true north © Laura Kicey. All Rights Reserved. KICEY to ICELAND or how to become a patron of the artsIn about two months (mid-to-late June) I will be going to take a trip to Iceland for 5 days for the sole purpose of taking photographs and making art. My flight is already booked! I expect to spend some time in the southwest around Reykjavik as well as going to the northwestern fjords around Djupavik. I haven't really gone anywhere outside of driving range in two years so I'm really quite hungry to travel somewhere truly unique and a bit remote.
One of my friends suggested that she would like to sponsor my trip in exchange for a print of something I take while I am there. At first I thought it was ridiculous but then it dawned on me that it was a brilliant idea... I decided it would be a both an incentive for me to make beautiful things and great way of raising funding to create a little art sponsorship program. Shockingly, I already have a few people sponsoring me which makes me very excited, and hugely appreciative. I can't thank them enough and it makes me even more excited to do great work while I am there.
I have set up a kickstarter.com sponsorship project page which is a great way to pledge - keeping in mind if I do not reach my goal by the end date of June 17, I will not get any of the money- nor will anyone get a print so if you are interested or have some questions please send me at lk{at}laurakicey{dot}com and we'll discuss!****************************************************
In the meantime I've been wildly not blogging. There have been an inordinate amount of exciting shoots and little daytrips a-plenty plus the brewings of projects big and small... and of course no time to breathe between, thus the extreme lack of writings. So again I will attempt to whiplash the bloggings up to speed. Hold onto your pants.
Quite high on the list of excitements is one of my pieces has been accepted to The Art of the State juried exhibition, being held at the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg, from June 28 - Sept 20, 2009. When I have details on the opening I will post them. VERY exciting - my photography in a museum. FOR REAL!
The shoot that Ms. Beaver and I had been planning on doing for aaaaaaages finally was about to come to fruition and then model GONE, makeup artist GONE, another makeup artist GONE. It looked like it wasn't going to happen, but quite miraculously, the magical
Mezone managed to find us a great MUA, Ruby Miro -and- model, Blair. And aside from the creepy guy who appeared to be waiting for his drug dealer, and stared holes in the four of us to kill time... it was a great shoot.
landing © Laura Kicey. All Rights Reserved. 
plotting © Laura Kicey. All Rights Reserved. 
climber © Laura Kicey. All Rights Reserved. 
off the cuff © Laura Kicey. All Rights Reserved. A unique opportunity presented itself to myself and one of my favorite people, my friend and repeat model, Tanya Dakin. One of her coworkers has an amazing house in Philly built in the 20s, and behind the house was a garage/carriage house - the lower story of which they kept their car in, the upper story remained more or less untouched since it had been occupied by the original owner's driver - full of original fixtures, including an amazing telephone/intercom device, a claw foot tub, a tiny water heater and radiators... plus a gorgeous coat of peely blue paint. Oh and did I mention the unearthly light. Yeah, that too. All makeup and wardrobe styling by the model, Tanya Dakin.
withdrawal © Laura Kicey. All Rights Reserved. 
rhombus © Laura Kicey. All Rights Reserved. 
change of season © Laura Kicey. All Rights Reserved. 
submersible © Laura Kicey. All Rights Reserved. The following week I had a chance to work the very lovely Jenn An. We'd been trying to get together for over a month, I had a very specific dreamy look in mind, the perfect location... all I needed was a perfectly sunny day to make it all work and after a couple of rainfails - we hit it perfectly. The gorgeous abandoned greenhouse glowed from within... and Jenn shone with it. She was an absolute pleasure to work with.
All makeup and wardrobe styling by the model, Jenn An.
painted on © Laura Kicey. All Rights Reserved. 
cathedral © Laura Kicey. All Rights Reserved. 
peer © Laura Kicey. All Rights Reserved. One amazing jampacked weekend of art on art on art, it started with the 're'-opening of the juried group show at the Artist Friendly Exhibit, Skylight 307 Gallery at 307 Market Street in Philadelphia, which I had two pieces in - one of which won an honorable mention. After an appearance there, I went to
The Shanners opening,
Say Hello to my Little Friends over at Cafe Estelle (which is still going on!) where much fun, furriness and jumbo shrimp were happening in a big way. Beautifully individual pieces- vibrant and sweet, unbearably cute, and the whole show was so beautifully visualized down to the smallest detail. And since then she has had a huge in flux of very exciting offers including a very big show at a VERY big venue. More details soon.
The adorable artist herself...
shannon's show © Laura Kicey. All Rights Reserved. The next day I buzzed out to West Chester to hitch a ride with Ralph and Adrian to go on a much-anticipated roadtrip, to meet long-time-but-never-met friend
Linda Plaisted at the opening of her show
The Arborist at the Delaplaine Center for the Visual Arts in Frederick, MD.
A meeting that should have happened aaaaaaaaages ago, finally materializing- Linda was exactly as I pictured her, every ounce as warm and just... easy. Just like we'd always spent time together talking about life and art every day. Well we have, just never face to face. The trip down was a blast with 'Major' Nardell and Mr. Adrian and the time spent with all of them warmed me to the core. Her show was not just impressive, but an exquisitely executed reflection on her life and loves. It made me so happy to see her and her work together and meet her family, who I have been watching grow for so long, from afar.
muy linda © Laura Kicey. All Rights Reserved. The very next day, because I just couldn't get enough driving wedged into the weekend, Goldberg and I drove to Asbury Park to take stock of all that has changed in the three years since I last visited. I was shocked to see how gentrified it has become. There are still quite a few abandoned places. The sprawling Metropolitan Hotel has been mostly demolished, save a tiny portion... which honestly I don't understand why they bothered keeping. The former casino/roller rink has been hacked in half, the walkway and non-beach-side remaining are under renovation. Some of the formerly sketchiest neighborhoods were now overrun with likely overpriced boutiques and cafes and yuppie couples with hotrod baby strollers. It was like another city, completely.
longrider © Laura Kicey. All Rights Reserved. 
forces © Laura Kicey. All Rights Reserved. On Easter Sunday, because I not only cannot get enough driving, I can't get my fill of The JERZ, Goldberg and I returned to NJ to visit the sprawling Sandy Hook & Gateway National Park. As it was formerly a military installation there are a bevy of interesting (and abandoned/crumbling) structures, just about everywhere you turn. Goldmine.
I suppose Goldberg thought it might be unpopulated on Easter, alas no. Instead it was overrun with heathens like us and Orthodox Jews... who we witnessed come face to face with a naked man jogging on the beach. Unreal. Completely. I missed photographing said incident by a couple minutes:
thirds © Laura Kicey. All Rights Reserved. 
breach © Laura Kicey. All Rights Reserved. Every turn was a surprise. Including stepping on a beach and into a pile of rotting lady's slippers and being swallowed by black flies, then hit with a strong biting nearly wintery wind. Luckily the wind escorted us quickly out when we were done, and blew us into the Mad Hatter for some killer pizza.
The hour is late and I've babbled on long enough... don't forget to consider becoming a patron of the arts - June is not far off! And I have rent to pay.
lk{at}laurakicey{dot}com and we'll discuss! Thank you to all those who have already become sponsors! Much love y'all.
Labels: abandoned, architecture, art, beach, daniel, etsy, fashion, flickr, gallery, happiness, iceland, michael, photography, sarah, shannon, show, travel, work
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