It’s been a hectic past few days here at the homestead…. grades are done; First Friday done; Mother’s Day done (complete with an Iggy surprise!).  I have been wanting to write for a few days- topic rather amorphous but I think I can string it together into something to share with your today.

I have thinking so much about how I think about who I am and the perception of who I am.  I will be frank with you- I had my last day at school last week- a wonderful group of students came to see me off  on my last day when I was supposed to be cleaning out my office and then a few of the same students showered me with gifts in my studio during First Friday and left me cards that honestly are the most flattering and endearing words someone can utter….. and then I step outside myself and think “wait, this is written to ME.  She felt this way about ME.”  I also had beautiful emails written to me after my last class by many of my students that I had this year.  It’s truly unreal.

I think then about some of the other validations I have had in my life- Lily  and her depiction that I fly the world in a helicopter teaching old kids how to draw bananas; some of the most generous letters written on my behalf during my failed job search- and yet I also have weird little perceptions that people make about me by viewing my artwork alone.  A friend once told me that a friend of his confessed that my work has intense and dark.  I often have people remark in my studio that I must have great dreams or do some great drugs, or must be really messed up.  Another comment I often get is that “You just look so happy- how can this work come from you?”

I am happy, very happy in fact.  That doesn’t mean that I’m not confused or disappointed about certain aspects of my life, but that is absolutely natural.  I think my work operates in this vicinity of questions and answers.  And the questions I ask, are perhaps questions that some people do not want face- or they just don’t care to ask and that’s ok, they don’t have to (but I’d prefer not to be judged because I do ask them).

I have thought a lot about why I teach.  My students know that teaching wasn’t really a natural fit for me and what they don’t know is how hard I need to work at it to be able to do it.  It’s one thing to know information- it’s another to convey it in a way they understand and yet another to get them interested about it.  All of this while not throwing up (HA!).  But the biggest lesson that is never formally addressed in my class is that I am trying to allow them to begin to see who they are and how they fit into this world.  I try very very hard never make assumptions about what they should be doing and be a catalyst for them to figure out what they want.  I know I am not definitive sometimes with answers and I know I allow them to mess up and sometimes it’s a trick for me to know how deep I should allow them to get in…. and I see them reap the benefits.

With this many facets my life has, I think it’s important to acknowledge that the roles I am a part of are all very much me and we all are a three ring circus of emotional negotiations but the best we can do is to make decisions we best know how to make at the time.  And perhaps own it and not look back.

Why am I writing this- perhaps this is what I wanted to say the last night of classes to my cherished group of students.  Perhaps I am sorting out how I feel about this transitional time.  Perhaps I need to just see how the ripple effect is working.  It’s probably all of those things- I need to hear and understand them as I set out to make the best of things.

ps.  The above image was taken by Lydia Panas for her new series, “Falling from Grace.”  www.lydiapanas.com

I wish I had more time in the day sometimes.  I can’t believe its already close to 8pm.  I’ve been running all day…. it’s all about finals and nothing you’d be excited about.

I’m eagerly anticipating my new work however and tryiing to soldify some thoughts I have about where the new stuff is going.  I’m certainly ready to focus and have these last few things tugging away at me.  I am supposed to be grading right now- but felt the urge to to you instead.

My new work seems to be heavy on the wood and less on the sugar.  Sugar however has been a huge staple in my work now for a long time.  IN my last post I ended while talking about my “ode” pieces.  This was the first time I worked with sugar.  Everyone always asks me how I fell into it.  I did exactly that….. With the “odes”  I was looking to create an effect on the body that was skin-like but also close to looking like the skin cannot contain the body.  I was trying experiments with waxs/encaustic, sands, gel mediums and nothing really had the life that I was looking for.  One day out of desperation, I searched my apartment and grabbed a few things from the kitchen- sugar being one of them and alas! the sugar process was born!!  What helped the sugar cause was that I could get large quantities cheaply and I even found that the cheaper the sugar, the better!  I like the granular quality it has while also picking up the light.  It create a beautiful luminosity that I got with no other medium. 

