Ballet Under the Stars and the beauty of free culture

When people talk about free events, they tend to miss what really makes them great. The fact that no money is required for entry is nice. But what’s even better is the laidback feel, ability to be spontaneous, and sense of community that is more likely when there’s no price of admission.

Sure, I like dressing up and watching a performance in a reserved symphony hall seat once in awhile. But I also like taking in a ballet while sitting cross-legged with a cooler full of my favorite snacks and beverages at my side.

Free usually means not having to bother with tickets. You can decide to go or not go at the last minute if you need/want to. Free can bring typically inside events (Shakespeare) outside (…in the park). You can enjoy good weather AND enjoy the arts, instead of it being an either/or scenario.

Ballet Under the Stars

I love Ballet Arizona’s annual event, Ballet Under the Stars. I try to make it to the performance at Tempe Center for the Arts every September. By then, the evenings have usually cooled off, and it’s lovely to be out next to the lake, under the sky, instead of stuck inside hugging the air conditioning vents (which is basically what you do all summer in Phoenix.) You can spread a blanket out on the grass or bring folding chairs.

You see lots of people with kids, little girls wearing tutus and dancing along. But it’s not just for people with kids. You also see seniors and ASU students, and everyone in between. There’s always a huge turnout, and it seems to grow every year.

The program is usually a mix of the traditional ballet that most of us associate with the art form and more contemporary pieces, showcasing excerpts from upcoming performances. There is also a performance from kids in the community who have participated in the company’s Class Act program.

Picnic

Last year, I took the neighborhood shuttle over with a picnic and a blanket. I got there about 6:30, got a decent spot (6:00 would probably get you a super spot!), and watched the dancers warm up. Phillip took the light rail after work and found me just before the performance began.

For the main course of our picnic, Wildflower Bread Company’s Roasted Sweet Potato sandwich gave me idea for a veggie grilled cheese with sliced leftover sweet potatoes, onions, bell peppers and gouda cheese between two slices of bread toasted on the outside. I wrapped each sandwich in foil to keep them (mostly) warm until Phillip got there. They were just a little messy and some of the melted cheese wanted to stick to the foil, but it worked pretty well overall.

We munched, took in the performance, laid back, and looked at the stars. And that’s a wonderful way to experience the ballet.

What to know about Ballet Under the Stars:

There are performances all over the Phoenix area, September 18-27 at 7pm.
Admission is free, but you can make a donation to support Ballet Arizona online or at an event.
No photography is permitted during the event. (Post photos were taken before it.)
Bring something to sit on (blanket, lawn chair, etc.).
You don’t have to be silent, just don’t be annoying. Expect there to be general kid noise and people-coming-and-going noise. Whisper a comment to your friend if you want – just don’t talk over the whole performance.

Transportation/Parking for the Tempe Center for the Arts Performance

DO NOT plan to park at Tempe Center for the Arts unless your car has a disability plate or decal! Because Ballet Under the Stars is such a huge event, that night the entire lot is used for ADA parking. There’s always a long line of cars waiting to get in the lot and most of them are turned away. It causes a big traffic snarl.
~~Park at the U.S. Airways Garage at 111 W. Rio Salado Parkway (enter off of Ash Avenue). It’s free after 6 p.m., and it’s about a 1/2 mile walk.~~ [UPDATED parking info is on the TCA site.]
Or don’t park at all. TAC is about 3/4 mile from the Mill Avenue/Third Street light rail stop.

August 22, 2014September 3, 2014

DIY Embroidered Watches and Ribbon Backdrop

First: orange or lime green?

They’re both bright, citrusy colors, so I don’t know what – if anything – each person’s color pick said about their personality. But, by the end of the night, everyone at our Craft Hack gathering had a chance to put their own creative stamp on their project.

You may have seen our craft for this month on our Facebook page. This time, it came in Brit Kits, provided by Timex and Brit + Co (who I am a contributor for). After choosing their color, each person received a kit that included a Timex Weekender Slip-Thru watch with a band that was either orange or lime, coordinating embroidery floss, needles, and instructions with sample patterns.

