Each Monday, the Birdhouse, located on the corner of 4th and Gill, features a free movie with popcorn and it's open to the public. They have been borrowing an unreliable sound system for quite some time and would like to buy a new one of their own, amongst some other things that will benefit the movie-watching experience. As a result, they are holding a Block Party this Friday night to raise money. 

I was asked to donate some artwork to the cause. It will be available for purchase (I think silent auction-style) as well as several other artists' work. All artwork will be cinema-based.

I enjoy donating artwork to support all kinds of missions, this one being to help out Your Friendly Neighborhood Movie House, which brings people together in the community who share the common interest of film.

One of the pieces I'm donating. Can you name that movie?

Please stop by the Block Party this Friday evening if you're able and bid on some artwork. There will be bands and a fish fry as well.

 Check out the details below or go to the Facebook event.

WHAT?! A fundraising event for patrons of The Birdhouse Walk-In Theater. 
WHY!? To raise funds for a sound system, curtains, projection screen, and sign tracking.
WHEN!?! Friday, June 21, 2013, 6:00PM - 12:00AM

WHERE? The Birdhouse, 800 N. 4th Ave.

HOW MUCH? $5

WHO?!

Fish fry by WILL ISOM

Film Score by BEN OYLER, JASON BOARDMAN, ALAN BAJANDAS, DANIEL STEPHENSON, JOANNA BAJANDAS, & ERIC LEE

VDJ (Video Disc Jockey) GIN & TRONIC

TWO promo film screenings by local filmmakers ZAK YOUNG and CLINT KELLER

Artwork for sale by: ADAM BRYANT, JODY COLLINS, KATRINA DENOVICH, JAMIE L. EARLS, NEAL KEEBLE, TOM LITTLE, BETH MEADOWS, ALYSSA MERKA, MOLLY MULLIN, OLGA NOES, ASHLEY OVERTON, JENNY PICKELL, MARK GUNNAR QUIST, ANNA LAURA REEVE, CARLA REEVE, ERIC SHERWOOD, ALLIE STOEHR, IANA VARDANYAN, MARGAUX VERDERA

Yesterday, my friend Ben sent me this blog post by Lauren Wilford entitled On Ruby Sparks, Manic Pixie Dream Girls, and the Image as Prison. Read at least the beginning if you have the chance.

After sending me the link, I shared with him my disdain for Zooey Deschanel's character in The New Girl, to which Ben replied:

Yea, I hate those characters too. Or, what they have become in the last several years. I remember when Almost Famous and Garden State were two of my favorite movies. I was a young man who didn't really understand myself (let alone women), and I was infatuated with the idea of a girl who could be completely weird and uninhibited and obsessed with an awesome band -- and still be as hot as kate hudson or natalie portman. then i grew a couple of years older (and saw the movie elizabethtown) and I started really seeing through that gimmick.

But, because I am male, I am just as interested in the male characters in those movies who are so somber and calculated and introverted, who are then "saved" by their dream girl. I think that's one of the reasons why I LOVED Into The Wild so much. Because he comes across his manic pixie dream girl (who happens to be kristen stewart of twilight fame) and he says "no thanks" and continues on his larger, more important journey. and then dies. alone. while realizing that life's happiness is best shared with others.

anyways, i thought this article was interesting from a female artist's perspective. of how she sees this as just another example of men objectifying women. and thinking about the idea of men who find women to BE the adventure in life, instead of someone to live out life's adventures with. like zack braff in garden state or woody allen in annie hall. these guys will (and do, in the case of annie hall) lose their girl, one way or another.

***

My favorite movie for a long time, and maybe even still, is The Royal Tenenbaums, my favorite character being Margot Tenenbaum. I dressed up as her one year for Halloween, and I drew her and Richie in 2009.

Being an open book myself, I was mesmerized by her highly secretive life. She made me want to be more mysterious, which I decided was equal to being alluring. Why? Because of how irresistible she was to Richie Tenenbaum, even despite her extreme melancholia.