While creating “skins,”   I was also able to layer the sugar with coffees, teas, and rusts to create an effect that looked deep and almost stone-like.  I was thrilled.  The “Ballad” series is probably the first time I actually really honed the craft of sugar.  I have tried it in other capacities and even at one time, did a little bit with pulled sugar but pulled sugar does not maintain it’s form- a little bit of humidity and you’re done!  So the layered sugar it is……

I have to say the act of allowing myself to work with sugar did not come easy.  As you already know, the wrist injury I had certainly opened some doors.  I do have to say, the work of Anselm Kiefer also did so much for me.  Kiefer works with a ridiculous amount of materials- both traditional and non.  He is rather unapologetic about it’s application and there are even rumors of museum lackies having to re-apply the hay in many of his paintings when they arrive for an exhibition. 

Kiefer’s work has a strong presence.  I went on a trip to DC a few years ago and frankly, I ended up walking off  feeling sorry for myself.  I was disappointed in the work I was seeing that day but then went to the National Gallery.  It had been such a long time since I was there- I never recalled that it had Kiefers.  It actually had an entire room.  I think I spent an hour in this room of five substantial pieces.  It’s quite a moving experience.  He is rather spiritually motivated and that intensity is felt when in the work’s presence.  It nearly vibrates and suggests a soulful detox.  I don’t know that one could get a similiar experience with say, a Warhol.

I know that mixed media is really an accepted process anymore.  In fact, many programs push their students to be more interdisciplinary.  I didn’t come from such a mindset.  My academic pedigree is rather elitist (is that a bad word?).  Both programs I attended preferred that I stay within proper, functional ”craft.”  This “rebellion” during my thesis year in grad school was not well recieved but I am happy that I had such an awakening.  I couldn’t be happier with this openess for experimentation.  I realize that it probably has made my career harder….. academia is also about creating networks, connections.  I went outside of mine, without much support.  My reputation I have essentially built myself- I’m actually kind of proud about that- but at times, think at my age, my career should be far more established than what it is.  I’m nearing 37, folks.  It does freak me out.  

All my images today are of Kiefer….. check him out and if you can, see it all in person. 

Ok so it’s been a few days since my last post but the mountains of things I have accomplished is wonderful! First of all….. I know that First Friday isn’t for a few weeks yet but you certainly will want to come out and see my newly revamped studio. It’s spacious- so spacious I could totally do cartwheels in it, but I won’t because it’s been a while and I don’t want to slam into my work on the walls. I totally still have the same work up- I’m going to try and push ahead on new work but I’m not sure how much that will happen with finals this week and next week. Grades are totally due but I have been quite the warrior about them and hope to be posting them by next Tuesday. HOPING.

But I don’t write to fill you in on my schedule. I thought that maybe I would continue on with excerpts and ramblings from my artist lecture. A constant in my work has been references to the body. I think this attention culminated in a perfect storm of events that connected around the time I was in Seattle. As you already know, I began studying the theme of Hamlet’s Ophelia.
sidenote- I totally geeked out last night and watched Hamlet on PBS. And can I just tell you it was this modern-ish version with David Tennant from Dr. Who playing Hamlet. Yup- I watch Dr. Who. I have since I was a kid. There’s a Heather funfact for you- I loves me some sci fi.

While looking to Pre-Raphealite painting, one thing that has always been apparent is the voluminous amounts of hair depicted on the women. During this study, I discovered that this was a purposeful choice of the painters. Hair, especially worn long and down, is representative of a juxtaposition of innocence and sexuality. Above is one of my favorite Millias paintings, entitled “The Bridesmaid.” I really love the Victorian method of symbolism in their paintings and it perhaps was formative in how I began to use metaphor and symbolism in my work. My opinion is that there is a profound connection to literature during the 19th century and something that perhaps we are not so connected to now. But we, as a society, seem to have replaced literature with movies, video games, and television- just a different way to tell a story with symbolism suggested in a new language of emoticons. All in all, one not better than the other- just different.

