Okay, so I'm super excited for this bundle because I'm working at a gallery this summer (bizarre coincidence)! It's this very large yacht docked in Newport from June-September. You can learn all about it here. I'm technically an administrative assistant hired to chase down artists/gallery owners for their contracts, but I've been snagged by the owner of the ship and I've basically been doing her bidding for the last few days. What I've learned: galleries are super-duper nitpicky and very detail oriented. I spent today unpacking, numbering, and cross referencing 40 or 50 paintings (there was a translation issue with some of the titles of a Mexican artist, Rufino Tamayo). Definitely using this experience [I've never worked for a gallery before, it's incredible] to influence/ shape this project. Promise I won't "borrow" any of the galleries I'm working on, only using them as inspiration for my own!
And if anybody is in the area and wants to visit the boat for the "go there" COME! It's beautiful! tickets for a day pass are $15 online. Also, we change our galleries out every one or two weeks so you can come throughout the summer and see something new every time.
Or, try RISD museum. I go there at least once a year if not more. They have pay-what-you-want Sundays from 10am-1pm (hello free admission) as well as student discounts ($3 with ID). LOVE their impressionist collection and their Japanese woodblock collection. The whole place is pretty awesome.
loooooving this last bundle!!!
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Bundle 2, Read more (part two)
I could not find enough information for a substantial "history of the quahog" but I did find some fun facts about chowder that I incorporated into my menu. The information was taken from these two books:
Voorhees, Don. Why Does Popcorn Pop? and 201 other Fascinating Facts About Food. MJF Books, New York, 1995. p 188
Herbst, Ron & Herbst, Sharon. "Chowder", The New Food Lover's Companion. Barron's Educational Series, New York, 2007. p 157
Herbst, Ron & Herbst, Sharon. "Clam", The New Food Lover's Companion. Barron's Educational Series, New York, 2007. p 162
I also looked at Flo's Clam Shack's Online menu for inspiration for my own-
http://www.flosclamshack.net/
Voorhees, Don. Why Does Popcorn Pop? and 201 other Fascinating Facts About Food. MJF Books, New York, 1995. p 188
Herbst, Ron & Herbst, Sharon. "Chowder", The New Food Lover's Companion. Barron's Educational Series, New York, 2007. p 157
Herbst, Ron & Herbst, Sharon. "Clam", The New Food Lover's Companion. Barron's Educational Series, New York, 2007. p 162
I also looked at Flo's Clam Shack's Online menu for inspiration for my own-
http://www.flosclamshack.net/
Friday, June 24, 2011
Bundle 2, Read more (part one)
I found this awesome article about quahogging in Rhode Island. It has a lot of technical insight into the equipment used for digging, as well as a substantial overview of the community of quahoggers in Rhode Island.
Another great source I found was the article up on the wall at Andrade's Catch. It was from the March 1997 issue of Rhode Island Monthly on page 31. There was a lot on the encroachment of Aquaculture (farming of shellfish) into the quahogger's territory. It also incorporated several interviews with old timers who've been quahogging all their lives.
The types of documents I'm producing has definitely solidified over the last few days. Instead of a collection of recipes I'm going to focus on the one I'm the most comfortable with (my mom's quahog fish chowder) and make it look like a step by step blog entry. One of my most frequented websites is Tastespotting. It's essentially a photo collection of incredible dishes linked to various food blogs from all over the world (most are in English but sometimes you'll find ones in Italian or Portugese, Ukrainian...).
What I like about this site is a photographic aspect of all the recipes. It's one way the internet has improved the age old cook book. Where as most cookbooks will have a large color photo every few pages (if any at all), the internet allows for photos documenting the preparation step by step. What better way to know if you're doing it right than by looking at a picture? I recently tried this recipe for frozen strawberry squares and it was delicious. As I was following it I really like the easy to follow step by step guide. Tonight I'm making my mom's chowder in the style of Amy's recipe. I hope it turns out okay!
