More recent artwork

These were made in "Transforming the Landscape," a 4th-session photography class taught by David Graham. Using natural light softened with tissue paper, I got up close to the interiors of books with Marianne's Canon Powershot G9 (I should really think about buying one of my own), which has a wicked built-in macro lens and astonishing resolution for a non-SLR digital camera. Perhaps because it felt a little like working with a large-format view camera, these photos look very MCAD-y to me. I haven't decided if I like that yet, but I do like the images themselves. I call the series "Illuminated Manuscripts."

Today

At breakfast, I talked to Ledelle Moe about what it's like to live in Baltimore. Then I cleaned my car and bought 2 CD/DVD organizers, a 3-ring binder, a pack of 8.5 x 11" sheet protectors, and a new pair of jeans. I hunted down all my stray CDs and put them all together in the new case. I scanned, uploaded, and backed up work images from this summer. I backed up some other stuff that had been sitting on the public computer for a while. I put all my DVDs/CD-ROMs of work files in the new case (made of steel for protection), and I checked out what was on all the blank burned DVDs that were floating around, labeled and stored them. I pulled together and organized the objects and prints that I've made this summer. I cleaned out the car. 

This evening, it came to me gently, with a mixture of sadness and exhilaration: today was the day I started getting ready to leave Penland.

Recent Artwork

Here are some prints I made in "The Visual Narrative," my second-session class in photography. The instructor was Fritz Hoffmann, a National Geographic photojournalist. Hoping to use my familiarity with and access to the Penland dishroom to my advantage, I photographed the work-study students (with permission, of course) as they cleaned up after meals. In the process, I discovered that what I was really drawn to in that situation was the action of working bodies in space, the interaction of bodies with bodies, and of bodies with the crowded, challenging environment; it was like visiting a filthy, sweaty, soapy sculpture garden. Over the course of five days, I shot about 700 photographs, and then edited down to these final 11. They were taken with a Canon Powershot G9 (thank you, Marianne!), printed on handmade paper (again thanks to Marianne Dages), and hung on the dishroom wall for a day to get splattered with food waste and greasy suds.

ID 1

Because of some funny scheduling issues, Penland celebrates Independence Day today, July the 1st this year. I've volunteered to help fire off fireworks this evening. I've also been asked to present trophies to the winners of best-parade-float awards. When she approached me about it, Stacey Lane said, "usually we have some really glamorous woman do the presenting, but this year we'd like you to do it." Apparently, she got the idea after seeing my self-portraits as a woman in one of my slide presentations. Since I don't really feel like stepping out in drag this evening, I'll be presenting the awards in the persona of a cowboy (well, sort of a posh cowboy, I guess). As I was dressing this morning, I thought of a great idea for a piece of sketch comedy: The Cowboy Congressman. Basically, he's a stereotypical cowboy, elected to the US Congress, and every time someone disagrees with him in a debate, he shoots them. Also, whenever there's an important vote, he rounds up all the members of his caucus with a lasso. Genius, right? I'm waiting by the phone, Tina Fey. As I'll be spending the real 4th of July cleaning the Pines for changeover, let me wish you all a happy Independence Day today.