Wide Angle's Opening Night!

Wide Angle Youth Media just moved into a fabulous new green building on North Howard in Remington.

On Wednesday night we had a grand opening party!!

Originally planned to be outside in the courtyard with Bocce ball and the outdoor fireplace, we had to move everything indoors due to the first Nor'Easter of the season . . . No worries, we still had some killer cider and a great turn-out!

The students screened two of their productions for the attendees, who had great feedback and discussion.

It was a wonderful night!

The Birds . . .

In one of our much-too-short classes with Professor Sam Holmes, we watched the Alfred Hitchcock movie, The Birds. A classic, yes, but silly and ridiculous, too. This movie is interesting for several reasons, but primarily because the movie is not about the birds. The birds are secondary to the real focus, the relationships between the human characters.

Our assignment was to create a response piece to this movie. So, I teamed up with Ashby and Robert to do a performance piece. More images can be found here. What a fabulously good time . . .

Mom always said, "Don't jump rope in the school."

More Cookies!

My graduate program isn't particularly difficult, but it is taxing in a variety of ways. So, in an effort to keep my sanity, I have turned to baking once a week. I have purchased more butter in the past month than I have in the past five years.

The recipes I gravitate towards are not unusual or built for master chefs. They are, in part, traditional stand-bys, comforts of childhood. It's quite calming to focus on stirring, beating, cracking, or measuring. Really, I am just giving myself reason to cook through my favorite cookbook: I Like You.

What's funny is I don't even eat these creations, I just freeze them for a later date . . . What gives?!!

Today's feature is a generic standard in most households, but I hadn't made these yummies in a very long time. So, I present to you: Chocolate Chip Cookies, as written by Amy Sedaris.



2 sticks unsalted butter
3/4 cup of sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 tesaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cups flour
3/4 cup chopped pecans (I used almonds.)
18 ounces semisweet chocolate chips (1.5 bags)

Beat butter and sugars together.
Add eggs and vanilla.
Gradually add flour, salt, soda.
Stir in the chocolate chips and nuts.

Chill.

Roll into small balls and flatten in palm of hand "so it looks like a flattened crab cake or medicated face pad". Place on greased cookie sheet.
Bake for about 9 - 11 minutes at 375 degrees.

Oh, one of the greatest weekends!

Worked all night on Friday to get things done for school . . . Worked in the ceramics lab all day on Saturday . . . Rewarded Saturday night with a party-invite by my landlord . . . Lantern-making on Sunday!

Isn't Fall the greatest time of the year??!!

YMF Orientation . . .

This week we had student orientation at Wide Angle Youth Media, my internship site for my graduate program. I am the Festival Instructor. I teach with Siobhan Marie and David Sloan. On Wednesday night, I held a book deconstruction/reconstruction workshop for the students. On Thursday, we had a party! The instructors cooked breakfast-for-dinner for the students: we had chocolate chip pancakes--complete with syrup and whipped cream, bacon, and fruit salad. David and Siobhan led the students in storyboarding and shooting a new intro for BeMore TV. And, I taught the students how to transform space with a simple technique: finger weaving. We all had such a great time! I am looking forward to working with all of my students at Wide Angle Youth Media.

2010's Youth Media Festival is going to rock the house!

Tim takes on the Pecan Street Festival!

Because I am attending MICA in Baltimore and plan to stay here for the foreseeable future, I was not able to participate in this Fall's Pecan Street Festival in Austin. Usually I organize and create the Capital One Kids' Art Tent, a free art-making experience for festival-going youth. So, I asked my friend, Tim Creswick, if he would be interested in doing it and he jumped at the chance! Tim and I were in the same Learning Tuscany program during the summer of 2008. And, I knew that he was very outgoing and good at organizing events.

Below are a few images he shared with me about his experience running the Capital One Kids' Art Tent.

Evaluation, anyone?

Our newest edition to the MACA reading list . . . Interested? Purchase your copy here.

Baltimore's TOXIC Tour.

On Saturday, I had fantastic luck. I was privileged to meet and spend the day with Glenn Ross.


Mr. Ross is a community activist working for citywide betterment, breaking down the disconnect step-by-step.

Mr. Ross took Ashby and I on a tour throughout East Baltimore, showing us how contamination is still threatening neighborhoods and how community-built green spaces have pulled neighbors together, raising the spirits of everyone.


Just one of the many garden spaces now in East Baltimore. You can view more pictures here.

Typhoon Ondoy.

