ARCHIVE - christine's blog http://www2.evergreen.edu/fashioningthebody/blog/29 en ARCHIVE - Some Images / Research V & VI http://www2.evergreen.edu/fashioningthebody/some-images-research-v-vi <p><font face="times new roman,times" size="2">I have been spending some time with the truly extraordinary textile artist Anni Albers. I have two new images banks of Anni Albers&#39; work from the catalog of a 1999 Guggenheim exhibition and a 1985 Smithsonian exhibit. These are all scans, mostly color, directly from the books so they don&#39;t have my usual scribbled commentary.<br /> <br /> Here are the ideas I was thinking about...<br /> <br /> 1. Light -- the way light reflects off of things that are thought of as flat like fabric or paper</font></p><p><font face="times new roman,times" size="2">2. Texture -- two dimensional representations of textured surfaces (like knotted-looking fabric or woven art), this is basically about light too </font></p><p><font face="times new roman,times" size="2">3. Metallics -- again an interest in light reflection, also hidden or subtle use of metallics (like metallic thread)</font></p><p><font face="times new roman,times" size="2">4. Tests/experiments (the art of art research) -- much of Anni Albers&#39; work was about performing studies to allow herself to experiment and gather ideas, such as laying out bits of twisted paper in patterns to explore the possibilities of woven patterns</font> </p><p><font face="times new roman,times" size="2">5. Color -- most of my tearsheet work/research has been with b&amp;w xeroxes so I&#39;m now starting to think about color, particularly the use of bold(er) colors that don&#39;t overwhelm <br /> <br /> <br /></font></p> http://www2.evergreen.edu/fashioningthebody/some-images-research-v-vi#comment Thu, 17 Jan 2008 13:34:39 -0800 christine 810 at http://www2.evergreen.edu/fashioningthebody ARCHIVE - Some Images / Research III & IV http://www2.evergreen.edu/fashioningthebody/some-images-research-iii-iv <p><font face="times new roman,times" size="2">I&#39;m adding to the mess (of ideas and images and images that represent ideas)! Soon there will be a huge tearsheet throwdown involving<br /> a. all of my tearsheets<br /> b. tape<br /> c. markers<br /> d. a wall to be covered with all of the tearsheets<br /> e. a boombox and a lot of pacing<br /> <br /> but in the meantime...<br /> 1. Some images from the <em>Graphis</em> DesignAnnual2005.<br /> 2. Some images from the book <em>Specials</em> by Booth-Clibborn (publisher of art/graphic design titles).<br /> <br /> There&#39;s one or two image banks still in the works<br />and<br /> who keeps listening to Piece of Me? <br /> <br /> <br /></font></p> http://www2.evergreen.edu/fashioningthebody/some-images-research-iii-iv#comment Sun, 06 Jan 2008 23:07:48 -0800 christine 805 at http://www2.evergreen.edu/fashioningthebody ARCHIVE - Some Images / Research II http://www2.evergreen.edu/fashioningthebody/some-images-research-ii <font face="times new roman,times" size="2">More images and things that I&#39;ve been looking at. This time it&#39;s a little bit of a mishmash from the <a href="http://www.commarts.com/"><em>Communication Arts</em></a> Photography Annual, some stragglers from the Design Annual, and a few other items.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /></font> http://www2.evergreen.edu/fashioningthebody/some-images-research-ii#comment Fri, 07 Dec 2007 19:42:37 -0800 christine 786 at http://www2.evergreen.edu/fashioningthebody ARCHIVE - Winter 08 Project Proposal http://www2.evergreen.edu/fashioningthebody/winter-08-project-proposal <font face="times new roman,times" size="2">Here is my project proposal as a PDF.</font><br /><br /><br /><br /> http://www2.evergreen.edu/fashioningthebody/winter-08-project-proposal#comment Thu, 06 Dec 2007 13:01:17 -0800 christine 766 at http://www2.evergreen.edu/fashioningthebody ARCHIVE - Some Images / Research http://www2.evergreen.edu/fashioningthebody/some-images-research <font face="times new roman,times" size="2">To prepare my brain for the task of making the class site, I spent the afternoon with the <em><a href="http://www.commarts.com/">Communication Arts</a></em></font><font face="times new roman,times" size="2"> Design Annual. Here is a PDF of some of the images and pages that caught my eye for various reasons.