DIY GRAD SCHOOL

MisEducation

2011-07-28T13:59:00.000-07:00

"Far from the democratic education we claim to have, what we really have in place is a sophisticated colonial model of education designed primarily to train teachers in ways in which the intellectual dimension of teaching is often devalued. The major objective of a colonial education is to further de-skill teachers and students to walk unreflectively through a labyrinth of procedures and techniques. If follows, then, that what we have in place in the United States is not a system that encourages independent thought and critical thinking. On the contrary, our so-called democratic schools are based on an instrumental skills-banking approach that often prevents the development of the kind of thinking that enables one to 'read the world' critically and to understand the reasons and linkages behind facts." - Noam Chomsky

The Future Of College: Forget Lectures And Let The Students Lead

2011-06-28T11:14:00.000-07:00

The most successful higher-ed programs inspire students to become entrepreneurs who tackle real-world problems.
“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and forgotten the gift.” -- Albert Einstein

In human-centered design observing how users modify a tool so that it takes on a different function or better addresses a need can be the basis for innovation. As we strive to design new learning systems, the same idea applies: We can also look at the learners’ dynamic ability to self-organize and adapt institutional learning. Higher education is approaching a tipping point that will necessitate massive change. Tuition is climbing impossibly high, while academic content maintains a static level of relevancy and applicability to the world beyond campus. To redesign this system, we can observe the “end users,” the students, and identify how they use the institution in a way that was not originally intended.

Higher education is nearing a tipping point that will require massive change.

Nearly all emerging patterns for learning involve having students attempt to solve real-world problems. John Dewey, the constructivist, stated that "education is not a preparation for life but is life itself.” So as we enter the second decade of a new millennium, students around the world at all age levels are finally realizing Dewey's philosophy. These young global citizens reveal not only the reality of our interconnected world but also the need for passion and results to drive learning. Knowledge acquisition will no longer be confined to large lecture halls and assigned papers. It will happen through peers and friends as much as through elders, globally and locally, and will result in actions that tackle problems facing the global economy and our planet.

The Global Engagement Summit at Northwestern University is a student-led organization that exemplifies what college students can do when they wish to explore beyond the institution’s offerings. Nearly 90 Northwestern undergraduates plan and execute a series of yearlong events (such as the Open Shutter photography exhibits, which contributed the images you see here) that foster discussion and critical thinking around global issues, social change, and entrepreneurship. Their efforts culminate in the conceptualization, organization, and execution of the annual spring summit that works to develop the projects of college-aged social entrepreneurs from around the world. Projects cover microfinance, environmental conservation, health care, refugee resettlement, and education and range from the idea stage to full-fledged NGOs. Throughout its six years, the summit has represented more than 40 countries, 80 colleges and universities, and 50 nonprofits and raised over $130,000 toward the delegates’ projects.

One of the most popular classes offered at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business has students juggling tests and customers at the same time. Steve Kaplan, one of the professors running the course readily admits, “I don’t really teach anything.” Instead, he pushes students to “figure stuff out on their own,” and they do more than that. The course has nurtured more than 65 companies in the 15 years it has been offered and raised about $150 million in venture capital -- a third of that in the past year alone.

Facebook backer Peter Thiel offers $100,000 fellowships to teenagers who skip college and start a business, proving that innovative entrepreneurial initiatives can happen outside of and without the institution. Twenty-four former students under 20 will tackle issues involving biotechnology, career development, economics and finance, education, energy, information technology, mobility, robotics, and space.

These three initiatives illustrate what the education scientist Sugata Mitra hypothesizes as the rise of self-organized learning. The technological power of the "cloud" as an aggregator of global knowledge and social network capital combines with the natural tendency to learn through sharing and playing to create a multidimensional, interconnected network that solves complex problems. Simply put: Purpose and play drive learning.

These students help us discern what is valuable about higher-ed learning and what needs to be shed to save it from complete ossification. The insular nature of academia could lead to its demise, but these students also see tremendous value in its ability to incubate. Universities become testing grounds where students can find mentors, receive funding, and iterate initiatives with real-world consequences. The design community can debate where innovation comes from, but we can no longer look to authoritarian, top-down dictation to drive societal change. If the blossoming of this pattern doesn’t point to a new trend in education, then it at least represents what these higher-ed institutions must become.

source:

DIY ZINE: Goodbye Turtle

2011-05-05T08:12:00.000-07:00

Verrry slowwwlyyyy like a turtle, I've been aiming to be slow and steady with my 2011 goal for creating short story comics (at least 10 pages a month, one zine every 3 months, over 100 pages worth of short story comics by end of the year).

My latest zine "Goodbye Turtle" is available for purchase on Sparkplug Comics! Online version coming soon.

I also made a new gurl comic book artist friend who lives in Portland! Her name is Virginia Paine and her blog is here. She's a great artist ally for creative support and keeping each other in check with our respective comic goals. Check her shit out!

(Read it! This is the cover of her zine "The Warehouse On Poplar Street", also available for purchase on Sparkplug Comics.)

eyeball burp presents ZINE FIEND

2011-04-04T23:01:00.000-07:00

New drawings from the A+ series by Jenny Yoo

2011-03-15T17:18:00.000-07:00

These are new drawings from my A+ series!

I use the AnDrawing program on the Android smart phone system.

the undeniables is just one forum in this endless vast world of spaces to write, create, and freely learn

2011-03-13T21:45:00.000-07:00

www.theundeniables.org

Wood Works by Alex Chiu

2011-03-06T17:51:00.000-08:00

COMIC PRACTICE: Nonsensical One-Page Comics

2011-02-27T11:04:00.001-08:00

To compliment that side hustle of yours

2011-02-22T23:13:00.000-08:00

CALL FOR WRITERS:

Working World Needs You!

We are looking for writers who can cover practical topics in a way that is lively and conversational. Everything in Working World should be about, well, the working world. All articles must be job/career focused.

Basic Overview: Working World is a free magazine distributed to newsracks throughout the business districts of Los Angeles. It combines career-related editorial with career training and job opportunities. We publish every 3 weeks, along with a Career Training special edition in August and January, and two popular Job Fairs each year.

Please check our website to see what we're about: www.WorkingWorld.com

We are looking for FEATURE or ASSIGNMENT WRITERS to cover issues relating to careers, the workplace or the job search process. Either send me a query of topics you would like to cover or be open to an assignment from our editorial staff.

Our Editorial Style
Be vibrant and punchy. Break down long articles into sections we can mark with catchy subheads. Infuse some creativity and personality by exploring an angle that’s not basic. Make sure it feels like we’re having a conversation with our reader and that the content is inspiring and motivational. We are “rah rah worker.”

We also want to ramp up our focus on Los Angeles. We are special because we serve the LA area only; we’re locals. Because we are part of the community of Los Angeles rather than a large faceless megacorp headquartered somewhere else, we have an insider’s edge on the local work scene. Please bring L.A. references into your writing as often as it is relevant to do so.

Please contact Catherine@WorkingWorld.com for further information about these writing opportunities.

Keenan Keller vs. DIY Grad School

2011-02-12T22:59:00.000-08:00

Keenan Keller, publisher of Drippy Bone Books
DIY Grad School guest speaker
February 12th, 2011

Hosted at the Keller Compound
Los Angeles, CA

This is Keenan and his wife Lesley.

Keenan is co-publisher of Drippy Bone Books, publisher of art zines, comic books, art prints, music comps, and other cool stuff.

Lesley is a musician. Former drummer for the band Static Static. New Projects in the works.

Keenan showed us all the publications he had in stock through Drippy Bone Books.

Drippy Bone Books publishes some rad art zines and comics.

Check out the WHORE EYES comps and Keenan's own comic Galactic Breakdown

Keenan even published a special zine Dear Diary,
Just for the DIY Grad School Event.

It rocks. Ask him if he has more. He might sell you one.

Alex Chiu interviewed him for a bit.

Then everyone got to hang out and ask him stuff as well.

Most of the people who went were zine makers and artists. They got a chance to share and trade their own zines and publications.

Keenan showed us a few of his favorite zines and art books from his own personal collection.

very inspiring.

Thanks again Keenan!

and thank you
Drippy Bone Books!

Production 101 workshop with HERU, OICHO, and special guest Mike Gao

2011-02-11T17:30:00.000-08:00

Time: Tuesday, February 22 at 7:00pm - February 23 at 12:00am
Loc: The Downtown Independent 251 s. Main st. Los Angeles, CA

After spending months in Europe teaching people about the wonders of Ableton Live, the Launchpad, and the newly released Ultranova synth, Thavius Beck returns to his LA base to spread the knowledge to his fellow Angeleno's.

