andrea zittel

I've always been a big admirer of artist Andrea Zittel's work...mixing issues of architecture, design, fashion, and ergonomics, she has created installations and objects that challenge traditional uses of tools, garments, and living spaces. Based in NYC and Joshua Tree, California (where she has a survivalist compound/studio) her work is a fabulous counterpoint to the art-vs-craft debate that so many of us seem to get mired in. She has created moveable personal islands, "carpet furniture," trailers, and uniforms, among many other things. Her blurred boundaries and mix of utopian/nihilistic/survivalist approaches to her designs are a real inspiration.









Andrea Zittel's website
(oops! had the wrong link--now it's correct!)

articles:
metropolis japan today
PBS Art 21, a DVD documentary series on contemporary artists that I highly highly highly (can't stress enough!) recommend everyone watch...rent it or check it out from your local library!

On her wearable designs:
"Since 1991 the technical and conceptual evolution of the A-Z Uniforms Series has been gravitating toward an increasingly direct way of making clothing. The goal has been to create attractive and sophisticated designs through very simple techniques and with basic materials.

"After the creation of the A-Z Single Strand Uniforms (which reducing the “tools of production” to simply crocheting strands of yarn directly off of ones fingers), A-Z next began to consider the strands of wool and how these could also be in some way reduced or simplified to a more "elemental" form. What if one could make a dress directly out of the fiber itself? A period of experimentation resulted in a technique where washed and carded wool is "felted" directly into the shape of a shirt or dress. Because the clothing is made as one piece there are no seams, and if needed one can use a safety pin to position the garment correctly on the body."

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black humor

so, on the topic of black now (as in "black market") here's some fine examples of black humor. Tasteless? Maybe... Funny? Not just a little... Cutting criticism and commentary on today's social landscape? Definitely.

Blackpeopleloveus.com is an amazing spoof that must have been started by some grad student in sociology. Preppy white couple "Sally and Johnny" have set up a website attesting to how loved they are by their black friends--there they are drinking glasses of wine and hanging out! Scroll through the testimonials and especially the letters section to get a taste of this "black" humor. The most amazing part are letters emailed from folks who think the website is a SERIOUS attempt by a white couple to talk about their black friends. Come on. A reflection of things really heard and said in the world, perhaps, but serious? Wow.






black-market-babies.com is another funny/scary site. From the website:

"First you get the money, then you get the power, then you get the babies. Many of Black Market Babies.com's customers have questions about our sources. Where can we possibly procure healthy human children and import them cheaply into America? The answer: the Third World."

ooof.

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black market babe

Yep, that's me--"black market babe" according to the June/July issue of Venus magazine...And it's me and Sleater Kinney, together at last, ha ha! Here's some pics of the article and the interview I did...click on the image of the article and it'll blow up to a reasonable size so you can actually attempt to read it (but lord, venus magazine has tiny tiny type). Anyhow, it was such a treat to see the writeup and i'm happy to be a part of it--whooo hooo!

click on this image below!

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spirals in his eyes

ok, it's cheezy of me to jump on this bandwagon, but there's a certain famous actor who's running around acting...well...rilly rilly crazy! i'm addicted to Late Night and he was a guest the other night and was so hyped up and looked like he was about to pop, that it was just weird. As my old roommate Pam would say, "he got spirals in his eyes!"

um, ok, katie, whateveryouwannagetyourselfinto!

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RESTOCK: Green Revolution!

...the revolution never ends :) last week it was VIVA, now it's GREEN!

Just restocked the online store with new items, so check 'em out! Got some new doily tops, really lovely abstract applique and stitch designs that remind me of moonlit nights, and sweater bolero tops with longer sleeves that would be fab to take into the fall season. Also, a really cool red reconstructed IZOD Lacoste bolero that has the little gator on one side--rwaaaaarrrr!

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bejewelled: bakelite bits

I love bold, colorful, well-designed jewelry, and Bakelite Bits, run by Aileen Ward, makes amazing jewelry out of vintage bakelite! Her revamped pieces are reminiscent of recent Prada designs--big graphic pieces dripping with color and high style...talk about classy! Plus, all the effort spent in collecting choice pieces of bakelite to incorporate into her jewelry really pays off: you get a one-of-a-kind item that's a mix of the past and very fast-forward.

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back from the beyond!

