Unexpected Guests: Andrea Jenkins.

I just love today's visit to the home of one of my flickr favorites, girlhula, aka Andrea Jenkins and blogger of Hula Seventy. My friend Phil introduced me to Andrea's flickr photos when I first joined flickr, and I found her photographs to be so happy, inspiring and just so full of color and life. I took one look and never stopped looking. Today we're headed north, to one of my favorite cities, to Andrea's home in gorgeous and green Portland, Oregon. I love Andrea's beautiful pics of her garden, and her many globe collections - two things we share an affinity for are maps of all kinds and flowers for certain! Thanks so much for having us Andrea. For more about Andrea, and her photography and art, visit her blog and her flickr photostream.


What is your favorite outing in Portland?
I love to go downtown. Ride the streetcar, hit Powell's Books, the photobooth at the Ace Hotel or Finnegan's Toys, wander in and out of shops, ride the streetcar some more, take photographs of whatever. Then visit a couple of favorite thrift shops and have dinner at Le Happy. That's an ideal day for me.


What's the best thing about Portland?
Portland is the perfect size. Big enough to feel like interesting things are happening, small enough to feel like home. Small communities and neighborhoods thrive here but the city is big enough to support a solid arts scene. I love that.


What don't you leave home without?
Camera, Moleskine, small pouch of art supplies, any book I'm currently reading. And um, lip gloss.


What's your favorite shop?
I really love Flutter, which is very quirky and girly. Mostly, I love it for all the bits of vintage ephemera you find peppered throughout the shop. And Smut (which is a tiny vintage resale shop just off Burnside) is another favorite of mine. Thanks to my husband, who discovered it and knew I'd love it. He was right.


What's one thing about you that would surprise people?
I'm a bit of a pessimist. But I'm working on that.

Who are your favorite artists?
Oh, so many! Modern dance: Alexandra Beller, David Dorfman, Bill T. Jones, Marc Bamuthi Joseph. Visual art: Robert Rauschenberg, Cy Twombly, Margaret Kilgallen, Thomas Campbell.


Where do you find inspiration?
Everywhere and in the everyday. On the streets, in my neighborhood. Colors and patterns on buildings, the way people move, accidental dances, street art, words put together just right.

Who do you admire and why?
My brother Nate, DJ Dust, who is the producer/DJ for Mars ILL as well as an independent producer/filmmaker. He has such a clear vision, such an incredible ability to persevere. Circumstances or lack of resources have never kept him from making great music or trying new things. When he didn't have the money to hire someone to shoot videos, he bought a super 8mm camera on eBay and taught himself how to shoot and edit film. This is what I admire most. His ability to just jump in, learn it, do it. And then make great art. He's not afraid.

What's the last great book you read?
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck. Which is such a beautiful book.

What's your favorite film?
Wes Anderson's Bottle Rocket. I am never bored watching that film.

If you could photograph anyone in the world, who might that be?
My dad as a young ball player-- like Gene Kelly in hightop Converse. Also, I'd love to follow Banksy around with a camera, yes I would. I'd love to shoot Alexandra Beller, who is an absolutely amazing mover. And a woman I once saw selling fruits and vegetables at a flea market in Rome.

Who would you like to sit down to tea with?
My best friend Nancy. She lives in St. Louis and we only get to see each other maybe once a year.

Do you have a guilty pleasure?
Television. And cherry sno-cones.

What would you eat for your last supper?
Pizza with sun dried tomatoes and goat cheese. Red velvet cake for dessert, of course.

What is your most treasured belonging?
My children. A very distant second would be my personal collection of photobooth strips.

What souvenir did you bring back from your last trip?
A tiny red wooden clog from the 39th Street Flea Market in New York. Not my most recent trip but I look at that little shoe everyday and think of New York. It makes me happy.

What's your greatest indulgence?
Dark cherries, fresh flowers. And travel.

What is your idea of living hell?
Fluorescent lighting.

What are some of your favorites websites & blogs to visit?
I'm crazy about danceminute. Also, ffffound, 52 projects, photobooth.net, unphotographable, Flickr. And all the friends who endlessly inspire me on the daily. That list is just too long.

What music are you listening to these days?
Old (and not so old) school hip hop-- Mos Def, Jurassic Five, De La Soul, Mars ILL. Also listening to Müm, Beth Orton, Sufjan Stevens, She & Him, The Shins, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Cat Power, Feist, RJD2.