colorish dreams

Been Reading and my eyes been going out

2011-12-07T21:10:00.000-08:00

thin wirm frames, gandhi-esque & utilitarian

A LOT. More than is healthy, just kidding, reading can't kill you, right? My eyes, are getting worse though--uping my prescription in January, when the good ole "h-i" gets kicking in. Thinking about new frames, but staying within the budget of $130. Let the search begin.

plain
& striking

Anyways, I'm looking for something simple, that will stay at the bridge of my nose, and something i feel good wearing. Light, simple, durable. Not too eye-catching, but a style that is different, a bit unique in its own style. Not too round, but not rectangular. No plastic. Wire if possible. And under $130.

Reading List for Fall/Winter 2011:

A Game of Thrones. Hooked immediately. Don't know if I have the energy to go through all SIX books, an epic tale, but I really am enjoying George R.R. Martin's writing. I like how he depicts the young girls. Definitely has its clique archtypes, but he is good at character-building and inspires my own storytelling. Gotta learn from this guy!!!! My dad is excited to talk "Thrones" with me, he already read all of them and watched the First Season. He's on it, blue bonnet.

Banana Yoshimoto's Goodbye Tsugumi seems a sad tale about two friends that never were. The opening pages feel melancoly and nostagic, which Banana does very well and her novels have a consistant feel. Yoshimoto falls into the Haruki Murakami, even if he seems to be a genre of his own. Murakami graciously extends his hand and Yoshimoto, holding hands with Cynthia Kadohata, snuggle all together in a matchbox. Though the same feel, Kitchen and GT differ in the fact that GT is not a memoir of Yoshimoto's life.

The Golden Compass series. If you haven't read it, you probably should. I personally really enjoy when authors build entire worlds for their characters to live in.

Do you like to read? What are your favorites? I might not have read them, always love suggestions and recommendations!

I'm also writing a story about a girl who is from a lineage where magic is passed down from generation to generation, where they like it or not. This is a story about a young girl named Lucy who dares to decide if that curse is true with her or not. This piece jumps from Lucy to her granddaughter Emma and her daughter and Emma's mother Lilyrose.

You can read it www.theundeniables.org/amisachiu. Thanks, I'm excited about this story. Keep in mind that these are my rough drafts. Nothing can be reposted or copied without my written permission. If you would like to, email me! thankssssssss

Tiff & I are going on a girlsssss trip. I am exciteeeeed. Music, singing, chillin in hot tubs, perrier and fruit pops, sand-duned waters, seals. Gitty.

--a(nn)'misa

learning in the middle of the night

2011-12-03T01:08:00.000-08:00

a different thought process for a different moment: just trying to stay open to my readings of the Bible, in hopes that I will understand it, and life, more clearly. For many years i did not referred to the Bible as a honest place for truth, but recently I have begun to put my faith in it and now believe in its knowledge.

Summary & Reading: The-then king of Judah, Asa, heard the Spirit of God-filled prophecy of Azariah son of Oded say, "Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin.

The Lord is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you."

[II Chronicles 15: 2, Holy Bible]

King Asa took courage in his seeking after the Lord, God of Israel, by making sacrifices, removing the idols and entering a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and soul.

Thoughts: Maybe I should dive into Chronicles more. Perhaps the answers to my deepest heart questions lay within the ancient stories of my early Christian ancestors, maybe not, maybe I need to read everything to see where the answers that resonate with my heart and soul come from.

There is hope in this chapter. Hope that if you seek God (and when I write God, I mean to express the hope in understanding the embodiment of the deepest, truest longing of truth, light, hope, peace, love, goodness, etc, all melded into one energy, one force, one God. Some say the creator God, some say the Lord, some say ultimate consciousness), you will find him. It also emphasizes that "he will be found by you (emphasis mine)," meaning that God is not necessarily on a hunt for you, but that you should be on a hunt for him. Perhaps he yearns to be in relation with you, to know you intimately, to understand each other and communicate with each other. But if you wish to know him, you must activately seek him.

This is my lesson for myself. The active search, but also that if I forsake God, then the equal promise back is that he will turn his back upon me. How frightening and yet reassuring, that God is just. The symbiotic nature of "is with you when you are with him" is fair, steady and a relationship with boundaries. God is as you are, a mirror to your soul.

Please be patient with me. This is my own interpretation for my own understanding.

di wee garden!

2011-10-31T22:53:00.000-07:00

tomatoers. imagine these are the cuttings that alex's mom gave me in a mushroom container!

haven't had a harvest yet, but i get two or three tomatoes a week. got to pick them before the racoons!

i got into gardening and horticulture last year when i got to grow and harvest a

plant. from seedling to full size plant.

And then i was hooked.

A little water, some sunlight, dirt, and poof! fruit.

i saw god in the process. it was too amazing to me.

so i started planting the seeds from the foods i was eating. i eat all of vegetables, i love vegetables, so naturally vegetables are the things i'm interested in growing. i love herbs too. there is nothing like a fresh cut arugala, basil, mint, romaine lettuce salad with tomatos and a twist of lime. Throw on a chili and some sesame/shoyu/rice vinegar and you are set for lunch, my friend.

a gardening guru i know once told me to plant a lot of lettuces, because you can eat for days!

red cabbage, chives, romaine lettuce and cosmic purple carrots
MONETA NURSEY IS THE BOMB.

really quality (and affortable) starter plants if want to get a head start on the more heartier veggies.
now my garden is crowded, but promising.

a seed bomb experiment
but this ones for the birds!
just a coat of honey and more bird seed.

young agave plant, I hope it continues to grow.
thanks a xtine & u joe.

this is my pop's garden.
he calls it 'his ten-year project'.
the yellow maple in the middle is my favorite tree.

bellpepper$!

i got a bell pepper from Food for Less. It was 75 cents. We chopped it up and stirfried it with beef. I saved the seeds, first drying them out in a paper bag, and then planting them in a little bit of dirt. I watered the seeds two weeks. I used an old eggfoam carton. It eventually makes good little seedlings to plant into a bigger pot or into the ground. Can't believe there are actually bell peppers here.

green onions that I used and then stuck in water. I think green onions like dirt better. Never ending source of green onions.

the minty is more healthy in its new spot. mint likes shady, moist spots with good amounts of sunlight.

plumeria and the tangerines

daisie, daisie
give me your answer due
i'm half
crazy
over the love of you
it won't be a stylish marriage
i can't afford a carriage
but you'll look sweet upon a seat
of a bicycle built for two!

Hope you start a garden too.

neve & the guppyflies

2011-10-20T01:08:00.000-07:00

I've been working on this painting for a few weeks now. It started off as a watercolor experimentation, into a short story and now an expanding idea for a mini-comic. Stay tuned!

adam and eve (?)

2011-10-18T23:21:00.000-07:00

found photo from Mardi Gras circa 1970

2011-10-15T01:30:00.000-07:00

Path&Lullaby
Structural Installation, 2011
Mixed Media: hubcaps, housepaint, cloth, found objects
"Concrete Jungle: Salon at Clifton's"
curated by Melanie Baladato

Sufficed my desire to get out of the 2-D box

thanx moms & dad-bo for coming!

Also, thank you Alex with helping setup/breakdown the installation!

(ur the luv of my lyfe)

close up of the mandelas
each hubcap had a special item attached to it, an item with much meaning

like...
my grandfather collected seashells and made that frame for me when i was 8

Perhaps my favorite piece, don't even know the artist...

Concrete jungle for reals, Chris Hanke, Digital photos

Part of a piece by Tom McDermott, but I liked this part the most.
There was an identical photo on the otherside of the pillar.
I thought it was a little spirit tunnel.
Tom is one of my favorite geniuses.

