Tiny Acrobats

All up in your grill

2009-06-13T13:15:00.003-04:00

Morning, kids. Summer has arrived, which means we grill almost every night on my front porch and drink cheap wine and tell a lot of jokes. It's not a bad life.

A few things have happened worth noting:

I had a little revolution on the job front which came to naught but had me thinking a lot about what I want to do and how I want to do it. The best news of all is that even if I keep doing what I've been doing, I actually stand to make a reasonable living this semester. Progress towards financial solvency, check.

I'm going to be included in a group show at a very good gallery this fall, which could lead to some exciting developments. I'll keep you posted.

My good friend Erin is moving to Austin (can't refer to her as Baltimore Erin anymore on my blog, drat) and when people move away, what I like to do is buy their stuff. Last year I bought a bag of acrylic paints from Jarrett and Courtney when they moved to Boston ($75 opened a NEW WORLD of untried colors) and this year, what I bought from Erin, wait for it, wait... I bought......................................

A SEWING MACHINE. (*fanfare*)

Here he is. Isn't he lovely? Already I have satisfied a lifelong desire to make my own curtains. My studio gets a lot of strong, direct light in the morning and I am worried about fading of paintings and paper things and whatnot, so, curtains for you, studio! I also made a second set of curtains that divides the space in half-- Nick uses the front half of the space intermittently as a woodshop-- but the big news is that our own dear Mackenzie is going to be sharing the space with us as of a few weeks from now. I am very excited about this development as I think it will make the place more festive, but I also feel it is important that we have our privacy from each other within the space. Therefore, curtains for you, studio!

I also made flour sack pillows, and I have a lot of ideas about other things I can make with a sewing machine. Just wait. I'm gonna get all crafty on you all.

I went to NYC on Wednesday to see Chriso in his New York debut. The show was very funny, bawdy and sweet, and he was very good in it. He has clearly learned a lot at Yale and I am super proud of him. We had some delicious enchiladas at Lupe's afterwards and then walked up to Chikalicious for a red velvet cupcake. The best cupcake anywhere, ever. We had a very lovely visit.

Too much cheap wine last night means brain cloud today so I'm going to sign off there. Taking it easy today with laundry and housecleaning, perhaps some studio later in the afternoon. Hope you all are having a nice weekend, too.

Ta ta for now.

Foolish mortal

2009-05-12T17:09:00.004-04:00

Looking back over blog entries from this semester, I see that since the beginning of it, I have believed on an ongoing basis that I was only about a week to ten days out from cutting the workload down to something that would be manageable. I see now that I was wrong; tomorrow is really and truly the last day of school, and I still spent almost the whole day today grading and dealing with school stuff. But now (I think, I do truly believe) I am very nearly actually (dare I say?) finished. I have a day of crits tomorrow, and then I turn in my grades, and that's it.

It just cannot come soon enough.

Had some tremendous fun this weekend at (gasp!) a baseball game. Photos forthcoming, including Super-Amazing Professional Baseball Zoom Trick.

Ta ta for now.

Loose ends

2009-05-07T11:25:00.020-04:00

Hi, kids. I've been feeling a little sorry that my blogging has been so brief and so infrequent these last few months. Now that we're rolling across the semester's finish line, I'm hoping there will be more time and mental space to update you all about my doings and thinkings, as this thing here functions as a meditative tool for me as well.

(Sidenote: I have started keeping a studio journal that is just about what I'm thinking in studio-- it's a means of picking up where I left off since I often have several days in a row away from studio nowadays. I tell myself it's not another offshoot of my narcissism but a useful tool. And so far it actually is. Wait till you see the giant head painting. It's coming right along.)

A few things from earlier posts that never got wrapped up:

1. The professor job search is over for this year. I sent out 30 applications and got one interview, in MICHIGAN. Yuck. I mean, no offense to Michigan, but as far as I can tell, that's a cold and bleak winter landscape, and the economy there is slowly imploding, so, not a great time to move there. Anyway it's a moot point because they hired someone else.

Word on the street is that everyplace has a hiring freeze, so there's nothing out there and I shouldn't take it personally. I'm not taking it personally. I am well qualified for these jobs and I think my applications were strong. There's a lot of competition right now, and most people seem to take three years after grad school to get out of the adjunct racket and be made into honest women or men by some lucky institution.

The thing is, though, I am really questioning my commitment to teaching right now. There are things I really like about it, and then there are other things that are demoralizing and suck away from me energy that I would prefer to use in the studio. I didn't set out to be a teacher, I set out to be a painter.

