KCHUNG Girl Talk

screen grab from soyoung's tumblr x

This afternoon @ 3pm! The rad Ms. Soyoung Shin & yours truly will be having a bit of a chat. We'll be talking about L.A. Zine Fest. I'll be tabling as "your friend, ava" for the second time, so come see me! Soyoung will be there with me as well. It's going to be a beautiful day. 

Other subjects on our agenda : Boys Men & dating, favorite artists/photographers, film versus digital?, L.A. Art Book Fair finds, and so much more. We'll also be playing some music for you. Thanks for tuning in, friends! xx

Find us here or here

L.A. Zine Fest

S N E A K   P E A K 

Here is a sneak peak of what I'll be selling at this year's L.A. Zine Fest! It is my first year participating and I couldn't be happier. I have nervous knots…the anticipation, along with my tendency to be a complete perfectionist. I am kind of freaking out, friends! Oh, man…..Freaking Out!!! 

For more info / my interview

I cannot wait to meet other artists/zine makers. On Sunday, February 16th, after checking out my booth (wink wink), I really recommend this panel discussion on turning your zine practice into full on publishing ventures. I wish I could go, but I'll be manning my booth. So many cool people will be discussing this topic-Esther Pearl Watson, & Kevin Staniec to name a couple. 

I had the pleasure of submitting some polaroids to Kevin for this book. It's beautiful. Stefani's work is also featured. There was also a huge one night only polaroid exhibit at Bergamot Station about four years ago, that Kevin organized. Great guy.

So many cool things in the works. Can't wait to tell you all about them. It's all very humbling. 

your friend,

ava

*Post* WORK/SHOP

  WORK/SHOP was a fantastic and inspiring event.  I had such a pleasure meeting so many lovely people and getting to take their portraits using my make-shift, diy, silly little back drop.  The artist in me felt sick to my stomach and overly critical throughout the process of putting this little back drop together, wishing I had a wider screen, and more fun props, but I got over that really quickly after seeing the joy in people's faces after photographing them.  It was love and positive vibes all around.  I feel grateful I got the chance to do this and to be amongst so many talented artists, like Bianca D'Amico of Chaparral Studio (she creates the most amazing terrariums/ jewelry / ornaments), and Kate Miss of For Me, For You.  I was recently on her site and not only does she make really elegant jewelry ( Angie's fiance, Will, bought her this Kate Miss necklace not too long ago), but her photography puts me in that happy place.  Humbled, dudes. 

  Thank you to all my friends who came to support me, and hang out.  I feel loved  x  a million  x  infinity.....

  

  Thanks to this kind man above.  He always puts up with my stressful tantrums.  I love you. OOOhhhh, and thank you, Stefani, for my pretty flowers! The irises are starting to bloom!

  Lastly, I wouldn't have been able to do this without the help from my mother.  She rocked it!  xx

polaroids  © Ava Alamshah

  I'm happy with how nostalgic these polaroids look, although they took about 20 minutes to develop completely!  It was a little nerve racking, but also kind of exciting(?) !!!

  

  You never know what you are going to get from Impossible Project, but I am SO STOKED they exist.  Polaroid Por Vida 

  This weekend I embark on a mini adventure.  Until then...

your friend,

ava

 

 

 

Halloween Tour, 2012

  Remember when I wrote how I couldn't wait to tell you about our plans for actual Halloween (which fell on a Wednesday)?  Well, this is what we ended up doing!  Above, Jeaux is wearing his fancy diy Halloween tee.  This is before we went on our walk down Meridian, so we could see the old Myer's house.  Still looking ominous, even with the blue paint and red trimmings.

  The film's location is set in the fictitious Haddonfield, Illinois.  It was cool to find out that all the filming was done in the beautiful South Pasadena and Hollywood.  Nerding out!

 

  Below, are the stairs inside the Myer's house.  It's a chiropractic office now, and we weren't really suppose to go inside, but....

  The door creaked as I let myself in.  Gave me the chilly willies.  The building is a historical landmark, along with the hardware store, which use to be a hotel.  Jeaux also talks about our day here.

The hardware store, once an old hotel (now a restaurant)

A walk down Meridian Ave.  The trees are amazing there.  It doesn't feel like Los Angeles.

These tracks were right by the old Myer's house and the hardware store, in South Pasadena.

  I stopped to capture this rose.  Very American Beauty.

Vintage amber reminds me of fall.

  Finding the hedge was probably my favorite part of our adventure.  Who is that creep and why is he just standing there?

  The last three photos is where all this took place.  You can see why I am so scared!

  We are so fascinated by this low budget, independent film, and how everyone who made it were so young at the time, including John Carpenter.  After our tour, we ended up watching it twice.  The second time with commentary.  Happy Halloween!

your friend,


ava


© 2012 Ava Alamshah

Halloween 2012, Part Two

I N S I D E   T H E   R E A L M S

you are innocent when you dream

   

  Here are some more photos from this year's Halloween!  In my last entry, I wrote a bit about our costume inspiration, but didn't elaborate.  After Jeaux told me about Henry Darger, I became a little obsessed with his work.  I posted about his paintings a couple of times...here and here...

  His work was so vivid with imagination, and his use of color is unbelievable.  L O O K

  

  Thanks to my mom for her sewing skills and for keeping all of her jewelry from the 80s.  It really helped out with Jeaux's embellishments.  Darger generals are nasty characters, but they have swag.  Take a look at these dastardly fellows!  The one on the far right was inspiration for Jeaux.

  

  Sasha invited us to Albert Reyes home for his annual Halloween party.  We do not know him personally, but I'm pretty certain I have seen his work at my favorite little gallery, Synchronicity Space.  The photographs above were taken while gazing upon his artwork.  His studio is in the backyard and sits right next door to the totally rad haunted house, which Albert built himself!  It was spooky, and I was way too scared to photograph in there, so you will just have to imagine the greatness and hopefully get a chance to see the work next year!  Pretty impressive.  Our friend, Brian Kinsman, shot this little documentary about Albert and you can see the trailer here.

  Chocolate Rain, dudes!  I didn't know who he was, but Jeaux insisted I take their photo together.  Here is something Jeaux helped work on while living and working in New York City.  I have to admit, this song has sort of grown on me, and how is that voice coming out of this guy's mouth?!

   

  © Ava Alamshah

  For more images, take a look at Jeaux's new site!  I hope everyone had an exciting Halloween.  I'm kind of sad it's already over.

your friend,

ava

Summer Stripes

This past Halloween, I decided to dress up like a stereotypical Frenchman.  I already had a beret, a scarf, my snazzy blazer....

What I really needed was a striped tee-shirt, but I was low on cash and extra low on time, so I decided to take an old white tee and have my lovely boyfriend draw some beautiful stripes with a black sharpie. 

I wore my costume proudly, complete with painted on mustache. 

(Notice "The Red Balloon" to the left of my chair.)  LOVE

Recently, I was cruising my favorite fashion blog, www.refinery29.com, and came across this:

http://www.refinery29.com/i-diy-how-to-spray-paint-a-breton-stripe-shirt?utm_source=search#slide-1

I showed it to Jeaux instantly and for a moment we felt pretty ahead of the curb (although, I'm sure we aren't the only ones who have made DIY stripe tee-shirts).  Anyway, theirs is pretty profesh looking. It gave me inspiration to start wearing mine out and about.

What do you think?

your friend,

ava