Joe and Bob

In art school I was hooked on: cars, history, textile patterns and music. All of these things still play an important role in my life but they aren't as evident in my recent work. Maturity, discovery, productivity...change? Good. A couple of important men in my life are Joe and Bob. I speak not of my wonderfully considerate and caring b/f and his father (although they are more important than these guys) instead, Joe Walsh and Bob Seger. A couple of "good ol' boys", and part of my music foundation, their music served as a jumping off point for much of my work during art school. Here are some of the pieces I speak of. I won't get into the specifics or what songs they represent. I think it's more exciting letting you interpret.

One last thing...

In light of the Camaro post I thought I would throw in a bio of my parents rides. I have posted about them in the past but I decided they were worthy of another post with better photos. Meet dad's car, the '67 Chevelle SS:

This car is indeed, an original 396 SS car. Awhile back we became suspicious about the integrity of the SS so we checked the vin and it's not a clone.YAY!This car is in desperate need of a restoration. It has some rust behind the back windshield and on the fender wells. A resto isn't on my dad's priority list so if anyone is willing to throw money at a car full of potential beauty and perfection, here's your chance! My dad's car has seen better days but it's still a piece of rolling muscle.

Next, my mom's car, a '67 Nova SS or Chevy II.

This car has a 283 small block v-8 with an 2-speed powerglide transmission and it's zippy. It has a lot of history considering it's been in our family since it came off the showroom in 1966. After my great grandpa became to old to drive his son took the car which ended up being handed down to my mom. This car is near perfection with only 80k original miles! It even has it's original drum breaks (which isn't good, the one thing I wouldn't trade is ABS). I think that concludes my infatuation with the idea of his/hers classic rides, now I just need to advocate for "no stop signs, or speed limits!"

Idle Time

I should mention that for the next two weeks I will have quite a bit of idle time. The law students have 2 weeks of finals which started yesterday so we don't have a lot of people beating down our door with problems. During finals I get to sit outside of the classrooms with my laptop in case someone has a computer emergency or failure, exciting! The point? Due to the lack of 'real work' I will probably be posting here a lot for the duration of finals. It will probably be a bunch of nothing but since this blog is really to humor myself I guess I don't need to apologize.

I just found this great video over at Design Sponge:

Parallelostory from impactist on Vimeo.

The Camaro

The Camaro is a memento of American history. I really love it because we had one when I was younger and my best friend and I would sit in it for hours pretending to be "pedal to the metal" on the open road. It was an '83 Z28 with t-tops, hotness! Today, I patiently await the return of the new Camaro wishing I could trade in my efficient, Japanese ride for some all-American power. It helps the economy, eh? I am a practical person, (in this case I sacrifice fun) so I will continue to ride the Honda but I can dream.

I really do appreciate Camaros. They represent my background and love for the "bowtie" but I also chuckle at their reputation. Those "Prius drivers" lift their noses to them because of their connotation with trailer parks and meth labs. I know our Camaro was a beaut but most have been hot rodded and wrecked and some people still cling to their beater but come on... it's a fast car,who can garage them? Hand me the keys to a small block v-8 (or a big block) and I will punch it. I do it every time I hop into my dad's car, I can't help it. My little sixer has some pep but the torque just isn't there. I love the power, chrome, the smell of fuel burning, I wouldn't trade it for batteries and catalytic converters, (sorry world) I'm only here until I'm gone!

Wow, I rant today! My point was to show you these photos:

This is a diptych I made while in art school (c. 2007). They were really large (about 30" long) and the blue one sold. I wish I had some better photos. I should really learn how to take better photos but it's not one of my priorities at the moment. One day I was up at the shop and I found a Chilton for our '83. It had some really neat diagrams so I used them to screen print the background and then I printed a picture of our car on top. It's a very masculine piece. Many of my pieces involving automobiles often incorporate feminine aspects like flowers but this one was straight up "MAN" which is probably why it was one of the few pieces I have sold. Since we are discussing Camaros I will say that I have been called Bumblebee a time or two, we speak through music and we kick major ass!

Photo. ps. Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Logo

This is my parents' logo for their business. I have grown up around it and I never thought it was that special until recent years. My great grandfather bought a rental store franchise, A-Z rental, and it eventually turned into Diamond Zorn when my grandmother married my grandpa. Oh history/herstory, sentimentality, love it!

The logo above is my version (quick and inaccurate),the real thing is a little more compact, the text fits better in the real/professional design. The versatility is also nice, sometimes they reduce it to a simple diamond with a Z in it when they are having to label things by hand. Someday I'm going to make a large sign of the logo to hang in my living room, maybe to hang over the fireplace (given that I have one).

Busy Bee

Today was actually a productive day. It started out slow and lazy but after a little Carly Simon and some Otis Redding I was on my merry way. See! I cut out 2 stencils; one with 3 colors and one with 6 colors so I guess that means I really cut out 9 stencils. The wall behind me has been top secret for awhile but today I was looking at it and thought it was time for the debut.This is the start of the gallery wall for my living room. The theme? Family, believe it or not. A spark plug, some cotton, 3 stalks of corn growing from one hole, 33/3 peas, and portrait silhouettes. Read the story of the spark plug here. As for the others, I will let you run with them for now. I'm not really in a story telling mood so I will fill you in later with better photos. I also think that each piece deserves its own post if not for the sake of astounding aesthetic (Ha!) but for the sake of the stories that inspired them.

Summer Revisited

Last summer we had a big family reunion and it was a lot of fun. I know family reunions can be really lame but this one was pretty exciting. I got to see people I hadn't seen in ten years and now that I'm older I really enjoy hearing the family history. We had family from near and far (South Carolina, California, Texas, and even Sweden!) and the location was beautiful. This was my maternal side and they don't miss a 'happy hour' so it can get pretty interesting. I made the shirts (oh, how I miss my screen printing days), there were 2 different styles:
[Me.Mom's mom. Mom. Aunt.]
[Grandma's husband. Cousin. Grandma.]
I wish I had a detail photo but I can't find one. It was the "Belt" reunion and they had a clothing store in Coffeyville, Kansas so that was the theme. I used a photo of the storefront and an old advertisement for the designs. I wanted to print something they could wear again so it couldn't be to personalized. [Dad.Mom.Me. Brother.]
I thought this was a decent family pic. Looking back I notice that I am the only one in my family that values sunscreen. Contrast is one of the designs elements but I don't think pasty counts.