On Making Time For Yourself: 2019 Resident Artist DJ CASS&RA
Cassandra Shankman (a.k.a DJ CASS&RA) is a DJ in #BBATX’s 2019 Residency. In this interview, she talks about finding balance in a busy schedule, making time for mental health care and carving out her own space in the music industry.
Cassandra Shankman (a.k.a DJ CASS&RA) is a DJ in #BBATX’s 2019 Residency. In this interview, she talks about finding balance in a busy schedule, making time for mental health care and carving out her own space in the music industry.
This interview has been condensed from a conversation with #BBATX board member and committee member Jen Rachid.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Cassandra Shankman is a composer and DJ (CASS&RA) recognized for her work with film, apps, musicals, and music therapy technology. As a pianist, she’s played with musicians such as jazz trombonist Wycliffe Gordon at Lincoln Center to DEVO’s frontman Mark Mothersbaugh. As a DJ, she creates the perfect sets for movement for clients like Soul Cycle and Wanderlust Yoga to Bumble and Lyft. Cassie’s also the world’s leading composer for Biomedical Music™ – music integrated with biomedical devices for rehabilitation. As a proponent for music education, she is a co-founder for the music theory web app Picardy Learning, and serves on the Grammy Education sub-committee. She is a graduate from The University of Texas with a degree in music composition and a secondary focus in film studies.
First off, damn—you are very busy! I'm always curious about the highly effective entrepreneur and how they do it all! Tell us a little bit about your morning and night routine.
CASS&RA: Well, I wish I had a steadier routine, but it honestly varies from day to day depending on gigs and deadlines. Sometimes I’ll sleep in until 10 a.m. and stay up until 4 a.m. I am still learning how to be effective and productive to the best of my ability, so I’m constantly changing my routine. But right now my dream routine that I’m trying to implement includes waking up early and doing a workout class in the morning—yoga at wanderlust, boxing at knockout, spinning at SoulCycle, and training with Gustavo Padron—and eating a healthy breakfast (or meet a friend for breakfast) and walking my dog. Then, getting to work on emails, general admin work, strategic planning, sets for gigs, and some music composition projects. I also teach piano and composition lessons on some days, so I’ll end my day doing that and then unwind reading, watching a Netflix show, playing piano, or talking with family and friends. I do say I am constantly working a little too much, I generally spend a lot of time marketing (social media-ing), so I’m trying to have a better routine about that.
It seems like you're successfully carving out your own space. What advice do you have for someone going into the DJ world?
CASS&RA: It’s not what you have, it’s what you do with what you have. Don’t wait for a gig to be handed to you, you have to work hard and it will be a grind, but it’s a fun grind that pays off for sure. I said yes to so many things—music and non-music opportunities—so I highly recommend not being one-track-minded with being just a DJ. You have to be open to so many kinds of music opportunities and gigs that may not be what you initially think will “pay off” but in the long run, it will.
Also, it’s okay to have many jobs. I not only DJ, but also teach, work on Picardy, write music, and so many other wild avenues. It’s all about who you know as well. Even though it’s really easy to meet people online today. It makes a difference getting out and doing it in real life.
273 Likes, 27 Comments - DJ CASS&RA (@djcassandra_) on Instagram: "I'm proud to stand with an organization that stands with women, children, and men - and protects..."
Do you remember the first piece of music that really affected you?
CASS&RA: I listened to a lot of classical and jazz and film music growing up, so I actually was pretty affected by a lot of music—I don’t think I can remember or pick just one! But I will say in high school I had to transcribe Bill Evans’ solo for “waltz for Debby” and that completely transformed how I interacted with music.
What is your dream DJ gig? Is there anyone or any event you're dying to DJ?
CASS&RA: I’m dying to do more international gigs, I also love DJing weddings and conferences, and I’d absolutely love to play outside of Texas some festivals. And I’d love to work with LP Giobbi!
A dream gig would be to be a music supervisor or work on set as a music director. I recently worked on a TV show as an on-screen live music consultant, where I had to work with the props department, music department, directors, and actors to teach the actors how to look like they were really playing their instruments. I deconstructed the song that they were going to be performing on camera and told the props department what sound and music gear to get, then set it all up, and rehearsed teaching the actors how to perform the song. It was the coolest thing to watch unfold on screen in front of the camera. So much energy and I’d love to do that again! It blends my passion for music, film, and teaching all in one.
160 Likes, 27 Comments - DJ CASS&RA (@djcassandra_) on Instagram: "What are you doing this weekend to bring you joy? I'm so excited to be DJing for so many fun events..."
One piece of business advice to wisen us up?
CASS&RA: Focus on your mental health. Things can get really tough running your own business and you can definitely get burnt out. So make sure to focus on your health and mental health. Take vacations; take breaks. It inspires, refreshes, and makes your relationships with yourself and others and your work so much better. I need to take this advice more too!
Anything else you want to share about upcoming events or projects?
CASS&RA: I am super excited to be part of this residency and really excited to be DJing for wanderlust’s summer sunset series, and for a wedding in Baja Mexico soon. And so much more —I love what I do!
I believe in music education and Picardy has been a company that I’ve gotten to help co-found to provide music theory and musicianship skills to everyone through a web application. I’ve learned so much about running a business and collaborating with others; it’s been amazing and I’ve gotten to experience so many incredible events and meet brilliant music educators, theorists, and musicians from all over the world.
WHAT DJ CASS&RA HAS BEEN LISTENING TO RECENTLY:
Go-to jam right now?
Right now I’m in Spain, so I’m listening to a lot of flamenco guitar music, but I’d say truly anything disco—and definitely Beyoncé’s “Before I Let Go” is just always on repeat. Anything Anderson paak. Tune-yards. Jacob banks. Kimbra.
Underrated song/musician?
Such a hard question!! I think my friends in this group Emme; they build such beautiful vocals over gorgeous harmonies and I’m obsessed!
Discover anyone new or old recently that you're excited about?
India.Arie
Song for a breakup?
“Set Down Your Glass” by Snow Patrol
Song for a workout?
“The Future” by Motez
Song for Shopping?
Anything Bomba Estero
Song for making-love?
Anything D’Angelo
Song for making dinner?
I love listening to KUTX, I’m always surprised by by what new music and artists I hear on that station.
