December 1st 2013

Today was a big day: Cedar's first birthday and my baptism.  (Also my friend Brandt and Aunt Julie's birthdays!)

The plan was to have a party for Cedar at the dog park.  The poor bo got sick on Thursday and had to go to the vet yesterday morning.  He's got kennel cough (the dog version of bronchitis) and has been pretty sluggish.  He's contagious so he has to stay home for the next week and finish his antibiotics.  The party will be postponed.

 I've been wrestling with baptism for about a year.  I think I talked about it in a post earlier this year.  I was sprinkled as a baby but changed churches and knew that immersion was the next step for me.  If we are called to be Christ-like then it's the way to go.  I'm glad I waited as long as I did because I don't think I truly understand what that meant until recently.  The profession of faith and the purifying of sins is huge but publicly announcing your decision to follow and strive to be like Jesus is the part that I like the best about baptism.  I know that I'm at a good church and have good relationships that will keep me accountable in doing that.  

Side note, there's just no way to keep your composure and look cool when you're wet.  Especially when you're a short haired girl with a flat, pea head.

I have been looking forward to seeing these people for days.  It is a privilege and a blessing to love them.

Today was one of the best days.

The end of October and the month of November

Fall is the best part of the year.  The colors, the mountain views, the weather, no shave November, pumpkin flavored everything, plaid; there isn't one bad thing about it.  (Except maybe football, but that's over now...no more 17 hour home game shifts for me.)  It's also a great distraction.  

On Fridays, the fella' and I have been venturing out in search of wonderful places.

An apple orchard in Sky Top, NC.

Brasstown Falls in Westminster, SC.  If you look to the left of this picture you can see little tiny Cedar under that hanging log.

Current happenings in MFA life include...

 Lindsay napping in my studio on my couch.  The ceramic students have a big bowl sale every year and end up turning out around 50-100 or more bowls.  This takes up a lot of their time throughout the whole fall semester.  The sale was last week and not only do they sale their bowls, they provide free soup with the purchase of a bowl.  They also make the soup.  Her nap was well earned.

I've been working on this blanket piece all semester.  Not consistently.  They encourage our first year to be about experimenting with new mediums and even new media.  This can be freeing and exciting at times because you don't necessarily have to "finish" something before you start on something new.  However, because I am orderly and need to have final outcomes to learn from, it has been frustrating for me.

 This is my baby blanket that has been cut in to two parts and used so much it's worn out.  I've been weaving pine needles through the gaps as a way to mend and repair it.  Pine needles are, as you probably know, not a very strong or durable material.  They are locational for me and represent family.  (Side note, I tried a performance art piece based on this that I will not be sharing...no, there was no interpretive dancing.)   Pine needles break and do not support the blanket.  Because of this, I'm trying to understand the goals of this piece.  It's okay that it doesn't sustain or preserve the blanket.  I think what I need to understand is the personal need to mend and the obsession with "fixing" it.  This could lead to some work that does, well, work.

 A funny picture of one of the students in the class I teacher assist with walking a previous  3D foundation student's sculpture to the recycling dump.

I've never made work about the relationship with my father before.  It's not something that I've talked about that much because there wasn't a relationship.  I feel like that's something I might not should say on a blog because it feels private, but I think it will be helpful for me to see where I am with this a year or so from this post.  And who knows, it could be helpful to others as well.

  

Since my grandma died a few weeks ago, I've had a couple interactions with my father.  We hadn't talked in a few years.  Light was shed on some things that I didn't (and still might not) exactly know the truth about.  Being in a strong place spiritually helped me forgive and move forward years ago.  But that's not something you just decide on one day.  It's a lifetime commitment, I think.  The choice to accept and forgive and to choose love is big.  A friend recently said to me that the most important days are not the first days, they're the last.  I haven't necessarily asked for a new, mended relationship with my father.  However, it seems like God, in his time, is moving and I feel good about it.  

The teddy bear pictured above is Harvey Bear.  Dad gave him to me a long time ago and said it was his when he was a kid.  He's the newest sculpture inspiration.  Annette Messager is a current artist I'm really digging.  She uses stuffed and real, taxidermy animals in her sculptures.  They're loaded yet at the same time, so simple.

More pictures to come after the final (December 10th).

Thanksgiving was this week.  It's weird to go "home" because my home isn't really there for me anymore.  By that I mean my mom's house, the place I grew up in.  Mama moved to Georgia and a cousin rents our old house.  I usually end up staying with Meme' but she had a full house since a cousin from Colorado and an uncle were down.  I ended up staying with a cousin.  Thanksgiving felt a little off because of this and because some people were missing.  We've been having it at the church social hall because there are too many of us to fit in Meme's house (at least that's what she says).  This makes it feel so impersonal.

Tiffany hosted a gathering at her place on Friday night in Greenville.  It was nice, we grilled burgers and drank two buck Chuck.  Got to see Aunt Lisa, who I haven't seen in a while, and the babies, Avey and May.  We laughed, we told stories, we genuinely enjoyed each other.  This felt like Thanksgiving.