Reviews & Reflections of a South Williamsburger

Selling Art! Spending $ to Make Money

2012-10-02T00:08:00.001-04:00

That's how it works. I've now invested hundreds in setting up my portable store. At least I don't have to rent a venue to sell, but I have thus far purchased a portable table, a stool, a folding handcart, matte frames, art sleeves, prints, clips, art business cards, and so on, and I am ready to go. Tomorrow will mark my first day of selling my art out for the day! Look out for me on Bedford Ave. in Williamsburg. I'll be in the vicinity of N. 3rd St.

Or, you can buy from me online.

I'm finally really setting out to make real money pursuing what I love!

My art on Artwanted

2012-09-18T12:26:00.000-04:00

I am also working on building an Etsy store and an original website, with a marketing strategy! Here's to marketing my art.

Art In the Making!

2012-09-10T23:15:00.000-04:00

So I checked out Brooklyn Flea this weekend in Williamsburg and met a potential vendor to sell with. I liked her, and she is interested in selling her own stuff with me! She thinks our art is complementary. And she is more experienced at selling in person (which is true of anyone who's sold their art/craft in person) and is going to make/procure a table/stand for us as well. I've only just applied to sell at Brooklyn Flea a few days ago, so we'll see. But I'm not losing any sleep over it. I may as well try selling on Bedford Ave, Union Square, Highline Park and/or Central Park for free first. Thank goodness for freedom of speech for allowing "expressive matter" vendors to sell license-free in New York!

Now I just have to go to the art store and find frames/covers to present my art, and to wait for prints and postcards of my art to arrive. I've also been updating my Imagekind site lately and opened up a Cafepress store the other day. Here's to pursuing the dream in NYC!

2012-09-07T11:57:00.000-04:00

I've had a few more pieces published since I've last signed onto Blogger. My "Street Trash Innocence" poem is featured on the Circa Review, paired with a vintage photo of two topless women (unbeknownst to me at the time of publication). And I have a collage paired with a little essay/prose piece I wrote, "The Traveler/Urban Traveler," published on Shuf Poetry.

I've also written about the upcoming Williamsburg Fashion Weekend on Examiner.com.

I've been a little careless with keeping up with my writing and art this summer (and I was so ambitious!!), but now that I am back from travels and back to somewhat of a routine, I am returning my creative pursuits, hopefully with a vengeance. Someone even recently brought a print of my artwork on Imagekind. So things are slowly happening for me. It's a hard knock life trying to make a living with
one's art in NYC!

2012-07-08T23:03:00.000-04:00

Read my review of the P.S. 1 Warm Up Party! This is a Saturday party going on regularly during the summer, through September 8. Outdoor dance party at the museum!

Coney Island Mermaid Parade 2012

2012-06-25T14:00:00.001-04:00

The Coney Island Mermaid Parade this weekend was a blazing spectacle, complete with people in various stages of costumes, dress and undress.

Lots of water, sunscreen, and energy to brave through the crowds were all essential for the day of wackiness in the sun. I sighted everything from pink- and red-haired little girls to women ice skating on a parade float to a pole dancer, to the deranged clown in the bar.

To get out of the crowd for a bit, I also stopped into Ruby's Bar on the boardwalk, which had a bar outside in addition to the primary one inside. It was also a great place to use the restrooms and get some respite from the sun. The place was not so crowded - or stressful - compared to the moving masses on the boardwalk. I sighted the deranged clown here.

LES Graffiti

2012-06-07T22:13:00.001-04:00

Seen today in the Lower East Side - on Ludlow by Grand St.

In order to love NYC, you need to make your mark on it...

2012-06-06T12:37:00.001-04:00

I wrote an article yesterday, Williamsburg on the Cheap - I am trying to rekindle my love for the 'hood and all its wackiness. Free people-watching, music, art and more, it's true....

Here's to Summer 2012 in NYC.

2012-05-03T18:06:00.001-04:00

Please vote for my artwork here! Voting ends May 25. Click on the star to "collect" me and support my art.

Now on Twitter!

2012-04-29T11:46:00.000-04:00

I now have a Twitter page - follow me at RachelOliviaNYC.

Returing to Writing

2012-04-12T16:23:00.001-04:00

I am going to be updating more frequently again!