Song for cleaning the house?
I don’t listen to music cleaning, its very meditative for me, so I listen to the sounds I’m making!
Song the reader of this should listen to after?
“Motiv8” by J Cole
About #bbatx's The Residency: We annually work with 10 to 15, Texas-based women-identifying and nonbinary visual and musical artists to produce site-specific work, commissions and exhibitions throughout our programming and events. Through these residencies, we invite the public to learn more about their process, approach and sustainability of their practice. Click here to meet this year's artists.
On Finding Community And Comfort In Collaboration: 2019 Resident Artists Big Chicken and Baby Bird
Nat Bradford and Tsz Kam (a.k.a Big Chicken and Baby Bird) are a two-person collective and artists in #BBATX’s 2019 Residency. In this interview with #BBATX committee member Jen Rachid, they discuss how and why they became collaborators, as well as the inspiration behind their art.
Nat Bradford and Tsz Kam (a.k.a Big Chicken and Baby Bird) are a two-person collective and artists in #BBATX’s 2019 Residency. In this interview with #BBATX committee member Jen Rachid, they discuss how and why they became collaborators, as well as the inspiration behind their art.
This interview has been condensed from a conversation with #BBATX committee member Jen Rachid.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Nat Bradford and Tsz Kam are a two-person collective, pair of birds, and dynamic duo currently living, working, and dying in Austin, TX. Their work centers around the experience of shifting between girlhood and womanhood within the ambiguity of gender. Their work stages fantastical scenes of domestic comfort in which objects and figures become characters with inevitable roles to play in seduction and repulsion. They have been collaborating since 2015. Both studied at and received their BFA from The University of Texas at Austin (the Lamborghini of public schools).
Tell us about your backgrounds:
Tsz Kam: I was born in Hong Kong. My grandfather who came from a wealthy family had all his family money taken away by the communists. He escaped to Hong Kong, which was a British colony at the time. He was always strongly anti-communist China and wanted me to have an American education. I moved to Houston for high school when I was 13, stayed with my relatives and got into UT Austin. I’ve been more or less on my own ever since. I never went back. I am almost 26 now, so I have spent half my life in Hong Kong and half my life in Texas. I got into UT as an engineering major, but I switched out on the first day. My grandfather passed away right before my high school graduation and I knew he would have wanted me to go to college to pursue a field I am passionate about. I had no knowledge about the art world or galleries at the time. I had a very typical public school art education. As I progressed through the undergraduate art program, I learned more and more and I knew it was something I want to do for the rest of my life.
Nat Bradford: I’ve always lived in Texas, I grew up running around in the junkyard my dad ran when I was a kid. I saw my family working with their hands often; dad working on cars, mom made a shit ton of crafts with me, my grandmother has been running a business doing plants for office buildings, and my mother helps with that. I spent the past five years working with plants and realized I’m the third generation in my family doing that sort of work. I had the weird queer-teen-growing-up-in-Texas-suburbs experience. I’m not really visibly queer now but my experiences attached to that aspect of myself still influence how I live. I think Tsz and I share that and are able to express it in our work together.
How did y’all meet? Was it a match-made-in-heaven right away?
Kam: We both attended the undergraduate art program at UT Austin. I was a junior when I met Nat. We had painting together and I quickly found out how talented Nat is as an artist. I also really admire her work ethic. We weren’t making collaborative work at the time; we wouldn’t start that til two years later. I would say it’s more of a gradual process of coming together. My hobby in college was to bother other people when they worked on their art late at night at the studio. The UT art building was still open 24/7 back then and people would stay really late, or even sleep in the building. We were both doing that a lot.
Bradford: We are both smokers so we also hung out at the picnic table while smoking outside in between and during class. That’s how we became familiar with each other at the beginning.
Kam: I remembered purposefully seeking her out, because there’s something about Nat that was very attractive to me.
How did y’all start working together? Do y’all fill in each other’s gaps?
Kam: We applied for the Co-Lab Summerskool the year right after I graduated. We made some collaborative sculptures and installations.
Bradford: I was still at UT when we worked on that project, I had only participated in a few shows at the time and the prospect of a collaborative show was exciting. A lot of the work we made for that show was sculpture, so that was the beginning of Tsz and I getting into that realm. I didn’t super enjoy making sculptural pieces on my own but collaborating with Tsz brought actual enjoyment to the process. Tsz is good at making sure I don’t get in over my head logistically, but gets me out of my head when it comes to building concepts and making art. We took a break for a bit after that show, I was still finishing school but the others working on that show graduated.
Kam: The year that followed was tough for me. I didn’t like anything I was making. I felt embarrassed and I was having a hard time finding a full time job at the time due to my circumstance. I didn’t stop making but it took me a while to say, “forget the rules, just draw what I’ve always wanted to draw.” That’s when I came up with the macaroni themed paintings. I started having critique circles at my house and I invited Nat. We started hanging out and making work while hanging out, we still weren’t really collaborating at the time, but we talked about it. When Andrea Hyland invited me to be part of ArtBash in 2017, I asked to have Nat be in the show with me. That’s when we first started to experiment with more serious collaboration. I think being here without my parents since I was 13 has always given me a little bit of a co-dependent tendency. Being an artist seems like a one man show sometimes, and I figured why not do it with another person, so I can have someone to share my joy with.
Bradford: Yeah, and a lot of our new works deal with the idea of co-dependency so I feel that too. Growing up queer led to a lot of isolating myself when I was younger but holding on really hard to friendships that felt safe, I still live that way on some level and collaboration with Tsz is one of those comfortable spaces. Actually making the work doesn’t necessarily feel safe, I’m scared as hell when we start on something new, but it’s an exciting sort of shared fear I guess. Its nice to have another person there to stare at a blank canvas with.
What are some books, music, podcasts, people etc. that inspire your work?
Bradford: We listen to horror podcasts constantly while we work. I don’t know if we derive any inspiration from that regarding the work we make, but it’s become part of our collaborative ritual. I’ve been looking into alchemy and imagery in that for a bit, interested in the characters that have been given to the components of reactions. I think our work has some of those ideas in it too, we create a lot of characters that develop in the paintings narratively.