But again, I digress……. “The Bridesmaid” is a beautiful example the importance of hair. In this painting, the bridesmaid passes a piece of wedding cake through a wedding ring 5 times (Victorian tradition) in hopes to find her future husband. She wears an orange blossum on her gown which, according to the Victorian language of flowers, indicates innocence, eternal love, marriage and fruitfulness. The combination of these things indicates her desire and readiness to be married- her hair is down, suggestive she is young, innocent but also ready and willing/wishing to be married by wearing the orange blossum and doing the wedding ring custom. The lush amount of hair is certainly eye catching- I believe there is no question for a potential suitor that she is looking for a husband.

After completing this study, hair became something that I constantly thought about. To relieve stress during graduate school, I worked cleaning a bed and breakfast. Yes, I like to clean to relieve stress. I think I’ve confessed it before but new readers, now you know. Part of that job was eliminating any remnant of former guests in rooms and hair is typically the major culprit. I spent a summer on my hands and knees picking up as many hairs as I saw be it head hair, leg hair or pubic hair. A nightmare is always someone who used the tub and shaved their legs- ugh, so much hair. What happened here was seeing hair on the flip side of the coin. It became gross and when really thinking about it, hair when on one’s head is considered beautiful but when not attached to the body, disgusting. So I began to read about it. And i began to really understand the psychological impact of hair. As humans, we are covered with hair but we trim, manage, and control our hair as a subconscious method of controlling our animalism. Egyptians shaved all of their hair so that they would be considered higher beings- higher than animals, at least. But when this is our own choice, it is a method of conscious supremacy- when our hair is taken from us against our will, it becomes a situation of shame and embarassment. Holocaust victims were shaved for this exact reason, as a form of emotional rape. They became vulnerable.

So hair became such an obsession of mine and I set out to create “unrequited” or a piece that I often refer to as the hair bed. Working at the bed and breakfast, I became a silent participant in creating a romanticism- a perfect environment, Xanadu even. But I then thought back to the Bridesmaid, hair down- innocent, vulnerable, yet in a position to attract a suitor so also considered sexual and passionate. But what if she does not find her suitor- she then becomes a sad, frail being. The hair bed was a rickety bed i forged out of steel and created a mattress filled completely of hair- long red hair. Of course, color is important here. Historically, red hair is rare and thought of a mystical. Women with red hair were thought of as witches or unruly. I guess if I think about it this would be my first conscious use of red in my work. Red is such an emotional color- women with red hair are considered the same- ever hear the term “fiery redhead?”

While completing “unrequited” I had an accident that severed the tendons in my wrist. This brought the body to a different awareness. I began to feel more vulnerable and the idea of stitching and mending was thrust to the forefront. I took numerous pictures of my wrist (that I never developed however i think I just found the roll of film- FILM- yes film!!). Now with the possible loss of my hand, it weighed so much on who I thought I was. It was frightening but it also was probably the biggest gift i could have ever received. I began thinking about our bodies vulnerability and became fascinated with skin.

I just started to become aware of Kiki Smith and her fearless voracity she depicted the body. She was not afraid to show us at our most animalistic and our most vulnerable.

It probably took a few years for me to have the similar strength to depict the body in this manner. In my pieces “Ode to a Seattle Goose,” I began to exhibit the emotional toll of a relationship I had. It was difficult and exhausting but now enters my use of sugar as a primary medium…….

(stay tuned for my next posting where i talk more about all things sugar)

When I was in high school, I had an incredible English Lit teacher, Mr. Kohl. I’ve always liked to read and I pretty much have always bought into any form of mythology possible whether it is fairy tales, classic lit, comic books, or sci fi. I think for a long time I loved the escapism that these stories provided because really, as a child, I would want to be in these stories with all sincerity. Why else would I feel comfortable enough to roam the neighborhood in underoos.

