A Trip to Nashville to Conclude the Semester

This past weekend, my parents came to visit me all the way from Los Angeles. It was a great trip, and one that turned into an arts & crafts experience in itself! We decided to make a day trip up to Nashville, IN, the historic arts colony located in Brown County. While I was there, I did a lot of reflecting about this past semester and the multiple things we learned that related to the trip I went on.

Everything in this town was unique. There were very few brand name stores, and even those were separate from the rest of the cute, little town. Stores varied from clothing, jewelry, art, food, and even some more unusal sights, such as a store where you could mine for your own gold. Each one of these stores were very personable. At one story that sold trinkets, clothing and shoes, we overheard the cashier talking to an older lady, and it was very noticeable that they had known each other for quite some time just from multiple interactions in the store. It was things like that really stood out to me - having a patron be so appreciative of what an artist does.

A lot of these places also showed artists on the job. The first store my parents and I walked into was a glass-blowing store, and it instantly reminded me of the film Glas that we watched the first week of class. The owner was sitting behind a desk, and creating a piece of art by himself. It was not machined based, but rather artist based. The same goes for a local candy store, in which they made the fudge right in the shop. It was so interesting to watch these artists do what they do, and then watch them interact with their patrons.

This trip definitely seemed like the right way to end my semester in this class. We have been constantly learning about the importance of arts and crafts, and why people do what they do. It goes the same for our By Hand projects - it is all about learning why we do want we want to do. We learn and grow, and in turn create beautiful pieces of work that are either just for display, or are for functional purposes. My trip to Nashville definitely reminded me why it is so important to learn about arts and crafts, and how it affects people on a day-to-day basis.

Relevance to Kingslover

This week, instead of talking about my scrapbook, I decided I would use my blog as an opportunity to relate our current reading to my final paper, which is about gender roles in cooking. In Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, Kingslover does not necessarily talk about gender roles, but a lot of the stuff I am reading can be seen as a way that has influenced cooking in the present, and soon to be in the future.

One thing I find particularly interesting, and something I hope we have the opportunity to discuss in class, is how in most of the chapters, Kingslover ends by having a recipe relevant to what is discussed in that coinciding chapter. For example, in chapter 6, "The Birds and The Bees," she ends with a recipe for Chicken Recuerdos de Tuscon, a chicken dish using free-range chicken and fresh vegetables. I love how she is able to take the topic of the chapter, starting a chicken business, and create a recipe out of it. I find that so exciting about cooking, because it shows you can make a recipe out of anything as long as you are creative about it.

Personally, I really like the book a lot. I find it fascinating to learn about organic and safe farming and gardening. It makes me want to start buying products that are organic and free-range, because they are the safer and healthier alternative. I hope I can find a way to tie this into my final paper, because I feel like there is a lot to be said about this book and its relevance to cooking.

Spring Break

Over spring break, I promised my friend Jenny I would show her how to do scrapbooking. It was a really interesting experience. I enjoyed teaching Jenny something I've been working hard on learning myself. I will email her and see if she can send me any pictures of some of the stuff we made together. Since Jenny and I met in middle school, we focused on our middle school and high school experiences - something I had not really done much of yet.

Currently, we are reading chapters of the book Cheap for class. I do believe there is some sort of correlation between my project and this book. The book talks a lot about making things available at cheaper prices, and I feel like scrapbooking is a way to save money by doing something yourself instead of buying it from someone else.

I'm still working on sketches for pages in my scrapbook. In the next week or so, I hope I can really begin putting everything together, so that by the end of the semester I have a finished piece that is complete.

Making Progress

The sketching out ideas technique has been a good one! Right now, I'm working on some of the pages that will reflect my life at IU, and more specifically in my sorority. It's really fun to kind of see what my brain wants it to look like, and then adjust it to make the page more realistic. It's hard to tell, but this page has four pictures, and the stuff in the middle says "ADPi Homecoming." I used stickers that I got as a present from my sorority, and got the letters that spell homecoming from a scrapbooking kit I purchased to help with my project. 

Something cool that I think I'm going to do is bring my project home over break and try to teach my best friend how to create a scrapbook page. I told her about this project, and she really wanted to see it. It is cool to see that what I am doing is influencing others around me. Even though we don't have to post over break, I am planning on having a post just to show everyone what the results were. Who knows, maybe I'll use whatever Jenny (my friend) makes as inspiration!

The more I scrapbook and work on my project, the more fun I am having. I love just being able to create what I consider art. It may not be the most goregous thing, and would never wind up in an art museum, but it is something useful to me, and shows what kind of person I am.

Sketching Out

This week, I have been sketching layouts for pages in my scrapbook. After jumping the gun and creating a few pages myself, I decided that I needed to try going in a different direction. From reading other student's blogs, I learned that a lot of people have not just started their project, but first made sketches or created in their mind ideas of what they are going to do. I figure this will be my best bet, because I will be able to decide what I want to do before it actually gets put on paper and is not fixable. I'm not a great artist by any means, but by doing some rough sketches I can really open my mind and be creative in how I want my scrapbook to look. Like mentioned before, that's why I really like doing this as my project. I don't like to do things by the book, hence why I am not using an instruction book or taking a class. As silly as that may seem, I want to learn for myself. I want to explore and create what feels right to me. I think that adds to the meaning of creating a piece of art, or craft.

I don't necessarily think this relates to one particular reading done in class, but it definitely goes with the bigger themes and ideas we have discussed in class. For instance, scrapbooking can be seen as a way of empowerment, a way of remembering the past, or also be part of the debate of art vs. craft. It is so interesting to think about my project in terms of al the topics we have discussed while studying for the midterm quiz. As I continue to study, I hope to make more connections to our readings and lectures that I can mention in the blog.

Update on Project

This week, I have been busy working on my scrapbook. Last week, I went out and bought a variety of different papers, stickers, and other design tools. I have decided that I'm going to create different sections of my scrapbook, and divide them into categories. For instance, I'm going to have a section dedicated to my family, one dedicated to my friends from home, one dedicated to my summer camp, and one to my sorority. They won't just include pictures, but also other sorts of memorabilia, such as ticket stubs, flyers, or small things like that.


Something I find so interesting about scrapbooks is how many different ways they can be done. There is not one conventional, ideal way of making a scrapbook. They are all about being unique and showing off individuality. That is something I really like about scrapbooking. I do not like doing things the conventional way - instead, I like to do my own thing in order to show what kind of person I really am. My goal is that at the end of the semester, I will have a finished product 

My First Page!

I finally got around to going out and buying supplies to begin my scrapbook! I don't have a lot of pictures currently, but I do have a lot printed of my sorority, so my first page is from a prior bid day. Here's a picture - apologies to the not so great quality, I will get around to using my camera to take pictures, but for now I have my webcam.

It's very simple, but this week I wanted to work on the basic concept. I have a few stickers/quotes, along with 2 pictures. I want to work on making it more detailed-oriented, with more intricate designs and what not. I'm still working on finding some sort of guidance with that - but the website I mentioned in my previous blog is very helpful!

Next week, I hope to make something more fun and exciting, and hopefully just more than one page. I will be making a few more pages dedicated to my sorority first, I think, and then focus more on things from home, like my friends and family.