Coffee Shops

I figured that perhaps the most important source material for my current work would be the subject and study of Coffee Shops.

The image to the right was my favorite fancy coffee shop during my visit to Rome two summers ago. Cafe Greco was one of the four best espressos in Roma.

here's a travel blog comment from another that I found to be a good summation:

"Antico Caffe’ Greco is a famous coffee house near the Piazza di Spagna or Spanish Steps in Rome. Since 1760 it has seen many internationally famous writers and poets like Keats, D’Annunzio and Goethe sitting at its tables.

This is my favorite kind of place to visit on vacation, especially in Italy. No matter what the exchange rate, a cup of coffee anywhere in the world can be one of your least expensive but most memorable moments on your trip. Think Roman Holiday with Audrey Hepburn and her sitting with Gregory Peck sipping espresso and people watching.

Sit yourself in a place of rich history at Antico Caffe’ Greco and write a postcard while you channel the romantic poetry of Keats. I met a friend here once when we were both traveling through Rome at the same time. We didn’t sit at a table back then because we had only a short time together. Like many coffee bars, this one also charges more if you sit rather than stand.

Walk in from the busy street and its elegant ambiance embraces you. it reminded me of the coffee houses in Vienna. With its central location, and being close to high end shops like Gucci, you will notice stylish patrons coming in as much as those walking past on their afternoon stroll.

Maybe being in the same room as Goethe is too dark and tragic for you. Did you know that Hans Christian Andersen once lived upstairs? When in Rome, Antico Caffe Greco is worth a visit with the best part being they just reopened May 24 after five months of maintenance."

- By: Sharon Castellanos

Craters: are the leftovers of an impact. like an open wound on the earth or the moon. Their shape is irregular. the dirt leftover sinks.

• Impact crater, caused by two celestial bodies impacting each other, such as a meteorite hitting a planet
• Volcanic crater or caldera, formed by volcanic activity
• Subsidence crater, from an underground (usually nuclear) explosion
• A maar crater, a relief crater caused by a phreatic eruption or explosion
• pit crater, a crater that forms through sinking of the surface and not as a vent for lava
• Crater lake
• Explosion crater, a hole formed in the ground produced by an explosion near or below the surface

Opened up Ceramics and Perception Magazine and saw these wonderfully patterned bowls by Dorothy Feibleman. She uses a technique based on Japanese nerikomi work, taking canes of clay (like glass work) and layers them in a laminated manner. They are then placed in a mould, or distorted however. Then she goes through a process of sanding and firing. She is also hoarding two tons of feldspar for her work! crazy.

I really appreciate the simple/complex beauty.

Here are some poems I've written from previous semesters. Think that the same type of philosophy and subject matter applies to my clay work.

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It was ______________.

A piece of tooth found in the mouth

An image of a field from when I was young

A dog on the side of a road napping

A hormone that drove me mad

A closed eye that lead to the universe

The trace of someone smoking

A footprint behind a building

A cold wind blowing on your back

A crowd rushing forward

The wish to hide beneath a table

A soft way of saying no

A silent way of saying no

A head turned the other way unscrewed

An excuse to proceed backwards

An undone bottle cap

A white kitchen counter

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Overtures of Overheard Conversations

One person says—

“It’s hard to describe the feeling of living

when you’re really living life the way it should be.

Do you know what I mean?”

The other agrees—

“Yeah I get that feeling sometimes, but usually

I just get stuck like every other young person

or old person even…

and sometimes I wonder

what is to be lost, if you are not attached?”

The first man responds in a casual way—

“I felt it the other day.

What it feels like to be alive.

I was coasting down a hill, on my bicycle.

You know, this March weather is swell; the sun was out and it was about ten O’clock in the morning.

Then this old man, on a red bike,

passed me by on my left side.

His own white hair was being pulled back by the combined force

of the wind and his own momentum.

His belly was hanging over a spandex panted waistline,

and he was smiling in a way I have never seen

before

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The short Pantoum.

It did not ring a bell, no it did not mean a thing

Lost in thought, you looked at him blankly

You could not hear a thing, no it did not fit

Completely into the contents of your own world

Lost in thought, you looked at him blankly

Was he from Malaysia? He spoke in poetry

Completely out of the contents of your own world

How could he pull such a thing from your own heart?

Was he from Malaysia? He spoke in poetry

Lost so completely in worlds so far

How could he pull such a thing from your own heart?

Pull such a thing from the contents of the universe

Lost so completely in worlds so far

You were out there once, alone, unmoved by space

Pull such a thing from the contents of the universe

I dare you to try

You were out there once, alone, unmoved

Completely, no it doesn’t ring a bell, no it doesn’t

Pull a thing, from the contents of the universe

I dare you to try

Lost in thought, you looked at him blankly

You could not hear a thing, no it did not fit

Completely into the contents of your own world

Be interested in words. Comedy and seriousness.

What is around you. Look around. What is it made of.

Look at things that we don't see. Google search for ghost on the internet.

Tiles and Pompey

This summer I was lucky enough to go on a trip to Italy with my family. We got to go to Pompey one day. The abandoned city was filled with frescos and tile. I was particularly interested in these little windows between buildings. Considering how disposable our society is today, it is a question what would be left behind so many years after extinction. The answer is glass coke bottles. What does that say about us?

Here in Kansas City, I am interested in the patterns that I find every day. Especially floor patterns. Am curious about what patterns show up where. Patterns picked out are randomized. Brick patterns/tile patterns/wood trimming.

The Night Tent: built last semester for my final project. This tent is built with plastic bags sewn together with cloth. The cloth makes up a quilt like pattern. The effects of the pattern were not initially intended to take a major part in its composition. But soon became an integral part to it's posture and form. This is how pattern surfaces in my own work.

Tiffany Lamp. I'm really amazed by everything about this lamp and am especially drawn to how the glass is pushed through the circular net pattern. Am currently in a printmaking elective and plan on picking out pattern such as this and carving. Perhaps will press some of the imagery into clay.

A Maquette of an eleven-drawer cabinet.

This idea has to do with that of storage. Last semester I worked with replicating objects from different material. And worked with the idea of what makes an object; why they are made; and how they transform through a different process/material of making.

The eleven-drawer cabinet stands for an object that can hold other objects. (not to be too obvious). But more so that this object stands for an object that can hold entire universes in each drawer. The back side of the cabinet will have doors that swing open to the empty structure of the backside of the drawers--giving whoever opens it a sense that they are seeing the backside of what was meant to be seen. A hollow cabinet with structures for drawers.