Everyone could work at their own pace. We shared tips and drew ideas from each other. The kit patterns got the creative juices going, and then I think all 9 of us ended up coming up with our own designs.

Shannon and her fiancé (the lone guy of the group) teamed up, mixing and matching thread colors. He was also the one-man research team. Anne wanted to base her pattern on the traditional Russian Orthodox cross symbol, and he found one to reference. Inspired by nature, Jo Ann created a beautiful leaf pattern, and Vesna embroidered flowers. Crystal has been hand lettering a public art project, so she has ampersands on the brain lately. One found its way onto her watch.

Ribbon backdrop

Since I knew we’d be meeting in the dark-walled conference room, I wanted to add a little color. I threw together a last-minute ribbon backdrop (inspired by these) by looping random colors of gift wrap ribbon over baker’s twine and securing with tape.

What I learned about making backdrops:

You can use Washi tape to secure your twine to the wall without making holes, but you’ll need tape every few inches to keep it up. Pushpins may be a better bet.
Make sure to put your backdrop in an area with enough space for the subjects and photographer to stand in front of it!
Don’t be afraid to tell people to move over to be better centered, etc.

A few people had to leave before the group photo, but most of us managed to cram in, showing off orange watches, green watches, and products of our imagination.

—

Group photo by a passerby at Gangplank. Last watch photo by Vesna Taneva-Miller.

August 14, 2014

Handcrafted postcards

My favorite souvenirs aren’t mass produced. They’re things like a scarf from a street fair or wildflowers from the Rockies.

I didn’t do much shopping on my SeaSFBlog trip, but I did get a chance to stop by the Fremont Sunday Market. The market is held rain or shine, which is good, because, you know, Seattle does have 58 days a year of sunshine.

One vendor was called Fun Junk: Piles of Old Stuff. True to their word, the tables held mounds of skeleton keys, patches, watch faces, and stacks of what looked like miniature paintings. It turned out they basically were. The owner finds vintage paintings in thrift stores, cuts them into sections, and stamps “POST CARD” across the back. The result is these beautiful, one-of-a-kind, mailable works of art.

It made me think about what else I could pick up along the way (when I’m not in Seattle) to make impromptu postcards. Travel brochures? Booklet covers? Maps? Gift boxes or packaging? It might be a good idea to pack some labels to stick over items without a blank space to write on.

You could mail pages of an on-the-go travel journal back to yourself and bind them together when you get back. Or mail a note to a friend.

As long as you meet the post office mailing guidelines for the country you’re in and make sure your postcard/letter/package is sturdy enough to handle shipping, you can really get creative with what you mail!

Resources

Fun Junk: locations | online shop (awesome typewriter key jewelry but no postcards at the moment)

USPS mailing guidelines: domestic | international

Creative mail inspriation: “Happy mail” by Giver’s Log

July 3, 2014July 9, 2014

Hollywood Costume: The art of film costuming

Last weekend I got to meet Marilyn Monroe’s dress.

It was (and will be through this weekend) at the Phoenix Art Museum, along with 100 other costumes from both recent and classic films.

Fun fact: The last time I was there was for Arts & Flowers. While I was waiting for Phillip (and getting lost on the second floor), he stopped in the lobby to talk to Phoenix Comicon volunteers. Which inspired us to go to the Con, where we stopped to talk to Phoenix Art Museum volunteers, snapped a photobooth pic for their Hollywood Costume Instagram contest, won it, and found ourselves in the Museum lobby again, thus completing the circle.

It was our destiny.

Officially, we’d won an Audrey+Marilyn grab bag. But when the Museum heard we hadn’t made it to the exhibition yet, they made tickets part of our prize. Super nice, right?!

This time we didn’t even get lost. The Hollywood Costume exhibit is on the first floor with a giant marquee.

