Letterpress Class at Kala, Handsetting type!!!!

Yay Letterpress! The good old Vandercook. Today was my Handsetting Type class, and it was awesome.







Learning to read backwards and upside down!





Nerding out over the fact that they have tons of GARAMOND!!!! I <3 Garamond. It is my favorite font and I will be using it in my project.






Classmates Kate and Cindy cranking out some prints.






Our setup. We brainstormed and came up with the topic of Dreams, and each wrote a line. I will scan and post a picture of the broadside we made later. This was so much fun! I missed the press.

Misc. pictures

This is a funny bike in the garage here.Just thought I would share. :)



The view from downtown Oakland where I spent a day exploring. Beautiful mountains!




For you, Jordan Hood. This is the Ikea in Emeryville, there is a free shuttle that goes right to it, and there is a Mac store right down from it. Apparently there is a restaurant in it too. I don't know if they have that in all of them but I thought that was interesting.

Kala

This is a cool plant or bush or something that has what looks like a bouquetgrowing right out of the middle of it!



My cubby!



My flatfile!




The book arts supply section at Blick's art supply.

Keepin on keepin on

I have regretfully fallen a little behind on my blog, but I will forgive myself since I have been so busy! The past few days have been pretty nuts. The bad stuff first: my supplies took forever, there was a very assholic "manager" at the UPS who threatened to reject my packages, after informing me there would be an extra fee on top of shipping fees. I, however, was proactive and had UPS intercept the driver and have the stuff sent to Kala instead, which delayed it another day but prevented extra charges.

The next day, my hard drive just up and died. Kaput. VERY BAD TIMING! I spent a couple of days getting that semi-resolved. Basically I got a new hard drive, kept the old one so I can get the data later.

I finally was able to get started on my work, doing a bit of scanning and editing. Unfortunately, I will have to redo all the work for the two portrait commissions I had finished. But it won't take long now since I have done it once.

I can't remember which day it was, but a few days ago I went by the BART to a town called Lafayette, which is North East of Oakland. It was my first time actually riding the BART, and it was pretty cool, to get somewhere so fast and cheap! I was looking for a trail head that I found online, but I never could find it. It was pretty hot that day, and very sunny! I thought I would die before I reached anything worthwhile, but I knew I HAD to shoot that day, come hell or high water. At least so I had a start.

So I rode around until I saw a sign for the Lafayette Reservoir, and decided, what the hell, I will go check that out! So I rode down to the opening, and started up the hill. Little did I know it was a pretty damn good hike just up to the reservoir itself. I basically stopped every 20 feet or so to rest and drink. Halfway up that hill, I stopped in some shade to eat my lunch and breathe. I felt like such a wuss, but I was not giving up. I definitely had the wrong shoes on for this adventure, but no way I was turning back. I don't know if you are getting this, but I was not giving up!

Once I got to the reservoir, I decided to ditch the bike, seeing that the hike would continue since I was planning to shoot in the woods. I locked it up, leaving my drink in the drink holder and not noticing until I got pretty high up. I did stop to take several pictures of the water and the mountains from that view, and I have to say, it was breathtaking.

I hiked up the trail, looking for a secluded but beautiful place to shoot, that wouldn't be too far off the path in case I was bit my a spider or snake, or attacked by something. I once almost fell off the side of a small cliff, and immediately became covered from foot to waist in those little burr things. I was getting pretty frustrated because every time I started shooting, a gaggle of hikers came by talking really loudly and at one point someone screamed "whooooooo",in the same way you might hear someone scream at a concert when they are really getting into the show. I felt it was uncalled for and messing with my groove, and of course everyone should have been quiet and stayed away. They were not screaming at me by the way, it came from far off. Just to clear that up.

I decided to leave my first site and found this WONDERFULLY magical tree with moss all over it and started shooting there. It was a little more secluded there and I wasn't leaving that spot. I actually hope to go back soon. I was terribly hungry, hot, and in a lot of pain from the hike and climbing all over the tree, but I was, say it with me, *determined!* So I stayed until I at least felt like I had a few images I could work with, and then headed back.

Though I felt exhausted and painfully sore and smelly, I also felt good that I stuck to it and didn't give in to my frustrations. So I will stop there so I can put some pictures here and start a new entry with the next days.

Oh yea, I saw wild turkeys on the trail.

Day 3...exploring

So I have been getting aquainted with getting around town and where everything is. I am biking everywhere which is different, but I actually like it. I feel like I have more energy now after the 3rd day of it. I have been finding all sorts of good food, which is of course a very important part of a new place.

Yesterday I had a delicious meal, at a place called Mint Leaf which you can see pictures of above. The Pad Thai was amazing, and the spring rolls were as well. The spring rolls were fresh ones with fried ones inside! The best of both worlds. The place was also a juice bar, and I ordered the Refresher, aka apple, mint and cucumber! And it certainly lived up to its name. I was disappointed when it was gone. It made me remember how much I love fresh juices like that. The service was really good and if you are in Berkeley you should go there.

