WHERE WE LAY OUR SCENE

Leg 2 of my recent holiday travels. I swore on Twitter, (and was therefore bound by law), that I would step off the coach in Verona and flamboyantly declare ‘IN FAIR VERONA, WHERE WE LAY OUR SCENE’, but I have to confess that after 16 hours of traveling from Paris I was more disorientated than expected so this did not happen. We dropped our bags off at our airbnb apartment, had showers and cat naps then headed into the city. Initially we couldn’t find the centre and were worried that it would all be closed anyway due to it being a Sunday, fortunately, this led us to a pizza shop that gave us free pizza! Not traditional thin base, wood oven cooked pizza but a. beggars can’t be choosers and b. FREE STUFF. With pizza off the tick list we stopped for a coffee and GELATO when we found the busier part of the city, then headed over to Castelvecchio, which had some great views over the Adige river. I found myself competing with some kids to get to the best climbing spots on the castle walls and bridge but don’t you worry, I won. (Take that small children.)

We accidentally found our way to ‘Juliet’s house’ (Casa di Giulietta), which people seem to associate with Shakespeare’s Juliet, even though it is highly unlikely she was even mildly real. (Ever the pessimist.) Plus, Google has just informed me that the infamous balcony I took a photo of was only added to the house in the 20th century. (Disappointment.) Regardless, it was funny and a little bit weird to see tourist couples trying to pose as Romeo and Juliet on the balcony while hundreds of strangers took photos of them… We wandered sort of aimlessly for the rest of the day but went full circle back to the old Arena before the sun went down. I was the only one feeling flash enough to pay the 5 euros to get into the Arena. It was set up for a concert so it didn’t have quite the archaic feel I was hoping for! Still, the views over the city made up for it.

And then, VENICE. I was initially a little disappointed by Venice, maybe because it’s always so talked up? But after lowering my standards a little, and accepting the excessive tourism and all the disheveled buildings for what they were, I started to enjoy the labyrinth of tiny streets and quaint bridges that led you over the endless canals. More gelato was found and destroyed of course, two chubby cats, curled up in a suitcase of old maps, were also found (but definitely not destroyed…) and the hunt for the perfect Venetian mask (for future fancy dress) went well. It would’ve been lovely to see the city from the water, or even to explore some of the smaller surrounding islands, but the day went by so fast, and jeeeeeeez are those gondolas expensive.

Also is it wrong that I was highly amused by these letterbox/doorbell faces?

ONE DAY

“One day I’m gonna live in Paris.” People say (and sing) it all the time, but I’m serious. If there’s no job waiting for me straight out of uni, then why the hell not? I may not have considered the issues of funding this move but hey, the language skills are (basically) there so at least I’d be able to talk the talk. With a grand total of 5 days, this trip to the French capital was quite a long one, yet still not quite long enough. We rented a cute apartment near Gare de Lyon, the owner of which was definitely a stereotypical bohemian creative type, (no objections here though!) She had home made art all over her walls, lots of strange collections, including a bunch of very freaky marionette puppets… and some serious film and philosophy books. Just as a bonus there was also a friendly cat in the shared courtyard that would always follow us into the apartment in an attempt to get his belly scratched.

There is always so much to see in Paris, especially if you’re doing the tourist-y things all in one go, like we did. I’ve seen all the big sites before but I was happy to be pretty laid back and just go along with whatever my fellow non-European travellers wanted to see. So on our touristy tick list was: les Catacombes, le jardin des Tuileries, la Tour Eiffel, Montmartre, la Basilique du Sacré Coeur, le Panthéon, le Musée du Louvre, le Musée d’Orsay, l’Orangerie, l’Arc de triomphe and le Cathédrale Notre Dame. We had beautifully sunny weather for about 90% of our stay, but being the weirdo that I am, I couldn’t help but dream about sitting in the jardin des Tuileries in the pouring rain under a huge umbrella. (Perfection.)

Even though I’ve lived in France since September, so in theory I should have some level of restraint, I managed to truly outdo myself on the Parisian patisseries. Even the basics: croissants, pain au chocolats and baguettes. All day. Every day. Macaroons made an appearance but I don’t get the big deal so one was enough. It’s safe to say that Grenoble and Paris are completely different. The pace of life in Paris was thankfully much quicker, but not on the hectic/aggressive levels of somewhere like London. Plus, people don’t stare at you half so much in Paris because diversity actually exists there…whereas in Grenoble I feel like a performing circus act, which REALLY helps with my paranoia.