The other thing I'm altering a little bit is the "history of the quahog" I'm still doing that but it seemed kind of disjointed or rather..like it was an element of a bigger document but not really one all on it's own. I was thinking of the menu for the Atlantic Beach Club, a restaurant on the beach in Middletown, and they had a History of Newport on the back of their menu for a while. Since the option of "menu" had been mentioned by Jamie I thought, "Why not have a simple menu (like a chowder shack you'd find on the beach) with the history of the quahog included? Short list of delicious seafood options, couple beers in tap and some summery desserts and you've got yourself a menu!
I had also planned to include a advertisement as a mock battle between New England and Manhatten clam chowder for a made-up seafood restaurant. To relate two of the documents I'll have it be an advertisement for the seafood restaurant.
Whenever my family would have a bonfire on the beach and cook up clams, mussels, sausages and the like we'd call it "The Clam Jam". I'm thinking this is gonna be the name for my new restaurant... :)
Another great source I found was the article up on the wall at Andrade's Catch. It was from the March 1997 issue of Rhode Island Monthly on page 31. There was a lot on the encroachment of Aquaculture (farming of shellfish) into the quahogger's territory. It also incorporated several interviews with old timers who've been quahogging all their lives.
The types of documents I'm producing has definitely solidified over the last few days. Instead of a collection of recipes I'm going to focus on the one I'm the most comfortable with (my mom's quahog fish chowder) and make it look like a step by step blog entry. One of my most frequented websites is Tastespotting. It's essentially a photo collection of incredible dishes linked to various food blogs from all over the world (most are in English but sometimes you'll find ones in Italian or Portugese, Ukrainian...).
What I like about this site is a photographic aspect of all the recipes. It's one way the internet has improved the age old cook book. Where as most cookbooks will have a large color photo every few pages (if any at all), the internet allows for photos documenting the preparation step by step. What better way to know if you're doing it right than by looking at a picture? I recently tried this recipe for frozen strawberry squares and it was delicious. As I was following it I really like the easy to follow step by step guide. Tonight I'm making my mom's chowder in the style of Amy's recipe. I hope it turns out okay!
The other thing I'm altering a little bit is the "history of the quahog" I'm still doing that but it seemed kind of disjointed or rather..like it was an element of a bigger document but not really one all on it's own. I was thinking of the menu for the Atlantic Beach Club, a restaurant on the beach in Middletown, and they had a History of Newport on the back of their menu for a while. Since the option of "menu" had been mentioned by Jamie I thought, "Why not have a simple menu (like a chowder shack you'd find on the beach) with the history of the quahog included? Short list of delicious seafood options, couple beers in tap and some summery desserts and you've got yourself a menu!
I had also planned to include a advertisement as a mock battle between New England and Manhatten clam chowder for a made-up seafood restaurant. To relate two of the documents I'll have it be an advertisement for the seafood restaurant.
Whenever my family would have a bonfire on the beach and cook up clams, mussels, sausages and the like we'd call it "The Clam Jam". I'm thinking this is gonna be the name for my new restaurant... :)
Bundle 2, Go There/Talk to Someone
On a personal note, my computer is virus free! It's going to be so much easier doing my documents now I have photoshop back and a non-sticky keyboard.
So...on to the interview. One of the documents I wanted to include in my bundle is an article on quahoggers of Rhode Island. I wanted to learn what the process was for gathering these shellfish and who was doing it. I figured I'd start my search for a quahogger at two of the local seafood stores on the island, Anthony's Seafood and Longwarf Seafood.
I went to Anthony's first to ask who their quahog supplier was. The guy working behind the counter was very nice and ran to the back to get his boss. He returned a few minutes later with a torn scrap of cardboard (he apologized and said he could find paper if I really wanted it) with "Andrades Catch, Bristol, Wood Street, 1st left" scrawled in red ink. After an explanation of the directions for how to get there, the guy behind the counter wished me luck and I was on my way.
