Books. Oh how I love thee...

"Meanwhile", was my final project in college...I believe.

Actually, that may or may not be true. Turns out, I have a terrible memory. But regardless, it might have been my favorite. This explains the extensive number of pictures posted.

Normally, I would leave this up to your interpretation but I'm outright spilling the beans here..

The concept depicts my life at the time vs. the world's real problems (IE. an "oil man's war"). You can already see which one is winning, right? 

Here's the run down, my last year or two of getting my Bachelor's degree was completely overloaded with four or five, 3 hour studio classes plus 1-2, or even 3 jobs (yes, that really happened) all in the 24 hour day, 7 days a week format. Not to mention the immense amount of pressure to succeed at this juggling act, oh and quintessential sleep.  Pressure is what ended up being the kicker, and motivator especially for this project, in turn, I'm entirely thankful.

All that to say, I felt all this make-believe pressure in school...for what?  Well, apparently to open my eyes outside my sheltered, little American college girl, early 20's life to see a world in chaos and torment. A world where pressure is felt in the context of staying alive.

That my friend.is.real.

So this book is meant to take all that complaining I just went on about and turn it back to stare me in the face. It is far worse out there than I have ever known or dreamt about. I don't entirely expect the viewers to understand the part where I personally challenge myself, but hopefully it will speak to at least one person.

On a lighter note, I hope you enjoy it and the other's to come!

"Meanwhile" © Julie Cope 2007

"Oil Man's War" is the title to a Kathleen Edwards song. She and her songs are wonderful!

CU-Eco Star Challenge

I recently was given the opportunity to design a logo for a Colorado University's conservation and reduction program in their residence halls. The program, named 'Eco Star Challenge', is geared to create awareness among students in regards to their "behaviors associated with excessive consumption" and really, to get back to the basics by reuniting them with the good ol' phrase Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. The logo design went up on bulletin boards across campus' in the residence halls and was also used for t-shirts!

I was thrilled when Heather called upon me for one, the opportunity and two, it's something I'm really passionate about. Design, yes...absolutely. But I'm referring to the environmental issues.

I have this book. And here's a little secret, if I read too much of it's 'totally in your face facts' at one time, it'll keep me up all night thinking about what it is I haven't been doing to help this beautiful world you and I live in. A little goes a long way, in both reading the book and putting it's knowledge into action. 

So if you pick it up, and I hope you will, consider this your forewarning.
Here's some text from a few well known concepts:
Recycle.
If everyone in America simply separated the paper, plastic, glass, and aluminum products from the trash and tossed them into a recycling bin, we could decrease the amount of waste sent to landfills by 75 percent. Currently, it takes an area the size of Pennsylvania to dump all our waste each year.

Water Filters

If you want to be sure the tap water in your house is clean, try installing water filters on your faucets instead of buying bottled water-you'll save money over time and get better-tasting water. You can buy a water filter for as little as $29, or about a month's worth of bottled water (if you drink a liter a day). About 1.5 million tons of plastic are used in the bottling of 89 billion liters of drinking water each year. That's enough plastic to make two water filters for every household on the planet. One billion people around the world lack access to clean drinking water.
Lighting
Install more efficient lighting systems, such as those with motion sensors and dimmable lighting controls. And, of course, go fluorescent. You can save $35 annually if you replace just four standard incandescent lamps with compact fluorescent lamps, which use 66% less energy. If every American home replaced just one light bulb with a more energy-efficient one, we would save enough energy to light more than 2.5 million homes for a year and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of nearly eight hundred thousand cars.
Set your thermostat a degree higher for air-conditioning and a degree lower for heating, and you could save $100 per year on your utility bill. Keep adjusting and you'll save even more. If every home in America turned the dial, we could save more than $10 billion per year on energy costs, enough to provide a year's worth of gasoline, electricity, and natural gas to every person in Iowa.

Quote provided by Lynne Harrahy in the "Zero Waste" article by Emily Zarka.
Environmental facts provided by 'The Green Book' by Elizabeth Rogers and Thomas M. Kostigen

Thanks Heather!

Keith Carter

I was flipping through the latest issue of Texas Monthly, when suddenly I found an article titled "The illustionist" with this beautiful 2 page spread photograph. I quickly buried my nose beneath my beloved TM and let the dreamy dark images soak in. Carter is a self-taught Beaumont Texan who learned the magic of photography from watching his mother stand under the safelight glow of their kitchen sink. "He steps over beside her then raises himself on tiptoes to watch in wide-eyed wonder as one of her photographic images slowly comes up in the developer." {Bill Wittliff, "The Illustionist" Texas Monthly 9.2008}  I can't help but remember my first experience in the dark room, the tiny room resided behind my mom's desk at my even tinier school in Maxwell, Nebraska. The enrollment in 2005 for K-12 was 146. Population: 315 (15 more than when I attended school there in 1995.) Your heart beats with anticipation as the image appears like a magic trick. Just add water. Or so it seemed. 

Anyway...I'm blown away by his work. I'm actually proud of him. Way to bring the element of mystery into photography. Carter's work reminds me of another one of my absolute favorites, Robert and Shana Parkeharrison. However, I will save them for another day. 

Video killed the Radio Store?

I just found this neat installation. I love the concept!

Falling forward.

For the first time this year the air lent us a cool breath from the ever changing seasons. The day was perfect. The crisp smell sent nostalgia rushing through every bone in my body. Lending it's confident, progressive hand as a fresh breath that silently wisps me toward new moments to remember.

Translation. I felt rejuvenated...mind, body and soul by the cold front. 

My new friend/baby, Sadie, and I ran together, we ran errands picking up beautiful papers from local art stores, and we made books. Well, I made books. Almost finished and then you may see them. 

For now, here are some pictures of Sadie. 

Image © 2008 Julie Cope.

I want to unfold.

I am much too alone in this world, yet not alone 

enough

to truly consecrate the hour.

I am much too small in this world, yet not small

enough

to be to you just object and thing,

dark and smart.

I want my free will and want it accompanying 

the path which leads to action;

and want during times that beg questions,

where something is up,

to be among those in the know,

or else be alone.

I want to mirror your image to its fullest perfection,

never be blind or too old

to uphold your weighty wavering reflection.

I want to unfold.

Nowhere I wish to stay crooked, bent;

for there I would be dishonest, untrue.

I want my conscience to be

true before you;

want to describe myself like a picture I observed 

for a long time, one close up,

like a new word I learned and embraced,

like the everyday jug,

like my mother's face,

like a ship that carried me along

through the deadliest storm.

-Rainer Maria Rilke

Image © 2008 Julie Cope 

Can you image?

2,752 lives lost. It's paralyzing to reflect back on each individual directly affected by the actions of few. What it must have been like? Death and destruction barreling down all around you. Thick smokey despair choking the confusion that pounds through your vanes in your split second search for an answer, any answer. You look up through the haze and see debris spiraling down only to realize that you'd just witnessed someone willingly leaping to his or her miserable fate. 

Heavy on the heart puts it lightly. 

Images via www.september11news.com