You pass the velvet ropes and ticket taker (also a no photos sign). Before entering the main exhibit, you pause in a room with a large screen showing the most famous clips for the most well-known costumes inside. It’s like a sneak peek.

Inside, there’s exhibit information projected onto glass, teleprompter style. Costumes are clustered together based on themes. We snaked around the edges of these costume islands with the rest of the visitors, lines forming at points where people were lingering longer. In front of each costume is a stand with what looks like a script page that gives details on the costume and sometimes additional backstory. Woven throughout the exhibit, there are video interviews of actors and costume designers talking about what goes on behind the scenes, as well as animated projected images that explain the process.

We learned that costumes for movies have a lot to do: they need to be true to the time and the character, fit with the film’s artistic vision, and be practical for the actor to actually play their role in – whether they’re running or dancing or just wearing it during long days of shooting a scene.

I loved checking out the details of the costumes – the way the light shines on different fabrics, beaded gowns that must’ve weighed a ton, “dirt” and frayed edges added to make clothing look worn. Meryl Streep’s Mamma Mia! costume was made to sparkle. Darth Vader’s costume had more layers than we realized and buttons that reminded me of ’80s electronics (which, I guess, makes sense).

It’s always a little surreal to come face-to-face with something (or someone) that has previously only existed for you on a screen.

We spent awhile checking out Indiana Jones’s Raiders of the Lost Ark costume and the video that explained how the different components were designed, sourced, and adapted. You could see the individual distress marks in his signature leather jacket.

There was a whole section devoted to Elizabethan period costumes. One dress was hand-embroidered to match a painting exactly, while another costume designer felt it was more important that the clothing convey the right message to a modern audience than to be historically accurate in every detail. We also spotted two dresses used in films about Queen Elizabeth that expressed two very different takes on the same historical portrait.

The exhibit ends with two iconic dresses – the sexy halter back Marilyn Monroe wore in Seven Year Itch and the innocent blue gingham Judy Garland wore in The Wizard of Oz. Both are behind glass, unlike the rest of the exhibit. You walk out to a “The End” montage and find yourself back in the real world – or, at least, a museum corridor.

We perused the gift shop and wandered through a few galleries. Then we decided there’s no place like home, so we headed that way.

If you get a chance to see the Hollywood Costume exhibit, do it!

Here’s what you need to know.

Hollywood Costume at Phoenix Art Museum

This Sunday (July 6) is the last day the exhibition will be in Phoenix.
You need both Museum admission + a Hollywood Costume ticket to see it.
Tomorrow (July 4) is First Friday, so Museum admission is free and Hollywood Costume admission is discounted. It’s also Independence Day, but it would be a nice, air-conditioned thing to do before it’s dark enough for fireworks.
No photos are allowed in the exhibit.
The exhibition is touring from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. ~~I don’t know where it goes next.~~ [Update below.]
Visit phxart.org for exhibition details, including a list of all the costumes on display (PDF).
Have fun!

UPDATE: The next and final stop for Hollywood Costume will be the historic Wilshire May Company building in Los Angeles from October 2, 2014 through March 2, 2015. It will be presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

June 11, 2014

Nutella brownie bites

To celebrate Travelcraft Journal’s 1st year and to thank a very supportive group of smart, crafty people, I brought Nutella brownie bites to Craft Hack on Monday.

They were super simple to make. The truth is, with all the Phoenix Comicon craziness over the weekend, I had almost forgotten I was even going to make something. Thank goodness I had pinned this little gem at some point last year.

The recipe calls for just 3 ingredients (4 if you add sprinkles or hazelnuts on top): eggs, flour, Nutella. What I had on hand was actually non-Nutella-brand hazelnut spread that we had decided to try awhile back. Its thinner consistency wasn’t great on toast but turned out to be fabulous for mixing into brownie batter.

I had about half a cup of spread left in my jar, so I halved the recipe. I poured the batter into a mini muffin pan, added sprinkles, reduced the temperature a little and checked them after 15 minutes. The result was 18 delicious little brownie bites.

Most of which made it to Craft Hack. ;)