it's been a while...

I just noticed it's been a month since I last posted - so sorry if you're still trying to follow!!

So since then, I'm heading quickly toward the middle of my 2nd semester, the presidential candidates have chosen their running mates, and we are just over a month away from the next election!  I have replaced the tires on my car & spent too much money at the vet nursing my sick Maggie back to health.  Thankfully she is fully recovered, although Oreo is still pretty bitter about not being an only cat.  :)

Some of my favorite moments recently:

-McCain's congrats ad to Obama the night of Obama's acceptance speech at the DNC...for the cynics out there, yes it was probably politically expedient but isn't the spirit of it the kind of behavior we've been longing for in "public servants", ala Aaron Sorkin?? (never mind the quick return to "straight-speaking" rhetoric :)

- an excited email from my friend Myra, who was actually at Obama's speech & whose parents were at the heart of the civil rights movement in South Bend - MLK stayed in her house when she was 12!  If I can open the file, I want to post some of her thoughts on watching the 1st African American in our history accept a major party nomination for president.  We forget so quickly how far we have come and are blind to how far we have to go.

- a man in my church, after several months of waiting, received a heart transplant last week.  He is such a warm, joyful, welcoming person, it was 3 mths before I knew he was ill & dying.  He has 2 children in college, and to watch him take communion w/ his wife was to resolve to wait as long as it takes for the one God has chosen for me.

- an entire afternoon spent at the Indianapolis Museum of Art! (I need more - I only got thru' the 1st floor!)

- Marshall's 12th birthday in Ft. Wayne w/ my dad's side of the family - we were just missing my dad :(

- positive feedback on my work from my classmates, even an offer to buy one of my assignments! (haven't got it back w/ a grade tho'... and what is a fair price for a classroom drawing???)

- being found by 2 of my best friends from junior high on Facebook, and one of my best friends from college - Amanda wrote about my finally getting to art school, "I'm sure God has very special plans...for you. Why else would He be so patient with you?"  What a timely reminder that I have received more than I deserve, and I need to work a whole lot harder at not trying His patience!

Precious Family Time

Last week I got to see Becky & Marshall for the first time in about a year, and Dawn again!  My grandma Jackson is recovering from heart surgery (and doing well, thanks to God) so Marshall & Becky came down from Minnesota where they were with Becky's family, and Dawn came from Michigan, and we all crammed in my little studio apartment! :)  

It was so good to spend time with time with them and watch the Olympics and read late into the evening and laugh a lot.  We went to see the latest Pixar film, Wall-E (very sweet & fun & cautionary, but not in a Happy Feet kind of way :)  And while I was at work, they discovered our fabulous downtown library and Monument Circle, Indy's Civil War memorial, which is a passion of Becky's.  (Did you know Indy is second only to Washington DC in public memorials & monuments per capita?)  On Friday I took the day off and we went to the Indiana State Fair, a first for all of us, and worth the $8 admission (& free parking! who does that anymore??)  We saw 2 of the 30 white tigers in existence, Indiana raptors (the carnivorous birds, not the dinosaurs), and all kinds of great food and exhibits on pioneer life, farming and conservation.  Marshall even got to shoot an air rifle at the DNR's responsible hunting exhibit and never missed the target!  And of course we had to look at all the 4H exhibits and animals (Becky, for reasons passing understanding, flipped over the lamas - did you know you can dye their wool with Kool-Aid? :)  We ended the day by watching old-fashioned cart & horse showings - forgive me Jazlin, I have no idea what this is called!  But the horses & surrey wagons were gorgeous, even though we didn't have much luck picking the winner.

The only thing missing was Dad, working hard in California to get a promotion so they can move closer to the rest of us.  Love you Papa, and can't wait until we can do all this stuff for-real together! :)

P.S.  I unfortunately don't have photos because my camera is in the shop and Dawn's called in sick :(

Back to School

I started classes again yesterday, just 2 again for this semester, and it was a wise choice!  I have Drawing 1, in which we keep a sketchbook outside of homework & classwork, like writers keep a journal, and 2-Dimensional Design, in which the prof stated being a student is our full-time job & we should try to cut back on work hours.  If he can read minds, I've already flunked.

