kmalicse's posterous

An Interview with American Indian Gourd Artist, Nadiya Littlewarrior

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untitled-GhGthBwzfwFJoCncAbBd.zip (3.1 MB)

Here is sample of what can be seen in Nadiya Littlewarrior's studio. The third image is of a gourd sculpture of a Southwestern clown Hey Oka.

She was a featured artist at the American Indian Arts Marketplace at the Autry Museum.

Q: When did you start making gourd sculptures and what was your inspiration behind it?

A: I started in 1991 when I went a gourd art class with a woman named Nancy Pendleton Brown. Prior to that, I was working in the music industry helping produce music for rock musicians. I then got involved with the Gourd People and have been making gourd art for 19 years. I was discriminated amongst my peers growing up because I had lighter skin. Doing gourd art was an escape from the discrimination from my own people as well as the stereotypes from society. I felt that I was able to express who I am and my spirituality through my pieces.

Q: Who or what are your greatest influences?

A: My family and where I'm from definitely are great influences. I was born into a family of artists. Being from Texas, I lived in a cattle ranch where I spent most of my life. A lot of my gourd pieces have a lot of reference to cattle ranch life such as one of my favorite hobbies, horseback riding.

Q: How long do each gourd piece take to make? How do you up with the color/ pattern concepts?

A: Each gourd piece takes at least a couple of days to make. I carefully plan them out and cleaning out the gourds is a long process. I get in touch with the Gourd People. I don't plan out how they are going to look, but rather, I ask them what they want to be. This makes the gourds naturally beautiful, and made for its specific purpose. 

Q: What materials do you use for your pieces?

I use various pieces from pine needles, wood burning blades, leather dye, acrylic paints, and special inks made for gourds. I also incorporate glass beads.

Q: Will you please share a story behind of your pieces?

A: One of my pieces is a piece named "Hey Oka." It is a Southwest Clown that evokes laughter and teasing. The people tend to avoid looking into the Hey Oka's eyes because they are afraid to show their true selves. When one looks at a Hey Oka's eye, it can see the person's soul and intentions. People were afraid of being teased, but they don't realize that the Hey Oka is the one person can really the true beauty of a person from within.

If you are interested in purchasing Nadiya's artwork, click here.

WEEKEND MUSIC VIDEO AND INTERVIEWS!

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Here are some of the people who were nice enough to share their stories for this awesome video clip of their weekends.

Alex's picture is of the cove. It's the second picture in this slide.  This was located in Cottonwood Cove 50 miles from Nevada. It was a relaxing weekend with her husband away from the busy LA life.

Kristin's photo is of the rock climbing was part of an adventure for her bike race training. She took lots of pictures with her friends and saw beehives, a reservoir and coyotes hunting.

Aaron's photo of books represents his procrastination. He worked on three projects and stayed up until 2 AM. He ended up not finishing his work, but he told himself that he will try to stop procrastinating. 

If you would like to check out Alex's, Kristin's, and Aaron's blog their links can be found under the tags or "filed under"! :)

Dipity Timeline for Scary Movies

My Weekend!

midterm!

PART I VIDEO STORY

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artproject.mp4 (2.84 MB)

PART II. TEXT STORY

      The 18^th Street Arts Complex, Santa Monica hosted an event called “Citizen Artists Making Emphatic Statements.” The event took place July 12- September 13, 2008.  Curator Adolfo (Al) Nodal discusses about how artists are not only producing works of art in this exhibit but also showing awareness about issues in society. Nodal sums up the theme of the exhibit as, “ artists working with environmentalists.”

     One of the exhibits is called Fallen Fruit. Fallen Fruit is about how fruit is incorporated in society.  Three artists named David Burns, Austin Young, and Matias Viegener collaborated on a series of events and a photo series about the impact of fruit in the urban life. “We look at the city through urban space, how people interact, space, plants, and through the lens of the fruit,” said Viegner. Not only do they consider themselves as artists but activist as well.  They map out places all over Los Angeles and the United States to see the effect of fruits in living conditions and the people. They believe that studying fruit can help people relate and think of the future. They also hold public fruit jams and a photo series of the maps and the fruits all over Los Angeles.

PART III MAP

18th Street Arts Complex, Santa Monica

View 18th street arts complex, santa monica in a larger map

Our How-To Movie: How To Feed A Squirrel

You will need:

- person

- a squirrel

- money

- a good eye

- a good location

- squirrel friendly food

Step 1: Buy squirrel friendly food. A good choice is nuts or salt-free trail mix.

Step 2: Find a good location for squirrel hunting. Squirrels can usually be found in areas with shade and trees.

Step 3: Be patient and have a good eye because squirrels are tiny and very fast. 

Step 4: Upon finding the squirrel, slowly approach with caution. You don't want to scare the squirrel away. Make sure you show to show the food.

Step 5: Offer the food to the squirrel. Make sure they can see it and not to get too close.

