New York State of Mind

[ Jones Beach, New York - Taken from my cell phone ]


[ Times Square at Night - Taken from my cell phone]

The opposites of New York really amazed me this weekend. Saturday I heard both the silence and the noise of New York. I drove with my uncle Bob to Jones Beach, and we walked along the sand dunes and marvelled at the quiet waves. That night, we went with my parents and Dale to see "Guys and Dolls" on Broadway. I missed the hustle of dodging through tourists to get where I wanted to go, the bumping in to people who weren't watching where they were going. I relived memories of New York City bus trips to galleries and toy stores. I miss the city life.

I also reignited my passion for 1960s history, when I took home a pile of newspapers my late uncle had kept and were soon to be thrown away. Piles of papers covering the Kennedy Assassination, the crowning of the Pope, the shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald, women's magazines Aunt Irene would browse through and make her own dress designs. Times I wish I could have lived in.

Ah, to travel. I've been to New York so many times and it never gets old...never ceases to amaze.

And a sweet ride in an awesome freakin' car makes life grand, too.


[ Me in Bob's BMW...I believe it's a Z4. Wouldn't be mad if I got one of these for my birthday...]

SPIN IT.

[ Jungle Boogie, watercolor and colored pencil on vellum, copyright Krista Swiader 2009 ]

Since I am totally poor and can't afford a scanner, here's a photograph of my final painting before submitting it to the show. The show was wonderful. It was a great reunion of friends and wonderful artwork to see. I am trying to find a cheap version of Dreamweaver so I can update my website again; it's been far too long.

[ Rob acting as event deejay ]

[ From left: Shauna Carrier, Kate Castelli, Jodie McMenamin, Paul McMenamin, Liz Comperchio, Amanda Atkins, Krista Swiader ]

SPIN

After a massive hiatus, I have begun to paint again! This time it's for the upcoming GLOVEBox show called "SPIN."







"SPIN" will feature artwork revolving around music, particularly tapes and records. I'm very excited to be a part of this show, especially since it will be at a new venue and will also be a college reunion of sorts. Now let's hope my work actually gets done on time and I'm not too terribly rusty with my painting skillz.

- Krista

Happy New Year!

Holy crap, it's been a long time since I've posted in this.

Well, Happy New Year to one and all who still reads this thing...or waits for updates to no avail. I've been so busy with work and everything that I tend to forget I have this. Then when one of my other artistic cohorts updates theirs, I think to myself, "Shit...I should update mine..." and then never do. Fail.

Since my little 9/11 post, things at work have been very bustling. It's taken a long while, with all of the changes being made to the classrooms and short staffing and school holidays (of which I forgot how AWESOME they could be). I'm finally starting to get things together for the "My Own World" project. It's been weird trying to formulate my own schedule for this, but I think we're finally starting to get things together for it. I just wish the weather were a little better to take some of the kids outside or that I was able to go on field trips with these kids without worrying about staffing. But we'll make it work.

In terms of my own stuff, I've done very little by way of any big projects. I've done a lot of little sketches and doodles here and there, just to keep my hands working. I know it seems a little ridiculous to say, considering I spent four years in art school and haven't done anything with it since graduating...but I've enjoyed my time working away from art and finding my teaching ground with special education.

When I had to teach at the museum, I had very little idea of how to teach or how to make a lesson plan. By the third day, I was winging everything and ready to go insane. Going back to Groden meant learning how to break even the easiest tasks down into simple steps for kids to understand, and setting goals that were reachable. If I had to teach another art class, I would definitely go in with a new mindset on how to teach those kids, and have a better patience threshold, too.

Of course...my tolerance for the kids with attitudes hasn't exactly changed all that much. Whoops.

In any case, that's pretty much been my life since September. With the added snippets of joining a gym after my 23rd birthday, celebrating Christmas in Jamestown, making new friends from work, getting ridiculously addicted to the Twilight series even knowing how horribly cheesy it is, discovering just how many people from my high school class are getting married/pregnant, and a bevy of other stories and incidents.

Here's to me being full of more than just one update every 4 months.

- Krista

Seven Years in America

Okay, so I know there's bound to be a ton of September 11th posts out there at this very moment, and I also know it's been a long ass time since I've updated this art only blog, but I have to write down what I'm feeling right now.

It's been seven years. Seven years and they're already showing everything that's happened from fifty different perspectives on The History Channel. Am I the only one who thinks it's too fresh...too soon? I feel like I'm back in homeroom in high school watching it on television all over again. I only knew a victim through about six degrees of separation, but the loss is still devastating.

I don't even care about the political tie-ins with this incident. War has happened, and is happening still. I won't even try to pretend I know or care about what Bush or any of those other politicians have to say or do with this. I just can't stop thinking about this as just a huge devastation to everyone. And I can't believe it's really been seven years since this happened. You just can't take the people in your life for granted.

That's all there really is for me to say. Just reminding my heavy heart that I have things to be grateful for.

I'm Alive!

Oh my goodness, things have been busy.

Well, I'm alive! And Happy Fourth of July weekend to you all! Things have been very busy for me, as I've previously stated. Not long after graduation, I began work at The Groden Center in Providence, RI. I'm currently a substitute treatment teacher, helping kids learn the basics of reading, math, and vocational work. I also finished a class this week at The Attleboro Arts Museum teaching non-disabled 8-11 year olds the wonders of making comic characters and reinventing games. Both have been/are very unique experiences.

I've also been brainstorming some children's book ideas, as well as attempting to convert my bedroom upstairs into a living space/studio. Unfortunately, with the heat, and a sore lack of fans/air conditioning, this takes longer than it should. Hopefully I will get this done soon. I'm hoping to start putting together the fruit of my labor soon.

In addition, I've been trying to come up with a way for me to begin an art program at The Groden Center. Many years ago, there was one, but now it has been dropped, and the only way the kids can do art is either if the teacher of the classroom starts it for their own kids, or if they travel twenty minutes one way to another school for a half hour. It's such a waste of gas, especially with the prices nowadays. I'm hoping I can write up a proposal to get the ball rolling. Lots of kids love art time at the school, and some actually have a real eye for color and shapes.

Well, sorry to post and run, but it's lunch time on the fourth, and I'm starving!

Hope to keep in touch more!

- Krista

PS - It came to my attention some time ago that the Contact portion of my website is not functioning...again. So, I need to fix that once I get Dreamweaver. I've still yet to get that, but I'm waiting until I save up enough money for a new computer, that way the software will run better.

More Sightings

View my portfolio:
coroflot.com/swiader_illustration

Now you can also find my work via Coroflot.com and IllustrationMundo.com, as well as Google my name to my website. The Internet is a wonderful thing.