But overall I'm still pleased with the quality of work coming out of the school and excited & nervous about the amount of growth I need to accomplish to keep up.  I'm also trying not to hyperventilate about the amount of money I'm putting out in professional supplies when I've made do with craft supplies for so long.

People have asked, and I've wondered, why do I need to go to art school when so much of my progress rests on individual practice & skill development, when I can study in museums  & the abundant resources in books & online & in popular culture.  The answer was clear today in the 20 people sitting in my classroom.  Each of us bring our own perspective, culture, & aesthetic to design and I can't learn from a book the 19 ways they will approach the same problem that will be distinctly different from my own.  We students are each others' teachers as much as the professor, because we shed light on a different element of the whole than the others would have seen.  It's the same reason we like both versions of Pride & Prejudice or admire the way different teams play the same sport, or whatever - we appreciate & learn from different approaches to the same material.  In class, with different instructors, we get to see it up close with people who are pursuing excellence and hopefully grow from that exposure.  Also, I'm thinking a lot about teaching and have learned important lessons this week about what not to do :)

P.S. If you're interested in the classroom experience and what to look for in a teacher, read Rafe Esquith's Teach Like Your Hair's On Fire and There Are No Shortcuts - his 5th graders perform Shakespeare around the country and none of them speak English as a first language...and they LIKE science, go figure :)

the shack

yesterday, i stayed up until about 1:30am to finish reading a book, given me by my dear friend Carl, called "the shack", by william p. young.  he stipulated that he would only give it to me if i promised to tell him what i thought; so, as there is much to ponder from its really beautiful depiction of god in relationship, with himself and with humans, here is the first response of several to his request.

"In seminary he had been taught that God had completely stopped any overt communication with moderns, preferring to have them only listen to and follow sacred Scripture, properly interpreted, of course.  God's voice had been reduced to paper, and even that paper had to be moderated and deciphered by the proper authorities and intellects." pg 66

i was flipping thru' the flair application on facebook today and found a quote from one of my favorite movies, the princess bride: the Sicilian is being pursued by the dread pirate roberts and the pirate is gaining on him, and as the pirate conquers one challenge after the other, he keeps saying one word, "inconceivable!" until finally his partner says "you keep saying that word.  i do not think it means what you think it means."  it struck me that maybe we keep saying a lot of "spiritual" theological words, and they do not mean what we think they mean - words like inspiration, infallibility, predestination, among others - what if in scripture god was trying to express from an infinite mind to a finite one what true relationship was meant to be, and we keep trying to boil that expression down into systems so that we can understand it instead of simply trusting what we do not completely grasp and living in it?  we seem to give lip service to "lean not on your own understanding" and then spend a great deal of time & energy judging "spirituality" & relationship according to our own understanding.

anyway, i haven't reached any conclusions about the above words one way or the other, except that my own understanding, & others', must always be suspect - we see thru' a glass darkly, and if i know for certain what has been a source of mystery for biblical scholars thru' the ages, what need is there to go back to the source to find the answer?  our systems of understanding god and scripture seem to have pushed us further into religion and further from relationship and dependence, which seem to be the point of scripture in the first place?

I love living in the city

right now, i'm sitting on monument circle, watching & listening to the fountain and also an elderly bucket drummer w/ more enthusiasm than skill :) but great fun to watch, especially as he has his granddaughter with him.  i biked down to go to borders for an afternoon of reading - francis chan's crazy love, and andy crouch's culture making: recovering our creative calling.  in the background, the bells are ringing from one of the old churches downtown, the sun is shining, skies are blue, harley guys are riding by on really gorgeous bikes, next to us pseudo-urban types on our bicycles.  A man in a gorgeous MG convertable just drove by w/ a giant costumed camel head in the passenger seat, waving at everyone.  The drummer's wife is sitting at a cafe table drinking coffee as her husband picks up a semi-steady beat and proceeds to yell "we will, we will, ROCK YOU" at random intervals, and i wonder if i will have enough love in me at that point in a marriage to stand proudly by my husband as he does something equally embarrassing, simply because he loves it.  i hope so.

