Hiatus

It's been a busy past few weeks with school and work. Lots of printmaking and typography projects keeping me from blogging. But this weekend rather than getting covered in ink and glue I will be having fun on a much needed mini-vacation. Tomorrow morning Eli and I are driving down to Portland for a weekend of jazz and relaxation. The Portland Jazz Festival starts tomorrow, and we are going to see Ornette Coleman, Tord Gustavsen, and Bill Charlap over the next three days. If you have not experienced their music - you must! They are all extremely talented artists that very rarely perform in the United States. It's going to be a bit of an extravagant weekend, but Eli and I haven't gone on a nice trip together...ever. We said we would do one for our 3 year anniversary, but that was also six months ago. So, happy 3.5 years, and belated valentines day, etc,. I set us up with a great hotel in the heart of downtown, and I plan on spending a lot of time wandering and checking out local galleries and shops. A trip to Voodoo Doughnuts is certainly on the list of necessary visits, and maybe I will even fraternize with the enemy and grab a cup of coffee at Stumptown. Be back Monday with pictures and an (exciting) announcement!

Ballet

Last night Eli and I dressed up and went out on the town. After a nice dinner we headed to the production Romeo et Juliette by the Pacific Northwest Ballet. It was a beautiful show. I was overwhelmed with how well done every aspect of the production was. It was a bit of a sensory overload. The dancers, the music, the lighting and set design, the costumes, the choreography: all brilliant. It was so elegant, sensual, and romantic. Very Romeo and Juliette. It was a lovely evening.

Gallery Visit

Yesterday after typography I went to check out Matt McCormick's show at The Hedreen Gallery at the Lee Center for the Arts. McCormick is showing some of his latest work, part of his "Future so Bright" series. Shot on 16mm film and transferred to digital video, McCormick's work is projected on two gallery walls large-scale. If you are in the Capitol Hill/First Hill area, it is worth checking out. McCormick's film, "The Subconscious Art of Graffiti Removal" was named a 'Top 10Film of 2002" by Village Voice and Art Forum. You can learn more about him on his website, Rodeo Film Co.

Cat Attack

I have returned from my hiatus from posting. More photos and blogging will be coming later in the week. In the mean time..kitties!

If you are a lover of all things cute and furry, a visit to cuteoverload will brighten the darkest days, rest assured. Razi and I purchased the 2008 Stuff on My Cat calendar. It is 365 days of smiles if you are a cat lover, and a great way to start the day. Ahh, some day I will have my own kitteh.

Hooray for 2008

Happy New Year! I have been trying to get the apartment organized to kick start a slightly cleaner year. Other than a few small design projects, I have done very little creatively during the break. Most of my time has been consumed with sleeping and working at Caffe Vita. As school gets back under way and I get my creative kick back, more photos and projects are sure to appear. In the mean time, here's a yummy soy latte to tide you over. The latte and the photo are both by me.

Merry Christmas

Hope everyone is having a beautiful Christmas. It's currently snowing here at my parent's house, and it's about as festive as it gets. I am so grateful that I get to spend the holiday with family and friends, and for those who have gone away for the holiday, I send you tidings from Bellingham!

Christmas in Bellingham

I'm only on my second day of recovery from surgery but I'm already tired of being cooped up at home. One of the nice things about being forced to take some down time is lounging around my parent's beautiful home with the family. We did some Christmas decorating on Sunday, and I made everyone try Soynog (way better than eggnog). After all the stress of finals and the past few weeks, it's nice to escape to our solitude in the woods.

Last Day of the Semester

Hooray! Fall semester has come to a close and spring semester doesn't start until January 14. Friday's Narrative Photography class was big fun. We made polaroid transfers from slide film we took earlier in the semester. Those took a while to dry and press, so photos of those prints will be up soon. Book Design 1 was the last class held for the fall semester for Cornish, and so we went all out. Final projects were put on display, and everyone ate treats and had a festive time. My project were a set of cards, printed and wrapped up in some nice vellum with a striped treatment.

