So, that last post would have gotten out of hand if I had included everything I want to write and show, so I decided to break it into two posts.  And now for part 2!  This year’s poster and t-shirt were designed  by the amazing and talented Melissa Dettloff (aka Mad Dog) who just happens to be my friend and studiomate.  The shirts and posters were printed by the ubiquitous VG Kids.

She's clearly pleased her design was chosen.

Here’s a quick look around the fair:

the mervelous Amelia and her new lavender-scented skunk friend

A couple of booths I’d like to feature:

Sarah Bradstreet, working it at the Broad Street booth

the lovely Maria working the Swipple! booth

Swipple!

Their booth debuted a sleek new design this year for maximum art viewing (and therefore purchasing).

And then there was the food!  This vegan was pleased as punch about Jennifer Albaum’s Chips and Cheeeze which rocked to a sold-out audience.  Thankfully, you can find the recipe over at her blog Scumpdilly.

Jennifer serving ups Chips and Cheeeze! We had ours with lotso jalapenos...

Mark Maynard was also signing people up for his Cycle Powered Cinema project.  Mark (my man) has volunteered to help out.  MM was posting to his blog live during  the SAF, which is pretty funny.  There’s even a bathroom video interview with Ryan Groendyk, one of the meisters in charge of the Shadow Brew which sadly got all drunk up before we made it back for our second visit for the day.  I hear it was pretty amazing and…”weird” (hey, that’s Ryan’s own description).

As twilight fell, Manhole rocked some Chuck E. Cheese-style limbo action outside under a glorious sky.

I hope you had fun!  (I know I did)

So like a carnival sweeping through town, the Shadow Art Fair descends on Ypsilanti, Michigan twice yearly.  The summer SAF in July always has an especially festive air, as there are longer daylight hours (as opposed to the December SAF) in which to enjoy it and the opportunity to spill into the Corner Brewery‘s outdoor beer garden after supporting local and regional craftsters, artists, and creative peoples.  So, of course “supporting” means buying up a bunch of stuff, and if one is going to “go consumer”, the SAF is the place to do it.  I go a little bit nuts each time I go, buying gifts for others, but mostly for our home…and for me.  I deserve it, right?  So, this post is about the spoils I plundered this time around and is an opportunity to give a shout-out to those artists who caught my eye long enough to catch me digging into my wallet.  Props to Mark for picking out cool stuff with me and being patient with my spendy self.From left to right, the ceramic pieces of Christina DeAngleo are so lovely we bought four exquisite little shot glasses and one stein with a bug drawn onto it.  Never underestimate the importance of a large mug for holding lotsa steaming hot droughts come  the cold Michigan winter.  The earrings are handmade by the b-line, a jewelry designer who uses mostly polymer clay, but I snapped up these beaded little brassy bluebells.  The t-shirt is by Great Lakes Shirts.  Mark got one last year and this year, it was my turn.  Now I can pay tribute to the more watery parts of these northern mid-western states of ours.  The painting is by Jason Wright.  Mark and I have wanted one of his pieces for a long time now, and finally have brought one home.  Jason runs Swipple!, an online and often actual art exhibition space where he features artists from all over, but especially regional artists and sometimes outsider artists.  Jason also works closely with Michigan prisons.  He works to get the inmates’ artwork seen and has curated several successful exhibitions of prison art.

Whenever we bring home new stuff, the cats get into investigatory mode.  Ramona wanted to be sure that I feature a close-up of some of the stuffz:

Wobbly Bob doesn’t care about the stuff, he just likes the paper it’s wrapped in.  He favors hunkering down in a little nest of it.

After speaking to a bunch of people at our vegan brunch yesterday (more on that later), it was agreed that a highlight of the fair was the booth of Broad Street: “jewelry for the eco-fabulous.”  And man is it ever!  I bought an amazing chainmail neckercheif creation off the neck of some poor girl who was trying it on, but karmicly, another girl snatched a necklace out from under me a little later, so the universe is working as it should.  If you ever see Sarah Bradstreet selling her wares, be sure to snap up what you want early on, because it gets gone!  Here’s a photo of me modeling the first item I bought:

Two more sellers deserve some props.  Sally England of SED (Sally England Design) had a really eclectic booth with faux bois printed plush logs, felt Michael Jackson portraits and these amazing golden t-rexes, one of which had to come home and join the menagerie in the kitchen window box:

The other artist is is Lori Brown, who as Morninglori, makes up wonderful stories about imaginary beings and makes them come to life in her sculpted and plush creations.  We bought some as gifts, so I can only show the tippity tip of an ear so’s not to blow any surprises, but if you visit her etsy site, you’ll get the idea.

Now that we’ve indulged me by reveling in my post consumer bliss, next up: the people and place of the Shadow Art Fair.  I haven’t even mentioned the Chips and Cheeeze yet!

Summer is giving Mark and I time to enjoy cooking together and though we both love it, he especially excels.  He just started a vegan blog as the Irreverent Vegan.  He composes the pithy recipes and I help out with the cooking, ideas, photography and…man, is it hard but someone has to do it…the eating!  We’re hosting a vegan brunch at our house this Sunday morning following the wonderful Ypsilanti-based Shadow Art Fair at the Corner Brewery.

