New Products from Jennyjen

In these economic times, it's time to be more innovative and create more economically friendly products. I've been sorting through my fabrics and small swatches that I've accumulating over the past couple of years and voila! coasters! Birdies are machines stitched onto these fleece padded 4" squares that will come into sets of 4! $20 a set! Washable and awesome gifts! They will be premiering at Artscape this year in the BEST both, July 17-19..B-more!

Another Birthday under my Belt

Well.another birthday done.today entailed a a trip to the farmers market, the BMA, brunch, to the mall to buy a birthday present for myself, time spent in the sweatshop sewing birdies while listening to the Bad Brains, TSOL and Minor Threat! Punk Rock birdies have grown...then off to an excellent night with my BEST buddies, cake and many wishes from friends on facebook and on the phone. Not a bad day. I will continue to celebrate throughout the week. Thanks Everybody for all your love !

Good bye 45 ..Hello 46

Today is leaving very soon and tomorrow will probably come before I finish this..but I have been writing this inside my head all day. ..my last day of being 45...….This year has been a quite a bumpy one of many highs and lows…I would say most of my highs have come on my professional side ( great kids this year in school andjennyjen42 made it out of the state and into many homes this year)...and the lows in my personal life. That’s not to say that all is down…many lessons have been learned this year and I wanted to reflect and write about them..to passed them on to the next person facing 46, or any age in the same state…here are my lessons…you can only control what makes you happy….not others around you..so focus on what you can control…keep in touch with your friends that you had many adventures with and that knew you as an independent being..you know the ones that you went to hang out with in the club house, the ones that charter a bus to New York to go see Gray March at CBGB’s and the ones you shared ground breaking experiences with….hang out with your friends whenever you have the chance..stop making excuses to simply stay at home and watch TV…get out there and experience life…when you’re really stressed out, close your eyes and try to remember as many happy times that you can…my favorite times are when I was a kid..I was blessed with an amazing childhood full of play and imagination, forts in the woods, stories read to me at night, a sister who is still my best friend and a wonderful loving family…. find what is meaningful and engaging to you…and hold it close to your heart…live life awake and stay away from numbing times of sleep. Turn off the TVs and put on some music…get a tattoo that makes you smile…Do yoga so that you can always touch your toes…flexibility of the body translate into flexibility of the mind, plus you feel better after you do it….visualize that happy little kid that you were and live a happy life for that kid…DO what makes you feel better and stronger for everything that drains you...I am happy to be the age that I am, happy for the past experiences that I have had, the great people in my life that have come and gone, especially happy for my dearest friends that I love dearly…I have had a great history of wonderful events and happy times….I am looking so forward to many more amazing times and happiness! …I am very happy for finding old friends again…here’s for finding that club house to go hang out in again!

Intro to the Jackson 5's cartoon show

another memory of Michael for all of us 60-70's kids!

art-o-matic = brain overload!

OK..so I continue in my realization of lamelessness in my awaken state, I finally make it to art-o-matic..this is lame for a working artist who is only a skip and jump away from DC, and not be involved..worst...never been until now to this awesome artistic event. My first impression..is damn, there is a crap load of people making art in the DC area alone! The National Endowment for the Arts has now clarified that There are now almost two million Americans who describe their primary occupation as artist. Representing 1.4 percent of the U.S. labor force, artists constitute one of the largest classes of workers in the nation—only slightly smaller than the total number of active-duty and reserve personnel in the U.S. military (2.2 million). That's f@*king amazing when you think about that. The Artist has grown from the stereotyped emotional freakazoid into one of the largest work forces in our country! And going to art-o-matic surely reinstates this fact..9 floors of art! If you are not familiar with Art-o-matic..check out their site here. You only have until July 5th..so hurry down. Its right next to the National's Stadium and there is an actual metro stop underneath the art-o-matic site! (the Green Line Navy Yard Metro Stop, West Entrance ).
I have to go back down so that I can catch the top 5 floors.Now I must warn you,since this show isn't juried..it is for all artists..you will go through many a bad piece...but just the amplitude of work and artists represented, you are very blown away by the amount of people making art...and how is that going to make a bad world if we, the artists are growing in forces! The way it works, is that each artist gets a wall, and each performer gets a time and stage to perform..I think there are stages on every floor! Each person represented has to volunteer time to man a job and guard the work. Its an amazing feet of organization that I have to say, those DC people are really getting A's in my book in that department.

OK...enough..lets look at art...here are some of my favorites..The Document , Matty Burns., Chris Bishop, Bip and Jen Dixon...Dixon and Bishop purely for their names..

Ben - Michael Jackson

The Michael that made my heart go pitter patter...even though I was only 8 or 9. We'll miss you Michael!

the Euphoria Project

ok ok..I'm really been lame on the blog department and also getting out there experiencing the parts of life I've been neglecting. I've know Lee Boot for a pretty long time, I've even worked with him on a segment of some sort of performance video in which I played Mary had a little lamb on my violin while Lee drew on an overhead projector that was being projected on me. That very short rant in performance art that I had ( and yes I've have had a number of strange performances myself..Serve Limited Gods where I shaved my legs while my friends performed numerous acts..... Dancing in plastic with Plaster Milly...let's keep those memories to the few that saw them) Aww..those were the 80's.
Anyway, I finally got to see Lee's masterpiece The Euphoria Project at the Wind up space on Wednesday night. It is an absolute must see and I'm looking forward to using this film, along with the study guide with my students. So, check it out....get your Liberian to purchase a copy for your library...all written, filmed and experience here is good old charm city! My favorite quote of the film " When did your parents ever tell you to build a life around what is most meaningful and engaging for you!" Our mission of happiness...or emotional survival is the taken on by a neurological and artistic viewpoint! The film stars some Baltimore star...Kelly Bell and the Running man who runs 20 miles a day!

