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.

Dalai Lama

I thought I posted this already. Guess not.

About a month ago I went to see the Dalai Lama in Atlanta.  Honestly, I didn't know too much about him (him? his highness? I think they call him his holiness) but the word "enlightening" kept coming up so I was interested in feeling that.  

I feel I should preface this by realizing that as I write, I will probably sound pretty ignorant about the whole thing.  Keep that in mind as these are just my inconsequential and often irreverent thoughts.

Something like 8,000 people showed up.  Again, I had no idea what to expect.  We walked in late and didn't get to see him come out (the friend I was with said this was the best part because of the "energy" that he brought in to the room).  There he was dressed in red with this Styrofoam visor (kind of like one you might decorate with foam stickers at church camp).  At first he gave a speech and then a guy on stage asked him a few questions.  He was very hard to understand so his response was being typed on a screen (although I think the person writing had a hard time comprehending as well because the sentences were incoherent and he backspaced a lot).

Essentially, his message is love and compassion.  That is the gist of what he talked about.  He never fully answered the questions and more of less just said to be a good person.  Maybe I'm being cynical, but I kept thinking, "Duh.  Thousands of people paid $50 a ticket to hear that?"  

It kind of makes me question what humanity is hungry for.  Obviously seeing the Dalai Lama is a trendy thing to do.  I get that now.  But what is at the root of seeing someone deemed "holy"? We all are looking for something to fill whatever hole or gap we see missing in ourselves or maybe in the world.  I do not know whether or not people worship the Dalai Lama but it seems odd to me that all this hype for someone who is just a man.  A good man, yes, but an earthly man nonetheless.  On the peak side, I did appreciate his observation of this century's need for responsibility in bringing about change and peace.  He also mentioned the role of women as maternal figures.  Not to say that we should all have babies, but more so that the caring female role is so important and needs to be restored.  The feminist part of me started to tick a little when he got on this subject but he said it from such a kind place that I knew he wasn't meaning to step on toes.

I can say that I've seen the Dalai Lama.  I am sad to say that I did not feel enlightened after I left.  It was 11:30 and I felt hungry.   

Meanwhile, back at the ranch

A shot taken at the homestead

Cedar and a friend playing at the dog park. 

We have another baby girl in the family.  Baby Avery and big sister May.

 
Baby Mama.  Avery is who I would have been sharing a room with had I not found a place in Clemson.  Can you imagine?

Midterms already?

Midterms crept upon us art kids this past week.  The second year MFAs always talk about these things as if we should bring a paper bag with us when it's our turn.  They all get very stressed and panic striken.  Thankfully, the four of us in the incoming cohort are all laidback, probably to a fault, and don't get too worried about anything. 

 

The setup for midterm reviews goes:  Set up work in the small gallery by our studios, nothing has to be finished since it's work in progress.  Each person gets 30 minutes to present and get feedback from the graduate faculty.  Other grads can sit in and it's nice that they do because we take notes for each other.  The faculty says a lot so it's easy to forget it all.  I recorded mine.  It's weird to hear your own voice though so I haven't really listened to it.

 

I haven't been too nervous about these things because I'm new and if I don't do well, well, I'm new.  However, my review went very well.  Whew!  I got a lot of good feedback including statements that what I was doing was rich in content, continue to do what I'm doing and going with my gut, being open is working for me, and that recording what I'm doing and using it as performance is gold.

 

Here's a sneak peek at what I'm working on:

This is my old baby blanket.  What you see are pine needles woven in the worn out holes.  In my artist statement I talk about how my concept is revealing what's broken and seeking to mend it.  I'll reveal more later, once it's finished.

This is a clay mold of a future project in which I hope to use raw meat.  Apparently Clemson has a place where they do butchering, I assume for an undergrad program.  I'm going to make a time to go by and see what goes on there.  I've been researching slaughterhouses and meat production for this.  Needless to say, I'm off the beef right now.

 

Here are a few pictures of some of the other grad's midterm work.

Ayako's (my studiomate).

 

Laken's.

 

Alex's.

Mumford Music

Here are some clips I took on my phone at the Mumford and Sons concert a couple weeks ago.  I never know what to do with these little videos but putting them on the blog seemed appropriate. Enjoy :)

Something Positive