it and immediately thought of you and your passion for art.  It is done by artists Gilbert and George, british artists of the 70's.  The first line says it all.

 Well, I had to get a picture by the famous Elvis right?
 This piece is of course done by the famous Andy Warhol.  An american artist of the 60's well known for many of his pieces including Gold Marilyn Monroe (which I saw and have a picture) as well as the Campbell's soup can prints.

I have more pics from the MoMA you can all look at later.  It just takes forever for these things to upload.











 These are the few I salvaged the battery on my camera at the Met.  They are part of the Oceanic and Pacific Islands Era.  The art in the those rooms were amazing, large, elongated sculptures carved from wood.  Some were 20 feet longs with sharp, elongated figures striking different poses representing different aspects of their cultures and practices.  I definitely can see myself looking into their style and practices more.  The shapes and negative space of their work was really intriguing and somewhat similar to some of my design aspects of my jewelry??

 

Well, onward from New York. Monday we went to Baltimore and walked around Inner Harbor, where the National Aquarium is located.  Checked out all the sites there and the Aquarium as well.  There were tons of neat exhibits and we got to see seat turtles, sea horses, urchins, jellies, sharks, and any other kind of fish they find in the ocean! Along with a really cool jungle with all kinds of pretty birdies.

Stephie, enjoy the birds and please show Damian the fishes. I know he will be incredibly jealous.

OOOO. Very exotic. Ok, just threw in the sturgeon for fun. It made me think of the boys and Rainy River.

 

Just some of the cool species we came across!

And now for my favorite: the birdies!  Denny thinks it nuts I like birds but they were just so darn cute. The one even yawned for the camera!

After that, Denny's cousin Michael met us down there and took us to a little dessert diner in Little Italy called Vacarro's.  Apparently Monday nights are all you can eat for about 15 bucks, so Denny and Michael opted for that.  They definitely got their moneys worth and I am not sure how impressed the waitress was, but I thought it was crazy and went with a nice piece of italian cheesecake. The boys did some damage.

Michael then graciously let us stay at his apartment so we could take the train down to DC the next day.  We got up bright and early, hoped on a shuttle, then a train, then one of those nifty little "hop on, hop off" buses that tour all the major hot spots.  We saw everything (and visited most) from the Washington monument, Jefferson Memorial, WWII Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Capitol, White House, Pentagon, and much much more.  We even made it into a few museums including the National Gallery of Art.  I will not put all my pics up, but a just a few so you can get a little taste.  

 

 

As you can see, unfortunately the reflecting pool (the thing Denny and I wanted to see the most) was under renovation.  Not as pretty as I imagined.

 

After DC, we jetted towards Front Royal, Virginia which is the beginning of Shenandoah National Park and Skyline Drive.  Stayed overnight, then got up grabbed some groceries and made our way through the park.  The Appalachian Mountains are quite beautiful as well as the park, but it reminded us a lot of MN except with large overlooks and mountains.  We hiked down Dark Hollow Falls Trail and got to see the parks lovely waterfalls. 

  

 

During this we also stopped at Luray Caverns, which was an awesome one hour tour full of cheesy jokes and sweet cave structures.  I really loved this part and I am not really sure why.  I think caves are wonderfully mysterious and beautiful and there is something artistic about the natural configurations of caves and stalagmites and such.  My favorite kind of landscape.  

There is water in this picture. Its call the "Dream Pool" and it was amazing.  It only like 20 inches deep but reflects so perfectly you can't even tell.  I could have stayed there a long time, but the lights go out after awhile behind you on the tour so we couldn't linger too long.  

 

I have so many pictues of these caves and I could see myself doing something artistic with them in the future.  The repeated lines and natural patterns are too intriguing to forget about...

So, after the caverns and the drive we hopped on Interstate 81 and started heading south towards Tennessee.  We ended up camping at a state park near Radford, Virginia called Claytor Lake.  It was a nice little campground and we were pretty pumped it had showers.  We also had quite a few visits from all kinds of critters that night.  The first was a lovely little raccoon that Denny wanted nothing to do with.  I think it was all the Rabies Alerts in Maine that got him all excited.  After that two little kitties wandered through.  And THEN, even a little later we had another critter rustling about.  I went to go check it out and found out it was a furry little spotted skunk.  Needless to say, I didn't stick around to make friends with it.  

So that was our experience in the wild of Virginia.  We ended up taking off around noon that day (because we both needed to sleep in a little bit) and started driving to Tennessee.  About two hours from Nashville, Denny brought up the idea of driving through the night (which we agreed not to do again) and well that was that.  Flew through TN, taking on a rager of a storm around Memphis, and that was that. Amarillo, TX here we are.  

Hope this was an alright update. Like I said before, I have a ton more pictures as well as Denny because he finally picked up a camera when we were in Baltimore.  Still trying to work on the art aspect, but I got my major museums in.  Now for the crazy southwest art stuff I am going to dig up.  And then off to Vegas on Wednesday. Yay.  100 degree camping until then; here we come.  I will leave you all with the lucky picture I managed after an hour of driving through lightning in Arkansas.

Love all.  Miss you more.