the missing time

Here are a few pics from my latest show,
the missing time.

the missing time is a frozen moment situated in between weightlessness and gravity. It is the calm of a familiar longing, which both aches and comforts. The metaphorical implications of weightlessness and gravity are dense. Weightlessness implies release and freedom but is also abandonment and a lack of roots. Gravity is related to severity and feeling bound, but also being grounded and stable. Both hold positive and negative connotations that speak of emotional desires and burdens. As these two sensations cross there is a fragile stasis, a moment of infinite potential regarding the future and past. This narrative is undefined yet, like a fragment of a memory, is repeating, haunting and familiar. This piece rests on the edge of deep feeling intertwining with the temptation to completely let go.

I have to send out thanks to Katie for helping to come up with the title for the show, during a late night talk we were discussing this time of year; it has that bittersweet quality of being the time that I most look forward to and also the time that I feel the most nostalgic, the missing time.

This time of year also happens to be right in the middle of Prenumbra, the season of shadows. We're now on the later edge of Prenumbra, heading towards Ombre and I have been noticing the darkness creeping in but the days have been so full of sun it's a happy balance.

In terms of restoration of balance, the culmination fo my show has been a thankful end (temporarily) of long hours and poor nutrition. I began the week by cooking dinner! at home! with Ken! I apologize the excess of exclaimation but this really deserved it. I also make a big crock pot meal that I've been able to eat for lunches all week and it has been so nice to eat my own cooking and not just whatever I could grab on the fly. As the weather continues to cool, I'm looking forward to squash and root vegetables and big pots of chili.

Hopefully as the pace of school, work and home shift back into proper balance, my frequency of blogging will become more regular and focused. Thanks to everyone that helped me to put this show together while maintaining a bit of sanity and grace.

a chill is in the air

A chill is in the air, and it is so welcome. The first hints of fall are emerging, things smell better, the air feels better, the skies are blue, it's almost time to wear all the sweaters that have been waiting patiently in my closet. Sadly, I am busy, busy, busy and while the outdoors are begging me to abandon my tasks to bask in the early autumn glow, I have been working away in my studio. I have to remind myself to leave the building and take my fresh air breaks; it's funny that now that I'm not a smoker I have to remind myself to leave the building. My lungs are cleaner, except that I'm breathing recycled art building air all day. Is that better?

In any case, I'm trying to enjoy the lovely days before they turn to short gray days and make work for my upcoming show on October 5th. I am thankful for the work, work, working because it keeps me from the melancholy that sometimes accompanies this time of year. Even though it's one of my favorite times, I miss the people in my life that I know I'd like to share it with the most. Those of you that are many, many miles away, I am drinking tea/wine and sitting on the porch with you in spirit, those of you in this home, you will see me more often when October comes. Please use these glimpses into my studio to place yourselves with me.


a photo from my studio in the midst of working

a detail of the drawing above, "...of which way I'm headed"

Nathan has a home

This week marked the official beginning of the school year. With only three days under my belt, I am already feeling the intensity of the year coming down. With the intesity, though comes a strange relief of feeling purposeful and directed, a little less lost and confused than when I arrived for my first year of grad school a year ago.


Also this week, Ken found a little kitten living outside in the bushes outside of his work. So, after a long day in the studio, I climbed through these bushes, hoping to rescue this cat and find a loving home for him. He was not eager to be rescued and I eventually gave up. Over the course of the evening and next day, however, Ken, armed with charm, patience and a healthy amount of salmon scraps from the kitchen lured this cat out of the bushes and he became a lovey loiterer at the restaurant's back door. Not wanting to be shunned by our own two by bringing home a new addition to the family, we tried all week to find a home for Nathan (yes, I still named him, even though I didn't want to bring him home). He was finally adopted by one of Ken's co-workers.

It's so funny that the safety of this cat became such a focus of our week. I think because home is so dear to me, in the sense of not only having shelter, but love and comfort and calm. I began thinking that this year's beginnnings, while off to a bustling start, and with some losses of those who have graduated and moved on, my home is so much better than last year. I now am not sure how I made it through those beginning months without my warm, funny, animal-rescuer Ken around last year. Here's to having homes with people that love us.

the beginning...

Evidently I have decided to become part of the blogging nation.

This is strange in many ways:

I'm not sure I even knew what a blog was this time last year.

In general, I have never been a diarist, mostly because rereading past entries makes me cringe in self-doubt and criticism.

My use of technology is typically limited to checking my e-mail frequently and replying infrequently, finding recipes to fit the random foods scattered through my kitchen when the grocery store seems too far away, and the hour sucking pasttime of online solitaire, which now comes is many varieties to woo my procrastinator tendencies.



Lately, however, I find myself all too stuck in my own thoughts that seem to quickly fade before they are put to good use. In the interest of turning the previously mentioned solitaire time I am destined to spend in front of the computer into something that may actually contribute to the world, other artists or at the very least myself, I have entered into this community, equally anxious that everyone will read this blog or that no one will. Only time will tell.