Kam: I think it’s ironic that we listen to so many horror themed podcasts while we work because our work space and relationship have so much love and care in them. I think in some ways, it’s because we feel safe with each other that we can face the fear of confronting these really difficult themes in our work concerning our gender and queer identities.
What is the story behind your collaborative artist name?
Bradford: Tsz started calling me a baby bird in college because they’d startle me often. Tsz always wore a purple velvet cape and was bold as fuck. When we did our first collaborative works together they made a huge embroidery piece that had the face of a chicken on it and that was settled. We have our respective titles but trade off being Baby or Big when we work. You’re the Big Chicken of whichever element in a piece you’re working on; I’ll be working on part of a painting and ask Tsz for verbal input as I go, “Is this yellow, yellow enough?” And Tsz will be doing the same from the other end of the painting.
Kam: The embroidery piece that gave us the idea for BIG CHICKEN was of a pawn shop sign. It’s a very common neon sign in the streets of Hong Kong. I made the whole sign look like a stylized chicken because the word “chicken” is slang for a prostitute in Cantonese. Big Chicken and Baby Bird is sort of a play on the big daddy / little girl trope.
What is the general mood of your art?
Bradford: When I’m working on something with Tsz I think we build more humor into it off of each other, the paintings are horny but don’t take their horniness too seriously. I think our collaborative work has more emotion built into it than my personal work, there’s a dialogue between us and that human interaction is important to the work.
Kam: I think our work is a bit moody. It’s a sort of gloomy humor.
THE DOOR BY THE GARDEN, 2018
For people that are looking for a creative collaborator what would your advice be for finding and maintaining that relationship?
Kam: I remembered making the effort to actually pursue Nat. I don’t think it’s because she’s particularly standoffish. I think most people are a bit shy when it comes to making new commitments. I communicated very clearly to her it is something I really want to commit to with her and I showed up and spoke with my actions.
Bradford: Yeah I’m shy, I had to convince myself someone liked what I do enough to want to work with me, especially when I really admired the work Tsz was making. But I think we both saw potential in what we could offer each other. And we both keep weird hours that other people aren’t happy to work in. We’ve always both been down to put in a full day-job-work-day and then meet up after, late, and then work on art even later. Weekends and free time are for art making; we both get our satisfaction from working too much. You really have to find someone with similar expectations and work ethic, that’s just as important as our work’s visual synchronicity.
Kam: Mutual respect and open communication are definitely very important for maintaining the relationship. I really admire Nat’s skills and talent, she’s better at certain things than I am, and I think we both take advantage of the other’s stronger suits. Every time we brainstorm for a project, I don’t really worry about getting my way or anything. I believe in her judgements when it comes to certain things that I am not as good at and I know she does the same for me. I just know that whatever we make will end up being great because we worked on it together. I am not a collaborative relationship guru, so I can only speak about my own experience.
What do you think people need to hear right now?
Kam: Don’t be afraid to talk to other people.
Bradford: You might just make a friend!
Tsz and Nat’s Current Hobbies include:
Kam: Transformers, fabulous, gay, gender-defying robots in disguise. I read a lot of Transformers fanfictions. They inspire me.
Bradford: Watching wrestling and watering my plants. I’m a tattoo apprentice right now, which isn’t a hobby but has me doing a lot of research in that realm in my free time.
Any projects or ventures you want to share ?
Kam: I have a solo show coming up in June in El Paso at the Galeria Cinco Puntos. The theme is fantasy and escape. Aside from my personal works, Nat and I are also collaborating on a series of chimera themed paintings right now, which will be shown for the first time at the Elizabeth Ney Museum here in Austin on July 11th.
Bradford: I’m currently running my Etsy shop (GNATandRAT.etsy.com) to keep food in me and a roof over me. I mostly sell pins and little paintings, I try to offer the kind of affordable art objects I seek out myself.
WANT TO SEE WORK BY #BBATX RESIDENT ARTISTS BIG CHICKEN AND BABY BIRD IN-PERSON?
The opening reception and artist talk for Big Chicken and Baby Bird's exhibition will be held on July 11 at the Elisabet Ney Museum. The exhibition opens at 6:30 PM with complimentary refreshments by Austin Cocktails, followed by a tour of the museum at 7:00 PM and an artist talk at 7:30 PM. The exhibition itself will be open through July 22. Click here to learn more.
On Negative Self-Talk: Why My Self-Care Journey Started With My Inner Dialogue
“Once I looked inward (rather than outward) to find my own form of peace and happiness, I found that my inner dialogue carried a lot more weight. I had to start with self-talk and figure out what my language was like.”
Today on the blog, #BBATX committee member Kaia Adams walks us through her journey toward positive self-talk as a self-care routine.
Editor’s note: Our needs change based on what we go through and what we face in life—positive self-talk won’t solve trauma or struggles with depression and mental health. So, remember that self-care can also look like seeking help from a medical professional or seeing a therapist or making big, difficult changes within our lives.
I thought that as long as I followed what everyone else seemed to be preaching about self-care, I could be where I wanted to be. I did all the things—superfood-charged matchas, eat well, less social media, treat yourself splurges, regularly work out, oil pulls, dry brushes, nightly tea times, take all the baths, do all the face masks. The only thing this did for me was overwhelm me, become disappointed in myself when I didn’t follow through and successfully distract me from the work I really needed to be doing.
The more and more I experimented with the external factors of my self-care routine, I realized some of my negative thoughts and feelings toward myself actually began within me. I determined it was time to squash that pesky inner voice that tells me I can’t and I’m not enough.
Identifying My Negative Self-Dialogue
So, what is negative self-talk?
”Each of us has a set of messages that play over and over in our minds. This internal dialogue, or personal commentary, frames our reactions to life and its circumstances. One of the ways to recognize, promote, and sustain optimism, hope, and joy is to intentionally fill our thoughts with positive self-talk. Too often, the pattern of self-talk we’ve developed is negative. We remember the negative things we were told as children by our parents, siblings, or teachers. We remember the negative reactions from other children that diminished how we felt about ourselves. Throughout the years, these messages have played over and over in our minds, fueling our feelings of anger, fear, guilt, and hopelessness.” — Psychology Today
Once I looked inward (rather than outward) to find my own form of peace and happiness, I found that my inner dialogue carried a lot more weight. I had to start with self-talk and figure out what my language was like.
