Portrait #24: Alex Brozen "That Cool Guy From NYU"

If Alex Skozzzen could only come to visit Sarah Lawrence for one night, it was very appropriate that he chose Saturday, February 21st.

One morning when I woke up earlier that week, I noticed an facebook message from Alex:

February 19 at 6:06am

what would you think about me visiting this weekend? or are you guys real busy? i can't believe i haven't seen this paradise they call sarah lawrence college yet! i just realized that i have a weekend free for the first (and last) time in a while. so let me know! my internet's been really shady lately, so texting/calling is probably a better idea. and beth, i would be honored if you sketched me, lady.
Alex has been hearing about this "paradise" ever since a year ago when he and Sarah met on their NYU abroad program in Paris. Then his dreams became deeper when we all hung out in Manhatty a lot over the summer and he heard all of my sex party stories. I understood this great need we all had for Alex to see what it's all about, so without looking at my calendar, in my foggy headed sleepy stupor, I replied "I feel great about you visiting this weekend and me sketching you." without asking Sarah. BUT I WAS RIGHT. It was an amazing time.

First we sketched and Alex was a perfect little bearded Polish goddess on my bed. We talked mostly about really funny fecal experiences, taking advantage of Sarah being out of the room.

Eventually after a lot of gossip, it was time for Friendge Fest (spelling not important), a night of collaborative art events put on by the SLC art collective, C.A.T.S. It was totally wacky, mostly because there was a PIE EATING CONTEST. Best art event idea ever. Also there was a lot of boxed wine which made everything a little funner. Other events included: a punk band performances complete with a mosh pit started by me and Megan, a slideshow that compared pictures of porn to pictures of sandwiches, Zara's cutoutz projection performance, and a dance performance that required the participation of the audience shouting out letter-number combinations to tell the dancers which moves to do. We ended up at John and Annie and Emily's apartment where I donned Annie's blonde wig and we danced around to Le Tigre. In this pictures from this party, someone tagged Alex as "that cool guy from NYU" hence the post title.

By the end of the night (I honestly don't remember anything from in between), my all-girl apartment had 3 extra boys sleeping over. That's a lot of heterosexuality. (Or was it?) Was this a good example of Sarah Lawrence? Well Alex, you're going to have to visit again.

Portrait #23: Zach W.S.

I had the pleasure of drawing my fellow Fellow Zach at our final retreat for our JFREJ (Jews for Racial and Economic Justice) Fellowship at this crazy pimped out waterside mansion in New Rochelle. Zach and I were the 2 youngest and undergrad fellows, with our ages ranging unevenly from 20-45, so we naturally bonded over that and also a lot of multiple similar identities (esp. as feygelehs). There was this one time that me, Zach, and our friend Alex from the fellowship had this really intense queer brodown where we all told our coming out stories and families and dads.

There was a lot of bonding the weekend of the retreat in general, since a) we had been meeting for all-day monthly sessions for 6 months and b) because we went really deep talking about our feelings and histories on Israel/Palestine. My favorite activity we did was called "life mapping" where we all kicked back together (I DJed) and mapped out our lives, often in regards to our understanding of racism, Jewishness, and coming out, since a lot of us are queer. Also we went through two bottles of Annie's Goddess Dressing! So good.

In sum, it was a good time to draw Zach over the retreat to reflect on this process in the fellowship that we have been through.

Looking back on this above pic, I don't really feel like the Zach drawing turned out with the right facial structure (near the chin/mouth) but I think in person this portrait does look more like him. Like with Erin's portrait, I loved drawing Zach's fierce eyebrows-- they are a very important part of his facial structure. Another total treat deet was his earrings, and also the SOUL PATCH. (Too bad you can't see them right now but maybe I will take a detail pic when my camera comes in.)

Even if this portrait is not perfectly structured right (thanks to my shortness and awk perspective to the page) I got a lot of really great ego-boost support from the other fellows who were my cheering section while the sketchy lady sesh took place. Thanks GPOFfers!

Portrait #22: Julia R. Robers

Dayyyummmm I wish I did this post right after I did the drawing, like 3 months ago!! God I'm such a bad Sketchy Lady.

Welcome back from Russia, Julia! I had not seen Julia since high school, mostly since I was 15 and we were friends who liked the Cure and watched 80s teen movies. I still wear these combat boots she gave me then too but I changed the laces. So over break we all caught up up and they talked about their study abroad experiences. Julia and I probably get along better now that we are older and wiser. Maybe we always got along well though, who knows. We even dated the same guy consecutively when we were 14! I was done with him when one day he wore a shirt to school that said "I'd rather be masturbating". Matt Rosenfelder, if you're reading this, hello from both of us!

