Tag Archives: art

Jan15

Big Chill Kitchen Makeover

Posted on by
Standard
Big Chill Kitchen Makeover

Hi everyone and welcome to a fun Kitchen Makeover edition of lifewithlilred, compliments of Big Chill! When I was asked to create my dream kitchen by Big Chill, I just couldn’t refuse. They specialize in vintage appliances that are sure to make an amazing centerpiece to get people talking at your next dinner party. There are so many darling choices to pick from that it was hard to choose a favorite! Shop along at: bigchill and see how I would decorate my dream kitchen:

^^^ The thing about my style, is that it’s very eclectic. There’s no rhyme or reason for why I like certain things and I’m never too concerned about creating the perfect match. Is my dream kitchen worthy of being featured in the top five “world’s most beautiful kitchens”? Probably not, but I sure had a good time making it! Take a peek inside my mind and see why I picked the items featured above:

Cherry Red stove: As I browsed through Big Chill’s website, the first item that really caught my eye was their Cherry Red stove – which shouldn’t be that big of a surprise! As soon as I saw it, countless ideas for a retro 1950’s chic kitchen began to bloom and I knew that I wanted it for my centerpiece. Yes, it’s one of my favorite colors but it’s just so darn fun! I love to cook and thinking about creating meals for my family on this little beauty made me so happy. It’s bright, cool, and the perfect pop of color for a kitchen that wows.

Kitchen cabinets: I like how the cabinets that I found are kind of shabby chic. They scream “1950’s starter home kitchen” to me and I think it’s really charming. Once you have true vintage style appliances line the ones from Big Chill, you just have to ride out the theme and I think these cabinets do it perfectly. I would change the color to a few shades lighter but other than that, I’m a fan!

Black dishwasher: Despite all of the darling colors you can pick from on Big Chill’s site, I didn’t want to go too crazy and stuck with a classic black dishwasher. To me, the color looks matte, which is nice because it lets the vibrant appliances like the refrigerator and stove do the talking. Of course, you may need the help of Ferris Plumbing, Heating & Cooling to get it fitted but that can make your kitchen refit even more convenient. Not all homes from back in the day had a dishwasher but it was a must for me because Lil Red does not do dirty dishes!!

Hand towels & wall art: I wanted some sweet hand towels to lay around the kitchen so I kept with the color red and found some cute checked ones to scatter about. They’ll be perfect for slopping up spills of wine, coffee, and junk food! I also wanted some unique pictures to hang and I really like the black utensil decor. The wall art is simple but it still looks sharp and stands out and I think they’ll make a great addition to my dream kitchen.

Beach Blue refrigerator: Oh yes, I love love LOVE this Big Chill fridge! The Beach Blue color is so vibrant and bright, it’s just delightful. I also really like combining this cheery blue with the Cherry Red stove. This refrigerator is pure fun and I couldn’t imagine how envious my friends would be if I had this appliance in my home.

Kitchen table: A vintage style kitchen needs just the right table and I adore the red and white dinette that I found. It looks like it came straight out of the cutest mom and pop diner and it really ties the retro theme together. All it needs now is a nice big bowl of fresh fruit and a vase full of bright and blooming flowers.

Pink Lemonade Microwave: For Lil Red, a microwave is a must. No one likes to cook all the time! I went with Big Chill’s Pink Lemonade microwave for my kitchen. I didn’t want to repeat any of the colors of the other appliances so I went with the pink, which is a color I don’t normally pick. I like how girly and sweet it is, though, and I think it compliments the other appliance colors really nicely. The Pink Lemonade color is more muted, too, which I think is a plus. A microwave any brighter would probably clash with the other items in my kitchen.

Vanilla walls: To complete my kitchen, I would paint the walls a rich and creamy vanilla. To me, that color is a neutral even though it isn’t your standard black, white, or beige. I think the vanilla walls would make the Big Chill appliances really pop and it has a great quirky and retro feel overall.

