First, let me warn you: this post is full of links. If anything strikes your fancy, I encourage you to scroll over it. Second, click on that cropped and illegible image up there to see the full flyer for the show. On with the blog!

If you live anywhere near Long Beach, you are probably familiar with their annual Zombie Walk. Every year it is bigger, crazier, and more involved than the last. This year is no exception! With Mondo Celluloid hosting screenings at the old Long Beach Press Telegram building (Friday is Shaun of the Dead!!!) and Thrill the World L.A. bringing their Thriller flash mob action, this is sure to be quite the weekend. There will also be a haunted house, live music, zombie-make-up stations for the creatively disinclined (what are you doing here?) and beer tents. Oh! And a ZOMBIE ART SHOW!

Curators, artists, pals, and all-around solid dudes Garry Booth and Jason Liwag have organized a proper Zombie Art Show. Local and national artists are represented in this gruesome group show (sorry). I've got a new, disgusting painting up for your viewing pleasure. Wine for the opening will be provided by Art du Vin. You can check it out during the Zombie Walk over at the Long Beach Pedaler Society. This whole situation is just dripping with gory Long Beach pride. So come out!

Saturday, October 28
2-11 PM
635 Pine Avenue
Long Beach, CA
90802

The clouds are burning off to clear skies before 10:00AM. Everyone is wearing less clothing. It is the season for barbecue, bike rides, and ART WALKS. As part of Fullerton's First Friday festivities, I've got some new work in an appropriately themed group show at the Hibbleton Gallery.

Curated by Tracey Taylor, Hotter Than a Match Head: A Love Letter to the City is part of a super-fun-summertime gallery swap between Costa Mesa's The ARTery and Fullerton's Hibbleton Gallery. HTAMH (see what I did there?) also features work on said theme from Shag, Leyla Akdogan, Michael White, JoshR, Christie Yuri Noh, Patrick Haemmerlein, and Hibbleton curator Jesse La Tour. The show runs through July 31st.

After the opening reception, head over to the FREE afterparty at Mulberry Street. 21 and up welcome! My surprisingly sweet band Cunt Sparrer will be playing lo-fi acoustic Cock Sparrer covers, while JoshR's incredibly fun band The Meka Leka Hi's win your heart with songs like "Chicken Nugget Pizza Party." This is a good time, and you know it. We'll see you Friday!

Hotter Than a Match Head
Opening Reception:
Friday, July 1 7-11PM

Hibbleton Gallery
223 W. Santa Fe Ave.
Fullerton, CA 92832

FREE Afterparty with Cunt Sparrer and The Meka Leka Hi's!
Friday, July 1 11:00PM
Mulberry Street Ristorante
114 W. Wilshire
Fullerton, California
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I've been working on a solo show with Phone Booth Gallery opening Saturday. Here's what they wrote (much better than I could do myself):

Phone Booth Gallery is pleased to present “Family Album,” an exhibition of new work by Jennie Cotterill. Cotterill’s endearing mixed media montages troll the textured territory of personal history, putting heartfelt sentimentalism on a collision course with the knottier idiosyncrasies of family life. The exhibition opens on May 21st, 2011, with a reception from 7-10 pm. This all-ages event will take place at Phone Booth Gallery’s exhibition space, 2533 East Broadway, Long Beach, CA 90803. “Family Album” will remain on view through June 25th at both the exhibition space and on www.phoneboothgallery.com.

Cotterill’s work embraces optimism and nostalgia as openly as it embraces tongue-in-cheek quirkiness. It also has an acute awareness of how medium changes meaning. For this reason, “Family Album” feels as multivalent as any family history that has been documented through stacks of snapshots.

The various painterly techniques Cotterill has employed—fading colors, softly blurred black and white and markedly photographic framing—evoke the conventional tropes of photography just enough to make her work resonate with anyone who has ever perused a few decades worth of family pictures, or even just stood in an unfamiliar foyer, looking up and down photo-laden walls.

Mixed media dioramas accompany Cotterill’s two-dimensional paintings, bringing the language of the relic or heirloom into conversation with the family photograph, and making her version of “history” as tactile and multidimensional as the real thing.

On the whole, “Family Album” says more about being human than about any one, staid idea of family life. Cotterill’s album glories in connection-making and collection-amassing, fixating on moments and memories in a way that makes having a history—something we tend to take for granted—seem rich, intense and entirely worth while.

RSVP HERE

All the Best,

Phone Booth Gallery

So I've been sweating and not sleeping (always a lady) making goodies for my show next month at Phone Booth Gallery.
I'm creating a fake family history out of drawings, paintings, and dioramas. Accompanying an array of new original works, there will be a bitchin' edition for those of you with smaller pocketbooks.

Mark your calendar:

Family Album opens Saturday, May 21!

The Fabulous Life of Lisa Nguyen
A tribute show
February 6 – 10, 2011

In response to the tragic and untimely death of Lisa Nguyen, her friends have organized an art show dedicated to her exuberant spirit. We are very proud to present The Fabulous Life of Lisa Nguyen, artwork for a larger-than-life artist and friend. This is an artistic celebration of the unstoppable, sparkling, vivacious, and very dear friend we were all so lucky to have. A force-of-nature both socially and creatively, Lisa couldn’t help but develop an enormous network of artistic friends and cohorts.