But I think I really didn’t GET the bigger picture in some of these things until Mr. Kohl’s class. Sure, I understood the methods of fables and the tool of metaphor but I think Mr. Kohl approached literature with far less rhetoric and for the first time, he laid out classic narrative in a way that the conflict was more timeless. And that- was something I just never really got or related to before. (keep in mind- this was a time before the contemporary remakes by Baz Lurmann or even the other Shakespeare turned high school drama stories). So when we tackled Hamlet, I didn’t have much interest but by the end, I was absolutely hooked.

We read Hamlet that year and I was introduced to Ophelia- the paramount example of the upper middle class white girl struggles with identity. And a few years later, when I studied abroad- I was lucky enough to spend nearly an afternoon in the Pre-Raphealite room at the Tate (while nearly ignoring the enormous Turner exhibition downstairs out of boredom- I’ve grown up since then, I promise! and now am a great lover of Turner). So in the Pre-Raphealite room there are amazing visuals for the narratives that I was introduced to in Mr. Kohl’s class. The Waterhouse Lady of Shallott was probably the star of the room but there was the Millias Ophelia off the the side at the end of a wall as you turn a corner- placement much as I would imagine the real Ophelia to prefer- present observer, not preferring to really be noticed for who she really is.

It wasn’t until graduate school that I revisited the Ophelia theme. I took an independant study with one of the premier Pre-Raphealite researchers in the country. Under her encouragment, I wrote a paper that worked through Ophelia’s theme over three distinct generations and why that theme resonated. First was a study of Shakespeare’s use of her, second the Pre-Raphealites, over 300 years later, and finally how we have adopted her as a contemporary symbol. This research directly impacted my work and soon after I began my first dress piece entitled Ophelia (go to my website and look it up).

I think the reason why Shakespeare’s narratives remain classic is because the bigger picture is quite human. If you really think about Ophelia throughout the story, she never seems to make decisions of her own volition. She is a pawn played by her father, brother, and boyfriend all while coming of age and defining who she really is. She has no mother figure and the only real female role model for her is the Queen, who is not really the prime example of morality. Ophelia struggles with labels the people around her identify her as and adopts the expectations of her as the ideal of what she needs to fulfill. She never identifies her own goals, hopes, or desires. And when she does not fulfill the conflicting expectations of her- she does the first thing she can think of that would entirely her decision- she kills herself.

Ophelia becomes the epitome of the every girl’s coming of age story. Think about it…. every girl first needs to understand what the hell is going on with her body as she hits puberty- every girl becomes this “childish innocence in a vessel of sexuality.” So the struggle becomes to remain perfect. Look perfect, act perfect, be perfect and the MOMENT that doesn’t happen- the world crashes down. As a girl starts to look like a woman, they have new expectations to act a certain way and suggests that just in physical development that they will have the maturity to make or form adult contexts for who they are. And yeah- every tenage girl wants to be taken as older than they really are and be thought of as normal and accepted and well, cool.

There are legions of Ophelia’s at every highschool and college. They are trying to understand who they are and often they allow friends and even boyfriends to pinpoint what that means. And instead of casting themselves into a river, they handle it with drinking, substance abuse, eating disorders, body multilation, and sexual promiscuity. These are all indicators of young women trying to reign in a sense of control about who they are and what that means.

SO with Ophelia, I found a character that seemed quite familiar to me. She was someone that I identified with and recognized within myself. Like many girls, my coming of age story is riddled with stories of low self esteem and confusion. For some reason, the strong, confident child who believed she was Wonder Woman and Princess Leia now didn’t think she was worth much. I’m still trying to figure out what happened there but what is comforting is that I have an understanding as to why that happened in the bigger picture. I feel good about that. What is more important is that “authentic identity” has become such a treasure to me. It took me years to understand that even though I have many influences and examples laid before me to define my character, I am the ultimate decision maker. My identity is my own creation.

On of my favorite things to think about is that there are never any accidents.  And even the accidents that happen just aren’t.

