venting via links!

i'm on spring break, but i've got a lot of work to do (creating albums, editing, catching up on ceramics homework). when i have lots to do, sometimes i decide to procrastinate.

i was in need of inspiration today, and came across a few amazing things. i'm not a huge link poster... mostly because it overwhelms me. blogs with lots of links cause me to just click click click and not pay attention to the actual blog i'm at! you know?

but, today i'd like to divert your attention, in case you need a little exploration and inspiration in your life. in case you're in the mood to click, like i am.

it might help you if you go to CVS and buy lots of candy, so you can pretend you're at the movies, but really, you're at your computer.
i bought gummy bears, twix bars (multiple), sour patch kids, and nerd eggs. my go-to's at all times.


here's my link love for ya!
welcometoloop.com/
(oh my gosh, best stationary.)

rosiethomas.com/
so sweet, love her

jengotch.com/mainpage.html
(obsessed with her site)

orangette.blogspot.com/

domestica.typepad.com/

etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5067599
::: cool hand-bound books and journals

timothyliles.com/
click on every section of his site and benefit, big time.

myspace.com/fleetfoxes
my new favorite listen

flast.es/
an architecture studio that makes me breathless

joelwanek.com/index.php?/teaching/emptiness-project/
>> can we please be like him? i want to hold classes, teaching people about art and life, like he does.

fortheloveoflight.com/purchase.html
>> be like them too. i wish this was still in stock.

simplybreakfast.blogspot.com/
bought some berries from the farmers market the other day, this is inspiring!

mypyramid.gov/
i like health.

happytape.bigcartel.com/
>>>>>>>>>> a tape lovers dream site

heathdoggy.blogspot.com/
my really funny sister

www.youtube.com/watch?v=luRmM1J1sfg
>>> susan boyle, i cried, and am tearing up right now thinking about it.

fun.from.hell.pl/2003-11-24/bubblewrap.swf
have fun!

and the usuals:
bookjournals.com/
shop.littleotsu.com/
jillbliss.com/




add your faves in the comments!
you are loved,
i promise
shann

pencil holder, vase, paperclip holder, planting pot, paperweight....

here's my second ceramics project:::::::
cylinders!

this one has a rad glaze color, except i hate gloss. HATE.
its called lobster, though, which redeems it---

creamy matte and copper matte and yellow matte glaze.

creamy matte with lobster and yellow matte under,
{{{my FAVORITE! i think it looks like a photograph that i'd take.}}}

charcoal matte

copper matte+charcoal
oh my gosh i love matte.

so, these things sit on our kitchen table,
just, sitting there, being pretty.
here's my documentation of the light falling on them:::::::::::::::::::

have fun today!
shannon

breakfast domesticism: cinnamon rolls. yes.

rosanna and i have our friends megan and hollie come over every thursday for breakfast. we've decided to have a progressive bake-off: every week a new person makes CINNAMON ROLLS!

lots of sugar,
my fave.
last week was my turn, and i made my grandpa's recipe.

can i say, i love rolling out dough?
and kneading it?




and eating them?

Cynthia-----senior

Cynthia is graduating from Chapman this year----- she was referred to me by my friend Lindsey and I loved meeting her! This girl knows how to have fun, knows how to rock it in front of the camera, and was seriously a blast to hang out with.




story! these vans are special: cynthia started kindergarten with little blue vans just like these, but was made fun of by a girl who had the pink ones! her friend said she had the BOY SHOES! here she is, sixteen years later, symbolically closing out this part of her education with the same kind of shoes, except this time she doesn't care what anyone thinks. can we say, love it?






cynthia you rocked my world.
keep being fab---
!!!!!!!!!!!!
shannon

happy easter--------------!

Rochelle----------- senior!

Rochelle and I hung out in Huntington Beach and took some anti-beach senior photos. My favorite thing was that she was really into 'little pockets'----- which to us, meant little back alleys with great light! my kind of girl!! woohoo!!!

SO PRETTY!

embrace the wind, i say.

yay Rochelle! we had the best time.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

also,
i'm doing a select number of senior sessions over Spring Break---
i only have 3 slots open, email me if you want one!
--- Tuesday April 14th at 2pm
--- Wednesday April 15th at 2pm
--- Wednesday April 15th at 5pm

details:
• all the sessions will be in Old Town Orange---! (yes.)
• sessions last about an hour
• packages start at $300
• if you sign up for next week you'll get a $50 credit to spend on prints!
• fast turn-around time, since i know you want to send out announcements soon
• EMAIL SHANNON@SHANNONLEITH.COM TO RESERVE A SPOT (quick!)
• fun fun fun fun fun fun!


love!
shan

behind the scenes:::::: setup of day 1

installing day one of the show took the entire weekend. i predicted it would be 'easy' and that we would be done in a day. hello, optimism! nope--- it took three!

i couldn't have done it without the help of my mom, my grandparents, and my friends rosanna, ruthi, becca and marisa!

ruthi and becca started us out with creating a grid on the wall with pushpins and string. it took forever, but made our lives a lot easier.

here's ro, measuring queen

clearly becca was into her work :)

while the grid was being made, my mom and grandma made hundreds of tape rolls to put the photos up with---green tape! my fave!

while all of that was happening, i was organizing the polaroids by color. i had never seen them all out like that before---- it was rad!

next job: putting them on the wall! rosanna would hand me one, i would look at it, choose where i thought it would look best, and then place it.

