So as you know from my previous post, I was ALL about the art in New Orleans... I went to countless galleries and museums and was really impressed by the collections that I saw... The pictures below are from the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, The Contemporary Arts Center, the New Orleans Museum of Art, and some art from the hotel and various places in new Orleans... This was one of the best days I had on my trip; just going around from place to place, enjoying art from all eras and places... ENJOY!

This piece was in the Ogden... The pics below it are close-ups of the pieces... Smaller pictures of the other face, makes up the faces... Really cool in person... Made of some sort of felt-like material..

This is a Tony Smith piece, which was really cool because I had to do a presentation on him for my art class and really enjoyed his work... Located at the NOMA... Which had a sculpture garden that seemed really cool, but it closed and we didn't have time to check it out...

A piece outside the "O..." I think it was titled, "Myself, Flower, and Knife"
These pieces are from the Peter Saul exhibition at the CAC... Really cool and controversial...
This was titled something along the lines of "[Columbus Meeting the Natives]"






This piece titled "Bunny" was in Lafayette Square...
Lafayette Sq. as well... Artistic street lights...

In the New Orleans Arena....
One of the lighting pieces in our hotel... Made out of blown glass...

At the airport.

There you go! Some of the art that I saw while in New Orleans... I hope you enjoyed the pieces.... I know I did!!!

Thanks for tuning in...

Jose

One of my favorite things of New Orleans is the rich culture of the Arts... There is art everywhere you look... Whether it's a gallery or just the architecture of a building... It is truly a beautiful thing...

For this series of "media posts" that I plan on sharing with you all I will start with the pictures of the Streetcars that are placed all over New Orleans... They are more or less sculptures of the famous streetcar (a main way of transportation, similar to the "T" in Boston)... These things were everywhere and I did not get a chance to take pictures of all of them because it did not occur to me how cool they were until the middle of the week... They just represent everything about New Orleans... The arts, the food, the people... Check them out! (Some of the pics are of the same cart, just the other side...)

Welcome!!! (on Canal St.)

Here is Jess on a cart in front of the Audubon Park... Across the street from Loyola and Tulane!

The "gambling" cart in front of the casino of course...

This one is cool... A Mardigras cart...

Jazzin' it...

What's New Orleans without Hot Sauce?

This one pretty much says it all...

This is my favorite! It was inside a building... Seemed so out of place... But it looks so cool!

Well there you go... There were other carts that I know I missed... But you get the idea...

More pics to come soon!

Thanks for tuning in...

Jose

Hey all! So I know I haven't posted much from my trip to NOLA last week, but I have been catching up with some work as well as sorting all the pics that I took... I have over 1,000 pictures from New Orleans and I want to make sure that my post aren't just "randoms" but rather have some meaning behind them... So those will come SOON!!! PROMISE... : )

On another note, today was the annual 'Festival of the Arts' here at UMass... After waking up from a nap I contemplated going because I wanted to check out the poetry, singing, etc... But I ended up not making the trip to the S.U.B. for several reasons, 1)it was raining and 2)college basketball was on... And I was glad with my choice because I got to catch a few great games... I still cannot believe that Pitt squeezed out another victory late in the game... But you have to give them credit, those Pitt kids are tough... (by "kids" I meant "men," Fields is at least 26... haha)

But since I didn't go to the event I figured I would share some of my own art with you all... This is a poem I wrote recently and it's "Untitled" still and I feel it's still 'incomplete...' I think it will be added to soon... But here it is...

"Untitled"

As I lay here staring in the dark, I realize I can't sleep...
I-just-can't-sleep...
All I want to do is hold you and care for you,
Hold you and care for you...
Like nothing that you've ever had...
Hold you and care for you...
I want to rub your back until I am familiar with every square inch of it...
Til' I get to a point where blind folded,
I know exactly where hands are...
I want to run my fingers through your hair,
As I stare into your eyes...
And just lose myself in you as I count the number of eyelashes on your left eye...
I want to rest my head on your chest and just listen...
Listen to the rhythm of the drum that is banging in your body,
Your heart...
Playing a song that is perfectly composed...
I want to tap my finger on your shoulder and play that beat for both of us to hear...
I want to breathe when you do...
Inhale.......
Exhale.......
I want our breathing to be the same,
So, when I hold you in my arms...
Our bodies move in the same motion,
As if we were on a tropical island dancing the night away...
Our bodies....
ONE.
I want to kiss you every time like it is the last time,
The last time that we will see each other...
Our lips touching,
Instantly creating a spark hot enough to ignite any flame...
Hotter than the warmth between out bodies as they rub together...
I WANT TO MAKE LOVE.
Make love to your mind and make you climax as you tell me your deepest secrets...
As you open yourself up to me and lie there...
VULNERABLE,
but yet,
SAFE... In my arms...
I want.... I want.... I want....
I know I want a lot and I may not deserve it all...
But the one thing that I really want...
Is for YOU to want the same.

Thanks for tuning in...

Jose

Hey all... So as you probably know, I was on break last week and have not posted for a while... The reason for that being that I had some work to catch up on... But soon enough I will update you all on my trip and throw up a series of "media posts" of pictures and potential videos of my travels throughout New Orleans... I have over 1,000 pictures to go through, so the post will probably be up sometime this week/weekend...

The cartoon on the left was something I came across and it reminded me of people asking me how my trip went and whether or not I had pictures, etc..... I thought it was pretty funny as well... What do you think???


Thanks for tuning in...

