feel the gray

Grilled cheese must be hot!

Sun, 16 Sep 2012 22:34:40 -0400

Beer must be cold!

Woe what a tenuous situation!

I want to burn-

Sun, 16 Sep 2012 20:37:10 -0400

- to move to what burns me. Like a moth to its oblivion.

Why don’t words come while pen is in hand! But in fleeting shadows and forgotten moments peek through.

Rachel Maddow shares a clip from an Al Jazeera documentary...

Sun, 09 Sep 2012 21:30:21 -0400

Rachel Maddow shares a clip from an Al Jazeera documentary featuring an Ohio State Legislator who is advocating extreme anti-abortion legislation.

T-shirt design for the band daffodil.

Sat, 01 Sep 2012 13:28:42 -0400

T-shirt design for the band daffodil.

Making some progress on the design-Here was the first draft.

Thu, 16 Aug 2012 12:23:00 -0400

Making some progress on the design-
Here was the first draft.

My roomie the golden girl.

Wed, 15 Aug 2012 22:24:54 -0400

My roomie the golden girl.

From today’s sketchbook.

Wed, 15 Aug 2012 22:15:46 -0400

From today’s sketchbook.

I did the ink drawing, and my art director at my internship did...

Wed, 15 Aug 2012 13:02:38 -0400

I did the ink drawing, and my art director at my internship did the colors.
Part of an ad campaign for a local hospital.

My first draft for this logo- The Cotton Patch Quilters PresentA...

Wed, 15 Aug 2012 12:53:32 -0400

My first draft for this logo-

The Cotton Patch Quilters Present
A Journey in Quilts 2013

Constructive criticism welcome!

Sketching for a quilt show logo. They wanted ribbons.

Tue, 14 Aug 2012 12:21:39 -0400

Sketching for a quilt show logo. They wanted ribbons.

Having too much fun

Thu, 02 Aug 2012 14:18:38 -0400

Having too much fun

Inked lettering for book cover- some mistakes still!

Thu, 02 Aug 2012 12:16:00 -0400

Inked lettering for book cover- some mistakes still!

thedailywhat: In Case You Missed It of the Day:...

Wed, 13 Jun 2012 23:17:09 -0400

thedailywhat:

In Case You Missed It of the Day: Conan’s broadcasting this week from Chicago, so naturally he and guitarist Jimmy Vivino visited a local elementary school to introduce some first-graders to the blues.

The whole clip is terrific — just what you’d expect when Conan is combined with little kids and a guitar.

[uproxx]

Love it! Laughing so hard :-)

Paul Rogers for Playboy Jazz Festival Program

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 13:21:00 -0400

Paul Rogers for Playboy Jazz Festival Program

Saint Francis redux

Fri, 25 May 2012 11:58:00 -0400

This Kelsey Heinrichs girl is aweeeesome!
kelseyisheinrichs:

I thought it would be fun/cool to re-create Bonaventura Berlinghieri’s “Saint Francis”. I’m thinking about selling prints of this and maybe redoing a few more paintings. Caravaggio’s “The Martyrdom of St. Matthew” looks particularity interesting at the moment.

Kelsey Heinrich’s winning entry from the 2012 Applied Arts...

Fri, 25 May 2012 11:49:13 -0400

Kelsey Heinrich’s winning entry from the 2012 Applied Arts Photography and Illustration Annual in the “Young Blood” category.

sashanako: Newest friend. (Taken with instagram)

Fri, 25 May 2012 11:44:29 -0400

sashanako:

Newest friend. (Taken with instagram)

Julia Breckenreid

Tue, 22 May 2012 16:57:32 -0400

Julia Breckenreid

Oh man I kinda want these… I don’t even know what...

Thu, 03 May 2012 13:22:28 -0400

Oh man I kinda want these… I don’t even know what they’re for haha

matticus-nightshade:

vegables.

Gender Socialization in "The Little Mermaid"

Wed, 02 May 2012 12:17:00 -0400

Got to write about Disney for my last paper in Women’s Studies. Dream come true.

My mother championed an earnest effort to raise my two brothers and me in a progressive, gender-neutral environment. But it is impossible to raise children in a cultural vacuum. One animated film franchise that became a ubiquitous cultural force penetrated her No-Barbie-No-Dress-Up shield and became one of my childhood obsessions. The Disney Corporation has produced many animated film features but is perhaps best known for its memorable line of princesses. But my favorite Disney films—The Lion King (1994), One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961), and The Jungle Book (1967)—reflected my lack of interest in anthropomorphic toys and figures. However one princess’s fantastic undersea life spent talking to animals made me identify with her and want to live in her skin. The princess Ariel from the 1989 film The Little Mermaid broke through my indifference to tiaras and dresses with her adventurous character. But in spite of her modern spirit, The Little Mermaid, like the other Disney princess films, displays traditional gender roles including the importance of romance, beauty, the “perfect” female body, and the subordination of women’s voices.