Razi, Blake and I made beautiful sugar cookies (100% vegan, and very delicious). It took much longer than we had anticipated, but they were worth it. I also brought a french press and brewed some coffee I brought in from Caffe Vita.

Tomorrow at 11, I am going in to have all four of my wisdom teeth taken out. I will be back to blogging in a few days. In the mean time, you can have a look at my Flickr. I have posted some new photos from photography and pictures our instructor took a few weeks ago. Enjoy!

Beautiful Books

Finals are at last over, and I am rekindling my relationship with the internet. I have uploaded photos of my finals (all put in book format), and you can look at them all on my Flickr. I will put up photos of the printmaking I did tomorrow.

Narrative Photography

Sorry it has taken so long to post any of my own work. I have been a little hesitant, I must admit.

I recently did a photo shoot for my Narrative Photography class at Lucky Devil Tattoo with my artist, Chad Ronilo. The other subject, Eileen, was a great sport about the spur of the moment modeling, and was a lot of fun to work with. Chad is the artist behind the beautiful flowering piece on my arm that we finished this summer. I am rather pleased with the way the photos turned out. To see all 12 images from the final set, you can view the album on my Flickr.

Helvetica the Movie

Due to the Thanksgiving Holiday, no classes are being held today so that students can have travel time. So instead of running off to class, I am having a leisurely morning of toast with jam and Helvetica the Movie, which came in the mail yesterday (thank you Netflix for being so prompt). The movie was just released on DVD yesterday, and I am happy to report that it provides a lot of interesting insight on how the typeface Helvetica has become so popular. If you are interested in typography, it is worth watching.

Ugly is Back!

If you are not familiar with Design Observer, it's a series of writings on design and culture. In an effort to be more hip with what's up in the design community, I have taken to checking in at this website on a regular basis. Today when I signed on for a little reading with my morning toast, the article "How To Be Ugly" was at the top of the page. Who can resist reading with an introduction like that?

The article is very interesting if you're interested in type or present day design. Although I'm unsure if it's wise to be creating ugly things at this point in my career, it is certainly food for thought. Observe that the creator of this magazine is a very well established and respected designer, and for that reason his work isn't immediately cast off as being the work of no-talent. So in order to be successful by creating ugly, you have to start with the attractive. Only when you're a big hit can creating ugly be interpreted as a new movement in design.

Jen Corace

Jen Corace, a RISD graduate and very talented illustator, is my current obsession. The styling, detail, and inclusion of color in her work is so well crafted, yet still light hearted and whimsical. I want everything I do to look like her illustrations. You can see her portfolio at http://jencorace.com/


I also am in love with Rachel Robertson's collage work, and the machine sewing on paper. Sewing is great, but combining it with beautiful prints and great textured paper makes it even better. You can see more of her craftiness at http://www.racheltrobertson.com/

Homestyle Type

How I love typefaces inspired by hand drawing. This particular typeface is owned by You Work For Them (http://youworkforthem.com/), a small foundry with some very contemporary fonts. Currently in typography we are being encouraged to explore different foundries online and become acquainted with all of our different options. For any project, the perfect typeface is out there somewhere.

Hello and welcome. A brief introduction, to get the ball rolling.

My name is Kim and I am a Cornish College of the Arts student in Seattle. I am currently in my second year in the visual communications program, working towards a BFA in design. Currently, my focus is on typography, illustration, photography, and book design. Guache is my new favorite medium, and my current ongoing project is photographing my experiences in Seattle.

One day, I would like to have an awesome store, which would sell beautiful vintage clothing, furniture, prints, and old cameras, be a contemporary gallery with shows on a monthly rotation, and sell all the outrageous sewing/painting/crafting creations that I would make with my free time. Oh, and there would be a shop cat, and an espresso machine, and a bitchin sound system.

But that's a little way down the road.

The artwork is by Jennifer Sanchez, who inspired me to work on developing my painting skills.