Argh! I upgraded my server a couple of days ago and in the whole process my website got shut down for a few days, without any fair warning--how frustrating :( I'm back up and running now, sorry for the confusion and down time...Now I can run as much traffic as I want through my website (I was maxing out and running dangerously close to being yanked offline for it!).

FYI--i will be posting new clothing items online in a few days or so...will make sure to email the announcement out, so if you haven't signed up yet, do so at: ssyjuco@hotmail.com...I'm looking forward to it--lots of nice stuff in the works. Not to mention I can't wait for fall. There's something about fall clothing that is just so damn fun to design, more fun for me than spring and summer cuz I get to bust out all the sweaters and toasty stuff :)

In the meantime, here's another cool link to check out:


Extreme Craft Blog is run by Garth Johnson in Atlanta, and gee, is he cool. Recent entries include lots of photos and info on Rosey Grier, an ex pro-football player turned needlepointer who back in the 70s published his own book of needlepoint designs and campaigned to get more men to discover the joys of needlepoint; Charles Manson's prison craft projects (creeeeeeeepy!); and awesome wax fabric prints from Ghana that feature designs of mundane household items like batteries and irons on 'em...awesome! Garth posts nearly every day, so check back often.

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obsessing & consuming

Buy buy buy buy buy buy buy...pay pay pay pay pay pay...the cycle goes on and on...and someone who's obsessively into her consumption is artist Kate Bingaman in Mississippi, who turns her (and others') bouts with capitalism into a strange melange of art and commentary. If we truly are what we buy, and if we can't get away from consuming to go through this world, then who and what are we? This one woman enterprise puts out handmade zines, does drawings of her credit card statements, makes videos of people's shopping habits at Target, and even emblazons T-shirts with hearts and shopping carts. Funny, obsessive, charming, and just a tad spooky, Obsessive Consumption knows how to be cheeky about the whole process of partaking.

==> visit

I may have to score one of these awesome drawings for myself :)

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long day

what i did today (for those of you who wonder what the heck it is that i do all day! trust me, it's not all sewing and lolling around being blissed out and creative) ;p

--answered some emails that have been piling up and getting neglected. (9am-10am)
--tagged all sold Anti-Factory orders, packaged 'em up, printed out their packing slips and address labels, taped 'em all together, and hauled 'em to the post office (whew!) (about 2 hrs) (10am-12pm)
--took advantage of 99 cent day at Savers thrift store...spent more time than i wanted to rummaging through yucky stuff to find some good stuff! (12pm-1:30pm)
--made lunch (a bagel and steamed kale--trying to eat more greens) (1:30pm-2pm)
--worked on freelance graphic design job (handbook for nonprofit organization on fighting for living wage laws). did lots of image tweaking in photoshop and readying the digital files for print output. (2pm-4pm)
--updated my art website...took longer than usual because it's sooooo out of date and all the links needed overhauling. ick--i was soooo dreading doing this, but now it's done! (4pm-7:00pm)
--printed out a copy of my art portfolio since it's also so out of date and doesn't look as good as it should (7pm-8pm)
--went to see an artist space that is for rent and toted my portfolio there and went through a gauntlet of interviews regarding my work (8pm-9:30pm)
--had cheap dinner at a vietnamese restaurant w/boyfriend (9:30pm)

aaaaaaa! i'm tired! it's time for a giant martini now :) :) :)

tomorrow i have to go down to Stanford and take down the behemoth (Black Market Blowout). lots of screws to unscrew and pieces of melamine to stack up and haul out the gallery! not looking forward to this!

oh, and now you can check out my new and super duper updated website:

www.stephaniesyjuco.com

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RESTOCK: Viva La Revolution!

Hey and welcome back! I just restocked with over 20 new items that feature some cool new designs: "collage" tops that have appliqued vintage prints and tons of stitching details, more bolero tops, and some abstract geometric designs, too! And I'm totally digging the "black armband" Viva La Revolution bolero that I cooked up...I think this is going to be a foreshadowing of my fall collection :)

Am in the process of putting up my links page, where you'll find lots of other artists, DIY makers, and socially relevant sites. Who says fashion has to hurt?

Over and out, for now...! xoxoxox

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"knitting" + "anarchy" = ?

OK, so what happens when you type in "knitting" and "anarchy" into the same Google bar? I was actually looking for a website I've seen before on crafting for anarchists, but stumbled across this nice link for "freeform knitting" by Prudence Mapstone. Very gently subversive (I hate following patterns anyway!) and sort of sweet.



awesome--strange freeform blobs!!!