Last week, I spoke to a Feminist Art graduate seminar.  I haven’t really done my full-fledged artist talk in a while.  Yup- I have one.  It has 164 slides in it.  I even have a script that I have rehearsed and rehearsed so that it sounds like I don’t have a script.  But since I haven’t done the talk in a while AND I feel like I never have been so at home with my work- I decided to not bring the script.  Anyone who really really knows me- knows that I am freaky when it comes to public speaking (like 95% the rest of the world).  And if you were in graduate school with me, you would know that I was literally green before I went on stage for my thesis talk.  (and I was slated to go first but there was someone missing from my committee so I had to go last…. which nearly killed me).  It’s also true that the first 5 years of teaching I often would throw up before classes.  It’s a little much but I digress……

Since it had been a while since I did my talk- I had a chance to revisit some things that have been a while.  Often times when you do a talk like this- you try to establish where you’ve been and how you got here.  It’s actually a pretty cool process and I recommend any artist to think about this- even if they aren’t giving one of these talks.  I was thinking of doing my next few blogs about this subject matter.  There are a number of strands that I connect to get me to the work I do today and while it has been an evolving process- when I looked back on my slides, I would not be making what I do now if I had not processed through some of these other themes.  Isn’t it incredible how the mind works?

So in the next coming days expect to see entries about: my family; formative literature and the paintings that have helped with the context; thoughts on hair & the body; and maybe even some wild card ramblings on Jung- animus/anima, archetypal identity.

I think it’s no accident that I did this talk while doing this spring cleaning in my studio (which by the way will be gorgeous at next first friday- so come, if only to greet my new, living plant!).  I have come across college sketchbooks, excerpts of 10 year old projects, and even my discharge papers from after my wrist surgery during my second year at grad school.  And if you were curious, I attribute my philosophy of working to be awakened by that accident- and I choose the word “awakened” because really, as you learn, the idea of resilience, adaptability, and strength has been around me my entire life- I only forgot about it for a while.

Stay tuned, my trusty readers!

I seem to have my head in the clouds lately.  Yesterday I drove right by my exit on the way to school and didn’t realize it until I nearly passed the exit after it.  I can’t even tell you what I was thinking about…. it wasn’t much.  I think I was thinking about the Obama plan for the space program or something.  It’s weird to be that flightly.

I think I’m transitioning.  It’s the end of the school year and my classes are all high energy.  Everyone is frantically registaring for next semester’s classes, cramming whatever they can into the hours in the day, and looking towards summer.  I said all semester that I had no idea how I would make it through this one.  It’s the heaviest load I think I have taught ever and having a show on top of it AND the Evolving Archetype series planning made it a white knuckled fifteen weeks.  I think I have whined nearly every day during March that I couldn’t wait until the end of the semester to catch my breath and get a break. 

Tomorrow I start cleaning out my studio to make room for new work.  I have been jonesing to do so all week.  It’s been months since I have worked there- I only moved back in from the installation site last weekend.  I almost can’t stand to see the work that’s in there.  It’s so not where my head is at anymore.  So tomorrow starts spring cleaning and a major studio facelift.

I have been thinking so much anymore about shedding.  Maybe it’s because Marigold sheds so much; maybe it’s because I just cut 7 inches off the length of my hair; maybe it’s because I lost one of my jobs.  I don’t know.  BUt it is something I feel like everytime I turn around, I seem to let out an enormous exhale.  It’s kind of a relief in a way while jarring at the same time.  I don’t know what will happen in the fall.  Have I saved enough money to get through summer?  I am not sure how worried I am about it yet.  But as I start to switch gears back to studio time and have a twinge of sadness again about ending my semester and leaving altogether, I am trying to readjust to set my sites on grants and funded projects.  Hm.  What happened to the days where artists had patrons?  It’s just a question :)

