Style & Shopping Top Ten with Stephanie Barber The MICA artist-in-residence shares her favorite things. By Lauren Bell | April 2017 The brilliant musician, Jenny Graf, made this for me on my birthday 10 or so years ago. I always feel protected and tough when I wear it. Pre-birth of the Cool by Miles Davis. This is an Italian release of some extended and alternative versions of the nonet’s groundbreaking Birth of the Cool. My grandfather, who I lived with off and on as a child in New York, is the tubaist on this and so many great albums. Broken white lambs. My grandmother wrapped these broken pieces for me as a Christmas gift many years ago as Alzheimer’s began its unsavory colonialism of her not insubstantial intellect. Snake ring. My sister gave me this ring. It is nice to have this golden familiar looped upon my insistent digit. Young Tambling by Kate Greenstreet. This book is story, poem, painting, and song. It’s a touchstone that I revisit regularly for strength and inspiration. This elephant mask was made by Thidapha Thongsavanh and was part of a costume of mine for a short play she wrote and directed. It was a very uncomfortable mask and a very great play Modesty tag. I’ve had this tag for so long. I find it exciting—a nice mockery of this virtue so foisted upon women. This block has a short, mysterious story written in pencil by my father when he was a child. I love the way it is a direct link to his childhood. I love this small collection of gorgeous handmade books by the Los Angeles translator and poet, Jen Hofer. The Tiffany One-Cuts by Jeanne Liotta. This book is a beautiful and scathing critique of American class and media. It’s deeply sad and deeply funny—a delicate balance that the best art is able to maintain.