Like Alyza, Julia enjoyed the fact that I painstakingly drew her beautiful necklace. I wish you could see how colorful the turquoise part is. It was good zone-out material while listening to wacky stories about creepy guys in Venezuela and Russia.

I don't necessarily feel like I did the most A+ accurate job on Julia, but def her lips are accurately pouty. Also, the whole gothy-darkness style is only appropriate for a Bard student. Ha.

Portrait #21: Alyza

I think it is rather appropriate that I took this picture of Alyza with her portrait in my parents' kitchen. Most of the time I've spent with Alyza has been either in my parents kitchen and basement eating pickles, carrots, and hummus. The place I've spend the 2nd most amount of time with Alyza is the powder room of our synagogue when we were in late elementary/early middle school (she was in my older sister's grade). In the latter scenario, Alyza taught all of us nice Jewish girls about things girls should know (dirty jokes, etc) that she learned from her teenage older brother Jason.

It was cool drawing Alyza because she and our friend Julia (post coming soon!) were having a long conversation on my bed, which allowed me a great deal of detail and ability to make corrections. For example, a lack of definition in Alyza's cheeks made them look way too big, which she was not pleased about, but her knack for telling long stories got me outta that one. The way the portrait eventually came out is a lot more accurate than it had been-- I think I'd been out of practice before I got this new drawing pad. It was a luxury to draw someone whose face I'd seen grow and change over the past 10+ years, and really wrap my head around the way her hair behaves texture-wise, and in what ways her nose is super Jewish. Alyza also really appreciated the inclusion of her turtle necklace that she got when she was working with turtles in Costa Rica.

Speaking of Alyza's travels... it is notable that they have been extremely far and wide, moreso than the average college student. I don't know how she did it (flexibility of UMass I guess) but she spent what seems like most of her college years abroad, taking semesters in Argentina and Spain and then travelling for 6+ months afterwards. She sort of disappeared from our lives multiple times but every time she comes home, we manage to still be the extended family we've always been (except for that separation when she and my sister Diane made the transition to high school... woops).

Portrait #20 Alex R.

Sorry for the delays. I've been keeping up with the sketchies but not posting.

I made this drawing of Alex over winter break in Jersey, after we did Jersey things like go to the diner and drive around. This portrait marks the first in my new sketch pad, which Alex helped me buy discount with his mom's account (she's a painter?). It was nice to visit my favorite art supply store... I always dreamt of working there in high school but they only hired full time staff and college kids.

I had to draw Alex twice to get it right, which may or may not be symbolic of the fact that we rarely see each other, being that he goes to Ithaca. I still don't feel like this version really captures his essence (neither does this picture really).

I feel a distantly close kinship with Alex since we are Jews from the same area of Jersey and both turned out having radical politics and an artistic/hipster sensibility (important to admit). We met through my friend Joanna in high school, but didn't become good friends until the weeks leading up to the National Conference on Organized Resistance (NCOR) in Washington DC where we bro-ed down and smelled the stink of anarchists. The peak of the weekend was when we attended a workshop on polyamory in which the facilitators disclosed their sexual relationship, and prompted us to break up into partners and practice having open dialogues about our HIV status, sexual history, goals for the relationship, etc. It was both very educational for us to have this conversation and also obviously very strange. Most people were paired up with complete strangers, if not political acquaintances. After this weekend our gmail chat relationship declined and now we mostly play phone tag over breaks where we're both in NJ.

Anyway, it was really nice driving around in Alex's rickety 1988 car (topped with a bike rack), and observing the development of his eyewear into the hipper. Too bad we don't do that more often because maybe then I would feel more of a comfort that would lend itself to a better portrait.

Portrait #19: Neil M.

Neil came up to me in the library when I was drawing Antonia and asked me "Beeeeth.... when are you gonna draw meeee?" since I had already asked him. I told him in five minutes. I was proud that my new approach at getting sitters was working. People are so busy at the end of the semester that I decided I should just go to the library with my drawing supplies and draw them when they are doing their work. They were all holding still anyway so why not kill two mosquitoes with one slap. I was glad I knew people in a central place (Hannah and Antonia) so that securing the next sitter would take care of itself, by way of drawing performatively.

The first time I drew Neil in that sitting it was a total disaster. We were sitting in this weird quiet area which was also very dark (maybe the lighter areas are more enabling in terms of noise level?) so I decided to switch positions to get a better look into his eyes. By accident I made his torso too small, so you might notice that I wrote "+3 inches down" underneath the picture. Actually Neil's mini-size makes me feel more comfortable around him than I would if he were real big. I also enjoy it when Neil pretends to nudge and box with me, it is like a little boy thing, or like I am part of this dude-but-gentle-dude club with him because we are in the same height range.