So I’m beginning to think about where my work is going…. last week I did a study for a piece entitled “breathing lesson:a.”  I am apprehensive to say that because it was incredibly rough and really not resolved.  I’m am really looking forward to having the time to develop new work and hope to settle into a fruitful studio season.  In the studio exercises that I guess I am calling “breathing lessons,”  I’m trying to think about what the metaphorical exhale means.  I guess with so many years of yoga behind me one has always been taught that it’s all about the breath.  The breath is the most paramount and when thinking about the “breathing lessons” I think I am thinking about what that fundamental function is.  It’s existing.  For as long as I’ve known the sun rises and sets and for as long as I know, I have continued to inhale and exhale not matter how much money I have had, what relationship I was in, or what job I have.  I’m not entirely sure where this thought is going and I’m certainly not sure how it will be represented in my work but I guess I am examining balance and counterbalance….. especially when it comes to my life which is very much in transition and now I look to carve into the next path.

I had a post for you about last week’s Red Show however, sweet readers, I had a few conversations tonight about what I do and how I got here.  I drove home tonight thinking about it

After class tonight, I was wrapping up and talked with the popcorn kids and Lizzie.  They mentioned that they want the type of life that I have.  My gut reaction was- “oh my god, why???”  They all asked what degree I have and how long I’ve been teaching and I got off on tangental stories about how I used to throw up before classes the first five years of teaching and how public speaking terrifies me.  Yet, this is what I do every day.  I have an audience of minimum 100 people per week (this week, make that 120 since I was a guest speaker for an “Art and Feminism” grad seminar). 

I know have been teaching nearly ten years.  It feels like a huge milestone that I should be celebrating but I will be frank with you, readers, I will not have my contract renewed at one of my three schools this fall and within the year, it seems a similar thing will happen with another program I am involved with.  I have to say I have an undercurrent of worry that seems a bit deep seeded because, let’s face it, I don’t have three jobs because I want to run around like a crazy person- I have three because I need them.  I need them for many different reasons really and of course what is always paramount is financial stability. 

I left class and I went to my office to gather my things and I ran into George, tenured faculty, who was there late doing his committee drudgery- and task I don’t need to do since I am not tenured faculty( however I think it wouldn’t neccessarily mind it).  I like pounding away on a keyboard doing organizational typey things- and I am not belittling committee work here.  I’m a weirdo who likes to organize things and fill out forms in pretty ways.

I think George feels bad about me losing my job.  Actually, many of my colleagues have expressed this to me and have been nothing but complementary and helpful- as much as they can.  George felt confident that I am doing everything right to land that “tenure track.”  Everyone really has said it and quite honestly- I think I get some pretty kick ass results from pretty kick ass students.  I really think my student portfolio is something to see and well, I’m told I’m not so shabby myself.  It’s all about weathering the storm and wanting it that bad.

But it all brings me back to having a life like mine….. it’s certainly not an easy one whatsoever but when I think of it, I could be in one really crappy waitressing job, or worse yet, in a cubicle where you whisper to your neighbor and worry about your stats.  Me, I get to talk about something I love every single day and I get to help students love what they do every single day (and yes, at times make them mask their paint but one day they will thank me for it…. I just know it).

Go on, readers….. you can want my life too.  It’s not easy- nothing is- but at least I love what I do (well, maybe I could go without grading…. I don’t love that so much :)  My best advice is to find something you love that much and do it with every ounce of your being.  That’s the life I want and the goal I set out for myself.

Check out this article Lehigh did about the Women’s History Month events that I planned. 

http://www4.lehigh.edu/news/newsarticle.aspx?Channel=%2fChannels%2fNews%3a+2010&WorkflowItemID=399616cd-4ef4-4d0a-8170-a2e092ca79b2

Well folks, I have had a week littered with issues.  Above is the graphic for this years RED SHOW.  Tomorrow night is the opening- you should come!  Banana Factory third floor artists (we so rock!)- from 6:30 to 9:30.  Food!  Lots of it!  and really all you have to know is that I’m bringing brownies.  Brownies.
Brownies.
Brownies.