<br /> <br />[Now for some rambling prater: The PDF has scans of xeroxes so this has me thinking about what I keep calling &quot;resampling&quot; or the process that images or objects go through to get from one point to another. For instance, I found a picture of chocolate bars (yes, chocolate bars) with really cool packaging. Each candy bar had to go through all kinds of production/preparation to come into being and then a whole team of photographers and stylists took a picture of those items. That image then went through a bunch of digitally processed versions before coming to final, non-digital hardcopy when the magazine was printed. From there, I found an issue of the magazine somewhere out in the world and I made copies of the chocolate bar and other pictures and later ended up scanning the xeroxes so that people could have a way of looking at what I was looking at.  It&#39;s these things, these chocolate bars (or whatever other objects) in all of these permutations...]<br /> <br /><br /><br /></font> http://www2.evergreen.edu/fashioningthebody/some-images-research#comment Wed, 05 Dec 2007 23:21:22 -0800 christine 758 at http://www2.evergreen.edu/fashioningthebody ARCHIVE - Gilroy http://www2.evergreen.edu/fashioningthebody/gilroy <font face="times new roman,times" size="2"><em>&quot;Epidermalized power violated the human body in its symmetrical, intersubjective, social humanity, in its species being, in its fragile relationship to other fragile bodies and in its connection to the redemptive potential inherent in its own wholesome or perhaps its suffering corporeality...&quot;</em><br /><br />Dear Paul Gilroy,<br /><br />I apologize for not talking about your writing in seminar. I regret it deeply.<br /><br />Sincerely,<br />CL<br /><br /><br /></font> http://www2.evergreen.edu/fashioningthebody/gilroy#comment Wed, 05 Dec 2007 01:59:33 -0800 christine 754 at http://www2.evergreen.edu/fashioningthebody ARCHIVE - Of A Technological Literature http://www2.evergreen.edu/fashioningthebody/of-a-technological-literature <font face="times new roman,times" size="2">&quot;<em>In an old part of the city like this, time collapses the picture... Here I am, tightrope walking the twenty-first century, slim as a year...</em>&quot;<br /><br />A few weeks ago in cyborg week 1, we talked about how technology is changing the way books are written. There are all of these teen books that have adopted the format of chatting and/or texting as a way to tell stories. But way back when, in 2000, a book came out called <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Powerbook-Jeanette-Winterson/dp/0224061038/ref=ed_oe_h"><em>The PowerBook</em></a> by Jeanette Winterson. I have a long running love/hate thing for J.W.&#39;s writing but I won&#39;t get into that. Of note about <em>The PowerBook</em> (besides the title being an allusion to a laptop) are these two things...<br /><br />1. The story simultaneously happens at different points in history, the recent past, and shifting versions of the present because it&#39;s being crafted by the narrator who is something of an online story conjurer. J.W. uses technology as the premise for condensing then stretching and pulling at time/space/history. <br /><br />2. The book is structured to be like a computer menu, that is, many of the chapters are named after computer actions such as &quot;SAVE,&quot; &quot;QUIT,&quot; or &quot;VIEW AS ICON.&quot; Each chapter also has its own neat, clean little icon with which it is introduced. The mountain icon for the chapter &quot;SPECIAL&quot; is an outline of a triangle divided by a scalloped line to indicate a cap of snow. One of my favorite chapters &quot;Spitalfields&quot; has for its icon three wavy lines with a weird flame-shape growing out of it! <br /> <br /><br /> <br /></font> http://www2.evergreen.edu/fashioningthebody/of-a-technological-literature#comment Sun, 02 Dec 2007 00:11:40 -0800 christine 735 at http://www2.evergreen.edu/fashioningthebody ARCHIVE - A Short Story For Your Enjoyment http://www2.evergreen.edu/fashioningthebody/a-short-story-for-your-enjoyment <p><font face="times new roman,times" size="2">&quot;Forgiveness&quot; by Rebecca Brown<br />from <em>The Terrible Girls</em><br /><br />Apparently, we didn&#39;t do enough reading this quarter because I feel the need to offer up some short fiction, &quot;Forgiveness,&quot; for everybody to read in delight and terror. Those with a weak stomach might want to avoid this story, but it&#39;s incredibly concise and beautiful. All quarter long, I&#39;ve been thinking about <a href="http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?inkey=1-9780872862661-8"><em>The Terrible Girls</em></a> because several of the stories are these lovely, grim lenses into the roles of bodies and power. <br /><br />Included in this very short piece are wonderful sentences like:<br /> <br /> <em>&quot;Things I once took for granted became significant. Cutting a steak with a knife and fork, or buttoning my fly, untying a knot around a bag, adding milk while stirring.