--me, grandma, ro--figuring out wall #2--

my grandpa's job was to install a shelf, which he did perfectly,

and here i am stepping back and looking
at one of the completed walls, (ahh!)

day one!
shannon

behind the scenes #1----- video interview!

Here's me being vulnerable and showing you a little video interview of Marisa and me for our shows. Marisa's paintings were in the gallery beside mine. The vulnerable part comes in because of course, its weird to see myself on video, I feel like I rambled way too much, I blanked on simple phrases like "cardboard packaging", and I wish I talked more about Madeleine L'Engle than what was going to be in each day! anyway---it will give you a look at what day 1 looked like in person. Marisa's interview is first, and mine starts about halfway through. enjoy :)

Biola Art Gallery from Zach King on Vimeo.


and then here's my part of the article that went with it. I think Colleen did an amazing job:

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Explorations of Art and Life

By Colleen Van Houwe

March 25, 2009

After two years of preparation, Shannon Leith and Marisa Rountree kicked off the first week of this semester’s senior art shows, installing their culminations of hard work, planning and art making.

Both artists demonstrate how two different art forms, photography and painting, can explore beauty and life. While Leith takes Biola through her journey of the exploration of life, Rountree invites us to join her in the exploration of paint, pattern, and design.

Leith’s “Today” show consists of photos from 100 different days and life and practice into the gallery. Her original intentions were to go out on walks and capture the beauty and rarities of life. However, as she engaged in this project, over 75 percent of her photos stayed confined to her apartment.

“It wasn’t this big adventurous thing,” she said. “It’s looking at the things we see every day and the artist being the one to find something new in it … being able to explore it in a different way and discover something completely different about something so familiar.”

She began to explore the meaning of words like habit, rhythm, space, and liturgy and their role in everyday life. This long, detailed process led her to a very simple way of understanding her project. It is the exploration and life of today. She quoted Eva Hesse as her inspiration, who said, “My art and my life are not separate; they’re together.”

Leith described the process as “peeling up little layers of life” and catching a glimpse of what is there. “This process has helped me see things that I might not have noticed before,” she said.

The goal for her work is to be more attuned to what she encounters in daily life and move those who view her art to achieve the same thing. Therefore, different photos will be displayed each day giving the viewers the same experience of “newness” that Leith encountered during the shooting process.

“I want people to walk away with a sense of delight and excitement – doing life, whatever that means for each person,” Leith said.

“Each person’s daily life can be a place for them to find newness, excitement, a place to explore rather than a place that’s mundane and boring. God gave us seven days to live. What’s here for me today? … there is something there.”

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

and to end with, the awkward, stiff photo of me, sitting in a dress on the gallery floor! woo!

day 5! ::::::: one step {polaroid installation}

"I dont mean to criticize, Mother, but there's something wrong with it."
"With what, child?"
"The way Sister Mariana looks out the window at the flowers, and the way she enjoys that orange."
"Well?"
"She enjoys it too much."
Mariana's mouth was full of juicy pulp.
"Aren't we supposed to?

MADELEINE L'ENGLE
Glimpses of Grace

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////

ending with Madeleine L'Engle was special to me, because she's my favorite, especially because we share a birthday. i love Madeleine L'Engle.

in celebration of enjoying life, day five was a polaroid give-away! i taped a few hundred to the wall for people to take and keep. i put them on the back wall of the gallery so it was kind of a surprise, and i found that some people didn't even read the little sign that said "please take one", and were horrified that people would rip one off the wall and walk out of the room. ha! so many available social experiements. love it.

PLEASE TAKE ONE >>> choose your favorite and its yours to keep (only one! please let everyone enjoy)

i went in there a few times and really loved hearing what people liked about the ones they chose. other people's interpretations on blurs of light were so, enlightening.

this one's a Carravagio!

it reminds me of mold

and here's what was left after the harvest,

there are about 20 left, and i want to give one to
you
!


email me (shannon@shannonleith.com) with your address, and i will mail you one! only to the first 20 though, so hurry!

hoping to spice up your mailbox....!
------------- shannon