Jose

So yesterday we ran all over the place and just checked out most of the French Quarter... We ate lunch at Magnolia's, walked the French Market, caught a show of street dancers... Did some more walking and then had dinner at Mother's... Mother's was soooooo good... I had jambalaya and some bread pudding... They called you up for your order by name and it made me feel like I was at home... Once we got back to the hotel for good, we chilled on the roof in the pool and jacuzzi...

Today was a good day... It was raining at times but misty for the most part... We started the day with hopes of going to the Aquarium, but it doesn't open on Mondays... So we headed over to Riverwalk and hit some shops for gifts and souvenirs and all that good stuff... I chilled on the balcony/patio area and just took in the views of the Mississippi River and took some pictures... We then ate at the food court and I had a Cajun combo which had a little bit of everything from Messina's... I also had some bread pudding which was really good...

After lunch we went on a 3 hour tour of the city... It was really good and worth the hefty $42... It took us to areas that we wouldn't have been able to go to and we saw the devastating damage caused by Katrina... It was a very emotional tour... Seeing everything still in a wreck 3+ years after the storm is crazy... You could feel the pain of the people who lost it all... The people who needed the most help, but got none...

We also toured the rest of the city and checked out some of the biggest houses I've seen anywhere... It was cool, learning about the stories behind certain places and who lived where and so forth...

The tour was just great... It was very informative and allowed us to see the entire city and learn about the history which for me is the most important part...

For the evening we wen to the New Orleans Arena and caught CP3 in action against the Rockets who were without Yao (flu) and T-Mac (knee)... It was a great experience and a great atmosphere... The fans were awesome... EVERYONE was into the game... The Hornets ended up losing due to some of the worse officiating I've ever seen... BUT... We did get on the jumbo tron... I kinda looked at the guy with the camera and he came over to us and told us "when the Hornets score, go nuts..." SO WE DID!!!

(Like I said, pics and videos will come later... Probably a series of media posts...)

Thanks for tuning in....

Jose

Hey all!!! So we got in last night around midnight... The flight went well... If you didn't know, that was my first time flying... I wasn't nervous at all and was really excited... It was a cool experience seeing everything from above... The only downside was that on the first plane ride, my ears were killing me from the pressure... But I quickly caught on and was fine from there on...

The hotel is everything I expected and more... So much art.. Perfect location... Great staff... The room was nice and big and I cannot pick out anything bad...

Today we're just gonna hike it around and see what's going on... Potentially check out the St. Patrick's Day parade if we find it.. And just scope out places that we will check out this week...

I'll try to get pics up, but they may just come all at once when I get back to school...

Thanks for tuning in...

Jose

Heading out to the airport in a bout 30 min or so... Plane takes off at 7pm... Should arrive in New Orleans around midnight... Just in time to enjoy the night life... I'll keep you posted if I can... If not there should be plenty of blogging for me when I get back!

Thanks for tuning in...

Jose

We had 5 people so we used the lobby of the building... It was great... It was fast paced and we had a lot of fun... We killed the lights and played in semi-darkness... It was AWESOME!!! We all had our moments where we took over games and made some incredible shots... Jess and Ed shot Bennett in the face and stuck the darts to his glasses... I couldn't believe it happened twice... (pictures should come soon...) I myself got shot in the eye, but I did not have on glasses and it made me fall to the ground... I could not see out of my left eye for a good 20 min... Thanks Lisa...

So yea, we had a blast... It's probably the last time that a few of these guys are gonna get the chance to play with us and we made the best of it... I will be sure to put up pics as soon as I get some and some of the great vidoe footage as well..

Til' next time... Keep your eyes open and watch your back... Thos little darts come fast!!!!

Thanks for tuning in...

Jose

As of right now, the weather gadget on my desktop reads 55F... I cannot believe how nice it is outside... There's nothing better than waking up, looking outside and seeing the UMass campus "alive..." (Simply because the weather is nice and not because people are intoxicated...) I just hope that this is not another tease from Mother Nature as we had a similar day a week ago and then got snowed in the day after....

However, I'm a bit upset that the weather had to be this nice out today... See, I'm stuck in my room doing work.. (Or at least I should be, clearly I'm blogging right now... : ] ) But hey, it is just good to know that winter is nearly gone... I just hope that the weather is this good in _____ when I'm there for Spring Break... (Blank to be filled in soon!!!)

Now get out there and enjoy the sun and warmth if you have not been able to for a few months (i.e. NEW ENGLAND)...

P.S.. This weather is making me think about cookouts in the summer time.. CANNOT WAIT!!!

Thanks for tuning in...

Jose

(Picture by Jazmin Ramos at the UMass DJ Battle in 08')

SO... It's been a while since the last post... I have been really busy with school... The beauty of being an Art Major... But hey, it's what I like to do...

So the other day I linked up with my boy Jordan aka DJ JLS (pictured above doing what he does) and I dropped off my external to get an injection of music... Little did I know that upon receiving it I would be receiving more than a month's worth of music... That's right.. Over 70gb of nothing but straight heat... From Dead Prez to Invincible to J Dilla... Just some great music... All different genres... GOOD LOOKING OUT J...

Right now I'm just rockin' to some heat as I attempt to get some work done.... But be sure to check back in soon... I'll have a post soon on Spring Break and what I'm doing... Which will of course be updated throughout the break... Also, Stay tuned for some art work from myself... Poems, drawings, videos, etc...

Be easy.

Thanks for tuning in...

Jose