School’s Out for Summer (almost…)

It’s been crazy — the end of the school year is always that way. It’s a good crazy, though. All the seniors are getting ready to spread their wings and leave the comfortable familiarity of High School, teachers are crunching numbers and trying to get ready to turn in final grades and get their rooms ready for summer break, and everyone’s looking forward to some time off!

I will be working this summer, though. I recently got a commission to do some art for the Diocese, and I’m pretty excited about that! I will be doing some paintings and mosaics (or possibly ceramic work) and maybe a couple murals, if time and budget allow. I’m a little nervous because this is my first big commission, but at the same time, it feels good to finally be doing something with my art and not just feeling jealous of those who are.

I also got a very generous donation of art books from an anonymous donor, and have been builidng a small “research library” in my office. Eh… I don’t need an office, anyway. It’s been used for storage, more than anything. It will be nice to have a quiet spot where kids can sit quietly and do research for their projects.

And, of course, I have my silk painting class coming up at Taylor Books — Mondays, 6-8 PM, starting June 12 for 6 weeks. Creativity … but with caffeine. You gotta love that!

Fig Tree Notes

I just updated my blogroll to add Notes From Under the Fig Tree, the blog of Episcopal minister Jim Lewis. Check it out!

Downtown

Terminal Building

It’s rainy, rainy, rainy… I can tell it’s raining even though I can’t see the rain from my basement classroom, because of the humidity. Humidity for my hair is like baking soda for vinegar.

Even when it’s rainy, I love to walk around downtown at lunchtime and get out of my “dungeon.” I love to watch people walking around, doing their jobs and going to lunch… cars, trucks, vans driving around… I love the noise of the city. I love watching people do what they do.

I also love Ellen’s. It is quickly becoming my favorite source of lunchy goodness, now that Delish is gone. I miss my Thai satay, but Ellen’s curried chicken salad is pretty good, too. Wasn’t too crazy about the orzo and corn salad today, but it wasn’t bad, really… just not my favorite. (I am totally going to have to try to cop the recipe for the curried chicken, though.)

Today is my last pottery class at Taylor Books. I have had so much fun teaching this class! I can’t wait to teach the silk painting class this summer, although I am sad to say goodbye to pottery. Maybe I’ll do another class in the fall.

Masonic Temple

Masonic Temple, Charleston WV

There ought to be a support group for people who are reading the DaVinci Code and can’t put it down. It’s an addiction, I tell you! A serious problem! I have a job to do, kids to raise! I have laundry piled up to the ceiling and I don’t have anything picked out for dinner! More importantly, I have no clue as to what happened on Desperate Housewives this week! This behavior is worrying me!

Silliness aside, I know that the DaVinci Code is fiction (which is why I’m so amused at the number of books claiming to debunk the Code) but I have always been interested in religious history, especially as it relates to paganism and the early church. I find it interesting how the church co-opted all the pagan holidays for its own purpose. I guess it shouldn’t surprise me that it also ditched half the Gospel accounts and fully erased the feminine from the church.

Exit Strategy III

Exit Strategy III
Manipulated Digital Photo

This is my third version of Exit Strategy. The other two were lower-resolution and really weren’t intended to be anything but examples for my high school Art I and II photoshop projects.

This version is my favorite, not only because of the better photo quality, but because of the details. The quote says “Many of us who walk to and fro upon our usual tasks are prisoners drawing mental maps of escape.” The inspiration for this piece is kind of personal, but we make art about the things closest to our hearts, right? It’s all about escapism. I’m not going to get into it on the personal level on here, but on a larger level, I do think that we are a society of escapists. Why deal with a problem if there is a way to get around it? A pill to take… a divorce… something you can buy to take its place… not that those things are innately bad, but when it gets easier to avoid a problem than it is to fix it or even preempt it, something’s seriously wrong.

I’m thinking of doing a large, mixed-media version of this, on a canvas.

Exit Strategy II

Exit Strategy II

Manipulated Digital Photo

I decided to take the idea a few steps further. I really like how it turned out. I have a color version, too, but I like the gritty appearance of the sepia-toned photo.

Exit Strategy

Exit Strategy
Manipulated Digital Photograph
5/3/06

No, I’m not doing anything…

Yeah, so painting has kind of taken a back seat to other things — all those little “projects” that get dumped on art teachers at the end of the year. “Could you make a big sign that says ‘Congratulations Seniors’ for the baseball game tonight?” Could you take 8 huge rolls of gossamer and cut it into 3-, 4-, and 5-foot lengths?” If I didn’t REALLY love my job, I would be annoyed, but it’s actually a lot of fun — especially when the kids help out, too. It’s all part of the territory, and I really do love all the excitement of graduation time. There are a lot of seniors that I’m really going to miss!

Busy as I’ve been lately, I didn’t have my 7th graders today, so I got an extra class period right before lunch to go and run some errands. Nice! I even stopped by Ellens for some Spinach and Orzo salad — delish! (Speaking of Delish, I miss them!) While I was out, I came across some gorgeous white azaleas in front of Kanawha United Presbyterian Church. I really want some to plant in my own yard, but I’m afraid the deer would eat them for lunch.