artist you should know / faith ringgold

i have been so bad at art posts lately, and i'm going to try to be better about it! i have been planning to share this very special artist all month, but somehow have had so many other things to post about i didn't have a spot for her. but enough is enough, you all need to know faith ringgold.

faith ringgold, self portrait, 1965

i hadn't heard of faith ringgold before i interned at the national museum of women in the arts. on our first day in dc, jarman and i visited both places we would be working at that semester. when we walked through the museum, there was an exhibit on ringgold's works. i could immediately tell they were political, so sadly i walked right past them. i always insist to jarman that i hate all things political, so i had to make the point that i also didn't like political art. 

on my first day of work at the museum, i attended a lecture on faith ringgold and my eyes were opened. her works are truly important in our country's history, and sadly there are many people that don't know about her. many of her works still haven't been purchased by museums because of their controversial yet blunt connotations. i am seriously embarrassed that i had the gall to walk past such honest works, and have learned a lesson.

faith ringgold, the flag is bleeding, 1967

about the artist:

faith ringgold started painting in the sixties. think about that for a second- she was a black woman painting during the civil rights movement? do you think she was respected or heard? absolutely not. but she continued to paint and show her side of the story. she approached other black painters at the time, but they didn't respect her as a female artist. she finally got a big break and was given the opportunity to paint in a large studio, while her children lived with her mother for the summer. this was when she created her largest works, and pulled out all the stops. her early works (like these paintings) are actually her least popular. later in her life she began making story quilts and children's books that are much more well renowned.

faith ringgold, die, 1967

die, 1967:

pablo picasso, guernica, 1937

nicholas poussin, the abduction of the sabine women, 1634-35

tony smith, die, 1962

this piece is my favorite of her early works. it is so bloody and scary, but has so many great connections to the art historical past while showing something new. she clearly pulls from picasso's famous work guernica with the black and white boxy background and planar arrangement. the subject matter also matches picasso's work, which shows the effects of war on the population.  i also feel like she was looking at the many paintings of the taking of the sabine women- the ancient story of the roman men stealing the sabine women for the empire- with the men and women fighting and the children looking directly and cautiously out. because the painting is not confined to the canvas- people's bodies literally spread across the edges- i think it is almost frieze like. in greek and roman temples the frieze was a continuous relief sculpture above the columns and went all the way around the temple, often showing a battle between centaurs and humans, amazons and humans, etc. like a frieze, ringold's scene spreads past the canvas, which shows that racial battles spread across the united states. lastly, her title evokes an interesting meaning as well - ringgold was working during the sixties, a time when minimalism reigned and figuration was no longer scene. her works show more than the human form, they show the angst of a nation. in 1962, just a few years before this work was created, tony smith created his famous 6'x6'x6' metal cube and titled it die. while his work has lots of it's own evocations, it fails to show the state of the united states social upheaval. ringgold's painting, though scary and at times hard to confront, is an honest portrayal of our countries past, and truly shows her side of the story.

closet essentials / the lbd

emma (from inspire and instyle) and i are so excited to make our closet essentials series a regular column! in case you missed our first looks- we each styled a pencil skirt two ways- you can find the post here and here. this week we decided to show you how to style a little black dress. the lbd is a closet essential because it can come in so many different forms suited for every personality. i went with a dressier dress, while emma styled hers more casually.

for my look i drew inspiration from the lady who made the lbd an icon- audrey hepburn. in breakfast at tiffany's she showed how an awesome dress can be styled simply and still be a jaw-dropper. my dress is vintage- i went through a huge antique store phase in high school and collected tons of vintage dresses. this is the one that reminds me most of audrey- i wear it every year on her birthday. i am a person that tends to overdress and over-accessorize, so it was a little hard for me to not add too much to this statement piece. i kind of love that it doesn't need much though- the white detailing and black buttons give it the oomph it needs. i wore my new bcbg (via marshalls) pointy heels, and kate spade orange earrings. i stole my headband from my sister (pretty sure it was forever 21- my hair was disgusting and needed to be covered up). my purse is also vintage. this outfit is simple yet professional. i would wear it for a meeting, wedding, or church. 

I am a shameless Kim Kardashian fan. I can't explain it but every time I see her on tv or see her on the cover of a magazine at Target, it's like a force takes over my body and I am instantly absorbed. She is just fascinating to me...and I can't help it, people!! My outfit is inspired by the great Kim K. and a laid-back look she put together while taking baby North to the doctor with Kanye. She rocked some Minnetonkas, and if Kim K. says they're chic, I say they're chic. The simple black drop waist dress is from Forever21 and the chunky knit cardigan is from Lucky. The Minnetonkas have been stashed away in the closet for years, but were originally purchased from Nordstrom. I paired this casual look with some classic sunglasses (a golden find at Hobby Lobby) and my usual collection of arm candy.

entertaining / easy tablesetting for a crowd

though we love creating elaborate tablesettings (see here, here and here), often we don't eat at perfectly set tables like that. also, we usually have way more people than our dining room table can handle- we have lots of family and friends with big families. most of the time our tables look something like this when we have guests over. we use our big kitchen table that seats twelve, and keep our normal centerpiece on the table which is low enough to talk over, and small enough to fit the food on the table (we are all about family style).

