Sfinks Festival

Sfinks festival has always been dear to my heart. Essentially it is a summer music festival just like any other, but it is always one of the highlights of my year. The first time I went I was 17, completely broke and had a rocking good time with my friend A. I suppose this was because we had never really been to a 'real' festival before and were, at first, a little taken aback by the fact that grown people would dance in public and would wander around the festival grounds, with no care in the world. However, whatever teenage insecurities we had quickly faded (also probably due to the fact that we came to the festival on the 3rd day, it was humid, and there was a thick haze of uhm....unidentified smoke hanging over the field) and we joined the mass of people simply enjoying life. I guess that was one of my first 'ah-ha!' moments and realized that it is OK to create you own happiness and go out and get in touch with your own emotions and feelings.

And I also love this video that was done at the Festival by a Dutch art group:

Melody Gardot concert

Melody Gardot concert, originally uploaded by ellenator.

"I would be lucky to find me a man
Who could love me the way that I am
A worrisome troubling baggage free modern day dame"
Artist Info here

CoBrA

When I was visiting Prague last week I stumbled upon a lovely contemporary art museum called Kampa. Kampa always shows the work of contemporary Czech artists, but at the time they were also hosting the traveling CoBrA exhibition. CoBrA is a group of avant-garde painters active from 1949 to 1952. The name CoBrA is a combination of the three cities in Europe where the painters are from-Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam. The group's founders included the painters Asger Jorn, Pierre Alechinsky, Karel Appel, Carl-Henning Pederson and the poet Christian Dotremont. I tried to find the names of some of the contemporary Czech artists, but the Kampa website isn't very clear about the exhibition, which is too bad.
This museum visit was totally unplanned but it was my favorite part of the trip. I prefer contemporary art over the 'old' stuff that tourists rant and rave about. I appreciate art from previous centuries, but it doesn't do anything for me. I prefer art that expresses ideas and emotions, rather than a utopian landscape or a table with a dead duck and fruit. I admire the talent of said Dead-Duck Painter, but it doesn't open my mind and changes the way I view things, which is one of the reasons why I love art.
One of the rad modern pieces there played with tinted mirrors:

Also, I'm kind of a sucker for street art, in particular graffiti, especially when it's not legal, but not illegal in such a way that it destroys private property. I guess I'm drawn to it because of the lack of structure of graffiti, but at the same time it works with its given environment.

I love my hometown

I love my hometown, originally uploaded by ellenator.

Shoes and skirt

Shoes and skirt, originally uploaded by ellenator.

Lately I've been going through a vintage phase. I usually go to Deseret Industries because it's cheap and they have a large selection of things. I'm always afraid of these phases because I buy things that I think are totally awesome one day, only to think "what was I thinking?" a few months later and redonate the item back to DI.
Today I bought a pair of vintage shoes and a rust-colored retro skirt, all for the awesome price of 10 bucks.
(sorry for the dust on the mirror-but I guess that's alright because this post is about vintage stuff)

Utah Arts Festival

purchases, originally uploaded by ellenator.

I know it's been a while since I last posted (not that I was much of a blog-heroine to begin with). I did a Spring Semester at BYU and took an English class that pretty much locked me in the library for a month and a half. So, once again, I'll try and be a better blogger.

Last week was the Utah Art's Fest and I must say I was pleasantly surprised. I was afraid that it was going to be a small down-town event with a lot paintings revolving around fishing and deer hunting, but it was the complete opposite. There was a lot of cool (and way expensive) art and art jewelry. The picture above are the pieces I bought that were in my price range.
I went twice: once on Friday and then I went again on Sunday, because I was bored to tears in Provo.
Some highlights:
Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company
The final round of Slam Poetry, Seth Walker being my fave.
Local bands

So once again, this festival is prove that Salt Lake City is one of the coolest places in the world, and another reason why I should move there.

IMG_9102

IMG_9102, originally uploaded by ellenator.

My family decided to remdel our kitchen a while ago. It started with a broken cooktop, and quickly became a much bigger project than we anticipated. Like all good remodels, it's taking us a lot longer than we were first told, and I am still living in my basement, which is quickly becoming a huge mess.
My neighbor dropped off flowers on everyone's doorstep on May 1st, but since I get no sunlight in the basement I decided to move them upstairs