I am fortunate that a typical meal at our house looks like this:

chick(pea) patties and smashed potatoes with mushroom gravy

The lettuce on the burgers and the green beans on the potatoes come from our garden.  Deck and lanterns compliments of our friend Blue at Blue Sky Carpentry.

Within hours I went from hanging out in wonderful, wacky Budapest in clubs like Szimpla Kert:

(…this is where Michael and I spent our last night in Budapest and had to say goodbye to some fantastic new friends, who we’re sure to meet again.  There’s a Halloween trip to NYC afoot!…)

…to my peaceful, breezy life in Michigan.  Here are some scenes from my domestic eden:

gladiolas from my welcome back party hosted by Mark

Juni asleep. Chandelier pillow compliments of Mary Elise Bolam.

laundry time

the beast! (aka Wobbly Bob)

the kitchen window box

And since too much peace in my life is unsettling, I decided that my home studio isn’t arranged quite right, so now I am grappling with this mess:

But thanks to my amazing fellow, there’s a fridge stocked full of my favorite things to fuel me.  I also made sun tea.  Thankfully right now, wherever I am, there is glorious summer!

I am packed and ready to go.  I can’t believe I got all of that stuff into two suitcases and three carry-ons.

save yourself

I have been busy wrapping things up here.  By some miracle I was able to make my video camera work long enough to put all of the footage from shoot #1 on my computer.  Now Nannette and I can continue to work on the video remotely.

Yesterday she and I made vegan chocolate cupcakes to bring to the sending off soiree hosted by David last night.

wee tiny cupcakes!

David’s lovely apartment building

the view from his terrace

the sky was lovely last night

I’ve really enjoyed my time here and hope to make it back at some point.  I’ll miss all of the wonderful people I’ve met here.  Szia!  Hello!

Friday was a blast and I am just now getting around to posting about it.  Nannette and I went to the Chinese market where I bought many pairs of crazy tights and enjoyed the empty spaces.  We enjoyed a coffee and lemonade at a really compelling cafe, Csendes (meaning silent), and shopped at Retrock.  We worked on the video and made spaghetti in the evening and then went off to the fashion show at Gödör.  It was one of those wild magical days full of serendipity.

Nannette and I have been collaborating on a video piece the last couple of days…

I’m not exactly sure how it will turn out, but it’s been a lot of fun to work on so far.  Props involve a bathtub, oil paint, a rock, the stuffing from a plush pig’s belly, a sharp knife (to procure the pig guts), a gold threaded cloud puppet, one broken video camera, one working video camera, ink- black and shimmery blue.  Here’s a still image from shoot #1.

The clouds have been floating over my bed.  I think they like it near the map drawings…

Nannette forbade me from posting her image, but since Mark wants to know who my new friends here  are, here’s her picture (with a giant breast):

Uh oh.  She’s going to kill me tomorrow…

In the photo, we’re at a place called Gödör, which, in Hungarian, means “hole.”  At some point, the city intended to build an amphitheater here, but never finished it, so a private party created a club out of the hole that the city started to dig out and thus resulted the Gödör.  Here are some photos of this popular hang-out spot:

When Mark was still with me for the first couple of days of my time here, we saw our friend Chris play with his friend’s band inside.

Getting back to tonight, at this point in the evening, we had been to a couple of openings, and decided to indulge in some decadent drinks, so we ended up at (rats I don’t remember the name of it!) some lovely bar.  Here we met friends, and got drinks that looked like this:

a rose-tini

an extra dirty martini (I've never seen this much care put into drinks before!)

You can see our bartender just behind my martini glass.  Just in case you think I’m spending all of my time here partying, here is an image of some work I did today.  I finished (I think) two smallish- to mid-sized island paintings:

In Budapest, even a casual walk down the street to Kaiser market is an adventure.  Here are some of the sights:

a view of the corner just north of my apartment building

a building I pass often- I bet it has hundreds of stories to tell

This particular Kaiser market is just like a regular grocery store, but it is located in this large market hall.  Also housed in the same building is a small flea market and several snack stands, and the like.

the market hall

the flea market, where the propretors are constantly rearranging the display of their wares

stuff galore

Since I tricked you into coming to the market with me, now you can help me carry these heavy bags home- köszönöm! (thanks!)

I keep forgetting my camera when I go out.  Last night was no exception.  We went to an opening, then to a bar called Instant followed by a theater performance–an English/Hunagrian retelling of Hamlet (in 45 minutes).  I borrowed this photo of Instant from flickr:

the sweet fish sculpture in one of Instant's myriad rooms- the ceiling opens and closes, naturally

Nannette took me to the “tooth museum” a little room dedicated to teeth, but alas someone had broken in and most of the teeth were missing.  I don’t remember my dreams from last night, but I am sure they were about losing my teeth…  Mark has been requesting photos of the people I have met here so that he knows who the heck I am talking about when I describe my adventures.  One day soon, I will remember to bring my camera along.

In other news, I have set up a space in the apartment to do some oil painting.  Again with the islands.  I have big plans for these… I’ll see how that goes, as sometimes Art has it’s own plans.

stu-stu-studio

…it looks like a am painting in quarantine because of all of the plastic.  I also wear a hasmet suit.