New Hampshire


I can see why we were sent to the University of New Hampshire. Land grant college vibe like Cornell. More affordable than Cornell. Beautiful setting like Cornell with nature inching onto the campus. Lovely rocks, trees, small brooks--missing the gorgeous quads and views that Cornell has, but same sort of proximity to nature and greenery. Some amazing new facilities from the dining rooms and dorms to the gym, the campus center/student center, the amazing library and computer clusters to the Bio facilities and the amazing (truly) Engineering labs with all sorts of machinery to make and do with. Very sustainable in their speak (but unlike Emerson who's new rennovations do more than speak about sustainable, they are detailled into every aspect of their new buildings. Beautiful new halls that really are designed to be state of the art, beautiful and clean, good use of color to designate areas..wonderful windows again to bring the pine trees and rocks into the building. Inside out.

We did the tour and info session which is pretty much the same template that most use. The big room with coffee and some sort of thing to eat. Then, the slide show about what it is to be part of the community, the classes, the greek system, the international programs, the majors/minors/programs they offer. Then, the smiling person who talks about financial aid, the fees and tuition and the grants, scholarships and loans available. Then we are always broken into groups for the tour which always consists of dorms, food, entertainment and the gym, and then a classroom or two. This tour is always for the "moms' who are just this side of suicidal about where the baby will eat, what they will eat, when they will eat, how they will eat, sleep, with who, how and when, security, and how they will be entertained (as there is so much free time in college, you barely know what to think). However, at the gym there is this amazing room you can rent mountain bikes, skis, cross skis, gym equipment, tents, sleeping bags...you name it to use. Free. Additionally, you can rent/borrow a computer the same way so they make the aspect of owning a computer is a nice but not necessary. There are quite a few things like this that pushes the student a bit out of their corners to try stuff.

So, we toured the art building, the bio building and the engineering facility independently. We were constantly surprised at the nice faculty members who took us to the side to explain something, point us in the right direction--interested in Kitty and our quests. It was slow to warm up to but with the offering in biology, the nature and location, the price and proximity to Boston (an Amtrack train hourly goes through the campus taking you further up the coast to Maine or within an hour, Boston...so close enough to make an urban experience doable and affordable. It was much less our tribe and Kitty's tribe...but it is an option not worth discarding. What with some 2000 classes offered to the community of 12000 students, there must be a range of things to study and engage in. The student body seemed nice but a bit like as Kitty put it "high school". However the facilities belie that. I still think Hampshire is our first passion for now...but a revisit will be needed to my thinking. New Hampshire is not to be ruled out as an option as a place to apply.

We are spending the night at the New England Center, right off the UNH campus. It looks like the "Ewok Hotel" as Rob calls it with a vertical orientation within a pine forest that you can look out the big windows at. The building is green colored and blends in with the trees, the rocks and the light green growth just beginning to peek through though there are still hillocks of snow still needing to melt. It is very nice and clean...with plenty of space for the home team to not be too crowded (yesterday at the Onyx was a bit tight, but the beds were prime...and with the lights off, no one would even know how small the space was...(and you can overlook it a bit as the Aveda soap and shampoo are a real treat!). Hopefully some seafood tonight!

rolling

Monday we had a day long session at Hampshire College. To put it mildly, we were blown away. And, after viewing it the night before, were not prepared to be so pleased. The evening before we had toured the five colleges in the area in the golden sun with the grass greening right in front of us. Kitty had been wowed by Amherst College's architecture and attractive students we saw walking on campus. We loved all the collegetowns. We loved UMass and the nice Studio Art building along with the offerings it had. Smith was quaint and beautiful...along with Northhampton filled with stores, restaurants and places to hang out. It was all pretty great. On the flip side, after entering the Hampshire Campus from the back side (or was it the side) from the perfect, small Eric Carle Museum, we were less sure about this place. It was shaggilly. It did not have perfect buildings. However, to see the students hopping around campus, it did reflect an eccentricity and diversity that was not evidenced at the former locations. So, we drove about...admired the woods, the grounds, the trees...and drew in our breaths for Monday. Looks arent everything!