Today I went all over the place just exploring. First I went to a thrift store called Clausen House Thrift Store, and what is cool about it is they support this place http://www.clausenhouse.org/ that helps developmentally challenged people. They were really nice there and I found one thing I may use in my shoot tomorrow. Here is the website for the shop if anyone is interested. http://www.chniftythrift.com/

Next I biked on over to Rockridge, a cool area with a lot of shops and restaurants and people everywhere, with the mountains as background. It was too expensive for my budget, but it was cool to go in and look around the shops for a while.

On the way back, biking down Telegraph, which is the main street that I stay around, I stopped at a corner store that advertised vegan items. This was kind of a hole in the wall type store, but had vegan cheese, snacks, ALL kinds of stuff. I got some yummy smelling bread called Zaatar and some fresh fruit.

Moving farther down Telegraph, right beside the street I am staying on was a Mediterranean market. I found Belgian chocolates that are shaped like pringles, with rice crisps in them. I left with those and a few dolmathes. This place has falafel, hummus, all that stuff, really cheap. The part I didn't like was walking past the animals hanging up in the back of the store.

There are a lot of Middle Eastern stores and shops in this area, as well as Ethiopian. The smells all around me as I bike around are amazing, it just smells like spices and food everywhere. There is such a diverse population here. And I was very happy to see two gay men holding hands today, just walking down the street. I have rarely ever seen that.

When I was walking around Berkeley yesterday I saw this where someone had written in wet cement on the sidewalk.
"Find hope in the darkest of days and focus on the brightest" Dalai Lama

Then I saw these 2 cute doggies sitting outside the grocery store and had to snap a pic.

Inside this grocery, called The Berkeley Bowl, were the most yummy looking cupcakes. Vegan. Yes, I am vastly amazed at the amount of food for me here. Maybe I will stop taking pictures of all the cool food I see soon. Probably not. I also took a picture of the chocolate donut I found at whole foods.

Oh yea. There is no sales tax on food here, and it is much cheaper to eat healthy here than back home.

So, basically the past couple of days have been me exploring the areas around me and getting to know where things are and what is going on. I found out Oakland Pride is tomorrow so I am thinking of stopping by there. I am ready to get to work, but waiting on supplies, although I have to shoot before I can do anything. Stay tuned for more to come about what all is going on! I will be taking more pictures as I explore and start my work.

Love to all!

Biker's remorse

(This is my view from the balcony)

Today was my first day in sunny California. This morning my roomie took me to the AMAZING Whole Foods and I got groceries, while marveling at how AWESOME it is. She showed me around a little and then I was on my own, her being on her way to San Diego.

She is so graciously letting me use her bike while I am here, which is really different for me because in Memphis, though biking is becoming much more common, it is definitely not something I am used to. I had to put air in the tires, and found it pretty difficult to find a gas station! I eventually saw a Goodyear Tire place and stopped by asking if the guy would put air in it for me. He joked "we only do cars!" and then said "I'm just kidding...bring it over."So I got aired up and was on my way towards the BART station.

Having never ridden a train like that, I wasn't sure what to expect. Once I got there the lady recommended I take the free shuttle, and I am all about free! So I took a shuttle (bus) from Oakland to Berkeley, and promptly got lost. My GPS was sending me in circles and then died. So, I asked for directions from some funny guys in greasy clothes who were exclaiming over a forklift running into a fence. They basically gave me the right streets and everything but told me the streets were in the direction I had come from. So I was almost back to Oakland before I stopped and called Kala.

Finally! I made it to Kala and signed my contract. I am officially and artist-in-residence. By the time I got there, my ponytail holder had snapped, leaving my hair to whip around into my face and tangle up into a rats nest. My butt is so sore from the seat I can barely sit on it. My hands are going numb, because that's what fibro hands do when you keep them in the same position for a long time. My shoulders and neck hurt from the flight and carrying bags around yesterday, and are even worse today. Even my stomach muscles hurt from biking, and my legs and knees are about to go on strike.

The way back, I decided, had to be much easier. I also decided that I would bike all the way back just so I could see how it was. Going back was much easier! It is not a bad bike ride at all, especially since it is 68-70 here. Go ahead, be jealous.

So I decided that I will most likely bike it to and from because it is easy enough and will get me the exercise I need to counteract the donuts and crazy good food surrounding me.

I like Oakland, it is actually a lot like midtown Memphis. And Berkeley smells like coffee and lumber! The people have all been super nice so far, and I have only encountered one scary man and one drug dealer shouting "wanna try somma this" as I whizzed past him on the bike. A few most likely mentally ill people talking to themselves but who doesn't do that now and then. I feel pretty comfortable.

The people at Kala are very nice, and I have my orientation tomorrow morning. I can't wait to get started working! The facilities are in the old Heinz ketchup factory and it is really cool.

I don't actually have any remorse about my day, but my body does! I kind of wish I had planned my route a little better but I think actually it worked out great because I know my way around a little now. It is really beautiful here, seeing mountains in the background is amazing. The sun is really bright and there are no clouds.

Right now, all I want to do is take a hot bath, put on pj's, and chill out and cuddle with the puppy, and eat food the rest of the night. Tomorrow, orientation, and planning. This weekend, REDWOODS!