February 20, 2018
Hi!
Welcome to my tri-monthly (more like TRY-monthly but ends up being 2 updates a year) newsletter and website update! People tell me they like to read these, so I choose to believe them rather than to allow myself to feel guilty for inflicting myself on innocent art lovers and web surfers. If you are an IAL or an IWS who does not like reading this, I offer you my humble apologies and bid you a very pleasant farewell.
The rest of you, freshen your drinks & do a couple of your favorite stretches, this could be a long one!
I chose a photo of me reflected in one of my new mirror masterpieces, “Beautiful You,” as the introductory “Hi!” photo this time, because these past several months, my production has been less about ME and more about collaboration with a variety of super-talented YOU’s.
Since I started my Then and Now series where I combine my own work and ideas with found craft projects made by unknown artists, collaboration has been on my mind. Though the final Then and Now pieces represent a kind of a shy collaboration, to make them, I don’t actually interact with anybody at all for the hundreds of hours it takes to sew on all of those sequins!
Lately, though, my personal life has been dominated by the joys (and some despairs) of navigating relationships and surrounding myself with people from generations and backgrounds very different from mine. For example, Fashion Club is in its second year. My niece Iris runs the club with my help, and this year we are committed to holding regular, monthly meetings.
The mood in the room at one of our meetings is so lively, the energy so constructive, and the ideas exchanged so fresh, it’s an experience unlike what I could get from any other group.
Different, for example, from what I would experience in a group at the Hope of Israel Senior Center in the Bronx where I am entering my 16th year teaching art.
The experiences I have teaching my collage and art workshop classes at Hope of Israel Senior Center continue to be intensely rewarding, uplifting, heartbreaking, and inspiring. Over the years I have learned so much from the seniors there about relationships, communication, and compromise, not to mention all of the things I have learned about individual people’s fascinating life stories. As we work on our projects, we share so much about ourselves and the different paths that brought us all together in that room!
Side note: if you or anyone you know is 60 or over, please consider joining Hope of Israel Senior Center! It’s an incredible place with great classes. I teach on Fridays, but painting, poetry, jewelry making, and more are taught throughout the week. ALSO, IT’S FREE!!
I also served this past Fall as a mentor in New York Foundation for the Arts’ Immigrant Artists Mentoring Program for Visual Artists where I was inspired and invigorated by the group of mentees who have come from all over the world to settle in New York City and pursue their careers and lives as artists. Check out the great work of my personal mentee, Zulu Padilla!
These experiences, among others (including the still-shocking-to-me success at collaboration our team achieved in the creation of LOOK BOOK!), have drawn me to open up my practice and bring elements of community and partnership to my work and explore true collaboration.
The best example of this is my work with the Hand2Mouth Theatre creating sets for Psychic Utopia, which opened in Portland, Oregon this past November.
Ever since I met the gang at Hand2Mouth Theatre in 2007 when we were both participating in PICA’s TBA festival, I have kept an envious eye on the way they work together to create layered, meaningful, technically complex, truly collaborative work among a group of uniquely talented individuals. When they invited me to collaborate with them on this show, I eagerly accepted, if only to spy on their process and see if I could pretend for a while that I knew how to collaborate, too.
The show was gorgeous all around and got great reviews. Now I feel more confident about letting my ego go a little bit (SOMETIMES!), and allowing for combined ideas and ownership. Surprise! It feels good. Look in the COSTUME SET AND GRAPHIC DESIGN department on my website for more pictures!
Also, Hand2Mouth is planning to tour this thing, so look out for Psychic Utopia on the road! If you are a theater space and have any interest, or if you know of one in your town who you think would be a good fit, please let me know, and I’ll pass on the word to the Hand2Mouth authorities!
Speaking of graphic design, I have been doing some of that, too. Look out for Clint Michigan’s new record “CENTURIES” coming out April 27, 2018, and when you find it, please enjoy the album art that I did for it!
Now THIS masterpiece for the ears and eyes is OUT already and setting the world on FIRE:
Jim Andralis released his new album Shut Up Shut Up last month, and I did all of the visuals. CD cover, Vinyl lp cover, T-shirts, Buttons, you name it! And you buy it! HERE!
In our wedding vows (Yes, we’re married, but that’s NOT how I got the design job!), Jim said that one thing he loved about me was the way I showed my love for people by dressing them. Did he say that then to prime me for his record release show at Joe’s Pub?? Because, I couldn’t help it, I HAD TO DRESS THE SYNTONICS!
Julie
Jessie
Leslie
Susan
And let’s not forget the star of the show:
Jim
While I’m on the topic of collaboration, I’d like to tell you about some things that are in various beginning/planning/thinking/talk-it-out-over-a-drink/email-periodically stages, partially because I want you to know about them, and partially because I hope that by saying it here, we will all be more likely to follow through and make these masterpieces that the world needs:
I met writer/furniture maker Patrick Downes at The Millay Colony in 2013. His writing knocks me out! If you want to be completely blown away, please read his novel Fell of Dark, technically categorized as “Young Adult,” and then give it to the nearest teenager who will probably love it even more than you do. Patrick & I are working on a collaborative project, most likely a book (even though after LOOK BOOK I swore I’d never do that again). It’s too soon to tell you what it’s about, but based on Patrick’s & my mindsets right now, I predict something really intensely emotional and epic. I am so excited about this project!