The fact that Neil is on his i-phone in the picture is important. He is kind of known as one of the Big Dems On Campus in that really employable way. I'm pretty sure he started a nonprofit called Vote from Home and took a lot of trips to Ohio before the election. He also has a twitter and is probably subscribed to Barack Obama's twitter. Apple products are a really big part of his life.

Portrait #18: Antonia

Antonia is Hannah S.'s roommate, so I know her in a very indirect way. Most of what I know about her I have learned in their room when they are winding down from the day. For instance, she really loves the sitcom Friends and has cute pajamas.

She and Hannah recorded some music videos of them singing hits like "Stacy's Mom (has got it goin on)" in which Antonia played the guy singing and Hannah played Stacy's mom. In another video, they sang a Backstreet Boys song where they were both in drag. I totally wanted to throw my panties at Hannah, because she was such a convincing Backstreet Boy. Antonia secretly showed me the videos when Hannah was out of the room, which embarassed Hannah more than I've ever seen. Little did she know how much Antonia's help gave me a deep respect for her ability to portray Nick Carter (and stacy's mom). Antonia was really adorable trying to imitate masculine singing movements, and her giggliness prevented her from staying in character as commitedly as Hannah.

The night I drew Antonia was the first snow of this winter. She was wearing a white scarf so I wanted to use that to create the effect of snowyness. She looked really calm and warm inside her layers while she did her homework in the library. I am proud of my attention to detail in this drawing, especially in the scarf and folds of the sweater. I think I had access to that attention to detail for this drawing because it was the essence of the way she was attentive to her homework. (It is interesting how my approach is different depending on the sitter's personality.) Maybe you can tell it is snowing by the way I drew her.

By the way, Antonia and I have the same camera case. It is pink, so that's awesome, but I told her some friendly advice that my screen still broke inside that case so she should be careful.

Here's a really fuzzy and not helpful closeup. You're probably better off with the above one considering how fucking adorable she looks in the first one.

Portrait #17: John ("Jawn Wahkuh")

After I drew Gil on Thursday John and I went to the music building to do his drawing while I chatted with Ellary about Jews and racism and jazz music for a project she is doing. John is also a total pretty boy and so I tried to emphasize all his cute madonna-esque moles and his metro style. I made his face too stretched out because I'm so short, so we took a picture of him looking at it from an angle. I think it is the most accurate angle at which to take a photo since it is how I saw it at the time. The below, conversely, is how John saw the it while I was drawing him.




This all took place in Ellary's teacher Glenn's office while he was in the studio on the other side of the door, grooving away on his guitar. I could tell from the sound of it and from his concentration despite guests that he was very intentionally in a zone that we, nor anyone else, could snap him out of.

But, I was pleasantly delighted when Glenn came out and said a lot of things like "Man oh man! Hey dude, that drawing is groovin!" (long hair swayin and his carelss gait). Meanwhile, John was eating clam chowder from the pub and trying to keep his energy low so that he'd stop fidgeting. John was pretty fidgety and freakin out, if you ask me... there was a lot of "ehh! Sorry I keep movin but I'm so suh suhhhhh nervouS!" John is adorable and has studder spasms which have been recorded in France by many facebook videos. He has been pretty comforting to be around in our time of grief. We got through a lot of really sad times this semester by being silly and cuddling and queering out and making up campy jokes. Our favorite is, "You think you know but you have no idea." since that used to be the title of an MTV show. On the same note, we also like "True Life: Don't Make Me Look Fat" in reference to his request for the drawing.

Portrait #16: Gil

I first heard about Gil when I got accepted to Sarah Lawrence. My down the street neighbors, the Brancaccios, had moved from LA when I was 14 and knew someone from LA who was going to be my year. They were like oh, this guy Gil is awesome, and its so funny because he's a Jew named Gentile! Ha Ha You Should Say Hi To Him When You Get to School. I had pretty high expectations because this family was my favorite out of my parents friends because they were the most intellectual (and famous... David used to host Marketplace on NPR before they moved. and Mary was an awesome English teacher at my high school and really knew how to talk to teenagesrs, I noticed at my mom's 50th birthday party.)

But then I got to school and found this weird looking guy who seemed like a cave person. I didn't say Hi to him until I was at a party during orientation this year (or was it last year?) and as soon as he spoke I realized he was totally NOT a cave person. We totally bonded over knowing Nick Brancaccio since this kid had been in all my art classes and I wanted to be his friend and he and Gil were both into stuff like architecture and drawing. I was so down.

Then Gil and I took the same sculpture class and he totally sculpted a poop for his mold-making project. I thought it was the most brilliant and strategic use of a mold I had ever seen. I hope he makes a million of them and sticks it in someone's room or office who he does not like.