On February 22nd starting at 7pm, the Production 101 workshops come back to the Downtown Independent theatre on 2nd and Main st. downtown. During this particular workshop, we will be discussing some of the ...more esoteric aspects of Ableton Live (specifically how to make the most out of multiple Launchpads and using Live's midi routing to get the lights to do cool tricks), as well as debuting Novation's new virtual analog synth, the Ultranova! This synth features touch controls never before seen or implemented in any other synth which allows you to tweak your patches in realtime in ways you just couldn't before. I will demonstrate how I use it with Live and the Launchpad to create music, and demonstrate how to build custom patches using the vst editor (which all of you will see on the big movie screen).

I will also be talking about the newly launched Dubspot online school (http://www.dubspot.com/online-school/#ableton-live-producer-certificate-program)! I will be teaching Ableton courses for the school later this year, so I will take a brief moment to tell you about the school, how it works, and what you can expect.

In addition to that, I am very happy to welcome our special guest Mike Gao! For those of you who don't know, Mike Gao is the epitome of a tech geek wrapped in a musicians body (or is it the other way around?)... He's become very well known for his custom iPad apps ranging from live loopers to something called Vocal Beater (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qA2baNXiMMY) which allows you to beat box into your iPhone and convert that into a midi file which you can then use in Ableton or any other DAW! This dude is a genius, and is the exact kind of person that this workshop is meant to showcase, so I am extremely pleased that he's not only going to show you some of his custom apps, but actually do a performance for you guys with his personal inventions! Should be incredible stuff!!

And who knows? Maybe I'll sneak in a quick Ultranova performance as well...

As always, we have our resident dj HERU, visuals by the one and only OICHO, and various production knowledge from yours truly, Thavius Beck.

The workshops are still absolutely FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC (all ages)

How's Everyone Doing With Their 2011 DIY GOALS?!

2011-02-11T10:40:00.001-08:00

My YAY progress:
- 8-page story "My Sleeping Self" will be inked, scanned, printed finished by TOMORROW. HALLELUJAH. Mini-release will take place at Keenan's zine workshop in Eagle Rock.
- Next working on 10-12 page story "Digital Ghost"
- My intent is to have 30-pages worth of short stories (3 stories) compiled into a zine by END OF MARCH to keep track with 10-page finished story a month / 30-page zine every 3 months output. (WANT 100 PAGES OF QUALITY SHORT STORIES BY END OF 2011, 92 MORE PAGES TO GO)

Need to kick more muthafuggin ass on:
- Need to post mini-comics more frequently on sketch blog ---> AT LEAST 3 MINI COMICS A WEEK
- Switch over blogger template to TUMBLR ---> Tumblr is more image-friendly
- PLAY WITH MORE COLOR. Watercolors, colorful Sharpie pens, digital coloring. 24/7 monochrome is starting to make me depressed

How are YOU doing with your 2011 DIY projects and goals?

Free Access to Information

2011-02-09T14:48:00.000-08:00

Should information be unrestricted? How much of the information that we receive censored? Should the public have the right to access what is deemed as restricted "eyes only" information?

Jullian Assange and other information hackers founded Wiki Leaks in 2006, an non-profit media organization who is currently intent on exposing information and news to the public that would otherwise be suppressed and censored, wishing to "blow the whistle on abusive powers" and stand up to governmental injustices. Inspired by Wikipedia, Wiki Leaks became a world wide platform to mass publize information, which Assange states "Any reform that is large scale must be based upon information." Reporters Jesper Huor and Bosse Lindquis of Swedish SVT investigate the origins and current work of Wiki Leaks and the cost of conveying information to the public. Enjoy!

http://thoughtmaybe.com/video/wikirebels

F*ART Yarn Bombing

2011-02-06T23:18:00.000-08:00

F*ART is an art project in the South Bay of LA that seeks to spread FREE ART.

We present one way to F*ART

We call it

YARN BOMBING

street art meets grandma style sweater knitting for trees and poles.

It's a dangerous process

Using sharp metal hooks

straight STREET homie!

add a crappy piece of art to the bottom as an extra touch.

and this is whacha got when you're taking your dog for a walk.

PEACE!

Yota Space digital art festival in St Petersburg

2011-01-30T14:24:00.000-08:00

Opens the music + visual experience to the public!

Held in a five-storey building in the heart of the city, the digital art exhibition is curated by Russian internet company Yota. It opened last weekend, with a musical event headlined by Hot Chip, and a piece of projection mapping, displayed across Mikhailovsky Castle. A film of the projection is shown below.

Visitors to the exhibition itself are first greeted by Volume, a collaboration between United Visual Artists and 3D from Massive Attack, which features 47 columns of light, each with their own audio output. Elsewhere is the aforementioned Peasouper, an installation by Jason Bruges which emulates London's fog, and Alright Now, a piece of work commissioned specially for the exhibition from Chris Levine, which projects images onto the peripheral vision of visitors.

How to get people excited about purchasing art!

2011-01-30T11:15:00.000-08:00

The Cheaper Show

200 artists. 400 pieces of work. 200 dollars per piece. One night only.

THIS QUOTE IS MY ANTHEM FOR 2011

2011-01-27T11:29:00.001-08:00

"The advice I like to give young artists, or really anybody who’ll listen to me, is not to wait around for inspiration. Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, you are not going to make an awful lot of work. All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself. Things occur to you. If you’re sitting around trying to dream up a great art idea, you can sit there a long time before anything happens. But if you just get to work, something will occur to you and something else will occur to you and somthing else that you reject will push you in another direction. Inspiration is absolutely unnecessary and somehow deceptive. You feel like you need this great idea before you can get down to work, and I find that’s almost never the case."

- By American Painter Chuck Close.

Can You Truly Live Without Money?

2011-01-24T09:51:00.000-08:00

A lot of DIY education is sharing and swapping knowledge with others for free. I really enjoyed reading this article on a middle-aged woman in Germany who has lived without money for 13 years and done transactions through swapping skills, knowledge and expertise with others.

Living without money

Former teacher Heidemarie Schwermer has lived without money in Germany for 13 years. Our writer finds out how she does it

Stefanie Marsh

Twenty-two years ago Heidemarie Schwermer, a middle-aged secondary school teacher just emerging from a difficult marriage, moved with her two children from the village of Lueneburg to the city of Dortmund, in the Ruhr area of Germany, whose homeless population, she immediately noticed, was above average and striking in its intransigent hopelessness.

Her immediate reaction was shock. “This isn’t right, this can’t go on,” she said to herself. After careful reflection she set up what in Germany is called a Tauschring — a sort of swap shop — a place where people can exchange their skills or possessions for other skills and possessions, a money-free zone where a haircut could be rendered in return for car maintenance; a still-functioning but never-used toaster be exchanged for a couple of second-hand cardigans. She called it Gib und Nimm, Give and Take.

It was always Schwermer’s belief that the homeless didn’t need money to re-enter society: instead they should be able to empower themselves by making themselves useful, despite debts, destitution or joblessness. “I’ve always believed that even if you have nothing, you are worth a lot. Everyone has a place in this world.”

But the homeless of Dortmund seemed not to take to Schwermer’s plan, few ever turned up to the Tauschring. Some, they told her angrily to her face, felt that a middle-class woman with some education would never be able to relate to the circumstances of the dispossessed. Instead it was mainly the unemployed and the retired who began, in snowballing numbers, to flock to the Tauschring, their arms full of things that had been lying around their homes unused for years, or skills that they possessed but no longer exercised: retired hairdressers volunteered to cut the hair of out-of-work electricians, who would wire their kitchens in return; retired English teachers gave language lessons in return for the services of a dog-walker. The point was, not a single pfennig changed hands.

Circuit Bending in Highland Park

2011-01-23T11:37:00.000-08:00

What!? bent buddhist prayer box workshop on the heels of chicken boy art sho...

when? sat 01/29/11 3p.m-6pm
where? highland park
who? andy, jeff, mona
how much? $35.00

why? cause im crazy
please email andy ben (omnibeetle01@gmail.com) for further details!

limited enrollment

Keenan Keller of Drippy Bone Books

2011-01-18T23:50:00.000-08:00

Keenan Keller is a local Los Angeles artist and co-publisher of Drippy Bone Books, an independent comix and art zine publishing company.