Fiberoptics installation by Colin Prothro
Made out of plastic milk gallon jugs!

I had a good time at this show. The artists were kind and very thoughtful.

I was thinking that this might be my last show for the season--that winter would be a little bit more introspective mulling and wondering where my projects can go. Still want to start writing my book idea. Going to do that instead of grad school. But still desire to get out of LA--too much smog and traffic.

Antoni and trying to inhabit

2011-10-06T19:53:00.000-07:00

i've been trying harder lately to keep working at my art. this means getting myself to show, to actually sit down and think about proposals and my concept. My art has been very very manic over the years, hopping and skipping about from crocheting, to doodling, to fashion, to photography, to writing and collage. I noticed that in all of that I've always shyed away from performance and sculptural pieces, but I love them so. In fact one of the first major influences on my art path was Janine Antoni's performance called "Loving Care," a body piece where she paints the gallery floor with her long hair. Her hair becomes a brush that sweeps across the ground, her body both the tool and the creator.

All is to say, I've been mustering up the courage to perform. Pushing myself to do public readings (even when I'm not 100% sure about my writing at this point) and dances in public spaces. But also tapping into the age old sculpture work. Maybe the collages aren't cutting it for me in a gallery setting. That there should be something of more density, that takes up the matter in the room more fully, that the space needs inhabiting, not merely decoration. So therefore I will presenting a sculpture for this next show.

The Salon at Clifton's is a great pop-up galleryspace, organized by curator Melanie Baladato featuring local LA artists of all different mediums. It happens alongside the LA Artwalk and its a must-stop as you mowsy around Broadway and Spring Street. Come visit, I'll be there!

Feeding Time, a performance

2011-09-18T23:37:00.000-07:00

The Dance of the Pigeon

ritual and form, a calling, the real name of pigeon must be spoken

my homemade feather rattle.
kept me dancing to something rhythmic, not just the music in my head, or the made up songs about how there were no pigeons or birds on Sunset. I only saw 2 crows circling above us, the whole day.

"Feeding Time" is an installation and performance by A'misa Chiu that happened as apart of the LA Road Concert: Sunset Blvd Edition." About 80 or so artists and collaborators initiated happenings all day Sunday, it was great fun!

glitter feeding mountain
i'm actually really stoked about this sculpture

my other favorite part of this performace was my
Pigeon Lady outfit:
LaurenLuvs single feather earring
black sequin bodysuit in the 'collection'
combat boots
painted pigeon mask
sack of birdseed on belt
feather rattle
russian fur hat with perched stuffed pigeon attached!

seeds, birdies?

AND THEY SAID SURE I'LL FEED THE PIGEONS!

The Spark!

Fellow artists!

Dude!

Alex!

Janice & Jeff!

Alan!

Ladies!

closeup on the pigeons
painted by a'misa and monica matsushima

interests are interesting

2011-09-12T21:15:00.000-07:00

in common with libraries

Interests: anime, biblical studies, breastfeeding, buffy the vampire slayer, church history, classical music, cloth diapers, comic books, connie willis, cosplay, costuming, dar williams, doctor who, dorothy l. sayers, embroidery, fantasy, folk music, great big sea, harry potter, infertility, jane austen, joss whedon, knitting, liberal christianity, librarianship, libraries, lois mcmaster bujold, medieval dance, muppets, mysteries, neil gaiman, npr, pcos, red sox, robin mckinley, roleplaying, sca, science fiction, sewing, social justice, stephen sondheim, terry pratchett, united church of christ

Interests: photography, drawing, making/recording music, blues, jazz, Kentucky bourbon, absynthe, port, wine, cooking, veganism, upholstery, sewing, color theory, semiotics, tradition, etiquette, antiques, thrift stores, libraries, beat poets, american outlaws, US history, greenwich village

Interests: unschooling, homesteading, camping, parenting, sustainable living, natural living, gardening, reading, cooking, beer, wine, thrift stores, baking, outdoors, music, family, sewing by hand, tom hodgkinson, libraries, texas, sewing with a machine :-)

on the road, on the street

2011-08-30T16:37:00.000-07:00

busrides are perfect times to think of art proposals.

this is one i want to do for the

LA Road Concerts: Sunset Blvd edition

on Sept 18, Sunday.

you may or may not see me huddled

in the Blue Minivan Gallery, as I like to call it.

I'll be passing out bits of stale bread for the

hungry; pigeons and people.

swimming with Mr. Giles

2011-08-30T16:23:00.000-07:00

A friend Kelly Giles is currently self-publishing his 2nd book of poetry called "Swimming." These 2 images will be in his book-perhaps even the front cover! Yay for Kelly! I love self-publishers.

A Lifeboat For the Falling, Photo Collage, 2011

The Sinking Ship, Photo Collage, 2011

A Mobile to Lull the Sleepless into Sweet Slumber

2011-08-15T21:41:00.000-07:00

Or Dreamcatcher, Or Nightmarish Fantasy Key Portal, Or Lullaby

I've been having the worst time sleeping this summer. Maybe because I check my email right before bedtime and that stresses me out, or its too hot (I have a bitch of a time sleeping when its hot and sweaty), or I just have too much on my mind, which is why I keep a notebook near my pillow so I can scribble in the darkness all the thoughts and ideas that swirl around and feel a bit of a peace of mind. And I hate taking Nyquil or Drowsy Cough Medicine when I don't need it. I'm beginning to realize that when I used to drink a nightcap of a gin martini, that maybe it was useful, well, at least it knocked me out. Either that, or I must increase my biking habits, so my body is too exhausted to care about the heat or stressful thoughts. Either case being, I stay up until the 4ams. But at least the other day I created something wonderful *at least in my opinion* Perhaps, my favorite art piece for a while....

installation materials:

wire hanger, tacky glue, glitter, found objects (feathers, jewels, old jewelry, oddities...), yarn, stuffing

Creative Life Podcast

2011-08-10T16:08:00.000-07:00

Bursting forth with new ideas and "a game plan" funnywoman and host Jenny Yang interviewed me last month to talk about growing up in the South Bay of LA, how i become an artist, art communities and how fellow creatives can continue to practice art while balancing the rest of their lives....

link: The Creative Life Podcast with Jenny Yang

Please tune in!

Pursuing New Ideas

2011-08-09T05:51:00.000-07:00

Melanie Baladato is curating a new series of one-night-only, Salon-styled art shows at Clifton's Cafeteria in downtown Los Angeles. Her inagural show "In Pursuit of Liberte" featured an eccletic mix of performance, visual, sculptural and new media artists, and took place on the night of LA's monthly Artwalk. It was an honor to be featured amongst some of the most innovative and genre-pushing artists of our time. I'm so happy that so many of my UCSD Visual Art collegues are still currently producing and showing their art.

I hope to participate in future Salon at Clifton's shows.

Here are some of the artworks displayed that night.

