Katie Hargrave

Pimms summertime

2010-07-25T09:41:00.004-05:00

Been making Pimms cocktails for my summer afternoon and dusk enjoyment.

Best of all, making them with cukes from my(!) very(!) own(!) garden(!)!

Good thing I've got dozens of cucumbers getting ready.

A reason not to be an expert

2010-06-20T04:42:00.002-05:00

I am in Murcia, Spain right now, doing research for an upcoming biennial called Manifesta. The Action Mill is one of four groups of artists/people who do stuff in the "real" world that have "real" effects. The four groups were put in a set and filmed having a discussion about criticality in art production, questioning how it relates to changing destructive systems. It was a hard couple of days having interesting discussions, needless to say.

This is an image of the cathedral in Murcia, which has an incredible carved stone chain from the Baroque period (if it ain't baroque...don't...uugh). Once the artisan completed carving the chain, the patron had his eyes plucked out so that he would never be able to make another.

If that's a reason not to be good at anything, I don't know what is.

Lamplit

2010-06-20T04:38:00.000-05:00

Keith Lemley and Taryn McMahon

when am i going to get over my thoreau stage?

2010-05-25T07:28:00.003-05:00

listen (to a mostly complete draft of a pathetic love story) here.

Portland

2010-05-18T18:08:00.003-05:00

Yesterday it looked like this in Portland. Today, my feet won't get dry and I am cold cold cold. Pacific Northwest?

walking shots

2010-05-12T20:57:00.002-05:00

Transmissions to change the way we think about us

2010-04-17T13:30:00.002-05:00

Exhibition I've been coordinating opens today at hesaidshesaid.us in Oak Park. Information below:

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We send dozens of emails, we talk on our cell phones while driving, and we g-chat while at work. We are arguably more connected than at any moment in history, and yet these forms of communication do little to make us feel connected. Somehow a handful of emails never get responded to, we screen our calls, and we pretend to be "invisible" on chat. We have facebook, twitter, and other social networking websites, and yet we continue to read about increased alienation associated with these methods of communication. When we were in middle school and played a game of telephone, our efforts at communication necessarily failed, but our collective bonds were strengthened by the changes that occurred in the space between the first and the last transmission. Flashlight Morse code between neighbors, and Pig Latin on the playground were not easier to understand than picking up the telephone or speaking in the common tongue, but something else was gained beyond ease.

The projects collected here are about the potentialities of communication. These projects point to the promise, the unexpected nature, the potential failures and successes of communication experiments. Culling from historical archives and our own childhood as research, these projects are situated in the mundane with a desire for the transformative.

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Angela Regas reflects upon social networking and online dating in her essay, "Looking for Love." Beginning with harmless trolling of Craigslist missed connections ads, she finds herself in a trailer smelling of cat pee. And yet, she's still at it.

A Literal Letter Service writes custom letters for you! Fill out a form and the two employees write and mail correspondence based upon your requests, free of charge.

Astrodime Transit Authority attempts to connect Bumpkin Island to mainland Boston through tin can telephone networks. Their motto: "We can!"

Onboard the 1977 Voyager spacecraft, Carl Sagan's Golden Record carried message of human life. This solid gold record included no instructions for use; rather the cover of the record showed obscure diagrams of Earth's position within the solar system, binary code depicting hydrogen atoms, and wavelengths for sound. The relative scale of the Voyager spacecraft to the universe is such that the likelihood of discovery is slim if not nil. Yet Sagan and NASA's collaboration acts as a time capsule for the hopefulness of early space exploration. Jimmy Carter summed it up: "This is a present from a small, distant world, a token of our sounds, our science, our images, our music, our thoughts and our feelings. We are attempting to survive our time so we may live into yours." Recorded originally at 8 1/12 speed, here are a series of aluminum dub-plate replicas recorded at 33 1/3 speed.

The Golden Spike connected the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific railroad lines, creating the first transcontinental railroad. The railroad effectively ended the American notion of wilderness, as the entire continent was now able to be crossed with relative ease and speed. The event was marked with members of each railroad company's executives hammering in the last spikes. When the final spike was driven into the ground, a telegraph wire was attached to the rails, which was to send a Morse code "dot" to each coast. The telegraph wire failed to send the signal, and instead a transcontinental telegraph was sent hours later to newspapers on each coast saying only, "Done."

Join in sending off helium balloons with your messages to whoever might find them. No additional postage necessary if mailed within the United States.

Flag Singer Showdown

2010-04-10T17:46:00.002-05:00

I have broken two Singer sewing machines while sewing historically accurate colonial American flags.

first it was this one:

then this one:

is there a conspiracy?

Gold things

2010-03-31T11:54:00.001-05:00

2010-03-25T08:27:00.000-05:00

sewing outmoded american flags should be my full time job, please.

Bonjour!

2010-03-15T05:05:00.001-05:00

I am drinking coffee and walking around, talking about neutrality and playing with chocolate with the Swiss.

Actually, though that sounds like a vaca, I'm working. This is what I am doing.

time warp

2010-03-06T12:21:00.002-06:00

We went to the DQ because it is March, spring, and the 58th year of the DQ's existence. And we got a Banana Split and listened to classics. And the guy at the counter asked me and E if we came back from a costume party. But we were just matching the setting.

Sugaring Season

2010-03-02T08:03:00.002-06:00

The cold finally broke here in Iowa City. The last two days have been above freezing, and I have seen people wearing all kinds of inappropriate clothing. I've heard many people proclaiming: "Spring!"

But it is not spring, it is another season: Sugaring Season.

