I've Been Working on Some Things

My blog has obviously taken a back seat to my life and art work. I thought I might fill you in on what I've been working on. My internship at Anthropologie has been great, aside from occasionally getting kooky after spending hours on end in a tiny windowless room with two other girls... but, we have fun and are creating some great things!

Our tiny, messy craft room, cozy right?

Its incredible how many materials are jammed into this tiny room.

A few of the thousands (literally) of accordion folded bunches we've made that will make up the poofs that will consume the store over the holiday season.

Our ostrich! Isn't she beautiful? I can't say that I made her myself, at all, but I helped!

Her egg's that we wrapped in yarn, fun, huh?

For my senior critique class, we had to write a proposal for what we wanted to work on this semester- My idea was to alter old damage furniture and make it better, while maintaining the furniture's elegance and form. Sounds like a good idea, right? It turned out to be a rather tough undertaking as I found myself afraid of messing up the chair. I jumped over many hurdles and wanted to give up on more than one occasion because my peers were pushing me to do something I didn't want to- change my beautiful antique chair. I only wanted to give it a little love by repairing, refinishing, and reupholstering it while giving it a little something extra. That's eventually what came out, but I can't say that I'm completely happy with it. Time to move on. I think I'll stay with the chair idea but not change them at all, only focus on the cushion and bring in some of my embroidery. This semester has been quite a learning experience and I'm curious to see what I make next...

I apologize for the picture being completely out of focus, I"ll post a better, clearer one later.

Update!

Life in the fast lane as a Craft and Material studies senior has been both crazy and exciting! I can't believe that we are already at midterms and my last fall semester will be over before I know it- a bittersweet thought. Since my last post, a lot has happened so I thought I might fill you in...

During my second week of my internship at Anthropologie, I got a major owie. I sliced my index finger on a glass hook and spent the evening in the emergency room getting stitches. It was such a strange freak accident- only I would mistakenly find a broken glass hook and gash my finger on it. Forget about table saw accidents. *knock on wood*. My wonderful roommate Emily has been a ray of sunshine who cracked jokes as I got stitches and has done the dishes consistently so I wouldn't get my hand wet. I am happy that the stitches are now out, however, I will miss my splint that was so helpful in maintaining my finger in an indicating position.

Injury induced or not, I have been suffering from a severe case of artist's block. This truly has been terrible. I have spent the last 5 weeks frustrated about my work for my senior critique class. My proposal for the semester was to rework old furniture while highlighting its elegance yet giving it a sense of modernity... It sounds like a good idea- too bad my vision is NOT coming to fruition. I have a critique on Wednesday after which I hope to ditch this idea and perhaps work on some embroidery ideas I have. We'll see what the teacher has to say...

Despite my artist's block, a few stitches, and a freak out here and there regarding graduation, life has been great! Last weekend was my 22nd birthday and it was a great one! I started the day with Evan eating brunch at The Black Sheep, a delicious restaurant here in Richmond. We then spent the day together running errands and getting ready for my Nickelodeon themed birthday party. We grilled out for dinner, making some delicious homemade hamburgers and french fries, which gave me the opportunity to introduce the delicious fry sauce that I brought back from my Utah trip back in August- it was quite a hit!Three of my dearest high school friends, Chelsea, Sarah Macon, and Paul drove in from out of town for my party and it was so nice to have them here! Most people went all out for my party, there were many great costumes! It was so much fun to reminisce old cartoon favorites.

Austin grilling some mean burgers

My amazing Nickelodeon cake, courtesy of Chelsea

Eureka, Chuckie, Clarissa, Chuckie

Quailman

Evan was Rocko and his tail was hilarious!

After a fun day on Saturday, my mom drove up from Lexington for a fun girls day. We went shopping, ate a delicious dinner and just hung out. It was great having some uninterrupted mother daughter time. I couldn't have asked for a better birthday weekend!

This past weekend was our fall break/reading days. I headed home on Thursday where I spent most of my time in my pj's doing homework catching up on Glee. I had way too much work to do to get to do the things I normally like to do when I go home, but it was nice to have some uninterrupted work time. I did find some time to hang out with my grandparents which is always wonderful. They are such a crack up! I love to sit on their horribly uncomfortable futon and listen to all that they have to tell me as they offer me food every 3 minutes. They are just so sweet.

Friday evening, I headed east to Poquoson, stopping in Richmond to pick up Evan. This weekend was the annual Seafood Festival in Poquoson, an event that we couldn't miss! Although it was freezing and wet, the seafood festival was great and it was a lot of fun hanging out with family and friends. We went and saw Where the Wild Things Are and I must say that I was a little disappointed. I guess it wasn't what I expected. I don't know, it was strange.

