Random Thoughts on Top Pot Doughnuts, The Charm Bracelet, and General Kvetching about Moving

Am currently hiding on the top floor of Top Pot Doughnuts and experiencing the ephemeral quality of bliss. Drinking a 12-oz Americano and noshing a plain cake donut. All this bliss for only $3.00? Ah, the perfections of simplicity. By day am working nonstop on spring collection–reading, reading, reading, designing, designing, designing. By night am worrying nonstop about moving into the new live/work Love Kill Monster studio–crying, drinking vodka martinis, crying, drinking vodka martinis. Such is life.

But seriously, the thesis of my whole collection is falling apart: that is the notion of jewelry as a metaphor for divine feminine power. This setback occurred because I pinned my whole inspiration on this book, the philosophy of which is disappointingly flimsy. Yet I know, intuitively that women connect to their jewelry, whether intentional or not. Just this morning, I wrote the fabulous Ms. P, and talked about Intentional Jewelry as objects of memory, healing, and power. I used the example of the charm bracelet. I said, “contemporary women use these charms, containing photos and other cherished objects (for example a seashell from vacation or a baby’s tooth) as repositories of memory.” So, even though I can’t yet find significant scholarship to confirm my intuition, it does not shake my faith in my theory. Onward and upward.

(Image credits: Top Pot Doughnuts, courtesy of Brown Turtleneck Sweater, Charm bracelet courtesy of Wells Ware)

The Secret Life of Recycled Jewelry Beads

Lacquered coffee beads, originally uploaded by alexispl.

It started last summer. I was eating a muffin and I noticed how sticky it was. I have a theory that anything that is or can be made sticky can be made into a bead. (I love beadmaking). So, I smashed the muffin into a tiny bead.

I kept looking at the muffin bead, and suddenly it seemed like the bead had transformed from an inanimate object to an object with not only a life but a life story. At the same time, I wanted to investigate the possibility of carrying beads on the body (in cupped hands, the crook of an elbow, the hollow of the throat) as precious, sacred objects to be protected. (I have a whole vision about this to be shared in the future).

From there, I created a short film called “The Adventures of Muffin Bead”. (Don’t ask). But the idea of consuming food and jewelry as consumable goods is interesting to me.

So, I started experimenting with salt, sugar, spices, coffee grounds, and other food products that would not rot yet would bind with polymer acrylic glues, which brings me to these painted and lacquered beads made of recycled coffee grounds. (I’m still on hiatus, but I couldn’t resist).

On Hiatus

The Love Kill Monster Studios are relocating to an exciting new space, and I am preparing for 2008 exhibits, so I will be on hiatus, and I will not be posting any new blog posts until March 2008. Until then, best wishes for an artful and joyous life experience.

Art Review: Nick Cave’s Sound Suits and the Art of Adornment

Ferklempt would be the word to describe my unusual inability to articulate my reaction to a work of art. Yet ferklempt I am after examining the work of artist Nick Cave whose Sound Suits adorn the recent edition of Ornament Magazine. Whenever I read a book or article about art, I first look at the pictures to establish my initial reaction to the aesthetic manifestations of the artist’s vision. Once thoroughly misinformed and blinded by my own worldview and artistic prejudices, I then read the article to get a better understanding of the philosophic framework upon which the artist built his/her project. I then let these dialectic elements resonate for a few days, then I approach the work again with fresh eyes.

I am in the initial phase of reviewing Cave’s work, and I am, as I said earlier, overwhelmed and left speechless by

T.R.U.E. Inspiration Courtesy of Cheryl Mendelson

Having finished Cheryl Mendelson’s Anything for Jane, my appetite was whetted for more, especially since I discovered that the book was part of a trilogy, which I was reading out of order. I read the first book in the trilogy, Morningside Heights then went to the third book, Anything for Jane, and I am now reading the second book, Love, Work, Children. I can’t help but continue my comparison of Mendelson’s trilogy to Jane Austen. Both authors do a wonderful job of embedding their narratives in a specific location that seems at once familiar and idyllic, as though the very nature of the environment imbues virtues upon its inhabitants. Mendelson and Austen’s works are both relationship-centric with particular respect to family circles within an upper class community and the art of courtship between marriage-hungry singles. Finally, both authors are genius at

A Day of Self-Doubt and Velvet Foam

One of the places I like to hide in the city is this quirky coffee house in Belltown where, today, a guy named Ryan gave me the Best! Venti! Soy! Caffe Viennese! Ever! (I didn’t sleep well last night, so I’m a little punchy). This coffee house, Uptown Espresso, is known as the “Home of the Velvet Foam” but this morning it seems ever so much more velvety, like a pillow I could lay my head upon and fall into deep and blissful sleep.

For some odd reason, I feel disconnected from the rest of the world, like an alien observer of human habits. I hate it when my chi is all squiggly. I think it is because last night I was up trying to finish Anything for Jane. At approximately 1 AM, I screamed at page 158, “No, Andrés, don’t do it!” Then realized I was screaming at a book. (Well, he was about to turn down a full scholarship to the University of Chicago. I didn’t want him to ruin his life. What would you have said?) Sheepishly, I quieted down and tried to behave.

This morning, inside my coffee haunt, sipping my Caffe Viennese, I started thinking about this mirror they have there with a painting of a 17th century lady painted on the top. This, for some reason, got me thinking of the artist Kara Walker, and how she