Image Number 3.
Francesco bored with all the small zoo animals.

Trip to the Zoo Image 2

2nd image in the works :)
in this one, Francesco, the brother, is telling his parents where he wants to go for his bday.


still working on some kind of flooring......dont know yet

Finished!!

And the 2nd image is on it's way :)

A Trip to the Zoo

I'm illustrating a children's book in between classes and jobs now. Written by a former Creative Writing teacher at Drexel - he is now teaching at Union College in NY - it's about a brother and sister who stray from their parents at the zoo, and encounter animals in their habitats who help them find their way back to the zoo entrance.

I'm documenting the different stage of all illustrations.

The first page illustration (so far):






1 begun, 19 to go...and a book sleeve, almost forgot about that.

RANT BOX

I did a little story board illustrating over the weekend for Gari Media Group. RANT BOX, a forum type television show for voicing your opinion on today's politics/social issues/whatever is pissing you off.
They pitched the tvshow idea to NBC yesterday morning with these drawings:



hopefully the pitch went well, I have not heard any further developments about it, so we shall see..... :)

Goat Button

The Tate Museum - Free and all over iTunes!

Jen Graves from Seattle's SLOG - always has the best updates, such as:

The Tate galleries have made hundreds of video and audio downloads available for free on iTunes.

More than 400 files are now on iTunes U - a section of the online store which features educational content.

Projects include a series of films that use social networking site Twitter to bring the audience's questions directly to artists like David Hockney.

There are also recent interviews with contemporary artists including Jeff Koons and Louise Bourgeois.

ART NERD ALERT!!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7998191.stm

Wynton Marsalis's Speech/Performance at Arts Advocacy Day 2009

Wynton Marsalis: 22nd Annual Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts and Public Policy from Americans for the Arts on Vimeo.

New Painting

Still in progress (obviously) and this is sadly my only form of critique, so please, let the comments start rollin' in.


Stage 1


Stage 2


Stage 3

April's First Friday at Sazz Vintage, Philadelphia, PA

Old City was rockin last night for April's First Friday! (a.k.a. ArtWalk, for all you Greenvillians..ahaha villians)



Combined with vintage clothes and somewhat vintage snacks (the old vanilla sandwich cookies, gingersnaps you ate when you were 3, and Mondos! the twist off top blue sugar water refreshments) my work, titled "Animals and Adcock" got some attention. It's a more commercial series than anything, and I had a few people cooooing over the elephant drawings. People love elephants.


So go visit the store, buy some vintage shit, I plan on doing so when I actually get a paycheck.

Arts Advocacy Day 2009

Along with my fellow Arts Administration colleagues, we ruled Capitol Hill!

500+ Arts leaders showed up for the American's for the Art's 22nd Annual Arts Advocacy Day.
Pennsylvania representatives were in high numbers, with Drexel students, of course, Arts Management students from Carnegie Melon in Pittsburg, most of the staff of the Philadelphia cultural Alliance and more.


The night before Capitol Hill, the nation's arts leaders witnessed the most amazing speech/spoken word/jazz performance ever given. Wynton Marsalis delivered a passionate call for action that had the entire Kennedy Center in tears and on their feet. In my opinion, the speech seamlessly articulated why people enter the arts, why they stay in the arts and why they fight for the arts.


On the Hill, I met with Senator Spector, as well as House of Representatives Charles Dent and Allyson Schwartz. They are all arts policy supporters, so my job wasn't too difficult.

Onwards and upwards! I will be running for Arts Advocacy Coordinator on the AAGA Board this year, and after that, hopefully be sitting at the North Carolina table at all future Arts Advocacy Days :)

HOME for a Week

It was magical.
I saw fields and wilderness and drove my car and lived out of a suitcase.
Thanks to all of those who put up with me while I emersed myself back into a world that made sense.
It's odd how proud I've finally become of the state I semi-hated when I resided in it.


I'm moving back. Soon-ish.

Asian Sensation - George Nelson

from the depths of art school hell, we rise!

My buddy George Nelson has some interesting projects going on out in California.

Here's a piece that features ME, on a morning i left him in CA. "Day of Departure."

His updates and work can be viewed at his blog:

http://wakasashe.blogspot.com/

New York Day

I couldn't take too many photos because we were on the move all day, and the whole tourist thing.

It felt nice walking around with an agenda (mostly for Daniel Radcliffe and cupcakes) in New York .
I have become used to the bustling yet laid back nature of Philadelphia, it was an amazing change of pace to ride the subways of the lower east side.

Thanks to my guides Liz and Ying, who know that city better than i ever will.



Everyone go see EQUUS before it closes! (in a week)

Punk Rock Flea Market - The Light Factory, Philly PA

This shit just ain't my scene anymore.
I can understand being wall to wall people for a performance, but for shopping? Aaanothankyou.
I will not be attending again.




and then, as if someone up above knew i was having a horrible time....cupcakes :)


I had fun with Rashni and Andrew though. I feel like that has to be clarified.

The Last 2 Weeksof Equus in NYC

I'm praying i don't get offered a job in the next 2 weeks b/c Feb 4th, i'm planning a day trip to see Daniel. Radcliffe. Nude.
That and it's supposedly an amazing story
And stage seating? I never knew tickets to seat ON the stage were sold.
But those are the ones I'm supposedly getting.
I hope it's the best $75 I ever spend.

A review of it as soon as I come back, I promise.

Scott Fife is Kicking Ass

Scott Fife’s exhibit, Northwest Perspectives at the Tacoma Art Museum was a 25 year survey of this talented, Northwest sculptor’s work. Scott has a degree in Architecture and Fine Arts, from University of Idaho and the Minneapolis School of Art & Design respectively.


I can't get enough of this guy.

Tom Brokaw Fucked Up

to compliment the amazingly amazing Inaugural speech, a little goof up i heard just minutes before the important people actually started filling the stage at the capital:

ok, so i'm watching the inaugural address, rather, the building up to it and Tom Brokaw was commenting on how "hats" are back in style blah blah blah i guess a lot of people were wearing one...

and then he said...."hats had kind of gone out of style when John Kennedy showed up headless....i mean.....hatless at his inaugural address..."

aaaawhooooops

you are losing your touch Brokaw.

Let's Get Serious America

Responsibility is the new change.

"On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.
.....
We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when the crisis began. our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week, last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions - that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.
....
There are some who question the scale of our ambitions - who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.
....
A nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous.
....
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals.
....
Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.
....
For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering a new era of peace.
....
For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.
....
This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed - why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.
....
With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations."


FINALLY!!

Things That Make Me Feel Better

in no particular order.

Thank you for existing and tolerating me.