for this table we used our ikea runners (we got our on sale for $1.99 each). we have 8 of them so we put two across four times. down the center we have a chevron table cloth that was made for my cousin's wedding. we used basic white square plates and my favorite little grey plates. instead of doing cloth napkins we used paper ones (also from ikea!). we brought in my world market dining room chairs and combined them with my mom's wood chairs.

since we are already sharing easy tablesetting, why not share one of the easiest and most delicious appetizers that we frequently serve.

cheater bruschetta:

this appetizer is super easy to throw together last second before your guests come over- plus it has almost all of my favorite foods. all you do is toast some bread (we usually use the rosemary bread from costco). spread some pesto on top, then placed sliced fresh mozzarella (which we also get from costco) and tomatoes. top with freshly shredded parmesean, salt and pepper. then let guests pour balsamic vinegar over their individual servings- if your pour it for everyone they get a little soggy. eat up!

purse essentials / 12 things every woman should have

have you ever dug through your purse and realized how much random crap you have in it? this happens to me way too often. sometimes my purses are so big i don't realize how many things i actually do not need to carry around. i consistently have to clear my purse of the extra watches/jewelry i take off and shove in there, the many receipts, the camera parts, the water bottles, candy and food. once all of the excess has been trimmed, i usually end up with these twelve things. for the most part, i never leave the house without any of them.

1. sunglasses:

these are an obvious must. i have discovered that the nicer the sunglasses, the longer they last. maybe it's just me, but i don't take care of my $12 sunglasses as well as the $150 ones. i usually have them in the case with a cleaning pouch (though somehow they never seem clean enough).

2. lipstick pouch:

i have to have a small lipstick pouch or all hell would break lose. i tend to carry at least 5 or 6 lipsticks at all times, and having something to gather them in is key. this is usually where i keep a little medicine (advil, sleeping pills, etc).

3. headphones:

for those times when you are on the bus and you don't want to listen to people cough around you. this would be considered an emergency situation in my book.

4. keys:

it helps if you have a cute keychain with silhouettes of you and your husband (a lady made this for me for my bridal shower! obsessed).

5. pen:

my pens are almost always pink. and they always come in handy, though sometimes bank tellers make fun of your for signing your checks in pink.

6. mints:

these are my family's mints of choice- ice breakers wintergreen. we aren't gum chewers, but we are big fans of fresh breath.

7. face wipes:

i have a terribly greasy face (just one of the many facets of my horrible skin). halfway through the day i freshen up with these palladio face wipes. they have a little bit of powder on them and take off the grease. i get mine from sally beauty supply.

8. glasses:

my eyesight isn't terrible, but i do need glasses every now and again. i keep them with me for movies, museums, and class (though i don't go to classes often now that i'm graduated).

9. chapstick:

i am crazy over chapstick. this is actually the only thing that would kill me to leave the house without. the shaka laka brand coconut chapstick is by far the best chapstick in the world. i can only find it at select gas stations in utah, and have created a small stockpile at my house.

10. lipgloss:

ok, i realize this is like the third lip-related item. but for real, my lips always have to be covered in something. this classic Nars Lipgloss always gives the best color for any occasion. 

11. phone:

i used to carry around a calendar and notebook, but all of that has been replaced by my iphone (which i'm not sure if i should celebrate or not).

12. wallet:

i got this steve madden wallet for $20 at the rack a few years ago and can't part with it. finding a wallet that is the perfect style and size is harder than finding a good pair of jeans. but when you do, keep it till you wear it out.

photo shoot / boho glam family pictures

before syd left we really wanted to take family pictures. we hadn't gotten any done since jarman has been an official part of the family. we decided to just try to take them using a tripod and a clicker. it was actually a lot harder than i thought it would be- my clicker wouldn't work if we were too far from the camera, but my good lens makes it so we have to be kind of far. so the ones with the whole family were literally timer pictures where i was running in my six inch heels in the sand to get back to the camera. it was totally worth it though because i love how the pictures turned out.

we decided we wanted to do a boho shoot (which not only provided our stylistic choices but also lots of jokes from the boys). we all tried to wear longish or flowy dresses with big heels. we also brought down a bunch of furs to wear for some of the pictures. we like to choose outfits that loosely go together, rather than things that are obviously matching (like white shirts and jeans). i love the bright blues that pop out of some of the outfits, and we also had creams and browns and black and few others. 

we took the pictures in oceanside (this little outing was on sydney's last day so she got to see the beach and eat at phil's as well). some of them are just in front of people's houses, and the others were on some rocks and stairs that we found. we went down with some ideas of places, but nothing set. it was fun to drive around and find the cutest places we could (we ended up parking the car only once though- all of these locations are within walking distance of each other).

seriously though, how cute is my family? my sisters get prettier and prettier, my mom looks younger and younger, and jarman is handsomer and handsomer. you better believe we will have lots of these pictures all over our house!