Was I speaking kindly?
Was I practicing patience and understanding toward myself?
Was I celebrating my small wins? My big wins?
If you’re answering ‘no’ to these questions like I did, you know what it’s liked to get in your own way and feel trapped. I needed to drop the judgment and practice kindness toward myself. But how? I had to take responsibility for where I was and the words I chose—then make some changes.
Was I taking ownership of my life and the direction it was headed? Had I been making excuses? Had I adopted a victim-oriented mindset? If I had the power to sustain unhappy narratives in my life, I had the power to remove them. End of story.
Approaching Self-Love
Realizing that I have a hand in my own emotional reality has empowered me and provided me with the tools to help clean my inner dialogue up. You can’t bash yourself into a life you love—you must support and uplift yourself with patience and understanding.
For me, this looks like practicing acceptance and flexing my self-love muscle. It meant accepting where I am and loving the hell out of it anyway. It’s being able to embrace who I am, flaws and failures included.
I learned to soften and be gentle with myself. I stopped telling myself I wasn’t enough and replaced those limitations with possibility. Practically, I started catching myself in negative thought patterns and made the conscious decision to speak with more intention until it became a habit. I now use empowering, positive verbiage until the negativity is crowded out. I also let go of that which isn’t serving my happiness and redirect my focus toward the things that do. Ultimately, I have been reconnecting with my intuition and becoming my own best friend.
So yes—a good bath and a face mask can absolutely make us feel good. It is, however, asking ourselves the difficult question of why we’re doing something that matters the most. If the answer is because it genuinely makes us feel good, refreshed and reset, then we’re golden. If the answer is because we think it’s what we’re supposed to be doing to help us achieve inner peace, then it’s time to make some changes and realign with the truth of how we feel.
(And let me tell you, that superfood-charged matcha tastes so much sweeter now.)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kaia Adams is a 2019 #BBATX Committee member and an advocate for breaking the barriers of discrimination and inequity so that we can benefit from interconnectedness and cultivate a more just world. She obtained her BA in Global Studies and Spanish from Sonoma State University in 2014. Her studies and previous residence in Spain and Italy allowed her to gain an awareness of the international nature of contemporary social issues surrounding us and have prepared her to be an agent of change. Originally a San Diego, CA native, Kaia has lived and worked in Austin, Texas since 2015. Passionate about helping people feel their best, her upcoming ventures will explore her interests in coaching, women’s health, holistic skincare, and the power of positive psychology.
In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, #BBATX committee members have been sharing their strategies for self-care and mental health. If you’re curious about what we do at #BBATX, you can learn more here.
On Loving Your Body (And Making An Oatmeal Mask): A Recipe For Self-Care Routines
In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, #BBATX committee members have been sharing their strategies for self-care and mental health. In this post, #BBATX committee member walks us through her weekly routine of creating an oatmeal mask—and how this practice reminds her to take care of herself as a whole.
In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, #BBATX committee members have been sharing their strategies for self-care and mental health. In this post, #BBATX committee member Cara Cate walks us through her weekly routine of creating an oatmeal mask—and how this practice reminds her to take care of herself as a whole.
This blog post and recipe has been written by Cara Cate. Graphics by Jane Hervey.
STEP ONE: listen to and love on your body.
In today’s fast-paced, digital world, it can be difficult to slow down and tune into our needs on a consistent basis. More often than not, we only realize we haven’t been taking care of ourselves when we start to feel it, and at that point it can be hard to pause and recalibrate. So, it’s important that we create routines and practices that provide us with the time and space to listen to and love on our bodies and our minds. If we take regular care of ourselves and slow down every once and a while, we’ll be more resilient in the long run.
STEP TWO: APPRECIATE YOUR RESOURCES.
Taking care of ourselves takes time and energy, but it’s life-giving and necessary. Although our modern concepts of self-care often conjure up imagery of massages and nails, loving on our bodies and minds must be a routine and a practice. So, we’ve got to make the most of our resources: What accessible forms of self-care exist around us? Self-care can be regular rest. It can be washing your hair. It can be moisturizing your skin. It can even be making an oatmeal mask.
my RECIPE FOR A HOMEMADE OATMEAL MASK
I like to set aside time for myself each week to treat my skin with an at-home facial. I typically make a “leftover facial” using things that I already have in my kitchen. Here’s what that looks like:
1.) Do I have: Oatmeal? Lemon? Honey? Grapefruit? Sugar? Coffee Grounds? Banana? The beauty of using what I have is that my mask will always be slightly different, plus it’s green. Typically, I use:
1 cup cooked oatmeal (day old)
Juice from one lemon
1 tablespoon of honey
2 tablespoons coffee grounds (from this morning)
2 tablespoons of sugar
1 banana
Some other alternatives to my ingredient list: If you do not have oatmeal, you can solidify your mask with banana. If you do not have banana, use a little more honey to make the consistency thick enough to stick to your face. You can also use olive oil as a last resort, but olive oil works better as a moisturizer. Coconut oil can be good for some skin types too, but keep in mind that coconut oil is a notorious pore-clogger. You can also get fancy and add an essential oil, or turmeric powder to your mask as well. I will warn you that turmeric can stain your face, so you might want to add that in only if you are doing a before bed mask. Cinnamon is also great for skin and acts as a micro exfoliant.
2.) I grab what I have and set it up in a large bowl.
3.) I usually use day-old oatmeal that is already cooked, but if you need to cook your oatmeal you can add hot water and let it sit for a couple of minutes to soften. A mask is easier to apply if you grind your oatmeal beforehand with a food processor, but I usually just go with it the way it is. (Sometimes, another part of self-care is letting go of what you cannot control.)
4.) I mix everything together, until I have a paste that will stick to my face. I like to mix with my hands because it's like a bonus mani, but the mixture just needs to be all wet. I usually end up with plenty to share (or I save the leftovers for a couple of days in the fridge).
5.) Before I apply the mask, I wash my face. (You probably should, too.)
6.) I apply the mask for 10-15 minutes.
7.) Then, I was off, pat and dry. (I then like to tone my face after with witch hazel and then I apply my moisturizer. I am currently using a vitamin E concentrate to reduce scars at night and rose hip oil during the day. After treating my skin, I also like to make sure that I am applying some level of SPF to protect my newly exfoliated skin from the sun.)
