Wherefore art thou?

Well since I’ve been on "blog holiday" for 6 weeks I’ll give you the uber-quick run-down on what I’ve been up to:

1. Vacation in Crete:

2. Show Opening in Brussels:



3. 10-day Trip to London and Paris with one of my oldest friends:



4. Complete exhaustion. (No photo necessary. You know exactly what that looks like.)

Aaaaaaah. There really is no place like home. After a month of non-stop work and travel I can barely begin to tell you how damn good it feels to just be home. Sure, it was all great fun, but hot damn---travel is exhausting! Now that I am home, I may never leave my house again. I'm actually looking forward to doing laundry and re-organising my armoires. I am in full-on nesting mode.

Best of all, I have 3 glorious months of summer that are intentionally scheduled with absolutely nothing! No shows, no deadlines, no applications, no galleries, no nothing. Well nothing accept one little treat that I've arranged for myself: After more than 10 years of hemming and hawing, three weeks ago I started taking guitar lessons!


Now, so far I suck. I mean I suck really hard, but I am having so much fun. And some things are just worth doing because they're fun! I'm really excited, but also worried about how on earth I'll be able to acquire all the new musical vocabulary. Remember, I’m in France. I’m taking guitar lessons from a non-English-speaking instructor. Taking guitar lessons is one thing, but taking them in French is another.

But whatever, I’m up for the challenge.

The Gallery's Show Invite! Yippee!

C'est Finit!

Ah there is no feeling more glorious than finishing a series of artwork, delivering it to the gallery and having the director nod with approval.

Last weekend my husband and I drove to Brussels to drop off my artwork at Galerie D’YS for the two-person show that opens May 10th. I cannot begin to tell you how relieved I am to be finished. As much as I love it, I’m just so...over it. My brain has moved on. At the moment I’m curious about different things and other possible directions, which made it nearly impossible to focus on putting the finishing touches on the series and getting them framed.

But get’er done I did!

The show opens May 9th, with the opening party held May 10th. A Sunday afternoon might seem like an odd choice for an opening, but in Europe where everything except restaurants are closed on Sundays, it’s quite perfect. The opening begins just as the 12-2PM lunch crowd finishes their meals. With any luck we’ll have good weather and we’ll be able to extend the party out onto the Galleries private terrace and garden just beside the backroom. *fingers crossed*

Subway Art Gallery Opening. Good Stuff.

Quote of the Week.

"Every good painter paints what he is."

-Jackson Pollock

Advice for Artists Who Dream of Fancy Art Schools.

Like most people. In order to put myself through University and Graduate school I had to take out student loans. After the slight feeling of defeat that came along with signing that first promissory note had faded. I came to celebrate the arrival of my loan check in the mail each semester. “Loan Check Arrival Day” was a cause for celebration which usually started with a grocery store shopping spree followed by a much needed weekend out with my girlfriends at some dive bar on the Lower East Side. (MotorCity!)

But somehow in my brain, it didn’t really register, that these small installments would inevitably lead up to the huge insurmountable mother-lode of debt that would hover over me for years and years to come. Oh, and just in case you think I’m overdramatizing how much looming debt I had, I’ll tell you how much it was. Two years after I’d finished my graduate degree, with interest and all that stuff, I owed the government $60,000. See. I’m not just being a drama queen.

So, I guess I never really thought the day would come when I wouldn’t owe the government money, but somehow through a few strange twists of fate, last year I managed to pay off my student loans. They’re gone. Dead. Game over. In fact, in making my last payment I somehow managed to over pay, and my rich Uncle Sam had to mail me a refund check. Yep, the creditor that I thought I would be paying back for the next 30 years, ended up owing me $6.62. The irony was not lost on me.

Then just last month I came across the podcast On Point with Tom Ashbrook about the whole student loan problem. Ashbrook interviews Allan Michael Collinge, who wrote the book “The Student Loan Scam: The Most Oppressive Debt in US History and How We Can Fight Back”.
Basically Collinge is trying to educate people on just how dangerous student loans can be. Sure, he’s trying to sell his book, but he makes some interesting points:

- Student loans are the only type of loan that you can never ever refinance.

- When students apply to for student loans, many aren't given adequate information about the terms of their loans, especially the fact that they cannot be refinanced.

- Certain Student Loan companies make it make it very difficult or confusing to pay student loans at the very beginning of the loan, then profit by putting an account into default and locking the borrower into a high interest rate for the life of the loan.

Ouch.

Check out the pod-cast here. Or at the very least read the listener comments.

Advice for art studentswho dream of attending fancy art colleges: Consider every possible option before taking a loan. Then take only what you absolutely need to survive. Realistically look at what you will be able to pay back on a monthly basis. What kind of monthly income will you be bringing in 6 months after graduation when your loan grace period ends? Do you really want to be making $300 a month payments on top of the $1200 a month rent you pay for your crappy Brooklyn apartment?

*piggy image from artvex.com.

Fun Friday Image.

Technically it's on topic right?

Quote of the Week.

"Be happy for this moment.

This moment is your life."

-Omar Khayyam

The Double Whammi!

Not so long ago you probably remember that I was on an application frenzy. In January I sent out a total of 14 exhibition proposals and residency applications to several locations on planet earth. Well, this weekend I got not one, but two rejection letters on the same day.

So,because I share so many of my successes here, it only seems fair and truthful if every now and then I share the.....un-successes. So the first rejection came by e-mail:

"We received over fifty applications from around the world and I’m sorry to say that you were not selected for one of the seven shows we had available. The selection was made by a committee with the intention of showing a range of artistic pursuits-therefore we selected one photographer, two painters, two drawers, a ceramicist and a performance/sculpture and video artist. We were overwhelmed by the excellent work and, unless you email me otherwise, I will keep your application on file for two years in the event that we have a cancellation or another opportunity comes up."

OK, bummer, but fair enough. It's hard to be upset about not being chosen when there are that many applicants and they've already decided beforehand to spread the shows amongst all the different categories. (I have a theory that they put the numbers in just to make the artists feel better about getting picked.) Also, since I applied for this opportunity specifically with my photographic work, and they only chose one photographer out of the applicant pool, I can comfortably rationalise that for my work, it was a long shot at best. OK, moving along.

The next letter I got came by snail mail and it was one of the nicest rejection letters I've ever gotten. The gallery director actually took time to write a little about her response to my workand my proposal. She wrote:

"It was a pleasure to review your work. The (Re)calling and (Re)telling series is impressive on many levels. Carried on the narrative breeze of your constructions, the original photographs are allowed to both speak and become part of the environment. I also want to commend you on the developement of programming to coincide with the exhibit. When an artist is able to recognise and act on the educational opportunities in her work, the benefits for visitors and students alike evolve."

Yep. File that one under "Coolest Rejection Letter Ever."

See ya in Chicago.

OK, not really. I won't be there, but I'm thrilled to announce that the Double Exposure exhibition has moved onto its next venue at the DePaul University Museum. I've posted the info on the English version of my website along with a link with driving directions etc etc. Here's a screen shot:

The two photographs I have in the show are Sweet Sisters #1 and Secret's in the House #2, both from the (Re)calling and (Re)telling series. I'm really bummed that I won't be able to make this opening (especially since I have ALOT of friends in the Chicago area) but I just can't see any realistic way to squeeze it into my schedule. But I am happy it's moving on to a new audience. So exciting!