Ta da!! My Big Chill Kitchen Makeover! I had so much fun writing this article and giving a go at home decor. Please make sure you check out the other wonderful appliances that Big Chill has to offer at: bigchill. How would you decorate your dream kitchen? What color of appliances would you get from Big Chill? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Nov10

Tri-C Fall Semester Update

Posted on by
Standard
Tri-C Fall Semester Update

Helloooo everyone and happy Tuesday! Good news: I’m feeling much better after this past weekend’s concussion catastrophe and now everything is smooth sailing as usual. My fall semester at Tri-C will be done in about a month or so and let me tell you, I am SO ready for it! I have officially hit the end of semester slump so hard to the point that I had to motivate myself with buying a Starbucks drink yesterday before class to get myself to go, haha it’s that bad! 😉

I’m currently taking French I, Comparative World Religions, and History of Civilization this semester and have already completed a half semester Ethics course. My classes are alright for the most part aside from History. It’s a half a semester course as well and I have such an ungodly amount of homework to do each week for it…It sucks. I do like history, but the only reason I decided to take the class was because it was a prerequisite for a course specifically about WWII, which is my favorite thing to learn about. But unfortunately, when I went to schedule my spring classes I found out that the course was not offered online and it can only be taken on a campus that’s even farther than the forty minute drive I already make to my campus. I was SO PISSED! Had I known that, I would have never signed up for the history class to begin with and stuck with something that I really enjoy like Psychology or Theater.

Speaking of the spring semester, I am very excited for the classes that I registered for last week. I’ll be taking French II, Abnormal Psychology, and Introduction to Criminology. I’m looking forward to continuing my work in French and I’m lucky because my current French professor is teaching French II and I just love her! It will definitely be nice to be able to pick up where we left off in the fall. As I mentioned earlier, I love Psychology so I was so excited to see that Tri-C offers a course on all of the strange and unusual that goes on in the brain with Abnormal Psychology. I also was pretty pumped to see that an Introduction to Criminology course was offered from a sociological stand point so it was a no brainer to sign up for that too!

Other than my semi-boring history course, my fall semester has treated me very well. I’ve been repping straight A’s for days and made myself an awesome spring schedule to look forward to next semester! Then by the end of next fall, I’ll be officially graduated with my Associate of Arts degree! Yippy!

giphy

You know how I said my history course has an ungodly amount of homework? Yeah, this post may or may not be a procrastination tactic on that so I guess I should probably get to it! I hope all of you are having a fantastic week so far! Where are all of my college kids at? How is your fall semester going? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Oct26

Nelson Morris: For The Sake Of Art

Posted on by
Standard
Nelson Morris: For The Sake Of Art

Hello everyone and welcome to a very special article on lifewithlilred. I had the absolute pleasure of getting to know Nelson Morris, a teacher, an artist, and now a new friend. Nelson recently had a part of his work entitled the “1000 Faces Project” featured at the Cleveland Ingenuity Festival and it is currently being displayed at the Waterloo Sculpture Garden and let me tell you, those who can make it out are in for a treat. Learning the intricacies of Nelson’s artwork was such a joy and I know I shouldn’t be saying this but I’m going to anyways…I have never been so excited to work with someone. Take a look at the interview conducted by yours truly as well as some photos of Nelson’s creations:

