Grad Schools and Other Things

I recently managed to finally narrow down the list of schools I am applying to for graduate school. I've struggled with settling on a reasonable number. I finally settled on picking certain areas I would be happy with and picking schools nearby. Most of them are around Portland, OR because, why not?

University of Oregon
Pacific Northwest College of Art
Portland State
Carnegie Mellon University
University of Alabama Tuscaloosa

While I'm at it, check out RaccoonSpoon and KittyKonundrum's thesis work so far! They are incredible. Just all around.

Cyanotype-Photogram Fun

As part of my job, I occasionally work with students by doing demonstrations, giving small lectures or (usually) just sitting in for a professor. Today I filled in for Professor Gootee by leading her first year seminar group in creating cyanotype photograms.

Sometimes, A Man Needs Rest

This is appropriate to how I feel today.

Christo!

This past week the Department of Art chartered a bus (with wifi!) to go see a Christo & Jeanne-Claude exhibition and talk. The show (a special exhibition at Lauren Rogers Museum in Laurel) seemed a bit out of place among their permanent collection which primarily consisted of 19th century paintings and relics.

I heard complaints among a small group of students who didn't seem to quite see the point in the exhibition. I've personally always found the exhibitions to be an exciting look into their process. It's also the closest many people will ever get to seeing the physical things they've created (save through videos and photographs) as their works are all large-scale and temporary.

The talk was in Hattiesberg at USM. It was my understanding that there was no photography allowed, but I did manage to catch a quick cell phone picture of Christo answering questions.

Poignant was the absence of Jeanne-Claude, who as you may or may not know passed away in 2009. She came up very often in the talk- which is to be expected, as all his current projects were conceived with her. It did feel as though he was simply talking about someone who was back home that evening. Upon being asked about a future work to memorialize her, he replied that they didn't believe in that sort of thing. Hearing him speak however, it feels as if carrying on their planned work may be an in memoriam.

At any rate, it was a nice talk and a great opportunity. Wouldn't have missed it for the world! If you're unfamiliar, I suggest checking out one of the many documentaries following their projects from inception to fruition. The Gates is currently streaming on Netflix instant.

SPE South-Central

Last year I was lucky enough to have the department I work for send me to SPE South-Central Regional Conference in San Antonio, TX. It was a fun experience and gave me a preview of this year, as this coming October it will be our turn to play host. I began sitting in the committee meetings recently, and learned I'll be running on-site support for the speakers/guests. I don't exactly mind, as it means I shouldn't have to miss Susan Burnstine, Kelli Connell, Todd Hido or a plethora of other artists and professionals at various stages in their career.

We visited the forest fire sites, they mostly just looked like this.

Just Being Silly...

I checked out the Will Bryant exhibition with friend Alexa today. There were props and backgrounds that we were encouraged to use, and of course I had my iPad soo.