After living in New England, Maple syrup from local trees is something I look forward to. And after learning how to tap a tree last year, this year I try myself. But I try the local local: the walnut tree in my backyard. Sources say it tastes great. The sap is sweet. Put your requests for walnut shaped glass containers of syrup now!

Betty Rymer at the Betty Rymer

2010-02-22T08:02:00.003-06:00

For the last seemingly ba-billion years, I've been working with my lovely collaborator Amber on a project that finally launches today.

You may remember my travels to Nashville to do research (if that's what you call staring at replicas and eating mounds of popsicles). Or perhaps you've been in my company (on FB or otherwise when I whine about massive cake baking extravaganzas.

Today bettyrymer.com launches. Take a peak (but don't stare at my html too closely, you might get dizzy).

SOUP

2010-02-03T23:18:00.001-06:00

** my pals do this great thing. mini grants are the future. see below.

We all struggle to find the money to fund our projects – the frames, the travel expenses, the 2,000 pounds of clay. We also all have small excess incomes – the daily coffee, the small change at the end of the day, the dinner out. By combining these small excesses, we can fund projects that need more than that small excess.

We will be coming together to eat, fund an exciting project, and talk about economic sustainability for the arts.

Saturday, February 5th
7:00pm
913 E. Jefferson St.

Please bring a dish to share and $5.

If you wish to be considered for the SOUP grant, please submit a proposal of no more than 300 words by noon, Saturday, February 5th to pspaceone@gmail.com and join us that evening. Everyone attending will have an equal vote in determining who receives the grant, which will be awarded at the conclusion of the meal.

Information about the inspiration for this idea can be found at http://incubate-chicago.org/sunday-soup/ and http://publicspaceone.wordpress.com/

liberty bell

2009-12-26T18:08:00.001-06:00

hello from Philly!

New Year, New Decade

2009-12-21T12:39:00.002-06:00

Because I have been finishing up all my little tasks for the year (submitting grades, finishing grant applications, dotting Ts and crossing Is), I feel like the year is already over. And it is. And when I look at my calendar for next year, it seems as if 2010 is already over too. Ugh.

But like last year, I like to do a few roundups of things I accomplished this year and things I hope to accomplish next year. Like in 2008 I read 88 books. In 2009, after realizing that I forgot almost everything about almost every book, I vowed to read less. I succeeded! I read 57 books. Congratulations me.

More importantly are the life skills: In 2009 I vowed to bake all my own bread. Yes, done! In 2010, I will refuse to buy canned beans or yogurt. I'll make my yogurt from my own cultures and make dried beans. What a little homemaker.

And finally, travel. In 2009 I went to two new states: Wyoming and Minnesota (hi minneapolis readers!). In 2010, I hope to round out the rest, because I said I'd do it by 2010, we'll just present I said 48 contiguous by the end of 2010. So that leaves me with Montana, Idaho (how great, since I just learned that Idaho doesn't exist), Kansas, North and South Dakota, and Washington and Oregon. I can do that, maaaaybe.

What about you?

Love and Death of Joaquin Murieta

2009-12-14T19:43:00.002-06:00

If you have some time to spare, this three part radio play is worth it... even if it is in real player. ugh.

It is about the legendary California bandit Joaquin Murieta. Murieta may be the precursor to Zorro...the original novel off of which this is based was written in 1854 by John Rolin Ridge AKA Yellow Bird, a Cherokee author whose own life is a bit Zorro-like.

More on all of this soon.

april showers bring mayflowers. what do mayflowers bring?

2009-11-26T18:18:00.003-06:00

stomach aches.

Summit!

2009-11-24T13:51:00.001-06:00

I just spent the last few days hanging out with the Action Mill. It was grand. More news from our meetings to come.

hello from boston.

2009-11-21T06:56:00.001-06:00

i slept on a sleeping porch at a mansion in Somerville last night while Pennie and the crew who run the place played music late into the night. i checked my watch at 2:45, surprised they were still up while i hung out in my 0 degree sleeping bag.

today is the day, however, and i'm up before eight to go have meetings with the action mill and much more.

i don't live here anymore, and i may never again.

how i learned to carry railroad ties

2009-10-21T19:01:00.002-05:00

the day before my sister's wedding, i went to menards and purchased three railroad ties. i thought they'd fit in the back of my brother's minivan, but when i tried to close the trunk after two burly guys with a forklift placed them there, i realized they would not.

in august i helped a friend move, and so she helped me move railroad ties. the two of us huffed and puffed three ties about twenty feet. they were in the middle of my studio floor, and they looked like they'd never move again.

when i set up the project in the gallery at studio arts, i convinced three friends to help me put them on a dolly and place them in the space. we did it, but i dropped one of the ties on my hand. not so fun.

then i watched this

before i had to take the show down today. i moved all the ties by myself, with ease. i stacked them neatly in my studio. after moving two, i called in my friend derek. he thought i wanted help. i wanted him to watch to prove that i could do it. they're neatly stacked in the corner. nice.

now the gallery is super clean, repainted even.

images of the project (poor images) online here.

Jesse James: New Project

2009-10-19T15:04:00.003-05:00

I've been ranting about Jesse James too much in the last little bit. Here is a mostly done draft of an audio piece about him.

Take a listen.

devouring

2009-10-17T08:59:00.002-05:00

" 'Read,' or 'Eat! Swallow!' the book that is given to you. And we never stop (speaking of) devouring books, whether they taste bitter or sweet, of honey or poison."

Jean-Luc Nancy, "On the Commerce of Thinking: Of Books and Bookstores."

prep

2009-10-14T09:05:00.001-05:00

my studio is a mess. if you can believe it, it is worse than this photograph. now i have a stack of cut plywood and photographs, an overhead projector and a stack of cottonwood branches. ugh.