This is Keenan.

Keenan publishes

Whore Eyes

Galactic Breakdown is Keenan's epic muscle man comic.

Keenan drew this.

Keenan will be a Guest Speaker for DIY Grad School on February 12th from 2-3PM.

(limited space available, please RSVP with Alex Chiu -art.alexchiu@yahoo.com- for location and details)

JODOROWSKY Double Feature

2011-01-09T21:33:00.000-08:00

Alejandro Jodorowsky paints a picture that your mind's eye only dreamt of ever seeing. His imagery is something quite spectacular, and a must-experience. Please see his work if you haven't.

For a taste of his imagery...

Happy 2011! What Are Your DIY New Year's Resolutions?

2011-01-07T14:06:00.000-08:00

Here are some of mine:

- FINISH graphic short story collection. (The novel can wait until I am more comfortable with the short-form.)
- Participate in more comic and zine conventions.
- Meet more zine makers and comic book artists.
- Fulfill my secret (now not secret) dream of being part of an awesome girls-only comic book female artist ass-kicking posse. There, it's off my chest!

Please share me your DIY goals for 2011.

skate witches!

2010-12-29T17:25:00.000-08:00

get your rat and roll out

"Taffy Colored Clouds" Alex Chiu's Art Show and Group Show

2010-12-27T00:35:00.001-08:00

"Taffy Colored Clouds"
Art by Alex Chiu (http://alexdoodles.com/)

Group Show artists include:

Michael C. Hsiung (http://www.michaelchsiung.com/)
Scott Aicher (http://www.planetsixtyseven.com/)
Yumi Sakugawa (http://www.yumisakugawa.com/)
Alex Gardner (http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexkgardner)
Graham Curran (http://www.grahamcurran.com/)
Ian Paul Montelongo (http://www.ianpaulart.com/)
Dan Flynn (http://www.tdfillustration.com/)
Allen Oka (http://delmaroka.blogspot.com/)
Brendan Waegner (http://bwaegner.blogspot.com/)
A'misa Chiu (http://colorishdreams.com/)

Rothick Art Haus

170 S. Harbor Blvd. Anaheim, CA

Reception January 8th, 7-11PM

Live music by Honest Iago and Mr. Technicality

Music Mix by Pablo Aguilar

Monster Road, documentary film of animator Bruce Bickford

2010-12-26T09:19:00.000-08:00

Don't Have A Job? Make One.

2010-12-13T12:03:00.000-08:00

This article on The New York Times got me super-excited. More and more college graduates are turning to the entrepreneurial path instead of hoping to land a position in a secure "real" office job. If you can DIY your education, then why not your job as well? As the edupunk movement shows us, you can:

- Get knowledge from experienced and accomplished individuals in any field without having to pay a tuition fee
- Learn a skill online or face-to-face outside of the classroom
- Make important connections and create new relationships simply by being curious, persistent and seeking them out proactively
- Get a world-class education in the real world on a shoestring budget. After all, the best education happens when you are an active student in the classroom of planet earth.

Start reading below:

No Jobs? Young Graduates Make Their Own

LSD (field) Trip

2010-11-26T18:56:00.000-08:00

Country Club, a Los Angeles private residence and project space, alongside artists Justin Lowe and Jonah Freeman recreates the Buck House as an 1950's LSD safe house, where hallucinogenics were produced and tested on party go-ers in "Bright White Underground."

Sulfur Acid Crumbling Walls

Cacti that "Marasa", a drug modeled after LSD, is formulated from.

From the psudeo-lecture named "Community, Ritual, and Group Psychosis"

Docent, Curator, DIY Grad School Friend Vivian Chen gave us a very detailed tour of the Buck House and all its drug-fuel revelry. The psychedelic imagery and collage-work was all created by Lowe and Freeman, and resounated with the members of DIY Grad School.

Even the blurry pictures make me still drool with inspiration

You, Everyone We Know?

Collage Book Jackets

Mirrors that peeked into other rooms.

When you stuck your head in this box of mirrors,

one could smell the dirt and earth of the Cacti Kitchen.

Reminded us of sweetheart Keenan Keller's Drippy Bone Books aesthetics!!

Bleached Wallpaper

Inspiringggggggggg

Let's get our collage on!

--a'misa

UCLA GRADUATE OPEN STUDIOS, Fall/Winter, Sat. Dec 4

2010-11-19T13:26:00.000-08:00

Graduate Open Studios, Fall/Winter

Saturday, December 4, 2010, 6:00–9:00 pm

Location:

UCLA Art Graduate Studios
8535 Warner Drive
Culver City, CA 90232

Tejpal S. Ajji Alexis Hudgins Meleko Mokgosi Jonathan Apgar Ivan Iannoli Gerardo Monterrubio Sarah Awad Masood Kamandy Ragen Moss Math Bass William Kaminski Jane Parshall Leon Benn Alexander Kantarovsky Marina Pinsky Sarah Cromarty Michael Kelly Max Rain Veronique d'Entremont Ryan Kelly Sean Shim-Boyle Sarah Dougherty Kelly Kleinschrodt Ryan Sluggett Timo Fahler Rebecca Kolsrud Greta Waller Roxy Farhat Hans Kuzmich Christine Wang Brennan Gerard Owen Kydd David Whitaker Laeh Glenn JungHwa Lee Kim Ye Mathiew Greenfield Dashiell Manley David Zuttermeister Jeffrey Hastings
Street parking is available.
For further information, please call (310) 825-0557

Inspirational Pick-Me-Up In Crack-Like Online Art Blog Form

2010-11-18T17:31:00.000-08:00

www.booooooom.com

art * design * music * film * photo * projects blog that showcases a different artist every blog post. I can spend hours clicking around different entries mesmerized by all the so-beautiful-it-hurts paintings, photography and sculptures that are being painstakingly created by hardworking, passionate and dedicated artists living all over the world.

Anytime I am feeling depressed or in need of some quick inspiration, this blog has done me good on multiple occasions.

Some artists who caught my eye:

Satomi Shirai her photographs make me inexplicably happy

Pao Houa Her--the photos instantly give me scenes for a future graphic novel

Paintings by Linda Kim -- I love the intricate brushwork of the branches and the melancholy animal scenes

I am realizing for myself more than ever that it is extremely vital to constantly expose yourself to new images, words and sounds. New things shake up the inertia in your brain and ignite new nerve endings in your brain that you otherwise would have never suspected existed.

for my fellows, comrades, students of life and learning

2010-11-17T23:21:00.000-08:00

i must offer up a thank you to this community

it has been the greatest of struggles, finding our voices in a world

where the air is constantly a heavy hum-rucus,

but you are partners in the struggle

to tell

a new generation

stories of the past, of history.

we are the tellers of history, comrades,

and yet we must be constantly aware that we are also

creating it as well, and the past is nothing/everything,

the decay of memory, nostagia, lessons.

--a'misa

much love to the learners in life.

each one, teach one.

DIY GRAD

Meeting about Monday on DIY Grad School

2010-11-08T20:50:00.000-08:00

What needs to happen.

Collective that teaches each other, in small groups, and meet once a month.

when we meet, it's more working. use monday nights like we usually do and work for 1-2 hours.

Music sessions, monday nights,

once a month - $5 workshops, lecture for the public.. at community center?

July- Ann and Alex decide Portland; look for cheapest rent...studio space

Mold- making research next week.

Ann- makes clothes; threadbanger

Yumi- 80 pg comic, and

For Theo:

- Secret Acres
- keeping things personal/commercial
- getting paid not to do art
- making comics = directing a film? knowing the 360
- Travel yokohama - experimental comic book
- http://www.artbook.com/9780981562209.html
- collaborative comic books
- "walking comic"- draw what you see when you walk, walking past each others characters. characters make conversation and .. collaborating the story and that comic meets each other in the comic in /real"comic" life. different thought bubbles...
- anthology show? alternative narratives. every panel is a different path; maze? those books like "if yes, turn to page 3, if no, turn to page 40". every exit leaves to a different path.

Meanwhile, Jason Shiga, choose your own ending

Random Video Inspiration: I thought this video poem was really cool

2010-11-08T14:36:00.001-08:00

WORDS from Everynone on Vimeo.

My Semester Progress

2010-11-04T21:28:00.001-07:00

My first semester goal for DIY Grad School was to finish a 30-page graphic short story. It is all done and will be printed by next week.

