12.31.2007

Looking Ahead to 2008

2007 is ending quietly. Aaron is napping on the couch next to me, Itchie-bon is asleep under the blanket next to him. But I'm awake, organizing my online platforms: blogs, domains, websites. There is much work to be done in 2008, and the development of my printed promotional materials begins soon.

One of the highlights of this latest, vacation-time flurry of work is that www.jessicabeagan.com is now ready, and should be pointing to a beautiful online gallery, courtesy of www.otherpeoplespixels.com. I cannot speak highly enough about this company, their products, and their service. It's been a godsend to find. Now if only the domain name will stop pointing to Blogger and start pointing to OPP, we'll be golden.

It's been long overdue that I get my online presence established. I'm now motivated to make my photography work for me. Related to my goal of exhibiting, selling, and publishing my photographs in 2008, I start a six-week continuing education course at RISD next week. It's called Professional Practices for the Visual Artist, and it focuses on the business of selling one's work. I took a terrific course my Senior year at UMM, called "Real World Writing", which introduced me to a number of the same principles but for the Writing market. I successfully published and exhibited both writing and photography almost 10 years ago, as an undergraduate, thanks to what I learned in that class. Now it's time to start doing it again with all of the much-improved material I've been creating since then.

And now for something closer to home: This post marks the 440th for ICON this year, which is 400% increase over last year, and more than one post per day on average in 2007. I plan to continue this trend, showing you new work and sharing with you my ideas and ramblings throughout the year. ICON is the outlet, the platform, that I always hoped to find, where I can share words and images and ideas as they are ready to find an audience. I love to hear your feedback, and look forward to continuing to hear from readers in the coming year.

2007 saw a number of changes take place, and it's good to look back and take stock of how far things can come in just 12 months. One big difference in the next 12 months will be TRAVEL. I was back and forth domestically so much this year that it sapped my international travel plans for 2007. 2008 will be a different story. I'm also going to be 30 in June, which feels exactly like the milestone that it is. All told, I can't say I've ever looked so forward to a new year as I do this year.

So here at home, we're wrapping up a very relaxing and low-key vacation, rested and ready for a productive and eventful 2008. Time to wake the boys up and start getting ready for the evening's festivities.

Happy New Year!

Best 3 for Street Photography Submission

Amity put these three images together so we could see them as a set. One of my New Year's Resolutions to get my photography exhibited and published widely in 2008. I had success with this 8 or 10 years ago, when I was only just starting out. My work has improved, obviously, since then, and it's time to get it out there.

The submission for the juried exhibition on Street Photography is due January 15. I've begun gather these and other submissions guidelines for a big push in 2008. As always, I'll keep you posted.

12.27.2007

Other People's Pixels

Thank you, Ms. Chrystal!

Tonight she popped up on IM and told me about OPP: www.otherpeoplespixels.com. I am HOOKED! I finally got my website up and running, EXACTLY the way I want it to look. OPP is designed specifically for artists to create online galleries using various templates. I have been avoiding the creation of my own photography website because I couldn't bear the task of trying to figure out how to make it work. OPP has done that for me.

To check out the early draft, click here.

I'm working on getting the domain name www.jessicabeagan.com attached to the site, and there will be a new email address as well. I'll post more once the site is complete.

12.26.2007

FOUR DIRECTIONS: A collection of Polaroid Transfer Lamps

Inspired by a course called "Designing with Light and Paper", I made these Screens in 2002. Two images are from London, two from Iowa. They were shot with slide film. I used a Daylab Jr. Slide Printer and Polaroid 669 film to create Polaroid Transfers. The roughly 3x4 inch images were them glued to wooden frames to make lampshades.

The following collection of Screens is called Four Directions. The first image is Thunderhead (Iowa), which is followed by Flowers (Iowa). The third image is Snail & Tile (London), which is followed by Door (London).

I'm in the process of revisiting these lamps, redesigning them and creating new Polaroid Transfer lamps. In 2008 I plan to produce and market these and other Polaroid Transfer lamps. I'll keep you posted. Any feedback or ideas are welcome.