Your skin soaks up so much nutrition when you use natural ingredients. here are some of the benefits in the ingredients i shared:
Oatmeal is a humectant, which means that it helps your skin retain moisture. When used in conjunction with skin-hydrating ingredients (i.e.honey), oatmeal can help your skin take on a glowing, dewy appearance.
Honey has antibacterial and antioxidant properties, and is perfect for achieving that “glow” while fighting acne and nourishing aging skin. Honey also naturally opens pores.
Lemon contains antibacterial and anti-fungal properties to fight off acne and blackheads. Lemon juice contains citric acid that can help fade dark spots and acne scars. The juice can also help cut down on an abundance of oil. Lemon can sometimes burn if you have acne or sores, so just go slow until you know what makes your skin happy.
Grapefruit is rich in antioxidants and vitamins that can help tone your skin and fight free radicals.
Bananas contain good amounts of vitamin C that helps in maintaining the natural and youthful glow of the skin. Vitamin C helps get rid of dullness and reduces spots and blemishes. You can also rub the banana peel directly on your face to fight blemishes.
Caffeine stimulates blood flow and widens, or dilates, the blood vessels. This increases blood flow, which can help the skin to naturally tighten. Other compounds in coffee, such as chlorogenic acid, may also reduce inflammation around the eyes. I use a finer ground because a coarse ground can be rough on the face. A coarse ground is great for the rest of the body though.
Sugar contains glycolic acid, which encourages cell turnover for youthful-looking skin, and its small particles make a great exfoliant. The type, or crystal size, is personal preference. I usually use a finer grain because it’s softer on my face. Larger grain sugar, like turbinado, is good for a body scrub with olive oil.
STEP Three: honor your needs.
I try and spend some time with my skin at least once a week, outside of my daily routine. For me, it makes me slow down, get a good look at myself and spend some time with me.
But your routine may need to be different. So, ask yourself: What are my needs? Where do I need to create time to take care of those needs? How can I build routines and practices that help me take better care of myself on a consistent basis?
PS: Our needs change based on what we go through and what we face in life—a face mask won’t solve trauma or struggles with depression and mental health (if you find a face mask that can, holler). So, remember that self-care can also look like seeking help from a medical professional, seeing a therapist or taking medication. It’s OK!
Thanks for reading this! You’ve reached the end of the post. If you’re curious about what we do at #BBATX, you can learn more here.
On Freaking Out And Building Good Habits: An Interview with Simone DeAngelis
In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, #BBATX committee member Vittoria Criss spoke with Simone DeAngelis, author of the upcoming book If You're Freaking Out, Read This: A Coping Workbook for Building Good Habits, Behaviors, and Hope for the Future and Community Engagement Specialist at Community First! Village, about our experiences confronting and managing our mental health diagnoses, while also helping others move toward a healthier life.
This op-ed and interview has been written by #BBATX committee member Vittoria Criss.
I had my first panic attack while grocery shopping. A routine task suddenly ended with me locked in a bathroom stall wondering if I was about to die. Like many women, I felt my symptoms were ignored and invalidated until I reached a breaking point. After years just surviving, I finally sought medical help, and got a diagnosis and treatment. Every day I wish I hadn’t waited so long.
In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month I spoke with Simone DeAngelis, author of the upcoming book If You're Freaking Out, Read This: A Coping Workbook for Building Good Habits, Behaviors, and Hope for the Future and Community Engagement Specialist at Community First! Village, about our experiences confronting and managing our mental health diagnoses, while also helping others move toward a healthier life.
Pictured: Simone DeAngelis. Photo courtesy of Simone DeAngelis, taken by @alicerabbitshoots
Vittoria Criss: When I originally thought of who I wanted to have this conversation with I looked up traditional professionals—psychologists, therapists. The more I thought about it, I decided to shift gears to focus on someone in the community who, like me, has lived experience with mental health, and wants to reach others through their experience. What made you want to write your book?
Simone DeAngelis: I made a little booklet for myself for when I was having freak-outs—for future Sim. It was just 10 coping skills, and I kept it where it was visible to remind myself “Here are some coping skills that work for you in moments when you’re freaking out. You probably forgot right now, but you can go pick it up and do these skills.” A friend sent it to a publisher, and I signed a book deal within a week on 10 pages. They asked me to write 150 more pages, and now it’s a workbook. Each chapter is one of my coping skills. It starts with how to do that coping skill, then there are some essays and worksheets with expanding questions on how you can apply the skills to your life.
Criss: In public health work we talk a lot about access, some people just don’t have access to or awareness of resources that more privileged people do. What makes you so passionate, and why do you think sharing your experience is valuable for helping others?
DeAngelis: I have struggled with mental health for a long, long time. I’ve thought about why I’m more privileged than others and why we exist since I was a child. I’ve been grappling with how I handle the world, and if it’s different than other people do—does everybody ask these questions? I was trying to figure out what the boundaries are between what parts are because of my mental health, and what parts are just because I’m human. I’ve been in therapy for a long time, and in 2012 I spent 6 months in psychiatric care. A big reason why I’m excited about my book, and why I agreed to publish it, is because a lot of people can’t get access to things I learned from professionals. My book is for sale on a sliding scale. I’ve talked to a lot of professionals and gotten incredible care, and now my dream is to take those abstract concepts and make them into stuff that’s cool, and that people can understand.
Criss: I was reading your most recent blog post called “practice change, make progress,” and it resonated with me, but my first thought was “practice is hard.” How do you overcome the difficulties of doing work on yourself to make practice a priority in your life?
DeAngelis: I cannot operate when I’m in a dark spot, and it makes me feel really good to work hard and show up for my friends, and be able to really listen to them. There’s a lot on the line if I don’t do the work—there’s a lot to lose. Now that I’ve come so far in my journey deciding to stay alive, I really don’t want to go back to that dark spot as an option. I’ve gone through a period of depression in the last year. I’ve worked so hard on my mental health—and that’s not because I hope to never struggle with my mental health again. I’m setting up future me for success.
