Job Time

With great fortune I was able to land a full time job out of graduate school, with an MFA no less. It has now been 5 weeks of full-time employment with the organization called Exceptional Children's Foundation. This job comes with full-benefits that the organization pays half of and vacation time. My position is the Site Supervisor at their downtown art studio location. I am responsible for supervising 35 adult students with disabilities and 6 instructors.

I should really be thrilled, but alas I am not. I find myself unhappy working with this population and feel that there is still yet something calling me. Transitioning from the intellectual world of graduate school to social services where I work with limited intellectual capacities has been very difficult. At the very least I think I should be doing public programming or community building, like the job I left that couldn't really pay me for what I was doing.

Another part of the discontentment is the mission of the program. There is a strong focus on the art product that is being produced and not the process of art making. For a lot of the clients there is also a lack of intellectual understanding that makes the workings of the program border on the line of unethical. However, I took the job 1) for the need and 2) to see if there was anyway that I could improve the program.

In the meantime this job is supplying me with stable money and the time to look for other jobs, contemplate what is important to me, and otherwise motivate me to continue my quest. I long for the day that I will feel content with my contribution to the world; to feel as though I have found my place. I am told that this takes time and to be patient. I hear that, but also don't want to waste time doing things that do not connect to my life path.

I took this current job with reservation, but felt that it was the most responsible thing to do at the time. I also knew that there was something to learn from this job. This position is the first full-time management job that I have held. I am patiently waiting, looking and organizing for the time when this job will be over. An unfortunate feeling, but also a realistic one. Sometimes only time will tell.

Sunday Afternoons are Great!

This last Saturday was the first that I didn't have to worry about thesis writing because it was done. James and I had a proper Sunday, which felt like it had been so long. We drove out east and visited the California Cactus Center in Pasadena. I thought we would just be looking at plants, but we decided we would build an arrangement, and it was a really fun afternoon.

Above is a picture of the arrangement that we made together.

Honor the Process

After writing about the dilemma of professional pursuits in the field of art in my other blog "Creating a Public Practice", I am wondering where life will take me after I graduate next month, and am reminded of the Robert Frost poem: Road Not Taken. As a way to honor this difficult life path that I am on, I thought I would post that poem here as a reminder to myself and others.



Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference

...Robert Frost

Getting Closer!

Today we formalized our invitation as a clas for our group exhibition. This culminating event for graduation will be held in May, and the install begins late April. Here is the image of our postcard for the exhibit. Not to brag, but the Concept and image were my idea. I'm really just glad that we didn't have our faces all over the thing. Its not really suppose to be about us, but rather the artwork.

If you are in the LA area, or are able to get out of town to visit, I do hope you can join me for this event.

Opening: Pulse and Parcel

This year I had my first solo-show opening at Side Street Projects in Pasadena, CA. The install took me about 2 weeks to complete, totally around 40 hours. This is definitely one of my most ambitious projects to date, and the largest as far as scale and conceptual scope. All that said, the opening was also a success. The afternoon opening of about 30 people brought people from different communities together for a two hour window of parcel claiming and spatial engagement.

My 28th Birthday

This year for my birthday was vastly different than last year, as I was heavily consumed with my first solo-show opening at Side Street Projects. There are 3 pieces featured there, including a 3/4 acres outdoor installation that will remain up for 1.5 months. This installation was very time consuming and a new feat for me. I did however, take the day off of installing for my birthday, but did spend most of the day at school in class.

At the end of the day I came home to my awesome partner in life that had a home-made cake waiting. To continue the celebratory feel, we went to a local wine and tapas restaurant called Brix in Silver Lake, CA. After sampling a few flavors and some wine we headed back home to cut into the cake, opening some presents and rest a little before the next day started again.

This birthday I gave myself one of the best birthday gifts, a successful opening!