OH YEAAAAHHH. Ok probably everyone else talented has at least 50 more than me, but who cares. I hit 100 today! Thanks everyone!

To continue voting, click “collect me” here: http://lornastell.artistswanted.org/atts2012

I am tooooo tired for life today, guys. So emotionally drained from figuring out logistics with my new apartment, confrontations with parents, working at a challenging job, interviews for more jobs, shooting at events…not to mention I am SO sore from being a second shooter at my first wedding where the venue didn’t even feed us until about 10 pm. That’s a whole other dramatic story.

God forbid I actually want to do laundry or clean my kitchen counters or have Me time or catch up with friends I haven’t seen in months…such is the life of a young busy person I guess.

But in other news today is going to be GOOD and PRODUCTIVE and RESTFUL all at the same time! And I see Radiohead fo’ free tomorrow! And dammit, it feels good to be tired from being busy rather than from not sleeping well or being sick or having crippling anxiety. It feels good to be doing.

Hm.

Probably not going to be shooting (at least not for money) for a while. I really need a flash to be able to shoot at events, and I can’t even afford the security deposit to rent, and don’t have a credit card to pay it with. And I haven’t upgraded my equipment since I bought it as an amateur in 2008.

There are workarounds, but…It remains that I am soooo poor.

I would like the world to know that SMFA’s graduation ceremony (my graduation ceremony) began with students entering to some guy drumming the crap out of a drumset, and the melody of All Of The Lights playing. Thassraaaight.

explorans:

In his second year of neuroscience grad school, Greg Dunn was moonlighting with a different kind of experiment: blowing ink across pieces of paper. The neuron-like pattern it formed was instantly recognizable to him as a neuroscientist. “Ink spreads because it wants to go in the direction of less resistance, and that’s probably also the case of when branches grow or neurons grow,” he says. “The reason the technique works really well is because it’s directly related to how neurons are actually behaving.”

Dunn calls this the “fractal solution to the universe,” which he sees as the “fundamental beauty of nature.” He’s fascinated that this branching pattern holds true across orders of magnitude, whether that’s nanometers for neurons, centimeters for ink, or meters for a tree branch.

Since graduating with his PhD last fall, Dunn has continued to spend his days with neurons—big, golden ones ten thousand times the size of neurons in your brain. The former University of Pennsylvania grad student now creates paintings of neurons for a living.

(Source: modernate, via playtheserpent)

Realization…

…of the past couple days:

I get really genuinely excited about my future and all its infinite possibilities (which is kind of occurring for the first time ever in my life) when I DON’T compare myself to every fricking human being around me. So, to everyone who is on their merry way to Made It Town: Keep it to yourself or else. I love you, but…shove it. (I haven’t figured out how to be happy for other people yet because I’m too afraid for myself and this is a problem.)

Also, this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oO3jYSm1kRI&feature=related

Also: I saw him first.

triplitex:

alejandroooooo:

iveabandonedmyboooooy:

gemeaux:

queercakes:

chic-chibi-chica:

wethinktherefore:

didyoudance:

homemadedarkmark | devonwood:

MY ANACONDA DON’T WANT NONE if you say no, because I respect your boundaries.

‘CAUSE I’M LONG, AND STRONG
AND I’M DOWN TO GET THE FRICTION ON as long as it’s okay with you. otherwise I’m good with a movie and some tea.

SO LADIES, LADIES, IF YOU WANNA ROLL IN MY MERCEDES please let me know ahead of time so that I can plan accordingly

BABY GOT self-respect

OOH BABY I WANNA GET WIT YA, AND TAKE YO PICTURE because you really have lovely eyes

EVEN WHITE BOYS GOT TO SHOUT I love spending time with you.

I’M TIRED OF MAGAZINES SAYIN FLAT BUTTS ARE THE THING because I don’t appreciate mainstream media dictating standards of beauty and desire

I WANT A REAL THICK AND JUICY all beef hamburger and would like to invite you to join me for dinner tonight at around 7.

ALL THE MOTHAFUCKING AWARDS ^^

Everything about this wins!

Oh my holy goodness gracious YES.

(via st-vanillabean)

artistswanted:

Altamash Urooj

My work started off as an expression for personal isolation and as it evolved, I turned to use the visual language I created to comment on my human experiences. After three years of working with this project, it has become a reflection,an impression into the current situation of my human condition and it has quickly turned into a vast expression of myself as an artist understanding the intersecting kaleidoscope of our nature as a human being connected to our entire race. My project constantly evolves,as we watch the weather continuously change, each movement, step, sway and turn determines our path into the unknown. What are we but a frenzy of limbs as our emotional and spiritual knowledge twists and stretches into the vast expanse that is our existence.

vintageanchor:

Careful or you’ll end up in my novel.

Careful or you’ll end up in my photographs, or, more revealingly, the concept behind them.