I've watched The Royal Tenenbaums so many times, I've lost count. The last time I watched it a couple of years ago, something broke inside me. Margot Tenenbaum annoyed me.

I thought, "She is so depressing. No man in his right mind would want to be with a woman like her," which is true, as Richie proves.

***

I realize I've liked, but simultaneously and secretly been annoyed by, several on-screen female characters.

Penny Lane in Almost Famous: I will always love this movie, but Penny has always bothered me. I realize it's because she's delusional and attention-starved, allowing her heart to get trampled on by a man that doesn't care for her.

Sam in Garden State: Just, are you kidding me?

Jess in The New Girl: The first time I saw this show, I felt cheated. There is no way Durmot Mulroney's character would fall for Jess, unless the only thing he cared about was how she looked.

April in Parks and Recreation: I've only seen a couple of episodes, so I may not the best judge of this, but: The dry, sarcastic, and rude April lures sweet Andy. How?

***

For reasons Lauren Wilford discusses, watching these on-screen manic pixie dream girls, or variations of them, makes women feel they lack something. This puts these characters on the same level as Victoria Secret models in regard to women's self-esteem. Whether a woman buys into the idea that she needs to be thin and sexy or more eccentric and stylish to be desired by a man, she is buying into a lie.

The subject gets me riled up because I've bought into it, too, worried I'm too boring or too disheveled, that I need to change.

But my thoughts are being transformed. I know now that my fear of passively accepting a "boring" life is actually a deep desire to be content where I am. As for what that means in a relationship, as much as I want adventure, passion, and fun, what I think about the most is a person sitting next to me while I read a book or who can be in the same room as me while I make artwork, sharing thoughts and silence interchangeably.

***

Like my friend Ben stated, as guilty as women can be for falling into a trap of wanting to be something they're not, men can just as easily believe that a woman could save them or fill the emotional gaps in their life. When a man buys into this notion, the danger is that after a few years, or even months, he will realize he was wrong and jump ship to look for another woman who might do the trick.

I read one time that people often confuse drama for adventure (I'm pretty sure Dear Abby told me that). This could explain why so many people stay in unhealthy relationships. This is also the point I missed in most of the manic pixie dream girl-themed movies- that these women usually attract men who are emotionally immature (i.e. bad partners).

As I near my 30's, I will take "boring" over drama any day of the week. Heaven help me. I must be growing up.

If I was a teenage girl today, I'd make a Youtube video montage of Matthew Crawley and Lady Mary photos set to Rihanna's We All Want Love. I'd work on it in the wee hours of the morning, in between witty banter and repressed flirtation with my crush via instant messenger* in a dark room filled with the soft glow of my computer screen.

* IM doesn't exist anymore, does it?

Billy: You don't have any cats.
Madolyn: No.
Billy: I like that.

It's all in slow-motion.

She's in the passenger seat of a car full of friends. She looks out the open window across the sun setting over an expanse, her outstretched hand rising and falling against the wind.
Cut to skaters, grinding rails, soaring though the air.
Cut to scene at a club. His dark eyes meet hers across the crowded dance floor.
Cut to him in a navy hoodie, jogging through his suburban neighborhood at night.
Cut back to car scene again, she and her friends are laughing under a pink sky.
Cut to gym scene where he's punching a punching bag, sweat running down his face.
Cut back to the dance club scene. His hand is on her side.
Cut back to skaters.
Cut to him with her and friends, running across a football field at night.

Cut to cliche, bad-ass scenario in slow-motion.

I'm supposed to write an article for a magazine, due tomorrow. It's for work, not art work, but salvage work. Instead I am here.

Writing, like making art, is one of very few things I've liked for as long as I can remember and still practice. I've written consistently in a journal since I learned to use a pencil and have all these filled diaries, hand-bound books, and journals friends have given me, placed in an old suitcase. With all the social networking going on today, it's enchanting to be able to write a thought privately.

Would I mind if someone read all of those books one day? No, not if it were the right person.