6th and Broadway (downtown LA)

New Works by A'misa Chiu
(my original paintings were too... graphic for Clifton's
so I toned down and did some cosmic collages)

A'misa's newest photo collage series "Meanderings" is meant to guide the viewer into a labyrinth of alternative perceptions of liberty and freedom through the lens of the imagination, specifically the whimsical, figmental and bizarre. The movement one must go through in order to find independence as an artist and a freethinker, is navigated through the landscape, whether the cosmic, the city, the country, or a combination of all three.

a performance by Zac Monday

photography by Glenda Jennings

A series of napkin sketches by Van Tran
below: an emphatic performance piece "In Pursuit of Serving"

Cloned Bull: installation by Thomas McDermott

Fabric Installation by Jose Luis Lopez

Scraping off the wax of the candle/fire performance

postcard (in seven parts)

2011-07-25T12:53:00.000-07:00

i. It's been five years since I've last seen you. Three years since I've last loved you. Two years and two months since we last were together. It was midnight then, and the car was parked near the waters cliff and we flopped around like bottom feeders, quite desperate to feel the love we couldn't give each other. The headlights from other cars lit up parts of my person that I wanted to shield away into the shadows.

ii. A series of letters received on the loneliest night of the years. Each homemade card had a number stamped upon it. 1. 2. 3. Un, deux, trois. The slight tilt of the handwriting forced my head to tilt to the side, as I read thoughts thousands of miles away. The night grew less lonely.

iii. Packaged away and stashed in a box, placed in the deep recesses of the walk in closet, next to the dustbunnies and forgotten pairs of house slippers. How do you store it further away without throwing it away? How do you throw away a memory?

ix. Two A.M. I picked up the old photo box and threw it in the blue dumpster. I turned around and never looked back

x. Lines of poetry not captured in books or in journals. The kind of poetry that flows forth because the receiver is willing to cut through all the "how are yous" and "what are you up tos" and swallow the words down that capture the thoughts that evade my tongue in elevators as we wait the ten floors together. The words that I wanted to whispher in her ear as she brushed past me-- she smelled like vanilla bean and tomato plants.

xi. A body is a poem. Your fingers brush along my arms. I get goosebumps.

xii. Hello, I just wrote to say hello.

piped piper

2011-07-25T00:47:00.001-07:00

onwards

2011-07-18T09:28:00.000-07:00

walking toward the light tunnel

measuring the soul against the self

seeing if indeed the earth rounds itself in circles

yes, i am a human

level: difficult

2011-07-12T02:17:00.000-07:00

what do you want to make?

photographic collages and segments of text bound together, with the intention of keeping a cohesion of experience.

what do want the receiver to experience?

images and text provoke a sense of wonderment, pondering, critical questioning of one's role in society, and society itself, dreamlike state-as peaceful and frightening as possible, because that is the reality of human existance. as well as my journey as an artist who is attempting to cross into the academic realm of that which is the craft of books, and writing, with the intention to learn the technologies of the letterpress & other bookbinding equipment.

what processes do you intend to use and why?

using media from the 80-90s, such as National Geographic, Time, and Life, piecing together a narrative, of text and image, as well as considering the binding of this time capulse.

how many do you intend to make?

one. 100 pages, each page will be sections of text/images. the pages will be deemed appropiate in whatever object or form the sections of text/images can be inserted upon.

text may be xeroxed, appropiations from various sources may occur, and found objects will most definitely be there.

what materials do you intend to use and why?

paper scraps, recycled goods, things laying in my garden, Magazines, glue, cardboard, inks made of found objects. crocheted pages.

For Bach, love.

2011-07-08T18:25:00.000-07:00

zine grrrlz

2011-07-07T23:51:00.000-07:00

A couple of months ago I joined the We Make Zines network, to get out of my zine-blues. There I met Disco Deirdree, editor of Gag Me With A.. zine. She is super inspiring in her creative nature, and just the type of spirit I was searching for! It's been quite encouraging to have my collage artworks being published by local zine makers. I encourage you to submit your artworks and writings to local publications and periodicals. Check out duotrope.com or my 'get ur fix' page for links.

Cute care package from dear Disco Deirdree!

Stoked about this hot little zine coming out of Long Beach, love the cut and paste style!

Honored to be a contributor for Issue 2 & Issue 3!

You all should submit too!

keep going

2011-07-07T19:32:00.001-07:00

Leave the dishes.
Let the celery rot in the bottom drawer of the refrigerator
and earthen scum harden on the kitchen floor.
Leave the black crumbs at the bottom of the toaster.
Throw the cracked bowl out and don't patch the cup.
Don't patch anything. Don't mend. Buy safety pins.
Don't even sew in a button.
Let the wind have its way, then the earth
that invades as dust and then the dead
foaming up in gray rolls under the couch.
Talk to them. Tell them they are welcome.
Don't keep all the pieces of the puzzle
or the doll's tiny shoes, don't worry
who uses whose toothbrush or if anything
matches, at all.
Except one word to another. Or a thought.
Pursue the authentic.
Go after it with all your heart.
Your heart, that place
you don't even think of cleaning out.
That closet stuffed with savage mementoes.
Don't sort the paperclips from screws from saved baby teeth
or worry if we're all eating cereal for dinner
again. Don't answer the telephone, ever,
or weep over anything that breaks.
Pink molds will grow within those sealed cartons
in the refrigerator. Accept new forms of life
and talk to the dead
who drift in through the screened windows, who collect
patiently on tops of food jars and books.
Recycle the mail, don't read it, don't read anything
except what destroys
the insulation between yourself and your experience.

-Louise Eldrich

newest paintings

2011-06-30T22:40:00.000-07:00

Stilllife
24'' X 31'' housepaint on canvas

Birth
17' 'X 24'' housepaint on wood

Come stop on by. LA Artwalk July 14, 2011 THURSDAY.

art in context

2011-06-25T19:47:00.000-07:00

what do you want to make?

what do want the receiver to experience?

what processes do you intend to use and why? how many do you intend to make?

what materials do you intend to use and why?

-Shelia de Bretteville, designer at Feminist Studio Workshop

furbies are kinda creepy, and so are armless children

2011-06-24T00:59:00.000-07:00

FURBY'S TRASHPARADE

CHILD [cover]

b.y.o.CANCOZY

2011-06-13T01:29:00.000-07:00

In full F(ree)*art production mode, in preparation for debut F*art show at Tuesday Night Cafe (TNC), I've been spending free moments in the evening crocheting away. Made some pole cozys- left one at Nijiya parking lot (got taken down in 2 days!!!), and saving most of the neon pink, yellow and blue stripe pools for other occasions.

So with yarn on my mind, I was chatting with Linzy (fashion designer, cookie baker, all around cool person) when I noticed that she has a buttercup yellow and white crocheted cozy around her can of beer. She tells me a story about how her boyfriend's auntie's husband told his brother that his grandma made them!! Or at least had them in her house. Grandma knew that our hands always get a bit too cold while clutching onto our drink cans. She solved our problems, even now.

Newest f*art project: Cancozys

avoid "slippery damp hands from wet beercan" handshakes

CANCOZY

chillin' with rosemary

first try, was a bit big... and floppy

directions in decisions and discernment

2011-05-26T05:12:00.000-07:00

the looney bin is a small antique-thrift store on Gardena Blvd, that has been serving the community's desire for antique, vintage, and the odd for the last 30 years. a bicycle ride took us there one day. after buying an old postcard or two, i mustered up the courage to ask if they had any compasses for sale. there was one old, dingy compass in the glass case, and low and behold, it was in my budget ($3).

i have been preparing an emergency survival kit. its a duffle bag with a change of clothes, washcloth and bar of soap, toothbrush and toothpaste, extra socks, can opener, copy of our driver's licenses and passports. it sits next to the emergency first-aid kit that my mom made alex and i for a wedding present. rapture, hurricane, or impending earthquake. we are ready, though if it was the first choice, do we need our passports for heaven?

in a matter of survival, compass was on my list for a long while. now working compass is on my list, as my $3 slurge, is making me a bit insecure. the true north is only sometimes north, which will make trekking out of the wilderness much more difficult. i also have been thinking of a symbol motif for life right now, and i have come to terms with my obsession for directions. many times in our journeys we come to a fork in the road. perhaps its not about making a good decision as it is knowing what is the right direction to walk towards. maybe having a compass is more important than a watch. i thought about a tattoo of a compass, but it wouldn't be a working one. so i'm opting for a necklace compass, one that i can wear and guide me towards a truer north.

