Launching Pad: ready to fire!

Last January I embarked on a wild journey, delving into worlds I've never seen and certain subjects I never thought I'd study. Come December, my Arts Management (read: business and nonprofit management for the arts) Masters Program at George Mason University will come to an end and I will officially be a master. The practicality of this program has spurred in me a great sense of responsibility with the material I've learned. This is a launching pad. This is gathering with the intent to produce.

This semester, my last one, I am a management intern at Art at the Center, a small community art studio. I have the privilege of working with the founder and director, Kathryn Coneway, who built this wonderful community space. She wants to grow, offer adult classes, tweak her marketing, and build a stronger foundation. It is such a pleasure to really have something to offer and to see how my studies play out practically as I work.

Besides interning at this studio, I get to teach! I am teaching drawing to teens and adults. I taught K-8 art and art history for about 4 years but that was a few years back. I am excited to step back into that role and teach people how to see. Just like an instrument, drawing and seeing can be taught and must be practiced.

The biggest change of the semester is after graduation... At the end of December I am getting married! While that is a wild story of its own, it has implications that play out in a big way on my next steps. After the graduation and wedding in December I will move to the West Indies to join my beau as he conquers medical school on an island in the middle of the ocean.

WHAT?!

Thats right. Other than being in love and getting to spend my life with a kind and incredibly supportive guy, I am so excited for the artistic opportunities presented here. The island is small and wild and full of beautiful natural inspiration. Making artwork down there is definite. I've started to make connections with other makers down there and possibly galleries and a museum. We'll see what actually pans out. [If you know anyone on Dominica, message me!]

I am hoping that this means I will get the opportunity to be able to share, once again, the journey of an artist and making art much more accessible to you.

While making has been limited, I have had the chance to make a few things recently. Here are some of my recent pieces...

Old etching instructional book pages and a charcoal drawing of a cairn.

Some porcelain vases. 

A large commissioned piece made from the client's extra wedding invitations. Its a topographical map of where they got married! 

Details of that same piece. 

Another shot. 

A large commissioned piece for a wine wall. 

Porcelain tiles, wood base, and wire hanger. "Wine is sure proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy,"

A timeline for my fiancé's newsletter. The places a tools of the last few years of his life and the next steps. He filled this in with information. It looked so cool!