I find myself in a position now where I like my supplementary job, working for Suzi the Collector Lady, much more than I like teaching. She is pleasant to be around, the work is interesting but not difficult, she pays me well, and the work environment is actually quite lovely. Last week I got to work for a day at their second home on the Chesapeake. Here is a picture of the view:

I bet that beats the view from your office.

(I really enjoyed picturing my little grandpa on a sailboat on the Chesapeake all that day. He loved sailing and always wanted to live there. He and my grandma moved to Charlotte to help raise my brother and me when my parents split up, with the idea that they would stay a few years and then move up there. They stayed more than twenty-five years, the rest of their lives.)

Anyway, as an experiment, I am taking a step away from teaching right now. Well, as of next week, when I finish final crits and the semester is really over. I am not teaching during the summer, and I am expanding my hours with Suzi. We'll see in the fall whether I want to go back.

However, I do plan to keep my class at MICA for as long as they'll have me. That class is much more enjoyable than my CC classes, and also keeps my hand in teaching so that if I want to try again for professor jobs in a little while, it's not out of the question.

Regardless of what I'm doing, my main goal is to make enough money to survive working part time, and to spend the rest of the time in the studio. I feel like this year has been a good year for experimenting and trying different media, and now there is a new body of work about to come through. It's an exciting time, I just need to show up, and show up every day.

2. That lady I mentioned back in November did finally buy my painting, after stringing me along for four months. She turned out to be very nice, and I'm glad she wasn't just being a sadist.

3. I did have strep, that time the strep test came back negative. Turns out there are lots of kinds of strep, and a strep test only tests for strep A. In case you were wondering.

This has been kind of a rotten semester. I am so glad it's over.

And now, my favorite time of year, a time when all the trees of Baltimore lose their fucking minds and riot in the streets. A time when my normally not-especially-girly constitution becomes obsessed with flowering trees and the display of breasts and legs. Springtime!

Springtime photo essay GO:

Nick and I went down to DC to check out the cherry blossom festival, and it was nice but it was COLD that day, and windy, and we were about three days past the peak of the blooms so they were starting to fall apart. So we took these pictures:

OH YEAH and Alana came to visit with her kids and husband Joey, and we had a nice time but I didn't take any pictures. She took some, though, which are posted over at her blog.

And that brings us pretty much up to date. Moving into summer, I hope to have more grand adventures and to keep you posted as they unfold.

Wishing grand adventures to you, as well.

Not so worrisome

2009-05-04T19:39:00.004-04:00

Mack says I need a new post because the last one was depressing, and it's been a while. I have to be brief, because there's still a slog of work to get through, and at this moment right now, this very instant I am preparing to walk over to Nick's in the rain. It's my evening constitutional.

So-- briefly--- I will say that we are in the final week of the semester, which means EVERYTHING'S GOING TO BE OK.

And I promise a photo update quite soon, which will contain images of my recent travels. Like this, for example:

Till then, campers.

Worrisome.

2009-04-12T17:38:00.002-04:00

In a conversation with my brother just now about my professional life and how little adjunct professors are paid, I became short of breath. I think the stress of these last two years of total and complete exploitation is starting to get to me. I went to the doctor on Friday for a checkup and my blood pressure was a little high. Since I quit smoking three months ago and have been exercising fairly regularly, and I eat pretty well, this should not be the case.

I need a different way to do things. There's no one to complain to about adjunct exploitation because everyone does it. It's a way for educational institutions to keep their faculties small and their costs down while still staffing all the classes they need to run. But it's on the backs of the young professors who are just trying to get some teaching experience and find a way to support themselves. We are very well educated; we know a lot of things; some of us are very good teachers, and all of us are working our asses off. How is it possible that we are teaching a full time load and making less than $20K a year? At the college level? Some of my friends teach more than a full time load-- they teach five or six classes a semester when the standard load for a full-time professor is three-- and meanwhile they are all at different colleges, so they drive all over town, none of us has an office, and there is no sense of institutional support or community involvement. It sucks, you guys. When I was in college, I had no idea that this was going on. It is shameful, in my opinion.

I am going to have to come up with an alternate plan.

In good news, I spent the day in the studio yesterday and made some exciting progress on the giant head painting. Pictures to follow when I have some.

Happy easter, kids.

