Emily August

So, I start a new job on Monday at Columbia University. I hope to go back to grad school while working there. I’m taking the day off to take care of some things, get some stuff done that’s been piling, and do some sewing. I’m listening to Band of Horses and Emily Jane White; brewing coffee in a french press; cutting fabric and getting ready to head down to the clothing donation bins. Its a perfect day, really.

Calm normality is nice sometimes.

What will the weekend bring you?

Thanks to JCregister for inviting me as a guest blogger to write about the fashion event last weekend in Jersey City! JCregister is a great resource for events, news, and goings on around Jersey City, and I was honored to contribute! Thanks, Del!

This was my write-up:

Threads: Wearable Art Fashion Show was a fashion show and lecture presented at the Jersey City Museum on Sunday February 24th, 2008 focused on artists and ideas surrounding the use of technology and non-traditional materials in fashion.

The show was followed by a reception inside the lobby of the museum, and an after party held at Bar Majestic on Grove Street.

Artist Steph Tichenor, of Montclair, NJ, used some of my photos in her blog regarding the THREADS wearable art and fashion show this past weekend in Jersey City:

‘undercovers’ being carried on stage.
rosalie modeling ‘undercovers’.
threads finale.
post-finale.

She also linked my post in a wonderful round up of the event via blogs and web sites, here. Thanks, Steph!

Oh, and Rory also linked me on his blog, but that hardly counts if we are in love. Or so I’ve been told.

I got a wonderful surprise in the mail from my friend Kevin of Monotone Records, which included another ten copies of my little 3″ CD-r ep “exploding august”. I am selling these in my ETSY shop, and also to friends in person. Contact me if you’d like a copy and I can send one by mail. Email is best, and I can take PayPal for shipping and cost of the CD-r ($4).

Anyway, its been really great going through the process of having my songs in tangible form, and I think its really inspired me to break out the four-track and record a few more. I’ve so far just been playing around with pedals and microphones. Our apartment is huge, so the background noise levels are out of control. Usually I would record in the bathroom, but our facilities are so ironically tiny you can barely sit on the toilet, let alone move around or drag in recording equipment.

I’ll figure it out soon. Meanwhile, you can hear some of my songs on the exploding august myspace page, or click through to Kevin’s site, which Rory and I helped design, so you had better check it out!

A few years ago, I lived with a dear friend and roommate of mine who had a lovely house on mountain (still does!) that was just perfect for putting on shows and hosting parties. We put on a show to benefit Rock ‘n’ Roll Camp for Girls in a drive they did to have 50 shows in 50 states in order to raise funds for the camp to continue. Basically, the organization runs camps for girls to attend in order to learn self confidence through musical education.

I’ve taken this directly from their site:

Mission
The Girls Rock Camp Alliance is an international coalition of organizations whose shared mission is to empower girls and women using the tools of music education to foster self-esteem and confidence. To this end, the GRCA promotes, strengthens, and expands services provided by its members.

Core values
We value the power of music as a means to create personal and social change;
We value efforts that actively expand opportunities for girls and women;
We value positive approaches to fighting sexism;
We value integrity, honesty and respect;
We value appropriate sharing of resources, cooperation, and collaboration;
We value using our collective voice to further our mission;
We value diversity.

So, super cool, right? I am so excited to see a documentary about the experience of girls in this camp that I decided to sign up and get promotional materials to spread the word! I sent out a mass email to friends asking for their support, and it looks like a bunch of us will be attending the opening weekend on March 7th. Last night while we were out on the town in a local bar, I snuck some flyers and stickers onto a table, and I’ve got my sights set on bringing posters to local coffee shops where you just know some local musicians have got to be spending a lot of their time. The posters are huge! I wonder if anyone will let me even hang them!

Anyway, included in the press kit were a ton of amazing stickers from the organization. I would love to send some out to you if you are interested. Please email me your name and address to my gmail account, which is emilyaugust.

Hooray for Girls Rock Camp and the movie!!

Today, Rory, Allison, and I attended THREADS: Wearable Art Fashion Show at the Jersey City Museum. The event was sponsored by the museum and by gaia studio. In total we had to walk about four blocks to attend this event, as it was right in our amazing neighborhood.

Rory knew a few classmates from NYU’s ITP program who were showing work in the fashion show, but, more importantly, we went to see Despina Papadopoulis, a teacher and designer with whom Rory has been working closely this semester at her studio, Studio 5050. Despina was a key speaker along with the two women who founded BurdaStyle! For those of you who sew, BurdaStyle is a must for you to bookmark: sign up, find inspiration and free, copy-right free patterns and designs, and upload your own creations. The women from Burda Style (Nora Abousteit and Benedikta Von Karaisl) gave a presentation on the Open Source aspect of the site, and the ways in which involving the community of sewers and DIY fashion designers across the Internet is revolutionizing many aspects of communication and sharing amongst fashion designers of every skill level. It made me excited to have some time this week to do some sewing of my own. I loved how they stressed the importance that web sites like flickr and etsy are having on our culture.

Studio 5050’s Despina spoke next about the history of the availability of textiles and fashion and the ways that consumerism has affected and been affected by our need to clothe our own vulnerabilities and communicate information to the world. The work that she does involves exploring new ways to combine wearable fashion with technology in order to play with the dialogue we have between our selves and the spaces we create around our bodies. I’m very excited to say that she invited me down to the studio for a visit this week, so I’m going to check it out one day when Rory’s working there (he’s one of her interns).