old friends & new ones

Below are pictures from my friends', Aaron & Glori, wedding.  It was such a fun, beautiful, sacred day...even without the mighty wind of His breath, God's joy in that day would have been unmistakable.  Glo, you got your something blue! :)  It rained in the morning, was overcast for photos, and by the time the wedding came around, it was a glorious sunny, "breezy" day!

For the full effect (except the ceremony, which I was in :), here's a link to my album on facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=128793&l=3a67c&id=870245023 

School is Out! and other miscellany

Yay, I'm free! :)  2 classes down, 35 to go... the lovely thing about going back to school after a 12 yr hiatus is that they scrap your old GPA and you get to start again...as of this moment, I have a 4.0 :) - A in art history 101 and A+ in metalsmithing & jewelry design.  Below is a photo of my final project, a spoon w/ a list of required components & dimensions, and a packet of materials handed out by my instructor w/ the stipulation that there be no left overs! :(  The biggest challenge was coming up with a design that didn't look like it should have been edited, but I like the zen feel of it.  I'll post photos of the lite-brite ring when I get it back from my prof...

With classes over, I had last Sunday afternoon free, so my friend Bethany & I walked the Canal downtown - this is one of my favorite places in Indy...

Spring is Here!

2 weeks ago, I went with a friend to the Eli Lilly House greenhouses at the IMA to enjoy the first sunny 70 degree day of spring (we have had several since then!).  We brought our cameras b/c we both desperately needed the practice, and here are some of the results:

Favorite Day

I got one of those Q&A email quizzes last week from a friend - you know, the ones that want to know your favorite CD, what's under your bed, vanilla or chocolate, what color underwear you're wearing (gosh, was that embarrassing :)...  One of the questions was what's your favorite day of the week, and tho' I would have expected it to be Saturday or Friday, for obvious reasons, to my surprise, I found in thinking about it that I actually look forward to Sunday the most.  Nathan's worship that always surprises me and lifts me up, the community of our church - the confession & response together as a body, Jason's teaching that never takes for granted that we're all in the same place of understanding, the acknowledgement of each one's place in the body, from the children to the artists :).

This morning it was the personal nature of communion, which we take every Sunday - the challenge of it not becoming a commonplace ritual placed on me as an act of consciousness & grace, rather than a convenience of scarcity & timing.  Several communion servers stand at the front and we approach them row by row to receive the bread and wine/grape juice.  This morning I received the bread from our pastor, Jason, who miraculously always seems to know everyone's name, including mine.  This morning he looked at me, as I'm sure he did with each participant, and said, "Jennifer, you are justified by the finished work of Christ."  

I don't know why it was so profoundly moving & suddenly real to me this morning, since it is a phrase I have grown up with in church.  I think maybe because it was spoken to me personally, physically, specifically, an aspect that seems lacking in my faith & that I continue to wrestle with; maybe because I have been on several levels testing my freedom in Christ, and have recently found myself looking over the edge of temptation's precipice - to be affirmed that my acceptance and standing is not based on my choice in those times draws me further from the edge, not closer to it, and brings profound comfort, maybe what I've been looking for in the first place.  I think my response was also grounded in Nathan's song he offered as we came forward:

The gospel is all I have.

The gospel is all I have.

No well-kept presentable life to display.

The gospel is all I have.

The gospel is all I have.

The gospel is all I have.

No courage.  No virtuous bold use of faith.

The gospel is all I have.

Well, the Lord God Almighty leapt down from the sky,

and he made himself nothing and served till he died,

so that I, just a beggar, at the Judgement might cry,

"The gospel is all I have!"

The gospel is all I have.

The gospel is all I have.

No merit to offer.  No excuses to make.