Here are some very disparate pieces I've published...

and a review of a Chelsea art exhibit.

Hennessy Youngman's show, "It's a small, small world"

Stay tuned for más!

Dismantling Routine and Labor Day Fun!

2011-09-03T11:43:00.001-04:00

Yet another published piece! The long-awaited publication of my creative nonfiction piece, "Dismantling Routine" has finally been published in The Shadyside Review.

And speaking of dismantling routine, no time better to do it than the long Labor Day weekend. I am definitely going to attend The Palms pool party again tonight, which features Reggie Watts as headliner, along with other amazing performances, DJ's, a masseuse, the infamous dumpster pools, food trucks and more.

Happy Labor Day weekend, everyone!

"Held Hostage in this Dance with Plagiarism" Poem Published!

2011-08-15T13:10:00.001-04:00

A prose poem of mine, "Held Hostage in this Dance with Plagiarism" was published today in The Common Voice! I am steeling myself for another semester of plagiarism-fighting this Fall...

Also, in terms of real dancing, this new party is amazing! - The Palms party in Long Island City, replete with pools, hula hoops, food trucks and incredible DJs!

"A Monday in May," Published!

2011-08-02T17:35:00.000-04:00

Another poem was accepted for publication!

Below is "A Monday in May, just published in Subliminal Interiors.

A Monday in May

Endless rain today, interminable rain this past week, a steady backdrop of gray: this muted, wet urban landscape. Bleary, tumultuous, congested. Then the sky this afternoon broke out in baby blue, with cotton candy clouds. Unexpected sunshine, color, vividness. The backdrop suddenly warm, bright, inviting. Dream weather: a balmy, idyllic NYC Spring evening. A ridiculously fitting analogy for this medicine-induced clearing of my head, of my body. Like the urban landscape I inhabit, my body has lately been a tired, weak, runny, polluted machine. But tonight looms large as my body is at least temporarily restored and imminent adventure and connection await, as the hint of promise and rebirth beckon and liven up this spirit, this body. It may be Monday, but May is the Friday of the months: full of promise, activity, life.

Ecuador Story Published!

2011-08-01T14:04:00.000-04:00

Ta-da. My story on my Ecuador travels was published in Scholars and Rogues online. I think I need to work on expanding on my experience there, beyond these phantom images that haunt me, to describe my host family and their landscape a bit more. Stay tuned...

Art Published!

2011-07-11T10:21:00.000-04:00

I have two tree-themed artworks published in The Common Voice.

With all these recent acceptances, I have to get cracking... Time to write and make more art!

Grind, Vindication and Wanderlust

2011-07-06T16:26:00.000-04:00

I just got a poem published in Burning Word! Entitled "Approaching My Own Version Of Adulthood," it pretty much speaks for itself.

How amazing (and gratifying) it was to receive three publication acceptance emails the same day while traveling abroad. Such is my summer. More works already accepted for publication are on their way. It feels good to be vindicated/appreciated sometimes.

In other words, returning to NYC after having been away for awhile is both surreal and bittersweet. I've missed it, and my friends and home, but I already miss being elsewhere. I find myself relating to Elisabeth Eaves's Wanderlust, the book I am currently reading.

And life and time continue to move forward. I saw this odd contraption today in Williamsburg, reminding me of how strange, unexpected and creatively saturated NYC life is.

Apparently Red Bull is hosting some kind of inventors' contest (dubbed "The Ordinary Becomes the Extraordinary") this Sunday in McCarren Park.

I might have to check it out. (Free to the public from 3-7 pm). And then I have my own individual projects to pursue, like getting more work published...

Coney Island Mermaid Parade

2011-06-19T14:36:00.001-04:00

The mermaid parade was a terrifically crowded celebration of everything nautical, and then some, in true Coney Island fashion.

Expanded Highline!

2011-06-09T18:07:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I explored the newly opened extension of the Highline. The newest addition includes art installations that double as bird feeders, more seating areas, and additional spectacular views and railroad-based gardens.

It's worth checking out!

Lower Manhattan Splendor

2011-06-07T00:16:00.000-04:00

While I typically don't hang around in the Financial District or Battery Park during my leisure time, this Sunday was an exception. And an absolutely lovely, mellow and fulfilling exception it was. So much so that it merits being called a staycation.