Monday, we were greeted at their gymnasium by tables manned by smiling, attractive people with folders stuffed with information, tables adorned with tablecloths and flowers and coffee. And vegan coffee cake. There were banners in front of the impressive climbing wall that served as the background to a small stage and podium. The prospective students and ones who were making their decisions were all there...with parents and siblings in toe. And, they were our tribe! It was if the Tburg crowd from every state, and region had showed up with their eccentric child, their headsets all sync'd. So, we were in the right place. Then the adorable, and real admissions director stood up and gave us our schedules of tours, classes, and lunch--warmly suggesting we spend the day and come back at least five more times...

We were whisked off to a large-ish hall to have an orientation run by smart and very articulate students (and one new graduate). These people were funny, confident, engaged (!) and took us through the self-driven core of what it is that Hampshire does...essentially, using my phrasing "messing about" with focus. The Hampshire program mirrors what I have been doing during the last two educational stints in graduate work--classes that then form a small body of work that drives another body of work that forces re-education through reading etc. and then the cycle continues. Liberal doses of writing and talking and thinking. Math, only if you like it--or need it. The Hampshire diamond approach (explained to us by our first year tour guide) is that one takes a class...say in pond biology. You love it, and feel that you need more training in a topic...so you go do that either at Hampshire or any of the 5 other schools (a bus runs every half hour to all the other schools). Then, with the training, you study more either on that topic or something else. The path of learning takes you to where you either want to go, or find yourself going. And, this work is supported by panels of teachers--with the end product being a way to learn, a passion and a focus that is bespoke for each student.

They had me by the ears.

Then, the tour led by a very candid, funny first year. He was very honest about eveything from the bicycle repair run by students, to the Emergency Medical teams run by students, to the spring and Jan Term trips (run by students) in kayaks and canoes. No sports--except their competitive Ultimate Frisbee team. Man, having no sports changes the paradigm considerably. Rob reminds me that they do engage in dodge ball. We saw classrooms and most importantly, the shops. The biology labs, woodshops, art studios all were phenomenal messing about spaces. Room to work.Really work...and if you needed something you could get it, or build it yourself. The art barn had a nice small painting studio where a professor was critting a remarkable work done by a student. The cubbies/studios for the other students were great and the WORK. OMG. The work was phenomenal. This is a place (remember, this is self driven) where even the best artist gets better/stretched. We saw a student's work, Wilson Kemp, who had linoleum prints which were extrodinary, bold, and beautifully designed. He had come to Hampshire as a photography student (state of the art Mac lab with 3 enormous epson printers there for anyone's use)--and after his trip to Cuba (did I mention that their study abroad program really was about study...it is the real thing with Cuba, China and one other place that Hampshire focuses on)--he came back and was taken with printmaking. He does all of his work at Amherst (knowing the riches that are there) and takes full advantage of the 5 college relationships. There were paintings better than MFA work from Syracuse that I bumped up against. Once again...each person with confidence, excellence and a work ethic that was beyond their years. We saw students working passionately, as if on deadline with themselves...and when Rob and I sat on the commons...what did these students talk about? Sex and parties? NO. Work, and their learning. So, when Kitty and Alex sat in on a class on Neurobiology (which they both loved), we went back to the shop to see about the glassblowing that was mentioned. We were given a tour by one of the shop heads who explained it was flameworking...but the santas workshop aspect of how they (the teachers) were there to help make anything happen. There was a tiny blacksmith kiln that had been rigged to take vegetable oil and the student could get it to heat to 2800 degrees. Another student was going to make a tabletop glass operation (inspired by the medieval furnaces) which was impressive.

Never judge a book by its cover...and at Hampshire, this is certainly the case. It's the beat..the passion, the love of learning and the entrepeneurism that comes from each student having to get out there and get what they need to fuel more learning. It is a fearlessness that I admire in people who are possesses and on a path which is rare in any academic environment--however at Hampshire, seems almost commonplace. I could rattle on forever but time is of essence.