For every semester I want to finish a new 30-page story. Once that gets too easy, I want to be able to finish 100-page stories. Once that gets too easy, I want to be able to finish 200, 300, 400-page stories.

I am currently in the process of making dummy drafts of my second 30-page short story. It is tentatively titled "Coccoon." It is a story of a lifelong friendship from childhood to old age, and how one forgives another for a painful betrayal. Unlike my first 30-page story "An Unfilled Circle," "Coccoon" will be completely dialogue-driven and have no first-person narration. It will also be more detailed and labor-intensive in getting it done. I will have "Coccoon" completely done by the end of 2010.

As a side project, I am illustrating a collection of vignettes written by a writer friend into graphic novel form. Unlike my own stories which blur the lines between reality and fantasy, these vignettes are very much grounded in reality and rely on both narrative and dialogue to tell the story. While it is always exciting to work on your own creative projects, there is also something oddly liberating about working on a comic that is already written out by another person. I am going to need to kick my own ass to get better at drawing interior scenes, crowd scenes, urban scenes and--pretty much all scenes that aren't generic forests with pretty-looking rocks on the ground and patches of grass (the only kind of scene I seem to know how to draw with confidence). Knock on wood, this just may be my first creative collaboration that actually gets somewhere.

--

Who has access to ridiculous amounts of scratch paper (computer paper-sized with at least one side blank)?

DIY Photography

2010-10-29T10:08:00.000-07:00

In the days of Kodachrome and dinosaurs there were some pretty set rules of engagement and paths of entrance into the photography industry. You usually started by going to photography school or you started working in a lab. You had to get your feet wet somewhere and school and photo labs were a good place to get started. Once you were ready to move forward you started assisting working photographers. Many times you would have done this for free. I have assisted and interned for free many times and I have met countless photographers who started by schlepping bags and fetching coffee for nothing or next to nothing in pay. It’s what you did. It’s how you got to see how a “real” photographer worked. It was called… get this… “paying your dues.”

These days those paths aren’t so clearly defined. You can go to school via blogs, workshops, YouTube, and DVD’s. You can upload pictures to flickr and suddenly get a message from an art director wanting you to shoot a job. You can be a kid from Canada, travel the world, shoot some bands and end up shooting campaigns for a company you aren’t even old enough to buy their product. You can be inspired by your own wedding photographer, buy a camera, a fast lens, and rise to the top of your zip code within a year. You can go to Wal Mart, buy a cheap DSLR, shoot your friends and family, shoot their friends and families, put a blog together, and start a business. There are so many easy entry points into the market now. There is an abundance of inexpensive cameras, free learning portals, and free advertising routes that allows just about anyone with a camera to get out there and make a little or a lot of money with it.

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Lighting 101

Styling/ Makeup is just as important as the photo!

Industry uses Ipad to show portfolio, to go over styling, and inspiration board

Everybody talks about social media

Youtube Play: Youtube + Guggenheim

2010-10-25T13:58:00.000-07:00

No other medium is pushing the boundaries of creativity like video. YouTube Play, a collaboration between YouTube and the Guggenheim Museum, wants to recognize and showcase the most remarkable online videos from around the world. To have your work considered simply post it on YouTube and then submit it at http://youtube.com/play. A jury of experts will decide which works will be shown at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York.

check more at youtube.com/play

WHO WANTS TO GO TO NEW YORK ???

Leet

2010-10-25T13:21:00.001-07:00

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leetspeak

Theo Ellsworth in Los Angeles, GR2 Nov. 6

2010-10-22T11:40:00.001-07:00

Theo Ellsworth, one of my personal favorite artists is coming to LA. Please check out his opening reception at GR2 on Nov. 6th. It will be AMAZING!

See more artwork at

http://thoughtcloudfactory.com/

A Little Something About Nothing

2010-10-19T18:01:00.000-07:00

a searching poem

(())))(((()))((()))((())))

Nothing
is going on
inside there
where everyone is whisphering
something about
the nothingness

i wish that i could hear all
the hushed conversations,
or that my hushed conversations
were amplified,
but then where would the privacy be?
and what is privacy in a world
where everyone can hear everyone's business
like in barracks with paper thin walls and
wives and husbands and babies and uncles all
crammed into 4-walls
an abobe shack? for my girls?

today was a funky day
as in a funk
the whole day
i slept a bit, convincing myself that i deserved it
because honestly this whole journey
has been
exhausting
and i just need a bit of sanity to be
sprinkled into my schedule along with
the kale salad and carrot fries that allowed
me to shed unwanted poundage off my
lazy sluggish body

my mind is cluttered with all the coulda and shouldas
and all i can think about is...
now what

i hear (((((anything)))being whisphered by the universe
i try to understand that anything is anything
and the only barrier to my happiness is myself
and my insecurity to claim and know my own skills gifts talents
that voice of reason saying, no,
but the want and will and desire to change the whole fucking world
clouding and muddling over that reason
trying and turning and becoming

now, i think i want to be a high school art teacher.

how does one go about that

--a'misa

Culverden

2010-10-19T16:24:00.001-07:00

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Culverden
Culverden
Coordinates: 42°46′S 172°51′E / 42.767°S 172.85°E / -42.767; 172.85
Area^[1]
- Total	22.8465 km² (8.8 sq mi)
Population (2006)^[2]
- Total	420
- Density	18.4/km² (47.6/sq mi)

Culverden is a small town in the Canterbury region of New Zealand's South Island. The 2006 New Zealand Census of Population and Dwellings had a usually-resident population of 420. This represented an increase of 7% or 27 people from the previous census in 2001.
Culverden is located on State Highway 7 and is roughly an hour north of Christchurch. It was also once an important railway terminus, with the railway line extended from Medbury across the Hurunui River to Culverden on 8 February 1886. It was envisaged that this route would become the Main North Line to Nelson and Blenheim, but a coastal route via Parnassus and Kaikoura was chosen instead. Nonetheless, the branch line to Culverden was extended beyond the town to Waiau in 1919 and it became known as the Waiau Branch. At the line's peak, when it was considered to be part of the Main North Line, multiple trains ran daily between Culverden and Christchurch, including the Culverden Express and a number of slower mixed trains that carried both freight and passengers. However, regular passenger services were replaced by buses on 29 January 1939 and after becoming uneconomic, the railway through Culverden was closed entirely on 15 January 1978. Little now remains of the town's railway except a loading bank at the site of the old station.

Thought it was interesting...

Giant Robot: Group Poop Review

2010-10-15T23:23:00.000-07:00

Group Poop, Alex Chiu's doodles compilation published by Eyeball Burp Press made it on the pages of Giant Robot Magazine!

MARIJUANA: THE NEW PATRON FOR THE ARTS

2010-10-15T11:12:00.000-07:00

In California, Pot Is Now An Art Patron

SANTA ROSA, Calif. — Nonprofit arts groups tend to spend much of their time scrounging for grants and praying for corporate largesse. But one art foundation taking shape on 120 acres in the high oak chaparral of Sonoma County has different kinds of worries these days: spider mites, bud rot and the occasional low-flying surveillance visit from the local Sheriff’s Office.

This is because the foundation, called Life Is Art, recently began to reap a new kind of financing, in the form of tall, happy-looking marijuana plants. Late this month, with some help from the sale of its first small crop, grown under California’s liberal medical marijuana laws, the group plans to present an inaugural exhibition on its land, of sculpture and installation work by more than 20 visiting artists — some of whom will have helped bring in the harvest. The foundation’s hope is that income from succeeding crops will fully support such projects, in perpetuity, creating a kind of Marfa-meets-ganja art retreat north of San Francisco and a new economic engine for art philanthropy.

CONTINUE READING ON THE NEW YORK TIMES

The Johnston Center for Integrative Studies

2010-10-13T17:56:00.000-07:00

When I was reading about the Johnston Center (University of Redlands), I came across this on Wikipedia...

Community

Many Johnston students take pride in living as part of an intentional community. Johnston has two dorms, Bekins Hall and Bekins-Holt Hall (often known as Holt Hall), which are collectively known as the Johnston Complex. Community meetings are held every Tuesday at 4pm. At these meetings, community members (students and faculty) discuss current developments in the social and educational operation of the Johnston Center, and consider proposals for the use of student funds held for collectively agreed-upon projects such as art shows. Smoking cigarettes was once allowed on the balcony of Bekins Hall but was banned following a fire in 2006. The fire was reputably caused by a group of students who had recently developed a philosophical proof that epicurean charities for Children in Darfur and post-re-de-neo-feminism were actually to blame for the JFK assassination (it included a grandfather paradox). Excessively pedantic thinking has since also been banned.

