Work, Work, Work

Teaching has been hectic. However, I have continued to shoot and work on my new project. My sketchbook project is calling my name with the due date right around the corner. I have a piece of my new project in a show in Boston the AIB MFA alum show. See the postcard. Other than that trying to really work on finalizing this body of work and applying for more shows.

Busy time of year

I have been photographing my surroundings and watching the leaves change. I still miss the fall colors of New England, but I do love the weather here in Denver. I need to start putting my new project together and making prints. I am participating in an AIB alumni show in January which is exciting. I have also sent work to my grad school friends new art space called Art Lab 9 in Mason City, IA http://www.artlab9.com/

Other than that things have been busy with work and I have been enjoying getting outside and loving the mountains.

Sketchbook Project 2011

I just signed up to participate in the Sketchbook Project 2011. I am excited for another way to push my new project as I investigate my new home and consider changes in my surroundings now that I live in a totally different part of the country.

Updates

I almost forgot to post I have work in ArtPrize a show in Grand Rapids, MI this fall. The show will run from Sept. 22- Oct. 10, 2010 and my work will be at the Riverview Center. It's pieces from my thesis work and I'm excited to participate in the show.

I do need to photograph more in Denver and start working on my new project. I will be participating in an AIB MFA alumni show, and I want to have new work. Also I want to start entering new work into shows. More to come as well as more updates to my website.

My New Home

My usual it has been a while since my last post. It was a busy spring full of job searching and looking for apartments in our new home in Denver. I have now arrived in Denver and am pretty much settled after a busy summer of travel and packing. I traveled to Egypt with my family which was an amazing adventure. Then it was packing and saying good bye to a city I've lived in for 7 years. Leaving Boston and the East Coast for the matter is a transition that I believe will take time for me, it comes in waves when I miss it. However, my new landscape is very beautiful. The thing I am most eager to work on is my newest project of landscapes along with sound recordings I have been taking in Boston and will begin taking in Denver.

Now onto a new landscape. We drove out from Boston to Denver stopping to visit friends along the way: New York, Chicago, Des Moines, Kansas City, and then arriving in Denver. I have been busy unpacking and preparing for my new teaching job. New work and updated website to come soon and more posts on my new lifestyle. The sunset image is Sloan's Lake right around the corner and the other is camping in Roosevelt National Forest.

Transition Begins

Beginning to look at changes. Above a recent visit to Denver, a landscape I am not used to seeing everyday with the Mountains in the distance. Below a visit to New York in an area near Cornwall-on-Hudson. The NY landscape is something that is familiar, comfortable, a landscape I have grown up with bridges, water, forests.

On a side note the other day when I was reading PDN, I noticed that William Eggleston has new work out. Here are two article links about his recent show 21st Century http://www.allartnews.com/victoria-miro-gallery-presents-new-work-by-william-eggleston/ and http://www.thisistomorrow.info/viewArticle.aspx?artId=209&Title=William%20Eggleston:%2021st%20Century

So it's happening we are moving to Denver this summer while I've known for a while, it's really settling in now. I've been thinking a lot about how my landscape will change among other things. For all of my life I have lived on the east coast and now I am about to embark on an adventure and shift landscapes completely to be close to the mountains. In contemplating my move I continue to think about how I could relate this to a new body of work. I have been documenting my neighborhood and home my plan is to then do the same in Denver and present the work together as one body of work.

As I embark on this project I continue to think about home and objects and why we hold on to things. Especially as I begin purging more of my own belongings from my life to prepare for this big move. I recently heard a series titled The Depreciating American Dream on NPR check out the link to see the 5-part series http://www.wbur.org/specials/depreciating-dream, it is an interesting point of view which looks at people who rent and who buy. Is there a right and wrong anymore? As Curt Nickisch states "Owning a home has long played a significant role in the American story; the notion that buying a house is the stepping stone to wealth and happiness goes back a long time. But the housing bubble has burst, and many local homeowners are living in the shadow of the white picket fence."

The change in the economy has caused everyone, I feel to reassess their lives and look at the way they are spending money. I have only ever rented and as we get ready to move we are planning on renting again at least for the first year we are there. I an intrigued by discussions around home, especially after my thesis. A home is what you make it, whether you own it or rent it you make it a home. Again I am considering what home looks like for me... How does landscape play a role in that? I know the physical landscape will change but what about the neighborhood how different are areas as you move around the country? I am interested in finding out.

Objects...how do we look at objects, think about them, and consider their meaning? While an inanimate object can't necessarily have meaning, an individual can attach their own meaning to that object/possession. Isn't that how things become important to us? When I visited the NYC MOMA over the holidays I had taken note of a work by Joseph Kosuth, his piece One and Three Chairs I had seen and studied in art history but had overlooked in my research of objects. This image from the MOMA site (http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?criteria=O%3AAD%3AE%3A3228&page_number=1&template_id=1&sort_order=1) provides the viewer with a photograph of a chair, a chair, and the dictionary definition. This work presents different ways to view the object, as I continue to think about objects and question how we perceive our belongings it seemed pertinent. As well as in thinking about how we view the semiotics of objects.

A few weeks ago I saw the work of Sandi Haber Fifield (http://sandihaberfifield.com/) at Gallery Kayafas in Boston. I was intrigued by the way she juxtaposes her images together as well as some of her interior subject matter.

Hoping to soon start making some new audio recordings and photographing in and around my neighborhood.

I find each time I post it's been a little bit longer since the last one. In this new year I would like to be posting more and using this as a place to work out ideas and really start making new work. A lot has been happening some major changes in my life will be occurring soon. A very sad event happened my wonderful friend Dave Poole passed away before new years. This was sudden, shocking, and very upsetting. I am still saddened by his loss and going through a range of emotions...he left this life too soon. But as his brother said at his memorial "We have to remember the good times with Dave he was an amazing person."

While I have not been making new work I am still applying to shows and going to see new work. The other night I went the 2010 DeCordova Biennial opening, it was packed! The place to be and last night hit up First Friday on Harrison ave with some grad school friends. I'm hoping to see the show Domesticated: Modern Dioramas of Our New Natural History. Photographs by Amy Stein at the Harvard Museum of Natural History this weekend as well.