Hammer Blog

Nine Lives artist Lisa Anne Auerbach shares her reflections on Los Angeles, art-making and commuting by bicycle in this weekly blog.

Does this cat look pregnant?
Thursday, April 30


It’s getting close to kitten season, and we don’t want what happened last year to repeat itself, so there’s suspicion surrounding the appearance of a new orange feral in the backyard. It was sleeping under the lemon tree this morning when I went out, and there was no sign of our other feral, our primary feral and mother of our kittens, Abby Tabby. We’ve seen the orange cat chase our precious Abby Tabby away from the food and now we stand watch over her while she eats. She tolerates us, but barely. Get too close and she too will run.



Last year around this time, we started to see Abby Tabby in the backyard and running scared down the driveway

After spending a week in the mountains of Guangdong, picking up a cold along the way, and only having one full day in Beijing to recover I really didn’t think I could handle another New Years trip. But the tickets had been purchased, and I really wanted to see artist Jia Aili’s hometown and experience the northeast’s version of the Spring Festival before it was over. It only comes around once a year.

Nine Lives artist Lisa Anne Auerbach shares her reflections on Los Angeles, art-making and commuting by bicycle in this weekly blog.

Bike Night at the Hammer!
Friday, April 17



Like the universe itself, Bike Night started with a big bang.

I was about five blocks from my house when it happened. I had already gotten a late start, because ten minutes before I was supposed to leave I decided I wanted to write a speech to introduce the film. Then I got all nervous because of the speech and I felt icky and sweaty so I had to jump in the shower for a quick spritzdown. So then I was late and nervous and wearing a spanking new black and white sweater/skirt combo. I leapt on my bike and tore down the road.

Then the road tore me. Right before that hill on Cimarron, the bike felt a little

Nine Lives artist Lisa Anne Auerbach shares her reflections on Los Angeles, art-making and commuting by bicycle in this weekly blog.

Landfill
Tuesday, April 14

There is a lot to report this week! Things are happening and falling apart, all at the same time.

I decided to make a new sweater to wear to Bike Night, which is coming up very very soon on Thursday April 16. I wanted to make the "sharrow" sweater like the one that's in the exhibition, but in a different color, so I just burned the pattern cd and fired up the old PC computer that's attached the knitting machine and... and... nothing. Some green lights blinked momentarily and that's all that happened. I thought maybe the cord had pulled out, so I checked that but it seemed to be OK. Then I thought maybe the power strip was bad, so I tried another

Nine Lives artist Lisa Anne Auerbach shares her reflections on Los Angeles, art-making and commuting by bicycle in this weekly blog.

Other People's Cats
Wednesday, April 8

A cat cafe recently opened in Tokyo: Calico Cat Cafe. It's a place where you can take your shoes off, have some tea, and pet some cats. The 14 cats in residence are there for the guests to stroke and ogle. It sounds kind of perfect. There are rules. No waking cats up from naps. It should be enough to have the honor to watch them slumber. Do not hold a cat that does not wish to be held. I wish someone would open a branch of the Calico Cat Cafe here in Los Angeles. I have two delightful felines already, but I enjoy the occasional company of others.

So while I wait patiently for cat cafes to catch on in the