opheliaswims

This week has been a week full of surprises, sweat, late nights, early mornings and a sense of euphoria. I turned up the andrenaline to finish CoolMom for deca.tv, see my event for Outnetwork happen on Thursday night (after months of prep work), rallied Art Center alumni to a cause to save the college, worked on Black Clock, got another assignment from deca.tv, press checked for Cadenbach Reps, got the DVD artwork done for printing for the BeCause Foundation…..

I think I need a few hours of interesting somethingness. Empty space is a waste of time.

This hyperactivity is not an anomoly, it’s my usual state of rhythm. I exist on moving constantly. Vacations on a beach are deadly to me. I can sit there on the sand for a few minutes and then I am done. I prefer vacationing in large cities. I need to walk the streets to take in every bit of noise, smell, sight, feel; just to keep my brain from atrophying. Death would be hell, if it’s all nice and calm on the other side, I will be severely pissed off.

Latest News:

Lemon Poppyseed (Gestalten Press) arrived at my door on Wednesday. I have 4 spreads in the book. I love the smell of ink. And to see my work printed is another pleasure. More books coming out this year, HarperCollins International, Quarry Press and a dvd by Peachpit Press. I left my office job as CD at Workbook over two years ago, and I have never looked back. I took a leap of faith into the void, less money, uncertain prospects. During that free fall, I worked endlessly on my portfolio; working through social networking channels and flickr, to get my work out. Now it’s happening. I had a piggy bank when I was a kid and written on it was “Slow But Sure”, and it has stuck with me. Nothing comes overnight, it takes work and effort.

Lemon Poppyseed “A new generation of talent is currently developing its own interdisciplinary and refreshingly off-key visual vocabulary. Lemon Poppy Seed is a compilation of work by young, international artists whose styles defy current trends and classifications and are all the more brilliant for doing so. The book is the perfect source for those who want to see the organic development of new artistic terrain before the mainstream attempts to erect shopping centres upon it.”

Yesterday I was in Chinatown to do a bit of research for a project, and I had my camera with me. I walked over to a bakery and standing outside was this very old Chinese woman selling vegetables and fruit off her tree. She had a cart filled with empty soda cans and from what I could see, nothing to eat. I spoke to her in Cantonese, hoping that it was the dialect she spoke. And it was. I asked her how she was and if she needed some hot tea. She shook her head and said no, that she was alright. I picked up a bundle of leafy greens and asked how much? She said a dollar. I handed her the money and thanked her. It would be insulting to her if I gave her more than that. She was not begging and to insinuate that she was, would be shameful on my part. As I walked away I was saddened by the fact that she had to be there in the first place. She probably lives with her extended family, and she sells the vegetables to bring back some money, however little.

The further away I walked the more clear the future became. This is the future of our generation. When we are old enough to receive Social Security (even that is laughable) there just might be nothing to hand out. So where are we? We are going to have to fend for ourselves. Even the guarantee of our children looking after us is a thin hope, since they will be struggling as well.

What we need to do. Stop buying toys. Save money. Do you really need that fancy pair of shoes? Do you really need that 50″ plasma? Why not go green and buy your clothes second hand? It’s recycling and not making another notch in the carbon foot print. There is the “Carrie” fantasy of Sex and the City, but that woman can not eat a pair of shoes nor will it warm her apartment. The mentality of “I just have to have it!”, and the culture of instant gratification will quickly fade in the twilight of our years. What we will be thinking is “I just have to pay the rent and eat”.

Your future rests with you. Is it Priceless?

Interesting dichotomy we all have. On twitter we talk daily about our lives, yet offline we are mute with our friends/relatives. Is it easier to share online what we are thinking when we are shouting into an open space?

If my relatives were on Twitter (parents, sibling), would I tone it down?

After leaving the tween site with no regrets, I took a bit of time to just reflect. It didn’t last long. First the foundation called and asked if I could art direct their DVD releases and print materials. This week I signed a contract to design and help launch a website that features content for Moms. Then out of the blue the production company for Bruce Willis’ film “Surrogates” called for design for signage. It will have to be done fast. Really fast. I am going to hire an Art Center student to help me out, and as serendipity works, I met him last week at the print studio.