the middle of my REM cycle comes during my first class of the day

2011-05-25T11:59:00.000-07:00

i'm not a morning person. i will never post or feign awakeness before 10am. somehow i forgot these when signing up for classes in college. i would confidently sign up for the 8am and the 9am, convincing myself that i would be alert, awake, and learning during these classes.

i told myself, they are classes like the history of photography, myths and ritual art of the subsaharan africa, a study of asian american literature from the 80s to present. these classes interest me. they intrigue me. i want to learn all these things.

i realized, i wanted to learn, yes, but at noon. or better yet at 6pm at night. i will never know how I woke up to catch the bus at 7:45am every morning when working in Atlanta. that is a complete mystery. didn't even miss the bus once, the whole year. wow.

suddenly now, a normal evening doesn't stop until 2 or 3 am, and then suddenly like a brick, my body shuts off. usually my brain is more hyperactive than my body, and i can stay talking and thinking even though my eyes are shut and body unmoving for the last hour or so. i used to believe that i was listening and retaining information, even though i drifted off to sleep every twenty minutes or so. i once believed that i could read those sleeping time notes, and still understand what was being talked about. i had high hopes for myself.

now as i consider graduation programs, i will remember that i can't schedule classes before the 10am mark. i am most awake by 11am, and on top game at 7pm. knowing your body is just as important as trying to learn new information, and better than that, retain that information.

becky stark, you are my musical genius wonderful creature hero

2011-05-24T03:57:00.000-07:00

the rapture didn't happen, but it may someday

2011-05-23T01:33:00.001-07:00

all the better to see you darling

2011-05-22T23:08:00.000-07:00

exploring the alter-realms

2011-05-22T23:04:00.000-07:00

collage has been the medium of choice.

enjoy lovelies.

LA or die.

2011-05-18T18:41:00.000-07:00

homemade signage

turn head to the right-- a heart

blanket papers

swimming hole for the mayor's office

america fuck yah!

PRO-ART @ Anti-mall

2011-05-18T18:23:00.000-07:00

Eyeball Burp has some zines for sale.

xerox posters are a staple around here now

me getting sunburned while painting

filling in the gaps

cosmic asian boyz

the lady at the post office always asks me why I draw so many eyes. I say, so they can see better...

2011-05-09T19:08:00.000-07:00

With no words but these:

Push yourself beyond yourself. Go farther than you have currently gone. Seek your passions like you are passionate. Find yourself in those passions. Just be yourself, and know that that is good. Do not worry about your future, about your career, about fortune and fame that is not here; These are not important. Look at now, look at who you are, and who you wish to be. Be that person.

soft pore corn

2011-05-08T20:23:00.000-07:00

1. Tangent & the Times is hilarious

2. Marissa (whom I met from comix genius Yumi S) is rad

3. Her talk about blogging and writing inspired me

4. I'm really tired from this weekend, and all I gonna do is chill

(meaning herb and Authors of the Impossible via Janice Lee recommendation)

Clement & Co. Presents: WE ARE THE NEW STANDARD - Marissa A. Ross from Clement & Co. on Vimeo.

stylin shirley kurata is my personal wardrobe hero

2011-04-25T01:21:00.000-07:00

Somewhere nearby

Taken by Autumn de Wilde

Band of Outtakes- Shirley with Rodarte Sisters

the nineties are alive

2011-04-25T01:04:00.000-07:00

Oh gosh, I'm so into all things 90s. Besides remembering all my grade school and the 80s seep over, I have to admit that vintage Saved By the Bell now has some style-cred. Maybe it might make you cringe.

I tried wearing my bleached demin jean jacket with cropped hair and red lipstick the other day, but something about made me feel weird on the inside. Maybe because I felt dated, yet so drawn back to the demin, bad plaid, little backpacks, red, bangs, grunge.

Here's to inspire:

Here's a blog on upcoming fashion trends on the streets of Africa

VAKWETU STYLE

Nikki Khiran ARISE Fashion Week

"some tied-dyed kalidescope cosmic bliss"

images from haute fashion africa

Here's because I love woman bassists named Kim.

late for important date

2011-04-23T23:40:00.001-07:00

mirror seaid

2011-04-23T13:30:00.000-07:00

asian banana boy!

2011-04-21T14:18:00.001-07:00

polaroid collage art

2011-04-21T14:16:00.001-07:00

some older collage art published in EBB1

guerrilla gardening, phase 0.5

2011-04-21T14:13:00.000-07:00

This is phase 0.5 of Narinda and I's guerrilla gardening project. We are currently scouting out different vacant spaces to plant edible and non-edible herbs, flowers and other plants to beautify and feed the local peoples. This particular space that we are "adopting" is in Pacific Square parking lot. The soil was softer than I imagined it to be, and we planted a small succulent to 'scout' and 'test' the land.

In phase 1, we hope to gather a group of willing folks to help churn the soil. It was be a twilight endeavor, around 5p-8pm, date TBA. Comment if you want to help dig up this plot. We need shovelers! There is also an ample supply of broken concrete pieces that we need help painting.

this is our scout, testing out the land

Adopt a vacant parking lot divider!

ATL, Thats whatsup.

2011-04-20T01:53:00.000-07:00

Joyce and I rendevouzed in ATL at the buttcrack of dawn on Friday, after flying the red eyes from Oakland and LA respectively, and ran around like crazy mamas for 2 days. We ran into each other in Phoneix. I only noticed her in my stupor because her cute scarf caught my attention. Haha. How could one of my best friends walk right by me and all I see is a nice patterned scarf. oh my.

We rented a Yaris (I loved it) and drove to Decatur to see Janice! Janice and I worked in a cafe-kitchen for a whole year. She is one of most dedicated volunteers you'll ever meet, so full of life and energy and humor. We talked at hyper speed for 2 hours, and still felt a little bit unfulfilled, so we followed her to the Chamblee St. Paul de Vincent Thrift store, where we scored some major awesome dresses and jewelry. We made plans to see her again! We swung into the Korean market to get some marinated beef, lettuce and other deliciousness.

Knitsushima hits up Decatur's Java Monkey at an 'early' coffee date with two of my favorites,
Joyce and Janice!

After finding the Delp's place in South Atlanta, we caught up with Jeff, Katie and the kids, stuffed our faces with Korean BBQ, and then took naps that left us moaning and groaning in fatigue. We pried ourselves up and went to go pick up Faith in Thomasville, our old stomping grounds. We passed by the pentitenary, the church that tricked us into buying their rib lunches. We ran over about 4 glass bottles and I was beginning to regret not buying the $7 insurance. We drove over to Atlantic Station and Faith wanted Asian food because she was celebrating her birthday with her Asian sisters. The place Tin Drum was skeptical, but after seeing about 6 Asian eating happily, I said ok. Faith got Pad Thai, Joyce Red Curry, and I Green Curry. It was good, Faith ate bamboo and with chopsticks. We talked about men, ethnic studies and Jermon, Faith's 11-year-old son!

a Sonic moment with Joyce and Faith
cherry coke with real cherries, ah!

Feeling like it wasn't a good night out until we got some Sonic's or Miss Winners (though that chain went bankrupt!! NO, they had the best sweet tea ever). We drove, notice how we are NOT taking the stupid bus EVERYWHERE, down Moreland Avenue, and said hello to Kroger's, China Inn, the bus stop where we waited with watermelons, soda can flats and groceries every Saturday, and the Foxy Lady. We got our desserts in the form of sugary cokes, and we talked more about race relations and how community changed our lives. Faith got us all emotional, and we hugged and made the girl take our picture when she got off shift. Then we dropped her off. I asked Joyce if she wanted to drive past the Constitution Apartments and she had a look of death, but she consented. Bibleway and Atlanta Youth Academy were still looking good.

