Catching up a bit

Wow, it's been almost a month since my last post and that's ok. I haven't been having a great relationship with words lately, so it's probably been for the best. Anyway, things are going on and this is some of what's been happening: Way back on February 19th, I visited Bucknell University (Lewisburg, PA) to give a talk in conjunction with Concurrent. The day went really well, even with me under the fog of not having enough sleep the night before and being nervous about the talk.

I arrived around noon, met with Cinhad lunch with Dan Mills, one of the organizing curators of Concurrent and graduate assistant, Sarah McFalls, who hung the show and one of the students I did a studio visit with while there. The other visit I had was with Jason Sorensen, pictured below with some of his work. I also got to meet Craig Hill, who teaches painting at Bucknell.

After the studio visits, I had the chance to examine some works in Bucknell's art collection in the Collection Study Room. It was amazing to be able to look at an original Goya print with no glass, crowds, nor guards. I had about 10 minutes to collect my thoughts before giving the lecture. Despite being somewhat tired and slightly nervous, the talk went well. I'm my own worse critic when it comes to public speaking since I'm relatively new at it, but I've since heard that some of the students present at the lecture have begun looking to abstraction as a viable creative option. I guess I did better than I thought. My thanks to Cindy, Dan, Sarah, and everyone at Bucknell who made my visit a great one. A special thanks to Jim, the driver who got me back to Philly after I missed my train in Harrisburg.

'Concurrent' at West Virginia University

Poster announcing my lecture at West Virginia University. Last Thursday and Friday (Oct. 15-16), I had the honor of being the visiting artist for the latest installation of Concurrent, the traveling exhibition featuring works by Natalie Alper, myself, Diane Simpson, and Larry Webb.

I arrived Thursday afternoon and gave a lecture that evening, right before the opening reception. The crowd was composed mainly of very attentive art students and faculty. My talk went on for just over an hour, which surprised me because I remember thinking months ago that I'd have a hard time filling up that time. Once I started talking, the time flew by.There was time for a short question and answer session at the end, after which everyone went upstairs for the opening reception and out to dinner afterwards.

Friday morning, I met with three out of four graduate art students who had signed up for crits. The fourth was sick and couldn't meet with me. I was a bit surprised that more students hadn't taken advantage of me being there and available to talk with them about their work, but it left me with more time for the ones with whom I did meet.

I left WVU later that afternoon for a plane out of Pittsburgh that was scheduled for a 5:40pm departure. That turned into a 6:50pm delay, which turned into a cancelled flight, leading to a mad dash for the 'special services' desk for US Airways. There were no more direct flights back to Philly, but they put me on one that went to Washington, D.C. with a connection to Philadelphia. A flight that should have only taken just over an hour took 6 hours, instead. At least I was able to get home. I felt bad for those who had more complicated situations to deal with.

Overall, the two days were great, and were made much easier thanks to Chris Barr, Bob Bridges, Michael Sherwin, and everyone else in the College of Creative Arts involved with the exhibition.

Undercurrent next to exhibition signage.

Sculpture by Diane Simpson.

Stratum I next to drawings by Natalie Alper

Paintings by Natalie Alper (left) and Larry Webb (right)

Cape by Diane Simpson.



More paintings by Natalie Alper and Larry Webb.



Plume, 2007, acrylic on canvas, 60" x 72" (left) and All that could be, 2006, acrylic on canvas, 60" x 84" (right)

Drawings from my Random Expansion series, water media on paper, 20" x 20" each.