ajk

my students

2009-09-28T23:30:00.000-07:00

this blog has moved

2009-05-12T00:38:00.001-07:00

my job

2009-05-05T23:16:00.000-07:00

i work for an artist named Scott donahue. i have worked for him part time and full time for the past three year. its a pretty amazing job, i get to make stuff all day. well thats on good days, sometimes i get to clean up the studio or some other unglamorous task. it is pretty hard work because the scale of the work he makes ranges from 3 feet tall to 25 feet tall. there are often many unexpected challenges waiting for me when i get to work.

a question i hear often with a more extended answer than i ever give:
"is it hard for you to work on somebody else's art work?"
"no not really. i get to use my hands and creativity and get paid for it. i like to work for other artists, i don't feel any of the same attachment that i feel towards my own work because they are not my ideas. i can be very sensitive or insecure about my ideas, they are like my little misbehaving children i love them and i hate them. i didn't get to choose what they would turn out like, but i made them what they are. i am responsible for them. when your working on some one elses art you need to learn how to think like them and sculpt like them. i think it is an interesting challenge. its fun really. there is a new set of problems to solve every day. i don't think its a job that everyone can do well. "

here is a good shot of the beach scene that we are just about to starts making the molds for. those large holes are the places where figures will be. the final casting will be in cement and the figures are bronze.

the blue tarp is set up to protect the studio from the spray of the plaster gun, which is what we use to make the molds.

the things sticking out around the edge of the landscape are called shims. they allow us to create a separation between the top and bottom halves

here are the waxes. they have clay on their pegs from being placed in the landscape. we put them in, look at it, take them out, adjust, put them back in again. its got to look right.

just to clarify so there is no confusion, all of these pictures are of scott's art work, not mine. i work for him and i do work on the sculptures with his instructions.

hearth 2

2009-05-02T16:37:00.001-07:00

friends

2009-05-02T16:12:00.000-07:00

my friend who moved away recently came home for a few weeks to work on some stuff with her awesome band Grass Widow. it was supper awesome to see her and Andy again, she is back in new england now, soon to be touring through the east coast, check them out if your out there. you wont be disappointed.

cloudy day bike ride

recreation

transportation

cold hands

Gardening!

2009-05-02T15:51:00.000-07:00

the greens are looking good. yummy....

the strawberry patch is much happier than it was before, its making an impressive amount of berries. now just need to figure out how to keep the bugs away from eating them.

the lemon tree looks like its dead all of a sudden? but i dont know why, it suddenly just lost all its leaves, lack of water perhaps, it still has lemons and small could be lemons on it. not sure what to do....

these are pictures i took before it lost all of its leaves.

spring cleaning in progress...

2009-05-02T15:10:00.000-07:00

i am the artist of the month for april at the compound studio and gallery. the show is already up, and it looks awesome! everyone should come and check it out! we had the opening last night and there was a good turn out for a rainy day. here are some photos of the work in progress.

around and about

2009-04-22T19:31:00.001-07:00

I sent this piece off to a new home in Arizona where Im sure it will have a much happier life than it did when it was sitting in a box in my room. I am going through a lot of my older work and I am finding it enjoyable and disturbing at the same time. Its nice to revisit the past and see where I have progressed from, but it is also nice to feel good about the work i am making now.

On ward and on ward. Thin threads of understanding reach from idea to idea. The more ideas, the thicker and more complex the threads. A pattern. created. revealed. constructed.

hEAR

2009-03-25T20:45:00.000-07:00

first day back at work after a two week vacation. velvet underground kept me good company.

every rainy day needs some color.

2009-02-16T14:39:00.000-08:00

ira glass

2009-02-16T13:57:00.000-08:00

Top 10 favorite was to spend an hour in no particular order.
*painting, cleaning, cooking or making while listening to This American Life.
*walking or hiking in the woods.
*riding my bike in the sunshine.
*cooking an amazing meal with my friends.
*drinking coffee an painting with it at the same time.
*watching plants grow, weeding, watering, harvesting and digging in the garden.
*sleeping in on the weekends when the sheets have just been washed.
*turning something that was useless into something useful.
*repairing and altering clothing.
*making things!

process remnants

2009-02-01T14:02:00.001-08:00

i used all these old photos in a project about a year ago. i scanned in all the photos, then re photographed them, from the computer screen. the final images were displayed on a digital photo frame. the series "traveled" into each frame, then back out into a new frame. the closest images were nothing but pixels.

old sketch books are fun to revisit

2009-01-31T17:44:00.000-08:00

this is a simple collage from a visual diary/scrap book that i started... hummn, in high school. around 2000. seems so long ago. i didn't work on it for a few years then i just went crazy pasting all kinds of stuff in there. i even went back to older posts and described the reasoning for some things, and the settings for some of the pictures. looking at it now i wish i had dated each entry, and then re-dated my later additions.

say yes to infinite geometry

2009-01-03T18:22:00.000-08:00

sold this set but more to come!