I arrived at Longwarf seafood just as they were unlocking the doors. It's much darker and dingier than Anthony's high-ceilinged, white washed front display room but they sell local wholesale so I figured I might luck out on finding a local supplier. The man seemed really interested in my project when I explained it and told me he has one quahogger who comes in as a supplier.
"He'll probably be in today around 2 or 3, that's usually when he comes in. If not today then tomorrow for sure." Thankful for this direct lead to a digger I passed on my information with the promise that I'd be contacted by the quahogger when he came in. (That was Wednesday and he still hasn't called so I'm glad Andrade's in Bristol turned out to be a good spot...)
To be honest I got a bit lost trying to find Andrade's, but eventually after a few loops around downtown Bristol I found the small white building up the hill from the water. Inside was a whirring machine that seemed to be sorting clams. A young teenager was pouring them into the top and a deeply tanned man in a sleeveless T-shirt was at the bottom holding open a mesh bag to catch the clams as they tumbled down the chute. Shouting over the machine I asked if I could get in contact with some quahog diggers for a quick interview. A young girl about my age jumped up from a back desk and yelled to shut the machine off.
"Hi," she said. "I'm Julie. My dad owns this place. What did you say you needed?" I explained the paper I was writing and my need for a quahogger to interview.
"Well, my dad was a digger for a long time, there are some articles about him on the wall. And he's a diver," she said pointing to the tanned man on the floor catching clams in a bag. "There's a guy coming in about our age in like two minutes if you want to talk to him. He digs. Read the articles while you wait, there's a lot of information all over the shop if you're interested in quahogging".
So I did--one was a newspaper article and the other a Rhode Island Monthly article from '97. Before I got to the end of the second one a young guy walked through the door and walked into a back room. He returned with a cup of coffee and started chatting with the teenager. The machine had begun sorting and whirring again. I shouted over the noise and introduced myself.
"Are you a quahog digger? I'm writing a paper and the girl at the front desk said I could interview you". He looked surprised.
"You wanna interview me about quahogs?" he laughed. "Well why not?" We stepped outside into the drizzly rain so we wouldn't have to shout over the sorting machine.
I had a list of questions I'd written out as a rough guide:
-How long have you been shellfishing?
-Do you only dig for clams or are you open to other shellfish?
-What's the difference between the different clams?(cherrystones vs quahogs)
-Who taught you to do this?
-How often do you go out?
-What do you consider a good catch for the day?
-Is there a limit to how many you can pull in per day?
-Is there a certain technique to the raking/digging?
-Do you feel like this is a dying art?
-Are there any new technologies that you're competing against?
We talked about a lot of other stuff besides the questions I had down and I ended up with two pages of written notes from the interview. For the record his name is Bryan Aldrich, he's 27 years old, and he's been quahogging since he was 17.
I'll save the rest of the information for the paper, but that was the process of getting the information.
So...on to the interview. One of the documents I wanted to include in my bundle is an article on quahoggers of Rhode Island. I wanted to learn what the process was for gathering these shellfish and who was doing it. I figured I'd start my search for a quahogger at two of the local seafood stores on the island, Anthony's Seafood and Longwarf Seafood.
I went to Anthony's first to ask who their quahog supplier was. The guy working behind the counter was very nice and ran to the back to get his boss. He returned a few minutes later with a torn scrap of cardboard (he apologized and said he could find paper if I really wanted it) with "Andrades Catch, Bristol, Wood Street, 1st left" scrawled in red ink. After an explanation of the directions for how to get there, the guy behind the counter wished me luck and I was on my way.
I arrived at Longwarf seafood just as they were unlocking the doors. It's much darker and dingier than Anthony's high-ceilinged, white washed front display room but they sell local wholesale so I figured I might luck out on finding a local supplier. The man seemed really interested in my project when I explained it and told me he has one quahogger who comes in as a supplier.
