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Ben Huntley and the Nine Fake Cakes Promo Postcard

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Some Belated Photographs from Vincennes

Vincennes was far more historical than I imagined it to be. It is the oldest European town in Indiana, established by the French in 1732.  The governor's mansion where William Henry Harrison resided before becoming the 9th President of the US is on campus. The rumor mill supplied that the previous water tower located in the same location as the one above was burned down by John Mellencamp when he attended the University.

I couldn't resist photographing this school bus on a walk around campus.

The lecture hall in the Humanities building has so many examples of color temperature occurring at a given time, I became overly fascinated with photographing the space before and after my talk. 

 Behind the stage.

A scary drop from a door.

After my presidential debate.

 These lunch bags are huge! After the closing reception.

 Drove back through Bloomington and visited the Chocolate Moose (they have vegan ice cream!) on the way to Muncie.

Kuba Prestige Panels at the John Waldron Art Center in Bloomington.

"This is about birds..."

Little did I know my interest in art featuring birds started in elementary school.

Remaking the template for "Strange Artifacts"

New paper.

New descriptions (not in cryptic metaphors).

Perhaps Strange Artifacts: A Found Object and Photographic Wunderkammer will be exhibited again.

If so, it's 100% organized (three days later).

"Somewhere to Disappear"

I can't wait to see this.

Vincennes University Installation

Morgan Ford Willingham gave me this disk of installation images from The Object Transformed at Vincennes University. I was very happy with the exhibition despite the awkwardness of having three different series seen at once (awkward as in I never thought of that way but it made perfect sense once viewing in person). Thank you for the opportunity to show my work, Morgan!

Archiving (Really) Old Artwork

Meow. A note to my grandmother shortly after I had braces (age 8). Yes I am including it in my response to Arline Conradt's cat scrapbook.

I am fascinated with what the back of the paper looked like that my brother and I scribbled all over as children (particularly the peacock page on the left). Is it from a book? Any guesses Mom?

Then I rediscovered the giant stack of paper that Javy and I always had access to for our drawings and what the source of it really was. This is going to make this project a whole lot more interesting once I finish up a few more things and devote some time to it.

Postcards as Promotion

Once upon a time on a visit to Springfield, Ohio to visit James and Tanya last year, I fell in love with the idea of using postcards as promotion. Here are nine of his that he gave me:




I made a promo card for the self-published book Nine Fake Cakes and Nine Bodies of Water last month (arrival = today) and I'm very happy with it. I have James to thank for this!

I wanted to maintain the element of "postcard" since that was an very important facet in the creation of the project (hence the lower opacity image on the back).

Next up, I'm researching places that will make half a dozen images made from a variety of series cheaply so I will have postcards of my own work available to send to people.

The Reason Why I No Longer Collect Lunch Bags

 My Mom bought me this:

Just another "fascinating" bit of information that will be unveiled in my talk at Vincennes University this week.

Autobiography: Swimsuits

I edited the swimsuits today. Excuse the poor photo. Once I make the plexi-glass boxes for presentation, there will be a far better image and a better reproduction of scale. These represent five years of my life for one place - Portland, Oregon. They will be accompanied by a towel that I used for twenty years. For the first time, the objects will be displayed alongside the photographs in the final presentation. I'm hoping to finish this for The Echo of the Object which opens at the end of next month.

Cats are coming through with the Claws

Vincent Fecteau, Chorus 3, 1994

A big old thank you to the 17 cats that are currently working for me (and their respective owners who are in charge of collecting):

Marco
Carlos
Jezebel
Oscar
Shera
Francis
Bob
Imogen
Marguerite
August
Mimi
Franz
Peanut
Jeff
Stanley Camper
Atticus
Boo Radley

I am en route to finishing the cat scrapbook project as soon as I come up with a couple artist talks and get the promo postcards for the Nine Fake Cakes & Nine Bodies of Water book out in the mail (they arrive in the mail this week). More soon...

Donald Abad's "I Did Not Own the Roden Crater"

Video still from Donald Abad's I Did Not Own the Roden Crater

One of my favorite parts about visiting all the major earthworks in the Western US is receiving emails from people who have done the same. Donald Abad emailed this link today with the video I Did Not Own the Roden Crater. He visited the same year we did and had  similar experiences with the man in the SUV watching over him in parts of the video, another man driving up in a truck to explain that the crater is closed, interactions with a barbed wire fence, and so on. Abad flies a kite while we flew balloons. I imagine they see it all from atop the crater. I'm looking forward to his return trip and what it produces in 2014.

I've often thought of the art I would make now about returning since all of the pieces have been experienced first hand. I have always known I will see the inside of Roden Crater but it probably won't be until after Turrell has passed away and it's opened to the general public in some capacity. I will be the white haired lady reminiscing about toasting beer to the guard on the ridge way back in 2010 or sneaking past the fence a few yards and burying an object from the past. In all likelihood, I will remain silent and not reveal a thing.

Wanted: Cat Claws

I am trying to fill this container. After months of searching for them on my hands and knees before I vacuum, I still don't have enough. It is one of the missing links in finishing A Tale of Two Obsessions: Arline Conradt & the Cat Scrapbook. Yes, your cat(s) will be credited for the contribution. Thank you!

An amazing thing happened this week...

This lead to this:

which simultaneously let to this:

and an upcoming feature in this.  More on the latter soon. 

Thank you everyone for your interest! I'm humbled by the viral spread of fake cakes on the Internet over the last week.

Now if only someone would pay me to make 100 more fake cakes and photograph them floating in a pool in Miami with pastel art deco buildings in the background in the dead of winter in the Midwest.  I can dream.