ste!!a gassaway: unpredictable thoughts

Took this on a walk last week. The weather just seems to keep calling out for the evergreen. Love the tile house number!

The sky is a weird yellow and the snow has already covered the cards and sidewalks. It’s 9pm. We have less than an inch. I’m planning on adding a number of widgets here on the blog tonight.

Got a few pics at the Reception. Thought I’d do a bit of cross-posting. Wanna know more about my art check out my studio journal. Enjoy.

Putting each drawer in took careful aim.

Task complete. What a great job.

Craig was an amazingly hard worker while helping us move. I think the rewards of going to the cafe for crepes and coffee was part of the motivation to get things done. Still, we had fun moving this piece of furniture and he put in each drawer by himself. He was very pleased when he completed the task. And helped me hang the George Nelson clock too; making sure it was straight.

We could still use some of his help.
Maybe I’ll give him a call.

Craig T thinks that Morning Glory is an awesome place to relax and have a good meal.
He had a terrific sandwich with potatoes and homemade catsup.

It has been a really fun visit in Philadelphia so far.

In solidarity with our Iranian friends.

The artist and one of her paintings.

The artist as one of her pieces

I actually posted this video at our heavybubble blog because it struck me so. Listening to Kukuli Velarde talk about herself and her path as a painter, then ceramic artist, and now painter again was quite a journey. Lots of artists have this kind of journey. Often as artists we experience these things and never talk to anyone about our journey in this way. Being behind the lens of a video camera with an interviewer who makes one comfortable enough to talk about the work in an open way.

Kukuli Velarde makes amazing work and she works through her feelings over time making pieces that express each and every second of internal process. In that process she confronts the issues that energize her work and bring us face to face with her internal questioning.

The work is powerful and frank. It uses many vocabularies to capture our attention. With all the intensity there is still a beauty and joy that allows you to embrace the art and want to keep it near you.

Use the link below to watch the video. I’ve also included her website.

links:
kukuli velarde: the path of a painter [video]

kukuli velarde [web]

Tags: culture, art, ceramics, colonization, women, painting, philadelphia, David Kessler, Kukuli Velarde

Roma Amor
Digital assemblages and collages of Italy :  Joel Katz
+
Collage collaborations by poet Randall Couch and Joel Katz

The Open Lens Gallery
The Gershman Y
401 South Broad Street
Philadelphia PA 19147
www.GershmanY.org

11 December 2008–1 February 2009
Gallery Hours:
Sunday–Friday 9 am–5 pm,
closed Saturday

Opening reception:
Thursday 11 December, 
5:30–7:30 pm

Poetry reading by Randall Couch
at 6 pm

Tags: art, photography, exhibition, philadelphia, collage

This is my first post about our new neighborhood.

It’s been just two weeks since we moved into walking distance of our studio. Now we will have many new adventures. We can’t wait.

I would like to say that we have a neighborhood name like Bella Vista, or Old City, or Northern Liberties. But it seems we aren’t quite anything yet. Some people refer to the area as Graduate Hospital… but that’s night accurate and doesn’t feel right either. Maybe we’ll have to work on a name even if it is just for us.

We were walking around the new neighborhood checking out the architecture, looking for the little gems we could watch as the seasons change and we came upon this door. I thought maybe it was a store entrance, no a restaurant or bar or coffeehouse. The whole entrance was very honest in its appearance. Inviting comfortable. What kind of food? — Some kind of fusion cuisine of course. But what could this word be? Rall, Rass, Roll? Just couldn’t figure it out.

I’ll google it.

Then just a block up we found this:

Tags: signs, tags, graffitti, design, culture, neighborhood

I’m running around with a tape measure and M is recording the measurements. Moving is an adventure. We have done it many times. I often feel like we are pulling the tent stakes up, rolling up the rugs and loading up the camels — heading to some new place for the season.

This move is more like a distant move. For the first time since I moved to Philadelphia we will be moving away from the great green Northwest of the city. We will be moving into a more urban atmosphere. Walking to work and the grocery store, and everywhere.

I’m looking forward to documenting this change.Back to packing.

Tags: philadelphia, urban, moving, city iving

OK Then. This is Chris Lehmann he is the principal of Science Leadership Academy a PUBLIC school in Philadelphia. He is a friend and an inspiration. At IgnitePhilly you have 5 minutes and 20 slides to tell your story. Chris talks so fast he only needed 4. Watch this video he says it best.

This is the same way we think at Stellarvisions our work is life long kindergarten. Discovery through play that answers the problems we want to solve.

Don’t you wish every school had Chris at the helm? It could if we take his lead and change our system.
Why isn’t every school an MIT media lab?

Tags: education, ignitephilly, philladelphia, schools, school reform” “education 2.0

Unisys is a cry baby.

Why exactly were they coming to Philadelphia, to hang a big sign off a building, or to become part of a vibrant urban area?
If all they needed was a big sign in town they could have bought some advertising space.

Historically companies have had their name on a building because they built the building and were the largest occupant of the space. PSFS, which is kept as part of an historic building, the Pan Am building in nyc… hem hem where is the Chrysler sign on the Chrysler building?

If the sign was a breaker for the deal I think there wouldn’t have been a deal. Are you trying to say that for a measly 225 employees they get a sign more than 600 square feet? Sheesh invest in the city — build your own building and move your whole operation in town and put up your sign.

Philadelphia needs to respect itself and it’s skyline. It’s time for Philadelphia to decide if it will continue to fill its skyline with billboards for business. With ugly buildings, with big box casinos. We already have some of the ugliest lighted signs attached to the facades of some of our uglliest buildings. Ugly + Ugly = super UGLY.

Tags: unisys, philadelphia, signs, architecture, place planning,

The Boston Globe and 140 Seconds on Twitter

In case you haven’t seen it yet, Twitter is a micro-sharing website
where you describe in 140 characters or less what you’re up to. You can
send and receive messages via SMS (text messages) on your phone,
through Twitter’s website and third-party applications such as Twitterific.
If you want to talk “with” someone on Twitter, you add @theirusername
to the front of the message and it shows up in the person’s replies
tab. This was a feature that was added several months after Twitter
first launched in 2006 based upon how people ended up actually using
the service. That’s been the consistent story for Twitter — it’s
definitely evolved beyond “I’m making an omelet for breakfast” to now
include sharing info about late breaking news, making plans with a group of cohorts, etc.

BTW, Biz Stone is a co-founder of twitter.

This is a great place to experiment in the social network space. It’s sorta like it use to be in the old days. Sorta free wheeling, unexpected, and fun.

Tags: twitter.SMS, social networks, culture, 140, technology