The next morning, we picked up groceries (ok, it took us so long to find a grocery store... we settled on Food Max) and headed off to LaSonta's new pad. We were anxious to get there and see her and the kids. We only have 6 hours to soak it all in. Their house is a quaint little 2-story abode nestled in the woodsy forest, and the school is walking distance away. As we parked, we heard tiny voices screaming down the driveway, and Belicia, A'sonte, and Kenia were running at us. There was hugs and tears and laughs, and cards exchanged. We all carried the food in, Lady handed me baby Elijah, and I cuddled him the whole rest of the day.

Ridiculous blurry picture of Lady, me and baby EJ

Here's mama and baby now!

Where we just moving around that much?? Really....

Then Kaitlin arrived, and there was another round of hugging and emotions. When you see someone that you haven't for 3 years, you can tell when you see them in person. Kaitlin tells of a new boyfriend, a tattoo, graduation and a new living space. A'sonte is a good helper in the kitchen, and Belicia asks me if I remember the time we ate 'Bug Pancakes' for breakfast. We all relax on the living room floor for the rest of the afternoon, crocheting, drawing, napping, and catching up. It feels like a typical Saturday afternoon with all of us there in one room again.

Ms Kaitlin Hey and A'sonte pretending to hide behind a cup. Both were so grown up!
And Kaitlin with tattoo!!! OMG. Love it.

A quite serene moment with the ladies. The picture makes me all warm and fuzzy inside.

ATL, you have my heart.

Flooring it up, like old times.

Cootie Coo & Sleepy Poo & Joyce zoned the f* out

BABY

Beliknitta, doing the chain, and doing it well.

We gots a young yarn bomber on our hands. Watch out. She is borrowing her mom's needle.
We made crazy crocheted hats in the past.

Scraps of life

Joyce, Kaitlin and I scamper off to try to catch Jeff and Katie before they take off for the night, and we miss them because the GPS f* up, and gets us lost, taking us in the ridiculous backroads. But to their surprise and loving amazement, Devron is babysitting the Delp kiddos. There is catching up before Joyce and I head over the Boldts house for dinner. Janice cooks a delicious Southern cuisine of meatloaf, mash potatoes, cornbread, bluecheese salad, and icebox lemon merigine pie. We were stuffed and the conversation with her and Don was refreshingly interesting. We talked of Catholic priests, how they met in an artstore, raising a kid and being a hippy, jobs, wood working, tattoos, being an artist and collector, Jesus as radical social worker, etc.

Joyce and I drove home late into the night, left a snack for the Delps as a thank you, chatted with their housemate Mandy, and stayed up the whole night catching up, until 5am when we drove the airport to drop off the rental, just to talk more in the airport lounge, until I had to go catch my flight. It was a teary goodbye, but so glad that I revisited all my loves in Atlanta, GA. Soon friends, soon again, and longer next time.

All grown up Devron, and Joyce and Kaitlin are so happy.

catmilk & embryo

2011-04-17T00:19:00.000-07:00

some collages I did while listening to Joseph Campbell

volcanic love

2011-04-15T13:43:00.000-07:00

L.A. yes, i'm learning to love thee: the traffic jams, compacted amounts of time to get from here to there, cars honking, nose picking, the stalling cars lined up on grey concrete freeway structures smogging the lining of the clouds. I used to imagine photoshopped male genitalia, a pair of sweaty balls resting upon the backs of workers' cars, shuttling back and forth from suburb to city and back again. A city of many cities: each enclave bursting from the seams of its own particular smells of spice, sweat, and work ethic. My experience here is multi-fold, a mosaic of moments, a relationship on the rocks, the further I've run from her, the closer and longer I end up trying to figure her out, like a volatile lover.

goodbye turtle

2011-04-15T13:38:00.000-07:00

a bloody orange

Yves Saint Laurent Rouge Pure Shine in #94 Blood Orange

Black Witch Shoe

Seychelles Bismuth Lace Up Heeled

Steve Madden "TRUMPIT" Ankle Booties

a sexy new comix by yumi sakugawa

spiritual truth

2011-04-13T23:13:00.000-07:00

catorialist, eat this heart out

2011-04-13T22:10:00.000-07:00

bach, as always, these are for you.

screenshots of asian girls

2011-04-12T06:12:00.000-07:00

jesus and the saints

2011-04-12T05:50:00.000-07:00

a'misa chiu

angelheads

found this on the street...

a thousand words

a million in discord

2011-04-12T04:32:00.000-07:00

arm brooch, margaux lange

a gassy saturday

2011-04-04T22:54:00.000-07:00

i've been riding the bus lately, especially when i need to get to downtown.

i like the waiting for the bus to arrive, to people watch, and the fact that though i'm

still sitting in a bit of traffic, i can read, write and crochet.

well, i was gassy today, and f*arted all over LA,

I yarnbombed the metro silver line.

mr. bus driver even let me on with no toll! made my day.

how did you know that i was broke that day and was going to pay for my busfare with all dimes...

I arrived at JANM to see a panel on "the role of Nikkei newspapers: From Newsprint to New Media,"

it was pretty good

i'm really impressed and inspired by the Nichi Bei Weekly now

then I made my way down to the arts district,

I yarnbombed the Hive Gallery (7th/spring) too.

Alex had his first piece here-and his Honeybeast rocked!

we joked that this cuff would be on this folding chair forever--

but nothing is forever, or is it?

i had a good time crocheting in the corner, listening to the live music,

while the whole gallery was busting at the seams.

ZINE FIEND at Bookmachine!

2011-04-04T03:00:00.000-07:00

ex-patriate artnites

2011-04-01T02:18:00.000-07:00

We had a collage night.

We stuffed our faces with truffle cheese and crackers, drank copious amounts of wine and water, and talked about vibes, souls and of our destinies.

Is this starting to sound like some new age type of art club?

Sorry, it wasn't. But I naturally speak in vibes, always have, always will.

Lisa said she wished to be a saxophone player someday, so I showed her "Sexy Sax Man."

Hyo, the ex-pat, is comedy, by the way.

I now want to WOOF (organic farm) more than ever.

I want more of these types of nights, please.

"shumi&miyaki"

by Lisa Brantley

"west indies jesus"

by H.f. Davis

"Screenshots of Asian Girls"

by a'misa chiu

jailbreak & lightning bolts

2011-03-28T17:52:00.000-07:00

button down black and pink striped cartigan, thrifted $4
beige shift dress, thrifted $3
clasp brown aviator belt, forever 21, $5
floral mini skirt, gift
witchy-toed rainbow indian slip ons, estate sale $4

macrame hemp necklace, made by self
celtic claddagh symbol on leather cord, jaimee itagaki takaki
sunrise symbol in turoquoise on silver chain, inherited from grandma sue matsushima

pale green and red housepaint as polish lighting bolts

what are you doing at 2AM?

when a baby turns one

2011-03-28T17:13:00.000-07:00

My friends Maile and Jason invited us to their son's first birthday. When their daughter was born, I made her a stuffed "bear" that she calls HAPPY.

So I decided to keep the tradition going, and made a puppet for their son.

Puppets are fun, because it gives us the excuse to learn the art of ventriloquy.