The gospel is all I have.

The gospel is all I have.

The gospel is all I have.

No clever persuasive words I could say.

No debt I could work off.  No bribe I could pay.

No goodness.  No promise of love that won't fade.

The gospel is all I have.

The gospel is all I have.

In the midst of several weeks of desperately wanting something beyond what I have right now, today I understand, at least for this moment, that Jesus is the satisfaction of all that I am longing for - my justifier, my defender, the knower of my heart, the lover of my soul.

Family

I was just catching up on reading family/friends' blogs and got "homesick" reading my stepmom's blog (www.jacksonwanderings.blogspot.com).  I didn't realize how much I missed them, and how much I can't wait to see them in May! (& Jeff & Ade :)  God is good isn't he?  I'm so thankful tonight for the love & fun of friends & family, and the added sweetness of sharing truth & reality in Him.  Thursday I get to spend some time with Lori, my "adopted mom", as she flies out of Indy to Cali to see Jeff & Ade & the kids.  I'd normally work during the time she will be here, but by the blessing of God, I have 3 1/2 hrs for an early lunch to catch up and be blessed by her sweet fellowship!  I miss my friends & family so far away, but that makes the time together that much sweeter...5 weeks to California & Dad & Becky & Marshall!!!

My only birthday on Easter, ever...

Carl & Lori sent me a very sweet card for my birthday, along with an explanation of why we will never in our lifetimes see another Easter this early, and therefore, I will never have another birthday on Easter!

My 34th was very special, not only because of Easter, but also because I went to Michigan to see Dawn at Camp Michindoh!  It was very fun getting her out of the camp and to Battle Creek for some shopping for her new apartment in the health center (she is now officially the camp's health officer - if you need your blood pressure checked, she's your girl :).  Also for dinner Saturday night at Rosalie's, a local public house that reminded me strongly of Yesterday's in Granger in decor, if not in food. 

Mostly very good bar food, but we had sandwiches & wings & enjoyed ourselves thoroughly :).  Then to church on Sunday, one that Dawn had never been to that turned out to be charismatic! :)  But still a very special time to celebrate Resurrection Sunday.  Then back to camp to fix dinner (pork chops, fresh asparagus, gemstone potatoes, deviled eggs, birthday cake & strawberries), and to wander around camp...Michindoh is beautiful, with stone & timber buildings, rocky streams & hillsides, and the lake - especially with 8" of snow on the ground & blue skies & sunshine.  Plus they have the largest water slide I have ever seen outside of an amusement park! (for use in summer of course :)

Then goodbye and back home to do homework and start another week of work & school - tomorrow, a "field trip" to my metalsmithing prof's studio to check out the fun tools :).  It's a beautiful week here, tho' chilly, with blue skies & sunshine, a welcome change from the dull winter grays - spring is on the way!

Hope you have a blessed week, and continue to live in the awareness of Resurrection Day.

First project...

This is a photo of my first official project for metalsmithing...a copper necklace for my chain project - individual leaf forms riveted together, with varied size rivets and soldered wire on the surface for texture.  I think I got a B on it - kind of bit off more than I could chew in the time I had, so there are some things I wish I had spent more time on.  But overall, I like it! :)

Soon to come...the LiteBrite ring! (for my toy-inspired project...)

Happy St. Patrick's Day! (Belated...)

I tried to post this last week and had trouble w/ my internet...

Right now I'm wishing I were with my friends at Fiddler's Hearth in South Bend, crammed wall to wall, listening to one of the best Irish bands I've heard, Millish!  And eating fish & chips from yesterday's SB Tribune, having a Woodchuck or Irish coffee... :)

But as a close second, I'm thankful to be home, listening to the rain and thunderstorm outside, one of my favorite things, and contemplating my next project for metalsmithing class, a wearable toy or toy-inspired adornment.