Step 6: Slowly drop the food and give squirrel space to eat. Walk away and enjoy the rest your snack!

(download)

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SQUIRREL_MOVIE.mp4 (3.54 MB)

First colleges, then public transportation, now libraries?

        The Los Angeles Public Libraries (LAPL) are experiencing severe budget cuts. As someone who is a frequent visitor and volunteer, I think that this an outrage. The library has cut down on hours and days, and now they are also cutting back on needed funds. It seems as though the educational resources in Los Angeles are getting hit the most by these budget cuts. Public libraries are a universal place of learning for both the young and old generation and money shouldn't be an issue.

         In an LA Weekly article titled, "City of Airheads: Villaraigosa Dismantles L.A.'s Vaunted Library System," students discuss the importance of public libraries and how it has affected their lives. They interviewed students, who grew up going to public libraries and are saddened that their only haven away from their busy homes are slowly being taken away. There are about 15,000 kids a day who visit Los Angeles Public Libraries and these numbers are sure to increase during school days.

         The Los Angeles Times article, "L.A. libraries are cut to 5 days a week," talks about the budget cut in detail. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and his appointees voted to have the libraries cut their six day week to five days, cutting Monday from the working schedule. This schedule began on July 6, 2010. Not only did they cut down the hours and days, but also cut 761 positions.

        A report  called, "Jay Leno's Bad Library Joke," comedian Jay Leno joked about the recent budget cut and said that only nine people would be affected. This simple joke became a bigger deal as angry librarians wrote letters to the comedian that this was no laughing matter. Librarian Martin Gomez wrote Leno that more than 17 million people go to the library every year and not nine.

      According the Los Angeles budget plan for 2010-2011, the budget for the public library is $75,902,051. With that said, last year the budget was actually lower with it being $75,463,926. The only difference is that this year, there were more unemployment and the cut down on hours and budget for books.

      Some interesting facts about the Los Angeles Public Libraries are that there are 2,300 public computers available.There are 6,400,000 books, magazines, DVDs, CDs, etc.

our heat wave movie

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Hot_Day.mov (916 KB)

Haldiram's Kashmiri Snack Review

A POST:

Haldiram's Kashmiri Mixture Review

      Haldiram's Kashmiri Mixture is a snack that definitely puts a strong unpleasant kick in the mouth. Its combination of spices leave you curious with what is inside these little handful bites. The various shapes somewhat remind me of bird food. 

      This snack from India contains dry split moong beans, cashews, potato strands with black pepper, nutmeg, mango powder, black salt and other spices.

The combination of spices are so overwhelming that it just feels as if you are eating crushed spices. The pieces are too small and hard to keep a good handful without worrying about dropping them on the floor.

I would have never guessed that there was mango powder in the snack until I read the ingredients. I couldn't tell a specific flavor or spice. It was a little spicy and the taste was definitely something to get to used to.

A positive thing about this product is the re-sealable bag, making the snack easier to preserve. But even with the re-sealable bag, I would keep this snack a one time experience.

B POST:

YELP REVIEW ON KASHMIRI MIXTURE REVIEW

If you are not used to eating spicy things, then don't try Kashmiri's Mixture. It really reminds me of bird food, it has tiny pieces, and it just tasted really strange. It might have been the overwhelming combination of ingredients, but I would advice you to not try it.

I had to read online what the ingredients were and i definitely did not taste mango powder or cashew. I have eaten plenty of imported food from different countries, but this one did not just sit well with me.

The only good thing about it is the re-sealable bag that American chips don't have, but even that's not enough for me to keep eating this snack.

Strength Story

Strength Story:

A word that describes my greatest strength is that I am ambitious. Ever since my career day in 6th grade, my goal in life is to write for a music or fashion magazine. I worked really hard throughout high school to get into the school newspaper. My high school was a year-round, multi-track system, meaning the students were divided into three groups and two groups would go in session while one was on vacation and vice versa to reduce crowding. I was on A-track and during the summer, I was offered to become a writer for my school paper. The only problem was that the school paper was on C-track and that meant I had to give up my summer vacation, winter break, and my spring break to be part of the staff. All my friends thought I was crazy because it was my senior year of high school and instead of working hard, I should be having fun. But, I didn't listen to them and I decided to be a part of the newspaper staff. Instead of going to bonfires and vacations with my family to Seattle, I went to school every single day for my journalism class. I even joined the yearbook class, which was on B-track. I was that determined to get my name out there and get published as much as I can. My goal was to have a front story in the school paper and by the third issue, my article about the battle of the garage bands landed on the first page. For our Halloween edition, I ended up having a whole page for a piece about how girls use Halloween as an excuse to dress inappropriately and a fake scary horoscope section. After that experience, I gained more confidence and I started to network and meet people who will help get into the entertainment industry. I will not stop until I reach my goal of writing for a well-known magazine or start my very own online alternative fashion and music magazine.