Creative friends from near and far contribute works inspired by and dedicated to Lisa Nguyen. A wide variety of media and artists will be represented, as well as some of Lisa’s own impressive design work.

Proceeds from the sale of work go toward the Lisa Nguyen Memorial Scholarship

Opening Reception:
Sunday, February 6th in the Werby Gallery, 5:00-7:00PM
Student Gallery courtyard at Cal State University, Long Beach


Gallery Hours:
Monday – Thursday, 12:00- 5:00PM
Wednesday 12:00-7:00PM


“Totes Appropes:” A Little Night Music for Lisa
A Benefit and Memorial Concert for Lisa Nguyen
February 6, 2011

Following the opening reception of The Fabulous Life of Lisa Nguyen, there will be a concert featuring music from some of Lisa’s friends and favorite bands. In keeping with Lisa’s incredible artistic talents and practice of helping others, the cover charge/door donation will go toward setting up a Lisa Nguyen Memorial scholarship.

Inazuma – Japanese Garage/Punk, Los Angeles
Brother Cecil – zombie blues two-piece, Long Beach
The Devil Bats – punk rock, Los Angeles
Cunt Sparrer – lo-fi all-girl Cock Sparrer tribute, Long Beach
Aubry and Thor – 2-piece folk rock, Long Beach

Lisa's favorite Rock and Roll from DJ Peachie Keen and DJ Oldboy

Doors at 9:00 PM
21+
$5 cover/base donation to Lisa Nguyen Memorial Scholarship
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Saturday, January 15 from 5:00-10:00 PM
Come by Phone Booth Gallery and check out their Live Painting event.
A raffle ticket could win you a fresh new piece from PBG's BFFs Harry Diaz, Garry Booth, Alan Villanueva, Kevin Bannister, David Owen, Ryan Milner, Nick Marquez, Nancy Chiu or yours truly!

Mondo Celluloid will be projecting rare movies and there are games and good stuff for sale from Clocky.
Come by and have a beer, see how it's done, and hang out!

Phone Booth Gallery
2533 E. Broadway
Long Beach, CA
90803

About this time last year, I was painting some puppets and props for Yamasong, a film by my friend Sam Hale. I got to meet some incredible people and learned a lot of sneaky things about puppet building. This week, Sam is making some puppets (as I type this very blog) for a new project and referred me to the production designer to paint some sets.

Here's a crappy photo from my phone of some of the sets I was working on today. The final project will be a hand-made/crafty one-shot commercial with lots of quick set changes and puppets. I can't wait to see where this is going (I really don't know yet, and that's the coolest part). These kids are going all the way through with this project in 3 days. It's pretty inspiring.

You can set and achieve seemingly unreasonable goals if you follow these instructions: Plan EVERYTHING out. Assemble a brain trust of quick and capable people. Delegate! Set a deadline. You can do a whole lot in a short time if you farm the work out. I'll post the finished product when I get it.

Saturday, December 4 at Viento y Agua in Long Beach, I'm participating in a charity event called Karma Collective.

If there are angels, I would have to assume they are all exact replicas of Hannah Greenspan. She is one of the most interesting, intelligent, insightful, compassionate (that doesn't start with "in" but it works) people I have ever met. She also happens to be tremendously talented, patient, and exquisitely beautiful. After spending several months in India earlier this year, Hannah was feeling a little extra humanitarian and wanted to put together a fundraiser to make the world a better place. Her efforts have brought you Karma Collective: an art sale, art auction, raffle, and live music. Proceeds from the auction, raffle, and a percentage of all art sales go to the Jhamste International Children's School in India.

There will be tasty snacks and drinks provided specifically for the event, as well as the usual delicious espresso service from Viento y Agua (oh, and PS: they serve the world's greatest hot chocolate. so do that for sure.) Come out and do some clean-conscience holiday shopping. Expect to find fine prints and original works from myself and other Long Beach area folks.

Enjoy the sweet sounds of Ben White, and acoustic/toy organ Cock Sparrer covers from myself and the fantastic Sara Lyons (no Evan for this show. but he'll play with us on the 11th at the Blue Cafe in Long Beach)

Saturday, December 4th!
Viento y Agua, 4007 East 4th Street, Long Beach, CA 90814!
from 6:00 to 10:00 pm!

If that's not the definition of a great Saturday night, I don't know what is.

I'm working on a piece for Unicornucopia, an exciting group show curated by the very adorable Tracey Taylor at Rothick Art Haus in Anaheim. There will be some super star artists in the show, so I'm very flattered to participate. The opening is Saturday, December 11 from 7:00 to 11:00.
I'll post in-progress previews of my piece, but you'll have to go to the show to see the finished work.

Later that evening, at the Blue Cafe in Long Beach, I'll be playing a show with The Meka Leka Hi's (featuring another Unicornicopia artist, JoshR) and Channel 3 to celebrate the release of the Black Hole Records Christmas compilation we're on.

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photo courtesy of Adolfo Guzman-Lopez/KPCC

The wonderful Adolfo Guzman-Lopez from KPCC came through the show. Check out the online article here:

http://www.scpr.org/news/2010/11/19/procrastination-art/

As you all may notice. The site is going through some tweaks. Please remain patient!, this is an ongoing project.

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For map of Gallery location. Click HERE.