WELLS animated gifs

2010-10-12T15:36:00.001-07:00

testestestsetsetsetsettest 123123123123123123123123123

2010-10-12T14:27:00.000-07:00

Kickstarter.com, I Am A New Fan Of You

2010-10-12T10:19:00.000-07:00

www.kickstarter.com

A website that helps you fund-raise your next creative art project, idea, business, etc. that could change the world. Eyeball Burp, Wells, DIY Grad School, and all other creative groups in the world getting their shizzat together to do good things with their lives and the world, Kickstarter.com could be for you.

wellsian

2010-10-11T23:35:00.000-07:00

WELLS

Poetry

2010-10-11T18:10:00.000-07:00

www.textetc.com

balls over

2010-10-11T17:52:00.000-07:00

Should we all learn computer programming?

2010-10-11T11:29:00.000-07:00

Media commentator Douglas Rushkoff has a new book out called Program or Be Programmed.

Rushkoff argues that people need to learn computer programming because, unless they do, they won’t be able to recognize when they’re being exploited by technology.

Kind of an extreme guy...

I do realize that knowing and understanding computers is really necessary today... because everything ... is ... online ...

via: redu

RE:FORM SCHOOL

2010-10-11T10:50:00.000-07:00

RE:FORM SCHOOL is a high profile group art exhibition, event series and public awareness campaign taking place in New York City, that brings together the creative community in a call for the reform of the American Public Education System.

RE:FORM SCHOOL is a REDU project. REDU stands for rethinking, reforming and rebuilding US education. Powered by people and technology, REDU is a movement designed to expand and encourage the national conversation around education reform by providing information and resources to learn, a community platform to connect, and the tools to act. Get involved at letsredu.com.

We will rethink, rebuild and renew education in America one community at a time.

Together we can achieve extraordinary change, but it’s going to take all of us, working together. No matter what your age or background, your education or interests, your experience or abilities, your community needs you. Here are three powerful to get started:

Urban Arts Partnership

www.urbanarts.org

Urban Arts Partnership advances the intellectual, social and artistic development of underserved public school students through arts-integrated education programs to close the achievement gap.
The organization provides student-centered arts instruction in filmmaking, digital music production, photography, visual arts, theatre, design, dance, and language arts. Presented in schools, at festivals, during community events, online, and in televised features, our students’ final projects are consistently high quality and have garnered competitive, national awards while giving voice to countless stories from across the city.

What they did that we can learn from?

An awesome website and design....

Celebrity Teachers Lupe Fiasco teaches teens to rap Smart! Getting talented Hollywood to teach students to encourage learning. The "Superstar" rapper guided several amped teens through the process of penning lyrics, crafting a hook and laying down the vocals for a track.

Blogging about education reform as much as our project updates.. cough Chris cough

Look at their sponsors!.. and all the artists that are participating and showing up, like performance artist Terence Koh. I think it's important for us allow this idea to be more open to all. Right now it seems kind of exclusive.

Making it "cool" and "hip" to participate in the community - providing art workshops for children, etc.

Hepta!

2010-10-10T23:20:00.000-07:00

gram

gon

Pretty trippy shapes/lines, no?

Telepathik Friend

2010-10-08T18:07:00.000-07:00

Warped and demented. Telepathik Friend aren't coming for you, they're already inside your head. They're here to remind you to seek truth (or is it untruth?). That florescent yarn rules your existence and that, in fact, you hardly exist at all.You may as well put on your headphones and lay yourself out on the floor- you're gonna be there for a while. They are "a time travel tune that uses frequency and fabric for non-reality weaving". This all makes perfect sense after you've had a listen. Telepathik Friend use a slew of instruments, knick-knacks and utilities when performing. They're mysteriously cloaked masters of manipulating bizarre black hole sounds and completely insane live. Childlike and haunting, they're perfectly spaced out and momentous. If White Noise had a party with Os Mutantes and they both overdosed on heroin, they're spirits would join and, in turn, create Telepathik Friend.

Click to Listen

Click to Learn

idea for mfa showcase #2

2010-10-08T13:52:00.000-07:00

A 2 hour dinner party performance in a nonconventional location, fully dressed in formal wear, eating a serious dinner on a seriously decorated dinner table with serious food, seriously discussing our completed second semester project.

Yumi Draws Witty Portraits

2010-10-04T17:50:00.000-07:00

A'misa Chiu

Justin Nakasone

Jenny Yoo

All drawings by Yumi Sakugawa, drawn at the Traveling Eyeball Show at Neighborhood Grinds.

textual scraps and visual remains

2010-10-04T16:35:00.000-07:00

Spacelessness
Vacancy
Void

PAY
PHONES, FRIDGES, &
ABANDONED LOTS

recent movie: enter the void

Vacant Space Audio Project
(((sounds of empty interiors
architecture sans people)))

"The City, capitalized only to emphasize that cities, despite differences due to location, culture and general uniqueness, or the megalopolis are all quite similar due to global post-industrialization, urban and suburban sprawl, and the spacelessness of technology flux."
--a'misa chiu

Walter Benjamin's Figures WIthin the City
-The Archaeologist
-The Critical Allegorist
-The Collector
-The Rag Collector/The Chiffonier: Rag-Gatherer
-The Flaneur

The Metropolis as Text: Otto Wagner

Let's Talk About Attitude:
and I quote Georg Simmel in The Philosopy of Money
on the blase attitude:

"...the craving today for excitement, for extreme impressions, for the greatest speed in their change... the modern preference for 'stimulation' as such in impressions, relations and information... The search for mere stimuli in themselves is the consequence of the increasing blase attitude through which natural excitement increasingly disappears."

This is The Cynic or Blase Person.
There is The Calculating Individual and The Adventurer.
There is also The Stranger and The Poor.

In (de)constructing Chinatown, acting the part of the flaneur, the casual observer is detached yet involved; we see emerging patterns of how people commonly live, and other nuances of space, as we stroll down the streets, remarking at the fast-pace, anynomousity, and rigidity of Los Angeles within the confines of an ethnic enclave.

Medaman-Medaman Performance, Tokyo Japan

19th Century flaneur/dandy

move with the city

MFA Thesis Examples

2010-10-04T16:03:00.000-07:00

Here are some random MFA Thesis Projects and Exhibitions that I googled. I have no affiliation or attachments to these people, universities, exhibitions or projects. These are just random links I came across while googling MFA related sites.

(photo from Nikki Chung's MFA thesis exhibit at RISD)

NYU MFA Thesis Exhibit 2010

Jessie Rauch, Graphic Design MFA

Michael Azgour, Academy of Art, SF

Penn Design MFA thesis exhibit 2009

Kate Brigham, Massachusetts College of Art

Thinking about, Mockumentaries

2010-10-04T12:33:00.000-07:00

Visual manipulation to create a believable story.

I Want To Field Trip This! Long Beach Despot For Creative Reuse

2010-10-04T11:00:00.001-07:00

This place in Long Beach looks really freaking awesome. It's basically a store of recycled creative knickknacks that people can come and buy for their own creative projects, and there's a free exchange corner where you can take something in exchange for leaving some random knickknack of yours there.

I want to go here and get random kooky materials. More than that, I really appreciate the green ethos of transforming trash into treasure, and not always buying new sequins, glitter and fabric from Michaels or elsewhere.

Looks like a great place to get material for costumes, fashion accessories, random home decor, and more. (I heard about this place through this article here)

HOW TO: Start Your Own Creative MFA Program

2010-10-04T10:35:00.000-07:00

(Originally posted on Intent.com)

With sky-rocketing tuition costs and a seemingly never-ending economic recession, it is not surprising that people of all ages and backgrounds are showing greater interest in DIY education, self-education and the edupunk movement.

And with the ubiquity of webcams, podcasts and video chats, it is now easier than ever before for students to learn what they want to learn--for little to no cost. MIT offers free online course materials on their MIT OpenCourseWare website. Other universities also offer past class lectures for free online via streaming vieo, podcasts or PDFs of lecture material--with UC Berkeley, Stanford and Princeton also giving access to all web users academic material that was once limited exclusively to officially enrolled students of that particular school.

Not surprisingly, iTunes has its own popular section called iTunes U, where audiobooks, podcast lectures, language lessons, film and other educational material can be downloaded for little to no cost. Many other similar online hubs of information exist all over the internet.