We saw Emerson College yesterday. Emerson is situated at the edge of Boston Commons--an urban campus which has amazing facilities from the high tech studios and classrooms to gorgeous dorm rooms and library. The students are very focused (a professional program) on journalism, film, theatre, theatre production but have the ability to work in any of these areas with student run clubs and productions. This school runs and manages two theatres (beautifully rennovated, old theatres with gold leafed plaster putti and balcomies) with more than fifty productions a year. Everyone gets their hands dirty. They run a recognized radio station that broadcasts, raises funds and even is available on itunes. They run a newsroom and a t.v. station. It is very real. The students we met and saw were nice, focused and also driven by the work in a more conventional way. Not a place to find yourself but if you know what you want...impressive place.

We did a bit of walking around. A trip to the cemetery next to Park Church for me. Wonderful. Being with so many of these carved gravestones was amazing due to the liveliness of the cutting, the repetition of the imagery and yet so many derivations. The lettering was great--with ligatures and corrections to amuse everyone. Kitty and I spied a triple head...one of a skull, a winged cherub and then another head on top of that. There were some other examples not shown in the Ludwig book...from flat stones cut like silhouettes of obelisks, to silhouettes used in the design of regular stones (an urn in particular which served as the base for the copy). Paul Revere was buried there with a column marking his grave where people left stones as tributes. John Adams was there with a rather monumental marker complete with an English style heraldic device with lions/griffins, swirlies, and hands. Will post the images later

We got a taste of Harvard in the morning...walking through the beautiful campus on a perfect cool spring morning. The buds are coming out...the students were on campus...so it really was quite a juxtapostion from Hampshire to Harvard. Cambridge was bustling. We had remarkable hamburgers for breakfast/lunch that made for some fun as it was very much a student landmark we ate at to the delight of the home team. We took the Hotwire lottery and spent one night at the Kimpton Hotel Marlowe and the second night at Kimpton Onyx Hotel in the Quincy Market area.
Both very nice, small boutique hotels that we have stayed in in San Diego and last Christmas in Westwood (LA) California.

Off to University of New Hampshire this morning. Should be interesting.

North Adams, Massachusetts

Went to Mass MOCA last night and saw a hours worth of art-- with the highlights being a vast and wonderful wing committed to Sol Lewitt and a body of work inspired by Dante's Inferno within a show Eulogizing Modern times. Even thinking about eulogies is wonderful.

We browsed the store and got to the music performance space to have an easy dinner prior to hearing an inspired trio, Harriet Tubman, play. Today more art and then a trip over to Amherst to be prompt for a tour of Hampshire College tomorrow.

Watch the sidebar on the right for quicky updates!

No IF today again.


Its pretty much flat out here with work, kids stuff and trying to polish my paper up and get the work refined, redone or added (3 new). The new ones are the Fu dog, the double happiness (still working on it...you all just have sketches) and possibly one on Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco (with Peonies, and the like)--maybe even a Union Square one with the sculpture and the moon flowers. I also want to do a vector buddah and a vector (but very poster styled) dragon head. I would like my SF project to be a small book of images (lulu) and have enough to hand out at the session. It would make a fun promo...a la PushPin...and is a good goal with a deadline. This is topline thinking.

The weather is glorious with high blue skies, cool lovely temperatures and the green grass is greening up. My big stinky frittillaria bulbs are coming on like gangbusters and the varmints (deer) are afraid of them and thus, they flourish. The willows are that soft yellow green before they begin to blow out. Our daffodils are back on track. And the meat headed Turkey Vultures have returned to circle the tall pine trees and stomp around when they are damp. We had a half dozen turkeys scurrying down the driveway last weekend. The turkeys are prolific this year. Rob had to stop the car coming home the other evening as there were a stream of them, well over a dozen that were wobbling across the highway thank you very much.

The computer is prodding me, I have to go to an appointment.
More later, I hope. No IF. Couldnt get the steam up for it today.

no happiness with this.


Doesnt say Double Happiness Valentine. The Dragons need to be more curly on a frame... like the head...but this is not working...albeit, maybe i can save this as a frame (not for double happiness) but for a happy cat, a waving Buddha, or a dim sum celebration. I have another drawing of a dragon on the board..Sushi Valentine could be fun...or to go back to the family portraits which might be a bit of a stretch. Am taking one or two of the weaker valentines out of the mix and putting these Chinatown valentines in their place. Chipping on the paper.