Time flies when you are busy. Zoom.

A new post on Steve Spalding’s HowToSplitAnAtom.com

Sturm und Drang (the conventional translation is “Storm and Stress”; a more literal translation, however, might be storm and urge, storm and longing, or storm and impulse)

I graduated from Art Center College of Art with a degree in Fine Arts. I loved my experience at ACCD, those years showed me how unlimited my choices were. There were all nighters, tears, joy, and a sense of camradery, that we were all in it together. Since graduating, it took me about ten years before I went back to join the Alumni Council, and then voted in as the President. The Council has since disbanded and there is no cohesive voice for the Alumni, besides a website . Since 2004, I have been involved as a mentor and as a producer of events for alumnae and students.

Over the last few years I have heard discontent from students, alumni, faculty and administration. There were divided camps of “who’s side are you on?” Now it has come to a head with the “resignation” of Nate Young (Executive Vice President and Chief Academic Officer). A student, Nathan expressed his views on the state of affairs at ACCD. I read his blog and expressed my views, using my name. The blog has exploded into a place to air every grievance about ACCD (there’s no stopping it, with the advent of email/socnets, Nathan’s URL has been forwarded ad infinitum). It’s indicative of the miasma at the college. Most of the comments are credited to Anonymous. Why? Fear of retribution, of losing one’s non-tenured position job, fear of owning their opinions, fear of loosing their scholarships; a fear that should not be, no one should have to speak out under the cover of Anonymous.

You can make your own mind up here: Bike.Cook.Play

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Photo credit: Nathan / Letterpress: Ophelia Chong

Events produced for Alumni + Students: Begin Now, Begin Anywhere, Habit Forming, No Straight Lines:Finding Your Voice

There’s a space between fully awake and asleep. When you snap out of it, the sound of a vacuum release pops out of your ears. I went to sleep at 3 am this morning and got up at 6am. During those three hours of heavy sleep I didn’t dream. I am on my second pitcher of coffee, I am just going to sit here and wait for the pack of flying beanie wearing monkeys to attack my keyboard.

Today will be spent working on a site launch. Thinking about shapes and colors, how they flow from one to another. Looking at waves landing on the beach, I see azure blue to white foam. The wave pulls back into the ocean leaving  a wet shine on the sand. That is the mood I am going to focus on for the site.

The moon is making shadows of the trees. The white light falls like invisible snow across my hands. Good Night from Los Feliz.

I was standing on the corner of New & Cosmos and looking around. There were people rushing to and fro, the giant wall sculpture across the street was made of people hanging against a wall moving in unison to create a kinetic tableau. Next to me I read the poster, “Don’t stay in the Dark!”, a woman had a flashlight trained on a startled young couple; it was illustrated in a WWII style. I knew I had to leave the city, and I was very upset. Here I was standing on the corner in a beautiful noisy city that was painted in tones of patina copper and gold. I started to cry.

I woke up.

You can find me at  New and Cosmos. The intersection where you will discover a new universe.

There are times that I lay awake in bed; disjointed thoughts swirl intermixed with half dreams. “Was that real?” I am in that space where I am floating in a netherworld of unlived moments. My nightly forays into the ether become “duhs”. Small epiphanies that bring bursts of light into the night.

These “unlived moments” can also transpire online. We come across people with complete lives that are fictional, separate from the real. They have screen names that mirror who they want to be, they comment the way they wish they could in real life, they project who they wish to be. Is that why we never meet in real life? If we did, would we be disappointed or disappoint? The boom of the social networks works because we do not have to invest in a real life presentation of ourselves (for some we do present the real; to network and to extend our brand.) We can remain anonymous and just be a two dimensional avatar.

Only the truly social will ever meet up on the Mainland, the rest will remain at sea, comfortable in their pods. So can social networking work offline?