In an Amish Paradise

2009-04-03T17:11:00.009-04:00

I have just spent the better part of half an hour trying to figure out why in God's name the spacing on the text and the photos in this post is not working out. I am hating Blogger not a little because of it. I am giving up for now, so please forgive the bizarre spacing at the end of this post.

*****

Firstly, I'd like to say that I took most of these pictures from a moving car. Props, please.

Secondly, I'd like to say that I am fond of rural Pennsylvania. I went from being fascinated by the Amish to being bored by them in a matter of hours, but there is something about being near a community of people that is utterly batshit crazy that is good for the soul. Plus everything was super cheap, the farm landscape appealed to me aesthetically, and the food was terrific. (Seriously the best soft pretzel I have ever had in my entire life. And sausages, sauerkraut. Chicken pot pie. None of it kidding around.)

A landscape:

A dude plowing a field with, that's right, a team of mules.

A dude plowing his field with a hoe.

Nick and me making Amish faces. (We are not very good people.)

A very picturesque farm.

We each got coffee tables for $10.

We went to an auction. The Amish parked their buggies all together.

A covered bridge.

Here's what it looked like inside the auction. Those quilts were not kidding around either.
Outside the men were selling each other farm tools and horse tack and the like. It was really very interesting.

And that's all for now. Soon: even more recent events than these!

WHY am I not Japanese???

2009-03-31T18:47:00.000-04:00

Briefly...

2009-03-21T19:54:00.002-04:00

I have recovered at last. Photos of Amish Spring Break coming soon. (Ambitions to flash the Mennonite Brethren not realized. Fun had nonetheless.)

A doctor in the house is worth two in the bush.

2009-03-08T15:26:00.002-04:00

So all this business of sixty degrees one day and thirteen the next has caused everybody's immune system to go down hard, including mine. Wednesday night I started feeling a little funky and by Thursday night I felt REALLY funky-- enough to leave the second half of class to Mackenzie and go to the damn doctor. I had all the symptoms of strep (the swollen, sore tonsils with the white stuff, the fever, the fatigue, the headache), and I found out the next day that the lady I work for, Suzi, has strep also.

But my rapid strep test came back negative (as they often do) and today when I called the doctor back as instructed, they said the strep test they did and sent to the lab also came back negative. I don't get it. I have all the symptoms, it's confirmed that I was exposed to it, what the hell else could it be?

The one useful thing they did do at the doctor's was prescribe me some amoxicillin which I have been taking since late Thursday night. I am not sure yet whether it is helping. the improvements I feel seem to be directly related to how much ibuprofen is in my system at any given moment, and when I woke up this morning, I felt just as bad a I did two mornings ago when things were at their yuckiest. So I don't know. Maybe it's viral and I just have to wait.

I think I would not have done so well in the days of leeches and cod liver oil.

One nice thing is that Nick has not caught it so far, and he's been doing nice things like fixing me dinner and singing me songs about sick girlfriends, with guitar accompaniment. And I'm reading Othello, which I have to say is a pretty darn good story so far. So it's not all bad.

Tomorrow I have to hold class, come hell or high water so I need to rally, and rally I will. Hope you all are weathering the change of seasons well and not getting leprosy or the plague or syphilis or anything of that nature. Hooray.

An aside

2009-02-22T17:14:00.004-05:00

Doing research for a lecture I have to give my 2D class tomorrow on generating imagery, and I'm starting out by explaining figuration, abstraction and traditional subject matter. And I just wanted to say, I know I've seen this painting a lot of times, but John Singer Sargent continues to knock my socks off. Just look:

I mean, I'm not looking to paint like that, but I just think this is a good painting.

I went to the Walters with Nick yesterday and had a lot of fun discussing some of the medieval stuff they have going on in there. I made a small painting on Friday, so our goal was to go look at small paintings. There was a lot of gold leaf at the Walters, which I enjoy. My small painting contains a tiger, which I also enjoy, and there are a lot of animal sculptures at the museum that were fun to see. Stuff like tigers devouring antelopes. Good stuff.

If I can make a bunch of small paintings before the summer, I think I may approach my gallery about a show. It would be nice to sell a thing or two, if anyone is buying.

In other news, I have been fighting off a cold for a solid week now and think I might be losing ground. Vitamin C, zinc, and power napping are required. You can do it, immune system.

Back to work now, as you were.

I think I just needed to go to the chiropractor

2009-02-18T18:25:00.003-05:00

Because I feel a hell of a lot better this week.