Thunderhead (Iowa) Detail

The muted saturation of the Thunderhead (Iowa) Screen is echoed in the Flowers (Iowa) Screen, shown next.

Flowers (Iowa) Screen

This transfer resulted in an impressionistic image on the Flowers (Iowa) Screen. The colors are deep, muted, and saturated, suggesting an organic form while retaining a touch of abstraction.

Flowers (Iowa) Detail

A close-up of the muted saturated look of the Flowers (Iowa) Screen.

Snail on Tile (London) Screen

This is a horizontal screen, therefore shorter and wider than the others seen here. This is a snail on a pavement tile in London. The graphic geometric form of the tiles contrasts the round dark snail to the right. This image is sharper than the impressionistic Flowers (Iowa), but still retains some of the painterly characteristics of Thunderhead (Iowa).

London Door Screen

The sharpness of the Polaroid Transfer on this Screen creates a more photo-realistic image.

London Door Detail

Sometimes it's Impressionistic, other times, the Polaroid Transfer process is clear and sharp, as in this close-up view of the London Door Screen

London Door Lamp

A clearer transfer, the detail of the doorway is sharper in this Screen.

12.16.2007

Fishy-bon


2007-12-16 Fishy-bon 019 A, originally uploaded by jessica_beagan.

Aaron won a betta fish at a raffle at the Wickenden Pub last week. We went out the next day and got a fish tank and plants and rocks and little faux Greek columns. The fish is named "Fishy-bon" in honor of A's cat, Itchie-bon.

Fishy came home in a Stoli bottle, so he took right to his new surroundings. I love the ambient light from the fishtank in the corner of the dining room at Aaron's.

From Above


2007-12-16 Fishy-bon 009 A, originally uploaded by jessica_beagan.

Inside the top of the fishtank.

Tropical Color


2007-12-16 Fishy-bon 014 A, originally uploaded by jessica_beagan.

Fishy-bon with live plant and air pump tube.

12.14.2007

Gridlock

I'm not saying I told you so, but Providence was a mess last night. Most of Northern Rhode Island was. Schools got out, businesses got out, but only after the snow got bad and grew much much worse. 60 Providence School buses were still out at 8 pm. Elementary School children, mostly.

The Superintendent of the Providence School system, Donnie Evans, should have just cancelled school. Just because it wasn't snowing in the morning doesn't mean it's not going to change dramatically and quickly during the day. But one should not blame just this Superintendent. It's a system-wide problem. The State is investigating the response to the storm, and how badly the system failed.

But honestly, how can the Providence Journal Bulletin actually print this excuse?:

Had they known how ferocious the initial snowfall was going to be, he said, they would have cancelled school altogether.

“I think in retrospect, if we had known the kind of storm, the pacing of the storm, the kind of gridlock there was going to be on the interstates, we would have cancelled school from the beginning.”

The National Weather Service had predicted a brief but intense storm, lasting several hours, that could have left 4 to 7 inches over the region. Forecasts on Wednesday afternoon had indicated the storm could arrive around 1 p.m., but it moved into the area around 11 a.m.


Click here to read the full story.

We have hour-by-hour weather forecasting technology. Weather.com anyone? I followed this storm closely, to see just how accurate the predictions were. It stopped snowing a bit earlier than I thought it would, but otherwise the impact of the storm in Providence, the way I experienced it, followed the predictions.

And it was the nonchalance with which the community treated this storm that was really distressing to me yesterday, and exactly the scenario I imagined. We don't have the good sense as a culture to just stay home when conditions are going to be bad? At least our early ancestors could argue that they didn't have METEOROLOGY to help them make decisions.

We have more information at our fingers than at any other time in human history, and yet we FAIL to avail ourselves of it.