So far my favorites are a Lite-Brite ring (from one of my sister's favorite toys), a pick-up stix bracelet (kind of dangerous, but oh so useful in a dark alley), or the one I think I'm going to go with...you remember those little square plastic looms that you used stretchy cloth bands to make potholders with??  I think I want to do a smaller, curved version of that in silver, as a hinged  bracelet, that uses rubber bands, with the hook as the closure - that way you can actually play with it :)  I'll keep you posted, and hopefully soon, post photos of my first completed, original project, due Wednesday - yipes! :)

It's been fun to go back & remember some of my favorite toys in researching this project - Etch-A-Sketch, Operation, Mr. Potato Head (I'd LOVE to do this one, but I don't think I have enough time...), Tinker Toys, Scrabble, Hungry Hungry Hippo, Dominoes, Slinky, a ducky pull toy, Cranium, Sorry, Chutes & Ladders, Springbok puzzles, that bouncy ball thing we used for transportation, also my Big Wheel! :)

What was your favorite childhood toy?

My Amazing Sister

Sorry to leave everyone hanging earlier this week :)  Dawn just finished her EMT training and while on ride-a-long in the ambulance (I think I have this right) they ended up in the emergency room and the nurse/doctor on duty had Dawn perform chest compressions on a man who had had a heart attack.  I think she said they worked on him for 15 minutes, but got him back and he is recovering!  I hope she doesn't have to use this training  at camp, but I feel safer knowing she can (except I'm not sure how I feel about my sister being able to break my ribs if necessary :)

Progress!

Yay!!! I got an "A" on my first college paper in nearly 15 years! :)  And I'm pretty sure I got an "A" on my midterm this morning too!  All of this while having an emergency tooth extraction yesterday morning - turns out dentists' waiting rooms are good places to study :)  I can't wait to have insurance again!

I had a really great time at my Discovering Redeemer class last weekend, led by our pastor, Jason.  Turns out euker is a popular game here (I knew I liked these people) and there's an annual church-wide trip to Lake Michigan in May (there's only about 2-300 people at Redeemer, so it's not like they take over the entire lake like FBC would :)  I got to meet several new people, tho' most of us were in our late 20's, early 30's, mostly singles, a few couples - not complaining :)  It was good to meet people from such different backgrounds, and even a few from Goshen and South Bend!  It seems that Fiddler's Hearth is known far & wide :)  I'm praying about whether to join in time for the Easter membership class, or wait for a while.  I love the mission and vision of Redeemer - to be an urban city church among many downtown fellowships that work for the spiritual, social, and artistic redemption of the city - but still have a few questions.  In the meantime, I think I've found a couple community groups I can plug into on Sundays, since I work evenings during the week - I really miss my small group and those relationships!

Other than that, nothing much new...except my sister is nearly a certified EMT and got to save someone's life last week!  I'm so impressed with her passion for her work, and so proud of her for the commitment it took to do an entire EMT training course in 2 weeks!  And also really glad she did it close to me so I could take her out to celebrate (note:  if you like Italian food, you MUST try Buca de Beppo's!  You'll never look at Olive Garden the same way... :)

Sleepy Snowy Day

I don't have work or class today, so this is my view from the kitchen table as I study for my art history midterm on Tuesday, and catch up on my blogging :).  The cats are warming themselves on or near the radiators, and the snow looks beautiful when viewed from indoors :)  The weather is actually very different in Indy from South Bend - less snow, more ice and sleet, but I love my adopted home.

Tonight & tomorrow morning I am attending a membership/exploration seminar for my church, more studying tomorrow, and then my sister Dawn comes!  She is completing her 

EMT training in Bloomington and will get to spend Saturday & Sunday with me before heading back to her camp in Michigan - precious sis time :).  Next Friday I get to go with my friend Amanda to the Art Institute in Chicago - I've never been, and it has been free admission for the month of February - we will get to take advantage of the last day!