Pile of Craft Tommorow!

Don't forget to stop by St. Johns Church tomorrow for their annual Pile of Craft! This year's addition of Youthlife Photography project will let you purchase items with a mission. Many vendors are contribution portions of their sales to this wonderful group. I am going to donate $5 for every handbag and pillow sale! SO please stop by and say hello!

William Kentridge - Felix in Exile (1994)

I've been working on a narrative silk screen unit and William Kentridge is one of Exemplars...yes I know these are not silk screens....but I like to show his work to illustrate expressive figure in terms of poses, environment...sounds..texture..and effect. Not the most uplifting in content..but the drawings are wonderful.

Pile of Craft This Saturday!

One of my favorite shows is coming up this Saturday: The Charm City Craft Mafia's Pile of Craft. Last year was my first year doing their shows and I was so happy that I've gotten accepted since then to do their shows! I have a wonderful little fan base of sweet and dear ladies who love to visit and critique my sewing techniques as well as give me ideas for future products. This is my main motivation for coming up with nerw products every year. The pleated bags have been a hit this year...unfortunaelty they are my highest priced item, but I am some how selling them even in this economy. But enought about me...come to this year's pile of vraft..I love the addition of youthlight photography project as well as some really great give a ways. The back room will not be used this year...so the amount of vendors are smaller than past years...but still the large room will be packed with wonderful goodness....its inside so you can escape the rain...

Saturday, June 20th, 2009

10am - 5pm

@ Saint Paul Street, Baltimore, MD 21218

(Inside St John’s Church)

Educating the Masses

Well the BEST crew decided to try something new and broaden our horizons..or better yet, we were trying the broaden the horizons of the wine fest participant. I am still amazed by the amount of people who cannot believe that human beings can actually produce high crafted items. That they can only believe machines and people of foreign countries miraculously produce such items for chump change ( perhaps my pictures explain a lot about this concept). We didn't sell much, but I do think we amazed many , and many people took our cards...so I felt it worth the try. The weekend challenged our attention spans as we had to compete with the Spa booth next door that actually had a functioning spray tan booth and an audience of shared bikini gals and a wide array of men who sported rolled upped Bermuda shorts to their skippies! I of course had to get out the camera to document this event.

Great GRapes WIne Fest THis Weekend

Great food, fine wine, fantastic weather forecast at Oregon Ridge for Great Grapes... and shopping?!Yes! I will be there as well sharing a big tent with my BEST buddies! We will be there for the entire weekend selling handmade, along with local vintners, organic farmers selling local cheeses, specialty food items and so much more. Stop by and see JennyJen42 with these other BEST members: CEK Custom Designs, Sweet Pepita, Jersey Girl Design, Shelly Daly, Yummy and Co., Sugar Paperie and The Broken Plate, all together under one tent! BEST member Tarabu will be selling at the event too! Be sure to stop by our tent to enter the wine fest giveaway.

Details:

12-6pm this Saturday and Sunday.

Adult Admission & Tasting Glass: $18 advance online or $22 on-site includes a souvenir wine glass, unlimited samples, all performances and cooking demonstrations.
Designated Driver Ticket:$15 advance online or onsite and includes admission into the event ONLY.
Group Tickets:$16 (per ticket) for groups of 20 or more and must order by phone
800-830-3976.
Kids - 12 and under are FREE!

Oregon Ridge Park

13401 Beaver Dam Road

Cockeysville, MD 21030

Art Star Pics

Thanks to everyone who came out to artstar! I had a great time. The weather was perfect and my booth mate...Shannon of sweet pepita...was a perfect match! We'll be back again next year if you'll have us!

PJ Harvey at the Warner

I am still thinking about this performance...ashamed to say I have not been into the Werner Theater until last night....some how due to broken down cars I never made it there. She amazes and makes me in awe of here. There is nothing as punk rock as sweet feminine women in beautiful dresses dancing so sweetly screaming profanities on stage! Thanks PJ I really needed that!

new tat!

So I did it...passed out and everything....i absolutely love it!!! Thanks Bill....I couldn't have had a better friend give me this great gift. Here's to 20+ years of history and friendship!

Tatoo Bound!

OK... I apologize yet again for lack of posts. It's the busy season and life just keeps getting complicated and I keep filling it up with other things to do than update my blog. So..apologies all the way around. Last weekend at ArtStar was amazing! The weather was perfect and the people were wonderful. I'm hoping to make it back up to Penns Landing this weekend for the Roots Picnic! I've been digging the road trips to Philly...great for clearing the head and listening to mucsic as loud as I want. Tomorrow is PJ Harvey at the Warner Theater and my first tatoo! I want to get my birdy on my shoulder to be with me for the rest of my life. I'm commerating the next half of my life with a brighter outlook. Not that my life hasn't been great...not seen through dark shaded glasses...I've just found myself as a grown up these days..dealing with life and not shoving my woos under the rug. Lots of yoga and friends and adventures! That is how life should be spent! So here is my design in progress...need to clean it up a bit. Any comment are greatly appreciated.