12.13.2007

Half Snow Day

I got myself out of bed early and rambled down to the Crime Lab for 8:30 am so I could get in a couple hours before the snow started. Mom arrived around 10 am with bread and milk for me. It's a Rhode Island thing, to stock up on bread and milk before a snow storm. I think it embedded itself in the collective unconscious of Rhode Islanders as a pre-snow ritual, buying bread and milk, after the Blizzard of 1978. I was in utero at the time, and I never remember to stock up. Today's reason why I'm grateful for my mother.

She also chased me out of the lab when the first flakes started to fall just before 11 am. So I grabbed some work I can do from home and headed back to Providence. It's been snowing briskly for a couple hours now, and getting stronger. I made it home easily, had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (with bread and milk).

I wish Aaron weren't at work so we could go for a walk in the falling snow.

I'm worried about how he'll get home after work, and hope his day isn't too long. That goes for anyone else NOT home in a snow storm. But they have a day of meetings with an Executive, so no one is taking a snow day today. Likewise, I spoke with the lab director's wife this morning, and she told me she was panicking because her daughters have final exams today, and have to be out for hours in snow that is falling more heavily by the hour.

You know, we slow down so infrequently in our culture. Snow days are like Nature's way of making us slow down. We have 6-10 inches on its way today. Why can't we stock up on some bread and milk, cozy in with our loved ones, and kick it for two days while the snow falls? Will our Gross Domestic Product slip THAT much if we just checked out, collectively, once in a while? Is it worth the stress, the time lost stuck in snowy traffic, risking the dangerous conditions on the roads?

Here's hoping that the Executive will call it a day at a reasonable hour, and that URI will cancel its afternoon exams. I'm grateful to be able to be home. And I already warned the others at the lab that I will be in tomorrow if I can get my car out of the driveway. If not, I brought enough work home. I'll stay productive! Heaven forbid we don't.

12.11.2007

129 Days

I have spent approximately 129 days out of the country, from February 1996 to some time in 2006, maybe? Andrea got it the other day, then my letter arrived too from the class action lawsuit that means we might get money for having made international transactions.

So I had to calculate how many days I've been out of the US in that period of time:
1997 -- 78 days, Ireland
1999 -- 7 days, Italy
2002 -- 7 days, France; 6 days, UK
2003 -- 7 days, Italy
2004 -- 7 days, Venezuela
2005 -- 4 days, Mexico; 7 days, Venezuela
2006 -- 6 days, Dominican Republic

Total - 129 days, or nearly 4 months total, in about 10 years.

I hope it's worth more than the $25 flat rate. Actually, I don't expect to win anything. I just appreciate having catalogued my travels in those terms, and seen how that's quite a chunk of time after all.

12.05.2007

Holiday Greetings Card Time!

I decided I'm going to send Christmas Cards this year. For reals. Actual pieces of paper in envelopes sent via USPS.

In trying to decide what to send, I realized I have photos. And I can print them. And send those along with my holiday greeting. I also have readers, and I'd like to send holiday greetings to all 6 of you. ;)

So, below are the two choices. I WILL SEND A CARD TO WHOMEVER EMAILS ME WITH THEIR NAME AND ADDRESS, AND PREFERENCE ("Wreath" or "Candles"). Doesn't matter if I've never met you, or where in the world you are.

My email address is jbeagan78@hotmail.com

Deadline is December 31st at midnight, Eastern Time.

Happy Holidays!

Christmas Card Candidate #1

From the Gaspee House. It's obviously "Christmas" greetings, due to the wreath. But I like the idea of sending this one to the people who were there. Perhaps that's what I'll do. Some people might even get both ;)

Christmas Card Candidate #2


2005-01-05 Candles, originally uploaded by jessica_beagan.

The other choice, still Catholic, but slightly more interpretive. It's candles, like Hannukkah, but at a Catholic basilica. This one might work.

12.03.2007

Three-Five-Zero-Zero

I ripped this off from Carlita. I so need to spend more time reading her blog. My answers are below -- JB

So, I was reading this blog, GenPink, which Penelope Trunk mentioned on her blog the other day, and she did this iTunes meme. Since I have been having so much fun with my iTunes lately, I decided to do it. Also, it sort of reminded me of that most fun of surrealist activities--writing exquisite poems!

