It's been a great summer of relaxing after a very busy two years. I am getting ready to start teaching again. My boyfriend and I just moved in together so I have been converting the spare room into my studio. After giving up my studio space after my residency I have felt a little lost especially with most of my things packed in my basement. Yesterday I spent most of the day unpacking books, my printer, and getting settled into the space, which was a wonderful feeling. There is more organizing to do but I'm so excited to have a dedicated space again!

This week I found out my piece, Paula was accepted into the 2009 Salem Arts Association Photography Exhibit. The juror was Philip Prodger, Curator of Photography - Peabody Essex Museum. I'm very excited and I'm dropping the work off this weekend.
http://www.salemartsassociation.org/

The exhibit is from Friday 9/4 - Sunday 9/27, 2009
Opening reception for the show is Saturday 9/12, 2009 from 4-7pm

My last residency is complete, I gave my artist talk, had my MFA thesis show, and my defense, and it's all still settling in that it's complete. I have taken this summer off to relax and rejuvenate before I begin teaching again this fall.
At the same time I have been looking at show opportunities and other ways to expand my work. As I question what's next? and where to go next with my photographs. I hope to continue to use this blog as a place to track my work and challenge myself as I continue my studio practice after graduate school.

Five months since my last post...my thesis semester was challenging which I new it would be. But as of May 15th I turned in my thesis!!! Now I have less than a month to prepare my work for my show and my artist talk. Can't believe this program is almost over. I have been applying to shows and updating my website. Looking forward to a summer of rest and making.

MFA Graduate Exhibition
June 20th - 27th, 2009

Opening Reception
The Main Gallery 700 Beacon
Saturday, June 27, 2009 8-10pm

The Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University
700 Beacon Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02215
617.585.6600
www.aiboston.edu

It’s hard to believe this semester is almost over and I’m approaching my 4th residency. Exciting that 2008 is almost over it’s been a lot of ups and downs this year and I’m looking forward to a new year. While I am excited about the direction my work has taken I feel a sense of anxiety at the same time. I look forward to having more opinions about the work and seeing where it can go next for the thesis. This week I am immersing myself in the studio and Critical Theory reading. While I was home for the holidays I was able to make two trips into Manhattan to see some shows. Of course I made an extensive list of work to see and didn’t get to everything but there is always after the residency. I was able to visit the International Center for Photography, the Guggenheim, The Whitney, The Museum of Art and Design and the The Frick which I had not been to. I was excited to see the Frick more for the space it’s intriguing to me this space which used to be a home and is now a museum. Similar to the Isabella Stewart Gardner these homes are so ornate. I want to revisit my artist statement and review my thesis outline more.

Busy since my last post. I saw Sally Mann lecture at the MFA which was great. When I had time off from work I was able to get handle on some other writings and do a ton of interviewing and photographing of more homes and objects. Looking forward to spending more time in the studio printing. Last week I saw Henry Horenstein lecture at the PRC about his new book Animalia. I wasn't able to make it to First Friday this week but I hope to get to those galleries soon. I did however, get to the last day of the William Christenberry show at Massart I had enjoyed his lecture this fall and was very happy to see his work in person. I also went to the DeCordova with some friends the Drawn to Detail show is unbelievable I would not have the patience to create those drawings. Alison had work in the Zea Mays Printmaking show so that was nice to see. Now I just need to work on studio work and critical theory reading to get ready for the residency.

I am excited about my new series of work on home and I am looking forward to the residency and getting some more feedback. The interviews have been so interesting and rewarding I love talking with people about this topic.

Changed up my flickr links, I have new images now under home series. I find myself going back and forth excited about my new work and yet stressed all at the same time because I feel like I'm finally choosing a more solid direction. My meeting with Shellburne last week was great she feels I'm headed in a solid direction with the series I have been creating. I need to make a few more prints of the bed and table series to see how those will work and if they will be as successful as the lamps. I want to broaden my interviewing to younger, older, different race and backgrounds. I am in the process of talking with people about that and I hope to do some shooting over the thanksgiving break. I'm looking forward to the next residency.

Work and school continue to be busy. I met with Shellburne again 2 weeks ago and it was a much needed meeting I had been feeling lost in my work and unsure if it was headed in the right direction. I started interviewing people (friends to start) about home. Asking them to define home and then pick 3-4 objects that created home for them. The interviewing alone brought about interesting conversations and brought my thinking around home to another level. I placed the images of objects in a series with a quote from the interview see image above. Shellburne really liked the work as well as the series I have been working on photographing other objects that are in other people's homes such as beds, kitchen tables, and lamps.
Since then I was able to go home to my parents house and interview my parents and photograph my childhood homes again with a new direction in mind. I look forward to getting in the studio to print the work as well as interviewing other people.
I have been to a couple lectures Tara Donovan at the ICA (10/14), William Christenberry (10/20), and tonight I saw David Hilliard (10/21) which I really enjoyed. I have always admired his work and it seems pertinent again as I begin re investigating series in my work.