Phoenix Real Estate

Economically, times aren't as good as they might be, or once were. But that isn't keeping the price down on a certain piece of Phoenix real estate. After all, would you pay $3.99 million for 2,200 square feet?

Well, you might when you found out the architect of those 2,200 square feet was Frank Lloyd Wright himself, famed American architect responsible for structures such as Fallingwater and New York's Guggenheim Museum.

The house in question was built for Wright's son David in 1951 and was occupied by David and his wife until last winter when, eleven years after losing her husband, Gladys Wright died at 104. Because of this unique set of circumstances, the house has had no alterations and is in the state that Wright designed for it.

Located on 2 acres of land with beautiful views of the surrounding Camelback mountains the house features a spiral shape and a second level position meant to catch the desert breezes. Even the rug in the home was designed by Wright. This is a house and an art piece all rolled up into one!

The Red Ball Project

I just read about this very cool art installation project that has been going on for a number of years now. It is called The Red Ball Project. Kurt Perschke designed this huge 15 feet high, 250 lbs, red, inflatable ball that is taken around the globe, from city to city and shown in a different locale each day. It is a piece of art you can touch, push and jump up against.

The project website reports that, "Perschke uses RedBall to explore each city’s unique architectural landscape and history." Currently the RedBall is in Chicago. (See the video here or another one here.) I was sad to discover I missed it when it was in Scottsdale last year.

One video I watched talked about how children will run right up to the ball, but many adults don't know what to do with it, and will even ignore it as if its not there. In any case, I think it is a very unique and fun work of art.

Cotton!

Here is a cotton field I visited in Memphis. Not being from the South it was fun to see what cotton is like in person!

This is a flower on the cotton plant.Cotton in the bole.
Each little piece of cotton has 7 or 8 seeds embedded in it. I couldn't help but think-- thank you Eli Whitney!

The South is so green. I really liked it!! :D

Sun Studio

This is me on the tour at Sun Studio (a.k.a. the birthplace of Rock and Roll) in Memphis. This is purportedly the microphone people like Elvis recorded into! If you saw Walk the Line, you saw Sun Studio. Johnny Cash got his start here too, as well as Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins.

Here is my sister checking out the historical information sign in front. Although not on the sign, the story goes that Elvis walked into Sun Records to cut a record and the secretary asked him who he sounded like. He replied, "Lady, I don't sound like nobody." The rest is Rock and Roll history.

Educating the Soul on BYU TV!

Educating the Soul was featured last week on BYU TV. Click on this link and select the week of 9/13/2008 to find it. You will see my friend Brett featured. He is pretty much the smartest person I know when it comes to history and anything that ever happened in the LDS Church.

I'm so excited that this exhibit is up and running and meeting with success. I have to admit a little sadness that I'm not still there. Brett says it is the best job he's ever had and I totally and 100% agree. I don't expect to ever have a better job. This is not a pessimistic view of the world-- it is an honest statement about how wonderful it was to be a part of this project.

Enjoy this video!

(Thanks Heather for forwarding me the link and keeping me in the loop!)

Art on Wall Street

This painting showed up on Wall Street yesterday. Passersby were invited to write thoughts on the white space around the portrait of Richard Fuld, chief investment officer of Lehman Brothers. Employees of Lehman brothers signed in green ink. Lehman Brothers, an investment bank that has been in business for 158 years, filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Monday.

The creator is Geoffery Raymond (read his blog on his work here). "The 54-year-old Brooklyn artist has become a regular sight lately on the scene of big Wall Street fiascos." Of his work he says, "It's about creating a snapshot of this moment in time."

Comments on the piece, entitled The Annotated Fuld, ranged from reminiscent to hateful, and marked the event in a very unique way.

Target's Table

I just bought a cute table from Target (on sale! woot!), but what I saved in cash was made up for in blood sweat and tears.

First of all, I missed the delivery and so the box was taken to my apartment office and they phoned to tell me I should probably bring a friend when I came to get it. So I waited a week for a friend to come to town and made Catherine go with me. She was a very good sport.

We lugged this box from the office and up a set of stairs (estimated weight, according to Target, 106 lbs). We may at times have tipped the box end to end or scooted it across the floor-- but in any case we got it to my apartment, unscathed, despite the Arizona heat.