Here are the rules:

1. Put Your itunes/ music player on Shuffle
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER WHAT


Jessica's iTunes:

IF SOMEONE SAYS “IS THIS OKAY” YOU SAY?
All Around -- INXS

HOW WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
Either Side of the Same Town -- Elvis Costello (Yup. I'm a Gemini.)

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
If Not For You -- Bob Dylan

HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
Atomic -- Sleeper (one of my favorite songs, from the Trainspotting soundtrack)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE’S PURPOSE?
Luka (Live on Vrpo, 1989) -- The Lemonheads

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
Dusted -- Belly

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
Track 02 (Joe's Mix) -- MUCHO SALSA!

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR PARENTS?
Distorted Angel -- Elvis Costello (The Costello is always spot on)

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
Baby Can I Hold You -- Tracy Chapman

WHAT IS 2+2?
Walking in London -- Concrete Blonde

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
Monkey -- Bush

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Colma -- Buckethead

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
Elevation -- U2

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
Viva Las Vegas -- Dead Kennedys

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
All I Want Is You -- U2 (I kid you not. And it's true)

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
In God's Country -- U2 (I'm not this big a U2 fan. Costello, yes, but not U2)

WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
Shipbuilding -- Elvis Costello & the Attractions

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
Cheating on You -- Franz Ferdinand

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
Hallelujah -- Jeff Buckley (I do collect Virgin Mary icons, so yeah)

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
I Am Trying To Break Your Heart -- Wilco

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
Personality Goes a Long Way -- John Travolta & Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction)

WHAT SHOULD YOU POST THIS AS?
Three-Five-Zero-Zero -- Soundtrack from the musical "Hair"

Carlita

All it takes is a reminder, like from a comment, that someone is out there. Hi Carlita. I've missed you. And I've said a million times that I need to get in touch with you. But then tonight you reminded me that in our way, we are in touch.

Amity tagged Carlita with some blog-related questions last year, and Carlita linked to it today to answer why she blogs:

Did your blog positively affect your mind? Give an example.
Here’s why I started blogging: When I was In college it was easy to be connected to my friends. I could just walk down the hall to somebody’s room and we would share the details of our day. Now that we are all far away from each other it’s hard to stay in touch. I hate talking on the phone, and when I do talk to people on the phone, it’s hard to know where to start when you haven’t spoken to each other for six months. So I decided that blogging would be my virtual way of walking down the hall and telling people about my day. I wish more of my friends did it, because I really enjoy reading about what everyone is up to.

I'm one of those people who used to walk down the hall to sit and chat with Carlita. How I loved that, and miss it now.

I think of you. I mentioned the two of you just today, in my Art Appreciation class. I do a unit on Pompeii each term, and I always mention your unfortunate spill on those slippery basalt pavers.

But I'm bad about reading blogs, and bad about commenting on them. So I'm going to get better about it.

And I'm going to come and visit soon. Did you hear I'm home again? It's time for me to reclaim the parts of home that are long-lost and far-flung. Including you and CSB. :)

12.02.2007

Photography Site is Now Online!

I finally decided to do something about getting another site online, strictly devoted to my fine art photography.

It's a stop gap. It's a start. But it works for now. Click here to see, or see the link to "Jessica Beagan Photography" in the sidebar to the right. You can also visit www.jessicabeagan.com

Nixon's Resignation, 1974

This my dad (top of stairs) and his best friend, the late Steve Thibault, in August 1974, the day Nixon resigned. They hung the American Flag outside on the fire escape of their apartment in Olneyville to celebrate the day.

A passing news photographer snapped this photo, and it ran in the Providence Journal Bulletin as part of the local reaction to Nixon's resignation.

I love the political timeliness of this image. It's always been a favorite photograph of mine. This is among the reasons why I love my dad :)