It's that crazy time of the year however, I feel much better about the balance I have this year than last year. While things are hectic I feel more comfortable balancing grad school with full time teaching. Last week classes started and I was away with middle school students for 3 days and 2 nights. Now it's back to a full week of teaching.
Went to the library last weekend and took out a bunch of books. Shellburne and I met on August 28th. I had made some images of my old and new apartment empty and full, the images aren't really working but are getting me to the next level...I hope. (should be on flickr soon) We also spoke about images of zoomed in lamps from my different homes I'm excited about them and they seem to be more successful. While I still seem to have a lot of questions I'm feeling good about where the work can go. Shellburne and I discussed me interviewing people about what they think of home and choosing objects within their living space that create that sense of home for them. I'm excited about this project. A discussion of installation was helpful to, as I feel the installation of the work is important. Some of the questions I still have milling around in my head are:
Why do I photograph home?
Now where do I go? What is my intention?
Collection, home, place, and space are words that seem to fill my brain.
I need to spend some more time with my thoughts and really work on more thoroughly answering more of my questions.

Back to reality...I am settling back in after my family vacation to South Africa. The two week trip was amazing and now I find myself readjusting back just before I start work again. Leaving the country was exactly what I needed due to the many changes that have been happening in my personal life in the past month. Now with some perspective I feel somewhat renewed and ready to get back to work. I shot a lot before leaving on my trip and now it's time to get into the studio and do some printing before my mentor meeting this week. I am also working away on my Critical Theory paper. Being in South Africa and seeing townships was an eyeopening experience and also pertinent to my current thoughts around home. While I still feel uncertain about some of my ideas I hope to have clarity soon from printing more of what I have shot. It's going to be a busy week since I will be transitioning back into work but I'm ready for the challenge.

Gallery sitting today at the Boston Young Contemporaries show. The space is so interesting and it's great to see the work of my contemporaries. I was so excited the other day I sold my piece that is in the show.
Leaving for South Africa in a few days which will be an amazing trip I can't wait to go! I am going back through notes so I can get my Critical Theory III paper completed. Then I need to spend a lot of time printing. I have been shooting a ton and this afternoon I plan to photograph more in my new apartment with all my stuff moved in. I plan on doing a lot of reading on the plane so I can get ahead start on that. I know September will be crazy with the start of school again so I want to get as much done now so I can focus a lot on studio work.

My personal life continues to feel crazy. My trip to Wyoming was great upon returning I moved 24 hours later. Needless to say some other things have taken my away from writing on my blog. I have continued to shoot a lot in both my apartments now that I have moved in I need to photograph objects and belongings in my new space. I had planned to photograph objects as I unpacked them but that become more challenging than I expected. I still plan to make a sort of catalog but that will come in time. In a week I'm gone again to South Africa which I'm so excited about it will be a trip of a lifetime. Then it's time to get back to work both in the studio and with my teaching job. Today I went to the DeCordova Annual Exhibition I new two of the artists and enjoyed some of the work. Especially what Marguerite White had to say about light, "Light can alter the way we perceive our surroundings, prompting memories and provoking the imagination to see or experience a place differently." I also enjoyed the ideas Vanessa Tropeano and Matt Brackett spoke about in there work. I have yet to see my work in the BYC show I went the other day but sadly the gallery wasn't open.

As I sat in my studio this afternoon looking through work and deciding where to go next I had the following thoughts. Home, what is my home as I try to get a stronger grasp on those concepts I have been photographing my old and new apartment both empty and with belongings in them. What is it that makes home, I am beginning to believe my understanding of home is through my connection to the objects in my life. This has become more apparent as I photograph my spaces empty and see them just as spaces I once occupied or anyone occupied for that matter. They become my home when my belongings are in them. Photographing my spaces throughout my move has proved to be more difficult than I imagined beyond having some other things happening in my personal life moving brings about anxiety. I make a direct correlation to that anxiety from moving back and forth as a child and now in my adult life I continue to move just less frequently. So now the question how do I make my images come together and create a sense of home and place?
Ideas of space keep floating in my mind personal space something we all need and want, and yet feeling comfortable in my own personal space. The space I occupy how I and how I deal with space and belongings. So much of that seems to stem from out culture and need to have material possessions yet those are what make up my personal sense of home and others as I speak to people about what makes home for them.

I had a great first meeting with my new mentor Shellburne Thurber the other day. I will elaborate more later. Lots of information and ideas I need to go back through my notes. I can't believe I'm leaving for another trip in the am I'm off to Wyoming! This week was crazy but I got a lot of shooting done in my new apartment which was great. Now I just need to pack and move and get in the studio before I go to South Africa in August. All this travel seemed like a good idea. Anyway it will get done I need to spend some time with all the thoughts that I have about my work and new shooting I have been doing. I am sad to be missing the opening for the Boston Young Contemporaries Show next Thursday.

After 2 days out from the residency I still feel tired probably from all the running around I have been doing. I'm headed out of town in the morning to go to my family home in Michigan. I plan to do some shooting there and go through my notes from the residency. I have my first meeting with my new mentor Shellburne Thurber next week which I am looking forward to. Plus a lot of shooting to do before I move and then once that process is over. While I feel a little overwhelmed at my tasks at hand I feel good about where I need to go.

About to start 3rd residency. This program seems to be going by quickly. It's been a busy month with the end of school and finishing up odds and ends for the residency. I was able to catch a few shows the painting work of Antonio Lopez Garcia at the MFA was wonderful. While his landscapes of Madrid are beautiful I was more interested in his interior drawings and paintings as well as the subtleties in his work. The PRC juried show had some nice work as well as the color camera obscura images by Abe Morell. Now I'm just excited to start the next residency and get some more feedback. I really loved the following quote by Antonio Lopez Garcia

"I'm not attracted to paintings that are born consciously related to past works, but to paint a still life of food inevitably calls to mind Velazquez or Caravaggio...I ask myself, why aren't there more paintings of commonplace subjects, if, for example we all come together around a table, three times each day, to eat."