Do you ever find yourself wanting to completely sabotage your online presence? Posting hilarious but totally inappropriate things in your facebook status updates, making blog posts that are off-the-charts looney, making public comments that indicate you might be psychotic to people you barely knew in high school? Sometimes I do. I bet I could orchestrate a pretty amusing series of pranks in this forum if I spent a little time thinking about it. So far I still have better things to do, but if I ever hit an idle hour, we'll see what comes of it.

I bought myself a Valentine's present in the form of a book of Thai Buddhist paintings from the 13th to 19th centuries. SO GREAT. I may do some straight up copying out of it, but more than likely I may use it as inspiration to invent my own pantheon of deities. Now taking suggestions for what-all gods you think would be most useful (for example: Jeff, the god of Biscuits. Thanks, Eddie Izzard). I would like to be somewhat earnest about this, though... yes, I think Jeff, God of Biscuits is out. But you see what I'm driving at. Leave me messages and comments with your ideas.

I think religion may end up being an important topic for me and my work, going forward.

Classes are settling in well. I am about done with the job-getting project too. So far I have one (1) interview lined up, and it's in a geographic location that is less than appealing. But I'm going to go through the process and see what happens. Currently there are all sorts of rumblings about a variety of opportunities so I'm in a wait and see kind of a stance.

I am also really into tigers right now. Who has good tiger pictures?
To my surprise, I am kinda feeling some of the stuff that is happening in street art right now. I have generally thought of street art as the text-based, bubble-letter graffiti stuff of the 80s and 90s, which held no interest for me at all as an art form. But nowadays there's some stuff out there that's a) much more image-based, and often with a photographic source, b) interesting stuff because it breaks traditional format-- i.e. the wall is the page and the wall is nearly unlimited, and c) has some good energy behind it, like, it's not as precious as a lot of what's happening in the gallery setting nowadays. I am feeling 100% disconnected from the art world right now, like, I'm pretty sure it's very dysfunctional and I kinda just want to put my head down and work and wait for them to get over it, so it's nice to find some kind of inspiration in something, anything, even the stuff at which I previously looked down my snooty little nose. Anyway, here are some of the sites I've been looking at:

http://www.woostercollective.com
http://www.streetsy.com

(Regarding item c, however, it's a little strange to me that a lot of these artists are suddenly having solo shows? In galleries? I mean, I think they ought to get attention for the work they're doing, but isn't the fact that it's outdoors, it's independent, and it's against the rules (i.e. not endorsed by any institution) supposed to be part of the point? Just wondering. I mean, I would rather see these artists get commissions to do outdoor work than see the work on the wall of a gallery. But I am not they, and everyone likes praise and recognition so I suppose I can't fault them too seriously.)
(Also, yes, I realize I am five years behind on this, like a lot of things. I don't care. I am telling you about it anyway.)

Blah blah blah. That's all for now. It's time for me to go to the store and get dinner fixin's, as it is my turn to cook. Lately Nick and I have been totally outdoing ourselves in the realm of cooking and eating. I think we might be in a competitive situation, here. It's hard to say. Tonight I intend to go to the grocery store and buy whatever looks good to me, and that's what we're having. So off I go, kids; y'all have a nice evening. xo.

And winter sets in...

2009-02-11T18:42:00.006-05:00

I just wrote you all a long post about how I'm feeling kind of down right now, exhausted, and like teaching is really not worth it. But it was such a maudlin pity party I couldn't post it.

Here's to springtime, kids, may it come soon and may we survive the tasks we have to face between now and then.

(And then, suddenly, this cheered me up:)

So... close....

2009-01-30T15:52:00.002-05:00

Not to the aforementioned shore yet, though the end is in sight. Had a terrific class last night-- love, love love my MICA kids.

Just a few more major projects to finish and I'll return to the land of the chatty, promise.

Can he make it? Yes, he can.

2009-01-22T12:00:00.001-05:00

This is a very simple thing, but Nick and I can't stop singing it around the house. It makes me happy.

Gratificoliciousness

2009-01-21T21:11:00.003-05:00

Lots of lovely, fluffy things happening at the moment, though I am only about halfway through the slog of work I've been hip-deep in this month. I'll be sure to tell you about it when I get to the shore.

Ugh.

2009-01-15T14:17:00.003-05:00

Making syllabi is difficult and tiring. I want to spend time in the studio but instead feel that I _must_ work this stuff out first.

I have a lot of lectures to prepare this semester, too, so. Lots of work.

We'll get through, right? Maybe we'll even enjoy it? And once the semester starts I can find time for the studio, right? It's just top-heavy right now, maybe.