The Little Mermaid, like many other Disney films, was derived from classical fairy lore. Danish author Hans Christian Anderson created the original story in 1837, which had a much more macabre atmosphere and ended with the mermaid sacrificing herself for the unrequited love of her prince and dissolving into sea foam. The 1989 Disney interpretation nixed this unhappy ending and opted instead for the marriage between Ariel and her prince, Eric, thus promoting the value of receiving a man’s love and affection as evidence of a woman’s ultimate success in life. The young audience is taught through the princess-archetype that achieving the monogamous commitment of a man, and especially a powerful man, is the only sure way to gain happiness by assuming a stable status in our patriarchal society. The “heterosexual romance is the… central conclusion to the movie” and the formation of the romance promotes the idea of “love at first sight” and “against all odds” (England et all). The heroine Ariel is unlike many of her predecessors in that she takes an active command in progressing her desire for the romantic relationship, which breaks out of the traditional passive female role. However the focus of all of her energy and dreams is the love of the prince character, thus subjugating her welfare to his will. This illustrates the Principle of Least Interest as articulated by Waller and Hill that basically asserts that “women’s caring, like their openness, gives them less power in the relationship” (Henley and Freeman). The princess story arch, as employed in The Little Mermaid, promotes the notion that heterosexual romantic love is the ultimate goal for all women, and thusly that women are dependent on the return of these affections from men.

The romantic development of The Little Mermaid for the greater part of the film is conducted while Ariel is mute, having lost her voice to the sea witch Ursula in exchange for human legs. As a result, Ariel employs traditionally feminine body language and facial expression to win Eric’s affections. The mechanisms of physical wooing, including “batting eyes,” “puckering lips,” and sexualized “body language” are referenced satirically in the film. However Ariel’s gaze and demeanor throughout her courtship with Eric follow gestures of feminine submission such as lowering eyes, remaining silent, backing down and cuddling at appropriate times (Henley and Freeman). Young girls watching this film are taught to gain affection not through the expression of their thoughts and voice but through physical affectation and coyness.

Ariel of The Little Mermaid conforms to the beauty archetype of Disney princesses and her beauty is capitalized as one of her most important characteristics throughout the film. She has the typical “extremely pale skin tone, small waist, delicate limbs and full breasts” of the troupe of Disney princesses, and this physique is further accentuated by Ariel’s skimpy shell-based wardrobe (England et all). As she is reminded by the sea witch Ursula, Ariel can employ her “looks and pretty face” to win the affections of the prince. The promotion of beauty as a currency of manipulation is actually “an expression of power relations in which women must unnaturally compete for resources that men have appropriated for themselves” (Wolf). In her essay titled “Split Skins: Female Agency and Bodily Mutilation in The Little Mermaid,” Susan White even goes so far as to liken the modification of Ariel’s body in the film to plastic surgery and the urge to alter one’s body for the purpose of outside approval. The importance given to physical appearance and its role in gaining romantic affection is another point where this modern heroine regresses into bowing to patriarchal standards.

Ariel undoubtedly began the legacy of the new, modern princesses of Disney. She was the first to break out of certain traditional gender roles by wanting to explore and being portrayed as assertive and independent (England et all). But in spite of her adventurous spirit, her demeanor throughout her romantic courtship is noticeably traditional, as her voice is literally silenced and she employs feminine beauty and body language to win affection. Disney is undeniably a powerful cultural and social force and has played an important role in the promotion of the princess romance. Through my consumption of Disney films such as The Little Mermaid I was socialized to believe that girls should be beautiful, subordinate, affectionate and should focus on heterosexual romance as a means to achieve happiness. No matter how adventurous or independent a character like Ariel may seem, her dependence on her physical appearance and patriarchal affection promote the socialization of women as second-class.

Works Cited

England, Dawn E., Lara Descartes, Melissa A. Collier-Meek. “Gender Role Portrayal and the Disney Princesses.” Springer Science and Business Media. February 2011.

Henley, Nancy and Jo Freeman. “The Sexual Politics of Interpersonal Behavior.” Women: Images and Realities, McGraw Hill. 2008.

White, Susan. “Split Skins, Female Agency and Bodily Mutilation in The Little Mermaid.”Collins, J & Radner, H. “Film Theory Goes to the Movies”. 1993.

Wolf, Naomi. “The Beauty Myth.” Women: Images and Realities, McGraw Hill. 2008.