Last week I turned in my first paper for Art History, and have started on my first (mostly) self-designed project for my metalsmithing class - I've found that in studio classes, unless you get lucky, you are often working more with the instructor's aesthetic than your own :).  So I am working mostly in copper for now and hope to work in sterling more on my own and as my skills progress.  Still, it's my favorite class and I love getting up and going to play with fire and metal in the mornings! :)

My knowledge of heating, cooling, and ventilation progresses, as does my familiarity with the computerized energy management systems that control them - but I still feel like the not-very-smart kid in 8th grade science :)  I have to work really hard at understanding this stuff, but I enjoy the people I work with and I can't argue with the pay.  How completely random is my job history?? :)

God is very good to me and I'm still in awe that I get a "do-over" in life that is this much fun - I am blessed beyond measure!

My Church

I have been wrestling for the last several months (truthfully, the last year) with what it looks & feels like to be a single woman who belongs to Christ but longs for the trifecta - a physical, spiritual, & emotional relationship. It seems to get more difficult, not less, the longer I live in this reality.  I don't know what to expect or how to respond when God seems to delay or deny a desire He wired into me, yet I can truthfully say my life is very good and full, and I am hourly grateful for His gifts.

Our pastor, Jason, has been teaching through the Sermon on the Mount, and 2 weeks ago addressed lust/sexual sin.  I don't know quite how to phrase this, but the atmosphere among the congregation as he taught didn't have the "heaviness", almost grief, that it has sometimes carried when I have heard it addressed in other churches, perhaps because in this place, it seemed to simply be a part of our battle for sanctification, and so naturally something that we discuss, both from the pulpit and together - there didn't seem to be the embarrassment in talking about it that I have observed in other settings. Does that make sense?

Anyway, as is fairly usual, Jason primarily addressed the men as he taught, and the following week announced that he appreciates the feedback on his teaching that he usually gets, and that he had received a high volume of response letting him know that he had really blown it - he had failed to address the women and acknowledge that this is a major battle/sin issue for us as well.  He heard this from the women, and as he confessed this to us from the pulpit, there was much laughter acknowledging that he had indeed "blown it" and tacit agreement that this was indeed an issue for us.  There was humility and grace in the discussion, and free of drama and pretension, I find freedom from fear to come before God and confess my failings and fears and my honest desires and disappointment.

Later that week, I spent some time with a friend from Redeemer - she is 28 and will celebrate her first "birthday" as a child of God this year.  She is an artist and single, and her personal history is typical of someone of that age and environment.  She speaks very easily and honestly of what she has been redeemed from, describing herself as a born-again virgin, and it is very easy for me to be honest about my struggles as a physical, but sometimes reluctant, virgin.  She's also pretty clear about her disappointment and regrets and what she looks forward to in a relationship with a man who loves God and respects & loves her.  In these conversations, I find correction and encouragement without lecturing, and God channels His strength to me through this other daughter of His.

Job Update

OK, in case my job description seemed kind of fuzzy, I will actually be a technical service rep for automated HVAC/R systems!  Kind of crazy & random I know, but that's what the company has decided to do w/ me :)  So I will have 4-6 weeks of training (wiring diagrams, testing parts, learning about electronics, heating/cooling, etc.) and then I go live helping techs troubleshoot the system...as if I needed another career... :)  But it will certainly be interesting, should be job security, and the pay's pretty good.  Also, my hours will now be noon-9 p.m. after I finish training, so a little more manageable than I previously thought.

And, next metals class I learn how to rivet!, while creeping up on the end of archaic Greek art in H101...

AND...Glori & Aaron got engaged!!!! :)

AT LAST!!!... Full-Time Employment!!

Yay, I am once again gainfully employed!  I will be working 2nd shift at a call center for a company that runs automated building management systems...security, hvac, sprinklers, etc.  It pays well enough and they said they could be flexible w/ my schedule if I needed.  So I train from noon-8 for several weeks, and then will work 4:30-12:30 if I can't wangle a slightly earlier shift... :)  I will still try to work weekends at the bookstore for a while, to keep my discount (35% on textbooks!) and maybe see if I can't get a similarly paying full-time position in a month or two.  The call center thing is temp to perm through the employment agency, so I'm not married to it if the schedule is too much...