I have to admit that in the Louvre I was a naughty art student and blew off trudging through hundreds of years of art history after about an hour to go check out Napoleon III’s apartments. Has anyone else ever been? I thought it was as close as I was going to get to exploring anything remotely like Versailles, considering we didn’t have enough time to go there. Napoleon III’s apartments were pretty unbelievable to be honest, the combined extravagance and attention to detail kept me gawping for a fair while, and all the burgundy/deep red upholstery had me making a (super realistic) mental wish list.

This little vacation made me realize that I’m becoming more…girly in my ‘old age’, because one of my favourite places to see was the flower market near Notre Dame. It wasn’t very big but made a nice contrast to all the indoor Parisian sites. If I was a big souvenir buyer then I think I would’ve gone a little bit crazy on the delicious floral soaps and colourful mini buckets. A second favourite was simply a street! The cobbled Rue de Seine is littered with lots of little independent galleries and cafes, and you’re never too far from the stereotypical Parisian accordion player. And last but not least, the jardin des Tuileries. I stole some time away from my friends after visiting the Orangerie and Monet’s beautiful water lilies, just to chill in the shade of the trees overlooking one of the jardin’s fountains. I was sat on a green, metal deck chair, Amorino ice cream in hand, kindle on my lap to read some Game of Thrones, just listening to the world pass me by, (but acutely aware of the very attractive French guy sat on his own 5 metres from me.) Hopefully there’ll be plenty more rose tinted hours like that one once I move there…*fingers crossed.

My next trip to Paris will definitely be a bit more off the beaten track, so if you have any recommendations I’d love to hear them :)

THEY SEE ME ROLLIN’, THEY HATIN’.

Made my way to a party last night on the back of a bicycle to save…oh let’s say 3 hours of walking there on crutches, but I nearly fell off a few times, so a new form of transport was clearly needed. Piggy backs were the next best option until we found this wheely desk chair outside my friends’ apartment. So, anyone want a game of crutch jousting?

SECRET 7″ 2013

So I think it is well past time that that I reveal that I was recently (well, kind of recently) involved in a charity exhibition and artwork sale for Secret 7″. Never heard of Secret 7″? The concept is that they take seven tracks from seven of the best-known bands and artists, then they make 100 vinyl versions of those tracks. Creatives from around the world then interpret artwork in their own style for of one of the 7 tracks. There is then an exhibition of the selected artworks, and finally a sale of the album sleeves on National Record Store Day. Proceeds from the sale go to the charity Art Against Knives. All in all it seemed like something good to get involved in. I really couldn’t believe it when my design was selected to be 1/100 for Jessie Ware’s track ‘Still Love Me’, but I was (and still am) pretty elated! I was even more shocked on sale day, when I went to go see the artwork exhibition, to find that my sleeve had already been sold after only 1 hour! The exhibition was a huge success, the queue wrapped around the building! And apparently  “500+ Secret 7” sold in 1.5 hours”. I just hope that whoever bought my sleeve was happy to give it a home! :)

If you’re a budding artist, a serial doodler, or just feeling inspired at the time the next Secret 7″ competition goes live, you should definitely get involved. Follow them on Twitter or Facebook so you’ll be one of the first to know when to get going on a design. Here are some photos from the exhibition. Most of which were taken by David Yeo for The Evening Standard, (my own photos were rather empty because I arrived an hour after the exhibition opened!)

BREAKING NEWS

Hello again blogosphere. I’ve been away for a while having some fun across London, Paris, Verona, Venice, Florence, Turin and Cinque Terre. I am well aware that this is a long and delicious traveling list for just 2 weeks off, and although I wanted to start posting some of the 600 (!!!!) photos I took over this time something else has come up…

I HAVE BROKEN MY FOOT.

Some people reading this might be thinking ‘But hey, didn’t you break your wrist recently too?’ The answer would be yes. Yes I did. Turns out I can’t be involved in any sort of sport involving a board without seriously injuring myself. This time it was a skateboard though, not a snowboard. Seriously starting to think that I’m made of glass and need to invest in bubblewrap clothing.

*Warning: mild pity party ahead. Turns out this little crack in my foot is a lot more hassle than my last break (if you ignore the operation.) If you break a lower limb your circulation is affected and your blood can start to thicken, which is bad (duh). To prevent this I have to have anti-coagulant injections every day for at least 3 weeks, and I have to self-adminster these unless my insurance comes through for me and covers the costs of a nurse to come visit me at home (I froze on my first attempt to do this, thinking I’d save myself the hassle of a nurse, and my friend had to inject me instead). Sure, I could go to the hospital for these injections but I’m on crutches, (with a weak left wrist from January’s break and next to no upper body strength after a year not going to the gym), so walking 45 minutes to the tram, taking a first tram for 20 minutes, changing trams,  taking a second tram for 5 minutes, then walking 15 minutes to the doctor’s just seems a bit much for every day, oh and taxis here cost 15-20 euros each journey, (I learnt that the hard way…), so that’s not really an option for getting around. Then again maybe a daily trip to the hospital might kill 2 birds with one stone because I have to go for 2 blood tests a week anyway to check that the anti-coagulants are working. I’m off school at least until the 22nd, after that depends on how my x-ray goes, I’m going to miss out on a lot of the end of erasmus parties/celebrations and probably feel quite isolated being stuck in my room while everyone else is working/having active fun, (not gonna complain about not having any work to do of my own though!) I definitely can’t drink if my mode of transport is crutches, to get into my bed I have to go up very small steep steps, oh and my residence has stairs but no lift. Sigh.*