One nice thing: I looked online at my class rosters yesterday and found that one of my favorite students from my drawing class last semester is taking both my color and my 2D class this semester. There are a lot of other people teaching those classes, so I think it's nice she wanted to take them with me.

That's all for now. Just wanted to vent for a moment. As you were.

This guy kills me...

2009-01-12T17:47:00.004-05:00

Chinese artist Yue Minjun has done it again with his new piece in the Shanghai Biennale, "Colorful Running Dinosaurs".

I wish I had half that much awesomeness at my disposal.

Sigh.

Homecoming

2009-01-09T19:40:00.003-05:00

Good news, boys and girls. I've been offered a class at MICA for this semester, and it's gonna be a studio free-for-all. The class is called "Photo As Muse", it's an advanced class, and the only parameter is that we talk about ways that photography can influence other kinds of work. Where does the creative process occur when you make a piece directly from a photograph? What happens when you suddenly include a photographic element in a drawing or a painting? Etc. etc. etc.

The kids are going to develop their own little bodies of work around the class, which means I don't have to be all like, "ok kids, here's what line weight is. Now draw the object." Instead I can let them do what they want, and actually mentor them in (hopefully) a meaningful way!

Two other things that give me that meant-to-be feeling about this class:

1. I went to check out my classroom today and it is in almost exactly the spot where I had my studio during my first year of grad school. (You may remember that in the summer of aught-six the school moved our studios to another building, thus renovating that space into undergrad classrooms. Well, voila.)

2. Guess who I've got as my T.A.?

MACKENZIE.

That's right, motherfuckers.

This class is going to kick so much ass. Ass class. Badass.

Please note that this time yesterday I was terrified. I am glad to see that I am able to rise to the given occasion.

That's all for now. I gots some syllabi to write!

Full disclosure

2009-01-04T21:12:00.016-05:00

Here's what-all I've been up to since last we spoke:

1. Job applications. I am assembling packets that demonstrate my commitment to a liberal arts/ private art school/ university education for young artists, at the foundations/ advanced/ graduate level. I am also demonstrating my commitment to diversity, to excellence and inquiry in my own creative work, to being a nice person, and to sheet protectors.

22 down, 8 to go. The last few require syllabi that I have not yet created, so they are on hold till I get that together.

The beauty of all this is that most places have a hiring freeze on, given that everybody's endowment is currently in the shitter. I don't actually know whether the positions to which I'm applying still exist. But hope springs eternal, and since the adjunct system is exploitative and I am quickly becoming bitter in my poverty, packets are being made and sent in the same spirit they would if there was no economic crisis.

Does anyone else kinda feel like the economic crisis is self-fulfilling? Like, the more people say it's bad, the more it will be bad? Just wondering.

2. Christmas. I went home. I met Sparky the Foster Dog, who stole my heart except for the barking. If I had brought Sparky back with me, I would have been ejected from my household within weeks, I am sure. But he was really freakin' cute.

Here is a picture of him.

Christmas. New Years. I quit smoking. It's only day 4, so I don't want to get too cocky, but let's just say that the withdrawal this time was so unpleasant, and I so don't want to see the reproachful look Nick will give me if I fail, that I feel pretty confident about the whole thing.

3. Here are some pictures of drawings I made before we got to the Christmas break. I don't feel that they are especially strong drawings, but it was good to experiment (different materials and format than I normally use, plus it turns out that trying to draw a head that has only vague suggestions of facial features is pretty difficult)

Here is another hermit crab collage. This is my favorite one of the three so far. I have another one, a large one, in progress, but it has been temporarily sidelined while I work back into the giant head painting.

Here's a rare in-progress look at what I'm doing to the giant head painting. Who knows what will happen next.

And HERE is the most exciting development of all: a *collaboration* with none other than the delightful Miss Mackenzie. We've been having Friday Funtime for a couple of months now where we get together on Fridays and do something art-related, be it visiting each other's studios to talk about new work, or drawing Nick's plaster heads, or going to the coffee shop to facetiously write our manifesto. It was only a matter of time before we started makin' stuff.

Here's the first of our "Versus" series: Tiger Vs. Serpent:

We had a really good time.

I've been thinking a lot about resolutions, and about the things one hopes for when one year changes to the next, and I am finding that my goals year to year are fairly stable. If you boil them down a little bit, they are as follows: Make work, show and sell the work. Teach and make a living. Be healthy. Care for your relationships, travel. It's not a bad system, really.