Despina and the ladies of BurdaStyle.com taking questions during a Q&A session. I loved the flyer design, which you can see projected up on the screen behind them.

Below I have pictures of the opening piece, “Body Bootie” by Juliana Cope. It was absolutely fun and amazing. These are knitted plastic bags formed into a costume worn by performance artist Glenis Holder. Her movements were whimsical like a puppet bobbing around on the stage. Halfway through the performance, she altered the suit to reveal a very pregnant belly and access for her hands to begin throwing streamers of bright orange plastic around as she twirled. It was really amazing and a great start to the show.

There were tons of other amazing projects at this show, and lovely little giveaways. I am treasuring the little Burda Style buttons I received. Check out the Events Page at Gaia Studio for more information, and for upcoming events.

More photos from this event can be found in my gaia fashion show and lecture flickr set. Contact me directly for use of these photos or to request high-resolution larger photo sizes.

What a lovely honor!

The superbly lovely and talented Tricia Royal, founder of wardrobe_remix, and creator of bits and bobbins has linked my featured ETSY buyer article in her latest “(not so) random links” blog post.

The article is getting tons of comments that open the dialogue for people to be honest about sizing and fit, and I’m so proud of the lovely reception I’ve gotten from both buyers and sellers on ETSY via emails and conversations.

Its great to have friendly support from such a prolific voice in street fashion and DIY culture. Thank you, Tricia!

I am a featured buyer on etsy! Check out my article published today in the Storque Spotlight about buying and selling plus size fashions on ETSY. This was the “secret project” I talked about writing last month, and its something I am proud to have contributed to the ETSY community.

Thanks ETSY!

A weekend where we all stayed in to get things done and catch our sleep in cups of coffee mixed with florida crystals and lactaid, I dreamed a lot of things and decided that what I’m about to do is the right thing.

movie house copy by emilyaugust

After an invite to the movies from a friend today, I discovered something amazing going on this Thursday night at Angelika Theater! I don’t know if I will go, since I have already decided to attend an open house for a graduate school program that I’m interested in. I am torn between exploring something that will affect my future, and enjoying the creative process of something that influences my present mindset very heavily… then again, since only 203 tickets are available, I have a feeling that a casual drop-by after work on the day-of would not warrant me a ticket.

From the Angelika Theater Blog:

Radiolab, the syndicated, top-rated NPR program is premiering its 4th season at the Angelika New York on Thursday, Feb. 21 at 7pm. The free “listening premiere”, held in conjunction with WNYC public radio, is open to the first 203 lucky fans to arrive at the theater – attendees will be treated to some pretty cool guests, including one of The Onion’s hilarious editors, an underground musical act and the chance to meet the Radiolab hosts themselves!

For more info, visit the Radiolab Website. And keep checking back at our blog for exclusive media from a some of the [wacky] participants….

Check out Radio Lab on wnyc.org.

And, by the way, the films we want to see are Persepolis, and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Has anyone seen either of these yet? Also, Little Known Fact: This is the theater where Rory and I had our first date. We saw a very inappropriate film by Vincent Gallo, and sat nervously ignoring each other’s reactions to the graphic content. It was really romantic.

“Tonight (Friday February 8th), from 6 – 7pm, Debbie Stoller, author of the Stitch ‘n Bitch books, and founding editor of BUST magazine, will spend an hour killing time in the studio with Bronwyn C. and a fine group of FMU’s craftiest DJs and Listener-Volunteers. Can YOU learn to knit from a radio show? Well, can you, Punk? Tune in and find out!”

–from wfmu.org, where you can also listen online.

WFMU is fantastic, and located right in my neighborhood! On their web site you can also find arhives of shows, interviews with bands, and lots of weird, amazing thigns to download. Check it out.

Wear your muu muu with pride, girls, and golden tights.

I took this one in in quite a bit. You’ll recognize it from some previous photos taken last weekend. Maybe if I lose ten more pounds (ahem, I HAVE lost a solid ten already) I will take the cardigan off and show you the A-line shape and how cute it looks with a belt cinched at the waist.

I wore this Saturday afternoon to lunch at my favorite vegetarian restaurant (Sentosa, in Brick Town) with my favorite person in the world (Brendan).

Naomi walks with her head cocked to one side. She needs a ramp to get down off the back porch these days.

She likes to “herd” hoards of “babies” (stuffed animals rescued from thrift stores) around the living room, and likes to be chased so she can keep these just out of your reach. We have to go about this process noticeably slower than in prior years, but she still puts in all of her effort. She is thirteen years old or so, regal and demanding in her old age.

Naomi likes to talk to whomever will listen, paws at things to tell us what she wants, and would rather that everyone in the house wake up at the same time every morning (6:00 am will do) and come downstairs to sit around her and lavish her with treats before she naps and wakes up for dinner.

She takes glucosamine for her joints, and this is wrapped in her favorite cheese: slices of Yellow American. She also enjoys full-sized carrots and hard-boiled eggs.

We are in love. I want her to live forever.

I missed my train this morning, and sat at this station for two full hours while unscrupulous men wearing bandanas shared unscrupulous activities, and a gaggle of overly-hyper women with bad hair screeched and hollered about it being somebody’s birthday and “Oh my gawd, New Yawk”. It was freezing in the shade of the station overhang, and I did my best to pass the time between trains by reading a book and avoiding anyone who sauntered over in my direction. Eventually I found a patch of sun on some of the benches on the far front of the platform, and, luckily enough, I also scored an empty three seats to myself and my bright red luggage.