Writing Workshop!

I'm going to be hosting an amazing writing workshop that focuses on live performance! Visit the Art Beat Foundation for more details! xoxo

Jeff Mangum, Neutral Milk Hotel, Oakland

Jeff Mangum has inspired my writing and songwriting since I first heard him about 15 years back. A friend named Jason, who lived in Georgia, sent me a package.  In the package was a bullet, an Indian Chief, a painting, and a mixed tape of a band that was and that never was, Neutral Milk Hotel.

I am happy Jeff Mangum is playing again.  His lyrics paint the world in raw emotion and green grass- and last night I finally had the chance to look out and pick shapes out of the clouds. Soft and sweet.

Jeff Mangum, Neutral Milk Hotel, Fox Theater, Oakland, CA  4/10/12

Now... back to work!

The Community continues!

I'm thrilled to share I am officially coordinating the Indie Craft Pop-up for the Art Beat Foundation's Art Beat Bazaar!  It's an amazing group of talented individuals focused on growing and fostering connections for creatives in our community.  So get out of your garage and come meet like minded folks... and maybe become part of the monthly show yourself!  I wont have a table this Sunday- but I will be there supporting my fellow creatives!

Sunday, Feb 19th, Berkeley, CA

Come and enjoy the artistic community!  I'll be hosting a table and having a beer!

Might I suggest...

"With writing that is both poignant and wry, and visuals that elevate it from just another "dear diary" to fully realized cinema on paper, this summers editor's pick, Sweet Charlotte's Seventh Mistake engages on all fronts. When Crooks' mother stays up all night sewing, we see her stitching on the page, circling perfectly around images of buttons and hems, then cutting wildly through envelopes and black-and-white photos. We see stitches of our own lives, sometimes straight but mostly jagged and blurry.
—Nina Lary, Curve Magazine, August 2011

"Sweet Charlotte's Seventh Mistake is, in fact, one of the more unusual memoirs to come along. Not so much in the subject matter, but in the way that writer and artist Cori Crooks has chosen to present her story about her at-times monstrous mother and Crooks' own efforts to find out which of the two men in her mother's life in late 1968 is her father…What sets Sweet Charlotte's Seventh Mistake apart is its method: a literal collage of images and text, including old snapshots, newspaper clippings, handwritten letters, even the official results of the DNA test. It could have easily seemed like a gimmick, but it's not. For one thing, Crooks' prose often has the economy, even the flow, of poetry so that every scene seems distilled to its essence.
—James Watts, Tulsa World , January 25, 2009

"Cori Crooks’ graphic memoir about her mom (a pill-popping stripper with an endless parade of loser boyfriends) and the unknown identity of her birth father is fashioned like a scrapbook filled with faded black-and-white photos, diary entries and handwritten letters on lined notebook paper. Her six older siblings (yes, that makes the author her mother’s seventh mistake) are scattered to live in foster homes or with various birth dads, and her mother fakes cancer twice before actually dying. It’s grim stuff, but the scrapbook treatment keeps it from getting too heavy while echoing the spotty, disjointed nature of memory."
—Suzanne Van Atten, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, February 15, 2009

"Cori Crooks offers a quirky mediation on her mother’s life and the search for her own paternity. Instead of a relating a straightforward narrative, Crooks assembles photos and letters, essays and memorabilia. Through them, she allows readers to glimpse a flawed, fascinating woman who had 15 names, seven husbands and seven children. The identity of Crooks’ biological father, which might seem straightforward, becomes even more subtle and complex."
—Mary Colurso, The Birmingham News, January 9, 2009

"With a beautiful and intense sense of intimacy Crooks' teenage angst voice tinged with the insecurity of a reminiscing adult takes the reader along for the ride as she shifts through her recollections of preconceived notions and allows us to share her sacred thoughts of the dead, as well as her fears of forgetting and being forgotten… This is compassionate voyeurism at its best. As Crooks unflinching exposes every one of her dark secrets for all to share, she searches not only for who her family is, but who she is as well. A truly inspiring and fresh approach to a tough coming of age story and must read for anyone, regardless of age."
—Patrick O'Neil , The Sylvan Echo, January 2009

…Sweet Charlotte’s Seventh Mistake, recently published by Seal Press, is far more than just a blog transplanted to the page; it’s a chronicle of family dysfunction that is to memoir what sculpture is to Play-Doh. Crooks has pieced together a pastiche from documents, family photos, poem fragments, letters and her own memory. “It’s really the anti-scrapbook,” Crooks says, revealing that the “Charlotte” of the title is Crooks’ mother and the “seventh mistake” is Crooks herself.
—Kel Munger, Sacramento News & Review, January 8, 2009

Etsy Anniversary

October marks my 5 year anniversary on Etsy!  It's been a fun journey full of learning!  Before Etsy I had an online shop for a year with an embarrassing number of sales. My dream of having a career as an artist and writer was looking pretty dismal. Once I took a chance on opening an Etsy shop things gradually changed. On top of decent online sales, I learned a lot of valuable information about running a craft business from the forums and from Etsy articles. I learned the ins and outs of craft fairs and how to pick up wholesale accounts. Having a support system of other artists at my fingertips (via their forums) and a steady paycheck from things I'd made, made me confident about working harder and never quitting. And of course... In 2009, I got a book deal and released a full color art memoir with SEAL PRESS, titled, "Sweet Charlotte's Seventh Mistake". Brag, brag, brag. :)

I'm not sure what the future will bring with our 2nd US recession, but I'm feeling pretty confident that my business will continue to grow and the work will still be there.  I sincerely think there is an art movement afoot!  People want to and will buy handmade when they have the option... and our presence as working artists and dedication to our work via Etsy gives them the chance.

New in shop:

Dia de los Muertos sugar skull earrings

Mexican Talavera tile bracelet

Alhambra Islamic tile earrings

Portuguese tile cabochon drop earrings

Mexican tile cabochon drop earrings

Portuguese tile hair clip

All jewelry pieces can be found at http://ShrunkenCatHeads.etsy.com

Oakland, CA, This Sunday!