The other day I bought How to Become a Ventriloquist by Edgar Bergen for 25 cents. Best 25 cents I've ever spent. We've spent the past few weeks practicing, for it says that "... you must have the determination to practice constantly and regularly because only faithful practice brings the ease and poise which are essential to successful ventriloquy."

Ranen's Cloudheadedman

Alex and his rather creepster-meepster "doll"

mutations

2011-03-26T15:23:00.000-07:00

this is an on-going collaboration conversation

with artists alex chiu, a'misa chiu and emily rabinowitz

lineandpixel

phase 1

(emily)

phase 2

(ann/alex)

phase 3

(emily)

phase 4

(alex)

phase 5

(emily)

phase 6

(alex)

phase 7

(ann)

phase 8

(emily)

xerox experiments

2011-03-22T02:02:00.000-07:00

frantically at 2 am.

ringed ladies, would you be my ring love all the time?

2011-03-22T01:56:00.000-07:00

Glitter Glitches

2011-03-20T00:53:00.000-07:00

exercise daily

Technology has improved so much in ten years. The quality of printing and the dimished pixelation is quite astonishing. But what if you happen to like shitty printing of a pixelfied image of a cosmic star.

I love seeing the boxes of color. Belinda Vong told me of a quilt that she made out of a pixelized image of herself, where each square of color represents a pixel. It was genius. I ooo-and-ahhed, and told her that she is a genius, she notes Chuck Close.

Belinda Vong, Self Portrait Quilt, UCI

Still from a fonevid, my room 2011

on-going collab with emily rabinowski & alex chiu & me (which i haven't done anything YET)

i didn't do this---ek, i forgot where i found this... flickr, um....

a saturday

2011-03-19T15:17:00.000-07:00

Lately my mind thinks in lists of lists. list of things to think about, books i've read, books and websites i've heard of, interesting projects i've seen, zines i'd like to submit to, people i should look up, events i've been to, etc. then there are items that i haven't crossed off yet like wedding thank you cards (i'm sorry--if we haven't gotten back to you. everyone was so thoughtful and caring and loving and generous. we are truely thankful, just lagging on expressing it), dmv, ss, dentist,

everyday things drag me down. i become buried in the responsibility of everyday.

photo by caroline shin

everyday. writing can be everyday. the need to express yourself. To express something that it within, that lies where in the shallows or the very deeps, that restless voice that whispers constantly, almost incessently at your mind's ear.

"what else? what else is there to see, and know about." my mindseye grumbles. i'm hungry. hungry for truth--and i see truth sometimes in people's art and what i read, but still she gurgles and moans, clutching her stomach, "why can i not be filled?" she knows the answer. she relents. she gives in.

no, she can't do it on her own. she cannot swallow the entire world and not choke on the lies and deceit and poseurs that lurk, she cannot handle all the knowledge and insight. experience may be something that she deals with, that someday she will have to choose between safe and sorry. her life has been sorry, but maybe in her new wisdom, she realizes that each must come onto his own path.

Everyday.

on formulating thoughts

2011-03-16T21:32:00.000-07:00

Zine!

2011-03-13T21:54:00.000-07:00

Spotted f*art in Gardena

2011-03-11T16:31:00.000-08:00

f*art strikes again

(by r n)

hello

2011-03-11T16:21:00.000-08:00

(a sidewalk) kitty

Stream of Conscious Doodles

2011-03-10T12:05:00.000-08:00

Alex and I did some collaborations together. These were done at a live art event at a club in East LA.

an art that is for everyone

2011-03-07T11:51:00.000-08:00

"Are you seeing this?"
a'misa chiu, ink 2011

I keep multiple journals (one to jot ideas in, one to do artwork in, one a planner, one a checklist). They all flow into each other, and they hold my thoughts and ideas like alternative brains. I don't have a good memory, which was probably the reason I sucked in organic chemistry and math. I just couldn't memorize things. I was always better at bullshit, thus excelling in writing and arts. I could make up my answer, reasoning it out with things I've read or seen or heard, instead of merely regurgitating things back, without it taking a deeper meaning inside of me. Even within the b.s., I found meaning.

Sometimes at night, I get down on myself. I dwell in the past, rather than jump towards future things, wishing for genius, and getting nothing of the sort. But lately, I've been doodling it out, a catharsis. The pen doing all my screaming, absorbing all my feelings and spitting it back down on paper so that I can see it with some distance, and begin to understand myself.

It's so easy to get lost in oneself. To only understand the inner workings of your own mind, which I guess goes to show why people feel isolated and alone in their thoughts. The crazy genius. The idiot savant. The wasted intellect. Everyone wants to come up with 'original thought,' to be unique and special, but to claim something that noone else has ever thought of, is not authentic. it is forgetting that we come from a lineage of thought and idea. That everything is formed by someone else, and the only thing that is really original is expression, one's voice.

A voice is what everyone possess, not just the elite--those special few. To claim elitism is to separate oneself from the rest of humanity, not making one more special, just simply more isolated and alone in one's plight. If only we can come together, dwelling in each other's ideas, giving and sharing more freely with our personal expression, then, maybe, we can come to make an art that is for everyone, that people may feel more free.

a portrait series of yuri kochiyama

2011-03-07T01:25:00.000-08:00

I discovered Yuri Kochiyama after reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X. I forget if she is mentioned in the book, or if I found her in my subsequent web surfing. She has since become one of my personal heros. Her practice of social justice and equality is who I have modeled my life after.

Her incarceration in WWII concentration camps to life in Harlem, NY

Her biography Heartbeat of a Struggle was life-changing for me. It inspired me to move to Atlanta and pick up a life of social worker and intentional community. (I have since realized that a life of grass roots organizing and working in neighborhoods is no joke...)

In this series of drawings, I was trying to capture aspects of Yuri's life that continue to challenge me.

Yuri's letter-writing campaign from Nisei soldiers to political prisoners, like Marilyn Buck

To remind myself that Yuri started off as a mother, a quite-innocent and maybe quite ignorant of political issues, before she came into her life as revolutionary political activist.

Alex's version of Yuri

Notice her fist is most of the drawings. She means business, people.

Revolution doesn't come overnight, or very easily.

Keep on keepin' on.

The sketch version of Yuri, featured in Colorish Dreams: blogzine

1, 2, 3, 5 by a'misa chiu

4 by alex chiu and a'misa chiu

Yuri's personal papers were donated to UCLA Asian American Special Collections.

More research projects on inspiring women of color need to be made. Other note-worthy workers are Grace Lee Boggs, Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga, Tomie Arai, Stacey Ann Chin, bell hooks, etc.

i try not to listen to her lies

2011-03-07T00:56:00.000-08:00

"liar" 2011, watercolor and ink

a letter above

2011-03-07T00:06:00.000-08:00

go(o)d

ideas are @ a minimum amt

empty

void

BLANK

help.

love,

ann

abandoned zoo and the best places to pee in LA

2011-03-02T02:14:00.000-08:00

Alex and I usually don't celebrate our anniversary or Valentine's, though this year, we decided to take the day off and hike around the old Griffith Park Zoo. Abandoned in the 60's, the zoo was left as public property, and has since become a breeding ground for boozin', cruisin' and snoozin'. I guess also for picnicking. We brought a healthy picnic consisting of a torpedo sandwich, ruffle chips, chocolate chip cookies, homemade bread pudding and red wine. We got all tipsy, which made climbing around the gorilla cages that more dangerous, but it was worth it when we hiked into the hills. Also we needed to pee, so we climbed high up and peed downhill. And the view was stunning.

Good thing nature called, or we would have missed the look out point. LA, I'm learning to love you.

Old Griffith Park Zoo, you are the best place to pee, I mean, be.

The gorilla, he's escaping!