"He'll probably be in today around 2 or 3, that's usually when he comes in. If not today then tomorrow for sure." Thankful for this direct lead to a digger I passed on my information with the promise that I'd be contacted by the quahogger when he came in. (That was Wednesday and he still hasn't called so I'm glad Andrade's in Bristol turned out to be a good spot...)
To be honest I got a bit lost trying to find Andrade's, but eventually after a few loops around downtown Bristol I found the small white building up the hill from the water. Inside was a whirring machine that seemed to be sorting clams. A young teenager was pouring them into the top and a deeply tanned man in a sleeveless T-shirt was at the bottom holding open a mesh bag to catch the clams as they tumbled down the chute. Shouting over the machine I asked if I could get in contact with some quahog diggers for a quick interview. A young girl about my age jumped up from a back desk and yelled to shut the machine off.
"Hi," she said. "I'm Julie. My dad owns this place. What did you say you needed?" I explained the paper I was writing and my need for a quahogger to interview.
"Well, my dad was a digger for a long time, there are some articles about him on the wall. And he's a diver," she said pointing to the tanned man on the floor catching clams in a bag. "There's a guy coming in about our age in like two minutes if you want to talk to him. He digs. Read the articles while you wait, there's a lot of information all over the shop if you're interested in quahogging".
So I did--one was a newspaper article and the other a Rhode Island Monthly article from '97. Before I got to the end of the second one a young guy walked through the door and walked into a back room. He returned with a cup of coffee and started chatting with the teenager. The machine had begun sorting and whirring again. I shouted over the noise and introduced myself.
"Are you a quahog digger? I'm writing a paper and the girl at the front desk said I could interview you". He looked surprised.
"You wanna interview me about quahogs?" he laughed. "Well why not?" We stepped outside into the drizzly rain so we wouldn't have to shout over the sorting machine.
I had a list of questions I'd written out as a rough guide:
-How long have you been shellfishing?
-Do you only dig for clams or are you open to other shellfish?
-What's the difference between the different clams?(cherrystones vs quahogs)
-Who taught you to do this?
-How often do you go out?
-What do you consider a good catch for the day?
-Is there a limit to how many you can pull in per day?
-Is there a certain technique to the raking/digging?
-Do you feel like this is a dying art?
-Are there any new technologies that you're competing against?
We talked about a lot of other stuff besides the questions I had down and I ended up with two pages of written notes from the interview. For the record his name is Bryan Aldrich, he's 27 years old, and he's been quahogging since he was 17.
I'll save the rest of the information for the paper, but that was the process of getting the information.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Bundle 2, What I know
My family is very, very into cooking so it was kind of difficult for me to pick one thing to focus on. I was thinking of all the recipes my vegetarian sister has perfected over the past few years and her process of completly changing her diet. I thought of my mother's experience working as a chef. My mind snapped to the 4 inch thick recipe book in the cupboard, stuffed with recipes from my mother, her mother, and her mother, as well as friends and relatives everywhere in between. I could go beyond the safety of my family and venture out into Newport where there's enough restaurants to eat at a different place every night for a month. There were just so many directions I could go in, I decided to pick a dish and create a project around it.
My mother's fish stew, a deliciously brothy chowder (or chow-dah, if you prefer). Oh quahogs, what a quintessential New England food. Using quahogs as a central theme incorporates my family, it incorporates my home, and I hope it will open me up to a new culture (shellfishing) that I have yet to discover. I've dived for them on my own but I think it'll be really cool interviewing someone who harvests them professionally. I remember reading a great article last summer from RI monthly about oyster harvesters and I'd love to do something in that style focusing on quahogs. Besides that I'll include my mom's chowder recipe, a brief "history of the quahog" explaining their cultural significance, and a mock advertisement for a seafood restaurant pitting Manhattan chowder vs. N.E. clam chowder.
