Oakland Museum of California

Every first Sunday of the month, the Oakland Museum of California opens for free perusing. I have gone a few months in a row. One of my favorite artists in the permanent gallery is John Ehn, who created statues of his family and friends in Woodland Hills, CA, after a career as a wildlife trapper in Michigan. The museum also shows a memory jar and memory board he created, which look like junk collages but in a most beautiful and grotesque way. The photo below is his work. 

The two following photos I don't remember who painted but am certain they are 20th century, and the final photo: well, that was me in 2011 in one car with too many things trekking through the great unknown of west Texas and beyond. 

the same as... 

Shimmery Shit

These sparkly treasures came from the very best Goodwill store, in Fruitvale, back in June. 

For Jeff's firey birthday we all went out to see Sharon Needles and Peaches Christ perform Silence of the Trans at the Castro Theater. It was an evening of heels + hilarity. I wore these pink plastic knockers as Miami Party Girl Realness and the bag was a gift for Jeff, the original Shady Lady aka Anita Cupcake. So you see how this unfolded into monikers and glitter galore.

Jeff is a graphic designer, artist, and farm mystic. His website is here. 

Baked Eggs

Good morning! Or it is in the Bay, anyway. Fridays there is a farmer's market near Chinatown in downtown Oakland where a man sells chicken eggs for $3 a dozen - the best price around for humanely raised birds. And they crack open bright orange and have a pungency to them. A far cry from the drippy pale yellow-white eggs that I grew up on, from the grocery store, from a factory farm, from who knows where. 

Baked Eggs!

2 eggs

5 swiss chard leaves

1/2 C young arugula

1/2 tomato

1/2 C cheese curds

3 cloves garlic

tsp. salt

tsp. cayenne

any flat bread

Turn oven to 275f. 

Start garlic, salt, cayenne in a cast-iron pan with olive oil, then add tomato, arugula, chard. Add a tbsp. of water to keep chard leaves hydrated. Crack eggs over top of greens, careful not to break the yolk. After 5 minutes, using a spatula to hold the greens + eggs, place two pieces of flat bread under, cheese curds on top, and transfer pan to heated oven. Bake for 5-10 minutes, depending on how hard you want your yolks. I like runny yolks so I bake only for about 5 minutes. 

Cold on the horizon

Palms + pines,

kudzu cover. 

Swamp thing in a fire.

It is knitting season already! This maroon (darker than photographed) piece will become a cowl neck after I had a thick stripe of mottled white and another row of purl/knit alternating. 

Housemate and photographer, Ben, took this today at the 5th Ave. Marina teahouse, a special place made of post-commercial waste and raw materials, nailed together around a smoldering concrete slab. This is one of my favorite places in Oakland because it feels like the end of the world. There is a shack on the water shadowing a hut made entirely of turn-of-the-century pianos and piano guts like the one that rests in our foyer. 

You can boil water, drink some tea, and watch the boats sway as the sun goes down. 

Museum of Craft and Folk Art

Did you know last weekend was the Smithsonian free museum day? I went to the Museum of Craft and Folk Art in Yerba Buena Gardens in SF which is a small one-room gallery. The exhibit was of Japanese fiber artists called Textile Pioneers. Gallery fee being only $5 anyway, it may have been a silly choice to take advantage of the free day, but the works were gorgeous, and the museum is actually closing in December permanently. Below are all but a few of the works shown.

The artists's statement said that these flowers were intended to evoke the womb and being birthed.

This quilt reminded me of the 19th century "Crazy Quilt" which was a fad among quilters, who could use last scraps and patches of faded and darned socks and broken hems, etc. to create something memorable. My roommate and I spent one craft night piecing together bits of pajamas and shirts to create our own crazy quilt. It is not completed yet because I intend to sew tons of little appliques. I will post photos once the front is completed. (Adding backing and edging is my least favorite part!)

I read about the Crazy Quilt in a book called How to Make an American Quilt by Whitney Otto. The book was later made into a movie but I haven't seen it.