Did anybody out there make resolutions? Let's hear it.

And that's it for now. Happy New Year, everybody! Wishing you prosperity, love, and pleasant times in 2009. It's gonna be a good one, I feel sure.

Cleanup on aisle three.

2008-12-17T19:03:00.002-05:00

This is just funny:

A bird in the hand

2008-12-16T12:44:00.002-05:00

Remember that sale I mentioned? She didn't freaking show up to pick up the work. Now I don't know whether I have the sale or not and I was kind of counting on it so it's a bummer. Dear everyone: don't tease artists by saying you want to buy a painting and then flaking out. It's not very nice.

I'm working back into the giant head painting (right side not resolved to my satisfaction) and it looks promising. Multiple limbs are always a good time. I think I might work back into the Guaranteed painting too (environment not resolved to my satisfaction), which means all the paintings I made on the right-hand wall of the Copycat studio were no good. The left-hand wall was where it was at, so to speak (made two panels of the triptych there as well as the Architecture drawing). For the statisticians and feng-shui followers in the audience, I thought you might like to know.

Nick is out of town for several days. I already miss him since we are stupidly, butt-crazy in love, but also I need to start work on my job applications so it's actually pretty good timing.

And, in the area of minutiae you may or may not need to know, I bought one of these on a whim while shopping in NYC Chinatown and it's FANTASTIC. It feels really good on your back in particular, and now my skin is smooth like glass. I recommend (though it's listed here at $6.50, and I only paid $3.50 for mine. Shop around online, or visit your local Chinatown.)

And that's all for now. Hope you kids are having a nice day.

Thursday, Friday, Happy Days

2008-12-12T11:22:00.002-05:00

Impromptu trip to New York!

Nick was coming up anyway to switch over the renters at his parents' place and to do some freelance work, and then Suzi cancelled working with me on Friday so I was free. Nick said, hey do you want to help me out at this job for a while, I said sure, and here we are!

We got up at 7 yesterday, first of all, which is early for me. I go out of my way to make sure I rarely have to get up before nine, and rarely need to go to bed before 12 or 1am. But every once in a while, getting up early is a delightful thing to do. The air at dawn is different, crisper somehow, and more fragrant, even in the winter. Maybe it's the pre-coffee haze.

We drove up in the rain and listened to history podcasts (Dan Carlin's Hardcore History: highly recommended) and discussed religion. We got a parking space right off, which is no small feat in Manhattan. We got sandwiches at the deli on the corner. Mine was roast beef-- delicious and rare with horseradish sauce on a kaiser roll. NYC delis don't kid around.

We went to work for four hours or so, which was pleasant and easy if a little dusty. We went and got carry out Italian food for dinner, which was both cheap and yummy. We went to a movie at the Angelika.

Here is my movie review: Let The Right One In is good. It raises moral questions, it has metaphors and symbols as well as real feeling, it makes complex arguments, it shows rather than tells, and it is the first movie I've seen in recent memory that, rather than glorifying or glamorizing violence, makes a very salient point about what it's actually like. Hooray.

So I had kind of a great day. Today we have already had a lovely breakfast, we are going to work for a little bit, and then I think we'll go to the Met for a while. I've decided this will be just as lovely a day as yesterday.

Hope you are having happy days also.

HOLY CRAP!

2008-12-10T16:23:00.004-05:00

Remember when I was talking about the galaxy, and wondering what the heck goes on in the middle there?

Here's your freakin' answer.

Just as I thought.

Neat! Neat!

p.s. Does anyone else think it's funny that when astronomers want to name something that's Very Large Indeed, they name it things like "The Very Large Telescope (VLT)" or the "Very Large Array (VLA)"?

Sounds to me like somebody needs a thesaurus. Just saying.

Your Motherwell

2008-12-09T18:39:00.003-05:00

Heavens to Betsy, how the time does fly.

Since last we spoke, I have graded 25 portfolios and had meetings with all but ten of my students (with whom I plan to meet tomorrow). This semester went very well and quickly. I think I've got a lot of the kinks ironed out. Also the kids keep asking me to write them letters of recommendation, which I take as an honor even though it probably means something else.

We had our memorial party for Gracie, at which I drank a little more than is ladylike, but at which I think everyone had a good time. Jeriah, Gloria, and Lauren came in from out of town for it. Jeriah and Gloria both stayed at my house. Jeriah and I made up a joke about Grace's sexual exploits involving the painter Robert Motherwell. You fill in the blanks.