Criss: Along with your blog, you’re fairly active on social media. I think social media has been a great tool to de-stigmatize talking about mental health, but sometimes working on your mental health can be watered down into cool, superficial self care rituals like using a cute bath bomb or drinking a mushroom tea. How have you felt about publicly sharing difficult moments that aren’t in line with that effortless aesthetic?
DeAngelis: The other day it took me three hours to get out of my apartment. And when I finally got out, I was going to post a selfie on Instagram and share my struggles, but I didn’t. It can be tough because I don’t know if I can post a picture with a caption that can really convey to you that this is a dark-ass day. And if I do post a picture, people can say “Well it can’t be that dark, you’re posting on Instagram.” Sometimes I get frustrated with suggestions like “Feeling depressed? Go get your nails done,” because I don’t know if that person gets the full grasp of how I’m feeling at the time.
Criss: None of us have all the answers, but I think people like you who choose to be honest about your struggles is a great place to start. On your Instagram you call yourself a “self-compassion warrior.” What does that mean to you?
DeAngelis: I told my friend “You’re a self-compassion warrior on a mission of goodness.” And she said, “You said that to me because you’re too afraid to tell yourself that.” I’m just trying to be fearless in loving myself, and consistent. I spend a lot of my pie of what I think about on self compassion, because there’s a lot of self-loathing that can go on. When I get stuck in that cycle of self loathing I have a hard time believing in myself enough to write a blog post, or talk to a friend, or go out in public. When I can have the security of “I’m loving and nurturing you,” then it puts me in a much better spot of what I need to work on. I have all these self compassionate phrases that I can tell people because I memorized them because I use them all the time to combat the self-critical talk that’s going on in myself. And now it doesn’t last as long, and it doesn’t take such a strong hold on me, and I want to share that with others.
Criss: I wanted to talk a little about stigma and discrimination against people who have a mental illness, especially for women. What have your experiences been like with stigma since you have talked so openly about your mental health?
DeAngelis: It’s tough, especially in the professional field, when I’m trying to be taken seriously in my career because I’ve been so open about my mental health journey. People will say “I don’t want to put too much on your plate because you might get depressed, or you might have an anxiety attack.” I’m responsible for what’s on my plate, and what I take from the buffet line, and you can’t give less of the buffet line to those with mental illness. I’m going to put on my plate what I need to, and if it’s too much I’m going to have to take responsibility for it.
You can learn more about Simone DeAngelis, along with her blog and book, at thingsgetweird.com.
On Creative Entrepreneurship: 10 Takeaways from craftHER Market Spring '19
Another season of craftHER has come and gone, but the vibes of synergy and creative entrepreneurship have long stayed with us, and we’re stoked to carry some of the lessons we learned into our professional and personal endeavors into this summer season and beyond.
On Workflow and Family Life panel at craftHER Market Spring ‘19. Photo by Maya Coplin
synergy (noun): the interaction or cooperation of two or more organizations, substances, or other agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects.
Another season of craftHER has come and gone, but the vibes of synergy and creative entrepreneurship have long stayed with us, and we’re stoked to carry some of the lessons we learned into our professional and personal endeavors into this summer season and beyond.
Last month, 3200 attendees filled Fair Market on Sunday, April 14 for our sixth installment of craftHER Market, and attendees walked away with more than amazing crafts. They left with knowledge about synergy and creative entrepreneurship from our craftHER panels, as speakers explored what alignment looks like in creative work, communication and collaboration. Here are the 10 takeaways from those conversations:
On Diverse and Inclusive Marketing
Curated and moderated by #BBATX committee member Isabella Toledo, this craftHER panel discussed diverse and inclusive marketing practices and how responsible are we for the audiences our projects and businesses attract. Here were a few standout lessons:
“When you don’t have diverse faces behind your brand, in your brand, then you’re telling people that they’re not included in your brand.” — Kelly Dugan, editor-in-chief of Peach Fuzz Magazine, on marginalized groups existing behind the scenes as staff and not just faces of your brand
“Diversity isn’t about looking for someone. It’s about who recognizing who isn’t here and how can I prioritize getting those people here AND feel comfortable.” — TK Tunchez of Las Ofrendas on finding and casting diverse models in your marketing.
“It’s more of what can I learn from you. Do we align? Do we have the same values? Do you bring something different to the table? It’s about an open dialogue.” — Adriana Arispe of Meerbra on how valuing diversity and inclusiveness in marketing plays a role in partnerships
On Staying Socially Responsible
Curated and moderated by #BBATX committee member Cara Cate, in this craftHER panel three members of our community discussed how they have upheld social responsibility within their brands and artistic practices. Here were a few standout lessons:
“Don’t be afraid to experiment. Don’t be afraid to be a little reckless. There is joy in being able to just see what happens and learn from that. Be fearless, authentic, passionate, surround yourself with people who aren’t afraid to challenge you but ultimately believe in you.” — Elie Wu, co-founder of the Mahala Project, on adding a philanthropic aspect to your brand
“Being conscious that there’s gonna be a deficit when you give so much of yourself to something that requires creative power. Building in time to recoup. Social responsibility starts with taking care of ourselves.” — Yvonne Keyrouz, an artist and collaborator of the The Seam Project, on practicing self-care when you need to balance your creative life
“Collaboration is a way to embody trust in others and amazing things will emerge from the project. You can’t predict what will happen when two or more people come together to produce something and that’s magical.” — Tina Sparkles of IMMEDIATE Fashion School on balancing social responsibility and community collaboration with your art/biz
On Comparison and Competition In Creative Entrepreneurship
Curated and moderated by #BBATX committee member Cynthia Muñoz, in this craftHER panel different creatives talked about their approach to competition and collaboration. Here were a few standout lessons:
“Where do I spend the majority of my time and resources? I try and balance the mentally straining part of my process. I break it down into little, more attainable parts.” — Sarah Castillo, a curator, gallerist, and artist, on managing having a day job outside of your creative practice
“What am I bringing that is different? I go back through my past content to find something I have already created that was unique. I look back at something that I have created and allow it to evoke something.” — Melanie Holst-Collins of Grow Your Lovespace on how to feel like a creative even if you aren’t necessarily proud of the work you’re making at that moment
“Sometimes we push ourselves to the point where we have nothing left to push. Set healthy boundaries for yourself.” — Monica Valenzuela of Decussate Magazine on identifying as an introvert and it affecting your networking/ability to share your work
“Comparison goes with admiration. A good collaboration reminds you who the fuck you are. It's best when both parties leave the collaboration feeling like they both learned something.” — Melanie Holst-Collins of Grow Your Lovespace on preserving your creativity and avoid comparison when you collaborate
Thanks to our craftHER sponsors Volusion and Tito’s Handmade Vodka, these panels were free and open to the public. Want to get involved in the next craftHER Market? Our next one is on October 12 and 13 at Fair Market in Austin, Texas. Sign up for email updates at the bottom of crafthermarket.com and stay tuned for our applications reopening on June 10, 2019.
