you're welcome red sox fans

a bird, a fan in a hat and a healthy pile of poop; all in the right place at the right time. two more games to go till world series time. this kid has a message for rays fans and sox fans who thought this series was over. keep the faith.

it's doo doo baby

right about now the red sox need all the help they can get as they face playoff elimination this evening. it may have come this morning in the form of that greenish gift bestowed upon my hat from a dirty nyc pigeon. they say that's good luck, right? They won it all down 3-1 last year, and 3-0 in 2004. go bosox!

finished painting for woodfleet project

the woodfleet project

this is the initial sketch for a small painting i'm doing for a charity auction in cape cod this weekend during oysterfest. the auction is an annual event organized by shauna's office mate and friend katie. 5 1/2" inch long pieces of 2 x 6 lumber are distributed to artists, who are free to work them as they please. i haven't painted in a while so i've decided to do a big papi inspired little papi painting. the finished piece will be posted in the next couple of days.

salt dish and spoon

this is a salt dish - salt not pictured - that i made at allen-stevenson last year, and glazed this summer. the tiny wooden spoon i whittled from a twig while lying in a marsh in staten island several years ago.

tiny furniture

loyal blogjamming readers may remember way back to an october 2007 post when i made my first tiny chair in the allen-stevenson school wood shop. this summer i finally finished the project and built an entire tiny dining set. the clay pot on the table is shauna's; it is from a tiny town in california. i'm not sure if this town has a sparce population or the far more exciting possibility of a diminutive populace.

papi looking sharp

this is a piece from a printmaking class i was fortunate to take with kiki smith while i was at nyu. the image is a composite of laser prints of a digital photo of papi and a downloaded jpeg from google images of an audobon print. the printouts were fixed together with melted paraffin wax.

8th and final thesis panting

“It matters not what someone is born, but what they grow up to be.” The Harry Potter series, 24” x 12” acrylic on canvas

7th painting

“It’s not who you are underneath, it’s what you do that defines you.” Batman comic books, 15” x 12” acrylic on canvas

6th painting

“I believe this is going to be our finest hour.” Apollo 13, 12” x 18” acrylic on canvas

5th painting

“Climb every mountain.” The Sound of Music, 12” x 24” acrylic on canvas

4th painting

“Earn it.” Saving Private Ryan, 24” x 48” acrylic on canvas

3rd painting

“This is George. He was a good little monkey – but he was very curious.” Curious George Takes a Job, 14” x 12” acrylic on canvas

2nd painting

“All right then. I’ll go to hell.” The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, 12” x 11” acrylic on canvas

thesis paintings

these are old news now but i had never posted them; so for the next couple of days i'll be revealing my thesis paintings on blogjamming. for those of you unfamiliar with the project i have attached my artist statement for the visual component of the project:

Due to an absence of positive male role models at home and in schools, American boys can turn to mass media and popular culture texts to learn character building lessons that have the power to transform them into responsible and well-rounded men. The alarming facts that the United States leads the world in fatherless households, only one in nine elementary school teachers are men and that our country’s priorities are being guided by rampant consumerism have all contributed to a crisis in the development of adolescent males. I propose that there are stories in popular culture that can serve as surrogate sources for the life lessons that these absentee men should be imparting to our boys. Through the study of the modes and means of expression in popular culture mediums, I have come up with a selection of books, movies and other popular culture texts that can help positively effect adolescent male development. Through the creation of original artworks inspired by some of these texts I seek to further reflect upon the transformative power of these stories.
I have decided to approach visualizing the ideas of my thesis paper by creating a series of self-portrait paintings. While I have worked in a variety of media, painting seemed like the best choice for communicating the ideas explored in my writing. By incorporating visual elements and quotations from my source material in self-portraits I was able to vividly illustrate the themes and ideas I was drawing upon and able to place myself within the worlds that these texts exist in. During my ongoing development as both an artist and an educator I find these dual roles inextricably linked: as an educator I try to draw upon the pedagogical power of art, and as an artist I search for inspiration from the interests and influences of my students.
In designing these paintings I have sought to bring a childlike sensibility and style to the works. Owing to ways that several of these texts influenced my personal development I strived to produce the types of images I would have liked to create as a child but was unable to do so because of a lack of specific skills or resources. As an adolescent I grew up with a loving and supportive mother and father, but in a single parent household. I constantly immersed myself in books, movies and comic books and owe many learned life lessons to these types of texts. While this work is very personal to me – I was thrilled to once again be able to lose myself in these stories’ worlds as I researched each painting – I strongly believe in the power of these texts to transform all boys’ lives in positive ways.
The paintings represent a selection of books and one comic book the vertical compositions; and movies the horizontal compositions; from kindergarten, elementary, middle and high school age appropriate texts. The quotes incorporated in the paintings come from the original sources. The imagery is often composited from book illustrations and movie stills as a way of further referencing the original artist’s vision and marrying it with my own style. The mass media has the power to transform lives in positive ways; I present my art and life experience as a testament to this idea.

i will show the works in the order that i completed them. this is the first painting:
“Maybe there is a beast… maybe there is only us.” Lord of the Flies, 48” x 24” acrylic on canvas

i'm back baby!

blog jamming is born again. after being off for far too long blog jamming is coming back. expect regular postings; there's a lot to get every one caught up on and new work in progress. enjoy.

bring da motherf*ckin' ruckus

finn came with what will undoubtedly go down as one of my favorite christmas presents ever - wu tang clan tickets. the video is the jump off, however the highpoint had to be the tribute to o.d.b. when the wu performed shimmy shimmy ya with his moms on stage. she seemed to be so proud - but then how could she not be.

merry christmas

i'm back again after a rather long hiatus. the end of the semester was pretty busy but it's finally over. the grades have started to come in and the early returns are positive. look out next year for furious blogjammin' action, and in the meantime enjoy these holiday images from everyone behind the scenes at blogjammin' headquarters:

shauna
jimmy

and papi

now that i'm looking at it as i type, this picture of papi might be a little too sexy for a christmas greeting. damn man, put some pants on for the family christmas card.

old school gobblin'

the hand turkey was once a staple of the elementary school art classroom. i'm doing whatever i can to bring it back. enjoy this one, and treat the ones you love to a little hand turkey love next thanksgiving.

sox win! sox win! can you believe it, sox win!

well. actually yes, i can believe it. the sox seemed unstoppable, and as it turned out they were. i gave a little too much credit to that upstart rockies team - i guess i just wanted to see the sox win it at home. that didn't slow down the party or stop the champagne from being sprayed.these are some pictures of papi celebrating at home last night.luckily for everyone here at the third street complex our papi didn't spray anyone with anything.