Picnic for 2

Inside the monkey cages

Third Wheel

New punx haircut by Alex

Off the beaten trail, and also a good place to pee

I wanted to take a nap in here

Yarn Bomb #2: In Progress

2011-03-02T01:38:00.000-08:00

Being a homebody comes in handy when you wish to crochet stealthfully and productively. For the last few days I have transferred my skills (Thanks Grandma Sue and "Warm Hats for Cold Heads Campaign") into public art. This project is a 20 foot snake-like construction. It will have a start and a stop point, meant to encourage kids that walk by it to race its distance. I have been scouting out a good chain-link fence in which to weave it into the metal. Keep your eyes peeled, You Southbaylians.

Medusa Wig

sumo the wonder dog!!

intentionality

2011-02-28T14:37:00.000-08:00

an undeniable intention:

-write as frequently as possible (everyday), labeling each entry by day

-hone in on texture, mood, setting and feeling

-be honest in my writing

-be imaginative in my writing

-character development, moving from 'he' 'she' he she' to names and faces

-move beyond short vignettes, and begin to piece together a loose narrative

-MAKE CHAPBOOK OF WRITINGS

-continue to doodle alongside writings

-critique other's writings, as well as my own

-explore inter-disciplinary ideas

-edit my work, even if it means deleting or adding onto older posts

-begin to explore my city, making notes of characters, places, incidents as reference

-read just as much as i write, and update "things that inspire me list"

-collaborate with other writers so i don't feel alone in my writing

-don't be a self-conscious writer, just write-- WHO CARES?

-be still with my writing: stew in it, dwell in it, be it.

And now we move forward into the abyss, into that unknown, unformed place called:

www.amisachiu.wordpress.com

i am so jamming on the same frequency: this enchanted land of art of infinity

2011-02-18T00:15:00.000-08:00

i know. i know, lately i've been just overwhelmingly inspired by painters and writers, especially the imaginative story teller ones, as for the explaination for the lists and youtube videos. it was a total dry spell for the last couple of months, mainly because i feel that my focus was more upon events and others, than it was on my own well-being. yet now being in a space where i can explore lurking interests through some newly acquired reading material, from my wandering in and out of more LA independent bookstores, i am now seeking to understand all that surrounds me, and this culture of fellow art makers, which is why i was more so an art theorist than an art maker in college. though i have been s-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g my creative muscles and writing everyday and in zine making workout phase. Been thinking about the radical publications/zines created by Asian American activists from the 70s til now, like The Asian American Journey, Gidra, Bridge, Yellow Pearl, etc, and how current day small presses and publications are continuing that tradition of educating and informing the populus of current day issues, like Jaded of UC Irvine. it's not a hidden fact that my DIY Grad School education is like a school girl on crack and caffine. I am all over the place~just as confused and inquistive as I should be.

alex and i have officially moved in, and its cozy here. we have breakfast together, he makes coffee and toast. right now, he is working to install drywall and insulation on the SHED Gallery (everything is a mess right now). my work at UCLA Special Collections is exhausting at times, but I may be coming into a new vocation of archivist (going to a conference for beginning archivists in march)! who knows, maybe i'll learn a thing or two, and be well equipt for the community center library that we wish, hope and pray will happen someday (Oh please generous wonderfully inspired rich benefactor, please come and provide the resources for this to someday happen....)

bread pudding and crunches.
let's go.

i embark into worlds unknown, and laugh at all the possibilities

2011-02-16T18:41:00.000-08:00

library hunting is wonderful, especially when surprisingly small locations have everything you were looking for-

rare.

1. Kindred- Octavia E. Butler

already i am enamored by the time travel and the geneology that is weaved in a simple story of a simple woman, as a boy, who seems to be her great great grandfather summons back again and again to "save" him.

2. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter- Carson McCullers

3. The River- Rumer Godden

4. The Diddakoi-Rumer Godden
this short read was golden.
it made my gypsy blood run wild within me, and yearn for the good in people.

5. The Glass Castle- Jeannette Walls
according to fourthie and aya, this one rules.

6. C-Tom McCarthy
the remainder confused me. hopefully this one shines more light.

7. Penny Ante 3-Rebekah Why
holy shit. i am so glad that i found out about this publication. where can i get 1 & 2!?! can somebody get this for my up-coming birthday! AHHHHH. totally mind f*ck inspiration psychedelic weirdolandia heavens-ville. Lovin' it. Thank you Ms. Why. You are my hero.

let the learning begin. oh, i love being captured in the imagination and prose of others. feeling what they feel. i just hope that nothing is too nihilistic and cynical, because after Camus' The Stranger, I feel a little like a wet smelly mop with no purpose other than to look at the bucket and long for cleaner water, never making the attempt to change anything. i also hope that i come into a place where painting is something that the weekend can afford. i leave you now with hopes of a suckerpunch wet dream.

a storms a brewing

2011-02-16T12:59:00.000-08:00

come lightly, the evening

rolls in like wind that breezes through

whipping in hair that isn't even there

anymore

twirling tulle, twining around round round

come gently, the night

come out, and shoulder up.

the rain brings the angst out of all of us

2011-02-15T15:02:00.000-08:00

alex gave me a Mazzy Star cassette that he had lying around his room, because i was driving around the van that summer, and all i could play were cassettes. that one tape changed my life. i would spend hours just listening to that tape, never changing it out for months. today is a throw-back to Mazzy Star, and to the art of Jill Emery, the (second) bassist of MS.

throw it your favorite tape, and listen to it against the patter of the rain.

jill emery art

lean back you freshly washed hair, and chillax

2011-02-13T20:13:00.000-08:00

elizabeth cotten pickin'

its us against the world

2011-02-13T19:59:00.001-08:00

"i think the stars hold the secrets.

the stars be shining at night, brightly still.

they say look at me, look up here, i'm up here.

they call out. we love you girls, we really love you.

we would never leave you. just be good to one another. "

visualization station

2011-02-13T13:29:00.000-08:00

1. If I had a kid, I would name him Alien Atom Bomb

(my kid is not that creepy ghost kid on the right...)

2. There's something about clouds nowdays

(xerox II show)

3. More brutal than Crumb

4. Brow spiration

5. Satisfying the Greek Goddess in all of us

(most of this eye candy was taken directly

from a cardboard box of awesomeness

via Keenan of Drippy Bones Books--)

we once did the dance

2011-02-08T14:07:00.000-08:00

via the fourthie

"The word community has many connotations, some positive, some negative. Community can make us think of a safe togetherness, shared meals, common goals, and joyful celebrations. It also can call forth images of sectarian exclusivity, in-group language, self-satisfied isolation, and romantic naiveté. However, community is first of all a quality of the heart. It grows from the spiritual knowledge that we are alive not for ourselves but for one another. Community is the fruit of our capacity to make the interests of others more important than our own (see Philippians 2:4). The question, therefore, is not "How can we make community?" but "How can we develop and nurture giving hearts?""

--nouwen

street f*art

2011-02-06T23:53:00.000-08:00

this is a gesture of public service, of giving back

the medium of the night: crochet pole sweater

this pole had a hubcup

this one gets a lap blanket

...and painting!

we got a do-nut.

go nuts.