Here are the high tech tools that came with the set. The table was a breeze to assemble, but then things got difficult. After a few turns of the screws in the stools, they started making terrible screechy noises with ever turn and those turns got harder and harder. I gave up after about half a stool, but Catherine, trooper that she is, would not quit until she had finished one entire stool. Her hands paid for it, despite her attempt to use my dish gloves for protection.

Luckily cousins Seth and Jon were kind enough to finish up the rest of the stools for me when they came to dinner tonight. After the hard work of my friends and family, I now have a cute little dining room set.

This was by far the worst build-it-yourself furniture I have ever come across though! Usually I can handle these things with no help. This was a beast though! C'mon Target! I know you can do better than this! (Don't worry, I left a review for them at target.com!)

The King of Kitsch meets the King of France

Move over Louis XIV, there is a new king in town. That hallowed retreat of Louis XIV, Versailles, where countless numbers of the nobility were entertained and where Marie Antoinette could play milk-maid whenever she wished, has now been invaded by contemporary artist Jeff Koons, often dubbed the "King of Kitsch". (Don't worry they invited the King of Pop too--or at least the 1988 porcelain statue of MJ and his chimp Bubbles. If only the King of Rock and the King of Country could have been invited...)

The Hall of Mirrors was once instrumental in the signing of a peace treaty, however, there are some ready to declare war on this desecration of a symbol of France's noble tradition. Opponent of the show, Nicole Rigault, said, "He can have an exhibition anywhere he wants, but not Versailles. This is not art. Art involves history, research. To blow up balloons and put them here and there, no." Anne Brassie also expressed a feeling that Koons' works "don't belong at the palace of Versailles, they belong at Disneyland."

Koons replies that, "I'm so grateful for the opportunity to show in Versailles. I have complete respect for Versailles and I have complete respect for each individual that's coming to Versailles." He said that the choice of the main galleries for exhibition, "just seemed appropriate, because the work wants to be engaged. It wants to participate in a dialogue.''

And believe you me, Disneyland is no place for Contemporary Art either! I know kids who find Pirates of the Caribbean and The Haunted Mansion frightening. No need to introduce them to Contemporary Art!

(Also doesn't "anywhere he wants" include Versailles? Just a thought...)

If I were in Paris, I would totally be trying to get a ticket to this show. Not for the love of Koons, per se, but just for the very weird experience of it all. Oh, and for the dialogue with the works, of course.

Jerry's

Sometimes you wanna go where nobody knows your name.

Spring Cleaning in the Fall

As part of my job as a TA at ASU I get to use the Art History PhD office for my duties. It is equipped with 2 desks, a book shelf and a filing cabinet and a rather old (but functioning) computer. Here are a few of the other chic features of the office:

State of the art phone system!

Cool green carpet, that may never have been adulterated by a vacuum!

The office also came with alot of dust and grime. After two times using the office for my office hours, today I decided enough was enough. I loaded up my school bag with books, pens and Clorox disinfectant wipes and yellow glowes and set out to get some work done!

Here are some before pitures. Anything grey is probably actually covered in a layer of dirt.

I took the fan apart and completely wiped the whole thing down. Boy did it need it!

This shelf had syllabi from 2005 and phone books from 1999/2000.

Here is an "after" picture! Not too shabby!

Now I have to decide if I should try to restore my gloves to their previously yellow state, or just toss them!

Sarah Palin

I love Sarah Palin. I don't really care for McCain or Obama, but I love Palin. She is so refreshing! She dosn't reek of Washington. I loved her speech at the convention. I love that she seems so real. I love her cute little kids. I love her anti-abortion values.

Go women! Go hockey moms!

How to Ruin Perfectly Good Shrimp

a recipe by Shiloh

1. Suffer delusion that you know how to cook very well

2. Choose yummy sounding recipe off the internet b/c you have 6 of the 10 ingredients

3. Assume Jamaican Jerk sauce you bought is just like Rumbi's Jamaican jerk sauce

4. Discover sauce has way too much kick for you

5. Add soy sauce to compensate for said kick, and corn starch to thicken

6. Wait for rice and eat it anyway b/c shrimp is expensive!

(okay it was actually not too bad-- just not the delightful feast I was dreaming of [see step 1]!)

ASU is BIG

I just wanted to let you know that I go to a big school. A really, really, really big school. Twice as big as my old school which was also pretty big.

Enrollment is expected to top 66,000 students this year. And I didn't mess up on the number of zeros! Read about it here.

Other numbers:

5,400 new transfer sudents,

4,500 new grad students,

9,700 incoming freshmen,

4 incoming Art History PhD students ;)