Walls: A Series

I always love to see what people have on their walls. Here's a look at what's on mine:

(Note: Some pictures are taken at funny angles because I was trying to avoid the reflection of the windows on the glass frame.)

Eagan and I went to Portland, Oregon (one of our favorite cities) after our Event of the Millennium (TM). Walking around, we stumbled upon an interesting clothes shop that had a gallery on the top floor. The above artist was displaying her work, and I got this poster of one of her prints. It says "This is my dream to make with you...." And it just seemed perfect for the occasion. After we left the gallery, we continued to walk around and we eventually went to another clothes boutique. The guy working there asked if he could see the rolled up poster I was holding. He then asked where I got it. I said "I can't remember the name now, but I got it at the gallery a couple of blocks down on Couch Street." And I pronounced it as you would think -- couch. Like the thing you sit on. Sofa. The guy giggled and said, "It's pronounced Cooch!" I said, "Well, I would much rather ere on the side of caution and pronounce it couch when it's actually cooch, then to pronounce it cooch and have it actually be couch." Cooch. Sickest pronunciation ever.

My amazingly-artistic-to-an-incredibly-enviable-level friend, Denise, made this. She does it all -- drawings, sketches, collages, paintings, watercolors, printmaking. She made this print using some technique that I can't remember the name of. One of her professors at school was one of the few people that teaches this particular method. She explained the whole thing to me -- about etching the design on a metal plate and using chemicals and all that -- unfortunately, I'm not the person to ask about that. I cannot remember the details. But it sounded like a long, tedious process. All I know is that I love this print she made. I love all the details.

We got these two posters at Simon Fraser University our first semester there. There was a poster sale on campus. I, of course, loved these headphone posters.

These concert screenprints are made by Leia Bell, an amazing Salt Lake City artist. She does the artwork for fliers and posters for shows at Kilby Court -- a venue she owns with her husband. I've been going to shows at Kilby and seeing these prints for all the different shows since I was in high school (there was usually a handful of these screenprints at Graywhale CD in Logan), but it didn't occur to me until years later that I should keep these amazing prints. Especially as they were free original prints, signed and numbered. It seems like she has designed posters for every concert at Kilby, and there have been a lot of concerts there -- so I'm constantly amazed at how she continues to be so creative with her designs. I'm not sure if she's still making these individual screenprints for shows or not -- I have been out of the SLC scene for a while now. Kilby Court was a venue I was extremely fond of and I have seen so many amazing shows there. In fact, when I was in high school I was in a band and our second show was at Kilby Court, opening up for The Eyeliners. I have so many memories of that venue. Having these prints on my wall is a great reminder (and such a pretty reminder) of that venue I miss so much.

This is a cute little poem/design by Mary Anne Radmacher that Eagan got for me years ago. I want to say he got it in Park City, but I can't remember. Next to the print are products that I like the design of. I like that 1950s style. I heard about Cheerwine for the first time on the Food Network show Unwrapped (with Mark Summers, from Double Dare!). I love that show. They talk about the history of different food products and how they're made. Cheerwine was one of the featured products. Cheerwine is made in North Carolina and has been made since 1917. It's a cherry flavored soda, and does not actually have wine in it. I learned from Unwrapped that a lot of sodas were named for what they look like (e.g., Root Beer, Ginger Ale) and that's how Cheerwine got its name. I remember hearing on the show that the soda is pretty much only available in the Southeastern United States, so I was totally excited (and surprised) when I saw it at a Sundance store in Utah. I don't know why they had bottles of Cheerwine at Sundance -- a clothing store for pretty much older, rich ladies. But they did, and they even had a decent amount. They were selling the soda, but they were also kind of using the stacked soda containers for decoration. So when I saw them in the window, I just had to get some to try it. The soda was excellent and they also make for good decoration. And then the marshmallow fluff container is just from our grocery store. I had never seen this particular brand before moving here -- maybe it's an East Coast/Mid-Atlantic brand. But I love the design.

We call this our whore wall. The Toulouse-Lautrec Moulin Rouge print was a present that our friend Denise got for us when she was in France. The two silver mirrors on each side are called harem mirrors. Apparently ancient tradition forbid women of a harem to look into a mirror. So the backs of mirrors were ornately decorated and hung as art work. When the men were not around, the women would turn the mirrors around and fix themselves up. Cheryl gave us these mirrors.

Cheryl gave Eagan this StoryPeople print. It says "There has never been a day when I have not been proud of you, I said to my son, though some days I'm louder about other stuff so it's easy to miss that."

I got this hanging stars garland at Ten Thousand Villages in Logan. A Ten Thousand Villages had just opened up in the house that Eagan's family had previously run their toy store out of. The stars are made out of palm leaf. I initially had these stars hanging up over my window, but since SLC I've lived in places with incredibly huge windows -- windows that stretch across an entire wall. I absolutely love huge windows and all the great light, but unfortunately it means I can't hang my stars up over the window because it would look fairly sad stretching out over only 1/4 of the window. So now it goes on my wall.

I found these Carson Ellis cards at a local book store/gift shop in Portland. I was looking through the cards and instantly recognized Carson's distinct style. What a find! (Though, not a coincidence I found them in Portland -- it is where she lives). Carson Ellis does the impressive album artwork for The Decemberists (and she's married to Colin Meloy. What a couple!), and I'm a huge fan of her work.