My friend Katti is from the Filipines. Last week, a typhoon hit her country.

Here is part of the email I received from Katti: "The Philippines was hit by a killer typhoon over the weekend. One of the hardest hit was my city, Marikina, where my dad and brother live. I was able to talk to them through my dad's cell phone last Saturday and they said they were fine. The first floor of the house was flooded up to the eyebrows. The fridge floated and the car was submerged. My dog swam. I have to call them again to see if they're still doing ok because I just heard in the news that there's a tropical depression coming (which basically means more rain). I am hoping they have access to drinking water and food. There was no electricity or land-line telephone communication as of Sunday."

I am asking for your help. If you are able to donate, please follow this link.

Photos of the devastation are below.

Article on B'more in the NYTimes.

Come and visit! The New York Times loves B'more!

My cat, Sam.

This is Sam.

I became the proud owner of Sam in September of 1993, while enrolled at the University of North Texas in Denton. She was going to be tossed because she was the runt and the pet store owner would not take her. My roommate Katherine stashed her away in the Sunglass Hut, where she worked, until I was available to pick her up. When she came home with me, she was smaller than our cordless phone.

She used to ride around on my shoulder: to take the garbage out, to study at my desk, while sitting on the couch . . . She was so wild back then! She would crawl up anything (person or thing) that was standing still, just like a squirrel or a bear--using all four legs. She played soccer with milk jug tops, and fetched fan chains and twist ties--she still does! She has even spent time in kitty jail at the Humane Society in Franklin, Tennessee. She's kind of a bad-ass . . .

Sam has been my pet and friend now for 16 years. So, today, I wish her a very happy birthday!

To another 16!

Gallery Opening, October 1st.

En Remembrance Du Bleu


Now showing in Falvey Hall Gallery, in Brown--the big glass building--on MICA's campus.


Master of Arts in Community Arts, Class of 2010

Baltimore City.

Why it's important for me to be here and why I love it so much . . .

Boys of Baraka

BELIEVE

Raise it Up

John Waters

Billie Holiday

Show Announcement.

Oatmeal Cookies: Steel-Cut-Style.

Can oatmeal cookies be made with organic steel cut oats?

There are at least two things I have learned from being an artist:
1. Everything is considered research: magazine reading, watching television, teaching, and cooking.
2. Experimentation is absolutely necessary.

So, in an effort to combine the two, this evening I made cookies.


Initially when I got home, I was exhausted. Teetering between taking a quick nap or just pushing through the tired, I decided to push through by making oatmeal cookies. Only I didn’t have any rolled oats, only the steel cut variety. What to do?

Make lemonade from lemons.

Here's the recipe:

OATMEAL COOKIES, using steel cut Irish oats
3/4 cup butter
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups steel cut Irish oats


In a fabulous big bowl, mix together all of the ingredients.

Drop rounded teaspoons 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake in a 375 degree oven for 10 – 12 minutes, until edges are golden brown.


I just pulled the cookies out of the oven and they look delish!

Enjoy! YUM!

Finished Helicopter #1.

Come and see!

ENTER/FACE
FACING NEW CHALLENGES WITH COMMUNITY
MASTER OF ARTS IN COMMUNITY ARTS (MACA)
SEPTEMBER 25-OCTOBER 5
RECEPTION OCTOBER 1, 7PM-9PM
MICA, BROWN CENTER, LOWER LOBBY AND 2ND FLOOR ROSENBERG

Artists: LINDSEY BAILEY, HANNAH BRANCATO, BARBARA JOANN COMBS, CHRISTINA COOKE, HOLLY CRAWFORD-SEAY, SARAH EDELSBURG, MICHELLE FAULKNER, ROBERT FITZGERALD, ASHBY FOOTE,QUENTIN GIBEAU, NORA HOWELL, NATAKI MCNEAL BHATTI, ZOE REZNICK GEWANTER, KATTI STA. ANA, NATALIE TRANELLI, JESSIE UNTERHALTER

In June 2009, we embarked upon our formal education in the field of community arts. Central to our own learning, we taught art-making with youth in eight sites across Baltimore city. Simultaneously, we began to define our processes as individual community artists.

Each of us crossed the threshold to explore our relationship within the context of community, mapping the interface by:

Identifying critical issues
Forming new relationships
Unpacking preconceptions
Communicating hope

This work reflects on the challenges we face with community related to education, youth development, racism, environmental concerns, public health and other issues of social justice. Together, we create a connective platform where we pose the metacognitive question: what is community art?