(location: Gardena, CA)

(f*ree art movement)

because we watched beautiful losers last night

2011-02-05T13:08:00.000-08:00

"I like things that are handmade and I like to see people's hand in the world, anywhere in the world; it doesn't matter to me where it is. And in my own work, I do everything by hand. I don't project or use anything mechanical, because even though I do spend a lot of time trying to perfect my line work and my hand, my hand will always be imperfect because it's human. And I think it's the part that's off that's interesting, that even if I'm doing really big letters and I spend a lot of time going over the line and over the line and trying to make it straight, I'll never be able to make it straight. From a distance it might look straight, but when you get close up, you can always see the line waver. And I think that's where the beauty is. "

margaret kilgallen (1967-2001)

pbs special

rising young artist dies of breast cancer

1 X 1

2011-01-31T00:18:00.000-08:00

she thought of all the wonderful things she could do with her time, and instead did one more post about writing a post. how silly, she thought as her fingers typed out the words, o-n-e b-y o-n-e.

commodity

2011-01-30T23:57:00.000-08:00

there is something about produce and clowns that leave me a bit unsettled.

statement

2011-01-30T23:27:00.000-08:00

i journal quite obsessively. for years now, i have tucked memory, dream, thought, hurt, love, and all the significant and insignificant moments in the pages of notebooks, planners, diaries, on bits of scratch paper, on post-it notes. i keep all my journals on a bookshelf, all in a row, year after year, only to look at what i write or draw in retrospect. when i started blogging a few years ago, i saw that blogging and journal writing wasn't that different, except blogging was for the public eye. i became comfortable with exposing my internal self to the voyeuristic other, enjoying the cathartic release of emotion, and the bearing of my inner soul on the internet. blogging has led me out of being merely an artist in the context of my journals, pushing myself to share myself with others.

this zine is a result of many years of journaling and blogging.

--a'misa chiu

vacancy is potential is movement

2011-01-28T12:56:00.000-08:00

space is a loaded gun of potential

where the public and private intersect,

merging into a form of communication, of conversation,

of a dialectic choreography of play and work,

of signs and symbols,

skipping between the legal and the allowed,

and pushing boundaries, always.

vacant space is potential exponentialized.

the possibilities seem endless, we just have to choose one path to proceed,

for it is either to choose, or to remain unmoving-stagnant-still.

stillness being the death of potential.

spaces are sometimes created to be vacant,

and thus becoming sites of curiousity,

allowing one to wonder

what could i do in this vast and empty space?

how can i help change the world, one moment at a time?

perhaps to change a space, all one needs to do is to

create that which is inside of them

to express fully themselves

in order for the world, and for themselves, to truely see

what was being cooped up by the talk of potential.

-a'

pi slice

2011-01-19T19:45:00.000-08:00

always journeying,

even if only a bus

ride away.

thankfully i am

holed away,

dog sitting,

much needed

as if i sweat out

people

until all the dirt

grime good

comes up to the surface

and i can wipe it away

clean

(a's camera fotos)

to you, the autonomous reader

2011-01-10T02:29:00.000-08:00

at this point this (this list, a flood of ideas, late night internet surfing) has become unmanageable. I feel a bit sick when I am forced to remember all that I try to expose myself to, right before bed. No wonder I have a hard time sleeping at night. All I can do is watch the time pass by, as I listen to the same song on repeat for hours. There is something inside of me, some thought that I have tried and tried to articulate but there is years of blockage, of telling myself that it wasn't a good idea, that maybe someone has already thought of it. i should have been thinking, duh, of course its not an orginal thought, but its interesting that me and (insert name of a genius) came up with something quite similar, except, i am me, of a time now, of a place here, and they are not. which changes that orginal concept into something quite different, and quite possible, a bit unique. now don't get too excited because we haven't even began to realize the full idea that may or may not still be inside.

in journaling, when i ramble, its okay, because not even me is reading the shit, and here, no one really is either, or they are like you, the autonomous reader who i may or may not know, and you may or may not be caring about what i write about at 2:00AM. in my journals i can talk shit about everyone, even myself, and my self doesn't even care about all the deprecating things i have to say about self. i talk about how i have no good ideas and that i wish that i was creating more art than i am, and how i am honestly jealous at people who are creating good art, and what the hell is good art, or good poetry, or good writing anyways, and most of the time, poetry chapbooks... bore me. so how do we shake things up a bit PEOPLE? how do we stir up the publishing world. god, instead of talking about publishing and writing, i should just be writing, oh but wait, i am, and its doing me a whole lot of (no) good.

i'm really screwed. if this is my passion, if this is why i wake up in the morning, i am severly fcuk. i have missed all connections, the french ones, the spanish coffeecup ones, and i am left with an over-priced ticket to no where. but no matters, i have surfed the web hard tonight, mainly because i am still wired from the 5 cups of coffee i sipped with my cheapest thing on the menu breakfast. i'm happy, because i love the night, and i do my best writing when its dark and the kitchen is quiet, and i try not to hear the sounds of sex and sleeping.

i like alliteration. like lips puckering pulling wanting waning wandering aimlessly around bended buttoned tshirts. i want to write a whole page of alliterations. i want to write pages of ramblings and then pick out the sentences that i really like and blow them up really big, so that the book consists of only one liners, but comes from a history of unprepared unthought of thoughts. i like the idea of creating something out of nothing, of your mind moving faster than you can record it. and then how much of thought is unrecorded. millions of moments of conversations with yourself, gone. you fail to exist when you realize how much you will never know because you were not conscious about saving those moments. click save now. saving now... draft saved.

good. its isn't gone forever, its here now. but because only i will read this later on in a fit of self-reflection, its like it almost doesn't matter. but then one person someday in the future will ask what was 2011 like, and who was in LA at the time, and who was jaded and tired, but still a bit young, and then they'll find this blog, and be like, who the hell was she, and maybe read this post... i kid myself, thinking about the future and the importance of recording the now. someone told me that blogs have no lasting power, that there is no hope for documentation. we still have to make books. we still have to publish our shit, no matter how raw or refined it is.

here something nice i found, for you to glean inspiration off of ucsd literature professors who write for cool art zines and blogs and such:

eileen myles writes...

and with that, freezing fridges.

(can we go back to amsterdam soon?)

2 poems

2011-01-09T21:22:00.000-08:00

it started with a piece of discarded wedding wrapping paper, and a image of a pink horse's head.

i was keeping alex company as he prepared for his show.

it is a part of an on-going writing project of mine.

memory's back

collage poem

long be twins

collage poem

kenneth cooks

2011-01-08T11:38:00.000-08:00

conducting homemade eggs benedict, hollindaise sauce, pancakes, coffee

southern fry cook

texting about how good it is

bomb

happy new years

Taffy Colored Clouds

2011-01-02T23:47:00.000-08:00

here are some of paintings (acrylic on wood) that I've been working on.

(work in progress)

Join in on the fun

facebook invite

new (years)

2011-01-01T23:32:00.001-08:00

witchhouse

2011-01-01T23:19:00.001-08:00

WITCHHOUSE

Witchin' w/ Mario Zoots from badatsports on Vimeo.

stills from video

brains

2011-01-01T23:16:00.000-08:00

in thinking today, my brain began to hurt.

i began to wonder what my brain even looks like.

if it really looks like those jello molds.

i've very attracted to etchings right now.

especially of animal and vegetable.

human anatomy is a bit frightening to me,

its not that i'm afraid of blood,

only of alex chopping off his finger when sawing

and me having to put his dismembered finger on ice, squeezing

the finger stump, so not to have an enormous loss of blood.

maybe tonight is a strange night,

and i'm tired of all the bullshit, and

just would like to exist in a world where

things were fuzzy and soft, like cotton candy.

my favorite of the bunch is one with a skull and

a scene of church. it comes from a website

where nothing good comes of... and that makes

me feel weird on the inside.

lately i'm attracted to the darkness,

though the darkness leaves me quite scared.

Mind's Eye: Interior Memory Rendering, cognition, skull church

instant hit!

2010-12-29T17:17:00.000-08:00