(yum)

But in preparing my piece for the Red Show- what I thought was completely clear became a horrible disaster of video footage that suggestive of fetishism and sexual ludeness.  Not really what I was going for….. With this new genre for video (for me), I am finding it tough to record myself without help or being able to really see what is being filmed.  I’m going to have to come up with a better system.

So to salvage from the footage I took (which was of me with a clump of twine in my mouth) I found a two minute segment that I would be able to work with.  I camped out last night (really late in my office) and edited my brains out.  I think I have something really beautiful! 

One of the lessons I have been trying to learn, remind myself, instill in my molecular structure- is to breathe.  Now you all know I breathe- I’m alive, aren’t I?? But I decided that some of the things I love about the video footage from both the Architect’s Daughter installation and the “string gone wrong” was when I manipulated the footage that fundamental body functions became the most apparent- there is nothing else in this footage- it’s slow, my eyes blink, and I inhale/exhale.  It’s all I have to focus on visually and the imagery becomes about the reminder.  I’m calling the piece “Breathing Lessons.”  And of course, there will be a small installation on the wall that accompanies the footage.

Pulling the late night in the office, I don’t have much to show you.  The finished footage still sits on my computer desktop.  WHat I do have to show is the ridiculous pants I bought at the school store when I was freezing in my office….. totally obnoxious! (And yes, I spared you the entire pant- no body needs that much pant!)

Well, I finally got some images to show you that I am indeed part of all these things I tell you about and definitely not an imposter!  What this means- I got the pictures from my friend from all the past month events.  So now you may imagine along that you were there….  Look- there is you next to me and my dad (above)!  You are so cool!

My gallery talk went really well this week and I had a modest group of lovely people there.  It was a comfortable chat with some of my favorite people.  I talked lot about where architect’s daughter evolved from and how it can to be in Arts Lehigh.  I can’t really rehash it so much for you however what I can do is upload the lovely exhibition statement that was hanging outside the room (see below).

My suggestion is to read the exhibition statement in my voice and look at the pictures and imagine being there.  If you come to this website on any type of regular basis, you have some creative inclinations and can certainly try to envision the event.  Regardless, it was really nice- so nice that I would make a little button about the day and wear it to remember always. (dear sweet reader, I am in one weird mood today).

Anyway, there are pics of that lovely day BUT WAIT…. there’s more!  And yes, I do notice the trend of wearing black to every event.  It’s weird.  But I need to buy and iron so I can iron my other, more colorful clothes. 

The next group are from the beautiful Friday window tour with the One Stone Collective.  There really couldn’t have been more beautiful of a day (except for maybe this week where the weather is totally gorgeous….. but that was the first beautiful 70 degreee weather days that we had).

Anyway, here you can put some faces with names.  The gals were great and, as you already know, were a total hit!

 (ugh, I so need a haircut)  This is me introducing the group.  In the pic behind me you’ll see- (left to right) Bea, Corey, Merissa, and Meghan.  Unfortunately this is the only pic Meghan appears in but she was a great presence that day!

Merissa talking about her work- and not talking about how her hair is so much better cared for than mine.

Corey with her attentive crowd in the reflection.

Bea talking about her work.  She told me before the tour that in her research for her work she found out why pencils are yellow.  It’s actually because when pencils were just going into production in the late 1870’s, doors opened to China as an industry trade potential.  Yellow is a royal color in China and therefore in honor of the Chinese and good relations with them, the first pencil company created yellow pencils.  Wow!

I’m a sucker for a blurry picture every time.  This is in Marcie’s installation.

Below, you can see the great group that collected in Chores for the final reception (before we headed off to have dinner at Nawab).  We did not discuss my hair at dinner however it is maybe all I’m thinking about now that I look at these pictures.

No rest for the weary yet, stay tuned to my final preparations for the Red Show opening up this Friday!  Details to come! 
I’ll also post the professional pics of the installation when I get them.  sssooooooo much better than mine!