Anyway, thanks so much for your prayers & encouragement!

Fun Photos

I haven't updated my blog for a while, so here's what I've been up to socially:

Christmas @ Lori's with Grandma Eiswald - yummy food & precious company!

My friend Amanda came for the long weekend and we went shopping, to a movie, out for dinner, and explored the Indianapolis Museum of Art...

Then we went w/ Sarah and Bethany to the Children's Museum, which was free for MLKing Day...

1st Class Piece

Today I made this copper bracelet in metal-smithing - not too difficult, but I learned several new techniques, including annealing - heating the metal to make it softer for shaping.  I get to work with fire! :)  I've also learned how to sweat solder (using the blowtorch to attach one piece of metal on top of another) and make small balls at the end of metal wire for headpins & decoration...Tiffany, watch out :)

Haircut :)

Found the Aveda Training Institute in Castleton - students do it so it's much cheaper!  So now I'm blonde again too :)

1st Day of School

This is my school!

Today I had metalsmithing & jewelry design @ 9:00, then walked downtown to Borders (it was a balmy 60 degrees!) until I went to work @ B&N at 1:00.  A very busy day, found out that pre-dentistry majors take jewelry design to improve their dexterity (there are 3 in my class), and that there is one other nonstandard (old :) student in that class.  Tomorrow is History of Art 101 @ 9:00, then back to work at 1:00, rinse, repeat...

UNEMPLOYMENT ENDS!

I am officially not unemployed!  I stopped into the IU bookstore today, which is run by Barnes & Noble, and after getting my books for classes on Monday, asked the manager about a job - long story short, I am once again a B&N employee, albeit part-time.  Hopefully I will be able to get full-time hours once the cafe opens in a few weeks, if I don't have something else already.  The best part is that it's on campus, so a very short commute for me!  God is very, very good, and my landlord should be very, very happy.  AND the B&N discount stays in the family...

Interesting Week

Well, still no real job yet, but the folks here have been great!  This week the curator of the art center paid me to organize his (massive!) cd collection and attempt some organizing in his art studio.  What a blast! :)  Probably 5-600 cd's and maybe a 1/4 of them were out of their cases, some of which were in separate components...some really great titles too, all across the spectrum, every genre you can think of and some I'd never heard of.   He even let me take some of the duplicates, so I'm expanding my horizons as I type this.  Jennie & Amanda would have known more than I did and I expect will be jealous.  I feel I could make a very entertaining and comfortable living cleaning artist's studios...

Tonight I volunteered at First Friday, the monthly show at HCA, which was themed "Backyard", a fun and warm theme for a 20 degree January evening.  My 2nd favorite pieces were a series of really lovely b&w line drawings of individual squirrels, each performing different squirrel actions, each wearing a full-color painted WWF character mask closely fitted to their squirrel faces.  It sounds absurd, but you get the feeling looking at the drawings that this is exactly the mindset squirrels have, especially if you've ever seen one mount a full-scale assault on a bird feeder.

But my very favorites were a series of photographs entitled Escape Strategies.  3 were of a man in mid-air above a trampoline in cookie cutter upper middle class suburbia, poised to fly off the picture plane; my favorite was a bird's eye view of a ditto backyard with views over the numerous fences of several other identical backyards, with a turf "lid" set slightly askew off a black whole in the ground, which one could only assume was an escape hatch.  A fifth photo showed a folding lounge chair in flight dangling a rope ladder above same yard with same man running and reaching.  The irony of that series was that there was no where to escape to - middle class suburbia as far as the camera could reach.  One wonders if it was a commentary on American culture or a metaphor for apparently inescapable realities, or perhaps both.  Anyway, I love art.

Update:  Yesterday I received my financial aid distribution so tonight I write this on my new Macbook Pro!  Which it turns out I will need b/c my History of Art professor expects us to check the class website before & after each lecture for outlines, updates and messages.  At the risk of sounding like a parent, school has surely changed since I went last.