Las Vegas Wedding!

On September 29, 2007, I participated in a circus-themed extravaganza love-fest of a wedding, and married my love Jim Slonina.

Jim is an actor and currently works as a clown for the Las Vegas spectacle “Le Reve”, so we pulled in the circus theme with an air-jumper, popcorn and cotton candy machines, Steve August juggling, and Maria the Snake Babe with an 8-foot boa constrictor. The ceremony began with my friend Marah running down the aisle to stage-whisper to the groom that the minister had a flat tire and she couldn’t make it. So while Jim made an embarrassed apology to the crowd, our good friend Claudio Carneiro (an amazing Brazilian clown) stood up from the audience to save the day, doing magic tricks in the aisle and taking over as minister. There was lots of gags mixed in with the true lovey-dovey moments, culminating in an interruption during the “Speak now or forever hold your peace” bit, when Renaldo, an acrobat in a karate costume, ran down a hill and attacked. You can check it out at the photos at the link below:
Jim & Robin’s Wedding Pics

Spamalot!!!


Spamalot comes to Vegas, fresh from its run on Broadway. It is showing in the sister theater to Le Reve at the Wynn, which meant we were lucky enough to be invited to the premiere opening bash. It was a really fun chance to support our new friends in the cast (pictured above with buddies Ed, Tony and Ashley). Plus, I got to meet and hang out with Robin Williams, one of my big faves, as well as meet Steve Martin, and the whole Monty Python gang, including another big fave John Cleese!

Stardust implodes!

I have to say, I love Las Vegas! Where else could I go to a Barrack Obama rally one day, and a Nicky Hilton wardrobe unveiling the next? Another bonus: imploding buildings!!! Here I am with my man Jim, who gets geeked out at all things explosive. We camped out on the roof of the Wynn Casino parking garage for three hours to get a prime spot to film the historic Stardust Casino implode -after 48 years on the Las Vegas strip. It was an amazing spectacle, with 5 minutes of fireworks culminating in a pyrotechnic countdown, with flares spelling out “10, 9, 8…” on the full height of the building. We then watched the crowd on the strip run from the dust cloud, until it rolled towards us, covering our car and sending us sprinting inside. We had to wait another 3 hours for the Star”dust” to clear, so we ran around inside the Wynn until 6AM with some of the awesome, fun cast of “Spamalot”, the new Monty Python musical at the Wynn. Viva Las Vegas! (click on image to enlarge)

Casino Chip Dress, Las Vegas NV

I am back in Las Vegas and I am planning on making Nevada’s dress project out of casino chips, to honor this state’s unique gambling history. This will be a time consuming endeavor! Upon completion I plan to photograph it out in the desert to bring in the natural beauty and vast landscapes surrounding Nevada’s sprawling cities. I wish to thank Wendy and all the folks at the Gambler’s General Store in Las Vegas for their very generous donation of casino chips for the project!

Here I am at the Gambler’s General Store picking out my casino chips …like a kid in a candy shop!

Here I am drilling holes in over 1000 casino chips in preparation to link them together. I am working on the floor of a room in my friend Kent’s house, which he has generously donated to me to use as my studio. Thanks Kent!!

Here are the chips once they are linked. At this point I am using a garment tagging gun to hold them together, for it’s ease of execution and “invisible” linkage, but I will see if the results are strong enough once the dress starts to take shape…

Love in Las Vegas

photo by Tomasz Rossa

Okay, folks, now for the real reason I am sticking around Las Vegas! About three weeks after my dad died, I met this clown…. literally. My new boyfriend Jim is a clown for the water / air circus spectacle “Le Reve” at the Wynn casino. After dating about three months while I was still traveling, he asked me to stay with him in Sin City and I said yes! I will use Vegas as a home base from now on, and continue the dress project through arts residencies I will travel to in various states every few months or so. With my father’s deep love of all things circus, I think he is smiling down on this amazing new love in my life.

Las Vegas, NEVADA


I am currently living large in Las Vegas, Nevada. I love the weather and have made some amazing friends here!

I also just found out I have been awarded a couple of artist residencies, which means cultural centers in different states will be giving me room and board and general support as I create my dress projects for those states. I am headed to Wyoming in July thanks to the Jentel foundation, and then I am off to an island in Maine in September thanks to the MacNamara foundation. So preparing all of those applications paid off!