&quot;</em><br /><br /><br /><br /></font></p> http://www2.evergreen.edu/fashioningthebody/a-short-story-for-your-enjoyment#comment Fri, 30 Nov 2007 21:55:53 -0800 christine 730 at http://www2.evergreen.edu/fashioningthebody ARCHIVE - A Case of Britney Spears & Cheetos BP Script http://www2.evergreen.edu/fashioningthebody/a-case-of-britney-spears-cheetos-bp-script <p><font face="times new roman,times" size="2">This is my portion of the script for the presentation <em>A Case of Britney Spears &amp; Cheetos</em>.<br /><br /> The slideshow is also available upon request. <br /> <br /><br /><br /></font></p> http://www2.evergreen.edu/fashioningthebody/a-case-of-britney-spears-cheetos-bp-script#comment Fri, 30 Nov 2007 19:48:19 -0800 christine 729 at http://www2.evergreen.edu/fashioningthebody ARCHIVE - Thoughts from "Latino Dolls" http://www2.evergreen.edu/fashioningthebody/thoughts-from-latino-dolls <font face="times new roman,times" size="2">Thoughts, Connections, Questions from Reading &quot;Latino Dolls&quot;<br /><br />This is an ode… An ode to Chelsea where the light is bright grey-white by day and amber-colored at night. An ode to all the Barbie dolls I played with two summers ago. And an ode to the animator/filmmaker dearest to me.<br /><br />1. What is a gay toy store?<br />In the beginning pages of “Latino Dolls” I really wasn&#39;t sure what would constitute a gay toy store. Does Quiroga mean a sex shop? No? Does he mean something like Toys R Us except somehow more gay? No? It suddenly occurred to me that I knew exactly what was being described because I used to live in Chelsea (the sort of lower westside in Manhattan) which is the floral/photo/fashion part of town and not unrelatedly the rich, gay, white, male capital of the east coast. I could never find anything I wanted to buy in Chelsea. Every other store seemed to be a snobby, overpriced little den selling semi-whimsical printed tank tops, t-shirts, notecards, and endless snarky, queeny, brightly colored knickknacks. Here I am, three years later realizing that half my neighborhood was and is composed of gay toy stores. My limited (read: not important) gay consumer dollars go to buying all of those impossible-to-find-new Sarah Schulman books. Now… does that make me a less evolved consumer? <br /><br />2. Would somebody save up (their money) to buy a gay doll?<br />Yes! Fortunately and unfortunately. The 2000 $50 price of a Billy or Carlos doll was rather prohibitive, but not so much so that a few sacrifices wouldn&#39;t be made for a trendy, joyful, way to recreate a piece of childhood. This makes me think of the character David in Sarah Schulman&#39;s <em>Rat Bohemia</em> (which is the book of my life, my favorite book). David&#39;s childhood is marked by rather cruel parental enforcement of gender normativity -- no skipping, no singing, no giggling, no limp-wristed gestures. He&#39;s the type of kid always getting a football instead of the Barbie doll he might really want. In my mind that kind of childhood supersedes, overwhelms even a very clear understanding of the marketing schemes behind something like the Billy doll. You&#39;re buying something you couldn&#39;t have in childhood. You&#39;re trying to find a way to rename, reclaim, recapture something not possible in the past. It&#39;s awful, but how do you separate those feelings? (It&#39;s not possible to be completely separate from culture.) Working on gay guilt and pain is the best (worst) marketing plan ever.</font><p><a href="http://www2.evergreen.edu/fashioningthebody/thoughts-from-latino-dolls">read more</a></p> http://www2.evergreen.edu/fashioningthebody/thoughts-from-latino-dolls#comment Thu, 29 Nov 2007 13:03:22 -0800 christine 713 at http://www2.evergreen.edu/fashioningthebody