In addition to connecting people to information, the internet also connects people to the greatest resource of all: other people and other communities.

On Meetup.com, you can search for meet-ups in your neighborhood to connect with like-minded people who are interested in the same hobbies and interests as you, no matter how general or esoteric. Ask a question on Facebook about something you want to learn more about, and someone in your hundreds of contacts will probably be happy to help you connect to the right person and resource. Maybe you met an awesome mentor online who can show you the ropes on writing your novel, launching your business or starting a homeless--and she is more than happy to share some valuable pearls of wisdom on a regular basis even if she is living on the other side of the state, country or the world--via videochat, e-mail or Skype.

DIY education fills in the gaps where formal education sometimes does not do enough in. You are building relationships, you are working with what you have outside of the education bureaucracy, and there is no separation between the classroom and the real world. And it can all be done without paying exorbitant student loans.

The best part? You get to design your own course syllabus and work on the projects that you want to work on. So no more wasting time on b.s. requirements that aren't necessary for your greater educational goal.

A group of my friends decided to start our own DIY Grad School, where seven of us pursue our own individual projects for a 10-week semester and then showcase the results of our studies to the public at the very end. We are musicians, poets, writers, artists, filmmakers, zine-makers and community builders. In addition to helping each other connect to outside resources and provide constructive feedback on our respective projects, we give each other emotional support and much-needed mutual inspiration every single time we meet.

We all truly believe that with enough passion, self-discipline, hard work and persistence, we can support each other to go far in our respective creative fields. And the beauty of this educational model is that anybody can replicate what we--along with many other informal groups, tribes and collectives all over the world--are doing within the comforts of someone's living room, coffee house or library.

So here's to open-source education and self-motivated learning--anytime, anywhere, and with anyone. No matter how old you are or what you are interested in, enrollment to the DIY education movement is always open.

(See original article here)

Chinatown history in Portland, OR

2010-10-04T00:40:00.000-07:00

While visiting the Reading Frenzy book shop in downtown Portland on Friday, I discovered this reader...

It explains the ethnic history of Portland's Chinatown and Nihonmachi (Japantown) areas, a story that, I'm sure, is known by few. It was a very inspiring find.

Lately:

2010-10-03T22:04:00.000-07:00

lately i've been noticing these things:

Sleep said that Tom McCarthy (author of The Remainder) has a new book out, C..

Also check out The International Necronautical Society.

This is their first manifesto.

What does time look like? How do we draw it?

Cool Installations!

I'm also still thinking about where transparencies and book layout meet tastefully..

And still wondering just what, exactly, a book is..

Google image search: Chinatown

2010-10-03T17:15:00.000-07:00

Jenny's To Do List:

2010-10-03T16:44:00.000-07:00

1. Filter old and new work, then update my portfolio website. (tags, labels, color scheme)

2. Update Resume, and Artist Resume.

2. Create an artist statement.

3. Figure out heyajumma.com

4. Organize future projects and start crossing them off one by one.

5. Documentation equals project. Video is a nice medium to document. Think about: Can a project exist without documentation, just text or word of mouth?

6. Carry digital camera again.

7. Make my life a performance.

30 Page Comic Now In Inking Stage

2010-10-03T10:43:00.001-07:00

One of my goals for the semester is to finish a 30-page mini-anthology I started last semester, and to have a detailed dummy outline of another 30-page mini-anthology done.

I am hoping to have the majority of my first 30-page comic zine inked by the end of today, and have an initial print run of maybe 15 to 20 copies done by the end of the week to show at a group art show I am participating in later this month in San Diego. I really don't think I would have gotten this far with my comic-making goals if it weren't for the support from DIY Grad School.

Paper Rad is pretty rad

2010-10-02T00:54:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to introduce you to PAPER RAD.

I don't know what to say about them.

They've changed my life.

Enjoy.

Your Wikipedia Reading Requirement Of The Day

2010-10-01T15:30:00.000-07:00

Autodidacticism from Wikipedia

Say it ten times fast. Good word to know for all self-education junkies.

Volcom Featured Artist: Alex Chiu

2010-09-30T18:22:00.000-07:00

Volcom Stone Apparel recently added DIY Grad Sschool candidate, Alex Chiu, to their Volcom Art Gallery. You can either click on the image above or on THIS LINK to see his Gallery.

VIDEO: How To Make Your Own Creative MFA Program

2010-09-30T18:03:00.000-07:00

DIY Grad School is featured in its very own video a la Intent.com!

Yes, we always do look this happy and friendly during our weekly classes.

Spread the word, everybody. Enrollment for the self-education revolution begins NOW.

24/7 2010: The State of the Art in DIY Video

2010-09-30T12:02:00.000-07:00

Fellow DIY Grad'er Yumi sent me this link yesterday, and thought I should share, because we're going.

Mark your calendars: TUESDAY, OCT 5, 7:00PM

24/7 2010: The State of the Art in DIY Video

24/7 2010 picks up where 24/7: A DIY Video Summit left off in 2008, bringing together a feature-length program of the best from the world of do-it-yourself video. Come find the latest in online, geek, remix, and fan culture, curated to highlight the most recent trends and techniques emerging from anime music videos, political remixes, fan vids, videoblogs, and the YouTube scene. The screening starts at 7:00PM, followed by a presentation and discussion with transmedia guru Henry Jenkins and ends with a reception and performance by audio/video mashup artist Mike Relm in the courtyard.

ALL HAMMER PUBLIC PROGRAMS ARE FREE. Tickets are required, and are available at the Billy Wilder Theater Box Office one hour prior to start time. Limit one ticket per person on a first come, first served basis. Hammer members receive priority seating, subject to availability. Reservations not accepted, RSVPs not required.

Parking is available under the museum for $3 after 6:00pm.

Wally Wood's 22 Panels that Always Work!!

2010-09-28T22:41:00.000-07:00

Wally Wood's 22 Panels that Always Work is a reference page first introduced to me at the Sacramento Drink and Draw. This is a great reference for comics artists. Check it out!

(click image to enlarge.)

and now our wings are worn

2010-09-28T13:12:00.001-07:00

This v. That

2010-09-28T02:21:00.000-07:00

I often forget to embrace the way a location effects my overall well being and current mood. I've visited many places in my life. Each location changed my outlook on life in some way, or induced a familiar, or not so familiar, emotion. It's important to me to keep this expiratory frame of mind throughout my life time, and relish in all the greatness it has to offer. I often find myself asking where I want to spend the majority of my time? Where do i settle and begin the rest of my life? Or do I have to choose? I don't think I have my answer to that just yet, but I'm on my way...

The following is a selection of shots from various series of photos I've take over the past few years. They include locations: Los Angeles CA, The Sierra Nevada Mountains, and Seattle WA.

(Banner Peak from Garnet Lake, Ansel Adams Wilderness, CA)

"un-humanized earth"

(down town Los Angeles skyline)

"The sweet smells of home..."

(San Joaquin river, middle fork, Ansel Adams Wilderness)

"Natural Wishing Well"

(Pier 57, Seattle, WA)

(downtown Seattle skyline + Sleepr)

"City meets Sea"

photos by: know kiss

(Cottonwood lake 3)

(High Lake+ Cottonwood Lakes 3,2,1 from New Soldier pass, Golden Trout Wilderness, Inyokern, CA, 14,000 ft)

"New Heights"

(China Town from rooftop, Los Angeles, CA)

(Random Alley, China Town, Los Angeles, CA)

(Old China Town plaza, Los Angeles, CA)

"(de)construction"

Each of these locations allowed for flourishing ideas, reconciliation, amazement, solitude, emotional growth, and mental evolution to overcome my consciousness. I've written some of my proudest ideas in places like these. I highly encourage all people to experience something new, or something familiar from a different perspective. It will open your eyes to the beauty in all things and their effect on the individual.

VJ Documentary, CTRL ALT SHIFT

2010-09-27T18:42:00.001-07:00

CTRL ALT SHIFT - from V.I. Artists on Vimeo.

CTRL ALT SHIFT - V.I. Artists

Great little documentary about VJing put together by Visually Impaired Artists, featuring interviews with some of the big guns of the British scene, including:

Light Surgeons

Hexstatic

VJ Anyone

Vector Meldrew

Fatamorgana

Today's Big Question

2010-09-27T11:03:00.001-07:00

How can we use individual creative expression to empower relationships, communities, humanity?