I like a little Hoffberger team spirit, and Baltimore Erin and I make tremendously good co-hostesses. Maybe we should do an annual Hoffberger party. I should bring that up.

I have barely had any time in the studio this week and have left many an email unanswered due to all the end-of-semester flurry. If yours is one of the unanswered, please don't be offended. I just have to do a little more work and then I'm going through all the emails in a systematic way until they are all squared away.

I sold a small painting out of my CCBC show, a welcome surprise.

I am doing Christmas cards this year, so email me your mailing address.

And that is all. A little more thorough when I get to the other side of the pile of worky work.

TTFN.

Politics and art, ain't we smart?

2008-12-02T11:58:00.007-05:00

I would like to start by congratulating Barack Obama on his selection of Janet Napolitano for head of Homeland Security. I first heard of her in 2002 or so when I moved to Arizona and, from time to time, I heard her weigh in on the radio about one issue or another, as governors are sometimes asked to do. What impressed me about her was the clear, strong, and reasonable way she explained herself. Her opinions and the workings of her administration seemed very sensible and transparent and it was refreshing to me. I became a fan of sorts and, every time she came on the radio, I would go a little out of my way to listen. So, I'm glad she hasn't escaped the notice of the incoming Dream Team, either. Well done once more, Mr. President-Elect.

I would also like to hearby admit that today, as a result of thinking about Janet Napolitano, I miss Prescott. Oh Pretty Prescott with your Pretty Pines and your clear, sharp, piney air. Your little stores and bars and people wearing fleece, your riparian zones and your orange and green butte. Oh Pretty Prescott, instead of the wind whipping through concrete and brick, the sound of the wind is instead the sound of a million trees, more trees, more trees than anyone can count.

Back to our regular programming: Thanksgiving NYC was good. We ate a ginormous meal (like you do) and I made a pie. The next day we went to Chelsea to check out galleries (Nick's dad is an artist, too). There wasn't much worth seeing, really. A show by Vince Desiderio was probably the best thing we saw, and even that bore some of our criticism. (Vince was a student of Nick's dad years ago so he had his own particular criticisms). However, I did learn a thing or two by looking at work I didn't like, such as:

1. I think I want to subdue my color palette a little. Do some achromatic/ brown paintings. Bright and saturated is reading garish to me-- reads as being a childish distractionary tactic.

2. I still like the work best that has some kind of an edge to it- work that 'has teeth'. Art is for being powerful, and I am amazed sometimes at how easily some people let themselves off the hook and yet still put that shit in galleries.

3. I found out that someone I know and don't like very much has a gallery on the Lower East Side. At first I was annoyed and mildly jealous and then I realized, if that shithead can do it, so can I. The LES has a lot of new galleries that are showcasing emerging people. As soon as I get my job applications done, I think it's time for some in-depth investigation and then another round of gallery packets. Maybe some in-person introductions.

4. My work itself and my thinking about the structures of the art world, both of those things have matured in the last year or so. I am starting to feel, rather than someone whose ambition is to win the art world lottery by somehow getting someone to pay attention to me, I now feel I am closer to knowing how to decide where and with whom I want to position myself, and doing it. It's just gonna take some legwork. We'll get there.

What else? I'm in the home stretch here so far as my classes are concerned. Wednesday is the last day of class, in which they turn in their portfolios, and the following week is finals, wherein they meet with me and we talk about said portfolios. Then it's a six-week break in which I am not teaching and have very little income, but in which I need to prepare for the next semester and do like twenty five job applications. So if anyone would like to buy a painting right around now, let me know.

I'm sure there will be updates in the meantime, I'm just looking forward.

By the way, in the ongoing blogger vs. xanga debate in my head, one thing I like less about blogger is that there's no footprints feature. I have no idea who has stopped by and who has not. So if you're a faithful reader, just so I know you're there, won't you pop by the comments area and say hello from time to time? Just so I know I'm not talking into an empty tin can. I do appreciate it.

So, erm, there it is. Hope you all are having a nice day. I'm off to the studio.

