the reflection room

I had a meeting with anyone who was confused or wanted to be involved last Friday and it was so great to have the opportunity to talk with and feed cookies to a table full of people I respect about my ideas and how they want to be involved. Joe acted out his potential role as the life-size vacuum-manatee stuffed animal, Will requested an extensive use of attach-able beards, and Dani bravely signed up to be a Conductor.

Cutest conversation of the meeting:
(during the topic of food, and having a room as part of the installation for a "reception" of sorts?)
EMILY: the food could be in the "reflection room" where people go after the installation to reflect about the event.
JOE: and it could be filled with mirrors!

JOE: You should have food that is weird. Like, goldfish, suspended, in something.
ALIYA: Like Jello!? alive goldfish? or the little crackers?
JOE: (unsure)
(everyone discusses how one could use a hamster-ball, or Ian's rice-cooking-sphere, or small cups or plastic bags to encapsulate plastic or real or cracker goldfish in jello. or hang them from the ceiling)
EMILY: We could make CORNBREAD.... out of CHOCOLATE!
JOE: You should make STRAWBERRIES..... out of FROSTING!

Joe later volunteers to be the person that "carves" a large ginger-bread house into little chunks so that guests could eat the left wall or the chimney of the mini-ginger-bread version of the installation.

{{A special thank you to Elizabeth for making sure I didn't continue to add random things to the cookies and make them taste like rocks, which is how most of my normal-recipe-cookies turn out.}}

Thank you all who came out to the meeting and I'm getting really excited to keep going and make things happen. This weekend's plan is to finish some "packets" that will have patterns and fabrics and instructions for other people to start sewing some stuffed animals together. It's a snap! It's a breeze! You can sew in class or on a bus! I can't wait to see these animals infiltrate the world around me...

Also exciting is the development of the UNIFORMS and sharp lookin' BADGES & INSIGNIAS! March 13 (the "dress rehearsal" of the performance part of "entering" people into this art-world) is fast approaching! A bit scary, but really, I needed a deadline to kick my butt a bit.

SOOO. If you've been waiting to participate, now's the time! Tell your friends! and also tell me! The band of Art-Conductors is forming NOW, and you don't want to miss this.

talk to you soon,
aliya

fabric mountain

February has been super busy, in that I'm doing so many things and so few all at the same time. I'm also paranoid that it's already over, being the shortest month and all, so it's the most deceptive. Some thoughts and recent happenings:

• VERY EXCITING: My First Sponsor! A few weeks ago I wrote to the owner of this online-fabric-store requesting a donation of fabric or extra materials. I have been getting to know Angela, a past Elsewherian artist, and a current artist living in Northampton, and an employee at ReproDepot Fabrics. Julia at storefrontART encouraged me to just ask her for a donation, so I used my Professional Letter Writing Skills I have been extensively developing in the past 2 months, and just asked! And in return, I got to swim in the sea of....
  
  ...the room that houses all the kinda-old, maybe-moldy, probably-won't-be-sold fabric! I am really incredibly thankful and so excited to start using all these fabrics I was given. Awesome uniforms, badges, tents, stuffed animals, sleeping-bag-adornments...woahwoahwoah.
• INSTALLATION-A-DAY: For the month of February I've taken on making one installation per day. I was inspired by an assignment in a class I almost decided to take, but I'm not. I'm documenting it (for now) on facebook, but here are a few of my favorites so far: organizing the refridgerator by color (this is the purple shelf) infiltrating Target and re-arranging the valentines day aisle throughout the store a valentines-making mess in my studio a sweater-fort hanging above my bed made of all the sweaters I've been wearing this winter.
  
• GETTING GOING ALREADY (I'M STILL WAITING): I've been calling and writing and waiting to hear back about where (some ideas: barns, office spaces, storefronts, warehouses, old houses, basements, a tent-city) and when I can show my installation. I've been feeling really stopped, and in the meantime have been really busy, but I've been stuck on one level, not moving forward with my artwork or plans because I'm waiting to find a space, set a day, and go from there. But I realized that I can't wait any more because real-life time is so much slower than college-deadlines-and-graduate time. So while I'm going to start calling and searching people out tomorrow, in the mean time I'm not waiting anymore. I'm going to start with the parts that aren't attached to a specific place -- of which there are a lot more than I could think about when I was busy being overwhelmed by the whole project -- and just go go go. No more time for no-plans, only time for making and going and doing. Collaborators, I'm sorry I've left you hanging for so long! I'm ready and I hope you are too now.
  
• (WEBSITE): (I have been working on making a professional website. Fortunately or not, this is turning into a huge learning activity. So the website is still pretty lame, and you can't see it yet. But I'm still very proud, so if you ask I'll probably show you anyways.)
  
• BEEN BUSY WEARING ALL RED AND PURPLE...as usual I guess. I convinced Julia to join me for Valentine's Day!!
• GOODNIGHT! ahh, I knew this would end up taking me a long time... oh well.
  

shit.

Important Group of Very Nice Insurance Agents and Agencies and People have made their verdict: the idea of having lots of people, or even just me, inside this building which is not up to code at all is not a very safe idea they think, and so I can't use 98 King Street. Or at least, I can't use the inside. Supposedly the outside is still a possibility. But, really? more murals? why does everyone freaking love murals?

Not to degrade murals. They are awesome. In other situations.

onto PLAN B. um...

(why are my expectations always so incredibly high?)

snow walk with emily and luke