It is always so fascinating to me that one individual's unique, singular creative act can have such a far-reaching ripple effect on countless people and communities. There are so many new organizations based on the idea that art truly has tangible positive effects on people and communities, and they are so inspiring to see. (I am also lucky to be able to interview some of the founders of these organizations for my day job.) This is my thought of the day, and I want to hear your answers.

Hey Ajumma + Satoshi-kun

2010-09-24T15:56:00.000-07:00

Hey Ajumma and Satoshi-kun will meet each other someday.

My Personal Progress For This Semester

2010-09-23T21:12:00.001-07:00

I am writing this down because I am the kind of neurotic person who enjoys making to-do lists, and making them public to goad myself to finish them.

- I want to get a finalized draft of "An Unfilled Circle" done by the end of the semester. (Getting there slowly yet surely.)
- I want to get a thorough outline of a new short story (approximately 30 pages) done by the end of the semester. (Haven't started.)
- I also said I wanted to start doing more comic journals on a regular basis. I've been doing a lot of mini-comics and illustrations for Intent.com (like this one here), but I want to also do more personal visual narrative journals. (This is more of a sub-goal; the main goal is still getting the draft and a new story outline done.)

OTHER THINGS

- Getting into the rhythm of writing every day.
- Resurrecting the practice of keeping a personal notebook journal.
- Need a new book to sink my teeth into. (Recs anyone?)
- Need to steal some music from friends for background creative session music.
- Exploring world mythologies from the awesome book that Alex lent me.
- It's okay to take it easy when you are feeling overwhelmed. :)

lights camera action!!!!!

2010-09-21T17:03:00.000-07:00

DIY Grad School filming a 5-Step video

(soon on intent.com)

The Public School

2010-09-20T13:47:00.000-07:00

THE
PUBLIC
SCHOOL
website: http://all.thepublicschool.org/

Located near Chung King Plaza in LA's Chinatown, The Public School, founded in 2008 by theTelic Art Exchange, has been providing a platform for the proliferation of free idea exchange internationally. Existing in what perhaps was a old jewelry or knickknack store, The Public School hosts a variety of classes and workshops that are proposed by members of the community that either would like to teach a subject or learn about it, like for instance urban forging, or Walter Benjamin's Arcades Project. Based upon the popularity of a subject matter, the School then finds a teacher and students in each of the satellite cities:

GLOBAL

THE PUBLIC SCHOOL is a school with no curriculum. At the moment, it operates as follows: first, classes are proposed by the public (I want to learn this or I want to teach this); then, people have the opportunity to sign up for the classes (I also want to learn that); finally, when enough people have expressed interest, the school finds a teacher and offers the class to those who signed up.

(The Public School is not accredited. It does not give out degrees. It is not affliated with the public school system. It is a system that supports autodiadactic activities, operating under the assumption that everything is in everything).

Continuing the Future of the Public School- join in on the discussion

Good news for the wandering artist in need of some table space and (maybe) wifi, The Public School is open Friday-Saturday all day long (until about 6p). Feel free to browse their extension theory library, or participate in the book swap shelf (as in bring a book, take a book). Sit and work at the community table. Jot some ideas on the chalkboard.

I personally like the framework of this system because it allows for people to freely participate in many different cities, catering to the fact that there are many different ideas.

THUMBS UP THE PUBLIC SCHOOL!

(DIY Grad School found this treasure while (de)constructing Chinatown)

much needed words of encouragement

2010-09-19T23:57:00.001-07:00

aloha ann,
power, blessings, hurray for the diy folks! may you continue to expand the boundaries of the old establishment, may you continue to touch people, get people of all ages to take risks by reaching out with their gifts and talents, may you continue to create communities of people who start to care for each other and our world, and may you to continue to create beauty - all this so our world is a kinder and more beautiful place to dwell. press on! i know it's discouraging when you don't have the big bucks but what you and alex do is so needed in this world that is consumed by moving too fast, having the material stuff, by the a world that doesn't have time to sit and read a good book - no time to read to their children - no time to sit and watch a sunset. keep on! lots of love, auntie pam

The Echo Curio: Very inspiring Story Of Creative Public Performance Space

2010-09-15T11:41:00.001-07:00

I was very inspired to read this Brand X feature on the founders of The Echo Curio, who have created an indoor creative space in Echo Park where local musicians perform, artists display artwork, and a bunch of other cool stuff happens. There's a very grass-roots, DIY, organic, community-based openness to their model of supporting locally-grown creativity that I would want to see in more places (and in our own DIY Grad School as well.)

(Ann, you would be interested to see that they have an online store of curiosities on their webpage. Also, possible future performance venue for WELLS??)

On a lonely stretch of Sunset Blvd., in the blocks between the bargain-price boozing at the Short Stop and Gold Room, lies the Echo Park Curiosity Shop and Art Gallery. Dubbed the Echo Curio for short, it's a little more than a small, stageless room, nondescript except for the original art, changed monthly, lining the walls. Its left side sits mostly open except for a smattering of lighting and cables. Arrive early enough, and that's the only evidence that the venue will play host to three or four or even five bands on any given night. Over the last few years, the Echo Curio has played host to hundreds, perhaps thousands of musicians and performers, ranging from underground heroes (former Tiger Trap and Softies singer Rose Melberg has headlined, as has Omaha songwriting icon Simon Joyner) to acts with scarcely a song on record. With its $5 door, it's often L.A.'s best bargain -- and more often its sweatiest. Curio runners Justin McInteer (pictured at right) and Grant Capes (left) called in to discuss the Curio's wildest moments, the end of its B.Y.O.B. policy and what they love about Echo Park. (CONTINUE READING ON THIS IS BRAND X)

MC THIS

2010-09-11T10:36:00.001-07:00

I find more people trying to make wearable art.. and I'm not talking just about style. we want our bodies to be more than what it is. we want to be inspector gadget. things that clothe the body must serve more than one purpose. everybody likes a buy 1 get 1 free deal.

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DIY People, Hand-drawn

2010-09-06T15:12:00.001-07:00

A'misa Chiu at Slum Circus

Justin and Alex at Sam Woo in Chinatown, Los Angeles.

chinatown no.2

2010-09-06T01:59:00.001-07:00

on the way to chinatown

you must battle

traffic

(insert balls over LA traffic idea here)

then there will be overly expensive parking

deal with it.

note to self about

the Chinese American Museum:

it is not really "in" Chinatown

it is near Olvera Street

style.

in order to get to the center of Chinatown

we hopped on the metro at union station

tourists

backpackers

see you can go to chinatown AND japantown, for the Arts District

Let's move 4 stops down and start the underground.

but now that i just told you that, i'm going to have to kill you.

ahhhhhh!!!! just kidding, crazy cat mural near Grand Star Ballroom.

John Park live painting

left Ooga Booga a hello!

we dig your shit!

(okay, enough brown nosing)

used and (un)used

2010 a'misa chiu

uncovering the discovered.

this urban trekking is tripping me out.

(by the way, a good way to describe WELLS is psych-folk-indie-rock)

the re(occuring) image

over and over again,

THE OWLS OF FUCKIN' GA'OOWL

help me.

read adjacencies.

TONIGHT, NIGHT.

plaid and leather chic

what does this man know? his eye is knowing.

journeyeurs: yumi sakugawa, justin nakasone, alex chiu, a'misa chiu

'til the next installment:

chinatown nights?

through the belies of sam woo?

a trek from the Chinese American Museum to Chinatown center: photo along subway

shouldn't LA have a free-metro zone, in the arts district?

How Did We Get Into This Student Loan Debt Crisis?

2010-09-03T14:54:00.000-07:00

Infographic by College Scholarships.org

See the original link to the graphic explanation here.

(Originally spotted on Boing Boing, one of the best blogs ever.)

This is where and why DIY Grad School comes in. Do It Yourself with far less student loans.

chinatown, no.1

2010-09-02T22:55:00.001-07:00

let's begin (de)constructing: Chinatown

why we came: Ooga Booga

if you are wondering what this is,

HERE

943 N. Broadway

Los Angeles, CA 90012

Keep is also rad

saw all sorts of sweet zines and mixtapes

like drippy bone books

style.

balcony-views & sky-lights

below ooga booga

found

flockshop

owner michelle told us that many galleries in chinatown are going out of business
and setting up shop in culver city, and the existing shops like flock shop are making
intentional efforts to keep the community of art and culture to continue to flow from
chinatown, la.

drive home to the westside was a major bummer

alex the champion kept it light

by suggesting that we document the ride home

curious and curiousier

2010-09-01T12:54:00.000-07:00

be there or be lame.