This blog post was written and compiled by #BBATX committee member Sydney Greene.
On Using Art to Explain Science: 2019 Resident Artist Amanda Vaughn
Amanda Vaughn is a DJ and visual artist in #BBATX’s 2019 Residency. In this interview, she talks making room for experiments, starting projects and her ideal meeting of the minds.
Amanda Vaughn is a DJ and visual artist in #BBATX’s 2019 Residency. In this interview, she talks making room for experiments, starting projects and her ideal meeting of the minds.
This interview has been condensed from a conversation with #BBATX board member and committee member Xochi Solis.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
As a zine-maker, DJ, and visual artist, Amanda Vaughn creates interdisciplinary and experimental work through the lens of a scientist. In her paintings she uses a robust palette to depict a world viewable only by microscope in mural-sized portraits of proteins and fantastical cellscapes. Vaughn has created nine volumes of BEARCAT, a zine which combines collage, scientific literature, and humor with a picture book aesthetic. Both performance and radio-based, Amanda’s DJ sets collage and mix vinyl from different eras, genres, and continents to create novel sonic environments. Keep up with Amanda’s mixes on Soundcloud and follow her on Instagram.
Tell us about your work and practice:
I moved to Austin in 2012 to begin work on my PhD at the University of Texas, and find it to be the perfect environment for those that want a good balance of work and play. I can hole up for three weeks working on experiments in lab, and then step into the brilliant Austin sunshine and go swimming or play music with friends. I’ve learned that I can’t be successful in the sciences without taking time to assimilate concepts through making art. Austin offers a vast range of venues to explore and share art in a community, which I have taken full advantage of in an attempt to balance out the isolating nature of doing research.
As an academic and social person by nature, I thrive on engagement with others. I like sharing ideas and sounds out of context, and encouraging people to make new connections between the subject and their personal experience. When I paint portraits of proteins a billion times larger than their actual size in nature, I want to portray that these nanoscopic and intricate particles of matter are larger than life, as they provide us with life. The most important part of that process is the connection that others can make with these images—the “aha" moment that inspires a new perspective on the particles that give us life. I use the same approach when I spin records; I want fringe artists from diverse eras, regions, and practices to be celebrated together. To connect with others throughout this process makes it all worthwhile and gives it meaning.
How does the urge to start a project begin? How and when does it end?
I work best with specific instructions and a deadline—I suppose I am an eternal student after spending seven years in Biochemistry grad school. I'll begin work on a project for specific shows or performances, and binge work on it until I come up with something that excites me. I keep a long list of project ideas for inspiration, but in order to feel completely motivated to work, I like to maintain focus on the context in which the work can be shared. If I have been studying a new protein in my research, I like to document that work by painting a portrait of it. Each project takes a different amount of time, but I’ve been known to cram and get things done quickly if need be. A mural I painted in 2009 took three months, but I’ve also pumped out a fresh zine the night before a zine festival. My large scale protein portraits are visceral and impulsive, which is intentional, and usually take about two days from start to finish.
Tell us something about yourself that many people might not know lies behind your creative passions.
Art is an amazing educational vehicle for esoteric subjects such as the sciences, and I use my art projects in science lectures I give to the community. I have given a couple talks at the Thinkery during community night and also recently completed an outreach teaching residency in an elementary school. Explaining complex and abstract concepts via art gives students an opportunity to make personal connections with scientific ideas, and in turn, understand them better. Inundating people with dense textbooks and nomenclature only makes them feel more removed from scientific theory, and therefore resentful and avoidant of it. One of my career goals is to design and teach a course on Science for Artists (or anyone passionate about both, for that matter).
What is your ideal gathering or meeting of the minds?
In full Renaissance fashion, I dream of a forum-like setting where art, music, science, and film are all active topics of discussion, and there is no need to be an expert in any of these fields in order to engage and participate. Science is something discussed interchangeably with the arts, and the open nature of these discussions only fuel further creativity and wonder. Without those interdisciplinary elements, we are reduced to computers that memorize facts and lack passion and curiosity.
FACES + PLACES MOST INFLUENTIAL TO AMANDA:
Gainesville, Madrid, Taipei, Bermuda, Sciacca, Halifax, Osaka
Joan Mitchell, Yayoi Kusama, Sophia Loren, Françoise Hardy, Elizabeth Fraser, Jane Richardson (biophysicist), Agnes Varda, Betty Davis, Isabelle Adjani
WHAT SHE’S BEEN LISTENING TO RECENTLY:
morio agata - morio agata flexi
saint etienne - avenue
eggplant - for you (i’d build a church)
mina - tintarella di luna
cranes - fracture
red sleeping beauty - cinema
the ecstasy of saint theresa - what’s
gaze - turquoise
orange cake mix - don’t let tomorrow get in your way
california☆roma - tarot garden
ata kak - daa nyinaa
the wake - crush the flowers
cassandra - thank you for the many things you’ve done
About #bbatx's The Residency: We annually work with 10 to 15, Texas-based women-identifying and nonbinary visual and musical artists to produce site-specific work, commissions and exhibitions throughout our programming and events. Through these residencies, we invite the public to learn more about their process, approach and sustainability of their practice. Click here to meet this year's artists.
On Serving Community With Art: 2019 Resident Artist Edith Valle
Edith Valle is a graphic designer and artist in #BBATX’s 2019 Residency. In this interview, she discusses her relationship to family and its influence on her practice and pursuits.
Edith Valle is a graphic designer and artist in #BBATX’s 2019 Residency. In this interview, she discusses her relationship to family and its influence on her practice and pursuits.