OK pity party over because breaking your foot is clearly not the end of the world and I have some very nice painkillers.

Yay for non-free healthcare…wait a second.

It immediately made me more positive to think ‘Wait, people deal with injuries like this all the time, some people deal with this sort of thing every day of their life’. It may not sound like it from the paragraph above but I can see the funny side too thankfully. I’m feeling very much like a flamingo, my friends find my hopping hilarious which then makes me laugh too (not a good idea on stairs!), my cast already has some interesting ‘art’ on it and I have to carry all my cooking utensils and dinner ingredients in a little rucksack on my back to hobble my way to the kitchen to cook for myself (I must look very silly). The fact that this has even happened is pretty damn funny (seriously, who breaks SEVEN bones), and all the more ironic considering I wrote ‘Not breaking any other bones ‘ as my penultimate positive experience from my (sort of) snowboard season in my last post.

My cast so far. “VDM’ stands for Vie de merde (Sh*t life), it’s basically the French FML but is also a website where people post ridiculous situations they find themselves in.

Writing explanatory emails to my tutors and friends has me laughing aloud, no-one believes me at first. My Leeds tutor replied ‘Would this be snowboard/ski-related? Maybe you need to take up a slightly less dangerous hobby!’ He knows me so well. There has been a suggestion that I should write a book called “How to break yourself” but I don’t think it would sell very well for some reason… and another friend made this very valid point, ‘You risked your life everyday in England with your poor ability to cross roads without injury and now look at you! I think France is far too dangerous for you.’ Well I’m not crossing roads any easier now, for sure. So, with all this time on my hands I better get editing my travel photos!

P.S. I am welcoming funny cat pictures, gifs & videos on my twitter to aid my hopefully speedy recovery.

STANDING SIDEWAYS & EXTREME SITTING DOWN : A SEASON SUMMARY

Prepare yourself. Winter is…going away. That’s right, the sun has decided he’s here to stay and so ski season is over :( but hey, it’s been AWE-SOME so I can’t moan too much .

Sure there were a few low points… 05:30 starts . Breaking my wrist . Freestyle lessons on the big park (cue a big Draffin freak out) . Drag lifts – I CANNOT STAY ON THEM THEY ARE IMPOSSIBLE . Flat slopes . Goggles burn . Completely underestimating my speed before entering ski lift turnstiles and becoming impossibly tangled and upside down on more than one occasion .

But the good things outweighed the bad by far… Chamrousse . Freestyle lessons on the smaller park (cue smaller Draffin freak outs) . Snowboarding with Harriet, Katie, Sara, Basak, Caro, Eva, Tereza, Livia, Beatriz, Meghane & Jamil . Bluebird Days . Cold beers after a day on the slopes . Having an instructor with a combined French – Essex accent, hilarious stuff . Sept Laux . Midday catnaps on the sun loungers . Landing the tiniest jumps ever (little victories people, little victories!) . Learning how to not die on a half pipe & boxes . Powder Days . Frozen Mars Bars . Delicious hot chocolates & crepes & mulled wine . Deux Alpes . Not breaking any other bones . GENERAL SNOWBOARD LIFE .

 

Only 8 months until next season…

SLOGAN T-SHIRTS. YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG.

You know how some English people will wear anything with a French slogan on it just because it looks mysterious and cool to those who don’t understand the language? Turns out the French do the same thing. Just thought I’d share some of the stranger slogan t-shirts from my little wander around the shopping centre this weekend.

A phrase used to express that you don’t care which film you see at the cinema or what you have for dinner.

Yellow may be ‘the new swag.’ But it’s not swag enough to be the colour of this t-shirt, which is green…

And finally, in an otherwise quite nice underwear and pajama shop – the words SAD and BAD on a pair of knickers. I think this is the very opposite of having ‘lucky pants’.