And now I'm back in my cold apartment overwhelmed by all of the work I planned to do but didn't this weekend. Such is life. Back to the grind stone tomorrow!

Until next time!

Crazyyy Semester!

My blog has obviously taken a backseat to everything else in my life- with three jobs, an internship and being a full time student, something's gotta give. My blog is not, going away, I will just be posting much more periodically, when time allows. I'll be enjoying my favorite month of October while working my creative muscles in both the studio and at Anthropologie. Until next time!

Congratulations Emma and Thad!

Its certainly wedding season! Last night I got a phone call from my adorably ecstatic sister who was calling me to tell me she was ENGAGED! I have been waiting for this day but didn't realize it would come so soon! I cannot wait for all of the fun wedding planning! I know Emma and Thad will have a very fun life together (how can you not have fun with Emma?). Yay for love and marriage! I couldn't be happier!

Craft Talk

Today, in my senior crit class, I was talking to my professor about how I'm struggling with walking the fine line between arts and crafts and fine craft- something that people within the craft world face on a regular basis. My teacher encouraged me to embrace craftiness (as in arts and crafts) and push it really far- which will maybe will set it outside the realm of arts and crafts, giving my work a sophistication. Hmm? Oh art. After seeing that she hadn't completely convinced me and freed me of my worries, she drug me to her office where she made me watch this ridiculously hilarious video that she said would cure my issues. This video is pretty silly but as a crafts and material studies major, I really appreciated it and it lightened my worries. Enjoy!

RVA Rap Video

I just discovered this hysterical music video on Young House Love, a blog about DIY home decorating based in Richmond. The bloggers were trying to give their readers a glimpse of the city they call home. The video is too great to miss out on, especially if you live here in the beautiful, RVA. Please, enjoy!

1st Day!

Today was my first day as an intern at Anthropologie and I absolutely loved it! It was so much fun to be in a creative environment with peers who have the same design aesthetic as I do. Emily and I spent hours cutting magazines and maps up and making paper airplanes (I swear I'll be doing it in my sleep). The thought of spending hours folding paper airplanes seemed really daunting but there's something nice about doing something so methodically mindless. We were folding the airplanes for the window display which is already looking great. I promise to post pictures when they are finished (hopefully they will be tomorrow). It feels really great to have this internship I have dreamed of for months now and I have a feeling a lot of inspiration will come from the experiences. Stay tuned!

Too Cute!

This adorable video just makes me smile. Enjoy!

Internship

I cannot be more excited to tell you that I officially have an internship with Anthropologie! guh! I am completely ecstatic! I will be working on visuals and displays for the Richmond store at Stony Point Fashion Park with their visual team and two other interns, my roommate Emily and friend Mari. I know it will be a lot of work but I look forward to spending many long hours working with such incredible people exercising our creativity. I can't see what we come up with! I head into the store early tomorrow morning (technically this morning) to learn the ropes, get my schedule, etc. I will keep you posted on how things go and hopefully have pictures of some of the work I do this semester! Yay!

House of Harriet

How fun are these mugs?! Harriet Darnave is an artists who lives and works in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. She has an Etsy page that displays her incredible work and tells her story.

For years I worked as an illustrator for books and magazines, only the last couple of years I use tableware and tiles as my canvas. I paint with glazes and fire the pieces myself in my kiln. Most of my products are designed for everyday use and are dishwasher proof, food safe and can even be used in the microwave.

You can even contact Darnave to have her customize a piece for you! Just sent her a pic and voila!

World of Wearable Art

My friends Grace Johnston and Melanie Hearn flew to New Zeland last Friday and will be there for a week to compete in the international fashion show, World of Wearable Art (WOW)! Its an amazing and huge opportunity for these talented ladies and I couldn't be happier for them. Grace has been really good about updating her blog so that all of us in the US are updated. Check it out!

Eat. Drink. Be Married.

What a fun weekend! Timothy and Katharine had a beautiful wedding. It was so much fun to be together with my family to celebrate Timothy, Katharine, Taylor, and future baby's life together! Friday night, my Dad and Jayne had a party where we had a great talent show. Timothy and Taylor performed a song, Emma read a poem, Katharine's mom Valerie recited a Scottish poem, Evan and I sang a song and many other toasts were given. It was so much fun to be around such great people and celebrate everyone's talents!



Saturday, we woke up bright and early for a kayaking trip with most of the family. It was so much fun but rather exhausting! We went home for some lunch, helped set up for the wedding and then took a little rest before the wedding. Around 6:00, we headed down to the beach for an intimate, beautiful ceremony and a great reception afterward. Congrats Timothy and Katharine!