angie newsome » art

Ode to Jamie Livingston

Angie Newsome — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 14:56:33 +0000

I’ve been collecting small bits of inspiration and today I found Jamie Livingston, or, rather, found out about Jamie Livingston. He took one Polaroid photograph a day for 18 years, from the time he was a student at Bard to the day he died. Some are missing from the collection, but the ones that remain — and there’s more than 6,000 of them, have been shown in various incarnations.

It’s an amazing, inspiring story and one fitting, I think, to kick off Thanksgiving week. I’m thinking a lot lately — as I’m sure tons of people are — about things for which I am thankful. One of the biggest things are unexpected shots of inspiration, and, in particular, those I know and those I know of who inspire me. I didn’t know about Jamie or his life — even though there’s been a lot written about him, from at the New York Times to a bevy of websites in his honor — but he’s inspired me to think, to look and to consider my own longevity and commitment.

If you’d like to learn more, here are some websites to spend some time on:

Hugh Crawford’s collection of all of Jamie’s Polaroids

Images from the 2007 art show of Livingston’s photographs, as they appeared at Bard College

Another way to view the photos, this time in a flipbook

And here are a couple of my own Polaroids, taken several months ago on walks up the Blue Ridge Parkway and through my West Asheville neighborhood, respectively. My own small shots, posted in his honor.

Worth a thousand

Angie Newsome — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 16:26:31 +0000

I don’t know about you, but I’m incredibly busy these days. I’m measuring time by the number of words I’m writing, the number of interviews I’m finished with, the amount of lists of contacts and places I need to go piled about me on slips of grid paper. Last night, I swam in all these tasks, dreaming a jumbled mess of colors and — most of all — nouns and verbs and adjectives.

Sometimes I wish my thoughts came in pictures. You may be one of those people I envy, those highly visual people who find pattern and color and contrast in everything. I find myself looking for words – reading signs, looking at the combinations of consonants and vowels. My photos are frequently filled with them. But sometimes you just can’t help it. The words jump out at you, like they did over my trip to Boston.

I mean, just look at this. Dr. Paul! You are amazing! Stars and eyes, flourishes and block print. I can’t beat it if I tried.

And I wish every single neighborhood had a corner store whose windows were covered in signs like this (and had the same three guys standing out front cat-calling the group of teenage girls flirting with them across the street). I managed to snap a few photos of some of the most creative signage I’ve seen. Read the fine print, people.

If you’re tongue-tied, here’s what to say:

A play about the 2004 World Series, all on this poster (larger version here):

And if you’re a table-tennis champion without your equipment, here’s where to go. Just don’t speak French:

Artful, comedic, philosophical. And the ones that deserve to be carved in stone. I loved them all. Do you?

Build a door

Angie Newsome — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 19:13:30 +0000

“If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.” ~Milton Berle

Last night, Pat and I went to the Doors of Asheville fundraising event for Mountain Housing Opportunities. Pat works for the organization and a program that helps families build their own affordable housing. He’s working with five families now, and I thought about them at the auction, as people milled about, looking at all the donated artwork, much of it literally paintings on doors. We grabbed a plateful of barbecue and sat down to wait for the auction to begin.

Milton Berle’s quote was on a poster propped up on the edge of the stage, which sat on the same stage where David Earle and the Plowshares ended their performance with a version of “When the Saints Go Marching In” (On another note, I never get tired of watching the Muppet trombone player). It’s the same stage where the auctioneer encouraged and needled and cajoled bidders to up the ante to help fund the organization’s work to make sure people have a safe, affordable place to live in our community.

Some of the doors were amazing, and I wish now that I’d written down the artists’ names for you to go check out. I remember work by Joanna Gollberg Stirling and Jonas Gerard (huh, I wish I could write like he paints) and Ben Betsalel. These people were so generous of their talents to help, I think.

But, of course, they could use more. The fundraiser was a success, but it left me feeling that problems in the economy have dipped into area donors’ pockets pretty hard. To me, that makes affordable housing even more important. If you want to find good organizations supporting housing issues in your own communities, there are lots of places to go. The Directory of National Housing and Homeless Organizations and the National Low Income Housing Coalition can help. When the bidding was over and left the crowded room to go home, I left in love with this quote, the idea of making your own opportunity. It’s an entrepreneurial sprit, of course, one that takes courage and support and belief that it can happen.

Angie Newsome — Fri, 23 May 2008 01:03:00 +0000

Ahem.

Sorry if I made you throw up all over your keyboard after reading yesterday’s post. I was delirious, I suspect. Or mushy. Delirious mush. Let’s just say that moment is over and we’re on to real life, like debating who gets to sweep up all the balls of dog hair swaying like seagrass over our floors. Oh, the romance. The answer is still pending.

That said, I do have to brag some more and say that Pat’s getting ready for a HUGE gallery opening at the Folk Art Center. The opening is Saturday afternoon, 3-5 p.m., so come if you’re around. His furniture is amazing, all curvy and sultry, except for the bed which seems to be inspired by an accordion. I find that hilarious! Plus he has a new manly haircut, so prepare to be impressed!

Guest post: a story for you from Acy

Angie Newsome — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 19:28:00 +0000

Once upon a time, there was a dog who pooped in the house and the mother got him a new litterbox. And it was purple. And it was a girl named Sammy. And he started pooping a lot. The end.

(That’s Sammy pooping in the house.)

-by Sammy Martin

(illustration by Angie)

A reflection

Angie Newsome — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 16:15:00 +0000

Why do you travel? For me, it’s to see new places, expose myself to new things, people, culture. Walking unfamiliar streets, eyes peeled to the sky; watching people pass you on the street; hearing the street noises in a new city: needless to say, the urge to see and do these things in an unfamiliar place aren’t original.

But one thing struck me yesterday as I looked at the photography exhibit at MoMA. Even though I was surrounded by some of the world’s best art, I found myself searching for the familiar in the art there, particularly in the photographs. Which I loved. The shots of nature and models and portraits were intersting. But the photographs of Knoxville and the girl at the flea market in Georgia, I couldn’t get enough of those. I go hundreds of miles away from my home to experience something new, yet search for the familiar when I get there? Why? I really don’t know. Maybe I’m drawn to other people’s interpretation of your home, in general terms, out of the environment in which it was created and reflected. It’s like looking in the mirror in the dark, where you struggle to recognize the shape you know is there without even opening your eyes.

Or maybe I’m homesick for a home I couldn’t wait to leave.