All on track but lots of time being spent getting hair cut, teeth worked on, feet worked on for the kinder. R. in NYC today with family medical stuff. Need to move forward to get work done. Back steps being rebuilt. Gazebo over the pumps in the yard to have a bit of a cleanup. The town wants us to post our property so they can police the area...but somehow "Posted" signs down up against Camp Street doesnt really communicate the image we want to portray.

Gotta go.

I Luv Fu too.


Woke up. Hated the vegetation at the bottom. Stupid and undesigned. So, I stripped the flowers out...and its looking a bit better. Then the gingerpeel background with tones were added. I am liking where this is going. Cleaner, whiter, brighter...more focused. Need to put 10% cold in there...thinking turquoise.

Its snowing today. Poor little daffs. There were a few early anxious ones that came up...willing Springtime to come along. But mid April is always the big wet snow time...time to kill the willow trees.

More later. Working on Quest and on my paper. I am a bit of a bore.


WRITING AWAY. Man. Soon. It was 8 pages on inspiration from the end of Syracuse to date...how I got to the thesis topic. I was quoting the Bible (you know you are in trouble when you quote the Bible)--and talking about hairdos from the 1770s.I pity the poor devils that have to read this drivel. It is a wild goose chase...but the shocker is that I have done a mess of work that really has driven me to where I am. Yes, I have looked at a bunch of work but the real push is finding a content area that delights you and whaling on it.I can see why Murray said no to more Memento Mori...I needed to do that a few more times to understand that this is where the heart is...and that the content and research if it delights you, evolves into work with heart, with weight with care. And we can allow that stream of thinking and work take us with it.

I need to knock off and make dinner
RIGHT NOW.

ketchup

Don't mind me. I will just scream. Right. Now. So, there I go...writing away, editing away, addings pictures--moving the needle with the thesis and the f-king InDesign decides to crap out and fail. Oy.I guess I can be philosophical about this but I think it is time to spend some M O N E Y and replace this boat anchor (I have been working on this macintosh solidly since 2002) as I do not have the time or inclination to put up with the crap. Okay. Here it comes back up again...and I didn't lose the document. The writing has been interesting and as it's supposed to be, very revelatory. New news today is that none of this stuff (the illustrations) come from nowhere. It is all a state of evolution. When I created a page on the memento mori work (as a decorative arts starting place) and then edited a page of the Garden of Eden work (which to look at it, had 6-8 solid contenders which could have been a thesis in itself) and then the current valentines (and the new few in the mix). Tighter work, better design, more resolution and finish in the work as we go further. The Memento Mori project was great as I learned a lot as an illustrator and as an old bag. The Garden project took those sketches a bit further with color (Memento Mori was exclusively black and white) and design. The current body of work, the Valentines, are colored and black and white, are redrawn and finished...not one shot off the pen...and they have type on them. In the Memento Mori blog entries, I talked about how much I loved creating patterns and frames to go with the pictures. I also spoke about how I needed to learn more about reflected illustration. With the valentines, I have pursued this and have a better handle on relected designs and adding a level of finish,adding backgrounds and context to the work, and integrating borders and frames into the work to take it further. In the Memento Mori work the frames were drawn by themselves. The spots were drawn by themselves and then mooshed together. For the Valentines, I have drawn a spot and then developed the frame or field on top of that illustration (often as a trace or tissue illo) working it to fit and integate with the entire illustration. It takes a bit longer, but I now have the patience to do that and embrace that changing and amending.

Tonight is the last night of Kitty's play. We have been to all the performances. It has been wonderful. Time to get the subs for the cast party. No kidding. Right now.
Later>>

A wonderful surprise!


Just got a note from Communication Arts Illustration Annual (#50) that the buffalo I did on a whim in response to my trip with the Hartford Group to Fort Worth Texas just got into this show! I am delighted! After hearing how hard it is to get in from our visit with Patrick Coyne, I am extra thrilled. This is my second year.... I guess this vector stuff has some traction!