Some highlights of the day:

Lock Bikes to Street Fixtures At Your Own Risk

2011-06-01T17:38:00.000-04:00

Huh. Apparently a few years ago NYC decided to apply an administrative code, 16-122-B, to not only cars but to bicycles. The website, Bicycletter suggests that NYC decided to institute this code to bikes in order to protest events such as Critical Mass. According to their website,

"Previous City administrations deliberately did not apply 16-122(b) to bicycles so as not to discourage bicycle use. This new interpretation appears to be related to recent police actions against cyclists participating in Critical Mass, where NYPD has removed bicycles locked up by Mass participants. Outside of these actions, NYPD has removed locked bikes from the street in only a handful of isolated incidents: from areas in Midtown during the RNC, and from the Bedford Ave (L) and Second Ave (F/V) subway station entrances.

The 5BBC has not heard of any other use of this policy against everyday cyclists. But we suggest that cyclists avoid locking to subway entrances, or in any way that might block pedestrian traffic."

I apparently parked my bike this afternoon to a pole in front of some (self-)important building in Greenpoint this afternoon and returned to it a few hours later with this sign affixed:

Would NYPD actually have removed my bike if I hadn't returned back to it in such a timely manner? I don't know, but the threat effectively scared me.... so be warned!

Highline Goodness!

2011-05-29T12:49:00.000-04:00

My friend and I strolled through the Highline Park the other day. Truly a lovely urban park! And gorgeous, dare I say breathtaking, views.

Radio Play and NYPL Centennial

2011-05-21T12:19:00.000-04:00

The trend is to celebrate the past. Especially with the threat of the imminent Rapture, it makes sense. Last night I saw Reggie Watts's and Tommy Smith's Radio Play at PS 122, a comedic, surreal send-up of old radio programs. Fittingly, it takes place mostly in the dark.

I recommend the show; it plays through May 28. Catch it! And/or a Reggie Watts performance anytime you have the chance.

(Reggie Watts, photo credit: Noah Kalina)

And this weekend marks the New York Public Library Centennial. Interesting, one of the free events for the centennial is a performance installation (really, isn't "play" such an antiquated, vague term anyway?) called Shuffle, which features passages from 1920s literature shuffled by computer algorithms. I expect the result will be as surreal and disorienting - and even humorous - as Radio Play.

(Photo credit: Caroline Voagen Nelson)

Carroll Gardens, Gowanus and Rainy Day Musings on Love

2011-05-19T10:52:00.000-04:00

I didn't let the rain last night stop me from an adventure. My friends got in touch with me to see this indie documentary, My Heart Is An Idiot, at Littlefield, a performance and art space in the Gowanus.

Coming from Williamsburg, I figured my easiest route would be to take the G to Carroll Gardens and then walk over on Carroll St. to the Park Slope side of the Gowanus. And what a gorgeous walk. I even passed the old location of ISSUE Project Room, a gorgeous space on Carroll St. between Bond and Nevins that is now BKLYN Yard.

I snapped a couple of shots during my walk. These don't capture the ethereal beauty of the place, the fragrant gardens and the humid, earthly feeling of the misty night.

My Heart Is An Idiot was a thoughtful documentary that followed around one man, Davy Rothbart and his professed search for true love. Rothbart, the creator of Found Magazine, tours around the country promoting Found and musing about love, namely in the form of two girls: the one he is obsessed with but with whom he has yet to forge anything more than a friendship with sexual overtones, and the girl with whom he is romantically involved but with whom he lacks a sense of commitment. As even his mother said in the doc, he is a "con artist" who is more focused on the pursuit of true love than the actual commitment of a relationship; as his one female friend put it, he is good at romance but not relationships. The beauty of this documentary is that it portrays Rothbart as the flawed, quirky individual he is in a very humanistic and sympathetic way. Thank director, collaborator and friend David Meiklejohn for that.

Museums in the Spring!

2011-05-04T23:33:00.000-04:00

I just wrote and published an article on Suite 101, A Brief Guide to Midtown and Uptown NYC Museums. There is also the Target First Saturday at BAM this Saturday and so many more events!