nelsonnelson1nelson2

  • Lil Red: So the first thing everyone is obviously going to want to know about is your latest creative endeavor, the “1000 Faces Project”, so tell me more.
  • Nelson: Of course. It started when I was a student teacher in Middlefield, Ohio. My art students never wanted to do portraits, which I think comes from the social anxiety a student can often feel from the fear of making a mistake. I fought tooth and nail with them about it and one day I set up a still life of a plaster cast and the kids drew it. Something in them clicked, similar to the light bulb moment that I had during a trip to New York City to help a fellow artist. I saw so many people and all I wanted to do was draw all of their faces. This project is about diversity and the subtle facial differences that make us unique. What makes us the same? What makes us different? I wanted to find out, so I began making casts.
  • LR: Approximately how many faces have you cast?
  • N: So far I have 165.
  • LR: And you think you’re going to get to 1000?
  • N: Yes, I really do. At the Ingenuity exhibit I was set up on stage casting audience members. I casted thirty faces there and got a great response so hopefully I can keep that momentum going.
  • LR: Has it been difficult finding people willing to sit for you to get their faces cast?
  • N: Yes! The casting part is easy, it’s finding people that’s the hardest. I can transport an 1800 pound statue on my own and it’s horrible but finding people is much harder.
  • LR: How have you been finding people to plaster?
  • N: First I started by reaching out to my friends on Facebook but then I quickly ran out. I then started adding all of the people on the “people you may know” section – I sent a friend request to anyone who looked sane! That’s how I got in touch with you!
  • LR: I’m glad I look sane to you! But I do the exact same thing when I want more views on my site – a friend on Facebook is a potential viewer.
  • N: I’ve met some great people from it, too. One time I got to cast a group of fifteen people in the basement of the Fastlane bowling alley in Barberton after it closed thanks to finding the owner on Facebook.
  • LR: I didn’t even know bowling alleys had basements! What are some of the most memorable moments from all of the people you’ve casted?
  • N: I’ve had some creepy ones, that’s for sure – but I’ve also had a lot of really fun ones too…Except for the first cast that I ever did, which was on my own face. As an artist, you always experiment on yourself first, so I was home alone at my parent’s house and I stood in front of a mirror and started to cover my face in plaster. I had straws in my nose, walrus-style, so I could breathe and after about three layers of plaster I covered my eyes and did the rest by touch. This was in June and I had hay fever at the time and the straws stuck up my nose kept on bumping and tickling me and before I knew it, I felt a huge sneeze coming on. I tried to pry the cast off but it was stuck on there pretty good and for a split second I thought to myself, “great, this is how I’m going to die – with a plaster face mask on”. But I got the cast off and I survived! However, the plaster that I used originally was very rough and gritty and when I pulled the mask off some chunks of plaster got into my eyes…I spent forty-five minutes in the shower trying to wash it all out.
  • LR: The things people do for their craft. Can you tell me more about the process of creating a plaster face cast?
  • N: Well, the process was a bit messy to start because I’ve only plastered bodies, never a face. I used to use about six layers of gauze impregnated with plaster but now I’ve got it down to only one to two layers. Like I said, making the casts is the easiest part now. All you do is dip the gauze in water, squeegee it off, and slap it on the face. I’ve got the process down from a half hour to ten or fifteen minutes flat.
  • LR: What do you think the finished product is going to be like once you’ve finally cast 1000 faces?
  • N: It changes all the time. I think very architecturally though so the idea right now is to have the faces lined up next to each other, kind of like in the old underground catacombs. When they’re lined up next to each other is when you can truly compare and contrast them. I also want to incorporate audio into the project. I take recordings of the voices of everyone who I’ve plastered and I would like to make it so if you touch one of the faces you can hear the voice of the model.
  • LR: Wait what? How do you plan on doing that?
  • N: I know it sounds crazy but stay with me! I’ve played with this idea before with a life sized terracotta statue. The sound chip was solar powered so when the sun lined up just right the statue of the woman would begin to sing. But that was just for one statue – I had no idea how I would do it with hundreds of face casts. I started to ask around for help and the head engineer of 107.9 (a Cleveland radio station) told me about a processing board that might make the idea possible. I happened to find a hobby group dedicated to working on the processing boards in Akron and I emailed a member with the subject “For The Sake Of Art”. He replied and has been helping me with creating the codes and wiring to give the plaster masks voices.
  • LR: I’m so excited to see the “1000 Faces Project” in all of its concrete and audio glory. So, if you could say one thing to a young Nelson before he had a beard, what would it be?
  • N: Everything’s gonna turn out alright.

Pretty cool, huh? Not only is Nelson an artist extraordinaire, but he also teaches pre-k through 8th grade. How he has time to breathe is beyond me! He told me a great story about how on the first day of one of his classes he presented the students with a basket of one hundred pencils and a pair of bolt cutters. He cut off the eraser to every pencil because his students don’t use erasers in his classes so that they can learn how to fix their problems on their own. This goes along hand in hand with the mantra he tells his students daily: “Making a mistake isn’t a problem when you’re creating art work. You have to learn from your mistakes and adapt from them”.

Nelson is a self funded artist who creates customized pieces and will be selling replicas of the tiles seen in the pictures featured on this post. If you are interested in any of his art work old and new or have ideas for a custom piece, you can contact him at:

If you live in the Akron/Cleveland, Ohio area and are interested in having Nelson cast your face he now offers free house casting parties. If you can get five people to attend, he will come to you. But if you get ten or more people to come to the party, all of the guests will receive a free record of their face which will look something like this:

record

I want to thank Nelson so much for sitting down with me for a chat because it was seriously an  honor. If you have any questions for my new friend you can reach him through any of the mediums I posted above or leave me a comment to relay to him. Would you get your face plastered for the 1000 Faces Project? What do you think Nelson’s finished product is going to end up looking like? We wanna hear from all of you, so leave us a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah