Perseverance - 12.28.13

perseverance - noun
1. steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, etc., especially in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement.
source: dictionary.com

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Perseverance

       This picture symbolizes perseverance on so many levels to me.  The guitar in the picture is Dane's grandpa's guitar.  It is lovingly referred to as, "Grandpa's guitar" or "Grandpa's Gibson."  It's a stunningly beautiful guitar from 1950.  I was told Grandpa purchased it when he was young and has taken wonderful care of it ever since.  What make it a symbol of perseverance is that it survived the Washington tornado that took place on November 17, 2013.  A tornado that ripped through the beautiful town of Washington leaving hundreds of families, including Dane's grandparents, displaced until they can rebuild or find a new place to call home.  Thankfully, his grandparents are safe and sound. Even my dad asked about this beautiful guitar once he found out Jerry and Julie were safe.  The guitar has almost become larger than life. 

       There's another, more subtle, message of perseverance that is as beautiful as this guitar.  That's the friendship between Dane and his friends from high school.  I snapped this picture as Dane and Kyle (pictured) were taking turns strumming songs from memory on the strings.  They were like two kids with a beloved toy.  There aren't many people who can say their closets friends are the ones they made in high school.  The friendship between Dane and his friends has persevered through college, marriages, children, distance, and time.  They always seem to pick up right where they leave off.  I am so thankful they welcomed me with open arms as they played their guitars in the basement of my friend's college house so many years ago.  His friends and their wives have become the siblings I never had, my extended family.  

    I have to send a thank you to my brother-in-law, Isaac, for helping me edit this picture in a way that would allow both stories of perseverance to emerge.  As I was playing around with the photo, he mentioned that I should create an emphasis on the guitar by leaving it in color and transforming the rest to black and white.  I couldn't agree more.  He's currently studying multimedia/graphic design. I'm really looking forward to seeing all of the amazing things he creates and having a new person to collaborate with on future projects. 

Respect - 12.21.13

respect - noun
5. the condition of being esteemed or honored: to be held in respect.

respect - idiom
15. to pay one's respects
      b. to express one's sympathy, especially to survivors following a death; We paid our respects to the           family.
source: dictionary.com

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Respect

       There are sixteen different definitions for respect in the dictionary: eight nouns, four verbs, four idioms.  When I first pulled the card "respect," my initial reaction was piece of cake. I tell my students to be respectful all the time.  Then I sat down to plan out my piece and realized just how abstract of a concept respect is.  I felt like I really needed to understand the concept beyond the, "Hey make sure you're being respectful!" comment that I tell my students.  So I asked my very intelligent husband, Dane, "What do you think of when you hear, respect?" After a short rendition of him singing the popular Aretha Franklin song, I realized he was dodging my question and I needed to just google it. I came across the "Encyclopedia of Philosophy" by the fine folks at Stanford and decided to do a little light reading. I found the passage about showing respect for people who have passed really stuck with me. 

       When I first pulled this card, two weeks ago, several events had taken place.  There was the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President Kennedy's death on November 22. Nelson Mandela passed on December 5th.  Pearl Harbor, as President Roosevelt put it, "a date which will live in infamy," was remembered on December 7th.  We remembered the precious students and teachers who passed a year ago on December 14th at Sandy Hook Elementary School.   I'm not trying to be a Debbie Downer during this holiday season. However these events caused me to really think about how we mourn and pay our respects to those who have passed.  Whenever there is a tragedy, we come together, we leave mementos, we create memorials. 

       I wanted to create a piece that would, in a way, pay my respects.  Last year I went to New York City and visited the 9/11 Memorial.  I was struck by the repetition of names.  Names of people who lost their lives too soon.  Names and names of people who had families and friends. Names and names of people who had dreams for their future.  I snapped the picture of our flag left behind at one of the fountains.  It reminded me that as divided as we can be on so many political issues, we can still come together and help others when they are hurting. We remember those who have passed and show respect and reverence. I decided to use that image as my starting point and create an emphasis on the flag by coloring it.  This is where my one week project escalated into two weeks. I decided rather than simply color it in with colored pencil,  I would embroider the flag and then embroider flowers around the outside.  The stitches became my own sign of respect.  The memento that I created to remember those who passed in tragedies that rocked our nation. The memento that thanked whose who worked to make our world a better place.  A way I could show my respects. 

Snow - 12.14.13

snow - noun
1. Meteorology. a precipitation in the form of ice crystals, mainly of intricately branched, hexagonal form and often agglomerated into snowflakes, formed directly from the freezing of water vapor in the air.
source: dictionary.com  

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          Snow seemed like a fitting card to pull this week.  I've been much more in the Christmas spirit this year, especially after going to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's "Welcome Yule!" with my dear friend, Amy.  After the concert, when Dane and I were out walking, I was captivated by the sparkle of the lights against the fairly fresh snow.  Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera.  Today as I trekked out to go Christmas shopping, "Snow" by Sleeping at Last made it's way through my shuffle of music.  It reminded me of the walk the night before, so this evening I bundled up and adventured back out to capture this quiet little illustration of winter.   I'll leave you with the lyrics to "Snow".  Like much of his music, it's absolutely beautiful.  I encourage you to check it out.   In the meantime, stay cozy and warm!

"Snow" 

Sleeping at Last

The branches have traded their leaves for white sleeves

All warm-blooded creatures make ghosts as they breathe

Scarves are wrapped tightly like gifts under trees

Christmas lights tangle in knots annually

Our families huddle closely

Betting warmth against the cold

But our bruises seem to surface

Like mud beneath the snow

So we sing carols softly, as sweet as we know 

A prayer that our burdens will lift as we go

Like young love still waiting under mistletoe

We'll welcome december with tireless hope

Let our bells keep on ringing

Making angels in the snow

May the melody disarm us

When the cracks begin to show

Like the petals in our pockets

May we remember who we are

Unconditionally cared for

By those who share our broken hearts

The table is set and our glasses are full

Though pieces go missing, may we still feel whole

We'll build new traditions in place of the old

'cause life without revision will silence our souls

So let the bells keep on ringing

Making angels in the snow

May the melody surround us

When the cracks begin to show

Like the petals in our pockets

May we remember who we are

Unconditionally cared for

By those who share our broken hearts

As gentle as feathers, the snow piles high

Our world gets rewritten and retraced every time

Like fresh plates and clean slates, our future is white

New year's resolutions will reset tonight

Torrential - 12.8.13

torrential - adj.
1. of or relating to a torrent
2. pouring or flowing fast, violently, or heavily: torrential rain
3. abundant, overwhelming, or irrepressible: torrential abuse
source: dictionary.com

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        When I first pulled this card, I knew I felt an immediate pull toward the idea of a torrential downpour.  I also knew this piece had to be created in a watery medium, so I made a trek to my friendly neighborhood art store for a small set of watercolors.  I am not a watercolor painter or an illustrator for that matter.  In my mind, watercolors are a unique beast.  Just when I think I'm starting to understand how to use them effectively, color runs completely out of the area where I want it to be, following that whole "water takes the path of least resistance" thing.  As much as they drive me crazy, I find them incredibly beautiful.  This piece did make me at least begin to entertain the idea of taking a beginning watercolor class this summer. 

        I wanted to create a feeling of optimism in the midst of a grey, gloomy overwhelming background.  I love seeing bright colors on gloomy days.  I have a orange umbrella and pink rain boots for that very reason.  Thinking more personally, the past couple years were tough.  Going downtown twice a week for grad school while working full time was really tough.  I became more and more sarcastic and pessimistic because I never had a chance to stop and recharge.  Throughout the gloominess I had bright spots.  My husband, parents, old friends, new grad school friends, and new work friends all helped make different parts of the two years more enjoyable.  They sat with me as I read, wrote, and read some more.  They called, texted, messaged, and visited. They joked around with me in class and on train rides. They joked around with me before work and during plan times.  When I look back on that time, I don't think of the torrentially overwhelming amount of work and travel.  I think, instead, of the bright spots and I don't regret a second of it. 

12.1.13

12.1.13

I’m back!!

So a couple years ago I started this blog with the idea that I would take a picture every day and blog about it.  I also started graduate school at the School of the Art Institute and didn’t realize that I would be biting off more than I could chew by trying to blog every day.  Blog + Thesis Research + Full Time Job = Absolutely no time to enjoy the important parts of life.  I had to cut something, so the blog was put on hold.

Rather than jumping in head first after graduation, I took some time to think about what my goals were for this blog.  During graduate school one of my favorite musicians, Sleeping At Last, did a year long project called “Yearbook”.  Each month a couple songs were released creating a fantastic album by the end of the fiscal year that it started. Seriously, its fantastic go check it out on iTunes.  Also, while I was in grad school, I went to an artist talk by Tehching Hsieh.  I could never do the year long, rule driven, never-go-outside or clock-in-every-hour, projects Hsieh did.  However both Sleeping at Last and Hsieh, continued to renew my interest in completing my own year-long creative journey.

Before starting a long-term project I had to decide what I could handle.  I knew that a daily post was going to be to much and I didn’t want to limit myself to just photography.  Being an art teacher by day, I love the idea of exploring new materials, embracing familiar media, and the element of play that young children naturally add to their artwork.

The next influence for the project came during my Ceramic Moldmaking class at SAIC.  We did an exercise where we picked three words out of a bag and those words were our mold for the project.  For example, I had press, so I pressed a clay tool into a bunch of balls of clay.  I loved the idea of taking a word and running with it, and soon realized this could be the basis of each of the art works I would create throughout the year.  To gather the words, I wanted to explore how connected we are through social media.  After only two call-outs on Facebook and Twitter I had well over fifty-two words, one for each week of the year.

All that considered, my final goal for this year-long series is to create fifty-two pieces based off of the words gathered through my relationships on social media and to blog about the process.  My goal is to post one piece each week starting either the week of December 1st or December 8th.  Some of the interpretation creations might be very literal, others more abstract.  That’s what I’m most excited about...the unknown creations that are waiting ahead.

Let the journey begin!!