Are blogs obsolete?

Has Instagram surpassed blogging? I've come to prefer its ease of use and immediacy. Twitter, too, enables quick sharing of ideas, mostly stream of consciousness commentary, which feeds my embroideries and artist statements, hyperbolic though my comments may be. How to transfer followers from one platform to another?

To check in with me more regularly and give me access to your visual diaries, let's follow each other on Instagram.

For now, here are some more images of figures I'm profiling in Native/Immigrant City, an ongoing conversation with Brooklynites and New Yorkers (natives, transplants, immigrants) about surviving/thriving amidst breakneck speed gentrification and crushing daily demands. Currently receiving support through a Greater NY Arts Development Fund grant from the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs administered by BAC (Brooklyn Arts Council).

It's been a long, cold, lonely winter

As the Beatles sang in "Here Comes the Sun," it HAS been a long, cold, lonely winter. In my case, not terribly lonely, as I teach 4-6 times a week and am surrounded by students ages 6 - 75, so I very often have company and constant conversation.

I've been keeping myself busy, getting ready for an upcoming solo show (opening night Thursday, 2/19!) at IMC Lab and Gallery in Manhattan, 56 West 22nd Street, 6th Floor. I've been making stop motion videos to add texture and elucidate some of the narratives embroidered on my hand held and life sized selfies. Here is a sneak peak of one stop motion piece:

I used to

use this forum to pour out concerns I wasn't sharing IRL ("in real life") contexts. Now Twitter is more of my home.

Is blogging obsolete? Have Twitter and Instagram replaced longer-form writing? (what) Do we read? How long is the average #AttentionSpan? Is #reading #obsolete? What does that mean for poetry and journalism? Are talk show hosts better received than news anchors?

Crustacean support group

"Maybe I have to have a soft shell, be a soft shell crab so that I don't get smashed. But then I'll just end up in someone's sandwich." Crustacean Support Group.

Text by a friend for @EmbroideryPoems, BAC-sponsored project. 2013. 

Embroidery and watercolor on silk. 3"x3.75".

Shorty needlepoint

Overheard at an art opening...

"ShORty NeEdLEPoiNt with thE tiGht a$$." 2013
Embroidery on fabric. For @EmbroideryPoems

The nano-satellite of my sorrow

Thanks to Olisa Corocan for the text. This piece is for her - it's her "found
poem" from the June 6 poetry reading at 61 Local. A pleasure to make this!

Spelling Lesson, by Kevin Kinsella

Poem "Spelling Lesson" by Kevin Kinsella. Embroidery by Iviva Olenick. 2013.

Tiger Tooth from Angela Meyer aka @candylecoque

Thanks to @candylecoque (Angela Meyer) for tweeting
this to me. Embroidery and appliqué on fabric. 2013.

#cantstopthinkingaboutyou

Spring renews.

#cantstopthinkingaboutyou. Embroidery and watercolor.
2013. Text by @EmbroideryPoems. 2.25" x 3.5"

Creative Voice, text by Sandy Denarski

Thanks to Sandy Denarski for writing the text for this piece. Of course, you're probably thinking that the piece could refer to me...

Creamsicle by @EmbroideryPoems

"Orange Brooklyn - Running under a creamsicle-colored sky."
2013. Embroidery and watercolor on fabric.
Text by @EmbroideryPoems. 

Echoes, poem by @Rachellah

"Echoes." Embroidery on fabric. 2013. Poem by @Rachellah,
aka Rachel Udell. Embroidery by Iviva Olenick

Get Out of My Dreams

Text by poet @melissabroder

"get out of my dreams and into my fear"

Dad Knows Best

Thanks, Dad.

#LovePermanence

Joyousness

"How to love him back to joyousness." Inspired by @melissabroder's "Google sex" comment (which I have since learned from a reliable source is not entirely accurate).

GoogleSex

Thanks @melissabroder, poet whose work I love, for the text for this embroidered tweet. I loved Melissa's book, "Meat Heart." I recommend checking out her work, and Sorry House, which includes some of her poet friends.

Emotional Mollusks

My own "tweet."

Restless leg syndrome

I'm pretty sure this is one of the lines from one of Spencer Madsen's poems from the Sorry House reading of a few weeks ago. So funny! I took notes in my iPhone during the reading, but of course, I'm not exactly sure that I transcribed properly what was being read.

Dad knows best, part 1

Thanks, Dad for this tweet-length poem.