(via thesearepeopleyouknow)

Hi all! The past couple weeks have been crazy, alot of it in good ways. More updates on that later. In other news:

I’m super close to getting the votes needed to have my work shown in Times Square! If you like my work and haven’t voted yet, click “collect me” here:

http://lornastell.artistswanted.org/atts2012

Thanks x a million to those who have helped me out so far! I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it! :D

My #1 imagined comment after my review board: “I think Lorna is in over her head.”

Hah…oops? (I haven’t read any of my written comments yet) I always give the excuse that I don’t have enough time to spend on xyz (such as preparing my thoughts about my work so I can discuss them with a group) but…I literally had no breathing time this semester between classes ending and my board. I felt like alot of time this semester needed to be spent on my own personal growth and tackling the disparities between where I should be/what’s good for me, and where I am currently/during the last 6 months or so. Making art? Yeah, it happens. It will always happen. But with having to share a bedroom, I feel like I need all the time alone I can get. Which means art is coming second. Which means thoughts and articulations about it are also coming second, or third. Which means…I don’t sound intelligent at all when I’m in a room full of creative scholars. Nevertheless though, I’m feeling pretty solid where I am. It’s just uncomfortable being in a room full of people who can talk about art for days, whereas I’ve got about 5 minutes, it feels like. While it’s uncomfortable at the time, I know it doesn’t necessarily make me stupid. I just can’t function the way other artist-scholars do. They can think what they want.

It is for-real crunch time, guys.

Finals are this week and my final review is this tuesday (a.k.a. the FIRST DAY of reviews). I have classes the day before. No breathing time.

Last saturday was my last really big shoot with myself and a model and I’m reeeeaaaally happy with how the photos turned out. I can tell my skills are improving, which means it’s more difficult to edit down (harder to part with images that are basically still good quality, but one tiny thing is off…you gotta edit down somehow), and I get more annoyed with myself when I have a great image, but one thing is off that isn’t easily fixable. It feels like a little bit of truth that was lost. But time is money, and if it takes hours to fix something…no. Anyhow, the images from that shoot should be up before May 20th, when I graduate.

Tonight was my last performance art class, and my last performance piece (photo of remnants above) at SMFA this year. Or ever? I have no idea. I am still very love-hate with performance art. My piece tonight, which I liked pretty well, involved sitting on a pile of ice on the floor and writing text on my skin. I’m feeling pretty nostalgic after leaving class though since it reminded me alot of my old theatre classes, and I’m going to miss the individuals from my class, and our dynamic together, so so much.

Random thing from last week: I had to do a presentation for a class which I was NOT excited about. I was rushed to do it and honestly hadn’t planned it out enough. But basically I had to curate myself into a fake exhibition with other photographers. I felt a little odd with the people I chose because I felt like I was saying “look how talented I am, I could take these artists in a fight ANY day!!” but really it was more that I am obsessed with their work and find them very inspiring. Anyhow, my work was shown to people in my class next to Amy Montali, Bruno Dayan, and Sølve Sundsbø. The point was to have my presentation critiqued, but later a student from the class came up to me (a ballsy middle aged lady, so I tend to trust her convictions on things) and she said my work looked great next to the other fashion photographers, and I looked great next to the models they used. So that felt nice. I thanked her, and admitted to being a little self-conscious of using myself as a model so often, especially since many other people tend to get the impression that people do that because they aren’t good at working with others, or are super narcissistic, or are generally not good photographers. She said something to the effect of “Screw ‘em, they’re just jealous.” A few weeks ago I was also encouraged by a TA to be confident in using myself. So hopefully I’m doing something right?

Also! Another reminder to vote for me (a.k.a. “collect me”) in the Art Takes Times Square competition! I have gotten a bunch of votes so far which is awesome! I am still hoping to climb a little higher in the ranks though. Go here to help a sista out: http://LornaStell.artistswanted.org/atts2012

Cramming so hard for the end of the semester right now…

Relatively elaborate photoshoot scheduled for most of the day tomorrow. I’m much more nervous than I normally am, I’m not sure why exactly. Part of it is probably the fact that we’ll be working against the clock with a big block of ice. No big deal.

Then, editing, writing, printing, and performing ‘till I drop on April 24th!

ravencolours:

It’s blood.  NYC artist, Jordan Eagles, works solely with gallons upon gallons of blood obtained from a slaughterhouse.  By manipulating the blood through heating, burning, aging, mixing with copper, adding foreign materials, and then encasing it in plexiglass and UV resin, Jordan is able to capture an array of organic designs.  His large pieces are uncomfortably beautiful, especially when lit, the blood seems to glow against the clean white walls of a gallery.

via streetanatomy 

(via abgron)

Hi all, here is your friendly reminder to keep voting for my artist page for Art Takes Times Square. The public artist page (the index of everyone who got enough votes to be in the running for prizes, etc) is now available for viewing. “The Grand Prize winner will be chosen amongst the highest collected artists,” which means I still need your help! Thanks for getting me in the running, and keep voting! :)