2009-01-01T19:18:00.000-08:00

Kintting with rubbish!

2008-12-07T13:48:00.000-08:00

I'm teaching a class at Rock Paper scissors this Saturday!

This Saturday at 1pm. take this class

Have you ever wondered what to do with those old scraps of fabric that your not gonna use for anything? What about all those plastic shopping bags, old electronic cables, what else can you get rid of? In this class I will show you how to knit with trash. There are so many things that can be made with what most people would consider useless. You can make a tote bag, a blanket, a rug, a sculpture or just about anything with materials that you may have never considered before.
This class is open to anyone who is interested in broadening their material horizons. It is open to beginning to advanced knitters. Also if you know how to crochet this class this class is open to you as well, but i can't be of technical assistance to you as i don't crochet, but please come anyway.

( you will need at least a little bit of experience to knit well with alternative materials, as it can be challenging, but Im open to helping all skill levels.)

What to bring: if you have large, medium or over sized knitting needles you should bring um, if not i will have some available for students to perchance.
bring old plastic bags, old t-shirts, boring yardage, cat-5 cable, used bike tubes, although i will also provide some materials as well.

December 13th 1pm to 3pm.
See you there!!

rps calandar drawing

2008-11-27T13:14:00.000-08:00

one step at a time.

2008-10-21T00:14:00.001-07:00

group show

2008-10-11T13:26:00.000-07:00

http://thecompoundgallery.com/

emeryville arts show

2008-09-13T13:23:00.000-07:00

i have a piece in the up coming emeryville annual arts show. come and check it out.

im fine thanks for asking

2008-09-13T13:02:00.000-07:00

this self portrait now resides in gunnison CO, im so happy that she has found a home. sorry about the blurry photo, but i like this shot.

comunication gap opening photos

2008-09-13T12:37:00.001-07:00

the art show was supper rad, thanks to all the artists and thanks to the compound gallery. i will soon unveil or un roll the results of the drawing machine.

zines will be available to purchase soon. only 5$ to get your very own copy. ill even mail it to your house, send me an email if your interested,

emailamandajayne@gmail.com.

Picture Sentence Picture machine looks good on that wall.

mesmerized.

way to go Nancy Bach.
a collaboration with me and my friend patrick renner. i did the red tentacle, and he made the cage with a sock. we never saw each others half until they were put together.

Ant Eater Eats Ant setting up in the old fridge.

also check out the write up in the east bay express.

CRITIC'S CHOICE

Communication Gap

Anyone who has experienced e-mail sender's remorse ("Oh, no!") knows the peril of depersonalized, disembodied instant communication: responding quickly and automatically, we can be easily misunderstood -- or, perhaps worse, too well understood. Angie Brown, Crystal Morey, Jake Gabel, Nancy Bach, Patrick Renner, and Amanda Jayne Kennedy explore modern interpersonal (and impersonal) relations at the Compound Gallery. Kennedy and Renner adopt the Surrealist game of blind artistic collaboration for an "exquisite corpse" sculpture that marries a ball of socks in its Gothic cage with an octopus tentacle. Brown draws dramatic, angular portraits that infuse comic-book style with angst. Gabel depicts mysterious juxtapositions of tigers, playing cards and rosettes. Bach constructs a multimedia cityscape with cassette tapes rolling on their capstans like pulleys or assembly lines. Morey builds doll-like, vexed female nudes that are classically posed on their florid wall brackets.Communication Gap runs through September 8 at the Compound Gallery (6604 San Pablo Ave.,Oakland). TheCompoundGallery.com or 510-655-9019.

-- By DeWitt Cheng

East Bay Express | Calendar | Communication Gap | Communication Gap

2008-09-07T15:39:00.000-07:00

gallery sitting on a sunday, at the compound. its nice and mellow, i like to watch people play with my drawing machine game. i cant wait to un roll it all, and see what everyone wrote. thats my favorite part.

good bye Good Morning Buck

2008-09-04T20:07:00.000-07:00

three adorable people just drove up to my house and took with them this lovely coffee painting that i did a few weeks ago. its going to an art auction to benefit someone who cant afford to pay for their surgery. life can be hard. it can also be magical when your friends get together to help each other.

awake

2008-08-19T21:07:00.000-07:00

red deer painted with coffee. this was in the Rock Paper Scissors art auction a few weeks ago. some happy camper went home with it. lucky them!!

2008-08-19T19:56:00.001-07:00

come to the the compound gallery next weekend!!! im so excited!!! my friend Sara drew this flier for the show, she is also in the band dinner!! come and watch!!
August 24th noon to 5pm. the music will be starting around 2pm!

the next step.

2008-06-04T19:35:00.000-07:00

cerca 2002....

