52 Pick-me-up: Hero

"In our world of big names, curiously, our true heroes tend to be anonymous. In this life of illusion and quasi-illusion, the person of solid virtues who can be admired for something more substantial than his well-knownness often proves to be the unsung hero: the teacher, the nurse, the mother, the honest cop, the hard worker at lonely, underpaid, unglamorous, unpublicized jobs.  

          Daniel J. Boorstin, 1914 - 2004" [source]  

David Bowie's "Heroes" came up on my iPod during my commute last week and the above quote came in my "Quote of the Day" newsletter. Synchronicity! 

Celebrate your hero(es) this week for 52 Pick-me-up.
I have many, don't you?

I decided to feature the wonderful nurses of the infusion clinic at Harbor/ UCLA.
I sketched them on the sly over the course of my chemo treatments in 2010-11.

Gee, I thought I'd sketched more! I guess I took stealth photos, which I won't post.
Here's my last day in the clinic, 6/29/11

with Mariciel? (can't remember her name)

Bowie:

Who is your hero this week? Link and tell!

SpyGirl Visits LA's Exposition Park

The Natural History Museum has a First Friday event that is lots of fun. 

Dez and I went last night to see one of our favorite bands, Kinky. 

They played in the Hall of North American Mammals!

Meanwhile, over in the other Mammal Hall (African?), there were drinks and a DJ.

Our tickets (only $18!) allowed us access to the museum. Since we had arrived super early, we explored and found a great exhibit, "Grandes Maestros" a collection of folk art on loan from the collection of Fomento Cultural Banamex. 

Jaguars in clay by Juana Gomez Ramirez

Pedro Ortega Lozano, Nativity scene alterpiece (detail), Metallic paper, fabric, metallic thread on sheet wood, 2000
The "metallic paper" is candy wrappers!

Jesus Urbano Rojas, Box with Ayacucho customs, 2009
Cut and polychromed wood, figures made of chalk and potato paste

Argh. Didn't get the info on these.

Huipils! I want them all!

Look! A scarf with feathers! Cannot escape the scarves!

Cecelia Bautista Caballero, Cotton and feather woven on backstrap loom, 2011

The "Grandes Maestros" exhibition is up until 9/13/15.

Check my Instagram for other shots, including photos of the Endeavour. We had a blast!

The last First Friday of the 2015 season is June 5th. Tickets ($20) and info here.

Enid in the Scarf Coset, A-Z master list

I combined two creative challenges during April 2015. I composed my posts as journal entries in the voice of my fake persona, Enid, for International Fake Journal Month.  Enid was tasked with organizing scarves. The A-Z theme was for the A-Z Blogging Challenge. The first link below will tell you more about Enid.

Here are links to all the Enid A-Z posts. I've included the additional Sunday posts.

Are You Ready for the Return of Enid?

A is for Anne M Bray Scarf

B is for Bill Blass Scarf

C is for California Souvenir Scarf

D is for Dosa Scarf

Von Dutch Flaming Board Shorts

E is for the Evil Eye Scarf

F is for Fiorucci Dot Scarf

G is for the Ganesha Scarf

H is for Hermès Scarf

I is for an Ikat Scarf

J is for Juicy Couture Scarf

Sunday Non-Funday

K is for Kenya Barbie's Scarf

L is for Laotian Scarf

M is for Mercedes' Scarf

N is for a Nancy Cook Smith Scarf

O is for the Oaxaca Rebozo

P is for Patucci's Knit Scarf

Errrrrrr.

Q is for Mr. Quint's Shibori Scarf

R is for Rosemary Brantley Scarf

S is for Souvenir South Dakota Scarf

T is for Territory Ahead Indian Scarf

U is for an Underwear Fabric Scarf

V is for Vicky Peck's Vintage Scarf

The Tee of Contention

W is for Windowpane Weave Sari Scarf

X is for the X and Os Scarf

Y is for the Yellow Scarf from Patzquaro

Z is for the Zodiac Scarf

IFJM 2015 Wrap Up

I had so much fun this time. The A-Z Challenge gave a good framework for the daily posts. Narrowing it down to A-Z scarves made it simpler, in an odd way.

I really like being Enid. I like her spunk. (Will she become a regular on SpyGirl? Maybe just maybe). The catalog card idea worked well. That part I was able to prep in advance so that all I needed to concentrate on were Enid's thoughts and designs. (I did my journaling and posts in the morning before my 6am pre-commute routine). I now want to make catalog cards for my entire wardrobe. Every garment has a story to tell.

The A-Z thing brought to mind my internship at M. Knoedler Gallery in NYC, when I was a junior in high school. They had just bought a second brownstone next door to their 70th Street location and had moved their library of auction catalogues and artist monographs. One of my duties was alphabetizing it all! (I did not "liberate" any tomes). Enid acted as a portal into my young awkward teenage self.

Using the same character for a second year made the fake journaling process all the easier. I was able to slip into Enid's skin like a comfortable tee.  Keeping to the black ink was frustrating and liberating at the same time. I could focus on the silhouette of my designs and not get distracted by color and pattern. 

I'm already day-dreaming about how to approach next year. And I think Enid won't be side-lined until April 1, 2016. Her antics can be followed using this URL: http://spygirl-amb.blogspot.com/search/label/enid