Day 28 of the Grammy Chase. After eating a pretty light breakfast, I’m already thinking ahead for what I may prepare for a more hearty lunch, all while enviously drooling over the spread that will apparently be offered to the Grammy guests and artists in 3 days. Whooooaa!!
At last years celebration, world-famous chef Wolfgang Puck was responsible for the task of cooking for more than 6000 guests, shipping in more than 1500 lbs of shrimp for starters. The official Grammy after-party is notoriously the largest post celebration in Los Angeles boasting 65 buffets, 70 bars and 97,000 sq. ft. of space with dance floors, tables and seating which is the equivalent of 3 professional football fields. Big players do it big in the big league. I’ll catch them next year, no big deal!
Day 27 of the Grammy Chase and today’s inspiration comes from an artist by the name of Shepard Fairey, who has received a significant amount of press in the last 18 months or so. His artful interpretation that played a role in the popularization of the Obama Campaign brought him rockets-ship success and visibility while simultaneously landing him in hot water. Unless you were born say, yesterday, then you should be familiar with the image below. Well, lo and behold, guess who tapped Shepard to lend his artistic talents for their annual event? You guessed it, my good friends at the Recording Academy. Shepard designed the image above for the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards Ceremony.
Shep is responsible for this iconic image of Barack Obama, which will probably be remembered as one of the most popular images of the 2000 decade. To read about the controversy, click here.
Day 22 of the Grammy Chase leads me through the sand. Sand has always served as a metaphor as well as a literal depiction of a grueling and trying travel or search for knowledge, food, water, land, etc. So today’s inspiration comes by way of Portugal and artisans around the world that participate in the annual sand sculpture event called Fiesa. I feel that my goal is best resembled by the incredible work of the hundreds of artists that create behemoth larger than life sculptures from sand. If my dreams were made of sand I’d concur with all of the troubles and obstacles that these artist must go through to complete their masterpieces. Structures crumbling; Wind shifting sand into your eyes; Threats of rain and outside conditions out of your control; Time management and lastly, having to really let go and step away at some point, as it’s just temporary beauty.
This post reminded me that no matter the nature or size of your goal or project, be it temporary of permanent, short or long term, it must be seen through to completion with conviction, diligence and detail. This applies to term papers, thesis, weight loss, house repair, fasting etc. When you’re on a journey, whether short or long, what makes the journey meaningful is not necessarily reaching the end but the things that you discover along the way that create the traveling experience. Along this particular Grammy Chase journey I found this lying along the side of the road.
More amazing sand sculptures at Fiesa SITE
Thinking back a few years, I remember attending the Allentown Art Festival with my family facing the daunting task of finding a decent parking spot somewhere near. The Allentown Art Festival is a yearly event in Buffalo that features artisans from around the world selling their crafts and it is attended my tens of thousands of people. Now take into consideration how many vehicles must be cluttering the already tiny and cramped village like scene in Allentown. So, finding a parking space “NEAR” the festival is nearly impossible. It was a gorgeous day out, so I just decided to forgo finding a “close” parking spot and meandered further downtown about a mile and a half or so from the event where parking spots were certain. I’ll shorten this a bit, as to stick to my point. My destination was to get back to my family at the event, but it was all the steps and interesting things along the way that made that journey significant, not the event itself. As I was walking down a side street that lead directly to the festival, a portion of the sidewalk was extremely out of line and elevated beneath the roots of this massive tree, with a massive trunk that I can’t even begin to guess at its diameter. So as I approach closer to the tree I see a metal plate nailed to it that indicated it as one of the “oldest” trees in Buffalo. Had I been driving like usual, I would’ve missed that little gem along the way. Then there were even some homes that had cast iron plates on them as well indicating when they were erected providing a little unknown history lesson along the way. All that to say, my journey was enriched with something as nearly as important as making it to the event.
Found out some interesting information once again today regarding the Recording Academy, responsible for the Grammy’s, so the next post, I’m going to take it back to square one, back to 1958.
In the meantime, you can dig on this illustration I worked on, as with each day and each bit of information I find on this quest, I’ll be also drawing a picture/illustration inspired by the find, just to keep my pen skills on point since its been a while. I stepped away from the Booth and sat at the drafting table for a change of speed, getting back to the original passion. This drawing pays a nod to The Foreign Exchange for their Grammy nomination this year. NOTE TO THE WORLD: When you cease to put creativity in a box, the experience is much more enjoyable. The tables are turning. Go Indie!
No my father isn’t a glass maker, but this guy is. Probably one of the best in the world. This is beautiful! Hand-blown glass objects arranged as a glass ceiling. Dale Chihuly (artist). Website