Not Just Knitting

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what happens after wal-mart?

Wal-Mart has a tendency to move into a neighborhood and completely decimate the local stores and economy. And when they leave (which they often do, setting their sites on cheaper digs), they litter the landscape with giant "big box" stores--large empty buildings that can be daunting to reconfigure. Artist Julia Christensen has been documenting the myriad ways local communities have begun to do just that:



from the website: www.bigboxreuse.com

"Julia Christensen began investigating How Communities are Re-Using the Big Box in January of 2004. Throughout the spring and summer of 2004, she traveled over 17,000 miles around the country in her car, visiting the sites and meeting the people who are transforming empty Wal-Mart buildings, K-Mart buildings, Target buildings and more into useful structures for
their community. She has been collecting a growing collection of photographs, interviews, stories, and documents relating to the renovations, and has been giving presentations in communities about how towns are dealing with this common situation. She continues to travel around the country, visiting towns and giving lectures about the reuse of big box buildings in the United States. Julia is also exhibiting photography and installing video/sound/new media work from field recordings collected throughout her travels. In the summer of 2005 she will continue to visit sites of renovated big box buildings around the United States. She is currently working on a book about the project."

Yes, Virginia, there is life after Wal-Mart!

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i (heart) pashupatina!

Ladies, here's my recommendation: run, don't walk to Pashupatina's website to buy some super lovely necklaces! So far, I've bought 2 of them over the past few months. Natalie handmakes every one, and when she posts new ones up they get snatched up really fast, and it's no wonder why--duh! The colors, beads, and designs are totally unique and gorgeous. I don't buy jewelry very often, but I swooned over hers. I get tons of compliments everytime I wear one :) Go to her site and get on her email list so you'll know when she posts more...the images I'm posting below are of the necklaces I bought (photos courtesy of Pashupatina)...

Pashupatina

(oops! how silly of me--I didn't put the correct link at first, but now it's all good...)

PS--in case you're wondering...I haven't forgotten about posting my own new stuff to my store, I've just been busy taking care of graduation ceremonies, cleaning house, and getting my stuff together to move my art studio back to San Francisco. I will be posting new items up for sale in the next few days so hang tight!!! ;p

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new blog!

Hey all! I'm trying out this blogger program and hope this is an easier way to post messages...could you believe I was doing it the old fashioned way and making a webpage everytime i wanted to post stuff? yeesh! :) So I will be taking all my old posts and adding them to this new one--if you've bookmarked my old blog, please update it to this...Also, I need to learn how to futz with the colors/graphics/etc., so it might look sort of "prefab" until then.

The coolest thing about this is now people can post feedback and comments. Now I don't have to necessarily feel like I'm talking to walls with these musings... :)

PS--I thought I would post new items today, but alas, I got sort of tired. But here's a preview of what's to come...a halter top, more cherry blossom tops and doily and bolero ones, too!

Over and out!

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The behemoth that took over my life

OK, so after moaning and groaning about all the stuff I was working on to finish up my Stanford MFA during May and this month, I'm ready to share some images of...the giant thingie that I was working on!

"Black Market Blowout" is a crazy shelf structure I built out of recycled IKEA melamine furniture and formed into the shape of Frank Lloyd Wright's famous Fallingwater (based on blueprints, really!). The shiny black blobs are paper mache-covered ex-products (discarded items that were once in economic circulation). Overall, it reminds me of a mutant department store display... :)

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RESTOCK: Ow! Hot tamale!

My fingers have been sewing sewing sewing these past few days..Over 20 new items and this is the most stuff I've posted in one chunk...Not to mention that I put up a previous batch not a week ago!

Getting more colorblock designs and cutout tops ready for market. Even though I still love the girlie crochet doily tops, I miss the graphic colorblock ones I used to do. So, to alleviate the sewing rut I designed lots of new "keyhole" cutout tops--some with cutouts in the front AND back! Now the only thing is that I have to make some for myself :) They're PERFECT for the hot weather and add some needed ventilation when a girl gets overheated...

I'm putting these up tonite and will email everyone an announcement tomorrow morning. For those of you lucky enough to be browsing tonite, you are in luck and have the whole place to yourself! I'm going out to see my boyfriend's band, Condor play tonite in Oakland at a gallery opening...Ta ta!

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