LUREN JENISON

Today I've been working on making some great ol' bags, fringy keychains, and sweet shirts for an upcoming show, the St. Valentine's Day Art & Craft Affair. It's taking place next Saturday the 7th at Darla Jackson's studio on 3237 N. Amber St. Lot's of really great artists are going to be there, including Kris Chau (krischau.com), Margaux Kent with the Black Spot Books (theblackspotbooks.com) and Luren Jenison (http://www1.wooloo.org/luren/). Luren recently designed and printed a bunch of fabric for me to work with, and the resulting bags will be at the Art & Craft Affair. I've posted sneak peaks of said fabric, including my favorite, a blue and white quilt pattern on heavy canvas. It matches my aesthetic so perfectly. I think its a discharge print, which makes it all the more amazing to me, cause I have absolutely no clue how to go about doing such a thing. Luren does incredible things with fabric, including lazer cut-outs that blow my mind. For instance, her Bootsock Wall Painting:

...and Four Cut Fabrics.....


...and this wall sized painting, Theater of Nature


She also did a really cool installation for the now defunct Black Floor Gallery called One Wall is an Edge, which included a full sized fabric yurt with screenprinted fabrics, and filled with handprinted pillows, etc, and an enormous painting covering the walls.

To begin, I have to say that I never thought I would start my first ever blog with a post about Blind Melon.

But tonight my friend Jon uploaded a video to facebook of Blind Melon performing "Soup," which is actually an incredible song. I had forgotten about it, but the second it started it brought back this flood of memories, how I had played that song over and over in my room when I was still so young and discovering everything.  

What it really made me think about, however, was that when I was just beginning to discover what was out there in the world, if I saw something inspiring, it INSPIRED me. What I mean is, I felt it through my whole body, it felt like a world of possibilities. It was frustrating in that I could never grab a hold of the feeling, it was so fleeting, but at least I felt the notion that "it" was out there.

And I think that is what I always look for today. It's a little harder to come by, as jaded-ness sets in, but that feeling that amazing people are doing amazing things, and that amazingness exists in the world. 

So I think that is what this blog will be about. Amazingness. Inspiration. Silly, for sure, but also so very important. So I leave you with photos of Shannon Hoon, lead singer of Blind Melon, who, like so many incredible people, burned out rather than faded away. 

P.S. My apologies to the rest of the band, who were so important too, but I guess they will always be in the shadow of Shannon.