Highlights of the week...

Round 2 of hair dying in Brazil!

Taking a walk and photos through the city on Thursday afternoon.

Printing in the studio with Edith and the PUC community

Playing with exotic birds at a churrasco!

Goiânia Adventures Continue....

I am finally starting to have a steady routine and am becoming more and more active in the city. This week was full of many activities and I wanted to share a few of the highlights. I have started to go to a class at one of the other universities in the city for a weekly class that is open to the public. The students are much older than me but it nice to be surrounded by people who are interested in art and making. The women are learning art techniques such as silk screening and book making. I was invited to participate in their upcoming exhibition which will open in two weeks. Right now I hope to help the Professora Edith prepare for the exhibition. She is the design professor for the department and has been very help in introducing me to projects going on at PUC. (the university)

Here is a picture of Edith showing some of the work the students will show in the exhibition...

and here are some of the students...

Also this week, my roommate Felizardo was followed home by a puppy...the puppy was found on the corner of a street not too far from where I live. It was a little girl and I took care of her for about two days before we found an owner for her. Here they have a lot of stray dogs so wouldn´t be surprised if she didn´t have an owner...either way it was fun for a few days and I considered trying to bring her home with me to the US...ha ha

Yesterday I was invited to participate in a festival to celebrate African culture with students at a public school outside the city of Goiania. My roommate, Benvinda was invited to braid the students hair. She is very talented at it and braided my hair about 3 weeks ago for one of our soccer matches! She asked if I wanted to come along and do some kind of art project for the students. I bought some paper last week for my project at Centro Cultural and the owner gave me a bunch of colored scraps for free and this was the perfect opportunity to use the material.

Here is Benvinda working on Mariangelica´s hair

The festival began with a presentation by the students with music and dance. The students then acted out a performance talking about the history of Africa. It concluded with one of the directors talking about the influence of African culture in Brazil and he also spoke about the US and President Obama. Here are some of the pics from the event!

For my project, I decided to make paper jewelry and flowers with the students. Next time perhaps something more related to the subject..anyway, they loved it! and I was amazed at how quickly they picked up the techniques. The students were very welcoming and helpful with my Portuguese! It is possible I will return there to do another activity with the students, something more planned before I leave next month. This was a last minute invite but well worth the trip. Here are some of the students with their work!

and the classroom! The art teacher uses a lot of recycled materials. I loved this poster the students made and the Brazilian flags.

This is a picture taken inside one of the classrooms that had posters and iamges all about the history of Africa and current facts that the students had been learning.

My night concluded with an invite by my friend Adriana to go to a balada (dance club) to see her cousin perform. I had met him about a month ago during a lunch I was invited to at his house and was given his cd to listen to. It is sertanejo music and I lived it a lot. Here is a picture of Paulina, Adriana, and I at the show.

And her cousin Guilherme singing

and my favorite part...checking out all the crazy boots people were wearing...definitely a highlight of Goiânia for me!

Apparently I am not too good with these updates!

Progress..takes.....
time and energy and engagement.

At times it can be hard..but you have to keep going!

My new work area. At the beginning I thought about working outside in the empty garage behind my house but quickly realized it wouldn't be the best option for my work: paper, humid climate, and lots of rain equals a disaster for a paper artist.

I have been experimenting with a pretty familiar material for residence of Goiânia. These are tickets you use to get on the bus. When you enter the bus there is a machine that you pass the ticket through or when u enter the bus terminal. Once it is used it is thrown in the trash and I began to notice how many can be found on the streets, stations, and even on the floor of the bus.

Me and my crazy ideas...

Why not collect this material! So now I've started to make some colleges and sculptures. It has been refreshing to try a different quality and type of paper. I am collecting the material in masses. There is a bus terminal close to my house and I try to go everyday to gather more tickets. There is even one guy who works there that started separating the tickets for me..I usually dig them out of the trash bag that hangs below the machine..yeah..I am sure it looks really strange to locals. A gringa digging through the trash but I would do the same in the US..

And coming soon...actually a lot sooner than I may be prepared for.....

Hello Goiânia! Tchau Rio!

The last two weeks have been a lot of fun spending time with my friends and family in Rio. It’s hard to believe that two weeks have already gone by and I am now already in a new place. I felt at home in Rio. I was comfortable and felt as though many things hadn’t changed. I did a lot in those two weeks. I had to opportunity to go to Rock in Rio, which is a big music festival they have every few years there. It was a 6 day festival and had a very interesting mix of artists. I went on the day that was considered “soul” music. I saw Joss Stone, Ke$ha, Jamiroquaiand Steve Wonder along with Brazilian artists Diogo Nogueira, a tribute to the band Legião Urbana (was really amazing and everyone in the crowd went CRAZY)

I celebrated my 26^th birthday with my Rio friends of 3 years! Went dancing, parties, went to the beach, got my tattoo (kidding it’s fake), visited with my friend in Rocinha and students from the art school and explored the city as I always love to do!

Yesterday I arrived in Goiânia. On the plane ride here I was nervously and anxiously awaiting my arrival. As I looked out the window of the plane, I saw so much green space.

I landed and was greeted by a student from the university named Korran. (Kohan) He immediately recognized be with my gringa appearance and the excessive amount of luggage. I packed two HUGE suitcases and one small…not really sure what I was thinking…

The university set up housing for me and it seems very comfortable. I met everyone from the house and they are all foreigners as well. Three of the students..actually I think 4 are from South Africa I believe Cape Verde. They speak Portuguese and Creole. The other student living here is from another state in Brazil along with her daughter who is 10 years old. No one speaks English, which hasn’t caused too many problems yet. It’s good for me. A great challenge I guess. One I really need!

I met with the professor from the Art Faculty and was given a tour of the Art Center they want me to assist in during the weeks. It’s great. I am pretty excited about everything and there is so much opportunity. Everything is pretty open and they want me to do whatever I want with the community. So this weekend I am going to spend some time traveling around the city. I am thinking of taking the bus to various points and just observing. The city is average size. Easy to navigate through..so I don’t think I will have any problems and it feels pretty safe. The culture here is very different than Rio and the language. I had comment today about my Carioca accent! (which I liked J) The tend to elongate certain words here. I think it is actually easier to understand Portuguese hear and the people seem so nice.

I noticed a bunch of access wood scraps down the street from my place…possible material I am thinking…I also need to work on finding a space where I can develop some work for a while. .Lots to do this weekend and next week. Everything is a new experience and a way for me to grow. Progress!

Creative Alliance September 24th!! Check it out!

If you are in the Baltimore area or plan to be at the end of this month check out the live performance of Rose Moraes with Brazilian Connection at the Creative Alliance located in Patterson Park!! Come prepared to dance!

Preparation para Setembro