DECEMBER MIX

christmastime fun!!! + "Can't Hurry Love"- the Supremes

_{list follows clockwise order starting at bottom left.}

√ Go to museums with friends and/or family! I'm personally excited to go to the Nature museum that has dinosaur exhibitions and thousands of minerals and rocks on display. Going to museums reminds me of being a kid.

√ Put on new or old Hannah Barbara cartoons, like the Jetsons or the Powerpuff Girls. Then commence knitting and/or crocheting and tea consumption.

√ Listen to: Diana Ross and the Supremes, Scott Walker, Jens Lekman, Sigur Ros, and Curtis Mayfield- music that sounds cheery and has a holiday mood, but doesn't mention "mommy kissing santa clause" at all, thank god. Here's my Christmas mix from last year if you're in the mood for actual Xmas songs.

√ Christmas garlands

√ Make your own perfume or mixed teas using loose leaf blends and muslin.

√ Have a horchata party! Horchata is a South American libation that is made of rice, vanilla, and cinnamon that is a great alternative for eggnogg h8ers. When I hear the line in the Vampire Weekend song "In December drinking horchata..." it really makes me want to make and drink horchata in December. Here's a recipe!

√ While you're having your Horchata party, why not make flower crowns as well?!

√ Holiday baking! I want to make these quasi Rice Krispie squares that are made up of Fruit Loops and COCONUT RUM! So festive! 

Get Found// Bass Drum of Death

_{Weekend jam courtesy of Bass Drum of Death}

Girl in a Fur Coat// Lucian Freud

_{Girl in a Fur Coat, Lucian Freud, 1967}

I bet that this painting was an inspiration for Marc Jacobs' Fall 2010 collection; the fur collar, mussed hair, the color palette...look.

Allison Schulnik "Mound" + Scott Walker

Allison Schulnik's "Mound" video was shown during illustration class today. Right when it started I recognized the musical accompaniment to be Scott Walker. It's Raining Todaywas a song that I'd hear at home all the time as a kid. The song reminds me of the blue hour, cold nights before the new year, walking alone...it's a song that would make me feel scared and spooked out. I also seem to associate the mood of this song to Christmastime. 

It made me very excited that Allison Schulnik chose this song to make a video for. Her clay figures that are constantly morphing; growing collections of little holes and smears of rainbows, make for the perfect visual to the haunting sound of It's Raining Today.

Arnaud Maggs//photographer

Arnaud Magg's way of observing the world is very interesting. I saw some of his portaits and journals at the National Art Gallery this past summer when I went there to go see the Van Gogh exhbition, but to be honest, I was much more excited about seeing Magg's work. 

Pages from "Werner's Nomenclature of Colours" were displayed along with his works. The pages show records of environments that corresponded with a color swatch. Details of what it was and where he found it were also written down.

In Arnaud Maggs' photography series, the subjects are shot head on, then with their head turned to the side. What I found very interesting was how different a perspective you get of someone's face when you observe it at different angle. The change in facial features from one shot to the next made the same person look like two different people. It also helped that this was the first time I'd ever seen the faces of the subjects...it brings up the idea of how a 2D image cannot fully represent the character of someone's face...it flattens it. In visual art, the idea of single-perspective observation is interesting, especially when doing a self-portrait. Evan Penny's (at the AGO now!) distored sculptures show exactly how single perspective observation while working with a 3D medium can really flatten the face; creating shallow depth.



Arnaud Maggs passed away this week, which is what made me want to write a bit of a comemmoration.

Curtis Mayfield// Makings of You

Add a little sugar, honeysuckle and a great big expression of happiness...with a dozen roses!

Curtis Mayfield will make you feel happy if you weren't before. I love the weird tube tv graininess of this video. So low quality but Curtis's live performance is flawless.