Wednesday: caffeinated.


All pooped. Have been going to Kitty's dress rehearsals (with camera) until 9 for the past few nights. Tonight is the opener and so flowers are in order (we never do this...but for this one, we are), and I need to go buy tickets to tonights presentation. I don't think I will go to all 3 performances. Maybe tonight and Saturday? Need to get the food together for Cast Party and reconfirm the gathering tomorrow night.

Got an old book on the PushPin Studios with the hope to see the scope of the entire studio and to see more Barry Zeid (who is often cited by Murray). The Push Pin Graphic by Seymour Chwast with Steven Heller and Martin Venezky editing, and intro from Milton Glaser. Wow. This is a monumental inspiration for me. Its a style a day...reflecting Murray's quote from Today's Inspiration:

"I enjoy variety and I try to use style in the same way a typographer uses type faces," said Tinkelman in a 1970 interview in American Artist magazine. "The style is not dictated by whim, nor by the art director, but by the problem the job presents."

The work of Push Pin Studios confirms this feeling hands down.

Where ever these illustrator were in their lives, in their experiences, it oozed out of their work. Milton and Shirley Glaser found wonderful cut paper illustrations in Europe and bought them--and by sheer new application>presented them as illustrations. There were works on crummy newsprint with the bleed through as part of the final. There are ink paintings, line drawings, images that reflect the history of art. There are visual puns, and visual poetry. This Studio was monumental in it's reach at the time...and now, it is reaching out to me. I see great possibilities as I turn the pages to this fine book. They truly blend their love of type and typography with that of line and decorative illustration...so nothing goes untouched. Another revelation is how huge Push Pin Studios grew. I forgot Alcorn and Reynolds Ruffin's work. Glaser is so huge...its hard to remember that every single guy that was part of the studio was huge. More later

No temptations allowed


Oh no. I shouldn't have done that. Really, honestly, I shouldnt have picked up that tool and done a little doodling around with it...Trouble, simply big trouble is a foot now.I bought a stack of those lovely clean cut/buttery lino blocks and have had them waiting patiently for me since I bought them. Yes, I have a thesis to write. Yes, I have design work waiting. Yes, I have the Forever (Mandy declared, "oooh, that's creepy"---Mandy who has a me on her arm tattooed!) valentine to finish and the San Francisco awaiting! Plus, I have the SF body of work (6 Chinese inspired images) and the Growth body of work waiting in the wings...But I picked up the cutter and did a little..."lets see if its better than in sixth grade" trial run. OOOOOOOOOOOOH. Myyyyyyyyyy. I think the SF project may have a lino cut or two in the mix. This is so sweet!

Today is a dress rehearsal at the school which I plan on attending to take some shots in advance of the performance so I can stand where I want to...and get the shots I want versus being the polite mommy with a point and shoot (no flash) in the next to last row. And the "snacking" has begun. So, I need to remember to make a mess of snack materials to take over. Tomorrow, I make popcorn, I think. No butter...but delicious.

Hartford has some pre-work beginning for the July contact period. We got a great questionnaire yesterday for the Jean Tuttle and Nancy Stahl digital class that I am very pleased and excited about. There is so much to learn and these women are leaders in this arena...so it should be great. I just need to finish the thesis writing and then I can think about this. I am going to send out two valentines (next week) to get them blown up (24"x 36") and gallery wrapped (no need for frame) and see how it goes. I am thinking 2-4 big ones...and then the others smaller....maybe also output on canvas for ease of presentation....no framing, no mess/no fuss...First things first. I am thrilled as I found my old favorite resource (picturesalon.com)(had forgotten their name) and will be going back to them. They are terrific, nice and very affordable.

Gotta go...work and the lino blocks beckon..


Got the captions done. Started gathering the influences and captions which, if I dont watch myself will be wayyy too long albeit I love far too many people. I finished the introduction...so I have 3-4 areas and the influences done before April 1. This is okay. If I just keep chipping away, the 11th is not impossible.

