“I wasn’t too sure what to expect. I had planned to see a couple different areas that were different from one another. While reading about Nicaragua or talking with people about it, I heard very different things. Ranging from “it’s an absolutely beautiful place” (which it is!) to “watch out for landmines” or “the kissing bug aka assassin bug”. It was a pretty wide spectrum of possibilities.

One of the things that struck me the most was how bright and vibrant the cities were, and how much color was really celebrated in the communities. You could walk up any block and literally every home would be a completely different color palette from the one next to it. All rich and vibrant with their own personalities, and then as you reach the end of the block, the next block is completely different from the one you were just on. It was really beautiful.

While I was there one of the overwhelming things I noticed was that the cities don't take on much uniformity within them. The buildings are all wildly different colors, the sidewalk tiles are often mismatched, the signage is all hand painted. It gave me an impression that everything was very unique. So when I was thinking about the edition, this stuck out to me and started to influence the way I was thinking about the piece and eventually the overall approach. I decided on not making an edition as planned but a series of unique 15x15 cm wooden tiles, each completely different from one another in both form and color —no two are the same. Staying true to the Nicaraguan spirit of uniformity."

Travel diary

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Packing it up for the start of The Jaunt trip tomorrow to Nicaragua! Excited to get out of NY winter for a little bit. First stop will be Managua for the night before we head to Corn Island
🌴✌🏼️🌴

Friday, February 19, 2016

Grazing saddles in front of the baseball stadium on Corn Island. #theJaunt @thejaunt (at Corn Island)

Wall styles in Masaya

Saturday, February 20, 2016

The internet is super spotty to say the least on Corn Island, so here’s a quick recap of a few things spotted while we were there. The island is extremely small – I think we were able to bike from one side to the other in about 25 mins or so, but it’s overwhelmed by natural beauty. We spent most of our days, biking, snorkeling, swimming and grabbing cheap drinks near the water. There’s not a ton to do there, but enjoy what’s in front of you.

We went snorkeling on the North End of Corn Island on the first day, and saw lots of rad coral and beautiful fish (including a Manta Ray which was terrifying to see lurking on it’s own). Most of the time I couldn’t see exactly what I was taking a picture of, but I really loved this coral(?). It might be the designer in me, but that spacing is almost too perfect. They would often cover entire rocks or clusters, and just looked so beautiful and strangely out of place. 

One of my favorite things about Nicaragua so far has been the use of colors throughout the country. You really see it in the housing and architecture. No two homes are alike, and each one has there own palette that is in direct conversation with the home next to it which makes walking around the streets a very colorful experience.

Sunday, February 21, 2016

Yesterday we were able to check out the artisan market in Masaya. The market is just rows and rows and rows of vendors. Many of which sell the same artists or styles, but all the pieces in the market are hand done, so even if it is similar, it is unique. I loved the ceramics and the masks. Both are something I’ve been wanting experiment with in my own work. But the woodwork was something on a different level too — beautiful inlays, great use of local wood and their natural shapes. There were also some really weird/ funny styles happening too. I don’t know the story behind them, but two that really caught my eye were the bathroom/ cellphone series, and the kama sutra toads.

Monday, February 22, 2016

I think one of my favorite moments in the color palettes here is when the varied tones meet. This is 2 two-tone houses that butt up to one another. Jim Houser, this reminded me of you as well :)

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

On Sunday we took a couple tours to see some local sights. First up was Volcàn Mombacho just outside the city of Granada. We had been planning to go to Volcàn Masaya which is supposed to have a great view, but was closed due to some recent activity. When we got to the top of Mombacho, it was unfortunately overcast so we couldn’t see the crater, but did get to check out a lot of the forest surrounding the rim. I was told I saw a sloth as well, but it was curled up in a tree, and looked more like a slow moving ball of fur (very sloth-like). The second trip we took was to Las Isletas. Las Isletas were formed from an eruption from Mombacho which created a total of 365 micro islands. We had a rad tour guide, who showed us around and brought us to my favorite island, Monkey Island – a super small plot that had about five different monkeys you could feed. We shared some crackers and a lollipop and it was good.

Last couple hours in Nicaragua, and I got to check out a beautiful tile factory. I saw a lot of tiles like this in place of a plain cement sidewalk which was really great. So much character in each style and even better when they’re all mixed.

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

I spent a lot of time exploring the cities while in Nicaragua, taking lots of photos of the buildings and the signage there. It was somewhat overwhelming at times because every block you walk down there’s 20-25 new color combos from the one you were just on, and when you think you might have seen the best, the next block had even better ones. It feels endless in a great way. My favorite moments where when the palettes met from building to building, pushing up against each other, but never really clashing because every building is different everywhere. It becomes part of this larger urban tapestry. 

A few more selects from this past week in Masaya and Granada. A big thank you to the Jaunt and everyone who supported this trip and edition. Going to get to work now : ) Stay tuned!