When I was a senior in high school, I let the right person read the journal I kept then. The combination of my ability to trust and his unflinching courage to know something deep about someone else was enough for us to fall in love, at least for a time.

***

The first time I wrote online was for a collaborative blog a few years ago. I fell in love with writing that way, knowing thoughts I formed were being read by others. Sadly, that blog seems to have run its course, or maybe I have run my course with it.

***

My thoughts often formulate as if I am writing a paper or writing to someone. They come together with a proper introduction and a body in which different points are expounded upon.

Although this is how I think, I couldn't sit down and write for myself when it came to anything outside of what I expressed in a personal journal. I had to write somewhere where I knew someone, if they wanted, could read it. It wasn't worth it to me to sit down and write if it was going to be in a book that no one would ever see but me. That's why I began this blog.

I like it but resent it too. Most of what I think about goes unwritten because someone could actually read it. I could write anonymously, but that seems very similar to writing in a journal no one will ever see. The point for me (for bloggers) is to express and for that expression to be received. Isn't that what everyone wants? Isn't that why Facebook and Twitter are what they are?

I still hinder myself, and maybe that's ok for now, but I'm beginning to ask myself why I do, and if it's worth it.

***

When I was younger, I was so shy, it hurt. I had a teacher tell me to yell in front of my whole class, trying to cure me of being so soft-spoken. I was like Todd Anderson standing in front of Mr. Keating's classroom in Dead Poet's Society. But real life is never like the movies. I could not YAWP there in front of my class.

That teacher was an idiot, by the way.

Writing (and painting) has helped ease a frustrating inability to express myself verbally. My YAWPs have been few and far between.

***

When I was in high school, I read a poem I wrote in front of my English class. I read it quickly but with vigor. I didn't look up until it was done, and when I did, the faces of my classmates were delighted, speechless. My face was flushed when I walked back to my seat. I was embarrassed but really happy.

***

I am really thankful for the ability to write. I don't mean to write well, but to have the capability and the desire to.

This gratitude is shaping into letter writing for me. I've recently bought stationery, postcards, even stamps to make my own. I also bought a pack of No. 2 pencils.

It's felt a little strange to sit down and write to someone that I don't need to thank for giving me a gift. In the first ones I've sent, I've felt the need to explain that I'm beginning to write letters. I assume the recipient, my friend, would wonder why I felt inclined to sit down and hand-write about the movie I just watched or the walk I just went on. I don't really know why I am, but I am.

I'm looking forward to the second round of letters I send, the ones where I won't have to explain what I'm doing, I can just go for it.

Originally posted on www.notawigshop.com...

Tomorrow evening, you are invited to 17th Street Studios' Open Studio Night. Come and see the spaces where local artists (designers, movie producers, sculptors, painters, ceramicists) work.























There will be food and drinks to enjoy, whether you quietly peruse artwork or intensely interrogate each artist. Some work will also be for sale.
















This is a great opportunity to support the work of 13 Knoxville artists. We'd love for you to stop by.



17th Street Studios OPEN STUDIO NIGHT
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
7-9pm
1642 Highland Avenue in Fort Sanders
on the corner of 17th and Highland in Redeemer Church

This is pretty interesting (to me).

I was perusing this month's Vogue and came across this photo.






















What is interesting about it? Well, I made this painting back in 2010.

Pool at Night, acrylic on canvas, 2010, 32" x 52"

The chairs, the shape of the pool, the grass, the hedge, the walls... the similarities surprise me.

***

The painting was based on fond memories of swimming at night in my grandparents' pools. Yes, both sets had one. I may have spent just as much of my childhood immersed in water as I did on dry land. I loved when my sisters, friends, and I could swim at night with the pool light on. Pool-light-at-night is still one of my most favorite colors.

Oddly enough, the painting was also inspired by something far less innocent- the movie The Graduate, specifically the scenes in the Robinson's house, with the green filling the windows. I wanted to convey the glamor of that movie, to show someone rich lived there. Without knowing it at the time, I also conveyed the emptiness and sadness of the story as well.





Also, there was the pool.