in high school, our art teacher used to make us write lists of 100 of our influences. i used to hate this assignment, i could barely get to 44. now, some years later, i love this assignment and do if often, most of the time very informally.

informal list/ october 18, 2005

1. airplane traffic
2. pumpkin scones
3. buying 3 new plants
4. fix you
5. the dollar store
6. new orange office chairs
7. emails from strangers
8. people who think you have answers
9. trying to come up with names
10. annoying passive aggressive emails from immature people of pretend authority
11. seeing soap stars at art museums
12. target
13. glitter pumpkins
14. moisturizer
15. silhouettes
16. lofts
17. thanksgiving
18. holistic integrated wellness
19. to do lists
20. bad shows on the WB you end up getting addicted to
21. Halloween candy
22. flirtatious text messages
23. sitting up straight
24. san fransisco
25. grad school friends
26. being in the position to say “this is an old colleague from grad school”
27. noticing thumbprints in claymation
28. writing letters of recommendation
29. heart shaped post it notes
30. ferris wheels
31. the space between you and your computer
32. jello molds
33. foam
34. punch cards
35. cabbage
36. wondering how to make creamed spinach
37. recipes
38. red eye flights
39. power cables
40. pie crusts
41. wanting to write books
42. writing first chapters of books
43. wanting to go to portland
44. this is my favorite number
45. self help books written after the help
46. the frozen food section of trader joe’s
47. the designer and the grid
48. patchwork quilts
49. sewing
50. knitting
51. target sells knitting supplies in it’s dollar section
52. dents in your shoulders
53. free massagers with martinis at bars
54. craigs list
55. yoga
56. sugar
57. flocking
58. going back to Baltimore
59. dates
60. ical
61. big sheets of drawing paper
62. thread as drawing
63. time, there’s never enough time
64. being a part of a generation who quotes saved by the bell
65. bad hair cuts
66. missing good haircutters
67. wine bars
68. residue
69. memories
70. stamp collecting
71. checked suede skirts
72. getting out of bed in the morning
73. inspirational quotes stuck to mirrors
74. fortune cookie factories in back alleys of china town
75. eating dinners with strangers
76. apologies
77. big diebenkorn paintings
78. correctly identifying photographs as rothko rip offs
79. ms word recognizes “rothko” as a work in it’s dictionary
80. wanting to make videos again
81. needing motivation
82. little yuppie coffee shops
83. fireflies
84. teaching clubs
85. sending packages
86. ads that tell you you can be you again
87. clock ticks
88. trying to use back packs
89. waiting
90. overcoming failure
91. tubular muffin tins that are rubber and not tin
92. crescendo
93. rain
94. emails that become journals
95. playing it by ear
96. penciling it in vs. sharpie
97. twenty six
98. wedding invitations
99. friends in far places
100. macaroni and cheese
101. color coded sushi boats

informal list/ october 8, 2004

1. long showers
2. hearts that aren’t heart shaped
3. clock ticks
4. dogs
5. packages in the mail
6. lace table cloths
7. clothes that only cost $1
8. pink
9. messy emotions
10. “political”
11. caffeine-free (with chocolate and tea)
12. watering my plants
13. new sheets
14. butterflies in your stomach
15. wrist guards
16. waiting
17. melon
18. negotiate
19. trains
20. things that change over time
21. negative space
22. jello molds
23. body aches
24. residue
25. shadows
26. navigation
27. order as means of negotiation
28. sweaty palms
29. viewing devices
30. file folders
31. comfort
32. woven grids
33. accessories
34. computers as accessories
35. ichat bubbles
36. multiples of three
37. dreams of lost loves
38. safety in distance
39. secret crushes
40. not really knowing what love is?
41. people watching underneath sunglasses
42. making heads turn
43. that tingle when your foot falls asleep
44. this is my favorite number
45. pretending to be famous
46. driving with the windows down so your hair gets all messy
47. lucid dreams
48. bad girly movies
49. leaves that change
50. not caring
51. wondering if you’ll run into someone you know
52. realizing you change
53. tags in your shirt that itch
54. ferris wheels
55. clemeintine
56. horoscopes on Wednesdays
57. new jacket
58. wanting to go hot air ballooning
59. reading street maps to entertain myself
60. realizing how much I love flip flops
61. is it possible to have an addiction to toe nail polish or am I afraid to have naked toes?
62. architects
63. kites
64. post it notes
65. hershey’s kisses with caramel inside
66. cycles
67. generic utilitarian accessories
68. ipod
69. making books
70. wanting to bake a cake just so I can frost something
71. watching too much TV
72. needing to get groceries
73. rachel whiteread
74. finish closet design
75. the way other people organize their pantries
76. things you do daily
77. water aerobics
78. feeling grown up buying fancy paper
79. cycles of empty and full
80. knitting
81. cozies (and how I can’t find the history of them)
82. sending mail
83. getting to read magazines on the shuttle
84. december
85. why decoration is bad
86. lollipops
87. grids
88. cartesian models
89. writing short poems
90. using a backpack again
91. small movements
92. my new computer claude
93. naming my objects
94. getting to check out library books for a really long time
95. big white spaces that could be big or small
96. scabs that are almost healed but not quiet
97. identifying to pop songs and being okay with that
98. shoulders
99. danish glasses
100. rings
101. pretending to be robert irwin at the grocery store

