Looking south from the Burnside Bridge in Portland, OR.

About a week ago I had an idea for a mobile and became obsessed with the idea of a New Project. This often happens when I have other projects in the works, usually unfinished. In this case I had two unfinished projects taking up all the space on my work desk. But, this new project was bright and shiny and I was terribly excited about it so I cleared a couple of square feet on my desk and went out shopping for my materials.

Often it is the idea of shopping for new materials that inspires a new project.

[The butterfly tin is one of the things I picked out from my grandmother’s house when she died to keep as a reminder of her; it was packed with a snarl of embroidery floss—floss, incidentally, that happened to be the same color palette as the felt I had used.]

My plan was to make ten mobile cosas—raindrops in this case—out of colored wool felt (oooooo!) to attach to the mobile skeleton that hangs over Ronin’s cradle (the one that held Joshua’s Expired Credit). Ronin and I skipped on down to the local yarn/Crafty McCrafterson shop on Burnside and I spent an hour poring over the many beautiful colors. I desperately wanted one of each color but limited myself to shades of blue and green.

I decided to make them double-sided (twice the work of course, because I am a crazy person) so that when they spun, they would be nice from both sides, and I cut out twenty different drop-like shapes. Then I cut out 49,577,601 various oblong and wobbly littler shapes out of the felt and neurotically pieced them together on the drops to make pretty topographies.

I think it turned out pretty cool. Ronin likes it too. But then she is equally impressed by a slotted spoon.

I’ve embarked on an art installation project intended for education and enlightenment. My first work in this series, “Expired Credit”, opened on April 19th. Critics were struck dumb, opening and closing their mouths without sound and feebly pawing the air.

Artist Statement: Here the credit cards are dangling just out of reach. A tribute to the tantalizing nature of consumer culture. From the lofty Fordian goal of paying workers enough to afford the products of their own labor to the Keynesian ideal world economy driven by consumers consuming products they will never need and services they’d be better off without. Soaking up the surplus capital, and exploiting resources to extinction. The cards circle endlessly like debt-ridden martyrs borrowing against their own uncertain futures.

(neko case) hand – oil on panel by Brad Wright

Our friend Brad is showing some paintings at Artist-Xchange in December. We won’t be able to make it but if you’re in San Fracisco you should go to the opening party tomorrow (Dec. 7th) at 3169 16th St (btw Guerrero & Valencia) from 7-10PM. I understand there will be drinks and DJs. I took the above picture from his online gallery but you should see them in person because the translucence and depth doesn’t completely come through in images.