all about work….

I promised that my next post would be about work. I had been working on my paintings, but I ran out of paper and have since been concentrating on the formation of projectLIA, an international network of artists. It was great to work upstairs and paint in the sunlight. Its getting a little to cold to work up there at night now, and the days are getting shorter (because its autumn here).

I’ve been teaching English at a school in the neighborhood. This is perhaps a new career trend for La Gringa because it doesn’t involve carrying ladders or 5 gallon buckets, as in my past life. Here are some pictures from the Buenos Aires English School. It is a beautiful family run school in Villa Santa Rita. Analia and her mother Silvia run the program (see below). Most of the students are children and teenagers, but there are also classes for adults.

There are two cats at the school: Gallo and Lenon. Lenon is a big sweetheart and Gallo is crazy, she likes to sleep on the copy machine. Sometimes when I am teaching a class, she lies in the middle of the table and stretches herself out.

I’ve also been studying Castellano (Spanish) at the Hola School in San Telmo. Miriam and Geraldine are my instructors. Miriam runs the school and also has two cats: Tango and Pampa. Pampa is looking into the camera in the photo.

http://www.holaspanishinba.com/

Another person that I’ve come to know is Pilar. She works at Arriba! a shop on Avenida Santa Fe. The shop is tiny, but they show the work of over thirty designers. The store is very rock and roll with hand-painted shoes, unique bags, and clothing. The owners Carla and Melisa (featured with Pilar below) are designers and use the store to promote and sell their own work.

also a link:

http://www.fotolog.com/arribaropa/4354736

Pilar is also an artist and a musician she is in a band called Panoramica. I will finally get to see them play on May 23 in San Telmo.

Speaking of San Telmo, there is a really great parilla (grill) there on Calle Carlos Calvo. “Nuestra Parilla” is also known as Freddy’s. In the picture below, Freddy is holding a choripan. Of all the choripan’s that I’ve ever had, that one was probably the best. You can see the charcoal grill behind him.

Lets also look at some other people at work in Buenos Aires:

Nilsi is sixteen years old and works at the Verduleria on Cuenca in Villa Del Parque. I’m not sure if I spelled her name right. I went to drop off a copy of this photo and was told that she went back to Bolivia for a month, so I wasn’t able to get a better photo.

Most of the people who work in the Verdulerias (fruit and vegetable stores) here are from Bolivia. Below is a photo of Ariel, who works in a different Verduleria in Villa Santa Rita, closer to my house. He was born in Argentina, but his family is from Bolivia. He is nineteen years old and likes hip-hop.

Another person at work here is Bert Van Wijk, a Dutch muralist who is shown below painting a wall in Palermo.

Another frequently featured person in my blog is Daniel Duque, a writer from Venezuela who is living and working in Buenos Aires.

Daniel’s company Escribarte specializes in communication and the translation of ideas into words. His work also includes interviews, collaboration with the media, translation work, and editing.

http://www.escribarte.com

Daniel is also interested in working with projectLIA to forward our vision of international collaboration.

I’m looking forward to meeting and working with more artists as I begin the next phase of my journey. I’m preparing to return to the US for two months and then continue on to Europe. I will be exhibiting my work in Rome and Berlin, in addition to continuing my work with projectLIA. More adventures ahead…..

besos,

la gringa

El Elefante Misterioso

Thanks to everyone who read my last blog. I’ve been procrastinating, but here is my latest post!

Here’s Roma again at the party we had a month ago. Her friends Grillo and Claus are in the photo. I’m starting to see some trends in Argentine hairstyles….

We never did figure out who left the mysterious little grey elephant at the party….

I saw some real elephants at the zoo and made some new friends….

Below is my favorite cat that lives at the Botanical Garden. There are hundreds of them!

Despite spending all of my time at the zoo,and being chased by charming Latin men- I am still managing to get some work done.

The two photos above are from the El Chamuyo Parilla in Villa Santa Rita

But seriously, I promise to tell you all about my work in the next upcoming post of La Gringa Del Norte. But before I sign off….lets not forget….

Latin Guy of the Week:

This is Yumber from Venezuela. He is shy, intellectual, and an all around nice guy. He’s a bit of a hipster, a rock-and-roll journalist, and has written a book about the Argentine band, Bersuit Vergarabat.

Yumbert is hoping that Obama will win the upcoming election in the US. Keep smiling, Yumber….

I’m Encanted!

Introduction

I’ve been in Buenos Aires for over a month now, enough time to recover from my move from Chicago. For those who were wondering how that went, I’ll sum it up in a few short words: boxes, ice, slipping, roads, 2 cats, 1000 miles, tired, no lights, no phone, boxes, lifting, packing, unpacking…. Then at one point I woke up in 5 different places in 5 days- Sunday in Dallas, Monday in Boston, Tuesday in New York, Wednesday over the Panama Canal, and finally Thursday in Buenos Aires.

Dedication

I’d like to dedicate this first blog to my new room mate Romina. She has been extremely helpful and patient with me. I hope that someday we will be able to have a conversation that we both completely understand. For instance: she makes plant containers out of old lightbulbs. After asking her about it, I was convinced that there was a little old man in the neighborhood who sold these in the streets. I told several people about it. But, actually- she makes them. I’ll have to take some better pictures next time.

How Did I Get Here?

By plane of course. Almost everyone who has spoken to me in the past year knows that I visited Argentina for the first time in March of 2007. I was invited by my friends Cecilia and Javier. My friend Cammie came with me.

I did everything possible to come back here.

What am I Doing Here?

I spend most of my days riding the bus, or looking for the bus. The buses here come very quickly and I’ve never had to wait more than 20 minutes for a bus, even in the middle of the night. But, it is still a bit confusing for me and I’m not always able to find the bus stops right away. My neighborhood is not directly on the subway line, but there are a lot of buses in the area.

My Neighborhood:

I live in a part of Buenos Aires called Villa del Parque, or more specifically, Santa Rita. It is not as touristy as areas such as San Telmo. It is a fairly quiet residential neighborhood. Still there is a bakery, green grocer, pizzeria/empanada shop, cafe, kiosk, and parilla (BBQ grill) on almost every block. Here are some photos of my apartment. It is very non-descript from the outside and for the first three weeks, I kept walking past it when I came home.

I had been living here a week, before I met my neighbor Juancho. I must have said, “Hola” to him four days in a row, before he finally returned my greeting.

Latin Men

There are a lot of them here. Here is the featured Latin Guy of the Week:

Preview for Next Week’s Latin Guy of the Week:

Work/Projects:

I have a great space to paint, my apartment has two levels and here is my workspace on the second floor:

I’m getting ready for some upcoming shows in Europe, so I’ve got a fair amount of painting done. In addition to that I’ve got another project underway and I’m trying to meet as many artists as possible to get started. As a matter of fact, the main reason that its taken me so long to write this first blog is because there is so much to do here and I’m seeing so many new things, going to so many events, that I haven’t really had the time to pull it all together.

That’s all for now!

La Gringa Del Norte