Gobble gobble

2008-11-27T11:51:00.001-05:00

In NYC with Nick and family for a few days. See you on the other side of it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Dinner poems

2008-11-25T18:36:00.006-05:00

One of my many jobs involves working for a collector lady at her house and doing whatever office-y type things she needs done. Today it was typing up old recipes, the originals of which are in her mother's squirrelly handwriting, and many of which are dinner menus rather than recipes. The idea is that the compilation will eventually be printed and distributed as Christmas gifts to the family. After a couple of hours of this, I started getting punchy and the menus began to look like poems to me. Take a look:

_______________________________

1. Dinner

Scallops and mushrooms in white sauce with

Au gratin cheese topping

Individual aspic -- French bread

Green beans -- white Rhine wine

Peaches with vanilla ice cream

Chocolate pound cake

________________________________________

2. Dinner

Cold jellied chicken mold - garnished

With black and green olives - curry mayonnaise

Orange biscuits

Italian beans

Chiffon pie

__________________________________________

Poems of love and longing by starving people. Or maybe just people who really miss dinner parties.

And we're off.

2008-11-23T13:17:00.029-05:00

Hello, friends, and welcome to my new blog. I hope you'll like it here.

I suppose I should admit that this is just a continuation of my old blog. Faithful readers, expect to see more of the same content but with a better, updated format and less annoying bullshit for me to read when I sign in to the site's home page.

So I started writing the full and proper update I've been promising but I have to tell you, it was boring to write and I imagine it would be pretty boring to read by virtue of that. So what we're gonna do is, we're gonna start fresh. I could tell you about my visit with Dono and our trip to DC, and my birthday, and how Mack and Nick and I went to a farm to pick out pumpkins and took a hay ride. And I could tell you about Halloween in NYC and how Nick and I looked pretty awesome but he hasn't given me the photos he took yet. (We were Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald. I think I showed a little more leg than Zelda was wont to do, but I don't think she would have minded). And I could tell you about how Nick's Phillies won the World Series and I got a little bit excited about baseball for the first time in my whole life.

Nick, Nick, Nick. The more I write about what's been going on, the more I see that he and I have been spending a tremendous amount of time together. It's all good stuff, but you may want to prepare yourselves for a strong Nick-like presence in coming updates.

Anyway, all of that was October, and I say screw October. October is a thing of the past now. So long, sucker.

November, on the other hand, I have to admit is off to a rocky start. I know it's almost over but I'm trying not to condemn it as a month out of hand. It's still got a week to get its shit together. Come on November, you can do it.

Probably the thing that has affected me the most this month has been Grace's death. If you don't know about Grace, here is the NY Times article on her, and here is Time Magazine, and here is the Baltimore Sun, and here is a trailer for the documentary they made about her last year, in which I make a cameo appearance. I already wrote about this last weekend on the old blog, but I have to tell you, this week it has been a heavy weight, the grief from it. This hasn't been my best week anyway, but aside from external events, I just feel really sad. So there's that.

Speaking of not-my-best-week, I finally got a personal taste of some Baltimore crime. My car window got smashed Monday night. There's not much to say about it since the crooks didn't take anything. I don't keep anything valuable in my car ever (which is supposed to be a deterrent for smashing the window, fuckfaces). But again, you know, it made me feel kinda not-so-good. It all seemed so pointless. I had to pay to replace the window, but there wasn't a reason for it to have been smashed. I think they got ten cents out of the center console.

And then I had jury duty. I thought it was going to go on the list of things that bite, but it turned out to be kind of uplifting. I felt afterwards as though I had completed an important civic duty. (Truthfully, it was immensely boring. There's nothing more to say about it. But I liked the little 'juror' badge they gave me)

Also, you should know that it has been assmonkey cold this week. I don't do so well in the cold.

That completes the list of things that have been sucking and making me feel kind of low energy and yuck. Now for things that have been good.

1. Duck Pin Bowling, a quintessentially Baltimore pastime which is just like regular bowling but with smaller balls (ha ha) and small, squat pins that look like ducks, turns out to be a lot of fun. So is ping pong.

2. I had a show. Here are some photos: (shift click to make 'em bigger and pardon my rudimentary photoshop skills.)
(These were taken right at the start of the reception, before anybody was there. It wasn't just me and Nick and an empty gallery, I swear.)

3. I made some new drawings. Nick has a lot of little sculptures of heads in his studio, and Mack and I spent last Friday drawing them. So then it was fun and difficult and I decided to do one a day for the week (There are more I haven't photographed yet). I'm not sure yet how I feel about the drawings. You let me know what you think. I'll try to get the other ones up soon.

So there we are. I think I have run out of writing steam for the time being.

I hope you'll stop in to the new blog often, and leave comments. Let me know if you'd like me to make it so you get an email when I make a new post. I can do that, you know. The future is now.