Today I'm going to a local seafood restaurant to ask them who their supplier is. I'm hoping that way I can get in contact with at least one guy who collects these delicious bivalves for a living.
My mother's fish stew, a deliciously brothy chowder (or chow-dah, if you prefer). Oh quahogs, what a quintessential New England food. Using quahogs as a central theme incorporates my family, it incorporates my home, and I hope it will open me up to a new culture (shellfishing) that I have yet to discover. I've dived for them on my own but I think it'll be really cool interviewing someone who harvests them professionally. I remember reading a great article last summer from RI monthly about oyster harvesters and I'd love to do something in that style focusing on quahogs. Besides that I'll include my mom's chowder recipe, a brief "history of the quahog" explaining their cultural significance, and a mock advertisement for a seafood restaurant pitting Manhattan chowder vs. N.E. clam chowder.
Today I'm going to a local seafood restaurant to ask them who their supplier is. I'm hoping that way I can get in contact with at least one guy who collects these delicious bivalves for a living.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Bundle 1, Read More (cont.)
Two things I researched to include in my documents:
1. I have a lot of musician friends so it wasn't difficult to find hypothetical bands to play at my concert. I'm good friends with all the members of Vejadu, particularly the drummer Julian Ciany. They're a cover band play in bars around Newport in the summer. I actually talked to Julian about the project and he said it was a cool idea and he'd love to do that if it ever happened. He even wanted to take a look at my poster to use for one of his shows (with the info tweaked of course). Jon Janis is a local musician who plays shows solo with an acoustic guitar. I thought he'd be an interesting addition to the concert--perfect for folksy 60's music. Paperplanes is another local band. I hadn't really talked to any of them about the project, but I'm sure they'd be excited for it.
2. I didn't actually know how much signs like the ones I was envisioning cost. I searched around on the internet for what I was looking for. I imagined one of those signs like the ones you see at parks and zoos with a lot of written information on them. Like this:
I called a company in Ohio for a quote, without the cost of design. They said it would be around $1000 depending on the size. I'm sure if I looked around some more I could get someone either more local or a lower cost. I just wanted a general figure for the cost of such a project.
So I guess that's it for the first bundle. It's all submitted now and my postwrite is done. Now onto bundle 2...
1. I have a lot of musician friends so it wasn't difficult to find hypothetical bands to play at my concert. I'm good friends with all the members of Vejadu, particularly the drummer Julian Ciany. They're a cover band play in bars around Newport in the summer. I actually talked to Julian about the project and he said it was a cool idea and he'd love to do that if it ever happened. He even wanted to take a look at my poster to use for one of his shows (with the info tweaked of course). Jon Janis is a local musician who plays shows solo with an acoustic guitar. I thought he'd be an interesting addition to the concert--perfect for folksy 60's music. Paperplanes is another local band. I hadn't really talked to any of them about the project, but I'm sure they'd be excited for it.
2. I didn't actually know how much signs like the ones I was envisioning cost. I searched around on the internet for what I was looking for. I imagined one of those signs like the ones you see at parks and zoos with a lot of written information on them. Like this:
 | |
| http://www.creo.ie/signage-outdoor-pedestal.html |
So I guess that's it for the first bundle. It's all submitted now and my postwrite is done. Now onto bundle 2...
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Bundle 1, Talk to Someone/Read More
After I went to Braga I headed over to the Newport Public Library. My sister had said there was an article about Braga in the newspaper last year so I thought it best to start with Newport Daily News micro films. Little did I know that quick trip to the library turned my entire project on its head.
Bundle 1, Go There
This morning I walked down to Braga Park. I've been there hundreds of times since it's literally down the street from my house, but I wanted to get some photos of the important areas I'd be referencing in my bundle (where the memorial would go, the area where the band would set up, etc).
 |
| A Panorama I constructed of the Kay Street entrance view |
 | |||
| The sign |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)