Ron and I traveled to SIUE on Wednesday for studio tours with 5-6 MFA candidates scheduled to graduate in the fall. It was a great trip and we got to spend some time with Steve Brown, the photography professor who had a show at Mad Art earlier this year, and Ivy Cooper, Art History/Department Chair. I think so much of these two. And that school is really turning out some great artists. In the past two years I’ve come to know the work of Michael Lariccia, Brock Rumohr, Ben Bertocci, Brendan Tang, and Eric Nichols—all graduates of SIUE. Thankfully, I finally got to see the work of some women artists on Wednesday, both impressive. We wandered around some of the studios as well, so informally, I got to see some interesting things. All the smells and sloppiness…it really made me pine for school days and has me considering all over again whether I should try to get into a graduate program.
On the way home, I told Ron that I am “leaving” Mad Art at the end of the year. I have the new website done and the exhibitions curated through November 2006, so I feel like I’m leaving things in decent shape. I just need a break. And I need to concentrate on my own art and projects more. This was a very hard decision and I’ve been in turmoil about it for months. So much of my identity is wrapped up in that place. But I know I’m right about my decision.
I’m looking forward to the opening tomorrow night at Mad Art and to the Dewes Chili Cook-Off next weekend. Oh…and Thanksgiving…can’t wait to see my nephews. My brother said Sam won’t take his Darth Vader costume off except to go to school and that Jacob thinks he’s a dog and will only respond to questions by barking.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments
Post a Comment