Anyway, Gil was hard to draw because while he has very distinctive features, it didn't look like him until I got millions of marks down to make his hair big enough. John, who is the sitter in the next post, sat behind me and watched and was very encouraging, shouting things like "WOAH that was a good move" when I scratched in some dark eyebrows above Gil's glasses. Gil was very pleased because not only did I get his masking tape on his glasses (SO important) but I made his nose bigger and longer. When his special someone, Zara, came in and saw the drawing, she said the same thing and was like "wow I bet he's so happy you made his nose bigger" and he smiled because it as true. Mostly I really liked making the patterns on his sweater because I think they capture his personality. Also I think his expression ended up really funny.

Here is another picture I drew of Gil once during class:

Portrait #15: My Dad

After I drew my mom, I drew my dad while we watched Spiderman with Kirsten Dunst and that nice boy Toby McGuire, made possible by our new digital cable's hundreds of channels. I kept getting really distracted by the TV because I forgot how good and slightly campy Spiderman was. (For example, the green goblin kept saying things like "The itsy bitsy spider climbed up the water spout. Down came the Goblin and took the spider out" and "Can Spiderman come out to play?".)

We laughed a lot at the description under the "GUIDE" button: "Nebischy student finds his new powers..." etc. NEBISCHY? When I think of a "nebisch" I think of the people from synagogue when I was a kid who always smelled like cat pee and were all 4 feet tall, who my mom and I call the Silkopaths. I'm sure Toby McGuire (?) does NOT smell like cat pee. But it is interesting to think about whether or not the person writing blurbs for the network is Jewish (or nebischy).

So the story I was going to tell in my last post about how we can joke about our differences goes like this. My dad told his coworkers the story about how I told him he jokingly should feel like an asshole since I got straight A's my senior year after we'd argued a lot about my grades when I was a sophomore. He thought it was really funny and a symbol of our newly stable relationship, but I think his World Financial Center office of Merrill Lynch thought it was strange we talked to each other so candidly. What can I say, we are Jews.

My dad is also the only man at Merrill Lynch with a beard... their token gay financial advisors look a lot more square than he does.

Drawing my dad was adorable because he looked really happy watching tv, kind of smiling in his eyes. I've learned a lot about my genetics from recording my parents' features, since I have studied my own in drawings for many years. I think I get my nose from my dad but I have bigger lips that him (his lips aren't just buried under his beard, they really just are paper thin.) Also I have learned a lot about facial hair from drawing boys. (More hairy boys later.)

Portrait #14: My Mom

I drew both my parents over Thanksgiving break at their newly remodeled home in Maplewood, New Jersey. For over a year, they had been doing construction on the house I grew up in, moving the bathroom to the foyer of the house and knocking down some walls to make the breakfast room and the little kitchen one big space for food preparation and consumption. It was kind of amazing to have home-cooked meals finally, after a year of coming back to a very dorm-like eating arrangement in the basement. It was also totally weird because I feel that it is a direct result of our class position changing. (For more photos of our kitchen, click here.)

My parents keep making comments to me about how they don't want me to think they are "bougey" as a result of this, because they know that after I left the nest I became more radical. What is special about my family is our ability to joke about our differences and make it a joke in common instead of a division. (More about that in the Dad post.) I don't think they're too bougey, beause they are my adorably happy parents, and at least they are not the Power-Elite. Also it would be SO MUCH WORSE if we celebrated Christmas. I am so against Jews celebrating Christmas. Chinese-food-and-a-movie forever.

Anyway, I drew my mom while she fell asleep reading the New York Times book review, one of her favorite sections. I hope I properly portrayed her relaxation-- she gets very sleepy at night. Over Thanksgiving break my fam stayed up late a few nights watching old family movies. My dad would be like, Oh no, I have work tomorrow! It was adorbs that we love Slutzky family time so much.

I also hope that you can tell she is scratching her dog, George, on her right side. He is so dark that he really had no forms for me to define so I just made him really curly. You can't really tell from my mom's straight hair but George def looks like a Slutzky with that curly hair. Here are his legs! -->

Portrait #13: Cooper

If I remember correctly, I drew Cooper the same day I drew Hannah D. I had very similar feelings about hair texture, as I was getting into the physical motion of drawing the wavy hair texture. I'm still wondering about the degree to which drawing hair texture in public is performative.

Cooper was super poised while I was drawing her, and the texture of her book's pages was interesting. I've drawn some boring looking books in my day, and this one was a different scene. Thanks for holding your book in a more interesting way, Coop.



I've been really impressed with Cooper's work in our class. There was this one project where we had to use performance to change a space, so Cooper decided she would literally "climb the stairs" of her building like a monkey. It was crazy because she was so fast that the class had to run up the stairs to keep up with her. I felt like I was on a safari chasing a wild monkey, as Jeanine clicked shots of Cooper in her natural habitat.