We have the best neighbors, here’s a few pics I took at their house on July 4th, 2009.
mj neal
RIP, Goddess
Lucia Rodriguez, the incredible, beautiful, sweet, and talented dancer from Austin, Texas who died tragically by driving into the lake when her car reached the ramp at the end of Quinlan road. This ramp lacks proper signage or proper lighting. A terrible loss of a wonderful artist for all of us. Please join us in asking the City of Austin to make changes to this road (and other similar roads who end in the lake with no sufficient lighting or warning…) so no one has another senseless accident.
Larkey – Latest
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Springfield – Uno
Open Your Eyes – Toni Bravo, Again
Toni Bravo just choreographed a new show, this time they will perform at the Long Center. “A Glimpse of Heaven–With Eyes Closed” will benefit Life Works. As usual, I took the pictures and designed the posters. I’m proud of these photos, they were so much fun to take, I was practivcally dancing with them, a good workout for sure!
The Austin Chronicle printed the pics for their spread about the show and put them up on their website.
Now, I need to put the camera down so I can enjoy the mesmerizing choreography!
The full session is at this link
Go see the show!!!! July 24, 25, and 26 at the Long Center. Click on the link for hours and tickets.
What do you think? Here’s the slide show of the main selections
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Rare Magazine
Ok better late than never. If you missed the article on MJ and the Wolfe Den and green design by Austin’s Rare Magazine last month, you can find it here. It was written by Tolly Moseley. I know Tolly in personal life and she’s a most delightful person, and a fantastic writer.
It was fun for MJ to talk about his concept of “vernacular” and to show off the Wolfe Den’s green features like the geothermal A/C and the photovoltaic readiness by Meridian Solar.
London is Calling Viviane!
I can’t believe this. The odds of winning the Palo Alto competition were pretty slim, just because of sheer numbers at these types of contests… but the odds of winning BOTH competitions, I mean, what are they? Myartspace.com has 55,000 members. I don’t know how many artists entered these competitions, but it couldn’t be just a few. What attracted me to the London competition was the jury.
Artists from our network of over 55,000 in 116 countries submitted work reviewed by a jury of curators Vanessa DesClaux from the Tate Modern, Tom Morton from The Hayward Gallery and Francesco Manacorda from the Barbican Gallery for consideration. The top 20 winners will be shown at the Scream London Gallery, 34 Bruton Street, Mayfair, London.
And I am one of the twenty! In any case, I entered these just for fun, not in a million years I expected to win, much less both competitions… I stood out, twice in a row, among large numbers of entries, it makes me happy. Two different sets of juries liked my work! Today, my work is exhibited in London and some people who don’t know me from Adam are looking at my hard worked photos on both continents. Fun. Art. Yes.
Catherine McCormack-Skiba, the Company founder of myartspace noted (…) “We’ve got a great venue in the heart of Mayfair in London. (…) We think this is an ideal venue for our best community members to have their work on exhibit.”
Brian Sherwin, senior editor at myartspace notes “The Scream London gallery, (…) known for its edgy and progressive atmosphere, is located in the heart of the West London art district. Notable gallery guests have included Claire Danes, Beverly Knight, Cilla Black, and Tracey Emin. Scream London is co-owned by Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones.”
Ok. It’s all very silly, but hey, I hope the Rolling Stones, all of them, fall in love with my work and buy oodles of it.
Here’s the invite, go if you can, you’ll see Natalie’s neck flashing in the background on some screen. Do get drunk for me. I need it badly.
MYARTSPACE London Calling Exhibition!
Opening Night — Thursday 25 June
MYARTSPACE
the premier online network for contemporary art
Opening Reception and Cocktails
Thursday, 25 June 2009, 6 to 9PM
Location:
Scream London Gallery
34 Bruton Street
Mayfair, London
Sunday Morsel 7: for my son
…If there were a “mistake,” we would work on it until it became intentional. Basically, there were no mistakes and no erasers. I discovered the relationship between freedom and fear.
Throughout the entire process, I was interested in my son’s ideas, which I knew would be fresh and radical, due to his inexperience. Not limited by prior knowledge, he would say things that I would not even have allowed myself to think. Working with a young, growing person showed me how we limit ourselves as we get more experienced. I began to remember things I had once known and ways I used to be. I rediscovered, in him, the deep intelligence of innocence. “Beginner’s mind” believes that anything imaginable is possible. Shunryu Suzuki wrote in Zen Mind Beginner’s Mind, “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s mind there are few.”
“Dad, can my bedroom be like a treehouse? Dad, can the entire front wall of the room be glass and slide out of the way so I am sleeping out of doors? Dad, can we put a big opening in the roof and make a big telescope so I can see the stars at night when I am lying down, like the stars of my birthday constellation? Dad, can we make the concrete walls look like your photographs of the desert from the airplane?”
My first thought was always “that’s not possible,” but I would keep it to myself and, with some patience and drawing, I discovered that it was possible to accomplish what he suggested. Next, I would have to confront my ego, realizing once again that these were his ideas and I wanted them to be mine. How absurd was my need to be first and original? Who had given me that imprint? What better teacher to have and what better time to let go? Things began to change for me. I learned a lot from him and still do. He made me a better teacher.
from Freedom and Structure in Verona and Los Angeles by Michael Rotondi, FAIA
The Umlauf Performance by Toni Bravo – If There’s a Heaven
MJ Neal Architects and Barcelona Films collaborated in helping this magical production come to life with set design and visual materials. Renown contemporary dancer and choreographer Toni Bravo put together this touching piece on how we treat the earth and its consequences. In addition, we also did their photography and their promotional materials.
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mj neal architects - blublog 