Two-Thousand-and-Heaven

But first, a 2010 Year-in-Review:

Where I Went: Bastia, Corsica; Bronxville, NY; Brooklyn, NY; Florence, IT; Greve in Chianti, IT; Naples, FL; New York, NY; Paris, FR; & my beloved Pittsburgh, PA. Not too shabby.

What I Did: changed my art-world trajectory from academic to artistic; spent fantastic weekends researching in MoMA Library; met a bunch of cool kids & forced their friendships upon me; joined an art collective; helped publish a stellar art review; graduated from Sarah Lawrence College with a B.A.; interned with Gagosian Galleries for a hot minute; spent the summer drawing bugs with babies @ the Carnegie Museum; moved back to Italy; fell in love with the same boy all over again; unwittingly enrolled in a bizarre art cult & have now successfully escaped; became trapped in freak-blizzards in both U.S. & abroad; & all that jazz.

What I Read: Oz series (for the umpteenth time); The Book of Human Skin by Michelle Lovric; Art School (Propositions for the 21st Century); Why Art Cannot Be Taught by James Elkins; Exquisite Books; Bluebeard's Egg & Other Stories by Margaret Atwood; Writing on Drawing: Essays on Drawing Practice & Research; Experimental Drawing Techniques by Robert Kaupelis; Drawing Now: Eight Propositions by Laura Hoptman; Seeing the Unspeakable: The Art of Kara Walker by Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw; The Help by Kathryn Stockett; Painting People: The State of the Art by Charlotte Mullins; The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp; Sea Faries by Frank L. Baum; & a slew of awesome catalogs & magazines. Also, this list only is inclusive of highlights from August-December 2010, as I can't remember that far back when it comes to my literature consumption.



L to R, Top to Bottom: Central Park trekking; Self-Portrait made for Paradox Collective; Rockefeller Center & flag tribute to my internationglobalisimaztion (sike); Alanna, Beth, & myself @ a graduation event; Reading Contemporary Art Class family photo; Filippo (in Maremma, 2009 which is sort of cheating but he's such a babe that I couldn't resist); Marina Abramović (who I live-sketched) with former collaborator/lover Ulay) @ MoMA; Halloween Party @ the Piccola Love Festa in Florence; Ashley Leone birthday hugs at my BocceBallBrooklynBirthdayBonanza; Smooching Filippo during his visit to Pittsburgh; Providing moral support to Editor-in-Chief of the Visual Art Review; Bacchanalia war paint; Jack & myself overwhelmed by Editor Alanna; demonstrating Inuit Mask Craft to littles @ CMP.

I am a happy camper. Not all the time, but definitely right now.

For 2011, I would like to: take better care of my mind & body; maintain long-distance friendships with my favorite Americans; apply to Skowhegan; speak more Italian; love my boy; draw my heart out; interrogate my artistic practice; visit Australia, Berlin, Cagliari, Sardegna (Sardinia), Egypt, Luxembourg, Napoli (Naples), New Zealand, Philadelphia, Torino (Turin), Washington, DC, & of course Pittsburgh/N.Y.C.; show my work in EX3 & Casa della Creativita; blog consistently; create a website; start a zine; weasel my way into the U.S. Pavilion Party @ the next Biennale; read & research semiotics; write a sociological/art historical paper on Florentine madonnari; learn a new language; curate a killer show; & knit knit knit.

Resolutions seem pretty weak, I prefer yearly goals. These are mine. What about you? Please, share with the class & leave a comment!

Ruby Rose

by
Rachel Egan
Spring 1994 (Age 6)

When I was at the circus I saw
this beautiful horse. It had a
beautiful rug with dots and
swirls on it. It had a big blue
mask and a sparkley tail of
blue. His hooves were
decorated with crystal colors
At the end of the show the
ringmaster said "You can talk
to any of the actors you like
unless they are getting
dressed."

I went with the ringmaster to
see the owner of the beautiful
horse. The owners name was
Crystal. Crystal said, "My
horse is a plain brown horse.
We always dress for the
parade. Why is his tail
sparkely you ask? I will tell
you. We had a light bulb. It
made little blue sparks you
can see in the snow. We put
them on the horse."
"Now you must tell me this"
said the ringmaster to me,
"Why did you want to ask
Crystal about the blue
sparkely horse tail?"

"Because it was so beautiful I
could not keep my eyes off it
for the whole parade." I said.
I went back to the stage and I
saw Crystal laughing. "It
really is a magic horse," she
said. "A witch put a spell on it
many years ago. Whatever
baby is born to this horse will
be turned to crystal stone.
The crystals on her tail are all
babies. They have been on
her tail for 100 years. I was
very upset, so I ran to the
beautiful horse, I collected all
the crystals and put them like
they should be for grown up
horses. The witch's spell was
broken.

I went home, went to bed and
dreamed about the crystal
horse.

* Author's note (Winter 2010) - searching for the laminated illustration that accompanies this original story. Will scan it A.S.A.P. I am fully convinced that my art & writing has been heading steeply downhill since Kindergarten. Picasso was onto something ("It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child" or "All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up" or all those qt ancedotes). Y/N?