This interview has been condensed from a conversation with #BBATX board member and committee member Xochi Solis..
about the artist
Edith Valle is a graphic designer and artist who actively works to serve her community. Since graduating from St. Edward's in 2016, she has been involved in the local art scene painting murals, being involved in community art projects and organizing workshops and lectures about design and publications for the Austin public. She currently works at the non-profit Deeds Not Words working to engage young women through art and advocacy.
Vida de Oro, 2016
Tell us about your work and practice:
I was born in Austin. My parents immigrated from the region of “Tierra Caliente,” Michoacan, Mexico and ended up settling in Elgin, a small town just 30 minutes east of Austin. My family would travel back and forth from Elgin to Austin on the weekends to buy groceries and clothes, and visit my mom’s friends who primarily lived in North Austin. My parents had friends there and eventually my older siblings went to school there, and me soon after. I am propelled to continue making work here because I want to contribute to the culture of the city that I’m most familiar with. As a designer and artist of color, I want to continue making art that is authentic to my experience as a Mexican-American woman in Austin and also uplift other artists of color in the process.
Much of my art has come from collaborating with people that I volunteer with at nonprofits and nonprofits, in general. I think in those instances, it has been very important to know the people that are doing the work around whatever issue I’m making art for. Not only that, but I think it's important to have them involved in the process and make something with them rather than just for them. You can always tell when there is a disconnection with the people and the art when there is no collaboration with the communities the art is supposed to be serving.
Mariposas, 2017
Media Naranja, 2018
Tell us about your experience with creative burnout and where you find inspiration to make art.
Lately I’ve been kind of burnt out. I feel like I’ve been producing more than actually creating and really engaging with the process. I haven’t had an “urge” to do anything but take a break, if I’m being honest. If anything, as I answer these questions and talk about my family, I feel a spark and realize that's definitely something that inspires me. My paintings always start with me crying about something that made me sad and needing to channel that emotion. Most people don’t see me cry, so yeah—I’m a sad girl in disguise.
What is your ideal gathering or meeting of the minds?
My ideal gathering would be meeting with my ancestors and learning about my family history. Very little of my family history is documented, so I would love to hear stories about where we come from and how we got here.
Sol en Mi Piel, 2017
PLACES + MUSIC + BOOKS + ANIMATION MOST INFLUENTIAL TO EDITH
I come from a family of farmworkers stemming from the geographical region in southern Mexico known as Tierra Caliente. It is a region that comprises of some low-elevation areas of the states of Michoacán, Guerrero and Mexico. The region is super hot (as the name rightfully states) and it one of the most agriculturally rich areas of Mexico. My grandparents and many of my aunts and uncles still live there. When I visit, I witness what it looks like to truly live in community. Most of the food that they grow is shared with their neighbors and vise versa. Every few years that I visit, I learn something new from a place that hardly changes. I think about this a lot since I have the privilege of being able to go back to my family’s roots, and also see where our branches extend.
I’ve always been a huge fan of Calle 13. Their last two albums, Entren Los Que Quieren and Multiviral were very influential to me when I was in college. That was probably one of the first times I was challenged to think critically about my Latinx identity and I felt like those albums helped me explore what that meant. I can say the same about Cafe Tacvba. However, I’m not really into Residente as a solo artist these days.
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini is probably one of the only books besides Harry Potter that I constantly read over and over again. It’s a story about two women from different generations and how their lives are brought together by the sweeping wars in Afghanistan. They struggle to survive, raise a family, and find happiness. It goes back and forth from the perspective of each woman and I liked that I was able to see the story from both sides. The last time I read it was probably two years ago—I can’t really answer how it shaped me, but I will definitely read it again with that question in mind.
Avatar the Last Airbender is an anime that came out when I was in 5th grade. I’ve always loved the philosophy in this show. As a child, and as a grown up now that I own the dvds, it really motivated me to look introspectively and think about my mental weaknesses and how to combat them. The Legend of Korra which is the sequel to that show is just as good. Period.
Absorbiendo Mi Piel, 2017
About #bbatx's The Residency: We annually work with 10 to 15, Texas-based women-identifying and nonbinary visual and musical artists to produce site-specific work, commissions and exhibitions throughout our programming and events. Through these residencies, we invite the public to learn more about their process, approach and sustainability of their practice. Click here to meet this year's artists.
We Are Resilient: A Series of Portraits by Jeanette Nevarez
At our meet-up in February 2019, local photographer Jeanette Nevarez created a very special photo booth, documented the power and resilience of our community.
Our quarterly meets (held in February, May, August and November) are a space for people to meet the crew behind #bossbabesATX and members of our community. At our meet-up in February 2019, local photographer Jeanette Nevarez created a very special photo booth, documented the power and resilience of our community.
You can find the photo-booth outtakes here.
About the artist Jeanette: Jeanette Nevarez is a professional photographer, videographer, Latina, Art lover, self proclaimed Photoshop Nerd and co-founder of Latinx Creative Meet Up. She is a longtime supporter of #bbatx and community based organizations in Austin, creating spaces for women, Latinx, queer identifying people. You can check out her work online and hire her for your next event.
This photo booth was produced during our February ’19 Community Meet-Up. Curious about our next meet up? Join us May 21 at the Austin School of Film from 6:30 to 9 PM to mingle and hear from creatives, business owners and leaders in this community.
On Learning (And Teaching Each Other) How To Be Human: Notes From The #BBATX Community
At our last community meet-up in Austin, Texas, we explored themes of resilience. What are we here to learn? What are we here to teach?
This blog post was edited and compiled by #BBATX Communications Design Assistant A’nysha Fortenberry.
At our last community meet-up in Austin, Texas, we explored themes of resilience. We asked those who attended to contribute their answers toward the questions:
“What are you here to learn? And what are you here to teach?”
And we heard from a spectrum of people about their gifts and growth points—from making the world a better place to the beauty of our intersections to what it looks like to succeed in a male-dominated industry. We've collected some of those answers below, and we hope they inspire you to keep it moving.
PS: Our next community meet-up is on May 21 at the Austin School of Film. Learn more about how to join us here.
We hope to see you at the next community meet-up! All babes and professions are welcome.
Our next community meet-up is on May 21 at the Austin School of Film. Learn more about how to join us here.