Working on these hawks (yinyang per client request). Redrew the fish to be coarser ...more woodcutty and able to reduce down to around 1.5" wide which it will need to be given the range of applications. Designed a cover to a pub. Pretty productive.

Gotta go make dinner.

Misty cold Monday

Wrote a bit yesterday afternoon--getting the marketing information, the biography and the Hartford information written and polished a teeny bit. Slugged in the valentines (need to caption). Started the intro. Plan on trying to do a section a day or so this week as time is ticking...and the captioning, the influence images/reference and captioning takes time. I was placing ink sketches in amongst the copy. I have been surprised by the quantity of scrap and spots I have. Really looks like something. I must admit, I enjoy the process of writing as much as I like writing and talking with you. it is very self revelatory that as the words hit the electronic paper, it winds ideas, thoughts and imaginings out, miraculously weaving them in places that just sedentary thinking might not do. There is a role for the subconscious in this free flow of words that seems like a second me, directing the thinking and where the ideas go.

We pencilled in our college trip for the week of April 13. We will be visiting Clark, Emerson, University of New Hampshire, Marleboro, and possibly RISD (for us...). There is all sorts of scheduling and form filling out, There are custom tours for arts students. There are general tours. There are interviews and information sessions. Oy. Too too much.

Back to the grind today. Tomorrow I get the car fixed (with a loaner for me--they promised). Need to finalize paperwork on the freezing damage from the lake--and get some notarizing which our lovely little village has at the Village Hall which also lets me gab with the nice moms and dads I know from school. Did I tell you one more time how much I love our little village?

Coffee awaits.

Sunday Morning


Still spewing valentines. There is the new Forever one in the cooker. I have a peacock in the wings. I would like to do an angel one, a Kitty one, an Alex one. But I might just stop after the peacock and call it the thesis (with additions as we go later). Am interested in a body of work based on the ideas from the Taschen book on Symbology combined with the current reading I am doing on Frieda Kahlo. Additionally, as a way to save my own bacon in the late summer, perhaps a body of work on the idea of growth and growing. This is inspired partially by Craig Frazier's topics he illustrates to stay in front of the corporate clients who want pretty much the same topics illustrated over and over again. I have the same problems, however, they dont like illustration except for illustration for the nondenominational, cultural bias'downplayed holiday card. They went for the tree of knowledge last year with great happiness...picked from a group of illustrations I was working on for the Garden of Eden. To think about it, growth was what they loved,so if I give it some muscle and have the time to open my head up a bit, this year could possibly be as simple as last. The holiday card has never been easy...so prework to make it easier is okay by me.

I am surprisingly looking forward to finishing the paper for the thesis. I have the peripheral work done, and as I think about the more specific topics--they do not seem insurmountable and once rolling, it should go fine. If I am not roped into a bunch of stuff today, hopefully I can begin to chip away at it. I am hoping to have the loose paper done by tax day to get to the HAS team for review prior to the pile on they will get May 1. Then, once we are back from the college look about tour, I will have a chance to amend, add and change to easily meet the June 1 deadline. After that, all I will need to focus on is framing and output. I converted the Sweetheart valentine to vectors and it is a ton of points and not a quick thing to scale, but none the less, its scaleable... I am hoping that the Love Lock snake valentine, and perhaps Forever might also go big 30x40 inches ish? I think it will be output, mounted to cintra and not framed. That would be big, bold and circus drop-centric. I love sideshow graphics/paintedd signs that are used in the crummy little country circuses that come through here and all the little local towns. Badly drawn but often very compelling...the sheer scale of these things make me very frightened of the poor person/animal on display> I have never paid the money to see the sight. The sign really does the job.

Bought a ton of groceries yesterday--Alice in Wonderland in the produce department. Mushrooms and parsley, cilantro and apples, field greens and scallions, green beans and asparagus. The formerly vacant refridgerator bulges. We have play rehearsals for K. all week with showtime starting Thursday> Saturday. A. is back in training and attempting not only running but high jump for Track. He seems to be intrigued by the flow of how one gets your body going in one direction and then up and over with all sorts of twisting and leaping to get over the bar. He's serious as he has goals already.

More later.