2008-05-21T01:46:00.000-07:00

once upon a time i had a car, i drove it for long distances. my favorite was the desert . i took this photo somewhere on i50 in between Nevada and Utah. it was the middle of the night... a car drove by.

aqua

2008-05-18T22:11:00.000-07:00

free ride

2008-05-16T15:47:00.000-07:00

asymmetry

2008-04-20T16:29:00.000-07:00

the flow of a captive life.

WTF

2008-04-20T15:47:00.000-07:00

jesus camp..., thank you Ted Haggard

direct communication

2008-04-10T17:46:00.000-07:00

late night bike rides.

2008-04-03T21:52:00.001-07:00

the hunt is over

2008-03-23T14:26:00.001-07:00

the conspiracy of amandas

2008-03-18T23:03:00.000-07:00

Its common knowledge that a person's name can have an effect on who they are, but its not so common for people with that name to unite and form an alliance based solely on this arbitrary similarity.
Amanda- Created in the 17th century by the playwright Colley Cibber, who based it on Latin amanda meaning "lovable".

This photo is unrelated to to Amandas at large, it was taken at the Girls Rock Camp secret cafe dinner benefit. It was my task to document the event. Check out their website for more info and updates on events to come.
Bay Area Girls Rock Camp

bicycle scavenger hunt

2008-03-15T20:16:00.000-07:00

The basic rules
1-the hunt takes place mostly in Oakland, but surrounding areas are not off limits.
2-players may operate in teams or solo. teams may be no larger 3 people. one prise per team.
3- the hunt will start at 1pm, when players will register at Rock Paper Scissors, and receive the list of tasks/clues, then they are off for a few hours
3.5- everyone will be required to return by 4pm. aka the end of the hunt is at 4pm.
4-if your team finishes before 4pm, you will return to RPS.
4.5 an award ceremony will begin at 4:45pm, so be punctual.
5-prizes include more than one category
1st place} finishes first and has completed all tasks.
1st artistic place} finishes when ever but has completed the tasks in an outstanding artistic manner.
1st over achiever place} finishes relatively early and has collected more than one example of the many of things and objects needed.
other prizes may also be distributed... you will just have to wait and see.

What you will need
1- a bike.
2- a bag or some other means of collecting small objects.
3- a digital camera/polaroid camera. {there are many clues which require players to take pictures of things to prove that they found them. there will also be a viewing session during the award ceremony where all the collected photos will be projected onto a screen.}
please come its gonna be tons of fun!!

velocipede mania

2008-03-11T02:44:00.000-07:00

the bike art show was supper fun, pictures are coming soon. here is the flier i made for it... it has been a long long time since i drew stuff with out a direct reference to look at. im a sculptor. but it felt good, check it out...

this was also the first art show that i have organized that had artists i didn't know in it. turns out that it was a lot more work than i anticipated but in the end it was supper fun and it was amazing!! me and jake are going to continue to work together on velocipede mania art shows and bike events...

2008-02-27T23:27:00.001-08:00

"I may look like shit but i feel great!!"

2008-02-25T20:36:00.000-08:00

I had an adventure dream last night. the kind that you only have when your sleep is deep and warm. although i cant remember it now, i woke up feeling accomplished and i wanted to go back to sleep, into that world of getting things done.
I found this photo of me when I was a kid. I really have always liked to do things myself. Thank goodness my mother let me walk around like this when other girls had their parents doing their make up.

a show at my house {kitten boat} kimya dawson, palms, and yes please

2008-02-21T18:02:00.001-08:00

Last night we had a supper fun show & dinner at my house. Thank you Leif and the secret cafe! check out their stuff on their my space pages. also is anyone wants to go to another fun secrete cafe, they should check out this event that is happening on march 1st... http://www.bayareagirlsrockcamp.org/events.html
or just send an email to info@bayareagirlsrockcamp.org

myspace.com/kimyadawson
myspace.com/thefinches
myspace.com/palmsmusic
myspace.com/yespleasemusic

Kimya Dawson

Yes Please

Yes please

watching yes please...

50 people eating dinner that Leif made.

Photo shot with Lilian? Yes Please!

2008-02-17T13:07:00.001-08:00

sick and tired of being sick

2008-02-11T16:57:00.000-08:00

i'm still not feeling so good. what the heck!! dose any one want to come over and teach me some thing about dream weaver? ill make you dinner...

attempts

2008-02-04T00:37:00.000-08:00

i have never been very satisfied with the results of the template blogger offers... im trying new things, and learning some stuff about html.... so this may look weird from time to time. sorry.

friday

2008-02-01T15:46:00.000-08:00

I've finished my recycled fabric blanket. Its oh so warm, and its made up of all my favorite old things, stained T-shirts, old pants, spare yardage, etc. I think I'll make a rug next. I love making new things out of old things!
Also I am soooooo excited about my next round of cups that will be put in the kiln soon!! Due to popular request, I've made them bigger this time!

nothing...

2008-01-22T18:56:00.000-08:00

"there is always darkness in the beginning"