VIDEO ART & RIBENA

We’ve spent a good while looking at video, sound and text art these past two weeks in yet another Workshop. Mostly this meant sitting in a darkened room listening to things. (Yes it’s going to stay that vague.) The room being blacked out really helped us all to dig a little deeper with works that, were they in a gallery setting, perhaps we wouldn’t normally pay so much attention to. The ‘Cinepoémes’ by Pierre Alferi were my favourite discovery of the workshop. This one is called Elvin Jones.

Although not even mildly motivational in textual content there’s no doubt that the music in this video is awesome. ‘IT GETS THE PEOPLE GOING.’

And here was my own little venture into the film world.

As a sculptress I really am out of my depth when I have to film stuff or go within 10 feet of Final Cut Pro, (so be gentle…or else), but I consider this attempt a little victory! Simply because for the first time ever, I made some video ‘art’ that doesn’t look like the film from The Ring. Score.

Unfortunately I’m pretty sure I’m breaking some/many/all copyright laws because the music is 16:39 by Brian Eno from the album Music for Airports, (is admitting this the first step to recovery….?) but hey, we’ll call it ‘paying homage’ until I manage to make something similar on a Tenori-On-esque app when I’m back in the UK.

FUN FACT I used to fall asleep to this track when I was younger but I would always say to my parents ‘PUT RIBENA ON’ because however many times I was told it was by “BRI-AN. E-NO” I clearly just thought Ribena had a better ring to it.

BOARD MEETINGS

This wishlist comes at the wrong side of the ski season because it’s nearly over but I thought I’d do some snowboard related posts in the lead up to my inevitable withdrawal symptoms after next weekend’s grand finale, (orienteering treasure hunt around Deux Alpes anyone?) Also, for all my ‘standing sideways’ I haven’t really shown much evidence of it on this blog yet.

1. FORUM SAUCE // 2. FORUM SPINSTER // 3. DUPRAZ D1 5’2″ STD PRESTIGE // 4. YES BASIC // 5. BATALEON FEELBETTER 11/12 // 6. BURTON FEATHER

I took my sweet time choosing my board in November because there are a ridiculous amount of technical aspects to consider e.g. type of rocker (shape of the board), what the board is best for – park, powder, all mountain etc. I wanted to find the perfect beginner – intermediate board to help me improve quickly so I eventually went for a Burton Feather Wide, which is number 6 in the photo but mine has a turquoise to purple fade instead of yellow to orange. (I wanted the yellow one okay?!) I admit that my lust list might be a little unrealistic because when I was mentally making it back in November some of these boards were out of my ability range, but to be perfectly honest they’re all mainly in this post because I think they just look so damn awesome. I entirely understand the emphasis on buying a board for how it rides over how it looks but let’s face it I was never going to spend hundreds of pounds on something that makes me want to gauge my eyes out. As an art student a little piece of me dies inside when I see the prices on some really ugly snowboards.

Also this week I found Boarding For Breast Cancer through twitter. They sound like a really great cause, providing education about and supporting young women and those affected by breast cancer, encouraging active, healthy lifestyle changes, and ultimately celebrating life both on and off a board. Gutted I only found them with only one more day of boarding to go, but I’m definitely going to get involved in some fundraising for them next year! So fellow snowboarders, what have you been riding this season?

LE SHOP

“Based on a timeline of your choice that starts after 1974, use another student’s methodology for working to create an artwork.”

This was the brief for my most recent workshop. So what’s the big deal with 1974 I hear you ask? Well, I’ll tell you…

BAGPUSS! 

All 13 episodes of the kid’s TV show ‘Bagpuss’ ran for the first time in 1974 and that, combined with the fact that Bagpuss is a pink and white scraggly cat, meant that it would be the perfect subject for my timeline. Plus, you don’t go against what Google has said after you ask it ‘what happened in 1974‘. That would just be ungrateful. As for the methodology exchange, I was paired with a guy called Mathieu. This is the way he normally works:

1. Go on an aimless walk. Take notes for ideas.
2. Research things that relate to notes e.g artists.
3. Brainstorm art projects.

I’m more of a “LET THE LIGHTNING BOLT OF INSPIRATION STRIKE!” kinda gal with my work, so this all sounded very…meh. However I gave it a go, and to cut a long story short I made a shop that doesn’t sell anything. Because duh, Bagpuss lives in a shop that doesn’t sell anything?

In the TV show, the shop’s owner, Emily, collects broken objects that she finds, and then Bagpuss magically fixes them. The repaired items can then be collected for free by their original owners. With this in mind I did brainstorm selling ‘invisible’ objects, broken things or broken things that I have ‘fixed’ in more of a performance/happening piece, but performance art is definitely not my forté. There’s no way I could pull it off with a straight face! So maybe one day in the future this piece might become a little more refined when I find a few willing performance volunteers. Those volunteers will be rewarded with any invisible objects from the shop that they choose.