After the re-arranging of my office, I rediscovered my Danny Gregory books, and decided to check back in on his blog. More time is needed for me to accurately explain the influence that he has had on my life and art career, but for now, this video he made — The Art of Breakfast — needs to be shared. It is insanely satisfying and mesmerizing to watch an artist at work.
The Art of Breakfast from DannyGregory on Vimeo.
Yes, yes, there is real white meat chicken in there. But that’s not all. Not even close.The troubling ingredient list has been explored in Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma. Things like thirteen corn-based ingredients in a bite-sized chunk of chicken. Or tertiarybutylhydroquinone (TBHQ), a petroleum-based product, similar to butane(!), and used to preserve freshness. Or that the dimethylpolysiloxane, added to the frying oil to prevent foaming, is a silicone-based ingredient commonly found in make-up and Silly Putty.
But don’t they look delicious?
Well, “Alyson Independence Day” anyway.* Two years ago today was my official last day of work as an Asylum Officer. A few months later, I embarked on this weird ride of meat diagrams and art peddling. I’m thankful for the friends I made and the numerous refugees I helped during my time at the Asylum Office, but I absolutely cannot imagine not having “meat artist” on my resume now.
*hat tip to Marcia (aka “The Tablehopper“) for this amazingly appropriate phrase.
Lately, I’ve been pondering the direction of the blog, and decided I want to have more frequent posting, more behind the scenes, more recipes, and more inspiration generally. So this friday o’clock feature is part of that. strap yourselves in for awesomeness.
Thank you internet, for this 15 minute clip from 1974 of Terry Gilliam explaining cut out animation.
via Deth P. Sun (via SFist)
My fascination with animation has been reignited, as it always is after seeing amazing work (Fantastic Mr. Fox, I’m looking at you). This reminds me that I’ve been meaning to post our stop motion Save the Dates from our wedding a few years back, complete with a how-to, as well. wait for it. but not for long.
Mimosas are pretty delicious. especially if you hold the oj.
Print available here. (because i know you have to have some mimosa in your life.)
A couple weeks ago, I ventured outside of the 415 with my meaty art in tow (oh, plus Steve and some egg mcmuffins) to participate in the Renegade Craft Fair in Los Angeles. It was my first show outside of San Francisco, and despite a lower turnout than anticipated (thanks a lot, Carmageddon) I’m definitely counting the show as a success. Why?
1. An outdoors show that was actually WARM!
True, sometimes I’ll get a rare warm Sunday show with Indiemart, but for the most part in SF, it is inside shows or crazy windy outdoors ones. LA was lovely, tented, and a full 30 degrees warmer than SF at the same time.
2. Confirming that LA folks love meat too.
There were a couple of people who didn’t quite seem to “get” the strong rallying cry of “Los Angeles is for Meat Eaters” but overall, I got meet a ton of excited food and meat lovers, including numerous chefs, and friends of chefs.
3. We got and used a dolly.
No idea why it took us over a year of doing craft shows to spend a mere $28 to get the most amazing, back and marriage saving device ever. Thanks to Margaret of Paper Pastries for the insanely key tip.
4. Visiting The Bruery and Beachwood BBQ
Heading south also meant the chance to see my custom artwork I made for Beachwood BBQ in Long Beach (I might have had some amazing ribs and Telegraph Reserve Wheat on tap while I was there too). The place was fantastic, and finally getting to meet Lena and Gabe, the owners was such a treat. I’ve been delighted to discover that so many of these awesome business I love are co-owned by husband and wife teams.
Seeing the custom art in person was such a crazy trip and so exciting. As you can see.
We also managed to sneak in a private tour of The Bruery in Placentia, courtesy of the crazy nice and generous Ben, PR dude extraordinaire. I’ll have a separate post about that.
6. Palm Springs, baby.
Oh, and a quick jaunt to Palm Springs after the show didn’t hurt a damn thing. More on that later….
Why yes.
If you didn’t get a chance to say hi or snag some meat art of your own at Renegade SF a couple weeks ago, tomorrow is your chance. I’ll be selling my artwork, as featured on The Atlantic (I tried to mention that super casually. Did it work?) and hanging out with my partner in crime, Steve. Much of my new work is not available online yet, but it will be available tomorrow at Indie Mart. Come on by and say hello. I’m friendly.
Hello hello! We just finished up a loooong weekend at Renegade Craft Show in San Francisco and it went so well! (Our home, however, is much worse for the wear.) Thanks so much to everyone who came by and bought some slamming art, whether for their kitchen, to use as a study aid in culinary school (yeah!), or as a gift for another meat lover in their life. Steve and I really felt the meat love.
It was also so great to see friends (some bearing cans of champagne!!!), chat with fellow artists and vendors, catch up with old co-workers, and meet internet/twitter pals in real life. My favorite exchange of the day was with a kind woman who asked if I was from SF, and then proceeded to ask which school I attended. I told her that while I lived here now, I didn’t go to school here. And so she asked which art school I went to. Much laughter as I told her that I went to law school, not art school.*
This was my first time doing a summer Renegade show, and it did go really well. Since it was my first show since the holidays, the ole booth set up needed an upgrade. My hubby, a newly accomplished carpenter (complete with beard pencil holder) designed and constructed some great display cases. They were a classy upgrade from our old kraft paper-covered foamcore cases we had over the holidays.
Man, is there anything that beard CAN’T do?It was also my first craft show since the holidays, and after the MEAT MARKET art show in May, I had a bunch of new work to display.
Our new “Use Every Part” Pig poster was very popular. Which is great, because I love it.Figuring out which pieces to keep from previous shows, as well as how to best display my original works, and all the new prints was challenging. In fact, on day 2 we completely changed our display, which I think worked even better.
Set up on day one. Nice display shelves, right? Also, we only have 2 of the original tiny cheeky meat watercolors (lower shelf, left side) remaining!
Oh, and I bought myself a little treat! A bamboo watch from Mistura.
Now, to buckle down and create a meat poster for LA, where I’ll be at Renegade, in oh, 4 days!
*She then followed up with the inevitable question of “what do you parents think about all of this,” but, uh, we don’t need to discuss that, right?
hello hello! I just HAD to share this sneak peek of 3 custom pieces I created for the one and only Beachwood BBQ and Brewing, opening on July 5 in Long Beach, CA.
The place looks amazing and I think my pieces fit right in. Beachwood is known for amazeballs food and a crazy good beer list so I’m of course honored that they contacted me to do this work for their new place. And even MORE psyched to visit in a couple of weeks when I’m in LA for Renegade Craft Show!