formal list/ november 28, 2004

places I like to go
1. The Guggenheim
2. The Station Building at MICA
3. First Class
4. Airports
5. Train stations
6. On swings
7. New York City
8. The Calatrava addition to the Milwaukee Art Museum
9. Fabric and yarn stores
10. Target Stores
works of art iconsider influential
11. Lick and Lather, Janine Antoni
12. Untitled (100 Spaces), Rachel Whiteread
13. The Perfect Ride, Jennifer Pastor
14. Superbad, Ben Benjamin
15. Text Rain, Utterback/Achituv
16. Chocolate Room, Edward Ruscha
artists iconsider influential in general
17. Robert Irwin
18. Agnes Martin
19. Felix Gonzalez Torres
20. Pipilotti Rist
21. Georg Suerat
22. Donald Judd
23. Eva Hesse
things i read
24. Rosalind Krauss, Grids, You Say
25. Charlotte Mullins, Rachel Whiteread
26. Drew Leder, The Absent Body
27. Michel Foucault, The Order of Things
28. Friedrich Kittler, Gramophone, Film, Typewriter
29. Katherine Hayles, How We Became Post Human
30. Lucy Lippard, Eva Hesse
31. McQuaid & Singer, From Baker Street to Binary,
32. Sadie Plant, Zeros and Ones
33. Alvis J. Evans, Basic Digital Electronics
34. Tim Richardson, Sweets: A History of Candy
35. Eric Zimmerman, Rules of Play
36. Steven Levy, iPod Nation, News Week
37. Instructions for Chutes & Ladders
38. Recipes
things i like to look at
39. Subway maps
40. Product design
41. Pink
42. Finish closet design
43. Sets of instructions
44. Blue prints
45. Power lines
things i like to do
46. Fly kites
47. Go on Ferris Wheels
48. Categorize Halloween candy as a child
49. Water aerobics
50. Things you have to do daily
51. Frost cakes
52. Pretend to be Robert Irwin at the grocery store
53. Finding knitting blogs
54. Write letters
55. Make lists
56. Keep track of events in iCal
57. Knit
58. Chat
59. Take pictures
60. Blow bubbles
words i like to think about
61. Residue
62. Order
63. Negotiations
64. Desire
65. Threshold
66. Utilitarian
67. Lollipop
68. Cycles
69. Algorithm
things i like to listen to
70. My iPod
71. Trains
72. Hidden tracks
73. Bad lyrics in pop songs you can’t help but relate
74. Rain
things i like to taste
75. Avocados
76. Chocolate
77. Tea
78. Hershey’s lip-gloss
79. Pumpkin muffins
things i like to smell
80. Dryer sheets
81. Lavender
82. Sugar
83. Clean
things i like to feel
84. Messy
85. Soft chunky knits
86. Fulfilled
87. Confused about being fulfilled
88. Freshly washed sheets
other things i like to think about
89. The way people organize their pantries
90. Wrist guards
91. Utilities that have dual functions
92. 3D Stereoscopic viewers
93. Frosting on cakes as clothes
94. How things are structurally built
95. The election
96. Pop culture news stand titles
things i neither like or don’t like (but do)
97. Clench my teeth
98. Tense my shoulders
99. Stretch on my Pilates ball
100. Organize
101. Make lists