(thanks yumi for this bomb-ass flyer art!!!)

the den collective

2010-08-31T02:57:00.000-07:00

(L to R: Jenny Yoo, Kenneth Oberholtzer, Yumi Sakugawa, Alex Chiu, a'misa chiu,

Brent Shimasaki, Chris Yenny, Justin Nakasone)

college collage

2010-08-27T11:38:00.000-07:00

collaging is always a manic/wonderful/eye-opening experience.

please join me on one of these evenings.
**workshops to be announced**

What Is A Co-Op?

2010-08-20T15:33:00.000-07:00

I believe many interesting parallels can be drawn between co-ops and what we have started at DIY Grad School. In my research of health food stores in Los Angeles, I came across this handy explanation listed on the Santa Monica Cooperative Natural Grocer website:

What is a Co-op?
As you may or may not already know, Co-opportunity is a co-op, and not all natural food stores are co-ops. A co-op is a type of business that can exist in many different industries. Co-ops are any type of business owned and controlled equally by the people who patronize the business or who run the business. There are housing co-ops, cooperatively owned radio stations, restaurants, book stores, electrical power suppliers, day care centers and more. Co-ops exist in many countries around the world.
All co-ops have two things in common:
1) They are owned by their members. That’s right, as a Co-opportunity member, you are an owner of this store.
2) Every true co-op operates according to the Seven Cooperative Principles that were created in 1844 by the first successful co-op, the Rochdale Equitable Pioneers Society of England. For more information about co-ops, visit: www.ncba.coop
What are the Seven Cooperative Principles?

1) Voluntary and Open Membership Cooperatives are voluntary organizations, open to all persons able to use their services and willing to accept the responsibilities of membership, without gender, social, racial, political or religious discrimination.

2) Democratic Member Control Cooperatives are democratic organizations controlled by theirmembers, who actively participate in setting policies and making decisions. The elected representatives are accountable to the membership. In primary cooperatives, members have equal voting rights (one member, one vote) and cooperatives at other levels are organized in a democratic manner.

3) Members' Economic Participation Members contribute equitably to, and democratically control, the capital of their cooperative. At least part of that capital is usually the common property of the cooperative. Members usually receive limited compensation, if any, on capital subscribed as a condition of membership. Members allocate surpluses for any or all of the following purposes: developing the cooperative, possibly by setting up reserves, part of which at least would be indivisible; benefiting members in proportion to their transactions with the cooperative; and supporting other activities approved by the membership.

4) Autonomy and Independence Cooperatives are autonomous, self-help organizations controlled by their members. If they enter into agreements with other organizations, including governments, or raise capital from external sources, they do so on terms that ensure democratic control by their members and maintain their cooperative autonomy.

5) Education, Training, and Information Cooperatives provide education and training for their members, elected representatives, managers and employees so they can contribute effectively to the development of their cooperatives. They inform the general public, particularly young people and opinion leaders, about the nature and benefits of cooperation.
6) Cooperation Among Cooperatives Cooperatives serve their members most effectively and strengthen the cooperative movement by working together through local, national, regional and international structures.

7) Concern for Community While focusing on member needs, cooperatives work for the sustainable development of their communities through policies accepted by their members.

Brilliant: The Illustrated Guide To A Ph.D.

2010-08-18T12:08:00.001-07:00

Good to know for DIY and non-DIY students alike: what exactly is a Ph.D.?

Here is an illustrated guide.

Now I don't think it would be altogether impossible to push that boundary of knowledge outside of the context of formalized academia. The greatest philosophers and teachers in the world have been dong this for ages without a formal certificate.

The next step after DIY Grad School: DIY Ph.D.

Potential DIY Field Trip: Mindshare LA

2010-08-17T17:41:00.000-07:00

I never heard of Mindshare up until today, and I am now extremely interested.

DIY Grad Students, what to do for Commencement 2.0?

Spotted on BoingBoing:

Once a month LA’s intellectually and culturally curious gather for an evening of "Enlightened Debauchery" in one of LA’s downtown venues for a night of mind-opening speakers, elbow-rubbing with a diverse and colorful crowd, food trucks, cocktails and an eclectic mix of music.
Thursday, August 19th marks the beginning of the Mindshare’s fall residency in Downtown LA’s new megaclub, Exchange LA, and the triumphant return of a hosted bar.
Guests will hear from Neuroeconomist Paul Zak, Micki Krimmel of NeighborGoods (above), Pedal Patch Community and the comic book artists behind “AXE COP.” The night will also feature musical performances from DJ Jacob Henry and interactive installations from the UC Santa Barbara Media Arts and Technology program.
Breakout sessions after the speaker program will give Mindsharians the chance to interact with Mindshare speakers one-on-one. Returning this month will also be upstart tobacco company Ploom, with vaporizing fun for everyone. Cost: $30

Spotted On Treehugger: "The DIY Approach To Reviving A Dying Street"

2010-08-17T15:56:00.000-07:00

I am inspired by how a small group of people have an enormous positive impact on an entire neighborhood. I believe DIY grad school communities and students everywhere will create amazing ripple effects of influence, inspiration and community-building on a global scale. This is why I am in.

This is why the video below was so inspiring for me to see.

London’s Do-It-Yourself Approach to Safer Streets from Streetfilms on Vimeo.

(Originally posted on Treehugger)

Cities Can Be Green, But They Must First be Livable
Straight from London, England, our friend Elizabeth Press brings us a great short-video about the revival of a street. The non-profit Sustrans, along with the local community and authorities, has turned a pretty terrible street (look at those "before" photos) where the only thing moving was high-speed cars, into a meeting place for the local community, safe for everybody including kids and older people. It's truly a great example of what can be done if we only decide to do it. How's your street? Does it need a makeover? Via StreetFilms. See also: How Copenhagen Became a Great People-Oriented City (Video)

the machine that could make anything in the world!

2010-08-15T20:27:00.001-07:00

open

2010-08-15T02:32:00.000-07:00

()()()()()() MIND MAPPING ()()()()()()

freemind is amazing.
please take notes this way
especially for the visual learners.

geek out.

A Future DIY Field Trip, Guys?

2010-08-13T16:40:00.000-07:00

Dr. Sketchy's - Bettie Page Tribute Session from William Zoe FitzGerald on Vimeo.

AND MONDAY NIGHT AT THE CULVER DEN: Informal live drawing session. Practicing real-life drawing and stuff!

DIY Grad School Showcase Event Photos

2010-08-13T01:01:00.000-07:00

Intro by Brent Shimasaki

DIY Grad School Semester Showcase Program

Den Gallery

Semester Projects

Jenny Yoo's Ajumma Sculptures

Alex Chiu's DIY Grad School design drawings

A'misa's Urban Camping Collage

A'misa's Vacant Spaces collage

Yumi Sakugawa's "Fireman" preview

Brent Shimasaki's Generation "W" Intro

Kenneth Oberholtzer's Toy Keyboard for Pixel Music

A'misa's Vacant Spaces Photos

Alex Chiu's silkscreen designs

DIY Grad School Shirts ($10 a piece, super limited!!!)

A'misa talks

Brent Shimasaki

Alex Chiu

Prospective Students

Jenny Yoo

Artwork by Yumi Sakugawa

Justin Nakasone's visual narrative performance

DIY Photobooth and Omar

Resource Material

Justin plays music

DIY Design / Den Gallery Space

Photo Booth / Mural Project

2010-08-13T00:46:00.000-07:00

DIY Grad School Semester Reader

2010-08-12T23:50:00.000-07:00

Throughout the first term of DIY Grad School, each student contributed flyers and handouts each week to document the progress of their projects as well as provide background information on their area of focus. We were able to compile these pages into a Course Reader of sorts....

Hand bound reader, truly DIY.

K-town den Doodle With Me session.

A'misa's urban camping trip.

Alex Chiu's study of optical illusions.

Justin Nakasone's Thomas Guide journal pages.

Jenny's Ajumma sculptures.

Kenneth's samples of abstract music notation.

Yumi's comic page.

Keep a Journal or Sketchbook

2010-08-12T23:07:00.000-07:00

a peek into the secret pages of A'misa's Journal

DIY Grad School: First Semester

2010-08-12T14:20:00.000-07:00

Wanna to know more about what DIY Grad School represents? Watch the video!