I met composer Caitlin Smith at The MacDowell Colony in 2012. I’ve learned so much from her about contemporary classical music, especially the last time she came to visit New York from Vienna on the tour she organized of Viennese contemporary classical performers, including Strings&Noise who performed Caitlin‘s piece JOAN JETT KICKS OFF HER BOOTS, FINISHES HER BEER, AND TAKES A DEEP BREATH: . While Caitlin was here, we met to discuss collaborating on visuals and concepts for her new album and music videos! Can you imagine a crazy-ass, post-tonal pop orchestra sawing away on their cellos all decked out in their Larréons?? I can!
I met Cara Reedy only recently, though we both grew up in University City, Missouri and have a lot of friends in common. Cara caught my attention with her viral video “The Gift of Being Different,” in which she talks about how she approaches her life as a little person. In the video, she reveals herself to be funny, smart, modern thinking, self-aware, strong, and super-stylish. In “short,” Cara is a true Larréon girl! I was inspired to design clothes for her, so I reached out, and we are talking about putting together a bunch of Larréon looks and setting up photo shoots that would show the world a little person in a way they haven’t seen before. So, stay tuned for that, too!
The idea of all these special, uniquely gifted people sharing their talents with me and having faith in mine makes me so grateful for them and all of my other friends old and new, artists and non-artists. Would you mind if I celebrate them HERE in SONG?
See! Sometimes I do write songs that aren’t designed to make you cry and/or become extremely disappointed in my parents, and this is one of them. I love to sing it, because I love to be reminded of the people in my life who truly lift me up. Lyrics are HERE if you want to sing along.
(If you prefer crying and/or becoming extremely disappointed in my parents, don’t worry. I haven’t forsaken you! Try this one on for size: I’m Never Going to St. Louis Again. Lyrics. It’s a fun song about how it feels to lose faith in your whole foundation as a person. Also, if you care to approach my lyrics as poetry*, I’ve also added lyrics to a couple of other new songs: I Just Want to See How Much I Can Drink and In a Lonely Place (another Ca/oBEDIMP song) in my SONGS TO READ section. *Some misguided people desperate for stimulation have been known to do this on occasion.)
Back to friends: Have you ever heard of my friend Bridget Everett? I guess another way to ask that question is “Do you have eyes and ears?” because she’s been everywhere! And at most of those everywhere places that she’s been, she’s been wearing House of Larréon. For example:
At the New York premiere of Patti Cake$
in London promoting her movie Patti Cake$
In the restaurant scene of the pilot for her TV show Love You More, which premiered on Amazon Prime and happens to co-star Loni Anderson
On the stage of Lincoln Center’s The Appel Room singing with Matt Ray in his American Songbook series tribute to Hoagy Carmichael
on the stage at Joe’s Pub in her many Bridget Everett and the Tender Moments shows
and on the cover of Time Out New York for their “New Yorkers of the Year” issue!
The Tender Moments are in on the Larréon action with their custom patchwork couture ties
as is photographer extraordinaire, Kevin Yatarola, who wore his Larréon tie to the Grammy’s tribute to Elton John!
Pssst!! Some ties are still available in the SHOP. And more are coming soon! Also in the SHOP: some gorgeous House of Larréon silk patchwork pocket squares, some super deluxe Larry Krone BRAND t-shirts & garments that I hand-embroidered and studded with real Swarovski crystals, just like I do for the ones I wear on stage!!
Also, if you don’t already have a LOOK BOOK, now is a great time to get one- I’ve reduced the price to $20, plus who knows how long they will stay in stock after the video for Jim Andralis & the Syntonics’ “Don’t Blame New York” is released? The video is a masterpiece of stop action animation, made with incredible artfulness and sensitivity by Jimmy Gribbin. And LOOK BOOK makes a cameo! Here is a super sneaky sneak peek of LOOK BOOK’s moment in the sun!
Hey, guess what! I still spend hours in obsessive solitude making art objects, or as I like to call them: FINE ART MASTERPIECES**
My latest are a couple of new mirror pieces including Beautiful You above and this one, You Ought to See My Heart
This 19” diameter wood-burned tabletop is new, too
And I’ve gotten back to work on my Then and Now sequin insanity. Coming up: 3 medium-sized wall pieces on the theme of “people”. Here’s a preview of the first one, which seems to be dominated by a “person” who was very popular in the 70’s and 80’s: Holly Hobbie!
**By the way, unless an artwork you see in the FINE ART MASTERPIECES galleries has a notation that it is in a particular or private collection, it is most likely AVAILABLE FOR SALE!! I don’t work with an agent or gallery, so if you see something and are curious about it’s price, please contact me directly. If you are serious (or even if you’re not), I bet I will invite you over to my East Village studio, so you can go on your very own fine art shopping spree in the privacy and comfort of my own home!
ANOTHER THING: I’m gearing up to do some more performances! I’m working on making an actual real show called Who or What I Am. At the same time, I am developing an ambitious, interdisciplinary, immersive art piece called “Then and Now (Nobody’s Perfect)” that incorporates music, performance, and my Then and Now visual work. And besides all this hi-falutedness, I WANT TO SING! So look out for me, especially at Joe’s Pub where I’ll be doing some iteration of Who or What I Am this July!
Are you still here?? You’re weird.
Your reward is this quote from one of my favorite writers, Peg Bracken, author of the I Hate to Cook Book
It isn’t true that nothing is as bad as you think it’s going to be. Some things are exactly as bad as you thought they were going to be, and some things are worse.
I hope for you all, nothing is ever as bad as you think it’s going to be, or at least that it’s never worse.
More soon!
By the way, this site was designed and made by Matt Fisher. Don’t you want one like it? Hire him!!